scholarly journals MeSmart-Pro: Advanced Processing at the Edge for Smart Urban Monitoring and Reconfigurable Services

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Antonino Galletta ◽  
Armando Ruggeri ◽  
Maria Fazio ◽  
Gianluca Dini ◽  
Massimo Villari

With reference to the MeSmart project, the Municipality of Messina is making a great investments to deploy several types of cameras and digital devices across the city for carrying out different tasks related to mobility management, such as traffic flow monitoring, number plate recognition, video surveillance etc. To this aim, exploiting specific devices for each task increases infrastructure and management costs, reducing flexibility. On the contrary, using general-purpose devices customized to accomplish multiple tasks at the same time can be a more efficient solution. Another important approach that can improve the efficiency of mobility services is moving computation tasks at the Edge of the managed system instead of in remote centralized serves, so reducing delays in event detection and processing and making the system more scalable. In this paper, we investigate the adoption of Edge devices connected to high-resolution cameras to create a general-purpose solution for performing different tasks. In particular, we use the Function as a Service (FaaS) paradigm to easily configure the Edge device and set up new services. The key results of our work is deploying versatile, scalable and adaptable systems able to respond to smart city’s needs, even if such needs change over time. We tested the proposed solution setting up a vehicle counting solution based on OpenCV, and automatically deploying necessary functions into an Edge device. From experimental results, it results that computing performance at the Edge overtakes the performance of a device specifically designed for vehicle counting under certain conditions and thanks to our reconfigurable functions.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inte Gloerich ◽  
Martijn De Waal ◽  
Gabriele Ferri ◽  
Nazli Cila ◽  
Tara Karpinski

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) such as blockchain have in recent years been presented as a new general-purpose technology that could underlie many aspects of social and economic life, including civics and urban governance. In an urban context, over the past few years, a number of actors have started to explore the application of distributed ledgers in amongst others smart city services as well as in blockchain for good and urban commons-projects. DLTs could become the administrative backbones of such projects, as the technology can be set-up as an administration, management and allocation tool for urban resources. With the addition of smart contracts, DLTs can further automate the processing of data and execution of decisions in urban resource management through algorithmic governance. This means that the technological set-up and design of such DLT based systems could have large implications for the ways urban resources are governed. Positive contributions are expected to be made toward (local) democracy, transparent governance, decentralization, and citizen empowerment. We argue that to fully scrutinize the implications for urban governance, a critical analysis of distributed ledger technologies is necessary. In this contribution, we explore the lens of “the city as a license” for such a critical analysis. Through this lens, the city is framed as a “rights-management-system,” operated through DLT technology. Building upon Lefebvrian a right to the city-discourses, such an approach allows to ask important questions about the implications of DLTs for the democratic governance of cities in an open, inclusive urban culture. Through a technological exploration combined with a speculative approach, and guided by our interest in the rights management and agency that blockchains have been claimed to provide to their users, we trace six important issues: quantification; blockchain as a normative apparatus; the complicated relationship between transparency and accountability; the centralizing forces that act on blockchains; the degrees to which algorithmic rules can embed democratic law-making and enforcing; and finally, the limits of blockchain's trustlessness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 72-85
Author(s):  
Nilanjana Ghoshal ◽  
Mst Tania Parveen ◽  
Dr Asraful Alam

In India, traditionally and from time immemorial, marriage has always been a sacred bond for people of this country. The aim of this study is to explain a socially sanctioned sex relationship involving people of two opposite gender whose relationship is expected to endure beyond time required for gestation. The functional method of the study has been set up on the field-based observation to find out the reasons behind rising of marital disharmony among working couples. But the problem is initially in modern times the concept of marriage is gradually taking a different turn between couples. Hence the focus of this paper is to study the various factors giving rise to marital disharmonies among working couples in urban India and how these discords can be solved so that couples can lead a happy harmonious married life ahead. Survey has been done in the city of Kolkata taking people from various walks of life. As Kolkata is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India it was easier to find people belonging to different professions. The result of this study is every marriage brings challenges in life. Maximum working couples are losing attachment with each other as they have lack of time for each other. Bringing work at home, sharing of parenthood, indifference towards each other, lack of adjustments are the causes for which level of disharmony is increasing.


2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross W. Jamieson

As one of the most common artifact categories found on Spanish colonial sites, the wheel-made, tin-glazed pottery known as majolica is an important chronological and social indicator for archaeologists. Initially imported from Europe, several manufacturing centers for majolica were set up in the New World by the late sixteenth century. The study of colonial majolica in the Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompassed much of South America, has received less attention than ceramic production and trade in the colonial Caribbean and Mesoamerica. Prior to 1650 the Viceroyalty of Peru was supplied with majolica largely produced in the city of Panama Vieja, on the Pacific. Panama Vieja majolica has been recovered from throughout the Andes, as far south as Argentina. Majolica made in Panama Vieja provides an important chronological indicator of early colonial archaeological contexts in the region. The reproduction of Iberian-style majolica for use on elite tables was symbolically important to the imposition of Spanish rule, and thus Panamanian majolicas also provide an important indicator of elite status on Andean colonial sites.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Youngkwon Chung

During the early years of the Civil Wars in England, from February 1642 to July 1643, Puritan parishioners in conjunction with the parliament in London set up approximately 150 divines as weekly preachers, or lecturers, in the city and the provinces. This was an exceptional activity surrounding lectureships including the high number of lecturer appointments made over the relatively brief space of time, especially considering the urgent necessity of making preparations for the looming war and fighting it as well. By examining a range of sources, this article seeks to demonstrate that the Puritan MPs and peers, in cooperation with their supporters from across the country, tactically employed the institutional device of weekly preaching, or lectureships, to neutralize the influence of Anglican clergymen perceived as royalists dissatisfied with the parliamentarian cause, and to bolster Puritan and pro-parliamentarian preaching during the critical years of 1642–1643. If successfully employed, the device of weekly lectureships would have significantly widened the base of support for the parliament during this crucial period when people began to take sides, prepared for war, and fought its first battles. Such a program of lectureships, no doubt, contributed to the increasing polarization of the religious and political climate of the country. More broadly, this study seeks to add to our understanding of an early phase of the conflict that eventually embroiled the entire British Isles in a decade of gruesome internecine warfare.


2001 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Q. Huang ◽  
B. Shen ◽  
K. L. Mak

TELD stands for “Teaching by Examples and Learning by Doing.” It is an on-line courseware engine over the World Wide Web. There are four folds of meanings in TELD. First, TELD represents a teaching and learning method that unifies a number of contemporary methods such as Problem-Based Learning (PBL) in medical education, Project-Based Learning (PBL) in engineering education, and Case Method (CM) in business education. Second, TELD serves as a Web server for hosting teaching and learning materials especially based on the TELD method. A variety of on-line facilities are provided for editing and uploading course materials such as syllabus, schedule, curriculum, examples of case study, exercises of mini-project, formative and summative assessments, etc. Third, TELD is a courseware search engine where educators are able to register their course materials and search for materials suitable for a particular course. In contrast with general-purpose search engines, TELD is set up for the special purpose of education. Therefore, the time and efforts spent on surfing are expected to be reduced dramatically. Finally, TELD is an on-line virtual classroom for electronic delivery of electronic curriculum materials. In addition to providing the lecture notes, TELD not only provides discussion questions for conducting in-class discussions and homework as formative assessment but also provides facilities for students to plan and submit their group work. This article presents an overview of the TELD courseware engine together with its background and underlying philosophy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 282-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belén Mª Castro Fernández ◽  
Rubén Camilo Lois González ◽  
Lucrezia Lopez

Santiago de Compostela is an iconic place. From the 9th century through to the present day the city has acted as the final destination of a major pilgrimage route named after it. In the article we ask ourselves how the contemporary reinvention of the pilgrimage and pilgrimages on the Way of St. James has boosted tourism development in the city. Development has been concentrated in the historic city centre and in the area around the cathedral. The importance of tourism has transformed the significance of the city itself, which acquires a magical component as a place of arrival and encounter for all kinds of visitors. The historic city has been set up in the 20th century as a destination for the Way and for cultural tourism. The buildings, particularly those connected with the pilgrimage route, become highly attractive and symbolic places and tourists carry out a number of rituals in them. They travel and enjoy Santiago as a unique experience. The study of tourism and of the tourist transformation of Santiago de Compostela is undertaken using a qualitative and quantitative method. The article analyses the heritage and symbolic value of the historic centre, together with the growth of its tourism activities. Numerical data are also provided on the perceptions and behaviour of visitors using surveys carried out by the city's Tourism Observatory.


Urban Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacomo Durante ◽  
Margherita Turvani

Sharing economy platforms enabled by information and communication technologies (ICTs) are facilitating the diffusion of collaborative workplaces. Coworking spaces are emerging as a distinctive phenomenon in this context, not only fostering knowledge transfer and facilitating innovation, but also affecting the urban and socio-economic fabric contributing to urban regeneration processes at both the local scale and the city scale. Although the positive impacts of coworking on the urban environment are documented, there is still little or no evidence of the economic viability of coworking businesses, and a “coworking bubble” has been evoked. Given the lack of data, a national survey was set up of Italian coworking businesses, aimed at assessing the relevance of internal organizational factors (size, occupancy, profitability, services provided) for the sustainability of coworking businesses. By presenting the results of the survey, we argue that the sustainability and viability of the coworking model is highly dependent on internal factors, strictly related to the entrepreneurial action of coworking managers.


1977 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Hobley ◽  
John Schofield ◽  
Tony Dyson ◽  
Peter R. V. Marsden ◽  
Charles Hill ◽  
...  

SummaryThe Department of Urban Archaeology, City of London, was set up in December 1973 as part of Guildhall Museum, now the Museum of London. Since then it has excavated sixteen sites and carried out numerous watching briefs. Most of the formal excavations have been conducted on the vital waterfront sites, made available for the first time, and on the Roman and medieval defences of the City. Important evidence of the elusive Saxon occupation is gradually coming to light, and the work is accompanied by specialist research, particularly finds, environmental and documentary.


Author(s):  
G. Agugiaro

This paper presents and discusses the results regarding the initial steps (selection, analysis, preparation and eventual integration of a number of datasets) for the creation of an integrated, semantic, three-dimensional, and CityGML-based virtual model of the city of Vienna. CityGML is an international standard conceived specifically as information and data model for semantic city models at urban and territorial scale. It is being adopted by more and more cities all over the world. <br><br> The work described in this paper is embedded within the European Marie-Curie ITN project “Ci-nergy, Smart cities with sustainable energy systems”, which aims, among the rest, at developing urban decision making and operational optimisation software tools to minimise non-renewable energy use in cities. Given the scope and scale of the project, it is therefore vital to set up a common, unique and spatio-semantically coherent urban model to be used as information hub for all applications being developed. This paper reports about the experiences done so far, it describes the test area and the available data sources, it shows and exemplifies the data integration issues, the strategies developed to solve them in order to obtain the integrated 3D city model. The first results as well as some comments about their quality and limitations are presented, together with the discussion regarding the next steps and some planned improvements.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fikha Kristy Bolendea ◽  
Ventje Ilat ◽  
Jessy Warongan

Regional Property is one part of the regional Government’s assets that are very important to be used and utilized to support the running of the task principal and function of each government agency in the Permendagri 19 year 2016 on guidelines for management of regional property set up government agencies in especially the regional work unit (SKPD) which became the user of regional property to carry out the management of regional property effectively and efficiently. The purpose of this study is to determine the use and administration of local property in the City Government of Manado, especially on the Regional Financial and Asset Management Board. The method used in this research is descriptive analysis method. The results of the research show that the use and appropriation of regional property has been done in accordance with the prevailing regulations and has been running well, even in the inadequate use of assets. To the Head of Manado City BPKAD in order to continue to carry out technical training to the employees so that in the implementation of the use and administration of local property carried out property and in accordance with Permendagri 19 year 2016.Keywords:  usage and administration of regional property


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