Towards the Internet of Behaviors in Smart Cities through a Fog-To-Cloud Approach

Recent advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the rise of the Internet of Behavior (IoB) have made it possible to develop real-time improved traveler assistance tools for mobile phones, assisted by cloud-based machine learning and using fog computing in between the IoT and the Cloud. Within the Horizon2020-funded mF2C project, an Android app has been developed exploiting the proximity marketing concept and covers the essential path through the airport onto the flight, from the least busy security queue through to the time to walk to the gate, gate changes, and other obstacles that airports tend to entertain travelers with. It gives travelers a chance to discover the facilities of the airport, aided by a recommender system using machine learning that can make recommendations and offer vouchers based on the traveler’s preferences or on similarities to other travelers. The system provides obvious benefits to airport planners, not only people tracking in the shops area, but also aggregated and anonymized view, like heat maps that can highlight bottlenecks in the infrastructure, or suggest situations that require intervention, such as emergencies. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tool could be adapted to help in social distancing to guarantee safety. The use of the fog-to-cloud platform and the fulfillment of all centricity and privacy requirements of the IoB give evidence of the impact of the solution. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2021-02-04-01 Full Text: PD

Benefits of a Fog-to-Cloud Approach in Proximity Marketing

The EC H2020 mF2C Project is working to the development of a software framework that enables the orchestration of resources and communication at fog level, as an extension of cloud computing and interacting with the IoT. In order to show the project functionalities and added-values three real world use cases have been chosen. This paper introduces one of the mF2C use cases: Smart Fog Hub Service (SFHS) use case, in the context of an airport, with the objective of proving that the adoption of the fog-to-cloud approach brings relevant benefits in terms of performance and optimization of resource usage, thus giving an objective evidence of the impact of the mF2C framework.This work is supported by the H2020 mF2C project (730929)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

The Effect of Inoculation on Growth, Nodulation and Nitrogen in Annual Clover Cultivars Grown at Two Mediterranean Locations of Sardinia, Italy

The legume's benefits are well-known and exploited in animal production systems, and the commercial availability of novel clover cultivars is an important opportunity for Mediterranean climatic areas. However, the successful performance of a legume species is strongly affected by the presence of specific rhizobia in the soil. The performances of 10 annual clover cultivars belonging to nine species, both uninoculated and inoculated, were compared at two locations in Sardinia (Italy). The rows (2 m length each) were established in autumn and seed inoculation with a selected commercial rhizobial strain was performed at sowing. In the following spring, shoot length, the number of root nodules, shoot dry matter yield and nitrogen concentration were determined on complete recovered plants. Inoculation affected shoot length, with significant differences at each site. It ranged from 7.9 to 39.7 cm. The average shoot DM production in the two locations ranged from 0.21 to 1.92 g per plant and there was a significant interaction of the location x cultivar. Inoculation significantly increased the growth of four cultivars. However, a cultivar selected in Sardinia, Trifolium brachycalycinum 'Antas', was irrespective of both location and inoculation, producing more shoot DM per plant than did the other clovers (about 1.80 g per plant). The results demonstrated that the clover agronomic performances differed among cultivars and locations. In addition, they highlighted that inoculation with a selected rhizobial strain is very useful for some clovers, suggesting that is preferable to ascertain at each site the need for clover inoculation

An Edge-Cloud based Reference Architecture to support cognitive solutions in Process Industry

Process Industry is one of the leading sectors of the world economy, characterized however by intense environmental impact, and very high-energy consumption. Despite a traditional low innovation pace in PI, in the recent years a strong push at worldwide level towards the dual objective of improving the efficiency of plants and the quality of products, significantly reducing the consumption of electricity and CO2 emissions has taken momentum. Digital Technologies (namely Smart Embedded Systems, IoT, Data, AI and Edge-to-Cloud Technologies) are enabling drivers for a Twin Digital-Green Transition, as well as foundations for human centric, safe, comfortable and inclusive workplaces. Currently, digital sensors in plants produce a large amount of data, which in most cases constitutes just a potential and not a real value for Process Industry, often locked-in in close proprietary systems and seldomly exploited. Digital technologies, with process modelling-simulation via digital twins, can build a bridge between the physical and the virtual worlds, bringing innovation with great efficiency and drastic reduction of waste. In accordance with the guidelines of Industrie 4.0 this work proposes a modular and scalable Reference Architecture, based on open source software, which can be implemented both in brownfield and greenfield scenarios. The ability to distribute processing between the edge, where the data have been created, and the cloud, where the greatest computational resources are available, facilitates the development of integrated digital solutions with cognitive capabilities. The reference architecture is being validated in the three pilot plants, paving the way to the development of integrated planning solutions, with scheduling and control of the plants, optimizing the efficiency and reliability of the supply chain, and balancing energy efficiency

Orthogeriatric Assessment of the Elderly Patient with Fragility Hip Fracture: Preliminary Results of a Prospective Study

Nowadays, more studies deal with “OrthoGeriatrics”, for the co-management of elderly patients suffering fractures, from the admission to the discharge and beyond. For the first time at Cagliari University Hospital, we introduced an orthogeriatric service, in which trained geriatricians stay in orthopedic unit alongside trained orthopedics. The primary aim of the study was to analyze the rate of death and rehospitalization in elderly femur-fractured people of 65 or more years of age, identifying possible predictive factors. The secondary aim of the study was to analyze the recovery of daily living autonomies during the months following surgery. To reach the aim, we designed a prospective study, which is currently ongoing. We evaluated femur-fractured patients aged 65 years or more with a comprehensive geriatric assessment before surgery. The most common fractures were lateral hip ones, treated with osteosynthesis. Cognitive–affective, functional, and nutritional status, mood, and comorbidities were less impaired than in the outpatient service of the same hospital devoted to frail elderly. Pain control was excellent. A significantly low delirium incidence was found. More than a third of the sample were recognized as frail (according to the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe—Frailty Instrument (SHARE-FI)), and over a third of the sample were identified as a moderate-high risk of hospitalization and death (according to Multidimensional Prognostic Index (MPI)). Overall mortality rate was 13.87%, and rehospitalization rate was 11.84%. Frail people were more likely to die than non-frail (HR: 5.64), and pre-frail ones (HR: 3.97); similarly, high-risk patients were more likely to die than low-risk (HR: 8.04), and moderate-risk ones (HR: 5.46). Conversely, neither SHARE-FI nor MPI predicted rehospitalization. Creatinine (OR: 2.66, p = 0.003) and folate (OR: 0.75, p = 0.03) levels were independently associated with death and rehospitalization, respectively. Finally, the patients did recover the lost autonomies later, 6 months after surgery. Our study demonstrated that SHARE-FI and MPI are reliable tools to predict mortality in an orthogeriatric setting, and that creatinine and folate levels should also be measured given their independent association with negative outcomes

Effectiveness of the GAEC cross compliance standard Protection of permanent pasture: prohibition to convert permanent pasture into arable crops in avoiding habitat deterioration

By the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century new developments in agricultural technology caused an intensification of the agricultural practices. Species adapted to the diversity of structures or resources of high naturalistic value farmlands, like permanent pasture, cannot survive under increasingly high intensity agricultural management. The Italian MD n.30125 dated 22/12/2009 (Standard 4.1) defines, among the measures for the protection of permanent pasture and avoidance the deterioration of habitats, the prohibition to convert permanent pasture into arable crops and to till with the exception of agricultural practices related to the renewal and/or thickening of the sward and to the drainage water management. Permanent pastures biodiversity performs key ecological services and if correctly assembled in time and space can lead to agroecosystems capable of sponsoring their own soil fertility, crop protection and productivity. The vegetative cover of permanent pasture prevents soil erosion, replenishes ground water and controls flooding by enhancing infiltration and reducing runoff. The changes of land use or some practices change insect community and vegetation diversity. Physical disturbance of the soil caused by tillage increases risk of erosion and reduces the recycling of nutrients and proper balance between organic matter, soil organism and plant diversity. Is necessary a habitat preservation policy because after a change, even a return to past management would not completely re-establish the complex structure of habitats

Electronic spin precession in semiconductor quantum dots with spin-orbit coupling

The electronic spin precession in semiconductor dots is strongly affected by the spin-orbit coupling. We present a theory of the electronic spin resonance at low magnetic fields that predicts a strong dependence on the dot occupation, the magnetic field and the spin-orbit coupling strength. Coulomb interaction effects are also taken into account in a numerical approach.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure