A secured data transform-and-transfer algorithm for energy internet-of-things applications

Digital transformation (DT) is one of the key technologies with effective impacts on many traditional processes towards a digital world. DT influences the way other digital services behave. Hence, there is a need to consider DT-related processes carefully specifically while designing phase. DT contributes to many services. It can, for example, contribute to implement security tasks applied to digital contents and therefore can be applied to change contents being secured. One of the transformation ways applied in security is to consider the way those digital contents are being stored or transferred. This paper proposes a DT algorithm (DTA) for energy internet-of-things (EIOT) contents. DTA consists of two steps, to convert original contents to another digital form and to transfer that form utilizing IOT. This paper utilizes DT in term of security. EIOT contents are converted to increase security. It is aimed to transfer EIOT contents to destination safely and efficiently. Thus, EIOT contents are transformed first to hide original contents. To make sure that the transferring process is done safely, DTA is evaluated in terms of efficiency, accuracy, and robustness. Results confirm that DTA is efficient, accurate, and robust against loss of bits caused by transferring

QR code based authentication method for IoT applications using three security layers

A quick response code-based authentication method (QRAM) is proposed. QRAM is applicable for lots of internet of things (IoT) applications. QRAM aims to verify requests of such an access to IoT applications. Requests are made using a quick response code (QRC). To authenticate contents of QRC, users will scan QRC to access IoT applications. To authenticate contents of QRC, three procedures are applied. QRAM contributes to IoT automatic access systems or smart applications in terms of authentication and safety of access. QRAM is evaluated in term of security factors (e.g., authentication). Computation time of authentication procedures for several IoT applications has become a considerable issue. QRAM aims to reduce computation time consumed to authenticate each QRC. Some authentication techniques still face difficulties when an IoT application requires fast response to users; therefore, QRAM aims to enhance so to meet real-time applications. Thus, QRAM is compared to several competitive methods used to verify QRC in term of computation time. Results confirmed that QRAM is faster than other competitive techniques. Besides, results have shown a high level of complexity in term of decryption time needed to deduce private contents of QRC. QRAM also is robust against unauthorized requests of access

Pixel intensity-based contrast algorithm (PICA) for image edges extraction (IEE)

In this paper, images' pixels are exploited to extract objects' edges. This paper has proposed a Pixel Intensity based Contrast Algorithm (PICA) for Image Edges Extraction (IEE). This paper highlights three contributions. Firstly, IEE process is fast and PICA has less computation time when processing different images' sizes. Secondly, IEE is simple and uses a $2\times 4$ mask which is different from other masks where it doesn't require while-loop(s) during processing images. Instead, it has adopted an if-conditional procedure to reduce the code complexity and enhance computation time. That is, the reason why this design is faster than other designs and how it contributes to IEE will be explained. Thirdly, design and codes of IEE and its mask are available, made an open source, and in-detail presented and supported by an interactive file; it is simulated in a video motion design. One of the PICA's features and contributions is that PICA has adopted to use less while-loop(s) than traditional methods and that has contributed to the computation time and code complexity. Experiments have tested 526 samples with different images' conditions e.g., inclined, blurry, and complex-background images to evaluate PICA's performance in terms of computation time, enhancement rate for processing a single image, accuracy, and code complexity. By comparing PICA to other research works, PICA consumes 5.7 mS to process a single image which is faster and has less code complexity by $u\times u$. Results have shown that PICA can accurately detect edges under different images' conditions. Results have shown that PICA has enhanced computation time rate for processing a single image by 92.1% compared to other works. PICA has confirmed it is accurate and robust under different images' conditions. PICA can be used with several types of images e.g., medical images and useful for real-time applications

Nanofabrication of (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x and the impact of precursor concentrations on nanoparticles conduct

This study aims to synthesize the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles at lower and higher precursor values using the calcination method. There is a lack in regard to investigating the lower and higher precursor values on structural and optical properties of the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles. To synthesize the (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles, Cr (III) acetate hydrate and Ni (II) acetate tetrahydrate were reacted with poly (vinyl alcohol). Several techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), have been employed to characterize the synthesized sample. The XRD pattern analysis indicated that, following calcination, nanoparticle formation occurred, indicating hexagonal crystalline structures (HCP) and face-centred cubic (FCC) of (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticles. FT-IR verified the existence of Ni-O and Cr-O as the original compounds of ready (Cr2O3)x (NiO)1-x nanoparticle samples. In term of average particle size, this varied from 5 to 16 nm when the precursor concentration rised from x = 0.20 to x = 0.80, as reflected in the TEM results. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was employed to measure the valence state and surface composition of the prepared product nanoparticles. To identify the optical band gap using the Kubelka-Munk equation, diffuse UV-visible reflectance spectra were employed, which revealed that the energy band gap fell with a rise in the value of x. In addition, photoluminescence (PL) spectra indicated that the photoluminescence intensity was related to a directly proportional way to particle size. Hence, the results can be employed with a broad range of applications in solar cell energy applications at higher x values and antibacterial activity at lower x values

The effect of PVP concentration on particle size, morphological and optical properties of cassiterite nanoparticles

Different concentrations of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) have been successfully employed to prepare high purity tetragonal cassiterite nanoparticles, and control the growth of particle size. The effect of PVP on the structural, morphological, size, composition, and optical properties of the prepared cassiterite nanoparticles has been investigated. It has been found that various characteristics of tetragonal cassiterite nanoparticles could be optimized by simply changing the values of PVP. The pure tetragonal cassiterite nanoparticles have been produced at the optimum calcination temperature. The XRD and SEM results indicated the structural and morphological properties of the tetragonal cassiterite nanoparticles, respectively. The particles' size and their distribution have been displayed by TEM images. The composition phase and the surface composition of the prepared samples have been evaluated via FTIR and XPS, respectively. The optical properties of the prepared tetragonal cassiterite nanoparticles have been studied using UV-vis and PL spectroscopy. Outcomes cassiterite nanoparticles are useful for antibacterial activity and application of solar energy

The effect of precursor concentration on the particle size, crystal size, and optical energy gap of CexSn1â’xO2 nanofabrication

In the present work, a thermal treatment technique is applied for the synthesis of CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticles. Using this method has developed understanding of how lower and higher precursor values affect the morphology, structure, and optical properties of CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticles. CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticle synthesis involves a reaction between cerium and tin sources, namely, cerium nitrate hexahydrate and tin (II) chloride dihydrate, respectively, and the capping agent, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The findings indicate that lower x values yield smaller particle size with a higher energy band gap, while higher x values yield a larger particle size with a smaller energy band gap. Thus, products with lower x values may be suitable for antibacterial activity applications as smaller particles can diffuse through the cell wall faster, while products with higher x values may be suitable for solar cell energy applications as more electrons can be generated at larger particle sizes. The synthesized samples were profiled via a number of methods, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). As revealed by the XRD pattern analysis, the CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticles formed after calcination reflect the cubic fluorite structure and cassiterite-type tetragonal structure of CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticles. Meanwhile, using FT-IR analysis, Ce-O and Sn-O were confirmed as the primary bonds of ready CexSn1−xO2 nanoparticle samples, whilst TEM analysis highlighted that the average particle size was in the range 6−21 nm as the precursor concentration (Ce(NO3)3·6H2O) increased from 0.00 to 1.00. Moreover, the diffuse UV-visible reflectance spectra used to determine the optical band gap based on the Kubelka–Munk equation showed that an increase in x value has caused a decrease in the energy band gap and vice versa

Towards the Development of Smart and Sustainable Transportation System for Foodservice Industry: Modelling Factors Influencing Customer’s Intention to Adopt Drone Food Delivery (DFD) Services

While the attempts to deploy drones in the foodservice industry focus on the technical aspects, research studies from behavioral perspectives that support service substantially are still in their infancy. When new technology-based services are introduced, it is crucial to examine and understand consumers’ perceptions by identifying a set of actions that influence acceptance and fulfilling their target. Therefore, service providers of drone food delivery (DFD) services need to identify significant factors that influence potential consumers to use drone delivery. Although a few existing models are significant, these models lack a comprehensive basic theory that addresses factors which influence consumers’ intention and behavior. To overcome this limitation and propose a more comprehensive model, relevant research studies from the domain of drone delivery services and other emerging technology such as IoT, Autonomous Vehicles, and Mobile Banking are identified, reviewed, and analyzed, and ten potential factors are subsequently extracted. This study’s data were collected from 209 participants who regularly order food online for delivery and were analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, reliability, Pearson correlation, regression analysis, r-squared, and standardized beta coefficient analyses are carried out to present the study’s findings. The results show that there is a significant relationship between behavioral intention and the user behavior of DFD. Although the participants in this study are yet to experience drone technology in the foodservice domain, the identified factors explain around 32.9% of the variation in the use behavior of DFD services. In the early stage of adoption, it is highly recommended for stakeholders to conduct marketing campaigns through media channels such as television and different social media platforms to bring awareness of this technology

QR Tag based Verification Method for Smart IoT Applications

A Quick Response (QR) tag based Verification Method (QRVM) used with Internet of Things (IoT) applications is proposed to verify and enable authorized requests by user to access a smart IoTbased application.QR-tag encrypted values are compared to original values. Three-layers have been proposed to attain security objectives. The first layer relates to the IoT-based application’s integrity by performing a verification procedure to QR-tag’s contents. The second layer concerns the availability whereas user’s information are stored in offline database to disable any access caused by threats.The third one periodically generates an authenticated QR tag using 1-session private key to prevent both information leakage to attain it confidential.The QRVM aims to increase the IoTbased application privacy.The QRVM contribution is that it is useful to verify requests that need permissions to access such IoT automatic access systems and smart home applications. QRVM is evaluated in terms of security factors e.g., availability. Results confirmed it is faster than other competitive methods. In addition, results discussed QRVM’s robustness against unauthorized access’s attempts and brute force attack

A review: buildings energy savings - lighting systems performance

Lighting systems are one of the highest energy consumptions specifically in buildings. Thus, by designing energy efficient systems, it would contribute much to buildings energy savings. Therefore, this paper motivation is to review a number of lighting systems designs applied to many types of buildings. It is then so important to discover what methods and systems which have been proposed to save energy in buildings in term of lighting. By finding out what proposed systems are for different types of buildings, designers and respective researchers e.g., buildings engineers would find possibility and applicability of such lighting systems for certain types of buildings to achieve higher energy savings than some other systems when applied to the same types of buildings. Such a relation between reviewed lighting systems with types of buildings would be helpful for many researchers from different fields. There exist numerous factors that play an important role in achieving higher energy savings rate on which efficient energy lighting systems rely. This paper aims to review several types of lighting systems designs applied to different types of buildings. Additionally, performance(s) of lighting systems might vary depending on the design of the lighting system to achieve higher buildings' energy savings. In this review paper, several past studies that utilized Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from the perspective of energy Informatics for a smart lighting system that efficiently achieves energy savings have been considered. This paper has considered different types of lighting systems and types of buildings. Cited papers in this review paper are derived from six digital libraries which are: IEEE Xplore Digital Library, ScienceDirect, MDPI, Emerald Insight, ACM DL, and Taylor Francis Online

Energy Management Systems and Strategies in Buildings Sector: A Scoping Review

Energy management systems in buildings (EMSs-in-Bs) play key roles in energy saving and management to which an efficient energy management system in buildings (EMS-in-Bs) design contributes. Different scope-based designs of EMS-in-Bs are reviewed. The objective is to highlight different scope-based designs of EMS-in-Bs in which scopes of reviewed papers aim to implement a function of, for example, “monitor energy performance”, “estimate energy-use”, or “control energy-use”. This paper aims to constitute a comprehensive conception of how efficient such an EMS-in-Bs to perform more than one scope (i.e., function). Meaning, is the proposed EMS-in-Bs able to perform several sequential functions? This paper’s contribution is to give a function-focused EMS’s review utilizing the scope of reviewed papers. That is, reviewed papers are classified based on the scope/function the selected EMS-in-Bs is designed for. This could help select an EMS-in-Bs to perform certain scope/function(s). Another contribution is that, numerous EMSs-in-Bs are reviewed in a classified way so that the most adequate EMS-in-Bs for a certain scenario considering the performed scopes/functions e.g., “monitor” are highlighted. Findings showed that “control-optimize”-functioned EMS-in-Bs achieved highest energy-saving rates ~30% compared to “estimate-predict” with 10%. Findings, insights given by reviewed studies, current problems faced, future directions, and remarks are drawn in conclusion. Analysis done on reviewed papers has found that the highest and lowest averaged-energy saving rates were obtained with papers whose their scopes are implementing “control”-with-“optimize” and “estimate”-with-“predict”, respectively. Energy saving rates for these two classes of scopes have been equal to 22.57% and 10%, respectively. We recommend that there is a need to enhance the estimation- and prediction-related EMS-in-Bs to achieve a higher energy saving rate