Smart technologies for effective reconfiguration: the FASTER approach

Current and future computing systems increasingly require that their functionality stays flexible after the system is operational, in order to cope with changing user requirements and improvements in system features, i.e. changing protocols and data-coding standards, evolving demands for support of different user applications, and newly emerging applications in communication, computing and consumer electronics. Therefore, extending the functionality and the lifetime of products requires the addition of new functionality to track and satisfy the customers needs and market and technology trends. Many contemporary products along with the software part incorporate hardware accelerators for reasons of performance and power efficiency. While adaptivity of software is straightforward, adaptation of the hardware to changing requirements constitutes a challenging problem requiring delicate solutions. The FASTER (Facilitating Analysis and Synthesis Technologies for Effective Reconfiguration) project aims at introducing a complete methodology to allow designers to easily implement a system specification on a platform which includes a general purpose processor combined with multiple accelerators running on an FPGA, taking as input a high-level description and fully exploiting, both at design time and at run time, the capabilities of partial dynamic reconfiguration. The goal is that for selected application domains, the FASTER toolchain will be able to reduce the design and verification time of complex reconfigurable systems providing additional novel verification features that are not available in existing tool flows

How smart technologies can support sustainable business models: Insights from an air navigation service provider

Purpose: Although research on smart technologies explains their critical importance in sustainable business models (SBMs) (Mikalef et al., 2017), it remains unclear how organisations can embrace smart technologies to create and/or improve their sustainable business models. The purpose of this paper is to unravel and address the challenges of smart technologies to build and maintain a sustainable business model for organisations. Design/methodology/approach: The research develops an empirical analysis through a case study approach. We have investigated the case of ENAV – an Italian air navigation service provider – and how this firm uses smart technologies in the creation of its successful SBM. After constructing a basic theory, the authors moved to evidence collection. The data analysis has adopted a qualitative approach based on a thematic analysis of the transcripts and related documents. Findings: The findings from the case study support the idea that the business value and the strategic relevance of smart technologies still remain largely underestimated in SBM adoption (Mikalef et al., 2017). Case study findings suggest that until today smart technologies have played a minimal role in SBM adoption. However, the smart technologies show the potential to inform the SBM adoption process by contributing to corporate communication for external stakeholders and to the main dimensions of SBMs such as safety and security or the respect for social and environmental criteria in the supply chain. Practical implications: This study seeks to support organisations and their directors to build and improve sustainable business models through smart technologies to maintain their competitive advantages. Specifically, our findings suggest that smart technologies can help organisations bridge the design–implementation gap of sustainable business models. Originality/value: This research advances our understanding of the role of smart technologies by explaining how they can enhance sustainable business model adoption. Indeed, we offer a comprehensive view of the integration of insights from three different but related literature streams such as sustainability strategies, smart technologies and change management studies

Building Reputed Brands through Smart Technologies: A Quantitative Analysis of the Best Hospitals in the United Kingdom

Smart technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data have transformed hospitals from a medical, management and communication perspective. This paper aims to analyze how the best hospitals in the United Kingdom manage these technologies to build a reputed brand. To do that, we conducted a literature review about smart technologies and online branding processes in hospitals. Then, we defined 34 indicators to evaluate how the 140 best hospitals in the United Kingdom managed smart technologies for branding purposes. Our results proved that most of them focused their branding efforts on patients (4.98 criteria out of 11 applicable), rather than journalists (3.01/11) or public authorities (2.16/6). We concluded that hospitals should implement an integrated marketing communication approach, use smart technologies to establish new organizational processes with stakeholders, and develop digital transformation plans to efficiently manage this process

The epistemology of smart technologies: is smart epistemology derived from smart education?

The paper deals with the impact of smart technologies on cognitive and educational activities and assesses the role of smart education in education and cognition from semiotics and epistemology. The authors of the article consider smart-technologies as modern information technologies of various profiles, developed mainly for the performance of the semiotic and epistemological functions of the person with its maximum possible replacement in different areas of life. The article notes that when evaluating smart technologies, some criteria are often overlooked, while the importance of others is exaggerated. In general, quantitative scenarios for the use of smart technologies prevail over qualitative ones. This situation leads to the fact that the main characteristics of smart technologies are replaced by secondary ones, causing overestimated expectations. For example, the authors examined the misconception that a student who studies a subject as part of online learning using smart technology begins to participate in an epistemological situation from a semiotic perspective. It is because online learning makes students “discover” knowledge independently, without the necessary methodology and teacher support. An overwhelming amount of research sees this situation as an achievement, and the authors consider it to be a negative factor. However, according to the assessment of the consequences of smart learning, the best results are shown by students who already possess some methodological knowledge. At the same time, the vast majority of students show a decline in their performance in online education. The authors of the article note that from an epistemological point of view, such a property of smart technologies as a functional substitution of the subject is very consonant with some constructivist trends in epistemology and cognitive sciences, admitting “cognition without a subject.” These smart technologies’ parameters in education and epistemology allow some studies to voice ideas about the possibility of forming smart education and smart epistemology as non-subject ways of knowledge and cognition. The article demonstrated that this situation is permissible if one does not distinguish between the concepts of “information” and “knowledge” and the processes of cognition and informing. It is shown that if this condition is ignored, then the concepts of “knowledge” and “cognition” lose their meaning since the process of cognition is a way of relating knowledge and information, and it is impossible without a subject. The authors conclude that smart technologies should be considered an additional tool used for similar, but not heuristic, creative and primary actions prioritizing the subject in education and epistemology

Promocijas darbs

Elektroniskā versija nesatur pielikumusANOTĀCIJA Promocijas darbs ir veltīts viedajām tehnoloģijām - idejai, kuras pamatā ir doma par “intelektuālu” komponenšu iekļaušanu programmatūrā. Viedās tehnoloģijas ir nefunkcionālo programmatūras īpašībām atbilstoši risinājumi, kas tiek iebūvēti programmatūrā un būtiski uzlabo programmatūras uzturēšanu, papildināšanu un izplatīšanu. Analizējot pasaules vadošo programmatūras ražotāju radniecīgus pētījumus, darbā akcentēta viedo tehnoloģiju ideoloģiskā novitāte un praktiskā ievirze. Dots pārskats par viedo tehnoloģiju komponenšu praktiskām realizācijām, apkopotas reālos projektos gūtās atziņas. Darbā autore definē kritērijus, kuri kalpo viedo tehnoloģiju pielietošanas efektivitātes novērtēšanai. Dots ieskats kvalitatīvo pētījumu ideoloģijā, kā arī aprakstīts autores veikts kvalitatīvs pētījums par viedo tehnoloģiju pielietošanu un iegūtie rezultāti. Atslēgas vārdi: viedās tehnoloģijas, efektivitāte, programmatūras uzturēšana.ABSTRACT The paper proposes an idea of including the “intellectual” components into software solutions in order to improve the latter. Smart technologies are built-in components that are conform to non-functional requirements for better software maintenance, development and distribution. The paper contains an overview of similar research trends of leading IT manufacturers. The innovative character and practical evidence of smart technologies are emphasized. Based on the experience acquired during projects on software development and distribution, the author proposes criteria for evaluation of effectiveness that can be used to support decision making on implementing the smart technologies. There is an insight into the principles of qualitative research methods as well as an overview of the qualitative research on smart technologies done by the author. Keywords: smart technologies, effectiveness, software maintenanc

On the issue of historiography of the study of the phenomenon of smarttechnologies that affect the transformation of society in modernconditions

This paper is the first trying of the author to reveal the existed scientific approaches considering smart - technologies as a key factor of the modern society development. This paper is based on findings of foreign authors, concerning the development of smart - technologies as a strong tool for modern society transformations in the context of rapid development, application, widespread distribution and indisputable influence of smart technologies on the life of society in the economic, political, social, cultural and educational fields. Some definitions of the term “smart society” and different approaches to the society as a whole are presented. The works of Chilean, British, American and Japanese authors are scrutinized as example

The Phenomenon of Learning in a Museum in a Modern Educational Space: Opportunities of Using Smart Technologies

The article analyzes the peculiarities of organizing learning in a museum in the system of smart education with modern smart technologies aimed at the process of gaining skills and competencies for flexible and adapted interaction with social, economic and technological environment. Smart technologies are emphasized to not only allow creating the effect of presence but also to advance the content sharing, change its quality, and ensure the possibility of communication between all the participants of the educational process. The phenomenon of learning in a museum is viewed in the context of gamification, edutainment, the storytelling technique and the project method. The opportunities of using smart technologies in museums as centres of communication, studying and leisure in the context of a modern knowledge society are defined

Smart city technologies: new barriers to investment or a method for solving the economic problems of municipalities?

The purpose of the study is to determine the degree of readiness of urban municipal entities of the Russian Federation for the implementation of Smart City technology. The author proposes a methodology for determining the level of preparedness of cities for the introduction of Smart City technologies, selecting those municipal projects (Smart-projects) most relevant to the present level of readiness and identifying the main barriers to their implementation. The study used structural and graphical analysis methods, overall assessment and ratings as well as the group method of data handling (GMDH). The study yielded the following conclusions: The majority of cities comprising administrative centres of the Subjects of the Russian Federation are not ready for the implementation of Smart City technologies. The main problems hindering the implementation of Smart Technologies are the municipalities’ low energy efficiency and high dependence on borrowed capital. The methodology proposed by the author for assessing the readiness of municipalities for the implementation of Smart City technologies will quickly and optimally identify metropolitan areas suitable for the implementation of Smart-technologies. The field of application of the obtained results is sufficiently extensive. These results will be of interest to practitioners, representatives of state and local authorities, as well as for researchers in the fields of urban economics and urban studies. The main direction for future research consists in the provision of an underlying rationale for problem solving through launching Smart-projects in depressed and economically stagnating municipalities