Application Of Blockchain Technology And Integration Of Differential Privacy: Issues In E-Health Domains

A systematic and comprehensive review of critical applications of Blockchain Technology with Differential Privacy integration lies within privacy and security enhancement. This paper aims to highlight the research issues in the e-Health domain (e.g., EMR) and to review the current research directions in Differential Privacy integration with Blockchain Technology.Firstly, the current state of concerns in the e-Health domain are identified as follows: (a) healthcare information poses a high level of security and privacy concerns due to its sensitivity; (b) due to vulnerabilities surrounding the healthcare system, a data breach is common and poses a risk for attack by an adversary; and (c) the current privacy and security apparatus needs further fortification. Secondly, Blockchain Technology (BT) is one of the approaches to address these privacy and security issues. The alternative solution is the integration of Differential Privacy (DP) with Blockchain Technology. Thirdly, collections of scientific journals and research papers, published between 2015 and 2022, from IEEE, Science Direct, Google Scholar, ACM, and PubMed on the e-Health domain approach are summarized in terms of security and privacy. The methodology uses a systematic mapping study (SMS) to identify and select relevant research papers and academic journals regarding DP and BT. With this understanding of the current privacy issues in EMR, this paper focuses on three categories: (a) e-Health Record Privacy, (b) Real-Time Health Data, and (c) Health Survey Data Protection. In this study, evidence exists to identify inherent issues and technical challenges associated with the integration of Differential Privacy and Blockchain Technology

Power control of doubly fed induction machine using a rotor side matrix converter

This paper presents the control of a doubly fed induction machine (DFIM) via a matrix converter applied to the machine’s rotor side. The experimental set-up shall be used to show its viability for wind energy applications. Stator Field Oriented control of the machine was implemented for active and reactive power control. The effects of rotor side current harmonics, on the control scheme were analysed. The paper also presents experimental results for active and reactive power control for the variable speed DFIM including operation at zero Stator Reactive power. A powerpoint presentation by the authors regarding the same subject is included in this section.peer-reviewe

Feeding the child - all ages

Dr Younger Ross wrote this book ‘primarily for mothers with the intent of helping them in the many difficulties which arise in feeding their children’. The book covers all stages of childhood, from five to seventeen years of age. Ross believed that mothers often found it ‘difficult to reconcile the findings of science with the practical preparation of food in the home.’ Ninety years later, families (and mothers) are still grappling with the same issues, only now with decades of research to work through

How can we assess the role of nature in the metabolic requirements of a city?: An integrated Urban Metabolism and Ecosystem Service analysis

As cities have become the primary host of the majority of the world's population, the associated energy and resource consumption has increased rapidly, resulting in worldwide scale environmental impacts. Thus, understanding the importance of the city's physical, biological, and social heterogeneities, as well as the assessment of processes and activities is necessary given the global environmental agenda. In response, urban policy makers and planners have adopted the concept of Ecosystem Services as a way to recognize the role of nature and ecosystems in cities. However, despite this recognition, the relationship between human activities and ecological processes in urban areas is not yet thoroughly explored, generating a research gap. Since its fundamental objective is to examine the interaction between natural environments and anthropogenic systems in cities, the Urban Metabolism (UM) field is designed to overcome environmental challenges and propose novel resource mitigation solutions. Additionally, the Ecosystem Service (ES) concept and classifications provides novel alternatives and techniques that contribute to these environmental challenges by including ecosystem processes and functions. The objective of this research is to assess the contribution of ES in UM assessments. For that, we propose a methodological framework that builds on the interrelationships of Natural and Social capital, the foundation of the ES concept, and utilizes "Pressures”, “Drivers” and “State” factors to explain the relationships between anthropogenic and natural systems, and assesses the supply and demand ES flows, which can be embedded in the Economy-Wide Material Flow Analysis (EW-MFA). London is the subject of this framework application and testing due to its economic (20% of UK's GDP) and demographic (15% of the population) importance to the country. The following ES are identified as flows that contribute or reduce (offset) resource flows and emissions: Changes in energy demand due to the cooling effect of green areas, urban agriculture (biomass), organic waste and biofuel crops as energy source, and carbon sequestration from vegetation. Biophysical and ecological models, dynamic datasets, official statistics and databases are used to determine the ES supply and demand flows. An UM analysis of the city is elaborated as a base case (2015), and different scenarios will be used to determine the amount of resource flows and emissions, as well as the change in ES supply until the year 2050. The scenarios consider city policy targets (The London Plan), official projections of main socio-economic indicators (OECD, Energy Projections-BEIS), and climate change projections (General Circulation Models of biophysical indicators) which can change the outcomes of the analysis over time. Preliminary results of the UM analysis showcase main metabolic inflows in the base case (2015) such as energy (11.9 Mtoe), water (8.25 Mton) and biomass (10.3 kton), as well as metabolic outflows such as waste (3.6 kton) and emissions (33.9 kton CO2eq). Moreover, we intend to compare the total contribution of ES supply flows to demand in order to understand how much cities can meet their metabolic requirements. Results to date propose that the urban ES supply does not satisfy the demand in the base case: 0.23% of carbon sequestration demand and 0.05% of biomass (food) demand. These findings can shed light on the imporance of nature in urban environments and highlight the significance of incorporating the integrated UM-ES knowledge into sustainability policy and urban planning

Secondary control for reactive power sharing in droop-controlled islanded microgrids

This paper focuses on the islanded operation of microgrids. In this mode of operation, the microsources are required to cooperate autonomously to regulate the local grid voltage and frequency. Droop control is typically used to achieve this autonomous voltage and frequency regulation. However, droop control has real and reactive power sharing limitations when there are mismatches between the microsources. This paper analyses the effect due to mismatches in the power line impedances connecting the source inverters to the microgrid. From the simulations results obtained, it was shown that the reactive power demand is unequally shared between the microsource inverters when there are mismatches between the power line impedances. To achieve equal reactive power sharing between the inverters, an external loop requiring low bandwidth communications was implemented in a central controller. Simulation results are presented showing the feasibility of the proposed solution in achieving reactive power sharing between the inverters connected to the microgrid.peer-reviewe

Advancing urban metabolism studies through GIS data: resource flows and stocks, geography, and informality in Mexico City

Urban Metabolism (UM) studies have evolved in recent years by adopting an interdisciplinary and multiscale approach of urban systems and paying increasing attention to socioeconomic contexts, relations of power among stakeholders, and the study of the ecology of entire urban areas. Localizing and quantifying urban flows and stocks could be of great value to identify infrastructure deficiencies and unequal access to resources for vulnerable population groups and in deprived urban areas. However, only a few studies provide spatial-explicit accountings of UM flows (e.g. Yeoh and Cheah, 2019), which can contribute towards more resource-sensitive urban planning. Mexico City is a city-region that includes 16 municipalities with a total population of approximately 8,9 million. An estimated 3,4 million residents live below the poverty line in high-density neighborhoods with limited access to facility and green spaces (with 160 thousand classified as informal, unregistered, population). Based on the results of previous UM studies (Guibrunet et al, 2016; Delgado-Ramos, 2015 and 2013; Kennedy et al, 2011; Hoornweg et al, 2011; Rossi et al, 2008), Mexico City provides a valuable case study due to the complex relations that were observed between resource accessibility, stock efficiency and the management of in-boundary resource flows. The aim of the research is to understand what kinds of data are better suited to improve the visualization of UM assessments and to identify the relationship between specific urban flows and public space. The following spatially-explicit datasets were used in the study: (1) utility infrastructure and resource-management facilities (e.g. energy lines, water distribution and sewage network), (2) geographic features of the city (e.g. topography, landscapes) including green and blue infrastructure networks, and (3) informal settlements and their sociodemographic characteristics. Additionally, UM data sourced from recent studies were allocated spatially. After visualizing the selected GIS data at the city-region level, a series of hotspots were identified, e.g. urban areas with a high concentration of public space, informal settlements and resource-management facilities. The hotspots were categorized by their land area and use type as well as by the quantity and quality of the elements they are physically connected with (e.g. number and type of public space and resource management facilities). The results highlight systems of urban flows and stocks circumscribed within different municipality boundaries and their links to the network of public spaces at the regional scale. It emphasizes inequalities in terms of accessibility to public spaces and resources among different municipalities and can suggest spatial design and planning strategies to mitigate them. The research also provides an improved understanding of the metabolic profiles, physical characteristics, and development opportunities of informal settlements in Mexico City concentrated between the built environment and regional nature reserves. The findings of this study can inform urban and landscape planners as well as UM analysts to formulate and apply landscape infrastructure design strategies based on a multi-scale, spatial-explicit approach. It suggests the need for further research on integrated UM and GIS analysis as a way forward to improve UM application in urban and landscape planning