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While the current highly fragmented Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem is characterized by an increasing number of platforms, their interoperability and collaboration is quite challenging to achieve, even more so due to numerous standardization initiatives. However, interoperability remains essential for future IoT deployments to facilitate the emergence of novel cross-domain applications and business opportunities. In this paper we present the interoperability approach pursued by the H2020 project symbIoTe which aims at creating a flexible interoperability framework supporting both semantic and organizational interoperability. While semantic interoperability, as a prerequisite for platform cooperation, has been widely addressed in literature, symbIoTe goes a step further to propose novel aspects of organizational interoperability by introducing a concept of IoT platform federations and roaming IoT devices. We present the symbIoTe architecture, highlight its major technical contributions, and provide an overview of current system implementation with focus on Cloud-based services which create a new perspective on IoT interoperability.

Libraries are non-profit service-oriented organizations engaged in satisfying the patrons' needs by providing them with whatever they seek from the library, i.e., Books, Journals, Magazines, CDs/DVDs, and Online Resources. However, the libraries must face hardships regarding funds which create difficulties in maintaining the libraries and providing better library services. Its high time libraries should become self-dependent rather than depending upon the funds provided by the parental organization. The funds that the parental organization allocates are minimal and do not cover every area pertaining to the library. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to conceptualize the transformation of libraries into profit-making organizations to provide improved library services. Results: To make libraries a profit-making organization, librarians should go unconventional by making some amends in the library policy like charging money in exchange for some services which were earlier not provided by the libraries, i.e. (1) Rental of equipment: Renting the items like Computers, CD/DVDs, Cassette, among others, can provide some rents. (2) Advertisement: Libraries can charge advertisement costs by promoting books written by authors. (3) Selling the weeding out items. (4) Translation. (5) Reproduction Cost. (6) Service charge on-demand services. (7) Inter-Library Services. (8). Membership Schemes. (9) Book Reservation. (10) Training. The charges incurred from the above services are implemented to make the library a better place by providing better resources and better services. Conclusion: Libraries are meant to be non-profit organizations and must provide services free of cost to the patrons, but the library's primary goal is also to keep the users' satisfaction into consideration. To keep the users satisfied, libraries must keep implementing new policies and procedures to keep them going head on head with time.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is faced with a plethora of platforms which are built and operated as siloed solutions. However, the lack of interoperability and collaboration between platforms will negatively influence their adaptability to support future business cases targeting large-scale and cross-domain IoT deployments. While syntactic and semantic interoperability, as a prerequisite for platform cooperation, has been widely addressed by standardization and research actions, organizational interoperability enabling direct and business-driven interactions between IoT platform owners has so far not been in focus. In this paper we present the interoperability approach pursued by the project symbIoTe that implements a flexible interoperability framework, and put forward its solution for organizational interoperability offering decentralized and secure interworking between IoT platforms—IoT-platform federations. Three main collaboration mechanisms are introduced and elaborated: management of Service Level Agreements (SLA) between federated platforms, multi-level trust and reputation management, and a bartering mechanism for fair sharing of federated resources. The aforementioned mechanisms are put in place to foster decentralized platform collaboration which has higher potential to be adopted by platform owners compared to centralized approaches.

Neonicotinoids have been the most commonly used insecticides worldwide in the last two decades, whereas application of Copper (Cu) has a much longer history, especially in Mediterranean agriculture, (e.g. vineyards). Lately, large numbers of studies have shown negative effects of neonicotinoids on non-target species (especially on bees but also on other insects, and indirectly on insectivorous species like birds) being thus recently banned by EU commission. On the other hand, intensification of production in favour of ecological pest management increases the use of copper in pest control schemes and its absorption in agroecosystems. In this study we aimed to quantify the relationships between pesticide concentrations, including those with copper compounds, in soil, carabids and its prey at four sampling sites, in vineyards and olive groves under integrated (IPM) and ecological pest managements (EPM), and in pristine habitats in Zadar County, in Mediterranean region of Croatia. Soil, carabids, earthworms, snails and woodlice were sampled using pitfall traps and by hand. LC-MS/MS and ICP-MS technique were utilised to quantify pesticides and Cu concentrations in the soil and in the animals representing different trophic guilds. In addition we analysed changes in body shape symmetry of Poecilus koyi, one of the most dominant predatory carabid species in the study sites, in order to evaluate the potential environmental stress between maned and pristine habitats that can affect carabids during their development. Geometric morphometrics (GMM) has been used to analyse pronotum and abdomen shape variations, and left/right asymmetries in up to100 individuals of P. koyi per study site. Some preliminary results showed that body burden with pesticides differ between prey and predator organisms, and body concentrations of certain pesticides in carabid beetles did not correlate with those in the soil. Distribution of pesticide along different trophic guilds and changes in body shape and fluctuating asymmetry in P. koyi populations will be presented and discussed in details.

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001711 Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004329 Technology Agency of the Czech Republic https://doi.org/10.13039/100014809 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft https://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659 Eusko Jaurlaritza https://doi.org/10.13039/501100003086

Winch-assisted forwarders are now commonly accepted as an innovative alternative for extracting wood on challenging terrain. In order to assess safety risks, it is necessary to know the tensile forces in the steel wire rope and their interaction with the machine tilt under real working conditions. In this study, the tensile force and the machine tilt of two winch-assisted forwarders (John Deere 1210E and Komatsu 840TX) were observed for about 15 work hours without delays on two different stands in Austria. The tensile force data and the machine tilt data were separated by work elements. The mean tensile force ranged from 18.1 kN for unloading up to 56.8 kN for loading activities. During the measurements, the cable tensile force exceeded 50% of the minimum breaking strength (MBS) only twice. The maximum observed tensile force was 174.5 kN or 82.7% of the MBS, respectively, which led to a failure of the steel cable. For the machine tilt, a maximum of 80% was measured during loading and driving during loading. John Deere 1210E was operated 31% of the productive work time above the manufacturers tilt limit. For Komatsu 840TX, the manufacturers’ maximum tilt limit was exceeded only twice. The study also showed that peaks with an amplitude of up to 50 kN can occur within a few centiseconds, which highlights the need of high measurement rates, when measuring cable tensile force of winch-assisted machinery. The detailed analysis of the peaks showed that 90% of the pit-to-peak amplitudes ≥20 kN occurred during driving activities. Only 10% of pit-to-peak amplitudes ≥20 kN were measured during loading activities, although loading took about 43.5% of the productive work time. As such, the study results confirm that amplitudes of peaks in tensile force, and hence safety risks, are significantly higher during driving than during loading.