East Midlands food & drink sector strategy

The food & drink sector is one of four priority sectors identified in the regional economic strategy, A Flourishing Region. This document sets out a strategy for maximising the contribution of the food & drink sector to the economic development of the East Midlands

The Future of Millennial Jobs

The Future of Millennial Jobs explores the future of the labor force for Millennials and how higher education can better align with future job market demands. The report concludes that many young adults, ages 18 to 34 years-old, are uniquely prepared for jobs of the future with the knowledge and skills needed to effectively navigate workforce opportunities, yet points to reasons for concern, too: a growing number of Millennials, lacking access to technology and other resources, will be left behind

Rising stars in information and communication technology

The quest for more efficiency and security is reflected in the economy as a whole, but especially in the product and process innovations in information and communication technology (ICT). We examine the ten concepts considered to have the brightest prospects in the business segment in terms of their potential to gain widespread use during this decade. Out of these, the three most promising ICT approaches are biometrics, open-source software and radio tagging (RFID).internet telephony (VoIP), advanced mobile radio technology (WLAN, UMTS, WiMax), biometrics, quantum cryptography, Model information and communication technology (ICT), Driven Archi-tecture (MDA), decentralised storage (ILM), decentralised data process-ing (grid computing), open-source software, outsourcing, and radio tag-ging (RFID)

Big Data and the Internet of Things

Advances in sensing and computing capabilities are making it possible to embed increasing computing power in small devices. This has enabled the sensing devices not just to passively capture data at very high resolution but also to take sophisticated actions in response. Combined with advances in communication, this is resulting in an ecosystem of highly interconnected devices referred to as the Internet of Things - IoT. In conjunction, the advances in machine learning have allowed building models on this ever increasing amounts of data. Consequently, devices all the way from heavy assets such as aircraft engines to wearables such as health monitors can all now not only generate massive amounts of data but can draw back on aggregate analytics to "improve" their performance over time. Big data analytics has been identified as a key enabler for the IoT. In this chapter, we discuss various avenues of the IoT where big data analytics either is already making a significant impact or is on the cusp of doing so. We also discuss social implications and areas of concern.Comment: 33 pages. draft of upcoming book chapter in Japkowicz and Stefanowski (eds.) Big Data Analysis: New algorithms for a new society, Springer Series on Studies in Big Data, to appea

Investigation into the causes and possible remedies for the registered surveyor shortage in regional Queensland

Aims: The aims of the research were to identify whether there is a shortage of surveyors in regional Queensland, the impacts of a surveyor shortage, the demographics of registered surveyors and Spatial Science students, the processes of becoming a registered surveyor and ways of increasing surveyor numbers in regional Queensland. Methodology: A literature review was conducted on the shortage of surveyors in regional Queensland and the process of becoming a registered surveyor. Professionals within the industry were also consulted on these matters. A questionnaire was then designed to meet the aims of the research and distributed to Spatial Science students studying at the University of Southern Queensland and Queensland University of Technology online. Outcomes and Benefits: There is a shortage of surveyors in regional Queensland that may have a substantial impact on the industry. Increasing enrolment numbers through improved marketing to high school students has been identified as an effective remedy to address surveyor shortages.There are also ways of enticing Spatial Science students into taking up positions in regional Queensland upon graduatio

An overview on the obsolescence of physical assets for the defence facing the challenges of industry 4.0 and the new operating environments

Libro en Open AccessThis contribution is intended to observe special features presented in physical assets for defence. Particularly, the management of defence assets has to consider not only the reliability, availability, maintainability and other factors frequently used in asset management. On the contrary, such systems should also take into account their adaptation to changing operating environments as well as their capability to changes on the technological context. This study approaches to the current real situation where, due to the diversity of conflicts in our international context, the same type of defence systems must be able to provide services under different boundary conditions in different areas of the globe. At the same time, new concepts from the Industry 4.0 provide quick changes that should be considered along the life cycle of a defence asset. As a finding or consequence, these variations in operating conditions and in technology may accelerate asset degradation by modifying its reliability, its up-to-date status and, in general terms, its end-of-life estimation, depending of course on a diversity of factors. This accelerated deterioration of the asset is often known as “obsolescence” and its implications are often evaluated (when possible), in terms of costs from different natures. The originality of this contribution is the introduction of a discussion on how a proper analysis may help to reduce errors and mistakes in the decision-making process regarding the suitability or not of repairing, replacing, or modernizing the asset or system under study. In other words, the obsolescence analysis, from a reliability and technological point of view, could be used to determine the conservation or not of a specific asset fleet, in order to understand the effects of operational and technology factors variation over the functionality and life cycle cost of physical assets for defence