Many modern cities strive to integrate information technology into every aspect of city life to create so-called smart cities. Smart cities rely on a large number of application areas and ...technologies to realize complex interactions between citizens, third parties, and city departments. This overwhelming complexity is one reason why holistic privacy protection only rarely enters the picture. A lack of privacy can result in discrimination and social sorting, creating a fundamentally unequal society. To prevent this, we believe that a better understanding of smart cities and their privacy implications is needed. We therefore systematize the application areas, enabling technologies, privacy types, attackers, and data sources for the attacks, giving structure to the fuzzy term "smart city." Based on our taxonomies, we describe existing privacy-enhancing technologies, review the state of the art in real cities around the world, and discuss promising future research directions. Our survey can serve as a reference guide, contributing to the development of privacy-friendly smart cities.
The goal of privacy metrics is to measure the degree of privacy enjoyed by users in a system and the amount of protection offered by privacy-enhancing technologies. In this way, privacy metrics ...contribute to improving user privacy in the digital world. The diversity and complexity of privacy metrics in the literature make an informed choice of metrics challenging. As a result, instead of using existing metrics, new metrics are proposed frequently, and privacy studies are often incomparable. In this survey, we alleviate these problems by structuring the landscape of privacy metrics. To this end, we explain and discuss a selection of over 80 privacy metrics and introduce categorizations based on the aspect of privacy they measure, their required inputs, and the type of data that needs protection. In addition, we present a method on how to choose privacy metrics based on nine questions that help identify the right privacy metrics for a given scenario, and highlight topics where additional work on privacy metrics is needed. Our survey spans multiple privacy domains and can be understood as a general framework for privacy measurement.
In October 2016, an adolescent boy sought care for acute genital ulceration in Cologne, Germany. We presumed a sexually transmitted infection, but initial diagnostic procedures yielded negative ...results. He was hospitalized because swab samples from the lesion grew toxigenic Corynebacterium diphtheriae, leading to the diagnosis of possibly sexually transmitted cutaneous diphtheria.
Accumulation of fat mass in obesity may result from hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia and is frequently associated with adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction in adults. Here we assessed early alterations in ...AT biology and function by comprehensive experimental and clinical characterization of 171 AT samples from lean and obese children aged 0 to 18 years. We show an increase in adipocyte size and number in obese compared with lean children beginning in early childhood. These alterations in AT composition in obese children were accompanied by decreased basal lipolytic activity and significantly enhanced stromal vascular cell proliferation in vitro, potentially underlying the hypertrophy and hyperplasia seen in obese children, respectively. Furthermore, macrophage infiltration, including the formation of crown-like structures, was increased in AT of obese children from 6 years on and was associated with higher hs-CRP serum levels. Clinically, adipocyte hypertrophy was not only associated with leptin serum levels but was highly and independently correlated with HOMA-IR as a marker of insulin resistance in children. In summary, we show that adipocyte hypertrophy is linked to increased inflammation in AT in obese children, thereby providing evidence that obesity-associated AT dysfunction develops in early childhood and is related to insulin resistance.
Abstract
Kleine oberflächennahe Geothermiesondenanlagen mit einer Heizleistung < 30 kW werden in Deutschland insbesondere bei Wohnimmobilien zahlreich betrieben. Dennoch ist wenig über ihren Betrieb, ...ihre Zuverlässigkeit und die Zufriedenheit der Eigentümer der geothermischen Sondenanlagen bekannt. Eine in den Städten Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf und Frankfurt am Main durchgeführte Praxisstudie in Form einer schriftlichen Erhebung bei den Eigentümern gewährt hier Einblick und dokumentiert eine sehr große Zufriedenheit mit dem Betrieb der Anlagen, sehr wenig Ausfälle sowie eine hohe Anzahl an auch zur Kühlung verwendeten Geothermiesondenanlagen. In Abhängigkeit von der vorhandenen Grundwasserströmung im Untergrund erzeugen geothermische Anlagen Temperaturfahnen im Untergrund in Richtung der Grundwasserströmung, die eine thermische Interaktion benachbarter Geothermiesondenanlagen verursachen können. Hier knüpft die Frage nach den erforderlichen Grenzabständen zu Nachbargrundstücken an. Untersucht wird in Anlehnung an die Umfrageergebnisse die Abhängigkeit der Entwicklung der Temperaturfahne insbesondere von der Betriebsweise der geothermischen Anlage. Der Einfluss einer zusätzlichen Kühlung, die gemäß der Praxisstudie vermehrt eingesetzt wird, kann zu einer Reduzierung der Temperaturfahnenausbreitung und damit der thermischen Interaktion führen, sodass die Betriebsweise der Sondenanlage maßgeblichen Einfluss auf die erforderlichen Grenzabstände hat.
Abstract
Borehole heat exchangers in operation
Small shallow borehole heat exchanger (BHE) systems (< 30 kW) are used very frequently for residential houses. Nevertheless there is a lack in information about the operation, the reliability as well as the satisfaction of the owners. A survey was carried out in the cities of Wiesbaden, Darmstadt, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt am Main which shows high satisfaction with the operation of the small geothermal systems as well as a great number of borehole heat exchanger systems that are used additionally for cooling. Geothermal systems generate thermal plumes depending on the groundwater velocity and direction which can cause thermal interaction of neighbored systems. Therefore minimal distances to the border need to be kept. Based on the results of the survey it is investigated how the thermal plume depends on the operation mode of the system, especially the alternating operation with cooling during the summer. An alternating operation can reduce the thermal plume and thereby the thermal interaction which is relevant for the needed border distances.
Social Internet of Vehicles for Smart Cities Maglaras, Leandros; Al-Bayatti, Ali; He, Ying ...
Journal of sensor and actuator networks,
03/2016, Volume:
5, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Digital devices are becoming increasingly ubiquitous and interconnected. Their evolution to intelligent parts of a digital ecosystem creates novel applications with so far unresolved security issues. ...A particular example is a vehicle. As vehicles evolve from simple means of transportation to smart entities with new sensing and communication capabilities, they become active members of a smart city. The Internet of Vehicles (IoV) consists of vehicles that communicate with each other and with public networks through V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) and V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian) interactions, which enables both the collection and the real-time sharing of critical information about the condition on the road network. The Social Internet of Things (SIoT) introduces social relationships among objects, creating a social network where the participants are not humans, but intelligent objects. In this article, we explore the concept of the Social Internet of Vehicles (SIoV), a network that enables social interactions both among vehicles and among drivers. We discuss technologies and components of the SIoV, possible applications and issues of security, privacy and trust that are likely to arise.
Abstract
Kleine oberflächennahe Geothermiesondenanlagen mit einer Heizleistung < 30 kW sind insbesondere im privaten Wohnsektor zu finden. Die Geothermiesonden erzeugen durch ihren Wärmeentzug ...Temperaturänderungen im Untergrund, deren Form sich in Abhängigkeit von den projektbezogenen Parametern, wie u. a. den geothermischen Untergrundeigenschaften, dem Betrieb der Sonde und der Grundwasserströmung, ausbildet. Im Rahmen des Genehmigungsprozesses werden vonseiten der Genehmigungsbehörde pauschale und nicht projektbezogene Grenzabstände für die Geothermiesonden gefordert, deren Einhaltung sich mit abnehmender Grundstücksgröße bisweilen schwierig gestaltet. Der Einsatz eines analytischen Ansatzes zur Abschätzung der Temperaturfahnenausbreitung wird präsentiert, um eine auf das Projekt abgestimmte Festlegung der Grenzabstände zu ermöglichen, die die Größe der Grundwasserströmung, die Betriebsweise und die Anzahl der Sonden kleiner oberflächennaher Geothermiesondenanlagen berücksichtigt.
Abstract
Analysis of the spread of the temperature plume of small borehole heat exchanger systems.
Small shallow borehole heat exchanger (BHE) systems with a heat capacity smaller than 30 kW can be found mostly in the private housing sector. The heat extraction of the BHEs causes temperature changes in the ground. The form of the temperature changes depends on the project relevant parameters such as geothermal ground conditions, operation of the BHEs and groundwater movement. During the approval processes the approval authority claims for global and non‐project related border distances of the BHEs. The compliance can be difficult due to smaller property sizes. The use of an analytical method for the determination of the length of the temperature plume is needed in order to allow the determination of border distances fitting to the project while taking into account the groundwater velocity, the operation mode as well as the number of BHEs of small shallow geothermal systems.
Kleine oberflächennahe Geothermiesondenanlagen mit einer Heizleistung < 30 kW sind insbesondere im privaten Wohnsektor zu finden. Die Geothermiesonden erzeugen durch ihren Wärmeentzug ...Temperaturänderungen im Untergrund, deren Form sich in Abhängigkeit von den projektbezogenen Parametern, wie u. a. den geothermischen Untergrundeigenschaften, dem Betrieb der Sonde und der Grundwasserströmung, ausbildet. Im Rahmen des Genehmigungsprozesses werden vonseiten der Genehmigungsbehörde pauschale und nicht projektbezogene Grenzabstände für die Geothermiesonden gefordert, deren Einhaltung sich mit abnehmender Grundstücksgröße bisweilen schwierig gestaltet. Der Einsatz eines analytischen Ansatzes zur Abschätzung der Temperaturfahnenausbreitung wird präsentiert, um eine auf das Projekt abgestimmte Festlegung der Grenzabstände zu ermöglichen, die die Größe der Grundwasserströmung, die Betriebsweise und die Anzahl der Sonden kleiner oberflächennaher Geothermiesondenanlagen berücksichtigt.
Analysis of the spread of the temperature plume of small borehole heat exchanger systems. Small shallow borehole heat exchanger (BHE) systems with a heat capacity smaller than 30 kW can be found mostly in the private housing sector. The heat extraction of the BHEs causes temperature changes in the ground. The form of the temperature changes depends on the project relevant parameters such as geothermal ground conditions, operation of the BHEs and groundwater movement. During the approval processes the approval authority claims for global and non‐project related border distances of the BHEs. The compliance can be difficult due to smaller property sizes. The use of an analytical method for the determination of the length of the temperature plume is needed in order to allow the determination of border distances fitting to the project while taking into account the groundwater velocity, the operation mode as well as the number of BHEs of small shallow geothermal systems.
Puberty is a period of physical and psychological maturation, with long-term effects on health. During the 20(th) century, a secular trend towards earlier puberty occurred in association with ...improvements in nutrition. The worldwide pandemic of childhood obesity has renewed interest in the relationship between body composition in childhood and the timing and tempo of puberty. Limited evidence suggests that earlier puberty is associated with a tendency towards central fat deposition; therefore, pubertal status needs to be carefully considered in the categorization of childhood and adolescent overweight and obesity. In the other direction, rapid early weight gain is associated with advanced puberty in both sexes, and a clear association exists between increasing BMI and earlier pubertal development in girls. Evidence in boys is less clear, with the majority of studies showing obesity to be associated with earlier puberty and voice break, although a subgroup of boys with obesity exhibits late puberty, perhaps as a variation of constitutional delay in growth and puberty. The possible mechanisms linking adiposity with pubertal timing are numerous, but leptin, adipocytokines and gut peptides are central players. Other possible mediators include genetic variation and environmental factors such as endocrine disrupting chemicals. This Review presents current evidence on this topic, highlighting inconsistencies and opportunities for future research.