Proactive Data Download and User Demand Shaping for Data Networks

In this work, we propose and study optimal proactive resource allocation and demand shaping for data networks. Motivated by the recent findings on the predictability of human behavior patterns in data networks, and the emergence of highly capable handheld devices, our design aims to smooth out the network traffic over time and minimize the data delivery costs. Our framework utilizes proactive data services as well as smart content recommendation schemes for shaping the demand. Proactive data services take place during the off-peak hours based on a statistical prediction of a demand profile for each user, whereas smart content recommendation assigns modified valuations to data items so as to render the users' demand less uncertain. Hence, our recommendation scheme aims to boost the performance of proactive services within the allowed flexibility of user requirements. We conduct theoretical performance analysis that quantifies the leveraged cost reduction through the proposed framework. We show that the cost reduction scales at the same rate as the cost function scales with the number of users. Further, we prove that \emph{demand shaping} through smart recommendation strictly reduces the incurred cost even below that of proactive downloads without recommendation

Reproductive Injustice: Racial and Gender Discrimination in U.S. Health Care

When it ratified the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), the United States committed to ensure the right to health care free from all forms of racial discrimination to all within its borders. Yet, as the U.S. prepares to report to the U.N. expert body charged with monitoring U.S. progress on implementation of these commitments, discrimination in health care remains entrenched. This report evaluates the U.S. record on addressing racial and gender discrimination in sexual and reproductive health care. Recognizing that discrimination exists in both law and fact, we focus on the need for policy change as well as proactive measures to address the structural forms of discrimination that inhibit the ability of women of color and immigrant women to exercise their human right to health

Big Data Meets Telcos: A Proactive Caching Perspective

Mobile cellular networks are becoming increasingly complex to manage while classical deployment/optimization techniques and current solutions (i.e., cell densification, acquiring more spectrum, etc.) are cost-ineffective and thus seen as stopgaps. This calls for development of novel approaches that leverage recent advances in storage/memory, context-awareness, edge/cloud computing, and falls into framework of big data. However, the big data by itself is yet another complex phenomena to handle and comes with its notorious 4V: velocity, voracity, volume and variety. In this work, we address these issues in optimization of 5G wireless networks via the notion of proactive caching at the base stations. In particular, we investigate the gains of proactive caching in terms of backhaul offloadings and request satisfactions, while tackling the large-amount of available data for content popularity estimation. In order to estimate the content popularity, we first collect users' mobile traffic data from a Turkish telecom operator from several base stations in hours of time interval. Then, an analysis is carried out locally on a big data platform and the gains of proactive caching at the base stations are investigated via numerical simulations. It turns out that several gains are possible depending on the level of available information and storage size. For instance, with 10% of content ratings and 15.4 Gbyte of storage size (87% of total catalog size), proactive caching achieves 100% of request satisfaction and offloads 98% of the backhaul when considering 16 base stations.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

What does it take to make integrated care work? A ‘cookbook’ for large-scale deployment of coordinated care and telehealth

The Advancing Care Coordination & Telehealth Deployment (ACT) Programme is the first to explore the organisational and structural processes needed to successfully implement care coordination and telehealth (CC&TH) services on a large scale. A number of insights and conclusions were identified by the ACT programme. These will prove useful and valuable in supporting the large-scale deployment of CC&TH. Targeted at populations of chronic patients and elderly people, these insights and conclusions are a useful benchmark for implementing and exchanging best practices across the EU. Examples are: Perceptions between managers, frontline staff and patients do not always match; Organisational structure does influence the views and experiences of patients: a dedicated contact person is considered both important and helpful; Successful patient adherence happens when staff are engaged; There is a willingness by patients to participate in healthcare programmes; Patients overestimate their level of knowledge and adherence behaviour; The responsibility for adherence must be shared between patients and health care providers; Awareness of the adherence concept is an important factor for adherence promotion; The ability to track the use of resources is a useful feature of a stratification strategy, however, current regional case finding tools are difficult to benchmark and evaluate; Data availability and homogeneity are the biggest challenges when evaluating the performance of the programmes

Making space for proactive adaptation of rapidly changing coasts: a windows of opportunity approach

Coastlines are very often places where the impacts of global change are felt most keenly, and they are also often sites of high values and intense use for industry, human habitation, nature conservation and recreation. In many countries, coastlines are a key contested territory for planning for climate change, and also locations where development and conservation conflicts play out. As a “test bed” for climate change adaptation, coastal regions provide valuable, but highly diverse experiences and lessons. This paper sets out to explore the lessons of coastal planning and development for the implementation of proactive adaptation, and the possibility to move from adaptation visions to actual adaptation governance and planning. Using qualitative analysis of interviews and workshops, we first examine what the barriers are to proactive adaptation at the coast, and how current policy and practice frames are leading to avoidable lock-ins and other maladaptive decisions that are narrowing our adaptation options. Using examples from UK, we then identify adaptation windows that can be opened, reframed or transformed to set the course for proactive adaptation which links high level top-down legislative requirements with local bottom-up actions. We explore how these windows can be harnessed so that space for proactive adaptation increases and maladaptive decisions are reduced