Innovative Information Technology Applications Research Articles

Innovation in Healthcare Through Information Technologies: A Review

The application of innovative information technologies in healthcare can definitely subside the present limitations of the healthcare industry through better affability and accessibility. It encompasses the use of artificial intelligence, big data, biomedical research including drug invention, medical education, innovative/robotic surgical technology, cutting-edge equipment, telemedicine, virtual consultation, online supportive platforms, etc. The present review is an attempt to identify and analyse the impact of these innovative information technologies and explore the potential scope of improvement in the Indian healthcare system. The database search was performed in Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar and Wiley Online Library. Initially, 319 articles related to innovative digital healthcare technologies have been sourced. However, 105 articles were taken into consideration for the review due to various exclusion criteria. Through an extensive review of previously published articles, the present study concludes that undoubtedly information technologies and their applications aid providers reduce inefficiencies, increasing quality, increasing access, removing human errors, reducing costs and making diagnosis, treatment and medicine more personalised for patients. It has really improved the quality, quick and convenient healthcare system.

ETHICAL ASPECTS OF THE USE OF INNOVATIVE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES IN CLINICAL TRIALS

A clinical trial, according to the WHO, “is any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. Interventions include but are not restricted to drugs, cells and other biological products, surgical procedures, radiological procedures, devices, behavioural treatments, process-of-care changes, preventive care, etc”.
 The application of innovative information technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics in clinical trial processes is a new challenge. Such systems are useful tools, and promise to enhance the healthcare management, and to optimize clinical outcomes and economic effectiveness. However, their use raises ethical and social issues.
 In this direction, the European Commission in June 2018 set up the High Level Expert Group on AI, which offers guidance on a comprehensive framework for trustworthy AI. Trustworthy AI consists of three components, which should be met during the entire life cycle of the system: (1) it should be lawful, (2) it should be ethical, and (3) it should be robust.
 In this article we used the focus group methodology to obtain information from experts about the ethical aspects raised when innovative information technologies like artificial intelligence and big data analytics are used in clinical trials. Feedback from the experts was also gathered regarding the usage of the proposed guidelines for trustworthy AI, as an evaluation tool for the particular case of clinical trials.

Review of previous applications of innovative information technologies in construction health and safety

Abstract Construction industry is one of the most hazardous industries to work in. This problem is further exacerbated by the fact that safety performance improvement is stagnating. Information technologies (ITs) are however identified as one of the most promising methods of improving the performance of construction safety. The goal of this paper was therefore to present previous research in the application of innovative ITs to the field of construction health and safety (H&S), classified by their underlying technology and application, to identify research gaps, as well as to evaluate and describe the potential of their implementation into construction safety practice. To achieve the set goals, the research consisted of identifying and studying the existing research published in the leading journals in the field of construction H&S. The review identified 72 papers dealing with development or application of innovative ITs. The research had also identified several research gaps, which have a significant impact on the construction safety practice. These gaps focus on the construction phase, while neglecting earlier project phases; industry and project levels, while neglecting construction activity and task levels; building projects, while neglecting infrastructure projects and specific hazard types, while neglecting a universal approach. Focussing research effort on these gaps would benefit all construction safety stakeholders but mostly the prominent contractors and H&S professionals. Furthermore, recommendations for directing research focus on solving the identified issues are given in this paper.

Machine learning gesture analysis of yoga for exergame development

Many successful and innovative information technology applications use gestures as input. These programs span a wide variety of genres, platforms and input technologies, from the touch screen of a smart phone to the full-motion, the natural input of devices like the Kinect Sensor. Visual Gesture Builder, a data-driven machine-learning solution for gesture detection, was used to capture useful yoga gestures with high accuracy. This gesture analysis technology is being explored for incorporation into exergames for personalised medical interventions. The research goal is to test whether a machine learning algorithm in a basic computer video exergame can assess yoga skill acquisition in targeted select populations as a means to promote healthy physical activity.

Statistical Assessment of Yoga Posture Acquisition using a 3D Room Sensor

Many innovative information technology applications use gestures as input. We are exploring gesture analysis for incorporation into exergames for personalized medical interventions using yoga as therapy (YT). PURPOSE: A data-driven machine learning solution for gesture detection was used to classify captured yoga poses with high accuracy. The research goal is to test whether a machine learning algorithm in a basic computer video exergame can assess yoga skill acquisition in targeted select populations as a means to promote healthy physical activity. METHODS: Convenience sample of 20 adult students, male and female of any race/ethnicity, were briefly instructed and shown poses to perform, while recorded by the Kinect attached to a PC. Three yoga sessions (pre-test, mid-way and a post-test) were captured during the regularly scheduled yoga class which met twice weekly for 75 minutes, over a 10-week period. RESULTS: We recorded 6 yoga instructors while performing a series of yoga postures, and recorded clips were tagged or labelled in all of the frames in the recordings that defined a yoga gesture by consensus of two yoga instructors. Default settings produced solutions with high True Positives (99.5%) and low False Positives (0.03%) for most yoga postures sampled. Depth stream and skeleton coordinates for the 20 participants were acquired and analyzed against the previous trained solution. Analysis of summary statistics was done for five yoga poses comparing initial, mid-session, and final session captures. Sensitivity showed consistent trends for Mountain, Forward Bend, and Upward Salute. For Mountain, Sensitivity went from 0.78 to 0.87, while the expert test clip scored 0.94. Informedness also showed similar consistent trends for those poses. Based on these results the higher sensitivity score predicts greater training and closer the postures were to the “gold standard”. CONCLUSIONS: Gesture analysis for yoga alignment training may be a useful tool for the development of home and clinical yoga therapy for hard to reach populations. The experimental exergame developed here provides a tool that scores the performance of yoga postures and provides improvement metrics. Our plans are to target special aging populations with YT, and study the potential effects of body mass and age on posture alignment and limb stretch.

ПРОСУВАННЯ ТУРИСТИЧНОГО ПРОДУКТУ М. ВІННИЦЯ НА ТУРИСТИЧНОМУ РИНКУ УКРАЇНИ

Goal. The purpose of this article is investigation of promotion of Vinnitsa city tourism product on the tourist market of Ukraine. Method. The methodological basis of the research is the basis of scientific dialectics. The main methods of research are statistical, analytical, comparative-geographical, graphic, formalization method, SWOT analysis, PEST analysis. Results. The features of Vinnitsa tourist products promotion on the Ukrainian tourism market are revealed. The tourist potential of Vinnitsa is analyzed. The most visited tourist destinations are highlighted. The monitoring of the tourist market of Vinnitsa is carried out. The main indicators of tourist activity in Vinnitsa city in comparison with similar regional centers of Ukraine are investigated. The competitive advantages and weaknesses of Vinnitsa among similar regional centers of Ukraine are determined. The prospective types of tourism of Vinnitsa are determined. These types are competitive on the domestic and international markets. The PEST analysis of tourism development in Vinnitsa as well as analysis of Vinnitsa tourist products promotion on the Ukrainian market is carried out. The opportunities and threats of development of city tourism in political, economic, social and technological fields are allocated. The wide application of innovative information technologies in the tourism field of Vinnitsa city is grounded. There are: usage of audio guides, information screens, interactive mapping, rental of vehicles and caressing, free printed guides and handbooks with city information. The models of development and implementation of the tourist cluster of Vinnitsa based on the innovative (“Roshen” fountain) and traditional historical and cultural (museum of M. Pirogov) tourist destinations are proposed. The main economic and social effects from the creation and development of the tourist cluster are outlined. The marketing measures of tourist activity development in Vinnitsa are analyzed also. The forecasting of main indicators transformation of tourist industry development in Vinnitsa city till 2020 is presented. The complex of measures, which will allow implementing the priorities of Vinnitsa tourist products promotion on the Ukrainian market based on above mentioned forecasts, is offered. The SWOT-analysis of Vinnitsa tourist product promotion on the Ukrainian market was carried out to determine the main strategic planning priorities in tourism field of the city. The strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Vinnitsa tourist products promotion on the Ukrainian market are highlighted. The suggestions on development and formation of the tourist brand of the city are presented. The priorities of tourist city market development as well as priorities of Vinnitsa tourist products promotion on the Ukrainian market are offered. Scientific novelty. Scientific novelty consists in the development of a strategy for promotion of Vinnitsa city tourism product on the tourist market of Ukraine in modern conditions. Practical significance. This study is the basis for a large-scale and comprehensive analysis of the promotion of Vinnitsa city tourism product on the tourist market of Ukraine using the results of the SWOT analysis and PEST analysis. These results will be the basis for further studies of the promotion of tourist product within other local tourist destinations, regions, and territorial and recreational complexes of Ukraine.

Semantic Web and reasoning for cultural heritage and digital libraries

Cultural heritage and digital libraries are two closely related disciplines that traditionally benefit by the application of innovative information technologies. Currently, Semantic Web research has also grown satisfyingly mature to enable achieving tangible results and added-value in both these knowledgeintensive domains, in spite of the critical challenges of knowledge acquisition and reasoning about complex data. The purpose of this special issue is to put together a selection of high-quality research and development efforts in these areas that can offer an insight about the current state-of-the-art to the interested reader. Two papers in the issue deal with the idea of repurposing the FRBR standard towards semantic annotation and management of bibliographic records, revealing its importance and applicability for library curators in the Semantic Web context. “Supporting Multilingual Bibliographic Resource Discovery with Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records” presents an FRBR-based service that enhances existing on-line library catalogs in a more semantically rich and relevant way to the user. Moreover, “FRBRML: A FRBR-based Framework for Semantic Interoperability” proposes a framework upon which legacy bibliographic data can be transformed into meaningful semantic descriptions based on the FRBR model. Semantic interoperability is a top-priority issue for cultural heritage applications, due to the need to aggregate legacy and/or disperse data within knowledgeaware services. In “Instance-based Semantic Interoperability in the Cultural Heritage” the authors thoroughly review and evaluate ontology matching methods in cultural heritage scenarios and present their lessons-learned from their experience with the STITCH project. In addition, “A Systemic Approach for Effective Semantic Access to Cultural Content” discusses a system for mapping proprietary metadata schemas to domain models within the framework of Europeana, and discusses reasoning-based techniques and optimizations for their discovery. The Semantic Web can enable novel dimensions in cultural information management and utilization. This is exemplified in the paper “How to Deal with Massively Heterogeneous Cultural Heritage Data – Lessons Learned in CultureSampo”. Here, the authors give insights to transforming and publishing existing cross-domain cultural heritage data of multiple forms as linked data, and to maintaining interoperability at a semantic level, while providing novel user interfaces for their exploitation. We are grateful to the various authors that trusted their work with this special issue. Thanks are due to professors Pascal Hitzler and Krzysztof Janowicz, Semantic Web Journal Editors-in-Chief, for their helpful remarks and support in preparing this special issue, and to the reviewers that readily shared their expertise to help make this issue successful. To what extend this may have been achieved, the reader will be the absolute judge. Semantic Web 3 (2012) 1 DOI 10.3233/SW-2012-0050 IOS Press

The Influence of Creative Style and Climate on Software Development Team Creativity: An Exporatory Study

Organizations implement innovative information technology (IT) applications to help them achieve competitive advantage. This exploratory research investigates the role of creative style and climate in work creativity on teams striving to develop innovative IT designs. Creative style was measured with the Kirton Adaption-Innovation Instrument (KAI), and creative climate and work creativity were measured with the Work Environment Inventory (WEI). As hypothesized, the study found 1) a positive relationships between creative style and work creativity, 2) a positive relationship between creative climate stimulants and work creativity, 3) a negative relationship between creative climate obstacles and work creativity, 4) no relationship between creative style and climate, and 5) that creative climate stimulants were significant determinants of work creativity. However, the hypothesis that creative style would predict work creativity was not supported. This research can help those developing innovative IT applications better understand the role creative style and climate play on work teams.

Application and development of electronic books in an e‐Gutenberg age

Since Gutenberg invented printing in the fifteenth century, the book has become one of the most important information carriers for knowledge distribution, academic research, cultural heritage, and preservation. With advancements in technology both of electronic publishing and universal distribution and access on the Internet, the electronic book is supposed to become another revolution for information dissemination. This paper examines electronic books by giving a review of their historical development, definition and scope, characteristics and constraints, typology, related issues for library services, and user preferences. Consequently, this paper finds that electronic books only bring several evolutionary changes to the current operations of publishing and distribution in comparison with traditional books. The electronic book is just as much a consequence of the application of innovative information technologies as Gutenberg’s were for paper books. A revolutionary change is still required for the electronic book to become ubiquitous.

The NASA/Florida Minority Institution Entrepreneurial Partnership: An Infrastructure to Enable Technology Transfer to Small Businesses

The NASA/Florida Minority Institution Entrepreneurial Partnership (FMIEP) represents a new infrastructure for technology transfer based on an alliance between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the Technological Research and Development Authority (TRDA), and four Minority Institutions in the State of Florida. This paper describes this partnership, their key activities, and some of the initial results accomplished. The NASA-FMIEP was developed in order to assist in the technological advancement of small businesses through the support of existing federal programs. Many of these programs are underutilized, particularly by small and minority-owned businesses. One of these programs aims to transfer advanced NASA technologies to the private sector. The FMIEP supports Kennedy Space Center by identifying new potential markets for technologies developed at the Center and by developing innovative information technology applications necessary to support the efforts of technology transfer. In addition, the FMIEP';s business thrust includes assisting Kennedy Space Center in promoting the participation by small business in the Technology Outreach Program and the Small Business Innovation Research Program. To date, one NASA technology has been successfully commercialized, seven hundred businesses have been made aware of these federal business-assistance programs, and four companies received important assistance that enabled them to become SBIR winners.

Performance effects of innovative IT applications over time

There is evidence to indicate that the effects of new product and service innovations change over time as a result of learning and competition. However, there have not been any studies of the effects of learning and competition on the impacts of innovative information technology (IT) applications. This paper presents the results of an extensive study of the effects of very early investments in automated teller machines (ATMs) by banks, on market share and overall bank performance. The study spans the period from 1971 to 1984 and includes 2534 banks from across the United States. The results indicate that the impacts of early ATM investments can best be described by exponential and logistic models, indicating that the benefits were very small at first, but increased rapidly after a few years. In addition, the benefits obtained by the earliest adopters were larger than those obtained by the banks that adopted later. These results have important implications for IT investment decisions. The results also suggest that cross-sectional studies, conducted soon after an application is installed, may fail to find benefits even if large benefits are obtained.

Rewards to Investors in Innovative Information Technology Applications: First Movers and Early Followers in ATMs

Innovative information technology (IT) applications are risky investments. Unless successful applications provide innovators with exceptional returns, these investments would not be justified. Other than a few case studies, there is no evidence that the first movers of successful IT applications are rewarded for the risks they bear. We present the results of an extensive longitudinal study of the effects of early adoption of automated teller machines (ATMs) by banks, on market share and income. The study spans the period from 1971 to 1983 and includes 2,534 banks from across the United States. Results indicate that the earliest adopters (1971 through 1973) were able to increase market share, with market share gains being sustained for a long time. Banks that adopted ATMs between 1974 and 1979, however, did not gain market share. The results also indicate that early ATM adoption enabled banks to increase income and income gains were sustained for a long time. These findings support case study evidence that early adoption of new IT applications can lead to long-term competitive advantages for firms.