A Bold Investment in Research for the University of Illinois

In order for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to attain its vision of being the pre-eminent public research university in an era where research across all disciplines is critically dependent upon digital resources and services, the university must coherently accelerate the evolution of its digital research infrastructure. As a leading institution in computing and information technology with a culture of innovation, many efforts have arisen over the years that have been the product of this culture. While the largely organic development of digital infrastructure, resources, and support services has served campus researchers well, the lack of a coherent and unified approach is an impediment to this campus remaining at the forefront of research and limits its opportunity to be the leader in digitally-enabled research across all disciplines. In order to continue to excel, this university must make a bold move to proactively develop the coordinated digital support ecosystem required to realize its vision of preeminence in research

Work Organisation and Innovation

[Excerpt] Innovations in work organisation have the potential to optimise production processes in companies and improve employees’ overall experience of work. This report explores the links between innovations in work organisation – under the broader label of high performance work practices (HPWPs) – and the potential benefits for both employees and organisations. It draws on empirical evidence from case studies carried out in 13 Member States of the European Union where workplace innovations have resulted in positive outcomes

Semantics-based platform for context-aware and personalized robot interaction in the internet of robotic things

Robots are moving from well-controlled lab environments to the real world, where an increasing number of environments has been transformed into smart sensorized IoT spaces. Users will expect these robots to adapt to their preferences and needs, and even more so for social robots that engage in personal interactions. In this paper, we present declarative ontological models and a middleware platform for building services that generate interaction tasks for social robots in smart IoT environments. The platform implements a modular, data-driven workflow that allows developers of interaction services to determine the appropriate time, content and style of human-robot interaction tasks by reasoning on semantically enriched loT sensor data. The platform also abstracts the complexities of scheduling, planning and execution of these tasks, and can automatically adjust parameters to the personal profile and current context. We present motivational scenarios in three environments: a smart home, a smart office and a smart nursing home, detail the interfaces and executional paths in our platform and present a proof-of-concept implementation. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Proposal for an Organic Web, The missing link between the Web and the Semantic Web, Part 1

A huge amount of information is produced in digital form. The Semantic Web stems from the realisation that dealing efficiently with this production requires getting better at interlinking digital informational resources together. Its focus is on linking data. Linking data isn't enough. We need to provide infrastructural support for linking all sorts of informational resources including resources whose understanding and fine interlinking requires domain-specific human expertise. At times when many problems scale to planetary dimensions, it is essential to scale coordination of information processing and information production, without giving up on expertise and depth of analysis, nor forcing languages and formalisms onto thinkers, decision-makers and innovators that are only suitable to some forms of intelligence. This article makes a proposal in this direction and in line with the idea of interlinking championed by the Semantic Web.Comment: Supplementary material by Guillaume Bouzige and Mathilde Noua

2009 Bird Strike North America Conference Program

Bird Strike Committee Canada and Bird Strike Committee USA are very pleased to welcome you to the 2009 Bird Strike North America Conference in Victoria, British Columbia. This is the eleventh combined meeting of Bird Strike Committee USA and Bird Strike Committee Canada. This year there are over 41 papers in 9 technical sessions, as well as exhibitor displays and posters. There will also be lots of time to reconnect with old friends and colleagues and to meet new ones. We hope you enjoy the conference sessions, the special events and your stay in the beautiful city of Victoria

The Outsourcing of Intimate Affairs

In this dissertation I place the trend of outsourcing what I refer to as "intimate affairs" - those activities necessary to reproduce both physically and emotionally what Habermas (1991 [1962]: 46-47) calls the "intimate sphere" (e.g. the preparation of food, housekeeping tasks, parenting, gift giving, etc.) - within a theoretical context by arguing that this type of outsourcing is best understood from the perspective of reflexive modernization theory. In particular, I argue that the outsourcing of intimate affairs is best seen as resulting from two processes that stand at the heart of reflexive modernization: the disembedding of the social world and the concomitant wave of individualization that has accompanied this development. But more than just reflecting these processes, I also argue that intimate outsourcing can be seen as promoting disembedding and individualization as well. However, this dissertation also addresses a number of issues that, while being central to the debate over this topic, have largely been left unanswered. These include questions of what exactly is outsourcing and how it can be applied to activities such as intimate affairs? It is also includes the question of what is new and/or historically unique about outsourcing in comparison to past practices where intimate affairs were outsourcing. As I show, answering these questions is important for placing this trend in a theoretical context. In this dissertation I also critically evaluate a number of alternative theoretical accounts that have addressed to topic of outsourcing at the micro-level. As I show, while many of these theories have important insights in to this topic, they also have a number of significant limitations in accounting for the outsourcing of intimate affairs. In particular, I argue that most of these theories fail to place this type of outsourcing within a broad enough theoretical context. I show that such a context is offered by the theory of reflexive modernization theory and that many of the particular insights of these alternative theories can be integrated into the reflexive modernization perspective

User centered design evaluation of the grocery store environment:

This study identifies challenges experienced by older adults within the grocery retail environment. Evaluation of design features is based on user input to identify areas that work well versus those that could benefit from replacement, enhancement or redesign. The objective is to promote greater independence in the task of grocery shopping. Results from this study are of interest to design professionals, retail grocery store management and developers regarding the changing needs and preferences of the aging population segment in the grocery store setting. Data collection for this study is based on a series of focus group meetings at four different locations. Participants were older community members who live independently, cook for themselves and grocery shop at least twice a week

Challenges of The Industrial Revolution Era 1.0 to 5.0 : University Digital Library In Indoensia

This study explains the development of the world of libraries to establish a very close relationship with the world of information technology. For this reason, facilities and infrastructure are needed to facilitate data and information retrieval quickly and accurately. Facing the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 5.0 era by utilizing information technology, libraries must also adapt to the times. Because the library has an important role, among others, as a source of information and the development of knowledge. Used libraries are still conventional to be converted into digital libraries. In essence, this development represents the desire of library users for faster and more accurate information to facilitate their activities. Therefore, if the library does not want to be abandoned by its users, the library must be more innovative using information technology to provide excellent service. University libraries in Indonesia, in addition to facing very rapid technological developments, also need to be ready to face changes in user behavior that also change according to the times. Another challenge is the aspect of the university\u27s mission, which is to develop and advance research. The open access movement is also one of the challenges that must be immediately answered by the university library. Then the challenge to accommodate the rapid changes in teaching which is also greatly influenced by the development of the use of information technology as it is today

Understanding the New Wealthy: Ideologies, Consumption Patterns, and Organizational Strategies for a New Generation of High-Net Worth Individuals

Despite the fact that the Ultra High-Net Worth (UHNWI) belong to the wealthiest, most powerful, and influential group of consumers in the society, and nearly 70% created wealth on their own, current marketing approaches fail to consider what drives consumption behavior of this group of consumers and how can brands maximize their socio-economic impact. Across two studies, I develop a model that guides theory and practice regarding this consumer group. The first part of the first study deployed netnography and grounded theory to understand the ideologies of 30 self-made UHNWI derived from self-presentation on 3,393 Instagram posts. To ensure self-made UHNWI self-presentation is unique, the same methodology was also used to examine two contrast groups - 15 individuals who inherited their wealth and 15 Instagram Influencers. The second part of the first study identifies how such ideologies shapes consumption patterns through 30 semi-structured interviews with this consumer group. In the second study, semi-structured interviews with 27 professionals working for the brands catering to the UHNWI, examined organizational capabilities required to cater to this group of consumers. Across the two studies, the findings show that the self-made UHNWI share core American ideologies - individualism, self-reliance, and idealism - which in turn drive consumption patterns - transformational, simplistic, and idealistic. Findings suggest that successful brands catering to this powerful group of consumers develop organizational capabilities centered around customer centricity, continuously deposit in brand equity, and nurture benefit mindset. These findings have significant implications for theory and practice for all luxury brands and beyond