Competitive Benchmarking: An IS Research Approach to Address Wicked Problems with Big Data and Analytics

Wicked problems like sustainable energy and financial market stability are societal challenges that arise from complex socio-technical systems in which numerous social, economic, political, and technical factors interact. Understanding and mitigating them requires research methods that scale beyond the traditional areas of inquiry of Information Systems (IS) “individuals, organizations, and markets” and that deliver solutions in addition to insights. We describe an approach to address these challenges through Competitive Benchmarking (CB), a novel research method that helps interdisciplinary research communities to tackle complex challenges of societal scale by using different types of data from a variety of sources such as usage data from customers, production patterns from producers, public policy and regulatory constraints, etc. for a given instantiation. Further, the CB platform generates data that can be used to improve operational strategies and judge the effectiveness of regulatory regimes and policies. We describe our experience applying CB to the sustainable energy challenge in the Power Trading Agent Competition (Power TAC) in which more than a dozen research groups from around the world jointly devise, benchmark, and improve IS-based solutions

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

St. Scholastica's interactive timeline exhibition

Currently, the information on the history of the Benedictine Sisters and St. Scholastica's College is scattered around in various PowerPoint presentations, websites, and off course books and other analog media. For the Museum Archives, a more structured exhibition is aimed for, allowing visitors to browse the history of the Philippines, the Benedictine sisters and St. Scholastica's College in the past 100 years. This interactive exhibit will be the center piece of the Museum Archives of the Missionary Benedictine Sisters in the Philippines. We are to design such a system, and start to implement it. Also, we should ensure continuity of the project by making the staff familiar with the system. This way they can take it along after we are gone, maintaining it as its database growsElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc

Linear cotangential transfers and safe orbits for elliptic orbit rendezvous

This paper presents the theory for linear cotangential transfers and safe orbits for elliptic orbit rendezvous. Expressions for the transfer angle and the required ΔV’s are derived. Singularities in the algorithm can occur if the two orbits intersect. Alternative maneuvers for such singular cases are developed. The linear cotangential transfer algorithm is compared with the nonlinear cotangential transfer and the algorithm is found to be very similar. The development of the linear cotangential transfer leads to a new set of relative orbital elements that are well suited for defining safe trajectories. The characteristics of safe trajectories are discussed and a linear safety checking algorithm is developed. Finally, the combination of the cotangential transfers and safe orbits is used to define safe rendezvous trajectories for elliptical orbit rendezvous.Accepted Author ManuscriptAstrodynamics & Space Mission

Visibility Analysis in a Point Cloud Based on the Medial Axis Transform

Visibility analysis is an important application of 3D GIS data. Current approaches require 3D city models that are often derived from detailed aerial point clouds. We present an approach to visibility analysis that does not require a city model but works directly on the point cloud. Our approach is based on the medial axis transform, which models the urban environment as a union of balls, which we then use to construct a depthmap that is used for point visibility queries. As we demonstrate through our experiments on a real-world aerial LiDAR point cloud, the main benefits of our approach are 1) it is robust to noise, irregular sampling and holes of typical aerial LiDAR datasets, 2) it gives visibility results that are significantly more accurate than the often highly generalised city models, and 3) it is a simple algorithm that is easy to parallelise.UrbanismArchitecture and The Built Environmen

Partial safety factors for berthing velocity and loads on marine structures

Design methods for marine structures have evolved into load and resistance factor design, however existing partial safety factors related to berthing velocity and loads have not been verified and validated by measurement campaigns. In this study, field observations of modern seagoing vessels berthing in Bremerhaven, Rotterdam and Wilhelmshaven were used to evaluate partial safety factors for berthing energy and berthing impact loads. Various types of vessels and navigation conditions were statistically examined. The results show that characteristic values of berthing velocity with a return period of 50 years are in line with design recommendations in literature. Design values of berthing velocity are sensitive to the number of berthing operations during the lifetime of a marine structure. Typical partial safety factors for sheltered and exposed navigation conditions were derived by extrapolating distribution fits and applying extreme value theory. Differences in structural response due to soil stiffness and the type of berthing system installed influence partial safety factors for berthing impact loads. The probability of an uncontrolled berthing event was higher for exposed navigation conditions (strong tidal currents). In these circumstances, higher partial safety factors for berthing velocity should be considered in the design of marine structures. When berthing aid systems are used, the probability of extreme berthing velocities is lower, resulting in lower partial safety factors. The key findings of this study could be beneficial for the structural design of new and lifetime extension of existing marine structures.The results from this paper are included in the international draft directive“Berthing velocities and fender design” van PIANC WG145Hydraulic Structures and Flood Ris

Integrating Robot Support Functions into Varied Activities at Returning Hospital Visits: Supporting Child’s Self-Management of Diabetes

Interactive Intelligenc

Selectieve oxydatieve oxidatie van sacchariden

Abstract of NL 9301614 (A) The invention relates to a method for the selective oxidative degradation of saccharides, wherein the oxidation is carried out with a peroxide, preferably hydrogen peroxide, in a basic medium in the presence of boric acid or a borate. The starting compound is preferably a saccharide which forms less stable borate esters and is present in the open form in a higher percentage than the next-lower saccharid