Abstract

Abstract
Smart governance is one of the characteristics of smart cities, having its roots in e-government, in the principles of good governance, and in the assumptions of citizens' participation and involvement in public decision-making. This chapter aims to answer the question: “What smart governance practices are being implemented in smart cities” through an extensive literature review in the areas of e-government, good governance, smart cities and smart governance, and content analysis of the websites of seven smart cities: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Manchester, Singapore, and Stockholm. The objective was to identify the presence of factors related with e-participation; e-services; and public administration functioning on the cities' websites. The chapter ends with directions for future research and the conclusion that all the smart cities analyzed presented some factors related with smart governance, but with different levels of development and application.

Abstract
With an advancement towards the paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT), in which every device will be interconnected and communicating with each other, the field of wireless sensor networks has helped to resolve an ever-growing demand in meeting deadlines and reducing power consumption. Among several standards that provide support for IoT, the recently published IEEE 802.15.4e protocol is specifically designed to meet the QoS requirements of industrial applications. IEEE 802.15.4e provides five Medium-Access Control (MAC) behaviors, including three that target time-critical applications: Deterministic and Synchronous Multichannel Extension (DSME); Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) and Low Latency Deterministic Network (LLDN). However, the standard and the literature do not provide any worst-case bound analysis of these behaviors, thus it is not possible to effectively predict their timing performance in an application and accurately devise a network in accordance to such constraints. This paper fills this gap by contributing network models for the three time-critical MAC behaviors using Network Calculus. These models allow deriving the worst-case performance of the MAC behaviors in terms of delay and buffering requirements. We then complement these results by carrying out a thorough performance analysis of these MAC behaviors by observing the impact of different parameters. © 2017 IEEE.

Abstract

Abstract
Mobile, self-organising robots are seen to be a possible solution to overcome the current limitations of fixed, dedicated automation systems particularly in the area of large structure assembly. Two of the key challenges for traditional dedicated automation systems in large structure assembly are considered to be the transportation of products and the adaptation of manufacturing processes to changes in requirements. In order to make dynamic, self-organising systems a reality, several challenges in the process dynamics and logistical control need to be solved. In this paper, we propose a Multi-Agent System (MAS) approach to self-organise mobile robots in large structure assembly. The model is based on fixed-priority pre-emptive scheduling and uses a blackboard agent as a central information source and to facilitate more common goal directed distributed negotiation and decision making between agents representing the different needs of products and available mobile resources (robots).

Abstract
Cyber Physical Production Systems (CPSS) built on the concept of “Plug-and-Produce” aim at delivering truly agile production systems. These systems are modular by nature and can be adapted based on changing requirements. One of the challenges in this domain is how to store and propagate information within CPPS. In this paper, a Redundant and Decentralised Directory Facilitator will be introduced to provide the capability to store and broadcast the existing system assembly capabilities. Additionally, this solution will provide redundancy and delocalization of the assembly capabilities information. The model used is described, as well as interactions, behaviours and deployment strategies. Finally a validation scenario is presented and conclusions are discussed. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017.