Emergency business management and internet connectivity

Multilingual dictionaries on mobile devices with voice inputs generally require Internet connectivity, and such an application is resource intensive as well. The proposed cloudlet-based dictionary solution uses a system design where a nearby computer is used as a cloudlet to relieve the mobile device of most of the computational load. It does not require the type of expensive hardware and connectivity needed for classical cloud-based solutions. Our prototype application supports six languages for translation, but the framework, and the vocabularies used, are easily extensible and configurable. A user of our system can input a word in one language by typing or utterance, and get the corresponding word in the desired language. Our work does not require continuous internet connectivity and is not affected by WAN latency. With continuous connectivity being a luxury, this solution can be used to provide language translation in scenarios with limited Internet connectivity or bandwidth, and also in specialized and smaller settings where the complexity and expense of a standard cloud deployment is not feasible.

Business education for dental professionals: How much is enough?

In an increasingly connected and dynamic world, most organizations are continuously evolving their business objectives, processes and operations through ongoing transformation and renewal, while their external environment is changing simultaneously. In such a setting, it is imperative for organizations to continuously monitor their performance and adjust when there is a need. The technology that delivers this monitoring capability is called Business Intelligence (BI), and over the years it has come to play a central role in business operations and governance. Unfortunately, there is a huge cognitive gap between the strategic business level view of goals, processes, and performance on one hand, and the technological/implementation view of databases, networks, and computational processing offered by BI tools on the other.In this paper, we present a model-based framework for bridging this cognitive gap and demonstrate its usefulness through a case study involving organizational transformation. The business view is modeled in terms of the Business Intelligence Model (BIM), while the data collection and reporting infrastructure is expressed in terms of the Conceptual Integration Model (CIM). The case study involves a hospital implementing a strategic initiative to reduce antibiotic resistant infections.Keywordsbusiness intelligencemodel-baseddata integrationorganizational transformation

Contactless devices and smart cards have been widely in use in daily life transactions for a long time. At first, those systems were designed to work fully offline for both the reader and the card side. With technological improvements, Internet connection can be available even in very small embedded devices (IoT devices). As a result, current systems have connected devices as a part of the transaction design and so keeping the system operational all the time relies on the availability of continuous Internet connectivity of such devices. After the invention of NFC technology, contactless cards in our wallets are being replaced with virtual cards in mobile handsets. Regular contactless cards never had the capability to connect the Internet, whereas almost all of the modern mobile handsets routinely access the Internet. This has resulted in a trend shift in contactless transaction designs. Offline verification operations are being replaced with online operation where the system uses the connection capabilities of the mobile handset. However, the connection capability either in the mobile handset or in the transaction acceptance reader is not completely stable yet to rely on. Therefore, in this paper, we examine such connection loss problems in IoT devices and we offer a connection sharing mechanism through NFC so that the transaction can be completed if either one of these two entities has the Internet connection. Our proposed mechanism covers both reader-card communication and also peer-to-peer communication of NFC.KeywordsNFCInternet of ThingsConnection sharingOnline transaction

With the rapid development of digital technologies, responsible AI has become a critical focus for ensuring ethical and socially conscious advancements in business and operations management. The integration of responsible AI practices in business groups’ digital transformations is essential to mitigate potential risks and maximize the positive impact on operational efficiency, supply chain performance, and subsidiary performance. This study aims to examine the consequences and mechanisms through which responsible group digitalization influences business group’s operation management, as manifested in subsidiary performance within the context of the digital economy. Analyzing data from 202 affiliated subsidiaries, we examine the role of HRM collaboration and technological turbulence in facilitating group digitalization. This study enriches the operations management literature and expands the application of ethical and responsible AI practices in digitalization by investigating the relationship between business group digitalization and business operations. Furthermore, this study provides practical implications pertaining to how ethical and responsible practices can guide group digital transformations, business operations and enhance the performance of subsidiaries.

Medical assistance remains out of reach for many individuals in areas where hospitals, clinics, and reliable internet are scarce. Conventional AI-driven diagnostic tools depend on continuous connectivity and substantial computational power, making them impractical in low-resource environments. This study introduces a self-contained health advisory chatbot designed to function without an internet connection and operate on devices with minimal hardware capabilities. The chatbot employs a streamlined machine learning model, allowing it to evaluate user symptoms and provide preliminary health guidance efficiently. To enhance accuracy, the system incorporates an interactive questioning strategy, adjusting its responses dynamically based on user inputs. Unlike cloud-based diagnostic solutions, this chatbot runs entirely on local hardware, ensuring reliability even in isolated settings. Performance assessments indicate that this approach successfully delivers meaningful guidance with minimal processing requirements, making it a viable solution for populations with limited access to medical resources. Keywords: Autonomous Health Advisor, Offline AI, Low-Resource Computing, Interactive Diagnosis, Medical Access Solutions, Lightweight Machine Learning, Adaptive Questioning.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is one of the nation’s leading drivers of disability and health care utilization, with elevated prevalence among individuals with lower education, income, and racial/ethnic minorities. Health information technology (HIT) holds vast potential for helping patients, providers, and payers to address T2D and the skyrocketing rates of chronic illness and associated health care costs. Patient portals to electronic health records (EHRs) serve as a gateway to consumer use of HIT. We found that disparities in portal use portend growing T2D disparities. Little progress has been made in addressing identified barriers to technology adoption, especially among populations with elevated risk of T2D. Patients often lack digital literacy skills and continuous connectivity and fear loss of the relationship with providers. Providers may experience structural disincentives to promoting patient use of HIT and apply hidden biases that inhibit portal use. Health care systems often provide inadequate training to patients and providers in use of HIT, and lack resources devoted to obtaining and optimizing use of data generated by HIT. Lastly, technology-related barriers include inadequate consideration of user perspectives, lack of evidence for patient-focused apps, and lack of features to enable providers and health care systems to readily obtain aggregate data to improve care and facilitate research. After discussing these barriers in detail, we propose possible solutions and areas where further research is needed to ensure that individuals and health care systems obtain the full benefit of the nation’s planned $38 billion HIT investment. A digital inclusion framework sheds new light on barriers posed for patients with social health inequalities. We have determined that partnerships with community organizations focused on digital inclusion could help health systems explore and study new approaches, such as universal screening and referral of patients for digital skills, health literacy, and Internet connectivity.

In environments where internet connectivity is limited or disrupted, ensuring continuous access to personalized information presents significant challenges. This chapter introduces a distributed collaborative recommender system designed for opportunistic networks, which function without a centralized server. Mobile devices communicate directly, enabling localized data collection and processing through peer-to-peer interactions. This decentralized approach addresses issues of data sparsity, privacy, and scalability by keeping data processing on the user’s device, thus minimizing third-party data storage. The system’s flexibility allows it to dynamically adapt to varying network densities and mobility patterns, making it well-suited for remote areas, disaster recovery scenarios, and congested environments. Core elements such as communication protocols and recommendation algorithms are explored, demonstrating the system’s potential to provide scalable, privacy-preserving, and efficient personalized content in resource-constrained conditions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced all of us to live, work, learn, and communicate online, making reliable and affordable access to the internet indispensable. However, those who are already disadvantaged are suffering greater digital exclusion during this time, in the form of inadequate internet connectivity. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst for positive regulatory change, since it has presented countries with an opportunity to deploy different regulatory and policy tools to improve internet access. Through the discussion of four cases – Panama, South Africa, Kenya, and the State of Kerala (in India) – this paper looks at the steps taken by governments to meet the increased demand for internet during the pandemic. It also examines the regulatory changes that may be necessary to nudge mobile network operators to ensure continued internet connectivity.The paper summarises the different approaches that have met with success in the four cases in maintaining and improving internet connectivity during the pandemic. Governments and regulators can allocate spectrum temporarily; freeze internet and mobile payments on a temporary basis; prohibit a price increase; implement tax measures; support telecom infrastructure providers; use the unutilised money in the national Universal Access Fund; provide zero-rated access to websites (after taking into consideration certain factors); and monitor network capacity regularly. Countries should also adequately consider the time frame of their policies. These options can form part of a country’s policy toolkit during an emergency, and can be deployed depending on the local context and economic, political, and social factors.

Performance evaluation of user applications in the ITS scenario: An analytical assessment of the NeMHIP

EVMCSDLT: Electric vehicle mobile charging system using distributed ledger technology.

With the rapid growth in the number of mobile devices, such as cellular phones, PDAs and laptops, the need for seamless and ubiquitous Internet connectivity is tangible. Vehicular ad-hoc network (VANET) is a rapidly developing technology, which makes vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication feasible. However, when a vehicle travels from one point of attachment to another, handoff delays and provision of seamless connectivity are considered as important issues. Ubiquitous and integrated Internet connectivity can be achieved if on road moving vehicles are connected. However, when vehicle density is small and/or vehicle velocities are different, end users may suffer from a high level of connection failure. IP mobility protocols are designed by Internet Engineering Task Force to provide acceptable levels of continuous Internet connectivity, maintaining mobile node communications as they travel amongst points of attachments. However, the current IP mobility approaches applied on VANET did not resolve the connection failure issues efficiently. Therefore, in this paper a new effective solution is proposed in order to eliminate the large amount of handover latency and eventually high packet loss ratio.

Studies on Asian business clans have highlighted the importance of networks in business operations. However, there has been less attention on social ties as an instrument to influence and maintain business ties. Despite being present and contributing substantially to the Pakistan economy, little is known about Talukaat, a form of business clan. Indeed, its role in business performance notwithstanding, there is a paucity of knowledge regarding its nature and formation. In this regard, this study seeks to contribute to knowledge about Asian business clans particularly by exploring Talukaat in the context of the textile industry in Pakistan. To examine Talukaat, this thesis sought to answer three exploratory research questions which were drawn from the literature (i) to develop an understanding of what Talukaats are (ii) how they operate and (iii) how they compare to other Asian business clans. The thesis utilised Social Network Theory as a theoretical lens to examine Talukaat. To answer the research questions and offer detailed perspectives on Talukaat, an inductive approach was adopted. This approach, together with the epistemological stance of interpretivism involved the use of semi-structured interviews, observation guides, and a snowball sampling technique. This research methodology was used to explore the in-depth knowledge of business managers operating in Pakistan’s textiles industry. The findings suggest that business ties are underpinned by social ties, and the two are inseparable. It also came to light that, networks formed in businesses operate through shared social values, preventing opportunism and maintaining solidarity in them. From the findings, a definition of Talukaat was drawn to highlight the main features of the network: a closed but informal network that relies on direct social ties based on a number of constructs including kinship, community, friendship, trust, collectivism, reciprocity and facilitative professionalism which is influenced by shared social values. Moreover, the findings provide a better understanding of the role Talukaat plays in the textile industry in Pakistan. A comparison of Talukaat network to three other Asian clans: Japanese Keiretsu, Chinese Guanxi and Arabic Wasta revealed that, all three are closed networks implying there is limited access of ‘outsiders’ to the network. Compared to Chinese Guanxi, Talukaat showed extensive influence over business decisions whereas, Japanese Keiretsu and Arabic Wasta do not. The thesis makes important contributions to knowledge by exploring Talukaat, and in so doing adding an additional facet to the examination of business clan networks, and more importantly from an Asian perspective. The thesis has also revealed that managerial decision making in the Pakistani textile industry is influenced by Talukaat and this has wider implications on business networks and operations.

Inclusive economic growth refers to economic development that promotes equity, benefiting all segments of society, reducing inequality, and addressing unemployment. Indonesia, as one of the world's largest archipelago nations, faces challenges of uneven population distribution and varying socio-economic backgrounds, leading to persistent issues of inequality and unemployment. Telecommunication infrastructure plays a crucial role by establishing information and communication networks that can contribute to accelerating economic equality. This study aims to examine the impact of telecommunications infrastructure on inclusive economic growth in Indonesia, utilizing panel data from 34 provinces spanning the years 2011 to 2021 and employing the Fixed Effect Model (FEM) methodology. The findings demonstrate that indicators such as base transceiver station (BTS), cellular telephone usage, and internet connectivity have a positive effect on per capita income growth, while simultaneously reducing unemployment, inequality, and raising the inclusive economic development index (“Indeks Pembangunan Ekonomi Inklusif-IPEI”). Moreover, the effects of telecommunications infrastructure vary across different sub-regions, highlighting disparities in infrastructure development and variations in technological expertise across regions.

Future of publishing: Perils, pitfalls and opportunities