THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SERVICE INNOVATION IN SHARING ECONOMY ORGANIZATIONS – A SERVICE-DOMINANT LOGIC PERSPECTIVE

The role and influence of information technology related to business and value creation of a firm are discussed controversially. The question how technology can drive service innovations is especially crucial in highly competitive and quickly developing areas such as digital platforms – and at the same time not well understood. This study investigates the role of information technology for service innovation in sharing economy organizations. These organizations are digital platforms that conflate physical and digital service elements. Using a service-dominant logic perspective, we conduct an interpretive multiple-case study to gain a deeper understanding for types of service innovation in this area and the different roles that IT can play in these initiatives. Our findings reveal different areas for service innovation and thereby help identifying previously unexplored interdependencies between the service ecosystem and value co-creation. We furthermore find that organizations’ choices on the role of IT are dependent on the level of heterogeneity and standardization of the mediated transactions. We derive four archetypes for the role of IT in service innovation that serve to explain how and why IT is exploited sharing economy organizations. The findings are translated into practical guidelines for managers of digital platforms

Verbindungstechnik von carbonfaserverstärkten Kunststoff-Halbzeugen in dynamischen Robotersystemen

In folgender Veröffentlichung wird eine Möglichkeit aufgezeigt, wie der zukunftsträchtige Werkstoff „Carbonfaserverstärkter Kunststoff“ (CFK) einfach und kostengünstig in hochdynamischen Robotersystemen zum Einsatz kommen kann. Hierbei ist es entscheidend, dass die aufwendige und kostenintensive Fertigung von einzelnen CFK-Bauteilen umgangen wird, ohne die herausragenden Werkstoffeigenschaften einzuschränken. Im Forschungsprojekt „Stabkinematik-Leichtbau-Roboter“ (SLR) werden dazu verschiedene Möglichkeiten erarbeitet, stattdessen auf standardmäßig angebotene Halbzeuge aus CFK zurückzugreifen. Ein zentrales Thema stellt dabei die Verbindungstechnik dar, die beim Fügen von CFK Halbzeugen (hier: Platten) erforderlich wird. Eine Vielfalt von Tests verschiedener Verbindungen zeigt, dass sich eine Fingerverzinkung für den betrachten Anwendungsfall am besten eignet. Daher werden zwei Varianten mit Fingerverzinkung genau analysiert, zum einen, eine mit Verschraubungen und, zum anderen, als Klebung. Die Ergebnisse der beiden Varianten zeigen ähnliche Festigkeitskennwerte, wobei die Klebung etwas höhere Werte aufweist. Demgegenüber ist die Schraubverbindung komfortabler zu montieren und bietet die Möglichkeit der Demontage

On Rapport Uncertainty in the Sharing Economy - Extending the Categories of Uncertainty

Sharing Economy platforms enable a close physical interaction among strangers by mediating goods and services owned or provided by individuals. This close physical interaction is an inherent part of the service experience, is highly individual and thus can hardly be evaluated beforehand. This gives rise to a novel type of service uncertainty that we term as rapport uncertainty. Building on the hierarchical decomposition of service quality, we construct an uncertainty model that encompasses three uncertainty categories consumers face when sharing a resource: rapport, technical, and environment uncertainty. Our empirical study in a ride sharing context reveals that rapport uncertainty differs from other categories of uncertainty and significantly reduces the intention to transact with a service provider. Our findings illustrate how the concept of uncertainty must be extended to reflect the nature of shared service experiences. We suggest that owners of these platforms should actively manage this aspect through platform design

Planeamiento estratégico para el departamento de Norte de Santander

En el presente documentos se busco diagnosticar y plantear la importancia del desarrollo estratégico en el Norte de Santander. Se inicio mediante el análisis de información tanto publica como gubernamental y se desarrolló un estudio de las distintas variables que pueden influir en el crecimiento departamental, lo cual se vera reflejado en una mejora en la calidad de vida de sus habitantes. Se realizo un análisis del entorno donde se determina los intereses y objetivos prioritarios con el estudio interno del departamento. Dicho análisis se realizo mediante la interpretación de la información de los resultados de las matrices de planteamiento estratégico que se obtuvieron a través del uso de herramientas cuantitativas y cualitativas. Se desarrollo un análisis interno y externo arrojando finalmente los factores claves de éxito. Posteriormente se plantearon los objetivos de largo plazo que nos permitió determinar objetivos a corto plazo los cuales podrán ser cumplidos por medio de la ejecución de las estrategias Con base a los resultados arrojados de las matrices y teniendo en cuenta los objetivos que se propusieron, se plantearon unas estrategias relacionadas con los intereses de largo y corto plazo con el fin de ser implementadas. Luego de establecer el esquema de implementación, se desarrolla un sistema de análisis, evaluación y control de las estrategias para así facilitar el monitoreo de las mismas y detectar oportunidades y amenazas para el desarrollo del departamento. Se resalto la competitividad del departamento del Norte de Santander en los sectores minero, manufacturero, agropecuario y turístico, dándole así énfasis en el desarrollo socio económico, aprovechando la ventaja de su ubicación geográfica la cual no solo tiene una diversa variación de climas, relieves y recursos naturales sino que también tiene una comunicación y relación privilegiada al ser una región fronteriza con Venezuela.The purpose of this document was diagnosis and establishment of the importance of the strategic development of North of Santander. It was began through the analysis of information both public as governmental. A study of different variables which could have influence in the growth departmental was developed, which will be reflected in an improvement in the quality of life of its inhabitants. An analysis of the environment was carried out, where was determined the interests and priority objectives with the internal study of the department. Such analysis was carried out through the interpretation of the information of the results of the strategic statement matrices obtained through the use of quantitative and qualitative tools. An internal and external analysis was developed which finally generated the key success factors. Afterwards, long-time objectives were set which allowed us to determine short-term objectives to be achieved through the execution of the strategies. Based on the results obtained of the matrices and taking into account the proposed objectives, strategies related to the interests of long and short term were raised in order to be implemented. After establishing the implementation scheme, a system of analysis, evaluation and control of strategies was developed to facilitate monitoring them and identify opportunities and threats for the development of the department. The competitiveness of the department of Norte de Santander in the mining, manufacturing, agriculture and tourism was stand out, thus giving emphasis on socio-economic development, taking advantage of its geographical location which not only has a different variation of weather, terrain and natural resources but also has a communication and privileged relationship to be a region bordering Venezuela.Tesi

Leave my apps alone!:A study on how Android developers access installed apps on user's device

To enable app interoperability, the Android platform exposes installed application methods (IAMs), i.e., APIs that allow developers to query for the list of apps installed on a user's device. It is known that information collected through IAMs can be used to precisely deduce end-users interests and personal traits, thus raising privacy concerns. In this paper, we present a large-scale empirical study investigating the presence of IAMs in Android apps and their usage by Android developers. Our results highlight that: (i) IAMs are widely used in commercial applications while their popularity is limited in open-source ones; (ii) IAM calls are mostly performed in included libraries code; (iii) more than one-third of libraries that employ IAMs are advertisement libraries; (iv) a small number of popular advertisement libraries account for over 33% of all usages of IAMs by bundled libraries; (v) developers are not always aware that their apps include IAMs calls. Based on the collected data, we confirm the need to (i) revise the way IAMs are currently managed by the Android platform, introducing either an ad-hoc permission or an opt-out mechanism and (ii) improve both developers and end-users awareness with respect to the privacy-related concerns raised by IAMs

Widespread intron retention in mammals functionally tunes transcriptomes

© 2014 Braunschweig et al.; Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see http://genome.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After six months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.Alternative splicing (AS) of precursor RNAs is responsible for greatly expanding the regulatory and functional capacity of eukaryotic genomes. Of the different classes of AS, intron retention (IR) is the least well understood. In plants and unicellular eukaryotes, IR is the most common form of AS, whereas in animals, it is thought to represent the least prevalent form. Using high-coverage poly(A)(+) RNA-seq data, we observe that IR is surprisingly frequent in mammals, affecting transcripts from as many as three-quarters of multiexonic genes. A highly correlated set of cis features comprising an "IR code" reliably discriminates retained from constitutively spliced introns. We show that IR acts widely to reduce the levels of transcripts that are less or not required for the physiology of the cell or tissue type in which they are detected. This "transcriptome tuning" function of IR acts through both nonsense-mediated mRNA decay and nuclear sequestration and turnover of IR transcripts. We further show that IR is linked to a cross-talk mechanism involving localized stalling of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and reduced availability of spliceosomal components. Collectively, the results implicate a global checkpoint-type mechanism whereby reduced recruitment of splicing components coupled to Pol II pausing underlies widespread IR-mediated suppression of inappropriately expressed transcripts.This work was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Canadian Cancer Society (B.J.B.); EMBO long-term fellowships (U.B. and T.G.-P.); Human Frontier Science Program Organization long-term fellowships (U.B. and M.I.); an OSCI fellowship (T.G.-P.); CIHR postdoctoral and Marie Curie IOF fellowships (N.L.B.-M.); and an NSERC studentship (E.N.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What are the Key Characteristics of a ‘Good’ Psychotherapy?

__Objective:__ The evidence-based practice movement clearly defines the relevant components of a good treatment. In the present article, we elaborate on how the active involvement of patients within psychotherapy can and should be increased in order to respect ethical considerations. Our arguments complement the requirements of evidence-based practice, and are independent of the actual psychotherapeutic treatment approach being used. __Method:__ Theoretical and ethical analysis. __Results:__ In order to respect patient autonomy, psychotherapy needs to be transparent and honest when it comes to disclosing the relevant factors for promoting therapeutic change. It has been argued that ethical informed consent needs to include empirically supported patient information. In this paper we go one step further: we outline that fully respecting ethical considerations in psychotherapeutic treatment necessarily calls for acknowledging and strengthening the active role of patients in the course of psychotherapy. Accordingly, patients need not only to be informed openly and transparently about the planned treatment, the treatment rationale, and the expected prognosis of improvement in the course of psychotherapy, but they also need to be actively involved in the decision-making process and during the entire process of psychotherapeutic treatment. __Conclusions:__ Our arguments support the tendency that can be observed in health care in recent years towards more active patient involvement across different health-care domains, but also in clinical research. This article offers an ethical perspective on the question what defines a ‘good psychotherapy', which, hopefully, will hel

The importance of intravenous immunoglobulin treatment in critically ill patients with necrotizing soft tissue infection: a retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND Necrotizing soft-tissue infections are infections with high mortality. The use of immunoglobulins within a combination therapy including broad-spectrum antibiotics has been debated. We assessed potential benefits of immunoglobulins and hypothesized that they were associated with a treatment benefit in a high-resource setting. METHODS Patients with necrotizing soft-tissue infection hospitalized in the tertiary intensive care unit of the University Hospital of Zurich, Switzerland, between 2008 and 2020 were included retrospectively. The association between immunoglobulin administration and in-hospital survival, intensive care unit length of stay, the incidences of acute renal failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome and septic shock were analyzed. RESULTS After adjustment for confounders, no difference for in-hospital survival (hazard ratio 2.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.24-20.20, p = 0.5), intensive care unit length of stay (subhazard ratio [SHR] 0.90, CI 0.41-1.98, p = 0.8) and the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (SHR 1.2, CI 0.36-4.03, p = 0.77) was observed in patients with or without immunoglobulin treatment. The Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, the risk of developing acute renal failure (SHR 2.86, CI 1.33-6.15, p = 0.01) and septic shock (SHR 1.86, CI 1.02-3.40, p = 0.04) was higher in patients treated with immunoglobulins, possibly reflecting a higher disease severity beyond measured confounders. CONCLUSIONS No clear evidence for a benefit of immunoglobulins in our cohort with consistent antibiotic use was found. Patients receiving immunoglobulins appeared more severely ill. Complementary to high treatment standards and appropriate antibiotics including beta lactams and protein synthesis inhibitors, immunoglobulins should be administered on a case-to-case basis, at least while more evidence from larger randomized controlled trials is missing

Deep learning for brain metastasis detection and segmentation in longitudinal MRI data

Brain metastases occur frequently in patients with metastatic cancer. Early and accurate detection of brain metastases is very essential for treatment planning and prognosis in radiation therapy. To improve brain metastasis detection performance with deep learning, a custom detection loss called volume-level sensitivity-specificity (VSS) is proposed, which rates individual metastasis detection sensitivity and specificity in (sub-)volume levels. As sensitivity and precision are always a trade-off in a metastasis level, either a high sensitivity or a high precision can be achieved by adjusting the weights in the VSS loss without decline in dice score coefficient for segmented metastases. To reduce metastasis-like structures being detected as false positive metastases, a temporal prior volume is proposed as an additional input of DeepMedic. The modified network is called DeepMedic+ for distinction. Our proposed VSS loss improves the sensitivity of brain metastasis detection for DeepMedic, increasing the sensitivity from 85.3% to 97.5%. Alternatively, it improves the precision from 69.1% to 98.7%. Comparing DeepMedic+ with DeepMedic with the same VSS loss, 44.4% of the false positive metastases are reduced in the high sensitivity model and the precision reaches 99.6% for the high specificity model. The mean dice coefficient for all metastases is about 0.81. With the ensemble of the high sensitivity and high specificity models, on average only 1.5 false positive metastases per patient needs further check, while the majority of true positive metastases are confirmed. The ensemble learning is able to distinguish high confidence true positive metastases from metastases candidates that require special expert review or further follow-up, being particularly well-fit to the requirements of expert support in real clinical practice.Comment: Implementation is available to public at https://github.com/YixingHuang/DeepMedicPlu

The relationship between mental health, sleep quality and the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccinations.

Sleep modulates the immune response, and sleep loss can reduce vaccine immunogenicity; vice versa, immune responses impact sleep. We aimed to investigate the influence of mental health and sleep quality on the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccinations and, conversely, of COVID-19 vaccinations on sleep quality. The prospective CoVacSer study monitored mental health, sleep quality and Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Spike IgG titres in a cohort of 1082 healthcare workers from 29 September 2021 to 19 December 2022. Questionnaires and blood samples were collected before, 14 days, and 3 months after the third COVID-19 vaccination, as well as in 154 participants before and 14 days after the fourth COVID-19 vaccination. Healthcare workers with psychiatric disorders had slightly lower Anti-SARS-CoV-2-Spike IgG levels before the third COVID-19 vaccination. However, this effect was mediated by higher median age and body mass index in this subgroup. Antibody titres following the third and fourth COVID-19 vaccinations ("booster vaccinations") were not significantly different between subgroups with and without psychiatric disorders. Sleep quality did not affect the humoral immunogenicity of the COVID-19 vaccinations. Moreover, the COVID-19 vaccinations did not impact self-reported sleep quality. Our data suggest that in a working population neither mental health nor sleep quality relevantly impact the immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccinations, and that COVID-19 vaccinations do not cause a sustained deterioration of sleep, suggesting that they are not a precipitating factor for insomnia. The findings from this large-scale real-life cohort study will inform clinical practice regarding the recommendation of COVID-19 booster vaccinations for individuals with mental health and sleep problems