Parallelized Solution Method of the Three-dimensional Gravitational Potential on the Yin-Yang Grid

We present a new method for solving the three-dimensional gravitational potential of a density field on the Yin-Yang grid. Our algorithm is based on a multipole decomposition and completely symmetric with respect to the two Yin-Yang grid patches. It is particularly efficient on distributed-memory machines with a large number of compute tasks, because the amount of data being explicitly communicated is minimized. All operations are performed on the original grid without the need for interpolating data onto an auxiliary spherical mesh.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; two minor additions after refereeing; accepted by Ap

Computational irreducibility and compatibilism: towards a formalization

If our actions are determined by the laws of nature, can we meaningfully claim to possess free will? Compatibilists argue that the answer is yes, and that free will is compatible with complete determinism. Previously, it has been suggested that the notion of computational irreducibility can shed light on this relation: it implies that there cannot in general be "shortcuts" to the decisions of agents, explaining why deterministic agents often appear to have free will. In this paper, we introduce a variant of computational irreducibility that intends to capture more accurately aspects of actual (as opposed to apparent) free will: computational sourcehood, i.e. the phenomenon that the successful prediction of a process' outputs must typically involve an almost-exact representation of the relevant features of that process, regardless of the time it takes to arrive at the prediction. We conjecture that many processes have this property, and we study different possibilities for how to formalize this conjecture in terms of universal Turing machines. While we are not able to settle the conjecture, we give several results and constructions that shed light on the quest for its correct formulation.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur

Investigating Ethical Design Requirements for Digitalized Healthcare Support: The Case of Ambulatory Physiotherapeutic Assistance Systems

Due to the advent of digitalized healthcare services and de-centralized structures, the tele-medical support of therapeutic treatments is increasingly in the focus of researchers and practitioners. Here, systems offering an interface between patients and physicians emerge as a fruitful way to reduce clinical visits and, thus, increase patient satisfaction and health. Yet, research on requirements for such systems has largely focused on patients who are not able to fully grasp the issues associated with such technologies due to their novelty and the changes they entail. With this study, inspired by the Responsible Innovation framework, we investigate the case of an ambulatory physiotherapeutic assistance system. We conducted four focus group workshops involving experts from different domains in order to integrate multiple stakeholder perspectives and thereby explore system design requirements. Our findings indicate that patient autonomy, security, privacy, competence and socio-cultural aspects contain relevant technological implications, each involving multiple design requirements

SHEDDING LIGHT ON RESILIENCE IN NURSING: THE INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY USE IN CLINICAL CARE ON NURSES’ SENSE OF COHERENCE

The nursing discipline is increasingly confronted with far-reaching challenges that are a prominent subject in public discourse. Factors such as growing numbers of chronically ill patients and an ongoing decrease in medical personnel impose unprecedented strain on clinical care providers and nurses, which requires high levels of resilience on an individual and organizational level. The introduction of digital information and communication technology (ICT) in the workplace is intended to counteract these challenges and foster resilient everyday care. However, studies that investigate the interplay of digitalization and individual resilience are scarce. Hence, we propose a mixed-method approach to explore how ICT use in a clinical work setting influences nurses’ sense of coherence. This construct has been used as a theoretical foundation to investigate resilience in nursing. Further, the exploration of individual coping strategies in the light of ICT-related disturbances in the workplace and associated job-related outcomes complement the research agenda

Internal quantum reference frames for finite Abelian groups

Employing internal quantum systems as reference frames is a crucial concept in quantum gravity, gauge theories and quantum foundations whenever external relata are unavailable. In this work, we give a comprehensive and self-contained treatment of such quantum reference frames (QRFs) for the case when the underlying configuration space is a finite Abelian group, significantly extending our previous work (Quantum 5, 530 (2021)). The simplicity of this setup admits a fully rigorous quantum information-theoretic analysis, while maintaining sufficient structure for exploring many of the conceptual and structural questions also pertinent to more complicated setups. We exploit this to derive several important structures of constraint quantization with quantum information-theoretic methods and to reveal the relation between different approaches to QRF covariance. In particular, we characterize the "physical Hilbert space" -- the arena of the "perspective-neutral" approach -- as the maximal subspace that admits frame-independent descriptions of purifications of states. We then demonstrate the kinematical equivalence and, surprising, dynamical inequivalence of the "perspective-neutral" and the "alignability" approach to QRFs. While the former admits unitaries generating transitions between arbitrary subsystem relations, the latter, remarkably, admits no such dynamics when requiring symmetry-preservation. We illustrate these findings by example of interacting discrete particles, including how dynamics can be described "relative to one of the subsystems".Comment: 22 pages, 1 figure. V2: close to published versio

Perceived Limitations of Telemedicine from a Phenomenological Perspective

In the course of healthcare digitization, the roles of therapists and patients are likely to change. To shape a theoretical based process of technological transformation, a phenomenological perspective on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is introduced. Therefore, this paper illustrates the benefit of a holistic view on patients and therapists to describe and explain phenomena concerning Human Technology Interaction (HTI). The differentiation between a measurable objective body and a habitual subjective body helps to evaluate and anticipate constituting factors of accepting telemedicine systems. Taking into account findings from a secondary analysis of semi-structured interviews we conducted with primary care physicians, we develop a phenomenological framework for HTI in healthcare. Our aim is to structure future research concerning design implications for ICT and the implementation of telemedicine systems in clinical and primary care

Building Digital Bridges: Exploring the Digitized Collaboration of General Practitioners and Mobile Care in Rural Areas

In the process of digitalization of healthcare, professionals, such as mobile care nurses or general practitioners, are facing both new challenges and opportunities. Digital technologies thereby promise to affect the cooperation of healthcare professionals on various levels, e.g., increasing quality of care, improving interprofessional communication, or optimizing economic aspects of care. Our study examines current issues of healthcare professionals concerning a digital change of care. We conducted qualitative interviews with primary care practitioners and providers of mobile care (nurses and care managers) to understand perceived obstacles in the process of digitalization and to formulate possible implications to encounter those obstacles. Our results suggest that insufficient communication and a lack of mutual trust have to be considered relevant issues. We therefore propose to focus future research on the interchangeability of different communication and documentation systems

Beyond Intuition: Towards a Framework for Empirical-Based Design Theory Building in Design Science Research

Over the past twenty years, Design Science Research (DSR) has received major attention within the IS domain. Besides constructing and evaluating artefacts, researchers put effort into theorizing on IT design and its effects on users. Here, the development and testing of design theories is of major interest. Yet, design theory studies often lack empirical investigations on the identification of appropriate design features. Whereas in general DSR activities incorporate empirical investigations on many levels, the intertwined development of a theoretical model in connection with design features can further profit from empirical investigations by exploring the design realm of a specific context. We therefore propose a qualitative five-step approach suitable for inducing design features and theoretical constructs by engaging experienced stakeholders. We present a case study on the development of a support system for physiotherapeutic treatments, illustrating the proposed approach