Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine

Advances in Computational Social Science and Social Simulation

Aquesta conferència és la celebració conjunta de la "10th Artificial Economics Conference AE", la "10th Conference of the European Social Simulation Association ESSA" i la "1st Simulating the Past to Understand Human History SPUHH".Conferència organitzada pel Laboratory for Socio­-Historical Dynamics Simulation (LSDS-­UAB) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.Readers will find results of recent research on computational social science and social simulation economics, management, sociology,and history written by leading experts in the field. SOCIAL SIMULATION (former ESSA) conferences constitute annual events which serve as an international platform for the exchange of ideas and discussion of cutting edge research in the field of social simulations, both from the theoretical as well as applied perspective, and the 2014 edition benefits from the cross-fertilization of three different research communities into one single event. The volume consists of 122 articles, corresponding to most of the contributions to the conferences, in three different formats: short abstracts (presentation of work-in-progress research), posters (presentation of models and results), and full papers (presentation of social simulation research including results and discussion). The compilation is completed with indexing lists to help finding articles by title, author and thematic content. We are convinced that this book will serve interested readers as a useful compendium which presents in a nutshell the most recent advances at the frontiers of computational social sciences and social simulation researc

Plan, collaborate and communicate! Smart organization of translation activities in an international company

Tämän pro gradu -tutkielman tavoitteena on lisätä tietoa käännöstoiminnasta kansainvälisissä yrityksissä. Tutkimus selvittää, miten käännöstoiminta on järjestetty kansainvälisissä yrityksissä ja millaisia haasteita kääntämiseen liittyy. Kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan tutkimuksessa kääntäminen on saanut vähän huomiota, vaikka se on yksi kansainvälisen viestinnän ydintoiminnoista. Käännöstiede puolestaan näyttää jättäneen huomiotta käännöksiä käyttävien ja niitä tilaavien yritysten näkökulman. Kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan tutkimus tunnistaa kääntämisen tarpeellisuuden ja arvon, mutta lisää selvitystä tarvitaan käännöstoiminnasta ja kääntämisestä prosessina sekä kääntämisen vaikutuksesta yritysten toimintaan. Tämä pro gradu on laadullinen tapaustutkimus suomalaisesta monikansallisesta rakennusyhtiö YIT:stä. Tutkimusaineisto koostuu temaattisista asiantuntijahaastatteluista sekä tapaustutkimusyrityksen että sen sopimuskäännöstoimiston luovuttamasta kirjallisesta materiaalista. Aineiston analyysi lähestyy tutkimuskysymyksiä kriittisen realismin näkökulmasta ja tarkastelee käännöstoiminnan taustalla olevia syy–seuraus-suhteita. Tutkimuksen teoreettinen viitekehys nojaa käännöstutkimukseen kansainvälisen liiketoiminnan alalla ja käännöstieteessä. Laaja kirjallisuuskatsaus toimii sillanrakentajana näiden kahden tieteenalan välillä. Tutkimusaineiston analyysi paljastaa, että käännöstoiminta YIT:ssä on järjestäytynyttä ja sujuvaa. Kääntämisen käytänteet ovat kehittyneet vuosien kuluessa vastaamaan yhtiön käytännön tarpeita. Käännöstyöt jakautuvat pääosin konsernin sisäisen käännösyksikön, sopimuskäännöstoimiston, tytäryhtiöiden ja ei-ammattimaisten kääntäjien kesken. Keskeisimmät haasteet YIT:n käännöstoiminnassa ovat kiire, käännöslaadun vaihtelu ja puutteellinen tiedonvaihto käännösprosessin osapuolten välillä. Ennakointi, yhteistyö ja viestintä ovat keskeisiä tekijöitä toimivassa käännösprosessissa ja käännöslaadun tavoittelussa. Tutkimus on uniikki, mutta se tarjoaa näkökulmia käännöstoiminnan ja monikielisen yritysviestinnän suunnitteluun kansainvälisissä organisaatioissa yleensä. Koska käännöstoiminnan suunnittelu osana kielistrategista ajattelua kaipaa teoreettisia lähtökohtia, tutkielma ehdottaa sen tueksi käännösprosessien mallinnusta ja tuotantoketjun analyysia. Analyysin avulla voidaan tunnistaa käännöstuotannossa esiintyviä ongelmia sekä niiden syitä ja seurauksia. Kokonaisvaltainen laatukeskeisen kääntämisen malli kannustaa pohtimaan käännöstekstin laadun ja käännösprosessin sujuvuuden osatekijöitä sekä niiden toiminnan vaikutusta lopputulokseen.The purpose of this Master’s thesis is to advance understanding of inter-lingual translation in international business (IB). The study seeks to find out how translation activities are organized within an international company, and what kind of challenges are involved in translation. Translation has received only marginal attention in IB research even though it is an activity at the very core of international business communication. It also seems that translation studies have neglected the perspective of the companies ordering and using translations. IB scholars recognize the need and value of studying translation, but more research is needed on translation as an activity and as a process along with its influence on the companies. This study is an attempt to fill this knowledge gap. The present study is a qualitative single-case study of a Finnish multinational construction company YIT. The research data consists of seven thematical specialist interviews and of written documents provided by the case company and its translation service provider. The data analysis approaches three research questions from a critical realist perspective and examines causes and effects underlying translation activities. The theoretical framework of the study is drawn from translation studies in IB and in translation studies. The aim of an ample literature review is to bring together the two disciplines. The data analysis reveals that the translation activities are well organized in YIT and they function fluently. Translation practices have evolved along the years to meet the needs of the company. The translation work is mainly divided between an in-house translation department, external translation agency, YIT’s subsidiaries and staff working as non-professional translators. The key challenges in translation are tight schedules, variation in translation quality, and insufficient communication between participants in the translation process. Anticipating, collaborating and communicating are decisive factors in a functional translation process targeting high quality results. The study is unique, but it provides insights for planning translation activities and multilingual communication within international organizations in general. To support the theoretical development of translation activities as a part of strategic thinking in business, this study suggests translation process modelling as a starting point for an analysis that can detect problems in the production process and identify their causes and effects. A quality-focused translation model challenges to reflect upon factors involved in producing high quality translations and in allowing smooth translation processes

Smoking and Second Hand Smoking in Adolescents with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Report from the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Cohort Study

The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of smoking and second hand smoking [SHS] in adolescents with CKD and their relationship to baseline parameters at enrollment in the CKiD, observational cohort study of 600 children (aged 1-16 yrs) with Schwartz estimated GFR of 30-90 ml/min/1.73m2. 239 adolescents had self-report survey data on smoking and SHS exposure: 21 [9%] subjects had “ever” smoked a cigarette. Among them, 4 were current and 17 were former smokers. Hypertension was more prevalent in those that had “ever” smoked a cigarette (42%) compared to non-smokers (9%), p\u3c0.01. Among 218 non-smokers, 130 (59%) were male, 142 (65%) were Caucasian; 60 (28%) reported SHS exposure compared to 158 (72%) with no exposure. Non-smoker adolescents with SHS exposure were compared to those without SHS exposure. There was no racial, age, or gender differences between both groups. Baseline creatinine, diastolic hypertension, C reactive protein, lipid profile, GFR and hemoglobin were not statistically different. Significantly higher protein to creatinine ratio (0.90 vs. 0.53, p\u3c0.01) was observed in those exposed to SHS compared to those not exposed. Exposed adolescents were heavier than non-exposed adolescents (85th percentile vs. 55th percentile for BMI, p\u3c 0.01). Uncontrolled casual systolic hypertension was twice as prevalent among those exposed to SHS (16%) compared to those not exposed to SHS (7%), though the difference was not statistically significant (p= 0.07). Adjusted multivariate regression analysis [OR (95% CI)] showed that increased protein to creatinine ratio [1.34 (1.03, 1.75)] and higher BMI [1.14 (1.02, 1.29)] were independently associated with exposure to SHS among non-smoker adolescents. These results reveal that among adolescents with CKD, cigarette use is low and SHS is highly prevalent. The association of smoking with hypertension and SHS with increased proteinuria suggests a possible role of these factors in CKD progression and cardiovascular outcomes

Putting Chinese natural knowledge to work in an eighteenth-century Swiss canton: the case of Dr Laurent Garcin

Symposium: S048 - Putting Chinese natural knowledge to work in the long eighteenth centuryThis paper takes as a case study the experience of the eighteenth-century Swiss physician, Laurent Garcin (1683-1752), with Chinese medical and pharmacological knowledge. A Neuchâtel bourgeois of Huguenot origin, who studied in Leiden with Hermann Boerhaave, Garcin spent nine years (1720-1729) in South and Southeast Asia as a surgeon in the service of the Dutch East India Company. Upon his return to Neuchâtel in 1739 he became primus inter pares in the small local community of physician-botanists, introducing them to the artificial sexual system of classification. He practiced medicine, incorporating treatments acquired during his travels. taught botany, collected rare plants for major botanical gardens, and contributed to the Journal Helvetique on a range of topics; he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, where two of his papers were read in translation and published in the Philosophical Transactions; one of these concerned the mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana), leading Linnaeus to name the genus Garcinia after Garcin. He was likewise consulted as an expert on the East Indies, exotic flora, and medicines, and contributed to important publications on these topics. During his time with the Dutch East India Company Garcin encountered Chinese medical practitioners whose work he evaluated favourably as being on a par with that of the Brahmin physicians, whom he particularly esteemed. Yet Garcin never went to China, basing his entire experience of Chinese medical practice on what he witnessed in the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia (the ‘East Indies’). This case demonstrates that there were myriad routes to Europeans developing an understanding of Chinese natural knowledge; the Chinese diaspora also afforded a valuable opportunity for comparisons of its knowledge and practice with other non-European bodies of medical and natural (e.g. pharmacological) knowledge.postprin