ECDB - European Crew Database D.3 Implementation options

Directive 2017/2397/EU on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation foresees harmonized procedures and models for Union certificates of qualifications, service record books (SRB) and logbooks (LBK) and facilitates the electronic exchange of information through the setting up of a database, paving the way for the introduction of electronic tools, for which the European Parliament and the Council have asked the Commission, as a first step, to submit an impact assessment study. Directive 2017/2397/EU foresees a European Crew Database (ECDB) and MS Registries, to be implemented through a specific Delegated Regulation within the next 2-3 years, covering the ECDB and the MS registries requirements as foreseen in the Directive. ECDB and the MS registries will be at the center of the IWT digitalization and the future electronic tools (eIWT) that will implement the e-governance and the DSM strategy in the IWT sector. Hence, the design and implementation of both the ECDB and the MS registries should be such that: • They fully implement the requirements of Directive 2017/2397/EU as above, hereon referred as 1st phase or initial phase requirements. • They are future proof, in the sense that they can fulfil their anticipated functions in the ‘digital era’, that is when the electronic tools will be implemented, hereon referred as 2nd phase or electronic/digital phase requirements. JRC assisted DG MOVE for the characterization of options for an electronic tools (eIWT) architecture covering, as a minimum, electronic SRB and LBK, concluding with a final report on July 2106. Following-up these activities, a new administrative arrangement between JRC and DG MOVE became operational at the beginning of January 2017, aiming at the technical requirements, characteristics and conditions of use of the ECDB and the MS Registries. In view of a Commission delegated regulation on the ECDB implementation, the current document serves as a basis for discussion with the members of the Commission expert group on social issues in inland navigation and other IWT stakeholders, focusing in particular on the immediate requirements that are object of the delegated regulation, that is the initial phase, transitory to a fully digital one, where ECDB and the MS registries are operational but all documents (qualification certificates, SRBs and LBKs) are still on paper. In particular, this document outlines the various ECDB implementation options in terms of a federative approach (as per the recent Commission guidelines) versus the centralized implementation foreseen in eIWT.JRC.E.3 - Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Teaching the pre-school visually handicapped child

This paper will include the instructional needs of the visually handicapped child including both the totally blind child and the partially sighted child who is considered legally blind. This paper will cover the early childhood education of the visually handicapped child from birth up to and including the kindergarten level of schooling. This paper will not concern itself with the visually handicapped child who can learn to read print

Level-Wise Exploration of Linked and Big Data Guided by Controlled Vocabularies and Folksonomies

This paper proposes a level-wise exploration of linked and big data guided by controlled vocabularies and folksonomies. We leverage techniques from both Reconstructability Analysis and cataloging and classification research to provide solutions that will structure and store large amounts of metadata, identify links between data, and explore data structures to produce models that will facilitate effective information retrieval

eIWT: Electronic tool for Inland Waterways Transport: Architecture, requirements & stakeholders considerations

The Commission adopted in February 2016 a proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation. The proposal sets a new competence based approach, which will allow the recognition of qualifications across the EU and provide for new career opportunities. The Commission proposal foresees the harmonisation of the format and procedure related to Service Record Books (SRBs) and logbooks (LBKs) at EU level and facilitates the electronic exchange of information through the setting up of registers and a central database. In doing so, it paves the way for the introduction of electronic tools, with a view to reduce the administrative burden whilst rendering the documents less prone to tampering. There is a need for a reliable tool for crew members' professional record facilitating the implementation of the future Directive on the recognitions of professional qualifications and, optionally, providing a platform for additional IWT electronic services. In this context, JRC provides to the Commission, through the eI2WT administrative arrangement specific assistance for the characterization of options for an architecture covering, as a minimum, electronic SRB and LBK. The final eIWT report (D.3 – Requirements), issued on July 2106, concluded the eI2WT project. Following-up of the eIWT project, a workshop was held at the JRC Ispra premises, on September 6 2016, with the participation of most of the important stakeholders (member state authorities, professional associations and shipping industry). All participating stakeholders had the eIWT final report well ahead of the workshop and made concrete proposals regarding the future implementation of the electronic tools. This report, final deliverable of the eIDTS JRC institutional activity, based on the 3rd and final deliverable of the eIWT study, has the purpose of outlining the functional requirements of the eIWT system, incorporating the comments and amendments proposed by the IWT stakeholders and discussed during the eIWT workshop. It will substitute the final eIWT report and will be the base for development of eIWT functional standards.JRC.E.3 - Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

eIWT: Electronic tool for Inland Waterways Transport: Requirements

The Commission adopted in February 2016 a proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation. The proposal sets a new competence based approach, which will allow the recognition of qualifications across the EU and provide for new career opportunities. The Commission proposal foresees the harmonisation of the format and procedure related to Service Record Books (SRBs) and logbooks (LBKs) at EU level and facilitates the electronic exchange of information through the setting up of registers and a central database. In doing so, it paves the way for the introduction of electronic tools, with a view to reduce the administrative burden whilst rendering the documents less prone to tampering. There is a need for a reliable tool for crew members' professional record facilitating the implementation of the future Directive on the recognitions of professional qualifications and, optionally, providing a platform for additional IWT electronic services. In this context, JRC provides to the Commission, through the eI2WT project specific assistance for the characterization of options for an architecture covering, as a minimum, electronic SRB and LBK. This report (D.3 – Requirements) is the 3rd and final deliverable of the study. It has the purpose of outlining the functional requirements of the eIWT system, as conceived and outlined already at the inception report (D.1). The eIWT functional requirements are structured in nine (9) use- cases that describe in the best way all practical aspects and implications of eIWT. They have been the object of extensive consultation with the relevant stakeholders. A preliminary qualitative evaluation of the foreseen impact of the electronic tools when fully applied is provided. The concept and basic architecture of eIWT, which will aggregate and link information regarding the crew and the vessel, can indeed be one of the main implementation tools for DINA (Digital Inland Navigation Area), an initiative launched by the Commission with the aim of further integrating and rationalizing the digital services related to IWT.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

ECDB - European Crew Database in the perspective of the electronic tools

The EU directive on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation foresees harmonized procedures and models for Union certificates of qualifications, service record books (SRB) and logbooks (LBK) and facilitates the electronic exchange of information through the setting up of a database. In doing so, it paves the way for the introduction of electronic tools, for which the European Parliament and the Council have asked the Commission to submit an assessment. In this context, JRC assisted DG MOVE for the characterization of options for an architecture covering, as a minimum, electronic SRB and LBK, concluded with a final report on July 2106. Following-up these activities, a new administrative arrangement between JRC and DG MOVE became operational at the beginning of January 2017. Its main scope is to provide technical and scientific support on two main objectives: 1. Technical requirements, characteristics and conditions of use of the database provided for in the Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications in inland navigation (ECDB - European Crew Database). 2. Options for an electronic system based on Inland Workers Cards and Inland Vessel Units, serving as service record books and logbooks but also recording the resting and working time as per Council Directive 2014/112/EU including considerations on the Digital Inland Navigation Area (DINA). The work of the JRC during 2017 and 2018 focuses on the European Crew Database (ECDB). The goal is a future-proof ECDB that fully meets the requirements of Directive 2017/2397/EU and, at the same time, accommodates the anticipated eIWT operational requirements. The current document is the mid-term report of the eIWT 2107 AA between DG MOVE and JRC. It outlines the ECDB objectives, structure and dataset and describes the main operational use-cases assuming a fully implemented eIWT system and during the initial non-electronic phase. In view of a Commission delegated regulation on the ERCDB implementation, the current document serves as a basis for discussion with the members of the Commission expert group on social issues in inland navigation and other IWT stakeholders, focusing in particular on the immediate requirements that are object of the delegated regulation, that is the initial phase, transitory to a fully digital one, where ECDB and the MS registries are operational but all documents (qualification certificates, SRBs and LBKs) are still on paper.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Atomic dynamics in the solid and liquid phases

The objective of this thesis is to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of liquids. Dynamics are related to important properties of materials and can predict their behaviour. Theories of dynamics often study only crystalline systems and they do not involve other structural phases. Therefore it is important to understand the cor- relation of dynamics of the crystalline, amorphous and liquid phase. Understanding disordered systems can be facilitated if we understand their correlation with crystalline systems. In order to understand the connection on dynamics of the three phases I perform inelastic neutron scattering experiments and simulations. The inelastic neutron scattering is the best method to study high-frequency dynamics and obtain accurate results. I analyse and compare results from experiments and simulations for materials in their crystalline, amorphous and liquid phase. Further to the mi crostructure analysis of the three phases I analyse their local structure. I study possible memory e ffects in the short-range structure during phase changing and I discuss how these aff ect the dynamics of the system. Moreover I provide a theoretical explanation of the inter- atomic interactions in the local structure of crystals and I discuss the origin of the phononroton minimum that can be observed in phonon dispersion spectra of many materials. Finally I study macroscopic properties of the three phases on various materials, such as the heat capacity. The analysis and conclusions I present in this thesis provide a pioneer way of studying dynamics and they contribute to better understanding of unsolved fundamental physics questions. In this thesis I address and try to answer two major questions. To what extent the dynamic properties of solids and liquids can be compared at the microscopic and macroscopic level and how much the local structure a ffects dynamics.School of Physics and Astronomy, Queen Mary University of London. STF

Improving the build architecture of legacy C/C++ software systems

The build architecture of legacy C/C++ software systems, groups program files in directories to represent logical components. The interfaces of these components are loosely defined by a set of header files that are typically grouped in one common include directory. As legacy systems evolve, these interfaces decay, which contribute to an increase in the build time and the number of conflict in parallel developments. This paper presents an empirical study of the build architecture of large commercial software systems, introduces a restructuring approach, based on Reflexion models and automatic clustering, and reports on a case study using VIM open source editor

Μελέτη της συσχέτισης της κεφαλαιακής διάρθρωσης και κερδοφορίας των ελληνικών τραπεζών την περίοδο 2014-17

Η κεφαλαιακή διάρθρωση και η κερδοφορία είναι δυο στοιχεία σημαντικά για τη βιωσιμότητα των τραπεζικών ιδρυμάτων. Σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης είναι να εξετάσει την κεφαλαιακή διάρθρωση, την κεφαλαιακή επάρκεια και τη διανομή μερισμάτων, των τεσσάρων ελληνικών συστημικών τραπεζών για την περίοδο 2014-17. Τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης έδειξαν ότι οι ελληνικές συστημικές τράπεζες μετά την τελευταία ανακεφαλαιοποίηση το 2015 παρουσιάζουν αύξηση του δείκτη της κεφαλαιακής τους επάρκειας, ωστόσο, παρουσιάζουν ζημιές και δε διένειμαν μέρισμα.Capital structure and profitability are two important elements for the sustainability of banking institutions. The purpose of this study is to examine the capital structure, capital adequacy and dividend distribution of the four Greek systemic banks for the period 2014- 17. The results of the study showed that the Greek systemic banks after the last recapitalization in 2015 show an increase in their capital adequacy ratio, however, they suffered losses and did not pay a dividen

Level-Wise Exploration of Linked and Big Data Guided by Controlled Vocabularies and Folksonomies

This paper proposes a level-wise exploration of linked and big data guided by controlled vocabularies and folksonomies. We leverage techniques from both Reconstructability Analysis and cataloging and classification research to provide solutions that will structure and store large amounts of metadata, identify links between data, and explore data structures to produce models that will facilitate effective information retrieval