From Sensor to Observation Web with Environmental Enablers in the Future Internet

This paper outlines the grand challenges in global sustainability research and the objectives of the FP7 Future Internet PPP program within the Digital Agenda for Europe. Large user communities are generating significant amounts of valuable environmental observations at local and regional scales using the devices and services of the Future Internet. These communities’ environmental observations represent a wealth of information which is currently hardly used or used only in isolation and therefore in need of integration with other information sources. Indeed, this very integration will lead to a paradigm shift from a mere Sensor Web to an Observation Web with semantically enriched content emanating from sensors, environmental simulations and citizens. The paper also describes the research challenges to realize the Observation Web and the associated environmental enablers for the Future Internet. Such an environmental enabler could for instance be an electronic sensing device, a web-service application, or even a social networking group affording or facilitating the capability of the Future Internet applications to consume, produce, and use environmental observations in cross-domain applications. The term ?envirofied? Future Internet is coined to describe this overall target that forms a cornerstone of work in the Environmental Usage Area within the Future Internet PPP program. Relevant trends described in the paper are the usage of ubiquitous sensors (anywhere), the provision and generation of information by citizens, and the convergence of real and virtual realities to convey understanding of environmental observations. The paper addresses the technical challenges in the Environmental Usage Area and the need for designing multi-style service oriented architecture. Key topics are the mapping of requirements to capabilities, providing scalability and robustness with implementing context aware information retrieval. Another essential research topic is handling data fusion and model based computation, and the related propagation of information uncertainty. Approaches to security, standardization and harmonization, all essential for sustainable solutions, are summarized from the perspective of the Environmental Usage Area. The paper concludes with an overview of emerging, high impact applications in the environmental areas concerning land ecosystems (biodiversity), air quality (atmospheric conditions) and water ecosystems (marine asset management)

Technical Debt Prioritization: State of the Art. A Systematic Literature Review

Background. Software companies need to manage and refactor Technical Debt issues. Therefore, it is necessary to understand if and when refactoring Technical Debt should be prioritized with respect to developing features or fixing bugs. Objective. The goal of this study is to investigate the existing body of knowledge in software engineering to understand what Technical Debt prioritization approaches have been proposed in research and industry. Method. We conducted a Systematic Literature Review among 384 unique papers published until 2018, following a consolidated methodology applied in Software Engineering. We included 38 primary studies. Results. Different approaches have been proposed for Technical Debt prioritization, all having different goals and optimizing on different criteria. The proposed measures capture only a small part of the plethora of factors used to prioritize Technical Debt qualitatively in practice. We report an impact map of such factors. However, there is a lack of empirical and validated set of tools. Conclusion. We observed that technical Debt prioritization research is preliminary and there is no consensus on what are the important factors and how to measure them. Consequently, we cannot consider current research conclusive and in this paper, we outline different directions for necessary future investigations

First Outcomes of WPZ Research Carried Out Within the Framework of the IRNet Project - International Research Network

This paper, prepared by an international team of authors including specialists from different scientific areas, connected with /CT, e-learning, pedagogy, and other related disciplines, focuses on the objectives of the international project IRNet - International Research Network for the study and development of new tools and methods for advanced pedagogical science in the field of /CT instruments, e-learning and intercultural competences. The project is financed by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, within the Marie Curie Actions International Research Staff Exchange Scheme. Grant Agreement No: PIRSES-GA-2013-612536; the duration of the project: 48 monthsl/01/2014 - 31/12/2017. In particular, the article describes a WP2: Analyses of legal, ethical, human, technical and social factors of /CT and e-learning development, and the state of intercultural competences in partner countries: Objectives, Tasks, and Deliverables. The second part of the paper includes data from preliminary research. During the study and analysis of global (international) and local (national) documents as well as university documents Table 1 was prepared which sets forth a comparison of legal, ethical, human, technical and social factors of /CT and e-learning development, and the state of intercultural competences in several partner countries, for example Poland, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Russia in the context of the IRNet project - International Research Network

Assessment of in-service training and continuing education (IST/CE) for frontline health workers in Bauchi and Cross River states, Nigeria

Training contributes tremendously to the development and sustenance of health workers’ competencies for quality healthcare services. Although Nigeria has a higher stock of human resources for health compared to other African countries, the World Health Organization argues that its distribution is highly skewed toward urban areas. Building and maintaining staff capacities requires continuing professional development through in-service training (IST) and continuing education (CE). This study assesses current IST and CE for health workers in Bauchi and Cross River states to provide evidence to inform policy and planning and improve implementation of capacity-building for health workers in Nigeria

Development of guidance for non-market approaches in the Paris Agreement: operationalizing Articles 6.8 and 6.9 of the Paris Agreement

While market-based forms of cooperation are enshrined in Articles 6.2–6.7, Article 6.8 of the Paris Agreement recognizes the importance of non-market approaches (NMAs) in international cooperation on climate change mitigation and adaptation in a variety of fields. Article 6.9 establishes the NMA framework that promotes NMAs described in Article 6.8. The Parties to the Paris Agreement are currently negotiating a work program to further elaborate on this. If properly designed, fostering the accelerated diffusion of non-market based international cooperation on technology development and transfer, capacity-building and finance in both adaptation and mitigation can provide a relevant contribution to NDC implementation and ratcheting up of ambition. Having that goal in mind, this report provides recommendations on the operationalization of the NMA framework and the work program and the identification of concrete NMAs for consideration by the negotiating Parties. We provide concrete examples of NMAs in various fields Parties have identified as relevant under the framework, including forests, resilience, removals, energy efficiency and the cross cutting topics mentioned above. The NMA work program should be designed as a meaningful addition to ongoing work under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The focus must be on activities that are not duplicating ongoing efforts, not implementable through markets, transformative, and have so far been side-lined by international public climate finance. The NMAs’ relevance will ultimately depend on Parties’ active engagement in the identification of concrete NMAs and their submission to the NMA forum envisaged in the latest iterations of the Presidency draft texts from COP25. The NMA forum should operate in a flexible but results-oriented manner to allow for the consideration of emerging concepts and pilot activities. In the end, the role of finance will also be pivotal for the work program’s relevance. According to the current status of negotiations, the work program will not have own financial resources but the consideration of finance is essential to avoid that the NMA work program becomes a mere ‘talk shop’

Medical tourism market and inter-stakeholders' relations in Turkey: a comparative investigation from reverse innovation and destination governance viewpoint

This study aims to analyze inter-stakeholders’ interactions, destination governance, reverse innovation and the tasks of central government within Turkish medical tourism market. The investigation’s objective is to shed lights on scientists and practitioners regarding to what extent medical tourism is affected by stakeholders. Likewise, the originality of this investigation is that this study is the first attempt that links up reverse innovation and stakeholder approach as a holistic strategy and competitive advantage tool in medical tourism. The statistical evidences of Turkey also support the fact that the incline of medical tourism incomes and benefits is tightly bound on key inter-stakeholders’ collaborations, marketing tools, specific strategies, effective governance mechanism and cooperation with civil society organizations. This study is a thematic case that comprises particular research fields and formulates advanced arguments that are embedded in enriched relevant literature review and the highlights of the 7th International Health Tourism Congress