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The 39th SGAI International Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI 2019), Cambridge, United Kingdom, 17-19 December 2019 In precision agriculture (PA), soil sampling and testing op-eration is prior to planting any new crop. It is an expensive operationsince there are many soil characteristics to take into account. This papergives an overview of soil characteristics and their relationships with cropyield and soil profiling. We propose an approach for predicting soil pHbased on nearest neighbour fields. It implements spatial radius queriesand various regression techniques in data mining. We use soil dataset containing about 4,000 fields profiles to evaluate them and analyse theirrobustness. A comparative study indicates that LR, SVR, andGBRTtechniques achieved high accuracy, with the R2 values of about 0.718 and MAEvalues of 0.29. The experimental results showed that the pro-posed approach is very promising and can contribute significantly to PA. Science Foundation Ireland Insight Research Centre Origin Enterprises

Digitisation has ushered in a new era of value creation where cross border data flows generate more economic value than traditional flows of goods. The powerful new combination of digital and traditional forms of innovation has seen several new industries branded with a ‘tech’ suffix. In the education technology sector (EdTech), which is the industry context of this research, digitisation is driving double-digit growth into a projected $240 billion industry by 2021. Yet, despite its contemporary significance, the field of entrepreneurship has paid little attention to the phenomenon of digital entrepreneurship. As several scholars observe, digitisation challenges core organising axioms of entrepreneurship, with significant implications for the new venture creation process in new sectors such as EdTech. New venture creation no longer appears to follow discrete and linear models of innovation, as spatial and temporal boundaries get compressed. Given the paradigmatic shift, this study investigates three interrelated themes. Firstly, it seeks to determine how a Pure Digital Entrepreneurship (PDE) process develops over time; and more importantly, how the journey challenges extant assumptions of the entrepreneurial process. Secondly, it strives to identify and theorise the deep structures which underlie the PDE process through mechanism-based explanations. Consequently, the study also seeks to determine the causal pathways and enablers which overtly or covertly interrelate to power new venture emergence and performance. Thirdly, it aims to offer practical guidelines for nurturing the growth of PDE ventures, and for the development of supportive ecosystems. To meet the stated objectives, this study utilises an Insider Action Research (IAR) approach to inquiry, which incorporates reflective practice, collaborative inquiry and design research for third-person knowledge production. This three-pronged approach to inquiry allows for the enactment of a PDE journey in real-time, while acquiring a holistic narrative in the ‘swampy lowlands’ of new venture creation. The findings indicate that the PDE process is differentiated by the centrality of digital artifacts in new venture ideas, which in turn result in less-bounded processes that deliver temporal efficiencies – hence, the shorter new venture creation processes than in traditional forms of entrepreneurship. Further, PDE action is defined by two interrelated events – digital product development and digital growth marketing. These events are characterised by the constant forking, merging and termination of diverse activities. Secondly, concurrent enactment and piecemeal co-creation were found to be consequential mechanisms driving temporal efficiencies in digital product development. Meanwhile, data-driven operation and flexibility combine in digital growth marketing, to form higher order mechanisms which considerably reduce the levels of task-specific and outcome uncertainties. Finally, the study finds that digital growth marketing is differentiated from traditional marketing by the critical role of algorithmic agencies in their capacity as gatekeepers. Thus, unlike traditional marketing, which emphasises customer sovereignty, digital growth marketing involves a dual focus on the needs of human and algorithmic stakeholders. Based on the findings, this research develops a pragmatic model of pure digital new venture creation and suggests critical policy guidelines for nurturing the growth of PDE ventures and ecosystems.

Air quality monitoring in Ireland is under the jurisdiction of the Environmental Protection Agency in compliance with the Gothenburg Protocol, EU/national legislation, and the National Clean Air Strategy. Particulate Matter (PM) has been acknowledged as a key atmospheric pollutant, with serious public health impacts and no safe threshold of exposure in place to-date. Ammonia (NH3) emissions are linked to the secondary production of PM through atmospheric reactions occurring with acidic atmospheric components such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and hydrochloric acid. These reactions result in the formation of ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and ammonium chloride, among others. More than 95% of NH3 emissions occurring in Ireland arise from agriculture, with minor contributions from transport and natural sources. This study aims to advance knowledge and understanding of the role of arable agricultural practices and management in NH3 enrichment and aid in mapping of the sources of PM production. The nature and contribution of NH3 in the atmosphere to secondary PM in defined arable settings will be examined to provide greater insight into system dynamics facilitating emission control and mitigation measures to be implemented. This will be achieved through a review of existing literature and database assessment combined with the application of a localised field monitoring network in arable agricultural settings. As Ireland currently has no active atmospheric NH3 monitoring in place, reported emission levels can prove to be imprecise. And lead to over- and under-estimation of NH3 gas emissions to the atmosphere from sources such as agriculture. By establishing localized monitoring stations at emission sources, the precision of the estimated NH3 concentrations in the atmosphere can be improved. This can also lead to improved understanding of PM dynamics and formation. This will be achieved by using a combination of active and passive sampling instruments for in-field atmospheric sample collection, which will then be analysed in the laboratory using ion chromatography. Additionally, to gain a fuller understanding of the dynamics of an agricultural system, background monitoring of soil properties and water nutrient enrichment will also be carried out. The output of this project will build on existing theories of NH3, and PM dynamics established by previous research, and combine these with field data, including agricultural practices, NH3 source production and PM generation, soil and water enrichment and quality background monitoring to synthesise a new mechanistic paradigm. This new understanding will be operationalised through the development of a conceptual model of NH3 dynamics and PM generation, and agri-ecological interactions known as Conceptual Ammonia-aeroSol bIOspheric Simulation (CASIOS). The model builds on a Drivers, Pressures, State, Impacts, Responses framework, with an additional attribute introduced under the term ‘Concept’ which includes environmental conditions previously not considered under this paradigm.

Senior managers of two German mid-sized world market leaders in sensor electronics (ifm electronic) and mechanical engineering (GEA Group) discuss the opportunities and barriers of developing smart service innovations. The case study addresses different roles and patterns in ecosystems of multiple collaborating actors in different stages of development. The open-end discussion invites learners to evaluate the opportunities from different perspectives based on industry-specific experiences.

The construction industry contributes significantly to the socio-economic development of nations through infrastructure development, and job creation culminating into the growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Quantity Surveying Professional Service Firms (QSPSFs) play a critical role in the construction industry by ensuring that projects are delivered within cost, required quality and duration by providing technical and knowledge-intensive services to clients, contractors and stakeholders. Irish QSPSFs are facing challenges such as tender price inflation, intense competition, a skills shortage and disruptive technology. These challenges coupled with the cyclicality of the sector create a turbulent business environment for Irish QSPSFs, yet there remains a paucity of empirical evidence pertaining to how strategic decisions are made by these firms. Strategic planning is critical to addressing the challenges confronting business organisations such as the Irish QSPSFs; however, to date strategic planning has focused to a greater extent on manufacturing, oil and gas, retail, consumer products and light manufacturing, whereas there remains limited empirical investigation within the construction industry. This study aims to address this gap by examining the strategic decision-making process of Irish QSPSFs operating in the changing environment of the construction industry. What sets the research apart is that a Dynamic Capabilities (DC) perspective has been used with focus on sensing; seizing; and transformation, culminating into its integration into the development of a strategic decision-making framework. This study is entrenched in the pragmatist philosophical stance with emphasis on the positivist and interpretivist position and adopts mixed method by using quantitative and qualitative approaches over two phases. The first phase involves a survey administered with support from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) to 350 member practices whereby a single senior Quantity Surveyors (QS) in each practice was invited to participate. Seventy-two usable survey questionnaires completed by respondents were prepared for data analysis. The second phase of the research comprised of interview with ten chief executives or managing directors of Irish QSPSFs. The study found the most preferred strategic choice at the corporate level of QSPSFs as the expansion of services to new markets and sectors. At the business level, the investigation discovered the differentiation of services as the main strategic choice of QSPSFs. Furthermore, participation in strategic decision-making is very critical to the success of strategy formulation in organisations. This study identifies the factors that drive participation in strategic decision-making as the knowledge and competence of staff; personality traits; and the ability of people to make decision at the operational level of the organisation. The investigation also found that strategic change has occurred in QSPSFs over the past ten years. This strategic change is attributable to turbulent environmental conditions such as economic recession, in particular reference to the prolong economic recession 2008-2013. The investigation identified the specific strategic changes that occurred in QSPSFs as growth and expansion into new markets; agglomeration, and changes in the ownership and management structure. The negative and positive impacts of economic recession on QSPSFs have also been identified in this investigation. For instance, a radical shift in strategic response from being proactive to reactive; and self-preservation of ownership structure are the ii adverse effects of economic recession identified by the study while knowledge acquisition; and risk profiling for identification and capturing of opportunities are the positive impacts of economic recession. The study found significant statistical evidence to confirm a strong relationship between the turbulent business environment and the strategic decision-making process characteristics of QSPSFs. A strategic decision-making framework was developed on the basis of field work undertaken which was subsequently validated by respondent practices. The framework is the first of its kind pertaining to construction PSFs.

The 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), Dublin, Ireland, 7-11 June 2020 The mobile service platform envisaged by emerging IoT and 5G is guaranteeing gigabit-level bandwidth, ultra-low latency and ultra-high storage capacity for their subscribers. In spite of the variety of applications plausible with the envisaged technologies, security is a demanding objective that should be applied beyond the design stages. Thus, Security as a Service (SECaaS) is an initiative for a service model that enable mobile and IoT consumers with diverse security functions such as Intrusion Detection and Prevention (IDPaaS), Authentication (AaaS), and Secure Transmission Channel (STCaaS) as a Service. A well-equipped edge computing infrastructure is intrinsic to achieve this goal. The emerging Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) paradigm standardized by the ETSI is excelling among other edge computing flavours due to its well-defined structure and protocols. Thus, in our directive, we intend to utilize MEC as the edge computing platform to launch the SECaaS functions. Though, the actual development of a MEC infrastructure is highly dependent on the integration of virtualization technologies to enable dynamic creation, the deployment, and the detachment of virtualized entities that should feature interoperability to cater the heterogeneous IoT devices and services. To that extent, this work is proposing a security service architecture that offers these SECaaS services. Further, we validate our proposed architecture through the development of a virtualized infrastructure that integrates lightweight and hypervisor-based virtualization technologies. Our experiments prove the plausibility of launching multiple security instances on the developed prototype edge platform. European Commission Horizon 2020 University College Dublin

Imagine you are checking in to your hotel for a well-deserved holiday. You are looking forward to a break away from the modern connected world, but are greeted by a robotic dinosaur at the reception desk. Welcome to the Henn-na Hotel in Nagasaki, Japan, the world's first fully manned robotic hotel.

High performance networking is at the core of every industrial system, as more and more companies look inwards towards the digital transformation of their entire manufacturing environment. The driving factor for all these changes is Industry 4.0, there are many options for communication systems for the latest generations of hardware with one of the most promising technologies being private 5G networks. A smart automation use case will be implemented using private 5G as the communication backbone, the performance of this communication type will be compared to other communication types that were historically used within smart automation and manufacturing settings. Performance metrics will be compared to show typical performance that may be expected when deploying a private 5G communication network. The paper will also explore the roadmap for future 5G performance increases through updates and network optimization.

The 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Dublin, Ireland, 7-11 June 2020 This paper proposes “An Emergency Situation Detection System for Ambient Assisted Living (AAL)”, to support elderly people and patients with chronic conditions and potential health-related emergencies to live independently. It implements an Internet of Things (IoT) network that continuously monitors the health conditions of these people. The network includes mobile phones, to transmit the data generated by the IoT sensors to the cloud server. Especially, the paper proposes the 3 rd party unknown mobile relays instead of dedicated gateways as opposed to many existing solutions for IoT healthcare applications. The wireless communication technology used to provide the connectivity between the sensor nodes and mobile relays is Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). To establish a secure end-to-end connectivity between low power IoT sensor nodes and cloud servers, the paper proposes several techniques. After the medical data transmission to the cloud server, it is responsible for emergency detection and alert generation accordingly. The type of emergency is not limited to a specific health issue, but new emergency situations can be defined and added to the proposed system. Ultimately, the interested parties such as family members, caretakers and doctors receive these alerts. The development of a prototype of the system as a part of the work using commercial off-the-shelf devices verifies the validity of the proposing system and evaluates the performance advantage over the existing systems. European Commission University College Dublin Academy of Finland

High performance networking is at the core of every industrial system, as more and more companies look inwards towards the digital transformation of their entire manufacturing environment. The driving factor for all these changes is Industry 4.0, there are many options for communication systems for the latest generations of hardware with one of the most promising technologies being private 5G networks. A smart automation use case will be implemented using private 5G as the communication backbone, the performance of this communication type will be compared to other communication types that were historically used within smart automation and manufacturing settings. Performance metrics will be compared to show typical performance that may be expected when deploying a private 5G communication network