Consistent Information Flow Research Articles

DIGITAL INFORMATION’S INFLUENCE ON FORMING TOURISM EVENT IMPRESSIONS: THE INTERPLAY OF GENDER AND TOURISM TYPES

Digital information plays a crucial role in shaping tourists' expectations and impressions of potential destinations and activities. This study explores how perceptions of digital information vary across different tourism experience types (adventure, leisure, cultural) and examines the complex interactions between digital information perception and tourism engagement. A survey was conducted among tourists actively participating in various tourism types to collect data on their digital information consumption habits and their influence on their overall perceptions. The findings reveal that leisure and adventure tourists demonstrate a stronger initial reliance on digital information compared to cultural tourists. However, all tourism types exhibit negative interaction effects, suggesting diminishing returns of digital information as engagement increases. Specifically, leisure and adventure tourism show stronger positive main effects on digital information perception compared to cultural tourism. Interestingly, leisure and adventure tourism also display more pronounced negative interaction effects than cultural tourism. These insights suggest that destination marketers should employ nuanced, personalized strategies catered to specific tourism types, considering the varying levels of digital information reliance and the changing needs of tourists as their engagement progresses. For leisure and adventure tourism, this may involve front-loading comprehensive digital information, while cultural tourism may benefit from a more consistent information flow throughout the experience. These tailored approaches could enhance destination brand affinity and improve the overall tourist experience across different tourism segments.

Household preparedness for emergencies during COVID-19 pandemic among the general population of Nepal.

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy affecting numerous people's livelihoods. Despite preventive behaviors and advancements of vaccination, the risk of infection still exists due to the emergence of new variants of concern and the changing behavior of the SARS CoV-2 virus. Therefore, preparedness measures are crucial for any emergency. In such situations, it is important to understand preparedness behavior at the household level, as it aids in reducing the risk of transmission and the severity of the disease before accessing any external support. Our study aimed to evaluate household preparedness level for emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic and its relationship with socio-demographic characteristics among the general population of Nepal. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey. Descriptive statistics, a Chi-square test, and logistic regression model were used for analysis. The study demonstrated that 59.2% had a good preparedness level. Good preparedness was observed among the respondents living in urban areas, those who were married, had white-collar occupations, high-education with graduate and above and high-income levels with monthly income >NPR 20,000, and were young-aged. The study findings underscore the need to develop tailored programs on preparedness prioritizing vulnerable population. It further highlights the importance of proper and consistent information flow, resources distribution, capacitating human resources and better health surveillance.

Application Software That Can Prepare for Disasters Based on Patient-Participatory Evidence: K-DiPS: A Verification Report.

This paper describes the design and function of an application that enables vulnerable people to provide medical information for use in disasters, and presents the results of an initial test of its usability in Nankoku, Japan. The application consists of two parts: K-DiPS Solo, a smartphone app, and K-DiPS Online, a web application for disaster management by local governments. We asked vulnerable people or their family caregivers to enter medical information into the app on their smartphones and connected this information to a local government application as a demonstration of a disaster response solution that manages information. We targeted a group of 14 healthy older people. The user information that they entered into the app was stored in the cloud via the communication system of the mobile phone. A ledger of vulnerable people for use in the event of a disaster was automatically created on the web application using the information supplied by the individuals. Local government staff corrected the location information, if necessary, by dragging points plotted on a map. This disaster response solution was shown to connect individuals to government offices, and to enable a consistent flow of information from patient details to stocking of supplies, and for simulation, training, and response during disasters.

Algorithmic-Aided Approach for the Design and Evaluation of Curvilinear Steel Bar Structures of Unit Roofs.

Rationalization in structural design in the field of steel structures mostly consists inreducing structural material. The aim of this work was to develop an algorithmic-aided, original and practical approach to shaping curvilinear steel bar structures of modular roofs, enabling their optimization. The first stage of shaping consists in creating algorithms that define the structures of shelters made of four roof units. Algorithmic definitions of the structures made it possible to obtain many variants of the roof structures with the adopted preliminary criteria. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the individual variants, the genetic optimizations of the structures’ forms were carried out. Assuming that the structures were loaded with self-weights, the cross-sections of the structures’ members were optimized with the permissible deflections, while the structures’ weights were the optimization criteria. This allowed us to eliminate the design variants unfavorable in terms of shape and weight. In contrast, the structures with the most advantageous properties were then optimized for weight under snow and wind loads. The research allowed us to notice how the shapes of the structures influenced their efficiency. The dual approach proposed for shaping, which takes advantage of the generative design and consistent flow of information during shaping, allowed us to achieve better solutions compared to the traditional approach.

Motor Control Network Effective Connectivity in Regulating Muscle Force Output

Objective of the study: This study aimed at characterizing output features of the higher-order motor control centers (hoMCCs), including secondary (premotor cortex [Pre] and supplementary motor area [SMA]) and association (prefrontal cortex [PFC]) motor regions to the primary motor cortex (M1) during graded force tasks. It is well known that one of the major roles of the primary motor cortex (M1) is controlling motor output such as muscle force. However, it is unclear how the hoMCCs interact with M1 in regulating voluntary muscle contractions. Methods: fMRI data was acquired during graded force tasks and fMRI-based effective connectivity (EC) and muscle force analyses were performed to study the relationship between hoMCCs-M1 effective connectivity and voluntarily exerted handgrip force. Results: The results show that there is a consistent information flow from the hoMCCs to M1 under all force conditions, suggesting a hierarchical control mechanism in the brain in regulating voluntary muscle force. Only the premotor cortex exhibited a significant role in mediating the level of force production through its EC with M1 but that role diminished when the exerted force was high, suggesting perhaps a ceiling and/or fatigue effect on the EC. A flip in the direction of EC from the primary sensory cortex (S1) to the hoMCCs (PFC, SMA, and Pre) at lower force levels while at higher forces EC was observed from the hoMCCs to S1. Conclusion: The hoMCCs regulate M1 output to produce desired voluntary muscle force. Only the Pre-to-M1 connectivity strength directly correlates with the force level especially from low to moderate levels. The hoMCCs are involved in modulating higher force production likely by strengthening M1 output and downgrading inhibition from S1 to M1.

Assessing the Harmony of Supply Chain Actors in Live Animal Export: The Case of Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

This article aims to study the harmony of supply chain actors in Live Animal Export at Gurage Zone, Ethiopia. This problem is relevant and researches in this sense can help policies that aim to improve the functioning of supply chains. Harmony of supply chain is the collaboration level of supply chain participants which is measured in terms of common planning and action guidelines they have, how they share information and generally the overall relations they have one another. Being descriptive in design, the study has targeted main live animals supply chain actors who are 719 producers, 6 traders and 2 exporters in Gurage zone from whom 257 producers were randomly chosen as a sample and all the traders and exporter have been used directly from whom questionnaires were collected from. The findings have proved that there is relatively consistent flow of information throughout the supply chain actors in live animals export in Gurage zone. Additionally there have been seen that there is a culture of planning jointly among the chain actors followed by having common updating means in case of plan fails to meet the expectations even though there exists problems of sitting for evaluation of actions made by the chain elements which is the key for future improvement of the export business. Finally it has been found that the overall harmony of the chain actors is attractive with some reservations.

Using mHealth to Provide Mobile App Users With Visualization of Health Checkup Data and Educational Videos on Lifestyle-Related Diseases: Methodological Framework for Content Development.

BackgroundThe number of people with lifestyle-related diseases continues to increase worldwide. Improving lifestyle behavior with health literacy may be the key to address lifestyle-related diseases. The delivery of educational videos using mobile health (mHealth) services can replace the conventional way of educating individuals, and visualization can replace the provision of health checkup data.ObjectiveThis paper aimed to describe the development of educational content for MIRAMED, a mobile app aimed at improving users’ lifestyle behaviors and health literacy for lifestyle-related diseases.MethodsAll videos were based on a single unified framework to provide users with a consistent flow of information. The framework was later turned into a storyboard. The final video contents were created based on this storyboard and further discussions with leading experts and specialist physicians on effective communication with app users about lifestyle-related diseases.ResultsThe app uses visualization of personal health checkup data and educational videos on lifestyle-related diseases based on the current health guidelines, scientific evidence, and expert opinions of leading specialist physicians in the respective fields. A total of 8 videos were created for specific lifestyle-related diseases affecting 8 organs: (1) brain–cerebrovascular disorder, (2) eyes–diabetic retinopathy, (3) lungs–chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (4) heart–ischemic heart disease, (5) liver–fatty liver, (6) kidneys–chronic kidney disease (diabetic kidney disease), (7) blood vessels–peripheral arterial disease, and (8) nerves–diabetic neuropathy.ConclusionsProviding enhanced mHealth education using novel digital technologies to visualize conventional health checkup data and lifestyle-related diseases is an innovative strategy. Future studies to evaluate the efficacy of the developed content are planned.

Interval travel times for robust synchronization in city logistics vehicle routing

We propose a consistent information flow to integrate Interval Travel Times (ITT) into a city logistics vehicle routing problem with satellites. The consistent information flow encompasses the derivation of ITT, the usage of ITT in robust shortest path computation and the integration of ITT into robust vehicle routing. Based on the results of the information flow, robust meeting times of first-tier and second-tier vehicles are created. We evaluate the approach with large real-world traffic data sets. We observe that the integration of ITT leads to first-tier routes that are reasonably efficient and robust.

New frontiers, challenges, and opportunities in integration of design and control for enterprise-wide sustainability

Enterprise-wide sustainability involves aspects from molecular-scale design to macroscale facilities. Typically, these aspects are treated as independent sub-problems. Maintaining consistent information flow among the sub-problems in an integrated fashion provides additional opportunities in pursuing the ultimate goals of sustainable environmentally-friendly processes. Integration of design and control represents the core and foremost component of such an integrated approach. In this study, the major challenges of the core problem are classified. Perspectives on the advances, new frontiers, and emerging areas in this field are also addressed. Emerging trends such as advanced techniques to connect the sub-problems in the chemical supply chain, incorporation of expert decisions and sophisticated modeling techniques will be discussed. Much more work is still needed to determine a comprehensive vision of the integrated problem. Such achievement requires efficient programming techniques, mature data analysis procedures, and high-performance computing environments.

TU Wien Pilot Factory Industry 4.0

Abstract Driven by present megatrends like digitization and demographic change, Learning Factories all over the world are gaining recognition in science, industry and society. In these collaborative learning environments, students and interested trainees from industry acquire methodological, social and personal competencies for future challenges in production. TU Wien Pilot Factory Industry 4.0 (in short TU PF) is a Pilot, Demonstration and Learning Factory, aiming to provide companies a fundamental insight into Industry 4.0 techniques, applications and associated challenges through exemplary implementation of a digitized production environment as well as subsequent research, workshops and presentations. Thereby a focus is set on information and communication technologies (ICT) particularly, to realize the production of customer-specific products in small lot sizes. In contrast to other Learning Factories, TU PF emphasizes not only on teaching knowledge, but also on the demonstration of novel production concepts as well as the development, implementation and evaluation of prototypes together with industry partners. This paper gives an insight into the current status of TU PF and its consistent information flow from engineering to production.

The evolving digital factory – new chances for a consistent information flow

Within product development process data and information management is an essential task. Data and information are generated at every stage of this process and stored in software tools used to generate that data. For large scale manufacturing systems this leads to manual work, which is error-prone. This issue intensifies due to increasing influence of computer science on those systems (e.g. Industrie 4.0), leading to a rise of complexity. New approaches are needed for a better information flow.This contribution introduces an approach of an evolving Digital Factory containing and visualizing all generated information based on an open standard meta model.

Potentials of the Asset Administration Shell of Industrie 4.0 for Service-Oriented Business Models

The ongoing integration of information and network technologies into the production process leads to cyber-physical system (CPS), specifically designed for industrial purposes. CPS provide a bi-directional information flow between products, machines and top-floor systems, thus enabling the instant adaptation of each process to external and internal conditions. Thereby they offer a high potential to obtain flexible manufacturing systems for custom tailored products at the efficiency level of mass production. Furthermore the functionality and adaptability of future production systems can be considerably improved, thus accommodating service-oriented business concepts. These additional services often include remote accessibility of CPS for monitoring, diagnosis and control over existing networks. With those services the machine-availability can be significantly increased. Further services include data analytics, Internet market places and additional options to meet the customer demands.For the realization of a consistent information flow, the interoperability between the different components has to be guaranteed. Therefore one important goal of current CPS-related research is to develop new standards and platforms for the network communication. To overcome this problem, the German high-tech strategy Industrie 4.0 aims at creating binding standards for the interfaces of all components. A major step towards the standardization was made by defining an administrative shell for each component, which is a framework for the middleware between the existing machines and external networks. This contribution offers an insight into the current developments of Industrie 4.0, focusing on the standardization of CPS, communication technologies and business models.

Improving the Availability of Trade Finance in Developing Countries: An Assessment of Remaining Gaps

While conditions in trade finance markets returned to normality in the main routes of trade, the structural difficulties of poor countries in accessing trade finance have not disappeared – and might have been worsened during and after the global financial crisis. In fact, there is a consistent flow of information indicating that trade finance markets have remained characterized by a greater selectivity in risk-taking and flight to “quality” customers. In that environment, the lower end of the market has been struggling to obtain affordable finance, with the smaller companies in the smaller, poorer countries most affected. In an area where statistics are difficult to find, this paper looks at recent available information and provides background on the persistent and significant market gaps for trade finance in developing countries, notably in Africa and developing Asia. It discusses various initiatives in which the WTO and partner institutions are involved to alleviate in part this situation.

Primary care physicians, acupuncture and chiropractic clinicians, and chronic pain patients: a qualitative analysis of communication and care coordination patterns.

BackgroundA variety of people, with multiple perspectives, make up the system comprising chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) treatment. While there are frequently problems in communication and coordination of care within conventional health systems, more opportunities for communicative disruptions seem possible when providers use different explanatory models and are not within the same health management system. We sought to describe the communication system surrounding the management of chronic pain from the perspectives of allopathic providers, acupuncture and chiropractor (A/C) providers, and CMP patients.MethodsWe collected qualitative data from CMP patients (n = 90) and primary care physicians (PCPs) (n = 25) in a managed care system, and community acupuncture and chiropractic care providers (n = 14) who received high levels of referrals from the system, in the context of a longitudinal study of CMP patients’ experience.ResultsMultiple points of divergence and communicative barriers were identified among the main stakeholders in the system. Those that were most frequently mentioned included issues surrounding the referral process (requesting, approving) and lack of consistent information flow back to providers that impairs overall management of patient care. We found that because of these problems, CMP patients were frequently tasked and sometimes overwhelmed with integrating and coordinating their own care, with little help from the system.ConclusionsPatients, PCPs, and A/C providers desire more communication; thus systems need to be created to facilitate more open communication which could positively benefit patient outcomes.

Simulation integration: using multidatabase systems concepts

This paper considers the challenge of designing a framework that supports the integration of multiple existing simulation models into an integrated simulation environment (multisimulation). We aim to facilitate the process of fusing together the independently created simulators into an integrated simulation environment wherein we can model and execute complex scenarios involving multiple simulators. In this paper, we focus on solutions for the synchronization problem in multisimulation to orchestrate consistent information flow through multiple simulators. In particular, we provide: (1) a transaction-based approach to modeling the synchronization problem in multisimulations by mapping it to a problem similar to multidatabase concurrency; we express multisimulation synchronization as a scheduling problem where the goal is to generate “correct schedules” for time advancement and data exchange across simulators that meets the dependencies without loss of concurrency; (2) a hybrid scheduling strategy which adapts itself to the “right” level of pessimism/optimism based on the state of the execution and underlying dependencies. We also develop two key optimizations: (a) efficient checkpointing/rollback techniques; and (b) relaxation model for dependencies which guarantees bounded violation of consistency to support higher levels of concurrency. We evaluate our proposed techniques via a detailed case study from the emergency response domain by integrating three disparate simulators: a fire simulator (CFAST), an evacuation simulator (Drillsim) and a communication simulator (LTEsim).

Effective Connectivity of Hippocampal Neural Network and Its Alteration in Mg2+-Free Epilepsy Model

Understanding the connectivity of the brain neural network and its evolution in epileptiform discharges is meaningful in the epilepsy researches and treatments. In the present study, epileptiform discharges were induced in rat hippocampal slices perfused with Mg2+-free artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The effective connectivity of the hippocampal neural network was studied by comparing the normal and epileptiform discharges recorded by a microelectrode array. The neural network connectivity was constructed by using partial directed coherence and analyzed by graph theory. The transition of the hippocampal network topology from control to epileptiform discharges was demonstrated. Firstly, differences existed in both the averaged in- and out-degree between nodes in the pyramidal cell layer and the granule cell layer, which indicated an information flow from the pyramidal cell layer to the granule cell layer during epileptiform discharges, whereas no consistent information flow was observed in control. Secondly, the neural network showed different small-worldness in the early, middle and late stages of the epileptiform discharges, whereas the control network did not show the small-world property. Thirdly, the network connectivity began to change earlier than the appearance of epileptiform discharges and lasted several seconds after the epileptiform discharges disappeared. These results revealed the important network bases underlying the transition from normal to epileptiform discharges in hippocampal slices. Additionally, this work indicated that the network analysis might provide a useful tool to evaluate the neural network and help to improve the prediction of seizures.

Towards a virtual health record for mobile home care of elderly citizens.

Mobile work situations within home care of the elderly require immediate and ubiquitous access to patient-oriented data. The ongoing Swedish research project "Technical support for Mobile CloseCare" focuses on the development and evaluation of work-scenario oriented ICT support for enhanced home care of elderly citizens. The aim of the project is to provide a seamless and consistent information flow between different health care providers and to give intuitive access to information services for the elderly and their relatives. For that purpose, different independent software components are connected through a mobile communication platform. Flexible access to prioritized information for different users in different work situations will be given through a virtual health record. In order to obtain both usable and clinically relevant results, a user centered system development approach is followed. Evaluation of the project results will be based on usability tests and quasi-experimental studies on how system implementation influences quality of care and job- and life satisfaction for care providers, patients and relatives.

Use of measurement data in computer-aided tolerance management

Computer-based information and information flows are among the main means of shortening time to market and raising the total quality level. An effective environment for Computer-Aided Tolerance Management (CATM) is totally dependent on the ability to create and maintain a consistent flow of information between all activities involved in the effort of minimizing the effect of geometrical variation. One specific area that needs to be developed, computerized, and integrated is the use of measurement data. Based on industrial state of the art, this paper discusses and identifies future roles for the inspection process, the users and use of measurement data, and critical factors to achieve an effective and consistent information flow in CATM.

Modelling business processes with workflow systems: an evaluation of alternative approaches

Effective business process management necessitates a consistent information flow between the participants in the process, the smooth integration of the flow of work, the timely sharing of data and information during the planning and implementation phases and harmonious support for the collaborative aspects of work. The recent trends in the development of advanced workflow management systems and technologies seem to be of crucial importance for facilitating these tasks within the process management context. However, workflow management systems (WfMS) follow various approaches in modelling the flow of work and hence present varying functionalities when supporting enterprise processes. The present paper examines the ways in which workflow technology may facilitate the implementation of process management, reviews the pros and cons of adopting alternative workflow representation techniques in modelling business processes and provides guidance to managers as to the characteristics, the similarities and differences of the various workflow modelling schemes.

The Bauhaus and America: first contacts, 1919-1936

The Bauhaus school was founded in Weimar in 1919 by the German architect Walter Gropius, moved to Dessau in 1925 and to Berlin in 1932, and was dissolved in 1933 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe under political duress. Although it existed for a mere fourteen years and boasted fewer than 1,300 students, its influence is felt throughout the world in numerous buildings, artworks, objects, concepts, and curricula.After the Bauhaus's closing in 1933, many of its protagonists moved to the United States, where their acceptance had to be cultivated. The key to understanding the American reception of the Bauhaus is to be found not in the migr success stories or the famous 1938 Bauhaus exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, but in the course of America's early contact with the Bauhaus. In this book Margret Kentgens-Craig shows that the fame of the Bauhaus in America was the result not only of the inherent qualities of its concepts and products, but also of a unique congruence of cultural supply and demand, of a consistent flow of information, and of fine-tuned marketing. Thus the history of the American reception of the Bauhaus in the 1920s and 1930s foreshadows the patterns of fame-making that became typical of the post-World War II art world. The transfer of artistic, intellectual, and pedagogical concepts from one cultural context to another is a process of transformation and integration. In presenting a case study of this process, the book also provides fresh insights into the German-American cultural history of the period from 1919 to 1936.