Ubiquitous Versus One-to-One

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McAnear, Anita

2006-01-01

When we planned the editorial calendar with the topic ubiquitous computing, we were thinking of ubiquitous computing as the one-to-one ratio of computers to students and teachers and 24/7 access to electronic resources. At the time, we were aware that ubiquitous computing in the computer science field had more to do with wearable computers. Our…

Network architecture test-beds as platforms for ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Roscoe, Timothy

2008-10-28

Distributed systems research, and in particular ubiquitous computing, has traditionally assumed the Internet as a basic underlying communications substrate. Recently, however, the networking research community has come to question the fundamental design or 'architecture' of the Internet. This has been led by two observations: first, that the Internet as it stands is now almost impossible to evolve to support new functionality; and second, that modern applications of all kinds now use the Internet rather differently, and frequently implement their own 'overlay' networks above it to work around its perceived deficiencies. In this paper, I discuss recent academic projects to allow disruptive change to the Internet architecture, and also outline a radically different view of networking for ubiquitous computing that such proposals might facilitate.

Ubiquitous Mobile Knowledge Construction in Collaborative Learning Environments

PubMed Central

Baloian, Nelson; Zurita, Gustavo

2012-01-01

Knowledge management is a critical activity for any organization. It has been said to be a differentiating factor and an important source of competitiveness if this knowledge is constructed and shared among its members, thus creating a learning organization. Knowledge construction is critical for any collaborative organizational learning environment. Nowadays workers must perform knowledge creation tasks while in motion, not just in static physical locations; therefore it is also required that knowledge construction activities be performed in ubiquitous scenarios, and supported by mobile and pervasive computational systems. These knowledge creation systems should help people in or outside organizations convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thus supporting the knowledge construction process. Therefore in our understanding, we consider highly relevant that undergraduate university students learn about the knowledge construction process supported by mobile and ubiquitous computing. This has been a little explored issue in this field. This paper presents the design, implementation, and an evaluation of a system called MCKC for Mobile Collaborative Knowledge Construction, supporting collaborative face-to-face tacit knowledge construction and sharing in ubiquitous scenarios. The MCKC system can be used by undergraduate students to learn how to construct knowledge, allowing them anytime and anywhere to create, make explicit and share their knowledge with their co-learners, using visual metaphors, gestures and sketches to implement the human-computer interface of mobile devices (PDAs). PMID:22969333

Ubiquitous mobile knowledge construction in collaborative learning environments.

PubMed

Baloian, Nelson; Zurita, Gustavo

2012-01-01

Knowledge management is a critical activity for any organization. It has been said to be a differentiating factor and an important source of competitiveness if this knowledge is constructed and shared among its members, thus creating a learning organization. Knowledge construction is critical for any collaborative organizational learning environment. Nowadays workers must perform knowledge creation tasks while in motion, not just in static physical locations; therefore it is also required that knowledge construction activities be performed in ubiquitous scenarios, and supported by mobile and pervasive computational systems. These knowledge creation systems should help people in or outside organizations convert their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thus supporting the knowledge construction process. Therefore in our understanding, we consider highly relevant that undergraduate university students learn about the knowledge construction process supported by mobile and ubiquitous computing. This has been a little explored issue in this field. This paper presents the design, implementation, and an evaluation of a system called MCKC for Mobile Collaborative Knowledge Construction, supporting collaborative face-to-face tacit knowledge construction and sharing in ubiquitous scenarios. The MCKC system can be used by undergraduate students to learn how to construct knowledge, allowing them anytime and anywhere to create, make explicit and share their knowledge with their co-learners, using visual metaphors, gestures and sketches to implement the human-computer interface of mobile devices (PDAs).

From Many-to-One to One-to-Many: The Evolution of Ubiquitous Computing in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Wenli; Lim, Carolyn; Tan, Ashley

2011-01-01

Personal, Internet-connected technologies are becoming ubiquitous in the lives of students, and ubiquitous computing initiatives are already expanding in educational contexts. Historically in the field of education, the terms one-to-one (1:1) computing and ubiquitous computing have been interpreted in a number of ways and have at times been used…

Implications of Ubiquitous Computing for the Social Studies Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Hover, Stephanie D.; Berson, Michael J.; Bolick, Cheryl Mason; Swan, Kathleen Owings

2004-01-01

In March 2002, members of the National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) met in Charlottesville, Virginia to discuss the potential effects of ubiquitous computing on the field of education. Ubiquitous computing, or "on-demand availability of task-necessary computing power," involves providing every student with a handheld computer--a…

CILT2000: Ubiquitous Computing--Spanning the Digital Divide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tinker, Robert; Vahey, Philip

2002-01-01

Discusses the role of ubiquitous and handheld computers in education. Summarizes the contributions of the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) and describes the ubiquitous computing sessions at the CILT2000 Conference. (Author/YDS)

Ubiquitous Computing: The Universal Use of Computers on College Campuses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David G., Ed.

This book is a collection of vignettes from 13 universities where everyone on campus has his or her own computer. These 13 institutions have instituted "ubiquitous computing" in very different ways at very different costs. The chapters are: (1) "Introduction: The Ubiquitous Computing Movement" (David G. Brown); (2) "Dartmouth College" (Malcolm…

Ubiquitous information for ubiquitous computing: expressing clinical data sets with openEHR archetypes.

PubMed

Garde, Sebastian; Hovenga, Evelyn; Buck, Jasmin; Knaup, Petra

2006-01-01

Ubiquitous computing requires ubiquitous access to information and knowledge. With the release of openEHR Version 1.0 there is a common model available to solve some of the problems related to accessing information and knowledge by improving semantic interoperability between clinical systems. Considerable work has been undertaken by various bodies to standardise Clinical Data Sets. Notwithstanding their value, several problems remain unsolved with Clinical Data Sets without the use of a common model underpinning them. This paper outlines these problems like incompatible basic data types and overlapping and incompatible definitions of clinical content. A solution to this based on openEHR archetypes is motivated and an approach to transform existing Clinical Data Sets into archetypes is presented. To avoid significant overlaps and unnecessary effort during archetype development, archetype development needs to be coordinated nationwide and beyond and also across the various health professions in a formalized process.

Ubiquitous computing in the military environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scholtz, Jean

2001-08-01

Increasingly people work and live on the move. To support this mobile lifestyle, especially as our work becomes more intensely information-based, companies are producing various portable and embedded information devices. The late Mark Weiser coined the term, 'ubiquitous computing' to describe an environment where computers have disappeared and are integrated into physical objects. Much industry research today is concerned with ubiquitous computing in the work and home environments. A ubiquitous computing environment would facilitate mobility by allowing information users to easily access and use information anytime, anywhere. As war fighters are inherently mobile, the question is what effect a ubiquitous computing environment would have on current military operations and doctrine. And, if ubiquitous computing is viewed as beneficial for the military, what research would be necessary to achieve a military ubiquitous computing environment? What is a vision for the use of mobile information access in a battle space? Are there different requirements for civilian and military users of this technology? What are those differences? Are there opportunities for research that will support both worlds? What type of research has been supported by the military and what areas need to be investigated? Although we don't yet have all the answers to these questions, this paper discusses the issues and presents the work we are doing to address these issues.

Internet messenger based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Umam, K.; Mardi, S. N. S.; Hariadi, M.

2017-06-01

Internet messenger (IM) has become an important educational technology component in college education, IM makes it possible for students to engage in learning and collaborating at smart virtual class learning (SVCL) using ubiquitous computing. However, the model of IM-based smart virtual class learning using ubiquitous computing and empirical evidence that would favor a broad application to improve engagement and behavior are still limited. In addition, the expectation that IM based SVCL using ubiquitous computing could improve engagement and behavior on smart class cannot be confirmed because the majority of the reviewed studies followed instructions paradigms. This article aims to present the model of IM-based SVCL using ubiquitous computing and showing learners’ experiences in improved engagement and behavior for learner-learner and learner-lecturer interactions. The method applied in this paper includes design process and quantitative analysis techniques, with the purpose of identifying scenarios of ubiquitous computing and realize the impressions of learners and lecturers about engagement and behavior aspect and its contribution to learning

Learning with Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenheck, Louisa

2008-01-01

If ubiquitous computing becomes a reality and is widely adopted, it will inevitably have an impact on education. This article reviews the background of ubiquitous computing and current research projects done involving educational "ubicomp." Finally it explores how ubicomp may and may not change education in both formal and informal settings and…

A model for ubiquitous care of noncommunicable diseases.

PubMed

Vianna, Henrique Damasceno; Barbosa, Jorge Luis Victória

2014-09-01

The ubiquitous computing, or ubicomp, is a promising technology to help chronic diseases patients managing activities, offering support to them anytime, anywhere. Hence, ubicomp can aid community and health organizations to continuously communicate with patients and to offer useful resources for their self-management activities. Communication is prioritized in works of ubiquitous health for noncommunicable diseases care, but the management of resources is not commonly employed. We propose the UDuctor, a model for ubiquitous care of noncommunicable diseases. UDuctor focuses the resources offering, without losing self-management and communication supports. We implemented a system and applied it in two practical experiments. First, ten chronic patients tried the system and filled out a questionnaire based on the technology acceptance model. After this initial evaluation, an alpha test was done. The system was used daily for one month and a half by a chronic patient. The results were encouraging and show potential for implementing UDuctor in real-life situations.

Navigation studies based on the ubiquitous positioning technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Lei; Mi, Weijie; Wang, Defeng

2007-11-01

This paper summarized the nowadays positioning technologies, such as absolute positioning methods and relative positioning methods, indoor positioning and outdoor positioning, active positioning and passive positioning. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technologies were introduced as the omnipresent out-door positioning technologies, including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BD-1/2. After analysis of the shortcomings of GNSS, indoor positioning technologies were discussed and compared, including A-GPS, Cellular network, Infrared, Electromagnetism, Computer Vision Cognition, Embedded Pressure Sensor, Ultrasonic, RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification), Bluetooth, WLAN etc.. Then the concept and characteristics of Ubiquitous Positioning was proposed. After the ubiquitous positioning technologies contrast and selection followed by system engineering methodology, a navigation system model based on Incorporate Indoor-Outdoor Positioning Solution was proposed. And this model was simulated in the Galileo Demonstration for World Expo Shanghai project. In the conclusion, the prospects of ubiquitous positioning based navigation were shown, especially to satisfy the public location information acquiring requirement.

Ubiquitous computing in sports: A review and analysis.

PubMed

Baca, Arnold; Dabnichki, Peter; Heller, Mario; Kornfeind, Philipp

2009-10-01

Ubiquitous (pervasive) computing is a term for a synergetic use of sensing, communication and computing. Pervasive use of computing has seen a rapid increase in the current decade. This development has propagated in applied sport science and everyday life. The work presents a survey of recent developments in sport and leisure with emphasis on technology and computational techniques. A detailed analysis on new technological developments is performed. Sensors for position and motion detection, and such for equipment and physiological monitoring are discussed. Aspects of novel trends in communication technologies and data processing are outlined. Computational advancements have started a new trend - development of smart and intelligent systems for a wide range of applications - from model-based posture recognition to context awareness algorithms for nutrition monitoring. Examples particular to coaching and training are discussed. Selected tools for monitoring rules' compliance and automatic decision-making are outlined. Finally, applications in leisure and entertainment are presented, from systems supporting physical activity to systems providing motivation. It is concluded that the emphasis in future will shift from technologies to intelligent systems that allow for enhanced social interaction as efforts need to be made to improve user-friendliness and standardisation of measurement and transmission protocols.

DS-ARP: a new detection scheme for ARP spoofing attacks based on routing trace for ubiquitous environments.

PubMed

Song, Min Su; Lee, Jae Dong; Jeong, Young-Sik; Jeong, Hwa-Young; Park, Jong Hyuk

2014-01-01

Despite the convenience, ubiquitous computing suffers from many threats and security risks. Security considerations in the ubiquitous network are required to create enriched and more secure ubiquitous environments. The address resolution protocol (ARP) is a protocol used to identify the IP address and the physical address of the associated network card. ARP is designed to work without problems in general environments. However, since it does not include security measures against malicious attacks, in its design, an attacker can impersonate another host using ARP spoofing or access important information. In this paper, we propose a new detection scheme for ARP spoofing attacks using a routing trace, which can be used to protect the internal network. Tracing routing can find the change of network movement path. The proposed scheme provides high constancy and compatibility because it does not alter the ARP protocol. In addition, it is simple and stable, as it does not use a complex algorithm or impose extra load on the computer system.

DS-ARP: A New Detection Scheme for ARP Spoofing Attacks Based on Routing Trace for Ubiquitous Environments

PubMed Central

Song, Min Su; Lee, Jae Dong; Jeong, Hwa-Young; Park, Jong Hyuk

2014-01-01

Despite the convenience, ubiquitous computing suffers from many threats and security risks. Security considerations in the ubiquitous network are required to create enriched and more secure ubiquitous environments. The address resolution protocol (ARP) is a protocol used to identify the IP address and the physical address of the associated network card. ARP is designed to work without problems in general environments. However, since it does not include security measures against malicious attacks, in its design, an attacker can impersonate another host using ARP spoofing or access important information. In this paper, we propose a new detection scheme for ARP spoofing attacks using a routing trace, which can be used to protect the internal network. Tracing routing can find the change of network movement path. The proposed scheme provides high constancy and compatibility because it does not alter the ARP protocol. In addition, it is simple and stable, as it does not use a complex algorithm or impose extra load on the computer system. PMID:25243205

Expressing clinical data sets with openEHR archetypes: a solid basis for ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Garde, Sebastian; Hovenga, Evelyn; Buck, Jasmin; Knaup, Petra

2007-12-01

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the feasibility and usefulness of expressing clinical data sets (CDSs) as openEHR archetypes. For this, we present an approach to transform CDS into archetypes, and outline typical problems with CDS and analyse whether some of these problems can be overcome by the use of archetypes. Literature review and analysis of a selection of existing Australian, German, other European and international CDSs; transfer of a CDS for Paediatric Oncology into openEHR archetypes; implementation of CDSs in application systems. To explore the feasibility of expressing CDS as archetypes an approach to transform existing CDSs into archetypes is presented in this paper. In case of the Paediatric Oncology CDS (which consists of 260 data items) this lead to the definition of 48 openEHR archetypes. To analyse the usefulness of expressing CDS as archetypes, we identified nine problems with CDS that currently remain unsolved without a common model underpinning the CDS. Typical problems include incompatible basic data types and overlapping and incompatible definitions of clinical content. A solution to most of these problems based on openEHR archetypes is motivated. With regard to integrity constraints, further research is required. While openEHR cannot overcome all barriers to Ubiquitous Computing, it can provide the common basis for ubiquitous presence of meaningful and computer-processable knowledge and information, which we believe is a basic requirement for Ubiquitous Computing. Expressing CDSs as openEHR archetypes is feasible and advantageous as it fosters semantic interoperability, supports ubiquitous computing, and helps to develop archetypes that are arguably of better quality than the original CDS.

Easy, Collaborative and Engaging--The Use of Cloud Computing in the Design of Management Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schneckenberg, Dirk

2014-01-01

Background: Cloud computing has recently received interest in information systems research and practice as a new way to organise information with the help of an increasingly ubiquitous computer infrastructure. However, the use of cloud computing in higher education institutions and business schools, as well as its potential to create novel…

A Framework for the Development of Context-Adaptable User Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing Systems.

PubMed

Varela, Gervasio; Paz-Lopez, Alejandro; Becerra, Jose A; Duro, Richard

2016-07-07

This paper addresses the problem of developing user interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing (UC) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. These kind of systems are expected to provide a natural user experience, considering interaction modalities adapted to the user abilities and preferences and using whatever interaction devices are present in the environment. These interaction devices are not necessarily known at design time. The task is quite complicated due to the variety of devices and technologies, and the diversity of scenarios, and it usually burdens the developer with the need to create many different UIs in order to consider the foreseeable user-environment combinations. Here, we propose an UI abstraction framework for UC and AmI systems that effectively improves the portability of those systems between different environments and for different users. It allows developers to design and implement a single UI capable of being deployed with different devices and modalities regardless the physical location.

A cloud-based X73 ubiquitous mobile healthcare system: design and implementation.

PubMed

Ji, Zhanlin; Ganchev, Ivan; O'Droma, Máirtín; Zhang, Xin; Zhang, Xueji

2014-01-01

Based on the user-centric paradigm for next generation networks, this paper describes a ubiquitous mobile healthcare (uHealth) system based on the ISO/IEEE 11073 personal health data (PHD) standards (X73) and cloud computing techniques. A number of design issues associated with the system implementation are outlined. The system includes a middleware on the user side, providing a plug-and-play environment for heterogeneous wireless sensors and mobile terminals utilizing different communication protocols and a distributed "big data" processing subsystem in the cloud. The design and implementation of this system are envisaged as an efficient solution for the next generation of uHealth systems.

Scaling Task Management in Space and Time: Reducing User Overhead in Ubiquitous-Computing Environments

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-03-28

consequently users are torn between taking advantage of increasingly pervasive computing systems, and the price (in attention and skill) that they have to... advantage of the surrounding computing environments; and (c) that it is usable by non-experts. Second, from a software architect’s perspective, we...take full advantage of the computing systems accessible to them, much as they take advantage of the furniture in each physical space. In the example

Real-time long term measurement using integrated framework for ubiquitous smart monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heo, Gwanghee; Lee, Giu; Lee, Woosang; Jeon, Joonryong; Kim, Pil-Joong

2007-04-01

Ubiquitous monitoring combining internet technologies and wireless communication is one of the most promising technologies of infrastructure health monitoring against the natural of man-made hazards. In this paper, an integrated framework of the ubiquitous monitoring is developed for real-time long term measurement in internet environment. This framework develops a wireless sensor system based on Bluetooth technology and sends measured acceleration data to the host computer through TCP/IP protocol. And it is also designed to respond to the request of web user on real time basis. In order to verify this system, real time monitoring tests are carried out on a prototype self-anchored suspension bridge. Also, wireless measurement system is analyzed to estimate its sensing capacity and evaluate its performance for monitoring purpose. Based on the evaluation, this paper proposes the effective strategies for integrated framework in order to detect structural deficiencies and to design an early warning system.

Ubiquitous Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments: Are We There Yet?

PubMed Central

Billah, Syed Masum; Ashok, Vikas; Porter, Donald E.; Ramakrishnan, IV

2017-01-01

Ubiquitous access is an increasingly common vision of computing, wherein users can interact with any computing device or service from anywhere, at any time. In the era of personal computing, users with visual impairments required special-purpose, assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to interact with computers. This paper investigates whether technologies like screen readers have kept pace with, or have created a barrier to, the trend toward ubiquitous access, with a specific focus on desktop computing as this is still the primary way computers are used in education and employment. Towards that, the paper presents a user study with 21 visually-impaired participants, specifically involving the switching of screen readers within and across different computing platforms, and the use of screen readers in remote access scenarios. Among the findings, the study shows that, even for remote desktop access—an early forerunner of true ubiquitous access—screen readers are too limited, if not unusable. The study also identifies several accessibility needs, such as uniformity of navigational experience across devices, and recommends potential solutions. In summary, assistive technologies have not made the jump into the era of ubiquitous access, and multiple, inconsistent screen readers create new practical problems for users with visual impairments. PMID:28782061

Ubiquitous Accessibility for People with Visual Impairments: Are We There Yet?

PubMed

Billah, Syed Masum; Ashok, Vikas; Porter, Donald E; Ramakrishnan, I V

2017-05-01

Ubiquitous access is an increasingly common vision of computing, wherein users can interact with any computing device or service from anywhere, at any time. In the era of personal computing, users with visual impairments required special-purpose, assistive technologies, such as screen readers, to interact with computers. This paper investigates whether technologies like screen readers have kept pace with, or have created a barrier to, the trend toward ubiquitous access, with a specific focus on desktop computing as this is still the primary way computers are used in education and employment. Towards that, the paper presents a user study with 21 visually-impaired participants, specifically involving the switching of screen readers within and across different computing platforms, and the use of screen readers in remote access scenarios. Among the findings, the study shows that, even for remote desktop access-an early forerunner of true ubiquitous access-screen readers are too limited, if not unusable. The study also identifies several accessibility needs, such as uniformity of navigational experience across devices, and recommends potential solutions. In summary, assistive technologies have not made the jump into the era of ubiquitous access, and multiple, inconsistent screen readers create new practical problems for users with visual impairments.

What Students Want

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaffhauser, Dian

2010-01-01

Institutions already cater to the technology needs of students. According to the 2008 Campus Computing survey, 60 percent of colleges and universities offer pervasive or near-pervasive wireless; computers are as ubiquitous as water bottles; course management systems have become one-stop shops for class content; few classrooms lack projectors; and…

Ubiquitous virtual private network: a solution for WSN seamless integration.

PubMed

Villa, David; Moya, Francisco; Villanueva, Félix Jesús; Aceña, Óscar; López, Juan Carlos

2014-01-06

Sensor networks are becoming an essential part of ubiquitous systems and applications. However, there are no well-defined protocols or mechanisms to access the sensor network from the enterprise information system. We consider this issue as a heterogeneous network interconnection problem, and as a result, the same concepts may be applied. Specifically, we propose the use of object-oriented middlewares to provide a virtual private network in which all involved elements (sensor nodes or computer applications) will be able to communicate as if all of them were in a single and uniform network.

A Cloud-Based X73 Ubiquitous Mobile Healthcare System: Design and Implementation

PubMed Central

Ji, Zhanlin; O'Droma, Máirtín; Zhang, Xin; Zhang, Xueji

2014-01-01

Based on the user-centric paradigm for next generation networks, this paper describes a ubiquitous mobile healthcare (uHealth) system based on the ISO/IEEE 11073 personal health data (PHD) standards (X73) and cloud computing techniques. A number of design issues associated with the system implementation are outlined. The system includes a middleware on the user side, providing a plug-and-play environment for heterogeneous wireless sensors and mobile terminals utilizing different communication protocols and a distributed “big data” processing subsystem in the cloud. The design and implementation of this system are envisaged as an efficient solution for the next generation of uHealth systems. PMID:24737958

A Collaborative Model for Ubiquitous Learning Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barbosa, Jorge; Barbosa, Debora; Rabello, Solon

2016-01-01

Use of mobile devices and widespread adoption of wireless networks have enabled the emergence of Ubiquitous Computing. Application of this technology to improving education strategies gave rise to Ubiquitous e-Learning, also known as Ubiquitous Learning. There are several approaches to organizing ubiquitous learning environments, but most of them…

Self-* properties through gossiping.

PubMed

Babaoglu, Ozalp; Jelasity, Márk

2008-10-28

As computer systems have become more complex, numerous competing approaches have been proposed for these systems to self-configure, self-manage, self-repair, etc. such that human intervention in their operation can be minimized. In ubiquitous systems, this has always been a central issue as well. In this paper, we overview techniques to implement self-* properties in large-scale, decentralized networks through bio-inspired techniques in general, and gossip-based algorithms in particular. We believe that gossip-based algorithms could be an important inspiration for solving problems in ubiquitous computing as well. As an example, we outline a novel approach to arrange large numbers of mobile agents (e.g. vehicles, rescue teams carrying mobile devices) into different formations in a totally decentralized manner. The approach is inspired by the biological mechanism of cell sorting via differential adhesion, as well as by our earlier work in self-organizing peer-to-peer overlay networks.

The Status of Ubiquitous Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, David G.; Petitto, Karen R.

2003-01-01

Explains the prevalence and rationale of ubiquitous computing on college campuses--teaching with the assumption or expectation that all faculty and students have access to the Internet--and offers lessons learned by pioneering institutions. Lessons learned involve planning, technology, implementation and management, adoption of computer-enhanced…

A Framework for the Development of Context-Adaptable User Interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing Systems

PubMed Central

Varela, Gervasio; Paz-Lopez, Alejandro; Becerra, Jose A.; Duro, Richard

2016-01-01

This paper addresses the problem of developing user interfaces for Ubiquitous Computing (UC) and Ambient Intelligence (AmI) systems. These kind of systems are expected to provide a natural user experience, considering interaction modalities adapted to the user abilities and preferences and using whatever interaction devices are present in the environment. These interaction devices are not necessarily known at design time. The task is quite complicated due to the variety of devices and technologies, and the diversity of scenarios, and it usually burdens the developer with the need to create many different UIs in order to consider the foreseeable user-environment combinations. Here, we propose an UI abstraction framework for UC and AmI systems that effectively improves the portability of those systems between different environments and for different users. It allows developers to design and implement a single UI capable of being deployed with different devices and modalities regardless the physical location. PMID:27399711

Mobile healthcare information management utilizing Cloud Computing and Android OS.

PubMed

Doukas, Charalampos; Pliakas, Thomas; Maglogiannis, Ilias

2010-01-01

Cloud Computing provides functionality for managing information data in a distributed, ubiquitous and pervasive manner supporting several platforms, systems and applications. This work presents the implementation of a mobile system that enables electronic healthcare data storage, update and retrieval using Cloud Computing. The mobile application is developed using Google's Android operating system and provides management of patient health records and medical images (supporting DICOM format and JPEG2000 coding). The developed system has been evaluated using the Amazon's S3 cloud service. This article summarizes the implementation details and presents initial results of the system in practice.

People and computers--some recent highlights.

PubMed

Shackel, B

2000-12-01

This paper aims to review selectively a fair proportion of the literature on human-computer interaction (HCI) over the three years since Shackel (J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. 48 (11) (1997) 970-986). After a brief note of history I discuss traditional input, output and workplace aspects, the web and 'E-topics', web-related aspects, virtual reality, safety-critical systems, and the need to move from HCI to human-system integration (HSI). Finally I suggest, and consider briefly, some future possibilities and issues including web consequences, embedded ubiquitous computing, and 'back to systems ergonomics?'.

u-Healthcare system: state-of-the-art review and challenges.

PubMed

Touati, Farid; Tabish, Rohan

2013-06-01

With the increase of an ageing population and chronic diseases, society becomes more health conscious and patients become "health consumers" looking for better health management. People's perception is shifting towards patient-centered, rather than the classical, hospital-centered health services which has been propelling the evolution of telemedicine research from the classic e-Health to m-Health and now is to ubiquitous healthcare (u-Health). It is expected that mobile & ubiquitous Telemedicine, integrated with Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN), have a great potential in fostering the provision of next-generation u-Health. Despite the recent efforts and achievements, current u-Health proposed solutions still suffer from shortcomings hampering their adoption today. This paper presents a comprehensive review of up-to-date requirements in hardware, communication, and computing for next-generation u-Health systems. It compares new technological and technical trends and discusses how they address expected u-Health requirements. A thorough survey on various worldwide recent system implementations is presented in an attempt to identify shortcomings in state-of-the art solutions. In particular, challenges in WBAN and ubiquitous computing were emphasized. The purpose of this survey is not only to help beginners with a holistic approach toward understanding u-Health systems but also present to researchers new technological trends and design challenges they have to cope with, while designing such systems.

Some guidelines for the ethical development of ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Greenfield, Adam

2008-10-28

At a time when both the landscape of everyday life and the choices available to us there are increasingly conditioned by ubiquitous information processing systems, it seems wise to articulate some general principles guiding their ethical design and deployment. I here enunciate five broad guidelines for the designers of such systems, including recommendations that they be devised in such a way as to default to harmlessness, be conservative of time, be conservative of face, be self-disclosing and be deniable. I conclude with some observations about the likelihood of any such principles winning usefully widespread voluntary adherence.

Ubiquitous Virtual Private Network: A Solution for WSN Seamless Integration

PubMed Central

Villa, David; Moya, Francisco; Villanueva, Félix Jesús; Aceña, Óscar; López, Juan Carlos

2014-01-01

Sensor networks are becoming an essential part of ubiquitous systems and applications. However, there are no well-defined protocols or mechanisms to access the sensor network from the enterprise information system. We consider this issue as a heterogeneous network interconnection problem, and as a result, the same concepts may be applied. Specifically, we propose the use of object-oriented middlewares to provide a virtual private network in which all involved elements (sensor nodes or computer applications) will be able to communicate as if all of them were in a single and uniform network. PMID:24399154

A Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning Approach for Providing Instant Learning Support in Personal Computer Assembly Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2014-01-01

Personal computer assembly courses have been recognized as being essential in helping students understand computer structure as well as the functionality of each computer component. In this study, a context-aware ubiquitous learning approach is proposed for providing instant assistance to individual students in the learning activity of a…

Ubiquitous Presenter: A Tablet PC-Based System to Support Instructors and Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Price, Edward; Simon, Beth

2009-01-01

Digital lecturing systems (computer and projector, often with PowerPoint) offer physics instructors the ability to incorporate graphics and the power to share and reuse materials. But these systems do a poor job of supporting interaction in the classroom. For instance, with digital presentation systems, instructors have limited ability to…

Sigint Application for Polymorphous Computing Architecture (PCA): Wideband DF

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-08-01

Polymorphous Computing Architecture (PCA) program as stated by Robert Graybill is to Develop the computing foundation for agile systems by establishing...ubiquitous MUSIC algorithm rely upon an underlying narrowband signal model [8]. In this case, narrowband means that the signal bandwidth is less than...a wideband DF algorithm is needed to compensate for this model inadequacy. Among the various wideband DF techniques available, the coherent signal

Trust information-based privacy architecture for ubiquitous health.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka Sakari; Blobel, Bernd; Seppälä, Antto; Nykänen, Pirkko

2013-10-08

Ubiquitous health is defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems that offers health services independent of time and location to a data subject (DS). The network takes place in open and unsecure information space. It is created and managed by the DS who sets rules that regulate the way personal health information is collected and used. Compared to health care, it is impossible in ubiquitous health to assume the existence of a priori trust between the DS and service providers and to produce privacy using static security services. In ubiquitous health features, business goals and regulations systems followed often remain unknown. Furthermore, health care-specific regulations do not rule the ways health data is processed and shared. To be successful, ubiquitous health requires novel privacy architecture. The goal of this study was to develop a privacy management architecture that helps the DS to create and dynamically manage the network and to maintain information privacy. The architecture should enable the DS to dynamically define service and system-specific rules that regulate the way subject data is processed. The architecture should provide to the DS reliable trust information about systems and assist in the formulation of privacy policies. Furthermore, the architecture should give feedback upon how systems follow the policies of DS and offer protection against privacy and trust threats existing in ubiquitous environments. A sequential method that combines methodologies used in system theory, systems engineering, requirement analysis, and system design was used in the study. In the first phase, principles, trust and privacy models, and viewpoints were selected. Thereafter, functional requirements and services were developed on the basis of a careful analysis of existing research published in journals and conference proceedings. Based on principles, models, and requirements, architectural components and their interconnections were developed using system analysis. The architecture mimics the way humans use trust information in decision making, and enables the DS to design system-specific privacy policies using computational trust information that is based on systems' measured features. The trust attributes that were developed describe the level systems for support awareness and transparency, and how they follow general and domain-specific regulations and laws. The monitoring component of the architecture offers dynamic feedback concerning how the system enforces the polices of DS. The privacy management architecture developed in this study enables the DS to dynamically manage information privacy in ubiquitous health and to define individual policies for all systems considering their trust value and corresponding attributes. The DS can also set policies for secondary use and reuse of health information. The architecture offers protection against privacy threats existing in ubiquitous environments. Although the architecture is targeted to ubiquitous health, it can easily be modified to other ubiquitous applications.

Trust Information-Based Privacy Architecture for Ubiquitous Health

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Ubiquitous health is defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems that offers health services independent of time and location to a data subject (DS). The network takes place in open and unsecure information space. It is created and managed by the DS who sets rules that regulate the way personal health information is collected and used. Compared to health care, it is impossible in ubiquitous health to assume the existence of a priori trust between the DS and service providers and to produce privacy using static security services. In ubiquitous health features, business goals and regulations systems followed often remain unknown. Furthermore, health care-specific regulations do not rule the ways health data is processed and shared. To be successful, ubiquitous health requires novel privacy architecture. Objective The goal of this study was to develop a privacy management architecture that helps the DS to create and dynamically manage the network and to maintain information privacy. The architecture should enable the DS to dynamically define service and system-specific rules that regulate the way subject data is processed. The architecture should provide to the DS reliable trust information about systems and assist in the formulation of privacy policies. Furthermore, the architecture should give feedback upon how systems follow the policies of DS and offer protection against privacy and trust threats existing in ubiquitous environments. Methods A sequential method that combines methodologies used in system theory, systems engineering, requirement analysis, and system design was used in the study. In the first phase, principles, trust and privacy models, and viewpoints were selected. Thereafter, functional requirements and services were developed on the basis of a careful analysis of existing research published in journals and conference proceedings. Based on principles, models, and requirements, architectural components and their interconnections were developed using system analysis. Results The architecture mimics the way humans use trust information in decision making, and enables the DS to design system-specific privacy policies using computational trust information that is based on systems’ measured features. The trust attributes that were developed describe the level systems for support awareness and transparency, and how they follow general and domain-specific regulations and laws. The monitoring component of the architecture offers dynamic feedback concerning how the system enforces the polices of DS. Conclusions The privacy management architecture developed in this study enables the DS to dynamically manage information privacy in ubiquitous health and to define individual policies for all systems considering their trust value and corresponding attributes. The DS can also set policies for secondary use and reuse of health information. The architecture offers protection against privacy threats existing in ubiquitous environments. Although the architecture is targeted to ubiquitous health, it can easily be modified to other ubiquitous applications. PMID:25099213

Ubiquitous computing to support co-located clinical teams: using the semiotics of physical objects in system design.

PubMed

Bang, Magnus; Timpka, Toomas

2007-06-01

Co-located teams often use material objects to communicate messages in collaboration. Modern desktop computing systems with abstract graphical user interface (GUIs) fail to support this material dimension of inter-personal communication. The aim of this study is to investigate how tangible user interfaces can be used in computer systems to better support collaborative routines among co-located clinical teams. The semiotics of physical objects used in team collaboration was analyzed from data collected during 1 month of observations at an emergency room. The resulting set of communication patterns was used as a framework when designing an experimental system. Following the principles of augmented reality, physical objects were mapped into a physical user interface with the goal of maintaining the symbolic value of those objects. NOSTOS is an experimental ubiquitous computing environment that takes advantage of interaction devices integrated into the traditional clinical environment, including digital pens, walk-up displays, and a digital desk. The design uses familiar workplace tools to function as user interfaces to the computer in order to exploit established cognitive and collaborative routines. Paper-based tangible user interfaces and digital desks are promising technologies for co-located clinical teams. A key issue that needs to be solved before employing such solutions in practice is associated with limited feedback from the passive paper interfaces.

Privacy-Related Context Information for Ubiquitous Health

PubMed Central

Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-01-01

Background Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Objective Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Methods Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Results Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. Conclusions This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual’s privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation. PMID:25100084

Privacy-related context information for ubiquitous health.

PubMed

Seppälä, Antto; Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-03-11

Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual's privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation.

Using Palm Technology in Participatory Simulations of Complex Systems: A New Take on Ubiquitous and Accessible Mobile Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klopfer, Eric; Yoon, Susan; Perry, Judy

2005-09-01

This paper reports on teachers' perceptions of the educational affordances of a handheld application called Participatory Simulations. It presents evidence from five cases representing each of the populations who work with these computational tools. Evidence across multiple data sources yield similar results to previous research evaluations of handheld activities with respect to enhancing motivation, engagement and self-directed learning. Three additional themes are discussed that provide insight into understanding curricular applicability of Participatory Simulations that suggest a new take on ubiquitous and accessible mobile computing. These themes generally point to the multiple layers of social and cognitive flexibility intrinsic to their design: ease of adaptation to subject-matter content knowledge and curricular integration; facility in attending to teacher-individualized goals; and encouraging the adoption of learner-centered strategies.

KODAMA and VPC based Framework for Ubiquitous Systems and its Experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Kenichi; Amamiya, Satoshi; Iwao, Tadashige; Zhong, Guoqiang; Kainuma, Tatsuya; Amamiya, Makoto

Recently, agent technologies have attracted a lot of interest as an emerging programming paradigm. With such agent technologies, services are provided through collaboration among agents. At the same time, the spread of mobile technologies and communication infrastructures has made it possible to access the network anytime and from anywhere. Using agents and mobile technologies to realize ubiquitous computing systems, we propose a new framework based on KODAMA and VPC. KODAMA provides distributed management mechanisms by using the concept of community and communication infrastructure to deliver messages among agents without agents being aware of the physical network. VPC provides a method of defining peer-to-peer services based on agent communication with policy packages. By merging the characteristics of both KODAMA and VPC functions, we propose a new framework for ubiquitous computing environments. It provides distributed management functions according to the concept of agent communities, agent communications which are abstracted from the physical environment, and agent collaboration with policy packages. Using our new framework, we conducted a large-scale experiment in shopping malls in Nagoya, which sent advertisement e-mails to users' cellular phones according to user location and attributes. The empirical results showed that our new framework worked effectively for sales in shopping malls.

Ubiquitous computing in shared-care environments.

PubMed

Koch, S

2006-07-01

In light of future challenges, such as growing numbers of elderly, increase in chronic diseases, insufficient health care budgets and problems with staff recruitment for the health-care sector, information and communication technology (ICT) becomes a possible means to meet these challenges. Organizational changes such as the decentralization of the health-care system lead to a shift from in-hospital to both advanced and basic home health care. Advanced medical technologies provide solutions for distant home care in form of specialist consultations and home monitoring. Furthermore, the shift towards home health care will increase mobile work and the establishment of shared care teams which require ICT-based solutions that support ubiquitous information access and cooperative work. Clinical documentation and decision support systems are the main ICT-based solutions of interest in the context of ubiquitous computing for shared care environments. This paper therefore describes the prerequisites for clinical documentation and decision support at the point of care, the impact of mobility on the documentation process, and how the introduction of ICT-based solutions will influence organizations and people. Furthermore, the role of dentistry in shared-care environments is discussed and illustrated in the form of a future scenario.

The Construction of an Ontology-Based Ubiquitous Learning Grid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liao, Ching-Jung; Chou, Chien-Chih; Yang, Jin-Tan David

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study is to incorporate adaptive ontology into ubiquitous learning grid to achieve seamless learning environment. Ubiquitous learning grid uses ubiquitous computing environment to infer and determine the most adaptive learning contents and procedures in anytime, any place and with any device. To achieve the goal, an…

Using Palm Technology in Participatory Simulations of Complex Systems: A New Take on Ubiquitous and Accessible Mobile Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klopfer, Eric; Yoon, Susan; Perry, Judy

2005-01-01

This paper reports on teachers' perceptions of the educational affordances of a handheld application called Participatory Simulations. It presents evidence from five cases representing each of the populations who work with these computational tools. Evidence across multiple data sources yield similar results to previous research evaluations of…

Experimental quantum computing to solve systems of linear equations.

PubMed

Cai, X-D; Weedbrook, C; Su, Z-E; Chen, M-C; Gu, Mile; Zhu, M-J; Li, Li; Liu, Nai-Le; Lu, Chao-Yang; Pan, Jian-Wei

2013-06-07

Solving linear systems of equations is ubiquitous in all areas of science and engineering. With rapidly growing data sets, such a task can be intractable for classical computers, as the best known classical algorithms require a time proportional to the number of variables N. A recently proposed quantum algorithm shows that quantum computers could solve linear systems in a time scale of order log(N), giving an exponential speedup over classical computers. Here we realize the simplest instance of this algorithm, solving 2×2 linear equations for various input vectors on a quantum computer. We use four quantum bits and four controlled logic gates to implement every subroutine required, demonstrating the working principle of this algorithm.

Event heap: a coordination infrastructure for dynamic heterogeneous application interactions in ubiquitous computing environments

DOEpatents

Johanson, Bradley E.; Fox, Armando; Winograd, Terry A.; Hanrahan, Patrick M.

2010-04-20

An efficient and adaptive middleware infrastructure called the Event Heap system dynamically coordinates application interactions and communications in a ubiquitous computing environment, e.g., an interactive workspace, having heterogeneous software applications running on various machines and devices across different platforms. Applications exchange events via the Event Heap. Each event is characterized by a set of unordered, named fields. Events are routed by matching certain attributes in the fields. The source and target versions of each field are automatically set when an event is posted or used as a template. The Event Heap system implements a unique combination of features, both intrinsic to tuplespaces and specific to the Event Heap, including content based addressing, support for routing patterns, standard routing fields, limited data persistence, query persistence/registration, transparent communication, self-description, flexible typing, logical/physical centralization, portable client API, at most once per source first-in-first-out ordering, and modular restartability.

Supporting Classroom Activities with the BSUL System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogata, Hiroaki; Saito, Nobuji A.; Paredes J., Rosa G.; San Martin, Gerardo Ayala; Yano, Yoneo

2008-01-01

This paper presents the integration of ubiquitous computing systems into classroom settings, in order to provide basic support for classrooms and field activities. We have developed web application components using Java technology and configured a classroom with wireless network access and a web camera for our purposes. In this classroom, the…

Ubiquitous health monitoring and real-time cardiac arrhythmias detection: a case study.

PubMed

Li, Jian; Zhou, Haiying; Zuo, Decheng; Hou, Kun-Mean; De Vaulx, Christophe

2014-01-01

As the symptoms and signs of heart diseases that cause sudden cardiac death, cardiac arrhythmia has attracted great attention. Due to limitations in time and space, traditional approaches to cardiac arrhythmias detection fail to provide a real-time continuous monitoring and testing service applicable in different environmental conditions. Integrated with the latest technologies in ECG (electrocardiograph) analysis and medical care, the pervasive computing technology makes possible the ubiquitous cardiac care services, and thus brings about new technical challenges, especially in the formation of cardiac care architecture and realization of the real-time automatic ECG detection algorithm dedicated to care devices. In this paper, a ubiquitous cardiac care prototype system is presented with its architecture framework well elaborated. This prototype system has been tested and evaluated in all the clinical-/home-/outdoor-care modes with a satisfactory performance in providing real-time continuous cardiac arrhythmias monitoring service unlimitedly adaptable in time and space.

Bringing Mohamed to the Mountain: Situated Professional Development in a Ubiquitous Computing Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Karen; Kratcoski, Annette; Mazzer, Pat; Schenker, Jason

2005-01-01

This article describes an ongoing situated professional development program in which teachers bring their intact classes for an extended stay in a ubiquitous computing environment equipped with a variety of state-of-the-art computing devices. The experience is unique in that it not only situates teacher learning about technology integration in…

Designing Smart Artifacts for Adaptive Mediation of Social Viscosity: Triadic Actor-Network Enactments as a Basis for Interaction Design

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salamanca, Juan

2012-01-01

With the advent of ubiquitous computing, interaction design has broadened its object of inquiry into how smart computational artifacts inconspicuously act in people's everyday lives. Although user-centered design approaches remains useful for exploring how people cope with interactive systems, they cannot explain how this new breed of…

Developing Ubiquitous Sensor Network Platform Using Internet of Things: Application in Precision Agriculture.

PubMed

Ferrández-Pastor, Francisco Javier; García-Chamizo, Juan Manuel; Nieto-Hidalgo, Mario; Mora-Pascual, Jerónimo; Mora-Martínez, José

2016-07-22

The application of Information Technologies into Precision Agriculture methods has clear benefits. Precision Agriculture optimises production efficiency, increases quality, minimises environmental impact and reduces the use of resources (energy, water); however, there are different barriers that have delayed its wide development. Some of these main barriers are expensive equipment, the difficulty to operate and maintain and the standard for sensor networks are still under development. Nowadays, new technological development in embedded devices (hardware and communication protocols), the evolution of Internet technologies (Internet of Things) and ubiquitous computing (Ubiquitous Sensor Networks) allow developing less expensive systems, easier to control, install and maintain, using standard protocols with low-power consumption. This work develops and test a low-cost sensor/actuator network platform, based in Internet of Things, integrating machine-to-machine and human-machine-interface protocols. Edge computing uses this multi-protocol approach to develop control processes on Precision Agriculture scenarios. A greenhouse with hydroponic crop production was developed and tested using Ubiquitous Sensor Network monitoring and edge control on Internet of Things paradigm. The experimental results showed that the Internet technologies and Smart Object Communication Patterns can be combined to encourage development of Precision Agriculture. They demonstrated added benefits (cost, energy, smart developing, acceptance by agricultural specialists) when a project is launched.

Developing Ubiquitous Sensor Network Platform Using Internet of Things: Application in Precision Agriculture

PubMed Central

Ferrández-Pastor, Francisco Javier; García-Chamizo, Juan Manuel; Nieto-Hidalgo, Mario; Mora-Pascual, Jerónimo; Mora-Martínez, José

2016-01-01

The application of Information Technologies into Precision Agriculture methods has clear benefits. Precision Agriculture optimises production efficiency, increases quality, minimises environmental impact and reduces the use of resources (energy, water); however, there are different barriers that have delayed its wide development. Some of these main barriers are expensive equipment, the difficulty to operate and maintain and the standard for sensor networks are still under development. Nowadays, new technological development in embedded devices (hardware and communication protocols), the evolution of Internet technologies (Internet of Things) and ubiquitous computing (Ubiquitous Sensor Networks) allow developing less expensive systems, easier to control, install and maintain, using standard protocols with low-power consumption. This work develops and test a low-cost sensor/actuator network platform, based in Internet of Things, integrating machine-to-machine and human-machine-interface protocols. Edge computing uses this multi-protocol approach to develop control processes on Precision Agriculture scenarios. A greenhouse with hydroponic crop production was developed and tested using Ubiquitous Sensor Network monitoring and edge control on Internet of Things paradigm. The experimental results showed that the Internet technologies and Smart Object Communication Patterns can be combined to encourage development of Precision Agriculture. They demonstrated added benefits (cost, energy, smart developing, acceptance by agricultural specialists) when a project is launched. PMID:27455265

Trust models in ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Krukow, Karl; Nielsen, Mogens; Sassone, Vladimiro

2008-10-28

We recapture some of the arguments for trust-based technologies in ubiquitous computing, followed by a brief survey of some of the models of trust that have been introduced in this respect. Based on this, we argue for the need of more formal and foundational trust models.

Exploring the Effects of Web-Mediated Computational Thinking on Developing Students' Computing Skills in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tsai, Chia-Wen; Shen, Pei-Di; Tsai, Meng-Chuan; Chen, Wen-Yu

2017-01-01

Much application software education in Taiwan can hardly be regarded as practical. The researchers in this study provided a flexible means of ubiquitous learning (u-learning) with a mobile app for students to access the learning material. In addition, the authors also adopted computational thinking (CT) to help students develop practical computing…

Ubiquitous Complete in a Web 2.0 World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Glen; Ferster, Bill

2006-01-01

In the third wave of computing, people will interact with multiple computers in multiple ways in every setting. The value of ubiquitous computing is enhanced and reinforced by another trend: the transition to a Web 2.0 world. In a Web 2.0 world, applications and data reside on the Web itself. Schools are not yet approaching a ratio of one…

[Facing the challenges of ubiquitous computing in the health care sector].

PubMed

Georgieff, Peter; Friedewald, Michael

2010-01-01

The steady progress of microelectronics, communications and information technology will enable the realisation of the vision for "ubiquitous computing" where the Internet extends into the real world embracing everyday objects. The necessary technical basis is already in place. Due to their diminishing size, constantly falling price and declining energy consumption, processors, communications modules and sensors are being increasingly integrated into everyday objects today. This development is opening up huge opportunities for both the economy and individuals. In the present paper we discuss possible applications, but also technical, social and economic barriers to a wide-spread use of ubiquitous computing in the health care sector. .

Architecture of a framework for providing information services for public transport.

PubMed

García, Carmelo R; Pérez, Ricardo; Lorenzo, Alvaro; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Alayón, Francisco; Padrón, Gabino

2012-01-01

This paper presents OnRoute, a framework for developing and running ubiquitous software that provides information services to passengers of public transportation, including payment systems and on-route guidance services. To achieve a high level of interoperability, accessibility and context awareness, OnRoute uses the ubiquitous computing paradigm. To guarantee the quality of the software produced, the reliable software principles used in critical contexts, such as automotive systems, are also considered by the framework. The main components of its architecture (run-time, system services, software components and development discipline) and how they are deployed in the transportation network (stations and vehicles) are described in this paper. Finally, to illustrate the use of OnRoute, the development of a guidance service for travellers is explained.

Harnessing Disordered-Ensemble Quantum Dynamics for Machine Learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujii, Keisuke; Nakajima, Kohei

2017-08-01

The quantum computer has an amazing potential of fast information processing. However, the realization of a digital quantum computer is still a challenging problem requiring highly accurate controls and key application strategies. Here we propose a platform, quantum reservoir computing, to solve these issues successfully by exploiting the natural quantum dynamics of ensemble systems, which are ubiquitous in laboratories nowadays, for machine learning. This framework enables ensemble quantum systems to universally emulate nonlinear dynamical systems including classical chaos. A number of numerical experiments show that quantum systems consisting of 5-7 qubits possess computational capabilities comparable to conventional recurrent neural networks of 100-500 nodes. This discovery opens up a paradigm for information processing with artificial intelligence powered by quantum physics.

Commentary: Ubiquitous Computing Revisited--A New Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Glen; Garofalo, Joe

2006-01-01

In 2002, representatives from the teacher educator associations representing the core content areas (science, mathematics, language arts, and social studies) and educational technology met at the National Technology Leadership Retreat (NTLR) to discuss potential implications of ubiquitous computing for K-12 schools. This paper re-examines some of…

PERKAM: Personalized Knowledge Awareness Map for Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Bishouty, Moushir M.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Yano, Yoneo

2007-01-01

This paper introduces a ubiquitous computing environment in order to support the learners while doing tasks; this environment is called PERKAM (PERsonalized Knowledge Awareness Map). PERKAM allows the learners to share knowledge, interact, collaborate, and exchange individual experiences. It utilizes the RFID ubiquities technology to detect the…

2015 Marine Corps Security Environment Forecast: Futures 2030-2045

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

The technologies that make the iPhone “smart” were publically funded—the Internet, wireless networks, the global positioning system, microelectronics...Energy Revolution (63 percent);  Internet of Things (ubiquitous sensors embedded in interconnected computing devices) (50 percent);  “Sci-Fi...Neuroscience & artificial intelligence - Sensors /control systems -Power & energy -Human-robot interaction Robots/autonomous systems will become part of the

Ubiquitous Total Station Development using Smartphone, RSSI and Laser Sensor providing service to Ubi-GIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shoushtari, M. A.; Sadeghi-Niaraki, H.

2014-10-01

The growing trend in technological advances and Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) has targeted for intelligent human lives. Accordingly, Ubiquitous Computing Approach was proposed by Mark Weiser. This paper proposes an ubiquitous surveying solution in Geometrics and surveying field. Ubiquitous Surveying provides cost-effective, smart and available surveying techniques while traditional surveying equipment are so expensive and have small availability specially in indoor and daily surveying jobs. In order to have a smart surveying instrument, different information technology methods and tools like Triangle method, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) method and laser sensor are used. These new ways in combine with surveying equations introduces a modern surveying equipment called Ubi-Total Station that also employed different sensors embedded in smartphone and mobile stand. RSSI-based localization and Triangle method technique are easy and well known methods to predict the position of an unknown node in indoor environments whereas additional measures are required for a sufficient accuracy. In this paper the main goal is to introduce the Ubiquitous Total Station as a development in smart and ubiquitous GIS. In order to public use of the surveying equipment, design and implementation of this instrument has been done. Conceptual model of Smartphone-based system is designed for this study and based on this model, an Android application as a first sample is developed. Finally the evaluations shows that absolute errors in X and Y calculation are 0.028 and 0.057 meter respectively. Also RMSE of 0.26 was calculated in RSSI method for distance measurement. The high price of traditional equipment and their requirement for professional surveyors has given way to intelligent surveying. In the suggested system, smartphones can be used as tools for positioning and coordinating geometric information of objects.

Wireless Technologies, Ubiquitous Computing and Mobile Health: Application to Drug Abuse Treatment and Compliance with HIV Therapies.

PubMed

Boyer, Edward W; Smelson, David; Fletcher, Richard; Ziedonis, Douglas; Picard, Rosalind W

2010-06-01

Beneficial advances in the treatment of substance abuse and compliance with medical therapies, including HAART, are possible with new mobile technologies related to personal physiological sensing and computational methods. When incorporated into mobile platforms that allow for ubiquitous computing, these technologies have great potential for extending the reach of behavioral interventions from clinical settings where they are learned into natural environments.

Ubiquitous and ambient-assisted living eHealth platforms for Down's syndrome and palliative care in the Republic of Panama: A systematic review.

PubMed

Saldaña Barrios, Juan Jose; Mendoza, Luis; Pitti, Edgardo; Vargas, Miguel

2016-10-21

In this work, the authors present two eHealth platforms that are examples of how health systems are migrating from client-server architecture to the web-based and ubiquitous paradigm. These two platforms were modeled, designed, developed and implemented with positive results. First, using ambient-assisted living and ubiquitous computing, the authors enhance how palliative care is being provided to the elderly patients and patients with terminal illness, making the work of doctors, nurses and other health actors easier. Second, applying machine learning methods and a data-centered, ubiquitous, patient's results' repository, the authors intent to improve the Down's syndrome risk estimation process with more accurate predictions based on local woman patients' parameters. These two eHealth platforms can improve the quality of life, not only physically but also psychologically, of the patients and their families in the country of Panama. © The Author(s) 2016.

Twenty-First Century Learning: Communities, Interaction and Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leh, Amy S.C.; Kouba, Barbara; Davis, Dirk

2005-01-01

Advanced technology makes 21st century learning, communities and interactions unique and leads people to an era of ubiquitous computing. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discussion of learning in the 21st century. The paper will review literature on learning community, community learning, interaction, 21st century learning and…

Conditions for Ubiquitous Computing: What Can Be Learned from a Longitudinal Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lei, Jing

2010-01-01

Based on survey data and interview data collected over four academic years, this longitudinal study examined how a ubiquitous computing project evolved along with the changes in teachers, students, the human infrastructure, and technology infrastructure in the school. This study also investigated what conditions were necessary for successful…

Ubiquitous Computing--Are We Crazy? Point/Counterpoint

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWitt, Scott W.; Horn, Patricia S.

2005-01-01

The push for ubiquitous computing (UC) relies on an understandable and well-intentioned belief that teaching and schooling need to be transformed. This view appears credible based on large-scale criteria, such as test scores relative to other countries, drop-out rates, and economic changes. And the use of technology to achieve this goal is…

Visualisation of Interaction Footprints for Engagement in Online Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glahn, Christian; Specht, Marcus; Koper, Rob

2009-01-01

Contextualised and ubiquitous learning are relatively new research areas that combine the latest developments in ubiquitous and context aware computing with educational approaches in order to provide structure to more situated and context aware learning. The majority of recent activities in contextualised and ubiquitous learning focus on mobile…

Architecture of a Framework for Providing Information Services for Public Transport

PubMed Central

García, Carmelo R.; Pérez, Ricardo; Lorenzo, Álvaro; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Alayón, Francisco; Padrón, Gabino

2012-01-01

This paper presents OnRoute, a framework for developing and running ubiquitous software that provides information services to passengers of public transportation, including payment systems and on-route guidance services. To achieve a high level of interoperability, accessibility and context awareness, OnRoute uses the ubiquitous computing paradigm. To guarantee the quality of the software produced, the reliable software principles used in critical contexts, such as automotive systems, are also considered by the framework. The main components of its architecture (run-time, system services, software components and development discipline) and how they are deployed in the transportation network (stations and vehicles) are described in this paper. Finally, to illustrate the use of OnRoute, the development of a guidance service for travellers is explained. PMID:22778585

A Service-oriented Approach towards Context-aware Mobile Learning Management Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

towards a pervasive university. Keywords-context-aware computing, service-oriented archi- tecture, mobile computing, elearning , learn management sys- tem I...usage of device- specific features provide support for various ubiquitous and pervasive eLearning scenarios [2][3]. By knowing where the user currently...data from the mobile device towards a context-aware mobile LMS. II. BASIC CONCEPTS For a better understanding of the presented eLearning sce- narios

Four Stages of Research on the Educational Use of Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laru, Jari; Naykki, Piia; Järvelä, Sanna

2015-01-01

In this paper, the Gartner Group's hype cycle is used as the basis for categorizing and analyzing research on the educational use of ubiquitous computing. There are five phases of the hype cycle: the technology trigger, the peak of inflated expectations, the trough of disillusionment, the slope of enlightenment, and the plateau of productivity.…

Ubiquitous Computing and Changing Pedagogical Possibilities: Representations, Conceptualizations and Uses of Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Karen; Van 'T Hooft, Mark; Kratcoski, Annette; Schenker, Jason

2007-01-01

This article reports on preliminary findings from an ongoing study of teaching and learning in a ubiquitous computing classroom. The research employed mixed methods and multiple measures to document changes in teaching and learning that result when teachers and students have access to a variety of digital devices wherever and whenever they need…

International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2016

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

The International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC) 2016 will be held at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan from 13-18 March 2016, with co-located events and workshops. The conference is hosted by the Academia Sinica Grid Computing Centre (ASGC). The theme of ISGC 2016 focuses on“Ubiquitous e-infrastructures and Applications”. Contemporary research is impossible without a strong IT component - researchers rely on the existence of stable and widely available e-infrastructures and their higher level functions and properties. As a result of these expectations, e-Infrastructures are becoming ubiquitous, providing an environment that supports large scale collaborations that deal with global challenges as well as smaller and temporal research communities focusing on particular scientific problems. To support those diversified communities and their needs, the e-Infrastructures themselves are becoming more layered and multifaceted, supporting larger groups of applications. Following the call for the last year conference, ISGC 2016 continues its aim to bring together users and application developers with those responsible for the development and operation of multi-purpose ubiquitous e-Infrastructures. Topics of discussion include Physics (including HEP) and Engineering Applications, Biomedicine & Life Sciences Applications, Earth & Environmental Sciences & Biodiversity Applications, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) Applications, Virtual Research Environment (including Middleware, tools, services, workflow, etc.), Data Management, Big Data, Networking & Security, Infrastructure & Operations, Infrastructure Clouds and Virtualisation, Interoperability, Business Models & Sustainability, Highly Distributed Computing Systems, and High Performance & Technical Computing (HPTC), etc.

Inexpensive Data Acquisition with a Sound Card

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hassan, Umer; Pervaiz, Saad; Anwar, Muhammad Sabieh

2011-01-01

Signal generators, oscilloscopes, and data acquisition (DAQ) systems are standard components of the modern experimental physics laboratory. The sound card, a built-in component in the ubiquitous personal computer, can be utilized for all three of these tasks and offers an attractive option for labs in developing countries such as…

Camera! Action! Collaborate with Digital Moviemaking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swan, Kathleen Owings; Hofer, Mark; Levstik, Linda S.

2007-01-01

Broadly defined, digital moviemaking integrates a variety of media (images, sound, text, video, narration) to communicate with an audience. There is near-ubiquitous access to the necessary software (MovieMaker and iMovie are bundled free with their respective operating systems) and hardware (computers with Internet access, digital cameras, etc.).…

Project Final Report: Ubiquitous Computing and Monitoring System (UCoMS) for Discovery and Management of Energy Resources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tzeng, Nian-Feng; White, Christopher D.; Moreman, Douglas

2012-07-14

The UCoMS research cluster has spearheaded three research areas since August 2004, including wireless and sensor networks, Grid computing, and petroleum applications. The primary goals of UCoMS research are three-fold: (1) creating new knowledge to push forward the technology forefronts on pertinent research on the computing and monitoring aspects of energy resource management, (2) developing and disseminating software codes and toolkits for the research community and the public, and (3) establishing system prototypes and testbeds for evaluating innovative techniques and methods. Substantial progress and diverse accomplishment have been made by research investigators in their respective areas of expertise cooperatively onmore » such topics as sensors and sensor networks, wireless communication and systems, computational Grids, particularly relevant to petroleum applications.« less

Introducing Laptops to Children: An Examination of Ubiquitous Computing in Grade 3 Reading, Language, and Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bernard, Robert M.; Bethel, Edward Clement; Abrami, Philip C.; Wade, C. Anne

2007-01-01

This study examines the achievement outcomes accompanying the implementation of a Grade 3 laptop or so-­called "ubiquitous computing" program in a Quebec school district. CAT­3 reading, language, and mathematics batteries were administered at the end of Grade 2 and again at the end of Grade 3, after the first year of computer…

Modified stretched exponential model of computer system resources management limitations-The case of cache memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strzałka, Dominik; Dymora, Paweł; Mazurek, Mirosław

2018-02-01

In this paper we present some preliminary results in the field of computer systems management with relation to Tsallis thermostatistics and the ubiquitous problem of hardware limited resources. In the case of systems with non-deterministic behaviour, management of their resources is a key point that guarantees theirs acceptable performance and proper working. This is very wide problem that stands for many challenges in financial, transport, water and food, health, etc. areas. We focus on computer systems with attention paid to cache memory and propose to use an analytical model that is able to connect non-extensive entropy formalism, long-range dependencies, management of system resources and queuing theory. Obtained analytical results are related to the practical experiment showing interesting and valuable results.

Security policies and trust in ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Joshi, Anupam; Finin, Tim; Kagal, Lalana; Parker, Jim; Patwardhan, Anand

2008-10-28

Ubiquitous environments comprise resource-constrained mobile and wearable devices and computational elements embedded in everyday artefacts. These are connected to each other using both infrastructure-based as well as short-range ad hoc networks. Limited Internet connectivity limits the use of conventional security mechanisms such as public key infrastructures and other forms of server-centric authentication. Under these circumstances, peer-to-peer interactions are well suited for not just information interchange, but also managing security and privacy. However, practical solutions for protecting mobile devices, preserving privacy, evaluating trust and determining the reliability and accuracy of peer-provided data in such interactions are still in their infancy. Our research is directed towards providing stronger assurances of the reliability and trustworthiness of information and services, and the use of declarative policy-driven approaches to handle the open and dynamic nature of such systems. This paper provides an overview of some of the challenges and issues, and points out directions for progress.

Agent-based user-adaptive service provision in ubiquitous systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saddiki, H.; Harroud, H.; Karmouch, A.

2012-11-01

With the increasing availability of smartphones, tablets and other computing devices, technology consumers have grown accustomed to performing all of their computing tasks anytime, anywhere and on any device. There is a greater need to support ubiquitous connectivity and accommodate users by providing software as network-accessible services. In this paper, we propose a MAS-based approach to adaptive service composition and provision that automates the selection and execution of a suitable composition plan for a given service. With agents capable of autonomous and intelligent behavior, the composition plan is selected in a dynamic negotiation driven by a utility-based decision-making mechanism; and the composite service is built by a coalition of agents each providing a component necessary to the target service. The same service can be built in variations for catering to dynamic user contexts and further personalizing the user experience. Also multiple services can be grouped to satisfy new user needs.

An improved anonymous authentication scheme for roaming in ubiquitous networks.

PubMed

Lee, Hakjun; Lee, Donghoon; Moon, Jongho; Jung, Jaewook; Kang, Dongwoo; Kim, Hyoungshick; Won, Dongho

2018-01-01

With the evolution of communication technology and the exponential increase of mobile devices, the ubiquitous networking allows people to use our data and computing resources anytime and everywhere. However, numerous security concerns and complicated requirements arise as these ubiquitous networks are deployed throughout people's lives. To meet the challenge, the user authentication schemes in ubiquitous networks should ensure the essential security properties for the preservation of the privacy with low computational cost. In 2017, Chaudhry et al. proposed a password-based authentication scheme for the roaming in ubiquitous networks to enhance the security. Unfortunately, we found that their scheme remains insecure in its protection of the user privacy. In this paper, we prove that Chaudhry et al.'s scheme is vulnerable to the stolen-mobile device and user impersonation attacks, and its drawbacks comprise the absence of the incorrect login-input detection, the incorrectness of the password change phase, and the absence of the revocation provision. Moreover, we suggest a possible way to fix the security flaw in Chaudhry et al's scheme by using the biometric-based authentication for which the bio-hash is applied in the implementation of a three-factor authentication. We prove the security of the proposed scheme with the random oracle model and formally verify its security properties using a tool named ProVerif, and analyze it in terms of the computational and communication cost. The analysis result shows that the proposed scheme is suitable for resource-constrained ubiquitous environments.

An improved anonymous authentication scheme for roaming in ubiquitous networks

PubMed Central

Lee, Hakjun; Lee, Donghoon; Moon, Jongho; Jung, Jaewook; Kang, Dongwoo; Kim, Hyoungshick

2018-01-01

With the evolution of communication technology and the exponential increase of mobile devices, the ubiquitous networking allows people to use our data and computing resources anytime and everywhere. However, numerous security concerns and complicated requirements arise as these ubiquitous networks are deployed throughout people’s lives. To meet the challenge, the user authentication schemes in ubiquitous networks should ensure the essential security properties for the preservation of the privacy with low computational cost. In 2017, Chaudhry et al. proposed a password-based authentication scheme for the roaming in ubiquitous networks to enhance the security. Unfortunately, we found that their scheme remains insecure in its protection of the user privacy. In this paper, we prove that Chaudhry et al.’s scheme is vulnerable to the stolen-mobile device and user impersonation attacks, and its drawbacks comprise the absence of the incorrect login-input detection, the incorrectness of the password change phase, and the absence of the revocation provision. Moreover, we suggest a possible way to fix the security flaw in Chaudhry et al’s scheme by using the biometric-based authentication for which the bio-hash is applied in the implementation of a three-factor authentication. We prove the security of the proposed scheme with the random oracle model and formally verify its security properties using a tool named ProVerif, and analyze it in terms of the computational and communication cost. The analysis result shows that the proposed scheme is suitable for resource-constrained ubiquitous environments. PMID:29505575

A Proposal of TLS Implementation for Cross Certification Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaji, Tadashi; Fujishiro, Takahiro; Tezuka, Satoru

Today, TLS is widely used for achieving a secure communication system. And TLS is used PKI for server authentication and/or client authentication. However, its PKI environment, which is called as “multiple trust anchors environment,” causes the problem that the verifier has to maintain huge number of CA certificates in the ubiquitous network because the increase of terminals connected to the network brings the increase of CAs. However, most of terminals in the ubiquitous network will not have enough memory to hold such huge number of CA certificates. Therefore, another PKI environment, “cross certification environment”, is useful for the ubiquitous network. But, because current TLS is designed for the multiple trust anchors model, TLS cannot work efficiently on the cross-certification model. This paper proposes a TLS implementation method to support the cross certification model efficiently. Our proposal reduces the size of exchanged messages between the TLS client and the TLS server during the handshake process. Therefore, our proposal is suitable for implementing TLS in the terminals that do not have enough computing power and memory in ubiquitous network.

An Analysis of the Impacts of Computer-Based Information System on Research and Development Organizations

DTIC Science & Technology

1989-09-01

technologies during the days of the Industrial Revolution . [8:229) Those words while almost five years old still hold true as computer-based...Within the seeds of this revolution in technology lies potential for change as potent and ubiquitous as that brought about by changes in manufacturing...with the largest increases coming from the microcomputer industry . A set of companies recently studied revealed growth rates from 30 to 100 percent

Atomic switch networks-nanoarchitectonic design of a complex system for natural computing.

PubMed

Demis, E C; Aguilera, R; Sillin, H O; Scharnhorst, K; Sandouk, E J; Aono, M; Stieg, A Z; Gimzewski, J K

2015-05-22

Self-organized complex systems are ubiquitous in nature, and the structural complexity of these natural systems can be used as a model to design new classes of functional nanotechnology based on highly interconnected networks of interacting units. Conventional fabrication methods for electronic computing devices are subject to known scaling limits, confining the diversity of possible architectures. This work explores methods of fabricating a self-organized complex device known as an atomic switch network and discusses its potential utility in computing. Through a merger of top-down and bottom-up techniques guided by mathematical and nanoarchitectonic design principles, we have produced functional devices comprising nanoscale elements whose intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and memorization capabilities produce robust patterns of distributed activity and a capacity for nonlinear transformation of input signals when configured in the appropriate network architecture. Their operational characteristics represent a unique potential for hardware implementation of natural computation, specifically in the area of reservoir computing-a burgeoning field that investigates the computational aptitude of complex biologically inspired systems.

Mobile Learning Application Interfaces: First Steps to a Cognitive Load Aware System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deegan, Robin

2013-01-01

Mobile learning is a cognitively demanding application and more frequently the ubiquitous nature of mobile computing means that mobile devices are used in cognitively demanding environments. This paper examines the nature of this use of mobile devices from a Learning, Usability and Cognitive Load Theory perspective. It suggests scenarios where…

LSQuiz: A Collaborative Classroom Response System to Support Active Learning through Ubiquitous Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Caceffo, Ricardo; Azevedo, Rodolfo

2014-01-01

The constructivist theory indicates that knowledge is not something finished and complete. However, the individuals must construct it through the interaction with the physical and social environment. The Active Learning is a methodology designed to support the constructivism through the involvement of students in their learning process, allowing…

Tablet Computer Literacy Levels of the Physical Education and Sports Department Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hergüner, Gülten

2016-01-01

Education systems are being affected in parallel by newly emerging hardware and new developments occurring in technology daily. Tablet usage especially is becoming ubiquitous in the teaching-learning processes in recent years. Therefore, using the tablets effectively, managing them and having a high level of tablet literacy play an important role…

Technology-Supported Orchestration Matters: Outperforming Paper-Based Scripting in a Jigsaw Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balestrini, Mara; Hernandez-Leo, Davinia; Nieves, Raul; Blat, Josep

2014-01-01

Under the umbrella of ubiquitous technologies, many computational artifacts have been designed to enhance the learning experience in physical settings such as classrooms or playgrounds, but few of them focus on aiding orchestration. This paper presents a systematic evaluation of the signal orchestration system (SOS) used by students for a jigsaw…

Wide-angle display developments by computer graphics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fetter, William A.

1989-01-01

Computer graphics can now expand its new subset, wide-angle projection, to be as significant a generic capability as computer graphics itself. Some prior work in computer graphics is presented which leads to an attractive further subset of wide-angle projection, called hemispheric projection, to be a major communication media. Hemispheric film systems have long been present and such computer graphics systems are in use in simulators. This is the leading edge of capabilities which should ultimately be as ubiquitous as CRTs (cathode-ray tubes). These assertions are not from degrees in science or only from a degree in graphic design, but in a history of computer graphics innovations, laying groundwork by demonstration. The author believes that it is timely to look at several development strategies, since hemispheric projection is now at a point comparable to the early stages of computer graphics, requiring similar patterns of development again.

Evolving Pedagogical Perceptions of Teachers Integrating Ubiquitous Computing in Their Classrooms: A Case Study of the South Dakota Laptop Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pogany, Wade S.

2009-01-01

With technology changing the world at a rapid rate, the impact of ubiquitous computing in the classroom has had an influence on education. As the number of one-to-one laptop initiatives grows, the need for further research on the effects of teaching and learning also increases. This case study sought to examine changes in teaching that resulted…

A Holistic Approach to Networked Information Systems Design and Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-04-15

attain quite substantial savings. 11. Optimal algorithms for energy harvesting in wireless networks. We use a Markov- decision-process (MDP) based...approach to obtain optimal policies for transmissions . The key advantage of our approach is that it holistically considers information and energy in a...Coding technique to minimize delays and the number of transmissions in Wireless Systems. As we approach an era of ubiquitous computing with information

Atomic switch networks—nanoarchitectonic design of a complex system for natural computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demis, E. C.; Aguilera, R.; Sillin, H. O.; Scharnhorst, K.; Sandouk, E. J.; Aono, M.; Stieg, A. Z.; Gimzewski, J. K.

2015-05-01

Self-organized complex systems are ubiquitous in nature, and the structural complexity of these natural systems can be used as a model to design new classes of functional nanotechnology based on highly interconnected networks of interacting units. Conventional fabrication methods for electronic computing devices are subject to known scaling limits, confining the diversity of possible architectures. This work explores methods of fabricating a self-organized complex device known as an atomic switch network and discusses its potential utility in computing. Through a merger of top-down and bottom-up techniques guided by mathematical and nanoarchitectonic design principles, we have produced functional devices comprising nanoscale elements whose intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and memorization capabilities produce robust patterns of distributed activity and a capacity for nonlinear transformation of input signals when configured in the appropriate network architecture. Their operational characteristics represent a unique potential for hardware implementation of natural computation, specifically in the area of reservoir computing—a burgeoning field that investigates the computational aptitude of complex biologically inspired systems.

Trainable hardware for dynamical computing using error backpropagation through physical media.

PubMed

Hermans, Michiel; Burm, Michaël; Van Vaerenbergh, Thomas; Dambre, Joni; Bienstman, Peter

2015-03-24

Neural networks are currently implemented on digital Von Neumann machines, which do not fully leverage their intrinsic parallelism. We demonstrate how to use a novel class of reconfigurable dynamical systems for analogue information processing, mitigating this problem. Our generic hardware platform for dynamic, analogue computing consists of a reciprocal linear dynamical system with nonlinear feedback. Thanks to reciprocity, a ubiquitous property of many physical phenomena like the propagation of light and sound, the error backpropagation-a crucial step for tuning such systems towards a specific task-can happen in hardware. This can potentially speed up the optimization process significantly, offering important benefits for the scalability of neuro-inspired hardware. In this paper, we show, using one experimentally validated and one conceptual example, that such systems may provide a straightforward mechanism for constructing highly scalable, fully dynamical analogue computers.

Trainable hardware for dynamical computing using error backpropagation through physical media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hermans, Michiel; Burm, Michaël; van Vaerenbergh, Thomas; Dambre, Joni; Bienstman, Peter

2015-03-01

Neural networks are currently implemented on digital Von Neumann machines, which do not fully leverage their intrinsic parallelism. We demonstrate how to use a novel class of reconfigurable dynamical systems for analogue information processing, mitigating this problem. Our generic hardware platform for dynamic, analogue computing consists of a reciprocal linear dynamical system with nonlinear feedback. Thanks to reciprocity, a ubiquitous property of many physical phenomena like the propagation of light and sound, the error backpropagation—a crucial step for tuning such systems towards a specific task—can happen in hardware. This can potentially speed up the optimization process significantly, offering important benefits for the scalability of neuro-inspired hardware. In this paper, we show, using one experimentally validated and one conceptual example, that such systems may provide a straightforward mechanism for constructing highly scalable, fully dynamical analogue computers.

Teaching and Assessment of Mathematical Principles for Software Correctness Using a Reasoning Concept Inventory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drachova-Strang, Svetlana V.

2013-01-01

As computing becomes ubiquitous, software correctness has a fundamental role in ensuring the safety and security of the systems we build. To design and develop software correctly according to their formal contracts, CS students, the future software practitioners, need to learn a critical set of skills that are necessary and sufficient for…

Semantic Annotation of Resources to Learn with Connected Things

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bouchereau, Aymeric; Roxin, Ioan

2017-01-01

Computer systems tend to be ubiquitous as they become more integrated in our everyday activities, embedded in tables, shoes, watch and plenty of others connected things (CT). In the e-learning field, the transformations induced by the Internet of Things (IoT) allow individuals to learn whenever they want, accessing a quantity of diverse digital…

Distributed behavior model orchestration in cognitive internet of things solution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Chung-Sheng; Darema, Frederica; Chang, Victor

2018-04-01

The introduction of pervasive and ubiquitous instrumentation within Internet of Things (IoT) leads to unprecedented real-time visibility (instrumentation), optimization and fault-tolerance of the power grid, traffic, transportation, water, oil & gas, to give some examples. Interconnecting those distinct physical, people, and business worlds through ubiquitous instrumentation, even though still in its embryonic stage, has the potential to create intelligent IoT solutions that are much greener, more efficient, comfortable, and safer. An essential new direction to materialize this potential is to develop comprehensive models of such systems dynamically interacting with the instrumentation in a feed-back control loop. We describe here opportunities in applying cognitive computing on interconnected and instrumented worlds (Cognitive Internet of Things-CIoT) and call out the system-of-systems trend among distinct but interdependent worlds, and Dynamic Data-Driven Application System (DDDAS)-based methods for advanced understanding, analysis, and real-time decision support capabilities with the accuracy of full-scale models.

Experimental evaluations of wearable ECG monitor.

PubMed

Ha, Kiryong; Kim, Youngsung; Jung, Junyoung; Lee, Jeunwoo

2008-01-01

Healthcare industry is changing with ubiquitous computing environment and wearable ECG measurement is one of the most popular approaches in this healthcare industry. Reliability and performance of healthcare device is fundamental issue for widespread adoptions, and interdisciplinary perspectives of wearable ECG monitor make this more difficult. In this paper, we propose evaluation criteria considering characteristic of both ECG measurement and ubiquitous computing. With our wearable ECG monitors, various levels of experimental analysis are performed based on evaluation strategy.

Single-electron random-number generator (RNG) for highly secure ubiquitous computing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchida, Ken; Tanamoto, Tetsufumi; Fujita, Shinobu

2007-11-01

Since the security of all modern cryptographic techniques relies on unpredictable and irreproducible digital keys generated by random-number generators (RNGs), the realization of high-quality RNG is essential for secure communications. In this report, a new RNG, which utilizes single-electron phenomena, is proposed. A room-temperature operating silicon single-electron transistor (SET) having nearby an electron pocket is used as a high-quality, ultra-small RNG. In the proposed RNG, stochastic single-electron capture/emission processes to/from the electron pocket are detected with high sensitivity by the SET, and result in giant random telegraphic signals (GRTS) on the SET current. It is experimentally demonstrated that the single-electron RNG generates extremely high-quality random digital sequences at room temperature, in spite of its simple configuration. Because of its small-size and low-power properties, the single-electron RNG is promising as a key nanoelectronic device for future ubiquitous computing systems with highly secure mobile communication capabilities.

Ubiquitous Wireless Smart Sensing and Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond

2013-01-01

Need new technologies to reliably and safely have humans interact within sensored environments (integrated user interfaces, physical and cognitive augmentation, training, and human-systems integration tools). Areas of focus include: radio frequency identification (RFID), motion tracking, wireless communication, wearable computing, adaptive training and decision support systems, and tele-operations. The challenge is developing effective, low cost/mass/volume/power integrated monitoring systems to assess and control system, environmental, and operator health; and accurately determining and controlling the physical, chemical, and biological environments of the areas and associated environmental control systems.

Ubiquitous Wireless Smart Sensing and Control. Pumps and Pipes JSC: Uniquely Houston

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wagner, Raymond

2013-01-01

Need new technologies to reliably and safely have humans interact within sensored environments (integrated user interfaces, physical and cognitive augmentation, training, and human-systems integration tools).Areas of focus include: radio frequency identification (RFID), motion tracking, wireless communication, wearable computing, adaptive training and decision support systems, and tele-operations. The challenge is developing effective, low cost/mass/volume/power integrated monitoring systems to assess and control system, environmental, and operator health; and accurately determining and controlling the physical, chemical, and biological environments of the areas and associated environmental control systems.

pcircle - A Suite of Scalable Parallel File System Tools

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

WANG, FEIYI

2015-10-01

Most of the software related to file system are written for conventional local file system, they are serialized and can't take advantage of the benefit of a large scale parallel file system. "pcircle" software builds on top of ubiquitous MPI in cluster computing environment and "work-stealing" pattern to provide a scalable, high-performance suite of file system tools. In particular - it implemented parallel data copy and parallel data checksumming, with advanced features such as async progress report, checkpoint and restart, as well as integrity checking.

Reinventing patient-centered computing for the twenty-first century.

PubMed

Goldberg, H S; Morales, A; Gottlieb, L; Meador, L; Safran, C

2001-01-01

Despite evidence over the past decade that patients like and will use patient-centered computing systems in managing their health, patients have remained forgotten stakeholders in advances in clinical computing systems. We present a framework for patient empowerment and the technical realization of that framework in an architecture called CareLink. In an evaluation of the initial deployment of CareLink in the support of neonatal intensive care, we have demonstrated a reduction in the length of stay for very-low birthweight infants, and an improvement in family satisfaction with care delivery. With the ubiquitous adoption of the Internet into the general culture, patient-centered computing provides the opportunity to mend broken health care relationships and reconnect patients to the care delivery process. CareLink itself provides functionality to support both clinical care and research, and provides a living laboratory for the further study of patient-centered computing.

NOSTOS: a paper-based ubiquitous computing healthcare environment to support data capture and collaboration.

PubMed

Bång, Magnus; Larsson, Anders; Eriksson, Henrik

2003-01-01

In this paper, we present a new approach to clinical workplace computerization that departs from the window-based user interface paradigm. NOSTOS is an experimental computer-augmented work environment designed to support data capture and teamwork in an emergency room. NOSTOS combines multiple technologies, such as digital pens, walk-up displays, headsets, a smart desk, and sensors to enhance an existing paper-based practice with computer power. The physical interfaces allow clinicians to retain mobile paper-based collaborative routines and still benefit from computer technology. The requirements for the system were elicited from situated workplace studies. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of augmenting a paper-based clinical work environment.

Computing partial traces and reduced density matrices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maziero, Jonas

Taking partial traces (PTrs) for computing reduced density matrices, or related functions, is a ubiquitous procedure in the quantum mechanics of composite systems. In this paper, we present a thorough description of this function and analyze the number of elementary operations (ops) needed, under some possible alternative implementations, to compute it on a classical computer. As we note, it is worthwhile doing some analytical developments in order to avoid making null multiplications and sums, what can considerably reduce the ops. For instance, for a bipartite system ℋa⊗ℋb with dimensions da=dimℋa and db=dimℋb and for da,db≫1, while a direct use of PTr definition applied to ℋb requires 𝒪(da6db6) ops, its optimized implementation entails 𝒪(da2db) ops. In the sequence, we regard the computation of PTrs for general multipartite systems and describe Fortran code provided to implement it numerically. We also consider the calculation of reduced density matrices via Bloch’s parametrization with generalized Gell Mann’s matrices.

Angelcare mobile system: homecare patient monitoring using bluetooth and GPRS.

PubMed

Ribeiro, Anna G D; Maitelli, Andre L; Valentim, Ricardo A M; Brandao, Glaucio B; Guerreiro, Ana M G

2010-01-01

The quick progress in technology has brought new paradigms to the computing area, bringing with them many benefits to society. The paradigm of ubiquitous computing brings innovations applying computing in people's daily life without being noticed. For this, it has used the combination of several existing technologies like wireless communications and sensors. Several of the benefits have reached the medical area, bringing new methods of surgery, appointments and examinations. This work presents telemedicine software that adds the idea of ubiquity to the medical area, innovating the relation between doctor and patient. It also brings security and confidence to a patient being monitored in homecare.

Pervasive Computing Goes to School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plymale, William O.

2005-01-01

In 1991 Mark Weiser introduced the idea of ubiquitous computing: a world in which computers and associated technologies become invisible, and thus indistinguishable from everyday life. This invisible computing is accomplished by means of "embodied virtuality," the process of drawing computers into the physical world. Weiser proposed that…

Social Knowledge Awareness Map for Computer Supported Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

El-Bishouty, Moushir M.; Ogata, Hiroaki; Rahman, Samia; Yano, Yoneo

2010-01-01

Social networks are helpful for people to solve problems by providing useful information. Therefore, the importance of mobile social software for learning has been supported by many researches. In this research, a model of personalized collaborative ubiquitous learning environment is designed and implemented in order to support learners doing…

Student Laptop Use and Scores on Standardized Tests

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kposowa, Augustine J.; Valdez, Amanda D.

2013-01-01

Objectives: The primary objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between ubiquitous laptop use and academic achievement. It was hypothesized that students with ubiquitous laptops would score on average higher on standardized tests than those without such computers. Methods: Data were obtained from two sources. First, demographic…

A new security model for collaborative environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Agarwal, Deborah; Lorch, Markus; Thompson, Mary

Prevalent authentication and authorization models for distributed systems provide for the protection of computer systems and resources from unauthorized use. The rules and policies that drive the access decisions in such systems are typically configured up front and require trust establishment before the systems can be used. This approach does not work well for computer software that moderates human-to-human interaction. This work proposes a new model for trust establishment and management in computer systems supporting collaborative work. The model supports the dynamic addition of new users to a collaboration with very little initial trust placed into their identity and supportsmore » the incremental building of trust relationships through endorsements from established collaborators. It also recognizes the strength of a users authentication when making trust decisions. By mimicking the way humans build trust naturally the model can support a wide variety of usage scenarios. Its particular strength lies in the support for ad-hoc and dynamic collaborations and the ubiquitous access to a Computer Supported Collaboration Workspace (CSCW) system from locations with varying levels of trust and security.« less

Computational Physics' Greatest Hits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bug, Amy

2011-03-01

The digital computer, has worked its way so effectively into our profession that now, roughly 65 years after its invention, it is virtually impossible to find a field of experimental or theoretical physics unaided by computational innovation. It is tough to think of another device about which one can make that claim. In the session ``What is computational physics?'' speakers will distinguish computation within the field of computational physics from this ubiquitous importance across all subfields of physics. This talk will recap the invited session ``Great Advances...Past, Present and Future'' in which five dramatic areas of discovery (five of our ``greatest hits'') are chronicled: The physics of many-boson systems via Path Integral Monte Carlo, the thermodynamic behavior of a huge number of diverse systems via Monte Carlo Methods, the discovery of new pharmaceutical agents via molecular dynamics, predictive simulations of global climate change via detailed, cross-disciplinary earth system models, and an understanding of the formation of the first structures in our universe via galaxy formation simulations. The talk will also identify ``greatest hits'' in our field from the teaching and research perspectives of other members of DCOMP, including its Executive Committee.

A Microprocessor-Controlled Data Acquisition System for the Federal Scientific Model UA-500-1 Ubiquitous Spectrum Analyzer

DTIC Science & Technology

1976-09-01

Model AN/ UGC -59A teletype and paper-tape punch console. This unit is connected with the Intellec 8 computer and punching operations are controlled by...order to use this program, the microprocessor would have to be one of the many types on the market that make use of the INTEL 8008-1 CPD chip. The use

An Experiment for Improving Students Performance in Secondary and Tertiary Education by Means of M-Learning Auto-Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de-Marcos, Luis; Hilera, Jose Ramon; Barchino, Roberto; Jimenez, Lourdes; Martinez, Jose Javier; Gutierrez, Jose Antonio; Gutierrez, Jose Maria; Oton, Salvador

2010-01-01

Mobile learning is considered an evolution of e-learning that embraces the ubiquitous nature of current computational systems in order to improve teaching and learning. Within this context it is possible to develop mobile applications oriented to learning, but it is also important to assess to what extent such applications actually work. In this…

Heterogeneous real-time computing in radio astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ford, John M.; Demorest, Paul; Ransom, Scott

2010-07-01

Modern computer architectures suited for general purpose computing are often not the best choice for either I/O-bound or compute-bound problems. Sometimes the best choice is not to choose a single architecture, but to take advantage of the best characteristics of different computer architectures to solve your problems. This paper examines the tradeoffs between using computer systems based on the ubiquitous X86 Central Processing Units (CPU's), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based signal processors, and Graphical Processing Units (GPU's). We will show how a heterogeneous system can be produced that blends the best of each of these technologies into a real-time signal processing system. FPGA's tightly coupled to analog-to-digital converters connect the instrument to the telescope and supply the first level of computing to the system. These FPGA's are coupled to other FPGA's to continue to provide highly efficient processing power. Data is then packaged up and shipped over fast networks to a cluster of general purpose computers equipped with GPU's, which are used for floating-point intensive computation. Finally, the data is handled by the CPU and written to disk, or further processed. Each of the elements in the system has been chosen for its specific characteristics and the role it can play in creating a system that does the most for the least, in terms of power, space, and money.

Context-awareness in ubiquitous computing and the mobile devices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akçit, Nuhcan; Tomur, Emrah; Karslıoǧlu, Mahmut Onur

2015-06-01

Mobile device use has vastly increased in the last few years. Many people use many mobile devices in their daily lives. Context-aware computing is the main feature of pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Context awareness is also an important topic that becomes more available with ubiquitous computing. As the sensors increase, the data collected via mobile device sensors and sensor networks do not have much value because of the difficulty in analysis and understanding the data. Context-aware computing helps us store contextual information and use or search it by mobile devices when we want to see or analyze it. Contextual data can be made more meaningful by context-aware processing. There are different types of data and context information that must be considered. By combining spatial and contextual data, we obtain more meaningful data based on the entities. Contextual data is any information that can be used to characterize the situation of the entity. The entity is a person, place, or object considered relevant to the interaction between the user and an application, including the users and the applications. Using contextual data and good integration to mobile devices adds great value to this data, and combining these with our other data sets will allow us to obtain more useful information and analysis.

A Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning System: Evidence of Active/Passive Attitudes vs. Usefulness/Ease-of-Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Yueh-Min; Huang, Yong-Ming; Huang, Shu-Hsien; Lin, Yen-Ting

2012-01-01

English vocabulary learning and ubiquitous learning have separately received considerable attention in recent years. However, research on English vocabulary learning in ubiquitous learning contexts has been less studied. In this study, we develop a ubiquitous English vocabulary learning (UEVL) system to assist students in experiencing a systematic…

Introduction to This Special Issue on Context-Aware Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Thomas P.; Dourish, Paul

2001-01-01

Discusses pervasive, or ubiquitous, computing; explains the notion of context; and defines context-aware computing as the key to disperse and enmesh computation into our lives. Considers context awareness in human-computer interaction and describes the broad topic areas of the essays included in this special issue. (LRW)

Provision of Ubiquitous Tourist Information in Public Transport Networks

PubMed Central

García, Carmelo R.; Pérez, Ricardo; Alayón, Francisco; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Padrón, Gabino

2012-01-01

This paper outlines an information system for tourists using collective public transport based on mobile devices with limited computation and wireless connection capacities. In this system, the mobile device collaborates with the vehicle infrastructure in order to provide the user with multimedia (visual and audio) information about his/her trip. The information delivered, adapted to the user preferences, is synchronized with the passage of vehicles through points of interest along the route, for example: bus stops, tourist sights, public service centres, etc.

A wearable context aware system for ubiquitous healthcare.

PubMed

Kang, Dong-Oh; Lee, Hyung-Jik; Ko, Eun-Jung; Kang, Kyuchang; Lee, Jeunwoo

2006-01-01

Recent developments of information technologies are leading the advent of the era of ubiquitous healthcare, which means healthcare services at any time and at any places. The ubiquitous healthcare service needs a wearable system for more continual measurement of biological signals of a user, which gives information of the user from wearable sensors. In this paper, we propose a wearable context aware system for ubiquitous healthcare, and its systematic design process of a ubiquitous healthcare service. Some wearable sensor systems are introduced with Zigbee communication. We develop a context aware framework to send information from wearable sensors to healthcare service entities as a middleware to solve the interoperability problem between sensor makers and healthcare service providers. And, we propose a systematic process of design of ubiquitous healthcare services with the context aware framework. In order to show the feasibility of the proposed system, some application examples are given, which are applied to remote monitoring, and a self check service.

Personal diabetes management system based on ubiquitous computing technology.

PubMed

Park, Kyung-Soon; Kim, Nam-Jin; Hong, Joo-Hyun; Park, Mi-Sook; Cha, Eun-Jung; Lee, Tae-Soo

2006-01-01

Assisting diabetes patients to self manage blood glucose test and insulin injection is of great importance for their healthcare. This study presented a PDA based system to manage the personal glucose level data interfaced with a small glucometer through a serial port. The data stored in the PDA can be transmitted by cradle or wireless communication to the remote web-server, where further medical analysis and service is provided. This system enables more efficient and systematic management of diabetes patients through self management and remote medical practice.

An element search ant colony technique for solving virtual machine placement problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srija, J.; Rani John, Rose; Kanaga, Grace Mary, Dr.

2017-09-01

The data centres in the cloud environment play a key role in providing infrastructure for ubiquitous computing, pervasive computing, mobile computing etc. This computing technique tries to utilize the available resources in order to provide services. Hence maintaining the resource utilization without wastage of power consumption has become a challenging task for the researchers. In this paper we propose the direct guidance ant colony system for effective mapping of virtual machines to the physical machine with maximal resource utilization and minimal power consumption. The proposed algorithm has been compared with the existing ant colony approach which is involved in solving virtual machine placement problem and thus the proposed algorithm proves to provide better result than the existing technique.

Noise and Vibration Risk Prevention Virtual Web for Ubiquitous Training

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redel-Macías, María Dolores; Cubero-Atienza, Antonio J.; Martínez-Valle, José Miguel; Pedrós-Pérez, Gerardo; del Pilar Martínez-Jiménez, María

2015-01-01

This paper describes a new Web portal offering experimental labs for ubiquitous training of university engineering students in work-related risk prevention. The Web-accessible computer program simulates the noise and machine vibrations met in the work environment, in a series of virtual laboratories that mimic an actual laboratory and provide the…

Ubiquitous Knowledge Construction: Mobile Learning Re-Defined and a Conceptual Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peng, Hsinyi; Su, Yi-Ju; Chou, Chien; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2009-01-01

Emerging from recent mobile technologies, mobile learning, or m-learning, is beginning to offer "stunning new technical capabilities" in education (DiGiano et al., 2003). This new genre of learning is viewed as a revolutionary stage in educational technology. However, ubiquitous computing technologies have given rise to several issues. This…

System on a chip with MPEG-4 capability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yassa, Fathy; Schonfeld, Dan

2002-12-01

Current products supporting video communication applications rely on existing computer architectures. RISC processors have been used successfully in numerous applications over several decades. DSP processors have become ubiquitous in signal processing and communication applications. Real-time applications such as speech processing in cellular telephony rely extensively on the computational power of these processors. Video processors designed to implement the computationally intensive codec operations have also been used to address the high demands of video communication applications (e.g., cable set-top boxes and DVDs). This paper presents an overview of a system-on-chip (SOC) architecture used for real-time video in wireless communication applications. The SOC specifications answer to the system requirements imposed by the application environment. A CAM-based video processor is used to accelerate data intensive video compression tasks such as motion estimations and filtering. Other components are dedicated to system level data processing and audio processing. A rich set of I/Os allows the SOC to communicate with other system components such as baseband and memory subsystems.

ProFUSO: Business process and ontology-based framework to develop ubiquitous computing support systems for chronic patients' management.

PubMed

Jimenez-Molina, Angel; Gaete-Villegas, Jorge; Fuentes, Javier

2018-06-01

New advances in telemedicine, ubiquitous computing, and artificial intelligence have supported the emergence of more advanced applications and support systems for chronic patients. This trend addresses the important problem of chronic illnesses, highlighted by multiple international organizations as a core issue in future healthcare. Despite the myriad of exciting new developments, each application and system is designed and implemented for specific purposes and lacks the flexibility to support different healthcare concerns. Some of the known problems of such developments are the integration issues between applications and existing healthcare systems, the reusability of technical knowledge in the creation of new and more sophisticated systems and the usage of data gathered from multiple sources in the generation of new knowledge. This paper proposes a framework for the development of chronic disease support systems and applications as an answer to these shortcomings. Through this framework our pursuit is to create a common ground methodology upon which new developments can be created and easily integrated to provide better support to chronic patients, medical staff and other relevant participants. General requirements are inferred for any support system from the primary attention process of chronic patients by the Business Process Management Notation. Numerous technical approaches are proposed to design a general architecture that considers the medical organizational requirements in the treatment of a patient. A framework is presented for any application in support of chronic patients and evaluated by a case study to test the applicability and pertinence of the solution. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated Construction of Node Software Using Attributes in a Ubiquitous Sensor Network Environment

PubMed Central

Lee, Woojin; Kim, Juil; Kang, JangMook

2010-01-01

In sensor networks, nodes must often operate in a demanding environment facing restrictions such as restricted computing resources, unreliable wireless communication and power shortages. Such factors make the development of ubiquitous sensor network (USN) applications challenging. To help developers construct a large amount of node software for sensor network applications easily and rapidly, this paper proposes an approach to the automated construction of node software for USN applications using attributes. In the proposed technique, application construction proceeds by first developing a model for the sensor network and then designing node software by setting the values of the predefined attributes. After that, the sensor network model and the design of node software are verified. The final source codes of the node software are automatically generated from the sensor network model. We illustrate the efficiency of the proposed technique by using a gas/light monitoring application through a case study of a Gas and Light Monitoring System based on the Nano-Qplus operating system. We evaluate the technique using a quantitative metric—the memory size of execution code for node software. Using the proposed approach, developers are able to easily construct sensor network applications and rapidly generate a large number of node softwares at a time in a ubiquitous sensor network environment. PMID:22163678

Automated construction of node software using attributes in a ubiquitous sensor network environment.

PubMed

Lee, Woojin; Kim, Juil; Kang, JangMook

2010-01-01

In sensor networks, nodes must often operate in a demanding environment facing restrictions such as restricted computing resources, unreliable wireless communication and power shortages. Such factors make the development of ubiquitous sensor network (USN) applications challenging. To help developers construct a large amount of node software for sensor network applications easily and rapidly, this paper proposes an approach to the automated construction of node software for USN applications using attributes. In the proposed technique, application construction proceeds by first developing a model for the sensor network and then designing node software by setting the values of the predefined attributes. After that, the sensor network model and the design of node software are verified. The final source codes of the node software are automatically generated from the sensor network model. We illustrate the efficiency of the proposed technique by using a gas/light monitoring application through a case study of a Gas and Light Monitoring System based on the Nano-Qplus operating system. We evaluate the technique using a quantitative metric-the memory size of execution code for node software. Using the proposed approach, developers are able to easily construct sensor network applications and rapidly generate a large number of node softwares at a time in a ubiquitous sensor network environment.

Design of external sensors board based on Bluetooth interface of smart phones for structural health monitoring system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Yan; Zhou, Yaping; Zhao, Xuefeng; Li, Dongsheng; Ou, Jinping

2016-04-01

As an important part of new information technology, the Internet of Things(IoT) is based on intelligent perception, recognition technology, ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous network integration, and it is known as the third wave of the development of information industry in the world after the computer and the Internet. And Smart Phones are the general term for a class of mobile phones with a separate operating system and operational memory, in which the third-party service programs including software, games, navigation, et.al, can be installed. Smart Phones, with not only sensors but also actuators, are widely used in the IoT world. As the current hot issues in the engineering area, Structural health monitoring (SHM) is also facing new problems about design ideas in the IoT environment. The development of IoT, wireless sensor network and mobile communication technology, provides a good technical platform for SHM. Based on these facts, this paper introduces a kind of new idea for Structural Health Monitoring using Smart Phones Technique. The system is described in detail, and the external sensor board based on Bluetooth interface is designed, the test based on Smart Phones is finished to validate the implementation and feasibility. The research is preliminary and more tests need to be carried out before it can be of practical use.

NOSTOS: A Paper–Based Ubiquitous Computing Healthcare Environment to Support Data Capture and Collaboration

PubMed Central

Bång, Magnus; Larsson, Anders; Eriksson, Henrik

2003-01-01

In this paper, we present a new approach to clinical workplace computerization that departs from the window–based user interface paradigm. NOSTOS is an experimental computer–augmented work environment designed to support data capture and teamwork in an emergency room. NOSTOS combines multiple technologies, such as digital pens, walk–up displays, headsets, a smart desk, and sensors to enhance an existing paper–based practice with computer power. The physical interfaces allow clinicians to retain mobile paper–based collaborative routines and still benefit from computer technology. The requirements for the system were elicited from situated workplace studies. We discuss the advantages and disadvantages of augmenting a paper–based clinical work environment. PMID:14728131

Fuzzy Computing Model of Activity Recognition on WSN Movement Data for Ubiquitous Healthcare Measurement.

PubMed

Chiang, Shu-Yin; Kan, Yao-Chiang; Chen, Yun-Shan; Tu, Ying-Ching; Lin, Hsueh-Chun

2016-12-03

Ubiquitous health care (UHC) is beneficial for patients to ensure they complete therapeutic exercises by self-management at home. We designed a fuzzy computing model that enables recognizing assigned movements in UHC with privacy. The movements are measured by the self-developed body motion sensor, which combines both accelerometer and gyroscope chips to make an inertial sensing node compliant with a wireless sensor network (WSN). The fuzzy logic process was studied to calculate the sensor signals that would entail necessary features of static postures and dynamic motions. Combinations of the features were studied and the proper feature sets were chosen with compatible fuzzy rules. Then, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) can be generated to recognize the assigned movements based on the rules. We thus implemented both fuzzy and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems in the model to distinguish static and dynamic movements. The proposed model can effectively reach the recognition scope of the assigned activity. Furthermore, two exercises of upper-limb flexion in physical therapy were applied for the model in which the recognition rate can stand for the passing rate of the assigned motions. Finally, a web-based interface was developed to help remotely measure movement in physical therapy for UHC.

Fuzzy Computing Model of Activity Recognition on WSN Movement Data for Ubiquitous Healthcare Measurement

PubMed Central

Chiang, Shu-Yin; Kan, Yao-Chiang; Chen, Yun-Shan; Tu, Ying-Ching; Lin, Hsueh-Chun

2016-01-01

Ubiquitous health care (UHC) is beneficial for patients to ensure they complete therapeutic exercises by self-management at home. We designed a fuzzy computing model that enables recognizing assigned movements in UHC with privacy. The movements are measured by the self-developed body motion sensor, which combines both accelerometer and gyroscope chips to make an inertial sensing node compliant with a wireless sensor network (WSN). The fuzzy logic process was studied to calculate the sensor signals that would entail necessary features of static postures and dynamic motions. Combinations of the features were studied and the proper feature sets were chosen with compatible fuzzy rules. Then, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) can be generated to recognize the assigned movements based on the rules. We thus implemented both fuzzy and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems in the model to distinguish static and dynamic movements. The proposed model can effectively reach the recognition scope of the assigned activity. Furthermore, two exercises of upper-limb flexion in physical therapy were applied for the model in which the recognition rate can stand for the passing rate of the assigned motions. Finally, a web-based interface was developed to help remotely measure movement in physical therapy for UHC. PMID:27918482

Use of Ubiquitous Technologies in Military Logistic System in Iran

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jafari, P.; Sadeghi-Niaraki, A.

2013-09-01

This study is about integration and evaluation of RFID and ubiquitous technologies in military logistic system management. Firstly, supply chain management and the necessity of a revolution in logistic systems especially in military area, are explained. Secondly RFID and ubiquitous technologies and the advantages of their use in supply chain management are introduced. Lastly a system based on these technologies for controlling and increasing the speed and accuracy in military logistic system in Iran with its unique properties, is presented. The system is based on full control of military logistics (supplies) from the time of deployment to replenishment using sensor network, ubiquitous and RFID technologies.

Systematic Development of Intelligent Systems for Public Road Transport.

PubMed

García, Carmelo R; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Cristóbal, Teresa; Padrón, Gabino; Alayón, Francisco

2016-07-16

This paper presents an architecture model for the development of intelligent systems for public passenger transport by road. The main objective of our proposal is to provide a framework for the systematic development and deployment of telematics systems to improve various aspects of this type of transport, such as efficiency, accessibility and safety. The architecture model presented herein is based on international standards on intelligent transport system architectures, ubiquitous computing and service-oriented architecture for distributed systems. To illustrate the utility of the model, we also present a use case of a monitoring system for stops on a public passenger road transport network.

Systematic Development of Intelligent Systems for Public Road Transport

PubMed Central

García, Carmelo R.; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Cristóbal, Teresa; Padrón, Gabino; Alayón, Francisco

2016-01-01

This paper presents an architecture model for the development of intelligent systems for public passenger transport by road. The main objective of our proposal is to provide a framework for the systematic development and deployment of telematics systems to improve various aspects of this type of transport, such as efficiency, accessibility and safety. The architecture model presented herein is based on international standards on intelligent transport system architectures, ubiquitous computing and service-oriented architecture for distributed systems. To illustrate the utility of the model, we also present a use case of a monitoring system for stops on a public passenger road transport network. PMID:27438836

Ontological knowledge engine and health screening data enabled ubiquitous personalized physical fitness (UFIT).

PubMed

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu; Chih, Meng-Chun

2014-03-07

Good physical fitness generally makes the body less prone to common diseases. A personalized exercise plan that promotes a balanced approach to fitness helps promotes fitness, while inappropriate forms of exercise can have adverse consequences for health. This paper aims to develop an ontology-driven knowledge-based system for generating custom-designed exercise plans based on a user's profile and health status, incorporating international standard Health Level Seven International (HL7) data on physical fitness and health screening. The generated plan exposing Representational State Transfer (REST) style web services which can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device and deployed in cloud computing environments. To ensure the practicality of the generated exercise plans, encapsulated knowledge used as a basis for inference in the system is acquired from domain experts. The proposed Ubiquitous Exercise Plan Generation for Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT) will not only improve health-related fitness through generating personalized exercise plans, but also aid users in avoiding inappropriate work outs.

Ontological Knowledge Engine and Health Screening Data Enabled Ubiquitous Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT)

PubMed Central

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu; Chih, Meng-Chun

2014-01-01

Good physical fitness generally makes the body less prone to common diseases. A personalized exercise plan that promotes a balanced approach to fitness helps promotes fitness, while inappropriate forms of exercise can have adverse consequences for health. This paper aims to develop an ontology-driven knowledge-based system for generating custom-designed exercise plans based on a user's profile and health status, incorporating international standard Health Level Seven International (HL7) data on physical fitness and health screening. The generated plan exposing Representational State Transfer (REST) style web services which can be accessed from any Internet-enabled device and deployed in cloud computing environments. To ensure the practicality of the generated exercise plans, encapsulated knowledge used as a basis for inference in the system is acquired from domain experts. The proposed Ubiquitous Exercise Plan Generation for Personalized Physical Fitness (UFIT) will not only improve health-related fitness through generating personalized exercise plans, but also aid users in avoiding inappropriate work outs. PMID:24608002

SiC: An Agent Based Architecture for Preventing and Detecting Attacks to Ubiquitous Databases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinzón, Cristian; de Paz, Yanira; Bajo, Javier; Abraham, Ajith; Corchado, Juan M.

One of the main attacks to ubiquitous databases is the structure query language (SQL) injection attack, which causes severe damages both in the commercial aspect and in the user’s confidence. This chapter proposes the SiC architecture as a solution to the SQL injection attack problem. This is a hierarchical distributed multiagent architecture, which involves an entirely new approach with respect to existing architectures for the prevention and detection of SQL injections. SiC incorporates a kind of intelligent agent, which integrates a case-based reasoning system. This agent, which is the core of the architecture, allows the application of detection techniques based on anomalies as well as those based on patterns, providing a great degree of autonomy, flexibility, robustness and dynamic scalability. The characteristics of the multiagent system allow an architecture to detect attacks from different types of devices, regardless of the physical location. The architecture has been tested on a medical database, guaranteeing safe access from various devices such as PDAs and notebook computers.

HERA: A New Platform for Embedding Agents in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alonso, Ricardo S.; de Paz, Juan F.; García, Óscar; Gil, Óscar; González, Angélica

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) based systems require the development of innovative solutions that integrate distributed intelligent systems with context-aware technologies. In this sense, Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are two key technologies for developing distributed systems based on AmI scenarios. This paper presents the new HERA (Hardware-Embedded Reactive Agents) platform, that allows using dynamic and self-adaptable heterogeneous WSNs on which agents are directly embedded on the wireless nodes This approach facilitates the inclusion of context-aware capabilities in AmI systems to gather data from their surrounding environments, achieving a higher level of ubiquitous and pervasive computing.

Designing Ubiquitous Computing to Enhance Children's Learning in Museums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hall, T.; Bannon, L.

2006-01-01

In recent years, novel paradigms of computing have emerged, which enable computational power to be embedded in artefacts and in environments in novel ways. These developments may create new possibilities for using computing to enhance learning. This paper presents the results of a design process that set out to explore interactive techniques,…

An ontology-based telemedicine tasks management system architecture.

PubMed

Nageba, Ebrahim; Fayn, Jocelyne; Rubel, Paul

2008-01-01

The recent developments in ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing offer new opportunities for the design of advanced Telemedicine systems providing high quality services, anywhere, anytime. In this paper we present an approach for building an ontology-based task-driven telemedicine system. The architecture is composed of a task management server, a communication server and a knowledge base for enabling decision makings taking account of different telemedical concepts such as actors, resources, services and the Electronic Health Record. The final objective is to provide an intelligent management of the different types of available human, material and communication resources.

FleXConf: A Flexible Conference Assistant Using Context-Aware Notification Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armenatzoglou, Nikos; Marketakis, Yannis; Kriara, Lito; Apostolopoulos, Elias; Papavasiliou, Vicky; Kampas, Dimitris; Kapravelos, Alexandros; Kartsonakis, Eythimis; Linardakis, Giorgos; Nikitaki, Sofia; Bikakis, Antonis; Antoniou, Grigoris

Integrating context-aware notification services to ubiquitous computing systems aims at the provision of the right information to the right users, at the right time, in the right place, and on the right device, and constitutes a significant step towards the realization of the Ambient Intelligence vision. In this paper, we present FlexConf, a semantics-based system that supports location-based, personalized notification services for the assistance of conference attendees. Its special features include an ontology-based representation model, rule-based context-aware reasoning, and a novel positioning system for indoor environments.

Reflection Paper on a Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning System: Evidence of Active/Passive Attitude vs. Usefulness/Ease-of-Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lim, Jeff

2013-01-01

"A ubiquitous English vocabulary learning system: evidence of active/passive attitudes vs. usefulness/ease-of-use" introduces and develops "Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning" (UEFL) system. It introduces to the memorization using the video clips. According to their paper the video clip gives a better chance for students to…

Ubiquitous Presenter: A Tablet PC-based System to Support Instructors and Students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Edward; Simon, Beth

2009-12-01

Digital lecturing systems (computer and projector, often with PowerPoint) offer physics instructors the ability to incorporate graphics and the power to share and reuse materials. But these systems do a poor job of supporting interaction in the classroom. For instance, with digital presentation systems, instructors have limited ability to spontaneously respond to student questions. This limitation is especially acute during classroom activities such as problem solving, Peer Instruction, and Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs).2 A Tablet PC, a laptop computer with a stylus that can be used to "write" on the screen, provides a way for instructors to add digital ink spontaneously to a presentation in progress. The Tablet PC can be a powerful tool for teaching,3,4 especially when combined with software systems specifically designed to leverage digital ink for pedagogical uses. Ubiquitous Presenter (UP) is one such freely available system.5 Developed at the University of California, San Diego, and based on Classroom Presenter,6 UP allows the instructor to ink prepared digital material (such as exported PowerPoint slides) in real time in class. Ink is automatically archived stroke by stroke and can be reviewed through a web browser (by both students and instructors). The system also supports spontaneous in-class interaction through a web interface—students with web-enabled devices (Tablet PCs, regular laptops, PDAs, and cell phones) can make text-, ink-, or image-based submissions on the instructor's slides. The instructor can review and then project submitted slides to the class and add additional ink, so that material generated by students can be a focus for discussion. A brief video showing UP in action is at http://physics.csusm.edu/UP. In this article, we describe UP and give examples of how UP can support the physics classroom.

A system for ubiquitous health monitoring in the bedroom via a Bluetooth network and wireless LAN.

PubMed

Choi, J M; Choi, B H; Seo, J W; Sohn, R H; Ryu, M S; Yi, W; Park, K S

2004-01-01

Advances in information technology have enabled ubiquitous health monitoring at home, which is particularly useful for patients, who have to live alone. We have focused on the automatic and unobtrusive measurement of biomedical signals and activities of patients. We have constructed wireless communication networks in order to transfer data. The networks consist of Bluetooth and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In this paper, we present the concept of a ubiquitous-Bedroom (u-Bedroom) which is a part of a ubiquitous-House (u-House) and we present our systems for ubiquitous health monitoring.

Privacy Policy Enforcement for Ambient Ubiquitous Services

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oyomno, Were; Jäppinen, Pekka; Kerttula, Esa

Ubiquitous service providers leverage miniaturised computing terminals equipped with wireless capabilities to avail new service models. These models are pivoted on personal and inexpensive terminals to customise services to individual preferences. Portability, small sizes and compact keyboards are few features popularising mobile terminals. Features enable storing and carrying of ever increasing proportions of personal data and ability to use them in service adaptations. Ubiquitous services automate deeper soliciting of personal data transparently without the need for user interactions. Transparent solicitations, acquisitions and handling of personal data legitimises privacy concerns regarding disclosures, retention and re-use of the data. This study presents a policy enforcement for ubiquitous services that safeguards handling of users personal data and monitors adherence to stipulated privacy policies. Enforcement structures towards usability and scalability are presented.

One-to-One Computing in Public Schools: Lessons from "Laptops for All" Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abell Foundation, 2008

2008-01-01

The basic tenet of one-to-one computing is that the student and teacher have Internet-connected, wireless computing devices in the classroom and optimally at home as well. Also known as "ubiquitous computing," this strategy assumes that every teacher and student has her own computing device and obviates the need for moving classes to…

Shifting Contexts: Investigating the Role of Context in the Use of Ubiquitous Computing for Design-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Katharine S.; Corino, Gianni

2014-01-01

In design teaching ubiquitous technologies can offer new ways of situating learning within real world experiences. Yet they require new types of knowledge; both an understanding of how to work with the technology and also an understanding of how to use the technologies to respond to changing contexts such as the place and the people. We sought to…

Gender Differences in Computer Use and Attitudes on a Ubiquitous Computing Campus.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCoy, Leah P.; Heafner, Tina L.; Burdick, Matthew G.; Nagle, Laura M.

As colleges and universities consider various options for wide scale "computerization," one southern liberal arts university has instituted a technology program that insures that all students have equal access to laptop computers. At this university, each student is issued his or her own IBM ThinkPad, and activities involving this computer are…

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning.

PubMed

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns.

CyberPsychological Computation on Social Community of Ubiquitous Learning

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xuan; Dai, Genghui; Huang, Shuang; Sun, Xuemin; Hu, Feng; Hu, Hongzhi; Ivanović, Mirjana

2015-01-01

Under the modern network environment, ubiquitous learning has been a popular way for people to study knowledge, exchange ideas, and share skills in the cyberspace. Existing research findings indicate that the learners' initiative and community cohesion play vital roles in the social communities of ubiquitous learning, and therefore how to stimulate the learners' interest and participation willingness so as to improve their enjoyable experiences in the learning process should be the primary consideration on this issue. This paper aims to explore an effective method to monitor the learners' psychological reactions based on their behavioral features in cyberspace and therefore provide useful references for adjusting the strategies in the learning process. In doing so, this paper firstly analyzes the psychological assessment of the learners' situations as well as their typical behavioral patterns and then discusses the relationship between the learners' psychological reactions and their observable features in cyberspace. Finally, this paper puts forward a CyberPsychological computation method to estimate the learners' psychological states online. Considering the diversity of learners' habitual behaviors in the reactions to their psychological changes, a BP-GA neural network is proposed for the computation based on their personalized behavioral patterns. PMID:26557846

Applying dynamic priority scheduling scheme to static systems of pinwheel task model in power-aware scheduling.

PubMed

Seol, Ye-In; Kim, Young-Kuk

2014-01-01

Power-aware scheduling reduces CPU energy consumption in hard real-time systems through dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In this paper, we deal with pinwheel task model which is known as static and predictable task model and could be applied to various embedded or ubiquitous systems. In pinwheel task model, each task's priority is static and its execution sequence could be predetermined. There have been many static approaches to power-aware scheduling in pinwheel task model. But, in this paper, we will show that the dynamic priority scheduling results in power-aware scheduling could be applied to pinwheel task model. This method is more effective than adopting the previous static priority scheduling methods in saving energy consumption and, for the system being still static, it is more tractable and applicable to small sized embedded or ubiquitous computing. Also, we introduce a novel power-aware scheduling algorithm which exploits all slacks under preemptive earliest-deadline first scheduling which is optimal in uniprocessor system. The dynamic priority method presented in this paper could be applied directly to static systems of pinwheel task model. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with the algorithmic complexity of O(n) reduces the energy consumption by 10-80% over the existing algorithms.

Applying Dynamic Priority Scheduling Scheme to Static Systems of Pinwheel Task Model in Power-Aware Scheduling

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Power-aware scheduling reduces CPU energy consumption in hard real-time systems through dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In this paper, we deal with pinwheel task model which is known as static and predictable task model and could be applied to various embedded or ubiquitous systems. In pinwheel task model, each task's priority is static and its execution sequence could be predetermined. There have been many static approaches to power-aware scheduling in pinwheel task model. But, in this paper, we will show that the dynamic priority scheduling results in power-aware scheduling could be applied to pinwheel task model. This method is more effective than adopting the previous static priority scheduling methods in saving energy consumption and, for the system being still static, it is more tractable and applicable to small sized embedded or ubiquitous computing. Also, we introduce a novel power-aware scheduling algorithm which exploits all slacks under preemptive earliest-deadline first scheduling which is optimal in uniprocessor system. The dynamic priority method presented in this paper could be applied directly to static systems of pinwheel task model. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with the algorithmic complexity of O(n) reduces the energy consumption by 10–80% over the existing algorithms. PMID:25121126

An unusual case of disseminated toxoplasmosis in a previously healthy pregnant patient: radiographic, CT, and MRI findings.

PubMed

Paruthikunnan, Samir; Shankar, Balasubramanyam; Kadavigere, Rajagopal; Prabhu, Mukhyaprana; Narayanan, Ramakrishna; Jain, Harshwardhan

2014-11-01

Toxoplasmosis is a ubiquitous protozoal infection that during pregnancy commonly affects the fetus severely, with maternal infection usually being mild self-limiting. Disseminated toxoplasmosis in a healthy pregnant woman has, to the best of our knowledge, not been reported before. We present a case of disseminated toxoplasmosis involving pulmonary, central nervous system, and lymph nodes in a pregnant woman and imaging findings on radiography, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging.

A rhythm-based authentication scheme for smart media devices.

PubMed

Lee, Jae Dong; Jeong, Young-Sik; Park, Jong Hyuk

2014-01-01

In recent years, ubiquitous computing has been rapidly emerged in our lives and extensive studies have been conducted in a variety of areas related to smart devices, such as tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators, and smart media devices, as a measure for realizing the ubiquitous computing. In particular, smartphones have significantly evolved from the traditional feature phones. Increasingly higher-end smartphone models that can perform a range of functions are now available. Smart devices have become widely popular since they provide high efficiency and great convenience for not only private daily activities but also business endeavors. Rapid advancements have been achieved in smart device technologies to improve the end users' convenience. Consequently, many people increasingly rely on smart devices to store their valuable and important data. With this increasing dependence, an important aspect that must be addressed is security issues. Leaking of private information or sensitive business data due to loss or theft of smart devices could result in exorbitant damage. To mitigate these security threats, basic embedded locking features are provided in smart devices. However, these locking features are vulnerable. In this paper, an original security-locking scheme using a rhythm-based locking system (RLS) is proposed to overcome the existing security problems of smart devices. RLS is a user-authenticated system that addresses vulnerability issues in the existing locking features and provides secure confidentiality in addition to convenience.

A Rhythm-Based Authentication Scheme for Smart Media Devices

PubMed Central

Lee, Jae Dong; Park, Jong Hyuk

2014-01-01

In recent years, ubiquitous computing has been rapidly emerged in our lives and extensive studies have been conducted in a variety of areas related to smart devices, such as tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, smart refrigerators, and smart media devices, as a measure for realizing the ubiquitous computing. In particular, smartphones have significantly evolved from the traditional feature phones. Increasingly higher-end smartphone models that can perform a range of functions are now available. Smart devices have become widely popular since they provide high efficiency and great convenience for not only private daily activities but also business endeavors. Rapid advancements have been achieved in smart device technologies to improve the end users' convenience. Consequently, many people increasingly rely on smart devices to store their valuable and important data. With this increasing dependence, an important aspect that must be addressed is security issues. Leaking of private information or sensitive business data due to loss or theft of smart devices could result in exorbitant damage. To mitigate these security threats, basic embedded locking features are provided in smart devices. However, these locking features are vulnerable. In this paper, an original security-locking scheme using a rhythm-based locking system (RLS) is proposed to overcome the existing security problems of smart devices. RLS is a user-authenticated system that addresses vulnerability issues in the existing locking features and provides secure confidentiality in addition to convenience. PMID:25110743

UBioLab: a web-LABoratory for Ubiquitous in-silico experiments.

PubMed

Bartocci, E; Di Berardini, M R; Merelli, E; Vito, L

2012-03-01

The huge and dynamic amount of bioinformatic resources (e.g., data and tools) available nowadays in Internet represents a big challenge for biologists -for what concerns their management and visualization- and for bioinformaticians -for what concerns the possibility of rapidly creating and executing in-silico experiments involving resources and activities spread over the WWW hyperspace. Any framework aiming at integrating such resources as in a physical laboratory has imperatively to tackle -and possibly to handle in a transparent and uniform way- aspects concerning physical distribution, semantic heterogeneity, co-existence of different computational paradigms and, as a consequence, of different invocation interfaces (i.e., OGSA for Grid nodes, SOAP for Web Services, Java RMI for Java objects, etc.). The framework UBioLab has been just designed and developed as a prototype following the above objective. Several architectural features -as those ones of being fully Web-based and of combining domain ontologies, Semantic Web and workflow techniques- give evidence of an effort in such a direction. The integration of a semantic knowledge management system for distributed (bioinformatic) resources, a semantic-driven graphic environment for defining and monitoring ubiquitous workflows and an intelligent agent-based technology for their distributed execution allows UBioLab to be a semantic guide for bioinformaticians and biologists providing (i) a flexible environment for visualizing, organizing and inferring any (semantics and computational) "type" of domain knowledge (e.g., resources and activities, expressed in a declarative form), (ii) a powerful engine for defining and storing semantic-driven ubiquitous in-silico experiments on the domain hyperspace, as well as (iii) a transparent, automatic and distributed environment for correct experiment executions.

Mobile Life - Innovation in the Wild

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höök, Kristina

After a decade of work in our research labs on mobile and ubiquitous technology, often formed by the early visions of ubiquitous computing, with the urge to move interaction from the desktop out into the wild, these technologies have now moved out into the world - into the wild. We are in the middle of a second IT-revolution, caused by the spread of mobile and ubiquitous services, in combination with a broad consumer-oriented market pull. The first ITrevolution, the introduction and deployment of Internet and the World Wide Web during the 1990’s, had a major impact on all parts of our society. As mobile, ubiquitous technology now becomes wide-spread, the design and evaluation of mobile services - i.e. information technology that can be accessed and used in virtually any setting - represents an important business arena for the IT- and telecom industry. Together we have to look for a sustainable web of work, leisure and ubiquitous technology we can call the mobile life.

Dynamic Distribution and Layouting of Model-Based User Interfaces in Smart Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roscher, Dirk; Lehmann, Grzegorz; Schwartze, Veit; Blumendorf, Marco; Albayrak, Sahin

The developments in computer technology in the last decade change the ways of computer utilization. The emerging smart environments make it possible to build ubiquitous applications that assist users during their everyday life, at any time, in any context. But the variety of contexts-of-use (user, platform and environment) makes the development of such ubiquitous applications for smart environments and especially its user interfaces a challenging and time-consuming task. We propose a model-based approach, which allows adapting the user interface at runtime to numerous (also unknown) contexts-of-use. Based on a user interface modelling language, defining the fundamentals and constraints of the user interface, a runtime architecture exploits the description to adapt the user interface to the current context-of-use. The architecture provides automatic distribution and layout algorithms for adapting the applications also to contexts unforeseen at design time. Designers do not specify predefined adaptations for each specific situation, but adaptation constraints and guidelines. Furthermore, users are provided with a meta user interface to influence the adaptations according to their needs. A smart home energy management system serves as running example to illustrate the approach.

Proactive health computing.

PubMed

Timpka, T

2001-08-01

In an analysis departing from the global health situation, the foundation for a change of paradigm in health informatics based on socially embedded information infrastructures and technologies is identified and discussed. It is shown how an increasing computing and data transmitting capacity can be employed for proactive health computing. As a foundation for ubiquitous health promotion and prevention of disease and injury, proactive health systems use data from multiple sources to supply individuals and communities evidence-based information on means to improve their state of health and avoid health risks. The systems are characterised by: (1) being profusely connected to the world around them, using perceptual interfaces, sensors and actuators; (2) responding to external stimuli at faster than human speeds; (3) networked feedback loops; and (4) humans remaining in control, while being left outside the primary computing loop. The extended scientific mission of this new partnership between computer science, electrical engineering and social medicine is suggested to be the investigation of how the dissemination of information and communication technology on democratic grounds can be made even more important for global health than sanitation and urban planning became a century ago.

A hierarchical, ontology-driven Bayesian concept for ubiquitous medical environments--a case study for pulmonary diseases.

PubMed

Maragoudakis, Manolis; Lymberopoulos, Dimitrios; Fakotakis, Nikos; Spiropoulos, Kostas

2008-01-01

The present paper extends work on an existing computer-based Decision Support System (DSS) that aims to provide assistance to physicians as regards to pulmonary diseases. The extension deals with allowing for a hierarchical decomposition of the task, at different levels of domain granularity, using a novel approach, i.e. Hierarchical Bayesian Networks. The proposed framework uses data from various networking appliances such as mobile phones and wireless medical sensors to establish a ubiquitous environment for medical treatment of pulmonary diseases. Domain knowledge is encoded at the upper levels of the hierarchy, thus making the process of generalization easier to accomplish. The experimental results were carried out under the Pulmonary Department, University Regional Hospital Patras, Patras, Greece. They have supported our initial beliefs about the ability of Bayesian networks to provide an effective, yet semantically-oriented, means of prognosis and reasoning under conditions of uncertainty.

Nonintrusive biological signal monitoring in a car to evaluate a driver's stress and health state.

PubMed

Baek, Hyun Jae; Lee, Haet Bit; Kim, Jung Soo; Choi, Jong Min; Kim, Ko Keun; Park, Kwang Suk

2009-03-01

Nonintrusive monitoring of a driver's physiological signals was introduced and evaluated in a car as a test of extending the concept of ubiquitous healthcare to vehicles. Electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram, galvanic skin response, and respiration were measured in the ubiquitous healthcare car (U-car) using nonintrusively installed sensors on the steering wheel, driver's seat, and seat belt. Measured signals were transmitted to the embedded computer via Bluetooth(R) communication and processed. We collected and analyzed physiological signals during driving in order to estimate a driver's stress state while using this system. In order to compare the effect of stress on physical and mental conditions, two categories of stresses were defined. Experimental results show that a driver's physiological signals were measured with acceptable quality for analysis without interrupting driving, and they were changed meaningfully due to elicited stress. This nonintrusive monitoring can be used to evaluate a driver's state of health and stress.

Quantum Metropolis sampling.

PubMed

Temme, K; Osborne, T J; Vollbrecht, K G; Poulin, D; Verstraete, F

2011-03-03

The original motivation to build a quantum computer came from Feynman, who imagined a machine capable of simulating generic quantum mechanical systems--a task that is believed to be intractable for classical computers. Such a machine could have far-reaching applications in the simulation of many-body quantum physics in condensed-matter, chemical and high-energy systems. Part of Feynman's challenge was met by Lloyd, who showed how to approximately decompose the time evolution operator of interacting quantum particles into a short sequence of elementary gates, suitable for operation on a quantum computer. However, this left open the problem of how to simulate the equilibrium and static properties of quantum systems. This requires the preparation of ground and Gibbs states on a quantum computer. For classical systems, this problem is solved by the ubiquitous Metropolis algorithm, a method that has basically acquired a monopoly on the simulation of interacting particles. Here we demonstrate how to implement a quantum version of the Metropolis algorithm. This algorithm permits sampling directly from the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian, and thus evades the sign problem present in classical simulations. A small-scale implementation of this algorithm should be achievable with today's technology.

Security screening via computational imaging using frequency-diverse metasurface apertures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, David R.; Reynolds, Matthew S.; Gollub, Jonah N.; Marks, Daniel L.; Imani, Mohammadreza F.; Yurduseven, Okan; Arnitz, Daniel; Pedross-Engel, Andreas; Sleasman, Timothy; Trofatter, Parker; Boyarsky, Michael; Rose, Alec; Odabasi, Hayrettin; Lipworth, Guy

2017-05-01

Computational imaging is a proven strategy for obtaining high-quality images with fast acquisition rates and simpler hardware. Metasurfaces provide exquisite control over electromagnetic fields, enabling the radiated field to be molded into unique patterns. The fusion of these two concepts can bring about revolutionary advances in the design of imaging systems for security screening. In the context of computational imaging, each field pattern serves as a single measurement of a scene; imaging a scene can then be interpreted as estimating the reflectivity distribution of a target from a set of measurements. As with any computational imaging system, the key challenge is to arrive at a minimal set of measurements from which a diffraction-limited image can be resolved. Here, we show that the information content of a frequency-diverse metasurface aperture can be maximized by design, and used to construct a complete millimeter-wave imaging system spanning a 2 m by 2 m area, consisting of 96 metasurfaces, capable of producing diffraction-limited images of human-scale targets. The metasurfacebased frequency-diverse system presented in this work represents an inexpensive, but tremendously flexible alternative to traditional hardware paradigms, offering the possibility of low-cost, real-time, and ubiquitous screening platforms.

Distance Learning and Cloud Computing: "Just Another Buzzword or a Major E-Learning Breakthrough?"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romiszowski, Alexander J.

2012-01-01

"Cloud computing is a model for the enabling of ubiquitous, convenient, and on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and other services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction." This…

The Pathways to Enterprise Mobile Readiness: Analysis of Perceptions, Pressures, Preparedness, and Progression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, James Nathaniel

2013-01-01

Ubiquitous computing is a near reality in both the private and public arena. Business and personal spaces are seeing a proliferation of mobile computing devices and pervasive computing technologies. This phenomenon is creating a unique set of challenges for organizational IT professionals, specifically in the numerous spillover effects of having…

Design, Development, and Evaluation of a Mobile Learning Application for Computing Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyelere, Solomon Sunday; Suhonen, Jarkko; Wajiga, Greg M.; Sutinen, Erkki

2018-01-01

The study focused on the application of the design science research approach in the course of developing a mobile learning application, MobileEdu, for computing education in the Nigerian higher education context. MobileEdu facilitates the learning of computer science courses on mobile devices. The application supports ubiquitous, collaborative,…

Assured Access/Mobile Computing Initiatives on Five University Campuses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blurton, Craig; Chee, Yam San; Long, Phillip D.; Resmer, Mark; Runde, Craig

Mobile computing and assured access are becoming popular terms to describe a growing number of university programs which take advantage of ubiquitous network access points and the portability of notebook computers to ensure all students have access to digital tools and resources. However, the implementation of such programs varies widely from…

Commentary: It Is Not Only about the Computers--An Argument for Broadening the Conversation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeWitt, Scott W.

2006-01-01

In 2002 the members of the National Technology Leadership Initiative (NTLI) framed seven conclusions relating to handheld computers and ubiquitous computing in schools. While several of the conclusions are laudable efforts to increase research and professional development, the factual and conceptual bases for this document are seriously flawed.…

Developing a Research Agenda for Ubiquitous Computing in Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zucker, Andrew

2004-01-01

Increasing numbers of states, districts, and schools provide every student with a computing device; for example, the middle schools in Maine maintain wireless Internet access and the students receive laptops. Research can provide policymakers with better evidence of the benefits and costs of 1:1 computing and establish which factors make 1:1…

Design Science in Human-Computer Interaction: A Model and Three Examples

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prestopnik, Nathan R.

2013-01-01

Humanity has entered an era where computing technology is virtually ubiquitous. From websites and mobile devices to computers embedded in appliances on our kitchen counters and automobiles parked in our driveways, information and communication technologies (ICTs) and IT artifacts are fundamentally changing the ways we interact with our world.…

Integrating Intelligent Systems Domain Knowledge Into the Earth Science Curricula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Güereque, M.; Pennington, D. D.; Pierce, S. A.

2017-12-01

High-volume heterogeneous datasets are becoming ubiquitous, migrating to center stage over the last ten years and transcending the boundaries of computationally intensive disciplines into the mainstream, becoming a fundamental part of every science discipline. Despite the fact that large datasets are now pervasive across industries and academic disciplines, the array of skills is generally absent from earth science programs. This has left the bulk of the student population without access to curricula that systematically teach appropriate intelligent-systems skills, creating a void for skill sets that should be universal given their need and marketability. While some guidance regarding appropriate computational thinking and pedagogy is appearing, there exist few examples where these have been specifically designed and tested within the earth science domain. Furthermore, best practices from learning science have not yet been widely tested for developing intelligent systems-thinking skills. This research developed and tested evidence based computational skill modules that target this deficit with the intention of informing the earth science community as it continues to incorporate intelligent systems techniques and reasoning into its research and classrooms.

Role of Passive Capturing in a Ubiquitous Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ogata, Hiroaki; Hou, Bin; Li, MengMeng; Uosaki, Noriko; Mouri, Kousuke

2013-01-01

Ubiquitous Learning Log (ULL) is defined as a digital record of what you have learned in the daily life using ubiquitous technologies. This paper focuses on how to capture learning experiences in our daily life for vocabulary learning. In our previous works, we developed a system named SCROLL (System for Capturing and Reminding Of Learning Log) in…

Persistent Memory in Single Node Delay-Coupled Reservoir Computing.

PubMed

Kovac, André David; Koall, Maximilian; Pipa, Gordon; Toutounji, Hazem

2016-01-01

Delays are ubiquitous in biological systems, ranging from genetic regulatory networks and synaptic conductances, to predator/pray population interactions. The evidence is mounting, not only to the presence of delays as physical constraints in signal propagation speed, but also to their functional role in providing dynamical diversity to the systems that comprise them. The latter observation in biological systems inspired the recent development of a computational architecture that harnesses this dynamical diversity, by delay-coupling a single nonlinear element to itself. This architecture is a particular realization of Reservoir Computing, where stimuli are injected into the system in time rather than in space as is the case with classical recurrent neural network realizations. This architecture also exhibits an internal memory which fades in time, an important prerequisite to the functioning of any reservoir computing device. However, fading memory is also a limitation to any computation that requires persistent storage. In order to overcome this limitation, the current work introduces an extended version to the single node Delay-Coupled Reservoir, that is based on trained linear feedback. We show by numerical simulations that adding task-specific linear feedback to the single node Delay-Coupled Reservoir extends the class of solvable tasks to those that require nonfading memory. We demonstrate, through several case studies, the ability of the extended system to carry out complex nonlinear computations that depend on past information, whereas the computational power of the system with fading memory alone quickly deteriorates. Our findings provide the theoretical basis for future physical realizations of a biologically-inspired ultrafast computing device with extended functionality.

Persistent Memory in Single Node Delay-Coupled Reservoir Computing

PubMed Central

Pipa, Gordon; Toutounji, Hazem

2016-01-01

Delays are ubiquitous in biological systems, ranging from genetic regulatory networks and synaptic conductances, to predator/pray population interactions. The evidence is mounting, not only to the presence of delays as physical constraints in signal propagation speed, but also to their functional role in providing dynamical diversity to the systems that comprise them. The latter observation in biological systems inspired the recent development of a computational architecture that harnesses this dynamical diversity, by delay-coupling a single nonlinear element to itself. This architecture is a particular realization of Reservoir Computing, where stimuli are injected into the system in time rather than in space as is the case with classical recurrent neural network realizations. This architecture also exhibits an internal memory which fades in time, an important prerequisite to the functioning of any reservoir computing device. However, fading memory is also a limitation to any computation that requires persistent storage. In order to overcome this limitation, the current work introduces an extended version to the single node Delay-Coupled Reservoir, that is based on trained linear feedback. We show by numerical simulations that adding task-specific linear feedback to the single node Delay-Coupled Reservoir extends the class of solvable tasks to those that require nonfading memory. We demonstrate, through several case studies, the ability of the extended system to carry out complex nonlinear computations that depend on past information, whereas the computational power of the system with fading memory alone quickly deteriorates. Our findings provide the theoretical basis for future physical realizations of a biologically-inspired ultrafast computing device with extended functionality. PMID:27783690

Assessment methodology for computer-based instructional simulations.

PubMed

Koenig, Alan; Iseli, Markus; Wainess, Richard; Lee, John J

2013-10-01

Computer-based instructional simulations are becoming more and more ubiquitous, particularly in military and medical domains. As the technology that drives these simulations grows ever more sophisticated, the underlying pedagogical models for how instruction, assessment, and feedback are implemented within these systems must evolve accordingly. In this article, we review some of the existing educational approaches to medical simulations, and present pedagogical methodologies that have been used in the design and development of games and simulations at the University of California, Los Angeles, Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing. In particular, we present a methodology for how automated assessments of computer-based simulations can be implemented using ontologies and Bayesian networks, and discuss their advantages and design considerations for pedagogical use. Reprint & Copyright © 2013 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

Inexpensive Data Acquisition with a Sound Card

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassan, Umer; Pervaiz, Saad; Anwar, Muhammad Sabieh

2011-12-01

Signal generators, oscilloscopes, and data acquisition (DAQ) systems are standard components of the modern experimental physics laboratory. The sound card, a built-in component in the ubiquitous personal computer, can be utilized for all three of these tasks1,2 and offers an attractive option for labs in developing countries such as ours—Pakistan—where affordability is always of prime concern. In this paper, we describe in a recipe fashion how the sound card is used for DAQ and signal generation.

A Wearable Mobile Sensor Platform to Assist Fruit Grading

PubMed Central

Aroca, Rafael V.; Gomes, Rafael B.; Dantas, Rummennigue R.; Calbo, Adonai G.; Gonçalves, Luiz M. G.

2013-01-01

Wearable computing is a form of ubiquitous computing that offers flexible and useful tools for users. Specifically, glove-based systems have been used in the last 30 years in a variety of applications, but mostly focusing on sensing people's attributes, such as finger bending and heart rate. In contrast, we propose in this work a novel flexible and reconfigurable instrumentation platform in the form of a glove, which can be used to analyze and measure attributes of fruits by just pointing or touching them with the proposed glove. An architecture for such a platform is designed and its application for intuitive fruit grading is also presented, including experimental results for several fruits. PMID:23666134

Quantum computation on the edge of a symmetry-protected topological order.

PubMed

Miyake, Akimasa

2010-07-23

We elaborate the idea of quantum computation through measuring the correlation of a gapped ground state, while the bulk Hamiltonian is utilized to stabilize the resource. A simple computational primitive, by pulling out a single spin adiabatically from the bulk followed by its measurement, is shown to make any ground state of the one-dimensional isotropic Haldane phase useful ubiquitously as a quantum logical wire. The primitive is compatible with certain discrete symmetries that protect this topological order, and the antiferromagnetic Heisenberg spin-1 finite chain is practically available. Our approach manifests a holographic principle in that the logical information of a universal quantum computer can be written and processed perfectly on the edge state (i.e., boundary) of the system, supported by the persistent entanglement from the bulk even when the ground state and its evolution cannot be exactly analyzed.

Computers on Wheels: An Alternative to Each One Has One

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Michael M.; Ross, Steven M.; Wang, Weiping; Potter, Allison

2005-01-01

Four fifth-grade classrooms embarked on a modified ubiquitous computing initiative in the fall of 2003. Two 15-computer wireless laptop carts were shared among the four classrooms in an effort to integrate technology across the curriculum and affect change in student learning and teacher pedagogy. This initiative--in contrast to other one-to-one…

Experiences with Efficient Methodologies for Teaching Computer Programming to Geoscientists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Christian T.; Gorman, Gerard J.; Rees, Huw E.; Craig, Lorraine E.

2016-01-01

Computer programming was once thought of as a skill required only by professional software developers. But today, given the ubiquitous nature of computation and data science it is quickly becoming necessary for all scientists and engineers to have at least a basic knowledge of how to program. Teaching how to program, particularly to those students…

A Year in the Life: Two Seventh Grade Teachers Implement One-to-One Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garthwait, Abigail; Weller, Herman G.

2005-01-01

Maine was the first state to put laptops in the hands of an entire grade of students. This interpretive case study of two middle school science-math teachers was driven by the general question: Given ubiquitous computing, how do teachers use computers in constructing curriculum and delivering instruction? Specifically, the researchers sought to…

Tablet Personal Computer Integration in Higher Education: Applying the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Technology Model to Understand Supporting Factors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moran, Mark; Hawkes, Mark; El Gayar, Omar

2010-01-01

Many educational institutions have implemented ubiquitous or required laptop, notebook, or tablet personal computing programs for their students. Yet, limited evidence exists to validate integration and acceptance of the technology among student populations. This research examines student acceptance of mobile computing devices using a modification…

Teaching Information Technology Law

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Taylor, M. J.; Jones, R. P.; Haggerty, J.; Gresty, D.

2009-01-01

In this paper we discuss an approach to the teaching of information technology law to higher education computing students that attempts to prepare them for professional computing practice. As information technology has become ubiquitous its interactions with the law have become more numerous. Information technology practitioners, and in particular…

Surviving the Glut: The Management of Event Streams in Cyberphysical Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buchmann, Alejandro

Alejandro Buchmann is Professor in the Department of Computer Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, where he heads the Databases and Distributed Systems Group. He received his MS (1977) and PhD (1980) from the University of Texas at Austin. He was an Assistant/Associate Professor at the Institute for Applied Mathematics and Systems IIMAS/UNAM in Mexico, doing research on databases for CAD, geographic information systems, and objectoriented databases. At Computer Corporation of America (later Xerox Advanced Information Systems) in Cambridge, Mass., he worked in the areas of active databases and real-time databases, and at GTE Laboratories, Waltham, in the areas of distributed object systems and the integration of heterogeneous legacy systems. 1991 he returned to academia and joined T.U. Darmstadt. His current research interests are at the intersection of middleware, databases, eventbased distributed systems, ubiquitous computing, and very large distributed systems (P2P, WSN). Much of the current research is concerned with guaranteeing quality of service and reliability properties in these systems, for example, scalability, performance, transactional behaviour, consistency, and end-to-end security. Many research projects imply collaboration with industry and cover a broad spectrum of application domains. Further information can be found at http://www.dvs.tu-darmstadt.de

Towards pervasive computing in health care - a literature review.

PubMed

Orwat, Carsten; Graefe, Andreas; Faulwasser, Timm

2008-06-19

The evolving concepts of pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence are increasingly influencing health care and medicine. Summarizing published research, this literature review provides an overview of recent developments and implementations of pervasive computing systems in health care. It also highlights some of the experiences reported in deployment processes. There is no clear definition of pervasive computing in the current literature. Thus specific inclusion criteria for selecting articles about relevant systems were developed. Searches were conducted in four scientific databases alongside manual journal searches for the period of 2002 to 2006. Articles included present prototypes, case studies and pilot studies, clinical trials and systems that are already in routine use. The searches identified 69 articles describing 67 different systems. In a quantitative analysis, these systems were categorized into project status, health care settings, user groups, improvement aims, and systems features (i.e., component types, data gathering, data transmission, systems functions). The focus is on the types of systems implemented, their frequency of occurrence and their characteristics. Qualitative analyses were performed of deployment issues, such as organizational and personnel issues, privacy and security issues, and financial issues. This paper provides a comprehensive access to the literature of the emerging field by addressing specific topics of application settings, systems features, and deployment experiences. Both an overview and an analysis of the literature on a broad and heterogeneous range of systems are provided. Most systems are described in their prototype stages. Deployment issues, such as implications on organization or personnel, privacy concerns, or financial issues are mentioned rarely, though their solution is regarded as decisive in transferring promising systems to a stage of regular operation. There is a need for further research on the deployment of pervasive computing systems, including clinical studies, economic and social analyses, user studies, etc.

Challenges and Security in Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Hyokyung; Choi, Euiin

People who live in this world want to solve any problems as they happen then. An IT technology called Ubiquitous computing should help the situations easier and we call a technology which makes it even better and powerful cloud computing. Cloud computing, however, is at the stage of the beginning to implement and use and it faces a lot of challenges in technical matters and security issues. This paper looks at the cloud computing security.

Ubiquitous Green Computing Techniques for High Demand Applications in Smart Environments

PubMed Central

Zapater, Marina; Sanchez, Cesar; Ayala, Jose L.; Moya, Jose M.; Risco-Martín, José L.

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous sensor network deployments, such as the ones found in Smart cities and Ambient intelligence applications, require constantly increasing high computational demands in order to process data and offer services to users. The nature of these applications imply the usage of data centers. Research has paid much attention to the energy consumption of the sensor nodes in WSNs infrastructures. However, supercomputing facilities are the ones presenting a higher economic and environmental impact due to their very high power consumption. The latter problem, however, has been disregarded in the field of smart environment services. This paper proposes an energy-minimization workload assignment technique, based on heterogeneity and application-awareness, that redistributes low-demand computational tasks from high-performance facilities to idle nodes with low and medium resources in the WSN infrastructure. These non-optimal allocation policies reduce the energy consumed by the whole infrastructure and the total execution time. PMID:23112621

Ubiquitous green computing techniques for high demand applications in Smart environments.

PubMed

Zapater, Marina; Sanchez, Cesar; Ayala, Jose L; Moya, Jose M; Risco-Martín, José L

2012-01-01

Ubiquitous sensor network deployments, such as the ones found in Smart cities and Ambient intelligence applications, require constantly increasing high computational demands in order to process data and offer services to users. The nature of these applications imply the usage of data centers. Research has paid much attention to the energy consumption of the sensor nodes in WSNs infrastructures. However, supercomputing facilities are the ones presenting a higher economic and environmental impact due to their very high power consumption. The latter problem, however, has been disregarded in the field of smart environment services. This paper proposes an energy-minimization workload assignment technique, based on heterogeneity and application-awareness, that redistributes low-demand computational tasks from high-performance facilities to idle nodes with low and medium resources in the WSN infrastructure. These non-optimal allocation policies reduce the energy consumed by the whole infrastructure and the total execution time.

UBioLab: a web-laboratory for ubiquitous in-silico experiments.

PubMed

Bartocci, Ezio; Cacciagrano, Diletta; Di Berardini, Maria Rita; Merelli, Emanuela; Vito, Leonardo

2012-07-09

The huge and dynamic amount of bioinformatic resources (e.g., data and tools) available nowadays in Internet represents a big challenge for biologists –for what concerns their management and visualization– and for bioinformaticians –for what concerns the possibility of rapidly creating and executing in-silico experiments involving resources and activities spread over the WWW hyperspace. Any framework aiming at integrating such resources as in a physical laboratory has imperatively to tackle –and possibly to handle in a transparent and uniform way– aspects concerning physical distribution, semantic heterogeneity, co-existence of different computational paradigms and, as a consequence, of different invocation interfaces (i.e., OGSA for Grid nodes, SOAP for Web Services, Java RMI for Java objects, etc.). The framework UBioLab has been just designed and developed as a prototype following the above objective. Several architectural features –as those ones of being fully Web-based and of combining domain ontologies, Semantic Web and workflow techniques– give evidence of an effort in such a direction. The integration of a semantic knowledge management system for distributed (bioinformatic) resources, a semantic-driven graphic environment for defining and monitoring ubiquitous workflows and an intelligent agent-based technology for their distributed execution allows UBioLab to be a semantic guide for bioinformaticians and biologists providing (i) a flexible environment for visualizing, organizing and inferring any (semantics and computational) "type" of domain knowledge (e.g., resources and activities, expressed in a declarative form), (ii) a powerful engine for defining and storing semantic-driven ubiquitous in-silico experiments on the domain hyperspace, as well as (iii) a transparent, automatic and distributed environment for correct experiment executions.

Adjusting to Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kennedy, Mike

2007-01-01

With classroom Internet access nearly universal in public schools and computers ubiquitous on every school and university campus, classroom furnishings have evolved to accommodate the machines so students can take full advantage of the technology. The desks, tables and other furniture that a school chooses for its computers will depend on the…

Pervasive Computing and Communication Technologies for U-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Young C.

2014-01-01

The development of digital information transfer, storage and communication methods influences a significant effect on education. The assimilation of pervasive computing and communication technologies marks another great step forward, with Ubiquitous Learning (U-learning) emerging for next generation learners. In the evolutionary view the 5G (or…

Ubiquitous Computing Technologies in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Wu, Ting-Ting; Chen, Yen-Jung

2007-01-01

The prosperous development of wireless communication and sensor technologies has attracted the attention of researchers from both computer and education fields. Various investigations have been made for applying the new technologies to education purposes, such that more active and adaptive learning activities can be conducted in the real world.…

Addressing Gender Differences in Computer Ability, Attitudes and Use: The Laptop Effect

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kay, Robin

2006-01-01

The impact of gender on computer related attitudes, ability, and use has been actively documented, but little research has been done examining how to modify and reduce imbalances. The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of ubiquitous computing (24-hour access to a laptop and the Internet) on gender differences in pre-service teachers…

Surface Traps in Colloidal Quantum Dots: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Perspective.

PubMed

Giansante, Carlo; Infante, Ivan

2017-10-19

Surface traps are ubiquitous to nanoscopic semiconductor materials. Understanding their atomistic origin and manipulating them chemically have capital importance to design defect-free colloidal quantum dots and make a leap forward in the development of efficient optoelectronic devices. Recent advances in computing power established computational chemistry as a powerful tool to describe accurately complex chemical species and nowadays it became conceivable to model colloidal quantum dots with realistic sizes and shapes. In this Perspective, we combine the knowledge gathered in recent experimental findings with the computation of quantum dot electronic structures. We analyze three different systems: namely, CdSe, PbS, and CsPbI 3 as benchmark semiconductor nanocrystals showing how different types of trap states can form at their surface. In addition, we suggest experimental healing of such traps according to their chemical origin and nanocrystal composition.

How to ensure sustainable interoperability in heterogeneous distributed systems through architectural approach.

PubMed

Pape-Haugaard, Louise; Frank, Lars

2011-01-01

A major obstacle in ensuring ubiquitous information is the utilization of heterogeneous systems in eHealth. The objective in this paper is to illustrate how an architecture for distributed eHealth databases can be designed without lacking the characteristic features of traditional sustainable databases. The approach is firstly to explain traditional architecture in central and homogeneous distributed database computing, followed by a possible approach to use an architectural framework to obtain sustainability across disparate systems i.e. heterogeneous databases, concluded with a discussion. It is seen that through a method of using relaxed ACID properties on a service-oriented architecture it is possible to achieve data consistency which is essential when ensuring sustainable interoperability.

Nurses and health information technology: working with and around computers.

PubMed

Peace, Jane

2011-01-01

Information technology is nearly ubiquitous in health care settings. Nurses need basic computer skills and information literacy to effectively practice nursing. In addition, nurses must be prepared not only to work around complex health information technology, but also to communicate with individuals who can address the underlying problems.

Learning Group Formation Based on Learner Profile and Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Muehlenbrock, Martin

2006-01-01

An important but often neglected aspect in Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) is the formation of learning groups. Until recently, most support for group formation was based on learner profile information. In addition, the perspective of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence allows for a wider perspective on group formation,…

Factors Influencing Adoption of Ubiquitous Internet amongst Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Juned, Mohammad; Adil, Mohd

2015-01-01

Weiser's (1991) conceptualisation of a world wherein human's interaction with computer technology would no longer be limited to conventional input and output devices, has now been translated into a reality with human's constant interaction with multiple interconnected computers and sensors embedded in rooms, furniture, clothes, tools, and other…

A Framework for Debugging Geoscience Projects in a High Performance Computing Environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baxter, C.; Matott, L.

2012-12-01

High performance computing (HPC) infrastructure has become ubiquitous in today's world with the emergence of commercial cloud computing and academic supercomputing centers. Teams of geoscientists, hydrologists and engineers can take advantage of this infrastructure to undertake large research projects - for example, linking one or more site-specific environmental models with soft computing algorithms, such as heuristic global search procedures, to perform parameter estimation and predictive uncertainty analysis, and/or design least-cost remediation systems. However, the size, complexity and distributed nature of these projects can make identifying failures in the associated numerical experiments using conventional ad-hoc approaches both time- consuming and ineffective. To address these problems a multi-tiered debugging framework has been developed. The framework allows for quickly isolating and remedying a number of potential experimental failures, including: failures in the HPC scheduler; bugs in the soft computing code; bugs in the modeling code; and permissions and access control errors. The utility of the framework is demonstrated via application to a series of over 200,000 numerical experiments involving a suite of 5 heuristic global search algorithms and 15 mathematical test functions serving as cheap analogues for the simulation-based optimization of pump-and-treat subsurface remediation systems.

WE-B-BRD-01: Innovation in Radiation Therapy Planning II: Cloud Computing in RT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moore, K; Kagadis, G; Xing, L

As defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, cloud computing is “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” Despite the omnipresent role of computers in radiotherapy, cloud computing has yet to achieve widespread adoption in clinical or research applications, though the transition to such “on-demand” access is underway. As this transition proceeds, new opportunities for aggregate studies and efficient use of computational resources are set againstmore » new challenges in patient privacy protection, data integrity, and management of clinical informatics systems. In this Session, current and future applications of cloud computing and distributed computational resources will be discussed in the context of medical imaging, radiotherapy research, and clinical radiation oncology applications. Learning Objectives: Understand basic concepts of cloud computing. Understand how cloud computing could be used for medical imaging applications. Understand how cloud computing could be employed for radiotherapy research.4. Understand how clinical radiotherapy software applications would function in the cloud.« less

A communication model to integrate the Request-Response and the Publish-Subscribe paradigms into ubiquitous systems.

PubMed

Rodríguez-Domínguez, Carlos; Benghazi, Kawtar; Noguera, Manuel; Garrido, José Luis; Rodríguez, María Luisa; Ruiz-López, Tomás

2012-01-01

The Request-Response (RR) paradigm is widely used in ubiquitous systems to exchange information in a secure, reliable and timely manner. Nonetheless, there is also an emerging need for adopting the Publish-Subscribe (PubSub) paradigm in this kind of systems, due to the advantages that this paradigm offers in supporting mobility by means of asynchronous, non-blocking and one-to-many message distribution semantics for event notification. This paper analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both the RR and PubSub paradigms to support communications in ubiquitous systems and proposes an abstract communication model in order to enable their seamless integration. Thus, developers will be focused on communication semantics and the required quality properties, rather than be concerned about specific communication mechanisms. The aim is to provide developers with abstractions intended to decrease the complexity of integrating different communication paradigms commonly needed in ubiquitous systems. The proposal has been applied to implement a middleware and a real home automation system to show its applicability and benefits.

Orbitals for classical arbitrary anisotropic colloidal potentials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girard, Martin; Nguyen, Trung Dac; de la Cruz, Monica Olvera

2017-11-01

Coarse-grained potentials are ubiquitous in mesoscale simulations. While various methods to compute effective interactions for spherically symmetric particles exist, anisotropic interactions are seldom used, due to their complexity. Here we describe a general formulation, based on a spatial decomposition of the density fields around the particles, akin to atomic orbitals. We show that anisotropic potentials can be efficiently computed in numerical simulations using Fourier-based methods. We validate the field formulation and characterize its computational efficiency with a system of colloids that have Gaussian surface charge distributions. We also investigate the phase behavior of charged Janus colloids immersed in screened media, with screening lengths comparable to the colloid size. The system shows rich behaviors, exhibiting vapor, liquid, gel, and crystalline morphologies, depending on temperature and screening length. The crystalline phase only appears for symmetric Janus particles. For very short screening lengths, the system undergoes a direct transition from a vapor to a crystal on cooling; while, for longer screening lengths, a vapor-liquid-crystal transition is observed. The proposed formulation can be extended to model force fields that are time or orientation dependent, such as those in systems of polymer-grafted particles and magnetic colloids.

Mining the preferences of patients for ubiquitous clinic recommendation.

PubMed

Chen, Tin-Chih Toly; Chiu, Min-Chi

2018-03-06

A challenge facing all ubiquitous clinic recommendation systems is that patients often have difficulty articulating their requirements. To overcome this problem, a ubiquitous clinic recommendation mechanism was designed in this study by mining the clinic preferences of patients. Their preferences were defined using the weights in the ubiquitous clinic recommendation mechanism. An integer nonlinear programming problem was solved to tune the values of the weights on a rolling basis. In addition, since it may take a long time to adjust the values of weights to their asymptotic values, the back propagation network (BPN)-response surface method (RSM) method is applied to estimate the asymptotic values of weights. The proposed methodology was tested in a regional study. Experimental results indicated that the ubiquitous clinic recommendation system outperformed several existing methods in improving the successful recommendation rate.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Intention to Use Technology between Singaporean and Malaysian Pre-Service teachers: An Application of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teo, Timothy; Luan, Wong Su; Sing, Chai Ching

2008-01-01

As computers becomes more ubiquitous in our everyday lives, educational settings are being transformed where educators and students are expected to teach and learn, using computers (Lee, 2003). This study, therefore, explored pre-service teachers' self reported future intentions to use computers in Singapore and Malaysia. A survey methodology was…

Exploring the potential energy landscape over a large parameter-space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Yang-Hui; Mehta, Dhagash; Niemerg, Matthew; Rummel, Markus; Valeanu, Alexandru

2013-07-01

Solving large polynomial systems with coefficient parameters are ubiquitous and constitute an important class of problems. We demonstrate the computational power of two methods — a symbolic one called the Comprehensive Gröbner basis and a numerical one called coefficient-parameter polynomial continuation — applied to studying both potential energy landscapes and a variety of questions arising from geometry and phenomenology. Particular attention is paid to an example in flux compactification where important physical quantities such as the gravitino and moduli masses and the string coupling can be efficiently extracted.

A Case for Ubiquitous, Integrated Computing in Teacher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kay, Robin H.; Knaack, Liesel

2005-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of an integrated, laptop-based approach on pre-service teachers' computer attitudes, ability and use. Pre-post program analysis revealed significant differences in behavioural attitudes and perceived control (self-efficacy), but not in affective and cognitive attitudes. In addition, there was a…

Assessing the Decision Process towards Bring Your Own Device

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koester, Richard F.

2017-01-01

Information technology continues to evolve to the point where mobile technologies--such as smart phones, tablets, and ultra-mobile computers have the embedded flexibility and power to be a ubiquitous platform to fulfill the entire user's computing needs. Mobile technology users view these platforms as adaptable enough to be the single solution for…

A COMPUTER DOCKING STUDY OF THE BINDING OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS AND THEIR METABOLITES TO THE LIGARD-BINDING DOMAIN OF THE ESTROGEN RECEPTOR

EPA Science Inventory

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of ubiquitous, anthropogenic chemicals found in the environment. In the present study, computational methods are used to evaluate their potential estrogenicity and the contribution chemicals in this class make to environmental e...

a New Ubiquitous-Based Indoor Positioning System with Minimum Extra Hardware Using Smart Phones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassany Pazoky, S.; Chehreghan, A.; Sadeghi Niaraki, A.; Abbaspour, R. Ali

2014-10-01

Knowing the position has been an ambition in many areas such as science, military, business, etc. GPS was the realization of this wish in 1970s. Technological advances such as ubiquitous computing, as a conquering perspective, requires any service to work for any user, any place, anytime, and via any network. As GPS cannot provide services in indoor environments, many scientists began to develop indoor positioning systems (IPS). Smart phones penetrating our everyday lives were a great platform to host IPS applications. Sensors in smart phones were another big motive to develop IPS applications. Many researchers have been working on the topic developing various applications. However, the applications introduced lack simplicity. In other words, they need to install a step counter or smart phone on the ankle, which makes it awkward and inapplicable in many situations. In the current study, a new IPS methodology is introduced using only the usual embedded sensors in the smart phones. The robustness of this methodology cannot compete with those of the aforementioned approaches. The price paid for simplicity was decreasing robustness and complicating the methods and formulations. However, methods or tricks to harness the errors to an acceptable range are introduced as the future works.

Behavioral Reference Model for Pervasive Healthcare Systems.

PubMed

Tahmasbi, Arezoo; Adabi, Sahar; Rezaee, Ali

2016-12-01

The emergence of mobile healthcare systems is an important outcome of application of pervasive computing concepts for medical care purposes. These systems provide the facilities and infrastructure required for automatic and ubiquitous sharing of medical information. Healthcare systems have a dynamic structure and configuration, therefore having an architecture is essential for future development of these systems. The need for increased response rate, problem limited storage, accelerated processing and etc. the tendency toward creating a new generation of healthcare system architecture highlight the need for further focus on cloud-based solutions for transfer data and data processing challenges. Integrity and reliability of healthcare systems are of critical importance, as even the slightest error may put the patients' lives in danger; therefore acquiring a behavioral model for these systems and developing the tools required to model their behaviors are of significant importance. The high-level designs may contain some flaws, therefor the system must be fully examined for different scenarios and conditions. This paper presents a software architecture for development of healthcare systems based on pervasive computing concepts, and then models the behavior of described system. A set of solutions are then proposed to improve the design's qualitative characteristics including, availability, interoperability and performance.

Adopting best practices: "Agility" moves from software development to healthcare project management.

PubMed

Kitzmiller, Rebecca; Hunt, Eleanor; Sproat, Sara Breckenridge

2006-01-01

It is time for a change in mindset in how nurses operationalize system implementations and manage projects. Computers and systems have evolved over time from unwieldy mysterious machines of the past to ubiquitous computer use in every aspect of daily lives and work sites. Yet, disconcertingly, the process used to implement these systems has not evolved. Technology implementation does not need to be a struggle. It is time to adapt traditional plan-driven implementation methods to incorporate agile techniques. Agility is a concept borrowed from software development and is presented here because it encourages flexibility, adaptation, and continuous learning as part of the implementation process. Agility values communication and harnesses change to an advantage, which facilitates the natural evolution of an adaptable implementation process. Specific examples of agility in an implementation are described, and plan-driven implementation stages are adapted to incorporate relevant agile techniques. This comparison demonstrates how an agile approach enhances traditional implementation techniques to meet the demands of today's complex healthcare environments.

Surface Traps in Colloidal Quantum Dots: A Combined Experimental and Theoretical Perspective

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Surface traps are ubiquitous to nanoscopic semiconductor materials. Understanding their atomistic origin and manipulating them chemically have capital importance to design defect-free colloidal quantum dots and make a leap forward in the development of efficient optoelectronic devices. Recent advances in computing power established computational chemistry as a powerful tool to describe accurately complex chemical species and nowadays it became conceivable to model colloidal quantum dots with realistic sizes and shapes. In this Perspective, we combine the knowledge gathered in recent experimental findings with the computation of quantum dot electronic structures. We analyze three different systems: namely, CdSe, PbS, and CsPbI3 as benchmark semiconductor nanocrystals showing how different types of trap states can form at their surface. In addition, we suggest experimental healing of such traps according to their chemical origin and nanocrystal composition. PMID:28972763

Massive parallelization of serial inference algorithms for a complex generalized linear model

PubMed Central

Suchard, Marc A.; Simpson, Shawn E.; Zorych, Ivan; Ryan, Patrick; Madigan, David

2014-01-01

Following a series of high-profile drug safety disasters in recent years, many countries are redoubling their efforts to ensure the safety of licensed medical products. Large-scale observational databases such as claims databases or electronic health record systems are attracting particular attention in this regard, but present significant methodological and computational concerns. In this paper we show how high-performance statistical computation, including graphics processing units, relatively inexpensive highly parallel computing devices, can enable complex methods in large databases. We focus on optimization and massive parallelization of cyclic coordinate descent approaches to fit a conditioned generalized linear model involving tens of millions of observations and thousands of predictors in a Bayesian context. We find orders-of-magnitude improvement in overall run-time. Coordinate descent approaches are ubiquitous in high-dimensional statistics and the algorithms we propose open up exciting new methodological possibilities with the potential to significantly improve drug safety. PMID:25328363

Non-standard analysis and embedded software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Platek, Richard

1995-01-01

One model for computing in the future is ubiquitous, embedded computational devices analogous to embedded electrical motors. Many of these computers will control physical objects and processes. Such hidden computerized environments introduce new safety and correctness concerns whose treatment go beyond present Formal Methods. In particular, one has to begin to speak about Real Space software in analogy with Real Time software. By this we mean, computerized systems which have to meet requirements expressed in the real geometry of space. How to translate such requirements into ordinary software specifications and how to carry out proofs is a major challenge. In this talk we propose a research program based on the use of no-standard analysis. Much detail remains to be carried out. The purpose of the talk is to inform the Formal Methods community that Non-Standard Analysis provides a possible avenue to attack which we believe will be fruitful.

An Expert System-based Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning Approach for Conducting Science Learning Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Po-Han; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Tsai, Wen-Hung

2013-01-01

Context-aware ubiquitous learning has been recognized as being a promising approach that enables students to interact with real-world learning targets with supports from the digital world. Several researchers have indicated the importance of providing learning guidance or hints to individual students during the context-aware ubiquitous learning…

The Changing Face of Human-Computer Interaction in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rogers, Yvonne

HCI is reinventing itself. No longer only about being user-centered, it has set its sights on pastures new, embracing a much broader and far-reaching set of interests. From emotional, eco-friendly, embodied experiences to context, constructivism and culture, HCI research is changing apace: from what it looks at, the lenses it uses and what it has to offer. Part of this is as a reaction to what is happening in the world; ubiquitous technologies are proliferating and transforming how we live our lives. We are becoming more connected and more dependent on technology. The home, the crèche, outdoors, public places and even the human body are now being experimented with as potential places to embed computational devices, even to the extent of invading previously private and taboo aspects of our lives. In this paper, I examine the diversity of lifestyle and technological transformations in our midst and outline some 'difficult' questions these raise together with alternative directions for HCI research and practice.

Extending atomistic simulation timescale in solid/liquid systems: crystal growth from solution by a parallel-replica dynamics and continuum hybrid method.

PubMed

Lu, Chun-Yaung; Voter, Arthur F; Perez, Danny

2014-01-28

Deposition of solid material from solution is ubiquitous in nature. However, due to the inherent complexity of such systems, this process is comparatively much less understood than deposition from a gas or vacuum. Further, the accurate atomistic modeling of such systems is computationally expensive, therefore leaving many intriguing long-timescale phenomena out of reach. We present an atomistic/continuum hybrid method for extending the simulation timescales of dynamics at solid/liquid interfaces. We demonstrate the method by simulating the deposition of Ag on Ag (001) from solution with a significant speedup over standard MD. The results reveal specific features of diffusive deposition dynamics, such as a dramatic increase in the roughness of the film.

A Communication Model to Integrate the Request-Response and the Publish-Subscribe Paradigms into Ubiquitous Systems

PubMed Central

Rodríguez-Domínguez, Carlos; Benghazi, Kawtar; Noguera, Manuel; Garrido, José Luis; Rodríguez, María Luisa; Ruiz-López, Tomás

2012-01-01

The Request-Response (RR) paradigm is widely used in ubiquitous systems to exchange information in a secure, reliable and timely manner. Nonetheless, there is also an emerging need for adopting the Publish-Subscribe (PubSub) paradigm in this kind of systems, due to the advantages that this paradigm offers in supporting mobility by means of asynchronous, non-blocking and one-to-many message distribution semantics for event notification. This paper analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of both the RR and PubSub paradigms to support communications in ubiquitous systems and proposes an abstract communication model in order to enable their seamless integration. Thus, developers will be focused on communication semantics and the required quality properties, rather than be concerned about specific communication mechanisms. The aim is to provide developers with abstractions intended to decrease the complexity of integrating different communication paradigms commonly needed in ubiquitous systems. The proposal has been applied to implement a middleware and a real home automation system to show its applicability and benefits. PMID:22969366

Mobilizing Practice: Engaging Space, Technology and Design from a Thai Metropolis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Amanda Marisa

2009-01-01

The project of ubiquitous computing aims to embed computation into everyday spaces. As a practice that is heavily concerned with space and place, its stance towards mobility is sometimes conflicted--treating mobility by turns as a disruption or as an opportunity--and almost always conceiving of it as free and empowered. Conducted in industrial and…

Computing as Context: Experiences of Dis/Connection beyond the Moment of Non/Use

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harmon, Mary E.

2015-01-01

What does it mean to be "constantly connected" or to work for a "24/7" company? What does it mean to "disconnect" in an era of "always on" connectivity? This dissertation examines some of the textures of American life in an historical moment marked both by the arrival of ubiquitous computing and the…

Sexuality Education Goes Viral: What We Know about Online Sexual Health Information

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holstrom, Amelia M.

2015-01-01

Internet use among young people in the United States is nearly ubiquitous; they are online from home computers, from school computers, and from mobile devices. This offers incredible opportunity for sexual health educators to access individuals who are at a critical time in sexual development over the life course. Currently, the research base on…

Scholarly Communication and Information Technology: Exploring the Impact of Changes in the Research Process on Archives. Rand Reprints.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michelson, Avra; Rothenberg, Jeff

1993-01-01

The report considers the interaction of trends in information technology and trends in research practices and the policy implications for archives. The information is divided into 4 sections. The first section, an "Overview of Information Technology Trends," discusses end-user computing, which includes ubiquitous computing, end-user…

Ethics and Morality in Software Development: A Developer's Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stephenson, James H.

2010-01-01

Computers and other digital devices have become ubiquitous in our lives. Almost all aspects of our lives are in part or wholly impacted by computers and the software that runs on them. Unknowingly, we are placing our livelihoods and even our lives in the hands unknown software developers. Ethical and moral decisions made during software…

A Modified Laptop Program: Putting the Carts in the Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grant, Michael M.; Ross, Steven M.; Wan, Weiping; Potter, Allison; Wilson, Yola

2004-01-01

Four fifth grade classrooms embarked on a modified ubiquitous computing initiative in Fall 2003. Two 15-computer wireless laptop carts were shared among the four classrooms in an effort to integrate technology across the curriculum and affect change in student learning and teacher pedagogy. This initiative?in contrast to other 1:1 programs and…

Software Piracy among Technology Education Students: Investigating Property Rights in a Culture of Innovation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Teston, George

2008-01-01

When asked about individual perceptions of "technology," 68% of Americans primarily equate the term to the computer. Although this perception under represents the true breadth of the field, the statistic does speak to the ubiquitous role the computer plays across many technology disciplines. Software has become the building block of all major…

Dicoogle Mobile: a medical imaging platform for Android.

PubMed

Viana-Ferreira, Carlos; Ferreira, Daniel; Valente, Frederico; Monteiro, Eriksson; Costa, Carlos; Oliveira, José Luís

2012-01-01

Mobile computing technologies are increasingly becoming a valuable asset in healthcare information systems. The adoption of these technologies helps to assist in improving quality of care, increasing productivity and facilitating clinical decision support. They provide practitioners with ubiquitous access to patient records, being actually an important component in telemedicine and tele-work environments. We have developed Dicoogle Mobile, an Android application that provides remote access to distributed medical imaging data through a cloud relay service. Besides, this application has the capability to store and index local imaging data, so that they can also be searched and visualized. In this paper, we will describe Dicoogle Mobile concept as well the architecture of the whole system that makes it running.

Towards pervasive computing in health care – A literature review

PubMed Central

Orwat, Carsten; Graefe, Andreas; Faulwasser, Timm

2008-01-01

Background The evolving concepts of pervasive computing, ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence are increasingly influencing health care and medicine. Summarizing published research, this literature review provides an overview of recent developments and implementations of pervasive computing systems in health care. It also highlights some of the experiences reported in deployment processes. Methods There is no clear definition of pervasive computing in the current literature. Thus specific inclusion criteria for selecting articles about relevant systems were developed. Searches were conducted in four scientific databases alongside manual journal searches for the period of 2002 to 2006. Articles included present prototypes, case studies and pilot studies, clinical trials and systems that are already in routine use. Results The searches identified 69 articles describing 67 different systems. In a quantitative analysis, these systems were categorized into project status, health care settings, user groups, improvement aims, and systems features (i.e., component types, data gathering, data transmission, systems functions). The focus is on the types of systems implemented, their frequency of occurrence and their characteristics. Qualitative analyses were performed of deployment issues, such as organizational and personnel issues, privacy and security issues, and financial issues. This paper provides a comprehensive access to the literature of the emerging field by addressing specific topics of application settings, systems features, and deployment experiences. Conclusion Both an overview and an analysis of the literature on a broad and heterogeneous range of systems are provided. Most systems are described in their prototype stages. Deployment issues, such as implications on organization or personnel, privacy concerns, or financial issues are mentioned rarely, though their solution is regarded as decisive in transferring promising systems to a stage of regular operation. There is a need for further research on the deployment of pervasive computing systems, including clinical studies, economic and social analyses, user studies, etc. PMID:18565221

Construction of Course Ubiquitous Learning Based on Network

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Xue; Zhang, Wei; Yang, Xinhui

2017-01-01

Ubiquitous learning has been more and more recognized, which describes a new generation of learning from a new point of view. Ubiquitous learning will bring the new teaching practice and teaching reform, which will become an essential way of learning in 21st century. Taking translation course as a case study, this research constructed a system of…

Development of a Ubiquitous Learning Platform Based on a Real-Time Help-Seeking Mechanism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Wu, Chih-Hsiang; Tseng, Judy C. R.; Huang, Iwen

2011-01-01

The popularity of mobile devices has encouraged the advance of ubiquitous learning, in which students are situated in a real-world learning environment with support from the digital world via the use of mobile, wireless communications, or even sensing technologies. Most of the ubiquitous learning systems are implemented with high-cost sensing…

Mobile Modelling for Crowdsourcing Building Interior Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosser, J.; Morley, J.; Jackson, M.

2012-06-01

Indoor spatial data forms an important foundation to many ubiquitous computing applications. It gives context to users operating location-based applications, provides an important source of documentation of buildings and can be of value to computer systems where an understanding of environment is required. Unlike external geographic spaces, no centralised body or agency is charged with collecting or maintaining such information. Widespread deployment of mobile devices provides a potential tool that would allow rapid model capture and update by a building's users. Here we introduce some of the issues involved in volunteering building interior data and outline a simple mobile tool for capture of indoor models. The nature of indoor data is inherently private; however in-depth analysis of this issue and legal considerations are not discussed in detail here.

A new mobile ubiquitous computing application to control obesity: SapoFit.

PubMed

Rodrigues, Joel J P C; Lopes, Ivo M C; Silva, Bruno M C; Torre, Isabel de La

2013-01-01

The objective of this work was the proposal, design, construction and validation of a mobile health system for dietetic monitoring and assessment, called SapoFit. This application may be personalized to keep a daily personal health record of an individual's food intake and daily exercise and to share this with a social network. The initiative is a partnership with SAPO - Portugal Telecom. SapoFit uses Web services architecture, a relatively new model for distributed computing and application integration. SapoFit runs on a range of mobile platforms, and it has been implemented successfully in a range of mobile devices and has been evaluated by over 100 users. Most users strongly agree that SapoFit has an attractive design, the environment is user-friendly and intuitive, and the navigation options are clear.

Polytopol computing for multi-core and distributed systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Spaanenburg, Henk; Spaanenburg, Lambert; Ranefors, Johan

2009-05-01

Multi-core computing provides new challenges to software engineering. The paper addresses such issues in the general setting of polytopol computing, that takes multi-core problems in such widely differing areas as ambient intelligence sensor networks and cloud computing into account. It argues that the essence lies in a suitable allocation of free moving tasks. Where hardware is ubiquitous and pervasive, the network is virtualized into a connection of software snippets judiciously injected to such hardware that a system function looks as one again. The concept of polytopol computing provides a further formalization in terms of the partitioning of labor between collector and sensor nodes. Collectors provide functions such as a knowledge integrator, awareness collector, situation displayer/reporter, communicator of clues and an inquiry-interface provider. Sensors provide functions such as anomaly detection (only communicating singularities, not continuous observation), they are generally powered or self-powered, amorphous (not on a grid) with generation-and-attrition, field re-programmable, and sensor plug-and-play-able. Together the collector and the sensor are part of the skeleton injector mechanism, added to every node, and give the network the ability to organize itself into some of many topologies. Finally we will discuss a number of applications and indicate how a multi-core architecture supports the security aspects of the skeleton injector.

Extending Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Beyond Network Management: A MIB Architecture for Network-Centric Services

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

potential of moving closer to the goal of a fully service-oriented GIG by allowing even computing - and bandwidth-constrained elements to participate...the functionality provided by core network assets with relatively unlimited bandwidth and computing resources. Finally, the nature of information is...the Department of Defense is a requirement for ubiquitous computer connectivity. An espoused vehicle for delivering that ubiquity is the Global

A Survey of Collectives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tumer, Kagan; Wolpert, David

2004-01-01

Due to the increasing sophistication and miniaturization of computational components, complex, distributed systems of interacting agents are becoming ubiquitous. Such systems, where each agent aims to optimize its own performance, but where there is a well-defined set of system-level performance criteria, are called collectives. The fundamental problem in analyzing/designing such systems is in determining how the combined actions of self-interested agents leads to 'coordinated' behavior on a iarge scale. Examples of artificial systems which exhibit such behavior include packet routing across a data network, control of an array of communication satellites, coordination of multiple deployables, and dynamic job scheduling across a distributed computer grid. Examples of natural systems include ecosystems, economies, and the organelles within a living cell. No current scientific discipline provides a thorough understanding of the relation between the structure of collectives and how well they meet their overall performance criteria. Although still very young, research on collectives has resulted in successes both in understanding and designing such systems. It is eqected that as it matures and draws upon other disciplines related to collectives, this field will greatly expand the range of computationally addressable tasks. Moreover, in addition to drawing on them, such a fully developed field of collective intelligence may provide insight into already established scientific fields, such as mechanism design, economics, game theory, and population biology. This chapter provides a survey to the emerging science of collectives.

Development and Effectiveness Analysis of a Personalized Ubiquitous Multi-Device Certification Tutoring System Based on Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Haur; Chen, Beyin; Huang, Cin-Wei

2016-01-01

In recent years, with the gradual increase in the importance of professional certificates, improvement in certification tutoring systems has become more important. In this study, we have developed a personalized ubiquitous multi-device certification tutoring system (PUMDCTS) based on "Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives," and…

Using Markov Chains and Multi-Objective Optimization for Energy-Efficient Context Recognition.

PubMed

Janko, Vito; Luštrek, Mitja

2017-12-29

The recognition of the user's context with wearable sensing systems is a common problem in ubiquitous computing. However, the typically small battery of such systems often makes continuous recognition impractical. The strain on the battery can be reduced if the sensor setting is adapted to each context. We propose a method that efficiently finds near-optimal sensor settings for each context. It uses Markov chains to simulate the behavior of the system in different configurations and the multi-objective genetic algorithm to find a set of good non-dominated configurations. The method was evaluated on three real-life datasets and found good trade-offs between the system's energy expenditure and the system's accuracy. One of the solutions, for example, consumed five-times less energy than the default one, while sacrificing only two percentage points of accuracy.

Advances in the Psychosocial Treatment of Addiction

PubMed Central

Dallery, Jesse

2012-01-01

Synopsis The authors present an overview of empirically supported psychosocial interventions for individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs), including recent advances in the field. They also identify barriers to the adoption of evidence-based psychosocial treatments in community-based systems of care, and the promise of leveraging technology (computers, web, mobile phone, and emerging technologies) to markedly enhance the reach of these treatments. Technology-based interventions may provide “on-demand,” ubiquitous access to therapeutic support in diverse settings. A brief discussion of important next steps in developing, refining, and disseminating technology-delivered psychosocial interventions concludes the review. PMID:22640767

Study on the context-aware middleware for ubiquitous greenhouses using wireless sensor networks.

PubMed

Hwang, Jeonghwang; Yoe, Hyun

2011-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology is one of the important technologies to implement the ubiquitous society, and it could increase productivity of agricultural and livestock products, and secure transparency of distribution channels if such a WSN technology were successfully applied to the agricultural sector. Middleware, which can connect WSN hardware, applications, and enterprise systems, is required to construct ubiquitous agriculture environment combining WSN technology with agricultural sector applications, but there have been insufficient studies in the field of WSN middleware in the agricultural environment, compared to other industries. This paper proposes a context-aware middleware to efficiently process data collected from ubiquitous greenhouses by applying WSN technology and used to implement combined services through organic connectivity of data. The proposed middleware abstracts heterogeneous sensor nodes to integrate different forms of data, and provides intelligent context-aware, event service, and filtering functions to maximize operability and scalability of the middleware. To evaluate the performance of the middleware, an integrated management system for ubiquitous greenhouses was implemented by applying the proposed middleware to an existing greenhouse, and it was tested by measuring the level of load through CPU usage and the response time for users' requests when the system is working.

Mathematical and Computational Foundations of Recurrence Quantifications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marwan, Norbert; Webber, Charles L.

Real-world systems possess deterministic trajectories, phase singularities and noise. Dynamic trajectories have been studied in temporal and frequency domains, but these are linear approaches. Basic to the field of nonlinear dynamics is the representation of trajectories in phase space. A variety of nonlinear tools such as the Lyapunov exponent, Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy, correlation dimension, etc. have successfully characterized trajectories in phase space, provided the systems studied were stationary in time. Ubiquitous in nature, however, are systems that are nonlinear and nonstationary, existing in noisy environments all of which are assumption breaking to otherwise powerful linear tools. What has been unfolding over the last quarter of a century, however, is the timely discovery and practical demonstration that the recurrences of system trajectories in phase space can provide important clues to the system designs from which they derive. In this chapter we will introduce the basics of recurrence plots (RP) and their quantification analysis (RQA). We will begin by summarizing the concept of phase space reconstructions. Then we will provide the mathematical underpinnings of recurrence plots followed by the details of recurrence quantifications. Finally, we will discuss computational approaches that have been implemented to make recurrence strategies feasible and useful. As computers become faster and computer languages advance, younger generations of researchers will be stimulated and encouraged to capture nonlinear recurrence patterns and quantification in even better formats. This particular branch of nonlinear dynamics remains wide open for the definition of new recurrence variables and new applications untouched to date.

A 21st Century Science, Technology, and Innovation Strategy for Americas National Security

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-05-01

areas. Advanced Computing and Communications The exponential growth of the digital economy, driven by ubiquitous computing and communication...weapons- focused R&D, many of the capabilities being developed have significant dual-use potential. Digital connectivity, for instance, brings...scale than traditional recombinant DNA techniques, and to share these designs digitally . Nanotechnology promises the ability to engineer entirely

New Methods of Mobile Computing: From Smartphones to Smart Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sykes, Edward R.

2014-01-01

Every aspect of our daily lives has been touched by the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices. We have experienced an exponential growth of mobile computing--a trend that seems to have no limit. This paper provides a report on the findings of a recent offering of an iPhone Application Development course at Sheridan College, Ontario, Canada. It…

From Users to Choosers: Central IT and the Challenge of Consumer Choice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yanosky, Ronald

2010-01-01

Is the era of personal computing ending, or is it only just beginning? Certainly, cyberlife seems to have become more intensely personal over the last few years, partly because it has also become so much more social. The rise of the new consumer-oriented ubiquitous computing will reshape--and reduce--users' reliance on enterprise IT. Much of the…

Integrating the iPod Touch in K-12 Education: Visions and Vices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banister, Savilla

2010-01-01

Advocates of ubiquitous computing have long been documenting classroom benefits of one-to-one ratios of students to handheld or laptop computers. The recent sophisticated capabilities of the iPod Touch, iPhone, and iPad have encouraged further speculation on exactly how K-12 teaching and learning might be energized by such devices. This paper…

Music Teachers' Experiences in One-to-One Computing Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dorfman, Jay

2016-01-01

Ubiquitous computing scenarios such as the one-to-one model, in which every student is issued a device that is to be used across all subjects, have increased in popularity and have shown both positive and negative influences on education. Music teachers in schools that adopt one-to-one models may be inadequately equipped to integrate this kind of…

From computers to ubiquitous computing by 2010: health care.

PubMed

Aziz, Omer; Lo, Benny; Pansiot, Julien; Atallah, Louis; Yang, Guang-Zhong; Darzi, Ara

2008-10-28

Over the past decade, miniaturization and cost reduction in semiconductors have led to computers smaller in size than a pinhead with powerful processing abilities that are affordable enough to be disposable. Similar advances in wireless communication, sensor design and energy storage have meant that the concept of a truly pervasive 'wireless sensor network', used to monitor environments and objects within them, has become a reality. The need for a wireless sensor network designed specifically for human body monitoring has led to the development of wireless 'body sensor network' (BSN) platforms composed of tiny integrated microsensors with on-board processing and wireless data transfer capability. The ubiquitous computing abilities of BSNs offer the prospect of continuous monitoring of human health in any environment, be it home, hospital, outdoors or the workplace. This pervasive technology comes at a time when Western world health care costs have sharply risen, reflected by increasing expenditure on health care as a proportion of gross domestic product over the last 20 years. Drivers of this rise include an ageing post 'baby boom' population, higher incidence of chronic disease and the need for earlier diagnosis. This paper outlines the role of pervasive health care technologies in providing more efficient health care.

Computers and clinical arrhythmias.

PubMed

Knoebel, S B; Lovelace, D E

1983-02-01

Cardiac arrhythmias are ubiquitous in normal and abnormal hearts. These disorders may be life-threatening or benign, symptomatic or unrecognized. Arrhythmias may be the precursor of sudden death, a cause or effect of cardiac failure, a clinical reflection of acute or chronic disorders, or a manifestation of extracardiac conditions. Progress is being made toward unraveling the diagnostic and therapeutic problems involved in arrhythmogenesis. Many of the advances would not be possible, however, without the availability of computer technology. To preserve the proper balance and purposeful progression of computer usage, engineers and physicians have been exhorted not to work independently in this field. Both should learn some of the other's trade. The two disciplines need to come together to solve important problems with computers in cardiology. The intent of this article was to acquaint the practicing cardiologist with some of the extant and envisioned computer applications and some of the problems with both. We conclude that computer-based database management systems are necessary for sorting out the clinical factors of relevance for arrhythmogenesis, but computer database management systems are beset with problems that will require sophisticated solutions. The technology for detecting arrhythmias on routine electrocardiograms is quite good but human over-reading is still required, and the rationale for computer application in this setting is questionable. Systems for qualitative, continuous monitoring and review of extended time ECG recordings are adequate with proper noise rejection algorithms and editing capabilities. The systems are limited presently for clinical application to the recognition of ectopic rhythms and significant pauses. Attention should now be turned to the clinical goals for detection and quantification of arrhythmias. We should be asking the following questions: How quantitative do systems need to be? Are computers required for the detection of all arrhythmias? In all settings? Should we be focusing alternatively on those arrhythmias that are frequent and with clinical significance? The ultimate test of any technology is, after all, its use in advancing knowledge and patient care.

Big data analytics to aid developing livable communities.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-12-31

In transportation, ubiquitous deployment of low-cost sensors combined with powerful : computer hardware and high-speed network makes big data available. USDOT defines big : data research in transportation as a number of advanced techniques applied to...

CILT2000: Views of CILT2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Allan

2002-01-01

Features comments on the Center for Innovative Learning Technologies (CILT) conference held in 2000 and addresses the five thematic areas around which the conference was organized, namely assessment, professional development, visualization and modeling, ubiquitous computing, and equity. (Author/YDS)

SUPAR: Smartphone as a ubiquitous physical activity recognizer for u-healthcare services.

PubMed

Fahim, Muhammad; Lee, Sungyoung; Yoon, Yongik

2014-01-01

Current generation smartphone can be seen as one of the most ubiquitous device for physical activity recognition. In this paper we proposed a physical activity recognizer to provide u-healthcare services in a cost effective manner by utilizing cloud computing infrastructure. Our model is comprised on embedded triaxial accelerometer of the smartphone to sense the body movements and a cloud server to store and process the sensory data for numerous kind of services. We compute the time and frequency domain features over the raw signals and evaluate different machine learning algorithms to identify an accurate activity recognition model for four kinds of physical activities (i.e., walking, running, cycling and hopping). During our experiments we found Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm outperforms for the aforementioned physical activities as compared to its counterparts. Furthermore, we also explain how smartphone application and cloud server communicate with each other.

GISpark: A Geospatial Distributed Computing Platform for Spatiotemporal Big Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S.; Zhong, E.; Wang, E.; Zhong, Y.; Cai, W.; Li, S.; Gao, S.

2016-12-01

Geospatial data are growing exponentially because of the proliferation of cost effective and ubiquitous positioning technologies such as global remote-sensing satellites and location-based devices. Analyzing large amounts of geospatial data can provide great value for both industrial and scientific applications. Data- and compute- intensive characteristics inherent in geospatial big data increasingly pose great challenges to technologies of data storing, computing and analyzing. Such challenges require a scalable and efficient architecture that can store, query, analyze, and visualize large-scale spatiotemporal data. Therefore, we developed GISpark - a geospatial distributed computing platform for processing large-scale vector, raster and stream data. GISpark is constructed based on the latest virtualized computing infrastructures and distributed computing architecture. OpenStack and Docker are used to build multi-user hosting cloud computing infrastructure for GISpark. The virtual storage systems such as HDFS, Ceph, MongoDB are combined and adopted for spatiotemporal data storage management. Spark-based algorithm framework is developed for efficient parallel computing. Within this framework, SuperMap GIScript and various open-source GIS libraries can be integrated into GISpark. GISpark can also integrated with scientific computing environment (e.g., Anaconda), interactive computing web applications (e.g., Jupyter notebook), and machine learning tools (e.g., TensorFlow/Orange). The associated geospatial facilities of GISpark in conjunction with the scientific computing environment, exploratory spatial data analysis tools, temporal data management and analysis systems make up a powerful geospatial computing tool. GISpark not only provides spatiotemporal big data processing capacity in the geospatial field, but also provides spatiotemporal computational model and advanced geospatial visualization tools that deals with other domains related with spatial property. We tested the performance of the platform based on taxi trajectory analysis. Results suggested that GISpark achieves excellent run time performance in spatiotemporal big data applications.

Implementing Internet of Things in a military command and control environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raglin, Adrienne; Metu, Somiya; Russell, Stephen; Budulas, Peter

2017-05-01

While the term Internet of Things (IoT) has been coined relatively recently, it has deep roots in multiple other areas of research including cyber-physical systems, pervasive and ubiquitous computing, embedded systems, mobile ad-hoc networks, wireless sensor networks, cellular networks, wearable computing, cloud computing, big data analytics, and intelligent agents. As the Internet of Things, these technologies have created a landscape of diverse heterogeneous capabilities and protocols that will require adaptive controls to effect linkages and changes that are useful to end users. In the context of military applications, it will be necessary to integrate disparate IoT devices into a common platform that necessarily must interoperate with proprietary military protocols, data structures, and systems. In this environment, IoT devices and data will not be homogeneous and provenance-controlled (i.e. single vendor/source/supplier owned). This paper presents a discussion of the challenges of integrating varied IoT devices and related software in a military environment. A review of contemporary commercial IoT protocols is given and as a practical example, a middleware implementation is proffered that provides transparent interoperability through a proactive message dissemination system. The implementation is described as a framework through which military applications can integrate and utilize commercial IoT in conjunction with existing military sensor networks and command and control (C2) systems.

Science beyond fiction. A revolution of knowledge transfer in research, education, and practice is on the horizon.

PubMed

Ammann, Alexander

2016-01-01

"Digitality" (as opposed to "digitalization"--the conversion from the analog domain to the digital domain) will open up a whole new world that does not originate from the analog world. Contemporary research in the field of neural concepts and neuromorphic computing systems will lead to convergences between the world of digitality and the world of neuronality, giving the theme "Knowledge and Culture" a new meaning. The simulation of virtual multidimensional and contextual spaces will transform the transfer of knowledge from a uni- and bidirectional process into an interactive experience. We will learn to learn in a ubiquitous computing environment and will abandon conventional curriculum organization principles. The adaptation of individualized ontologies will result in the emergence of a new world of knowledge in which knowledge evolves from a cultural heritage into a commodity.

A Battery-Aware Algorithm for Supporting Collaborative Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rollins, Sami; Chang-Yit, Cheryl

Battery-powered devices such as laptops, cell phones, and MP3 players are becoming ubiquitous. There are several significant ways in which the ubiquity of battery-powered technology impacts the field of collaborative computing. First, applications such as collaborative data gathering, become possible. Also, existing applications that depend on collaborating devices to maintain the system infrastructure must be reconsidered. Fundamentally, the problem lies in the fact that collaborative applications often require end-user computing devices to perform tasks that happen in the background and are not directly advantageous to the user. In this work, we seek to better understand how laptop users use the batteries attached to their devices and analyze a battery-aware alternative to Gnutella’s ultrapeer selection algorithm. Our algorithm provides insight into how system maintenance tasks can be allocated to battery-powered nodes. The most significant result of our study indicates that a large portion of laptop users can participate in system maintenance without sacrificing any of their battery. These results show great promise for existing collaborative applications as well as new applications, such as collaborative data gathering, that rely upon battery-powered devices.

Kinetic barriers in the isomerization of substituted ureas: implications for computer-aided drug design.

PubMed

Loeffler, Johannes R; Ehmki, Emanuel S R; Fuchs, Julian E; Liedl, Klaus R

2016-05-01

Urea derivatives are ubiquitously found in many chemical disciplines. N,N'-substituted ureas may show different conformational preferences depending on their substitution pattern. The high energetic barrier for isomerization of the cis and trans state poses additional challenges on computational simulation techniques aiming at a reproduction of the biological properties of urea derivatives. Herein, we investigate energetics of urea conformations and their interconversion using a broad spectrum of methodologies ranging from data mining, via quantum chemistry to molecular dynamics simulation and free energy calculations. We find that the inversion of urea conformations is inherently slow and beyond the time scale of typical simulation protocols. Therefore, extra care needs to be taken by computational chemists to work with appropriate model systems. We find that both knowledge-driven approaches as well as physics-based methods may guide molecular modelers towards accurate starting structures for expensive calculations to ensure that conformations of urea derivatives are modeled as adequately as possible.

A Computational Study of the Rheology and Structure of Surfactant Covered Droplets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maia, Joao; Boromand, Arman

Using different types of surface-active agents are ubiquitous in different industrial applications ranging from cosmetic and food industries to polymeric nano-composite and blends. This allows to produce stable multiphasic systems like foams and emulsions whose stability and shelf-life are directly determined by the efficiency and the type of the surfactant molecules. Moreover, presence and self-assembly of these species on an interface will display complex dynamics and structural evolution under different processing conditions. Analogous to bulk rheology of complex systems, surfactant covered interfaces will response to an external mechanical forces or deformation differently depends on the molecular configuration and topology of the system constituents. Although the effect of molecular configuration of the surface-active molecules on the planar interfaces has been studied both experimentally and computationally, it remains challenging from both experimental and computational aspects to track efficiency and effectiveness of different surfactant molecules with different molecular geometries on curved interfaces. Using Dissipative Particle Dynamics, we have studies effectiveness and efficiency of different surfactant molecules on a curved interface in equilibrium and far from equilibrium. Interfacial tension is calculated for linear and branched surfactant with different hydrophobic and hydrophilic tail and head groups with different branching densities. Deformation parameter and Taylor plots are obtained for individual surfactant molecules under shear flow.

Model Order Reduction Algorithm for Estimating the Absorption Spectrum

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Van Beeumen, Roel; Williams-Young, David B.; Kasper, Joseph M.

The ab initio description of the spectral interior of the absorption spectrum poses both a theoretical and computational challenge for modern electronic structure theory. Due to the often spectrally dense character of this domain in the quantum propagator’s eigenspectrum for medium-to-large sized systems, traditional approaches based on the partial diagonalization of the propagator often encounter oscillatory and stagnating convergence. Electronic structure methods which solve the molecular response problem through the solution of spectrally shifted linear systems, such as the complex polarization propagator, offer an alternative approach which is agnostic to the underlying spectral density or domain location. This generality comesmore » at a seemingly high computational cost associated with solving a large linear system for each spectral shift in some discretization of the spectral domain of interest. In this work, we present a novel, adaptive solution to this high computational overhead based on model order reduction techniques via interpolation. Model order reduction reduces the computational complexity of mathematical models and is ubiquitous in the simulation of dynamical systems and control theory. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in the ab initio prediction of X-ray absorption spectra is demonstrated using a test set of challenging water clusters which are spectrally dense in the neighborhood of the oxygen K-edge. On the basis of a single, user defined tolerance we automatically determine the order of the reduced models and approximate the absorption spectrum up to the given tolerance. We also illustrate that, for the systems studied, the automatically determined model order increases logarithmically with the problem dimension, compared to a linear increase of the number of eigenvalues within the energy window. Furthermore, we observed that the computational cost of the proposed algorithm only scales quadratically with respect to the problem dimension.« less

Ubiquitous Robotic Technology for Smart Manufacturing System.

PubMed

Wang, Wenshan; Zhu, Xiaoxiao; Wang, Liyu; Qiu, Qiang; Cao, Qixin

2016-01-01

As the manufacturing tasks become more individualized and more flexible, the machines in smart factory are required to do variable tasks collaboratively without reprogramming. This paper for the first time discusses the similarity between smart manufacturing systems and the ubiquitous robotic systems and makes an effort on deploying ubiquitous robotic technology to the smart factory. Specifically, a component based framework is proposed in order to enable the communication and cooperation of the heterogeneous robotic devices. Further, compared to the service robotic domain, the smart manufacturing systems are often in larger size. So a hierarchical planning method was implemented to improve the planning efficiency. A test bed of smart factory is developed. It demonstrates that the proposed framework is suitable for industrial domain, and the hierarchical planning method is able to solve large problems intractable with flat methods.

Ubiquitous Robotic Technology for Smart Manufacturing System

PubMed Central

Zhu, Xiaoxiao; Wang, Liyu; Qiu, Qiang; Cao, Qixin

2016-01-01

As the manufacturing tasks become more individualized and more flexible, the machines in smart factory are required to do variable tasks collaboratively without reprogramming. This paper for the first time discusses the similarity between smart manufacturing systems and the ubiquitous robotic systems and makes an effort on deploying ubiquitous robotic technology to the smart factory. Specifically, a component based framework is proposed in order to enable the communication and cooperation of the heterogeneous robotic devices. Further, compared to the service robotic domain, the smart manufacturing systems are often in larger size. So a hierarchical planning method was implemented to improve the planning efficiency. A test bed of smart factory is developed. It demonstrates that the proposed framework is suitable for industrial domain, and the hierarchical planning method is able to solve large problems intractable with flat methods. PMID:27446206

Network Support for Group Coordination

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-01-01

telecommuting and ubiquitous computing [40], the advent of networked multimedia, and less expensive technology have shifted telecollaboration into...of Computer Engineering,Santa Cruz,CA,95064 8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION REPORT NUMBER 9. SPONSORING/ MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES) 10...participants A and B, the payoff structure for choosing two actions i and j is P = Aij + Bij . If P = 0, then the interaction is called a zero -sum game, and

An Adaptive Navigation Support System for Conducting Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning in Museums

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiou, Chuang-Kai; Tseng, Judy C. R.; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Heller, Shelly

2010-01-01

In context-aware ubiquitous learning, students are guided to learn in the real world with personalized supports from the learning system. As the learning resources are realistic objects in the real world, certain physical constraints, such as the limitation of stream of people who visit the same learning object, the time for moving from one object…

Trust-based information system architecture for personal wellness.

PubMed

Ruotsalainen, Pekka; Nykänen, Pirkko; Seppälä, Antto; Blobel, Bernd

2014-01-01

Modern eHealth, ubiquitous health and personal wellness systems take place in an unsecure and ubiquitous information space where no predefined trust occurs. This paper presents novel information model and an architecture for trust based privacy management of personal health and wellness information in ubiquitous environment. The architecture enables a person to calculate a dynamic and context-aware trust value for each service provider, and using it to design personal privacy policies for trustworthy use of health and wellness services. For trust calculation a novel set of measurable context-aware and health information-sensitive attributes is developed. The architecture enables a person to manage his or her privacy in ubiquitous environment by formulating context-aware and service provider specific policies. Focus groups and information modelling was used for developing a wellness information model. System analysis method based on sequential steps that enable to combine results of analysis of privacy and trust concerns and the selection of trust and privacy services was used for development of the information system architecture. Its services (e.g. trust calculation, decision support, policy management and policy binding services) and developed attributes enable a person to define situation-aware policies that regulate the way his or her wellness and health information is processed.

Optimal Detection Range of RFID Tag for RFID-based Positioning System Using the k-NN Algorithm.

PubMed

Han, Soohee; Kim, Junghwan; Park, Choung-Hwan; Yoon, Hee-Cheon; Heo, Joon

2009-01-01

Positioning technology to track a moving object is an important and essential component of ubiquitous computing environments and applications. An RFID-based positioning system using the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) algorithm can determine the position of a moving reader from observed reference data. In this study, the optimal detection range of an RFID-based positioning system was determined on the principle that tag spacing can be derived from the detection range. It was assumed that reference tags without signal strength information are regularly distributed in 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional spaces. The optimal detection range was determined, through analytical and numerical approaches, to be 125% of the tag-spacing distance in 1-dimensional space. Through numerical approaches, the range was 134% in 2-dimensional space, 143% in 3-dimensional space.

A Wireless Biomedical Signal Interface System-on-Chip for Body Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Lei Wang; Guang-Zhong Yang; Jin Huang; Jinyong Zhang; Li Yu; Zedong Nie; Cumming, D R S

2010-04-01

Recent years have seen the rapid development of biosensor technology, system-on-chip design, wireless technology. and ubiquitous computing. When assembled into an autonomous body sensor network (BSN), the technologies become powerful tools in well-being monitoring, medical diagnostics, and personal connectivity. In this paper, we describe the first demonstration of a fully customized mixed-signal silicon chip that has most of the attributes required for use in a wearable or implantable BSN. Our intellectual-property blocks include low-power analog sensor interface for temperature and pH, a data multiplexing and conversion module, a digital platform based around an 8-b microcontroller, data encoding for spread-spectrum wireless transmission, and a RF section requiring very few off-chip components. The chip has been fully evaluated and tested by connection to external sensors, and it satisfied typical system requirements.

Web-based Tsunami Early Warning System with instant Tsunami Propagation Calculations in the GPU Cloud

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hammitzsch, M.; Spazier, J.; Reißland, S.

2014-12-01

Usually, tsunami early warning and mitigation systems (TWS or TEWS) are based on several software components deployed in a client-server based infrastructure. The vast majority of systems importantly include desktop-based clients with a graphical user interface (GUI) for the operators in early warning centers. However, in times of cloud computing and ubiquitous computing the use of concepts and paradigms, introduced by continuously evolving approaches in information and communications technology (ICT), have to be considered even for early warning systems (EWS). Based on the experiences and the knowledge gained in three research projects - 'German Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System' (GITEWS), 'Distant Early Warning System' (DEWS), and 'Collaborative, Complex, and Critical Decision-Support in Evolving Crises' (TRIDEC) - new technologies are exploited to implement a cloud-based and web-based prototype to open up new prospects for EWS. This prototype, named 'TRIDEC Cloud', merges several complementary external and in-house cloud-based services into one platform for automated background computation with graphics processing units (GPU), for web-mapping of hazard specific geospatial data, and for serving relevant functionality to handle, share, and communicate threat specific information in a collaborative and distributed environment. The prototype in its current version addresses tsunami early warning and mitigation. The integration of GPU accelerated tsunami simulation computations have been an integral part of this prototype to foster early warning with on-demand tsunami predictions based on actual source parameters. However, the platform is meant for researchers around the world to make use of the cloud-based GPU computation to analyze other types of geohazards and natural hazards and react upon the computed situation picture with a web-based GUI in a web browser at remote sites. The current website is an early alpha version for demonstration purposes to give the concept a whirl and to shape science's future. Further functionality, improvements and possible profound changes have to implemented successively based on the users' evolving needs.

EVA prep

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-08-04

ISS040-E-088730 (4 Aug. 2014) --- In the International Space Station?s Harmony node, NASA astronauts Steve Swanson (foreground), Expedition 40 commander; and Reid Wiseman, flight engineer, perform a portable onboard computer Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) software review in preparation for two upcoming U.S. spacewalks.

The future is 'ambient'

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lugmayr, Artur

2006-02-01

The research field of ambient media starts to spread rapidly and first applications for consumer homes are on the way. Ambient media is the logical continuation of research around media. Media has been evolving from old media (e.g. print media), to integrated presentation in one form (multimedia - or new media), to generating a synthetic world (virtual reality), to the natural environment is the user-interface (ambient media), and will be evolving towards real/synthetic undistinguishable media (bio-media or bio-multimedia). After the IT bubble was bursting, multimedia was lacking a vision of potential future scenarios and applications. Within this research paper the potentials, applications, and market available solutions of mobile ambient multimedia are studied. The different features of ambient mobile multimedia are manifold and include wearable computers, adaptive software, context awareness, ubiquitous computers, middleware, and wireless networks. The paper especially focuses on algorithms and methods that can be utilized to realize modern mobile ambient systems.

High-reliability computing for the smarter planet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Quinn, Heather M; Graham, Paul; Manuzzato, Andrea

2010-01-01

The geometric rate of improvement of transistor size and integrated circuit performance, known as Moore's Law, has been an engine of growth for our economy, enabling new products and services, creating new value and wealth, increasing safety, and removing menial tasks from our daily lives. Affordable, highly integrated components have enabled both life-saving technologies and rich entertainment applications. Anti-lock brakes, insulin monitors, and GPS-enabled emergency response systems save lives. Cell phones, internet appliances, virtual worlds, realistic video games, and mp3 players enrich our lives and connect us together. Over the past 40 years of silicon scaling, the increasing capabilities ofmore » inexpensive computation have transformed our society through automation and ubiquitous communications. In this paper, we will present the concept of the smarter planet, how reliability failures affect current systems, and methods that can be used to increase the reliable adoption of new automation in the future. We will illustrate these issues using a number of different electronic devices in a couple of different scenarios. Recently IBM has been presenting the idea of a 'smarter planet.' In smarter planet documents, IBM discusses increased computer automation of roadways, banking, healthcare, and infrastructure, as automation could create more efficient systems. A necessary component of the smarter planet concept is to ensure that these new systems have very high reliability. Even extremely rare reliability problems can easily escalate to problematic scenarios when implemented at very large scales. For life-critical systems, such as automobiles, infrastructure, medical implantables, and avionic systems, unmitigated failures could be dangerous. As more automation moves into these types of critical systems, reliability failures will need to be managed. As computer automation continues to increase in our society, the need for greater radiation reliability is necessary. Already critical infrastructure is failing too frequently. In this paper, we will introduce the Cross-Layer Reliability concept for designing more reliable computer systems.« less

Integrating Socio-Cultural Contexts and Location-based Systems for Ubiquitous Language Learning in Museums: A State of the Art Review of 2009-2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Hong-You; Liu, Gi-Zen; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2017-01-01

Context-dependent learning systems are now becoming more common in museums, as most students are equipped with mobile devices. As there has been little research into context-aware mobile applications in museums, the present study aims to investigate ubiquitous language learning in socio-cultural contexts, as well as recent trends in using…

Use of the University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database for study of microbial degradation

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Microorganisms are ubiquitous on earth and have diverse metabolic transformative capabilities important for environmental biodegradation of chemicals that helps maintain ecosystem and human health. Microbial biodegradative metabolism is the main focus of the University of Minnesota Biocatalysis/Biodegradation Database (UM-BBD). UM-BBD data has also been used to develop a computational metabolic pathway prediction system that can be applied to chemicals for which biodegradation data is currently lacking. The UM-Pathway Prediction System (UM-PPS) relies on metabolic rules that are based on organic functional groups and predicts plausible biodegradative metabolism. The predictions are useful to environmental chemists that look for metabolic intermediates, for regulators looking for potential toxic products, for microbiologists seeking to understand microbial biodegradation, and others with a wide-range of interests. PMID:22587916

Workflows and Provenance: Toward Information Science Solutions for the Natural Sciences.

PubMed

Gryk, Michael R; Ludäscher, Bertram

2017-01-01

The era of big data and ubiquitous computation has brought with it concerns about ensuring reproducibility in this new research environment. It is easy to assume computational methods self-document by their very nature of being exact, deterministic processes. However, similar to laboratory experiments, ensuring reproducibility in the computational realm requires the documentation of both the protocols used (workflows) as well as a detailed description of the computational environment: algorithms, implementations, software environments as well as the data ingested and execution logs of the computation. These two aspects of computational reproducibility (workflows and execution details) are discussed in the context of biomolecular Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (bioNMR) as well as the PRIMAD model for computational reproducibility.

Interactive numerals

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Although Arabic numerals (like ‘2016’ and ‘3.14’) are ubiquitous, we show that in interactive computer applications they are often misleading and surprisingly unreliable. We introduce interactive numerals as a new concept and show, like Roman numerals and Arabic numerals, interactive numerals introduce another way of using and thinking about numbers. Properly understanding interactive numerals is essential for all computer applications that involve numerical data entered by users, including finance, medicine, aviation and science. PMID:28484609

Toward ubiquitous healthcare services with a novel efficient cloud platform.

PubMed

He, Chenguang; Fan, Xiaomao; Li, Ye

2013-01-01

Ubiquitous healthcare services are becoming more and more popular, especially under the urgent demand of the global aging issue. Cloud computing owns the pervasive and on-demand service-oriented natures, which can fit the characteristics of healthcare services very well. However, the abilities in dealing with multimodal, heterogeneous, and nonstationary physiological signals to provide persistent personalized services, meanwhile keeping high concurrent online analysis for public, are challenges to the general cloud. In this paper, we proposed a private cloud platform architecture which includes six layers according to the specific requirements. This platform utilizes message queue as a cloud engine, and each layer thereby achieves relative independence by this loosely coupled means of communications with publish/subscribe mechanism. Furthermore, a plug-in algorithm framework is also presented, and massive semistructure or unstructured medical data are accessed adaptively by this cloud architecture. As the testing results showing, this proposed cloud platform, with robust, stable, and efficient features, can satisfy high concurrent requests from ubiquitous healthcare services.

HSDPA (3.5G)-based ubiquitous integrated biotelemetry system for emergency care.

PubMed

Kang, Jaemin; Shin, Il Hyung; Koo, Yoonseo; Jung, Min Yang; Suh, Gil Joon; Kim, Hee Chan

2007-01-01

We have developed the second prototype system of Ubiquitous Integrated Biotelemetry System for Emergency Care(UIBSEC) using a HSDPA(High Speed Downlink Packet Access) modem to be used by emergency rescuers to get directions from medical doctors in providing emergency medical services for patients in ambulance. Five vital bio-signal instrumentation modules have been implemented, which include noninvasive arterial blood pressure (NIBP), arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2), 6-channel electro-cardiogram(ECG), blood glucose level, and body temperature and real-time motion picture of the patient and GPS information are also taken. Measured patient data, captured motion picture and GPS information are then transferred to a doctor's PC through the HSDPA and TCP/IP networks using stand-alone HSDPA modem. Most prominent feature of the developed system is that it is based on the HSDPA backbone networks available in Korea now, through which we will be able to establish a ubiquitous emergency healthcare service system.

Implementation of Wireless Sensor Networks Based Pig Farm Integrated Management System in Ubiquitous Agricultural Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Jeonghwan; Lee, Jiwoong; Lee, Hochul; Yoe, Hyun

The wireless sensor networks (WSN) technology based on low power consumption is one of the important technologies in the realization of ubiquitous society. When the technology would be applied to the agricultural field, it can give big change in the existing agricultural environment such as livestock growth environment, cultivation and harvest of agricultural crops. This research paper proposes the 'Pig Farm Integrated Management System' based on WSN technology, which will establish the ubiquitous agricultural environment and improve the productivity of pig-raising farmers. The proposed system has WSN environmental sensors and CCTV at inside/outside of pig farm. These devices collect the growth-environment related information of pigs, such as luminosity, temperature, humidity and CO2 status. The system collects and monitors the environmental information and video information of pig farm. In addition to the remote-control and monitoring of the pig farm facilities, this system realizes the most optimum pig-raising environment based on the growth environmental data accumulated for a long time.

Ubiquitous Emergency Medical Service System Based on Wireless Biosensors, Traffic Information, and Wireless Communication Technologies: Development and Evaluation

PubMed Central

Tan, Tan-Hsu; Gochoo, Munkhjargal; Chen, Yung-Fu; Hu, Jin-Jia; Chiang, John Y.; Chang, Ching-Su; Lee, Ming-Huei; Hsu, Yung-Nian; Hsu, Jiin-Chyr

2017-01-01

This study presents a new ubiquitous emergency medical service system (UEMS) that consists of a ubiquitous tele-diagnosis interface and a traffic guiding subsystem. The UEMS addresses unresolved issues of emergency medical services by managing the sensor wires for eliminating inconvenience for both patients and paramedics in an ambulance, providing ubiquitous accessibility of patients’ biosignals in remote areas where the ambulance cannot arrive directly, and offering availability of real-time traffic information which can make the ambulance reach the destination within the shortest time. In the proposed system, patient’s biosignals and real-time video, acquired by wireless biosensors and a webcam, can be simultaneously transmitted to an emergency room for pre-hospital treatment via WiMax/3.5 G networks. Performances of WiMax and 3.5 G, in terms of initialization time, data rate, and average end-to-end delay are evaluated and compared. A driver can choose the route of the shortest time among the suggested routes by Google Maps after inspecting the current traffic conditions based on real-time CCTV camera streams and traffic information. The destination address can be inputted vocally for easiness and safety in driving. A series of field test results validates the feasibility of the proposed system for application in real-life scenarios. PMID:28117724

Ubiquitous Emergency Medical Service System Based on Wireless Biosensors, Traffic Information, and Wireless Communication Technologies: Development and Evaluation.

PubMed

Tan, Tan-Hsu; Gochoo, Munkhjargal; Chen, Yung-Fu; Hu, Jin-Jia; Chiang, John Y; Chang, Ching-Su; Lee, Ming-Huei; Hsu, Yung-Nian; Hsu, Jiin-Chyr

2017-01-21

This study presents a new ubiquitous emergency medical service system (UEMS) that consists of a ubiquitous tele-diagnosis interface and a traffic guiding subsystem. The UEMS addresses unresolved issues of emergency medical services by managing the sensor wires for eliminating inconvenience for both patients and paramedics in an ambulance, providing ubiquitous accessibility of patients' biosignals in remote areas where the ambulance cannot arrive directly, and offering availability of real-time traffic information which can make the ambulance reach the destination within the shortest time. In the proposed system, patient's biosignals and real-time video, acquired by wireless biosensors and a webcam, can be simultaneously transmitted to an emergency room for pre-hospital treatment via WiMax/3.5 G networks. Performances of WiMax and 3.5 G, in terms of initialization time, data rate, and average end-to-end delay are evaluated and compared. A driver can choose the route of the shortest time among the suggested routes by Google Maps after inspecting the current traffic conditions based on real-time CCTV camera streams and traffic information. The destination address can be inputted vocally for easiness and safety in driving. A series of field test results validates the feasibility of the proposed system for application in real-life scenarios.

Latent Computational Complexity of Symmetry-Protected Topological Order with Fractional Symmetry.

PubMed

Miller, Jacob; Miyake, Akimasa

2018-04-27

An emerging insight is that ground states of symmetry-protected topological orders (SPTOs) possess latent computational complexity in terms of their many-body entanglement. By introducing a fractional symmetry of SPTO, which requires the invariance under 3-colorable symmetries of a lattice, we prove that every renormalization fixed-point state of 2D (Z_{2})^{m} SPTO with fractional symmetry can be utilized for universal quantum computation using only Pauli measurements, as long as it belongs to a nontrivial 2D SPTO phase. Our infinite family of fixed-point states may serve as a base model to demonstrate the idea of a "quantum computational phase" of matter, whose states share universal computational complexity ubiquitously.

Cassidy and Parmitano in U.S. Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-25

ISS036-E-012131 (25 June 2013) --- NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, both Expedition 36 flight engineers, perform a Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) software review in preparation for spacewalks scheduled for July 9 and July 16.

Cassidy and Parmitano in U.S. Laboratory

NASA Image and Video Library

2013-06-25

ISS036-E-012130 (25 June 2013) --- NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy (left) and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano, both Expedition 36 flight engineers, perform a Portable Onboard Computers (POC) Dynamic Onboard Ubiquitous Graphics (DOUG) software review in preparation for spacewalks scheduled for July 9 and July 16.

Construction of a Digital Learning Environment Based on Cloud Computing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ding, Jihong; Xiong, Caiping; Liu, Huazhong

2015-01-01

Constructing the digital learning environment for ubiquitous learning and asynchronous distributed learning has opened up immense amounts of concrete research. However, current digital learning environments do not fully fulfill the expectations on supporting interactive group learning, shared understanding and social construction of knowledge.…

Creating the Future of Games and Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Squire, Kurt

2015-01-01

Games for learning are poised to enter mainstream education. Several factors driving this movement are the following: (1) Digital distribution through cloud computing services and ubiquitous connectivity which will make digital learning tools--such as games--affordable and easily accessible; (2) The proliferation of digital devices; (3) Digital…

Wireless Networks: New Meaning to Ubiquitous Computing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Drew, Wilfred, Jr.

2003-01-01

Discusses the use of wireless technology in academic libraries. Topics include wireless networks; standards (IEEE 802.11); wired versus wireless; why libraries implement wireless technology; wireless local area networks (WLANs); WLAN security; examples of wireless use at Indiana State University and Morrisville College (New York); and useful…

Ubiquitous health in practice: the interreality paradigm.

PubMed

Gaggioli, Andrea; Raspelli, Simona; Grassi, Alessandra; Pallavicini, Federica; Cipresso, Pietro; Wiederhold, Brenda K; Riva, Giuseppe

2011-01-01

In this paper we introduce a new ubiquitous computing paradigm for behavioral health care: "Interreality". Interreality integrates assessment and treatment within a hybrid environment, that creates a bridge between the physical and virtual worlds. Our claim is that bridging virtual experiences (fully controlled by the therapist, used to learn coping skills and emotional regulation) with real experiences (allowing both the identification of any critical stressors and the assessment of what has been learned) using advanced technologies (virtual worlds, advanced sensors and PDA/mobile phones) may improve existing psychological treatment. To illustrate the proposed concept, a clinical scenario is also presented and discussed: Daniela, a 40 years old teacher, with a mother affected by Alzheimer's disease.

Ubiquitous Fast Propagating Intensity Disturbances in Solar Chromosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kubo, M.; Katsukawa, Y.; Suematsu, Y.; Kano, R.; Bando, T.; Narukage, N.; Ishikawa, R.; Hara, H.; Giono, G.; Winebarger, A.;

New Theoretical Approach Integrated Education and Technology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ding, Gang

2010-01-01

The paper focuses on exploring new theoretical approach in education with development of online learning technology, from e-learning to u-learning and virtual reality technology, and points out possibilities such as constructing a new teaching ecological system, ubiquitous educational awareness with ubiquitous technology, and changing the…

Natural thermodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Annila, Arto

2016-02-01

The principle of increasing entropy is derived from statistical physics of open systems assuming that quanta of actions, as undividable basic build blocks, embody everything. According to this tenet, all systems evolve from one state to another either by acquiring quanta from their surroundings or by discarding quanta to the surroundings in order to attain energetic balance in least time. These natural processes result in ubiquitous scale-free patterns: skewed distributions that accumulate in a sigmoid manner and hence span log-log scales mostly as straight lines. Moreover, the equation for least-time motions reveals that evolution is by nature a non-deterministic process. Although the obtained insight in thermodynamics from the notion of quanta in motion yields nothing new, it accentuates that contemporary comprehension is impaired when modeling evolution as a computable process by imposing conservation of energy and thereby ignoring that quantum of actions are the carriers of energy from the system to its surroundings.

The way to uncover community structure with core and diversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Y. F.; Han, S. K.; Wang, X. D.

2018-07-01

Communities are ubiquitous in nature and society. Individuals that share common properties often self-organize to form communities. Avoiding the shortages of computation complexity, pre-given information and unstable results in different run, in this paper, we propose a simple and efficient method to deepen our understanding of the emergence and diversity of communities in complex systems. By introducing the rational random selection, our method reveals the hidden deterministic and normal diverse community states of community structure. To demonstrate this method, we test it with real-world systems. The results show that our method could not only detect community structure with high sensitivity and reliability, but also provide instructional information about the hidden deterministic community world and the real normal diverse community world by giving out the core-community, the real-community, the tide and the diversity. Thizs is of paramount importance in understanding, predicting, and controlling a variety of collective behaviors in complex systems.

Using Markov Chains and Multi-Objective Optimization for Energy-Efficient Context Recognition †

PubMed Central

Janko, Vito

2017-01-01

The recognition of the user’s context with wearable sensing systems is a common problem in ubiquitous computing. However, the typically small battery of such systems often makes continuous recognition impractical. The strain on the battery can be reduced if the sensor setting is adapted to each context. We propose a method that efficiently finds near-optimal sensor settings for each context. It uses Markov chains to simulate the behavior of the system in different configurations and the multi-objective genetic algorithm to find a set of good non-dominated configurations. The method was evaluated on three real-life datasets and found good trade-offs between the system’s energy expenditure and the system’s accuracy. One of the solutions, for example, consumed five-times less energy than the default one, while sacrificing only two percentage points of accuracy. PMID:29286301

Evaluation of the impact of furniture on communications performance for ubiquitous deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks in smart homes.

PubMed

Bleda, Andrés L; Jara, Antonio J; Maestre, Rafael; Santa, Guadalupe; Gómez Skarmeta, Antonio F

2012-01-01

The extensions of the environment with the integration of sensing systems in any space, in conjunction with ubiquitous computing are enabling the so-called Smart Space Sensor Networks. This new generation of networks are offering full connectivity with any object, through the Internet of Things (IoT) and/or the Web, i.e., the Web of Things. These connectivity capabilities are making it feasible to sense the behaviours of people at home and act accordingly. These sensing systems must be integrated within typical elements found at home such as furniture. For that reason, this work considers furniture as an interesting element for the transparent location of sensors. Furniture is a ubiquitous object, i.e., it can be found everywhere at home or the office, and it can integrate and hide the sensors of a network. This work addresses the lack of an exhaustive study of the effect of furniture on signal losses. In addition an easy-to-use tool for estimating the robustness of the communication channel among the sensor nodes and gateways is proposed. Specifically, the losses in a sensor network signal due to the materials found within the communication link are evaluated. Then, this work proposes a software tool that gathers the obtained results and is capable of evaluating the impact of a given set of materials on the communications. This tool also provides a mechanism to optimize the sensor network deployments during the definition of smart spaces. Specifically, it provides information such as: maximum distances between sensor nodes, most suitable type of furniture to integrate sensors, or battery life of sensor nodes. This tool has been validated empirically in the lab, and it is currently being used by several enterprise partners of the Technological Centre of Furniture and Wood in the southeast of Spain.

Evaluation of the Impact of Furniture on Communications Performance for Ubiquitous Deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks in Smart Homes

PubMed Central

Bleda, Andrés L.; Jara, Antonio J.; Maestre, Rafael; Santa, Guadalupe; Gómez Skarmeta, Antonio F.

2012-01-01

The extensions of the environment with the integration of sensing systems in any space, in conjunction with ubiquitous computing are enabling the so-called Smart Space Sensor Networks. This new generation of networks are offering full connectivity with any object, through the Internet of Things (IoT) and/or the Web, i.e., the Web of Things. These connectivity capabilities are making it feasible to sense the behaviours of people at home and act accordingly. These sensing systems must be integrated within typical elements found at home such as furniture. For that reason, this work considers furniture as an interesting element for the transparent location of sensors. Furniture is a ubiquitous object, i.e., it can be found everywhere at home or the office, and it can integrate and hide the sensors of a network. This work addresses the lack of an exhaustive study of the effect of furniture on signal losses. In addition an easy-to-use tool for estimating the robustness of the communication channel among the sensor nodes and gateways is proposed. Specifically, the losses in a sensor network signal due to the materials found within the communication link are evaluated. Then, this work proposes a software tool that gathers the obtained results and is capable of evaluating the impact of a given set of materials on the communications. This tool also provides a mechanism to optimize the sensor network deployments during the definition of smart spaces. Specifically, it provides information such as: maximum distances between sensor nodes, most suitable type of furniture to integrate sensors, or battery life of sensor nodes. This tool has been validated empirically in the lab, and it is currently being used by several enterprise partners of the Technological Centre of Furniture and Wood in the southeast of Spain. PMID:22778653

Photonics education development for electrical engineering students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Yang; Luo, Yuan; Liu, Yu; Hu, ZhangFang; Cai, Xuemei

2017-08-01

We describe the contents of an advanced undergraduate course on photonics at School of Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications. The main goal of the course is to equip the student with the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge to participate in photonics-related industry and further graduate level study and research if they choose. The prerequisites include college-level physics and higher mathematics which a general engineering student has already had in his/her first and second year college study. Although applications of photonics are ubiquitous such as telecommunications, photonic computing, spectroscopy, military technology, and biophotonics etc. Telecommunication information system application is more emphasized in our course considering about the potential job chances for our students.

Development of an embedded atmospheric turbulence mitigation engine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paolini, Aaron; Bonnett, James; Kozacik, Stephen; Kelmelis, Eric

2017-05-01

Methods to reconstruct pictures from imagery degraded by atmospheric turbulence have been under development for decades. The techniques were initially developed for observing astronomical phenomena from the Earth's surface, but have more recently been modified for ground and air surveillance scenarios. Such applications can impose significant constraints on deployment options because they both increase the computational complexity of the algorithms themselves and often dictate a requirement for low size, weight, and power (SWaP) form factors. Consequently, embedded implementations must be developed that can perform the necessary computations on low-SWaP platforms. Fortunately, there is an emerging class of embedded processors driven by the mobile and ubiquitous computing industries. We have leveraged these processors to develop embedded versions of the core atmospheric correction engine found in our ATCOM software. In this paper, we will present our experience adapting our algorithms for embedded systems on a chip (SoCs), namely the NVIDIA Tegra that couples general-purpose ARM cores with their graphics processing unit (GPU) technology and the Xilinx Zynq which pairs similar ARM cores with their field-programmable gate array (FPGA) fabric.

Learning in the Clouds?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butin, Dan W.

2013-01-01

Engaged learning--the type that happens outside textbooks and beyond the four walls of the classroom--moves beyond right and wrong answers to grappling with the uncertainties and contradictions of a complex world. iPhones back up to the "cloud." GoogleDocs is all about "cloud computing." Facebook is as ubiquitous as the sky.…

Use of Technology in the Household: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Barcus C.

2010-01-01

Since the 1980s, personal computer ownership has become ubiquitous, and people are increasingly using household technologies for a wide variety of purposes. Extensive research has resulted in useful models to explain workplace technology acceptance and household technology adoption. Studies have also found that the determinants underlying…

Three Essays on Digital Evolution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Zhewei

2016-01-01

Digital products are rapidly shaping our world into a ubiquitous computing world. Because of its unique characteristics, digital artifacts are generative and highly evolving through the recombination of existing elements as well as by the invention of new elements. In this thesis, I first propose an evolutionary view to examine how digital…

Penetrating the Fog: Analytics in Learning and Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Siemens, George; Long, Phil

2011-01-01

Attempts to imagine the future of education often emphasize new technologies--ubiquitous computing devices, flexible classroom designs, and innovative visual displays. But the most dramatic factor shaping the future of higher education is something that people cannot actually touch or see: "big data and analytics." Learning analytics is still in…

Formative Assessment Design for PDA Integrated Ecology Observation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hung, Pi-Hsia; Lin, Yu-Fen; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

2010-01-01

Ubiquitous computing and mobile technologies provide a new perspective for designing innovative outdoor learning experiences. The purpose of this study is to propose a formative assessment design for integrating PDAs into ecology observations. Three learning activities were conducted in this study. An action research approach was applied to…

Technology and Giftedness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shea, Lorel

2010-01-01

Today's parents and their children use electronic gadgets and gizmos at such a prodigious rate that they are changing the way people live. Cell phones are ubiquitous. Kids constantly text, email, instant message, and send photos from their phones as well as their computers. The Internet, without a doubt, has a tremendous impact on modern family…

Communication Vulnerability in the Digital Age: A Missed Concern in Constructivism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katada, Fusa

2016-01-01

The current wave of globalization aided by ubiquitous computing necessarily involves interaction and integration among people and human institutions worldwide. This has led to a worldwide awareness that professionals in academia need to have effective communication skills. Such communication-driven academic discourse puts much demand on language…

Virtual Team Effectiveness: An Empirical Examination of the Use of Communication Technologies on Trust and Virtual Team Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Valerie Brown

2010-01-01

Ubiquitous technology and agile organizational structures have enabled a strategic response to increasingly competitive, complex, and unpredictable challenges faced by many organizations. Using cyberinfrastructure, which is primarily the network of information, computers, communication technologies, and people, traditional organizations have…

The Trouble with Thinking like Arena: Learning to Use Simulation Software

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodgers, Diane M.; Moraga, Reinaldo J.

2011-01-01

Simulation software used for modeling has become as ubiquitous as computers themselves. Despite growing reliance on simulation in educational and workplace settings, users encounter frustration in using simulation software programs. The authors conducted a study with 26 engineering students and interviewed them about their experience learning the…

Enabling Logistics With Portable and Wireless Technology Study. Volume 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-06

Project”, Ubiquitous Computing Group Microsoft Research, 2001. 102 Enabling Logistics with Portable and Wireless Technology Study ...Enabling Logistics with Portable and Wireless Technology Study Final Report FINAL REPORT...Volume I) Enabling Logistics with Portable and Wireless Technology Study AUTHORS School of Industrial Engineering Dr. Soundar Kumara

Performance, Cognitive Load, and Behaviour of Technology-Assisted English Listening Learning: From CALL to MALL

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chang, Chi-Cheng; Warden, Clyde A.; Liang, Chaoyun; Chou, Pao-Nan

2018-01-01

This study examines differences in English listening comprehension, cognitive load, and learning behaviour between outdoor ubiquitous learning and indoor computer-assisted learning. An experimental design, employing a pretest-posttest control group is employed. Randomly assigned foreign language university majors joined either the experimental…

Complex Mobile Learning That Adapts to Learners' Cognitive Load

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deegan, Robin

2015-01-01

Mobile learning is cognitively demanding and frequently the ubiquitous nature of mobile computing means that mobile devices are used in cognitively demanding environments. This paper examines the use of mobile devices from a Learning, Usability and Cognitive Load Theory perspective. It suggests scenarios where these fields interact and presents an…

Augmenting Traditional Books with Context-Aware Learning Supports from Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Gwo-Dong; Chao, Po-Yao

2008-01-01

Recent advances in ubiquitous computing technologies have brought reality augmentation of traditional objects to context-aware and social supports. Although a significant proportion of students prefer poring over traditional paper textbooks over electronic books, few studies have enhanced reading practice of traditional books with ubiquitous…

SU-D-BRD-02: A Web-Based Image Processing and Plan Evaluation Platform (WIPPEP) for Future Cloud-Based Radiotherapy

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chai, X; Liu, L; Xing, L

Purpose: Visualization and processing of medical images and radiation treatment plan evaluation have traditionally been constrained to local workstations with limited computation power and ability of data sharing and software update. We present a web-based image processing and planning evaluation platform (WIPPEP) for radiotherapy applications with high efficiency, ubiquitous web access, and real-time data sharing. Methods: This software platform consists of three parts: web server, image server and computation server. Each independent server communicates with each other through HTTP requests. The web server is the key component that provides visualizations and user interface through front-end web browsers and relay informationmore » to the backend to process user requests. The image server serves as a PACS system. The computation server performs the actual image processing and dose calculation. The web server backend is developed using Java Servlets and the frontend is developed using HTML5, Javascript, and jQuery. The image server is based on open source DCME4CHEE PACS system. The computation server can be written in any programming language as long as it can send/receive HTTP requests. Our computation server was implemented in Delphi, Python and PHP, which can process data directly or via a C++ program DLL. Results: This software platform is running on a 32-core CPU server virtually hosting the web server, image server, and computation servers separately. Users can visit our internal website with Chrome browser, select a specific patient, visualize image and RT structures belonging to this patient and perform image segmentation running Delphi computation server and Monte Carlo dose calculation on Python or PHP computation server. Conclusion: We have developed a webbased image processing and plan evaluation platform prototype for radiotherapy. This system has clearly demonstrated the feasibility of performing image processing and plan evaluation platform through a web browser and exhibited potential for future cloud based radiotherapy.« less

Implementation of a real-time multi-channel gateway server in ubiquitous integrated biotelemetry system for emergency care (UIBSEC).

PubMed

Cheon, Gyeongwoo; Shin, Il Hyung; Jung, Min Yang; Kim, Hee Chan

2009-01-01

We developed a gateway server to support various types of bio-signal monitoring devices for ubiquitous emergency healthcare in a reliable, effective, and scalable way. The server provides multiple channels supporting real-time N-to-N client connections. We applied our system to four types of health monitoring devices including a 12-channel electrocardiograph (ECG), oxygen saturation (SpO(2)), and medical imaging devices (a ultrasonograph and a digital skin microscope). Different types of telecommunication networks were tested: WIBRO, CDMA, wireless LAN, and wired internet. We measured the performance of our system in terms of the transmission rate and the number of simultaneous connections. The results show that the proposed network communication strategy can be successfully applied to the ubiquitous emergency healthcare service by providing a fast rate enough for real-time video transmission and multiple connections among patients and medical personnel.

Building new computational models to support health behavior change and maintenance: new opportunities in behavioral research.

PubMed

Spruijt-Metz, Donna; Hekler, Eric; Saranummi, Niilo; Intille, Stephen; Korhonen, Ilkka; Nilsen, Wendy; Rivera, Daniel E; Spring, Bonnie; Michie, Susan; Asch, David A; Sanna, Alberto; Salcedo, Vicente Traver; Kukakfa, Rita; Pavel, Misha

2015-09-01

Adverse and suboptimal health behaviors and habits are responsible for approximately 40 % of preventable deaths, in addition to their unfavorable effects on quality of life and economics. Our current understanding of human behavior is largely based on static "snapshots" of human behavior, rather than ongoing, dynamic feedback loops of behavior in response to ever-changing biological, social, personal, and environmental states. This paper first discusses how new technologies (i.e., mobile sensors, smartphones, ubiquitous computing, and cloud-enabled processing/computing) and emerging systems modeling techniques enable the development of new, dynamic, and empirical models of human behavior that could facilitate just-in-time adaptive, scalable interventions. The paper then describes concrete steps to the creation of robust dynamic mathematical models of behavior including: (1) establishing "gold standard" measures, (2) the creation of a behavioral ontology for shared language and understanding tools that both enable dynamic theorizing across disciplines, (3) the development of data sharing resources, and (4) facilitating improved sharing of mathematical models and tools to support rapid aggregation of the models. We conclude with the discussion of what might be incorporated into a "knowledge commons," which could help to bring together these disparate activities into a unified system and structure for organizing knowledge about behavior.

A cloud-based system for automatic glaucoma screening.

PubMed

Fengshou Yin; Damon Wing Kee Wong; Ying Quan; Ai Ping Yow; Ngan Meng Tan; Gopalakrishnan, Kavitha; Beng Hai Lee; Yanwu Xu; Zhuo Zhang; Jun Cheng; Jiang Liu

2015-08-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of automatic computer-based systems for the detection of eye diseases including glaucoma. However, these systems are usually standalone software with basic functions only, limiting their usage in a large scale. In this paper, we introduce an online cloud-based system for automatic glaucoma screening through the use of medical image-based pattern classification technologies. It is designed in a hybrid cloud pattern to offer both accessibility and enhanced security. Raw data including patient's medical condition and fundus image, and resultant medical reports are collected and distributed through the public cloud tier. In the private cloud tier, automatic analysis and assessment of colour retinal fundus images are performed. The ubiquitous anywhere access nature of the system through the cloud platform facilitates a more efficient and cost-effective means of glaucoma screening, allowing the disease to be detected earlier and enabling early intervention for more efficient intervention and disease management.

Modeling and additive manufacturing of bio-inspired composites with tunable fracture mechanical properties.

PubMed

Dimas, Leon S; Buehler, Markus J

2014-07-07

Flaws, imperfections and cracks are ubiquitous in material systems and are commonly the catalysts of catastrophic material failure. As stresses and strains tend to concentrate around cracks and imperfections, structures tend to fail far before large regions of material have ever been subjected to significant loading. Therefore, a major challenge in material design is to engineer systems that perform on par with pristine structures despite the presence of imperfections. In this work we integrate knowledge of biological systems with computational modeling and state of the art additive manufacturing to synthesize advanced composites with tunable fracture mechanical properties. Supported by extensive mesoscale computer simulations, we demonstrate the design and manufacturing of composites that exhibit deformation mechanisms characteristic of pristine systems, featuring flaw-tolerant properties. We analyze the results by directly comparing strain fields for the synthesized composites, obtained through digital image correlation (DIC), and the computationally tested composites. Moreover, we plot Ashby diagrams for the range of simulated and experimental composites. Our findings show good agreement between simulation and experiment, confirming that the proposed mechanisms have a significant potential for vastly improving the fracture response of composite materials. We elucidate the role of stiffness ratio variations of composite constituents as an important feature in determining the composite properties. Moreover, our work validates the predictive ability of our models, presenting them as useful tools for guiding further material design. This work enables the tailored design and manufacturing of composites assembled from inferior building blocks, that obtain optimal combinations of stiffness and toughness.

Real-time simulation of the retina allowing visualization of each processing stage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Teeters, Jeffrey L.; Werblin, Frank S.

1991-08-01

The retina computes to let us see, but can we see the retina compute? Until now, the answer has been no, because the unconscious nature of the processing hides it from our view. Here the authors describe a method of seeing computations performed throughout the retina. This is achieved by using neurophysiological data to construct a model of the retina, and using a special-purpose image processing computer (PIPE) to implement the model in real time. Processing in the model is organized into stages corresponding to computations performed by each retinal cell type. The final stage is the transient (change detecting) ganglion cell. A CCD camera forms the input image, and the activity of a selected retinal cell type is the output which is displayed on a TV monitor. By changing the retina cell driving the monitor, the progressive transformations of the image by the retina can be observed. These simulations demonstrate the ubiquitous presence of temporal and spatial variations in the patterns of activity generated by the retina which are fed into the brain. The dynamical aspects make these patterns very different from those generated by the common DOG (Difference of Gaussian) model of receptive field. Because the retina is so successful in biological vision systems, the processing described here may be useful in machine vision.

A Mobile Multi-Agent Information System for Ubiquitous Fetal Monitoring

PubMed Central

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chu, Ta-Wei

2014-01-01

Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) systems integrate many previously separate clinical activities related to fetal monitoring. Promoting the use of ubiquitous fetal monitoring services with real time status assessments requires a robust information platform equipped with an automatic diagnosis engine. This paper presents the design and development of a mobile multi-agent platform-based open information systems (IMAIS) with an automated diagnosis engine to support intensive and distributed ubiquitous fetal monitoring. The automatic diagnosis engine that we developed is capable of analyzing data in both traditional paper-based and digital formats. Issues related to interoperability, scalability, and openness in heterogeneous e-health environments are addressed through the adoption of a FIPA2000 standard compliant agent development platform—the Java Agent Development Environment (JADE). Integrating the IMAIS with light-weight, portable fetal monitor devices allows for continuous long-term monitoring without interfering with a patient’s everyday activities and without restricting her mobility. The system architecture can be also applied to vast monitoring scenarios such as elder care and vital sign monitoring. PMID:24452256

A Wireless Sensor Network-Based Ubiquitous Paprika Growth Management System

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jeonghwan; Shin, Changsun; Yoe, Hyun

2010-01-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technology can facilitate advances in productivity, safety and human quality of life through its applications in various industries. In particular, the application of WSN technology to the agricultural area, which is labor-intensive compared to other industries, and in addition is typically lacking in IT technology applications, adds value and can increase the agricultural productivity. This study attempts to establish a ubiquitous agricultural environment and improve the productivity of farms that grow paprika by suggesting a ‘Ubiquitous Paprika Greenhouse Management System’ using WSN technology. The proposed system can collect and monitor information related to the growth environment of crops outside and inside paprika greenhouses by installing WSN sensors and monitoring images captured by CCTV cameras. In addition, the system provides a paprika greenhouse environment control facility for manual and automatic control from a distance, improves the convenience and productivity of users, and facilitates an optimized environment to grow paprika based on the growth environment data acquired by operating the system. PMID:22163543

A novel visual-inertial monocular SLAM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yue, Xiaofeng; Zhang, Wenjuan; Xu, Li; Liu, JiangGuo

2018-02-01

With the development of sensors and computer vision research community, cameras, which are accurate, compact, wellunderstood and most importantly cheap and ubiquitous today, have gradually been at the center of robot location. Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using visual features, which is a system getting motion information from image acquisition equipment and rebuild the structure in unknown environment. We provide an analysis of bioinspired flights in insects, employing a novel technique based on SLAM. Then combining visual and inertial measurements to get high accuracy and robustness. we present a novel tightly-coupled Visual-Inertial Simultaneous Localization and Mapping system which get a new attempt to address two challenges which are the initialization problem and the calibration problem. experimental results and analysis show the proposed approach has a more accurate quantitative simulation of insect navigation, which can reach the positioning accuracy of centimeter level.

A Comprehensive Review of Existing Risk Assessment Models in Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amini, Ahmad; Jamil, Norziana

2018-05-01

Cloud computing is a popular paradigm in information technology and computing as it offers numerous advantages in terms of economical saving and minimal management effort. Although elasticity and flexibility brings tremendous benefits, it still raises many information security issues due to its unique characteristic that allows ubiquitous computing. Therefore, the vulnerabilities and threats in cloud computing have to be identified and proper risk assessment mechanism has to be in place for better cloud computing management. Various quantitative and qualitative risk assessment models have been proposed but up to our knowledge, none of them is suitable for cloud computing environment. This paper, we compare and analyse the strengths and weaknesses of existing risk assessment models. We then propose a new risk assessment model that sufficiently address all the characteristics of cloud computing, which was not appeared in the existing models.

1995 Joseph E. Whitley, MD, Award. A World Wide Web gateway to the radiologic learning file.

PubMed

Channin, D S

1995-12-01

Computer networks in general, and the Internet specifically, are changing the way information is manipulated in the world at large and in radiology. The goal of this project was to develop a computer system in which images from the Radiologic Learning File, available previously only via a single-user laser disc, are made available over a generic, high-availability computer network to many potential users simultaneously. Using a networked workstation in our laboratory and freely available distributed hypertext software, we established a World Wide Web (WWW) information server for radiology. Images from the Radiologic Learning File are requested through the WWW client software, digitized from a single laser disc containing the entire teaching file and then transmitted over the network to the client. The text accompanying each image is incorporated into the transmitted document. The Radiologic Learning File is now on-line, and requests to view the cases result in the delivery of the text and images. Image digitization via a frame grabber takes 1/30th of a second. Conversion of the image to a standard computer graphic format takes 45-60 sec. Text and image transmission speed on a local area network varies between 200 and 400 kilobytes (KB) per second depending on the network load. We have made images from a laser disc of the Radiologic Learning File available through an Internet-based hypertext server. The images previously available through a single-user system located in a remote section of our department are now ubiquitously available throughout our department via the department's computer network. We have thus converted a single-user, limited functionality system into a multiuser, widely available resource.

PACALL: Supporting Language Learning Using SenseCam

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hou, Bin; Ogata, Hiroaki; Kunita, Toma; Li, Mengmeng; Uosaki, Noriko

2013-01-01

The authors' research defines a ubiquitous learning log (ULLO) as a digital record of what a learner has learned in the daily life using ubiquitous technologies. In their previous works, the authors proposed a model named LORE (Log--Organize--Recall--Evaluate) to describe the learning process of ULLO and developed a system named SCROLL to…

A collaborative computing framework of cloud network and WBSN applied to fall detection and 3-D motion reconstruction.

PubMed

Lai, Chin-Feng; Chen, Min; Pan, Jeng-Shyang; Youn, Chan-Hyun; Chao, Han-Chieh

2014-03-01

As cloud computing and wireless body sensor network technologies become gradually developed, ubiquitous healthcare services prevent accidents instantly and effectively, as well as provides relevant information to reduce related processing time and cost. This study proposes a co-processing intermediary framework integrated cloud and wireless body sensor networks, which is mainly applied to fall detection and 3-D motion reconstruction. In this study, the main focuses includes distributed computing and resource allocation of processing sensing data over the computing architecture, network conditions and performance evaluation. Through this framework, the transmissions and computing time of sensing data are reduced to enhance overall performance for the services of fall events detection and 3-D motion reconstruction.

IAServ: an intelligent home care web services platform in a cloud for aging-in-place.

PubMed

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu

2013-11-12

As the elderly population has been rapidly expanding and the core tax-paying population has been shrinking, the need for adequate elderly health and housing services continues to grow while the resources to provide such services are becoming increasingly scarce. Thus, increasing the efficiency of the delivery of healthcare services through the use of modern technology is a pressing issue. The seamless integration of such enabling technologies as ontology, intelligent agents, web services, and cloud computing is transforming healthcare from hospital-based treatments to home-based self-care and preventive care. A ubiquitous healthcare platform based on this technological integration, which synergizes service providers with patients' needs to be developed to provide personalized healthcare services at the right time, in the right place, and the right manner. This paper presents the development and overall architecture of IAServ (the Intelligent Aging-in-place Home care Web Services Platform) to provide personalized healthcare service ubiquitously in a cloud computing setting to support the most desirable and cost-efficient method of care for the aged-aging in place. The IAServ is expected to offer intelligent, pervasive, accurate and contextually-aware personal care services. Architecturally the implemented IAServ leverages web services and cloud computing to provide economic, scalable, and robust healthcare services over the Internet.

IAServ: An Intelligent Home Care Web Services Platform in a Cloud for Aging-in-Place

PubMed Central

Su, Chuan-Jun; Chiang, Chang-Yu

2013-01-01

As the elderly population has been rapidly expanding and the core tax-paying population has been shrinking, the need for adequate elderly health and housing services continues to grow while the resources to provide such services are becoming increasingly scarce. Thus, increasing the efficiency of the delivery of healthcare services through the use of modern technology is a pressing issue. The seamless integration of such enabling technologies as ontology, intelligent agents, web services, and cloud computing is transforming healthcare from hospital-based treatments to home-based self-care and preventive care. A ubiquitous healthcare platform based on this technological integration, which synergizes service providers with patients’ needs to be developed to provide personalized healthcare services at the right time, in the right place, and the right manner. This paper presents the development and overall architecture of IAServ (the Intelligent Aging-in-place Home care Web Services Platform) to provide personalized healthcare service ubiquitously in a cloud computing setting to support the most desirable and cost-efficient method of care for the aged-aging in place. The IAServ is expected to offer intelligent, pervasive, accurate and contextually-aware personal care services. Architecturally the implemented IAServ leverages web services and cloud computing to provide economic, scalable, and robust healthcare services over the Internet. PMID:24225647

Design and Fabrication of Millimeter Wave Hexagonal Nano-Ferrite Circulator on Silicon CMOS Substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oukacha, Hassan

The rapid advancement of Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology has formed the backbone of the modern computing revolution enabling the development of computationally intensive electronic devices that are smaller, faster, less expensive, and consume less power. This well-established technology has transformed the mobile computing and communications industries by providing high levels of system integration on a single substrate, high reliability and low manufacturing cost. The driving force behind this computing revolution is the scaling of semiconductor devices to smaller geometries which has resulted in faster switching speeds and the promise of replacing traditional, bulky radio frequency (RF) components with miniaturized devices. Such devices play an important role in our society enabling ubiquitous computing and on-demand data access. This thesis presents the design and development of a magnetic circulator component in a standard 180 nm CMOS process. The design approach involves integration of nanoscale ferrite materials on a CMOS chip to avoid using bulky magnetic materials employed in conventional circulators. This device constitutes the next generation broadband millimeter-wave circulator integrated in CMOS using ferrite materials operating in the 60GHz frequency band. The unlicensed ultra-high frequency spectrum around 60GHz offers many benefits: very high immunity to interference, high security, and frequency re-use. Results of both simulations and measurements are presented in this thesis. The presented results show the benefits of this technique and the potential that it has in incorporating a complete system-on-chip (SoC) that includes low noise amplifier, power amplier, and antenna. This system-on-chip can be used in the same applications where the conventional circulator has been employed, including communication systems, radar systems, navigation and air traffic control, and military equipment. This set of applications of circulator shows how crucial this device is to many industries and the need for smaller, cost effective RF components.

Rethinking Visual Analytics for Streaming Data Applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crouser, R. Jordan; Franklin, Lyndsey; Cook, Kris

In the age of data science, the use of interactive information visualization techniques has become increasingly ubiquitous. From online scientific journals to the New York Times graphics desk, the utility of interactive visualization for both storytelling and analysis has become ever more apparent. As these techniques have become more readily accessible, the appeal of combining interactive visualization with computational analysis continues to grow. Arising out of a need for scalable, human-driven analysis, primary objective of visual analytics systems is to capitalize on the complementary strengths of human and machine analysis, using interactive visualization as a medium for communication between themore » two. These systems leverage developments from the fields of information visualization, computer graphics, machine learning, and human-computer interaction to support insight generation in areas where purely computational analyses fall short. Over the past decade, visual analytics systems have generated remarkable advances in many historically challenging analytical contexts. These include areas such as modeling political systems [Crouser et al. 2012], detecting financial fraud [Chang et al. 2008], and cybersecurity [Harrison et al. 2012]. In each of these contexts, domain expertise and human intuition is a necessary component of the analysis. This intuition is essential to building trust in the analytical products, as well as supporting the translation of evidence into actionable insight. In addition, each of these examples also highlights the need for scalable analysis. In each case, it is infeasible for a human analyst to manually assess the raw information unaided, and the communication overhead to divide the task between a large number of analysts makes simple parallelism intractable. Regardless of the domain, visual analytics tools strive to optimize the allocation of human analytical resources, and to streamline the sensemaking process on data that is massive, complex, incomplete, and uncertain in scenarios requiring human judgment.« less

Integrated Environment for Ubiquitous Healthcare and Mobile IPv6 Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cagalaban, Giovanni; Kim, Seoksoo

The development of Internet technologies based on the IPv6 protocol will allow real-time monitoring of people with health deficiencies and improve the independence of elderly people. This paper proposed a ubiquitous healthcare system for the personalized healthcare services with the support of mobile IPv6 networks. Specifically, this paper discusses the integration of ubiquitous healthcare and wireless networks and its functional requirements. This allow an integrated environment where heterogeneous devices such a mobile devices and body sensors can continuously monitor patient status and communicate remotely with healthcare servers, physicians, and family members to effectively deliver healthcare services.

Development of HIHM (Home Integrated Health Monitor) for ubiquitous home healthcare.

PubMed

Kim, Jung Soo; Kim, Beom Oh; Park, Kwang Suk

2007-01-01

Home Integrated Health Monitor (HIHM) was developed for ubiquitous home healthcare. From quantitative analysis, we have elicited modal of chair. The HIHM could detect Electrocardiogram (ECG) and Photoplethysmography (PPG) non-intrusively. Also, it could estimate blood pressure (BP) non-intrusively, measure blood glucose and ear temperature. Detected signals and information were transmitted to home gateway and home server through Zigbee communication technology. Home server carried them to Healthcare Center, and specialists such as medical doctors could monitor by Internet. There was also feedback system. This device has a potential to study about ubiquitous home healthcare.

Commonalities in Pedagogy Situating Cell Phone Use in the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abend, Laurie Lafer

2013-01-01

Technology has become embedded in all aspects of students' lives as they increasingly rely on mobile technology devices such as cell phones to access and share information. Cell phones function as portable, affordable, and ubiquitous mini-computers, yet few teachers have leveraged the benefits of cell phone technology for teaching and learning…

A Review of Models and Frameworks for Designing Mobile Learning Experiences and Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Yu-Chang; Ching, Yu-Hui

2015-01-01

Mobile learning has become increasingly popular in the past decade due to the unprecedented technological affordances achieved through the advancement of mobile computing, which makes ubiquitous and situated learning possible. At the same time, there have been research and implementation projects whose efforts centered on developing mobile…

Considering Learning Styles and Context-Awareness for Mobile Adaptive Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tortorella, Richard A. W.; Graf, Sabine

2017-01-01

Mobile devices are becoming ubiquitous in our society and more so with school aged children. In order to get the most out of the portable computing power present at students' fingertips, this paper proposes an approach for providing mobile, personalized course content tailored to each individual's learning style while incorporating adaptive…

Educational Technology on Demand: It's about Time!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weir, Bob; Mickool, Rick; Hitch, Leslie

2006-01-01

Today's incoming freshmen, born in 1988, have never known a time when the Internet and personal computers were not ubiquitous. They expect "what I want, when I need it, wherever I happen to be, on whatever workstation I have available." Many industries already meet this demand--entertainment (legal or pirated), cable TV, digital video recorders,…

A Case Study in CAD Design Automation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lowe, Andrew G.; Hartman, Nathan W.

2011-01-01

Computer-aided design (CAD) software and other product life-cycle management (PLM) tools have become ubiquitous in industry during the past 20 years. Over this time they have continuously evolved, becoming programs with enormous capabilities, but the companies that use them have not evolved their design practices at the same rate. Due to the…

Risky Business or Sharing the Load?--Social Flow in Collaborative Mobile Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ryu, Hokyoung; Parsons, David

2012-01-01

Mobile learning has been built upon the premise that we can transform traditional classroom or computer-based learning activities into a more ubiquitous and connected form of learning. Tentative outcomes from this assertion have been witnessed in many collaborative learning activities, but few analytic observations on what triggers this…

Computer Assisted Language Learning and the Internationalisation of the Portuguese Language in Higher Education Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevilla-Pavón, Ana

2015-01-01

The internationalisation of the Portuguese language has become a priority for academic institutions of different Portuguese-speaking countries which are trying to adapt to the current context of globalisation and ubiquitous communications through digital media. In order to achieve it, several challenges should be faced, namely providing…

Macro or Micro: Teaching Fifth-Grade Economics Using Handheld Computers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van't Hooft, Mark; Kelly, Jan

2004-01-01

Imagine a classroom where students beam their assignments to the teacher instead of handing them in. Imagine a classroom where technology is ubiquitous yet nearly invisible. Imagine a classroom where all students simultaneously work together using technology. This is the reality for students in the fifth grade classroom of Jan Kelly, an elementary…

Integration of Wireless Technologies in Smart University Campus Environment: Framework Architecture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khamayseh, Yaser; Mardini, Wail; Aljawarneh, Shadi; Yassein, Muneer Bani

2015-01-01

In this paper, the authors are particularly interested in enhancing the education process by integrating new tools to the teaching environments. This enhancement is part of an emerging concept, called smart campus. Smart University Campus will come up with a new ubiquitous computing and communication field and change people's lives radically by…

A Novel Certificateless Signature Scheme for Smart Objects in the Internet-of-Things.

PubMed

Yeh, Kuo-Hui; Su, Chunhua; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Chiu, Wayne

2017-05-01

Rapid advances in wireless communications and pervasive computing technologies have resulted in increasing interest and popularity of Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, ubiquitously providing intelligence and convenience to our daily life. In IoT-based network environments, smart objects are embedded everywhere as ubiquitous things connected in a pervasive manner. Ensuring security for interactions between these smart things is significantly more important, and a topic of ongoing interest. In this paper, we present a certificateless signature scheme for smart objects in IoT-based pervasive computing environments. We evaluate the utility of the proposed scheme in IoT-oriented testbeds, i.e., Arduino Uno and Raspberry PI 2. Experiment results present the practicability of the proposed scheme. Moreover, we revisit the scheme of Wang et al. (2015) and revealed that a malicious super type I adversary can easily forge a legitimate signature to cheat any receiver as he/she wishes in the scheme. The superiority of the proposed certificateless signature scheme over relevant studies is demonstrated in terms of the summarized security and performance comparisons.

A Novel Certificateless Signature Scheme for Smart Objects in the Internet-of-Things

PubMed Central

Yeh, Kuo-Hui; Su, Chunhua; Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Chiu, Wayne

2017-01-01

Rapid advances in wireless communications and pervasive computing technologies have resulted in increasing interest and popularity of Internet-of-Things (IoT) architecture, ubiquitously providing intelligence and convenience to our daily life. In IoT-based network environments, smart objects are embedded everywhere as ubiquitous things connected in a pervasive manner. Ensuring security for interactions between these smart things is significantly more important, and a topic of ongoing interest. In this paper, we present a certificateless signature scheme for smart objects in IoT-based pervasive computing environments. We evaluate the utility of the proposed scheme in IoT-oriented testbeds, i.e., Arduino Uno and Raspberry PI 2. Experiment results present the practicability of the proposed scheme. Moreover, we revisit the scheme of Wang et al. (2015) and revealed that a malicious super type I adversary can easily forge a legitimate signature to cheat any receiver as he/she wishes in the scheme. The superiority of the proposed certificateless signature scheme over relevant studies is demonstrated in terms of the summarized security and performance comparisons. PMID:28468313

Application of zonal model on indoor air sensor network design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Y. Lisa; Wen, Jin

2007-04-01

Growing concerns over the safety of the indoor environment have made the use of sensors ubiquitous. Sensors that detect chemical and biological warfare agents can offer early warning of dangerous contaminants. However, current sensor system design is more informed by intuition and experience rather by systematic design. To develop a sensor system design methodology, a proper indoor airflow modeling approach is needed. Various indoor airflow modeling techniques, from complicated computational fluid dynamics approaches to simplified multi-zone approaches, exist in the literature. In this study, the effects of two airflow modeling techniques, multi-zone modeling technique and zonal modeling technique, on indoor air protection sensor system design are discussed. Common building attack scenarios, using a typical CBW agent, are simulated. Both multi-zone and zonal models are used to predict airflows and contaminant dispersion. Genetic Algorithm is then applied to optimize the sensor location and quantity. Differences in the sensor system design resulting from the two airflow models are discussed for a typical office environment and a large hall environment.

To track or not to track: user reactions to concepts in longitudinal health monitoring.

PubMed

Beaudin, Jennifer S; Intille, Stephen S; Morris, Margaret E

2006-01-01

Advances in ubiquitous computing, smart homes, and sensor technologies enable novel, longitudinal health monitoring applications in the home. Many home monitoring technologies have been proposed to detect health crises, support aging-in-place, and improve medical care. Health professionals and potential end users in the lay public, however, sometimes question whether home health monitoring is justified given the cost and potential invasion of privacy. The aim of the study was to elicit specific feedback from health professionals and laypeople about how they might use longitudinal health monitoring data for proactive health and well-being. Interviews were conducted with 8 health professionals and 26 laypeople. Participants were asked to evaluate mock data visualization displays that could be generated by novel home monitoring systems. The mock displays were used to elicit reactions to longitudinal monitoring in the home setting as well as what behaviors, events, and physiological indicators people were interested in tracking. Based on the qualitative data provided by the interviews, lists of benefits of and concerns about health tracking from the perspectives of the practitioners and laypeople were compiled. Variables of particular interest to the interviewees, as well as their specific ideas for applications of collected data, were documented. Based upon these interviews, we recommend that ubiquitous "monitoring" systems may be more readily adopted if they are developed as tools for personalized, longitudinal self-investigation that help end users learn about the conditions and variables that impact their social, cognitive, and physical health.

Ubiquitous Geometry: Some Examples Showing the Significance of Size and Shape in the Works of Man and Nature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bachman, C. H.

1988-01-01

Presents examples to show the ubiquitous nature of geometry. Illustrates the relationship between the perimeter and area of two-dimensional objects and between the area and volume of three-dimensional objects. Provides examples of distribution systems, optimum shapes, structural strength, biological heat engines, man's size, and reflection and…

A Heuristic Algorithm for Planning Personalized Learning Paths for Context-Aware Ubiquitous Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Kuo, Fan-Ray; Yin, Peng-Yeng; Chuang, Kuo-Hsien

2010-01-01

In a context-aware ubiquitous learning environment, learning systems can detect students' learning behaviors in the real-world with the help of context-aware (sensor) technology; that is, students can be guided to observe or operate real-world objects with personalized support from the digital world. In this study, an optimization problem that…

Assessment of soil attributes and crop productivity after diversification of the ubiquitous corn-soybean rotation in the northwestern U.S. Corn Belt

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Highly specialized cash-grain production systems based upon corn-soybean rotations under tilled soil management are common in the northwestern U.S. Corn Belt. This study, initiated in 1997, was conducted to determine if diversification of this ubiquitous corn-soybean rotation would affect soil char...

Meeting the challenges--the role of medical informatics in an ageing society.

PubMed

Koch, Sabine

2006-01-01

The objective of this paper is to identify trends and new technological developments that appear due to an ageing society and to relate them to current research in the field of medical informatics. A survey of the current literature reveals that recent technological advances have been made in the fields of "telecare and home-monitoring", "smart homes and robotics" and "health information systems and knowledge management". Innovative technologies such as wearable devices, bio- and environmental sensors and mobile, humanoid robots do already exist and ambient assistant living environments are being created for an ageing society. However, those technologies have to be adapted to older people's self-care processes and coping strategies, and to support new ways of healthcare delivery. Medical informatics can support this process by providing the necessary information infrastructure, contribute to standardisation, interoperability and security issues and provide modelling and simulation techniques for educational purposes. Research fields of increasing importance with regard to an ageing society are, moreover, the fields of knowledge management, ubiquitous computing and human-computer interaction.

A Computational Study of the Rheology and Structure of Surfactant Covered Droplets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maia, Joao; Boromand, Arman; Jamali, Safa

2015-11-01

The use of different types of surface-active agents is ubiquitous practice in different industrial applications ranging from cosmetic and food industries to polymeric nano-composite and blends. This allows stable multiphasic systems like foams and emulsions to be produced. Stability and shelf-life of those products are directly determined by the efficiency of the surfactant molecules. Although the effect of molecular configuration of the surface-active molecules on the planar interfaces has been studied both experimentally and computationally, it remains challenging to track the efficiency and effectiveness of different surfactant molecules on curved interfaces. In this study we address this gap by using Dissipative Particle Dynamics, to study the effectiveness and efficiency of different surfactant molecules (linear vs. branched) on a curved interface in equilibrium and far from equilibrium. In particular, we are interested to relate interfacial properties of the surface covered droplets and its dynamics to the molecular configuration of the surface active molecules under equilibrium and far from equilibrium condition.

A symbiotic approach to fluid equations and non-linear flux-driven simulations of plasma dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halpern, Federico

2017-10-01

The fluid framework is ubiquitous in studies of plasma transport and stability. Typical forms of the fluid equations are motivated by analytical work dating several decades ago, before computer simulations were indispensable, and can be, therefore, not optimal for numerical computation. We demonstrate a new first-principles approach to obtaining manifestly consistent, skew-symmetric fluid models, ensuring internal consistency and conservation properties even in discrete form. Mass, kinetic, and internal energy become quadratic (and always positive) invariants of the system. The model lends itself to a robust, straightforward discretization scheme with inherent non-linear stability. A simpler, drift-ordered form of the equations is obtained, and first results of their numerical implementation as a binary framework for bulk-fluid global plasma simulations are demonstrated. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, Theory Program, under Award No. DE-FG02-95ER54309.

Advances in medical image computing.

PubMed

Tolxdorff, T; Deserno, T M; Handels, H; Meinzer, H-P

2009-01-01

Medical image computing has become a key technology in high-tech applications in medicine and an ubiquitous part of modern imaging systems and the related processes of clinical diagnosis and intervention. Over the past years significant progress has been made in the field, both on methodological and on application level. Despite this progress there are still big challenges to meet in order to establish image processing routinely in health care. In this issue, selected contributions of the German Conference on Medical Image Processing (BVM) are assembled to present latest advances in the field of medical image computing. The winners of scientific awards of the German Conference on Medical Image Processing (BVM) 2008 were invited to submit a manuscript on their latest developments and results for possible publication in Methods of Information in Medicine. Finally, seven excellent papers were selected to describe important aspects of recent advances in the field of medical image processing. The selected papers give an impression of the breadth and heterogeneity of new developments. New methods for improved image segmentation, non-linear image registration and modeling of organs are presented together with applications of image analysis methods in different medical disciplines. Furthermore, state-of-the-art tools and techniques to support the development and evaluation of medical image processing systems in practice are described. The selected articles describe different aspects of the intense development in medical image computing. The image processing methods presented enable new insights into the patient's image data and have the future potential to improve medical diagnostics and patient treatment.

Development of high-performance low-reflection rugged resistive touch screens for military displays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Raymond; Wang, Minshine; Thomas, John; Wang, Lawrence; Chang, Victor

2010-04-01

Just as iPhones with sophisticated touch interfaces have revolutionised the human interface for the ubiquitous cell phone, the Military is rapidly adopting touch-screens as a primary interface to their computers and vehicle systems. This paper describes the development of a true military touch interface solution from an existing industrial design. We will report on successful development of 10.4" and 15.4" high performance rugged resistive touch panels using IAD sputter coating. Low reflectance (specular < 1% and diffuse < 0.07%) was achieved with high impact, dust, and chemical resistant surface finishes. These touch panels were qualified over a wide operational temperature range, -51°C to +80°C specifically for military and rugged industrial applications.

New Sociotechnical Insights in Interaction Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdelnour-Nocera, José; Mørch, Anders I.

New challenges are facing interaction design. On one hand because of advances in technology - pervasive, ubiquitous, multimodal and adaptive computing - are changing the nature of interaction. On the other, web 2.0, massive multiplayer games and collaboration software extends the boundaries of HCI to deal with interaction in settings of remote communication and collaboration. The aim of this workshop is to provide a forum for HCI practitioners and researchers interested in knowledge from the social sciences to discuss how sociotechnical insights can be used to inform interaction design, and more generally how social science methods and theories can help to enrich the conceptual framework of systems development and participatory design. Position papers submissions are invited to address key aspects of current research and practical case studies.

An energy-efficient communication method based on the relationships between biological signals for ubiquitous health monitoring.

PubMed

Kwon, Hyok Chon; Na, Doosu; Ko, Byung Geun; Lee, Songjun

2008-01-01

Wireless sensor networks have been studied in the area of intelligent transportation systems, disaster perception, environment monitoring, ubiquitous healthcare, home network, and so on. For the ubiquitous healthcare, the previous systems collect the sensed health related data at portable devices without regard to correlations of various biological signals to determine the health conditions. It is not the energy-efficient method to gather a lot of information into a specific node to decide the health condition. Since the biological signals are related with each other to estimate certain body condition, it is necessary to be collected selectively by their relationship for energy efficiency of the networked nodes. One of researches about low power consumption is the reduction of the amount of packet transmission. In this paper, a health monitoring system, which allows the transmission of the reduced number of packets by means of setting the routing path considered the relations of biological signals, is proposed.

Design and Implementation of Ubiquitous Health System U-Health Using Smart-Watches Sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razavi Termeh, V.; Sadeghi Niaraki, A.

2015-12-01

Today as diseases grow rapidly, the responsibilities of the health clinics in giving services to patients increase and patients have to be more monitored and controlled. Remote systems of monitoring patients result in reducing cost, ease of movement, and also persistent control of patients by their doctors, so that patient can be monitored without need to go to the clinic. Recent advances in the field of ubiquitous sciences as well as using smartphones have resulted in increasingly use of this devices in remote monitoring of patients. The aim of this paper is to design and implement a ubiquitous health system using smartphones and sensors of smart-watches. This is accomplished through the information sent to the smartphone from the sensors of the watch, e.g. heart beat measurement sensor and ultraviolet ray. Then, this information is analyzed in the smartphone and some information based on the position of the patient and the path of him/her using GIS analyses as well as the information about the health level of the patient is sent to the doctor via SMS or phone call. Unnatural heart beats can be resulted in diseases such as Heart Failure and Arterial Fibrillation. With the approach adopted in this study, the patient or the doctor could be aware of these diseases at any time. The proposed approach is a low cost, without need to complex and resilient equipment, system in ubiquitous health that does not limit the movement of the patient.

Cloud based emergency health care information service in India.

PubMed

Karthikeyan, N; Sukanesh, R

2012-12-01

A hospital is a health care organization providing patient treatment by expert physicians, surgeons and equipments. A report from a health care accreditation group says that miscommunication between patients and health care providers is the reason for the gap in providing emergency medical care to people in need. In developing countries, illiteracy is the major key root for deaths resulting from uncertain diseases constituting a serious public health problem. Mentally affected, differently abled and unconscious patients can't communicate about their medical history to the medical practitioners. Also, Medical practitioners can't edit or view DICOM images instantly. Our aim is to provide palm vein pattern recognition based medical record retrieval system, using cloud computing for the above mentioned people. Distributed computing technology is coming in the new forms as Grid computing and Cloud computing. These new forms are assured to bring Information Technology (IT) as a service. In this paper, we have described how these new forms of distributed computing will be helpful for modern health care industries. Cloud Computing is germinating its benefit to industrial sectors especially in medical scenarios. In Cloud Computing, IT-related capabilities and resources are provided as services, via the distributed computing on-demand. This paper is concerned with sprouting software as a service (SaaS) by means of Cloud computing with an aim to bring emergency health care sector in an umbrella with physical secured patient records. In framing the emergency healthcare treatment, the crucial thing considered necessary to decide about patients is their previous health conduct records. Thus a ubiquitous access to appropriate records is essential. Palm vein pattern recognition promises a secured patient record access. Likewise our paper reveals an efficient means to view, edit or transfer the DICOM images instantly which was a challenging task for medical practitioners in the past years. We have developed two services for health care. 1. Cloud based Palm vein recognition system 2. Distributed Medical image processing tools for medical practitioners.

InfoSymbiotics/DDDAS - The power of Dynamic Data Driven Applications Systems for New Capabilities in Environmental -, Geo-, and Space- Sciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Darema, F.

2016-12-01

InfoSymbiotics/DDDAS embodies the power of Dynamic Data Driven Applications Systems (DDDAS), a concept whereby an executing application model is dynamically integrated, in a feed-back loop, with the real-time data-acquisition and control components, as well as other data sources of the application system. Advanced capabilities can be created through such new computational approaches in modeling and simulations, and in instrumentation methods, and include: enhancing the accuracy of the application model; speeding-up the computation to allow faster and more comprehensive models of a system, and create decision support systems with the accuracy of full-scale simulations; in addition, the notion of controlling instrumentation processes by the executing application results in more efficient management of application-data and addresses challenges of how to architect and dynamically manage large sets of heterogeneous sensors and controllers, an advance over the static and ad-hoc ways of today - with DDDAS these sets of resources can be managed adaptively and in optimized ways. Large-Scale-Dynamic-Data encompasses the next wave of Big Data, and namely dynamic data arising from ubiquitous sensing and control in engineered, natural, and societal systems, through multitudes of heterogeneous sensors and controllers instrumenting these systems, and where opportunities and challenges at these "large-scales" relate not only to data size but the heterogeneity in data, data collection modalities, fidelities, and timescales, ranging from real-time data to archival data. In tandem with this important dimension of dynamic data, there is an extended view of Big Computing, which includes the collective computing by networked assemblies of multitudes of sensors and controllers, this range from the high-end to the real-time seamlessly integrated and unified, and comprising the Large-Scale-Big-Computing. InfoSymbiotics/DDDAS engenders transformative impact in many application domains, ranging from the nano-scale to the terra-scale and to the extra-terra-scale. The talk will address opportunities for new capabilities together with corresponding research challenges, with illustrative examples from several application areas including environmental sciences, geosciences, and space sciences.

Finding the way with a noisy brain.

PubMed

Cheung, Allen; Vickerstaff, Robert

2010-11-11

Successful navigation is fundamental to the survival of nearly every animal on earth, and achieved by nervous systems of vastly different sizes and characteristics. Yet surprisingly little is known of the detailed neural circuitry from any species which can accurately represent space for navigation. Path integration is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous navigation strategies in the animal kingdom. Despite a plethora of computational models, from equational to neural network form, there is currently no consensus, even in principle, of how this important phenomenon occurs neurally. Recently, all path integration models were examined according to a novel, unifying classification system. Here we combine this theoretical framework with recent insights from directed walk theory, and develop an intuitive yet mathematically rigorous proof that only one class of neural representation of space can tolerate noise during path integration. This result suggests many existing models of path integration are not biologically plausible due to their intolerance to noise. This surprising result imposes significant computational limitations on the neurobiological spatial representation of all successfully navigating animals, irrespective of species. Indeed, noise-tolerance may be an important functional constraint on the evolution of neuroarchitectural plans in the animal kingdom.

Synchronicity from synchronized chaos

DOE PAGES

Duane, Gregory

2015-04-01

The synchronization of loosely-coupled chaotic oscillators, a phenomenon investigated intensively for the last two decades, may realize the philosophical concept of “synchronicity”—the commonplace notion that related events mysteriously occur at the same time. When extended to continuous media and/or large discrete arrays, and when general (non-identical) correspondences are considered between states, intermittent synchronous relationships indeed become ubiquitous. Meaningful synchronicity follows naturally if meaningful events are identified with coherent structures, defined by internal synchronization between remote degrees of freedom; a condition that has been posited as necessary for synchronizability with an external system. The important case of synchronization between mind andmore » matter is realized if mind is analogized to a computer model, synchronizing with a sporadically observed system, as in meteorological data assimilation. Evidence for the ubiquity of synchronization is reviewed along with recent proposals that: (1) synchronization of different models of the same objective process may be an expeditious route to improved computational modeling and may also describe the functioning of conscious brains; and (2) the nonlocality in quantum phenomena implied by Bell’s theorem may be explained in a variety of deterministic (hidden variable) interpretations if the quantum world resides on a generalized synchronization “manifold”.« less

Synchronicity from synchronized chaos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duane, Gregory

The synchronization of loosely-coupled chaotic oscillators, a phenomenon investigated intensively for the last two decades, may realize the philosophical concept of “synchronicity”—the commonplace notion that related events mysteriously occur at the same time. When extended to continuous media and/or large discrete arrays, and when general (non-identical) correspondences are considered between states, intermittent synchronous relationships indeed become ubiquitous. Meaningful synchronicity follows naturally if meaningful events are identified with coherent structures, defined by internal synchronization between remote degrees of freedom; a condition that has been posited as necessary for synchronizability with an external system. The important case of synchronization between mind andmore » matter is realized if mind is analogized to a computer model, synchronizing with a sporadically observed system, as in meteorological data assimilation. Evidence for the ubiquity of synchronization is reviewed along with recent proposals that: (1) synchronization of different models of the same objective process may be an expeditious route to improved computational modeling and may also describe the functioning of conscious brains; and (2) the nonlocality in quantum phenomena implied by Bell’s theorem may be explained in a variety of deterministic (hidden variable) interpretations if the quantum world resides on a generalized synchronization “manifold”.« less

Smart Phones, a Powerful Tool in the Chemistry Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williams, Antony J.; Pence, Harry E.

2011-01-01

Cell phones, especially "smart phones", seem to have become ubiquitous. Actually, it is misleading to call many of these devices phones, as they are actually a portable and powerful computer that can be very valuable in the chemistry classroom. Currently, there are three major ways in which smart phones can be used for education. Smart phones…

Dividing at an Early Age: The Hidden Digital Divide in Ohio Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Lawrence; Howley, Aimee

2012-01-01

Computers are now a ubiquitous part of US elementary school education. With policy reports suggesting that inequities in information and communication technology (ICT) access across US schools are a thing of the past, investigating how such resources and their use may nonetheless continue to vary becomes all that much more important. Through a…

A Quantitative Examination of User Experience as an Antecedent to Student Perception in Technology Acceptance Modeling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butler, Rory

2013-01-01

Internet-enabled mobile devices have increased the accessibility of learning content for students. Given the ubiquitous nature of mobile computing technology, a thorough understanding of the acceptance factors that impact a learner's intention to use mobile technology as an augment to their studies is warranted. Student acceptance of mobile…

Facebook Usage as a Predictor of Retention at a Private 4-Year Institution

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morris, Jason; Reese, Jeff; Beck, Richard; Mattis, Charles

2010-01-01

Computer-based social networking has become ubiquitous on college and university campuses. However, little is known about how this form of networking reflects social integration which is considered to be an integral component of student persistence. To address this topic, a random sample of 375 entering freshman were used to evaluate the…

An Investigation of the Determinants of Employees' Decisions to Use Organizational Computing Resources for Non-Work Purposes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Campbell, Stephen Matthew

2010-01-01

Internet access in the workplace has become ubiquitous in many organizations. Often, employees need this access to perform their duties. However, many studies report a large percentage of employees use their work Internet access for non-work-related activities. These activities can result in reduced efficiency, increased vulnerability to cyber…

High-Performance Computing Opportunities and Challenges for Army R&D

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

39 6.5. P(k) for E . Coli ...............................................................................40 ix Tables 2.1. Hardware... vaccines and immune enhancements for expeditionary warfare and home- land security (including gene vaccines , edible vaccines , and radioprotective...of a bacterium—such as the ubiquitous E . Coli . However, at least the intention exists to extend this research to more complicated “eukaryotic”5

A Conceptual Framework and a Toolkit for Supporting the Rapid Prototyping of Context-Aware Applications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dey, Anind K.; Abowd, Gregory D.; Salber, Daniel

2001-01-01

Discusses the trend toward ubiquitous computing and the challenge to enhance the behavior of any application by informing it of the context of its use. Defines context related to the interaction between humans, applications, and the surrounding environment; and presents a conceptual framework and a toolkit for supporting the rapid prototyping of…

Tablet and phone applications--A reflection on the experience of development.

PubMed

Edwards, Simon; Winckles, Derek; Leonard, Mark

2015-06-01

Tablet devices are now ubiquitous. Medical illustrators have the skills to produce a wide range of media content. These devices offer the potential of using their creative abilities in new and exciting ways. There is much to explore. The primary difficulty lies in understanding the necessary computer technical skills to realise a vision.

Digital "Learning Trails": Scaling Technology-Facilitated Curricular Innovation in Schools with a "Rhizomatic" Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jamaludin, Azilawati; Hung, David Wei Loong

2016-01-01

Technological advances in the form of ubiquitous computing has altered the learning landscape today. Contemporary modes of learning afford curricular innovations in schools. While learning journeys of decades ago entailed field trips to places of interest such as museums and zoos where students completed tasks or worksheets after each trip, the…

Building the Future of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson, Les

2007-01-01

Could it be that in our excitement about e-learning we forgot about buildings? With the advent of the personal computer and ubiquitous networks were we enticed into thinking that they would suffice and learning would follow removing the need for places and communities for learners? We now seem to have woken up, however, as there is an enormous…

Do Ubiquitous Laptop Initiatives Decrease the High School Dropout Rate?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Basham, Misty Dawn

2012-01-01

In 2007, Mooresville Graded School District developed a strategic plan to infuse twenty-first-century learning skills into the schools by providing staff and students in grades four through twelve with a laptop computer. In late fall of 2007, Mooresville High School deployed laptops to all certified staff and to the entire student body in the…

Ubiquitous Learning (U-Learning) Awareness among the Tuticorin District B.Ed., Trainees

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thiyagu, K.

2011-01-01

The rapid development of information and communication technologies during the past two decades has had many points of contact with education and training. The use of technology in colleges and schools is not new. Teacher training often includes computer-assisted learning along with other multimedia presentation techniques. The power of ICT over…

Real-Time Communication Support for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks †.

PubMed

Santos, Rodrigo; Orozco, Javier; Micheletto, Matias; Ochoa, Sergio F; Meseguer, Roc; Millan, Pere; Molina, And Carlos

2017-07-14

Underwater sensor networks represent an important and promising field of research due to the large diversity of underwater ubiquitous applications that can be supported by these networks, e.g., systems that deliver tsunami and oil spill warnings, or monitor submarine ecosystems. Most of these monitoring and warning systems require real-time communication in wide area networks that have a low density of nodes. The underwater communication medium involved in these networks is very harsh and imposes strong restrictions to the communication process. In this scenario, the real-time transmission of information is done mainly using acoustic signals, since the network nodes are not physically close. The features of the communication scenario and the requirements of the communication process represent major challenges for designers of both, communication protocols and monitoring and warning systems. The lack of models to represent these networks is the main stumbling block for the proliferation of underwater ubiquitous systems. This paper presents a real-time communication model for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW-ASN) that are designed to cover wide areas with a low density of nodes, using any-to-any communication. This model is analytic, considers two solution approaches for scheduling the real-time messages, and provides a time-constraint analysis for the network performance. Using this model, the designers of protocols and underwater ubiquitous systems can quickly prototype and evaluate their solutions in an evolving way, in order to determine the best solution to the problem being addressed. The suitability of the proposal is illustrated with a case study that shows the performance of a UW-ASN under several initial conditions. This is the first analytic model for representing real-time communication in this type of network, and therefore, it opens the door for the development of underwater ubiquitous systems for several application scenarios.

Real-Time Communication Support for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks †

PubMed Central

Santos, Rodrigo; Orozco, Javier; Micheletto, Matias

2017-01-01

Underwater sensor networks represent an important and promising field of research due to the large diversity of underwater ubiquitous applications that can be supported by these networks, e.g., systems that deliver tsunami and oil spill warnings, or monitor submarine ecosystems. Most of these monitoring and warning systems require real-time communication in wide area networks that have a low density of nodes. The underwater communication medium involved in these networks is very harsh and imposes strong restrictions to the communication process. In this scenario, the real-time transmission of information is done mainly using acoustic signals, since the network nodes are not physically close. The features of the communication scenario and the requirements of the communication process represent major challenges for designers of both, communication protocols and monitoring and warning systems. The lack of models to represent these networks is the main stumbling block for the proliferation of underwater ubiquitous systems. This paper presents a real-time communication model for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UW-ASN) that are designed to cover wide areas with a low density of nodes, using any-to-any communication. This model is analytic, considers two solution approaches for scheduling the real-time messages, and provides a time-constraint analysis for the network performance. Using this model, the designers of protocols and underwater ubiquitous systems can quickly prototype and evaluate their solutions in an evolving way, in order to determine the best solution to the problem being addressed. The suitability of the proposal is illustrated with a case study that shows the performance of a UW-ASN under several initial conditions. This is the first analytic model for representing real-time communication in this type of network, and therefore, it opens the door for the development of underwater ubiquitous systems for several application scenarios. PMID:28708093

Cloud computing for context-aware enhanced m-Health services.

PubMed

Fernandez-Llatas, Carlos; Pileggi, Salvatore F; Ibañez, Gema; Valero, Zoe; Sala, Pilar

2015-01-01

m-Health services are increasing its presence in our lives due to the high penetration of new smartphone devices. This new scenario proposes new challenges in terms of information accessibility that require new paradigms which enable the new applications to access the data in a continuous and ubiquitous way, ensuring the privacy required depending on the kind of data accessed. This paper proposes an architecture based on cloud computing paradigms in order to empower new m-Health applications to enrich their results by providing secure access to user data.

Menopause on the Internet: building knowledge and community on-line.

PubMed

MacPherson, K I

1997-09-01

Computers are ubiquitous throughout the developed world. Diverse discourses address the pros and cons of using this technology in higher education. Nursing has extensively used informatics but has not, as yet, been involved to any extent in teaching on the Internet. I argue that nurse educators should use computer technology to present substantive and rigorous courses that deal with complex issues, using menopause as an example. A for-credit menopause course I taught via e-mail is used to illustrate the possibility of building knowledge and a sense of community on the Internet.

ABrIL - Advanced Brain Imaging Lab : a cloud based computation environment for cooperative neuroimaging projects.

PubMed

Neves Tafula, Sérgio M; Moreira da Silva, Nádia; Rozanski, Verena E; Silva Cunha, João Paulo

2014-01-01

Neuroscience is an increasingly multidisciplinary and highly cooperative field where neuroimaging plays an important role. Neuroimaging rapid evolution is demanding for a growing number of computing resources and skills that need to be put in place at every lab. Typically each group tries to setup their own servers and workstations to support their neuroimaging needs, having to learn from Operating System management to specific neuroscience software tools details before any results can be obtained from each setup. This setup and learning process is replicated in every lab, even if a strong collaboration among several groups is going on. In this paper we present a new cloud service model - Brain Imaging Application as a Service (BiAaaS) - and one of its implementation - Advanced Brain Imaging Lab (ABrIL) - in the form of an ubiquitous virtual desktop remote infrastructure that offers a set of neuroimaging computational services in an interactive neuroscientist-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). This remote desktop has been used for several multi-institution cooperative projects with different neuroscience objectives that already achieved important results, such as the contribution to a high impact paper published in the January issue of the Neuroimage journal. The ABrIL system has shown its applicability in several neuroscience projects with a relatively low-cost, promoting truly collaborative actions and speeding up project results and their clinical applicability.

A brief historical introduction to Euler's formula for polyhedra, topology, graph theory and networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Debnath, Lokenath

2010-09-01

This article is essentially devoted to a brief historical introduction to Euler's formula for polyhedra, topology, theory of graphs and networks with many examples from the real-world. Celebrated Königsberg seven-bridge problem and some of the basic properties of graphs and networks for some understanding of the macroscopic behaviour of real physical systems are included. We also mention some important and modern applications of graph theory or network problems from transportation to telecommunications. Graphs or networks are effectively used as powerful tools in industrial, electrical and civil engineering, communication networks in the planning of business and industry. Graph theory and combinatorics can be used to understand the changes that occur in many large and complex scientific, technical and medical systems. With the advent of fast large computers and the ubiquitous Internet consisting of a very large network of computers, large-scale complex optimization problems can be modelled in terms of graphs or networks and then solved by algorithms available in graph theory. Many large and more complex combinatorial problems dealing with the possible arrangements of situations of various kinds, and computing the number and properties of such arrangements can be formulated in terms of networks. The Knight's tour problem, Hamilton's tour problem, problem of magic squares, the Euler Graeco-Latin squares problem and their modern developments in the twentieth century are also included.

Emerging CAE technologies and their role in Future Ambient Intelligence Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Noor, Ahmed K.

2011-03-01

Dramatic improvements are on the horizon in Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) and various simulation technologies. The improvements are due, in part, to the developments in a number of leading-edge technologies and their synergistic combinations/convergence. The technologies include ubiquitous, cloud, and petascale computing; ultra high-bandwidth networks, pervasive wireless communication; knowledge based engineering; networked immersive virtual environments and virtual worlds; novel human-computer interfaces; and powerful game engines and facilities. This paper describes the frontiers and emerging simulation technologies, and their role in the future virtual product creation and learning/training environments. The environments will be ambient intelligence environments, incorporating a synergistic combination of novel agent-supported visual simulations (with cognitive learning and understanding abilities); immersive 3D virtual world facilities; development chain management systems and facilities (incorporating a synergistic combination of intelligent engineering and management tools); nontraditional methods; intelligent, multimodal and human-like interfaces; and mobile wireless devices. The Virtual product creation environment will significantly enhance the productivity and will stimulate creativity and innovation in future global virtual collaborative enterprises. The facilities in the learning/training environment will provide timely, engaging, personalized/collaborative and tailored visual learning.

Evidence of Ubiquitous Large-Amplitude Alfven waves in the Global Field-Aligned Current System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pakhotin, I.; Mann, I.; Lysak, R. L.; Knudsen, D. J.; Burchill, J. K.; Gjerloev, J. W.; Rae, J.; Forsyth, C.; Murphy, K. R.; Miles, D.; Ozeke, L.; Balasis, G.

2017-12-01

Large-amplitude non-stationarities have been observed during an analysis of a quiescent field-aligned current system crossing using the multi-satellite Swarm constellation. Using simultaneous electric and magnetic field measurements it has been determined that these non-stationarities, reaching tens to hundreds of nanoteslas, are Alfvenic in nature. Evidence suggests that these large-amplitude Alfven waves are a ubiquitous, fundamentally inherent feature of and exist in a continuum with larger-scale field-aligned currents, and both can be explained using the same physical paradigm of reflected Alfven waves.

An Intelligent System Proposal for Improving the Safety and Accessibility of Public Transit by Highway

PubMed Central

García, Carmelo R.; Quesada-Arencibia, Alexis; Cristóbal, Teresa; Padrón, Gabino; Pérez, Ricardo; Alayón, Francisco

2015-01-01

The development of public transit systems that are accessible and safe for everyone, including people with special needs, is an objective that is justified from the civic and economic points of view. Unfortunately, public transit services are conceived for people who do not have reduced physical or cognitive abilities. In this paper, we present an intelligent public transit system by highway with the goal of facilitating access and improving the safety of public transit for persons with special needs. The system is deployed using components that are commonly available in transport infrastructure, e.g., sensors, mobile communications systems, and positioning systems. In addition, the system can operate in non-urban transport contexts, e.g., isolated rural areas, where the availability of basic infrastructure, such as electricity and communications infrastructures, is not always guaranteed. To construct the system, the principles and techniques of Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence have been employed. To illustrate the utility of the system, two cases of services rendered by the system are described: the first case involves a surveillance system to guarantee accessibility at bus stops; the second case involves a route assistant for blind people. PMID:26295234

Parametric Symmetry Breaking in a Nonlinear Resonator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leuch, Anina; Papariello, Luca; Zilberberg, Oded; Degen, Christian L.; Chitra, R.; Eichler, Alexander

2016-11-01

Much of the physical world around us can be described in terms of harmonic oscillators in thermodynamic equilibrium. At the same time, the far-from-equilibrium behavior of oscillators is important in many aspects of modern physics. Here, we investigate a resonating system subject to a fundamental interplay between intrinsic nonlinearities and a combination of several driving forces. We have constructed a controllable and robust realization of such a system using a macroscopic doubly clamped string. We experimentally observe a hitherto unseen double hysteresis in both the amplitude and the phase of the resonator's response function and present a theoretical model that is in excellent agreement with the experiment. Our work unveils that the double hysteresis is a manifestation of an out-of-equilibrium symmetry breaking between parametric phase states. Such a fundamental phenomenon, in the most ubiquitous building block of nature, paves the way for the investigation of new dynamical phases of matter in parametrically driven many-body systems and motivates applications ranging from ultrasensitive force detection to low-energy computing memory units.

Brownian motion of tethered nanowires.

PubMed

Ota, Sadao; Li, Tongcang; Li, Yimin; Ye, Ziliang; Labno, Anna; Yin, Xiaobo; Alam, Mohammad-Reza; Zhang, Xiang

2014-05-01

Brownian motion of slender particles near a boundary is ubiquitous in biological systems and in nanomaterial assembly, but the complex hydrodynamic interaction in those systems is still poorly understood. Here, we report experimental and computational studies of the Brownian motion of silicon nanowires tethered on a substrate. An optical interference method enabled direct observation of microscopic rotations of the slender bodies in three dimensions with high angular and temporal resolutions. This quantitative observation revealed anisotropic and angle-dependent hydrodynamic wall effects: rotational diffusivity in inclined and azimuth directions follows different power laws as a function of the length, ∼ L(-2.5) and ∼ L(-3), respectively, and is more hindered for smaller inclined angles. In parallel, we developed an implicit simulation technique that takes the complex wire-wall hydrodynamic interactions into account efficiently, the result of which agreed well with the experimentally observed angle-dependent diffusion. The demonstrated techniques provide a platform for studying the microrheology of soft condensed matters, such as colloidal and biological systems near interfaces, and exploring the optimal self-assembly conditions of nanostructures.

Ubiquitous healthcare computing with SEnsor Grid Enhancement with Data Management System (SEGEDMA).

PubMed

Preve, Nikolaos

2011-12-01

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) can be deployed to monitor the health of patients suffering from critical diseases. Also a wireless network consisting of biomedical sensors can be implanted into the patient's body and can monitor the patients' conditions. These sensor devices, apart from having an enormous capability of collecting data from their physical surroundings, are also resource constraint in nature with a limited processing and communication ability. Therefore we have to integrate them with the Grid technology in order to process and store the collected data by the sensor nodes. In this paper, we proposed the SEnsor Grid Enhancement Data Management system, called SEGEDMA ensuring the integration of different network technologies and the continuous data access to system users. The main contribution of this work is to achieve the interoperability of both technologies through a novel network architecture ensuring also the interoperability of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) and HL7 standards. According to the results, SEGEDMA can be applied successfully in a decentralized healthcare environment.

USign--a security enhanced electronic consent model.

PubMed

Li, Yanyan; Xie, Mengjun; Bian, Jiang

2014-01-01

Electronic consent becomes increasingly popular in the healthcare sector given the many benefits it provides. However, security concerns, e.g., how to verify the identity of a person who is remotely accessing the electronic consent system in a secure and user-friendly manner, also arise along with the popularity of electronic consent. Unfortunately, existing electronic consent systems do not pay sufficient attention to those issues. They mainly rely on conventional password based authentication to verify the identity of an electronic consent user, which is far from being sufficient given that identity theft threat is real and significant in reality. In this paper, we present a security enhanced electronic consent model called USign. USign enhances the identity protection and authentication for electronic consent systems by leveraging handwritten signatures everyone is familiar with and mobile computing technologies that are becoming ubiquitous. We developed a prototype of USign and conducted preliminary evaluation on accuracy and usability of signature verification. Our experimental results show the feasibility of the proposed model.

Using semantic technologies and the OSU ontology for modelling context and activities in multi-sensory surveillance systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez A, Héctor F.; Martínez-Tomás, Rafael; Arias Tapia, Susana A.; Rincón Zamorano, Mariano

2014-04-01

Automatic systems that monitor human behaviour for detecting security problems are a challenge today. Previously, our group defined the Horus framework, which is a modular architecture for the integration of multi-sensor monitoring stages. In this work, structure and technologies required for high-level semantic stages of Horus are proposed, and the associated methodological principles established with the aim of recognising specific behaviours and situations. Our methodology distinguishes three semantic levels of events: low level (compromised with sensors), medium level (compromised with context), and high level (target behaviours). The ontology for surveillance and ubiquitous computing has been used to integrate ontologies from specific domains and together with semantic technologies have facilitated the modelling and implementation of scenes and situations by reusing components. A home context and a supermarket context were modelled following this approach, where three suspicious activities were monitored via different virtual sensors. The experiments demonstrate that our proposals facilitate the rapid prototyping of this kind of systems.

Organized All the Way Down

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sylvan, David

At least since Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, it has been understood that social systems can be considered as having emergent properties not reducible to the actions of individuals. The appeal of this idea is obvious, no different now than in Smith's time: that aggregates of persons can be ordered without such order being intended or enforced by any particular person or persons. A search for such an "invisible hand" is what brings many of us to the study of complexity and the construction of various types of computational models aimed at capturing it. However, in proceeding along these lines, we have tended to focus on particular types of social systems — what I will in this paper call "thin" systems, such as markets and populations — and ignored other types, such as groups, whose base interactions are "thick," i.e., constructed as one of many possibilities, by the participants, at the moment in which they take place. These latter systems are not only ubiquitous but pose particular modeling problems for students of complexity: the local interactions are themselves complex and the systems display no strongly emergent features.

The Use of Ubiquitous Sensor Technology in Evaluating Student Thought Process during Practical Operations for Improving Student Technical and Creative Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jou, Min; Wang, Jingying

2015-01-01

This study investigated a Ubiquitous Sensor System (USS) that we developed to assess student thought process during practical lessons on a real-time basis and to provide students with a reflective learning environment. Behavioral curves and data obtained by the USS would help students understand where they had made mistakes during practical…

Systemic Vulnerabilities in Customer-Premises Equipment (CPE) Routers

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-07-01

equipment (CPE),1 specifically small office/home office (SOHO) routers, has become ubiquitous. CPE routers are notorious for their web interface...and enabling remote management, although all settings controllable over the web -management interface can be manipulated. • 85% (11 of 13) of...specifically small office/home office (SOHO) routers— has become ubiquitous. CPE routers are notorious for their web interface vulnerabilities, old ver- sions

Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access for Ubiquitous Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Anwar, Asim; Seet, Boon-Chong; Ding, Zhiguo

2018-02-08

Ubiquitous wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have become a critical technology for enabling smart cities and other ubiquitous monitoring applications. Their deployment, however, can be seriously hampered by the spectrum available to the sheer number of sensors for communication. To support the communication needs of UWSNs without requiring more spectrum resources, the power-domain non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) technique originally proposed for 5th Generation (5G) cellular networks is investigated for UWSNs for the first time in this paper. However, unlike 5G networks that operate in the licensed spectrum, UWSNs mostly operate in unlicensed spectrum where sensors also experience cross-technology interferences from other devices sharing the same spectrum. In this paper, we model the interferences from various sources at the sensors using stochastic geometry framework. To evaluate the performance, we derive a theorem and present new closed form expression for the outage probability of the sensors in a downlink scenario under interference limited environment. In addition, diversity analysis for the ordered NOMA users is performed. Based on the derived outage probability, we evaluate the average link throughput and energy consumption efficiency of NOMA against conventional orthogonal multiple access (OMA) technique in UWSNs. Further, the required computational complexity for the NOMA users is presented.

Parallel, distributed and GPU computing technologies in single-particle electron microscopy

PubMed Central

Schmeisser, Martin; Heisen, Burkhard C.; Luettich, Mario; Busche, Boris; Hauer, Florian; Koske, Tobias; Knauber, Karl-Heinz; Stark, Holger

2009-01-01

Most known methods for the determination of the structure of macromolecular complexes are limited or at least restricted at some point by their computational demands. Recent developments in information technology such as multicore, parallel and GPU processing can be used to overcome these limitations. In particular, graphics processing units (GPUs), which were originally developed for rendering real-time effects in computer games, are now ubiquitous and provide unprecedented computational power for scientific applications. Each parallel-processing paradigm alone can improve overall performance; the increased computational performance obtained by combining all paradigms, unleashing the full power of today’s technology, makes certain applications feasible that were previously virtually impossible. In this article, state-of-the-art paradigms are introduced, the tools and infrastructure needed to apply these paradigms are presented and a state-of-the-art infrastructure and solution strategy for moving scientific applications to the next generation of computer hardware is outlined. PMID:19564686

Parallel, distributed and GPU computing technologies in single-particle electron microscopy.

PubMed

Schmeisser, Martin; Heisen, Burkhard C; Luettich, Mario; Busche, Boris; Hauer, Florian; Koske, Tobias; Knauber, Karl-Heinz; Stark, Holger

2009-07-01

Most known methods for the determination of the structure of macromolecular complexes are limited or at least restricted at some point by their computational demands. Recent developments in information technology such as multicore, parallel and GPU processing can be used to overcome these limitations. In particular, graphics processing units (GPUs), which were originally developed for rendering real-time effects in computer games, are now ubiquitous and provide unprecedented computational power for scientific applications. Each parallel-processing paradigm alone can improve overall performance; the increased computational performance obtained by combining all paradigms, unleashing the full power of today's technology, makes certain applications feasible that were previously virtually impossible. In this article, state-of-the-art paradigms are introduced, the tools and infrastructure needed to apply these paradigms are presented and a state-of-the-art infrastructure and solution strategy for moving scientific applications to the next generation of computer hardware is outlined.

Diabetes City: How Urban Game Design Strategies Can Help Diabetics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knöll, Martin

Computer Games are about to leave their “electronic shells” and enter the city. So-called Serious Pervasive Games (SPGs) [1] allow for hybrid - simultaneously physical and virtual - experiences, applying technologies of ubiquitous computing, communication and “intelligent” interfaces. They begin to focus on non-entertaining purposes. The following article a) presents game design strategies as a missing link between pervasive computing, Ambient Intelligence and user’s everyday life. Therefore it spurs a discussion how Pervasive Healthcare focusing on the therapy and prevention of chronic diseases can benefit from urban game design strategies. b) Moreover the article presents the development and work in progress of “DiabetesCity“ - an educational game prototype for young diabetics.

Future Reality: How Emerging Technologies Will Change Language Itself.

PubMed

Perlin, Ken

2016-01-01

Just as notebook computers once freed us to take our computers with us, smartphones freed us to walk around with computers in our pockets, and wearables will soon free us from needing to hold a screen at all. Today, as high-quality virtual and augmented reality begins to become available at consumer prices, the "screen" will soon be all around us. But the largest long-term impact here may not merely be one of form factor, but rather one of language itself. Once wearables become small enough, cheap enough, and therefore ubiquitous enough to be accepted as part of our everyday reality, our use of language will evolve in important ways.

Employing Replay Connectors for SIEM Operator Education

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-09-01

BLANK xiii LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS CORR Correlation Optimized Retention and Retrieval CII Critical Information Infrastructure GLBA...vast distances is now quicker and easier with the advancement in mobile computing devices and more ubiquitous connectivity and bandwidth. As a result...breakdown of the Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) is one of the core risks facing the international economy. The World Economic Forum

One More Time: Transforming the Curriculum across the Disciplines through Technology-Based Faculty Development and Writing-Intensive Course Redesign

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shea, Kelly A.; Balkun, Mary McAleer; Nolan, Susan A.; Saccoman, John T.; Wright, Joyce

2006-01-01

This article describes a writing-across-the-curriculum project that was born of one university's commitment to writing and ubiquitous computing. Faculty members across the disciplines, seeing an opportunity to re-introduce WAC on its campus through a curriculum development initiative funded out of an internal teaching, learning, and technology…

ITS, The End of the World as We Know It: Transitioning AIED into a Service-Oriented Ecosystem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nye, Benjamin D.

2016-01-01

Advanced learning technologies are reaching a new phase of their evolution where they are finally entering mainstream educational contexts, with persistent user bases. However, as AIED scales, it will need to follow recent trends in service-oriented and ubiquitous computing: breaking AIED platforms into distinct services that can be composed for…

Technology-Based Innovations to Foster Personalized Healthy Lifestyles and Well-Being: A Targeted Review.

PubMed

Spanakis, Emmanouil G; Santana, Silvina; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Marias, Kostas; Sakkalis, Vangelis; Teixeira, António; Janssen, Joris H; de Jong, Henri; Tziraki, Chariklia

2016-06-24

New community-based arrangements and novel technologies can empower individuals to be active participants in their health maintenance, enabling people to control and self-regulate their health and wellness and make better health- and lifestyle-related decisions. Mobile sensing technology and health systems responsive to individual profiles combined with cloud computing can expand innovation for new types of interoperable services that are consumer-oriented and community-based. This could fuel a paradigm shift in the way health care can be, or should be, provided and received, while lessening the burden on exhausted health and social care systems. Our goal is to identify and discuss the main scientific and engineering challenges that need to be successfully addressed in delivering state-of-the-art, ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness management services, and reposition their role and potential within a broader context of diverse sociotechnical drivers, agents, and stakeholders. We review the state-of-the-art relevant to the development and implementation of eHealth and mHealth services in critical domains. We identify and discuss scientific, engineering, and implementation-related challenges that need to be overcome to move research, development, and the market forward. Several important advances have been identified in the fields of systems for personalized health monitoring, such as smartphone platforms and intelligent ubiquitous services. Sensors embedded in smartphones and clothes are making the unobtrusive recognition of physical activity, behavior, and lifestyle possible, and thus the deployment of platforms for health assistance and citizen empowerment. Similarly, significant advances are observed in the domain of infrastructure supporting services. Still, many technical problems remain to be solved, combined with no less challenging issues related to security, privacy, trust, and organizational dynamics. Delivering innovative ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness and lifestyle management services, goes well beyond the development of technical solutions. For the large-scale information and communication technology-supported adoption of healthier lifestyles to take place, crucial innovations are needed in the process of making and deploying usable empowering end-user services that are trusted and user-acceptable. Such innovations require multidomain, multilevel, transdisciplinary work, grounded in theory but driven by citizens' and health care professionals' needs, expectations, and capabilities and matched by business ability to bring innovation to the market.

Technology-Based Innovations to Foster Personalized Healthy Lifestyles and Well-Being: A Targeted Review

PubMed Central

Santana, Silvina; Tsiknakis, Manolis; Marias, Kostas; Sakkalis, Vangelis; Teixeira, António; Janssen, Joris H; de Jong, Henri; Tziraki, Chariklia

2016-01-01

Background New community-based arrangements and novel technologies can empower individuals to be active participants in their health maintenance, enabling people to control and self-regulate their health and wellness and make better health- and lifestyle-related decisions. Mobile sensing technology and health systems responsive to individual profiles combined with cloud computing can expand innovation for new types of interoperable services that are consumer-oriented and community-based. This could fuel a paradigm shift in the way health care can be, or should be, provided and received, while lessening the burden on exhausted health and social care systems. Objective Our goal is to identify and discuss the main scientific and engineering challenges that need to be successfully addressed in delivering state-of-the-art, ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness management services, and reposition their role and potential within a broader context of diverse sociotechnical drivers, agents, and stakeholders. Methods We review the state-of-the-art relevant to the development and implementation of eHealth and mHealth services in critical domains. We identify and discuss scientific, engineering, and implementation-related challenges that need to be overcome to move research, development, and the market forward. Results Several important advances have been identified in the fields of systems for personalized health monitoring, such as smartphone platforms and intelligent ubiquitous services. Sensors embedded in smartphones and clothes are making the unobtrusive recognition of physical activity, behavior, and lifestyle possible, and thus the deployment of platforms for health assistance and citizen empowerment. Similarly, significant advances are observed in the domain of infrastructure supporting services. Still, many technical problems remain to be solved, combined with no less challenging issues related to security, privacy, trust, and organizational dynamics. Conclusions Delivering innovative ubiquitous eHealth and mHealth services, including citizen-centered wellness and lifestyle management services, goes well beyond the development of technical solutions. For the large-scale information and communication technology-supported adoption of healthier lifestyles to take place, crucial innovations are needed in the process of making and deploying usable empowering end-user services that are trusted and user-acceptable. Such innovations require multidomain, multilevel, transdisciplinary work, grounded in theory but driven by citizens’ and health care professionals’ needs, expectations, and capabilities and matched by business ability to bring innovation to the market. PMID:27342137

Fostering Social Engagement and Self-Efficacy in Later Life: Studies with Ubiquitous Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morris, Margaret E.; Lundell, Jay; Dishongh, Terry; Needham, Brad

This chapter describes a multiyear project with a team of social scientists and engineers at Intel focused on emerging technologies and successful aging. Theories of behavioral change are linked to the capabilities of emerging technologies for capturing and reflecting variability in activity and health status. The technologies described in this chapter reflect an attempt to integrate psychological theory and ethnographic research with ubiquitous computing. Ethnographic research that we conducted at the outset of this project consistently underscored the value of social engagement for successful aging. It also pointed out the significant social barriers encountered by many older adults. These barriers - which include changes in lifestyle, mobility, and cognitive functioning - are compounded by a perceived inability to change isolating circumstances. To address these social needs and barriers, we developed a set of prototypes involving sensor networks and feedback displays. This chapter describes the social health technologies that we developed, reactions of the older adults and family caregivers who participated in in-home trials, and implications for future development. We also describe the need for tools to encourage self-awareness and self-efficacy for a broad range of health concerns.

Systems biology by the rules: hybrid intelligent systems for pathway modeling and discovery.

PubMed

Bosl, William J

2007-02-15

Expert knowledge in journal articles is an important source of data for reconstructing biological pathways and creating new hypotheses. An important need for medical research is to integrate this data with high throughput sources to build useful models that span several scales. Researchers traditionally use mental models of pathways to integrate information and development new hypotheses. Unfortunately, the amount of information is often overwhelming and these are inadequate for predicting the dynamic response of complex pathways. Hierarchical computational models that allow exploration of semi-quantitative dynamics are useful systems biology tools for theoreticians, experimentalists and clinicians and may provide a means for cross-communication. A novel approach for biological pathway modeling based on hybrid intelligent systems or soft computing technologies is presented here. Intelligent hybrid systems, which refers to several related computing methods such as fuzzy logic, neural nets, genetic algorithms, and statistical analysis, has become ubiquitous in engineering applications for complex control system modeling and design. Biological pathways may be considered to be complex control systems, which medicine tries to manipulate to achieve desired results. Thus, hybrid intelligent systems may provide a useful tool for modeling biological system dynamics and computational exploration of new drug targets. A new modeling approach based on these methods is presented in the context of hedgehog regulation of the cell cycle in granule cells. Code and input files can be found at the Bionet website: www.chip.ord/~wbosl/Software/Bionet. This paper presents the algorithmic methods needed for modeling complicated biochemical dynamics using rule-based models to represent expert knowledge in the context of cell cycle regulation and tumor growth. A notable feature of this modeling approach is that it allows biologists to build complex models from their knowledge base without the need to translate that knowledge into mathematical form. Dynamics on several levels, from molecular pathways to tissue growth, are seamlessly integrated. A number of common network motifs are examined and used to build a model of hedgehog regulation of the cell cycle in cerebellar neurons, which is believed to play a key role in the etiology of medulloblastoma, a devastating childhood brain cancer.

Ubiquitous Indoor Geolocation: a Case Study of Jewellery Management System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nikparvar, B.; Sadeghi-Niaraki, A.; Azari, P.

2014-10-01

Addressing and geolocation for indoor environments are important fields of research in the recent years. The problem of finding location of objects in indoor spaces is proposed to solve in two ways. The first, is to assign coordinates to objects and second is to divide space into cells and detect the presence or absence of objects in each cell to track them. In this paper the second approach is discussed by using Radio Frequency Identification technology to identify and track high value objects in jewellery retail industry. In Ubiquitous Sensor Networks, the reactivity or proactivity of the environment are important issues. Reactive environments wait for a request to response to it. Instead, in proactive spaces, the environment acts in advance to deal with an expected action. In this research, a geo-sensor network containing RFID readers, tags, and antennas which continuously exchange radio frequency signal streams is proposed to manage and monitor jewellery galleries ubiquitously. The system is also equipped with a GIS representation which provides a more user-friendly system to manage a jewellery gallery.

Computational Modeling and Analysis of Aeroelastic Wing Flutter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menon, Karthik; Katz, Joseph; Mittal, Rajat

2017-11-01

Aeroelastic flutter is ubiquitous in aeronautics; of particular relevance here is the flutter of aircraft wings, helicopter rotor blades, flexible wing MAVs and UAVs, and long-endurance aerial systems such as airships and solar powered air-vehicles. Here, we attempt to understand some fundamental aspects of this problem via immersed boundary method based numerical simulations of canonical bodies. We report findings on the effect of body geometry on the dynamics of flutter involving coupled pitch-heave oscillations. We also explore flow-induced flutter of airfoils in pre and post-stall configurations, including the effect of stiffness and pitch axis location. Finally, a novel force decomposition method is used to provide some insight into the flutter dynamics and associated unsteady flow physics. This work is supported by AFOSR Grant FA9550-16-1-0404.

Minimal physical requirements for crystal growth self-poisoning

DOE PAGES

Whitelam, Stephen; Dahal, Yuba Raj; Schmit, Jeremy D.

2016-02-10

Self-poisoning is a kinetic trap that can impair or prevent crystal growth in a wide variety of physical settings. In this paper, we use dynamic mean-field theory and computer simulation to argue that poisoning is ubiquitous because its emergence requires only the notion that a molecule can bind in two (or more) ways to a crystal; that those ways are not energetically equivalent; and that the associated binding events occur with sufficiently unequal probability. If these conditions are met then the steady-state growth rate is in general a non-monotonic function of the thermodynamic driving force for crystal growth, which ismore » the characteristic of poisoning. Finally, our results also indicate that relatively small changes of system parameters could be used to induce recovery from poisoning.« less

Mining Personal Data Using Smartphones and Wearable Devices: A Survey

PubMed Central

Rehman, Muhammad Habib ur; Liew, Chee Sun; Wah, Teh Ying; Shuja, Junaid; Daghighi, Babak

2015-01-01

The staggering growth in smartphone and wearable device use has led to a massive scale generation of personal (user-specific) data. To explore, analyze, and extract useful information and knowledge from the deluge of personal data, one has to leverage these devices as the data-mining platforms in ubiquitous, pervasive, and big data environments. This study presents the personal ecosystem where all computational resources, communication facilities, storage and knowledge management systems are available in user proximity. An extensive review on recent literature has been conducted and a detailed taxonomy is presented. The performance evaluation metrics and their empirical evidences are sorted out in this paper. Finally, we have highlighted some future research directions and potentially emerging application areas for personal data mining using smartphones and wearable devices. PMID:25688592

Picture archiving and communication system developments expected in the 1990s

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drew, Philip G.; Lorah, Lawrence D.; Lydon, Michael J.; Novak, Elliott D.

1993-01-01

Among the applications for high-bandwidth systems are medical picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). Viewed in the light of developments anticipated ten years ago when these systems were first discussed, progress has been disappointingly slow. However, with the recognition that teleradiology, digital archives, and computed radiography can be regarded as PAC subsystems, and that systems confined to a single modality can be regarded as mini-PACS, it becomes clear that development of PAC systems has made remarkable progress. Growing from modest size today, the markets for PAC systems and subsystems in the U.S. is likely to exceed $600 million by the end of the decade, a market of the same magnitude as those for CT, MRI, and catheterization lab equipment. This paper discusses the forces that have stimulated growth of PAC systems - among them, the opportunity to provide better service to patients and referring physicians, a chance to expand effective service area, and a possible solution to the ubiquitous problems of lost films - as well as the impediments that have retarded growth - among them, technical limitations, especially of the radiologists' workstations, and cost. A review of these forces allows prediction of likely developments in the 1990s.

Birth/birth-death processes and their computable transition probabilities with biological applications.

PubMed

Ho, Lam Si Tung; Xu, Jason; Crawford, Forrest W; Minin, Vladimir N; Suchard, Marc A

2018-03-01

Birth-death processes track the size of a univariate population, but many biological systems involve interaction between populations, necessitating models for two or more populations simultaneously. A lack of efficient methods for evaluating finite-time transition probabilities of bivariate processes, however, has restricted statistical inference in these models. Researchers rely on computationally expensive methods such as matrix exponentiation or Monte Carlo approximation, restricting likelihood-based inference to small systems, or indirect methods such as approximate Bayesian computation. In this paper, we introduce the birth/birth-death process, a tractable bivariate extension of the birth-death process, where rates are allowed to be nonlinear. We develop an efficient algorithm to calculate its transition probabilities using a continued fraction representation of their Laplace transforms. Next, we identify several exemplary models arising in molecular epidemiology, macro-parasite evolution, and infectious disease modeling that fall within this class, and demonstrate advantages of our proposed method over existing approaches to inference in these models. Notably, the ubiquitous stochastic susceptible-infectious-removed (SIR) model falls within this class, and we emphasize that computable transition probabilities newly enable direct inference of parameters in the SIR model. We also propose a very fast method for approximating the transition probabilities under the SIR model via a novel branching process simplification, and compare it to the continued fraction representation method with application to the 17th century plague in Eyam. Although the two methods produce similar maximum a posteriori estimates, the branching process approximation fails to capture the correlation structure in the joint posterior distribution.

Computer literacy: Where are nurse educators on the continuum?

PubMed

Hanley, Elizabeth

2006-01-01

Computers are becoming ubiquitous in health and education, and it is expected that nurses from undergraduate nursing programmes are computer literate when they enter the workforce. Similarly nurse educators are expected to be computer literate to model the use of information technology in their workplace. They are expected to use email for communication and a range of computer applications for presentation of course materials and reports. Additionally, as more courses are delivered in flexible mode, educators require more comprehensive computing skills, including confidence and competence in a range of applications. A cohort of nurse educators from one tertiary institution was surveyed to assess their perceived computer literacy and how they attained this. A questionnaire that covered seven domains of computer literacy was used to assess this. The results were illuminating and identified specific training needs for this group. Their perceived lack of skill with Groupwise email and the student database program are of concern as these are essential tools for nurse educators at this polytechnic.

Deconstructing the core dynamics from a complex time-lagged regulatory biological circuit.

PubMed

Eriksson, O; Brinne, B; Zhou, Y; Björkegren, J; Tegnér, J

2009-03-01

Complex regulatory dynamics is ubiquitous in molecular networks composed of genes and proteins. Recent progress in computational biology and its application to molecular data generate a growing number of complex networks. Yet, it has been difficult to understand the governing principles of these networks beyond graphical analysis or extensive numerical simulations. Here the authors exploit several simplifying biological circumstances which thereby enable to directly detect the underlying dynamical regularities driving periodic oscillations in a dynamical nonlinear computational model of a protein-protein network. System analysis is performed using the cell cycle, a mathematically well-described complex regulatory circuit driven by external signals. By introducing an explicit time delay and using a 'tearing-and-zooming' approach the authors reduce the system to a piecewise linear system with two variables that capture the dynamics of this complex network. A key step in the analysis is the identification of functional subsystems by identifying the relations between state-variables within the model. These functional subsystems are referred to as dynamical modules operating as sensitive switches in the original complex model. By using reduced mathematical representations of the subsystems the authors derive explicit conditions on how the cell cycle dynamics depends on system parameters, and can, for the first time, analyse and prove global conditions for system stability. The approach which includes utilising biological simplifying conditions, identification of dynamical modules and mathematical reduction of the model complexity may be applicable to other well-characterised biological regulatory circuits. [Includes supplementary material].

Technology Acceptance for an Intelligent Comprehensive Interactive Care (ICIC) System for Care of the Elderly: A Survey-Questionnaire Study

PubMed Central

Ke, Pei-Chih; Huang, Chun-Kai; Tsai, Tsai-Hsuan; Chang, Hsien-Tsung; Shieh, Wann-Yun; Chan, Hsiao-Lung; Chen, Chih-Kuang; Pei, Yu-Cheng

2012-01-01

The key components of caring for the elderly are diet, living, transportation, education, and safety issues, and telemedical systems can offer great assistance. Through the integration of personal to community information technology platforms, we have developed a new Intelligent Comprehensive Interactive Care (ICIC) system to provide comprehensive services for elderly care. The ICIC system consists of six items, including medical care (physiological measuring system, Medication Reminder, and Dr. Ubiquitous), diet, living, transportation, education (Intelligent Watch), entertainment (Sharetouch), and safety (Fall Detection). In this study, we specifically evaluated the users' intention of using the Medication Reminder, Dr. Ubiquitous, Sharetouch, and Intelligent Watch using a modified technological acceptance model (TAM). A total of 121 elderly subjects (48 males and 73 females) were recruited. The modified TAM questionnaires were collected after they had used these products. For most of the ICIC units, the elderly subjects revealed great willingness and/or satisfaction in using this system. The elderly users of the Intelligent Watch showed the greatest willingness and satisfaction, while the elderly users of Dr. Ubiquitous revealed fair willingness in the dimension of perceived ease of use. The old-old age group revealed greater satisfaction in the dimension of result demonstrability for the users of the Medication Reminder as compared to the young-old and oldest-old age groups. The women revealed greater satisfaction in the dimension of perceived ease of use for the users of Dr. Ubiquitous as compared to the men. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of gender, age, and education level in the other dimensions. The modified TAM showed its effectiveness in evaluating the acceptance and characteristics of technologic products for the elderly user. The ICIC system offers a user-friendly solution in telemedical care and improves the quality of care for the elderly. PMID:22870200

Technology acceptance for an Intelligent Comprehensive Interactive Care (ICIC) system for care of the elderly: a survey-questionnaire study.

PubMed

Wong, Alice M K; Chang, Wei-Han; Ke, Pei-Chih; Huang, Chun-Kai; Tsai, Tsai-Hsuan; Chang, Hsien-Tsung; Shieh, Wann-Yun; Chan, Hsiao-Lung; Chen, Chih-Kuang; Pei, Yu-Cheng

2012-01-01

The key components of caring for the elderly are diet, living, transportation, education, and safety issues, and telemedical systems can offer great assistance. Through the integration of personal to community information technology platforms, we have developed a new Intelligent Comprehensive Interactive Care (ICIC) system to provide comprehensive services for elderly care. The ICIC system consists of six items, including medical care (physiological measuring system, Medication Reminder, and Dr. Ubiquitous), diet, living, transportation, education (Intelligent Watch), entertainment (Sharetouch), and safety (Fall Detection). In this study, we specifically evaluated the users' intention of using the Medication Reminder, Dr. Ubiquitous, Sharetouch, and Intelligent Watch using a modified technological acceptance model (TAM). A total of 121 elderly subjects (48 males and 73 females) were recruited. The modified TAM questionnaires were collected after they had used these products. For most of the ICIC units, the elderly subjects revealed great willingness and/or satisfaction in using this system. The elderly users of the Intelligent Watch showed the greatest willingness and satisfaction, while the elderly users of Dr. Ubiquitous revealed fair willingness in the dimension of perceived ease of use. The old-old age group revealed greater satisfaction in the dimension of result demonstrability for the users of the Medication Reminder as compared to the young-old and oldest-old age groups. The women revealed greater satisfaction in the dimension of perceived ease of use for the users of Dr. Ubiquitous as compared to the men. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of gender, age, and education level in the other dimensions. The modified TAM showed its effectiveness in evaluating the acceptance and characteristics of technologic products for the elderly user. The ICIC system offers a user-friendly solution in telemedical care and improves the quality of care for the elderly.

Development of Novel Non-Contact Electrodes for Mobile Electrocardiogram Monitoring System

PubMed Central

Chou, Willy; Wang, Hsing-Yu; Huang, Yan-Jun; Pan, Jeng-Shyang

2013-01-01

Real-time monitoring of cardiac health is helpful for patients with cardiovascular disease. Many telemedicine systems based on ubiquitous computing and communication techniques have been proposed for monitoring the user's electrocardiogram (ECG) anywhere and anytime. Usually, wet electrodes are used in these telemedicine systems. However, wet electrodes require conduction gels and skin preparation that can be inconvenient and uncomfortable for users. In order to overcome this issue, a new non-contact electrode circuit was proposed and applied in developing a mobile electrocardiogram monitoring system. The proposed non-contact electrode can measure bio-potentials across thin clothing, allowing it to be embedded in a user's normal clothing to monitor ECG in daily life. We attempted to simplify the design of these non-contact electrodes to reduce power consumption while continuing to provide good signal quality. The electrical specifications and the performance of monitoring arrhythmia in clinical settings were also validated to investigate the reliability of the proposed design. Experimental results show that the proposed non-contact electrode provides good signal quality for measuring ECG across thin clothes. PMID:27170853

Context-Aware Recommender Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adomavicius, Gediminas; Tuzhilin, Alexander

The importance of contextual information has been recognized by researchers and practitioners in many disciplines, including e-commerce personalization, information retrieval, ubiquitous and mobile computing, data mining, marketing, and management. While a substantial amount of research has already been performed in the area of recommender systems, most existing approaches focus on recommending the most relevant items to users without taking into account any additional contextual information, such as time, location, or the company of other people (e.g., for watching movies or dining out). In this chapter we argue that relevant contextual information does matter in recommender systems and that it is important to take this information into account when providing recommendations. We discuss the general notion of context and how it can be modeled in recommender systems. Furthermore, we introduce three different algorithmic paradigms - contextual prefiltering, post-filtering, and modeling - for incorporating contextual information into the recommendation process, discuss the possibilities of combining several contextaware recommendation techniques into a single unifying approach, and provide a case study of one such combined approach. Finally, we present additional capabilities for context-aware recommenders and discuss important and promising directions for future research.

Efficient encoding of motion is mediated by gap junctions in the fly visual system.

PubMed

Wang, Siwei; Borst, Alexander; Zaslavsky, Noga; Tishby, Naftali; Segev, Idan

2017-12-01

Understanding the computational implications of specific synaptic connectivity patterns is a fundamental goal in neuroscience. In particular, the computational role of ubiquitous electrical synapses operating via gap junctions remains elusive. In the fly visual system, the cells in the vertical-system network, which play a key role in visual processing, primarily connect to each other via axonal gap junctions. This network therefore provides a unique opportunity to explore the functional role of gap junctions in sensory information processing. Our information theoretical analysis of a realistic VS network model shows that within 10 ms following the onset of the visual input, the presence of axonal gap junctions enables the VS system to efficiently encode the axis of rotation, θ, of the fly's ego motion. This encoding efficiency, measured in bits, is near-optimal with respect to the physical limits of performance determined by the statistical structure of the visual input itself. The VS network is known to be connected to downstream pathways via a subset of triplets of the vertical system cells; we found that because of the axonal gap junctions, the efficiency of this subpopulation in encoding θ is superior to that of the whole vertical system network and is robust to a wide range of signal to noise ratios. We further demonstrate that this efficient encoding of motion by this subpopulation is necessary for the fly's visually guided behavior, such as banked turns in evasive maneuvers. Because gap junctions are formed among the axons of the vertical system cells, they only impact the system's readout, while maintaining the dendritic input intact, suggesting that the computational principles implemented by neural circuitries may be much richer than previously appreciated based on point neuron models. Our study provides new insights as to how specific network connectivity leads to efficient encoding of sensory stimuli.

An Elaboration Likelihood Model Based Longitudinal Analysis of Attitude Change during the Process of IT Acceptance via Education Program

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Woong-Kyu

2012-01-01

The principal objective of this study was to gain insight into attitude changes occurring during IT acceptance from the perspective of elaboration likelihood model (ELM). In particular, the primary target of this study was the process of IT acceptance through an education program. Although the Internet and computers are now quite ubiquitous, and…

Developing Tools for Assessing and Using Commercially Available Reading Software Programs to Promote the Development of Early Reading Skills in Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wood, Eileen; Gottardo, Alexandra; Grant, Amy; Evans, Mary Ann; Phillips, Linda; Savage, Robert

2012-01-01

As computers become an increasingly ubiquitous part of young children's lives there is a need to examine how best to harness digital technologies to promote learning in early childhood education contexts. The development of emergent literacy skills is 1 domain for which numerous software programs are available for young learners. In this study, we…

The Development and Validation of an Instrument for Assessing College Students' Perceptions of Faculty Knowledge in Technology-Supported Class Environments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shih, Ching-Lin; Chuang, Hsueh-Hua

2013-01-01

Research in the area of educational technology has argued that the technological pedagogical content knowledge of faculty is crucial to addressing the challenge of teaching in higher education in the digital age, which is characterized by the common use of instructional technology in college classrooms and the ubiquitous presence of computing on…

Report of the Army Science Board Summer Study on Installations 2025

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

stresses , beha- vioral health problems, and injuries associated with war. Transform: IMCOM is modernizing installation management processes, policies...well. For example, "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future" (Niels Bohr). Others stress that the future will be a lot like the...34homogenization" Endangered species Continuous and ubiquitous of society Islanding computing Telecommuting Wireless proliferation across appliances

An Educational Exercise Examining the Role of Model Attributes on the Creation and Alteration of CAD Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Michael D.; Diwakaran, Ram Prasad

2011-01-01

Computer-aided design (CAD) is a ubiquitous tool that today's students will be expected to use proficiently for numerous engineering purposes. Taking full advantage of the features available in modern CAD programs requires that models are created in a manner that allows others to easily understand how they are organized and alter them in an…

An Examination of Web-Based Information on the Transition to School for Children Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curle, Deirdre M.

2015-01-01

Both prior to and during the transition from early intervention (EI) to school, parents of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (d/hh) need crucial information about the transition process and school services. Given the ubiquitous nature of computers and Internet access, it is reasonable to assume that web-based dissemination of information…

On the Cusp of Change: Examining Pre-Service Teachers' Beliefs about ICT and Envisioning the Digital Classroom of the Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluck, A.; Dowden, T.

2013-01-01

Few contemporary pre-service teachers would have completed their schooling with the extensive aid of computers. Yet, classroom use of information and communication technology (ICT) is now ubiquitous in much of the world. Today's pre-service teachers are the "cusp generation" who, at a unique moment in history, straddle the two worlds of…

Prevention of sexually transmitted infections using mobile devices and ubiquitous computing.

PubMed

Besoain, Felipe; Perez-Navarro, Antoni; Caylà, Joan A; Aviñó, Constanza Jacques; de Olalla, Patricia García

2015-05-03

Advances in the development of information and communication technologies have facilitated social interrelationships, but also sexual contacts without appropriate preventive measures. In this paper, we will focus on situations in which people use applications to meet sexual partners nearby, which could increase their chance of exposure to sexually transmitted infections (STI). How can we encourage users to adopt preventive measures without violating their privacy or infringing on the character of the application? To achieve the goal of preventing STI, we have used the design and creation methodology and have developed a prototype software package. This prototype follows the RESTful services principles and has two parts: an Android OS application with emphasis on ubiquitous computing and designed according to General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns (GRASP), and a server with a web page. To choose the preventive messages, we performed a test in 17 men who have sex with men (MSM). Our software sends preventive notifications to users when it detects situations such as the activation of particular applications on their smartphones, or their proximity to areas with a high probability of intercourse (hot zones). The underlying idea is the same as that for warning messages on cigarette packets, since users read the message just when they are going to smoke. The messages used have been selected from a list that has been rated by the users themselves. The most popular message is "Enjoy sex and enjoy life. Do not expose yourself to HIV". The user is unaware of the software, which runs in the background. Ubiquitous computing may be useful for alerting users with preventive and educational messages. The proposed application is non-intrusive because: 1) the users themselves decide to install it and, therefore, users' privacy rights are preserved; 2) it sends a message that helps users think about taking appropriate preventive measures; and 3) it works in the background without interfering with users unless a trigger situation is detected. Thus, this type of application could become an important tool in the complex task of STI prevention.

Entanglement-Based Machine Learning on a Quantum Computer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, X.-D.; Wu, D.; Su, Z.-E.; Chen, M.-C.; Wang, X.-L.; Li, Li; Liu, N.-L.; Lu, C.-Y.; Pan, J.-W.

2015-03-01

Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, learns from previous experience to optimize performance, which is ubiquitous in various fields such as computer sciences, financial analysis, robotics, and bioinformatics. A challenge is that machine learning with the rapidly growing "big data" could become intractable for classical computers. Recently, quantum machine learning algorithms [Lloyd, Mohseni, and Rebentrost, arXiv.1307.0411] were proposed which could offer an exponential speedup over classical algorithms. Here, we report the first experimental entanglement-based classification of two-, four-, and eight-dimensional vectors to different clusters using a small-scale photonic quantum computer, which are then used to implement supervised and unsupervised machine learning. The results demonstrate the working principle of using quantum computers to manipulate and classify high-dimensional vectors, the core mathematical routine in machine learning. The method can, in principle, be scaled to larger numbers of qubits, and may provide a new route to accelerate machine learning.

A pervasive health monitoring service system based on ubiquitous network technology.

PubMed

Lin, Chung-Chih; Lee, Ren-Guey; Hsiao, Chun-Chieh

2008-07-01

The phenomenon of aging society has derived problems such as shortage of medical resources and reduction of quality in healthcare services. This paper presents a system infrastructure for pervasive and long-term healthcare applications, i.e. a ubiquitous network composed of wireless local area network (WLAN) and cable television (CATV) network serving as a platform for monitoring physiological signals. Users can record vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature anytime either at home or at frequently visited public places in order to create a personal health file. The whole system was formally implemented in December 2004. Analysis of 2000 questionnaires indicates that 85% of users were satisfied with the provided community-wide healthcare services. Among the services provided by our system, health consultation services offered by family doctors was rated the most important service by 17.9% of respondents, and was followed by control of one's own health condition (16.4% of respondents). Convenience of data access was rated most important by roughly 14.3% of respondents. We proposed and implemented a long-term healthcare system integrating WLAN and CATV networks in the form of a ubiquitous network providing a service platform for physiological monitoring. This system can classify the health levels of the resident according to the variation tendency of his or her physiological signal for important reference of health management.

How important is self-consistency for the dDsC density dependent dispersion correction?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Brémond, Éric; Corminboeuf, Clémence, E-mail: clemence.corminboeuf@epfl.ch; Golubev, Nikolay

2014-05-14

The treatment of dispersion interactions is ubiquitous but computationally demanding for seamless ab initio approaches. A highly popular and simple remedy consists in correcting for the missing interactions a posteriori by adding an attractive energy term summed over all atom pairs to standard density functional approximations. These corrections were originally based on atom pairwise parameters and, hence, had a strong touch of empiricism. To overcome such limitations, we recently proposed a robust system-dependent dispersion correction, dDsC, that is computed from the electron density and that provides a balanced description of both weak inter- and intramolecular interactions. From the theoretical pointmore » of view and for the sake of increasing reliability, we here verify if the self-consistent implementation of dDsC impacts ground-state properties such as interaction energies, electron density, dipole moments, geometries, and harmonic frequencies. In addition, we investigate the suitability of the a posteriori scheme for molecular dynamics simulations, for which the analysis of the energy conservation constitutes a challenging tests. Our study demonstrates that the post-SCF approach in an excellent approximation.« less

An Infrastructure to Enable Lightweight Context-Awareness for Mobile Users

PubMed Central

Curiel, Pablo; Lago, Ana B.

2013-01-01

Mobile phones enable us to carry out a wider range of tasks every day, and as a result they have become more ubiquitous than ever. However, they are still more limited in terms of processing power and interaction capabilities than traditional computers, and the often distracting and time-constricted scenarios in which we use them do not help in alleviating these limitations. Context-awareness is a valuable technique to address these issues, as it enables to adapt application behaviour to each situation. In this paper we present a context management infrastructure for mobile environments, aimed at controlling context information life-cycle in this kind of scenarios, with the main goal of enabling application and services to adapt their behaviour to better meet end-user needs. This infrastructure relies on semantic technologies and open standards to improve interoperability, and is based on a central element, the context manager. This element acts as a central context repository and takes most of the computational burden derived from dealing with this kind of information, thus relieving from these tasks to more resource-scarce devices in the system. PMID:23899932

The internet of things and the development of network technology in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ruxin; Zhao, Jianzhen; Ma, Hangtong

2018-04-01

The English name of the Internet of Things the Internet of Things, referred to as: the IOT. Internet of Things through the pass, radio frequency identification technology, global positioning system technology, real-time acquisition of any monitoring, connectivity, interactive objects or processes, collecting their sound, light, heat, electricity, mechanics, chemistry, biology, the location of a variety of the information you need network access through a variety of possible things and things, objects and people in the Pan-link intelligent perception of items and processes, identification and management. The Internet of Things IntelliSense recognition technology and pervasive computing, ubiquitous network integration application, known as the third wave of the world's information industry development following the computer, the Internet. Not so much the Internet of Things is a network, as Internet of Things services and applications, Internet of Things is also seen as Internet application development. Therefore, the application of innovation is the core of the development of Internet of Things, and 2.0 of the user experience as the core innovation is the soul of Things.

Efficient Transition Probability Computation for Continuous-Time Branching Processes via Compressed Sensing.

PubMed

Xu, Jason; Minin, Vladimir N

2015-07-01

Branching processes are a class of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with ubiquitous applications. A general difficulty in statistical inference under partially observed CTMC models arises in computing transition probabilities when the discrete state space is large or uncountable. Classical methods such as matrix exponentiation are infeasible for large or countably infinite state spaces, and sampling-based alternatives are computationally intensive, requiring integration over all possible hidden events. Recent work has successfully applied generating function techniques to computing transition probabilities for linear multi-type branching processes. While these techniques often require significantly fewer computations than matrix exponentiation, they also become prohibitive in applications with large populations. We propose a compressed sensing framework that significantly accelerates the generating function method, decreasing computational cost up to a logarithmic factor by only assuming the probability mass of transitions is sparse. We demonstrate accurate and efficient transition probability computations in branching process models for blood cell formation and evolution of self-replicating transposable elements in bacterial genomes.

Efficient Transition Probability Computation for Continuous-Time Branching Processes via Compressed Sensing

PubMed Central

Xu, Jason; Minin, Vladimir N.

2016-01-01

Branching processes are a class of continuous-time Markov chains (CTMCs) with ubiquitous applications. A general difficulty in statistical inference under partially observed CTMC models arises in computing transition probabilities when the discrete state space is large or uncountable. Classical methods such as matrix exponentiation are infeasible for large or countably infinite state spaces, and sampling-based alternatives are computationally intensive, requiring integration over all possible hidden events. Recent work has successfully applied generating function techniques to computing transition probabilities for linear multi-type branching processes. While these techniques often require significantly fewer computations than matrix exponentiation, they also become prohibitive in applications with large populations. We propose a compressed sensing framework that significantly accelerates the generating function method, decreasing computational cost up to a logarithmic factor by only assuming the probability mass of transitions is sparse. We demonstrate accurate and efficient transition probability computations in branching process models for blood cell formation and evolution of self-replicating transposable elements in bacterial genomes. PMID:26949377

Computational Study of the Genomic and Epigenomic Phenomena

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wenjing

Biological systems are perhaps the ultimate complex systems, uniquely capable of processing and communicating information, reproducing in their lifetimes, and adapting in evolutionary time scales. My dissertation research focuses on using computational approaches to understand the biocomplexity manifested in the multitude of length scales and time scales. At the molecular and cellular level, central to the complex behavior of a biological system is the regulatory network. My research study focused on epigenetics, which is essential for multicellular organisms to establish cellular identity during development or in response to intracellular and environmental stimuli. My computational study of epigenomics is greatly facilitated by recent advances in high-throughput sequencing technology, which enables high-resolution snapshots of epigenomes and transcriptomes. Using human CD4+ T cell as a model system, the dynamical changes in epigenome and transcriptome pertinent to T cell activation were investigated at the genome scale. Going beyond traditional focus on transcriptional regulation, I provided evidences that post-transcriptional regulation may serve as a major component of the regulatory network. In addition, I explored alternative polyadenylation, another novel aspect of gene regulation, and how it cross-talks with the local chromatin structure. As the renowned theoretical biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky said eloquently, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution''. To better understand this ubiquitous driving force in the biological world, I went beyond molecular events in a single organism, and investigated the dynamical changes of population structure along the evolutionary time scale. To this end, we used HIV virus population dynamics in the host immune system as a model system. The evolution of HIV viral population plays a key role in AIDS immunopathogenesis with its exceptionally high mutation rate. However, the theoretical studies of the effect of recombination have been rather limited. Given the phylogenetic and experimental evidences for the high recombination rate and its important role in HIV evolution and epidemics, I established a mathematical model to study the effect of recombination, and explored the complex behavior of this dynamics system.

Plate refractive camera model and its applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Longxiang; Zhao, Xu; Cai, Shen; Liu, Yuncai

2017-03-01

In real applications, a pinhole camera capturing objects through a planar parallel transparent plate is frequently employed. Due to the refractive effects of the plate, such an imaging system does not comply with the conventional pinhole camera model. Although the system is ubiquitous, it has not been thoroughly studied. This paper aims at presenting a simple virtual camera model, called a plate refractive camera model, which has a form similar to a pinhole camera model and can efficiently model refractions through a plate. The key idea is to employ a pixel-wise viewpoint concept to encode the refraction effects into a pixel-wise pinhole camera model. The proposed camera model realizes an efficient forward projection computation method and has some advantages in applications. First, the model can help to compute the caustic surface to represent the changes of the camera viewpoints. Second, the model has strengths in analyzing and rectifying the image caustic distortion caused by the plate refraction effects. Third, the model can be used to calibrate the camera's intrinsic parameters without removing the plate. Last but not least, the model contributes to putting forward the plate refractive triangulation methods in order to solve the plate refractive triangulation problem easily in multiviews. We verify our theory in both synthetic and real experiments.

Emergency healthcare process automation using mobile computing and cloud services.

PubMed

Poulymenopoulou, M; Malamateniou, F; Vassilacopoulos, G

2012-10-01

Emergency care is basically concerned with the provision of pre-hospital and in-hospital medical and/or paramedical services and it typically involves a wide variety of interdependent and distributed activities that can be interconnected to form emergency care processes within and between Emergency Medical Service (EMS) agencies and hospitals. Hence, in developing an information system for emergency care processes, it is essential to support individual process activities and to satisfy collaboration and coordination needs by providing readily access to patient and operational information regardless of location and time. Filling this information gap by enabling the provision of the right information, to the right people, at the right time fosters new challenges, including the specification of a common information format, the interoperability among heterogeneous institutional information systems or the development of new, ubiquitous trans-institutional systems. This paper is concerned with the development of an integrated computer support to emergency care processes by evolving and cross-linking institutional healthcare systems. To this end, an integrated EMS cloud-based architecture has been developed that allows authorized users to access emergency case information in standardized document form, as proposed by the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) profile, uses the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) standard Emergency Data Exchange Language (EDXL) Hospital Availability Exchange (HAVE) for exchanging operational data with hospitals and incorporates an intelligent module that supports triaging and selecting the most appropriate ambulances and hospitals for each case.

Accelerating epistasis analysis in human genetics with consumer graphics hardware.

PubMed

Sinnott-Armstrong, Nicholas A; Greene, Casey S; Cancare, Fabio; Moore, Jason H

2009-07-24

Human geneticists are now capable of measuring more than one million DNA sequence variations from across the human genome. The new challenge is to develop computationally feasible methods capable of analyzing these data for associations with common human disease, particularly in the context of epistasis. Epistasis describes the situation where multiple genes interact in a complex non-linear manner to determine an individual's disease risk and is thought to be ubiquitous for common diseases. Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) is an algorithm capable of detecting epistasis. An exhaustive analysis with MDR is often computationally expensive, particularly for high order interactions. This challenge has previously been met with parallel computation and expensive hardware. The option we examine here exploits commodity hardware designed for computer graphics. In modern computers Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) have more memory bandwidth and computational capability than Central Processing Units (CPUs) and are well suited to this problem. Advances in the video game industry have led to an economy of scale creating a situation where these powerful components are readily available at very low cost. Here we implement and evaluate the performance of the MDR algorithm on GPUs. Of primary interest are the time required for an epistasis analysis and the price to performance ratio of available solutions. We found that using MDR on GPUs consistently increased performance per machine over both a feature rich Java software package and a C++ cluster implementation. The performance of a GPU workstation running a GPU implementation reduces computation time by a factor of 160 compared to an 8-core workstation running the Java implementation on CPUs. This GPU workstation performs similarly to 150 cores running an optimized C++ implementation on a Beowulf cluster. Furthermore this GPU system provides extremely cost effective performance while leaving the CPU available for other tasks. The GPU workstation containing three GPUs costs $2000 while obtaining similar performance on a Beowulf cluster requires 150 CPU cores which, including the added infrastructure and support cost of the cluster system, cost approximately $82,500. Graphics hardware based computing provides a cost effective means to perform genetic analysis of epistasis using MDR on large datasets without the infrastructure of a computing cluster.

The 6th International Conference on Computer Science and Computational Mathematics (ICCSCM 2017)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2017-09-01

The ICCSCM 2017 (The 6th International Conference on Computer Science and Computational Mathematics) has aimed to provide a platform to discuss computer science and mathematics related issues including Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Topology, Approximation Theory, Calculus of Variations, Category Theory; Homological Algebra, Coding Theory, Combinatorics, Control Theory, Cryptology, Geometry, Difference and Functional Equations, Discrete Mathematics, Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory, Field Theory and Polynomials, Fluid Mechanics and Solid Mechanics, Fourier Analysis, Functional Analysis, Functions of a Complex Variable, Fuzzy Mathematics, Game Theory, General Algebraic Systems, Graph Theory, Group Theory and Generalizations, Image Processing, Signal Processing and Tomography, Information Fusion, Integral Equations, Lattices, Algebraic Structures, Linear and Multilinear Algebra; Matrix Theory, Mathematical Biology and Other Natural Sciences, Mathematical Economics and Financial Mathematics, Mathematical Physics, Measure Theory and Integration, Neutrosophic Mathematics, Number Theory, Numerical Analysis, Operations Research, Optimization, Operator Theory, Ordinary and Partial Differential Equations, Potential Theory, Real Functions, Rings and Algebras, Statistical Mechanics, Structure Of Matter, Topological Groups, Wavelets and Wavelet Transforms, 3G/4G Network Evolutions, Ad-Hoc, Mobile, Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing, Agent Computing & Multi-Agents Systems, All topics related Image/Signal Processing, Any topics related Computer Networks, Any topics related ISO SC-27 and SC- 17 standards, Any topics related PKI(Public Key Intrastructures), Artifial Intelligences(A.I.) & Pattern/Image Recognitions, Authentication/Authorization Issues, Biometric authentication and algorithms, CDMA/GSM Communication Protocols, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Analysis of Algorithms, Cryptography and Foundation of Computer Security, Data Base(D.B.) Management & Information Retrievals, Data Mining, Web Image Mining, & Applications, Defining Spectrum Rights and Open Spectrum Solutions, E-Comerce, Ubiquitous, RFID, Applications, Fingerprint/Hand/Biometrics Recognitions and Technologies, Foundations of High-performance Computing, IC-card Security, OTP, and Key Management Issues, IDS/Firewall, Anti-Spam mail, Anti-virus issues, Mobile Computing for E-Commerce, Network Security Applications, Neural Networks and Biomedical Simulations, Quality of Services and Communication Protocols, Quantum Computing, Coding, and Error Controls, Satellite and Optical Communication Systems, Theory of Parallel Processing and Distributed Computing, Virtual Visions, 3-D Object Retrievals, & Virtual Simulations, Wireless Access Security, etc. The success of ICCSCM 2017 is reflected in the received papers from authors around the world from several countries which allows a highly multinational and multicultural idea and experience exchange. The accepted papers of ICCSCM 2017 are published in this Book. Please check http://www.iccscm.com for further news. A conference such as ICCSCM 2017 can only become successful using a team effort, so herewith we want to thank the International Technical Committee and the Reviewers for their efforts in the review process as well as their valuable advices. We are thankful to all those who contributed to the success of ICCSCM 2017. The Secretary

Virtual microscopy: merging of computer mediated communication and intuitive interfacing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Ridder, Huib; de Ridder-Sluiter, Johanna G.; Kluin, Philip M.; Christiaans, Henri H. C. M.

2009-02-01

Ubiquitous computing (or Ambient Intelligence) is an upcoming technology that is usually associated with futuristic smart environments in which information is available anytime anywhere and with which humans can interact in a natural, multimodal way. However spectacular the corresponding scenarios may be, it is equally challenging to consider how this technology may enhance existing situations. This is illustrated by a case study from the Dutch medical field: central quality reviewing for pathology in child oncology. The main goal of the review is to assess the quality of the diagnosis based on patient material. The sharing of knowledge in social face-to-face interaction during such meeting is an important advantage. At the same time there is the disadvantage that the experts from the seven Dutch academic medical centers have to travel to the review meeting and that the required logistics to collect and bring patient material and data to the meeting is cumbersome and time-consuming. This paper focuses on how this time-consuming, nonefficient way of reviewing can be replaced by a virtual collaboration system by merging technology supporting Computer Mediated Collaboration and intuitive interfacing. This requires insight in the preferred way of communication and collaboration as well as knowledge about preferred interaction style with a virtual shared workspace.

Fano effect in the transport of an artificial molecule

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Norimoto, Shota; Nakamura, Shuji; Okazaki, Yuma; Arakawa, Tomonori; Asano, Kenichi; Onomitsu, Koji; Kobayashi, Kensuke; Kaneko, Nobu-hisa

2018-05-01

The Fano effect is a ubiquitous phenomenon arising from interference between a discrete energy state and an energy continuum. We explore this effect in an artificial molecule, namely, two lateral quantum dots (QDs) fabricated from a two-dimensional electron gas system and coupled in series. When the coupling between the leads and QDs is small, the charge stability diagram of the system shows a honeycomb lattice structure that is characteristic of a double QD system. As the coupling increases, a honeycomb structure consisting of the Fano resonances emerges. A numerical simulation based on the T-matrix method can satisfactorily reproduce our experimental observation. This report constitutes a clear example of the ubiquitous nature of the Fano effect in mesoscopic transport.

Frequency-encoded photonic qubits for scalable quantum information processing

DOE PAGES

Lukens, Joseph M.; Lougovski, Pavel

2016-12-21

Among the objectives for large-scale quantum computation is the quantum interconnect: a device that uses photons to interface qubits that otherwise could not interact. However, the current approaches require photons indistinguishable in frequency—a major challenge for systems experiencing different local environments or of different physical compositions altogether. Here, we develop an entirely new platform that actually exploits such frequency mismatch for processing quantum information. Labeled “spectral linear optical quantum computation” (spectral LOQC), our protocol offers favorable linear scaling of optical resources and enjoys an unprecedented degree of parallelism, as an arbitrary Ν-qubit quantum gate may be performed in parallel onmore » multiple Ν-qubit sets in the same linear optical device. Here, not only does spectral LOQC offer new potential for optical interconnects, but it also brings the ubiquitous technology of high-speed fiber optics to bear on photonic quantum information, making wavelength-configurable and robust optical quantum systems within reach.« less

Frequency-encoded photonic qubits for scalable quantum information processing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lukens, Joseph M.; Lougovski, Pavel

Among the objectives for large-scale quantum computation is the quantum interconnect: a device that uses photons to interface qubits that otherwise could not interact. However, the current approaches require photons indistinguishable in frequency—a major challenge for systems experiencing different local environments or of different physical compositions altogether. Here, we develop an entirely new platform that actually exploits such frequency mismatch for processing quantum information. Labeled “spectral linear optical quantum computation” (spectral LOQC), our protocol offers favorable linear scaling of optical resources and enjoys an unprecedented degree of parallelism, as an arbitrary Ν-qubit quantum gate may be performed in parallel onmore » multiple Ν-qubit sets in the same linear optical device. Here, not only does spectral LOQC offer new potential for optical interconnects, but it also brings the ubiquitous technology of high-speed fiber optics to bear on photonic quantum information, making wavelength-configurable and robust optical quantum systems within reach.« less

Competition for space during bacterial colonization of a surface.

PubMed

Lloyd, Diarmuid P; Allen, Rosalind J

2015-09-06

Competition for space is ubiquitous in the ecology of both microorganisms and macro-organisms. We introduce a bacterial model system in which the factors influencing competition for space during colonization of an initially empty habitat can be tracked directly. Using fluorescence microscopy, we follow the fate of individual Escherichia coli bacterial cell lineages as they undergo expansion competition (the race to be the first to colonize a previously empty territory), and as they later compete at boundaries between clonal territories. Our experiments are complemented by computer simulations of a lattice-based model. We find that both expansion competition, manifested as differences in individual cell lag times, and boundary competition, manifested as effects of neighbour cell geometry, can play a role in colonization success, particularly when lineages expand exponentially. This work provides a baseline for investigating how ecological interactions affect colonization of space by bacterial populations, and highlights the potential of bacterial model systems for the testing and development of ecological theory. © 2015 The Authors.

Competition for space during bacterial colonization of a surface

PubMed Central

Lloyd, Diarmuid P.; Allen, Rosalind J.

2015-01-01

Competition for space is ubiquitous in the ecology of both microorganisms and macro-organisms. We introduce a bacterial model system in which the factors influencing competition for space during colonization of an initially empty habitat can be tracked directly. Using fluorescence microscopy, we follow the fate of individual Escherichia coli bacterial cell lineages as they undergo expansion competition (the race to be the first to colonize a previously empty territory), and as they later compete at boundaries between clonal territories. Our experiments are complemented by computer simulations of a lattice-based model. We find that both expansion competition, manifested as differences in individual cell lag times, and boundary competition, manifested as effects of neighbour cell geometry, can play a role in colonization success, particularly when lineages expand exponentially. This work provides a baseline for investigating how ecological interactions affect colonization of space by bacterial populations, and highlights the potential of bacterial model systems for the testing and development of ecological theory. PMID:26333814

Quantum Monte Carlo tunneling from quantum chemistry to quantum annealing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mazzola, Guglielmo; Smelyanskiy, Vadim N.; Troyer, Matthias

2017-10-01

Quantum tunneling is ubiquitous across different fields, from quantum chemical reactions and magnetic materials to quantum simulators and quantum computers. While simulating the real-time quantum dynamics of tunneling is infeasible for high-dimensional systems, quantum tunneling also shows up in quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations, which aim to simulate quantum statistics with resources growing only polynomially with the system size. Here we extend the recent results obtained for quantum spin models [Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 180402 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.180402], and we study continuous-variable models for proton transfer reactions. We demonstrate that QMC simulations efficiently recover the scaling of ground-state tunneling rates due to the existence of an instanton path, which always connects the reactant state with the product. We discuss the implications of our results in the context of quantum chemical reactions and quantum annealing, where quantum tunneling is expected to be a valuable resource for solving combinatorial optimization problems.

Mapping female bodily features of attractiveness

PubMed Central

Bovet, Jeanne; Lao, Junpeng; Bartholomée, Océane; Caldara, Roberto; Raymond, Michel

2016-01-01

“Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye” (Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost), but the bodily features governing this critical biological choice are still debated. Eye movement studies have demonstrated that males sample coarse body regions expanding from the face, the breasts and the midriff, while making female attractiveness judgements with natural vision. However, the visual system ubiquitously extracts diagnostic extra-foveal information in natural conditions, thus the visual information actually used by men is still unknown. We thus used a parametric gaze-contingent design while males rated attractiveness of female front- and back-view bodies. Males used extra-foveal information when available. Critically, when bodily features were only visible through restricted apertures, fixations strongly shifted to the hips, to potentially extract hip-width and curvature, then the breast and face. Our hierarchical mapping suggests that the visual system primary uses hip information to compute the waist-to-hip ratio and the body mass index, the crucial factors in determining sexual attractiveness and mate selection. PMID:26791105

Applying Utility Functions to Adaptation Planning for Home Automation Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bratskas, Pyrros; Paspallis, Nearchos; Kakousis, Konstantinos; Papadopoulos, George A.

A pervasive computing environment typically comprises multiple embedded devices that may interact together and with mobile users. These users are part of the environment, and they experience it through a variety of devices embedded in the environment. This perception involves technologies which may be heterogeneous, pervasive, and dynamic. Due to the highly dynamic properties of such environments, the software systems running on them have to face problems such as user mobility, service failures, or resource and goal changes which may happen in an unpredictable manner. To cope with these problems, such systems must be autonomous and self-managed. In this chapter we deal with a special kind of a ubiquitous environment, a smart home environment, and introduce a user-preference-based model for adaptation planning. The model, which dynamically forms a set of configuration plans for resources, reasons automatically and autonomously, based on utility functions, on which plan is likely to best achieve the user's goals with respect to resource availability and user needs.

Perspectives on Emerging/Novel Computing Paradigms and Future Aerospace Workforce Environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Noor, Ahmed K.

2003-01-01

The accelerating pace of the computing technology development shows no signs of abating. Computing power reaching 100 Tflop/s is likely to be reached by 2004 and Pflop/s (10(exp 15) Flop/s) by 2007. The fundamental physical limits of computation, including information storage limits, communication limits and computation rate limits will likely be reached by the middle of the present millennium. To overcome these limits, novel technologies and new computing paradigms will be developed. An attempt is made in this overview to put the diverse activities related to new computing-paradigms in perspective and to set the stage for the succeeding presentations. The presentation is divided into five parts. In the first part, a brief historical account is given of development of computer and networking technologies. The second part provides brief overviews of the three emerging computing paradigms grid, ubiquitous and autonomic computing. The third part lists future computing alternatives and the characteristics of future computing environment. The fourth part describes future aerospace workforce research, learning and design environments. The fifth part lists the objectives of the workshop and some of the sources of information on future computing paradigms.

Air Pollution Monitoring and Mining Based on Sensor Grid in London

PubMed Central

Ma, Yajie; Richards, Mark; Ghanem, Moustafa; Guo, Yike; Hassard, John

2008-01-01

In this paper, we present a distributed infrastructure based on wireless sensors network and Grid computing technology for air pollution monitoring and mining, which aims to develop low-cost and ubiquitous sensor networks to collect real-time, large scale and comprehensive environmental data from road traffic emissions for air pollution monitoring in urban environment. The main informatics challenges in respect to constructing the high-throughput sensor Grid are discussed in this paper. We present a two-layer network framework, a P2P e-Science Grid architecture, and the distributed data mining algorithm as the solutions to address the challenges. We simulated the system in TinyOS to examine the operation of each sensor as well as the networking performance. We also present the distributed data mining result to examine the effectiveness of the algorithm. PMID:27879895

Air Pollution Monitoring and Mining Based on Sensor Grid in London.

PubMed

Ma, Yajie; Richards, Mark; Ghanem, Moustafa; Guo, Yike; Hassard, John

2008-06-01

In this paper, we present a distributed infrastructure based on wireless sensors network and Grid computing technology for air pollution monitoring and mining, which aims to develop low-cost and ubiquitous sensor networks to collect real-time, large scale and comprehensive environmental data from road traffic emissions for air pollution monitoring in urban environment. The main informatics challenges in respect to constructing the high-throughput sensor Grid are discussed in this paper. We present a twolayer network framework, a P2P e-Science Grid architecture, and the distributed data mining algorithm as the solutions to address the challenges. We simulated the system in TinyOS to examine the operation of each sensor as well as the networking performance. We also present the distributed data mining result to examine the effectiveness of the algorithm.

Query Language for Location-Based Services: A Model Checking Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoareau, Christian; Satoh, Ichiro

We present a model checking approach to the rationale, implementation, and applications of a query language for location-based services. Such query mechanisms are necessary so that users, objects, and/or services can effectively benefit from the location-awareness of their surrounding environment. The underlying data model is founded on a symbolic model of space organized in a tree structure. Once extended to a semantic model for modal logic, we regard location query processing as a model checking problem, and thus define location queries as hybrid logicbased formulas. Our approach is unique to existing research because it explores the connection between location models and query processing in ubiquitous computing systems, relies on a sound theoretical basis, and provides modal logic-based query mechanisms for expressive searches over a decentralized data structure. A prototype implementation is also presented and will be discussed.

That liver lesion on MDCT in the oncology patient: is it important?

PubMed Central

Thakrar, Kiran H.; Wenzke, Daniel R.; Newmark, Geraldine M.; Mehta, Uday K.; Berlin, Jonathan W.

2012-01-01

Abstract Multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) has become the primary imaging test for the staging and follow-up of most malignancies that originate outside of the central nervous system. Technical advances in this imaging technique have led to significant improvement in the detection of metastatic disease to the liver. An unintended by-product of this improving diagnostic acumen is the discovery of incidental hepatic lesions in oncology patients that in the past remained undetected. These ubiquitous, incidentally identified hepatic lesions have created a management dilemma for both clinicians and radiologists: are these lesions benign or do they represent metastases? Naturally, the answer to this question has profound prognostic and therapeutic implications. In this review, guidelines concerning the diagnosis and management of some of the more common hepatic incidental lesions detected in patients with extrahepatic malignancies are presented. PMID:23023318

Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training in Smokers

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-03-11

the Use of Mobile Technology EMA involves assessing phenomena at the moment they occur in a person’s natural environment. Assessments may be done at...of mobile technology , especially smartphones and tablet computers, provides a soon-to-be ubiquitous platform that can be leveraged to introduce...acute effects of Brief-MM together with an EMA platform is the first step in developing the knowledge base and technology necessary for using a similar

Passage from Pen and Paper to Keyboard and Screen: An Investigation of the Evolution of Writing Instruction in One-to-One Laptop Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jett, Janice Rowe

2013-01-01

With the steady increase of ubiquitous computing initiatives across the country in the last decade, there is a pressing need for specific research looking at content area instruction in 1:1 settings. This qualitative multiple case study examines writing instruction at two middle schools as it is delivered by experienced teachers in five English…

Probabilistic Inference in General Graphical Models through Sampling in Stochastic Networks of Spiking Neurons

PubMed Central

Pecevski, Dejan; Buesing, Lars; Maass, Wolfgang

2011-01-01

An important open problem of computational neuroscience is the generic organization of computations in networks of neurons in the brain. We show here through rigorous theoretical analysis that inherent stochastic features of spiking neurons, in combination with simple nonlinear computational operations in specific network motifs and dendritic arbors, enable networks of spiking neurons to carry out probabilistic inference through sampling in general graphical models. In particular, it enables them to carry out probabilistic inference in Bayesian networks with converging arrows (“explaining away”) and with undirected loops, that occur in many real-world tasks. Ubiquitous stochastic features of networks of spiking neurons, such as trial-to-trial variability and spontaneous activity, are necessary ingredients of the underlying computational organization. We demonstrate through computer simulations that this approach can be scaled up to neural emulations of probabilistic inference in fairly large graphical models, yielding some of the most complex computations that have been carried out so far in networks of spiking neurons. PMID:22219717

Design of a Mobile Low-Cost Sensor Network Using Urban Buses for Real-Time Ubiquitous Noise Monitoring.

PubMed

Alsina-Pagès, Rosa Ma; Hernandez-Jayo, Unai; Alías, Francesc; Angulo, Ignacio

2016-12-29

One of the main priorities of smart cities is improving the quality of life of their inhabitants. Traffic noise is one of the pollutant sources that causes a negative impact on the quality of life of citizens, which is gaining attention among authorities. The European Commission has promoted the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END) to inform citizens and to prevent the harmful effects of noise exposure. The measure of acoustic levels using noise maps is a strategic issue in the END action plan. Noise maps are typically calculated by computing the average noise during one year and updated every five years. Hence, the implementation of dynamic noise mapping systems could lead to short-term plan actions, besides helping to better understand the evolution of noise levels along time. Recently, some projects have started the monitoring of noise levels in urban areas by means of acoustic sensor networks settled in strategic locations across the city, while others have taken advantage of collaborative citizen sensing mobile applications. In this paper, we describe the design of an acoustic low-cost sensor network installed on public buses to measure the traffic noise in the city in real time. Moreover, the challenges that a ubiquitous bus acoustic measurement system entails are enumerated and discussed. Specifically, the analysis takes into account the feature extraction of the audio signal, the identification and separation of the road traffic noise from urban traffic noise, the hardware platform to measure and process the acoustic signal, the connectivity between the several nodes of the acoustic sensor network to store the data and, finally, the noise maps' generation process. The implementation and evaluation of the proposal in a real-life scenario is left for future work.

Design of a Mobile Low-Cost Sensor Network Using Urban Buses for Real-Time Ubiquitous Noise Monitoring

PubMed Central

Alsina-Pagès, Rosa Ma; Hernandez-Jayo, Unai; Alías, Francesc; Angulo, Ignacio

2016-01-01

One of the main priorities of smart cities is improving the quality of life of their inhabitants. Traffic noise is one of the pollutant sources that causes a negative impact on the quality of life of citizens, which is gaining attention among authorities. The European Commission has promoted the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END) to inform citizens and to prevent the harmful effects of noise exposure. The measure of acoustic levels using noise maps is a strategic issue in the END action plan. Noise maps are typically calculated by computing the average noise during one year and updated every five years. Hence, the implementation of dynamic noise mapping systems could lead to short-term plan actions, besides helping to better understand the evolution of noise levels along time. Recently, some projects have started the monitoring of noise levels in urban areas by means of acoustic sensor networks settled in strategic locations across the city, while others have taken advantage of collaborative citizen sensing mobile applications. In this paper, we describe the design of an acoustic low-cost sensor network installed on public buses to measure the traffic noise in the city in real time. Moreover, the challenges that a ubiquitous bus acoustic measurement system entails are enumerated and discussed. Specifically, the analysis takes into account the feature extraction of the audio signal, the identification and separation of the road traffic noise from urban traffic noise, the hardware platform to measure and process the acoustic signal, the connectivity between the several nodes of the acoustic sensor network to store the data and, finally, the noise maps’ generation process. The implementation and evaluation of the proposal in a real-life scenario is left for future work. PMID:28036065

Robotics On-Board Trainer (ROBoT)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Johnson, Genevieve; Alexander, Greg

2013-01-01

ROBoT is an on-orbit version of the ground-based Dynamics Skills Trainer (DST) that astronauts use for training on a frequent basis. This software consists of two primary software groups. The first series of components is responsible for displaying the graphical scenes. The remaining components are responsible for simulating the Mobile Servicing System (MSS), the Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System (JEMRMS), and the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) Free Flyer Robotics Operations. The MSS simulation software includes: Robotic Workstation (RWS) simulation, a simulation of the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), a simulation of the ISS Command and Control System (CCS), and a portion of the Portable Computer System (PCS) software necessary for MSS operations. These components all run under the CentOS4.5 Linux operating system. The JEMRMS simulation software includes real-time, HIL, dynamics, manipulator multi-body dynamics, and a moving object contact model with Tricks discrete time scheduling. The JEMRMS DST will be used as a functional proficiency and skills trainer for flight crews. The HTV Free Flyer Robotics Operations simulation software adds a functional simulation of HTV vehicle controllers, sensors, and data to the MSS simulation software. These components are intended to support HTV ISS visiting vehicle analysis and training. The scene generation software will use DOUG (Dynamic On-orbit Ubiquitous Graphics) to render the graphical scenes. DOUG runs on a laptop running the CentOS4.5 Linux operating system. DOUG is an Open GL-based 3D computer graphics rendering package. It uses pre-built three-dimensional models of on-orbit ISS and space shuttle systems elements, and provides realtime views of various station and shuttle configurations.

SenseMyHeart: A cloud service and API for wearable heart monitors.

PubMed

Pinto Silva, P M; Silva Cunha, J P

2015-01-01

In the era of ubiquitous computing, the growing adoption of wearable systems and body sensor networks is trailing the path for new research and software for cardiovascular intensity, energy expenditure and stress and fatigue detection through cardiovascular monitoring. Several systems have received clinical-certification and provide huge amounts of reliable heart-related data in a continuous basis. PhysioNet provides equally reliable open-source software tools for ECG processing and analysis that can be combined with these devices. However, this software remains difficult to use in a mobile environment and for researchers unfamiliar with Linux-based systems. In the present paper we present an approach that aims at tackling these limitations by developing a cloud service that provides an API for a PhysioNet-based pipeline for ECG processing and Heart Rate Variability measurement. We describe the proposed solution, along with its advantages and tradeoffs. We also present some client tools (windows and Android) and several projects where the developed cloud service has been used successfully as a standard for Heart Rate and Heart Rate Variability studies in different scenarios.

Data Assimilation on a Quantum Annealing Computer: Feasibility and Scalability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nearing, G. S.; Halem, M.; Chapman, D. R.; Pelissier, C. S.

2014-12-01

Data assimilation is one of the ubiquitous and computationally hard problems in the Earth Sciences. In particular, ensemble-based methods require a large number of model evaluations to estimate the prior probability density over system states, and variational methods require adjoint calculations and iteration to locate the maximum a posteriori solution in the presence of nonlinear models and observation operators. Quantum annealing computers (QAC) like the new D-Wave housed at the NASA Ames Research Center can be used for optimization and sampling, and therefore offers a new possibility for efficiently solving hard data assimilation problems. Coding on the QAC is not straightforward: a problem must be posed as a Quadratic Unconstrained Binary Optimization (QUBO) and mapped to a spherical Chimera graph. We have developed a method for compiling nonlinear 4D-Var problems on the D-Wave that consists of five steps: Emulating the nonlinear model and/or observation function using radial basis functions (RBF) or Chebyshev polynomials. Truncating a Taylor series around each RBF kernel. Reducing the Taylor polynomial to a quadratic using ancilla gadgets. Mapping the real-valued quadratic to a fixed-precision binary quadratic. Mapping the fully coupled binary quadratic to a partially coupled spherical Chimera graph using ancilla gadgets. At present the D-Wave contains 512 qbits (with 1024 and 2048 qbit machines due in the next two years); this machine size allows us to estimate only 3 state variables at each satellite overpass. However, QAC's solve optimization problems using a physical (quantum) system, and therefore do not require iterations or calculation of model adjoints. This has the potential to revolutionize our ability to efficiently perform variational data assimilation, as the size of these computers grows in the coming years.

Service-oriented Software Defined Optical Networks for Cloud Computing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Yuze; Li, Hui; Ji, Yuefeng

2017-10-01

With the development of big data and cloud computing technology, the traditional software-defined network is facing new challenges (e.g., ubiquitous accessibility, higher bandwidth, more flexible management and greater security). This paper proposes a new service-oriented software defined optical network architecture, including a resource layer, a service abstract layer, a control layer and an application layer. We then dwell on the corresponding service providing method. Different service ID is used to identify the service a device can offer. Finally, we experimentally evaluate that proposed service providing method can be applied to transmit different services based on the service ID in the service-oriented software defined optical network.

Threshold Things That Think: Authorisation for Resharing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peeters, Roel; Kohlweiss, Markulf; Preneel, Bart

As we are evolving towards ubiquitous computing, users carry an increasing number of mobile devices with sensitive information. The security of this information can be protected using threshold cryptography, in which secret computations are shared between multiple devices. Threshold cryptography can be made more robust by resharing protocols, which allow recovery from partial compromises. This paper introduces user-friendly and secure protocols for the authorisation of resharing protocols. We present both automatic and manual protocols, utilising a group manual authentication protocol to add a new device. We analyse the security of these protocols: our analysis considers permanent and temporary compromises, denial of service attacks and manual authentications errors of the user.

A universal quantum module for quantum communication, computation, and metrology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanks, Michael; Lo Piparo, Nicolò; Trupke, Michael; Schmiedmayer, Jorg; Munro, William J.; Nemoto, Kae

2017-08-01

In this work, we describe a simple module that could be ubiquitous for quantum information based applications. The basic modules comprises a single NV- center in diamond embedded in an optical cavity, where the cavity mediates interactions between photons and the electron spin (enabling entanglement distribution and efficient readout), while the nuclear spins constitutes a long-lived quantum memories capable of storing and processing quantum information. We discuss how a network of connected modules can be used for distributed metrology, communication and computation applications. Finally, we investigate the possible use of alternative diamond centers (SiV/GeV) within the module and illustrate potential advantages.

An intelligent knowledge-based and customizable home care system framework with ubiquitous patient monitoring and alerting techniques.

PubMed

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Yu, Chao-Wei; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study develops and integrates an efficient knowledge-based system and a component-based framework to design an intelligent and flexible home health care system. The proposed knowledge-based system integrates an efficient rule-based reasoning model and flexible knowledge rules for determining efficiently and rapidly the necessary physiological and medication treatment procedures based on software modules, video camera sensors, communication devices, and physiological sensor information. This knowledge-based system offers high flexibility for improving and extending the system further to meet the monitoring demands of new patient and caregiver health care by updating the knowledge rules in the inference mechanism. All of the proposed functional components in this study are reusable, configurable, and extensible for system developers. Based on the experimental results, the proposed intelligent homecare system demonstrates that it can accomplish the extensible, customizable, and configurable demands of the ubiquitous healthcare systems to meet the different demands of patients and caregivers under various rehabilitation and nursing conditions.

An Intelligent Knowledge-Based and Customizable Home Care System Framework with Ubiquitous Patient Monitoring and Alerting Techniques

PubMed Central

Chen, Yen-Lin; Chiang, Hsin-Han; Yu, Chao-Wei; Chiang, Chuan-Yen; Liu, Chuan-Ming; Wang, Jenq-Haur

2012-01-01

This study develops and integrates an efficient knowledge-based system and a component-based framework to design an intelligent and flexible home health care system. The proposed knowledge-based system integrates an efficient rule-based reasoning model and flexible knowledge rules for determining efficiently and rapidly the necessary physiological and medication treatment procedures based on software modules, video camera sensors, communication devices, and physiological sensor information. This knowledge-based system offers high flexibility for improving and extending the system further to meet the monitoring demands of new patient and caregiver health care by updating the knowledge rules in the inference mechanism. All of the proposed functional components in this study are reusable, configurable, and extensible for system developers. Based on the experimental results, the proposed intelligent homecare system demonstrates that it can accomplish the extensible, customizable, and configurable demands of the ubiquitous healthcare systems to meet the different demands of patients and caregivers under various rehabilitation and nursing conditions. PMID:23112650

The Role of ERK1/2 in the Progression of Anti-Androgen Resistance of MtDNA Deficient Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-03-01

proto-oncogenic pathway, it is plausible that the mitoGPS is a ubiquitous (patho) physiological response to the etiology and/or progression of a broad...the mitochondrion as a direct physiological source of hypoxia in an in vitro system. Our results demonstrate that the reduction of the mitochondrial...ubiquitous (patho) physiological response to the etiology and/or progression of a broad spectrum of human diseases that are attributed to respiratory

The Role of ERK1/2 in the Progression of Anti-Androgen Resistance of mtDNA Deficient Prostate Cancer

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

of PCa and BCa. Signaled by a metabolic-to-proto-oncogenic pathway, it is plausible that the mitoGPS is a ubiquitous (patho) physiological response to...extracellular environment. We are the first to directly establish the mitochondrion as a direct physiological source of hypoxia in an in vitro system. Our...mitochondrial genome. It is plausible that the mitoGPS is a ubiquitous (patho) physiological response to the etiology and/or progression of a broad spectrum of

Characterization of Instructor and Student Use of Ubiquitous Presenter, a Presentation System Enabling Spontaneity and Digital Archiving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Edward; Malani, Roshni; Simon, Beth

2007-01-01

Ubiquitous Presenter (UP) is a digital presentation system that allows an instructor with a Tablet PC to spontaneously modify prepared slides, while automatically archiving the inked slides on the web. For two introductory physics classes, we examine the types of slides instructors prepare and the ways in which they add ink to the slides. Modes of usage include: using ink to explicitly link multiple representations; making prepared figures dynamic by animating them with ink; and preparing slides with sparse text or figures, then adding extensive annotations during class. In addition, through an analysis of surveys and of web server logs, we examine student reaction to the system, as well as how often and in what ways students' utilize archived material. In general, students find the system valuable and frequently review the presentations online.

Emergency navigation without an infrastructure.

PubMed

Gelenbe, Erol; Bi, Huibo

2014-08-18

Emergency navigation systems for buildings and other built environments, such as sport arenas or shopping centres, typically rely on simple sensor networks to detect emergencies and, then, provide automatic signs to direct the evacuees. The major drawbacks of such static wireless sensor network (WSN)-based emergency navigation systems are the very limited computing capacity, which makes adaptivity very difficult, and the restricted battery power, due to the low cost of sensor nodes for unattended operation. If static wireless sensor networks and cloud-computing can be integrated, then intensive computations that are needed to determine optimal evacuation routes in the presence of time-varying hazards can be offloaded to the cloud, but the disadvantages of limited battery life-time at the client side, as well as the high likelihood of system malfunction during an emergency still remain. By making use of the powerful sensing ability of smart phones, which are increasingly ubiquitous, this paper presents a cloud-enabled indoor emergency navigation framework to direct evacuees in a coordinated fashion and to improve the reliability and resilience for both communication and localization. By combining social potential fields (SPF) and a cognitive packet network (CPN)-based algorithm, evacuees are guided to exits in dynamic loose clusters. Rather than relying on a conventional telecommunications infrastructure, we suggest an ad hoc cognitive packet network (AHCPN)-based protocol to adaptively search optimal communication routes between portable devices and the network egress nodes that provide access to cloud servers, in a manner that spares the remaining battery power of smart phones and minimizes the time latency. Experimental results through detailed simulations indicate that smart human motion and smart network management can increase the survival rate of evacuees and reduce the number of drained smart phones in an evacuation process.

Understanding the Hows and Whys of Decision-Making: From Expected Utility to Divisive Normalization.

PubMed

Glimcher, Paul

2014-01-01

Over the course of the last century, economists and ethologists have built detailed models from first principles of how humans and animals should make decisions. Over the course of the last few decades, psychologists and behavioral economists have gathered a wealth of data at variance with the predictions of these economic models. This has led to the development of highly descriptive models that can often predict what choices people or animals will make but without offering any insight into why people make the choices that they do--especially when those choices reduce a decision-maker's well-being. Over the course of the last two decades, neurobiologists working with economists and psychologists have begun to use our growing understanding of how the nervous system works to develop new models of how the nervous system makes decisions. The result, a growing revolution at the interdisciplinary border of neuroscience, psychology, and economics, is a new field called Neuroeconomics. Emerging neuroeconomic models stand to revolutionize our understanding of human and animal choice behavior by combining fundamental properties of neurobiological representation with decision-theoretic analyses. In this overview, one class of these models, based on the widely observed neural computation known as divisive normalization, is presented in detail. The work demonstrates not only that a discrete class of computation widely observed in the nervous system is fundamentally ubiquitous, but how that computation shapes behaviors ranging from visual perception to financial decision-making. It also offers the hope of reconciling economic analysis of what choices we should make with psychological observations of the choices we actually do make. Copyright © 2014 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

Emergency Navigation without an Infrastructure

PubMed Central

Gelenbe, Erol; Bi, Huibo

2014-01-01

Emergency navigation systems for buildings and other built environments, such as sport arenas or shopping centres, typically rely on simple sensor networks to detect emergencies and, then, provide automatic signs to direct the evacuees. The major drawbacks of such static wireless sensor network (WSN)-based emergency navigation systems are the very limited computing capacity, which makes adaptivity very difficult, and the restricted battery power, due to the low cost of sensor nodes for unattended operation. If static wireless sensor networks and cloud-computing can be integrated, then intensive computations that are needed to determine optimal evacuation routes in the presence of time-varying hazards can be offloaded to the cloud, but the disadvantages of limited battery life-time at the client side, as well as the high likelihood of system malfunction during an emergency still remain. By making use of the powerful sensing ability of smart phones, which are increasingly ubiquitous, this paper presents a cloud-enabled indoor emergency navigation framework to direct evacuees in a coordinated fashion and to improve the reliability and resilience for both communication and localization. By combining social potential fields (SPF) and a cognitive packet network (CPN)-based algorithm, evacuees are guided to exits in dynamic loose clusters. Rather than relying on a conventional telecommunications infrastructure, we suggest an ad hoc cognitive packet network (AHCPN)-based protocol to adaptively search optimal communication routes between portable devices and the network egress nodes that provide access to cloud servers, in a manner that spares the remaining battery power of smart phones and minimizes the time latency. Experimental results through detailed simulations indicate that smart human motion and smart network management can increase the survival rate of evacuees and reduce the number of drained smart phones in an evacuation process. PMID:25196014

The information science of microbial ecology.

PubMed

Hahn, Aria S; Konwar, Kishori M; Louca, Stilianos; Hanson, Niels W; Hallam, Steven J

2016-06-01

A revolution is unfolding in microbial ecology where petabytes of 'multi-omics' data are produced using next generation sequencing and mass spectrometry platforms. This cornucopia of biological information has enormous potential to reveal the hidden metabolic powers of microbial communities in natural and engineered ecosystems. However, to realize this potential, the development of new technologies and interpretative frameworks grounded in ecological design principles are needed to overcome computational and analytical bottlenecks. Here we explore the relationship between microbial ecology and information science in the era of cloud-based computation. We consider microorganisms as individual information processing units implementing a distributed metabolic algorithm and describe developments in ecoinformatics and ubiquitous computing with the potential to eliminate bottlenecks and empower knowledge creation and translation. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Earth Science Informatics Comes of Age

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jodha, Siri; Khalsa, S.; Ramachandran, Rahul

2014-01-01

The volume and complexity of Earth science data have steadily increased, placing ever-greater demands on researchers, software developers and data managers tasked with handling such data. Additional demands arise from requirements being levied by funding agencies and governments to better manage, preserve and provide open access to data. Fortunately, over the past 10-15 years significant advances in information technology, such as increased processing power, advanced programming languages, more sophisticated and practical standards, and near-ubiquitous internet access have made the jobs of those acquiring, processing, distributing and archiving data easier. These advances have also led to an increasing number of individuals entering the field of informatics as it applies to Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Informatics is the science and technology of applying computers and computational methods to the systematic analysis, management, interchange, and representation of data, information, and knowledge. Informatics also encompasses the use of computers and computational methods to support decisionmaking and other applications for societal benefits.

Active Learning with Ubiquitous Presenter and Tablet PCs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Edward; Simon, B.

2006-12-01

Ubiquitous Presenter (UP)* is a digital presentation system that facilitates spontaneity and interactivity in the classroom. Using the system, an instructor with a Tablet PC can spontaneously modify prepared slides. Furthermore, students with web-enabled devices can add digital 'ink' or text to the instructor's slides and submit them to the instructor during class. We have used this system to facilitate interactive engagement techniques in an introductory physics class where approximately one-third of the students had access to a Tablet PC during class. Class time was used for Interactive Lecture Demonstrations, Peer Instruction, and group problem solving. We describe the implementation of these active learning activities with UP and Tablet PCs, show examples of student contributions, and describe the impact on the classroom setting. *http://up.ucsd.edu/about/

Transfer functions for protein signal transduction: application to a model of striatal neural plasticity.

PubMed

Scheler, Gabriele

2013-01-01

We present a novel formulation for biochemical reaction networks in the context of protein signal transduction. The model consists of input-output transfer functions, which are derived from differential equations, using stable equilibria. We select a set of "source" species, which are interpreted as input signals. Signals are transmitted to all other species in the system (the "target" species) with a specific delay and with a specific transmission strength. The delay is computed as the maximal reaction time until a stable equilibrium for the target species is reached, in the context of all other reactions in the system. The transmission strength is the concentration change of the target species. The computed input-output transfer functions can be stored in a matrix, fitted with parameters, and even recalled to build dynamical models on the basis of state changes. By separating the temporal and the magnitudinal domain we can greatly simplify the computational model, circumventing typical problems of complex dynamical systems. The transfer function transformation of biochemical reaction systems can be applied to mass-action kinetic models of signal transduction. The paper shows that this approach yields significant novel insights while remaining a fully testable and executable dynamical model for signal transduction. In particular we can deconstruct the complex system into local transfer functions between individual species. As an example, we examine modularity and signal integration using a published model of striatal neural plasticity. The modularizations that emerge correspond to a known biological distinction between calcium-dependent and cAMP-dependent pathways. Remarkably, we found that overall interconnectedness depends on the magnitude of inputs, with higher connectivity at low input concentrations and significant modularization at moderate to high input concentrations. This general result, which directly follows from the properties of individual transfer functions, contradicts notions of ubiquitous complexity by showing input-dependent signal transmission inactivation.

Ubiquitous Multicriteria Clinic Recommendation System.

PubMed

Chen, Toly

2016-05-01

Advancements in information, communication, and sensor technologies have led to new opportunities in medical care and education. Patients in general prefer visiting the nearest clinic, attempt to avoid waiting for treatment, and have unequal preferences for different clinics and doctors. Therefore, to enable patients to compare multiple clinics, this study proposes a ubiquitous multicriteria clinic recommendation system. In this system, patients can send requests through their cell phones to the system server to obtain a clinic recommendation. Once the patient sends this information to the system, the system server first estimates the patient's speed according to the detection results of a global positioning system. It then applies a fuzzy integer nonlinear programming-ordered weighted average approach to assess four criteria and finally recommends a clinic with maximal utility to the patient. The proposed methodology was tested in a field experiment, and the experimental results showed that it is advantageous over two existing methods in elevating the utilities of recommendations. In addition, such an advantage was shown to be statistically significant.

A novel cost-effective computer-assisted imaging technology for accurate placement of thoracic pedicle screws.

PubMed

Abe, Yuichiro; Ito, Manabu; Abumi, Kuniyoshi; Kotani, Yoshihisa; Sudo, Hideki; Minami, Akio

2011-11-01

Use of computer-assisted spine surgery (CASS) technologies, such as navigation systems, to improve the accuracy of pedicle screw (PS) placement is increasingly popular. Despite of their benefits, previous CASS systems are too expensive to be ubiquitously employed, and more affordable and portable systems are desirable. The aim of this study was to introduce a novel and affordable computer-assisted technique that 3-dimensionally visualizes anatomical features of the pedicles and assists in PS insertion. The authors have termed this the 3D-visual guidance technique for inserting pedicle screws (3D-VG TIPS). The 3D-VG technique for placing PSs requires only a consumer-class computer with an inexpensive 3D DICOM viewer; other special equipment is unnecessary. Preoperative CT data of the spine were collected for each patient using the 3D-VG TIPS. In this technique, the anatomical axis of each pedicle can be analyzed by volume-rendered 3D models, as with existing navigation systems, and both the ideal entry point and the trajectory of each PS can be visualized on the surface of 3D-rendered images. Intraoperative guidance slides are made from these images and displayed on a TV monitor in the operating room. The surgeon can insert PSs according to these guidance slides. The authors enrolled 30 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) who underwent posterior fusion with segmental screw fixation for validation of this technique. The novel technique allowed surgeons, from office or home, to evaluate the precise anatomy of each pedicle and the risks of screw misplacement, and to perform 3D preoperative planning for screw placement on their own computer. Looking at both 3D guidance images on a TV monitor and the bony structures of the posterior elements in each patient in the operating theater, surgeons were able to determine the best entry point for each PS with ease and confidence. Using the current technique, the screw malposition rate was 4.5% in the thoracic region in corrective surgery for AIS. The authors found that 3D-VG TIPS worked on a consumer-class computer and easily visualized the ideal entry point and trajectory of PSs in any operating theater without costly special equipment. This new technique is suitable for preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance when performing reconstructive surgery with PSs.

PhysioDroid: Combining Wearable Health Sensors and Mobile Devices for a Ubiquitous, Continuous, and Personal Monitoring

PubMed Central

Villalonga, Claudia; Damas, Miguel

2014-01-01

Technological advances on the development of mobile devices, medical sensors, and wireless communication systems support a new generation of unobtrusive, portable, and ubiquitous health monitoring systems for continuous patient assessment and more personalized health care. There exist a growing number of mobile apps in the health domain; however, little contribution has been specifically provided, so far, to operate this kind of apps with wearable physiological sensors. The PhysioDroid, presented in this paper, provides a personalized means to remotely monitor and evaluate users' conditions. The PhysioDroid system provides ubiquitous and continuous vital signs analysis, such as electrocardiogram, heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and body motion, intended to help empower patients and improve clinical understanding. The PhysioDroid is composed of a wearable monitoring device and an Android app providing gathering, storage, and processing features for the physiological sensor data. The versatility of the developed app allows its use for both average users and specialists, and the reduced cost of the PhysioDroid puts it at the reach of most people. Two exemplary use cases for health assessment and sports training are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the PhysioDroid. Next technical steps include generalization to other mobile platforms and health monitoring devices. PMID:25295301

PhysioDroid: combining wearable health sensors and mobile devices for a ubiquitous, continuous, and personal monitoring.

PubMed

Banos, Oresti; Villalonga, Claudia; Damas, Miguel; Gloesekoetter, Peter; Pomares, Hector; Rojas, Ignacio

2014-01-01

Technological advances on the development of mobile devices, medical sensors, and wireless communication systems support a new generation of unobtrusive, portable, and ubiquitous health monitoring systems for continuous patient assessment and more personalized health care. There exist a growing number of mobile apps in the health domain; however, little contribution has been specifically provided, so far, to operate this kind of apps with wearable physiological sensors. The PhysioDroid, presented in this paper, provides a personalized means to remotely monitor and evaluate users' conditions. The PhysioDroid system provides ubiquitous and continuous vital signs analysis, such as electrocardiogram, heart rate, respiration rate, skin temperature, and body motion, intended to help empower patients and improve clinical understanding. The PhysioDroid is composed of a wearable monitoring device and an Android app providing gathering, storage, and processing features for the physiological sensor data. The versatility of the developed app allows its use for both average users and specialists, and the reduced cost of the PhysioDroid puts it at the reach of most people. Two exemplary use cases for health assessment and sports training are presented to illustrate the capabilities of the PhysioDroid. Next technical steps include generalization to other mobile platforms and health monitoring devices.

Logic-centered architecture for ubiquitous health monitoring.

PubMed

Lewandowski, Jacek; Arochena, Hisbel E; Naguib, Raouf N G; Chao, Kuo-Ming; Garcia-Perez, Alexeis

2014-09-01

One of the key points to maintain and boost research and development in the area of smart wearable systems (SWS) is the development of integrated architectures for intelligent services, as well as wearable systems and devices for health and wellness management. This paper presents such a generic architecture for multiparametric, intelligent and ubiquitous wireless sensing platforms. It is a transparent, smartphone-based sensing framework with customizable wireless interfaces and plug'n'play capability to easily interconnect third party sensor devices. It caters to wireless body, personal, and near-me area networks. A pivotal part of the platform is the integrated inference engine/runtime environment that allows the mobile device to serve as a user-adaptable personal health assistant. The novelty of this system lays in a rapid visual development and remote deployment model. The complementary visual Inference Engine Editor that comes with the package enables artificial intelligence specialists, alongside with medical experts, to build data processing models by assembling different components and instantly deploying them (remotely) on patient mobile devices. In this paper, the new logic-centered software architecture for ubiquitous health monitoring applications is described, followed by a discussion as to how it helps to shift focus from software and hardware development, to medical and health process-centered design of new SWS applications.

Study of the ubiquitous hog farm system using wireless sensor networks for environmental monitoring and facilities control.

PubMed

Hwang, Jeonghwan; Yoe, Hyun

2010-01-01

Many hog farmers are now suffering from high pig mortality rates due to various wasting diseases and increased breeding costs, etc. It is therefore necessary for hog farms to implement systematic and scientific pig production technology to increase productivity and produce high quality pork in order to solve these problems. In this study, we describe such a technology by suggesting a ubiquitous hog farm system which applies WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) technology to the pig industry. We suggest that a WSN and CCTV (Closed-circuit television) should be installed on hog farms to collect environmental and image information which shall then help producers not only in monitoring the hog farm via the Web from outside the farm, but also facilitate the control of hog farm facilities in remote locations. In addition, facilities can be automatically controlled based on breeding environment parameters which are already set up and a SMS notice service to notify of deviations shall provide users with convenience. Hog farmers may increase production and improve pork quality through this ubiquitous hog farm system and prepare a database with information collected from environmental factors and the hog farm control devices, which is expected to provide information needed to design and implement suitable control strategies for hog farm operation.

Study of the Ubiquitous Hog Farm System Using Wireless Sensor Networks for Environmental Monitoring and Facilities Control

PubMed Central

Hwang, Jeonghwan; Yoe, Hyun

2010-01-01

Many hog farmers are now suffering from high pig mortality rates due to various wasting diseases and increased breeding costs, etc. It is therefore necessary for hog farms to implement systematic and scientific pig production technology to increase productivity and produce high quality pork in order to solve these problems. In this study, we describe such a technology by suggesting a ubiquitous hog farm system which applies WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) technology to the pig industry. We suggest that a WSN and CCTV (Closed-circuit television) should be installed on hog farms to collect environmental and image information which shall then help producers not only in monitoring the hog farm via the Web from outside the farm, but also facilitate the control of hog farm facilities in remote locations. In addition, facilities can be automatically controlled based on breeding environment parameters which are already set up and a SMS notice service to notify of deviations shall provide users with convenience. Hog farmers may increase production and improve pork quality through this ubiquitous hog farm system and prepare a database with information collected from environmental factors and the hog farm control devices, which is expected to provide information needed to design and implement suitable control strategies for hog farm operation. PMID:22163497

The iPad and EFL Digital Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meurant, Robert C.

In future, the uses of English by non-native speakers will predominantly be online, using English language digital resources, and in computer-mediated communication with other non-native speakers of English. Thus for Korea to be competitive in the global economy, its EFL should develop L2 Digital Literacy in English. With its fast Internet connections, Korea is the most wired nation on Earth; but ICT facilities in educational institutions need reorganization. Opportunities for computer-mediated second language learning need to be increased, providing multimedia-capable, mobile web solutions that put the Internet into the hands of all students and teachers. Wi-Fi networked campuses allow any campus space to act as a wireless classroom. Every classroom should have a teacher's computer console. All students should be provided with adequate computing facilities, that are available anywhere, anytime. Ubiquitous computing has now become feasible by providing every student on enrollment with a tablet: a Wi-Fi+3G enabled Apple iPad.

Hadoop-GIS: A High Performance Spatial Data Warehousing System over MapReduce.

PubMed

Aji, Ablimit; Wang, Fusheng; Vo, Hoang; Lee, Rubao; Liu, Qiaoling; Zhang, Xiaodong; Saltz, Joel

2013-08-01

Support of high performance queries on large volumes of spatial data becomes increasingly important in many application domains, including geospatial problems in numerous fields, location based services, and emerging scientific applications that are increasingly data- and compute-intensive. The emergence of massive scale spatial data is due to the proliferation of cost effective and ubiquitous positioning technologies, development of high resolution imaging technologies, and contribution from a large number of community users. There are two major challenges for managing and querying massive spatial data to support spatial queries: the explosion of spatial data, and the high computational complexity of spatial queries. In this paper, we present Hadoop-GIS - a scalable and high performance spatial data warehousing system for running large scale spatial queries on Hadoop. Hadoop-GIS supports multiple types of spatial queries on MapReduce through spatial partitioning, customizable spatial query engine RESQUE, implicit parallel spatial query execution on MapReduce, and effective methods for amending query results through handling boundary objects. Hadoop-GIS utilizes global partition indexing and customizable on demand local spatial indexing to achieve efficient query processing. Hadoop-GIS is integrated into Hive to support declarative spatial queries with an integrated architecture. Our experiments have demonstrated the high efficiency of Hadoop-GIS on query response and high scalability to run on commodity clusters. Our comparative experiments have showed that performance of Hadoop-GIS is on par with parallel SDBMS and outperforms SDBMS for compute-intensive queries. Hadoop-GIS is available as a set of library for processing spatial queries, and as an integrated software package in Hive.