CCTV: a technology under the radar?

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras have become a ubiquitous feature of everyday life in the UK over the last thirty years. In this thesis I undertake an examination of the historical, political, social, economic, and technological factors, influencing the development, usage, and widespread dissemination of CCTV in the UK. I focus on the issue of why the UK has become so camera-surveilled, and especially the specific role that the public has played in relation to the development and use of the technology. I examine the historical factors through an analysis of the development of surveillance, policing, and political change, during the 20th and early 21st centuries, and early and contemporary uses of CCTV, situating this in the wider context of a history of the criminal justice system. I also look at the media and policy context in which CCTV has developed and become widespread, with this element of the thesis particularly informed by an analysis of the way in which the public are constructed. Next, I carry out an empirical study exploring public engagement and consultation in relation to, and feelings towards, the installation of CCTV onto two estates in East London as part of a project to expand access to digital services in London. Finally, I give an overview of international experiences of CCTV providing a broader context for the final analysis. I argue that the lack of legislation and regulation at the time of the inception of CCTV allowed its subsequent and rapid proliferation. The initial growth of CCTV also occurred at a time when public debate and engagement in science and technology policy did not take place. Its use as a tool for crime prevention was cemented by a police force looking for a shoulder to share the burden of fighting crime. This coupled with an availability of public money for the installation of CCTV systems, the need for a political solution to rising levels of crime, and an apparently passive public, formed the ideal environment for the rise of CCTV

Multi-level Analytic Network Process Model to Mitigate Supply Chain Disruptions in Disaster Recovery Planning

Over the past few decades, environmental changes have led to more frequent occurrences and greater intensities of natural disasters worldwide. In terms of globally connected supply chains, this has resulted in an enormous economical loss for corporations. Therefore, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BC/DR) planning and management has become essential for businesses in order to protect their critical business flow. Yet there is a lack of systematic and transparent methodologies for companies to handle this problem. Hence, this thesis introduces a novel approach to combine consecutive steps of the Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP) process within one application. The multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool called the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is employed to identify critical products of a business and match them with optimal disruption mitigation strategies based on an evaluation of benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks (BOCR). To validate the method developed in this thesis, a case study using historical data of a U.S. company (Company XYZ) is introduced. The results of the ANP mathematical modeling demonstrate that the developed methodology provides a valuable approach to analyze and confirm BC/DR planning decisions. Moreover, an expert of Company XYZ confirmed that the suggested solution established through this case study is in agreement with the preferable choice based on his expertise and professional decision-making. Further research could extend the proposed methodology to other fields of BC/DR planning, such as IT Disaster Recovery Planning or Human Disaster Relief

Autonomous monitoring framework for resource-constrained environments

Acknowledgments The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub, reference: EP/G066051/1. URL: http://www.dotrural.ac.uk/RemoteStream/Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Coupled model of root water uptake, mucilage exudation and degradation

Although the prominent role of root mucilage plays a prominent in soil-plant water relations is becoming more and more accepted, many aspects of how mucilage distribution and root water uptake interact with each other remain unexplored. The aims of this study were: i) to measure the effect of soil moisture on mucilage decomposition; ii) to develop a coupled model of root water uptake and mucilage diffusion and degradation during root growth. Mucilage decomposition was measured by adding C4 root mucilage from maize as single pulses to a C3 soil at two different moisture levels. Drought significantly suppressed mucilage mineralization. Opposed to classical solute transport models the water flow in the rhizosphere is affected by the local concentration of mucilage. The model accounts for an increased equilibrium water retention curve, a reduction of hydraulic conductivity at a given water content and a non-equilibrium water retention curve caused by swelling and shrinking dynamics of mucilage. The dispersion coefficient, on the other hand, depends on the water content. The parameters of mucilage diffusion have been fitted to observations on real plants. The model shows that mucilage exuded in wet soils diffuses far from the roots and it is rapidly degraded. On the contrary, mucilage of plants growing in dry soil is not easily degradable and it remains at higher concentrations in a narrow region around the roots, resulting in a marked increase in water content towards the roots as well as to the formation of stable rhizosheath observed in dry soils. This model shows how feedbacks between root water uptake and root exudation could result in adaptation mechanisms of plants to drought

State-of-the-art integration of decentralized energy management systems into the German smart meter gateway infrastructure

The German Smart Meter Gateway (SMGW) infrastructure enables digital access to metering data and distributed energy resources by external parties. There are, however, various restrictions in order to guarantee the privacy of consumers, and strong security requirements. Furthermore, in the current state of development, there are still several challenges to overcome in order to implement demand side management (DSM) measures. In this paper, we present a prototype enabling DSM measures within the SMGW infrastructure, using the smart grid traffic light concept. The prototype implements an automated decentralized energy management system (EMS) that optimally controls an electric vehicle charging station. In the development of this prototype, we did not only evaluate five of the seven available SMGW devices, but also push the limits of the infrastructure itself. The experiments demonstrated the successful implementation of the intended DSM measure by the EMS. Even though there are technical guidelines standardizing the functionality of SMGWs, our evaluation shows that there are substantial differences between the individual SMGW devices