scholarly journals Architecture Pattern for Context-Aware Smart Environments

2014 ◽  
pp. 108-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktoriya Degeler ◽  
Alexander Lazovik
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
General System ◽  
Basic Structure ◽  
Smart Environments ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Smart Environment ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
Common Information ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
The Common

Recent years marked many smart environment solutions hitting the market and applying latest pervasive computing research advancements on an industrial scale. Context-aware smart environments are able to act accordingly to the immediate environment information in an intelligent, predefined, learned, or automatically inferred way, and are able to communicate to their users, thus increasing users’ comfort and awareness level. Since the beginning of the 2000s, many projects have been designing and implementing smart environment systems. When looking post-factum at the architectures of these systems, one can notice a lot of similarities among them. With the same basic structure, the biggest differences usually arise at the level of individual components, aimed to satisfy different end-level requirements. Taking many successful and undergoing projects as case-studies, this chapter looks for the common structure, the common patterns, and the “best practices” that can help future projects to reduce the efforts spent on the general system frame, and redirect those efforts to more specific requirements that are unique in every project. It introduces several architecture layers that inevitably exist in one form or another, discusses the possible layer components and the common information flows, and mentions the most notable problems, such as scalability and fault tolerance. Several case studies of successful or undergoing smart building projects show that the presented pattern can be easily mapped to their architectures.

scholarly journals Markov Random Neural Fields for Face Sketch Synthesis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjin Zhang ◽  
Nannan Wang ◽  
Xinbo Gao ◽  
Yunsong Li
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Neural Fields ◽  
Common Information ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
Markov Random ◽  
The Common ◽  
Sketch Synthesis ◽  
Face Sketch Synthesis

Synthesizing face sketches with both common and specific information from photos has been recently attracting considerable attentions in digital entertainment. However, the existing approaches either make the strict similarity assumption on face sketches and photos, leading to lose some identity-specific information, or learn the direct mapping relationship from face photos to sketches by the simple neural network, resulting in the lack of some common information. In this paper, we propose a novel face sketch synthesis based on the Markov random neural fields including two structures. In the first structure, we utilize the neural network to learn the non-linear photo-sketch relationship and obtain the identity-specific information of the test photo, such as glasses, hairpins and hairstyles. In the second structure, we choose the nearest neighbors of the test photo patch and the sketch pixel synthesized in the first structure from the training data which ensure the common information of Miss or Mr Average. Experimental results on the Chinese University of Hong Kong face sketch database illustrate that our proposed framework can preserve the common structure and capture the characteristic features. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods, our method achieves better results in terms of both quantitative and qualitative experimental evaluations.

scholarly journals Hybrid Aspect of Context-Aware Middleware for Pervasive Smart Environment: A Review

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Madhusudanan ◽  
S. Geetha ◽  
V. Prasanna Venkatesan ◽  
U. Vignesh ◽  
P. Iyappan
Keyword(s):  
Pervasive Computing ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Future Perspective ◽  
Smart Environments ◽  
Portable Devices ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Smart Environment ◽  
Computing Environment ◽  
And Function ◽  
Pervasive Applications

Pervasive computing has made almost every device we see today to be communicated and function in collaboration with one another. Since the portable devices have become a part of our everyday life, people are more involved in a pervasive computing environment. They engage with many computational devices simultaneously without knowing the availability of their existence. The current world is being filled with more and more smart environments. These smart environments make them to be attracted towards the new technological emergence in the field of pervasive computing. Various researches are being carried out to improve the smart environment and their applications. Middleware plays a vital role in building the pervasive applications. The pervasive devices act based on the context of the situation, that is, they do their actions according to the environment of the application. They react to the situations smartly as they can take their own decisions based on the context developed for that specific application. Most of the pervasive applications were using its own middleware that is specific towards their need. As today, most of the applications are using their own middleware with their specific requirement, which leads us to unearth out their common features and their scope of using it. In this paper, a survey on the various hybrid aspects of the different context-aware middleware has been done. This middleware is classified based on service, context, and device aspects. Merits and demerits are identified from the existing smart environments, and future perspective of their development such as generic context-aware middleware need has been discussed.

On the Representation and Recognition of Temporal Patterns of Activities in Smart Environments

2012 ◽  
pp. 363-385
Author(s):  
Fulvio Mastrogiovanni ◽  
Antonello Scalmato ◽  
Antonio Sgorbissa ◽  
Renato Zaccaria
Keyword(s):  
Human Activities ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Temporal Patterns ◽  
Smart Homes ◽  
Smart Environments ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Smart Environment ◽  
System Usage ◽  
Sensory Data ◽  
Temporal Relationships

This chapter introduces a framework for enabling context-aware behaviors in smart environment applications, with a special emphasis on smart homes and similar scenarios. In particular, an ontology-based architecture is described that allows system designers to specify non-trivial situations the system must be able to detect on the basis of available sensory data. Relevant situations may include activities and events that could be prolonged over long periods of time. Therefore, the ontology encodes temporal operators that, once applied to sensory information, allow the recognition and efficient correlation of different human activities and other events whose temporal relationships are contextually important. Special emphasis is devoted to actual representation and recognition of temporally distributed situations. The proof of the concept is validated through a thoroughly described example of system usage.

scholarly journals Content Service Platform for Providing User-Centric Content in Smart Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Joonseok Park ◽  
Dongwoo Lee ◽  
Keunhyuk Yeom
Keyword(s):  
Smart Cities ◽  
Smart Environments ◽  
Context Aware ◽  
Smart Environment ◽  
Service Platform ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Heterogeneous Devices ◽  
Contextual Reasoning ◽  
Street Environment

Smart environments, such as smart cities and streets, contain various heterogeneous devices and content that provide information to users and interact with each other. In a smart environment, appropriate content should be provided based on the situations of users. Additionally, when a user is in motion, it is necessary to provide content in a seamless manner without interruption. A method for systematically controlling the delivery of such content is required. Therefore, we propose a content service platform to meet the needs discussed above. The content service platform supports the delivery of content and events between different devices, as well as the control of content. Context-aware technology can also be applied to support customized content. In this paper, we present an architectural model, a contextual reasoning process, and case study on applying content service platform to a smart street environment. The proposed content service platform applied as a base model to support the provision of user-specific content in smart environments.

Medicines management for nursing practice

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Brack ◽  
Penny Franklin ◽  
Jill Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Nursing Practice ◽  
Medicines Management ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Practical Advice ◽  
Patient Centred Care ◽  
The Common ◽  
Skills Learning ◽  
Straightforward Approach

Medicines Management for Nursing Practice: Pharmacology, Patient Safety, and Procedures is a friendly guide designed to equip pre-registration and newly qualified nurses with the medicines management knowledge and skills to provide safe patient-centred care. Balancing theory with practical advice, this accessible text covers basic pharmacology, drug calculations, key legislation and standards, and patient safety. Drawing from the most up-to-date sources of evidence and advice, including NMC and BNF guidelines, Medicines Management for Nursing Practice prepares nurses to promote their patients' safety, concordance, understanding of medicines, and wellbeing. This book takes a lively and straightforward approach to a vital set of nursing skills. Learning features such as reflection points, exercises, and further reading help readers to develop and consolidate their knowledge. Chapters on pharmacology and drug calculations take a step-by-step approach and are supported by diagrams and examples to aid understanding. Case studies relate guidelines and theories to the common practical scenarios that nurses encounter on a day-to-day basis.

scholarly journals The Key Strategies to Implement Circular Economy in Building Projects—A Case Study of Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 754
Author(s):  
H.-Ping Tserng ◽  
Cheng-Mo Chou ◽  
Yun-Tsui Chang
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Building Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
The World ◽  
Project Phases ◽  
Future Project

The building industry is blamed for consuming enormous natural resources and creating massive solid waste worldwide. In response to this, the concept of circular economy (CE) has gained much attention in the sector in recent years. Many pilot building projects that implemented CE concepts started to appear around the world, including Taiwan. However, compared with the pilot projects in the Netherlands, which are regarded as the pioneer ones by international society, many CE-related practices are not implemented in pilot cases in Taiwan. To assist future project stakeholders to recognize what the key CE-related practices are and how they could be implemented in their building projects in Taiwan, this study has conducted a series of case studies of Dutch and Taiwanese pilot projects and semi-structured interviews with key project stakeholders of Taiwanese pilot projects. Thirty key CE-related practices are identified via case studies, along with their related 5R principles (Rethink, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle) and project phases. Suggestion on CE-related practices, their 5R principles, project items, and phases to implement in building projects in Taiwan is also proposed while discussion on differences between two countries’ pilot projects is presented.

'The Proof is on My Palm': Debating Ethnicity, Islam and Ritual in a New African Diaspora

2006 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Ethnic Group ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
African Diaspora ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Muslim Identity ◽  
World Religion ◽  
Guinea Bissau ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

AbstractFor Mandinga in Guinea-Bissau and Portugal, life-course rituals are currently provoking transnational debates on ethnic and religious identity. In Guinea-Bissau, these two identities are thought to be one and the same—to be Mandinga is to 'naturally' be Muslim. For Mandinga immigrants in Portugal, however, the experience of transnationalism and the allure of 'global Islam' have thrust this long-held notion into debate. In this article, I explore the contours and consequences of this debate by focusing on the 'writing-on-the-hand' ritual, which initiates Mandinga children into Qur'anic study. Whereas some Mandinga immigrants in Portugal view the writing-on-the-hand ritual as essential for conferring both Muslim identity and 'Mandinga-ness', others feel that this Mandinga 'custom' should be abandoned for a more orthodox version of Islam. Case studies reveal an internal debate about Mandinga ethnicity, Islam and ritual, one that transcends the common 'traditionalist'/'modernist' distinction. I suggest that the internal debate, although intensified by migration, is not itself a consequence of 'modernity' but has long been central to how Mandinga imagine themselves as both members of a distinct ethnic group and as practitioners of the world religion of Islam.

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