In order to create things more effectively when the value associated with achieving things is more important than mere achievement, understanding ‘why things are neededʼ. Manufacturing often involves many people, and mutual understanding is necessary when there are established values at the outset; whereas, value creation through communication is necessary when clear values have not been established. In this article, the authors will explain i) a methodology to reduce ambiguity in software development, which has been considered a problem that must be resolved in conventional engineering, ii) the characteristics of the manufacturing approach of creating value by attempting to utilize ambiguity, and iii) their attempt to observe and model value-creating communication, in which value is added through the use of ambiguity.

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As competition intensifies, retail companies and stores must plan and execute more effective marketing strategies. As in manufacturing and other industries, retailers are introducing information and communication technologies (ICT) to manage customer relationships through frequent shopper programs and point-of-sale systems. Data shows customers’ purchases and the effectiveness of their marketing initiatives. Even though ICT data confirm retailers’ current situations, however, they are of little use in setting effective marketing strategies. This study examines a Japanese supermarket chain and ID-POS data, and constructs a better category assortment at each store. We analyze purchase probabilities by merchandise category and customer and estimate category purchase intention of each store. We compare and discuss our results and actual sales.

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An emergency material mobilization chain is defined as a whole supply chain or industry chain that performs emergency material mobilization tasks. Research on emergency material mobilization connects the theories of agile mobilization, mobilization alliances, supply chains, and industry chains and informs emergency material mobilization enterprises and management departments responsible for these tasks.

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In recent years, Chinese natural disasters and emergencies have occurred frequently, thus research into peopleʼs risk perception is necessary. As an effective way to enhance risk perception, risk communication plays a key role. Through data collection using questionnaire surveys of typical communities in Beijing, a structural equation for modeling the establishment of the relationship between risk perception and risk communication was achieved. This analysis also considered the main factors affecting their correlation. Conclusion: the official and official similar groupsʼ risk communication combination channels have a better ability to enhance the risk perception ability of community residents.

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As the most important symbol for measuring the core competitiveness of a nation’s industry, the high-end equipment manufacturing industry in China has become the country’s primary benchmark toward achieving a strong manufacturing power base. This paper presents the opportunities, challenges, and progress that the high-end equipment manufacturing industry is facing to meet the goals of “Made in China 2025.” By analyzing the main obstacles preventing the process of transforming and updating the industry, we propose a path of transformation and promotion as well as key areas regarding investment development.

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Energy and greenhouse gas reductions in buildings are an important research topic for global warming, so low-carbon building design has become a critical part of energy conservation in the building sector. To address this issue, this study studies a quasi-construction residential building by simulating and analyzing the performance of the building via building information modeling. The calculations are done by using analytical software including ECOTECT, DEST-h, and Phoenics. Finally, we propose design improvements and offer technical advice from the perspective of low-carbon technology.

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I In view of the present situation and shortcomings of the disposition of leisure agricultural service facilities in China, this paper analyzes the feasibility and effects of operational modes of leisure agricultural service facilities based on the application of information technology, such as the application of WeChat and iBeacon. Results show that to achieve the goal of low-carbon information services, applying WeChat and iBeacon to leisure agricultural service facilities could improve service intelligence and reduce facilities configuration cost.

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This paper studies the condition that a software producer should determine whether to exercise the copy free strategy or not by building up a model. In the model, we assume that the software is constructed by basic function and additional function, and that the evaluation values are independent distribution for consumers. Meanwhile, the model also assumes that the consumer will bear the risk to pay a fine when copying and using the software which is not copy-free. It also assumes that the evaluation values of risk are different depending upon the consumer. By analyzing the profit between the strategy of copy-free and not copy-free, we find it advantageous for copy-free strategy depending on the relative size of the evaluation values of the basic function and additional function.

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Would you like to be delivered by a self-driving car? Are we ready to eliminate the joy or satisfaction from car driving like by a fully AI-automated (artificial intelligence) car as mentioned above? Or, we are even not recognized such the difference. A human being has the unique feature such as humanity that has not a machine and is very related to sustainability. This paper tries to be critical to this situation, and argues with 3 steps. Firstly, their definition of German Industrie 4.0 and Internet of Things (IoT) are compared. Secondly, how those developments can be seen in the field of car navigation industries? Finally, it is considered whether this development is consistent with a sustainable society.

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The purpose of this research is to examine the process to realize information utilization when various stakeholders are involved in data accumulation. Data is acquired in various situations by IoT, but in order for various entities to utilize such data, it is necessary to negotiate stakeholders. We conducted case studies of I-Ware Laboratory, which was in a relatively disadvantageous position but led to the use of information. As a result, it is pointed out that the factors of “Capability to build relationships for emerging needs”, “Capability to develop product quickly and flexibly”, “Capability to empathize with social value for data disclosure”, “Capability to identify management resources that provide a source of competitive advantage” have big meanings in negotiating scenes.

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