Hardware Investment Research Articles

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Bio-inspired approach and integrity check mechanism for secure data storage in multi-cloud environment

Storage of data in consumption of distantly positioned outsized information centres for the processing of data of users that perhaps the clients not currently have any leverage over. This has enforced the necessity to support cloud storage of public environment validity. Hence users be able to trust on a private party auditor (PPA) to validate the truthfulness of cloud-based data. However the PPA does not induce severe to data protection for users and should not raise the burden on cloud users online. Users can use cloud storage technology by storing data files in the cloud, thus reducing hardware investment and streamlining data analytics. The cloud optimization has also been addressed using bio-inspired algorithm called artificial algae algorithm (AAA) for efficient cloud usage. Despite of new inventions, guaranteeing data integrity is a concern in using ineffective service suppliers. In this article, we proposed a novel integrity of data approach targeted at customers in cloud computing environments with information stored in less-trustful service providers. A benefit of this strategy is the low cost to the consumer as it produces a constant amount of metadata and less utilization of time in execution as compared with existing technique.

English Translation Teaching Model of Flipped Classroom Based on the Fusion Algorithm of Network Communication and Artificial Intelligence

With the advent of the information age and the rapid development of communication technology, traditional teaching methods and methods can no longer meet people’s needs for education in the information age. This research mainly discusses the flipped classroom English translation teaching model based on the fusion algorithm of network communication and artificial intelligence. This research proposes an Internet learning platform based on Tencent’s QQ communication software and mobile terminals. This learning platform can meet the learning needs of flipped classrooms, without spending a lot of investment in hardware and software development. This is a relatively ideal Internet learning platform suitable for students to carry out flipped classroom learning. Most of these mobile terminals have functions such as video playback, document reading and editing, wireless network connection, QQ communication, and large‐capacity storage. These functions provide support for the smooth implementation of flip class. The video playback function can meet the needs of students to download and watch microvideos. Students can use mobile terminals to watch anytime, anywhere. The document reading and editing function can help students read related learning materials online, including self‐study test questions, task lists, and teaching evaluation forms. Under this platform, students and teachers who are participants in the learning process are linked to each other through the QQ of the network terminal. The learning resources are uploaded by the teacher to the group file for students to download and watch. Students use the QQ group to give feedback and discuss difficult problems. This kind of learning network that flexibly chooses the learning time and place according to the individual student’s own situation is very efficient and convenient. After the English translation test, the failure rate of the experimental class was only 3.3%, while in the control class, the failure rate was 8.3%. This research will better integrate the flipped classroom teaching mode and English translation teaching by building a learning exchange platform, which will help improve the quality of teaching.

Proof-of-Work Cryptocurrencies: Does Mining Technology Undermine Decentralization?

Does the proof-of-work protocol serve its intended purpose of supporting decentralized cryptocurrency mining? To address this question, we develop a game-theoretical model where miners first invest in hardware to improve the efficiency of their operations, and then compete for mining rewards in a rent-seeking game. We argue that because of capacity constraints faced by miners, centralization in mining is lower than indicated by both public discourse and recent academic work. We show that advancements in hardware efficiency do not necessarily lead to larger miners increasing their advantage, investment in new hardware contributes to decentralization but rather allow smaller miners to expand and new miners to enter the competition. Our calibrated model illustrates that hardware efficiency has a small impact on the cost of attacking a network, while the mining reward has a significant impact. This highlights the vulnerability of smaller and emerging cryptocurrencies, as well as of established cryptocurrencies transitioning to a fee-based mining reward scheme.

Generalized Additive Modeling of Building Inertia Thermal Energy Storage for Integration Into Smart Grid Control

The structural mass of a building provides inherent thermal storage capability. Through sector coupling, the building mass can provide additional flexibility to the electric power system, using, for instance, combined heat and power plants or power-to-heat. In this work, a mathematical model of building inertia thermal energy storage (BITES) for integration into optimized smart grid control is introduced. It is shown how necessary model parameters can be obtained using generalized additive modeling (GAM) based on measurable building data. For this purpose, it is demonstrated that the ceiling surface temperature can serve as a proxy for the current state of energy. This allows for real-world implementation using only temperature sensors as additionally required hardware. Compared with linear modeling, GAM enable improved modeling of the nonlinear characteristics and interactions of external factors influencing the storage operation. Two case studies demonstrate the potential of using building storage as part of a virtual power plant (VPP) for optimized smart grid control. In the first case study, BITES is compared with conventionally used hot water tanks, revealing economic benefits for both the VPP and building operator. The second case study investigates the potential for savings in CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> emission and grid connection capacity. It shows similar benefits when using BITES compared to using battery storage, without the need for hardware investment. Given the ubiquity of buildings and the recent advances in building control systems, BITES offers great potential as an additional source of flexibility to the low-carbon energy systems of the future.

Cost‐Effective and Ultraportable Smartphone‐Based Vision System for Structural Deflection Monitoring

This work demonstrates the viability of using a smartphone‐based vision system to monitor the deflection of engineering structures subjected to external loadings. The video images of a test structure recorded by a smartphone camera are processed using the state‐of‐the‐art subset‐based digital image correlation (DIC) algorithm to extract the vertical image displacement of discrete calculation points defined on the test object. The measured vertical image displacement can be converted to deflection (vertical displacement) by easy‐to‐implement scaling factor determination approaches. For accuracy validation, laboratory experiments using a cantilever beam subjected to external loadings were performed. The deflection and inherent frequency of the test cantilever beam measured by the proposed smartphone‐based vision system were compared with those measured by conventional dial gauges and a dynamic strain gauge. The relative errors were estimated as 1% and 0.15% for deflection and inherent frequency, respectively. Outdoor real bridge deflection monitoring tests were also carried out on an overpass with subway passing by, and the measured deflection‐time curves agree well with actual situations. The cost‐effective, ultraportable, and easy‐to‐use smartphone‐based vision system not only greatly decreases the hardware investment and complexity in deflection measurement system construction, but also increases the convenience and efficiency of deflection monitoring of engineering structures.

Impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Investment on different Components of Human Development in Developing Countries

ICT investment is the key factor of human development in developing countries. Human development has three main components such as GDP, health and education. The current study explores the impact of ICT investment on the components of human development in 67 selected developing countries. Selected developing countries are divided into four panels on the basis of income as lower, lower middle, upper middle and high income countries. Data were collected from World Bank, ITU and Word Information Technology and Services Alliances website for the period of 2000 to 2018. Pesaran, Friedman and Frees CSD tests confirmed the presence of cross-sectional dependency in the variables and consequently, CIPS second generation unit root test were used for stationarity. Kao and Pedroni test and ARDL model were employed to check the long-run cointegration and regression analysis respectively. The regression results showed the mixed findings in different panels. The results explored that ICT investment have different impacts on the components of human development in four panels of the developing countries. Communication investment, software and hardware investment have positive impact on the components of human development in all panels. It is recommended that government should focus on ICT investment to increase GDP, level of education index, life expectancy index and HDI. Keywords: ICT Investment, Human Development, Developing Countries, Panel Data.

Evaluation of Digital Competency of Public University Students for Web-Facilitated Learning: The Case of Saudi Arabia

Our public universities in Saudi Arabia have made considerable investments in digital hardware, on-site training, and online tutorials to improve the quality of e-learning. However, there is an observed gap among students between the expected and actual use of digital technology in their learning. To close that gap, this requires a conceptual evaluation model that illustrates technological actions students are involved in, the level of digital proficiency they are in, type of digital technology they use, and kind of support they need. This study used the Digital Competency Profiler to evaluate the digital competency of public university students in Saudi Arabia. Data on 94 students from a public university were collected using an online platform. Multiple procedures were used for instrument validation, data screening, and data analysis. Findings from the study suggest that the majority of public university students had high digital readiness for performing social and informational skills through smartphones. In addition, most of university students missed all skills in the epistemological competency and some technical skills. Finally, implications for practice, limitations for generalization, and directions for future research are presented.

Lessons Learned: Inpatient Telepalliative Medicine Consultations during COVID-19 Pandemic

As the COVID-19 pandemic proceeds, systems continue to struggle with the need to decrease provider exposure and minimize personal protective equipment use while maintaining high quality patient care. The reduced visitation capacity in hospitals has resulted in high levels of patient and family suffering, and patients both with and without COVID-19 require expert symptom management and goals of care conversations. A manuscript was published describing the rapid implementation of telepalliative medicine consultation by the Inpatient Palliative Care team at UCSF in attempts to meet these critical patient and family needs. This piece details additional lessons learned that were inadequately addressed in the original manuscript and/or that have been revealed in the months since the program’s inception. Key learning points include the need for: committed investment in effective hardware and software; communication skills adapted to effectively utilize technology to benefit patients and families; creative workforce models to render technology effective; interdisciplinary input in care models to reduce provider as well as patient and family suffering; and attention to burdens placed on already overstretched nurses and intensivists during respiratory pandemics.

Optimizing health IT to improve health system performance: A work in progress

BackgroundDespite significant investments in health information technology (IT), the technology has not yielded the intended performance effects or transformational change. We describe activities that health systems are pursuing to better leverage health IT to improve performance. MethodsWe conducted semi-structured telephone interviews with C-suite executives from 24 U.S. health systems in four states during 2017–2019 and analyzed the data using a qualitative thematic approach. ResultsHealth systems reported two broad categories of activities: laying the foundation to improve performance with IT and using IT to improve performance. Within these categories, health systems were engaged in similar activities but varied greatly in their progress. The most substantial effort was devoted to the first category, which enabled rather than directly improved performance, and included consolidating to a single electronic health record (EHR) platform and common data across the health system, standardizing data elements, and standardizing care processes before using the EHR to implement them. Only after accomplishing such foundational activities were health systems able to focus on using the technology to improve performance through activities such as using data and analytics to monitor and provide feedback, improving uptake of evidence-based medicine, addressing variation and overuse, improving system-wide prevention and population health management, and making care more convenient. Conclusions and implicationsLeveraging IT to improve performance requires significant and sustained effort by health systems, in addition to significant investments in hardware and software. To accelerate change, better mechanisms for creating and disseminating best practices and providing advanced technical assistance are needed.

The Impact of Information Technology Investment on the Performance of Apparel Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on the Moderating Effect of Equity Concentration

As a relatively large production and trade industry in China's manufacturing sector, apparel manufacturing has entered the data analytics era with much-enhanced productivity by using information technology. The extent to which the state-of-the-art information technologies can increase the productivity of this entire industry has not been fully investigated. This article selects 30 Chinese listed apparel manufacturing enterprises from 2012 to 2018 as a sample and analyzes the impact of information technology investment on their performance using the panel fixed effect and random effect models. In addition, the moderating effect of enterprise equity concentration on the abovementioned relationship is studied. Equity concentration reflects the distribution of equity from the total amount. Excessive equity concentration enables large shareholders to obtain higher control rights with smaller cash flows, seizing the interests of small and medium shareholders and digging tunnels. This is, thus, not conducive to healthy and long-term development of the firm. The results show that information technology, such as software investment, hardware investment, and total information technology investment, can improve the enterprise performance. Among them, software investment has the greatest impact on the enterprise performance. When the proportion of the software investment increases by 1%, the enterprise performance increases by 17.6%. The equity concentration has a negative impact on the relationship between the investment in information technology and enterprise performance.

Practical real-time optimization for energy efficient water distribution systems operation

The production, treatment and delivery systems of drinking water and wastewater is one of the largest energy consumers in the US with about 4% of the nation’s power consumption. Roughly 80% of the water treatment and distribution costs are associated with electricity, mainly for pumping. Increasing the efficiency of drinking water pumping systems could benefit both the energy- and water-sectors. Despite the advancement of optimal pump scheduling technology, most water utilities are relatively small, and thus lack the funds, hardware and technical personal to support the use of sophisticated and computer intensive pump optimization programs. This study presents a simple and practical model predictive control methodology for real-time pump scheduling. This methodology can be deployed on a standard hardware (e.g., PLCs in pumping stations), which is currently in use by most water utilities. As such, it provides optimal pump scheduling benefits without necessitating large investment in new computational hardware (e.g., advanced controllers). The proposed methodology reduces both the energy consumption (by selecting the most efficient pumps’ combinations) and the operation cost (by optimizing the pumps’ operation according to electricity tariff periods). The results show that our practical methodology, which could be implemented in simple controllers, can provide near optimal decisions comparable with sophisticated optimization methods that require advanced hardware. To the best of our knowledge, there is no available methodology with such capabilities which is specifically designed for local control schemes. Thus, the novelty of this study is the utilization of this optimization methodology on a simple PLC hardware. Our results are of high importance for both academic and practical reasons, as it shows that the proposed methodology could be a kernel for a low-cost pumps’ optimization technology.

Benefícios e desvantagens da implementação do prontuário eletrônico do paciente para o serviço de saúde

Trata-se de uma pesquisa bibliográfica de abordagem qualitativa e caráter descritivo com o objetivo em identificar os benefícios e desvantagens encontradas na implementação dos Prontuários Eletrônico do Paciente no serviço de saúde. Como metodologia. Os dados foram coletados em Base de Dados Virtuais. Para tal utilizou-se a BVS, nas seguintes Bases de informações LILACS, MEDLINE, BDENF e pelo endereço eletrônico scholar.google.com.br, no período de maio de 2019. Como resultados, foram encontradas vantagens como agilidade no acesso de informações relacionadas ao paciente, uso simultâneo dos prontuários, legibilidade, eliminação da redundância de dados, organização sistematizada e ainda desvantagens como grandes investimentos de hardware, software e treinamento, resistência dos profissionais de saúde e lentidão e inoperância dos sistemas. Conclui-se que devem ser considerados, para implementação do PEP, a padronização dos prontuários, o estabelecimento dos fluxogramas de informação da equipe, o treinamento de todos envolvidos e o controle e avaliação dos resultados.

Implementation Guide for Rapid Integration of an Outpatient Telemedicine Program During the COVID-19 Pandemic

BackgroundIn the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, social distancing has been necessary to help prevent disease transmission. As a result, medical practices have limited access to in-person visits. This poses a challenge to maintain appropriate patient care while preventing a substantial backlog of patients once stay-at-home restrictions are lifted. In practices that are naïve to telehealth as an alternative option, providers and staff are experiencing challenges with telemedicine implementation. We aim to provide a comprehensive guide on how to rapidly integrate telemedicine into practice during a pandemic.MethodsWe built a toolkit that details the following 8 essential components to successful implementation of a telemedicine platform: provider and staff training, patient education, an existing electronic medical record system, patient and provider investment in hardware, billing and coding integration, information technology support, audiovisual platforms, and patient and caregiver participation.ResultsRapid integration of telemedicine in our practice was required to be compliant with our institution’s COVID-19 task force. Within 3 days of this declaration, our large specialty-care clinic converted to a telemedicine platform and we completed 638 visits within the first month of implementation.ConclusionsEffective and efficient integration of a telemedicine program requires extensive staff and patient education, accessory platforms to facilitate video and audio communication, and adoption of new billing codes that are outlined in this toolkit.

FPGA for 5G: Re-configurable Hardware for Next Generation Communication

Next generation communication relies on standardized protocols, heterogeneous architectures and advanced technologies that are envisioned to bring ubiquitous and seamless connectivity. This evolution of communication will not only improve the performance of the existing networks, but will also enable various applications in other fields while integrating different heterogeneous systems. This massive scaling of mobile communication requires higher bandwidth to operate. 5G promises a robust solution by offering ultra-low latency and high bandwidth for data transmission. To provide individuals and companies with a real-time, social, and all connected experience, an end-to-end coordinated architecture which is agile and intelligent has to be designed at each stage. As FPGA has the potential to be resource/power efficient, it can be used for building up constituents of 5G infrastructure. It can accelerate network performance without making a large investment in new hardware. Dynamic reconfigurability and in-field programming features of FPGAs compared to fixed function ASICs help in developing better wireless systems. This article presents various application areas of FPGAs for the upcoming 5G network planning.

Secure Verifiable Database Supporting Efficient Dynamic Operations in Cloud Computing

Storage is one of the main services that the cloud provides users. Utilizing the cloud to store large amounts of data can alleviate the cost of storage and the hardware investment on the local side, which is very important for resource-restricted clients. An emerging issue for clients is how to verify the database in the could after outsourcing their data to the cloud. Many verifiable database (VDB) schemes have been proposed by researchers that can solve this issue. However, some of the existing schemes cannot satisfy the practical requirements of database verifiability. In this paper, we propose a secure verifiable database scheme that is based on the polynomial commitment for cloud computing, which can realize the verifiability of database records in the cloud. Moreover, the proposed scheme can support public verifiability in that all clients in the system can verify the database. In addition, we use the BLS signature and the index-hash table to construct dynamic operations for the database. Security analysis shows that our scheme can achieve real-world security requirements. The simulation results show that our scheme is more efficient than similar schemes.

3D technology and telemedicine in humanitarian settings

3D technology and telemedicine in humanitarian settings

Research on Investment Decision-Making in Waterway Engineering Based on the Hub Economic Index

Due to the wide range of waterway engineering strategies, the government often has the view that investment in hardware (such as construction, equipment renewal, etc.) is more important than that in software (such as information systems, service concepts, etc.) in the investment decision-making of waterway engineering. Besides, some government departments lack a consideration of coordinated development among different industries, resulting in the waterway industry lagging behind other industries (such as expressways, high-speed railway, etc.). To facilitate a more balanced infrastructure investment, we create a novel index, the Hub Economic Index (HEI), by incorporating the theory of the hub economy into the investment decision-making of waterway engineering. HEI consists of two major criteria, tangible and intangible assets, further divided into 10 indices. In particular, investment allocation between tangible and intangible assets is evaluated for the four major reaches of the North Jiangsu Canal. Multiple years of HEI values for the water transport industry are calculated for trend analysis and comparison with other industries. The results show that (1) through the comparison between the calculated values of the HEI investment model and the actual investment, the deviation of the tangible investment is 2.8% lower, and that of the intangible hub investment is 7.2% higher, which is basically in line with the actual situation. At the same time, it promotes the development of software; and (2) through the variation trends in HEI for various industries from 2008 to 2018, the HEI values of the different industries in the transportation system show a trend of steady growth. This is basically consistent with China’s economic development trend, but also reflects the development gap between the different industries. The research results are of great significance to help the government to make investment decisions in different fields and industries. The investment based on HEI values will further promote the integrated development of the water transport industry and other industries.

Development of a virtual shapemeter based on a shape control model for continuous annealing

Purpose Continuous annealing (CA) units usually lack a physical shapemeter; consequently, real-time display and closed-loop control of the strip shape are impossible to achieve. Design/methodology/approach A shape model for the CA process is established in this study. Specifically, a virtual shapemeter and closed-loop control system based on the advanced parameter acquisition system and information transmission of CA units are developed in C++ programming language. This system realises real-time dynamic shape display, closed-loop control and shape prediction by collecting raw data of steel coils and parameters during CA. Findings Field test results show that the shape predicted by the virtual shapemeter coincides with the measured shape by over 90 per cent, which fully meets the precision requirement of industrial applications. Originality/value Moreover, shape quality is effectively improved without increasing hardware investments.

Efficient data integrity auditing with corrupted data recovery for edge computing in enterprise multimedia security

Enterprise multimedia can provide various services for enterprises and staffs, such as minutes of the meeting, staff training and internal news release. The format of enterprise multimedia data includes images, videos, documents, etc. The diversity and complexity of the multimedia data content increase the difficulty of storage and processing of the data. Using the nearest edge nodes to store and process the enterprise multimedia data can reduce the investment of the local storage hardware, and improve the utilization rate of peripheral dispersing devices. However, edge nodes are not fully trusted. The lack of service managers in edge computing determines that the stored enterprise multimedia data suffers from many security threats. To guarantee the security of the multimedia data in enterprises, an efficient data integrity auditing scheme is proposed for edge computing in this paper that can be used in enterprise multimedia security. Note that the technology of the homomorphic authenticator is used to construct the proposed scheme, which determines that our scheme can provide data integrity auditing with high efficiency. To reduce the financial loss caused by data corrupted for enterprise, the enterprise multimedia data are backed up in the remote cloud. Moreover, the data storage structure of One-way Linked Information Table (OLIT) is used to store the history multimedia data for enterprise, which provides high efficiency of the data recovery. In security analysis, the correctness proof is provided, and the data update auditing and the replay attack resistance are also analyzed. Performance analysis shows that our scheme has low computational cost that can be employed in the practical enterprise multimedia security.

High Performance Computing in Resource Poor Settings: An Approach based on Volunteer Computing

High Performance Computing (HPC) systems aim to solve complex computing problems (in a short amount of time) that are either too large for standard computers or would take too long. They are used to solve computational problems in many fields such as medical science (for drug discovery, breast cancer detection in images, etc.), climate science, physics, mathematical science, etc. Existing solutions such as HPC Supercomputer, HPC Cluster, HPC Cloud or HPC Grid are not adapted for resource poor settings (mainly for developing countries) because their fees are generally beyond the funding (particularly for academics) and the administrative complexity to access to HPC Grid creates a higher barrier. This paper presents an approach allowing to build a Volunteer Computing system for HPC in resource poor settings. This solution does not require any additional investment in hardware, but relies instead on voluntary machines already owned by the private users. The experiment has been made on the mathematical problem of solving the matrices multiplication using Volunteer Computing system. Given the success of this experiment, the enrollment of other volunteers has already started. The goal being to create a powerful Volunteer Computing system with the maximum number of computers.