Bringing Smart Home Technology to Peer-to-Peer Accommodation: Exploring the Drivers of Intention to Stay in Smart Accommodation

COVID-19 has caused disruptions in the sharing economy for both platforms and owners, who are typically micro-businesses. Lower demand and ample supply means that users have a great deal of choice. Finding ways for properties to differentiate themselves has been a pressing need. Against this background, this paper pursued two objectives: firstly to explore the perceived functional and emotional value of smart accommodation and the factors contributing to this by adopting the Theory of Consumption Values, and secondly to examine the role of perceived value in driving intention to stay in smart accommodation in the future. 430 responses were collected to analyse the relationships among antecedents, value and intention. The results showed that the functional value of smart accommodation is associated with the perception that such accommodation represents good value for the price, smart devices are useful, they can enhance control of stay experiences, and there are resources and opportunities facilitating the use of technology. Emotional value is determined by the perception that staying in smart accommodation represents sustainable behaviour, the integration of smart home technologies offers control over the stay experience, improves the entertainment experience, aesthetics and playfulness of using technology. Emotional values are inhibited by the perception of surveillance in smart accommodation. Also, the study offers evidence of the correlation of intention with functional and emotional value. The evidence contributes to the literature by explaining the potential implications of innovative technologies for business recovery in the post-pandemic reality, exploring the applications of smart technologies in delivering tourism services, and identifying the factors in the adoption of smart homes in the hospitality sector. The findings provide practical implications for facilitating the applications of innovative technology and its adoption in home and non-home environments.

eVision: Epidemic Forecasting on COVID-19

Vaccination is the primary strategy to prevent COVID-19 illness and hospitalization. However, supplies are scarce and due to the regional mutations of the virus, new vaccines or booster shots will need to be administered potentially regularly. Hence, the prediction of the rate of growth of COVID-19 cases is paramount to ensuring the ample supply of vaccines as well as for local, state, and federal government measures to ensure the availability of hospital beds, supplies, and staff. eVision is an epidemic forecaster aimed at combining Machine Learning (ML) - in the form of a Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Recursive Neural Network (RNN) - and search engine statistics, in order to make accurate predictions about the weekly number of cases for highly communicable diseases. By providing eVision with the relative popularity of carefully selected keywords searched via Google along with the number of positive cases reported from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and/or the World Health Organization (WHO) the model can make highly accurate predictions about the trend of the outbreak by learning the relationship between the two trends. Thus, in order to predict the trend of the outbreak in a specific region, eVision is provided with a weekly count of the number of COVID-19 cases in a region along with statistics surrounding common symptom search phrases such as “loss of smell” and “loss of taste” that have been searched on Google in that region since the start of the pandemic. eVision has, for instance, been able to achieve an accuracy of %89 for predicting the trend of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States

Creation of a State Drug Shortage Dashboard in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: Drug shortages are anticipated to worsen with time as the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues. The aim of this study is to track drug shortages within Illinois and identify causes and trends to this time-sensitive problem. Methods: In order to communicate between health systems within the state, the Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists (ICHP) developed a medication shortage dashboard, which collects information from health systems in the state on current drug shortages. Classes of medications inquired about included: anti-infectives, neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs), sedatives/analgesics, vasopressors, and “others.” Data was gathered from 6 different medication shortage dashboards, ranging from May 20, 2020 to June 22, 2020 and was used to track drug shortages within Illinois. Additionally, this data was analyzed in conjunction with the number of hospital beds utilized by COVID-19 patients at the time. Results: Illinois’s medication shortage dashboard tracked the supply level of 42 medications used in the treatment of patient’s hospitalized with COVID-19. Data from an average of 75 health systems was analyzed each week (average response rate: 52%). For each medication, health systems identified if they had ample supply, mild shortage, moderate shortage, or critical shortage. Overall the trends of these medications positively correlated with the number of hospital beds utilized by COVID-19 patients in Illinois ( r2 = 0.7). Conclusion: The data from this study supports the conclusion that increased hospital bed utilization by COVID-19 patients is correlated with increased drug shortages of medications used in the treatment of COVID-19. It is imperative that health systems take appropriate action to prevent and manage drug shortages.

Impact of Wi-Fi Energy on EZ Water

It is well known that there are three phases of water: gas, liquid and solid. Yet, recently, a fourth phase, known as Exclusion Zone (EZ) water, has been identified. The fourth phase is the major constituent in cells, which cannot function without an ample supply. Here, we report on how Wi-Fi, as an external source of disturbance, impacts EZ water. Thus, the size of EZ was measured under Wi-Fi exposure. It was tracked for 20 minute periods, and at various displacements of the Wi-Fi source. We found a diminution of EZ size by 15 - 20 %, and a negative impact of Wi-Fi on EZ size with shorter displacements. Thus, Wi-Fi exposure may impact cell functionality.

ROLE OF COOKED FOOD VENDING IN URBAN AREAS

Purpose: The patronage of street food is familiar in many countries where unemployment level is high, salaries are low, work opportunities and social programmes are limited and where urbanization is taking place. The general objective of the study was to establish role of cooked food vending in urban areas. Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps. Findings: The study concludes that income levels influenced the frequency of consumption of cooked food. An income allowed vendees the opportunity to purchase food from the street conveniently since the food was cheap. Foods offered were those that took longer to cook (therefore needed much fuel) and those which were involving in preparation for example chapatti and mandazi (buns). Vendees of cooked foods were mainly single men (71.9 %) who were more comfortable buying cooked foods from the streets as they found ready-to-eat food not only cheap but also convenient. Additionally they viewed cooking as a women’s domain, thus preferred cooked food in street, as it was ready to eat. Recommendations: There is need for government to be supportive to this sector by providing the vendors with appropriate facilities where they can carry out their business, including well-designed shelters and ample supply of potable water. This should be done in consultation with the vendors in order to develop user-friendly sites. The cooked food vendors should be empowered. This can be done by offering the vendors affordable loans to expand their business and training them on issues pertaining to their business like bookkeeping and management of accounts as well as how to save and re-invest profits made

Chapter 7. Proof Complexity and SAT Solving

This chapter gives an overview of proof complexity and connections to SAT solving, focusing on proof systems such as resolution, Nullstellensatz, polynomial calculus, and cutting planes (corresponding to conflict-driven clause learning, algebraic approaches using linear algebra or Gröbner bases, and pseudo-Boolean solving, respectively). There is also a discussion of extended resolution (which is closely related to DRAT proof logging) and Frege and extended Frege systems more generally. An ample supply of references for further reading is provided, including for some topics omitted in this chapter.

Current glacier recession causes significant rockfall increase: the immediate paraglacial response of deglaciating cirque walls

In the European Alps, almost half the glacier volume has disappeared over the past 150 years. The loss is reflected in glacier retreat and ice surface lowering even at high altitude. In steep glacial cirques, surface lowering exposes rock to atmospheric conditions probably for the very first time in several millennia. Instability of rockwalls has long been identified as one of the direct consequences of deglaciation, but so far cirque-wide quantification of rockfall at high resolution is missing. Based on terrestrial lidar, a rockfall inventory for the permafrost-affected rockwalls of two rapidly deglaciating cirques in the Central Alps of Austria (Kitzsteinhorn) is established. Over 6 years (2011–2017), 78 rockwall scans were acquired to generate data of high spatial and temporal resolution. Overall, 632 rockfalls were registered, ranging from 0.003 to 879.4 m3, mainly originating from pre-existing structural rock weaknesses. A total of 60 % of the rockfall volume detached from less than 10 vertical metres above the glacier surface, indicating enhanced rockfall activity over tens of years following deglaciation. Debuttressing seems to play a minor effect only. Rather, preconditioning is assumed to start inside the randkluft (void between cirque wall and glacier) where measured sustained freezing and ample supply of liquid water likely cause enhanced physical weathering and high quarrying stresses. Following deglaciation, pronounced thermomechanical strain is induced and an active layer penetrates into the formerly perennially frozen bedrock. These factors likely cause the observed paraglacial rockfall increase close to the glacier surface. This paper, the first of two companion pieces, presents the most extensive dataset of high-alpine rockfall to date and the first systematic documentation of a cirque-wide erosion response of glaciated rockwalls to recent climate warming.

Current glacier recession causes significant rockfall increase: The immediate paraglacial response of deglaciating cirque walls

In the European Alps almost half the glacier volume disappeared over the past 150 years. The loss is reflected in glacier retreat and ice surface lowering even at high altitude. In steep glacial cirques surface lowering exposes rock to atmospheric conditions for the very first time in many millennia. Instability of rockwalls has long been identified as one of the direct consequences of deglaciation, but so far cirque-wide quantification of rockfall at high-resolution is missing. Based on terrestrial LiDAR a rockfall inventory for the permafrost-affected rockwalls of two rapidly deglaciating cirques in the Central Alps of Austria (Kitzsteinhorn) is established. Over six-years (2011–2017) 78 rockwall scans were acquired to generate data of high spatial and temporal resolution. 632 rockfalls were registered ranging from 0.003 to 879.4 m³, mainly originating from pre-existing structural rock weaknesses. 60 % of the rockfall volume detached from less than ten vertical meters above the glacier surface, indicating enhanced rockfall activity over tens of years following deglaciation. Debuttressing seems to play a minor effect only. Rather, preconditioning is assumed to start inside the Randkluft (gap between cirque wall and glacier) where sustained freezing and ample supply of liquid water likely cause enhanced physical weathering and high plucking stresses. Following deglaciation, pronounced thermomechanical strain is induced and an active layer penetrates into the formerly perennially frozen bedrock. These factors likely cause the observed paraglacial rockfall increase close to the glacier surface. This paper presents the most extensive dataset of high-alpine rockfall to date and the first systematic documentation of a cirque-wide erosion response of glaciated rockwalls to recent climate warming.