Service Oriented Big Data Management for Transport

International audienceThe increasing power of computer hardware and the sophistication of computer software have brought many new possibilities to information world. On one side the possibility to analyse massive data sets has brought new insight, knowledge and information. On the other, it has enabled to massively distribute computing and has opened to a new programming paradigm called Service Oriented Computing particularly well adapted to cloud computing. Applying these new technologies to the transport industry can bring new understanding to town transport infrastructures. The objective of our work is to manage and aggregate cloud services for managing big data and assist decision making for transport systems. Thus this paper presents our approach to propose a service oriented architecture for big data analytics for transport systems based on the cloud. Proposing big data management strategies for data produced by transport infra‐ structures, whilst maintaining cost effective systems deployed on the cloud, is a promising approach. We present the advancement for developing the Data acquisition service and Information extraction and cleaning service as well as the analysis for choosing a sharding strategy

Smart city development: applying european and international experience to the mediterranean region

Urban development has become a key priority for the countries of the Mediterranean region, both at the national and international level, and within the EIB via its FEMIP prog ramme. The “Smart City” concept (originally defined as the “considered” application of ICT to facilitate efficient, inclusive and integrated urban development, but more broadly to include sustainability, innovation and governance, as well as investments i n public transport, energy efficiency and research facilities) is potentially an important dimension. However, there is a need to forge a framework to connect the technology and public policy aspects with the realities of city management, municipal financi ng and investment programming in the region

Setting Up and Operating Electric City Buses in Harsh Winter Conditions

The city of Tampere in Finland aims to be carbon-neutral in 2030 and wanted to find out how the electrification of public transport would help achieve the climate goal. Research has covered topics related to electric buses, ranging from battery technologies to lifecycle assessment and cost analysis. However, less is known about electric city buses’ performance in cold climatic zones. This study collected and analysed weather and electric city bus data to understand the effects of temperature and weather conditions on the electric buses’ efficiency. Data were collected from four battery-electric buses and one hybrid bus as a reference. The buses were fast-charged at the market and slow-charged at the depot. The test route ran downtown. The study finds that the average energy consumption of the buses during winter was 40–45% higher than in summer (kWh/km). The effect of cabin cooling is minor compared to the cabin heating energy needs. The study also finds that infrastructure needs to have enough safety margins in case of faults and additional energy consumption in harsh weather conditions. In addition, appropriate training for operators, maintenance and other personnel is needed to avoid disturbances caused by charging and excessive energy consumption by driving style

Smart City Dimensions and Associated Risks: Review of literature

Countries have been working on implementing smart city concepts in different regions. The need for the use of information and communication technology in various forms is needed in such cities. There are different dimensions that are to be considered for smart city planning and implementation. This complexity of the dimension, the use of technology, and their integration bring the risk perspectives into the implementation of the smart city concept. If such risks are not adequately understood and addressed, they can create issues in terms of privacy and security and, therefore, the functioning of smart cities. In this review, the identification of dimensions, smart city assessment tools, the available technologies, and the technical and non-technical risk parameters related to smart cities implementation are discussed. The current methods of risk assessment and the possible enhancements are highlighted. The findings of the literature review illustrate that not all smart cities adapt all of the smart city dimensions. The dominant technology used in smart cities' applications is found to be the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and blockchain. The paper also provides some research directions for the design, implementation, and operation of smart cities. 2021 The Author(s)N\A, There is no funding recived to complete this review paper.Scopus2-s2.0-8511950365

Sistema de suporte à decisão para transportes públicos

Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e TelemáticaNowadays, the technology to turn cities smart already exists. Smart Cities, as they are called, are capable to sense, analyze and react: sense through the set of sensors displaced along the city, as they are sensors either xed (for environmental monitoring) or moving (for instance, citizens with their smartphones). A notable case is Porto, which incorporates a mesh network with more than 600 vehicles (buses, taxis and garbage trucks), communicating in-between and enabling the passengers of the buses of the city major bus carrier to access freely to the Internet while commuting. A vehicular network like this has huge positive impact in the city mobility, which is one of the biggest concerns of the governmental institutions. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what can be done to improve mobility. By analyzing the data generated by the movement of the buses, it is possible to deliver a new set of tools that might be useful for the everyday life of the bus passengers and bus eet managers. From the passengers perspective, the utility can be brought by the introduction of smart schedules, which consists on delivering estimated time of arrival that is adapting itself to the city dynamics, through the evolution of the time, and that can be accessed directly from their smartphones. From the perspective of the bus eet managers, it is possible to deliver insights about the usual behaviour of their bus lines, giving openness for them to react to the new or abnormal city public transportation dynamics. This dissertation presents an approach for analyzing the data descendent from the vehicular network and how to use it to answer the previously addressed problems. Regarding the missing link between the GPS trace from the bus and the bus line that they are doing, a map-matching algorithm is implemented. That turns possible the computation of estimations and predictions of the bus' passing times. In what concerns prediction, three machine learning ensemble algorithms have been tested. Finally, proof-ofconcept applications are implemented to demonstrate the real-life applicability, by helping the bus passengers and bus eet managers to react to the di erent events of their quotidian. The results show that the map-matching algorithm presents a good quality. Also, they demonstrate that the best machine learning algorithm, considering the prediction error, is Bagging using Support Vector Regressor as the base estimator. Finally, the pro les obtained in the performance dashboard enable distinction between optimal and non-optimal bus lines.Hoje em dia existe tecnologia para tornar as cidades inteligentes. As cidades inteligentes s~ao capazes de sentir, analisar e reagir: sentir através dos variados sensores espalhados em torno da cidade, sensores estes que podem ser fixos (sensores para a monitorização do estado ambiental) ou moveis (por exemplo, os cidadãos, graças aos seus smartphones). Um caso notável e o da cidade do Porto, que incorpora uma rede em malha com mais de 600 veículos (autocarros, táxis e camiões do lixo) que comunicam entre si, habilitando os passageiros dos autocarros da maior operadora da cidade a navegar na internet gratuitamente, enquanto viajam. O maior impacto de uma rede como esta e a mobilidade; e uma das preocupações das instituições governamentais locais e como elas podem melhorar a mobilidade. E por isso crucial analisar o que pode ser feito para melhorar a mobilidade de uma cidade. Utilizando os dados gerados pelo movimento dos autocarros e possível fornecer um conjunto de novas utilidades praticas que podem ser úteis ao quotidiano dos cidadãos e dos gestores de frota. Na perspectiva dos passageiros pode ser introduzido o conceito de smart schedule que consiste em fornecer o tempo estimado de chegada de um autocarro que se vai adaptando ao longo do tempo, de acordo com a dinâmica da cidade, que pode ser acedido directamente a partir do seu smartphone. Na perspectiva dos gestores de frota e possível fornecer introespecções sobre o comportamento habitual das linhas de autocarros, dando abertura a que estes sejam capazes de melhor reagir a novas ou anormais dinâmicas dos transportes públicos da cidade. Esta dissertação apresenta uma abordagem para analisar os dados provenientes da rede veicular e de como usa-los para tornar as ideias previamente esclarecidas, possíveis. Devido a inexistência da identificação do trafico GPS a uma linha de autocarro, um algoritmo de map-matching foi implementado. Isso torna a computação de estimações e predições sobre o tempo de passagem dos autocarros possível. No que toca a predição, foram testados três algoritmos diferentes de aprendizagem automática em conjunto para a construção de modelos preditivos. Porem, foram implementadas aplicações como prova de conceito que demonstram a aplicabilidade no mundo real, ajudando os passageiros dos autocarros e os gestores de frota a reagir aos diferentes eventos do seu quotidiano. Os resultados demonstram que o algoritmo de map-matching apresenta uma boa qualidade. Também demonstram que o melhor algoritmo de aprendizagem automática, considerando o erro de predição, e o Bagging utilizando como estimador base Support Vector Regressor. Porém, os pers obtidos pelo painel de controlo permitem distinguir linhas de autocarro com um funcionamento óptimo daquelas em que o funcionamento e insatisfação

Selected Papers from the First International Symposium on Future ICT (Future-ICT 2019) in Conjunction with 4th International Symposium on Mobile Internet Security (MobiSec 2019)

The International Symposium on Future ICT (Future-ICT 2019) in conjunction with the 4th International Symposium on Mobile Internet Security (MobiSec 2019) was held on 17–19 October 2019 in Taichung, Taiwan. The symposium provided academic and industry professionals an opportunity to discuss the latest issues and progress in advancing smart applications based on future ICT and its relative security. The symposium aimed to publish high-quality papers strictly related to the various theories and practical applications concerning advanced smart applications, future ICT, and related communications and networks. It was expected that the symposium and its publications would be a trigger for further related research and technology improvements in this field

A Fine Motor Skill Classifying Framework to Support Children's Self-Regulation Skills and School Readiness

Children’s self-regulation skills predict their school-readiness and social behaviors, and assessing these skills enables parents and teachers to target areas for improvement or prepare children to enter school ready to learn and achieve. Assessing these skills enables parents and teachers to target areas for improvement or prepare children to enter school ready to learn and achieve. To assess children’s fine motor skills, current educators are assessing those skills by either determining their shape drawing correctness or measuring their drawing time durations through paper-based assessments. However, the methods involve human experts manually assessing children’s fine motor skills, which are time consuming and prone to human error and bias. As there are many children that use sketch-based applications on mobile and tablet devices, computer-based fine motor skill assessment has high potential to solve the limitations of the paper-based assessments. Furthermore, sketch recognition technology is able to offer more detailed, accurate, and immediate drawing skill information than the paper-based assessments such as drawing time or curvature difference. While a number of educational sketch applications exist for teaching children how to sketch, they are lacking the ability to assess children’s fine motor skills and have not proved the validity of the traditional methods onto tablet-environments. We introduce our fine motor skill classifying framework based on children’s digital drawings on tablet-computers. The framework contains two fine motor skill classifiers and a sketch-based educational interface (EasySketch). The fine motor skill classifiers contain: (1) KimCHI: the classifier that determines children’s fine motor skills based on their overall drawing skills and (2) KimCHI2: the classifier that determines children’s fine motor skills based on their curvature- and corner-drawing skills. Our fine motor skill classifiers determine children’s fine motor skills by generating 131 sketch features, which can analyze their drawing ability (e.g. DCR sketch feature can determine their curvature-drawing skills). We first implemented the KimCHI classifier, which can determine children’s fine motor skills based on their overall drawing skills. From our evaluation with 10- fold cross-validation, we found that the classifier can determine children’s fine motor skills with an f-measure of 0.904. After that, we implemented the KimCHI2 classifier, which can determine children’s fine motor skills based on their curvature- and corner-drawing skills. From our evaluation with 10-fold cross-validation, we found that the classifier can determine children’s curvature-drawing skills with an f-measure of 0.82 and corner-drawing skills with an f-measure of 0.78. The KimCHI2 classifier outperformed the KimCHI classifier during the fine motor skill evaluation. EasySketch is a sketch-based educational interface that (1) determines children’s fine motor skills based on their drawing skills and (2) assists children how to draw basic shapes such as alphabet letters or numbers based on their learning progress. When we evaluated our interface with children, our interface determined children’s fine motor skills more accurately than the conventional methodology by f-measures of 0.907 and 0.744, accordingly. Furthermore, children improved their drawing skills from our pedagogical feedback. Finally, we introduce our findings that sketch features (DCR and Polyline Test) can explain children’s fine motor skill developmental stages. From the sketch feature distributions per each age group, we found that from age 5 years, they show notable fine motor skill development

Shaping the future through Artificial Intelligent technologies to reduce vehicle accidents in Abu Dhabi

Traffic accidents (TAs) constitute one of the top killers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Without practical approaches to address the TAs in Abu Dhabi, the region is likely to experience continued economic losses and health burden to the affected families and country. This study identified interventions and solutions for mitigating TAs in Abu Dhabi. The study was guided by research questions that focused on the causes of accidents and how to mitigate TA. The study was based on descriptive observational methodology where quantitative data was collected using a detailed survey questionnaire (n= 300) that assessed various aspects relating to the driver’s behaviour. The 2007 to 2017 MVC injuries baseline data were also analyzed. Data on TAs control strategies from existing studies were used to assess the artificial intelligent approaches in road safety management. The quantitative data analysis was carried out using SPSS software and Microsoft Excel software. The study findings showed that the most common traffic problems on Abu Dhabi's roads include driver-related factors, vehicular factors, and road condition-related factors. Risky overtaking, violation of the need to keep a safe distance and violation of speed limits were noted as the significant violations associated with the traffic problems on Abu Dhabi’s roads. The baseline data analysis findings indicated that the three regions in Abu Dhabi registered a general reduction in TAs over the 10 years (2007 to 2017). However, the reduction in Al Ain was minimal over the study period. The study’s findings relating to the forecasting of the accident trends showed that the Western region and Abu Dhabi would continue to experience a reduction in TAs in the future while the frequency of accidents in Al Ain will increase between 2017 and 2024. Most of the accidents in Abu Dhabi are associated with driver behaviour. The identified risky driver behaviours include the failure to keep adequate distance, maintain recommended speeds, and reckless driving. The study also noted the need to adopt artificial intelligent based interventions to limit the occurrence of accidents and enhance road safety. Based on the reported findings, management of the traffic problems need to focus on controlling risky driver behaviours. Road safety authorities in Abu Dhabi should adopt artificial intelligent approaches in the management of road safety

Principled Flow Tracking in IoT and Low-Level Applications

Significant fractions of our lives are spent digitally, connected to and dependent on Internet-based applications, be it through the Web, mobile, or IoT. All such applications have access to and are entrusted with private user data, such as location, photos, browsing habits, private feed from social networks, or bank details.In this thesis, we focus on IoT and Web(Assembly) apps. We demonstrate IoT apps to be vulnerable to attacks by malicious app makers who are able to bypass the sandboxing mechanisms enforced by the platform to stealthy exfiltrate user data. We further give examples of carefully crafted WebAssembly code abusing the semantics to leak user data.We are interested in applying language-based technologies to ensure application security due to the formal guarantees they provide. Such technologies analyze the underlying program and track how the information flows in an application, with the goal of either statically proving its security, or preventing insecurities from happening at runtime. As such, for protecting against the attacks on IoT apps, we develop both static and dynamic methods, while for securing WebAssembly apps we describe a hybrid approach, combining both.While language-based technologies provide strong security guarantees, they are still to see a widespread adoption outside the academic community where they emerged.In this direction, we outline six design principles to assist the developer in choosing the right security characterization and enforcement mechanism for their system.We further investigate the relative expressiveness of two static enforcement mechanisms which pursue fine- and coarse-grained approaches for tracking the flow of sensitive information in a system.\ua0Finally, we provide the developer with an automatic method for reducing the manual burden associated with some of the language-based enforcements