Search results for: technical infrastructure

Authors: Maryam Kiani, Abdul Basit Kiani

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To develop construction and infrastructure industry, sensors are highly desired to control building ventilation. Zinc doped magnesium ferrite nanoparticles (Z@MFO) (Zn = 0.0, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) were prepared in this paper. Structural analyses confirmed the formation of spinel cubic nanostructures. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) data represent high reactive surface area due to small average particle size about 15 nm, which efficiently influences the gas sensing mechanism. The gas sensing property of Z@MFO for several gases was obtained by measuring the resistance as a function of different factors, such as composition and response time in air and in presence of gas. The sensitivity of spinel ferrite to CO2 at room temperature has been compared. The Z@MFO nano-structure exhibited high sensitivity represented good response time of (~1 min) to CO2, demonstrated that the material can be used in the field of gas sensors with high sensitivity and good selectivity at room temperature to control building ventilation. CO2 gas sensors play a vital role in ensuring the safety, comfort, and sustainability of modern building environments.

Keywords: MgFe2O4 nanoparticles, synthesis, gas sensing properties, X ray differentiation.

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Authors: Haluk Gümüskaya, Hüseyin Hakkoymaz

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This paper describes WiPoD (Wireless Position Detector) which is a pure software based location determination and tracking (positioning) system. It uses empirical signal strength measurements from different wireless access points for mobile user positioning. It is designed to determine the location of users having 802.11 enabled mobile devices in an 802.11 WLAN infrastructure and track them in real time. WiPoD is the first main module in our LBS (Location Based Services) framework. We tested K-Nearest Neighbor and Triangulation algorithms to estimate the position of a mobile user. We also give the analysis results of these algorithms for real time operations. In this paper, we propose a supportable, i.e. understandable, maintainable, scalable and portable wireless positioning system architecture for an LBS framework. The WiPoD software has a multithreaded structure and was designed and implemented with paying attention to supportability features and real-time constraints and using object oriented design principles. We also describe the real-time software design issues of a wireless positioning system which will be part of an LBS framework.

Keywords: Indoor location determination and tracking, positioning in Wireless LAN.

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Authors: Dong-Young Yoo, Jong-Whoi Shin, Gang Shin Lee, Jae-Il Lee

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As the disfunctions of the information society and social development progress, intrusion problems such as malicious replies, spam mail, private information leakage, phishing, and pharming, and side effects such as the spread of unwholesome information and privacy invasion are becoming serious social problems. Illegal access to information is also becoming a problem as the exchange and sharing of information increases on the basis of the extension of the communication network. On the other hand, as the communication network has been constructed as an international, global system, the legal response against invasion and cyber-attack from abroad is facing its limit. In addition, in an environment where the important infrastructures are managed and controlled on the basis of the information communication network, such problems pose a threat to national security. Countermeasures to such threats are developed and implemented on a yearly basis to protect the major infrastructures of information communication. As a part of such measures, we have developed a methodology for assessing the information protection level which can be used to establish the quantitative object setting method required for the improvement of the information protection level.

Keywords: Information Security Evaluation Methodology, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection.

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Authors: Vahhab Attar Olyaee, Fouad Attar Olyaee

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Many IT projects come to failure because of having technical approach, focusing on the final product and lack of proper attention to strategic alignment. Project management models quite often have technical management view [4], [8], [13], [14]. These models focus greatly on the finalization of the project product and the delivery of the product to the customer. However, many project problems are due to lack of attention to the needs and capabilities of the organizations or disregarding how to deploy and use the product in the organization. In this regard, in the current research we are trying to present a solution with the purpose of raising the value of the project in an organization. This way, the project outputs will be properly deployed in the organization. Therefore, a comprehensive model is presented which takes into account the whole processes from initial step of project definition to the deployment of the final outputs in the organization and then the definition of all roles and responsibilities to put the model into practice. Taking into account the opinions of experts and project managers, to prove the performance of the model, the project problems were recognized and based on the model, categorized and analyzed. And at the end it is made clear that ignoring the proper definition of the project and not having a proper understanding of the expected value on the one hand and not supervising the emerged value in the process of production and installment are among the most important factors that bring a project to failure.

Keywords: IT Governance, Project Model, Roles and Responsibilities of Project

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Authors: Aishwarya Shekhar, Devesh Kumar Srivastava

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Cloud computing has emerged as a promising direction for cost efficient and reliable service delivery across data communication networks. The dynamic location of service facilities and the virtualization of hardware and software elements are stressing the communication networks and protocols, especially when data centres are interconnected through the internet. Although the computing aspects of cloud technologies have been largely investigated, lower attention has been devoted to the networking services without involving IT operating overhead. Cloud computing has enabled elastic and transparent access to infrastructure services without involving IT operating overhead. Virtualization has been a key enabler for cloud computing. While resource virtualization and service abstraction have been widely investigated, networking in cloud remains a difficult puzzle. Even though network has significant role in facilitating hybrid cloud scenarios, it hasn't received much attention in research community until recently. We propose Network as a Service (NaaS), which forms the basis of unifying public and private clouds. In this paper, we identify various challenges in adoption of hybrid cloud. We discuss the design and implementation of a cloud platform.

Keywords: Cloud computing, networking, infrastructure, hybrid cloud, open stack, Naas.

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Authors: Stefano Sorace, Gloria Terenzi

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The seismic rehabilitation designs of two reinforced concrete school buildings, representative of a wide stock of similar edifices designed under earlier editions of the Italian Technical Standards, are presented in this paper. The mutual retrofit solution elaborated for the two buildings consists in the incorporation of a dissipative bracing system including pressurized fluid viscous springdampers as passive protective devices. The mechanical parameters, layouts and locations selected for the constituting elements of the system; the architectural renovation projects developed to properly incorporate the structural interventions and improve the appearance of the buildings; highlights of the installation works already completed in one of the two structures; and a synthesis of the performance assessment analyses carried out in original and rehabilitated conditions, are illustrated. The results of the analyses show a remarkable enhancement of the seismic response capacities of both structures. This allows reaching the high performance objectives postulated in the retrofit designs with much lower costs and architectural intrusion as compared to traditional rehabilitation interventions designed for the same objectives.

Keywords: Seismic rehabilitation, R/C structures, performance analysis, dissipative braces, fluid viscous dampers.

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Authors: Nieto Bernal W., Luna Amaya C.

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This paper aims to present a framework for the organizational knowledge management, which seeks to deploy a standardized structure for the integrated management of knowledge is a common language based on domains, processes and global indicators inspired by the COBIT framework 5 (ISACA, 2012), which supports the integration of three technologies, enterprise information architecture (EIA), the business process modeling (BPM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA). The Gomak Framework is a management platform that seeks to integrate the information technology infrastructure, the structure of applications, information infrastructure, and business logic and business model to support a sound strategy of organizational knowledge management, low process-based approach and concurrent engineering. Concurrent engineering (CE) is a systematic approach to integrated product development that respond to customer expectations, involving all perspectives in parallel, from the beginning of the product life cycle. (European Space Agency, 2000).

Keywords: Business Process Modeling, Enterprise Information Architecture, Government and Knowledge Management, Service Oriented Architecture, Process Management.

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Authors: S. Jursová, P. Pustějovská, S. Brožová, J. Bilík

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The paper deals with possibilities of interpretation of iron ore reducibility tests. It presents a mathematical model developed at Centre ENET, VŠB – Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic for an evaluation of metallurgical material of blast furnace feedstock such as iron ore, sinter or pellets. According to the data from the test, the model predicts its usage in blast furnace technology and its effects on production parameters of shaft aggregate. At the beginning, the paper sums up the general concept and experience in mathematical modelling of iron ore reduction. It presents basic equation for the calculation and the main parts of the developed model. In the experimental part, there is an example of usage of the mathematical model. The paper describes the usage of data for some predictive calculation. There are presented material, method of carried test of iron ore reducibility. Then there are graphically interpreted effects of used material on carbon consumption, rate of direct reduction and the whole reduction process.

Keywords: Blast furnace technology, iron ore reduction, mathematical model, prediction of iron ore reduction.

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Authors: Ranjan Sarukkalige, Joseph Sanjaya Ma

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Flood management is one of the important fields in urban storm water management. Floods are influenced by the increase of huge storm event, or improper planning of the area. This study mainly provides the flood protection in four stages; planning, flood event, responses and evaluation. However it is most effective then flood protection is considered in planning/design and evaluation stages since both stages represent the land development of the area. Structural adjustments are often more reliable than nonstructural adjustments in providing flood protection, however structural adjustments are constrained by numerous factors such as political constraints and cost. Therefore it is important to balance both adjustments with the situation. The technical decisions provided will have to be approved by the higher-ups who have the power to decide on the final solution. Costs however, are the biggest factor in determining the final decision. Therefore this study recommends flood protection system should have been integrated and enforces more in the early stages (planning and design) as part of the storm water management plan. Factors influencing the technical decisions provided should be reduced as low as possible to avoid a reduction in the expected performance of the proposed adjustments.

Keywords: Urban Flood, flood protection, water management, storm water, cost,

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Authors: Ahmed Aljudaya, Derek Ingham, Lin Ma, Kevin Hughes, Mohammed Pourkashanian

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Researchers, power companies, and state politicians have given concentrated solar power (CSP) much attention due to its capacity to generate large amounts of electricity whereas overcoming the intermittent nature of solar resources. The Linear Fresnel Reflector (LFR) is a well-known CSP technology type for being inexpensive, having a low land use factor, and suffering from low optical efficiency. The LFR was considered a cost-effective alternative option to the Parabolic Trough Collector (PTC) because of its simplistic design, and this often outweighs its lower efficiency. The LFR power plants commercially generate steam directly and indirectly in order to produce electricity with high technical efficiency and lower its costs. The purpose of this important analysis is to compare the annual performance of the Direct Steam Generation (DSG) and Indirect Steam Generation (ISG) of LFR power plants using molten salt and other different Heat Transfer Fluids (HTF) to investigate their technical and economic effects. A 50 MWe solar-only system is examined as a case study for both steam production methods in extreme weather conditions. In addition, a parametric analysis is carried out to determine the optimal solar field size that provides the lowest Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) while achieving the highest technical performance. As a result of optimizing the optimum solar field size, the solar multiple (SM) is found to be between 1.2 – 1.5 in order to achieve as low as 9 Cent/KWh for the DSG of the LFR. In addition, the power plant is capable of producing around 141 GWh annually and up to 36% of the capacity factor, whereas the ISG produces less energy at a higher cost. The optimization results show that the DSG’s performance overcomes the ISG in producing around 3% more annual energy, 2% lower LCOE, and 28% less capital cost.

Keywords: Concentrated Solar Power, Levelized cost of electricity, Linear Fresnel reflectors, Steam generation.

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Authors: Eric P. Jiang

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As the Internet continues to grow at a rapid pace as the primary medium for communications and commerce and as telecommunication networks and systems continue to expand their global reach, digital information has become the most popular and important information resource and our dependence upon the underlying cyber infrastructure has been increasing significantly. Unfortunately, as our dependency has grown, so has the threat to the cyber infrastructure from spammers, attackers and criminal enterprises. In this paper, we propose a new machine learning based network intrusion detection framework for cyber security. The detection process of the framework consists of two stages: model construction and intrusion detection. In the model construction stage, a semi-supervised machine learning algorithm is applied to a collected set of network audit data to generate a profile of normal network behavior and in the intrusion detection stage, input network events are analyzed and compared with the patterns gathered in the profile, and some of them are then flagged as anomalies should these events are sufficiently far from the expected normal behavior. The proposed framework is particularly applicable to the situations where there is only a small amount of labeled network training data available, which is very typical in real world network environments.

Keywords: classification, data analysis and mining, network intrusion detection, semi-supervised learning.

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Authors: Ahmed Kiani

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The United Arab Emirates is clearly facing a multitude of challenges in curbing its greenhouse gas emissions to meet its pre-allotted framework of Kyoto protocol and COP21 targets due to its hunger for modernization, industrialization, infrastructure growth, soaring population and oil and gas activity. In this work, we focus on the bonafide zero emission electric vehicles market penetration in the country’s transport industry for emission reduction. We study the global electric vehicle market trends, the complementary battery technologies and the trends by manufacturers, emission standards across borders and prioritized advancements which will ultimately dictate the terms of future conditions for the United Arab Emirate transport industry. Based on our findings and analysis at every stage of current viability and state-of-transport-affairs, we postulate policy recommendations to local governmental entities from a supply and demand perspective covering aspects of technology, infrastructure requirements, change in power dynamics, end user incentives program, market regulators behavior and communications amongst key stakeholders. 

Keywords: Electric vehicles, greenhouse gas emission reductions, market analysis, policy recommendations.

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Authors: Hossein Lotfizadeh, André McDonald, Amit Kumar

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Renewable energy resources, which can supplement space and water heating for residential buildings, can have a noticeable impact on natural gas consumption and air pollution. This study considers a technical analysis of a combined solar water heating system with evacuated tube solar collectors for different solar coverage, ranging from 20% to 100% of the total roof area of a typical residential building located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The alternative heating systems were conventional (non-condensing) and condensing tankless water heaters and condensing boilers that were coupled to solar water heating systems. The performance of the alternative heating systems was compared to a traditional heating system, consisting of a conventional boiler, applied to houses of various gross floor areas. A comparison among the annual natural gas consumption, carbon dioxide (CO₂) mitigation, and emissions for the various house sizes indicated that the combined solar heating system can reduce the natural gas consumption and CO₂ emissions, and increase CO₂ mitigation for all the systems that were studied. The results suggest that solar water heating systems are potentially beneficial for residential heating system applications in terms of energy savings and CO₂ mitigation.

Keywords: CO2 emissions, CO2 mitigation, natural gas consumption, solar water heating system, tankless water heater.

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Authors: Mamoon Mousa Atout

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Projects managers in construction industry usually face a difficult organizational environment especially if the project is unique. The organization lacks the processes to practice construction management correctly, and the executive’s technical managers who have lack of experience in playing their role and responsibilities correctly. Project managers need to adopt best practices that allow them to do things effectively to make sure that the project can be delivered without any delay even though the executive’s technical managers should follow a certain process to avoid any factor might cause any delay during the project life cycle. The purpose of the paper is to examine the awareness level of projects managers about construction management processes, tools, techniques and implications to complete projects on time. The outcome and the results of the study are prepared based on the designed questionnaires and interviews conducted with many project managers. The method used in this paper is a quantitative study. A survey with a sample of 100 respondents was prepared and distributed in a construction company in Dubai, which includes nine questions to examine the level of their awareness. This research will also identify the necessary benefits of processes of construction management that has to be adopted by projects managers to mitigate the maximum potential problems which might cause any delay to the project life cycle.

Keywords: Construction Methodology, Design Process, Project Managers, Scheduling and Resource Planning.

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Authors: Hosein Hamisheh Bahar, Mohammad Hossein Fazel Zarandi, Akbar Esfahanipour

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In this paper, a hybrid expert system is developed by using fuzzy genetic network programming with reinforcement learning (GNP-RL). In this system, the frame-based structure of the system uses the trading rules extracted by GNP. These rules are extracted by using technical indices of the stock prices in the training time period. For developing this system, we applied fuzzy node transition and decision making in both processing and judgment nodes of GNP-RL. Consequently, using these method not only did increase the accuracy of node transition and decision making in GNP's nodes, but also extended the GNP's binary signals to ternary trading signals. In the other words, in our proposed Fuzzy GNP-RL model, a No Trade signal is added to conventional Buy or Sell signals. Finally, the obtained rules are used in a frame-based system implemented in Kappa-PC software. This developed trading system has been used to generate trading signals for ten companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The simulation results in the testing time period shows that the developed system has more favorable performance in comparison with the Buy and Hold strategy.

Keywords: Fuzzy genetic network programming, hybrid expert system, technical trading signal, Tehran stock exchange.

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Authors: Saleh Abduallah Saleh, Mohammad Basir Bin Saud, Mohd Azwardi Md Isa

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It is very important for a developing nation to developing their infrastructure on the prime priority because their infrastructure particularly their roads and transportation functions as a blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170 million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically within bus industry are well connected within and between the urban and rural areas. The transportation industry is radically helping the economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic instability, unemployment and poverty rate both countries governments are very serious and committed to help for boosting their economy. They believe that any form of transportation development would play a vital role in the development of land, infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’ developments, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses, just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast growing demand. As with the span of time, both the countries are looking forward to a long-term, and economical solutions, because the demand is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper focused on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle-income people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority industry for a government, which is making the either country's public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is identified as the slow, inappropriate, and unfavorable decisions which are not in favor of long-term country’s economic development and public interest. The paper also recommends to future research avenues for public and private transportation, which is continuously failing to meet the public expectations.

Keywords: Bus transportation industries, transportation demand, government parallel initiatives, road and traffic congestions.

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Authors: Eakong Atiptamvaree, Twittie Senivongse

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A new paradigm for software design and development models software by its business process, translates the model into a process execution language, and has it run by a supporting execution engine. This process-oriented paradigm promotes modeling of software by less technical users or business analysts as well as rapid development. Since business process models may be shared by different organizations and sometimes even by different business domains, it is interesting to apply a technique used in traditional software component technology to design reusable business processes. This paper discusses an approach to apply a technique for software component fabrication to the design of process-oriented software units, called process components. These process components result from decomposing a business process of a particular application domain into subprocesses with an aim that the process components can be reusable in different process-based software models. The approach is quantitative because the quality of process component design is measured from technical features of the process components. The approach is also strategic because the measured quality is determined against business-oriented component management goals. A software tool has been developed to measure how good a process component design is, according to the required managerial goals and comparing to other designs. We also discuss how we benefit from reusable process components.

Keywords: Business process model, process component, component management goals, measurement

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Authors: Marcia T. Mitchell

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This research uses computational linguistics, an area of study that employs a computer to process natural language, and aims at discerning the patterns that exist in declarative sentences used in technical texts. The approach is mathematical, and the focus is on instructional texts found on web pages. The technique developed by the author and named the MAYA Semantic Technique is used here and organized into four stages. In the first stage, the parts of speech in each sentence are identified. In the second stage, the subject of the sentence is determined. In the third stage, MAYA performs a frequency analysis on the remaining words to determine the verb and its object. In the fourth stage, MAYA does statistical analysis to determine the content of the web page. The advantage of the MAYA Semantic Technique lies in its use of mathematical principles to represent grammatical operations which assist processing and accuracy if performed on unambiguous text. The MAYA Semantic Technique is part of a proposed architecture for an entire web-based intelligent tutoring system. On a sample set of sentences, partial semantics derived using the MAYA Semantic Technique were approximately 80% accurate. The system currently processes technical text in one domain, namely Cµ programming. In this domain all the keywords and programming concepts are known and understood.

Keywords: Natural language understanding, computational linguistics, knowledge representation, linguistic theories.

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Authors: Khalid Kaddoura, Tarek Zayed

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Infrastructure assets are essential in urban cities; their purpose is to facilitate the public needs. As a result, their conditions and states shall always be monitored to avoid any sudden malfunction. Sewer systems, one of the assets, are an essential part of the underground infrastructure as they transfer sewer medium to designated areas. However, their conditions are subject to deterioration due to ageing. Therefore, it is of great significance to assess the conditions of pipelines to avoid sudden collapses. Current practices of sewer pipeline assessment rely on industrial protocols that consider distinct defects and grades to conclude the limited average or peak score of the assessed assets. This research aims to enhance the evaluation by integrating the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methods in assessing the condition of sewer pipelines. The methodology shall study the cause and effect relationship of the systems’ defects to deduce the relative influence weights of each defect. Subsequently, the overall grade is calculated by aggregating the WHAT’s and HOW’s of the House of Quality (HOQ) using the computed relative weights. Thus, this study shall enhance the evaluation of the assets to conclude informative rehabilitation and maintenance plans for decision makers.

Keywords: Condition assessment, DEMATEL, QFD, sewer pipelines.

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Authors: Zhanna Mingaleva, Irina Mirskikh

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Innovational development of regions in Russia is generally faced with the essential influence from federal and local authorities. The organization of effective mechanism of innovation development (and self-development) is impossible without establishment of defined institutional conditions in the analyzed field. Creative utilization of scientific concepts and information should merge, giving rise to continuing innovation and advanced production. The paper presents an analysis of institutional conditions in the field of creation and development of innovation activity infrastructure and transferring of knowledge and skills between different economic agents in Russia. Knowledge is mainly privately owned, developed through R&D investments and incorporated into technology or a product. Innovation infrastructure is a strong concentration mechanism of advanced facilities, which are mainly located inside large agglomerations or city-regions in order to benefit from scale effects in both input markets (human capital, private financial capital) and output markets (higher education services, research services). The empirical results of the paper show that in the presence of more efficient innovation and knowledge transfer and transcoding system and of a more open attitude of economic agents towards innovation, the innovation and knowledge capacity of regional economy is much higher.

Keywords: knowledge economy, innovational development, transfer of knowledge, institutional preconditions, innovation andknowledge capacity.

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Authors: Napisporn Memongkol, Runchana Sinthavalai, Nattapong Seneeratanaprayune Weerawat Ounsaneha, Chanisada Choosuk

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The objective of this research is to develop the performance indicators (PIs) in operational level for the Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system employing in Thailand. This research started with ascertaining the current pre-hospital care system. The team analyzed the strategies of Narerthorn, a government unit under the ministry of public health, and the existing PIs of the pre-hospital care. Afterwards, the current National Strategic Plan of EMS development (2008-2012) of the Emergency Medical Institute of Thailand (EMIT) was considered using strategic analysis to developed Strategy Map (SM) and identified the Success Factors (SFs). The analysis results from strategy map and SFs were used to develop the Performance Indicators (PIs). To verify the set of PIs, the team has interviewed with the relevant practitioners for the possibilities to implement the PIs. To this paper, it was to ascertain that all the developed PIs support the objectives of the strategic plan. Nevertheless, the results showed that the operational level PIs suited only with the first dimension of National Strategic Plan (infrastructure and information technology development). Besides, the SF was the infrastructure development (to contribute the EMS system to people throughout with standard and efficiency both in normally and disaster conditions). Finally, twenty-nine indicators were developed from the analysis results of SM and SFs.

Keywords: Emergency Medical Service, Performance Indicator, Success Factor, Thailand

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Authors: Eisa A. Alsafran, Francis T. Edum-Fotwe, Wayne E. Lord

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The degree to which a public client actively participates in Public Private Partnership (PPP) schemes, is seen as a determinant of the success of the arrangement, and in particular, efficiency in the delivery of the assets of any infrastructure development. The asset delivery is often an early barometer for judging the overall performance of the PPP. Currently, there are no defined descriptors for the degree of such participation. The lack of defined descriptors makes the association between the degree of participation and efficiency of asset delivery, difficult to establish. This is particularly so if an optimum effect is desired. In addition, such an association is important for the strategic decision to embark on any PPP initiative. This paper presents a conceptual model of different levels of participation that characterise PPP schemes. The modelling was achieved by a systematic review of reported sources that address essential aspects and structures of PPP schemes, published from 2001 to 2015. As a precursor to the modelling, the common areas of Public Client Participation (PCP) were investigated. Equity and risk emerged as two dominant factors in the common areas of PCP, and were therefore adopted to form the foundation of the modelling. The resultant conceptual model defines the different states of combined PCP. The defined states provide a more rational basis for establishing how the degree of PCP affects the efficiency of asset delivery in PPP schemes.

Keywords: Asset delivery, infrastructure development, public private partnership, public client participation.

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Authors: Penn P. Wu, Jeannie Jo

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Blockchain technology has rapidly gained popularity in industry. This paper attempts to assist academia to answer four questions. First, should community colleges begin offering education to nurture blockchain-literate students for the job market? Second, what are the appropriate topical areas to cover? Third, should it be an individual course? And forth, should it be a technical or management course? This paper starts with identifying the knowledge domains of blockchain technology and the topical areas each domain has, and continues with placing them in appropriate academic territories (Computer Sciences vs. Business) and subjects (programming, management, marketing, and laws), and then develops an evaluation model to determine the appropriate topical area for community colleges to teach. The evaluation is based on seven factors: maturity of technology, impacts on management, real-world applications, subject classification, knowledge prerequisites, textbook readiness, and recommended pedagogies. The evaluation results point to an interesting direction that offering an introductory course is an ideal option to guide students through the learning journey of what blockchain is and how it applies to business. Such an introductory course does not need to engage students in the discussions of mathematics and sciences that make blockchain technologies possible. While it is inevitable to brief technical topics to help students build a solid knowledge foundation of blockchain technologies, community colleges should avoid offering students a course centered on the discussion of developing blockchain applications.

Keywords: Blockchain, pedagogies, blockchain technologies, blockchain course, blockchain pedagogies.

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Authors: Rishabh Garg

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Traditionally, business parties build trust with a centralized operating mechanism, such as payment by letter of credit. However, the increase in cyber-attacks and malicious hacking has jeopardized business operations and finance practices. Emerging markets, due to their high banking risks and the large presence of digital financing, are looking for technology that enables transparency and traceability of any transaction in trade, finance or supply chain management. Blockchain systems, in the absence of any central authority, enable transactions across the globe with the help of decentralized applications. DApps consist of a front-end, a blockchain back-end, and middleware, that is, the code that connects the two. The front-end can be a sophisticated web app or mobile app, which is used to implement the functions/methods on the smart contract. Web apps can employ technologies such as HTML, CSS, React and Express. In this wake, fintech and blockchain products are popping up in brokerages, digital wallets, exchanges, post-trade clearance, settlement, middleware, infrastructure and base protocols. The present paper provides a technology driven solution, financial inclusion and innovative working paradigm for business and finance.

Keywords: Authentication, blockchain, channel, cryptography, DApps, data portability, Decentralized Public Key Infrastructure, Ethereum, hash function, Hashgraph, Privilege creep, Proof of Work algorithm, revocation, storage variables, Zero Knowledge Proof.

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Authors: M. Nadeem, S. Nasir, K. A. Moazzam, R. Kashif

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The remarkable growth and evolution in information and communication technology (ICT) in the past few decades has transformed modern society in almost every aspect of life. The impact and application of ICT have been observed in almost all walks of life including science, arts, business, health, management, engineering, sports, and education. ICT in education is being used extensively for student learning, creativity, interaction, and knowledge sharing and as a valuable source of teaching instrument. Apart from the student’s perspective, it plays a vital role for teacher education, instructional methods and curriculum development. There is a significant difference in growth of ICT enabled education in developing countries compared to developed nations and according to research, this gap is widening. ICT gradually infiltrate in almost every aspect of life. It has a deep and profound impact on our social, economic, health, environment, development, work, learning, and education environments. ICT provides very effective and dominant tools for information and knowledge processing. It is firmly believed that the coming generation should be proficient and confident in the use of ICT to cope with the existing international standards. This is only possible if schools can provide basic ICT infrastructure to students and to develop an ICT-integrated curriculum which covers all aspects of learning and creativity in students. However, there is a digital divide and steps must be taken to reduce this digital divide considerably to have the profound impact of ICT in education all around the globe. This study is based on theoretical approach and an extensive literature review is being conducted to see the successful implementations of ICT integration in education and to identify technologies and models which have been used in education in developed countries. This paper deals with the modern applications of ICT in schools for both teachers and students to uplift the learning and creativity amongst the students. A brief history of technology in education is presented and discussed are some important ICT tools for both student and teacher’s perspective. Basic ICT-based infrastructure for academic institutions is presented. The overall conclusion leads to the positive impact of ICT in education by providing an interactive, collaborative and challenging environment to students and teachers for knowledge sharing, learning and critical thinking.

Keywords: Information and communication technology, ICT, education, ICT infrastructure, teacher education.

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Authors: Layla Mujahed

Abstract:

Amman, the capital of Jordan, is the main political, economic, social and cultural center of Jordan and beyond. The city faces multitude demographic challenges related to the unstable political situation in the surrounded countries. It has regional and local migrants who left their homes to find better life in the capital. This resulted with random and unequaled population distribution. Some districts have high population and pressure on the infrastructure and services more than other districts.Government works to resolve this challenge in compliance with 100 Cities Resilience Framework (CRF). Amman participated in this framework as a member in December 2014 to work in achieving the four goals: health and welfare, infrastructure and utilities, economy and education as well as administration and government.  Previous research studies lack in studying Amman resilient work in neighborhood scale and the population growth as resilient challenge. For that, this study focuses on Al-Thahabiah neighborhood in Shafa Badran district in Amman. This paper studies the reasons and drivers behind this population growth during the selected period in this area then provide strategies to improve the resilient work in neighborhood scale. The methodology comprises of primary and secondary data. The primary data consist of interviews with chief officer in the executive part in Great Amman Municipality and resilient officer. The secondary data consist of papers, journals, newspaper, articles and book’s reading. The other part of data consists of maps and statistical data which describe the infrastructural and social situation in the neighborhood and district level during the studying period. Based upon those data, more detailed information will be found, e.g., the centralizing position of population and the provided infrastructure for them. This will help to provide these services and infrastructure to other neighborhoods and enhance population distribution. This study develops an analytical framework to assess urban demographical time series in accordance with the criteria of CRF to make accurate detailed projections on the requirements for the future development in the neighborhood scale and organize the human requirements for affordable quality housing, employment, transportation, health and education in this neighborhood to improve the social relations between its inhabitants and the community. This study highlights on the localization of resilient work in neighborhood scale and spread the resilient knowledge related to the shortage of its research in Jordan. Studying the resilient work from population growth challenge perspective helps improve the facilities provide to the inhabitants and improve their quality of life.

Keywords: City resilience framework, CRF, demography, population growth, stakeholders, urban resilience.

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Authors: Siqing Chen

Abstract:

The vast rural landscape in the southern United States is conspicuously characterized by the hedgerow trees or groves. The patchwork landscape of fields surrounded by high hedgerows is a traditional and familiar feature of the American countryside. Hedgerows are in effect linear strips of trees, groves, or woodlands, which are often critical habitats for wildlife and important for the visual quality of the landscape. As landscape interfaces, hedgerows define the spaces in the landscape, give the landscape life and meaning, and enrich ecologies and cultural heritages of the American countryside. Although hedgerows were originally intended as fences and to mark property and townland boundaries, they are not merely the natural or man-made additions to the landscape--they have gradually become “naturalized" into the landscape, deeply rooted in the rural culture, and now formed an important component of the southern American rural environment. However, due to the ever expanding real estate industry and high demand for new residential development, substantial areas of authentic hedgerow landscape in the southern United States are being urbanized. Using Hudson Farm as an example, this study illustrated guidelines of how hedgerows can be integrated into town planning as green infrastructure and landscape interface to innovate and direct sustainable land use, and suggest ways in which such vernacular landscapes can be preserved and integrated into new development without losing their contextual inspiration.

Keywords: Hedgerow, Town planning, Sustainable design, Ecological infrastructure

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Authors: Javed Parvez, Mushtaq Ahmad Peer

Abstract:

Mobile Ad hoc networks (MANETs) are collections of wireless mobile nodes dynamically reconfiguring and collectively forming a temporary network. These types of networks assume existence of no fixed infrastructure and are often useful in battle-field tactical operations or emergency search-and-rescue type of operations where fixed infrastructure is neither feasible nor practical. They also find use in ad hoc conferences, campus networks and commercial recreational applications carrying multimedia traffic. All of the above applications of MANETs require guaranteed levels of performance as experienced by the end-user. This paper focuses on key challenges in provisioning predetermined levels of such Quality of Service (QoS). It also identifies functional areas where QoS models are currently defined and used. Evolving functional areas where performance and QoS provisioning may be applied are also identified and some suggestions are provided for further research in this area. Although each of the above functional areas have been discussed separately in recent research studies, since these QoS functional areas are highly correlated and interdependent, a comprehensive and comparative analysis of these areas and their interrelationships is desired. In this paper we have attempted to provide such an overview.

Keywords: Bandwidth Reservation, Congestion, DynamicNetwork Topology, End-to-End Delay, Flexible QoS Model forMANET(FQMM), Hidden Terminal, Mobile AdhocNetwork(MANET), Packet Jitter, Queuing, Quality-of-Service(QoS), Relative Bandwidth Service Differentiation(RBSD), Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP).

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Authors: Leonor Varandas, Pedro D. Gaspar, Martim L. Aguiar

Abstract:

One of the biggest concerns in the field of agriculture is around the energy efficiency of robots that will perform agriculture’s activity and their charging methods. In this paper, two different charging methods for agricultural standalone docking stations are shown that will take into account various variants as field size and its irregularities, work’s nature to which the robot will perform, deadlines that have to be respected, among others. Its features also are dependent on the orchard, season, battery type and its technical specifications and cost. First charging base method focuses on wireless charging, presenting more benefits for small field. The second charging base method relies on battery replacement being more suitable for large fields, thus avoiding the robot stop for recharge. Existing many methods to charge a battery, the CC CV was considered the most appropriate for either simplicity or effectiveness. The choice of the battery for agricultural purposes is if most importance. While the most common battery used is Li-ion battery, this study also discusses the use of graphene-based new type of batteries with 45% over capacity to the Li-ion one. A Battery Management Systems (BMS) is applied for battery balancing. All these approaches combined showed to be a promising method to improve a lot of technical agricultural work, not just in terms of plantation and harvesting but also about every technique to prevent harmful events like plagues and weeds or even to reduce crop time and cost.

Keywords: Agricultural mobile robot, charging base methods, battery replacement method, wireless charging method.

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Authors: U. Schmidt, D. Dannehl, I. Schuch, J. Suhl, T. Rocksch, R. Salazar-Moreno, E. Fitz-Rodrigues, A. Rojano Aquilar, I. Lopez Cruz, G. Navas Gomez, R. A. Abraham, L. C. Irineo, N. G. Gilberto

Abstract:

The integration of agricultural production systems into urban areas is a challenge for the coming decades. Because of increasing greenhouse gas emission and rising resource consumption as well as costs in animal husbandry, the dietary habits of people in the 21st century have to focus on herbal foods. Intensive plant cultivation systems in large cities and megacities require a smart coupling of information, material and energy flow with the urban infrastructure in terms of Horticulture 4.0. In recent years, many puzzle pieces have been developed for these closed processes at the Humboldt University. To compile these for an urban plant production, it has to be optimized and networked with urban infrastructure systems. In the field of heat energy production, it was shown that with closed greenhouse technology and patented heat exchange and storage technology energy can be provided for heating and domestic hot water supply in the city. Closed water circuits can be drastically reducing the water requirements of plant production in urban areas. Ion sensitive sensors and new disinfection methods can help keep circulating nutrient solutions in the system for a longer time in urban plant production greenhouses.

Keywords: Semi closed, greenhouses, urban farming, solar heat collector, closed water cycles, aquaponics.

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