Resiliency Tech: A Signal in the Storm

Redundancy is a four-letter word in most settings, but when it comes to emergency management and disaster relief, redundant systems reduce risk and saves lives. Tropical Storm Harvey caused at least 148,000 outages for internet, tv and phone customers, making it impossible for people to communicate over social media and text. In this blog post, we explore innovative ways smart cities can leverage big data and Internet of Things (IoT) technology to MacGyver effective solutions when go-to channels breakdown.

Flood Beacons

Designer Samuel Cox created the flood beacon to share fast and accurate flood condition information. Most emergency management decisions are based on forecasts and person-to-person communications with first responders and people in danger. With the flood beacon, you can find out water levels, GPS coordinates and water movements in real-time. The beacon is designed to have low power requirements and use solar to stay charged up. Now, it will be up to the IoT innovators of the world to turn the flood beacon into a complete solution that can broadcast emergency center locations and restore connectivity to impacted areas.

EMS Drones

The Health Integrated Rescue Operations (HiRO) Project has developed a first responder drone that can drop medical kits, emergency supplies and Google Glass for video conference communication. “EMS response drones can land in places that EMS ground vehicles either cannot get to or take too long to reach”, says Subbarao, a recognized expert in disaster and emergency medicine. “Immediate communications with the victims and reaching them rapidly with aid are both critical to improve outcomes.” – One of These Drones Could Save Your Life – Jan.12.2017 via NBC News.

Big Data Analytics and Business Intelligence

Emergency management agencies and disaster relief organizations have been using crowdsourcing and collaborative mapping tools to target impact areas but poor data quality and the lack of cross-agency coordination continue to challenge the system. Business intelligence platforms that provide access to alternative data sets and machine learning models can help government agencies and disaster relief organizations corroborate and collaborate. By introducing sentiment analysis, keyword search features and Geotags, organizations can quickly identify high-need areas. Furthermore, BI platforms with project management and inventory plug-ins can aggregate information and streamline deployment.

Smart emergency management systems must be flexible, redundant and evolve with our technology. At True Interaction, we believe that traditional private sector business intelligence tools and data science capabilities can help cross-agency collaboration, communication and coordination. Our core team of software developers is interested in teaming up with government agencies, disaster relief organizations and IoT developers to create better tools for disaster preparation and relief service delivery. Contact us here if you are interested in joining our resiliency tech partnership!

Blockchain 101 Self-Assessment

Blockchain is the new black. We’ve heard the term in conference calls, seen it on the cover of magazines and know it’s a hot topic on CNBC but the barrage of information makes it difficult to distinguish hype from reality. It’s clear that Blockchain will revolutionize the world but understanding how is mission critical. In this blog post we’ll cover the Blockchain essentials and the most frequently asked questions we’ve come across.

At The Art of Service we’ve developed a Blockchain self-assessment tool that professionals use to test the depth of their knowledge on the Blockchain concept and its potential. The Blockchain self-assessment covers numerous criteria related to a successful project – a quick primer version is available for you to download at the end of the article.

BLOCKCHAIN FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What Is the Blockchain?

The problem with nearly all Blockchain explanations is that they supply too much detail upfront and use lingo that winds up leaving folks more confused than when they started. We are in the nascent stages of this technological revolution and it’s hard to predict how Blockchain will impact our institutions and our lives. Brand new Blockchain-related technologies are being built every day and the framework is evolving.

Here are some key definitions and ideas to help you understand the fundamental pillars behind this insurgent technology:

1. Blockchain is a technology that essentially disperses an account ledger. For those of you in the monetary management world, you know an account ledger as the trusted source of transactions or facts. The same is true with Blockchain but in lieu of existing in a great buckskin bound book or in a financial management program, Blockchains are run by a dispersed set of information handling resources working together to maintain that account ledger.
2. The Blockchain procedure of securely and permanently time-stamping and recording all transactions makes it very hard for a user to change the account book once a block in a Blockchain has been added.
3. Private Blockchains allow for distributing identical copies of an account book but only to a restricted amount of trusted contributors. This set of techniques, practices, procedures and rules is better suited for applications needing simplicity, speed, and greater clarity.
4. Users of the Distributed Account Ledger Technology (DLT) notably benefit from the efficiencies by generating a more robust ecosystem for real-time and secure data sharing.
5. Blockchain is only one of the various kinds of data constructions that provide secure and valid achievement of distributed agreement. The Bitcoin Blockchain, which uses Proof-of-Work mining, is the most common approach being used today. However, additional forms of DLT consensus exist such as Ethereum, Ripple, Hyperledger, MultiChain and Eris.

Blockchain: Who controls the risk?

Each party on a Blockchain has access to the entire database and its complete past. No single party controls the data or the information. Every party can substantiate the records of its transaction associates directly, without a mediator.

For public businesses, the conditions of Blockchain are very different. The identity of contributors must be known while permissioned Blockchains require no evidence of work. Over the next few years, Blockchain growing pains will hit the industry and support systems will begin to take shape. Today, Blockchain needs supporting infrastructure available for cloud or traditional database setups – there are no systems management tools, reporting tools or legacy configuration integrations in place.

Could Blockchain be the structural change the market needs?

Blockchain’s foundational technology is the biggest innovation computer science has seen in a long time. The thought of a dispersed database where trust is established through mass collaboration and clever code rather than a powerful institution is game-changing. Now it will be up to the larger business community to determine whether it will become the building block for the digitized economy or if it will be disregarded and perish. Now, building formidable and trustworthy Blockchain standards is the next step to turn this global opportunity into a reality.

Blockchain: What does the future hold?

There are many Blockchain and distributed account ledger setups emerging in the market including: BigchainDB, Billon, Chain, Corda, Credits, Elements, Monax, Fabric, Ethereum, HydraChain, Hyperledger, Multichain, Openchain, Quorum, Sawtooth, Stellar. The Block chain use cases span a number of industries including insurance, healthcare and finance but we are only scratching the surface of what’s possible.

Next, get started with the Blockchain Self-Assessment:

The Blockchain Self-Assessment Excel Dashboard provides a way to gauge performance against planned project activities and achieve optimal results. It does this by ensuring that Blockchain criteria are automatically prioritized and assigned; uncovering where progress can be made now; and what to plan for in the future.

To help professionals architect and implement best Blockchain practices for your organization, Gerard Blokdijk, author of The Art of Service’s Self Assessments provides a quick primer of the 49 Blockchain criteria for any business in any country.

Get the Blockchain Quick Exploratory Self-Assessment eBook here:

https://189d03-theartofservice-self-assessment-temporary-access-link.s3.amazonaws.com/Blockchain_Quick_Exploratory_Self-Assessment_Guide.pdf

About the Author

Gerard Blokdijk is the CEO of The Art of Service. He has been providing information technology insights, talks, tools and products to organizations in a wide range of industries for over 25 years. Gerard is a widely recognized and respected information specialist. Gerard founded The Art of Service consulting business in 2000. Gerard has authored numerous published books to date.

By Gerard Blokdijk

How the IoT Can Bring Down Healthcare Costs

Healthcare is a multi-billion dollar industry, and that’s not going to change anytime soon. The financial figures go both ways – revenues and costs – but for most of the people involved in healthcare especially consumers, it boils down to the latter.

Healthcare costs are high for a reason. The processes, products and technologies used in the industry undergo strict quality control checks to ensure their effectiveness and resources are needed to create and deploy such components.

From a business standpoint, if stocks were to be used as a basis for healthcare costs, even people with limited knowledge on financial markets can understand how massive this industry is and why the costs of medicine increase annually. In an article by Business Insider, it stated healthcare stocks have remained strong even after several other stocks fell after the Presidential Inauguration. And according to FXCM’s article on how to value a stock, they suggest while a stock’s valuation may differ from its intrinsic value, healthcare remains a compelling sector as baby boomers are now entering their senior years.

Fortunately, technology is also becoming a means to cut healthcare costs. Among the most promising innovations that could potentially make this possible is the Internet of Things (IoT).

The tech titan IBM enumerated the advantages of integrating the IoT into healthcare and the first on the list is reduced costs. A concrete example was given: real time patient monitoring. Non-critical patients can be monitored even at home, thereby decreasing hospital admissions and unnecessary costs.

Mubaloo revealed IoT-dependent technologies can be implemented in medical products such as RFID tags, beacons and even ‘smart beds’. Due to the large amount of equipment used by medical personnel, it’s a costly – not to mention time-consuming – task to track every piece, but with tiny modifications such as the installation of RFID chips, the process becomes much more efficient.

Beacons, on the other hand, can be placed near patient rooms or hospital wards, which can then be updated with the corresponding patient data or any relevant info to reduce costs on printed materials and other similar articles. ‘Smart beds’ can be used to notify doctors or nurses regarding the activity of their patients, which then lessens the need for frequent hospital rounds.

Moreover, Aranca discussed the prevalence of tech wearables in the US and Europe. Wearable devices are now specifically developed for functions such as tracking vital signs. This adds to the potential of remote patient monitoring as well as managing particular diseases. For instance, a wearable tracker may be used to measure a person’s glucose levels to help avoid or manage diabetes. Apple is reportedly developing this technology, and CNBC revealed that the first person to be tested is the firm’s CEO, Tim Cook.

More and more devices are getting connected each year, and experts estimate that around 20 billion devices will be interconnected by 2020 based on research. With such a rapid phase of development, it’s only a matter of time before innovations such as the aforementioned wearables get officially rolled out across the industry.

As global healthcare turns more reliant on technology and connectivity, the Internet of Things will be utilized further in various parts of the industry. And with reduced costs now highly feasible, hopefully more people will be able to have access to the quality healthcare that they deserve.

New York Civic Tech Innovation Challenge – Finalist

The Neighborhood Health Project is a 360° urban tech solution that takes the pulse of struggling commercial corridors and helps local businesses keep pace with competition.

New York City’s prized brick-and-mortar businesses are struggling. With the rise of e-commerce, sky high rents and growing operational costs, the small businesses that give New York City Streets their distinctive character face mass extinction.

This year’s NYC Department of Small Business Services Neighborhood Challenge 5.0 paired nonprofit community organizations and tech companies to create and implement tools that address specific commercial district issues. On June 15th, community-based organizations from across the city from the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership to the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation, presented tech solutions to promote local business and get a deeper understanding of the economic landscape.

The Wall Street Journal reports that “the Neighborhood Challenge Grant Competition is a bit like the Google Lunar XPrize. Except rather than top engineers competing to put robots on the moon, it has tiny neighborhood associations inventing new methods to improve business, from delivery service to generating foot traffic.”

Synaptik, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce and the Chinatown BID were thrilled to have their Neighborhood Health Project chosen as a finalist in this year’s competition.

The Neighborhood Health Projects aims to preserve the personality of our commercial corridors and help our small businesses and community at large adapt to the demands of the 21st century economy. By optimizing data collection, simplifying business engagement and integrating predictive analytics, we can get a better understanding of the causes and effects of commercial vacancies, the impacts of past policies and events and create an open dialogue between businesses, communities and government agencies.

“With Synaptik, we can provide small businesses user-friendly tools and data insights that were previously reserved for industry heavy weights with in-house data scientists and large resource pools” said Liam Wright, CEO of Synaptik.

The Neighborhood Health Project Team was honored to have had the opportunity to share the stage with such innovative project teams. “It is great to see civic organizations take an innovative role in data intelligence to serve community constituents and local businesses. We came far in the process and hope to find alternative ways to bring this solution to New York City neighborhoods ” said Joe Sticca, Chief Operating Officer of Synaptik.

By Nina Robbins

The Technology Solution to the IoT Conundrum

Unhindered in its incessant growth, the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to increase its network of connected devices exponentially. Gartner predicts that a staggering 20 billion connected devices will be in existence by 2020. To put into further context, the current trajectory of the IoT will soon usher in an age where there are, on average, three connected devices for every living person. In keeping with Gartner’s research, this fast-growing industry will soon be powering a market worth upwards of $3 trillion. An explosive growth in any industry is always accompanied with a barrage of data, a challenge that we here at True Interaction understand well. The issues associated with capturing vast amounts of data easily, both structured and unstructured, is a critical barrier point in the pursuit of data discovery and we provide solutions to these data management difficulties by means of our platform Synaptik.

While the unimpeded growth of IoT is indeed quite promising, we cannot simply dismiss the unique set of challenges that accompany such a sudden and chaotic influx of devices. The current infrastructure and infrastructure of Internet and online services are hardly primed to handle the identifying, connecting, securing, and managing of so many devices. The difficulties posed by large IoT ecosystems may be considered as a problem for the future, but the technology that can address these issues potentially exists now.

Blockchain as a Solution?

Hailed for the transparency, accuracy, and permanence that is inherent in its process, our previous post explains that blockchain “create[s] a digital ledger of transactions that can be shared among a distributed network of computers.” The utilization of cryptography allows each account on the network to access and manipulate the ledger securely, decentralizing the process and essentially eliminating the need for a middleman. Finance had one of the first and most notably successful implementation of blockchain through Bitcoin, and the industry is seemingly eager to embrace the technology even more. We have covered the meteoric rise in importance and interest that blockchain technology has been attracting in a comprehensive post, as well as its applications in the media and entertainment industry. However, this instance, with its suggested applications in the IoT, is especially momentous in that it observes the convergence of two recently developed technological sectors. So how will the blockchain model assist the IoT industry in its promising ascent?

Security

IoT’s impressive growth is an assuring testament to its bright future as well as its crux. A centralized model of security has been effective in the past, but it is not nearly equipped to handle network nodes that balloon up to the millions from devices that also conduct billions of transactions. Not only will the computational requirements (and costs!) skyrocket, but expanding a network to that size will inevitably cause servers to become a bottleneck. The chaotic and highly vulnerable state that this puts servers in will make it susceptible to Denial of Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks, where servers are targeted and brought down by being flooded with traffic from compromised devices.

The organization inherent in the system gives blockchain the ability to create secure mesh networks that allow devices to connect reliably to one another. Once the legitimacy of a node has been secured and registered on the blockchain, devices will be able to identify and authenticate each other without the need for central brokers. An added benefit of this model is its scalability and the way it can be expanded to support a billion devices while barring the need for additional resources. IBM extrapolates the results of blockchain’s impeccably accurate and transparent record-keeping capabilities by anticipating more trust to form between people and parties, thus making transactions run more seamlessly. Chris O’Connor, General Manager, Internet of Things Offerings for IBM, illustrates the concept:

 

“While Person A may not know device B and may not trust it implicitly, the indelible record of transactions and data from devices stored on the blockchain provide proof and command the necessary trust for businesses and people to cooperate.”

 

Self-Regulation

What is a common feature in the most expansive imaginings of a technologically unmatched world? Typically, the height of technological success is marked by the existence of self-sustaining machines. It may astonish people to learn that the means for creating devices that have little to no need for human interference already exists. IBM and Samsung have partnered together in developing a concept known as ADEPT (Autonomous Decentralized Peer-to-Peer Telemetry). The project chose three protocols (file sharing, smart contracts, and peer-to-peer messaging) to underpin the seminal concept.

One of the most interesting proposals for the use of this technology is the enabling of devices to autonomously maintain themselves. IBM’s draft paper features lofty goals that include devices not only being capable of signaling operational problems, but also being able to retrieve software updates and potentially address its self-diagnosed issues. The ADEPT technology is intended to accomplish the incredible feat of allowing devices to communicate with other nearby devices in order to facilitate power bartering and energy efficiency. Machines that work in accordance with consumables will be able to restock their own supplies as well. This feature will be available in a Samsung W9000 washing machine. Wielding the ADEPT system, this Samsung washing machine will use smart contracts to issue commands to a detergent retailer that gives the device the ability to pay for an order itself and later receive word from the retailer that the detergent has been paid for and shipped.

Smart Contracts

In the digital age, with the emergence of a slew of transaction systems, blockchain is being heralded as the next logical step. At the heart of blockchain technology is its unique penchant for transparency and demand for accountability from its users. Moreover, its decentralized process negates the need for intermediaries. These unique features make blockchain a feasible platform on which to conduct smart contracts. Co-opting the technology’s intended transactional use, “contracts could be converted to computer code, stored and replicated on the system and supervised by the network of computers that run the blockchain.” The exchange of money, property, or anything of value in a conflict-free manner sans a middleman to broker the deal exists because of blockchain technology.

Blockchain is just one of many frameworks and sources of data into which Synaptik can be easily integrated. Data management is the most critical piece in the seamless execution of a successful data discovery process that is capable of gleaning answers to questions you may not have known to ask.

For more information to empower your data science initiatives please visit us at www.Synaptik.co. We pride ourselves in our ability to empower every day users to do great data discovery without the need for deep core technical development skills.

Denisse Perez, Content Marketing Analyst for True Interaction, contributed to this post.

by Joe Sticca

Evolution of Big Data Technologies in the Financial Services Industry

Our previous post provides an industry analysis that examines the maturity of banking and financial markets organizations. The significant deviations from the traditional business model within the financial services industry in the recent years emphasize the increasing need for a difference in how institutions approach big data. The long-standing industry, so firmly entrenched in its decades-long practices, is seemingly dipping its toes into the proverbial pool of big data as organization recognize that its implementation is integral to a firm’s survival, and ultimately its growth. IBM’s Big Data @ Work survey reports that 26 percent of banking and financial markets companies are focused on understanding the concepts surrounding big data. On the other end of the spectrum, 27 percent are launching big data pilots, but the majority of the companies surveyed in this global study (47 percent) remains in the planning stage of defining a road map towards the efficient implementation of big data. For those organizations still in the stage of planning and refinement, it is crucial to understand and integrate these observed trends within financial technologies that can bolster a company’s big data strategy.

Customer Intelligence

While banks have historically maintained the monopoly on their customer’s financial transactions, the current state of the industry, with competitors flooding the market on different platforms, prevents this practice to continue. Banks are being transformed from product-centric to customer-centric organizations. Of the survey respondents with big data efforts in place, 55 percent report customer-centric objectives as one of their organization’s top priorities, if not their utmost aim. In order to engage in more customer-centric activities, financial service companies need to enhance their ability in anticipating changing market conditions and customer preferences. This will in turn inform the development and tailoring of their products and services towards the consumer, swiftly seizing market opportunities as well as improving customer service and loyalty.

Machine Learning

Financial market firms are increasingly becoming more aware of the many potential applications for machine learning and deep learning, two of the most prominent uses being within the fraud and risk sectors of this industry. The sheer volume of consumer information collected from the innumerable amount of transactions conducted through a plethora of different platforms daily calls for stronger protocols around fraud and risk management. Many financial services companies are just beginning to realize the advantageous inclusion of machine learning within an organization’s big data strategy. One such company is Paypal, which, through a combination of linear, neural network, and deep learning techniques, is able to optimize its risk management engines in order to identify the level of risk associated with a customer in mere milliseconds. The potential foreshadowed by these current applications is seemingly endless, optimistically suggesting the feasibility of machine learning algorithms replacing statistical risk management models and becoming an industry standard. The overall value that financial institutions can glean from the implementation of machine learning techniques is access to actionable intelligence based on the previously obscured insights uncovered by means of such techniques. The integration of machine learning tactics will be a welcome catalyst in the acceleration towards more real-time analysis and alerting.

IoT

When attempting to chart the future of financial technology, many point to the Internet of Things (IoT) as the next logical step. Often succinctly described as machine-to-machine communication, the IoT is hardly a novel concept, with the continual exchange of data already occurring between “smart” devices despite the lack of human interference. As some industries, such as in retail and manufacturing, already utilize this technology to some extent, it is not a far-fetched notion to posit that the financial service industry will soon follow suit. While there are those who adamantly reject the idea due to the industry being in the business of providing services as opposed to things, this would be a dangerously myopic view in this day and age. Anything from ATMs to information kiosks could be equipped with sensing technology to monitor and take action on the consumer’s’ behalf. Information collected from real-time, multi-channel activities can aid in informing how banks provide the best, most timely offers and advice to their customers.

For more information to empower your data science initiatives please visit us at www.Synaptik.co. We pride ourselves to empower every day users to do great data discovery without the need for deep core technical development skills.

Joe Sticca, Chief Operating Officer of True Interaction, contributed to this post.

By Justin Barbaro

The Changing Terrain of Media in the Digital Space

The rapid digitization of the media industry does not merely address the immediate needs posed by the market, but also anticipates the constantly changing consumer behavior and rising expectations of an increasingly digital customer. The World Economic Forum points to a growing middle class, urbanization, the advent of tech savvy millennials demanding instantaneous access to content on a variety of platforms, and an aging world population that is invariably accompanied by the need for services designed for an older audience as the most pronounced demographic factors that are currently contributing to the reshaping of the media landscape. The expanding list of accommodations that customers are coming to expect from the media industry more or less fall within the realms of the accessibility and personalization of content.

The Path to Digital Transformation

Average weekday newspaper circulation has been on a steady decline, falling another 7% in 2015 according to the most recent Pew Research Center report. This inevitable dwindling of interest in print publications could be ascribed to the rising demand for media companies to adopt a multi-channel strategy that enables the audience to access content across different platforms. Companies remedy their absence of a formidable digital presence in a variety of ways. One of the most common resolutions that companies have resorted to involve redesigning their business model by bundling print subscriptions with mobile device access, a measure enacted to address the 78% of consumers who view news content on mobile browsers. A more radical approach could be opting for a complete digital transformation, a decision reached by The Independent earlier this year when it became the “first national newspaper title to move to a digital-only future.” The appeal of having information become readily available on any screen of the customer’s choosing is magnified by the expectation of uniformity and equally accessible and engaging user interfaces across all devices. Of course, convenience to the customer does not only rely on their ability to access content on the platform of their choice, but also at any point they desire, hence the focus on establishing quick response times and flexibility of content availability.

Another expectation that consumers have come to harbor aside from unhindered access to content: the minimization, if not the complete elimination of superfluous information. According to the 2016 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute, news organizations, such as the BBC and the New York Times, are striving to provide more personalized news on their websites and applications. In some cases, people are offered information and clips on topics in which they have indicated an interest. Additionally, companies are also employing a means of developing “auto-generated recommendations based in part on the content they have used in the past.” Transcending written material, streaming platforms like Pandora and Netflix utilize Big Data in order to analyze and discern the characteristics and qualities of an individual’s preferences, thus feeding information into a database that then determines content using predictive analytics that the individual would be predisposed to enjoying. In previous blog posts, we have divulged the value of understanding Big Data, emphasizing how execution based on the insight gleaned from Big Data could be as crucial to a company’s profitability as the insight itself. As evidenced by this growing practice of collecting consumer data in order to cultivate personalized content for consumers, it is obvious that the media industry has not been remiss in its observation of the discernible success that data-driven companies boast relative to competitors that are not as reliant on data. Finally, perhaps as equally satisfying as being able to browse through personalized, recommended content based on one’s past likes and preferences is the exclusion of repetitive content, as informed by one’s viewing history.

Media companies embrace their ascent into digital space in a plethora of ways. Some elect for a complete digital transformation, conducting a substantial part if not all of their business within browsers and applications rather than in print. There are also those that focus on enhancing the customer experience by maintaining contact with consumers through all touch points and following them from device to device, all the while gathering data to be used in optimizing the content provided. Another means through which media companies are realizing their full digital potential is through the digitizing of their processes and operations. These businesses are initiating a shift towards digital products; a decision that is both cost-effective (cutting costs up to 90% on information-intensive processes) and can bolster the efficacy of one’s data mining efforts. Warner Bros was one of the first in the industry to transform the ways of storing and sharing content into a singled, totally integrated digital operation that began with Media Asset Retrieval System (MARS). This innovative digital asset management system ushered in a transformation that effectively lowered Warner Bros’ distribution and management costs by 85%.

A Glimpse into the Future

So what’s next in this journey to digital conversion? According to the International News Media Association (INMA), all roads lead to the Internet of Things (IoT). By 2018, the Business Insider Intelligence asserts that more than 18 billion devices will be connected to the Web. The progression into this new era of tech where information can be harvested from the physical world itself will not go unobserved by the media industry. Media companies are tasked with having to evolve beyond the screen.

Mitch Joel, President of Mirium Agency, writes:

“Transient media moments does not equal a strong and profound place to deliver an advertising message… the past century may have been about maximizing space and repetition to drive brand awareness, but the next half century could well be about advertising taking on a smaller position in the expanding marketing sphere as brands create loyalty not through impressions but by creating tools, applications, physical devices, true utility, and more robust loyalty extensions that makes them more valuable in a consumer’s life.”

Big Data anchors the efforts into the Digital Age and the IoT will provide new, vital networks of information to fortify this crusade.
Contact our team to learn more about how True Interaction can develop game-changing platforms that cut waste and redundancy as well as boost margins for your media company.

By Justin Barbaro