This book features the manuscripts accepted for the Special Issue “Applications in Electronics Pervading Industry, Environment and Society—Sensing Systems and Pervasive Intelligence” of the MDPI journal Sensors. Most of the papers come from a selection of the best papers of the 2019 edition of the “Applications in Electronics Pervading Industry, Environment and Society” (APPLEPIES) Conference, which was held in November 2019. All these papers have been significantly enhanced with novel experimental results. The papers give an overview of the trends in research and development activities concerning the pervasive application of electronics in industry, the environment, and society. The focus of these papers is on cyber physical systems (CPS), with research proposals for new sensor acquisition and ADC (analog to digital converter) methods, high-speed communication systems, cybersecurity, big data management, and data processing including emerging machine learning techniques. Physical implementation aspects are discussed as well as the trade-off found between functional performance and hardware/system costs.

Advances in information technology provide opportunities for the development of computer systems that support risk managers in complex tasks. Leading experts report on the potentials and limitations concerning the use of computer systems in risk management. Their reports are based on many years of experience in their fields which include: risk analysis, systems engineering, geographic information systems, decision support systems, human--machine systems, and psychology. The book addresses four major issues in computer supported risk management: Conceptual aspects: the role, design, and use of computers in risk management Planning and policy analysis: transportation, equity analysis, emergency management, group decision making Operational decision making: nuclear power monitoring, emergency response, public safety warning, satellite tracking Commercial applications: GIS from IIASA, InterClair from IAEA, EPA software, cleanup decision support software survey. This book is meant for researchers, who will find the emerging issues in risk management that are motivated by the encounter of new tasks and novel technology; practitioners who will have descriptions and references of the state-of-the-art models and software; and students who will learn the basic concepts needed to develop advanced information and decision support systems in risk management.

This synthesis report will be of interest to DOT chief administrative and information officers, information technology staff, and project managers and their supervisors. It describes the current state of the practice for DOT project management information systems, as well as current best practices across other industries. Several case studies and an appendix chapter on change: definition and implementation, role of personnel, processes, and cost are also provided. This TRB report describes the processes used to develop and implement automated project management information systems, the sources of software in use, and the extent of any modifications necessary for commercial projects to fit DOT business needs. It also describes the operating environments for systems in use and the capabilities and limitations of the systems used to track multiple projects and information sources. In addition, information on system capabilities and deficiencies in project communications, report and problem solving, the necessary resources required to implement and maintain each automated system, the length of time each system has been in place, and future plans for long-term enhancement, modifications, or enhancements is included.

This book presents perspectives on the knowledge creation metaphor of learning, and elaborates the trialogical approach to learning. The knowledge creation metaphor differs from both the acquisition and the participation metaphors. In a nutshell trialogical approaches seek to engage learners in joint work with shared objects and artefacts mediated by collaboration technology. The theoretical underpinnings stem from different origins, including Bereiter and Scardamalia’s theory on knowledge building and Engeström’s activity theory. The authors in this collection introduce key concepts and techniques, explain tools designed and developed to support knowledge creation, and report results from case studies in specific contexts. The book chapters integrate theoretical, methodological, empirical and technological research, to elaborate the empirical findings and to explain the design of the knowledge creation tools. The target audiences for this book are researchers, teachers and Human Resource developers interested in new perspectives on collaborative learning, technology-mediated knowledge creation, and applications of this in their own settings, for higher education, teacher training and workplace learning. The book is the result of joint efforts from many contributors who took part in the Knowledge-practices Laboratory (KP-Lab) project (2006-2011) supported by EU FP6.

The purpose of this dissertation is to try and understand the mechanisms that the Russian State uses to reform higher education, and thus help ensure its legitimacy, within the context of the new global knowledge economy. Most of the discussions to-date on the globalization of knowledge, the role of higher education, and their combined impact on states' competitiveness, focus on developed or developing countries. Very little discussion surrounds the issues faced by countries in economic and political transition. Countries in transition are frequently torn in two opposing directions: it is necessary for them to focus inward for their own internal stability and growth, yet they are very cognizant of the need to integrate into the world economy and correctly direct their internal growth towards international competitiveness. Often, the pull between authoritarian tendencies and liberal economic necessities paralyzes such a State's ability to definitively choose the most appropriate path for growth. Contemporary Russia exemplifies these contradictory tendencies and necessities. While all of the countries in the former Soviet Union participated in the same economic and social system for a good part of the last century, Russia is possibly the closest to the innovation centers in the West in terms of research culture and history, its current educational and technological capabilities, and its professed desire to compete equally in the new global economy. Given Russia's long history and strong tradition of higher education, particularly in the sciences, the country stands to gain from participating in this new global arena. Yet the result will depend on the future of its higher education system. Because of Russia's apparent uncertainty about its political direction, the Russian higher education system faces important questions about how institutional reform will take place and the future of the system's relationship with a State that is itself going through complex changes. The globalization of knowledge required by an integrated world economic system has ramifications for each country's system of higher education. In light of these new global demands and expectations, how does a traditionally authoritarian and nationalistic state in economic and political transition respond to these new global demands for improving higher educational quality, and to internal demands for greater institutional autonomy? Is an authoritarian state able to rationalize its financial constraints with the societal expectation of mass equitable access to higher education, against the pressure to make the national economy more globally competitive? To answer the aforementioned questions requires a theoretical framework that takes into account the relationship between State governance structures and higher educational institutions, while simultaneously taking into consideration how the State reacts to increasing global pressures and expectations. The Russian State is defined in this dissertation as an arena in which political power is contested by the country's economic and political elites. At the same time the State realizes it must represent a majority of the populace in order not to jeopardize its hold on power. It does this primarily through legitimation of its actions by providing social services. Contestation takes place when a State is trying to recreate its power at the same time it is trying to be legitimized. The main contestation therefore is not necessarily within and among the elites, but between the elites and the population as a whole. To be seen as legitimate, the State will try and provide good services for the populace to satisfy their demands and thus minimize contestation. However, this provision of services is only for as long as the populace does not attempt to interfere with the State's version of power. The provision of social goods serves as a "social contract" between the ruling elites and the larger population. The educational system and the State have a relationship of "compensatory legitimation" -- the State attempts to purchase legitimacy by providing public goods such as education. Legitimation becomes even more important in a global environment. Where domestic legitimation would have sufficed in the past, now the need for legitimation extends to the international realm as well. To be considered an educated society, a State must provide a strong educational system that meets international standards. Yet as the State tries to exert control over the higher education system in order to maintain quality, contestation takes place between the State and the intellectual leaders in educational institutions and higher education consumers, both of which have a large stake in the reform process. To ascertain the relationship between the Russian State (e.g., political and economics elites) and administrators of institutions of higher education, and the efficacy of the State's rationalization of the reform process, a series of interviews was conducted with over 60 university, regional and local governmental officials, and Ministry of Education and Science officials. The institutions were chosen from a larger study of universities undertaken by State University -- Higher School of Economics (Moscow), 2008-2011. While evaluating my interviews with Russian higher education administrators, I looked for four identifiers of Russia's willingness to reform higher education for international competitiveness: symbols of domestic legitimacy (academic standards reform and quality improvement); symbols of international legitimacy (accession to Bologna Process); the professionalization of Russian HE (creation of elite institutions); and symbols of institutional autonomy (institutional mergers and closures). One might imagine that the State would attempt to assert control over all aspects of the reform process, most especially in the creation of new academic standards and institutional autonomy. However, the evidence for assertion of control over the higher education system becomes apparent through the indirect financial levers that the State can employ (e.g., direct funding of elite institutions and institutional mergers). The higher education system in Russia is State funded and centrally overseen from Moscow, which already gives it enormous leverage over higher educational institutions. But the control mechanism is through funding (or lack thereof) and not direct coercion. Thus, only part of what we observe in the actual reform process of the Russian higher education system is about modernization and globalization. The remaining thrust of the reform effort revolves around the rationalization of financing balanced against the need to create "world class" universities. This rationalization is important because of the possibility of a decline in demand for higher education in the near term due to the changing demographic situation. It also serves as a mechanism by which the State can regain more effective central control of the higher education system, and ensure a quality system that will be able to further the country's economic development. Despite the fact that the Russian State takes very seriously the need for higher education reform, the State reforms might not work because of the reluctance of university intellectuals, the lack of financing should the global economy and the price of oil decline, the public outcry at mass institutional closures, and the ineffectiveness of the State itself. If this were to happen, the State might have to revert to direct coercion, which might make things worse in the long run both domestically and internationally. As history has demonstrated, the State is ultimately not the most efficient and effective reformer. This inability leads to chaos in the reform process and further undermines the reforms.

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.

In recent years, the pace of technological growth—from the very first stages of research and development to full-scale industrial implementation—has quickened at an exponential rate. To better keep pace with rapidly-changing market demands, the gap between university research incubators and public-sector start-up companies has undergone a marked contraction. Competitive Strategies for Academic Entrepreneurship: Commercialization of Research-Based Products seeks to fill the gap in research between universities and the public, and offers cutting-edge insight into the current state of the field. Charting a course that moves from discussions of academic resistance and implications for knowledge-transfer theory to current case-studies of academic/industrial launch-pads like COTEC’s Technology Commercialization Accelerator and the Maryland Industrial Partnerships program, this publication targets an audience of academicians, administrators, researchers, entrepreneurs, and established professionals, and seeks to provide insight into the mechanisms by which the research of today becomes the household names of tomorrow.

Building on the success of the previous editions, this fully updated book once again brings together worldwide experts to illustrate the underlying science and day-to-day use of decision support systems in clinical and educational settings. Topics discussed include: -Mathematical Foundations of Decision Support Systems -Design and Implementation Issues -Ethical and Legal Issues in Decision Support -Clinical Trials of Information Interventions -Hospital-Based Decision Support -Real World Case Studies