scholarly journals Topic Maps For Improving Services In Disaster Operations Management

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Alan Wang ◽  
Christopher W. Zobel

Disaster operations management is an increasingly important application area for the developing techniques of service science. This paper examines the use of topic maps, a semantic technology, within this environment, and provides a preliminary discussion of the benefits that its implementation can provide in the capture and exchange of contextual information. The discussion is motivated by a look at the different phases of disaster operations management in a services context, and focuses on the need for effective and relevant information exchange as an important part of the services process. As the amount and complexity of information increases within such processes, semantic technologies are becoming increasingly important as a means representing and managing contextual information. This paper seeks to help further the understanding of the relevance of such tools as part of the study of service science.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Batel Yifrah ◽  
Ayelet Ramaty ◽  
Genela Morris ◽  
Avi Mendelsohn

AbstractDecision making can be shaped both by trial-and-error experiences and by memory of unique contextual information. Moreover, these types of information can be acquired either by means of active experience or by observing others behave in similar situations. The interactions between reinforcement learning parameters that inform decision updating and memory formation of declarative information in experienced and observational learning settings are, however, unknown. In the current study, participants took part in a probabilistic decision-making task involving situations that either yielded similar outcomes to those of an observed player or opposed them. By fitting alternative reinforcement learning models to each subject, we discerned participants who learned similarly from experience and observation from those who assigned different weights to learning signals from these two sources. Participants who assigned different weights to their own experience versus those of others displayed enhanced memory performance as well as subjective memory strength for episodes involving significant reward prospects. Conversely, memory performance of participants who did not prioritize their own experience over others did not seem to be influenced by reinforcement learning parameters. These findings demonstrate that interactions between implicit and explicit learning systems depend on the means by which individuals weigh relevant information conveyed via experience and observation.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 708
Author(s):  
Wenbo Liu ◽  
Fei Yan ◽  
Jiyong Zhang ◽  
Tao Deng

The quality of detected lane lines has a great influence on the driving decisions of unmanned vehicles. However, during the process of unmanned vehicle driving, the changes in the driving scene cause much trouble for lane detection algorithms. The unclear and occluded lane lines cannot be clearly detected by most existing lane detection models in many complex driving scenes, such as crowded scene, poor light condition, etc. In view of this, we propose a robust lane detection model using vertical spatial features and contextual driving information in complex driving scenes. The more effective use of contextual information and vertical spatial features enables the proposed model more robust detect unclear and occluded lane lines by two designed blocks: feature merging block and information exchange block. The feature merging block can provide increased contextual information to pass to the subsequent network, which enables the network to learn more feature details to help detect unclear lane lines. The information exchange block is a novel block that combines the advantages of spatial convolution and dilated convolution to enhance the process of information transfer between pixels. The addition of spatial information allows the network to better detect occluded lane lines. Experimental results show that our proposed model can detect lane lines more robustly and precisely than state-of-the-art models in a variety of complex driving scenarios.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrina R. Quinn ◽  
Lenka Seillier ◽  
Daniel A. Butts ◽  
Hendrikje Nienborg

AbstractFeedback in the brain is thought to convey contextual information that underlies our flexibility to perform different tasks. Empirical and computational work on the visual system suggests this is achieved by targeting task-relevant neuronal subpopulations. We combine two tasks, each resulting in selective modulation by feedback, to test whether the feedback reflected the combination of both selectivities. We used visual feature-discrimination specified at one of two possible locations and uncoupled the decision formation from motor plans to report it, while recording in macaque mid-level visual areas. Here we show that although the behavior is spatially selective, using only task-relevant information, modulation by decision-related feedback is spatially unselective. Population responses reveal similar stimulus-choice alignments irrespective of stimulus relevance. The results suggest a common mechanism across tasks, independent of the spatial selectivity these tasks demand. This may reflect biological constraints and facilitate generalization across tasks. Our findings also support a previously hypothesized link between feature-based attention and decision-related activity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (11) ◽  
pp. 2221-2230 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. PÄRN ◽  
V. DAHL ◽  
T. LIENEMANN ◽  
J. PEREVOSČIKOVS ◽  
B. DE JONG

SUMMARYIn April 2015, Finnish public health authorities alerted European Union member states of a possible multi-country Salmonella enteritidis outbreak linked to an international youth ice-hockey tournament in Latvia. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Finnish and Latvian authorities initiated an outbreak investigation to identify the source. The investigation included a description of the outbreak, retrospective cohort study, microbiological investigation and trace-back. We identified 154 suspected and 96 confirmed cases from seven countries. Consuming Bolognese sauce and salad at a specific event arena significantly increased the risk of illness. Isolates from Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian cases had an identical multiple-locus variable-number of tandem repeats analysis-profile (3-10-6-4-1). Breaches in hygiene and food storing practices in the specific arena's kitchen allowing for cross-contamination were identified. Riga Cup participants were recommended to follow good hand hygiene and consume only freshly cooked foods. This investigation demonstrated that the use of ECDC's Epidemic Intelligence Information System for Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses platform was essential to progress the investigation by facilitating information exchange between countries. Cross-border data sharing to perform whole genome sequencing gave relevant information regarding the source of the outbreak.


2007 ◽  
Vol 53 (181) ◽  
pp. 266-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pascal Haegeli ◽  
David M. McClung

AbstractExisting snow-climate classifications are primarily based on meteorological parameters that describe the average weather during the main winter months. However, field experience and measurements show that the characteristics of weak snowpack layers, including type, structure and details of formation, are primary indicators of avalanches that form. Despite its importance in the characteristics of local avalanche activity, weak-layer information is currently not a formal part of any snow-climate classification scheme. The focus of this study is the analysis of persistent snowpack weak layers in southwestern Canada. Observations from the industrial information exchange (InfoEx) of the Canadian Avalanche Association are used to examine the frequency, sequence and distribution of the most common types of snowpack weakness and their related avalanche activity. The results show significant temporal and spatial variations in areas with the same snow-climate characteristics. The weak-layer patterns observed in transitional snow-climate areas are clearly more complex than a simple combination of maritime and continental influences. ‘Avalanche winter regime’ is suggested as a new classification term that describes the snowpack structures relevant for local avalanche activity and complements the existing snow-climate classification system. Three preliminary avalanche winter regimes are identified for southwestern Canada.


2008 ◽  
pp. 2824-2832
Author(s):  
Victor S.Y. Lo

Data mining has been widely applied over the past two decades. In particular, marketing is an important application area. Many companies collect large amounts of customer data to understand their customers’ needs and predict their future behavior. This article discusses selected data mining problems in marketing and provides solutions and research opportunities.


Author(s):  
Fatma Achour ◽  
Anis Jedidi ◽  
Faiez Gargouri

Initially, a significant number of contextual information can be employed to describe the pervasive system. Hence, to design this type of system, there is a stern need for a new information system. Unlike the classical information system, the new system integrates the mobile devices characterized by different hardware and software capacity and other useful devices. Therefore, most pervasive information system designers provide mechanisms and architectures to effectively save, recover and submit the most relevant information to the user regardless of location, time and the user's equipment which are independent of the network constraints. In this paper, the authors present a model to describe the pervasive information system through the use of the existing contextual models. In the same context, they suggest a semantic description to adapt the users to six categories of contextual information by taking the semantic-web-service creation as a basis. Finally, they present the semantic rules applied to the intended description and notification system to validate these rules.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 394-409
Author(s):  
Saikiran Gopalakrishnan ◽  
Nathan W. Hartman ◽  
Michael D. Sangid

AbstractThe digital transformation of manufacturing requires digitalization, including automatic and efficient data exchange. Model-based definitions (MBDs) capture digital product definitions, in order to eliminate error-prone information exchange associated with traditional paper-based drawings and to provide contextual information through additional metadata. The flow of MBDs extends throughout the product lifecycle (including the design, analysis, manufacturing, in service life, and retirement stages) and can be extended beyond the typical geometry and tolerance information within a computer-aided design. In this paper, the MBDs are extended to include materials information, via dynamic linkages. To this end, a model-based feature information network (MFIN) is created to provide a comprehensive framework that facilitates storing, updating, searching, and retrieving of relevant information across a product’s lifecycle. The use case of a damage tolerant analysis for a compressor bladed-disk (blisk) is demonstrated, in Ti-6Al-4V blade(s) linear friction welded to the Ti-6Al-4V disk, creating well-defined regions exhibiting grain refinement and high residuals stresses. By capturing the location-specific microstructure and residual stress values at the weld regions, this information is accessed within the MFIN and used for downstream damage tolerant analysis. The introduction of the MFIN framework facilitates access to dynamically evolving data for use within physics-based models (resulting in the opportunity to reduce uncertainty in subsequent prognosis analyses), thereby enabling a digital twin description of the component or system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (13) ◽  
pp. 3640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rubén Jesús Pérez-López ◽  
Jesús Everardo Olguín Tiznado ◽  
María Mojarro Magaña ◽  
Claudia Camargo Wilson ◽  
Juan Andrés López Barreras ◽  
...  

In globalized times the integration of information and communication technologies in companies and their supply chains is required, but there is uncertainty regarding the true impact that these have on efficiency indices or benefits gained in the productive system. This article reports a structural equation model that contains ten hypotheses with five latent variables associated with the integration of information and communication technology in production systems such as information exchange, operations management, production control, distribution activities, and operational benefits obtained. The paper aims to quantify the relationships among those variables, facilitating managers to make decisions in information and communication technologies (ICT) implementation. The model is validated with information from 80 responses to a questionnaire applied to manufacturing companies, and partial least-squares technique is used to statistically validate the hypotheses; the results indicate that the implementation of information technologies facilitates the exchange of information, operations management and production control. This means that ICT integration can create visibility for a supply chain in a material’s flow among partners, facilitate operations management in production lines and distribution activities, and these benefits are ultimately transformed into operational benefits that managers measure as flexibility, low cost and short cycles times with customers.


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