External Volunteers Research Articles

Bandit Data-Driven Optimization for Crowdsourcing Food Rescue Platforms

Food waste and insecurity are two societal challenges that coexist in many parts of the world. A prominent force to combat these issues, food rescue platforms match food donations to organizations that serve underprivileged communities, and then rely on external volunteers to transport the food. Previous work has developed machine learning models for food rescue volunteer engagement. However, having long worked with domain practitioners to deploy AI tools to help with food rescues, we understand that there are four main pain points that keep such a machine learning model from being actually useful in practice: small data, data collected only under the default intervention, unmodeled objectives due to communication gap, and unforeseen consequences of the intervention. In this paper, we introduce bandit data-driven optimization which not only helps address these pain points in food rescue, but also is applicable to other nonprofit domains that share similar challenges. Bandit data-driven optimization combines the advantages of online bandit learning and offline predictive analytics in an integrated framework. We propose PROOF, a novel algorithm for this framework and formally prove that it has no-regret. We show that PROOF performs better than existing baseline on food rescue volunteer recommendation.

The role of airborne transmission in a large single source outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in a Belgian nursing home in 2020

ObjectivesTo better understand the conditions which have led to one of the largest COVID-19 outbreaks in Belgian nursing homes in 2020. SettingA nursing home in Flanders, Belgium, which experienced a massive outbreak of COVID-19 after a cultural event. An external volunteer who dressed as a legendary figure visited consecutively the 4 living units on December, 4th and tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 the next day. Within days, residents started to display symptoms and the outbreak spread rapidly within the nursing home. MethodsWe interviewed key informants and collected standardized data from all residents retrospectively. A batch of 115 positive samples with a Ct value of < 37 by qRT-PCR were analyzed using whole-genome sequencing. Six months after the outbreak, ventilation assessment of gathering rooms in the nursing home was done using a tracer gas test with calibrated CO2 sensors. ResultsTimeline of diagnoses and symptom onsets clearly pointed to the cultural event as the start of the outbreak, with the volunteer as index case. The genotyping of positive samples depicted the presence of one large cluster, suggesting a single source outbreak.By the end of December, a total of 127 residents and 40 staff were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 since the beginning of the outbreak. The attack rate among residents was 77 % and significantly associated with presence at the event but not with close contact or mask wearing. The ventilation assessment showed a high background average CO2 level in four main rooms varying from 657 ppm to 846 ppm. ConclusionsOur investigation shows a rapid and widespread single source outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in a nursing home, in which airborne transmission was the most plausible explanation for the massive intra-facility spread. Our results underscore the importance of ventilation and air quality for the prevention of future outbreaks in closed facilities.

Reference study of IFC software support: The GeoBIM benchmark 2019—Part I

AbstractIndustry Foundation Classes (IFC), the buildingSMART open standard for BIM, is underused with respect to its promising potential, since, according to the experience of practitioners and researchers working with BIM, issues in the standard’s implementation and use prevent its effective use. Nevertheless, a systematic investigation of these issues has never been carried out, and there is thus insufficient evidence for tackling the problems. The GeoBIM benchmark project is aimed at finding such evidence by involving external volunteers, reporting on various aspects of the behavior of tools (geometry, semantics, georeferencing, functionalities), analyzed and described in this article. Interestingly, different IFC software programs with the same standardized data sets yield inconsistent results, with few detectable common patterns, and significant issues are found in their support of the standard, probably due to the very high complexity of the standard data model. A companion article (Part II) describes the results of the benchmark related to CityGML, the counterpart of IFC within geoinformation.

Reference study of CityGML software support: The GeoBIM benchmark 2019—Part II

AbstractOGC CityGML is an open standard for 3D city models intended to foster interoperability and support various applications. However, through our practical experience and discussions with practitioners, we have noticed several problems related to the implementation of the standard and the use of standardized data. Nevertheless, a systematic investigation of these issues has never been carried out, and there is thus insufficient evidence for tackling the problems. The GeoBIM benchmark project is aimed at finding such evidence by involving external volunteers, reporting on various aspects of the behavior of tools (geometry, semantics, georeferencing, functionalities), analyzed and described in this article. This study explicitly pointed out the critical points embedded in the format as an evidence base for future development. A companion article (Part I) describes the results of the benchmark related to IFC, the counterpart of CityGML within building information modeling.

Tools for BIM-GIS Integration (IFC Georeferencing and Conversions): Results from the GeoBIM Benchmark 2019

The integration of 3D city models with Building Information Models (BIM), coined as GeoBIM, facilitates improved data support to several applications, e.g., 3D map updates, building permits issuing, detailed city analysis, infrastructure design, context-based building design, to name a few. To solve the integration, several issues need to be tackled and solved, i.e., harmonization of features, interoperability, format conversions, integration of procedures. The GeoBIM benchmark 2019, funded by ISPRS and EuroSDR, evaluated the state of implementation of tools addressing some of those issues. In particular, in the part of the benchmark described in this paper, the application of georeferencing to Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) models and making consistent conversions between 3D city models and BIM are investigated, considering the OGC CityGML and buildingSMART IFC as reference standards. In the benchmark, sample datasets in the two reference standards were provided. External volunteers were asked to describe and test georeferencing procedures for IFC models and conversion tools between CityGML and IFC. From the analysis of the delivered answers and processed datasets, it was possible to notice that while there are tools and procedures available to support georeferencing and data conversion, comprehensive definition of the requirements, clear rules to perform such two tasks, as well as solid technological solutions implementing them, are still lacking in functionalities. Those specific issues can be a sensible starting point for planning the next GeoBIM integration agendas.

Implementation of the Nutritional Health Promotion Center in University Students of the Faculty of Mexicali Medicine

Abstract Objectives To implement the Nutritional Health Promotion Center (CEPSAN) in the population student of the Mexicali medical school during 2019. Methods Descriptive study. It was performed in university students and external volunteers, both sexes; each participant had a nutritional medical history; anthropometric measurement, estimation of the Body Mass Index and analysis of body composition by electrical bioimpedance in ioi 353 equipment; total energy expenditure was determined and an individualized food plan was provided, a challenge system based on the health recommendations of the World Health Organization 2012 was established, food consumption frequency questionnaire (one week) was applied. The results were coded and captured in The Food Processor ESHA version 2016 to estimate nutrients, the protocol was repeated every 15 days. Results Nutritional consultations were carried out with initial medical assessment to a total of n = 84 participants, 50% (n = 42) were university students and the other 50% were external volunteers. 52% of university students were normal weight, while 34% overweight, 12% obese and 2% underweight. 71% of external volunteers were overweight and obese. The average energy consumption in university students was 3000 kcal per day, a guideline to indicate an adequate consumption in quality and quantity during nutritional counseling. The average waist-to-hip index value in university women was 0.82 and in men 0.93, both below the risk point. In external volunteers, the waist-to-hip index was 0.87 and 0.95, women and men, respectively. Conclusions In the first stage of CEPSAN, it was possible to standardize the general care procedure, the timely identification of health risk in patients and the promotion of nutritional health through individualized meal plans. Funding Sources Programa para el Desarrollo Profesional Docente, 2019. UABC-PTC-775.

Improving Efficiency of Volunteer-Based Food Rescue Operations

Food waste and food insecurity are two challenges that coexist in many communities. To mitigate the problem, food rescue platforms match excess food with the communities in need, and leverage external volunteers to transport the food. However, the external volunteers bring significant uncertainty to the food rescue operation. We work with a large food rescue organization to predict the uncertainty and furthermore to find ways to reduce the human dispatcher's workload and the redundant notifications sent to volunteers. We make two main contributions. (1) We train a stacking model which predicts whether a rescue will be claimed with high precision and AUC. This model can help the dispatcher better plan for backup options and alleviate their uncertainty. (2) We develop a data-driven optimization algorithm to compute the optimal intervention and notification scheme. The algorithm uses a novel counterfactual data generation approach and the branch and bound framework. Our result reduces the number of notifications and interventions required in the food rescue operation. We are working with the organization to deploy our results in the near future.

How Sustainability Crept Out of the Black Box: The Case of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

This paper describes how sustainability thinking crept out of the black box into the spotlight by the power and persistence of a growing cadre of internal outlier activists in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. Discussion, even arguing, on linkage of sustainability with the core values of the church boosted energy and insight needed for defining an ambitious strategic intent of becoming a trailblazer in society in sustainability thinking and actions. Over a period of three decades internal activists reinforced by external volunteers developed numerous independent strategic initiatives that gradually brought sustainability into an integral part of mainframe strategic agenda.

Translation in the COVID-19 health emergency in Wuhan

Abstract Intercultural crisis communication in an interconnected and globalized world emphasizes the need for translation to be put in place as foreign nationals with cultural and linguistic barriers might rely on it to prepare for a possible crisis or make informed decisions when already affected by a crisis. However, translation is an underdeveloped tool in crisis management, particularly in China. Considering it a special branch of public service translation, the author investigates crisis translation by using a case study of the disruptive outbreak of novel coronavirus disease in Wuhan. Based upon the author’s first-hand experience as a crisis manager at the Office of Foreigner Affairs in the Municipal Government of Wuhan, this article describes how government translators with the help of external volunteer translators made language services available and accessible to affected foreign nationals in the response phase from 8 January 2020 to 7 April 2020. It analyses these translation-mediated activities from a crisis manager’s perspective. Despite the preliminary nature of the findings, which still call for further validation, it is hoped that insights from this article will be of interest to those who are engaged with crisis translation services and to those who research crisis translation.

Who drives company-owned OSS projects: internal or external members?

Open-source software (OSS) communities leverage the workforce of volunteers to keep the projects sustainable. Some companies support OSS projects by paying developers to contribute to them, while others share their products under OSS licenses, keeping their employees in charge of maintaining the projects. In this paper, we investigate the activity of internal (employees) and external (volunteers) developers in this kind of setting. We conducted a case study using a convenience sample of five well-known OSS projects: atom, electron, hubot, git-lfs, and linguist. Analyzing a rich set of ∼ 12K contributions performed by means of pull requests to these projects, complemented with a manual analysis of ∼ 500 accepted pull requests, we derived a list of interesting findings. For instance, we found that both internal and external developers are rather active when it comes to submitting pull requests and that the studied projects are receptive for external developers. Considering all the projects, internal developers are responsible for 43.3% of the pull requests performed (external developers placed 56.7%). We also found that even with high support from the external community, employees still play the central roles in the project. We also found that the majority of the external developers are casual contributors (developers that placed only a single contribution to the project). However, we also observed that some external members play core roles (in addition to submitting code), like triaging bugs, reviewing, and integrating code to the main branch. Finally, when manually inspecting some code changes, we observed that external developers’ contributions range from documentation to complex code. Our results can benefit companies willing to open-source their code and developers that want to take part and actively contribute to company-owned code.

Implementation of personalized music listening for assisted living residents with dementia

Personalized music listening (PML) has been touted as a safe and inexpensive means of improving the quality of life, mood, and behavior of persons with dementia. A PML program was implemented in an assisted living facility and evaluated across the five dimensions of the RE-AIM framework: reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. The first 17 residents invited to participate were enrolled and followed over eight months. Effectiveness was evident in staff-reported mood improvement in 62% of encounters. Adoption was evident in qualitative feedback collected from medication technicians. Implementation was facilitated by low costs, engagement of external volunteers, highlighting outcomes that are relevant to staff, and attention to playlists over time. Maintenance required continued engagement of volunteers, ongoing fundraising, attention to facility staff engagement, and iterative adjustments to the program framework as staffing changes occurred. PML was found to be a meaningful intervention that is possible at a reasonable cost.

Hacking with NPOs

Recently Nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are adopting more and more data-driven approaches to their work, yet NPOs often lack appropriate tools and expertise in such data related works. To compensate, many NPOs are using a new form of collaboration, civic data hackathons, to leverage on external volunteers' data expertise. In this paper, we sought to understand how civic data hackathons could generate impactful data analytics for NPOs' data-driven work, and how to support collaborative data analytics during hackathons. We collected various types of data (observations, surveys, and interviews) from two civic data hackathons with 9 NPOs and over 300 data volunteers in a Midwestern city in the U.S. Our results describe the collaboration activities and the types of actionable collaborative analytics outputs generated from these activities. We also identify a unique social group (i.e., client teams), who help with preparing and coordinating the event, perform brokering activities to support the collaborative analytics through the civic data hackathons. This broker role is vital for the success of the collaboration between domain experts and data experts. Our findings contribute to the CSCW research on the collaborative work of interdisciplinary hackathons, and to a broader understanding of civic data collaborations.

Rola usług socjalnych w kreowaniu wizerunku organizacji pozarządowej na przykładzie Caritas Diecezji Radomskiej

New conditions for the functioning of the non-profit sector and changes in the external environment of these organizations related to the dissemination of the paradigm of multi-sectoral social policy, which is an instrument for achieving personalized, professionally produced and supplied social services, make the commitment and civic activity in this area is essential transformation. Non-governmental organizations operate in many areas of social life, supported mainly by individuals, provide a service for public institutions and other NGOs. The most popular form of action is the direct provision of services to members, clients and dependents of the organization. This high position of this direct activities aimed at the needy is the most heartwarming and positive trend of civil society. Providing services to individuals, non-governmental organizations take part and support the tasks of public institutions. It should be noted that the increase in cooperation between NGOs and public institutions contribute to the building of networks and the multiplication of social capital. Transformation of the civil sector expressed the necessity of taking care of self-image non-governmental organizations and their use of the instruments of public relations in the process of building favorable relationships with all actors in the environment internal and external (volunteers, donors, people who use its services, or members of the whole society). In the article shown the process of creating and changing the image through social services for different groups of beneficiaries. Analyzed Caritas Diocese of Radom - an organization that strongly rooted in the practice of local social policy, demonstrating not only professionalism in social work, but also the ability to cooperate and create partnerships and clarity own image.

環境問題としてみる過疎の地域のマネジメント

The aim of this paper is to consider depopulation from the viewpoint of managing the environment. The rapid increase in the aged population, decrease in the national population, and concentration of the population in Tokyo are now major problems in Japan. In particular, depopulation in the countryside has become more and more serious. Traditionally, discussions and policies about depopulation in Japan were one-dimensional ideas only discussed by cities or government. That is, depopulation problems were discussed by only focusing on the size of the population, and insisting that depopulation must be overcome. However, when considering management of a region, multi-faceted discussions that consider the many purposes for the region are desirable. Therefore, the idea of the ‘coexistence of various objectives’ based on regional theory is required. This paper focuses on Kumogahata in Kyoto, and regards depopulation as an environmental problem. By approaching the issue from the viewpoint of environmental management, depopulation is regarded as one aspect of the diversity of the region. In the management of the environment, it is necessary to focus on the social background of environmental issues. Therefore, the social background was understood by considering the activities and purposes of various organisations in Kumogahata. As a result, organisations were found to have a variety of purposes in the depopulated areas, and external volunteer organisations also play an important role. Consequently, this paper proposes to add a new step of ‘forming a staying exchange population’ to the existing plan. Above all, it is important to respect the original purpose of the volunteer organisation and recognise the value of the exchange population itself.

Volunteer work and potential volunteer work among 55 to 70-year-olds in Germany

The aim of this article is to describe the potential with respect to volunteer work among 55 to 70-year-old persons along with a two-dimensional typology (actual volunteer work and intention of volunteering or expanding actual volunteer work) and to identify the influencing factors. Based on the dataset from the transitions and old age potential (TOP) study, a total of 4421 men and women born between 1942 and 1958 were included. A multinomial regression model showed the predictors for group affiliation along with an engagement-related typology (internal, utilized and external volunteer potential as well as definite non-volunteers). More than a half of the persons in the study sample could be classified as internal or external volunteer potential. Volunteers and potential volunteers revealed more similarities regarding resources and social factors than potential volunteers and definite non-volunteers. Potential volunteers were more active in other informal fields of activity (e.g. nursing or child care) than definite non-volunteers. With respect to volunteer work, definite non-volunteers showed various social disadvantages (in particular with respect to education and health) compared to (potential) volunteers. Other informal activities did not seem to be in major conflict with volunteer activities, e.g. nursing or child care, as long as they were carried out with moderate or low intensity.

SmartRoad

In this article we present SmartRoad, a crowd-sourced road sensing system that detects and identifies traffic regulators, traffic lights, and stop signs, in particular. As an alternative to expensive road surveys, SmartRoad works on participatory sensing data collected from GPS sensors from in-vehicle smartphones. The resulting traffic regulator information can be used for many assisted-driving or navigation systems. In order to achieve accurate detection and identification under realistic and practical settings, SmartRoad automatically adapts to different application requirements by (i) intelligently choosing the most appropriate information representation and transmission schemes, and (ii) dynamically evolving its core detection and identification engines to effectively take advantage of any external ground truth information or manual label opportunity. We implemented SmartRoad on a vehicular smartphone test bed, and deployed it on 35 external volunteer users’ vehicles for two months. Experiment results show that SmartRoad can robustly, effectively, and efficiently carry out the detection and identification tasks.

Informed Consent (Ic) In Clinical Trials (Ct): An Assessment of Understanding By Patients and Volunteers And Analysis of Ic for Substudies With Biological Samples

e136 Volume 37 Number 8S INformed CoNSeNT (IC) IN ClINICal TrIalS (CT): aN aSSeSSmeNT of UNderSTaNdINg By PaTIeNTS aNd VolUNTeerS aNd aNalySIS of IC for SUBSTUdIeS WITh BIologICal SamPleS M.A. Galvez; I. de Pablo; M. Aguilar; A. Revilla; E. Lorente; M. del Alamo; and M. Serrano Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Ramon y Cajal Hospital, Madrid, Spain Objective: Documenting how patients included in CT and external volunteers understand ICs and the reasons for participating in CT. Evaluating the IC of sub-studies collecting biological samples according to Spanish legislation. Material and Methods: We gave a survey to patients receiving treatment at the clinical trials unit and to external volunteers. These ICs were also evaluated by 3 clinical pharmacologists (CPs). CPs also evaluated how the ICs corresponding to sub-studies involving biological samples fulfilled the requirements described in the 14/2007 Investigation law. Results: Fifty-four patients (from 27 CT) and 27 volunteers filled the survey. Median age was 54 and 59 years, respectively. Most of participants answered they understood correctly what it means to participate in a CT and that their participation was voluntary. In both groups, about 65% took the decision after consulting with relatives and 20% not understood well the risks. For patients, the most frequent reason for participating was confidence in the physician and for volunteers was the progress in research. Fifty percent of volunteers commented that IC was too long. The review by the CP detected that: 65% of IC were too long, 58% contained numerous technical terms and the risk section was excessively long in 35%. About the 20 IC for sub-studies (74% of trials), 85% were considered adapted to our legislation only in some aspects. Conclusions: In general, all sections of the IC document were well understood but many participants did not understand well the risks. Outcomes from patients and volunteers were similar except for the reason for participation: the most frequent reason for patients was confidence in the physician and for volunteers’ progress in research. Regarding trials containing sub-studies with biological samples: Despite the fact there is an increasing number of CT including these sub-studies, its ICs do not fulfill entirely the 2007 law requirements.

A Fistful of Dollars: Are Financial Rewards a Suitable Management Practice for Distributed Models of Innovation?

How can firms engaged in distributed innovation attract external volunteers and direct their efforts efficiently and effectively? Extant research proposes financial rewards as suitable management practice, maintaining that extrinsic financial rewards and intrinsic motivation have a unidimensionally positive effect on volunteers' motivation. In contrast, using the same theory underlying these studies, we argue that the effect of payment is far more complex. To do so, we introduce the concept of payment norms as a moderator of the effect of payment on motivation. Conducting a scenario experiment with open source software developers, we find that intrinsic motivation decreases for individuals with norms against payment, and that self-determination mediates this effect. Furthermore, payment has a direct positive effect on total motivation, but not for individuals with strong norms for payment. Our findings help explain conflicting earlier results on motivation crowding and contribute to the debate on how to manage external volunteers in distributed innovation settings.

Legibilidad formal de los formularios de consentimiento informado

Objectives The aims of the present study were to determine the readability of informed consent documents on the one hand and to analyze the quantity and quality of the information contained in them on the other. Method To do this, the information sheets received by patients when scheduled to undergo cardiac catheterization in five public hospitals in Barcelona were analyzed. We evaluated whether the information contained in the sheets was appropriate according to the minimum requirements established by Spanish legislation. The technical complexity of vocabulary was evaluated through collaboration with two external volunteers, both university graduates working outside the health professions, who identified words whose meaning they were unable to explain. Readability was quantified through the Flesch-Kinkaid index, the sentence complexity index and the integrated readability index (LEGIN). Results The results obtained show that the mean readability was inadequate (Flesch-Kincaid Index = 5.7), although most were written with simple sentences (a mean sentence complexity of 32.5), achieving an acceptable integrated readability (LEGIN = 73).Of the information items analyzed, those with the lowest scores related to description of alternative treatments and balance between risks and benefits, while a high percentage (75%) described the aims and the treatment that could be used. All the documents indicated the name of the attending physician. Regarding technical complexity, of 1058 words, there were 6 whose meaning the two external readers did not know, representing 0.56%. Conclusions Poor readability of informed consent documents does not bode well for achieving the aim of written informed consent. If written information substitutes dialogue and if priority is given to exhaustiveness over understanding, the real aim of informed consent is obscured and it becomes a purely legal requirement.

Adverse events and discomfort in studies on healthy subjects: the volunteer's perspective. A survey conducted by the German Association for Applied Human Pharmacology.

The various good clinical practice (GCP) guidelines do not define the volunteering subject as an active party. The present survey addresses the volunteer's perception of study-related inconvenience and risk and its impact on their decision to enroll. The survey consisted of a questionnaire to be filled out voluntarily and anonymously by healthy subjects who volunteered for enrollment in human pharmacology studies and who had participated in at least one previous study. Twenty-five categorised multiple-choice questions covered previous study experience, motives for volunteering, perception of and compliance with study directives and restrictions, past experience with adverse events, impact of the study environment on perceived well-being and the nature of adverse events likely to discourage them from enrollment. Seven centres contributed by providing at least 30 (range 30-100) evaluable questionnaires. The database consists of a total of 440 healthy subjects (30.5% females, 69.5% males), from 18 to over 60 years of age. Two hundred and seven subjects (47.1%) were company employees and 233 (52.9%) were external volunteers. Eighty nine percent only participated in studies at one particular centre. Some 53.3% indicated financial motives, 27.8% 'contribution to an improvement of pharmacotherapy', 12.7% 'social responsibility', while 6.2% indicated other motives, mainly the opportunity of a free medical check-up. Thirteen subjects (3%) admitted to not answering correctly to the recruitment questions; this limited reliability is suspected to be even larger when the answer might preclude enrollment. From the volunteers' perspective, the environmental study conditions clearly appeared to have a highly relevant impact on their personal well-being. Some 17.1% of the subjects reported to have suffered adverse events occasionally and 2.7% frequently; but 14% admitted not reporting adverse events promptly and about 20% indicated that, with respect to previous adverse events, they first sought advice from other volunteers rather than from the investigator. Adverse events and inconveniences are inherent to nontherapeutic studies in healthy subjects. From the volunteer's perspective it appears that the incidence of adverse experiences in such studies exceeds the reported frequencies from investigators considerably. This finding suggests that investigators are usually not aware or able to ascertain the true incidence of adverse events. The present survey also confirms that pertinent information on the personal history may be unreliable. Volunteers are reluctant to answer questions regarding, in particular, their smoking habits, caffeine and alcohol consumption. Regarding the matter of informed consent, a noteworthy contradiction between the volunteers' attitude and behaviour became apparent. Although the volunteers admit that even rather minor adverse events ordinarily would discourage them, they still consent to enrollment. In view of this apparent contradiction, there is no alternative to the investigator's personal responsibility to counsel and protect the subject. Surveys such as this one may contribute to the awareness that the explicitness of GCP guidelines merely define the format, but not the content quality of these fundamental ethical values, which remain the unique burden and challenge of the investigator.