Transparency in complex dynamic food supply chains

Food supply chains are increasingly complex and dynamic due to (i) increasing product proliferation to serve ever diversifying and globalising markets as a form of mass customisation with resulting global flows of raw materials, ingredients and products, and (ii) the need to satisfy changing and variable consumer and governmental demands with respect to food safety, animal welfare, and environmental impact. Transparency in the food supply chain is essential to guarantee food quality and provenance to all users of food and food products. Intensified information exchange and integrated information systems involving all chain actors are needed to achieve transparency with respect to a multitude of food properties.In this paper, specific challenges of food supply chains are highlighted. Major elements are addressed that support transparency to consumers, the government and food companies, which are considered the claimants of transparency. Elements considered to be enablers of transparency are governance mechanisms, quality and safety standards and information exchange. The paper specifies these transparency claimants and enablers for food supply chains and identifies major information system functions and information technology applications needed to comply with transparency demands. It thereby provides a framework for transparency analysis in food supply chains.     

Adjacent versus coincident representations of geospatial uncertainty: Which promote better decisions?

3D geological models commonly built to manage natural resources are much affected by uncertainty because most of the subsurface is inaccessible to direct observation. Appropriate ways to intuitively visualize uncertainties are therefore critical to draw appropriate decisions. However, empirical assessments of uncertainty visualization for decision making are currently limited to 2D map data, while most geological entities are either surfaces embedded in a 3D space or volumes.This paper first reviews a typical example of decision making under uncertainty, where uncertainty visualization methods can actually make a difference. This issue is illustrated on a real Middle East oil and gas reservoir, looking for the optimal location of a new appraisal well. In a second step, we propose a user study that goes beyond traditional 2D map data, using 2.5D pressure data for the purposes of well design. Our experiments study the quality of adjacent versus coincident representations of spatial uncertainty as compared to the presentation of data without uncertainty; the representations' quality is assessed in terms of decision accuracy. Our study was conducted within a group of 123 graduate students specialized in geology.     

一种基于内容的可扩展性透明Web Cluster体系结构的设计

主要探讨基于内容的Web Cluster,在分析现有方案不足的基础上提出了一种新的基于内容的可扩展性透明Web Cluster体系结构。叙述了其工作机理及所采用的技术方案,重点论述了该集群架构的优越性,最后给出了该集群架构在Linux环境下的模拟实现。     

Proof-of-concept study of chitosan-based carbon dioxide indicator for food packaging applications

A chitosan-based carbon dioxide (CO₂) indicator was developed to monitor freshness or quality of packaged foods during their storage, as elevated CO₂ levels inside a package is one of the prime indicators of microbial spoilage of food. The objective of this proof-of-concept study, therefore, was to develop a chitosan-based CO₂ indicator and to investigate its performance in different operating environments. For the enhancement of signal strength of indicator, 2-amino-2-methyl-1-propanol (AMP) was used as an additive to the chitosan solution. Aqueous chitosan–AMP suspensions were prepared by addition of chitosan (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.4%) and AMP (0%, 5%, 10% and 20%) to distilled water at pH 7.0. Thereafter, the aqueous chitosan suspensions were incubated under 100% and 20% CO₂ test atmospheres. The aqueous solubility of chitosan, which in turn impacts the degree of transparency of the suspension, was tested at different pHs and time intervals, spectrometrically. The transparency of 0.2% chitosan aqueous suspension increased dramatically below pH 6.5 under 20% or 100% CO₂ incubation. The addition of a 5% AMP concentration to the chitosan suspension was found optimal for maximum CO₂ absorption and this, therefore, increased transparency by more than 90%.     

Exploring the tension between transparency and datification effects of open government IS through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems

Government agencies worldwide continue their commitment to providing open data in order to increase transparency of education, healthcare and other public services. Focusing on open government information systems (IS) that provide performance-related data, this paper explores the ongoing tension between government’s goal of transparency and the resulting largely opaque datification effects. Our research insights are derived from an empirical longitudinal study of a controversial open government IS called My School, currently providing performance data on almost 10,000 schools in Australia. We investigate the tension between transparency intended with schools’ open performance data and datification effects they create within the education system and a broader society, through the theoretical lens of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). Our study reveals how the tension emerges due to unpredictable use, propagation and reinterpretation of open data by more and more users. Consequently, the original meaning of data gets distorted, as these users continue to reconstruct and reinterpret ‘data’ in their own contexts and adapt their behavior in pursuit of their strategic goals. We also identify and theorize seven datification patterns underlying the tension and the ways they produce various social consequences. Based on these research contributions we discuss important strategic implications for government decision makers and identify new opportunities for future research on open government IS.     

一个含多个可信第三方的不可否认协议

提出了一个含多个脱线TTP的公平的不可否认协议。与以前的不可否认协议相比,其特点是把一个TTP的任务分散到t个TTP,减少了对一个TTP的依赖,还可以检测出不诚实的TTP,并且实现了TTP的透明性。     

勒·柯布西耶绘画中空间观念的转向:纯粹主义前后

本文回溯了勒·柯布西耶在纯粹主义运动(1918—1925年)前后,其绘画中空间观念所经历的转向。彼时的让纳雷以绘画作为实验工具,发展了他对于空间的理解。本文把勒·柯布西耶在纯粹主义前后的绘画探索分为四个阶段,通过比较四个阶段的作品,指出勒·柯布西耶的空间观念经历了由注重写实与透视,到关注对象平面中的几何与秩序,再到用透明的块面相互叠加来营造深度感,最后转为对于大自然、人体等有机形式的探索,揭示出其不同绘画题材背后隐藏着的形式逻辑的必然联系。     

Investigation of atmospheric-pressure plasma deposited SiOx films on polymeric substrates

The novel technique of plasma chemical vapor deposition without using vacuum chamber was investigated to deposit SiOx films on polymeric substrates through tetraethoxysilane (TEOS)/Air atmospheric-pressure plasma (APP) glow discharge. Depending on the proper deposition parameters, thin and smooth SiOx films on polycarbonate substrates were prepared. The atmospheric-pressure plasma deposited SiOx films obtained the desirable transparency in the visible and increased absorption in UV region. The surface characteristics of APP deposited SiOx films were examined by various surface analysis methods including FTIR, XPS, and SEM. It is shown that SiOx films exhibited low porosity and admirable hardness for optical applications.     

Some Kind of Analogtivity: anti-simulation through design

This paper discusses and explores issues surrounding current approaches to the design of technological products and offers two critical design proposals for presentation and debate. Primarily driven by contemporary theoretical writings and thoughts on the subject of ‘technology’ and ‘simulation’, currently being offered by leading thinkers on these subjects and expressed as ‘technological objects’; they are the result of a critical investigation into the emerging design issues surrounding ‘interaction’ and ‘transparency’. By using ‘popular’ language of product design as a vehicle, they exist as ‘cultural offerings’ exploring an alternative future for technological products not necessarily governed by science and economics.     

Weathering wikis: Net-based learning meets political science in a South African university

Wikis represent flexible tools functioning as open-ended environments for collaboration while also offering process and group writing support. Here we focus on a project to innovate the use of wikis for collaborative writing within student groups in a final-year undergraduate political science course. The primary questions guiding our research were in what ways could wikis assist collaborative learning in an undergraduate course in political science and how we could support educators’ in the effective use of wikis? Curiously, wikis may serve as a mediating artifact for collaborative writing even among students who are reluctant to post online drafts. The paper raises questions concerning the nature and limits of lecturer and tutor power to deliver transformative educational innovations in relation to the capacity of students to embrace, comply with, or resist such innovation. In analysing the negotiation of the use of wikis in the course by and among the lecturer, tutors, and students, we draw on two principles in activity theory, which Yrjö Engeström argued are central to his model of expansive learning: multi-voicedness and contradictions [Engeström, Yrjö. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit; Engeström, Yrjö. (2001). Expansive learning at work: Toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work14(1), 133-156.]. We add a third principle, transparency, to more fully capture what we observed.