Dynamic file migration in distributed computer systems

The high speed development of computer networks and information technology has enabled manufacturing enterprises to enter the Information Age. To adapt to such competition, we should rethink the information science problems in manufacturing, which give rise to the technology and techniques of manufacturing informatics. Manufacturing informatics is a new interdisciplinary area, which synthesizes manufacturing science, information science, system science, control science and management science. It mainly researches the logical expression of information, optimal distribution, and the effective operation of manufacturing processes and manufacturing systems. The digitization of manufacturing information makes manufacturing processes and manufacturing decisions controllable and visible. Moreover, since the digitized manufacturing information can be transmitted through a wide area network (WAN) with a certain series of protocols, the manufacturing information can usually be shared and collaborative. Digital manufacturing is driven by information, and manufacturing informatics is the core and basic theory of digital manufacturing science.

The development of policies regarding computer-based medical technology is hampered by a lack of knowledge about the process by which such applications are adopted and utilized by physicians. This study was designed to test a model of the process by which physicians change their practice behavior by utilizing a computer-based hospital information system (HIS). A structural model was developed, estimated, and tested using data from 270 members of the medical staff of an 1160-bed, private teaching hospital. The overall model consists of a measurement model that assumes that the observed variables are generated by a smaller number of unobserved variables or factors and a structural equation model that relates exogenous and endogenous variables. The model indicates that consultation with other physicians on a hospital service leads to greater exposure to potential computer applications, resulting in less concern about the potential impact of computers on medical practice. Physicians who are more knowledgeable about computers are far more likely to tailor the system to their individual practice by developing their own personal order sets for use on the HIS. All of these factors result in increased use of the HIS by physicians. A number of policy implications related to the introduction of new computer-based technology into medical practice settings are discussed.KeywordsStructural Equation ModelMedical PracticeEndogenous VariableContinue Medical EducationHospital ServiceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Demands on manufacturing industry to provide flexibility and to reduce costs have put pressures on manufacturing companies to improve productivity. These demands, coupled with computer hardware and software advances, have encouraged manufacturing information system (MIS) development. As a result the role and importance of a MIS within the manufacturing environment has changed dramatically in recent years. An understanding of the new requirements is essential. In particular, traditional ways of providing manufacturing information to the shop-floor has not necessarily been task related. Rather, general information were made available but needed to be found or located as and when required. Although this has satisfied the requirements of normal operations, there are a number of problems associated with this form of documentation and display. The physical separation of the processes and their descriptions, the procedures, the poor user friendliness, the high maintenance efforts and the inability of the documentation systems to effectively capture process know how are some of the key problems. These have placed limitations on the use of traditional approaches. As an attempt to improve the situation, this paper discusses the structure of a task-centered, multi-media (TCMM) manufacturing information system which aims to provide a working environment to help the user collect, select and present manufacturing data according to the specific needs of managers/operators. With a task-centered user interface and an integrated computer-based training (CBT) module, such a system can be used at various levels within the organization both as: A reference library to provide information such as products data and operational procedures; A task-centred, interactive system to help carry out on-line operations, and; A computer-aided training tool to train the company's managers/operators. Furthermore, its structure as a knowledge repository should lend itself to grow and adoptive, as the company's product ranges and manufacturing processes progress through time. A number of intranet-based TCMM implementation are also discussed to illustrate its industrial application.

This research deals with the dynamic and continuous berth allocation problem (DCBAP) in which both arrived and incoming ships are considered and a quay is used as a continuous line to accommodate as many ships as possible at one time. The DCBAP is solved by a two-stage procedure. In the first stage a heuristic/metaheuristic is used to generate alternative ship placement sequences while in the second stage a specific heuristic is employed to place ships and resolve overlaps of ships for the development of a feasible solution. Different methods, including FCFS (First Come First Served), SFLA (Shuffled Frog-Leaping Algorithm), and ISFLA (Improved Shuffled Frog-Leaping Algorithm), were employed in the first stage for comparison. The experimental results show that the ISFLA outperforms the others in terms of solution quality, implying that the ISFLA has the potential to deal with the DCBAP in a container terminal.

A discrete time optimal control model with uncertainty for dynamic machine allocation problem and its application to manufacturing and construction industries

WDM Network Issues: QOT Impairments, Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation, Modeling and Monitoring Schemes based on ML

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the importance of control over migration flows, especially from countries with different religions and ways of life. France was chosen as the object, being the most striking example of the growing problems with Muslim migration. The methods used in the article were socio-cultural and discourse analysis. The dynamics of Muslim migration to France, the process of emergence and accumulation of problems with adaptation and integration of the Muslim minority, sometimes developing into outbreaks of conflicts with the host community, the state's approaches to solving the issue under consideration, problems specific to France, the current situation is analysed and possible approaches to solving the problem are named. The result of the study was the analysis of a large volume of literature and sources on the issue of Muslim migration to France, the current state of affairs with integration, security, as well as the domestic political situation in the country. The following conclusions were made: control over migration, especially of other ethnic groups, is the most important task of the state, since the violation of the cultural balance leads to serious destabilization with possible grave consequences. It is also shown that the most important tasks are the cultural adaptation of migrants (proficiency in the language of the host country, loyalty to local customs and legislation) and integration (creation of a favourable environment while simultaneously blocking marginalization). The theoretical significance of the work consists in demonstrating the development of the problem, the stages of the state's response to the emerging situation, reflecting the key points of view on the problems of migration and integration in the course of scientific discourse of famous theorists in this area. The practical significance of the work is determined by the extreme importance of the issue under consideration, since the problem of migration and integration of Muslim minorities is urgent for all countries of the Northern Hemisphere.

The problem of dynamic processor allocation in PRAMs (programmable random-access memories) is discussed, and differentiated from that of static allocation. The version of the PRAM considered, also called the CREW model is a parallel computer with global memory accessible in unit time; it allows concurrent reads, but requires exclusive writes. Two dynamic processor allocation problems for P processors are distinguished. One, called assignment from numbers, has an Omega (log P) lower bound, even when the number of tasks is O( square root P). The second, called assignment from leaders, has faster solutions. A constant-time solution for O( square root P) tasks is known; it is generalized to O(P/sup 1-1/k/) tasks in time O(k). Handling O(P) tasks requires a different approach and an algorithm that runs in time O(log log P) is proposed which is asymptotically optimal within a constant factor. The implications of these two versions of dynamic allocation on sublogarithmic merge algorithms are discussed. >

SummaryFerodo Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of disc brake pads and drum brake linings based in Derbyshire. In 1994, the company went live with an integrated MRPII system. This system met most of the requirements for the control of the manufacturing organisation. There were, however, some key areas of the business controlled using separate systems. It was recognised that because the control systems were not an integrated whole, this led to duplication of effort and more seriously, it was not possible to exploit synergy between the different databases, in particular the quality systems. This paper describes how the requirements for the manufacturing and quality functions were met using a single integrated information system. It describes the methodology used for determining the overall system structure as well as the detailed design issues. Finally, the paper reviews how a separation of core and peripheral systems can reduce overall complexity when implementing Manufacturing Systems.

The rate of deployment and adoption issues of new network technologies, IPv6 in particular, have recently been hotly debated in the research community. However, the question of how protocols migrate, especially the dynamics of migration, to new paradigms is still largely open. In this paper, we address the issue from a game theoretic point of view. We model and analyze the profit maximizing strategies of Autonomous Systems (ASes); both the properties of ASes and the topology of the Internet is considered. The contribution of our work is threefold. First, we propose an economic model of the ASes and their relations from the IPv4-IPv6 migration viewpoint. Second, we apply the findings of evolutionary dynamics on the problem of migration by incorporating Internet-specific properties to the evolutionary model, namely the size of the ASes and the cost of migration. The analyses show that even if IPv6 has higher payoff than IPv4, the whole migration does not happen always fast. Finally, extensive simulations are carried out based on the proposed models to illustrate the impacts of different parameters on the IPv6 migration dynamics in realistic scenarios.

The present study addresses integrated manufacturing information systems (IMIS) and highlights importance of realizing ‘adaptability’ and ‘reconfigurability’ characteristics in the system architecture of IMISs, where engineering design for system adaptability is interested. This study develops a matrix-based probabilistic definition for the manufacturing information system (MIS) reconfigurability and proposes modularization of physical architecture of the system as an effective design solution for fulfilling system reconfigurability and adaptability requirements. To modularize the physical architecture, Design Structure Matrix (DSM) method is employed. Moreover, information axiom of Axiomatic Design (AD) theory is also utilized to develop helpful indicators for evaluating the adaptability characteristic for the architecture and support engineering designers to make sound decisions in design for adaptability. To verify the developed methodology, the MIS in a real case (Barez Industrial Group in Iran) is addressed and design of the physical architecture for this system is studied. A new optimally modularized design for the physical architecture of the MIS of interest is finally presented and examined. Results of the indicators reflecting reconfigurability and adaptability of the architecture indicate that the new proposed design of the concerned MIS is highly capable of coping with the rapidly changing manufacturing environment.

Transferable strategies and actions for increasing health assessments for people with an intellectual disability In Australia, people living with an intellectual disability comprise about 1–3% of the population and, compared with the general population, experience worse health outcomes.1 Poorer participation in primary health care of people with an intellectual disability contributes to high levels of undetected and unmanaged health issues and premature deaths from preventable causes.2 A positive development to address these inequities is the roll-out of a $6.5 million Primary Care Enhancement Program over 4 years (2020–2024). The Enhancement Program will be developed through four lead Primary Health Networks (PHNs), with a view to a national rollout across all PHNs. The aim of the Enhancement Program is to increase the skills and ability of general practitioners and other health care professionals to provide effective primary health care for people with intellectual disability.3 To achieve this aim, a key focus of the Enhancement Program is to increase the uptake of the existing Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) preventive health assessments to strengthen equity of primary health care access and to support the delivery of evidence-based preventive health to people with intellectual disability (Supporting Information).3 In Australia, there is some evidence to support the use of preventive health assessments for people with an intellectual disability.4 The evidence suggests that yearly preventive health assessments performed in the primary health care setting pick up on unmet health needs in the area of health screening, health promotion, and identification of unrecognised disease.4 Health assessments are a mechanism to support the delivery of evidence-based preventive health care. While people with intellectual disability might in general seem to share few characteristics with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (hereafter respectfully referred to as Indigenous), these groups have some common challenges when accessing primary health care. These include complexity of health needs, limitations on identification of being Indigenous or having an intellectual disability in clinical information systems, discrimination, clinical inertia, and communication barriers. For both groups, effective clinical practice requires attention to social determinants of health as well as specific medical needs.5, 6 As part of a long-standing Indigenous primary health care continuous quality improvement (CQI) research collaboration, we have knowledge of the barriers to and enablers of the uptake of preventive health assessments — specifically, the MBS item 715 for Indigenous people.7, 8 As such, we have identified some positive actions that may potentially be transferrable to people living with an intellectual disability, along with strategies to inform the effective roll-out of this new program. There is currently no dedicated MBS item on health assessments for people living with an intellectual disability. The 2009 Medicare review resulted in the merging of MBS items dedicated to health assessments for people with intellectual disability with four time-based MBS items (MBS 701, brief; 703, standard; 705, long; or 707, prolonged) for other target groups.9 With the collapse of different health assessments into the single newer MBS item, the ability to identify the extent to which health assessments are being provided to different target groups, such as people living with an intellectual disability, has been lost.9 Given this, PHNs now cannot track uptake or implementation of health assessments for people with an intellectual disability. It is impossible to extract the relevant data from administrative systems at the primary health care level or Department of Health level. Having a dedicated Indigenous-specific health assessment (MBS item 715) has enabled research and evaluation on barriers and enablers of implementation, and data about uptake have informed subsequent policy development.5 Reinstatement of a dedicated and adequately remunerated MBS item is vital to building the evidence base to inform health policy and the provision of health services for people with an intellectual disability through contributing to understanding of who is receiving health assessments and who is not. This will in turn enable development of targeted strategies for increasing uptake. The inability of existing primary health care electronic clinical information systems to systematically identify people living with an intellectual disability will limit the ability of primary health care to identify eligible patients and invite them for a health assessment. Therefore, we recommend that clinical information systems in primary health care are upgraded to enable the easy identification of people living with an intellectual disability, and that primary health care staff are appropriately trained to use these systems. Any patient identifier established in the primary health care setting should be able to be linked to other relevant data systems. Identifying people living with intellectual disability in data systems is particularly important for piloting the new Australian National Disability Data Asset, which will bring together data from multiple sources, including primary health care, to improve the ability to measure and improve outcomes for people with disability.10 A useful point of reference for Australian primary health care is the United Kingdom model, in which people with intellectual disability must be identified at primary health care services. This requirement is supported by a legislative framework and is part of a long term National Health Service plan for providing targeted health services.11 It has been observed that Indigenous health assessments do not necessarily reflect the health aspirations and goals of Indigenous people.12 This learning can be used to ensure that health assessments for people living with intellectual disability are evidence-based, developed with input from people with intellectual disability and carers, and reviewed regularly. Electronic templates can be developed for use in common general practice clinical information systems. With appropriate ethics approval and consent, the data collected can be used for CQI and research purposes to improve implementation of health assessments and ultimately health outcomes. Implementing CQI processes has been shown to be effective in improving the delivery of Indigenous-specific health assessments and evidence-based preventive health care.8 We therefore recommend supporting CQI activities to increase the uptake of health assessments for people living with an intellectual disability. This could include a target in the Practice Incentive Program Quality Improvement program (such as, proportion of people living with an intellectual disability who have had a health assessment), or supporting primary health care to develop locally relevant CQI processes. Although prevalence studies have identified that certain medical conditions and risk factors occur more frequently in people with intellectual disability, there are currently no national clinical guidelines for the delivery of best practice primary health care for people living with an intellectual disability.1 Furthermore, there have been recent calls for the inclusion of intellectual disability into standard clinical guidelines as a specific population that requires distinctive consideration.13 Such guidelines would be a reference point for assessing quality of care for improvement purposes and for building the capacity of GPs and other providers, similar to the National guide to a preventive health assessment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.14 Although there has been increased uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments, there are continuing gaps in providing appropriate follow-up care, which is essential for ensuring benefit from health assessments.7, 8, 15 We recommend increasing awareness of relevant follow-up MBS items, in addition to health assessments. Investment in the Enhancement Program appears primarily targeted at improving skills and abilities of GPs to improve the quality of care for people with intellectual disability. Yet, there is clear evidence of the value of addressing both demand- and supply-related determinants to improve access to health assessments.5 For example, an effective strategy in increasing the uptake of Indigenous-specific health assessments has been marketing campaigns targeted at community members to increase their awareness of the importance and availability of the assessments. Therefore, we recommend a similar awareness campaign targeting community, carers and disability service providers about the availability of these health assessments for people living with intellectual disability. Naturally, not all learning from experience of Indigenous health assessments is transferable. For example, a preference for health assessments to be conducted by a clinician of the same culture or experience may not apply. While discrimination may be a common factor affecting health and wellbeing, it will be experienced and manifest in different forms to influence health assessment implementation. Australia lacks legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks required to support or enact improving health outcomes for people with intellectual disability. People living with disability are neglected, as a group with specific needs, in both the current draft of the 10-year National Preventive Health Strategy and Australia's Long Term National Health Plan.16, 17 Recognition in relevant frameworks would be a pivotal starting point for addressing the health needs of people living with an intellectual disability. In conclusion, we welcome this commitment to investing in improving access to primary health care and health outcomes for people living with an intellectual disability. We believe there is a unique opportunity to reflect on, and learn from, the experience of implementing Indigenous-specific health assessments, and to apply these learnings to the campaign for increased access to health assessments for this important group. Despite emerging evidence of the benefits of health assessments, there is a clear need to continue to evaluate their effectiveness in different contexts. Multifaceted strategies and action are required at the primary health care centre and service level, in the community, and at patient and policy levels to increase health assessments and follow-up for people living with an intellectual disability. The development of this manuscript would not have been possible without the active support, enthusiasm and commitment of staff in participating primary health care services, and members of the Centre for Research Excellence in Strengthening Systems for Indigenous Health Care Equity and the Centre for Research Excellence in Disability and Health. No relevant disclosures. Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.

The article investigates the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and digital transformation (DT) on corporate financial performance (CFP) indicators, as well as the moderating effect of DT on the relationship between CSR and CFP indicators. The study was conducted using Stata 17.0 software based on data (5709 observations) on 558 A-share listed manufacturing companies of the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock for 2012-2021 (excluding financial and insurance companies, ST and ST* companies, as well as companies with incomplete data). The independent variable used in the modelling process is the CSR rating report of the Hexun website, indicators of which are reconstructed by dividing them into strategic CSR (shareholder responsibility, employee responsibility, customer responsibility) and altruistic CSR (environmental responsibility and social contribution). The dependent variable is 2 CFP indicators: return on equity (ROE) and TOBIN’s Q. The DT index is used as a moderating variable, for the calculation of which the texts of companies’ annual reports were segmented using the Python programming language and standardised data on the frequency of keywords in 4 dimensions: digital technology application, Internet business model, intelligent manufacturing and contemporary information system; the weights for each dimension index was determined using the entropy approach. The control variables are corporate assets (Size), financial leverage level (Lev), current ratio (Cur), firm growth (Gro), shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder (First) and technological innovation (RD) of companies. The study also considered the year and industry factors. To study the moderating effect of DT on the relationship between CSR and CFP indicators of companies in different situations, the grouping variables chosen were the ownership type (state-owned and non-state-owned companies), the enterprise lifecycle (cash flow portfolio method was used to identify its stages) and the degree of market competition (Herfindahl-Hirschman Index). The modelling is based on a fixed-effects regression model. The study found that both CSR and DT have a positive impact on CFP, and that DT moderates the relationship between CSR and CFP, indicating that integrating digital technologies with sustainable development strategies can enhance financial benefits. The study also highlights the importance of different dimensions of corporate social responsibility. A high level of digital transformation strengthens the promotion effect of strategic social responsibility on current and future financial success of companies. Meanwhile, the promotion effect of altruistic social responsibility on current financial performance is significant. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive moderating effect of digital transformation on the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance mainly applies to private firms, firms in the mature stage, and firms with low market competition. The article offers practical advice for businesses seeking to use digital transformation to maximise economic and social value.

To more efficiently cover a wide spectrum of conceptual modeling applications such as computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, and medical information systems, we envision multi-paradigm design environments which have reasoning capability to support analyzing specifcations for correctness. For such applications, information system designers employ conceptual models characterized by semantically-rich specification languages. The problem of providing a comprehensive formal framework for such languages has not been adequately addressed. This paper investigates a formal system for this purpose called Event-Formula Logic (EFL). The analysis focuses in particular on characterizing correctness of database updates. Its applicability is demonstrated from two perspectives: deriving preconditions that guarantee a given update will not violate an integrity constraint, and determining alternative integrity maintenance rules for performing corrective actions when the application semantics requires this update interpretation. The work described in this paper represents an important step in the analysis of database update semantics through the use of algorithmic logic. As a result, it contributes towards providing a formal basis for semantically-rich information system design environments.

Factory technologies have evolved to incorporate a great deal of manufacturing flexibility. Programmable automation in the form of CNC and PLCs along with hardware innovations (quick-change tooling, for example) and various operator assist technologies enable a high level of shop-floor flexibility. Possibly, the most inflexible part of a factory is the manufacturing information system. Customized for manufacturers by system integrators, these systems are often large monolithic systems assembled around an ERP/MRP framework or a precariously integrated set of decision-support software tools with a patchwork of communications enabling information flow between them. On the other hand, cloud-based information service platforms such as those encountered in social networks and service brokers have seen rapid and multiple cycles of evolution resulting in a meteoric rise in their ability to handle increasingly large data scales and rates, while still maintaining their elasticity and flexibility. This rapid evolution of cloud-based information services has ignited a new era in the manufacturing industry as evidenced by emerging manufacturing cyberphysical system technologies such as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and Cloud Manufacturing (CM). These technologies are part of the broader context of what is thought to be the unfolding fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0 or Digital Manufacturing). This revolution places at its core, connectivity, information, and machine-based intelligence to create a new paradigm for manufacturing that is highly flexible, scalable, responsive, and intelligent. This paper describes how we leveraged the newest advances in CPS, IIoT, CM, and distributed systems to create a flexible manufacturing information system infrastructure that separates information collection and distribution for decision-making functions. The first part of the paper introduces the architecture for a novel full-stack manufacturing infrastructure that is envisioned to facilitate and track the interaction between a manufacturing job, physical resources, and the software services (or apps) around them. We call this platform the Operating System for Cyber-physical Manufacturing (OSCM). In the second part of the paper, we introduce an event-based architecture for OSCM so that resource or transaction related events/data can be flexibly distributed to different decision-making/manufacturing software tools through an event/message exchange/bus. Further, such an architecture allows modularization and incremental development of different manufacturing software tools and services as new needs are identified.