China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
IoT and the Need for Data Rationalization
Published in Diego Galar Pascual, Pasquale Daponte, Uday Kumar, Handbook of Industry 4.0 and SMART Systems, 2019
Diego Galar Pascual, Pasquale Daponte, Uday Kumar
For consumers, new IoT products such as Internet-enabled appliances, home automation components, and energy management devices are moving us toward the “smart home,” offering more security and energy efficiency. Other personal IoT devices such as wearable fitness and health monitoring devices and network-enabled medical devices are transforming the way health care services are delivered. This technology promises to be beneficial for people with disabilities and the elderly, enabling improved levels of independence and quality of life at a reasonable cost. IoT systems such as networked vehicles, intelligent traffic systems, and sensors embedded in roads and bridges move us closer to the idea of “smart cities,” which help minimize congestion and energy consumption. IoT technology also offers the possibility to transform agriculture, industry, and energy production and distribution by increasing the availability of information along the value chain of production using networked sensors (Rose et al., 2015).
Nanoparticles and the Aquatic Environment: Application, Impact and Fate
Published in Alok Dhawan, Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh Kumar, Rishi Shanker, Nanobiotechnology, 2018
Violet A. Senapati, Ashutosh Kumar
Nanotechnology is a field of applied science focused on the design, synthesis, characterization, and application of materials and devices on the nanoscale. It is a “converging technology,” which amalgamates various scientific disciplines, such as physics, chemistry, information technology, medicine, and biology, to provide new and innovative solutions. It is also referred to as “enabling technology,” since it opens new avenues in various disciplines of science and technology. Nanotechnology is considered the next logical step in science. This is due to the fact that size reduction leads to increased surface area, imparting new optical, magnetic, and quantum properties to the material. These properties cannot be explained with the conventional assays used to understand biological effects.
Technology crime and technology control
Published in M. R. McGuire, Thomas J. Holt, The Routledge Handbook of Technology, Crime and Justice, 2017
But in spite of such apparently pervasive associations, definitive examples of technological crime, technological regulation or technological misuse in the pre-industrial era are hard to come by. There seem to be several reasons for this. One immediate and obvious problem relates to the many cultural variations in how societies have sought to control technology, or to punish its misuse. For example, the kind of technology crime and control that might be witnessed in Han-dynasty China or in Ancient Rome seems unlikely to be comparable to that experienced in medieval Paris or eighteenth-century London. Significant complications also arise from the wide historical disparities in what constituted criminal offences. Take, for example, slavery, which is now (almost) universally treated as a criminal act. Given that many pre-modern societies were implicated in some form of this, to what extent should the technologies used to sustain it – such as slave-ships or manacles – now be associated with pre-modern technology crime? Similarly, could the use of axes in furthering deforestation during the pre-industrial period really be defined in terms of ‘green crime’, given that forestry clearance was often a matter of survival (cf. Winner 1978: 17)? There are also conceptual and methodological challenges. For example, since the sense in which technology can be defined as ‘enabling’ or ‘assisting’ with criminal/control behaviours remains undeveloped for contemporary technology we lack clear guidance when attempting to define earlier examples of it. The seeming lack of any very adequate historical sources for technology crime further complicates meaningful analysis.
Breaking barriers: telehealth to improve access to assistive technology
Published in Assistive Technology, 2023
Aoife Healy, Nicola Eddison, Nachiappan Chockalingam
The combined use of telehealth with the latest technologies and techniques such as additive manufacturing or 3D printing utilized in the design, development and delivery of many assistive technology products has the potential to have a significant positive socio-economic impact around the world. It can enable access to assistive technology for rural and remote communities in the Global South, allowing access to assistive technology without the need to travel to a hospital/clinic. Removing the need to travel results in reduced cost and time for both assistive technology providers and service users, as well as supporting global environmental goals by reducing carbon emissions. Enabling wider access to assistive technology allows people to retain their independence and participate in society.