Digital Twin in the IoT context: a survey on technical features, scenarios and architectural models

Digital Twin is an emerging concept that is gaining attention in various industries. It refers to the ability to clone a physical object into a software counterpart. The softwarized object, termed logical object, reflects all the important properties and characteristics of the original object within a specific application context. To fully determine the expected properties of the Digital Twin, this paper surveys the state of the art starting from the original definition within the manufacturing industry. It takes into account related proposals emerging in other fields, namely, Augmented and Virtual Reality (e.g., avatars), Multi-agent systems, and virtualization. This survey thereby allows for the identification of an extensive set of Digital Twin features that point to the “softwarization” of physical objects. To properly consolidate a shared Digital Twin definition, a set of foundational properties is identified and proposed as a common ground outlining the essential characteristics (must-haves) of a Digital Twin. Once the Digital Twin definition has been consolidated, its technical and business value is discussed in terms of applicability and opportunities. Four application scenarios illustrate how the Digital Twin concept can be used and how some industries are applying it. The scenarios also lead to a generic DT architectural Model. This analysis is then complemented by the identification of software architecture models and guidelines in order to present a general functional framework for the Digital Twin. The paper, eventually, analyses a set of possible evolution paths for the Digital Twin considering its possible usage as a major enabler for the softwarization process

Ursinus College Bulletin Vol. 13, No. 5, February 1897

A digitized copy of the February 1897 Ursinus College Bulletin.https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/ucbulletin/1122/thumbnail.jp

Prevalence of pre-diabetes and undiagnosed diabetes in the Mollerussa prospective observational cohort study in a semi-rural area of Catalonia

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes in the healthy population in the Mollerussa cohort. As a secondary objective, to identify the variables associated with these conditions and to describe the changes in glycaemic status after 1 year of follow-up in subjects with pre-diabetes. Design: Prospective observational cohort study. Setting: General population from a semi-rural area. Participants: The study included 583 participants without a diagnosis of diabetes recruited between March 2011 and July 2014. Results: The prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 20, 3.4% (95% CI 2.6 to 4.2) and that of pre-diabetes was 229, 39.3% (37.3 to 41.3). Among those with pre-diabetes, 18.3% had isolated impaired fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (FPG: 100 to <126 mg/dL), 58.1% had isolated impaired glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) (HbA1c 5.7 to <6.5) and 23.6% fulfilled both criteria. Follow-up data were available for 166 subjects; 41.6%(37.8 to 45.4) returned to normoglycaemia, 57.6% (57.8 to 61.4) persisted in pre-diabetes and 0.6% (0 to 1.2) progressed to diabetes. Individuals with pre-diabetes had worse cardiometabolic risk profiles and sociodemographic features than normoglycaemic subjects. In the logistic regression model, variables significantly associated with pre-diabetes were older age (OR; 95% CI) (1.033; 1.011 to 1.056), higher physical activity (0.546; 0.360 to 0.827), body mass index (1.121; 1.029 to 1.222) and a family history of diabetes (1.543; 1.025 to 2.323). The variables significantly associated with glycaemic normalisation were older age (0.948; 0.916 to 0.982) and body mass index (0.779; 0.651 to 0.931). Conclusions: Among adults in our region, the estimated prevalence of undiagnosed diabetes was 3.4% and that of pre-diabetes was 39.3%. After a 1-year follow-up, a small proportion of subjects (0.6%) with pre-diabetes progressed to diabetes, while a high proportion (41.6%) returned to normoglycaemia. Individuals with pre-diabetes who returned to normoglycaemia were younger and had a lower body mass inde

Fuera de lugar: Undocumented Students, Dislocation, and the Search for Belonging

This article presents findings from a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) study on the experiences of six undocumented college students at a community college in the Midwest United States. We focused on two main research questions: What are some of the key developmental experiences of undocumented youth? What is the impact of these experiences on the students’ identity and sense of belonging in educational spaces, especially as they transition to college? The findings illustrate the experiences of the six participant coresearchers (PCRs) as they navigated the messy, fragile, and shifting nature of belonging. A common thread in their narratives was the recurrence across their young lives of moments of dislocation (or “being-out-of-place”) associated with their undocumented status. These moments of dislocation barred these undocumented students from fully inhabiting both educational and noneducational spaces; in addition, they affected their ability to develop a sense of belonging as they transitioned to the college environment. Dislocation entails a degree of vulnerability and liminality that is not necessarily encompassed in current models of student development theory, nor considered in institutional support structures created with majority-population students in mind. We argue that institutional agents require sensitivity to the multiple types of dislocation that undocumented youth may experience within and beyond educational settings

IoTRec: The IoT Recommender for Smart Parking System

This paper proposes a General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)-compliant Internet of Things (IoT) Recommender (IoTRec) system, developed in the framework of H2020 EU-KR WISE-IoT (Worldwide Interoperability for Semantic IoT) project, which provides the recommendations of parking spots and routes while protecting users’ privacy. It provides recommendations by exploiting the IoT technology (parking and traffic sensors). The IoTRec provides four-fold functions. Firstly, it helps the user to find a free parking spot based on different metrics (such as the nearest or nearest trusted parking spot). Secondly, it recommends a route (the least crowded or the shortest route) leading to the recommended parking spot from the user’s current location. Thirdly, it provides the real-time provision of expected availability of parking areas (comprised of parking spots organized into groups) in a user-friendly manner. Finally, it provides a GDPR-compliant implementation for operating in a privacy-aware environment. The IoTRec is integrated into the smart parking use case of the WISE-IoT project and is evaluated by the citizens of Santander, Spain through a prototype, but it can be applied to any IoT-enabled locality. The evaluation results show the citizen’s satisfaction with the quality, functionalities, ease of use and reliability of the recommendations/services offered by the IoTRec

Scintillator detectors with long WLS fibers and multi-pixel photodiodes

We have studied the possibility of using Geiger mode multi-pixel photodiodes to read out long scintillator bars with a single wavelength-shifting fiber embedded along the bar. This detector configuration can be used in large volume detectors in future long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. Prototype bars of 0.7 cm thickness and different widths have been produced and tested using two types of multi-pixel photodiodes: MRS APD (CPTA, Moscow) and MPPC (Hamamatsu). A minimum light yield of 7.2 p.e./MeV was obtained for a 4 cm wide bar

Mediterranean diet and healthy eating in subjects with prediabetes from the mollerussa prospective observational cohort study

Altres ajuts: Institut Universitari d'Investigació en Atenció Primària Jordi Gol (IDIAP Jordi Gol) i Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Plan Nacional de I+D+I i Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional).We aimed to assess differences in dietary patterns (i.e., Mediterranean diet and healthy eating indexes) between participants with prediabetes and those with normal glucose tolerance. Secondarily, we analyzed factors related to prediabetes and dietary patterns. This was a cross-sec-tional study design. From a sample of 594 participants recruited in the Mollerussa study cohort, a total of 535 participants (216 with prediabetes and 319 with normal glucose tolerance) were in-cluded. The alternate Mediterranean Diet score (aMED) and the alternate Healthy Eating Index (aHEI) were calculated. Bivariable and multivariable analyses were performed. There was no dif-ference in the mean aMED and aHEI scores between groups (3.2 (1.8) in the normoglycemic group and 3.4 (1.8) in the prediabetes group, p = 0.164 for the aMED and 38.6 (7.3) in the normoglycemic group and 38.7 (6.7) in the prediabetes group, p = 0.877 for the aHEI, respectively). Nevertheless, women had a higher mean of aMED and aHEI scores in the prediabetes group (3.7 (1.9), p = 0.001 and 40.5 (6.9), p < 0.001, respectively); moreover, they had a higher mean of aHEI in the group with normoglycemia (39.8 (6.6); p = 0.001). No differences were observed in daily food intake between both study groups; consistent with this finding, we did not find major differences in nutrient intake between groups. In the multivariable analyses, the aMED and aHEI were not associated with pre-diabetes (odds ratio (OR): 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.75-1.87; p = 0.460 and OR: 1.32, 95% CI: 0.83-2.10; p = 0.246, respectively); however, age (OR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.05; p < 0.001), dyslipidemia (OR: 2.02, 95% CI: 1.27-3.22; p = 0.003) and body mass index (BMI) (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05-1.14; p < 0.001) were positively associated with prediabetes. Physical activity was associated with a lower frequency of prediabetes (OR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.31-0.72; p = 0.001). In conclusion, subjects with prediabetes did not show a different dietary pattern compared with a normal glucose tolerance group. However, further research is needed on this issue

Can ‘eugenics’ be defended?

In recent years, bioethical discourse around the topic of ‘genetic enhancement’ has become increasingly politicized. We fear there is too much focus on the semantic question of whether we should call particular practices and emerging bio-technologies such as CRISPR ‘eugenics’, rather than the more important question of how we should view them from the perspective of ethics and policy. Here, we address the question of whether ‘eugenics’ can be defended and how proponents and critics of enhancement should engage with each other

Internet of things

Manual of Digital Earth / Editors: Huadong Guo, Michael F. Goodchild, Alessandro Annoni .- Springer, 2020 .- ISBN: 978-981-32-9915-3Digital Earth was born with the aim of replicating the real world within the digital world. Many efforts have been made to observe and sense the Earth, both from space (remote sensing) and by using in situ sensors. Focusing on the latter, advances in Digital Earth have established vital bridges to exploit these sensors and their networks by taking location as a key element. The current era of connectivity envisions that everything is connected to everything. The concept of the Internet of Things(IoT)emergedasaholisticproposaltoenableanecosystemofvaried,heterogeneous networked objects and devices to speak to and interact with each other. To make the IoT ecosystem a reality, it is necessary to understand the electronic components, communication protocols, real-time analysis techniques, and the location of the objects and devices. The IoT ecosystem and the Digital Earth (DE) jointly form interrelated infrastructures for addressing today’s pressing issues and complex challenges. In this chapter, we explore the synergies and frictions in establishing an efficient and permanent collaboration between the two infrastructures, in order to adequately address multidisciplinary and increasingly complex real-world problems. Although there are still some pending issues, the identified synergies generate optimism for a true collaboration between the Internet of Things and the Digital Earth

MINERvA neutrino detector response measured with test beam data

The MINERvA collaboration operated a scaled-down replica of the solid scintillator tracking and sampling calorimeter regions of the MINERvA detector in a hadron test beam at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. This article reports measurements with samples of protons, pions, and electrons from 0.35 to 2.0 GeV/c momentum. The calorimetric response to protons, pions, and electrons are obtained from these data. A measurement of the parameter in Birks' law and an estimate of the tracking efficiency are extracted from the proton sample. Overall the data are well described by a Geant4-based Monte Carlo simulation of the detector and particle interactions with agreements better than 4%, though some features of the data are not precisely modeled. These measurements are used to tune the MINERvA detector simulation and evaluate systematic uncertainties in support of the MINERvA neutrino cross section measurement program.Comment: as accepted by NIM