236 research outputs found
A Review on the Role of Nano-Communication in Future Healthcare Systems: A Big Data Analytics Perspective
This paper presents a first-time review of the open literature focused on the significance of big data generated within nano-sensors and nano-communication networks intended for future healthcare and biomedical applications. It is aimed towards the development of modern smart healthcare systems enabled with P4, i.e. predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory capabilities to perform diagnostics, monitoring, and treatment. The analytical capabilities that can be produced from the substantial amount of data gathered in such networks will aid in exploiting the practical intelligence and learning capabilities that could be further integrated with conventional medical and health data leading to more efficient decision making. We have also proposed a big data analytics framework for gathering intelligence, form the healthcare big data, required by futuristic smart healthcare to address relevant problems and exploit possible opportunities in future applications. Finally, the open challenges, future directions for researchers in the evolving healthcare domain, are presented
Dagstuhl News January - December 2011
"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic
Circular economy design visioning: exploring industrial and urban symbiosis in South African cities.
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Cities of tomorrow will be at the coalface of the complex challenges posed by climate change,
e.g. resource scarcity. Climate change adaptation strategies will include circular economy (CE)
practices (e.g. industrial and urban symbiosis) to increase the rate of recycling technical nutrients,
in turn improving the resource efficiency of cities. The study investigates industrial and urban
symbiosis in South Africa. In doing so, exploring technology enabled (i.e. cyber-physical-social
ecosystems) CE solutions to designing out waste in South African cities.
One of the key contributions of the research is the comprehensive synthesis and testing of an
iterative problem structuring, theory building and design visioning (problem-theory-design)
continuum to inform CE experimentation. A mixed methods design visioning approach is
developed through an experiential and iterative design practice nested in a network of
interdisciplinary theoretical constructs: 1) philosophical construct â Ecological Literacy (systems
thinking), 2) techno-economic construct â Third Industrial Revolution (internet-of-things enabled
general purpose technology platform), and Circular Economy (industrial and urban symbiosis),
and 3) design construct â properties of Ecodesign derived from the dynamic renewable design of
natural ecosystems. The research argues that to construct a meaningful CE transition experiment,
a logical starting point is to distil key findings from a theoretically embedded case study to inform
the design of a virtual experiment and simulation sketch.
Through an embedded multiple case study approach the research investigates complex resource
recovery dynamics in two key waste economy sub-sectors; industrial waste management and
urban informal recycling sectors in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). The case studies
provide an integrated method (i.e. synthesising quantitative and qualitative knowledge) for
holistic and high-resolution problem structuring. From a systems thinking perspective, key
leverage points (i.e. data, information sharing and infrastructure) are identified for potential policy
and technology intervention. Learnings from the case studies inform policy recommendations and
CE innovation.
The findings from the industrial symbiosis (IS) case study illustrate that firms and supply chain
networks recognise the environmental importance of improving industrial waste management
practices, however they are locked-in to end-of-pipe solutions. Firms highlighted regulation, price
sensitivity, customer pressure and top management as key drivers of pro-environmental behaviour
change (e.g. waste beneficiation). The findings highlight the unrealised IS potential in the South
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Durban Basin. In addition, revealing significant barriers to IS, i.e. lack of information sharing
between firms and a weak regulatory environment. To increase the detection, matching and
emergence of IS relationships will command the dynamic co-production of codified resource flow
data; herein a big data analytics approach can be employed to construct open source platforms for
interfirm information (e.g. residual resource flows) sharing and knowledge production â an
industrial commons internet.
The urban symbiosis case study explores the informal recycling sector in KZN analysing the
instrumental role of waste pickers as primary looping agents in recovering recyclable materials
from post-consumer waste and increasing the supply of recyclable materials (e.g. cardboard,
paper, plastic and metal) in the secondary resources economy. Waste pickers are an important
link in recycling value chains; sorting, gathering and manually transporting recyclable materials
to buy-back-centres and informal collection pick up points. The case study investigates how their
efficiency can be improved to stimulate greater positive environmental impacts, create decent
employment opportunities, and reduce waste management costs for municipalities.
The findings from the case study on waste pickers are extrapolated in a CE design visioning
exercise. From a systems level perspective, the research culminates in the sketch of a virtual
circular city experiment; a cyber-physical social ecosystem (CPSE) designed to increase recycling
rates in cities by addressing the infrastructural needs of waste pickers. The hardware, software
and social ecosystem is built out of an internet-of-things (IoT) platform. Firstly, the IoT enabled
infrastructural system improves material recovery efficiencies (of post-consumer recyclable
materials) by increasing connectivity between waste pickers and waste collectors. Increased
connectivity allows for looping and aggregating material stock and flow data. Secondly, the
integrated hardware and software infrastructure provides an automated, digitised and
decentralised buy-back-transfer service â delivered through connected and solar-powered
collection nodes strategically distributed throughout the city in a mesh network configuration.
Thirdly, the digital platform aggregates big data and employs advanced analytics to generate
actionable residual resource intelligence, consequently enabling evidence-based decision making
by key stakeholders, e.g. government agencies, industry associations, recyclers and material
reprocessors. To further the research agenda, the next step is structuring a real-world transition
experiment based on the virtual circular city design experiment, defined as, the internet-of-waste
pickers (IoWP)
Research roadmap for information integration in construction
This Roadmap is developed for a challenging Global environment where fundamental paradigms such as data generation and analysis, are shifting at a seismic rate, while change in Construction Industries across the Globe is, in the main, confined to large-scale projects and slow. Against this background, the authors set out to also give a âvoiceâ to small-to-medium-scale projects through which the construction output Worldwide is delivered. Hence, project scale was one of the key considerations throughout this Roadmap.
Moreover, the authors conceptualized data integration by taking the realities of âdoing businessâ in construction into consideration. The emergent framework facilitates the discussion of knowledge and data integration at organisational, team, operational and technical levels across key project phases. This approach recognizes that business is done through projects but change can only come about if appropriate organizational structures and processes are put in place.
Last, but not least, the authors strived to ensure that data integration was not considered solely from a technical perspective. Organisational, team and individual aspects of data integration were integrated in the research framework. Through our work the individualâs willingness to collaborate emerged as a critical driver for high levels of integration, while our survey did identify âReluctance to work across professional boundariesâ as a major barrier to integration. Hence, we conclude that research on integration should pay due attention to the individual
Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2018
This Research Report presents the FY18 research statistics and contributions of the Graduate School of Engineering and Management (EN) at AFIT. AFIT research interests and faculty expertise cover a broad spectrum of technical areas related to USAF needs, as reflected by the range of topics addressed in the faculty and student publications listed in this report. In most cases, the research work reported herein is directly sponsored by one or more USAF or DOD agencies. AFIT welcomes the opportunity to conduct research on additional topics of interest to the USAF, DOD, and other federal organizations when adequate manpower and financial resources are available and/or provided by a sponsor. In addition, AFIT provides research collaboration and technology transfer benefits to the public through Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs). Interested individuals may discuss ideas for new research collaborations, potential CRADAs, or research proposals with individual faculty using the contact information in this document
Research roadmap for information integration in construction
This Roadmap is developed for a challenging Global environment where fundamental paradigms such as data generation and analysis, are shifting at a seismic rate, while change in Construction Industries across the Globe is, in the main, confined to large-scale projects and slow. Against this background, the authors set out to also give a âvoiceâ to small-to-medium-scale projects through which the construction output Worldwide is delivered. Hence, project scale was one of the key considerations throughout this Roadmap.
Moreover, the authors conceptualized data integration by taking the realities of âdoing businessâ in construction into consideration. The emergent framework facilitates the discussion of knowledge and data integration at organisational, team, operational and technical levels across key project phases. This approach recognizes that business is done through projects but change can only come about if appropriate organizational structures and processes are put in place.
Last, but not least, the authors strived to ensure that data integration was not considered solely from a technical perspective. Organisational, team and individual aspects of data integration were integrated in the research framework. Through our work the individualâs willingness to collaborate emerged as a critical driver for high levels of integration, while our survey did identify âReluctance to work across professional boundariesâ as a major barrier to integration. Hence, we conclude that research on integration should pay due attention to the individual
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