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Health care ecosystems instantiate different innovation trajectories, driven either by science-/techno-push or user-centric rationales. This article focuses on organization intermediaries (OIs), respectively, active in health care ecosystems driven by science- and techno-push versus user-centric innovation processes; it aims at characterizing their operation and intervention modes. The analysis elaborates on network and content brokerage. Innovation also needs to consider various challenges associated with physical vicinity. The authors check whether territorial anchoring plays a role in brokerage, depending on the innovation model.

The article offers an investigation of eight French organizations matching the definition of OIs and active in different areas of health care-related innovation. It follows a qualitative and abductive research protocol adhering to the precepts of grounded theory.

First, the authors show that content and network brokerage specialize in specific activities in each innovation model. On network brokerage, the authors show that OIs foster the development of communities of practice in the science-/techno-push model, while they nurture communities of innovation in the user-centric model. Services materializing content brokerage are typical consequences of activities performed in each model. The second contribution deals with physical vicinity. In the science-/techno-push model, OIs install a physical space (the “internal” dimension) to support the development of communities of practice, while the “external” dimension copes with agglomeration effects. In the user-centric model, OIs deliver services thanks to the “internal” space; communities of innovation create a leverage effect on the physical space to operate their activities that are supported by “external” network effects.

The originality of the article lies in the description of the alternative roles plaid by organization intermediaries in the science-/techno-push versus user-centric approaches of innovation. In these two approaches, (contents and network) brokerage and physical vicinity play different roles.

To describe the architecture of iPOS (short for iPAQ positioning system), a novel fault‐tolerant and adaptive self‐positioning system with quality‐of‐service (QoS) guarantees for resource‐limited mobile devices.

The iPOS architecture is based on a novel sensor modelling technique in combination with a probabilistic data‐fusion engine, which is capable of efficiently combining the location information obtained from an arbitrary number of heterogeneous location sensors. As a proof of concept, the paper present a prototypical implementation for handheld devices, which was evaluated by means of practical experiments.

A major advantage of the iPOS positioning system is its extensibility and flexibility, which is achieved by means of an open plugin architecture and the support of global positioning coordinates according to the WGS‐84 standard. The iPOS system scales very well with respect to the number of sensor plugins that can be operated in parallel. The main limiting factor for the number of supported active plugins is the amount of available system resources on the MoD. With regard to recognition, the experimental results indicate a good accuracy of the fusion‐based positioning system in comparison to the accuracy of the individual sensing technologies. Thanks to the explicit modelling of reliable sensor events, the iPOS system is capable of providing QoS guarantees to applications with regard to the achieved positioning accuracy.

During the experiments, the author recognized time synchronisation as an important challenge that should be addressed as part of future work.

The system enables resource‐restricted mobile devices and computerised objects to exploit computing resources found in their immediate physical vicinity (locality).

The paper presents a novel lightweight sensor‐fusion architecture for fault‐tolerant and adaptive self‐positioning that performs well on resource‐limited mobile devices. A special feature of the developed data‐fusion architecture is the application of a novel event modelling technique that enables the positioning system to give QoS guarantees under certain conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to envision the benefits of applying the Instant Messaging (IM) paradigm in pervasive computing environments. With IM in such an environment, all smart entities, human or not, can interact using IM as the unified interface. To realize this vision, the design of a Smart Instant Messaging (SIM) system is proposed, which features context‐aware presence management, user‐centric resource configuration, and adaptive grouping.

Three prototype versions of a client have been implemented and their performance in terms of memory usage and response time evaluated.

The SIM system was found to transcend current IM products by having new features including context‐aware presence management, user‐centric resource configuration, and adaptive grouping support.

The system described here extends the Jabber‐based IM framework and relies on an ontology‐based supporting middleware to handle the chore of retrieving and interpreting contextual information.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of physical proximity between schedulers and operators within manufacturing firms. In literature, a small distance between interdependent employees is assumed to be a prerequisite for a high level of coordination. This study investigates this assumption empirically for the relationship between scheduling and manufacturing and shows effects of proximity that are only partly in line with literature.

Consequences of relocating the scheduling department within a production firm are studied using a longitudinal case study approach. Data have been collected within three phases: before, three months after, and one year after the relocation.

Findings show that schedulers and operators communicate more face‐to‐face and less by phone after the relocation, especially during rescheduling. Furthermore, schedulers and operators perceived positive changes in ease of coordination and performance due to the relocation.

Scheduling and rescheduling are usually treated in literature as a mathematical puzzle to be solved. The authors do not contest this in itself, but the findings indicate that communication and collaboration are important aspects as well. In the case company, the possible negative aspects of close proximity, such as more interruptions, are offset by the advantages for rescheduling such as fast response and improved quality of communication. As the study was done in only one manufacturing firm, further research is needed to determine what firm characteristics specifically determine the appropriate location of the scheduling department.

The paper demonstrates the need to carefully design, manage, and facilitate the interface and critical task interdependencies between scheduling and manufacturing departments.

The paper contributes to operations management literature by providing a detailed empirical analysis concerning the effects of physical proximity between schedulers and manufacturing operators, including behavioural and organizational factors.

Much time and effort has been devoted to designing and developing library Web sites that are easy to navigate by both new students and experienced researchers. In a review of the Southampton Institute Library it was decided that in addition to updating the existing homepage an alternative would be offered. Drawing on theory relating to user interface design, learning styles and creative thinking, an Alternative Library navigation system was added to the more traditional library homepage. The aim was to provide students with a different way to explore and discover the wide range of information resources available by taking a less formal approach to navigation based on the metaphor of physical space and playful exploration.

Medical education was challenged and re-imagined during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to examine the consequent changes in medical school curricula alongside students’ mental and physical health.

It is observed that 549 medical students (response rate: 79.7%) from 31 of 37 public medical schools in Germany completed a cross-sectional online survey. Students answered questions regarding teaching, internet use, COVID-19 and well-being. A multivariate logistic regression examined factors associated with depressed mood, insomnia and headache.

Academic teaching moved to a virtual environment (91%), whilst practical activities were suspended or cancelled (88%). Virtual teaching modality, quantity and quality were well-perceived, yet 35% of respondents were dissatisfied with their internet connection. Consequently, students worried about the pandemic’s adverse effect on their quality as a doctor (60%) and thought about postponing their studies (30%). Students were frequently engaged in the treatment of COVID-19 patients (36%). Daily screen time was significantly associated with depressed mood, insomnia and headache. Negative changes in mental and physical health were frequently observed.

Students’ experience with digital education during the COVID-19 pandemic was mixed. Whilst teaching modality, quantity and quality were well-perceived, students’ mental and physical health deteriorated. Further longitudinal studies investigating the impact of digital education on students’ well-being are necessary.

Besides teaching, faculties must quickly digitalize and strengthen social communities and offer targeted support services for students.

This is the first cross-sectional survey exploring medical students’ experience with virtual medical teaching alongside their mental and physical well-being in Germany.

Teleworking is often indicated as a flexible working arrangement. This paper seeks to highlight that flexibility is just one positive characteristic of telework and to demonstrate both the strategic and practical implications of adopting telework. In addition, it aims to highlight best practices and specific activities that enable telework to achieve its full potential.

Drawing on a series of interviews, personal experiences and observations encompassing a wide range of organizations to include profit and non‐profit/government across a variety of industry sectors that include retail, high technology, manufacturing and hospitality and service, the paper provides an overview on how to make telework work effectively and smoothly within profit and non‐profit organizations. Moreover, it confronts the leadership literature to examine how leadership – not technology – is the critical variable in telework success.

In the most successful cases of telework, organizations and individuals were seen to fuse technology and leadership to do work without the limitations of geography, time or physical presence. Thus, while many may embrace telecommuting or telework almost exclusively for its flexibility benefits, the most successful organizations and individuals welcomed telework, first and foremost, as a source of competitive advantage.

The paper departs from traditional management thought on two fronts. First, it is contended that the essence behind successful telework arrangements is more of a function of leadership than of technology. Second, and related to the previous point, the paper suggests that a creative, innovative and progressive leadership mentality is necessary in the design and implementation of telework programmes. As a result, many managers must be willing to depart from long‐held and conventional notions of leadership.

Cloud computing originated in central data centers that are connected to the backbone of the Internet. The network transport to and from a distant data center incurs long latencies that hinder modern low-latency applications. In order to flexibly support the computing demands of users, cloud computing is evolving toward a continuum of cloud computing resources that are distributed between the end users and a distant data center. The purpose of this review paper is to concisely summarize the state-of-the-art in the evolving cloud computing field and to outline research imperatives.

The authors identify two main dimensions (or axes) of development of cloud computing: the trend toward flexibility of scaling computing resources, which the authors denote as Flex-Cloud, and the trend toward ubiquitous cloud computing, which the authors denote as Ubi-Cloud. Along these two axes of Flex-Cloud and Ubi-Cloud, the authors review the existing research and development and identify pressing open problems.

The authors find that extensive research and development efforts have addressed some Ubi-Cloud and Flex-Cloud challenges resulting in exciting advances to date. However, a wide array of research challenges remains open, thus providing a fertile field for future research and development.

This review paper is the first to define the concept of the Ubi-Flex-Cloud as the two-dimensional research and design space for cloud computing research and development. The Ubi-Flex-Cloud concept can serve as a foundation and reference framework for planning and positioning future cloud computing research and development efforts.

While the number of tourists worldwide is expected to reach 1.8 billion people by 2030, tourism destinations try to meet demand for increasing tourism. However, some tourism destinations are experiencing a maturity period of destination life cycle intensively. During these mature periods, while they meet the demand above their tourism carrying capacity, they encounter some problematic issues. In tourist destinations such as Venice, Barcelona and Paris, the negative feelings developed by the local people towards overtourism or tourists result in serious problems like negative destination images, tourism phobia, etc. In these destinations, to prevent the negative consequences of overtourism, destination stakeholders should develop solutions to these problems. There are many solution techniques for the problems which cause overtourism. One of them is the different tourism types which have been developed as an alternative to mass tourism. These alternative tourism types can be handled as a method for solving problems revealed through excess demand in tourism destinations at risk. For example, some tourism destinations which have both beach tourism and nature-based tourism types can bring nature-based tourism activities to the forefront with promotion and marketing activities and therefore, the tourism demand could be balanced between these tourism types. In this context, firstly, comprehensive literature review of overtourism and alternative tourism will be conducted in this study. And then the different types of tourism such as ecotourism, cultural tourism and responsible tourism will be discussed in detail and their relation in reducing the negative consequences of overtourism will be investigated theoretically via secondary data. Therefore, alternative tourism potentials will be investigated and tried to present the managerial suggestions for the development of different alternative types of tourism. As a result, it has been seen that, alternative tourism not only contributes to the growth of tourism in both popular and remote destinations but also makes sure that destinations get their fair share in income distribution of the country.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research that examined the relationship between, and collaboration of, Croatian archives, libraries and museums.

Online survey and unstructured interviews with archivists from across Croatia were used to investigate collaborative activities in Croatian archives.

Archivists see libraries and museums as their natural partners and believe that collaboration facilitates their mission and leads to better service to patrons. However, they all believe that there is room for more intensive inter‐institutional partnerships. Apart from numerous benefits, they also indicated a number of challenges they face in collaborative activities.

A larger sample for qualitative methodology would greatly serve to clarify and expand upon the findings.

The results of this survey are useful to cultural heritage professionals in planning and organisation of collaborative projects. Also, government and authorised institutions can learn about what kind of support archives would need to embark on a more intensive collaboration.

To the author's knowledge, this is the first work that looks in detail into collaborative activities of archives. As far as the authors are aware, similar investigations have been carried out regarding library and museum collaboration only.