Smart city initiatives in the context of digital transformation – Scope, services and technologies

Digital transformation is an emerging trend in developing the way how the work is being done, and it is present in the private and public sector, in all industries and fields of work. Smart cities, as one of the concepts related to digital transformation, is usually seen as a matter of local governments, as it is their responsibility to ensure a better quality of life for the citizens. Some cities have already taken advantages of possibilities offered by the concept of smart cities, creating new values to all stakeholders interacting in the living city ecosystems, thus serving as examples of good practice, while others are still developing and growing on their intentions to become smart. This paper provides a structured literature analysis and investigates key scope, services and technologies related to smart cities and digital transformation as concepts of empowering social and collaboration interactions, in order to identify leading factors in most smart city initiatives

Understanding Digital Transformation Initiatives: Case Studies Analysis

Background: Complexity of the digital transformation (Digital Transformation) paradigm and its relation to the fourth technological revolution face companies with serious challenges when it comes to keeping up with the competition or becoming a leader in operating industries. Objectives: The goal of our research is to systematize, analyse and evaluate technological and business concepts of Digital Transformation, in order to identify and investigate Digital Transformation initiatives in Croatia. Methods/Approach: To accomplish this goal, we used a multiple-case study approach to gather data from experts who participated in successful Digital Transformation initiatives. Results: Questionnaires were developed and used to gather both, qualitative background and technology-business related data relevant for Digital Transformation initiatives’ success, discussed in the last part of the paper. The limitation of this study is a relatively small number of case studies (6), as well as its local coverage, resulting therefore with conclusions, which will serve as a base for future studies. Conclusions: There are several background, business, and technology-related concepts or factors relevant to Digital Transformation initiatives: profile and involvement of external Digital Transformation experts; the transformation drivers and expectations. In achieving most significant business concepts for business transformation, no single one right combination of technological concepts could be explicitly determined

Towards an Agent Based Framework for Modelling Smart Self-Sustainable Systems

Self-sustainability is a property of a system; a system is considered to be self-sustainable if it can sustain itself without external support in an observed period of time. If this property is mapped to a human settlement in context of resources (water, energy, food, etc.), it would describe a human settlement which is independent of external resources (like the national electrical grid or a central water distribution system), where such external resources are either not available, or not desirable. This article contributes to presenting the state-of-the-art overview of self-sustainability-related research. While self-sustainability as in the above described form was not a direct subject of research, there are several fields which are either related to, or could be of significant value to the self-sustainability research in this context. The extensive literature overview also showed no frameworks for modeling self sustainable systems in the context of human settlements. Herein a motivation for using agent-based modeling and simulation techniques will be given

Disruptive Business Model Innovation and Digital Transformation

Background: Innovating how organisations run their business is a strategic decision to create more value for customers using or consuming the product and/or service provided. In addition to the incentive of everybody embracing digital transformation, digital technologies, and digital innovation, which frame changes of operating business models today, disruptions, i.e., another incentive that occurs suddenly and impacts globally, all force businesses to adapt and change. Objectives: This research aims to provide a conceptual model that can be used for organisations to evaluate and propose feasible options for responding to disruptions that influence the businesses’ strategic innovation initiatives while assisting decision-makers in choosing the most appropriate option. Methods/Approach: Considering internal and external factors that influence digital transformation, the conceptual framework is designed to assess readiness and willingness to transform and create opportunities for future success digitally. Results: A conceptual framework was developed, tested, and demonstrated in a case study. The case study organisation rated positively the composition of steps to be perf readiness and willingness and choose the most feasible option to change. Conclusions: The digital environment and the influence of disruptions force organisations to change. The conceptual framework developed in this research helps the management choose the most feasible change option about the real as-is and the desired to-be state

Augmented Reality in Tourism – Research and Applications Overview

Augmented reality is a complex interdisciplinary field utilizing IT technologies in diverse areas such as medicine, education, architecture, industry, tourism and others, augmenting the real-time, real-world view with additional superimposed information in chosen format(s). The aim of this paper is to present an overview of both research and application aspects of using augmented reality technologies in tourism domain. While most research, and especially applications, are dealing with and developing visual-based augmented reality systems, there is a relevant amount of research discussing the utilization of other human senses such as tactioception and audioception, both being discussed within this work. A comprehensive literature analysis within this paper resulted with the identification, compilation and categorization of the key factors having the most relevant impact on the success of utilization of augmented technology in tourism domain

Agentno razvojno okružje za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima

A human settlement may exist in an environment which does not allow the use of central resource distribution systems such as national electrical grid, municipal water supply, etc., or where the use of such systems is not preferable by its inhabitants. In such scenarios, there is a need for managing resources that are being produced, stored, and consumed, within the boundaries of such settlements, with a goal to maintain the self-sustainability of such settlement. Settlements are hereafter considered self-sustainable if sufficient resource quantities are available in the observed time period, with regard to defined comfort levels and observed resource type.Considering existing work in the fields of smart cities, self-sustainable settlements, smart grids,Internet of things and existing intelligent agent infrastructures tackling renewable resource management, new agent classes, behaviours and protocols are proposed. A central part of the dissertation work includes developing specialized agent classes and behaviours that would allow to model and simulate the dynamics of a local resource production, storage and consumption in order to pursue and evaluate self-sustainability of the settlement.Such framework could be used by a modeler either to design and simulate a new self-sustainable system, or to evaluate and analyze an existing system, which could lead to considerable improvements in the design of a settlement and its resource production, consumption and storage elements, in regard to the context of self-sustainability.Cilj istraživanja je modelirati i simulirati samoodrživa ljudska naselja u novorazvijenom razvojnom okružju za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima temeljenom na agentima, sa svrhom produljenja samoodrživosti naselja. U tom kontekstu, identificirani su sljedeći istraživački ciljevi:1. Razviti nove klase agenata, ponašanja i protokola specijaliziranih za modeliranje i simulacije upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima.2. Integrirati novo razvijene klase agenata, ponašanja i protokola u funkcionalno razvojno okružje za modeliranje i simulaciju.3. Razviti ne-trivijalno kompleksne scenarije za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima. Scenariji će biti razvijen i unutar tri kategorije: permakulturno eko-selo, vanzemaljska kolonija, svemirsko putovanje.Hipoteza disertacije je sljedeća:H1. Razvojno okruženje za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima temeljeno na agentima produžiti će vremenski period samoodrživosti prilikom korištenja u razvijenim testnim scenarijima.Prvo poglavlje je uvodno i elaborira kontekst istraživanja u konciznom obliku, predstavljajući istraživačke ciljeve i hipotezu.Poglavlje 2 detaljizira istraživanje, od inicijalnog koncepta okružja, prema gradnji okružja i implementaciji, dajući uvid u detalje implementacije i korištene istraživačke metode.Poglavlje 3 pruža pregled literature područja relevantnih za istraživanje, kao što su održivi razvoj, samoodrživa ljudska naselja, agenti i više-agentni sustavi, inteligentne zgrade, pametni gradovi, eko-povratne informacije, upravljanje vršnim opterećenjem, te drugih povezanih područja.Poglavlje 4 prezentira implementaciju razvojnog okružja. Slijedeći prilagođeni tok rada MaSEmetodologije, u prvim koracima identificiraju se zahtjevi sustava, prema kojima se deriviraju ciljevi sustava. Ciljevi se nakon toga koriste u kreiranju agentnih uloga, a uloge se potom koristeza definiciju klasa agenata.Globalni cilj razvojnog okruženja je sljedeći:Nakon izvršenih aktivnih napora usmjerenih u svrhu ostvarenja samoodrživosti modeliranog sustava, informiraj korisnika o tome da li je sustav samoodrživ; ukoliko modelirani sustav nije samoodrživ, usmjeri korisnika na relevantne probleme koji sprječavaju samoodrživost.Isto poglavlje elaborira modele konzumacije resursa i mehanizme samoodrživosti. Mehanizmi samoodrživosti izvedeni su iz literature povezanih i relevantnih područja istraživanja, iz intervjua provedenih sa ekspertima za samoodrživost, iz stvarnih mehanizama koje koristeprimjerice poduzeća za energetiku, te iz poznavanja načina rada velikog broja jedinica zapotrošnju energije, analize i vlastitih iskustava.Poglavlje 5 elaborira način korištenja razvojnog okružja prilikom modeliranja i simulacija specifičnih sustava. Pojašnjene se ulazne i izvještajne varijable koje korisnik koristi za modeliranje, prilagodbu i analizu sustava.Poglavlje 6 opisuje razvijene testne scenarije, rezultate simulacija nad tim scenarijima, te analizu i diskusiju. Scenariji su inicijalno simulirani bez korištenja mehanizama za samoodrživost, koristeći jednostavne matematičke formule u alokaciji resursa. Nakon toga,scenariji su simulirani nad identičnim ulaznim podacima koristeći mehanizme za samoodrživost razvojnog okružja. Rezultati provedenih simulacija pokazali su da je razvojnookružje produžilo trajanje samoodrživosti u svakom od razvijenih scenarija, što je konzistentnosa istraživačkom hipotezom H1.U poglavlju 7 zaključuje se istraživanje, diskutira o rezultatima simulacije, te se predlažuplanovi za daljnje istraživanje

Agentno razvojno okružje za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima

A human settlement may exist in an environment which does not allow the use of central resource distribution systems such as national electrical grid, municipal water supply, etc., or where the use of such systems is not preferable by its inhabitants. In such scenarios, there is a need for managing resources that are being produced, stored, and consumed, within the boundaries of such settlements, with a goal to maintain the self-sustainability of such settlement. Settlements are hereafter considered self-sustainable if sufficient resource quantities are available in the observed time period, with regard to defined comfort levels and observed resource type.Considering existing work in the fields of smart cities, self-sustainable settlements, smart grids,Internet of things and existing intelligent agent infrastructures tackling renewable resource management, new agent classes, behaviours and protocols are proposed. A central part of the dissertation work includes developing specialized agent classes and behaviours that would allow to model and simulate the dynamics of a local resource production, storage and consumption in order to pursue and evaluate self-sustainability of the settlement.Such framework could be used by a modeler either to design and simulate a new self-sustainable system, or to evaluate and analyze an existing system, which could lead to considerable improvements in the design of a settlement and its resource production, consumption and storage elements, in regard to the context of self-sustainability.Cilj istraživanja je modelirati i simulirati samoodrživa ljudska naselja u novorazvijenom razvojnom okružju za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima temeljenom na agentima, sa svrhom produljenja samoodrživosti naselja. U tom kontekstu, identificirani su sljedeći istraživački ciljevi:1. Razviti nove klase agenata, ponašanja i protokola specijaliziranih za modeliranje i simulacije upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima.2. Integrirati novo razvijene klase agenata, ponašanja i protokola u funkcionalno razvojno okružje za modeliranje i simulaciju.3. Razviti ne-trivijalno kompleksne scenarije za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima. Scenariji će biti razvijen i unutar tri kategorije: permakulturno eko-selo, vanzemaljska kolonija, svemirsko putovanje.Hipoteza disertacije je sljedeća:H1. Razvojno okruženje za modeliranje i simulaciju upravljanja resursima u pametnim samoodrživim ljudskim naseljima temeljeno na agentima produžiti će vremenski period samoodrživosti prilikom korištenja u razvijenim testnim scenarijima.Prvo poglavlje je uvodno i elaborira kontekst istraživanja u konciznom obliku, predstavljajući istraživačke ciljeve i hipotezu.Poglavlje 2 detaljizira istraživanje, od inicijalnog koncepta okružja, prema gradnji okružja i implementaciji, dajući uvid u detalje implementacije i korištene istraživačke metode.Poglavlje 3 pruža pregled literature područja relevantnih za istraživanje, kao što su održivi razvoj, samoodrživa ljudska naselja, agenti i više-agentni sustavi, inteligentne zgrade, pametni gradovi, eko-povratne informacije, upravljanje vršnim opterećenjem, te drugih povezanih područja.Poglavlje 4 prezentira implementaciju razvojnog okružja. Slijedeći prilagođeni tok rada MaSEmetodologije, u prvim koracima identificiraju se zahtjevi sustava, prema kojima se deriviraju ciljevi sustava. Ciljevi se nakon toga koriste u kreiranju agentnih uloga, a uloge se potom koristeza definiciju klasa agenata.Globalni cilj razvojnog okruženja je sljedeći:Nakon izvršenih aktivnih napora usmjerenih u svrhu ostvarenja samoodrživosti modeliranog sustava, informiraj korisnika o tome da li je sustav samoodrživ; ukoliko modelirani sustav nije samoodrživ, usmjeri korisnika na relevantne probleme koji sprječavaju samoodrživost.Isto poglavlje elaborira modele konzumacije resursa i mehanizme samoodrživosti. Mehanizmi samoodrživosti izvedeni su iz literature povezanih i relevantnih područja istraživanja, iz intervjua provedenih sa ekspertima za samoodrživost, iz stvarnih mehanizama koje koristeprimjerice poduzeća za energetiku, te iz poznavanja načina rada velikog broja jedinica zapotrošnju energije, analize i vlastitih iskustava.Poglavlje 5 elaborira način korištenja razvojnog okružja prilikom modeliranja i simulacija specifičnih sustava. Pojašnjene se ulazne i izvještajne varijable koje korisnik koristi za modeliranje, prilagodbu i analizu sustava.Poglavlje 6 opisuje razvijene testne scenarije, rezultate simulacija nad tim scenarijima, te analizu i diskusiju. Scenariji su inicijalno simulirani bez korištenja mehanizama za samoodrživost, koristeći jednostavne matematičke formule u alokaciji resursa. Nakon toga,scenariji su simulirani nad identičnim ulaznim podacima koristeći mehanizme za samoodrživost razvojnog okružja. Rezultati provedenih simulacija pokazali su da je razvojnookružje produžilo trajanje samoodrživosti u svakom od razvijenih scenarija, što je konzistentnosa istraživačkom hipotezom H1.U poglavlju 7 zaključuje se istraživanje, diskutira o rezultatima simulacije, te se predlažuplanovi za daljnje istraživanje

Proširenje programskog jezika Logo na 3D i konkretna implementacija u obliku sučelja za 3D animacije Elica

U ovom diplomskom radu sam opisao razloge za stvaranjem programskog jezika Logo i njegov razvoj tijekom prvih nekoliko godina postojanja. Potom sam predstavio dvije implementacije programskog jezika Logo koje se koriste u hrvatskim školama te sam opisao njihov povijesni razvoj. Također sam predstavio Elicu, modernu implementaciju programskog jezika Logo s mnoštvom novih mogućnosti, te proveo intervju s profesorom Pavelom Boytchevom sa Sveučilišta u Sofiji, tvorcem Elice. U trećem poglavlju sam opisao kako se u FMSLogu, koji se koristi u većini hrvatskih škola, crtaju geometrijski likovi i tijela pomoću kornjačine grafike. Također sam objasnio korištenje naredbi za crtanje u trodimenzionalnom prostoru te predstavio nekoliko procedura za crtanje kocke i kvadra u tom prostoru. Konačno, opisao sam neke od novih naredbi za upravljanjem kornjačom koje su dostupne u Elici, kao i naredbe za upravljanje kamerom i animirane demonstracije nacrtanih objekata. Također sam predstavio nekoliko aplikacija i animacija uključenih u Elicu koje se mogu koristiti u nastavi Matematike i Geografije.In this thesis I described the reasons behind creation of the programming language Logo and provided a brief history of its development during the first few years of its existence. Then I introduced two implementations of Logo used in Croatian schools and I described their development. I also presented Elica, modern implementation of the Logo programming language with a number of new features and conducted an interview with Professor Pavel Boytchev from the University of Sofia, creator of Elica. In the third chapter, I described how to draw polygons and geometric shapes using turtle graphics in FMSLogo, used in most Croatian schools. I also explained how to use commands for turtle graphics in three-dimensional space and introduced several procedures for drawing cubes and cuboids in that space. Finally, I have described some of the new commands for control of the turtle available in Elica, as well as commands for camera control and animated demonstrations of drawn objects. I also presented several applications and animations included in Elica that can be used in teaching Mathematics and Geography

Proširenje programskog jezika Logo na 3D i konkretna implementacija u obliku sučelja za 3D animacije Elica

U ovom diplomskom radu sam opisao razloge za stvaranjem programskog jezika Logo i njegov razvoj tijekom prvih nekoliko godina postojanja. Potom sam predstavio dvije implementacije programskog jezika Logo koje se koriste u hrvatskim školama te sam opisao njihov povijesni razvoj. Također sam predstavio Elicu, modernu implementaciju programskog jezika Logo s mnoštvom novih mogućnosti, te proveo intervju s profesorom Pavelom Boytchevom sa Sveučilišta u Sofiji, tvorcem Elice. U trećem poglavlju sam opisao kako se u FMSLogu, koji se koristi u većini hrvatskih škola, crtaju geometrijski likovi i tijela pomoću kornjačine grafike. Također sam objasnio korištenje naredbi za crtanje u trodimenzionalnom prostoru te predstavio nekoliko procedura za crtanje kocke i kvadra u tom prostoru. Konačno, opisao sam neke od novih naredbi za upravljanjem kornjačom koje su dostupne u Elici, kao i naredbe za upravljanje kamerom i animirane demonstracije nacrtanih objekata. Također sam predstavio nekoliko aplikacija i animacija uključenih u Elicu koje se mogu koristiti u nastavi Matematike i Geografije.In this thesis I described the reasons behind creation of the programming language Logo and provided a brief history of its development during the first few years of its existence. Then I introduced two implementations of Logo used in Croatian schools and I described their development. I also presented Elica, modern implementation of the Logo programming language with a number of new features and conducted an interview with Professor Pavel Boytchev from the University of Sofia, creator of Elica. In the third chapter, I described how to draw polygons and geometric shapes using turtle graphics in FMSLogo, used in most Croatian schools. I also explained how to use commands for turtle graphics in three-dimensional space and introduced several procedures for drawing cubes and cuboids in that space. Finally, I have described some of the new commands for control of the turtle available in Elica, as well as commands for camera control and animated demonstrations of drawn objects. I also presented several applications and animations included in Elica that can be used in teaching Mathematics and Geography

Smart Internet of Things Modular Micro Grow Room Architecture

This article proposes the Internet of Things-based self-sustaining modular grow room architecture for optimising the seed germination and seedling development process. The architecture is scalable and flexible as it can be adapted to particular environments, scopes, requirements and plant types; it is modular as the host room can contain one or more smaller-scale grow rooms, each of them controlling their own micro-environment independently. One of the main goals of the research was to develop such a system that could be deployed efficiently, with minimal costs and energy footprint, which would enable its practical usage primarily in private self-sustainable households. The usage of widely available and inexpensive components, open source code, and free cloud services all enabled us to reach such a goal. Besides simple automation mostly described by existing solutions, the architecture proposed within this article offers remote control and data processing and visualisation, data trend tracking, smart optimisation, and actuator control, and event notifications