Search Results (30)

The increasing number of natural and man-made disasters registered at the global level is causing a significant amount of damage. This represents one of the main sustainability challenges at the global level. The collapse of the Twin Towers, Hurricane Katrina, and the nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant are some of the most representative disaster events that occurred at the beginning of the third millennium. These relevant disasters need an enhanced level of preparedness to reduce the gaps between the plan and its implementation. Among these actions, training and exercises play a relevant role because they increase the capability of planners, managers, and the people involved. By focusing on the exposure risk component, the general objective of the research is to obtain quantitative evaluations of the exercise’s contribution to risk reduction through evacuation. The paper aims to analyze serious games using a set of methods and models that simulate an urban risk reduction plan. In particular, the paper proposes a transparent framework that merges transport risk analysis (TRA) and transport system models (TSMs), developing serious game activities with the support of emerging information and communication technologies (e-ICT). Transparency is possible through the explicitation of reproducible analytical formulations and linked parameters. The core framework of serious games is constituted by a set of models that reproduce the effects of players’ choices, including planned actions of decisionmakers and travel users’ choices. The framework constitutes the prototype of a digital platform in a “non-stressful” context aimed at providing more insights about the effects of planned actions. The proposed framework is characterized by transparency, a feature that allows other analysts and planners to reproduce each risk scenario, by applying TRA and relative effects simulations in territorial contexts by means of TSMs and parameters updated by e-ICT. A basic experimentation is performed by using a game, presenting the main results of a prototype test based on a reproducible exercise. The prototype experiment demonstrates the efficacy of increasing preparedness levels and reducing exposure by designing and implementing a serious game. The paper’s methodology and results are useful for policymakers, emergency managers, and the community for increasing the preparedness level. Full article

The paper deals with transportation system models (TSMs) on behalf of methods for risk reduction in urban areas. As far as urban transport networks are concerned, further development of models is necessary in order to capture the potentialities of emerging information and communication technologies (e-ICTs) in providing valuable information about the evolution of a transportation network during an evacuation. A new learning process structure has been proposed to take into account how the path costs (disutilities) in ordinary and emergency conditions will be perceived and updated by the users. The data provided by emerging ICT allow for the incorporation of dynamics inside the network model, concerning the update of information provided by the internet of things and big data. Full article

This paper surveys urban courier routing, pointing out the learning process of the generalized travel cost enhanced by using innovations related to the introduction of emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs, i.e., the internet of things, big data, block chain and artificial intelligence), considering a smart city. Couriers, when planning in advance or choosing the routes in real time for delivering to citizens as well as to business users (including retailers), need to consider both the driving and walking routes (i.e., from the delivery bay to the customers) to optimize their activities. A two-layer literature optimization model is recalled, and the main scientific people-centered challenges that need to be addressed under the light of emerging ICTs are identified and explored, which are the learning process of routing attributes, as well as the opportunity to book on-street delivery bays in advance or in real time. Then, after a literature review on modeling courier activities, a unitary formulation is presented that combines old and real-time network data. In addition, integration with new telematics solutions (i.e., delivery bay booking) is pointed out. Finally, discussions on innovations and cost optimization are presented. Full article

The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its subsequent evolution into the Internet of Everything (IoE) is a result of the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT). However, implementing these technologies comes with certain obstacles, such as the limited availability of energy resources and processing power. Consequently, there is a need for energy-efficient and intelligent load-balancing models, particularly in healthcare, where real-time applications generate large volumes of data. This paper proposes a novel, energy-aware artificial intelligence (AI)-based load balancing model that employs the Chaotic Horse Ride Optimization Algorithm (CHROA) and big data analytics (BDA) for cloud-enabled IoT environments. The CHROA technique enhances the optimization capacity of the Horse Ride Optimization Algorithm (HROA) using chaotic principles. The proposed CHROA model balances the load, optimizes available energy resources using AI techniques, and is evaluated using various metrics. Experimental results show that the CHROA model outperforms existing models. For instance, while the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC), Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA), and Whale Defense Algorithm with Firefly Algorithm (WD-FA) techniques attain average throughputs of 58.247 Kbps, 59.957 Kbps, and 60.819 Kbps, respectively, the CHROA model achieves an average throughput of 70.122 Kbps. The proposed CHROA-based model presents an innovative approach to intelligent load balancing and energy optimization in cloud-enabled IoT environments. The results highlight its potential to address critical challenges and contribute to developing efficient and sustainable IoT/IoE solutions. Full article

Digital and technological transformation has gained significant attention not only due to the exposure of the latest technologies but also due to its considerable impact on sustainable economic growth. This research determines the influence of digital and technological advancement on sustainable economic growth. Digital and technological advancement is composed of three variables; E-government Development Index (EGDI), Internet Users’ (IU) growth, and information and communications technology (ICT) exports. Besides that, the urbanization and unemployment rate have been considered as control variables. The dataset consists of the year 2004–2020 for 21 Asian region partner countries along Belt and Road (BRI) region. The conclusions of the two-step system GMM were validated through the D-K fixed effect regression technique. Findings indicate that increase in EGDI, ICT exports, and internet users’ growth has a significant and positive influence on sustainable economic growth which leads that digital and technological advancement having a positive influence on sustainable economic growth. Moreover, urbanization has a partial positive impact, while unemployment has a negative influence on sustainable economic growth as Asian regions are emerging economies and the rate of unemployment is very high, which is affecting the real GDP per capita. It is evident and suggested that improvement in the EGDI index, internet users’ growth, ICT exports, and reduction in the unemployment rate would enhance the balanced sustainable economic growth for all Asian countries of the BRI region. Full article

The advancements made by information technology have redefined the concept, scope, and significance of communication. The barriers in the communication process have been wiped out by the recent advances in information and communication technology(ICT) backed by high-speed data connectivity. People are free to communicate without bothering about physical borders distancing them from one another. Information and communication technology has diversified its dynamism by creating an e-environment, where people exploit the power of technology and communication to deliver many services. This research used the conceptual framework for ICT-enabled learning management systems and described their dimensions and scope in ICT-enabled education. The ubiquity of ICT has revamped the education industry worldwide by introducing new approaches, tools, and techniques to modernize education. The widespread popularity of ICT has forced educational establishments to endorse this to update the academia to leverage its bounders and enhance productivity to yield productive outcomes at different levels of education. This paper describes different ICT approaches and investigates the importance, influence, and impact of ICT-enabled technologies on various educational practices to achieve productive educational outcomes. This research investigates the role of ICT in teaching and learning at different levels of education, explores various modulates and their influence on the overall development of educational activities, and identifies the research gaps that are bridged to achieve the primary aim of ICT and education. This research extended its ICT projections and scope to overcome the challenges emerging from pandemic circumstances and design and develop an online platform in proper consultation with market demand to make students more job-oriented or skill-oriented. This paper describes different ICT approaches adopted by various educational institutions across the globe to modernize student−teacher interaction. This paper further investigates the influence and impact of ICT-enabled technologies on various educational practices that are prerequisites for achieving productive educational outcomes. Full article

Today, local administrations are faced with the presence of greater constraints in terms of the use of space and time. At the same time, large amount of data is available to fleet managers that can be used for controlling their fleets. This work is set in the context defined by sustainable city logistics, and information and communication technologies (ICTs), to formalize the three themes of the smart city (transport, ICTs and energy savings) in a single problem. Following this, the main purpose of the study is to propose a unified formulation of the basic problem of fleets, i.e., the traveling salesman problem (TSP), which explicitly includes the use of emerging information and communication technologies (e-ICTs) pointing out the learning process of path costs in urban delivery. This research explores the opportunity to extend the path cost formation with a within-day and day-to-day learning process, including the specification of the attributes provided by e-ICTs. As shown through a real test case, the research answers to queries coming from operators and collectivities to improve city liveability and sustainability. It includes both economic sustainability for companies/enterprises and environmental sustainability for local administrations (and collectivities). Besides contributing to reduce the times and kms travelled by commercial vehicles, as well as the interference of freight vehicles with other traffic components, it also contributes to road accident reduction (social sustainability). Therefore, after the re-exanimation of TSP, this paper presents the proposed unitary formulation and its benefits through the discussion of results obtained in a real case study. Finally, the possible innovation guided by e-ICT is pointed out. Full article

From the moment the Republic of Serbia declared a state of emergency in the summer semester of 2019/2020, higher education institutions (HEIs) used various teaching models from Distance Learning Systems (DLS), online platforms and modern information and communication technologies (ICT), to sending materials via student e-mails and notifications via faculty portals. Using survey research as a method, the paper describes the experiences of teachers and associates at HEIs in Serbia (780 respondents) regarding the efficiency of provided education services. In this article, we used the method of content analysis and participatory observation, as well. We analysed the attitudes of teachers and associates apropos the efficiency of providing educational services through the work from home (WFH) model and distance learning (DL) and other models used in response to COVID-19 epidemiological measures in education. During the WFH setup, we looked for factors that affect educational efficiency. When it comes to the statistical technique, factor analysis was selected. Technology, managerial support, and work–home conflict are all expected to impact process efficiency, so these were the first criteria considered when selecting potential factors. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used as the extraction method, and the Varimax rotation method was also used. We discarded all factors with eigenvalues below one. Four factors caught our attention: School management support, Family–work conflict, Home infrastructure, and Technology choice. The results showed that F1 (School management support) is positively correlated to F2 (Family–work conflict) and efficiency and negatively correlated to F3 (Home infrastructure). Conversely, F2 is negatively correlated to F3 and positively correlated to efficiency. The F4 factor shows no significant correlations to other factors. Full article

Continuous and emerging advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have enabled Internet-of-Things (IoT)-to-Cloud applications to be induced by data pipelines and Edge Intelligence-based architectures. Advanced vehicular networks greatly benefit from these architectures due to the implicit functionalities that are focused on realizing the Internet of Vehicle (IoV) vision. However, IoV is susceptible to attacks, where adversaries can easily exploit existing vulnerabilities. Several attacks may succeed due to inadequate or ineffective authentication techniques. Hence, there is a timely need for hardening the authentication process through cutting-edge access control mechanisms. This paper proposes a Blockchain-based Multi-Factor authentication model that uses an embedded Digital Signature (MFBC_eDS) for vehicular clouds and Cloud-enabled IoV. Our proposed MFBC_eDS model consists of a scheme that integrates the Security Assertion Mark-up Language (SAML) to the Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities for a connected edge to cloud ecosystem. MFBC_eDS draws an essential comparison with the baseline authentication scheme suggested by Karla and Sood. Based on the foundations of Karla and Sood’s scheme, an embedded Probabilistic Polynomial-Time Algorithm (ePPTA) and an additional Hash function for the $P_i$ generated during Karla and Sood’s authentication were proposed and discussed. The preliminary analysis of the proposition shows that the approach is more suitable to counter major adversarial attacks in an IoV-centered environment based on the Dolev–Yao adversarial model while satisfying aspects of the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) triad. Full article

Agenda 2030 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 9 and 11 recognizes tourism as one of the central industries to global development to tackle global challenges. With the transformation of information and communication technologies (ICT), e-tourism has evolved globally to establish commercial relationships using the Internet for offering tourism-related products, including giving personalised suggestions. The contextual suggestion has emerged as a modified recommendation system that is integrated with information-retrieval techniques within large databases to provide tourists with a list of suggestions based on contexts, such as location, time of day, or day of the week (weekdays or weekends). This study surveyed literature in the field of contextual suggestion and recommendation systems with a focus on e-tourism. The concerns linked with approaches used in contextual suggestion and recommendation systems are highlighted in this systematic review, while motivations, recommendations, and practical implications in e-tourism are also discussed in this paper. A query search using the keywords “contextual suggestion system”, “recommendation system”, and “tourism” identified 143 relevant articles published from 2012 to 2020. Four major repositories are considered for searching, namely, (i) Science Direct, (ii) Scopus, (iii) IEEE, and (iv) Web of Science. This review was carried out under the protocols of four phases, namely, (i) query searching in major article repositories, (ii) removal of duplicates, (iii) scan of title and abstract, and (iv) complete reading of articles. To identify the gaps in current research, a taxonomy analysis was exemplified into categories and subcategories. The main categories were highlighted as (i) review articles, (ii) model/framework, and (iii) applications. Critical analysis was carried out on the basis of the available literature on the limitations of approaches used in contextual suggestion and recommendation systems. In conclusion, the approaches used are mainly based on content-based filtering, collaborative filtering, preference-based product ranking, and language modelling. The evaluation measures for the contextual suggestion system include precision, normalized discounted cumulative, and mean reciprocal rank, while test collections comprise Internet resources. Given that the tourism industry contributed to the environmental and social-economic development, contextual suggestion and recommendation systems have presented themselves to be relevant in integrating and achieving SDG 9 and SDG 11 in many ways such as web-based e-services by the government sector and smart gadgets based on reliable and real-time data and information for city planners as well as law enforcement personnel in a sustainable city. Full article

The devastating COVID-19 pandemic forced academia to go virtual. Educational institutions around the world have stressed online learning programs in the aftermath of the pandemic. However, because of insufficient access to Information Communication Technology (ICT), a substantial number of students failed to harness the opportunity of online learning. This study explores the latent digital divide exhibited during the COVID-19 pandemic while online learning activities are emphasised among students of Bangladesh. It also investigates the digital divide exposure and the significant underlying drivers of the divide. In order to accomplish this, a cross-sectional survey was employed to collect quantitative data, mixed with open-ended questions were utilised to gather qualitative information from the student community. The findings revealed that despite the majority of students having physical access to ICT, only 32.5% of students could attend online classes seamlessly. In total, 34.1% reported data prices as the critical barrier, while 39.8% identified poor network infrastructure as the significant barrier preventing them from participating in online learning activities. Although most students possess physical access to various devices and the Internet, they face the first-level digital divide due to the quality of access and price of cellular Internet. Consequently, they fail to take advantage of physical access, resulting in the third-level digital divide (utility gap), which submerges them into a digital divide cycle. The primary objective of this study is to explore the underlying issues of the digital divide among Bangladeshi students. This will assist relevant stakeholders (e.g., the Bangladesh government, educational institutions, and researchers) to gain necessary insights and theoretical understanding of underlying limitations and emergent directions to arrange adequate support for underprivileged students to undertake essential online learning activities. Full article

Motivated by the aging trend, much effort is being invested into implementing ICT (Information and Communications Technology)-enabled systems to provide a better quality of life and support the independent living of older people. As a result, many systems, often labeled as eHealth or AAL (Ambient/Active Assisted Living), were developed over the years. In creating such systems, which very often serve various needs, different architectures have emerged. This work focuses on analyzing and comparing the work and architectures from seven (six of which are in progress) EU-funded healthcare projects, with a total budget of 126MEUR in which we participate. After establishing the theoretical foundation by defining core concepts, we give a brief background on architectures in eHealth and AAL. We elaborate on the chosen analysis method based on three established healthcare and AAL taxonomies we identified by performing a literature survey and the selected Reference Architecture Model (RAM). Since there is no standard way of describing architectures in the eHealth and AAL domain, we conducted the online survey during August and September 2020 and identified CREATE-IoT 3D RAM as the most appropriate option. We present a classification of selected projects based on established taxonomies and map projects’ architectures to CREATE-IoT 3D RAM, which we also propose as standard RAM for future digital healthcare and AAL projects. During our analysis, we identify the most common types of assistance: communication support, reminders, monitoring, and guidance to address health and communication issues. We conclude that proper ecosystems are critical for lowering entry barriers and facilitating sustainable solutions for smart and healthy living. Full article

Wearable technologies involve the integration of technology into clothing or accessories to bring new functionalities for people on the move. Many examples of wearables are emerging, from simple fitness tracking watches to electronics deeply embedded into garments for multi-touch sensing and control for personal music players. Without careful development, wearables can have a negative impact on the environment due to increased production of electronic components, increased e-waste from abandoned devices, and increased energy usage. We examine environmental sustainability issues through a review of recent research and cases across three broad areas including the fashion industry, information and communications technology (ICT), and wearable technologies. In the analysis, we examine stages in the product life cycle and identify the unique issues for each sector, including the extraction of materials, production process, distribution of products, use, and disposal of products that have reached the end of their life. The findings are gathered as implications for design so that researchers, educators, designers, developers, and product managers will gain an overview of the issues related to environmental sustainability. Related examples of products and prototypes are provided to enable informed choices during the design and development of wearables that are more environmentally sustainable. Full article

Resource optimization is a key concern for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Cloud Computing, as the recent generation in computing technology of the fourth industrial revolution, has emerged as the main standard of service and resource delivery. As cloud computing has grown into a mature technology and is being rapidly adopted in many HEIs across the world, retaining customers of this innovative technology has become a challenge to the cloud service providers. Current research trends on cloud computing have sought to study the acceptance or adoption of technology; however, little research has been devoted to the continuance use in an organizational setting. To address this gap, this study aims to investigate the antecedents of cloud computing continuance use in HEIs. Hence, drawing on the prior literature in organizational-level continuance, this research established a conceptual model that extends and contextualizes the IS continuance model through the lens of the TOE framework (i.e., technological, organizational, and environmental influences). The results of a pilot study, conducted through a survey with information and communications technology (ICT) decision makers, and based on the proposed conceptual model, indicate that the instrument is both reliable and valid, and so point the way towards further research. The paper closes with a discussion of the research limitations, contribution, and future directions. Full article

Currently, many intelligent building energy management systems (BEMSs) are emerging for saving energy in new and existing buildings and realizing a sustainable society worldwide. However, installing an intelligent BEMS in existing buildings does not realize an innovative and advanced society because it only involves simple equipment replacement (i.e., replacement of old equipment or LED (Light Emitting Diode) lamps) and energy savings based on a stand-alone system. Therefore, artificial intelligence (AI) is applied to a BEMS to implement intelligent energy optimization based on the latest ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) technology. AI can analyze energy usage data, predict future energy requirements, and establish an appropriate energy saving policy. In this paper, we present a dynamic heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) scheduling method that collects, analyzes, and infers energy usage data to intelligently save energy in buildings based on reinforcement learning (RL). In this regard, a hotel is used as the testbed in this study. The proposed method collects, analyzes, and infers IoT data from a building to provide an energy saving policy to realize a futuristic HVAC (heating system) system based on RL. Through this process, a purpose-oriented energy saving methodology to achieve energy saving goals is proposed. Full article