Third-party Integration Research Articles

Strategic technological innovation investment: enhancing resilience in the age of digital transformation

PurposeIn the current business landscape, organizations are increasingly investing in digital transformation initiatives such as the adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain, deep learning, to optimize their operations, maintain competitiveness and efficiently address customer demands. However, this heightened dependence on digital technology introduces elevated risks to cybersecurity and privacy. This study aims to investigate the relationship between investments in digital transformation and cybersecurity and privacy protection efforts.Design/methodology/approachTo address this, a survey was conducted among 44 managers from diverse industries. The survey explored the correlation between digital transformation investments and cybersecurity measures, as well as assessed senior managers’ awareness of associated risks.FindingsOur study reveals that, despite investments in digital transformation, insufficient efforts and resource allocation toward cybersecurity such as the failure to implement industry-standard practices like vulnerability assessments, data encryption, ISO 27001 and NIST guidelines may increase the likelihood and severity of future security breaches. Our study identified third-party integration as a major concern, with data breaches involving the theft of sensitive company and customer data being the most frequently reported security issue among participants. Our findings demonstrate the need for senior managers to improve their focus on cybersecurity in digital transformation projects.Originality/valueThis research highlights the gap between digital transformation investments and cybersecurity practices; presents actionable strategies including resource allocation, integrating cybersecurity into company culture, investing in human resources, evaluating third-party risks, and applying data protection principles; and emphasizes the need for a stronger managerial focus on cybersecurity.

Overcoming Product Catalog Challenges in Telecom : A Technical Perspective

This comprehensive article explores the intricate challenges telecom providers face in managing complex product catalogs across multiple customer touchpoints. With the global telecom market projected to reach $2.47 trillion by 2028, efficient catalog management is crucial for maintaining competitiveness and customer satisfaction. The article delves into the multifaceted complexities of telecom product catalogs, including regional pricing variations, dynamic promotional offers, and the need for real-time synchronization across platforms. It outlines key challenges such as catalog complexity, slow data retrieval, frequent updates, third-party integration latencies, high traffic spikes, and campaign management inconsistencies. The article then presents innovative technical solutions and best practices, including the adoption of industry-leading catalog solutions, leveraging ElasticSearch for faster data retrieval, implementing differential processing for updates, preprocessing third-party integrations, utilizing dynamic UI templates, employing advanced campaign management tools, and implementing inventory prefetching. These solutions aim to enhance operational efficiency, improve customer experiences, and accelerate time-to-market in the rapidly evolving telecom industry.

Abstract P405: Integrating Self-Measured Blood Pressure Device Data Into Electronic Health Records – Barriers And Solutions

Introduction: Despite clinical evidence supporting the use of self-measured blood pressure monitoring (SMBP)in improving blood pressure control, the infrastructure to enable data transfer from device to electronic health record (EHR) is complicated by policy, interoperability, and operational challenges. The National Hypertension Control Initiative (NHCI) engaged 350 HRSA-funded federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) to improve blood pressure control leveraging SMBP devices and integrating SMBP data into EHRs. Hypothesis/Aims: FQHCs could integrate SMBP device data into their EHR with financial support and training and technical assistance (T/TA). Methods: T/TA was provided through a curriculum to support technology infrastructure self-assessment, explore effective integration options, and implement solutions. Additionally, FQHCs were offered 1:1 consultations and EHR-specific guidance documents. Results: More than half (52%) of responding FQHCs reported moving through all stages of planning, preparing, piloting, scaling, and evaluating their SMBP program during the 3-year grant, while 30% reached the scaling stage. Ultimately, 27% reported full data integration and 51% reported partial integration of SMBP device data into their EHR, while 4-12% reported no to minimal integration, respectively. Based on the five most used EHRs, numerous integrations were identified with five validated SMBP devices. Successful integration strategies included upgrading to the latest EHR version, choosing SMBP devices with verified EHR integration, utilizing EHRs with patient portal apps, and engaging with remote patient monitoring (RPM) services for pre-established integrations. Third-party integration engines emerged as complex and expensive solutions. Challenges included costly or time-consuming EHR upgrades, SMBP device purchases without prior SMBP integration assessment, limitations posed by non-cloud based EHRs or EHRs without patient portals, ability to sustain RPM subscription costs, and limited information technology expertise. Conclusion: SMBP device data can be integrated into EHRs, but the complexity, costs, and sustainability vary significantly. Several viable integration strategies with common EHRs and validated SMBP devices were verified. As the technology landscape evolves rapidly, the underlying need for education, strategic technology planning, and vendor collaboration remains.

Researcher profile system adoption and use across discipline and rank: A case study at the University of Manitoba

AbstractThis study analyzes the adoption and use of researcher profile systems (ORCID, Scopus Author Profiles, Web of Science Researcher Profiles (formerly Publons), Google Scholar Profiles, and ResearchGate) across discipline and rank at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg, Canada). The purpose of the study is to assess how many faculty members have registered for and use researcher profiles and whether there are any differences in use along discipline or academic rank. The adoption rate in the current study is compared with other international studies. At the University of Manitoba, there is variance in adoption between disciplines and ranks. When comparing profile systems by discipline, Google Scholar is the primary profile system for sciences and ORCID, Publons, and ResearchGate the primary profile systems for health sciences. There is variance of publication count between disciplines. Unsurprisingly, the number of publications increases as faculty are promoted. Among the studied profile systems, ORCID is not working as efficiently as it could be. Several recommendations to increase ORCID adoption are made, including mandatory public fields and suggestions for third-party integration. As part of increasing usage of profile systems, we see academic librarians as a key component of instruction and advocacy for graduate students and faculty.

Authorisation inconsistency in IoT third‐party integration

Today's IoT platforms provide rich functionalities by integrating with popular third-party services. Due to the complexity, it is critical to understand whether the IoT platforms have properly managed the authorisation in the cross-cloud IoT environments. In this study, the authors report the first systematic study on authorisation management of IoT third-party integration by: (1) presenting two attacks that leak control permissions of the IoT device in the integration of third-party services; (2) conducting a measurement study over 19 real-world IoT platforms and three major third-party services. Results show that eight of the platforms are vulnerable to the threat. To educate IoT developers, the authors provide in-depth discussion about existing design principles and propose secure design principles for IoT cross-cloud control frameworks.

Clinical Ethics Consultation in the Transition Countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Since 1989, clinical ethics consultation in form of hospital ethics committees (HECs) was established in most of the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Up to now, the similarities and differences between HECs in Central and Eastern Europe and their counterparts in the U.S. and Western Europe have not been determined. Through search in literature databases, we have identified studies that document the implementation of clinical ethics consultation in Central and Eastern Europe. These studies have been analyzed under the following aspects: mode of establishment of HECs, character of consultation they provide, and their composition. The results show that HECs in the transition countries of Central and Eastern Europe differ from their western-European or U.S. counterparts with regard to these three aspects. HECs were established because of centrally imposed legal regulations. Little initiatives in this area were taken by medical professionals interested in resolving emerging ethical issues. HECs in the transition countries concentrate mostly on review of research protocols or resolution of administrative conflicts in healthcare institutions. Moreover, integration of non-professional third parties in the workings of HECs is often neglected. We argue that these differences can be attributed to the historical background and the role of medicine in these countries under the communist regime. Political and organizational structures of healthcare as well as education of healthcare staff during this period influenced current functioning of clinical ethics consultation in the transition countries.

Integration of BIM and GIS in sustainable built environment: A review and bibliometric analysis

Abstract Building information modelling (BIM) and geographical information systems (GIS) provide digital representation of architectural and environmental entities. BIM focuses on micro-level representation of buildings themselves, and GIS provide macro-level representation of the external environments of buildings. Moreover, their combination can establish a comprehensive view of a built environment based on data integrated, which underpins the development and transition of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries in the digital era. This paper gives a comprehensive review on BIM-GIS integration in sustainable built environments in order to analyse the status quo and practical applications from four viewpoints: technologies for data integration, applications in the life cycle of AEC projects, building energy management, and urban governance. Three typical modes of BIM-GIS integration, namely, “BIM leads and GIS supports”, “GIS leads and BIM supports”, and “BIM and GIS are equally involved”, are categorised based on the different dominant positions of the two technologies. Furthermore, the research trends and future directions for the applications of BIM-GIS integration are discussed. Specifically, we underline that semantic models and third-party integration platforms should be optimised technically, and information about the whole process of AEC projects needs to be improved. Comprehensive information for building energy management should be digitised and quantified to improve its systematic integration and application to the urban built environment. This review can serve as a roadmap for researchers who focus on studies of BIM-GIS integration in the sustainable built environment.

Commissioning and Evaluation of a Third-Party 6 Degrees-of-Freedom Couch Used in Radiotherapy.

Purposes:The newly released Protura 6 degrees-of-freedom couch (CIVCO) has limited quality assurance protocols and pertinent publications. Herein, we report our experiences of the Protura system acceptance, commissioning, and quality assurance.Methods:The Protura system integration was tested with peripheral equipment on the following items: couch movement range limit, 6 degrees-of-freedom movement accuracy, weight test and couch sagging, system connection with Linac, isocentricity of couch and rotation alignment, kV and cone-beam computed tomography imaging of HexaCHECK with MIMI phantom (Standard Imaging), and an in-house custom 6 degrees-of-freedom quality assurance phantom. A couch transmission measurement was also performed.Results:The vertical, longitudinal, and lateral ranges of the 6 degrees-of-freedom couch pedestal are 43.9 to 0.0 cm, 24.6 to 149.5 cm, −20.6 to 20.7 cm, respectively. The couch movement accuracy was within 1 mm in all directions. The couch sagging with a 200 lbs (∼91 kg) evenly distributed object is 1.0 cm and 0.4° pitch in the distal end of the couch. The isocentricity of the couch was about 0.5 mm in diameter of all crosshair projections on the couch isocenter level, and the largest couch rotation alignment observed was (0.3°) at the couch angle of 90°. The deviation from the reference position (zero position) of the HexaCHECK phantom, measured by matching the cone-beam computed tomography with the reference planning computed tomography, was found to be below 0.2 mm in the anterior–posterior and right–left dimensions, 0.4 mm in superior–inferior dimension, and 0.1° in roll, pitch, and yaw directions.Conclusions:A 6 degrees-of-freedom quality assurance phantom is helpful for the commissioning and routine quality assurance tests. Due to the third-party integration with Linac, the system is prone to “double-correction” errors. A rigorous quality assurance program is the key to a successful clinical implementation of the Protura system.

Patient empowerment in connecare

Background: In a context of growing incidence of chronic diseases and aging populations, there is the need to research and find new solutions to shift resources into the community in an effort to deal more effectively with chronic conditions. In that direction, patient empowerment plays an important role. Approaches to increase patient empowerment vary from patient self-management programs to promoting patient involvement in treatment shared decision-making, to facilitating the clinician-patient cooperation. Methods: In the CONNECARE project ID: 689802, we focus on patient’s monitoring with the final goal of providing self-management features to people in needs, such as chronic patients. To be modular and scalable and to allow us to have a disease-independent system, the proposed solution is based on the software-engineering concept of microservices. They are modularization concepts that may be developed independently of each other, possess their own data storage, and can bring their own support service. In CONNECARE, each microservice is in charge of performing a simple task; whereas a complex task is achieved by the collaboration, interaction, and coordination of one or more simple microservices. In so doing, the proposed solution allows a better maintenance and bugs fixing. Seemly, scalability is obtained by dividing each task into less complex ones. Thus, when changes are needed in a microservice, they do not affect the rest of the system. Moreover, when a new functionality is required, a new microservice or set of microservices collaborating together may be defined and simply added to the system. In so doing, the proposed solution is robust to changes and improvements. Right now, 9 microservices have been defined and developed, each one aimed at providing a functionality to provide self-management to the patients. Patient’s monitoring is performed through the following microservices: physical activity, self-checked questionnaires, sleeping, and health status. Also 5 further functionalities are provided, each one by a specific microservice: notifications, alerts, recommendations, third-party integration, and messaging. Results: According to a co-design approach with clinicians of the 4 sites in the project i.e., Barcelona, Lleida, Israel, and Groningen, clinical studies have been designed for field-testing the self-management system in real clinical practice. Those studies will be carried out during 18 months starting in March 2018 and will focus on 3 use cases: community-based management of chronic complex patients, integrated management of patients undergoing surgical procedures, and pre-habilitation of high-risk candidates for complex abdominal surgical procedures the latter only in Barcelona. Currently, a feasibility test with selected clinicians and patients is running in the 4 sites. Conclusions: The first release of the presented system is under testing to be ready to be evaluated and refined in 4 sites throughout clinical studies next March. CONNECARE will consequently help to improve real practice deployment of integrated care in those sites and will be able to bring practical insight to the potential of transferability of new methods and technologies to other regions in Europe and beyond.

Hutten catering: how to organize innovation for vital consumers in a sustainable food system?

Hutten Catering is the only family-owned company listed among the top 10 catering companies in the Netherlands, yet it also has been the fastest growing company in this market for more than a decade. Catering companies face small margins and tight R&D budgets, yet their strategic position in the food system offers them unique opportunities to contribute to people’s health and improve sustainability. Hutten Catering is located in a region with many potential innovation partners, supporting its integration of multiple suppliers, customers, and third parties in its innovation center, Food Squad. This center focuses on building sustainable supply chains that can reduce food waste; innovating specialist foods, such as for health care patients; and enabling vital lifestyles. With its many opportunities but limited budget, can Food Squad engage in more and larger projects, and thus further its impact on society, if it were to operate as an independent organization?

A flexible data schema and system architecture for the virtualization of manufacturing machines (VMM)

Future factories will feature strong integration of physical machines and cyber-enabled software, working seamlessly to improve manufacturing production efficiency. In these digitally enabled and network connected factories, each physical machine on the shop floor can have its ‘virtual twin’ available in cyberspace. This ‘virtual twin’ is populated with data streaming in from the physical machines to represent a near real-time as-is state of the machine in cyberspace. This results in the virtualization of a machine resource to external factory manufacturing systems. This paper describes how streaming data can be stored in a scalable and flexible document schema based database such as MongoDB, a data store that makes up the virtual twin system. We present an architecture, which allows third-party integration of software apps to interface with the virtual manufacturing machines. We evaluate our database schema against query statements and provide examples of how third-party apps can interface with manufacturing machines using the VMM middleware. Finally, we discuss an operating system architecture for VMMs across the manufacturing cyberspace, which necessitates command and control of various virtualized manufacturing machines, opening new possibilities in cyber-physical systems in manufacturing.

Consumer Trust in Internet Shopping

India has seen a tremendous growth in the number of Internet users in the last decade. Despite of the increase in the number of Internet users, the penetration rate of Internet shopping in the country remains low. Hence, this article focuses on building a model around the factors that are responsible for lack of trust in Indian consumers on Internet shopping and unveiling their effect on the consumers’ buying intention. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structure equation modelling (SEM) with AMOS 20.0 was used to confirm factor structure and to perform second-order SEM on the 5-point Likert scale proposed model tested empirically on a sample of 549 individuals. Our research indicates that there are various antecedents like brand orientation, website design, prior online purchase experience, quality orientation, perceived risk, perceived security control, perceived privacy control, perceived integrity, perceived competence, third-party integration and legal framework which affects consumer trust in Internet shopping which is positively associated with an intention to buy. However, the purchase intention of Indian consumers is influenced by the trustworthiness dimension of the model which depends on the factors affecting the consumer trust in e-shopping.

Integrating Stakeholders into the Governance of Data Exchange from Smart Metering

The electricity supply chain is changing due to the integration of renewable energies. Two developments are in the focus of this paper: First, the emergence of third parties and second, the requirement for information management (i.e. the management of data exchange from smart metering) as a new step in the supply chain. Information management needs to secure the neutral and non-discriminatory integration of third parties into smart grids. This can be accomplished by a collaborative governance approach. Based on veto player theory we identify two key issues for the voting process within a collaborative governance approach for information management. First, we show that a voting process based on “individual veto players” will result in governance lock-in situations, where governance innovation will be impeded. Second, we discuss that “collective veto players” can secure governance innovation for information management, but that the non-discriminatory integration for third parties might be at stake, if less than a qualified majority is required to vote on a veto.

Optimal integration of third-parties in a coordinated supply chain management environment

A generic tactical model is developed considering third party price policies for the optimization of coordinated and centralized multi-product Supply Chains (SCs). To allow a more realistic assessment of these policies in each marketing situation, different price approximation models to estimate these policies are proposed, which are based on the demand elasticity theory, and result in different model implementations (LP, NLP, and MINLP). The consequences of using the proposed models on the SCs coordination, regarding not only their practical impact on the tactical decisions, but also the additional mathematical difficulties to be solved, are verified through a case study in which the coordination of a production–distribution SC and its energy generation SC is analyzed. The results show how the selection of the price approximation model affects the tactical decisions. The average price approximation leads to the worst decisions with a significant difference in the real total cost in comparison with the best piecewise approximation.

Your HVAC System can Manage its Own Energy Use: Advantages of Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) Zoning Systems

VRF zoning heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems have been in use globally for 30 years. The key component is an inverter-driven compressor that uses only the energy needed to meet the heating or cooling load in the building. Since HVAC typically makes up over 40% of a building's energy use1 U.S. Department of Energy. 2011 Buildings Energy Databook, March 2012. D&R International, Ltd. (2011). http://buildingsdatabook.eren.doe.gov/docs/DataBooks/2011_BEDB.pdf. [Google Scholar], VRF zoning technology presents a significant opportunity to reduce a building's overall energy consumption. When weather conditions are less than extreme, which is most of the time in most of the U.S., the building is under partial load. The inverter compressor can ramp down its speed and save 50% of baseline energy use over conventional, fixed-speed, or two-speed systems2 Mitsubishi Electric HVAC Advanced Products Division. EnergyPro Building Energy Analysis, HVAC Energy Usage Savings: Hotel Building. (2009). http://www.mitsubishipro.com/media/226516/energypro-hotel.pdf. (50% HVAC system energy savings is dependent on climate and compared system.). [Google Scholar]. And this is the best part: The energy management system is built into the equipment!This article will address the most common concerns among designers and building owners: “Who should invest in VRF zoning technology?” “What is the ROI?” “Why is VRF zoning technology more efficient than other types of systems?” “How do VRF zoning systems fit into the whole building design and energy management strategies? Occupancy Control? Mobile devices? Tablets? Smart Grid?” This article will explain the concept of simultaneous heating and cooling through energy recovery and will highlight common applications and examples where VRF zoning systems were integrated successfully. Also, the advantages of having the building controls system built into the VRF zoning components will be discussed, such as the ability to add simple control for other systems in the building. This provides significant upfront cost savings in addition to the energy savings versus a traditional system with a third-party integration strategy.

Supply chain transparency as a key prerequisite for sustainable agri-food supply chain management

This paper discusses the antecedences and consequences of supply chain transparency (SCT) in sustainable agrarian supply chain management using partial least squares regression in an empirical sample with 131 supply chains with lead firms in German-speaking countries (Germany, Austria and Switzerland). We investigated the effect of such structural antecedences as disintermediation, as well as the effect of governance tools similar to intensive communication, the integration of third parties in supply chain governance or the use of formal specifications on SCT. We found that all these antecedences are helpful in increasing SCT, while low developed countries of origin significantly reduced SCT. Then, the effects of SCT on the four main performance dimensions in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), i.e. social, ecological, and operational performance and long-term relationship success, were verified. Higher SCT improves all four dimensions significantly, while the effect on operational performance is lowest. Supply chain transparency turns out to be a prerequisite or a basic indicator of good management in SSCM in agri-food supply chains.

Identifying research facilitators in an emerging Asian Research Area

We introduce a novel set of metrics for triadic closure among individuals or groups to model how co-authorship networks become more integrated over time. We call this process of triadic, third-party mediated integration, research facilitation. We apply our research facilitation or RF-metrics to the development of the Pan-Asian SNP (PASNP) Consortium, the first inter-Asian genomics network. Our aim was to examine if the consortium catalyzed research facilitation or integration among the members and the wider region. The PASNP Consortium is an ideal case study of an emerging Asian Research Area because its members themselves asserted a regional Asian identity. To validate our model, we developed data mining software to extract and match full author and institutional information from the PDFs of scientific papers.

Preferential Rules of Origin in Regional Trade Agreements

This study surveys preferential rules of origin applied by 192 regional trade agreements (RTAs) covering trade in goods notified to the GATT/WTO up to 1 November 2010. It takes into account the preferential rules of origin that were notified to the WTO; whenever known and available, modifications to the original rules of origin have been updated. This study contains two basic features: a description of some key elements of preferential rules of origin in RTAs, followed by an attempt to provide a reality-check of how these rules affect actual trade. That is done by an ex-post examination of data on the use of RTAs' preferences and, in their absence, of their margins of preference (MOPs). While the raison d'etre of preferential rules of origin is the avoidance of trade deflection, the practice in RTAs has diluted this objective and it would seem that preferential rules of origin are increasingly becoming an economic, political and trade instrument. In its descriptive part, the study identifies what seems to be a tendency to design stricter rules of origin, while detecting concomitantly the inclusion in modern preferential rules of origin of flexibilities that provide, through the rules of origin themselves, a preference beyond the lower tariff rate resulting from the preferential treatment and mechanisms that allow the integration of third-parties into preferential rules of origin regimes. The reality-check part of the study points to the fact that much beyond the coverage of RTAs, it is their effective implementation that poses a challenge to economic operators. Though data on the use of preferences is either not disclosed or inexistent, they are nevertheless available for some economies. On the basis of existing data of preference utilization, the analysis of the effects of rules of origin on preferential trade flows appears to give rise to a dual reality - namely a relatively high use of preferences in certain instances coexisting with preferences failing to attain their potential in other cases. As regards RTAs for which utilization rate is not available, the paper analysis preferential rules of origin from a MOPS perspective, assuming that MOPs of at least 5 percentage points would offset compliance costs and thus provide a stimulus to comply with rules of origin in order to benefit from preferences. The analysis, made for 68 out of 192 RTAs, do not allow any conclusion regarding that generally presented hypothesis. Finally, the paper briefly outlines some suggestions for further action, including the launching in the WTO of exploratory work on preferential rules of origin within an open regionalism scenario.

Los compromisos voluntarios como mecanismo alternativo en la política ambiental : ¿oportunidad para el aprendizaje colectivo?

Given the exhaustion of penalty and control mechanisms in environmental policy, the weakness of the political system to apply its strictly stipulated regulations, and the growing autonomy of the economic system to impose its own conditions and develop innovations, the application of mechanisms that promote public / private cooperation and the incorporation of economic actors as key agents in the gestation and execution of environmental policy has become a trend. Starting from the reconstruction of the fundamental approaches of perspectives from the social sciences, this paper evaluates the relevance and potential of the application of this mechanism and bases its central thesis: the application of voluntary commitments in environmental policy only deserves to be generalized if the dynamic between closure (control, regulations, sanctions) and opening (innovation, evaluation, and integration of third parties) is internally and externally balanced.

Integration of third parties within existing dyads: An exploratory study of category management programs (CMPs)

In this study, we focus on the pursuit of cross-functional integration between suppliers and retailers along the different phases of a collaborative project. More specifically, we explore why and how, a supplier and retailer would want to shift the locus of integration from the dyadic to the network level by adding a third party to an ongoing relationship. A case study is developed to analyze the process of integration in the context of category management programs. The analysis reports on a program developed by a regional retailing chain based in the south of Italy, with the collaboration of a national coffee blends supplier and a third-party leader in the market analysis service business. The findings offer a novel view of third parties' role, which broadens the scope from a typical, initial support of negotiations to an evolving modality of intervention during the different phases of the collaborative project. More precisely, the third party enables the sequential and joint activation of alternative forms of interaction between the parties, which is pivotal for enacting the integration mechanism that is most suitable for each program phase. These findings offer a rich set of insights for the analysis of integration within distribution channel and supply chains, as well as for category management and, more generally, for knowledge management in marketing relationships.