Progress in ambient assisted systems for independent living by the elderly

One of the challenges of the ageing population in many countries is the efficient delivery of health and care services, which is further complicated by the increase in neurological conditions among the elderly due to rising life expectancy. Personal care of the elderly is of concern to their relatives, in case they are alone in their homes and unforeseen circumstances occur, affecting their wellbeing. The alternative; i.e. care in nursing homes or hospitals is costly and increases further if specialized care is mobilized to patients’ place of residence. Enabling technologies for independent living by the elderly such as the ambient assisted living systems (AALS) are seen as essential to enhancing care in a cost-effective manner. In light of significant advances in telecommunication, computing and sensor miniaturization, as well as the ubiquity of mobile and connected devices embodying the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), end-to-end solutions for ambient assisted living have become a reality. The premise of such applications is the continuous and most often real-time monitoring of the environment and occupant behavior using an event-driven intelligent system, thereby providing a facility for monitoring and assessment, and triggering assistance as and when needed. As a growing area of research, it is essential to investigate the approaches for developing AALS in literature to identify current practices and directions for future research. This paper is, therefore, aimed at a comprehensive and critical review of the frameworks and sensor systems used in various ambient assisted living systems, as well as their objectives and relationships with care and clinical systems. Findings from our work suggest that most frameworks focused on activity monitoring for assessing immediate risks while the opportunities for integrating environmental factors for analytics and decision-making, in particular for the long-term care were often overlooked. The potential for wearable devices and sensors, as well as distributed storage and access (e.g. cloud) are yet to be fully appreciated. There is a distinct lack of strong supporting clinical evidence from the implemented technologies. Socio-cultural aspects such as divergence among groups, acceptability and usability of AALS were also overlooked. Future systems need to look into the issues of privacy and cyber security

Catalogue of existing good practice examples of programmes and interventions : Deliverable 2.1

This document (D2.1) provides an overview of the extensive data that has been collected on sustainable energy consumption initiatives as part of Work Package 2 (WP2) in ENERGISE. The deliverable provides a general introduction to the scope and objectives of WP2 specifically, as well as a short introduction as to how sustainable energy consumption initiatives are defined in ENERGISE. In addition, a full list is provided of 1000+ sustainable energy consumption initiatives that have been identified throughout Europe

Opportunities and constraints in the development of fisheries enterprises

Fisheries sectors of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CEECIS) countries have faced difficult times during the process of economic transition to the free market system. This Symposium brought together representatives from Government and the emerging private sector in the region to present their experiences and discuss the issues involved in a number of areas of common interest. The Symposium was organised by the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich, in collaboration with FAO EASTFISH, from funding provided by the UK Department for International Development. These Proceedings of a Regional Symposium for CEECIS Countries Opportunities and Constraints in the Development of Fisheries Enterprises present over 30 papers that focus on a number of key themes relevant to the development of viable fisheries enterprises. The six sessions cover Finance for Fisheries Enterprises; Business Management Training; Quality Assurance and Hygiene in Relation to International Trade Compliance; Total Quality Management and HACCP; The Marketing of Fish and Fish Products; and New and Added Value Product Development. Also included are the very positive discussions generated by the 53 participants representing 20 countries all but four of which were from the CEECIS region. The Proceedings will be of particular interest to fisheries managers of emerging developing enterprises and administrators involved in changing the roles and responsibilities of government to support the development of privately owned enterprises. The symposium has brought forward a series of new and challenging problems for enterprise managers and administrators in areas where they had little previous training or experience

Target group monitoring in European regions: empirical findings and conceptual approaches

"Target Group Monitoring is a regional approach to generate data to cover adequately the information needs of labour market actors. Approaches from different European regions are presented in this book, applied onto migrants as a target group of labour market politics. Furthermore, the central elements of these approaches are discussed with respect to their suitability for other target groups, such as older or young employees, low-skilled and skilled workers. Finally, methods and techniques are considered to provide a wide scope of information in combining target group and branch/ industry approaches." (author's abstract). Contents: Emma Hollywood, Ronald McQuaid: Educational Migration - Students Leaving a Region to Study Elsewhere: the Link to Religion in Northern Ireland (17-22); Sibel Kalaycioglu: Dynamics of Internal Migration in Turkey, its Stages of Development and Consequences for Labour (23-33); Marina Kargalova: Problems of Migrant Labour-Force on the Regional Labour-Force Markets in Russia (34-37); Atanas Chaushev: National Strategy of Bulgaria on Migration and Integration - 2008-2015 (38-42); Miguel Bernal: Immigration from a European and Social Point of View (43-45); Aftab Hladikova: Monitoring the Integration of Migrants in Regional Labour Markets. Report on Data and Experiences from the Czech Republic (46-53); Jean-Luc Malvache: Statistical Instruments for Optimised Description and a Better Understanding of the Role of Migrants in the Regional Labour Market of the District and City of Recklinghausen (Germany) (54-64); Franz Clément: Forecasting Skills and Labour Market Needs in Luxembourg: a Particular Transnational Context (65-71); Agnes Hárs, Katalin Nagy: Labour Market Monitoring in Border Regions (72-81); Waldemar Mathejczyk: Target Group Monitoring - A Concept for Regional Labour Market Monitoring with Special Emphasis on the Target Group of Persons with Immigration Background (82-95); Vera Neisen: A Web-Based Information Platform as Means for Communicating Information in the Process of Target Group Monitoring (96-98); Marc Bittner, Michaela Hudler-Seitzberger: Immigrants in the Vienna Labour Market (99-104); Jenny Kipper: The Implementation of a Regional Labour Market Monitoring Concept from the Perspective of Learning Theory (105-112); Dieter Schulze: Usage of Target Group Monitoring in the Process of Implementing a Regional Pact for a Better Labour Market Participation of Older Employees (113-114); Christina Stecker: A Perspective on Ageing Labour Forces in SMEs - Conclusions from the Projects "Smart Region" and "GeniAL" (115-124); Riccardo Romano: Older Employees as a Target Group for Labour Politics An Italian Perspective (125-132); Yvette Grelet, Bernard Hillau: Youth Transition from School to Work in France: National and Regional Aspects (133-139); Nils Beckmann: Monitoring the Involvement of Low-Skilled Employees in Life-Long-Learning in Germany (140-143); Silke Böttcher, Natalie Känel, Markus Lohr, Michael Morlok: Low-Skilled Employees as Target Group for Labour Politics (144-149); Alessia Cremonini, Patrizio Di Nicola: Semi-Skilled Employees as Target Group for Labour Politics. An Italian Perspective (150-152); lwona Kukulak-Dolata: Monitoring Skilled Employees in the Polish Labour Market (153-159); Markus Höhne, Carsten Kampe, Anja Walter: Skilled Employees as a Target Group for Labour Policies. A German Perspective (160-166); Jan Ulatowski: Access via Data on Branches and on Target Groups - Experiences of Regional Labour Market Monitoring in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (167-175); Roland Bieräugel, Marco Mevius: Challenges for Web-Based Regional Labour Market Monitoring Systems (176-183); Marco Ricceri: The Venice Action Statement - the Decentralisation of the Labour Market According to the OECD - 2008 (184-203); Alfons Schmid: Some Perspective Notes an Regional Labour Market Monitoring (204-207)

Consulting report - Peruvian Traditions SAC

Peruvian Traditions is a small family business dedicated to the manufacture and export of alpaca garments. Currently, it has two brands White Label (Peruvian Traditions itself) and Norgäte and is aiming to expand its export process to Europe. Within the process of collecting information and analyzing the company, it was detected that the problem was the lack of differentiation between one brand and another which leads them to be "stuck in the middle". As a result, solutions were proposed for the problem determining that offering new product line called Alpaca Basics based on pre-existing garments within the Norgäte collection and on which it has been detected quite welcome, would be the best. The framework for this product line is the lean start-up methodology that is characterized by the formulation of a hypothesis and a testing process under continuous customer feedback that allows reaching a desired market-fit. Based on a previous analysis based on the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) the Netherlands was identified as target market. For the success of the product line, a 4P marketing campaign is required: product, place, price and promotion, which highlights the use and improvement of the current Peruvian Traditions website and a Google Ads campaign. To measure the results, three indicators will be used: number of visits through the web, conversion ratio and sales ratio. Subsequently, a scenario analysis is carried out taking into account three perspectives: negative, neutral and positive. Taking the neutral perspective as a reference, an increase in the number of visits is identified, from 1,460 to 4,380 visits per year. Which could generate an increase in the number of customers from 13 to 63.Peruvian Traditions es una pequeña empresa familiar dedicada a la fabricación y exportación de prendas de alpaca. En la actualidad cuenta con dos marcas White Label (Peruvian Traditions) y Norgäte y se encuentra en la mira de expandir su proceso de exportación a Europa. Dentro del proceso de recopilación de información y análisis de la empresa se detectó que el problema era la falta de diferenciación entre una marca y otra lo cual los lleva a estar "stuck in the middle". A raíz de ello, se plantearon soluciones para la problemática, de ahí se determinó que la mejor solución sería lanzar una nueva línea de producto llamada Alpaca Basics basada en prendas preexistentes dentro de la colección de Norgäte. El marco para esta línea de producto es la metodología lean start-up que se caracteriza por la formulación de una hipótesis y un proceso de testeo bajo una continua retroalimentación del cliente que permite llegar a un anhelado market-fit. En base a un previo análisis, basado en la segmentación, focalización y posicionamiento (STP) se identificó que a Países Bajos como mercado objetivo. Para el éxito de la línea de producto se requiere de una campaña de marketing basada en las 4P: producto, plaza, precio y promoción, en donde destaca el uso y mejora de la actual web de Peruvian Traditions y una campaña de Google Ads que la respalda. Para medir los resultados se utilizaron tres indicadores: número de visitas a través de la web, ratio de conversión y ratio de ventas. Posteriormente se realiza un análisis de escenarios tomando en cuenta tres perspectivas: negativa, neutral y positiva. Tomando como referencia la perspectiva neutral, se identifica un incremento del número de visitas, pasando de 1,460 a 4,380 visitas por año.Tesi

Government policy and corporate strategy in managing risk and uncertainty on technology deployment and development in the regulated market in the UK - a study of biofuels

Technological change when a large social technology is under the processes of deployment and development are complex and uncertain. In this dynamic context, risks and uncertainties (R&U) incurred are unavoidable, which might obstruct the progression of the technology implementation and innovation. Hence, a set of mechanism and strategy are required from the stakeholders to facilitate these two processes and to deal with R&U arise. This research studied biofuels in the UK by looking at the context of a regulated market. The Scottish Government and two oil companies (BP and Shell) were selected as cases studied. Subsequently, an overarching research question was formulated to drive the research “How these major actors interact with one and another to deal with R&U arising from technological change during a technology deployment and development?” By using Social Shaping of Technology (SST), integrating with Risk Governance and the Risk Regulated Regime; an interdisciplinary concept has been developed. The application of SST was to broaden the risk governance and risk regulated regime, helped to look at R&U of technological change from a social dimension. The research was grounded on social constructionism under an exploratory study. A qualitative case study approach was adopted, backed by three data collection methods-interview, observation and document analysis. This research was aimed to investigate the driving forces for the government and oil companies in taking biofuels as the current energy source for transport; their roles and responsibilities in biofuels deployment and development; interactions taken place, R&U faced during two processes, as well as counteracting strategy implemented to deal with these R&U. After that, explanation building and time series analysis were adopted for data analysis. The research points out there were different types of R&U (expected and unexpected) arose when a technology undergoes the processes of technological change. These different types of R&U required different strategies to deal with. Therefore, the regulators have to set a clear direction for a technology deployment and development, as well as to have the control mechanism with precautionary principle instituted, in order to facilitate the technology implementation and innovation. Meanwhile, oil companies are collaborating with the governments, to commit consistent biofuels supply which fulfil the requirements set by the regulators; as well as established various types of partnership with biotechnology institutions/agriculture industry to conduct the next generation biofuels (NBG) R&D. Such seamless interactions and cooperation, not only aim to reduce the possibilities of R&U occurrence, to minimise the impacts, but also to set a path for the ease of technology adoption and innovation. Therefore, apart from satisfying their respective internal interests of political and economic gains; these two actors have to safeguard the social, economic and environmental benefits for the interests of the general public

Innovation in manufacturing through digital technologies and applications: Thoughts and Reflections on Industry 4.0

The rapid pace of developments in digital technologies offers many opportunities to increase the efficiency, flexibility and sophistication of manufacturing processes; including the potential for easier customisation, lower volumes and rapid changeover of products within the same manufacturing cell or line. A number of initiatives on this theme have been proposed around the world to support national industries under names such as Industry 4.0 (Industrie 4.0 in Germany, Made-in-China in China and Made Smarter in the UK). This book presents an overview of the state of art and upcoming developments in digital technologies pertaining to manufacturing. The starting point is an introduction on Industry 4.0 and its potential for enhancing the manufacturing process. Later on moving to the design of smart (that is digitally driven) business processes which are going to rely on sensing of all relevant parameters, gathering, storing and processing the data from these sensors, using computing power and intelligence at the most appropriate points in the digital workflow including application of edge computing and parallel processing. A key component of this workflow is the application of Artificial Intelligence and particularly techniques in Machine Learning to derive actionable information from this data; be it real-time automated responses such as actuating transducers or informing human operators to follow specified standard operating procedures or providing management data for operational and strategic planning. Further consideration also needs to be given to the properties and behaviours of particular machines that are controlled and materials that are transformed during the manufacturing process and this is sometimes referred to as Operational Technology (OT) as opposed to IT. The digital capture of these properties and behaviours can then be used to define so-called Cyber Physical Systems. Given the power of these digital technologies it is of paramount importance that they operate safely and are not vulnerable to malicious interference. Industry 4.0 brings unprecedented cybersecurity challenges to manufacturing and the overall industrial sector and the case is made here that new codes of practice are needed for the combined Information Technology and Operational Technology worlds, but with a framework that should be native to Industry 4.0. Current computing technologies are also able to go in other directions than supporting the digital ‘sense to action’ process described above. One of these is to use digital technologies to enhance the ability of the human operators who are still essential within the manufacturing process. One such technology, that has recently become accessible for widespread adoption, is Augmented Reality, providing operators with real-time additional information in situ with the machines that they interact with in their workspace in a hands-free mode. Finally, two linked chapters discuss the specific application of digital technologies to High Pressure Die Casting (HDPC) of Magnesium components. Optimizing the HPDC process is a key task for increasing productivity and reducing defective parts and the first chapter provides an overview of the HPDC process with attention to the most common defects and their sources. It does this by first looking at real-time process control mechanisms, understanding the various process variables and assessing their impact on the end product quality. This understanding drives the choice of sensing methods and the associated smart digital workflow to allow real-time control and mitigation of variation in the identified variables. Also, data from this workflow can be captured and used for the design of optimised dies and associated processes