Information and Communications for Engineers

Information and its communication is one of the most important areas in the modern world, and its developments are advancing at an ever increasing pace. To be able to assess and evaluate the importance of these developments, an understanding of the basic principles behind them is essential for the student of engineering. This book presents these principles in a coherent and understandable manner while at the same time ensuring that the arguments are based on sound scientific theory.

Managing change in complex projects: configuration management, asset information and big data

As we enter an era of ‘big data’, asset information is becoming a deliverable of complex projects. Prior research suggests digital technologies enable rapid, flexible forms of project organizing. This research analyses practices of managing change in Airbus, CERN and Crossrail, through desk-based review, interviews, visits and a cross-case workshop. These organizations deliver complex projects, rely on digital technologies to manage large data-sets; and use configuration management, a systems engineering approach with mid-20th century origins, to establish and maintain integrity. In them, configuration management has become more, rather than less, important. Asset information is structured, with change managed through digital systems, using relatively hierarchical, asynchronous and sequential processes. The paper contributes by uncovering limits to flexibility in complex projects where integrity is important. Challenges of managing change are discussed, considering the evolving nature of configuration management; potential use of analytics on complex projects; and implications for research and practice.

Comparison of low-power wireless communication technologies for wearable health-monitoring applications

Health monitoring technologies such as Body Area Network (BAN) systems has gathered a lot of attention during the past few years. Largely encouraged by the rapid increase in the cost of healthcare services and driven by the latest technological advances in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and wireless communications. BAN technology comprises of a network of body worn or implanted sensors that continuously capture and measure the vital parameters such as heart rate, blood pressure, glucose levels and movement. The collected data must be transferred to a local base station in order to be further processed. Thus, wireless connectivity plays a vital role in such systems. However, wireless connectivity comes at a cost of increased power usage, mainly due to the high energy consumption during data transmission. Unfortunately, battery-operated devices are unable to operate for ultra-long duration of time and are expected to be recharged or replaced once they run out of energy. This is not a simple task especially in the case of implanted devices such as pacemakers. Therefore, prolonging the network lifetime in BAN systems is one of the greatest challenges. In order to achieve this goal, BAN systems take advantage of low-power in-body and on-body/off-body wireless communication technologies. This paper compares some of the existing and emerging low-power communication protocols that can potentially be employed to support the rapid development and deployment of BAN systems.

Before transparency: control and communication in Early-Modern Europe

Today, transparency is hailed as a key to good governance and economic efficiency, with national states implementing new laws to allow citizens access to information. It is therefore paradoxical that, as shown by a series of crises and scandals, modern governments and international agencies frequently have paid only lip-service to such ideals. Since Jeremy Bentham first introduced the concept of transparency into the language in 1789, few societal debates have sparked so much interest within the academic community, and across a variety of disciplines, using different approaches and methodologies. Within these current debates, however, one fact is striking: the lack of historical reflection about the development of the concept of transparency, both as a principle and as applied in practice, prior to its inception. Accordingly, the aim of this special issue is to contribute to historicising the ways in which communication and control over fiscal policy and state finances operated in early modern European polities.

The Nine Circles of Surveillance Hell: An Institutional View of Information Flows and Information Threats in Libraries

In the past few years, libraries have started to design public programs that educate patrons about different tools and techniques to protect personal privacy. But do end user solutions provide adequate safeguards against surveillance by corporate and government actors? What does a comprehensive plan for privacy entail in order that libraries live up to their privacy values? In this paper, the authors discuss the complexity of surveillance architecture that the library institution might confront when seeking to defend the privacy rights of patrons. This architecture consists of three main parts: physical or material aspects, logical characteristics, and social factors of information and communication flows in the library setting. For each category, the authors will present short case studies that are culled from practitioner experience, research, and public discourse. The case studies probe the challenges faced by the library—not only when making hardware and software choices, but also choices related to staffing and program design. The paper shows that privacy choices intersect not only with free speech and chilling effects, but also with questions that concern intellectual property, organizational development, civic engagement, technological innovation, public infrastructure, and more. The paper ends with discussion of what libraries will require in order to sustain and improve efforts to serve as stewards of privacy in the 21st century.

The promised LAN: the transformative power of information and communications technology in developing countries

Este tese analise as implicações dos investimentos em tecnologia de informação e comunicação (ICT) em países ainda em desenvolvimento, especialmente em termos de educação, para estimular a implementação de uma infra-estrutura mais moderna em vez da continuação do uso de métodos tradicionais. Hoje, como o interesse e os investimentos em ICT estão crescendo rapidamente, os módulos e as idéias que existem para medir o estado de ICT são velhos e inexatos, e não podem ser aplicados às culturas de países em desenvolvimento. Políticos e investidores têm que considerar estes problemas quando estão pensando em investimentos ou socorros para programas em ICT no futuro, e investigadores e professores precisam entender os fatores importantes no desenvolvimento para os ICTs e a educação antes de começar estudos nestes países. Este tese conclue que investimentos em tecnologias móbeis e sem fios ajudarem organizações e governos ultrapassar a infra-estrutura tradicional, estreitando a divisão digital e dando o resulto de educação melhor, alfabetização maior, e soluções sustentáveis pelo desenvolvimento nas comunidades pobres no mundo de países em desenvolvimento.

Information society and public ICT policies in the Caribbean: a review of advances and challenges, policy instruments and country experiences

Includes bibliography

Information technology for development of small and medium-sized exporters in Latin America and East Asia

Includes bibliography

Towards an information society measurement instrument for Latin America and the Caribbean: getting started with census, household and business surveys

Includes bibliography

What can we say about trade and growth when trade becomes a complex system?

Includes bibliography

Plan of action for the information and knowledge society in Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2015)