Designing grazing susceptibility to land degradation index (GSLDI) in hilly areas

Evaluation of grazing impacts on land degradation processes is a difficult task due to the heterogeneity and complex interacting factors involved. In this paper, we designed a new methodology based on a predictive index of grazing susceptibility to land degradation index (GSLDI) built on artificial intelligence to assess land degradation susceptibility in areas affected by small ruminants (SRs) of sheep and goats grazing. The data for model training, validation, and testing consisted of sampling points (erosion and no-erosion) taken from aerial imagery. Seventeen environmental factors (e.g., derivatives of the digital elevation model, small ruminants’ stock), and 55 subsequent attributes (e.g., classes/features) were assigned to each sampling point. The impact of SRs stock density on the land degradation process has been evaluated and estimated with two extreme SRs’ density scenarios: absence (no stock), and double density (overstocking). We applied the GSLDI methodology to the Curvature Subcarpathians, a region that experiences the highest erosion rates in Romania, and found that SRs grazing is not the major contributor to land degradation, accounting for only 4.6%. This methodology could be replicated in other steep slope grazing areas as a tool to assess and predict susceptible to land degradation, and to establish common strategies for sustainable landuse practices.Consiliul National al Cercetarii Stiintifice (CNCS) Unitatea Executiva pentru Finantarea Invatamantului Superior, a Cercetarii, Dezvoltarii si Inovarii (UEFISCDI) PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2019-118

Installment 2 of "Creating a Sustainable Food Future": Reducing Food Loss and Waste

Approximately one out of every four calories grown to feed people is not ultimately consumed by humans. Food is lost and wasted to a varying extent across the globe, across all stages of the food value chain, and across all types of food. As a result, overall global food availability is lower than it would be otherwise, negatively affecting food security and requiring the planet's agriculture system to produce additional food to compensate for the food that is not ultimately consumed by people. The potential benefits of reducing food loss and waste are large. As a strategy for closing the food gap between food available today and food needed in 2050 to adequately feed the planet's projected 9.3 billion people, reducing food loss and waste satisfies each of the development and environmental criteria we introduced in the first installment of the Creating a Sustainable Food Future series. While increasing food availability, reducing food loss and waste can alleviate poverty and provide gender benefits while reducing pressure on ecosystems, climate, and water. Reducing food loss and waste may be one of those rare multiple "win-win" strategies.How can the world go about reducing food loss and waste on a large scale? This installment of the forthcoming "World Resources Report Creating a Sustainable Food Future" addresses that question. This working paper, which will feed into that report, begins by clarifying definitions of food loss and waste, then quantifies the scale of the problem and explores the impact addressing the problem could have on the food gap. The paper then focuses on practical solutions for reducing food loss and waste and presents case studies of successful initiatives. It concludes by offering recommendations for how to scale up reductions in food loss and waste

Digital transformation in the manufacturing industry : business models and smart service systems

The digital transformation enables innovative business models and smart services, i.e. individual services that are based on data analyses in real-time as well as information and communications technology. Smart services are not only a theoretical construct but are also highly relevant in practice. Nine research questions are answered, all related to aspects of smart services and corresponding business models. The dissertation proceeds from a general overview, over the topic of installed base management as precondition for many smart services in the manufacturing industry, towards exemplary applications in form of predictive maintenance activities. A comprehensive overview is provided about smart service research and research gaps are presented that are not yet closed. It is shown how a business model can be developed in practice. A closer look is taken on installed base management. Installed base data combined with condition monitoring data leads to digital twins, i.e. dynamic models of machines including all components, their current conditions, applications and interaction with the environment. Design principles for an information architecture for installed base management and its application within a use case in the manufacturing industry indicate how digital twins can be structured. In this context, predictive maintenance services are taken for the purpose of concretization. It is looked at state oriented maintenance planning and optimized spare parts inventory as exemplary approaches for smart services that contribute to high machine availability. Taxonomy of predictive maintenance business models shows their diversity. It is viewed on the named topics both from theoretical and practical viewpoints, focusing on the manufacturing industry. Established research methods are used to ensure academic rigor. Practical problems are considered to guarantee practical relevance. A research project as background and the resulting collaboration with different experts from several companies also contribute to that. The dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of smart service topics and innovative business models for the manufacturing industry, enabled by the digital transformation. It contributes to a better understanding of smart services in theory and practice and emphasizes the importance of innovative business models in the manufacturing industry

A critical analysis of research potential, challenges and future directives in industrial wireless sensor networks

In recent years, Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSNs) have emerged as an important research theme with applications spanning a wide range of industries including automation, monitoring, process control, feedback systems and automotive. Wide scope of IWSNs applications ranging from small production units, large oil and gas industries to nuclear fission control, enables a fast-paced research in this field. Though IWSNs offer advantages of low cost, flexibility, scalability, self-healing, easy deployment and reformation, yet they pose certain limitations on available potential and introduce challenges on multiple fronts due to their susceptibility to highly complex and uncertain industrial environments. In this paper a detailed discussion on design objectives, challenges and solutions, for IWSNs, are presented. A careful evaluation of industrial systems, deadlines and possible hazards in industrial atmosphere are discussed. The paper also presents a thorough review of the existing standards and industrial protocols and gives a critical evaluation of potential of these standards and protocols along with a detailed discussion on available hardware platforms, specific industrial energy harvesting techniques and their capabilities. The paper lists main service providers for IWSNs solutions and gives insight of future trends and research gaps in the field of IWSNs

The safety and regulatory challenges associated with the geological disposal of the UK’s higher activity radioactive waste in England and Wales

The UK’s higher activity waste (HAW) is set to be disposed of in a geological disposal facility (GDF). International consensus is that a GDF provides the most comprehensive means of isolating and containing HAW and its harmful radionuclides, with nations at different stages in their implementation of geological disposal. The maturity of some nations’ disposal programmes (e.g. Finland, Sweden) ensures a regulatory framework for their GDF is well established. The UK is currently engaged in a GDF site selection process, as such it is necessary that the regulatory framework for the geological disposal of its radioactive waste be fully established to meet the unique challenges posed by this first-of-a-kind facility for the UK. The reduced hazard potential and unique features of the GDF may mean the existing framework applied to UK nuclear installations does not proportionately meet the requirements for maintaining worker and public safety and the protection of the environment. The purpose of the work presented in this thesis was to investigate the safety and regulatory challenges associated with the geological disposal of UK HAW. This began by building an understanding of the fundamentals of radioactive waste and geological disposal in the UK and the risks associated with geological disposal. Having investigated the performance of proposed engineered barrier materials for the GDF, a simplified, 1-dimensional risk assessment model was developed for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in a hypothetical geological setting. The model was verified against data provided by Radioactive Waste Management Ltd (RWM Ltd), the UK’s GDF delivery body, and utilised to conduct sensitivity studies, for the purpose of identify factors which could significantly impact on the radiological risk to the public due to the disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel. Where significant, it was considered whether this might impact on the nature of the regulatory oversight required. The framework applied to nuclear installations in the regulation of nuclear safety, security, environmental protection and safeguards was mapped and analysed for its applicability to GDF-specific challenges. International experience in the regulation of GDFs was drawn upon in order to identify common features. Stakeholder opinion, including members of industry, regulators, waste producers and local interest groups, was also sought, in order to highlight their views on the applicability of the current system of nuclear site licensing to a GDF. This work culminated with a proposal for a regulatory framework, which aims to proportionately address the unique challenges associated with geological disposal.Open Acces

Identifying and understanding local priorities for developing an 'Economy of Belonging': A case study of eight areas in the UK

The recent outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic has reanimated the discussion of socio-economic inequalities and livelihoods’ insecurity across the UK. There is a clear disconnect between policymaking frameworks, macroeconomic theories, and empirical exercises using national and regional statistical data, on the one hand, with the lived experiences of individuals and communities at the local level, on the other. In this paper, we conduct a mixed qualitative and quantitative comparative analysis of eight local areas across four regions in the UK to understand the interconnecting factors affecting individuals’ and communities’ quality of life and prosperity. First, we examine data from the Understanding Society survey between 2009-2018 for the same eight local areas in order to explore individuals’ lived experiences. Second, we examine the eight case study areas across a series of datasets and indices at the local authority (LA) and lower-local super output area (LSOA) levels using an integrated analytical framework based on life outcomes, life opportunities and life together (LOOT). This research approach allows us to gain a better understanding of the main drivers of intra-regional variation and its consequences for macroeconomic policy

Securing name resolution in the IoT: DNS over CoAP

In this paper, we present the design, implementation, and analysis of DNS over CoAP (DoC), a new proposal for secure and privacy-friendly name resolution of constrained IoT devices. We implement different design choices of DoC in RIOT, an open-source operating system for the IoT, evaluate performance measures in a testbed, compare with DNS over UDP and DNS over DTLS, and validate our protocol design based on empirical DNS IoT data. Our findings indicate that plain DoC is on par with common DNS solutions for the constrained IoT but significantly outperforms when additional, CoAP standard features are used such as block-wise transfer or caching. With OSCORE for end-to-end security, we can save more than 10 kBytes of code memory compared to DTLS while enabling group communication without compromising the trust chain when using intermediate proxies or caches. We also discuss a scheme for very restricted links that compresses redundant or excessive information by up to 70%.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, 4 table

IPv6: a new security challenge

Tese de mestrado em Segurança Informática, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2011O Protocolo de Internet versão 6 (IPv6) foi desenvolvido com o intuito de resolver alguns dos problemas não endereçados pelo seu antecessor, o Protocolo de Internet versão 4 (IPv4), nomeadamente questões relacionadas com segurança e com o espaço de endereçamento disponível. São muitos os que na última década têm desenvolvido estudos sobre os investimentos necessários à sua adoção e sobre qual o momento certo para que o mesmo seja adotado por todos os players no mercado. Recentemente, o problema da extinção de endereçamentos públicos a ser disponibilizado pelas diversas Region Internet registry – RIRs - despertou o conjunto de entidades envolvidas para que se agilizasse o processo de migração do IPv4 para o IPv6. Ao contrário do IPv4, esta nova versão considera a segurança como um objetivo fundamental na sua implementação, nesse sentido é recomendado o uso do protocolo IPsec ao nível da camada de rede. No entanto, e devido à imaturidade do protocolo e à complexidade que este período de transição comporta, existem inúmeras implicações de segurança que devem ser consideradas neste período de migração. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é definir um conjunto de boas práticas no âmbito da segurança na implementação do IPv6 que possa ser utilizado pelos administradores de redes de dados e pelas equipas de segurança dos diversos players no mercado. Nesta fase de transição, é de todo útil e conveniente contribuir de forma eficiente na interpretação dos pontos fortes deste novo protocolo assim como nas vulnerabilidades a ele associadas.IPv6 was developed to address the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, but has not yet seen global deployment. Recent trends are now finally changing this picture and IPv6 is expected to take off soon. Contrary to the original, this new version of the Internet Protocol has security as a design goal, for example with its mandatory support for network layer security. However, due to the immaturity of the protocol and the complexity of the transition period, there are several security implications that have to be considered when deploying IPv6. In this project, our goal is to define a set of best practices for IPv6 Security that could be used by IT staff and network administrators within an Internet Service Provider. To this end, an assessment of some of the available security techniques for IPv6 will be made by means of a set of laboratory experiments using real equipment from an Internet Service Provider in Portugal. As the transition for IPv6 seems inevitable this work can help ISPs in understanding the threats that exist in IPv6 networks and some of the prophylactic measures available, by offering recommendations to protect internal as well as customers’ networks

Culture-Derived Human Platelets for Clinical Transfusion

Platelets are a vital component of human blood due to their role in clotting. Despite the incredible importance of platelets for human survival, there is very little supply of platelets to meet the clinical demand. Currently, platelets are only supplied from donations, whether through whole blood or apheresis. Therefore, there is a need for ex vivo means of producing platelets at a price that is competitive with the current market price. This project seeks to meet 65% of the demand for platelets in Philadelphia by producing platelets ex vivo in a process that utilizes shear stress to induce platelet formation from megakaryocytes. To begin this batch process, induced pluripotent stem cells derived from bone marrow are proliferated over the course of 10 days. During a 20-day differentiation phase that occurs in 2 parallel 2000 L stirred single-use bioreactors, a number of growth factors are supplied to the stem cell culture to induce differentiation of the cells into megakaryocytes. The megakaryocytes, once mature, are exposed to shear stress in a specially developed microfluidic device, inspired by the work done in Dr. Daeyeon Lee’s lab, to induce platelet formation. Once platelets have been generated, they are processed over the course of 5 days to be separate, washed, and concentrated in a resuspension solution via a series of centrifugation and mixing steps, after which they will be packaged into platelet units and transported to surrounding hospitals for clinical transfusion. This process design results a yearly production of 69,550 300 mL platelet units each year, with a platelet count of 5.5x1010 platelets in each unit. For this process, the IRR is 28.99%, the NPV is 14.4 million in the year 2030, and ROI is 23.21%