A GPU-Accelerated Approach to Static Stability Assessments for Pallet Loading in Air Cargo

The static stability constraint is one of the most important constraints in pallet loading and plays a substantial role when assembling safe and loadable palletizing layouts. Current approaches reach their limits as soon as additional complexity is added, which is a given in the practice of air cargo logistics, or when performance becomes important. As our central objective, we explore a new approach to calculate static stability more performantly and to cover more complexity by relaxing several simplifying assumptions. The approach is implemented in a prototype and builds on the emerging technology of graphical processing unit acceleration in combination with physics engines. We propose a new artifact design and summarize the how-to knowledge in the form of abstracted design principles. Our results demonstrate an improvement in terms of performance depending on the underlying hardware. We develop a conceptual model to assist future research in choosing a solution technology

Enablers in Crisis Information Management: A Literature Review

Social media often plays a central role in crisis informatics as it is an important source for assessing, understanding, and locating crises quickly and accurately. In addition, social media enables actors to react more effectively and efficiently when managing crises. However, enablers of crisis information management have not been carved out explicitly in a systematic view. Therefore, we perform a literature review to synthesize the existing literature on crisis information management with a focus on technical enablers and their classification into the crisis-management phases. As our results show, searching for crisis informatics mostly results in social media-related publications. We found that Twitter is one of the most important technical enablers but that research on other social media platforms is underrepresented. Also, most publications center on the post-crisis phases of crisis management, leaving out the pre-crisis phases

Predicting Static Stability with Data-Driven Physics in Air Cargo Palletizing

Proposing air cargo palletizing solutions requires an assessment by a physics engine of whether a solution is physically stable, which can take up a disproportionate amount of computation and, thus, produce a bottleneck in the optimization pipeline. This problem can be tackled by replacing the physics engine with a data-driven model that learns to map proposed packing pattern solutions directly to its stability value. We develop a prototype of such a datadriven model and find that this approach yields practicable results and does so multiple orders of magnitudes faster than a commonly used physics engine

Defining Feasibility and Pilot Studies in Preparation for Randomised Controlled Trials: Development of a Conceptual Framework

We describe a framework for defining pilot and feasibility studies focusing on studies conducted in preparation for a randomised controlled trial. To develop the framework, we undertook a Delphi survey; ran an open meeting at a trial methodology conference; conducted a review of definitions outside the health research context; consulted experts at an international consensus meeting; and reviewed 27 empirical pilot or feasibility studies. We initially adopted mutually exclusive definitions of pilot and feasibility studies. However, some Delphi survey respondents and the majority of open meeting attendees disagreed with the idea of mutually exclusive definitions. Their viewpoint was supported by definitions outside the health research context, the use of the terms ‘pilot’ and ‘feasibility’ in the literature, and participants at the international consensus meeting. In our framework, pilot studies are a subset of feasibility studies, rather than the two being mutually exclusive. A feasibility study asks whether something can be done, should we proceed with it, and if so, how. A pilot study asks the same questions but also has a specific design feature: in a pilot study a future study, or part of a future study, is conducted on a smaller scale. We suggest that to facilitate their identification, these studies should be clearly identified using the terms ‘feasibility’ or ‘pilot’ as appropriate. This should include feasibility studies that are largely qualitative; we found these difficult to identify in electronic searches because researchers rarely used the term ‘feasibility’ in the title or abstract of such studies. Investigators should also report appropriate objectives and methods related to feasibility; and give clear confirmation that their study is in preparation for a future randomised controlled trial designed to assess the effect of an intervention

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

What Affects Middle School Students’ English Anxiety in the EFL Context? Evidence from South Korea

This paper examines what affects adolescents’ English anxiety in the English as Foreign Langauage (EFL) context. A total of 414 adolescents in South Korea participated in the study and the AMOS 20.0 was used in structural equation modeling for statistical analysis. The results are as follows. Girls showed a higher level of English anxiety and self-directed learning ability than boys. Second, adolescents’ English self-efficacy had a partial mediating effect on the relationship between parental pressure expectation and English anxiety. Third, parental pressure expectation had a significant effect on English anxiety through self-directed learning and English self-efficacy. Fourth, a gender difference in the paths of the models was significant. This provides supporting evidence to many educators and parents for the implementation of effective support practices for adolescents who learn English in EFL contexts similar to Korea to reduce thier English anxiety

An Intelligent Decision-Support System for Air Cargo Palletizing

Palletizing in the air cargo sector faces a large number of constraints (e.g., aviation safety regulations) and represents a highly complex problem. In air cargo operations, there is hardly any digital support to optimize the palletizing process. As a result, desired objectives (e.g., optimal utilization of the possible loading weight, maximum use of the available loading space, or both) are often only met by chance. The goal of this research is to report on the design and performance of an intelligent decision support system that we built for the air cargo context. This system supports the manual palletizing process by considering far more constraints as well as more complex item shapes and unit load devices than any other system we know. We explain the problem context, including the essential requirements; model the solution design; and develop the intelligent decision support system as an artifact, which we then evaluate