Cloud Providers Viability: How to Address it from an IT and Legal Perspective?

in Economics of Grids, Clouds, Systems, and Services (2015, September 16)

A major part of the commercial Internet is moving towards a cloud paradigm. This phenomenon has a drastic impact on the organizational structures of enterprises and introduces new challenges that must be ... [more ▼]

A major part of the commercial Internet is moving towards a cloud paradigm. This phenomenon has a drastic impact on the organizational structures of enterprises and introduces new challenges that must be properly addressed to avoid major setbacks. One such challenge is that of cloud provider viability, that is, the reasonable certainty that the Cloud Service Provider (CSP) will not go out of business, either by filing for bankruptcy or by simply shutting down operations, thus leaving its customers stranded without an infrastructure and, depending on the type of cloud service used, even without their applications or data. This article attempts to address the issue of cloud provider viability, proposing some ways of mitigating the problem both from a technical and from a legal perspective. [less ▲]

Cloud Providers Viability: How to Address it from an IT and Legal Perspective?

in Electron Markets (2018), 28(1), 53-75

A major part of the commercial Internet is moving toward the cloud paradigm. This phenomenon has a drastic impact onthe organizational structures of enterprizes and introduces new challenges that must be ... [more ▼]

A major part of the commercial Internet is moving toward the cloud paradigm. This phenomenon has a drastic impact onthe organizational structures of enterprizes and introduces new challenges that must be properly addressed to avoid majorsetbacks. One such challenge is that of cloud provider viability, that is, the reasonable certainty that the Cloud ServiceProvider (CSP) will not go out of business, either by filing for bankruptcy or by simply shutting down operations, thusleaving its customers stranded without an infrastructure and, depending on the type of cloud service used, even withouttheir applications or data. This article attempts to address the issue of cloud provider viability, defining a possible way ofmodeling viability as a non-functional requirement and proposing some approaches that can be used to mitigate the problem,both from a technical and from a legal perspective. By introducing a structured perspective into the topic of cloud viability,describing the risks, factors and possible mitigators, the contribution of this work is twofold: it gives the customer a betterunderstanding to determine when it can rely on the cloud infrastructure on the long term and what precautions it should takein any case, and provides the CSP with means to address some of the viability issues and thus increase its customers’ trust. [less ▲]

CogEnv: A Reinforcement Learning Environment for Cognitive Tests

in 2022 Conference on Cognitive Computational Neuroscience (2022)

Understanding human cognition involves developing computational models that mimic and possibly explain behavior; these are models that “act” like humans and produce similar outputs when facing the same ... [more ▼]

Understanding human cognition involves developing computational models that mimic and possibly explain behavior; these are models that “act” like humans and produce similar outputs when facing the same inputs. To facilitate the development of such models and ultimately further our understanding of the human mind we created CogEnv: a reinforcement learning environment where artificial agents interact with and learn to perform cognitive tests and can then be directly compared to humans. By leveraging CogEnv, cognitive and AI scientists can join efforts to better understand human cognition: the relative performance profiles of human and artificial agents may provide new insights on the computational basis of human cognition and on what human-like abilities artificial agents may lack. [less ▲]

A Collaborative System of Flying and Ground Robots with Universal Physical Coupling Interface (PCI), and the Potential Interactive Applications

Poster (2022, April 28)

Flying and ground robots complement each other in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. We propose a collaborative system combining flying and ground robots, using a universal physical coupling ... [more ▼]

Flying and ground robots complement each other in terms of their advantages and disadvantages. We propose a collaborative system combining flying and ground robots, using a universal physical coupling interface (PCI) that allows for momentary connections and disconnections between multiple robots/devices. The proposed system may better utilize the complementary advantages of both flying and ground robots. We also describe various potential scenarios where such a system could be of benefit to interact with humans - namely, remote field works and rescue missions, transportation, healthcare, and education. Finally, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of such systems and consider deeper questions which should be studied in future work. [less ▲]

Collision-Free Navigation of Small UAVs in Complex Urban Environment

Doctoral thesis (2018)

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to become highly innovative solutions for all kind of tasks such as transport, surveillance, inspection or guidance, and many commercial ideas already ... [more ▼]

Small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are expected to become highly innovative solutions for all kind of tasks such as transport, surveillance, inspection or guidance, and many commercial ideas already exist. Herein, small multi rotor UAVs are preferred since they are easy to construct and to fly, at least in wide open spaces. However, many UAV business cases are foreseen in complex urban environments which are very challenging from the perspective of UAV flight. Our work focuses on the autonomous flight and collision-free navigation in an urban environment, where GPS is still considered for localization but where variations in the accuracy or temporary unavailability of GPS position data is explicitly considered. Herein, urban environments are challenging because they require flight nearby large structures and also nearby moving obstacles such as humans and other moving objects, at low altitudes or in very narrow spaces and thus also in areas where GPS (global positioning system) position data might temporarily be very inaccurate or even not available. Therefore we designed a custom stereo camera with adjustable base length for the perception of the possible potential obstacles in the unknown outdoor environment. In this context the optimal design and sensitivity parameters are investigated in outdoor experiments. Using the stereo images, graph based SLAM approach is used for online three dimensional mapping of the static and dynamic environment. For the memory efficiency incremental online loop closure detection using bag of words method is implemented here. By having the three dimensional map, the cost of the cell and its transition calculated in real time by the modified D* lite which will search and generate three dimensional collision free path planning. Experiments of the 3D mapping and collision free path planning are conducted using small UAV in outdoor scenario. The combined experimental results of real time mapping and path planning demonstrated that the three dimensional collision free path planning is able to handle the real time computational constraints while maintaining safety distance. [less ▲]

Combating non-communicable diseases: potentials and challenges for community health workers in a digital age, a narrative review of the literature

in Health Policy and Planning (2019)

The use of community health workers (CHWs) has been explored as a viable option to provide home health education, counselling and basic health care, notwithstanding their challenges in training and ... [more ▼]

The use of community health workers (CHWs) has been explored as a viable option to provide home health education, counselling and basic health care, notwithstanding their challenges in training and retention. In this manuscript, we review the evidence and discuss how the digitalization affects the CHWs programmes for tackling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conducted a review of literature covering two databases: PubMED and Embase. A total of 97 articles were abstracted for full text review of which 26 are included in the analysis. Existing theories were used to construct a conceptual framework for understanding how digitalization affects the prospects of CHW programmes for NCDs. The results are divided into two themes: (1) the benefits of digitalization and (2) the challenges to the prospects of digitalization. We also conducted supplemental search in non-peer reviewed literature to identify and map the digital platforms currently in use in CHW programmes. We identified three benefits and three challenges of digitalization. Firstly, it will help improve the access and quality of services, notwithstanding its higher establishment and maintenance costs. Secondly, it will add efficiency in training and personnel management. Thirdly, it will leverage the use of data generated across grass-roots platforms to further research and evaluation. The challenges posed are related to funding, health literacy of CHWs and systemic challenges related to motivating CHWs. Several dozens of digital platforms were mapped, including mobile-based networking devices (used for behavioural change communication), Web-applications (used for contact tracking, reminder system, adherence tracing, data collection and decision support), videoconference (used for decision support) and mobile applications (used for reminder system, supervision, patients’ management, hearing screening and tele-consultation). The digitalization efforts of CHW programmes are afflicted by many challenges, yet the rapid technological penetration and acceptability coupled with the gradual fall in costs constitute encouraging signals for the LMICs. Both CHWs interventions and digital technologies are not inexpensive, but they may provide better value for the money when applied at the right place and time. [less ▲]

A combined parking and carpooling policy: the case of the University of Luxembourg

Scientific Conference (2015, May 29)

With 2586km2, Luxembourg is the 7th European smallest country in Europe. Despite its small size this country is facing important mobility challenges. Out of the 380 000 available jobs in the country ... [more ▼]

With 2586km2, Luxembourg is the 7th European smallest country in Europe. Despite its small size this country is facing important mobility challenges. Out of the 380 000 available jobs in the country, nearly 43% of them are occupied by cross borders workers. These 165 000 cross borders traveling every day from France, Belgium and Germany generate an important pressure on the transport infrastructures. Because 89% of the cross-borders workers and 74% of the resident workers commute by car, the road system, at peak hours, reaches saturation. In order to decrease the pressure (in term of commuting flow, residential prices, etc.) on Luxembourg City and to reach a more balanced polycentric development across the country the development of Belval has been decided by the government. This new-town which is located 20km south-west of Luxembourg-City will attract economic activity and residential units. The University of Luxembourg will be one of institutions relocating most of its infrastructure in Belval. Without any doubts, this workplace relocation will greatly affect the University staff commuting mobility. In accordance to any public institution or large enterprise in this country, the University is more and more committed to reduce the carbon footprint related to the staff and students commuting behavior. The MODU (national sustainable mobility strategy) defines strong modal split objectives and the number of parking spaces available for the university on Belval site will rely on this national objective. So far, few scientific contributions analyzed the accessibility variation for car and Public Transport (PT) on important worker’s’ population considering relocation actions of this size. GIS tools and visualization techniques will permit to quantify the car and public transport accessibility vari ation due to the University move to Belval. The scientific contribution of this article lies in the relation between the car & PT accessibility and the development of Travel Demand Management (TDM) measures. Indeed, an innovative Parking Management Scheme (PMS) integrating car & PT accessibility to the new campus as well as carpooling use among the staff members will be presented. Our aim is to develop a mobility credit scheme system where users could use points to park their car or use the public transport system. Soft modes might collect additional points that could serve to get gifts or even cash back. Indeed, the objective is to reach a pragmatic parking policy that lead Single Occupancy Vehicle (SOV) to shift, first, to soft modes, then, to public transport and finally to carpooling. The key is the relation between the different travel modes and their existing incentives or disincentives. This approach might help other major private or public institutions to define optimum subsidy strategies regarding their parking and staff’s public seasonal ticket costs. [less ▲]

A comparative study of task assignment and path planning methods for multi-UGV missions

in Optimization and Cooperative Control Strategies (2009)

Many important problems involving a group of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are closely related to the multi traviling salesman problem (m-TSP). This paper comprises a comparative study of a number of ... [more ▼]

Many important problems involving a group of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are closely related to the multi traviling salesman problem (m-TSP). This paper comprises a comparative study of a number of algorithms proposed in the litterature to solve m-TSPs occuring in robotics. The investigated algoritms include two mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulations, a market based approach (MA), a Voronoi partition step (VP) combined with the local search used in MA, and a deterministic and a stocastic version of the granular tabu search (GTS). To evaluate the algoritms, an m-TSP is derived from a planar environment with polygonal obstacles and uniformly distributed targets and vehicle positions. The results of the comparison indicate that out of the decentralized approaches, the MA yield good solutions but requires long computation times, while VP is fast but not as good. The two MILP approaches suffer from long computation times, and poor results due to the decomposition of the assignment and path planning steps. Finally, the two GTS algorithms yield good results in short times with inputs from MA as well as the much faster VP. Thus the best performing centralized approach is the GTS in combination with the VP. [less ▲]

A comparison between conventional Earth Observation Satellites and CubeSats; Requirements, Capabilities and Data Quality

Scientific Conference (2019, September 11)

From its early beginning as an educational tool in 1999, cubesats have evolved into a popular platform for technology demonstrations and scientific instruments. Ideas and innovations sparked from an ... [more ▼]

From its early beginning as an educational tool in 1999, cubesats have evolved into a popular platform for technology demonstrations and scientific instruments. Ideas and innovations sparked from an enthusiastic community led to the development of new Earth Observation (EO) technology concepts based on large constellations of satellites with high-resolution optical imagers previously considered as infeasible. Probably the most significant constellation today is deployed by Planet who are currently operating a fleet larger than 120 3U Dove satellites, which provide an imaging service with up to 3m Ground Sample Distance (GSD). The number of low-cost EO Cubesat systems is constantly increasing. However, for a number of reasons there still seems to be a reluctance to use such data for many EO applications. A better understanding of the capabilities of the current generation of small Cubesats compared to the traditional well-established bigger operational missions of high and medium resolution EO satellites is required. What are the critical capabilities and quality indicators? Due to the limited size and weight of Cubesats, critical system components, e.g. for navigation and communication, always compete with operational payloads such as optical camera/sensor systems. A functional EO system requires balanced payload, which provides adequate navigational capabilities, that match the requirements of the optical imagers (camera) deployed with the system. This study reviews the current performance and capabilities of Cubesats for optical EO and compares them to the capabilities of conventional, dedicated high and medium resolution EO systems. We summarise key performance parameters and quality indicators to evaluate the difference between the systems. An empirical study compares recent very high-resolution (VHR) imagery from big EO satellite missions with available images from Cubesats for the use case in disaster monitoring. Small and agile Nanosatellites or Cubesats already show remarkable performance. Although it is not expected that their performance and capability will match those of current bigger EO satellite missions, they are expected to provide a valuable tool for EO and remote sensing, in particular for downstream industry applications. [less ▲]

Comparison of Machine Learning techniques for atmospheric pollutant monitoring: a Kraft pulp mill case study

Scientific Conference (2011, November 15)