research on information management system

• What is a Research Management System and Why Should You Use One?

How does your organisation manage its research administration? Does your team rely on outdated systems or manual processes such as spreadsheets? 

Your response to the above questions is a strong indicator of whether your organisation is working as efficiently and competitively as possible.

The research administration activities within the award lifecycle are broad, and bring along numerous administrative tasks, including but not limited to pre-award, post-award, contract management, forms management, and business process workflow automation. 

There is a significant risk of non-compliance that comes with relying on solutions that do not integrate end-to-end with all the necessary research administration functions, not to mention the human error associated with manual data processing. 

Research administrators play a significant role in an organisation’s operational excellence and decision support. This is greatly challenged when researchers need to rely on a plethora of systems, each containing different data structures, to extract data to assist in decision-making.

The good news is that we’ve come a long way from submitting paper-based applications and depending on in-house systems to manage the award life cycle. Today research organisations are not only able to manage their entire grants lifecycle with a single end-to-end research management system, but they can also customise these systems to meet their unique organisational requirements.

Now researchers balance the competing responsibilities of managing their administrative load and their actual research work without compromising their valuable time and ensure no missed milestones and complete compliance.

What is a Research Management System (RMS)?

With a wide variety of research management systems to choose from today, it is essential to understand what a research management system is.

A Research Management System (RMS) is a platform that manages a research grant or contract's pre-award, post-award, and publication phases. Throughout the Grants and Contracts life cycle, RMS interfaces with other finance and /or HR systems to provide a seamless process for grants and awards management, eliminate re-keying of data, and heighten transparency into the status of applications at any time.

How does research management systems (RMS) benefit researchers?

Winning a research grant in today’s competitive environment is a considerable achievement. However, that is just the beginning of a new journey and brings several administration burdens for its recipients. 

Successful and timely delivery of all the proposed outcomes is critical not only for the researcher’s career and reputation but also for the organisation they represent. Therefore, implementing efficient and reliable processes is essential.

When research organisations implement a cloud-based research management system, they increase the researcher’s efficiency and ability to collaborate. Saving time and increasing productivity.

The number of benefits provided by a research management system are endless, however, some of the most common ways in which an RMS positively impacts researchers' work include:

• Reduced time submitting proposals and managing sponsored projects,
• Increased collaboration with PIs,
• Speeds up compliance and review processes,
• Works to prevent non-compliance,
• Reduced administrative burden, so researchers can begin researching sooner,
• Provides 24*7 access to information,
• Provides real-time oversight of the entire research program,
• Streamlines reporting, automates workflows, and eliminates paper forms,
• Release of new features and updates on a regular basis further simplifies research management processes,
• Being cloud-based it involves low maintenance cost,
• Notifications, and alerts, for administrators, faculty staff, committees, and researchers,
• Data is centralised, secured, and backed up regularly,
• Tech support is available at your fingertips,

It is a common scenario for research administrators to be scrambling to make the proposal deadline, or to be juggling last-minute budget revisions and missing signatures. By considering adopting a change with a Research Management System, you can be assured that your organisation will see a significant improvement in the time involved in managing research administration. Not to mention the added benefit of increasing research portfolio and revenue.

Utilise RMS for increased impact:

Although research administrators have historically focused on improving operational efficiency to serve faculty better and facilitate compliance these administrators are increasingly called upon for strategic insights to help guide broader institutional strategy. Data makes up a key source of strategic insights related to technology. Data on accounting, budgeting, students, research administration, human resources (HR), and other factors are often collected but infrequently used to their fullest potential. 

Imagine needing to collate this data and information through disparate systems. Given the complexity and the challenges within the research ecosystem, managing data created during just one research project alone is challenging. Working research data across your organisation without a system is impractical, if not impossible.

Given how challenging it can be for research administrators to achieve their goals, there still seems to be plenty of research organisations that are still using legacy or excel spreadsheet processes. 

Researchers can’t afford to get left behind and let Finance and HR once again top the list of institutional priorities and influence vendor development choices for the next few years. 

R esearch organisations should invest in research management systems.

Manage your Research effectively With OmniStar:

Using in-house or cobbled-together systems when managing research results is frustrating for the researchers.

If you want to be competitive, you must recognise and promote your research potential and impact. The tremendous advancement in research management technologies has resulted in development of a unique system, such as the OmniStar Research, freeing you from repetitive administrative tasks and other research management hassles.

The OmniStar research management system can transform the way your organisation operates. Renowned universities, hospitals, and research organisations within Australia place a high level of trust in OmniStar because of its ability to simplify and automate core processes every step of the way.

Get in touch with an OmniStar expert today to discover how you can work smartly with a fully flexible research management solution.

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Intuitive, streamlined platforms aggregate siloed information while saving time and decreasing administrative burden for librarians, faculty and research offices.

Pure: Drive key decisions from a centralized RIMS

To maintain a competitive edge in the global academic landscape, research and academic managers need accurate data and actionable insights. The world's leading research information and management system, Pure, enables you to optimize your research impact by bringing information from all your data sources onto one secure, intelligent and easy-to-use platform.

Gain complete research visibility

Streamline multiple research processes

Demonstrate global impact with qualitative and quantitative indicators

Demonstrate global impact, such as societal impact , with qualitative and quantitative indicators.

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Interfolio: Illuminate the impact of your academic staff and institution

Interfolio’s Faculty Information System (FIS) offers universities a unified platform for managing all career milestones of Academic staff—from faculty hiring and recruitment, academic appointments and timelines, activity data reporting, and reviews and promotions.

Manage timely academic recruitment

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Visualize, track, and improve visibility of your faculty roster and faculty career journeys

Create a centralized source of truth for academic staff activities, including teaching, service, and research

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Digital Commons: Securely and openly share your research

It's an increasingly common condition of funding that the data associated with your work should be made available, accessible, discoverable and usable. Digital Commons helps you comply with these requirements by providing open access for your institution's research and scholarly work.

Enable your researchers to store and share FAIR data

Enable data collaboration at scale

Put your library team in the driving seat of data curation

Learn more about Digital Commons

Data Monitor: Easily track and analyze your research data

Data Monitor puts your institution's librarians and research offices in the driver's seat of their research data management journey, giving you visibility on your institution's entire research data output so you can automatically keep track of research data and monitor compliance.

Automatically keep track of your institutional research data

Monitor compliance with national and funder policies, and inform future institutional policies

Keep track of global research data output and trends across repositories, institutions and disciplines

Learn more about Data Monitor

Funding Institutional: Gain insights to increase grant success rates

The world of funding is changing constantly. Gain deep insight into the funding landscape — including new opportunities and policies, shifting funding requirements and rising competition — using use cases and features in Funding Institutional.

Increase grant success rates with insightful analysis

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Resources and solutions to provide individual and institutional support for the research community so that they can navigate the research data ecosystem and achieve their RDM goals.

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dspace-cris

What is it .

DSpace-CRIS is a comprehensive, free and open-source Research Information Management System (CRIS/RIMS).

It is based on DSpace, providing broader functionality and an expanded data model, relying on its large community.

It is compliant with and supports key international standards, facilitating interoperability and data transfer.

DSpace-CRIS enables secure, integrated and interoperable research information and data management – in a single solution.

NEW! UPGRADE TO DSPACE 7 AND DSPACE-CRIS 7!

Download the dspace-cris infographic to have all the information you need always with you, with dspace-cris you can, assess your performance and allocate resources efficiently, track and apply for new funding opportunities., exchange information with external systems and databases (orcid, pubmed, wos, etc.)., promote your assets and activities., why do you need it, to collect and manage research data and information, including your researchers and groups, departments and organisational units, laboratories and infrastructures, projects and collaborations, contracts and events, publications and patents, awards, etc., why are we a reliable partner.

The team at 4Science created DSpace-CRIS back in 2009, continuously extending and improving it.

We have successfully implemented many projects in institutions all over the world.

We are committed to share what we do and we make all the most important software enhancements available as open source.

Take a quick look at it

Check our services, community resources, to request a free demo presentation or for any other questions, other solutions.

Hanging Together

the OCLC Research blog

What the %$&! is Research Information Management?

This post is authored by the five co-authors of Research Information Management in the United States: Rebecca Bryant , Jan Fransen , Pablo de Castro , Brenna Helmstutler , and David Scherer . It part of a  series  based upon the OCLC Research Information Management in the US reports.

In Europe, most faculty and university leaders have a ready grasp of the terms Current Research Information System ( CRIS ) or Research Information Management System (RIMS). These terms—and the systems they refer to—have been around for a while, are widespread across the continent, and play an important role in policy compliance monitoring and in reporting for external requirements from research funders relating to research assessment and open access, such as the United Kingdom’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) . A European community of practice is led by euroCRIS .

But here in the United States, the situation is far less clear. The terms CRIS and RIMS, while occasionally used, are less frequent and poorly understood. And, unlike Europe, we don’t have a vendor-agnostic community of practice, despite the rapid adoption of research information management (RIM) infrastructures in US research institutions. 

Instead, we more often hear other terminology like:

• Research Networking System (RNS)
• Research Profiling System (RPS)
• Expert Finder System (EFS)
• Faculty Activity Reporting (FAR) system.

This multiplicity of terminology reflects a broader confusion about just what research information management is. In a new OCLC Research report series entitled Research Information Management in the United States , we offer the following definition to describe RIM practice:

Research Information Management (RIM) systems support the transparent aggregation, curation, and utilization of data about institutional research activities.

RIM systems support multiple uses

The reports describe six discrete use cases that can be supported by RIM systems . Even though different stakeholders may use different terms to describe different uses, we believe it’s essential to recognize that they all collect and use much the same information—particularly metadata about research staff and their publications and other research outputs produced within the institution.

The similarities between these uses and the systems that support them are greater than their differences. In fact, a key observation of our study is that many different systems are used by different stakeholders within research institutions without often recognizing that all of these disparate RIM systems are part of a larger, umbrella Research Information Management (RIM) product category. We hope that our identification of these use cases will provide a frame of reference for institutions to examine and better understand their own complex practices, inviting increased collaboration, information sharing, decision-making, and institutional investment.

Furthermore, recognizing these similarities is a necessary step toward working across institutional silos and developing a cross-functional, vendor-agnostic community of practice in the United States. [1]

Case studies of RIM practices at US institutions

Our observations are based upon the close study of RIM practices at five US research institutions, selected for their diversity of practices, systems, products, and stakeholders:

• Penn State University
• Texas A&M University
• Virginia Tech
• University of Miami. 

During late 2020 and early 2021, we conducted 23 semi-structured interviews with 39 individuals at 8 institutions and combined this knowledge with a review of the literature, informed by our own past and current experiences as RIM system managers. The findings are divided into two separate reports: 

The reports document the array of stakeholders in research information management, including the library, research office, provost and academic affairs units, faculty affairs, human resources, external relations (like advancement and corporate relations), IT, and, of course, the faculty and researchers themselves. Most institutions support multiple RIM uses, often with different systems (and with various degrees of interoperability), which can be seen at a glance here: 

We encourage you to learn more by reading the reports , which, like all OCLC Research outputs , are openly available to the community. Please share with others in the community and watch for more blog posts about this project here on Hanging Together . 

[1] This definition and the use cases were developed through our examination of the US RIM ecosystem, but we have also sought to develop descriptions that work beyond the borders of the US, to particularly be inclusive of practices in Europe and the rest of the world.

• Rebecca Bryant , PhD, serves as Senior Program Officer at OCLC Research where she leads investigations into research support topics such as research information management (RIM).
• Janet (Jan) Fransen is the Service Lead for Research Information Management Systems at University of Minnesota Libraries, in particularly supporting Experts@Minnesota .
• Pablo de Castro works as Open Access Advocacy Librarian at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow and also serves as Secretary for the euroCRIS association to promote collaboration across the research information management community.
• Brenna Helmstutler i s the Librarian for the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and works with other library team members to support Experts@Syracuse .
• David Scherer  is the Scholarly Communications and Research Curation Consultant with the University Libraries at Carnegie Mellon University where he serves as the Operational Lead for the  CMU Elements Research Information Management (RIM) Initiative .

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Implementation of a Research Information Management System in a Pediatric Hospital

Affiliation.

• 1 a Cincinnati Children's , Cincinnati , Ohio , USA.
• PMID: 29558332
• DOI: 10.1080/02763869.2018.1439224

Faculty publications have been collected in universities, health, and medical institutions for many years, and Cincinnati Children's is no exception. Since 1949, a yearly list of faculty publications was manually compiled using multiple data sources and disseminated by the Edward L. Pratt Research Library. Products to centralize faculty publication collection and analysis with bibliometric tools are growing in popularity. This article will review the collaborative decision to choose a Research Information Management System and the implementation process including successes, challenges, and future opportunities.

Keywords: Annual reports; RIMS; Research Information Management System; Symplectic Elements; collaboration; faculty publications; hospital librarians; role of librarians.

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• Subject specialization in a liaison librarian program. Cataldo TT, Tennant MR, Sherwill-Navarro P, Jesano R. Cataldo TT, et al. J Med Libr Assoc. 2006 Oct;94(4):446-8. J Med Libr Assoc. 2006. PMID: 17082839 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
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University of Dar es Salaam

Research information management system (rims).

What is RIMS

The UDSM RIMS is a web-based portal designed to manage research information at the University. The system has four modules, Grants & Proposals, Publications Vetting, Research Clearance and Research Project Management. UDSM RIMS was developed under the leadership of the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research.

UDSM RIMS will help staff & students to save time and effort making it easier to search for research information, apply for research clearances, register research proposals, submission of publications for vetting and apply for research grants.

HOW TO LOGIN

1. For New Users (Students and Staff)

For new Registration, Please send the following details to the Email Address : [email protected] 

• Student/Staff Full Name
• Student/Staff Registration number/ID number
• College/School 
• Attach your scanned student/staff ID

2. To Login into the system :

• Username: your registration number (eg.  2020-06-00000)
• initial password:    (1 to 8), please change your password

3. For Registered Users: If you forgot your password:

Under the login page click on  Forgot Your Password , then enter your email address, and click on the Send password reset link. If successfully reset link will be sent to your email address.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send us an email to  [email protected] 

LOGIN TO YOUR ACCOUNT

Enter your credentials below

• Symplectic Elements
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What is Research Information Management?

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Research information management (RIM) is defined by the independent bodies OCLC Research and euroCRIS as “the aggregation, curation, and utilization of information and research”. 

RIM Systems – also known as Current Research Information Systems (CRIS) in Europe, or sometimes as Faculty Information Systems (FIS) in North America – are playing an increasingly critical role in supporting institutional and organisational processes, including: 

• Centralised collection and curation of research outputs, including publications, leadership & teaching activities, streaming media, and linked relationships with other collaborators and institutions.
• Showcasing public profiles for all researchers, faculty, equipment and services across an organisation.
• Reporting, insight and trend tracking across research metrics (such as citations and bibliometrics), as well as progress toward wider strategic goals (such as Sustainable Development Goals).
• Enablement and support of Open Access workflows.
• Streamlined workflows for assessment exercises, including Faculty Annual Reviews, the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in the UK, and the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA).
• Measurement and proof of the wider societal impact of research carried out, and where and how funding is used.
• Joined-up, automated integration with external academic content repositories such as Figshare, DSpace and EPrints.
• Promotion of funding opportunities to research communities and support in managing the research funding application lifecycle.

“Respondents were asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with their current RIM system, with options ranging from very satisfied to not at all satisfied… Elements from Symplectic has the highest satisfaction rate at 91%.”

In order to examine how research institutions worldwide are applying research information management (RIM) practices, OCLC Research partnered with euroCRIS to conduct a web-based survey…yielding 381 responses from 44 countries, demonstrating the global nature of research information management activities. 

The report details the complexity of RIM practices and examines how commercial and open-source platforms are becoming widely implemented across regions, coexisting with a large number of region-specific solutions as well as locally developed systems. It also considers the urgent need for system-to-system interoperability—with both internal and external systems—and demonstrates how the use of identifiers, standards, and protocols are perceived as most valuable when they can also facilitate interoperability.

Read more  

We are here to help you in your search for the best solution.

Research Management using the Elements Platform

The development of robust research management workflows is a challenge for institutions looking to streamline their processes and promote innovation. Add to that government mandates and disparate internal systems and the process becomes daunting at best.

At Symplectic, we understand the importance of bringing efficiencies to your institution’s research management workflows and the advantage of consolidating your data to a centralised platform. The Elements Platform supports institutions in their efforts to streamline the research management process and lessen the administrative burden from your researchers, faculty and staff.

Here are a few questions you should be asking of your research information management system:

1. how is my data collected and organised.

This is key to a research information system that will fully unlock the potential of the valuable data it contains. The Elements Platform is centred around continuous, automated capture of research output data from multiple internal and external sources. In fact, Elements offers the widest range of automated data source integration in the industry.

2. Does the system support Open Access?

The push to make research open to the public is a leading trend across the research landscape. Symplectic Elements’ world leading repository integrations can help you support and streamline your open access workflows . The system provides an efficient method for faculty to deposit their research into your institution’s public repository as well as creating a centralised hub for monitoring open access engagement and compliance.

3. Can the system help increase our institution’s profile in the research community?

Promoting your internal expertise and collaborations is a crucial part of managing institutional research information. The Elements Platform provides a web-based public profiling tool called the Discovery Module , which allows institutions to effortlessly showcase their researchers’ expertise through a modern, straightforward interface.

Hear from a customer who has implemented Discovery Module at Tufts University :

4. How does the platform support REF preparations and submission?

At Symplectic, our REF functionality offers specialist support to capture REF-related metadata about REF1 research staff and REF2 research outputs.  Our functionality easily supports multiple preparatory exercises , enabling both researchers and reviewers to engage directly with the selection and review of outputs in-system. Elements offers functionality to support the complete REF2 cycle – from selection through to review, acceptance, and attribution. Out-of-the-box stock REF reports enable you to report on all REF content and fields for each item, including validation status, and stock REF screens and dashboards enable managers to get a clear submission overview.  A comprehensive set of import options are also available to edit content in bulk.  Submission functionality is configurable to enable you to tailor your interaction with the REF submission system to align with your management processes. The same flexible assessment tool allows for a wide range of review workflows in addition to REF.

6. Does the platform support Faculty Annual Reports?

By maximising data reuse, Elements will minimise the time that faculty members spend completing annual reviews, allowing them to select data already included in the system. Supplementary information can be added directly into the Assessment Module or uploaded as attachments. Where Elements already knows key information about the individual such as their rank or position, it will not ask the faculty member to supply this information, instead these important data points will be added automatically to every submission.

Hear from Boston University who used Symplectic Elements to simplify Faculty Annual Reviews:

5. Does the system support my research funding workflows?

Our Research Funding Solution is designed to manage the full funding lifecycle: helping universities promote relevant funding opportunities, supporting researchers during the proposal development phase, streamlining internal reviews and approvals, and managing post-award activities and reporting.

6. Does the system protect the data privacy of users and the organisation?

Symplectic Elements incorporates powerful, flexible privacy settings designed to allow full control over information by administrators or by faculty and researchers using the system, allowing for item-by-item control of information held within the Research Information Management System.

Learn how Privacy was key to Oklahoma State University’s selection of Symplectic Elements:

Selecting the best Research Information Management System that fully supports your institutions research activities can be challenging.

Contact us today to learn more about how Symplectic can meet your needs.

It is critical to our state’s economy that we utilise every aspect of our knowledge and innovation talent across the public and private sectors. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve created with OIEx − better connecting the experts and resources at our state research universities to the industries that can utilise them to push their breakthrough ideas to fruition. John Carey, Chanceller, Ohio Department of Higher Education

We wanted to create a single, multi-university resource that provides enhanced visibility into expertise, equipment and research support services and available IP. Tim Cain, Ohio Innovation Exchange

This tool connects our scholarly and research expertise with audiences like media, prospective graduate students, and academic collaborators, while simultaneously helping faculty keep track of the very important work they do. It is a game-changer for U of T. Associate Vice-President Research, University of Toronto

The deeply integrated environment we now have will greatly enhance our ability to manage the range of repository activities and strengthen our position in preparing for any future research assessment exercises. Digital Development Manager, University of Sussex

It helps keep us organised and keeps everything in one place. Peter Fisher, Worldwide Cancer Research

Researcher profiles and end-to-end funded research project management all now take place in the one interface, which has huge benefits to our researchers. Liam Cleere, University College Dublin

The discovery module has provided a delightful and fantastic searchable public interface to our to our faculty. Paul Bergen, Tufts University

The rate of deposit has increased by 1000% within 12 months following the switch-on of the publication prompt in Elements and discussion about the HEFCE Open Access policy. Queen Mary University of London

Elements impressed us with its simplicity, flexibility and control for individual faculty members, and great responsiveness with customer service. Clarke Iakovakis, Oklahoma State University

I think the most important feature Symplectic Elements came with was interoperability The fact that it had that flow through profiles to the repository was really, really valuable for us. Research Advisor, La Trobe University

Find out more about our products or services and to request a free no obligation demo

• DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-8437-7.CH003
• Corpus ID: 198341068

Research Information Management Systems

• T. Manu , Minaxi Parmar , +1 author Viral Asjola
• Published in Advances in Library and… 2019
• Computer Science, Education

4 Citations

Rmi based distributed research information management and usage: in case of debre markos university burie campus, data blind: universities lag in capturing and exploiting data, creating structured linked data to generate scholarly profiles: a pilot project using wikidata and scholia, futuristic invisibility for user identity and data protection.

• Highly Influenced

10 References

Research data meets research information management: two case studies using (a) pure cerif-cris and (b) eprints repository platform with cerif extensions, making research data repositories visible: the re3data.org registry, researchers’ participation in and motivations for engaging with research information management systems, institutional repositories and research data curation in a distributed environment, implementation of a research information management system in a pediatric hospital, kultivating kultur: increasing arts research deposit, research data repositories: review of current features, gap analysis, and recommendations for minimum requirements, from invisibility to impact: recognising the scientific and societal relevance of interdisciplinary sustainability research, research information management: making sense of it all, related papers.

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Research Information Management Systems: A Comparative Study

Literature review.

A review of the literature points to several previous studies on the comparative evaluation of research data management (RDM) platforms and research publication and data repositories. For example, there are a number of case studies on the comparison, critical evaluation, features, advantages and disadvantages of using various research data repositories to store, archive and share research data with other researchers. Most of these studies focus on the comparison and critical analysis of open source data repositories and software such as DataVerse, CKAN, Digital commons, Dspace, ePrints, EUDAT, Fedora, Figshare, Greenstone, Invenio, Omeka, SciFLOW and Zenodo.

Clements, A., and McCutcheon, V. (2014), carried out case studies on the implementation of a RIMS at two universities in the UK. The University of St Andrews and University of Glasgow worked over several years to implement and develop their RIMS using the Pure CERIF-CRIS and EPrints software. The authors explain the strategies and systems they used and the issues that arose during the implementation process. Austin, C. et al., (2015) surveyed 32 online research data and data sharing platforms to provide a broad overview of the current features of data repositories and data sharing platforms. The authors studied selected research data platforms comparing data criteria and functionality such as cloud services, free to access, download data, and deposit data, publishing charges, the size of the repository, integration with ORCID ID, Scopus ID etc.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Bibliography : A list of books, scholarly articles, speeches, private records, diaries, interviews, laws, letters, websites, and other sources that are used when researching and writing a paper.

Preservation : Action taken to prevent damage occurring, for example by packing and storing documents in a suitable environment.

SaaS : Software as a service. A software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the internet.

ORCID : A persistent digital identifier that identifies and distinguishes individual researchers thereby resolving author ambiguity.

API : An application program interface (API) is a code that allows two software programs to communicate with each other.

Citations : A reference to the source of information used in research work.

Harvesting : A process where a small script, also known as a malicious bot, is used to automatically extract a large amount of data from websites and use it for other purposes.

Author Name Ambiguity : The author name can't be used to reliably identify all scholarly authors, thus making it impossible to unanimously associate all scholarly works with their authors.

Collaboration : In academic research, collaboration is usually taken to mean an equal partnership between two academic faculty members who are pursuing mutually beneficial research.

Altmetric : Altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that that complement traditional, citation-based metrics.

Metadata : A set of data that describes and gives information about other data.

Authentication : The process of determining whether someone or something, is who or what it declares itself to be.

Interoperability : Refers to the essential ability of computerized systems to connect and readily communicate with each other, even if different manufacturers developed them in various industries.

Complete Chapter List

Introduction to Advances in Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications

• Conference paper
• First Online: 14 August 2024
• Cite this conference paper

• George A. Tsihrintzis 13 ,
• Maria Virvou 13 ,
• Nikolaos G. Bourbakis 14 &
• Lakhmi C. Jain 15  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 1093))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems, and Applications

Information is widely available and accessible, but frequently leads to information overload and overexposure and the effort for coding, storing, hiding, securing, transmitting, and retrieving it may be excessive. Intelligence , inspired by biological and other paradigms, is required to manage information and extract knowledge from it. Information and Multimedia Systems , with an increasing level of Intelligence, are being developed that incorporate these advances. As a result, new Technologies, Protocols, and novel Applications are emerging. In turn, the novel applications lead to the collection of new information and the “Information \(\to\) Intelligence \(\to\) Systems \(\to\) Applications” circle is repeated at ever higher levels. This book includes extended versions of selected research works that were presented at the 14 th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems, and Applications (IISA2023), Volos, Greece, July 10–12, 2024 ( https://www.easyacademia.org/iisa2023 ) along with additional relevant papers by invited authors. These works cover a broad spectrum of topics from both novelties in theory and advanced methodologies as well as applications in the Energy, Agriculture, Medicine, Forensics, Healthcare, Education, Tourism, Inspection, Traffic and Software Engineering.

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Tsihrintzis, G. A., Virvou, M., Hatzilygeroudis, I.: Special issue on selected papers from the 33rd annual IEEE international conference on tools with artificial intelligence (ICTAI-2021). Int. J. Artif. Intell. Tools  32 (05), 2302003. (2023c)

Tsihrintzis, G.A., Virvou, M., Sakkopoulos, E., Jain, L.C.: Applications of learning and analytics in intelligent systems. Mach. Learn. Paradigms Appl. Learn. Analytics Intell. Syst. 1–6 (2019)

Tsihrintzis, G.A., Virvou, M., Jain, L.C.: Advances in Machine Learning/Deep Learning-based Technologies. Springer International Publishing. (2022)

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Weng, S., Shieh, C.S., Tsihrintzis, G.A. (eds.): Advances in Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing: Proceeding of the 18th IIH-MSP 2022 Kitakyushu. Springer, Japan (2023)

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Virvou, M., Alepis, E., Tsihrintzis, G.A. and Jain, L.C.: Machine learning paradigms: advances in learning analytics, pp. 1–5. Springer International Publishing (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13743-4

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Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A.: Pre-made Empowering Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT: the growing importance of human ai-experts. In: 2023 14th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems & Applications (IISA), pp. 1–8 (2023b) IEEE

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Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Bourbakis, N.G., Jain, L.C.: Introduction to Handbook on Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Applied Software Engineering—VOL. 1: Novel Methodologies to Engineering Smart Software Systems. In: Handbook on Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Applied Software Engineering: VOL. 1: Novel Methodologies to Engineering Smart Software Systems, pp. 1–8. Cham: Springer International Publishing (2022a). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08202-3

Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Bourbakis, N.G., Jain, L. C.: Handbook on Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Applied Software Engineering: VOL. 2: Smart Software Applications in Cyber-Physical Systems (Vol. 3). Springer International Publishing AG (2022b). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07650-3

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Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Sotiropoulos, D.N., Chrysafiadi, K., Sakkopoulos, E., Tsichrintzi, E.A.: ChatGPT in artificial intelligence-empowered e-learning for cultural heritage: the case of lyrics and poems. In: 2023 14th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems & Applications (IISA), pp. 1–9 (2023) IEEE

Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Tsichrintzi, E.A.: VIRTSI: a novel trust dynamics model enhancing artificial intelligence collaboration with human users–insights from a ChatGPT evaluation study. Inf. Sci. 120759 (2024)

Virvou, M., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Tsoukalas, L.H., Jain, L.C.: Introduction to advances in artificial intelligence-based technologies. Adv. Artif. Intell. Technol. Sel. Pap. Honour Professor Nikolaos G. Bourbakis— 1 , 1–5 (2022d)

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Tsihrintzis, G.A., Virvou, M., Bourbakis, N.G., Jain, L.C. (2024). Introduction to Advances in Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications. In: Bourbakis, N., Tsihrintzis, G.A., Virvou, M., Jain, L.C. (eds) Extended Selected Papers of the 14th International Conference on Information, Intelligence, Systems, and Applications. IISA 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1093. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-67426-6_1

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• Find Your Calm: Managing Stress & Anxiety

Stress Symptoms

What Is Stress?

Stress is your body's response to a challenging or demanding situation. When you feel stressed, your body releases certain hormones. Your hormones are chemical signals your body uses to tell your body systems what to do. The hormones your body releases when you're stressed get you ready to meet the challenge or demand in your environment. During the stress response, your body gets ready to flee or fight by increasing your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure.

Not all stress is bad. In small doses, stress can help you accomplish tasks or prevent you from getting hurt. For example, stress is what makes you slam on the brakes to avoid hitting a suddenly stopped car in front of you. That's a good thing.

But people handle stressful situations differently. What stresses you out may be of little concern to someone else. 

Stress can be a short-term response to something that happens once or only a few times or a long-term response to something that keeps happening. Our bodies can usually handle short-term stress without long-term effects. But long-term or chronic stress can make you sick, both mentally and physically.

The first step to managing your stress is to know the symptoms. But recognizing stress symptoms may be harder than you think. Many of us are so used to feeling stressed that we may not know it until we get sick. Read on to learn more about the various symptoms you may have when you're stressed.

Difference between stress and distress

Stress is a normal reaction to challenges in your physical environment or in your perceptions of what's happening around you. Experts consider distress to be stress that is severe, prolonged, or both. Distress is when you feel you’re under more stress than you can handle.

Emotional Stress Symptoms

Mental symptoms of emotional stress include:

• Feeling more emotional than usual, especially feeling grumpy, teary, or angry
• Feeling anxious, overwhelmed, nervous, or on edge
• Feeling sad or depressed
• Feeling restless
• Trouble keeping track of or remembering things
• Trouble getting your work done, solving problems, making decisions, or concentrating 

Physical Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of stress that you might feel in your body include:

• Clenching your jaw and grinding your teeth
• Shoulder, neck, or back pain; general body aches, pains, and tense muscles
• Chest pain, increased heart rate, heaviness in your chest
• Shortness of breath
• Feeling more tired than usual (fatigue)
• Sleeping more or less than usual
• Upset stomach , including diarrhea , constipation , and nausea
• Loss of sexual desire and/or ability
• Getting sick more easily, such as getting colds and infections often

Respiratory distress

This is when you aren't getting enough oxygen or are having to work really hard to breathe. If you or a loved one has symptoms of respiratory distress, you need to call 911 and get to the ER as soon as possible. Signs include:

• Breathing faster than usual
• Color changes of your skin, mouth, lips, or fingernails. A blue color around your mouth, lips, or fingernails usually shows you aren't getting enough oxygen. Your skin may also look pale or gray.
• Grunting when you breath out
• A whistling with each breath (wheezing)
• Nose flaring
• Chest sinking below your neck or under your breastbone with each breath (retractions)
• Increased sweating, especially cold, clammy skin on your forehead
• Leaning forward while sitting to help take deeper breaths

Cognitive Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of stress that affect your mental performance include:

• Trouble getting your work done, solving problems, making decisions, or concentrating
• Feeling less commitment to your work
• Lack of motivation
• Negative thinking

Behavioral Stress Symptoms

Symptoms of behavioral stress include:

• Changes in your eating habits; losing or gaining weight
• Procrastinating and avoiding responsibilities
• Using alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to feel better
• Avoiding your friends and family; isolating yourself from others
• Failing to meet your deadlines
• Increased absences at school or work
• Doing your work more slowly
• Exercising less often

Symptoms of Chronic Stress

Chronic stress is when you experience stress over an extended time. This can have negative effects on your body and your mental state, and it can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease, anxiety, and depression.

In general, the symptoms of chronic stress are the same as those for shorter-term stress. You may not have all these symptoms, but if you have more than three symptoms and they last for a few weeks, you may have chronic stress. Potential symptoms to look for include:

• Aches and pains
• Changes in your sleeping patterns, such as insomnia or sleepiness
• Changes in your social behavior, such as avoiding other people
• Changes in your emotional response to others
• Emotional withdrawal
• Low energy, fatigue
• Unfocused or cloudy thinking
• Changes in your appetite
• Increased alcohol or drug use
• Getting sick more often than usual

Is It Stress or Something Else?

You may be dealing with something more serious than day-to-day stress if you have symptoms over a period of time even though you've tried to cope using healthy mechanisms. Long-term stress is linked to number of mental health disorders, such as:

• Chronic stress
• Substance use disorder
• Disordered eating

It may be time to visit your doctor if you're struggling to cope with the stress in your life or you have mental health problems from long-term stress. They can help you figure out ways of coping in a healthy way or refer you to a mental health professional who can help you.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is mental health condition that you may have after you have or witness a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, accident, or violence. PTSD overwhelms your ability to cope with new stress. PTSD can lead to symptoms such as intrusive memories, avoidance behaviors, and hyperarousal. 

These symptoms can cause significant problems in your work or relationships. T alk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you've had or witnessed a traumatic event and have disturbing thoughts and feelings about it for more than a month, if your thoughts and feelings are severe, or if you feel like you're having trouble getting your life back on track.

What Are the Consequences of Long-Term Stress?

Ongoing, chronic stress can trigger or worsen many serious health problems, including:

• Mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, and personality disorders
• Cardiovascular disease, including heart disease , high blood pressure, abnormal heart rhythms, heart attacks, and strokes
• Obesity and other eating disorders
• Menstrual problems
• Sexual dysfunction, such as impotence and premature ejaculation in men and loss of sexual desire in men and women
• Skin and hair problems , such as acne, psoriasis, and eczema, and permanent hair loss
• Gastrointestinal problems, such as GERD, gastritis , ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome

Help Is Available for Stress

Stress is a part of life. What matters most is how you handle it. The best thing you can do to prevent stress overload and the health consequences that come with it is to know your stress symptoms.

If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed by stress, talk to your doctor. Many symptoms of stress can also be signs of other health problems. Your doctor can evaluate your symptoms and rule out other conditions. If stress is to blame, your doctor can recommend a therapist or counselor to help you better handle your stress.

Stress Takeaways

Stress is your body's response to a challenging or demanding situation. It can affect you physically, mentally, and behaviorally, especially when you have chronic stress. Chronic stress is when you are stressed for an extended time. Chronic stress can make it more likely for you to develop other mental health disorders, such as anxiety or depression. It can also affect your heart health and digestive health. If you're stressed and having trouble coping, it may be time for you to see your doctor or a mental health professional.

Stress FAQs

What can extreme stress cause?

Extreme stress, especially if it's prolonged, can cause emotional distress. And stress from a traumatic event, which is usually extreme, can cause posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These are more serious cases of stress that overwhelm your ability to manage on your own. You may need to get a professional's help to get back on track. If you feel like you're having trouble managing your emotions, talk to your doctor. They can help you or direct you to someone who can help you.

Can stress make you throw up?

Yes, stress can make you throw up. Your digestive system is one of the many systems that stress can affect. In fact, you may have a whole range of other digestive symptoms, such as nausea, pain, and constipation or diarrhea. Not everyone has stress nausea or vomiting, but you may be more prone to it if you have a gastrointestinal condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), or you have anxiety or depression.

You may be able to tell if you're stress vomiting if your episode passes when the stress goes away. If it doesn't, then your episode may be caused by something else. It's time to get checked out by your doctor if you have more than a couple of episodes or you can't figure out what's causing them.

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How to Feel Better in Less Than 15 Minutes

Need a quick pick-me-up? These simple steps can get you moving and boost your mood - fast!

Heart-Pounding, Stomach-Knotting: Stress and You

From knots in your stomach to headaches, heartburn and chronic health conditions, stress can lead to a variety of health issues.

Ways to Practice Self-Care

Self-care doesn't have to cost a lot. These simple steps can boost your mood and get you moving.

Natural Remedies to Alleviate Anxiety

These natural remedies can help ease your anxiety. Learn how they work - and when to see a doctor.

Is My Stress Level Too High?

From pain to digestive problems and more, the signs and symptoms of too much stress are easy to spot - once you know what to look for.

Watch CBS News

Hackers may have stolen your Social Security number in a massive breach. Here's what to know.

By Aimee Picchi

Edited By Anne Marie Lee

Updated on: August 19, 2024 / 9:51 AM EDT / CBS News

A new lawsuit is claiming hackers have gained access to the personal information of "billions of individuals," including their Social Security numbers, current and past addresses and the names of siblings and parents — personal data that could allow fraudsters to infiltrate financial accounts or take out loans in their names. 

The allegation arose in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by Christopher Hofmann, a California resident who claims his identity theft protection service alerted him that his personal information had been leaked to the dark web by the "nationalpublicdata.com" breach. The lawsuit was earlier reported by Bloomberg Law.

The breach allegedly occurred around April 2024, with a hacker group called USDoD exfiltrating the unencrypted personal information of billions of individuals from a company called National Public Data (NPD), a background check company, according to the lawsuit. Earlier this month, a hacker leaked a version of the stolen NPD data for free on a hacking forum, tech site Bleeping Computer reported . 

That hacker claimed the stolen files include 2.7 billion records, with each listing a person's full name, address, date of birth, Social Security number and phone number, Bleeping Computer said. While it's unclear how many people that includes, it's likely "that everyone with a Social Security number was impacted," said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at The National Cybersecurity Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes online safety.

"It's a reminder of the importance of protecting yourself, because clearly companies and the government aren't doing it for us," Steinhauer told CBS MoneyWatch.

In a statement posted to its website, NPD said the breach involved a "third-party bad actor that was trying to hack into data in late December 2023, with potential leaks of certain data in April 2024 and summer 2024."

The company added that it is working with law enforcement and government investigators. NPD said it "will try to notify you if there are further significant developments applicable to you."

Here's what to know about the alleged hack. 

What is National Public Data? 

National Public Data is a data company based in Coral Springs, Florida, that provides background checks for employers, investigators and other businesses that want to check people's backgrounds. Its searches include criminal records, vital records, SSN traces and more information, its website says.

There are many similar companies that scrape public data to create files on consumers, which they then sell to other businesses, Steinhauer said.

"They are data brokers that collect and sell data about people, sometimes for background check purposes," he said. "It's because there's no national privacy law in the U.S. — there is no law against them collecting this data against our consent."

What happened with the USDoD hack?

According to the new lawsuit, USDoD on April 8 posted a database called "National Public Data" on the dark web, claiming to have records for about 2.9 billion individuals. It was asking for a purchase price of $3.5 million, the lawsuit claims. 

However, Bleeping Computer reported that the file was later leaked for free on a hacker forum, as noted above. 

How many people have been impacted?

The number of people impacted by the breach is unclear. Although the lawsuit claims "billions of individuals" had their data stolen, the total population of the U.S. stands at about 330 million. The lawsuit also alleges that the data includes personal information of deceased individuals.

Bleeping Computer reports that the hacked data involves 2.7 billion records, with individuals having multiple records in the database. In other words, one individual could have separate records for each address where they've lived, which means the number of impacted people may be far lower than the lawsuit claims, the site noted.

The data may reach back at least three decades, according to law firm Schubert Jonckheer & Kolbe, which said on Monday it is investigating the breach.

Did NPD alert individuals about the hack? 

It's unclear, although the lawsuit claims that NPD "has still not provided any notice or warning" to Hoffman or other people affected by the breach. 

"In fact, upon information and belief, the vast majority of Class Members were unaware that their sensitive [personal information] had been compromised, and that they were, and continue to be, at significant risk of identity theft and various other forms of personal, social, and financial harm," the lawsuit claims. 

Information security company McAfee reported that it hasn't found any filings with state attorneys general. Some states require companies that have experienced data breaches to file reports with their AG offices. 

However, NPD posted an alert about the breach on its website, stating that it believes the information breached includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, Social Security numbers and mailing addresses.

Can you find out if your data was part of the hack?

There are tools available that will monitor what information about you is available on the dark web, noted Michael Blair, managing director of cybersecurity firm NukuDo. Commonly breached data includes your personal addresses, passwords and email, he added.

One such service is how Hofmann, who filed the lawsuit, found out that his information has been leaked as part of NPD breach.

"Make sure to use reputable companies to look that up," Blair said. 

What should I do to protect my information?

Security experts recommend that consumers put freezes on their credit files at the three big credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Freezing your credit is free, and will stop bad actors from taking out loans or opening credit cards in your name. 

"The biggest thing is to freeze your credit report, so it can't be used to open new accounts in your name and commit other fraud in your name," Steinhauer said. 

In its statement, NPD also urged people to put free fraud alerts on their accounts, which "tells creditors to contact you before they open any new accounts or change your existing accounts," it said. You'll have to contact just one of the three credit bureaus to create a fraud alert, and that agency will alert the others.

Steinhauer recommends consumers take several additional steps to protect their data and finances:

• Make sure your passwords are at least 16 characters in length, and are complex. 
• Use a password manager to save those long, complex passwords.
• Enable multifactor authentication, which Steinhauer calls "critical," because simply using a single password to access your accounts isn't enough protection against hackers. 
• Be on alert for phishing and other scams. One red flag is that the scammers will try to create a sense of urgency to manipulate their victims.
• Keep your security software updated on your computer and other devices. For instance, make sure you download the latest security updates from Microsoft or Apple onto your apps and devices. 

You can also get a tracking service that will alert you if your data appears on the dark web. 

"You should assume you have been compromised and act accordingly," Steinhauer said. 

• Data Breach
• Social Security

Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports.

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