Coordination Requirements Research Articles

Association Between the Seated Single-Arm Shot-Put Test With Isokinetic Pushing Force.

Previous investigations have examined the reliability, normalization, and underlying projection mechanics of the seated single-arm shot-put (SSASP) test. Although the test is believed to reflect test limb strength, there have been no assessments determining whether test performance is directly associated with upper-extremity strength. To determine the relationship between isokinetic pushing force and SSASP performance and conduct a method comparison analysis of limb symmetry indices between the 2 tests. Controlled laboratory study. Biomechanics laboratory. Patients (or Other Participants): Twenty-four healthy and physically active men (n = 12) and women (n = 12). Participants completed the SSASP and isokinetic pushing tests using their dominant and nondominant arms. SSASP distance and isokinetic peak force. Significant moderate to strong relationships were revealed between the SSASP distances and isokinetic peak forces for both limbs. The Bland-Altman analysis results demonstrated significantly (P < .002) greater limb symmetry indices for the SSASP (both medicine balls) than the isokinetic ratios, with biases ranging from -0.094 to -0.159. The limits of agreement results yielded intervals ranging from ±0.241 to ±0.340 and ±0.202 to ±0.221 from the biases. These results support the notion that the SSASP test reflects upper-extremity strength. The incongruency of the limb symmetry indices between the 2 tests is likely reflective of the differences in the movement patterns and coordination requirements of the 2 tests.

Research on innovative design of a new rope knotter

Aiming at the complex structure and high manufacturing process requirements of traditional knotter, this article proposes a new rope knotting method. Based on the knotting method, a knotter is designed to use a new mechanism which is made up of two new incomplete gear mechanisms to drive rope clamping mechanism and rope hooking and griping mechanism. First, a kinematic cycle diagram of the knotter is determined, and the structures of each key mechanism are designed. Then, a virtual prototype of the knotter is established by Unigraphics and imported into Automated Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems to analyze the kinematic of each key mechanism. The success rate is 98.4% through 500 physical tests on the physical model of the knotter. The results indicate that the knotting method is reliable. The knotter can meet the requirements of structure, posture, and coordination during knotting process. The new knotter has no separate mechanism for cutting rope and tripping out of the rope buckle. Therefore, the structure is simplified and reduces the design and manufacturing difficulties. Furthermore, the new incomplete gear mechanism solves the problem that in the conventional incomplete gear mechanism, the driven gear can swing at a large angle or even cannot be locked in the case when the locking arc of the passive gear is too short.

The Respimat® Soft Mist Inhaler: Implications of Drug Delivery Characteristics for Patients.

Successful treatment for respiratory diseases relies on effective delivery of medication to the lungs using an inhalation device. Different inhalers have distinct characteristics affecting drug administration and patient adherence, which can impact clinical outcomes. We report on the development of the Respimat® soft mist inhaler (SMI) and compare key attributes with metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) and dry powder inhalers (DPIs). The Respimat SMI, a pocket-sized device generating a single-breath, inhalable aerosol, was designed to enhance drug delivery to the lungs, reduce the requirements for patient coordination and inspiratory effort, and improve the patients’ experience and ease of use. The drug deposition profile with Respimat SMI is favorable compared with MDIs and DPIs, with higher drug deposition to the lung and peripheral airways. The slow velocity and long spray duration of the Respimat SMI aerosol also aid patient coordination. Clinical equivalence has been demonstrated for maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease using once-daily tiotropium between Respimat SMI (5 µg) and HandiHaler DPI (18 µg). In comparative studies, patients preferred Respimat SMI to MDIs and DPIs; they reported that Respimat SMI was easy to use and felt the inhaled dose was delivered. The Respimat SMI, designed to generate a slow-moving and fine mist, is easy to use and effectively delivers drug treatment to the lungs. The patient-centered design of Respimat SMI improved patient satisfaction, and may help to promote long-term adherence and improve clinical outcomes with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Trade-offs of Specialization: The Effect of Specialization on R&amp;D Productivity of Scientific Teams

Specialization contributes to group productivity such as that of scientific teams through scale economies and developing domain expertise, but creates coordination challenges. We have limited understanding of how the coordination requirements of specialization shape the productivity of scientific teams or how team productivity is affected by common temporal events such as exit, recruitment, and knowledge decay. We investigate how specialization affects R&D productivity of scientific teams in U.S. biotechnology firms from 1970 to 2007. We find that although specialization improves a team’s R&D productivity, specialization also reduces productivity gains following scientist recruitment and exacerbates productivity losses following scientist exit and knowledge decay. Thus, understanding the overall effects of specialization requires assessing how team specialization shapes knowledge gains and losses that arise from temporal events.

Technical, Economic, and Social Coordination Requirements of Internet-Based Innovation

The paper explores the role of coordination mechanisms with an emphasis on next generation digital innovations, many of them related to the Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G wireless services. Much of the discussion on the conditions that support Internet-based innovation focused on modular innovations. These were indeed a major driver of innovation in during much of the development of the Internet. While many of the new services can be configured as modular projects, others, for example cyber-physical systems supporting smart cities or autonomous vehicles, require coordination efforts that go beyond the relevant market players and involved public sector actors and the development of social norms that support these innovations. We are particularly interested in the role of policy in facilitating the provision of appropriate coordination mechanisms. The discussion shows that some situations may require new forms of proactive public policy at the local, state, and national level, including coordinated rollout of complementary infrastructures, support for public interest innovation, and a redesign of regulation and legislation.

The Role of Regulation in 5G Market Design

The emergence of new technologies forces policy makers to decide whether the existing legal and regulatory framework is appropriate or whether a different approach might better realize their potential benefits for society. While there is broad agreement on the desirability of competition in future 5G markets, national and regional models differ widely regarding the envisioned role of policy and regulation. This paper explores the rationales, strengths, and weaknesses of specific policies that are currently debated, including the regulation of backhaul services, network rollout targets, MVNO obligations, network neutrality rules, and open platform safeguards. It assesses the effects of these regulatory options on investment and innovation in a theoretical framework that considers the strong interdependencies and complementarities between players in the 5G value system explicitly. This reveals the presence of traditional forms of market failure and the possibility of new ones related to coordination requirements of advanced wireless technologies. The analysis suggests that multiple policy equilibria exist, each corresponding to a specific constellation of 5G policy, that are associated with different innovation and investment trajectories of the sector.

Order-disorder Twinning of Malachite

Abstract Malachite has a layered structure composed of triangular CO3 groups and CuO2(OH)2 coordination squares of two types. In 2D projection, each layer can be decomposed into two OD strips: the A strip, containing CO3 groups and square co-ordinations of Cu2, with idealized symmetry pgm2, and the B strip, without CO3 groups, with symmetry p2 (the b axis of malachite is the infinite strip direction). In the 3D structure, these strips form the ‘A' OD-layers with symmetry reduced by coordination requirements to approximately p2212, which alternate with the ‘B' OD-layers with layer symmetry . The B-layer can assume two positions, which are related by a 180° rotation axis running through the C1 and O1 atoms of the CO3 group in the A-layer. This axis is oriented close to [100]*. The fit of the A-layer and of the coplanar rotated B-layer is hindered by the presence of important partial gaps and overlaps at the boundary. Inclining these two structure portions towards one another, together with small positional adjustments, appears to alleviate the misfit problems; the two layer portions so related form an angle of about 124°, i.e., they form a twin relationship. This desymmetrization of the malachite structure away from the ideal model results in occasional twinning instead of the fully developed monoclinic polytype structure which is derived in this paper. In the structure of the Cu-Zn analogue, rosasite, the above-described match problem is solved in a different way, by shifting a Zn coordination octahedron (which replaces Cu2 in malachite) into the interlayer space. Malachite polytypes 1 and 2 and rosasite illustrate three different orientations of P21/a symmetry elements with respect to the structural layers, resulting in three different structure configurations.

File-level socio-technical congruence and its relationship with bug proneness in OSS projects

Coordination is important in software development. Socio-Technical Congruence (STC) is proposed to measure the match between coordination requirements and actual coordination activities. The previous work of Cataldo et al. computes STC in commercial projects and finds it related to software failures. In this paper, we study the relationship between file-level STC and bug proneness in Open Source Software (OSS) projects. We apply the fundamental STC framework to the OSS data setting and present a method of computing file-level STC based on our available data. We also propose a derivative STC metric called Missing Developer Links (MDL), which is to measure the amount of coordination breakdowns. In our empirical analysis on five OSS projects, we find that MDL is more related to bug proneness than STC. Furthermore, STC or MDL can be computed based on different types of file networks and developer networks, and we find out the best file network and the best developer network via an empirical study. We also evaluate the usefulness of STC or MDL metrics in bug prediction. This work is promising to help detect coordination issues in OSS projects.

Care coordination in the health-care service delivery: an elderly care perspective

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship between patient-centricity, care coordination and delivery of quality care for older people with multiple chronic conditions. Care coordination is defined as a process where physicians, nurses and allied professionals work together to clarify responsibilities, care objectives, treatment plans and discharge plans for delivery of unified care. Patient-centricity is defined as an approach of delivering quality care to patients that focuses on creating a positive experience for them. Design/methodology/approach A literature review was used to identify measures of care coordination and then partial least square structural equation modeling was used to assess interrelationship among patient-centricity, measures of care coordination and delivery of quality care. Findings Results reveal that care coordinated pathways consist of IT-enabled coordination, interprofessional teamwork, information sharing and facilitative infrastructure requirements and are influenced by patient-centricity. These are deliberate requisites for delivering of quality care. Results of this study present a validated model of care coordination for older people, which may be further explored to refine the concept of care coordination. Practical implications Based on these results, practitioners may develop an overarching strategy to deliver seamless care and to achieve better health outcomes. Measures of care coordination may be used as a performance benchmarking tool and will also help in the process mapping of hospitals. Social implications This paper highlights how patient-centricity may be achieved by focusing on coordinated care processes. This understanding may help in designing processes, which in turn deliver health as a social good in an effective manner. Originality/value Results of this study present such a validated model for care coordination, which can be used by researchers.

The Role of Strategic Uncertainty in Area‐wide Pest Management Decisions of Florida Citrus Growers

AbstractWe elicit a measure of strategic uncertainty from growers by using an experimental game grounded on the theory of global games. This allows us to achieve the following: propose a mechanism for measuring strategic uncertainty aversion; compare growers' risk aversion to their strategic uncertainty aversion; explore how growers' strategic uncertainty aversion is affected by changes in group size and coordination requirement; and relate a strategic uncertainty aversion measure to growers' actual decisions to participate in an area‐wide pest management program. In our experimental setting, we found that when the coordination requirement for a successful outcome is low, most growers see the strategic uncertainty posed by human interaction as more favorable in terms of expected payoffs relative to a game against nature. In contrast, when the coordination requirement is high, most growers expect lower payoffs and choose to coordinate less. We also found evidence that growers' strong beliefs about neighbors not coordinating negatively impacted their choices to coordinate. Our measure of strategic uncertainty was also found to influence the likelihood of growers to actually coordinate sprays. Our findings help explain why participation in area‐wide pest management to control the vector of citrus greening across Florida has not been as widespread as expected; the strategic uncertainty involved in relying on neighbors has made many growers choose self‐reliance in spraying despite the lower payoff.

Quantitative CT study of martial arts sports injuries based on image quality

Wushu is an outstanding cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and one of the most extensive mass sports in China. As a traditional sports event in China, martial arts are undergoing rapid changes. However, martial arts are a systemic sport with high requirements for speed, explosiveness and coordination. In recent years, with the rapid development of martial arts, competitive competitions have become increasingly fierce. It is easy for athletes to suffer physical damage during the practice of difficult movements. This not only affects the normal exercise and physical health of martial arts enthusiasts, but also affects the improvement of sports level and teaching quality. Therefore, it studies the common parts of martial arts sports injuries. Distribution, looking for its causes, proposing preventive measures, rapid development of image processing technology, digital image has become an indispensable part of multimedia information technology. Digital image is an important carrier for people to obtain information and communicate. Under this background, the research of image quality evaluation has become a hot spot in the field of image processing. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the anatomical characteristics of knee joints of martial arts athletes, the mechanics of injury, the pathophysiological changes after injury, and establish a mathematical model by computer algorithm to accurately perceive the image quality of martial arts sports damage, and finally achieve the use of computer instead of human vision. The system goes to view and recognize images. In this paper, the application value of quantitative CT parameters of martial arts exercise in the evaluation of martial arts injury joints is based on image quality, in order to provide valuable reference for the treatment of martial arts injury selection and prognosis evaluation.

Decentralizing Multicell Beamforming via Deterministic Equivalents

This paper focuses on developing a decentralized framework for coordinated minimum power beamforming wherein $L$ base stations (BSs), each equipped with $N$ antennas, serve $K$ single-antenna users with specific rate constraints. This is realized by considering user specific intercell interference (ICI) strength as the principal coupling parameter among BSs. First, explicit deterministic expressions for transmit powers are derived for spatially correlated channels in the asymptotic regime in which $N$ and $K$ grow large with a non-trivial ratio $K/N$ . These asymptotic expressions are then used to compute approximations of the optimal ICI values that depend only on the channel statistics. By relying on the approximate ICI values as coordination parameters, a distributed non-iterative coordination algorithm, suitable for large networks with limited backhaul, is proposed. A heuristic algorithm is also proposed relaxing coordination requirements even further as it only needs pathloss values for non-local channels. The proposed algorithms satisfy the target rates for all users even when $N$ and $K$ are relatively small. Finally, the potential benefits of grouping users with similar statistics are investigated to further reduce the overhead and computational effort of the proposed solutions. Simulation results show that the proposed methods yield near-optimal performance.

Adaptive target tracking with a mixed team of static and mobile guards: deployment and activation strategies

This work explores a variation of the art gallery problem in which a team of static and mobile guards track a mobile intruder with unknown maximum speed. We consider the special case when the mobile guards are restricted to move along the diagonals of a polygonal environment. First, we present an algorithm to identify candidate vertices in a polygon at which either static guards can be placed or they can serve as an endpoint of the segment on which mobile guards move. Next, we present a technique to partition the environment based on the triangulation of the environment, and allocate guards to each partition to track the intruder. The allocation strategy leads to a classification of the mobile guards based on their task and coordination requirements. Finally, we present a strategy to activate/deactivate static guards based on the speed of the intruder. Simulation results are presented to validate the efficacy of the proposed techniques.

Management and Evaluation of Communication and Coordination Practices among Multi Stakeholders in Complex Engineering Projects in Pakistan

The aim of this study is to investigate the management and evaluation of communication and coordination practices among multi stakeholders in complex engineering projects in Pakistan. The methodology of this study is based on questionnaire to calculate the vested interest–impact index (ViII), Position (Pos), Attributes (A), Shareholder Impact Index (SII), Normalize score of SII and ranking of normalize score of SII. In addition, this study also used the Stakeholder Impact/Probability matrix. There are 44 questions asked from 132 respondents. The result reveal that different stakeholders showed interests in construction projects, however, every stakeholder had their own agenda and interest which create a conflict. Stakeholders' impact index and probability impact matrix approach for assessment of current practice and their requirements for coordination and communication have been used. Study also represents the class and position of stakeholders during both phases. As per results, land owners have high and positive impact on complex projects throughout the project life cycle followed by local community/residents, media, institutional forces and politicians. The politicians have highest positive impact on complex projects followed by consultant, main contractor and government agencies. Efficient communication and coordination is required with low impact stakeholders for minimizing their influence. It is observed that the high value of ViII will lead to higher value of SII and normalize score of project’s PP and EP. The top five stakeholders are clients, consultants, main contractors, sub-contractors and government agencies in project’s planning and execution phase. The shareholder impact analysis also provides suggestions to project managers in developing and evaluating the stakeholder management process. The proposed study is first approach towards communication and coordination management in construction. Overall, the results show that since there is no contractual binding between external stakeholders and project sponsors, they face the maximum communication gap. There is no proper mean to establish coordination and communication among external stakeholders throughout the project.

Conceptual approaches in the prevention of child overweight in Germany—the research project ‘Systematization of Conceptual Approaches’ (SCAP)

Childhood overweight is a serious public health challenge. There is a complex landscape of interventions with multiple subjects, target groups, and approaches for different settings in Germany. There is a need to get an overview and to analyze the conceptual approaches of interventions on overweight and obesity prevention in childhood and adolescence. To provide a systematic overview, SCAP developed as a first step a catalog of descriptive indicators to analyze the conceptual approaches of interventions. The indicators can be assigned to five global dimensions: (1) setting, (2) conceptual approach, (3) target group, (4) quality requirements for the conception of universal prevention (in generic and setting-specific), and (5) determinants. These dimensions were used in the second project step to analyze overweight prevention programs in four settings and to systemize the applied conceptual approaches. The third step entailed identifying gaps, improvement potential, and recommendations for action. This project contributes to the improvement of childhood overweight and obesity prevention measures by focusing on setting-specific approaches. It provides a systematic overview of the approaches, which allows an in-depth overview at both a generic and setting-specific level. Recommendations focused on gaps in evidence concerning implementation and a need of transparency. There are further requirements for coordination, checklists, and an intervention database. The results of the SCAP project can be used in the quality-oriented development of intervention measures, which could make it valuable for the implementation of the new German Preventive Health Care Act.

Decision Variables for Inbound Transportation Redesign in a Chemical Manufacturing Supply Chain

With respect to process manufacturing industries, there has been limited research on inbound transportation management in the literature. While some of the methods and strategies developed in the discrete manufacturing industry are easily applicable in the process industries, increasing changes in business environment through emerging technologies and a push for increasing sustainability performance motivates the need for research that addresses the needs of process manufacturers. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide an overview of current research on key variables to consider when deciding inbound transportation strategy. Those factors are then discussed by looking at the opportunities and challenges they present in the process manufacturing supply chain context, via a case study of a paints and chemicals manufacturing company. Data from the case study was collected during a workshop at the main factory location, and several follow-up interviews. The main opportunities identified are improved sustainability and visibility, while main challenges are increased complexity, and increase in coordination requirements with more collaboration.

From wolf pack intelligence to UAV swarm cooperative decision-making

Cooperative decision-making of UAVs under complex environments is a crucial mode of combat in future battlefields. Given the uncertainties of the environment and states, the coordination and automation of UAV swarms is a challenging issue faced during swarm combat. Wolves can fast track and enclose the target under complicated surroundings because of their outstanding cognition and cooperation abilities during hunting. The characteristics indicated by the aforementioned intelligent behaviors, such as information recognition and cooperative motion, are consistent with the swarm policy requirements of perception and coordination. The cooperation mechanism of wolf packs should be studied, and its application to UAV swarm combat to obtain a solution for UAV swarm autonomous decision-making needs to be addressed.

Analysis of Transient Behavior of Mixed High Voltage DC Transmission Line Under Lightning Strikes

Growing urbanization coupled with increased power demands have led to increasing use of mixed power transmission lines with sections of overhead lines (OHL) and underground cables. Due to differences in surge impedance of cables and OHL, voltage surges experience reflections and refractions at their boundaries which make the transient behavior of mixed high voltage direct current (HVDC) line quite peculiar. Lightning strikes on overhead sections of lines induce voltage surges that travel along OHL and enter the cable section. Lightning overvoltage can cause OHL insulators to flashover and stress cable insulation or cause its permanent breakdown. In this paper, we simulated a fast front model of a mixed HVDC transmission line using an electromagnetic transient simulation program (PSCAD) to analyze its transient behavior under a lightning strike. The leader progression model has been used to predict the dielectric performance of OHL insulators. It has been shown that transition towers adjacent to the cable section are much less vulnerable to flashover than subsequent towers. The length of a riser section (connecting OHL and cable) and tower footing impedance have shown to significantly influence the flashover performance of OHL insulators. In addition, the length of cable segments and sheath grounding impedance has been found to influence cable overvoltage. This paper can be used to evaluate the insulation coordination and overvoltage protection requirements for a mixed HVDC transmission line.

Feasibility Study of Superconducting Cable Application to Oil/Gas Power Supply Network

In this paper, the static and dynamic behaviors of a power system feeding an oil/gas plant with superconducting (SC) cables are investigated. SC cables have been expected to provide more efficient power supply and less space utilization for power systems compared to conventional cables. On the other hand, their compatibility with the existing power systems has not yet been clarified. In this paper, taking a typical distribution system in an oil/gas plant as an example, we designed high-voltage SC cables and investigated their compatibility with the system from the viewpoint of static and dynamic performances. The voltage distribution under steady-state operation and the transient voltage and current during fault conditions were examined and compared with the case of conventional cables. The results show that, in addition to the efficiency enhancement, SC cables could be applied without any further constraint on circuit breaker duties and insulation coordination requirements.

Declarative Construction of Distributed Event-driven IoT Services Based on IoT Resource Models

In Internet of Things (IoT)scenarios, the coordination of physical systems is often complex and rigid. Work to date has not comprehensively explored how to flexibly construct distributed IoT services to satisfy the coordination requirement. In our work, we propose a declarative approach to construct an event-driven IoT service system, where physical devices and systems are explicitly modeled as a service architecture foundation, the service behavior is flexibly declared based on distributed events, and it is step-by-step refined to have rigid service properties while allowing runtime adaptation. As an example, the controllability property of physical systems is discussed. Finally, we establish a distributed event-driven IoT service platform to test our method. Some experiments are performed to concept-prove our work.