A stigmergy-based analysis of city hotspots to discover trends and anomalies in urban transportation usage

A key aspect of a sustainable urban transportation system is the effectiveness of transportation policies. To be effective, a policy has to consider a broad range of elements, such as pollution emission, traffic flow, and human mobility. Due to the complexity and variability of these elements in the urban area, to produce effective policies remains a very challenging task. With the introduction of the smart city paradigm, a widely available amount of data can be generated in the urban spaces. Such data can be a fundamental source of knowledge to improve policies because they can reflect the sustainability issues underlying the city. In this context, we propose an approach to exploit urban positioning data based on stigmergy, a bio-inspired mechanism providing scalar and temporal aggregation of samples. By employing stigmergy, samples in proximity with each other are aggregated into a functional structure called trail. The trail summarizes relevant dynamics in data and allows matching them, providing a measure of their similarity. Moreover, this mechanism can be specialized to unfold specific dynamics. Specifically, we identify high-density urban areas (i.e hotspots), analyze their activity over time, and unfold anomalies. Moreover, by matching activity patterns, a continuous measure of the dissimilarity with respect to the typical activity pattern is provided. This measure can be used by policy makers to evaluate the effect of policies and change them dynamically. As a case study, we analyze taxi trip data gathered in Manhattan from 2013 to 2015.Comment: Preprin

A Survey on the Status of Smart Healthcare from the Universal Village Perspective

This survey paper discusses the condition of smart healthcare implementation. It discusses the current healthcare problems and how smart healthcare technologies ease the problems. Our group, Universal Village, realizes that the integration and interaction between parties in a system will maximize the effectiveness and benefit for the system. Based on this idea, this paper considers the smart city system as a whole, and talks about how smart healthcare interacts with infrastructures and functions inside and outside of the smart healthcare field. Then, it analyzes how a more powerful integrated system can be built from the smart healthcare system. In the end, several case studies are listed. Based on our analysis and the case studies, this paper then ended with the future prospects of the smart healthcare.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance. From Unascertainable Statements to Action Plan

Companies employ Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) reports to inform stakeholders on their activities and achievements regarding reducing carbon dioxide emissions and lowering electricity consumption. Whereas some frameworks for ESG reporting have been standardized, the capability to independently trace real actions undertaken leaves a lot to be desired. Despite the steady evolution of IT-powered analytics, the reliability of environmentally-targeted activity is still under threat due to the inability of translating publicity-targeted efforts into quantifiable measures. This short paper constitutes an attempt to lay foundations for backing up pro-ecological ESG statements with a realistic and validated action plan. To achieve this, a 3-cycled Participatory Action Research effort is being undertaken jointly with the staff of a Central European insurance group headquartered in Poland, EU. The paper outlines the research gap, the specific research design of the ongoing empirical study as well as the expected outcomes of the research endeavor