Search Results (4,383)

Data hiding in digital images is an important cover communication technique. This paper studies the lossless data hiding in an image compression domain. We present a novel lossless data hiding scheme in vector quantization (VQ) compressed images using adaptive prediction difference coding. A modified adaptive index rearrangement (AIR) is presented to rearrange a codebook, and thus to enhance the correlation of the adjacent indices in the index tables of cover images. Then, a predictor based on the improved median edge detection is used to predict the indices by retaining the first index. The prediction differences are calculated using the exclusive OR (XOR) operation, and the vacancy capacity of each prediction difference type is evaluated. An adaptive prediction difference coding method based on the vacancy capacities of the prediction difference types is presented to encode the prediction difference table. Therefore, the original index table is compressed, and the secret data are embedded into the vacated room. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can reduce the pure compression rate compared with the related works. Full article

Delivering value from digital concepts such as Digital Twins is necessary to address systemic national and global issues, such as achieving Net Zero. However, there is still a lack of consensus over what a Digital Twin (DT) is and efforts to clarify this do not consider the Geospatial perspective. With the aspiration for national- and international-scale DTs, it is important that the Geospatial community understands its role in supporting the realisation of the value of these DTs. Here, a systematic literature review is used to gather DT case studies that use, or are inferred to use, elements of the Geospatial discipline. A total of 77 DT case studies about smart cities, manufacturing, energy, construction and agriculture are reviewed in full, and 24 Geospatial DT dimensions are defined and then compared with existing DT dimensions. The results indicate a considerable use of Geospatial Science in DTs that is not explicitly stated, meaning that there are possibly missed opportunities for collaboration between the Geospatial and DT communities. We conclude that the role of Geospatial Science in DTs is larger than stated and needs to be understood further. Full article

Diagnosing congenital heart disease (CHD) remains challenging because of its complex morphology. Representing the intricate structures of CHD on conventional two-dimensional flat screens is difficult owing to wide variations in the pathologies. Technological advancements, such as three-dimensional-printed heart models (3DPHMs) and virtual reality (VR), could potentially address the limitations of viewing complex structures using conventional methods. This study aimed to investigate the usefulness and clinical value of four visualization modalities across three different cases of CHD, including ventricular septal defect, double-outlet right ventricle, and tetralogy of Fallot. Seventeen cardiac specialists were invited to participate in this study, which was aimed at assessing the usefulness and clinical value of four visualization modalities, namely, digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) images, 3DPHM, VR, and 3D portable document format (PDF). Out of these modalities, 76.4% of the specialists ranked VR as the best for understanding the spatial associations between cardiac structures and for presurgical planning. Meanwhile, 94.1% ranked 3DPHM as the best modality for communicating with patients and their families. Of the various visualization modalities, VR was the best tool for assessing anatomical locations and vessels, comprehending the spatial relationships between cardiac structures, and presurgical planning. The 3DPHM models were the best tool for medical education as well as communication. In summary, both 3DPHM and VR have their own advantages and outperform the other two modalities, i.e., DICOM images and 3D PDF, in terms of visualizing and managing CHD. Full article

Biological systems have a unique ability inherited through their genome. It allows them to build, operate, and manage a society of cells with complex organizational structures, where autonomous components execute specific tasks and collaborate in groups to fulfill systemic goals with shared knowledge. The system receives information from various senses, makes sense of what is being observed, and acts using its experience while the observations are still in progress. We use the General Theory of Information (GTI) to implement a digital genome, specifying the operational processes that design, deploy, operate, and manage a cloud-agnostic distributed application that is independent of IaaS and PaaS infrastructure, which provides the resources required to execute the software components. The digital genome specifies the functional and non-functional requirements that define the goals and best-practice policies to evolve the system using associative memory and event-driven interaction history to maintain stability and safety while achieving the system’s objectives. We demonstrate a structural machine, cognizing oracles, and knowledge structures derived from GTI used for designing, deploying, operating, and managing a distributed video streaming application with autopoietic self-regulation that maintains structural stability and communication among distributed components with shared knowledge while maintaining expected behaviors dictated by functional requirements. Full article

Despite the growing use of virtual influencers in communicating public service announcements (PSAs), their PSA communication effectiveness remains underexplored. Virtual influencers are digital entities who generate content on social media to establish a digital identity and personal brand. This research examines the effectiveness of virtual (vs. human) influencers in conveying PSAs, focusing on consumers’ attitudes toward the influencers and their acceptance of PSA messages. Three experimental studies (N = 1429) spanning different cultural contexts reveal that consumers hold a less favorable attitude toward virtual (vs. human) influencers who post PSAs. Nevertheless, virtual influencers are equally effective as human influencers in influencing consumers’ acceptance of PSA messages. Dual-mediation processes involving mind perception and novelty perception are identified. Furthermore, we find that incorporating emotional appeal can enhance the effectiveness of virtual (vs. human) influencers’ PSA communications. These findings contribute to the literature on virtual influencer marketing and PSA marketing, offering practical insights for leveraging virtual influencers in PSA campaigns. Full article

With the rapid development of information technology, digital health technologies have become increasingly prevalent in the field of healthcare. In this study, business intelligence (BI) techniques were combined with research-based prediction models to increase the efficiency and quality of healthcare practices. A data scenario involving 200 older adults with various measurements, including health beliefs, social support, self-efficacy, and disease duration, was used to establish a medication adherence prediction model in a BI system. A regression model, logistic regression model, tree model, and score-based prediction model were used to predict medication adherence among older adults. The developed BI-based prediction model has visualization, real-time feedback, and data updating functionality. These features enhanced the effectiveness of prediction models in clinical practice. Healthcare professionals can incorporate the proposed system into their care practice for health assessments and management, and patients can use the system to manage themselves. The developed BI-based care system can also be used to achieve effective communication and shared decision-making between care managers and patients. Further empirical studies integrating prediction models into the proposed BI system for assessment, management, and decision-making in healthcare practice are warranted. Full article

In the age of fast digital transformation, Docker containers have become one of the central technologies for flexible and scalable application deployment. However, this has opened a new dimension of challenges in security, which are skyrocketing with increased technology adoption. This paper discerns these challenges through a manifold approach: first, comprehensive static analysis by Trivy, and second, real-time dynamic analysis by Falco in order to uncover vulnerabilities in Docker environments pre-deployment and during runtime. One can also find similar challenges in security within the Internet of Things (IoT) sector, due to the huge number of devices connected to WiFi networks, from simple data breaches such as brute force attacks and unauthorized access to large-scale cyber attacks against critical infrastructure, which represent only a portion of the problems. In connection with this, this paper is calling for the execution of robust AWS cloud security solutions: IoT Core, CloudWatch, and GuardDuty. IoT Core provides a secure channel of communication for IoT devices, and CloudWatch offers detailed monitoring and logging. Additional security is provided by GuardDuty’s automatized threat detection system, which continuously seeks out potential threats across network traffic. Armed with these technologies, we try to build a more resilient and privacy-oriented IoT while ensuring the security of our digital existence. The result is, therefore, an all-inclusive work on security in both Docker and IoT domains, which might be considered one of the most important efforts so far to strengthen the digital infrastructure against fast-evolving cyber threats, combining state-of-the-art methods of static and dynamic analyses for Docker security with advanced, cloud-based protection for IoT devices. Full article

The wide use of telecommunications, computers and the internet, especially over the last four decades, has formed a new economic phenomenon, the “Digital Economy”. As a matter of facts, the development of digitalization has raised questions about its contribution to official economic indicators. This research examines the evolution of the information and communication industry (ICI) and its contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of six European entities. Time series and auto-ARIMA models are employed to process the data. Moreover, this study forecasts the development of the ICI in the future. The results demonstrate a clear stable growth in the variable under examination over time, showing an increasingly greater contribution of the ICI to the national GDP in most cases with the exception of Greece, which has a high provisional risk. Full article

Background: Prostate cancer survivorship care is essential for the early identification of cancer recurrence and progression and the monitoring of adverse effects. Prostate cancer survivorship programs have enabled care to be shared between specialists using digital healthcare platforms. We systematically reviewed the literature to examine if prostate cancer survivorship care had been successfully digitalised. Methods: English language articles were searched on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Libraries. The search terms included combinations of “eHealth”, “digital health”, “prostate cancer”, “shared care”, and related keywords (studies published between [1 January 1946 and 20 March 2023]). Results: Our search strategy yielded 1722 publications, of which 17 studies were included in our final review. Diverse eHealth interventions (web platforms, apps, patient portals) for digital prostate cancer shared care enabled communication, symptom management, and holistic assessment, with potential for reducing anxiety, enhancing outcomes, and increasing engagement. The studies (9 months to 5 years duration) involved participants across different care phases (16 to 3521 participants). We identified ten eHealth platforms, which provided successful symptom tracking, needs assessment, and communications. The platform-based interventions improved some aspects of communication, symptom management, and care delivery. The ongoing clinical need for a robust digital platform that caters to all domains of shared care was identified. Conclusions: eHealth will certainly play a central role in digital prostate cancer shared care, providing better health outcomes and care delivery. Future larger studies in this field should address the implementation barriers, including cost-effectiveness and primary care remuneration. It is also crucial to refine application useability and workflow, focusing on standardization and patient-centred approaches. Full article

Urban couples spend much time working, which poses challenges in their daily life. These challenges can cause stress, affecting relationship quality and an individual’s well-being. We identified and described stressors and explored the use of technology to manage their stress. The participants consisted of three couples living in the Greater Jakarta area. A focus group discussion was used to collect the data, and inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze it. Urban couples experienced relationship stress, parenting stress, financial stress, work-related stress, and daily hassles. Couples can manage stress by using digital media and smart communication technology to provide entertainment and communication, as well as to search for information. Full article

The Metaverse of Things (MoT) is an advanced technology that has the potential to revolutionise urban living in the present era. This article explores the advantages, uses, and transformative outcomes of the MoT in smart cities. It encompasses sustainability, urban planning, citizen participation, infrastructure management, and more. MoT integrates the Internet of Things (IoT) with metaverse technologies. The ultimate objective is to develop virtual environments that are highly interactive, interconnected, and immersive while maintaining a high level of fidelity to reality. The IoT utilises virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other digital technologies to gather data, facilitate communication, and automate certain processes, thereby enhancing several elements of urban living. The IoT will bring about a profound transformation in the way cities gather and utilise data to enhance services and optimise efficiency. Cities that can efficiently distribute this data can enhance public safety, optimise energy usage, regulate traffic, and manage waste properly. MoT apps that utilise immersive technologies and the IoT can be used to generate more intelligent and captivating cityscapes. The implementation of the MoT can greatly enhance the quality of life for residents of smart cities through improvements in transportation, healthcare, education, and community engagement. This study’s author examined how smart cities utilise the MoT to enhance the daily experiences of their inhabitants. This study examines the technical structure, possible advantages, and difficulties of implementing the MoT in urban settings, aiming to enhance the resilience, responsiveness, and adaptability of cities. The findings emphasise the importance of robust legislative frameworks, stringent security requirements, and well-developed infrastructure to facilitate the extensive use of MoT technology. These factors are crucial for establishing a highly interconnected and efficient urban environment. Full article

Digital Twins of the Ocean (DTO) are a rapidly emerging topic that has attracted significant interest from scientists in recent years. The initiative, strongly driven by the EU, aims to create a digital replica of the ocean to better understand and manage marine environments. The Iliad project, funded under the EU Green Deal call, is developing a framework to support multiple interoperable DTO using a federated systems-of-systems approach across various fields of applications and ocean areas, called pilots. This paper presents the results of a Water Quality DTO pilot located in the Trondheim fjord in Norway. This paper details the building blocks of DTO, specific to this environmental monitoring pilot. A crucial aspect of any DTO is data, which can be sourced internally, externally, or through a hybrid approach utilizing both. To realistically twin ocean processes, the Water Quality pilot acquires data from both surface and benthic observatories, as well as from mobile sensor platforms for on-demand data collection. Data ingested into an InfluxDB are made available to users via an API or an interface for interacting with the DTO and setting up alerts or events to support ’what-if’ scenarios. Grafana, an interactive visualization application, is used to visualize and interact with not only time-series data but also more complex data such as video streams, maps, and embedded applications. An additional visualization approach leverages game technology based on Unity and Cesium, utilizing their advanced rendering capabilities and physical computations to integrate and dynamically render real-time data from the pilot and diverse sources. This paper includes two case studies that illustrate the use of particle sensors to detect microplastics and monitor algae blooms in the fjord. Numerical models for particle fate and transport, OpenDrift and DREAM, are used to forecast the evolution of these events, simulating the distribution of observed plankton and microplastics during the forecasting period. Full article

The sustainable growth of income for farming households in pastoral areas represents a crucial challenge not only for China but also for other developing nations in the process of transition to ecologically friendly models. The scarcity of assets available for collateral, along with vulnerable production conditions and developmental shortcomings, pose significant barriers to the consistent expansion of herdsmen’s income. This paper analyzes the impact of digital financial inclusion on the income of herdsmen in ethnic minority regions using panel data models from nine major pastoral provinces in China from 2011 to 2022. Through a fixed-effects model approach, the analysis delves into the influence of digital financial inclusion and subjects it to multi-dimensional and robustness tests to ensure the reliability of the findings. Furthermore, the research explores the underlying mechanisms through which digital financial inclusion contributes to income enhancement for herdsmen in these areas, employing mediation effect techniques to provide deeper insights into the relationship between digital financial services and economic upliftment in remote ethnic communities. The research findings indicate that digital financial inclusion has a positive impact on the income of herdsmen in ethnic minority regions. The breadth of coverage, depth of usage, and level of digitalization of digital financial inclusion all play a significant role in enhancing the income levels of herdsmen. In terms of the degree of influence, the impact of digital finance on the income of ethnic minorities follows this order: depth of usage > degree of digitalization > breadth of coverage. Notably, through financial backing that catalyzes a shift in herdsmen’s production methodologies and propels industrial upgrading, there is a profound potential to increase herdsmen’s output efficiency. This, in turn, alleviates the ecological strain on China’s environmentally delicate zones. Moreover, financial backing can condense the breeding periods for herdsmen, thereby ameliorating the ecological degradation associated with excessive grazing in pastoral regions. A mediating-effect analysis reveals that digital financial inclusion can boost economic development in ethnic minority regions by increasing wage income, raising per capita GDP levels, and promoting industrial structure upgrading. This, in turn, leads to an improvement in the income of herdsmen in these regions. This is particularly pertinent in China, where the eco-fragility of pastoral regions coincides with the modest income of herdsmen, underscoring the critical importance of herdsmen’s finance. To foster sustainable progress in these regions, financial backing is imperative to elevate herdsmen’s income and to induce a transformative shift in production approaches and industrial layout, paving the way for the sustainable development of these pastoral regions. Full article

This article seeks to examine a new trend in Arabic women’s literature that not only aims to forge women’s communities but also creates resistance. Digital media is the mechanism that some Arab women authors employ to implement and foster a self-authority that acknowledges flexible identities in an age of revolutions and search for freedom. As a case study, I examine Ahlam Mosteghanemi’s Nessayne com and Rajaa Alsanea’s novel Girls of Riyadh, which originally appearing as compendiums, and Ibrahim Alsaqir’s novel Girls of Riyadh: The Complete Picture that comes as a literary response to the resistance of cultural and gender establishments. I suggest that the digital realm provides an arena for women to resist oppressing social establishments and that literary works and digital practices like Alsanea’s create spaces of and for resistance. Moreover, Alsanea’s and Mosteghanemi’s works are committed to promoting change in Arab societies, bridging the public and the private sphere by means of digital content. Arab women writers’ sites and blogs address subjects that challenge prevalent gendered structures in the Arab world, deconstruct cultural norms, give visibility and focus on the implications of gender on memory, love, masculinity and femininity, and sexuality. They do so by employing chats as a narrative technique that engages readers and women’s communities in the characters’ experiences and thereby inviting them to participate in making their work a site of challenge to gender and cultural establishments. As Alsanea’s representations of women subjectivities are uncommon and her characters defy the notion of the universality of woman as a shared gender, they are prohibited, criticized, and challenged. Those who defy gender performativity, such as Alsanea and Mosteghanemi, enact feminist resistance. The study engages with MENA gender and masculinity literature. It is also informed by Judith Butler’s notion of performativity, the construction of gender, and the demystification of the universalistic notion of “woman”. Full article

With the rapid development of the digital new infrastructure industry, the energy demand for communication base stations in smart grid systems is escalating daily. The country is vigorously promoting the communication energy storage industry. However, the energy storage capacity of base stations is limited and widely distributed, making it difficult to effectively participate in power grid auxiliary services by only implementing the centralized control of base stations. Aiming at this issue, an interactive hybrid control mode between energy storage and the power system under the base station sleep control strategy is delved into in this paper. Grounded in the spatiotemporal traits of chemical energy storage and thermal energy storage, a virtual battery model for base stations is established and the scheduling potential of battery clusters in multiple scenarios is explored. Then, based on the time of use electricity price and user fitness indicators, with the maximum transmission signal and minimum operating cost as objective functions, a decentralized control device is used to locally and quickly regulate the communication system. Furthermore, a multi-objective joint peak shaving model for base stations is established, centrally controlling the energy storage system of the base station through a virtual battery management system. Finally, a simulation analysis was conducted on data from different types of base stations in the region, designing two distinct scheduling schemes for four regional categories. The analysis results demonstrate that the proposed model can effectively reduce the power consumption of base stations while mitigating the fluctuation of the power grid load. Full article