Distance Labs

This capstone paper is a compilation of the information we discovered during our research on the topic of distance lab environments for online computing courses. We provide our research, our findings, and our supporting evidence to answer the following question: How can La Salle University deliver a comparable hands-on learning experience for its online student population without requiring the students to attend on-campus? Initially, our research suggests a solution for the Economic Crime Forensics (ECF) courses; however, it will benefit all lab related computing courses at La Salle University. This paper will show: (a) that the goal of using a distance lab for the Economic Crime Forensics (ECF) courses is obtainable, and how it will benefit students by completing the lab assignments in the computing courses; (b) our literature review; (c) and our research findings from several sources. Our research includes discussions with La Salle University Faculty; sample sessions with three public cloud computing services: CloudShare ProPlus, Skytap, and Amazon Web Services (AWS); and implementations from schools using a private cloud service on-campus with the IBM Virtual Computing Lab Initiative (VCL) Model including how Higher Education is using commercially available virtualization software from VMWare (VCloud) on top of their own architecture

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue Making Dollars and Sense Out of Cloud Computing Surfing the Wave of Cloud Computing VolP Meets the Cloud A Quick Look at Cloud Computing in Higher Education,2012 Cloud Computing: ls the Forecast Bright or Overcast? Cloud E-Mail Momentum Swells Institutional Excellence Award lndividual Awards President\u27s Message From the Executive Director Q&A with the CI

Open Source Solutions for Building IaaS Clouds

Cloud Computing is not only a pool of resources and services offered through the internet, but also a technology solution that allows optimization of resources use, costs minimization and energy consumption reduction. Enterprises moving towards cloud technologies have to choose between public cloud services, such as: Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Cloud and Google Cloud services, or private self built clouds. While the firsts are offered with affordable fees, the others provide more privacy and control. In this context, many open source softwares approach the buiding of private, public or hybrid clouds depending on the users need and on the available capabilities. To choose among the different open source solutions, an analysis is necessary in order to select the most suitable according with the enterprise’s goals and requirements. In this paper, we present a depth study and comparison of five open source frameworks that are gaining more attention recently and growing fast: CloudStack, OpenStack, Eucalyptus, OpenNebula and Nimbus. We present their architectures and discuss different properties, features, useful information and our own insights on these frameworks

ACUTA Journal of Telecommunications in Higher Education

In This Issue Making Dollars and Sense Out of Cloud Computing Surfing the Wave of Cloud Computing VolP Meets the Cloud A Quick Look at Cloud Computing in Higher Education,2012 Cloud Computing: ls the Forecast Bright or Overcast? Cloud E-Mail Momentum Swells Institutional Excellence Award lndividual Awards President\u27s Message From the Executive Director Q&A with the CI

Arquitecturas para sistemas de informação baseados em cloud computing

Mestrado em Engenharia dos Computadores e TelemáticaEste trabalho faz um apanhado do panorama actual no que diz respeito a Cloud computing. Começa por analisar a definição proposta pelo NIST e cate-gorizar vários serviços comerciais de acordo com as categorias propostas nes-sa definição. De seguida, são analisadas as implementações grátis disponíveis em licenças Open Source e chega-se à conclusão que para Clouds do tipo IaaS já existem várias implementações, algumas com boa qualidade, mas que na área de PaaS ainda existe muito trabalho a ser feito antes de se chegar a uma imple-mentação com funcionalidade comparável à dos serviços comerciais existen-tes. Após uma breve análise sobre a integração de SOA com as facilidades do Cloud computing, chegou-se à conclusão que PaaS se apresenta como o modelo de serviço mais adequando para desenvolver aplicações SOA. Visto que não existe ainda nenhum PaaS livre, e que os existentes apresentam problemas sérios de vendor lock in, é especificada uma framework completa, portátil e aberta que permitirá implementar um serviço do tipo PaaS em infra-estrutura privada ou sobre algum dos IaaS existentes. O PaaS especificado baseia-se, sempre que possível, em tecnologias existen-tes, concluindo-se que apenas a tecnologia de armazenamento de dados estruturados está aquém do necessário para a implementação. Deixa-se para o futuro a implementação dos vários módulos que permitirão a integração dos vários componentes da PaaS, no entanto sempre que possível, são sugeridas tecnologias a utilizar de forma a manter a implementação aberta e portátil.This work sums up the current situation of Cloud computing. It starts by per-forming an analysis of the NIST definition draft, and categorizing some com-mercial services into the categories proposed by the referred definition. Next, the free implementations distributed under an Open Source license are analyzed, and the conclusion is that there are some high quality IaaS cloud implementations, but the PaaS area still needs a lot of work before the functio-nality of a free implementation is comparable to that of the commercial services available. After a brief analysis of the integration of SOA and Cloud computing, the con-clusion is that PaaS presents the most adequate service model for the devel-opment of SOA applications. Given that, up to the moment, there is no free PaaS, and that the existing ones present serious vendor lock in problems, a complete, portable, and open framework that allows the deployment of a PaaS type service on private or on IaaS infrastructure is specified. The specified PaaS is based on current technology whenever possible, with exception of the storage of structured data that is not up to the requirements yet. The implementation of the modules required to integrate the various PaaS components is left as future work. Yet, whenever possible, suggestions are made about usable technologies that will allow the PaaS to remain portable and open

A comparison of statistical machine learning methods in heartbeat detection and classification

In health care, patients with heart problems require quick responsiveness in a clinical setting or in the operating theatre. Towards that end, automated classification of heartbeats is vital as some heartbeat irregularities are time consuming to detect. Therefore, analysis of electro-cardiogram (ECG) signals is an active area of research. The methods proposed in the literature depend on the structure of a heartbeat cycle. In this paper, we use interval and amplitude based features together with a few samples from the ECG signal as a feature vector. We studied a variety of classification algorithms focused especially on a type of arrhythmia known as the ventricular ectopic fibrillation (VEB). We compare the performance of the classifiers against algorithms proposed in the literature and make recommendations regarding features, sampling rate, and choice of the classifier to apply in a real-time clinical setting. The extensive study is based on the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. Our main contribution is the evaluation of existing classifiers over a range sampling rates, recommendation of a detection methodology to employ in a practical setting, and extend the notion of a mixture of experts to a larger class of algorithms

Factors That Contribute to The Resistance to Cloud Computing Adoption by Tech Companies vs. Non-Tech Companies

Cloud computing (CC) may be the most significant development in recent history for businesses seeking to utilize technology. However, the adoption of CC hinges on many factors, and can have a greater positive impact on organizational performance. This study examined the different factors that contribute to the resistance to CC adoption. Anchored in The Theory of Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE), the study used a qualitative, grounded theory approach to develop a theoretical model for the acceptance of CC across firms. CC can have significant effects on efficiency and productivity for firms, but these effects will only be realized if IT usage becomes utilized globally. Thus, it was essential to understand the determinants of IT adoption, which was the goal of this research. The central research question involved understanding and examining the factors of resistance that contribute to cloud computing adoption across firms. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 22 chief information officers (CIOs) of various firms, including those considered technology companies (TCs) and those considered non-technology companies (NTCs). Data was analyzed using qualitative thematic analysis to determine what factors influence the adoption of CC systems and, moreover, to determine what factors create resistance to the adoption of CC in firms despite its well-documented advantages and benefits. Additionally, by examinging and focusing on the factors of resistance, the rsults of this study were generalized across a wider array of firms located in the Southeastern region of the US. A total of 12 categories were identified. These were organized into two groups. The core category being financial risks represented the probability of loss inherent in financing methods which may impair the ability to provide adequate return. The categories lack of knowledge, resistance to change, excessive cost to adopt, and cost saving fit under financial risks. Together these categories were indicators of the factors of resistance to adopt cloud computing technology. The core category security risks represented the overall perception of privacy in online environment. The categories process of research, accessing organization fit, perceived security risks, phased deployment, approval to adopt, and increase flexibility fit under security risks. Together these categories were direct indicators of the factors of resistance that contribute to the adoption of cloud computing technology by both TC and NTC. The result of this study showed that the predominant and critical factors of resistance that contribute to cloud computing adoption by TC were financial risks and security risks vs. security risks by NTC. A critical distinction between TC and NTC is that 86.4% of NTC’s participants did not care about cost, they only cared about data security. A model was subsequently developed based on the lived experiences of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) who have been faced with challenges regarding cloud acceptance, and cloud computing adoption. The theoretical model produced by this study may guide future researchers and enhance the understanding and implementation of cloud computing technologies. The results of this study will add to the body of literature and may guide companies attempting to implement cloud computing to do so more successfully

Resource Management in Large-scale Systems

The focus of this thesis is resource management in large-scale systems. Our primary concerns are energy management and practical principles for self-organization and self-management. The main contributions of our work are: 1. Models. We proposed several models for different aspects of resource management, e.g., energy-aware load balancing and application scaling for the cloud ecosystem, hierarchical architecture model for self-organizing and self-manageable systems and a new cloud delivery model based on auction-driven self-organization approach. 2. Algorithms. We also proposed several different algorithms for the models described above. Algorithms such as coalition formation, combinatorial auctions and clustering algorithm for scale-free organizations of scale-free networks. 3. Evaluation. Eventually we conducted different evaluations for the proposed models and algorithms in order to verify them. All the simulations reported in this thesis had been carried out on different instances and services of Amazon Web Services (AWS). All of these modules will be discussed in detail in the following chapters respectively

The Relationship between Nonprofit Organizations and Cloud Adoption Concerns

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in the United States do not have plans to adopt cloud computing. However, the factors accounting for their decisions is not known. This correlational study used the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) to examine whether performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value, and habit can predict behavioral intention (BI) and use behavior (UB) of NPO information technology (IT) managers towards adopting cloud computing within the Phoenix metropolitan area of Arizona of the U.S. An existing UTAUT2 survey instrument was used with a sample of IT managers (N = 106) from NPOs. A multiple regression analysis confirmed a positive statistically significant relationship between predictors and the dependent variables of BI and UB. The first model significantly predicted BI, F (7,99) =54.239, p -?¤ .001, R^2=.795. Performance expectancy (β = .295, p = .004), social influence (β = .148, p = .033), facilitating conditions (β = .246, p = .007), and habit (β = .245, p = .002) were statistically significant predictors of BI at the .05 level. The second model significantly predicted UB, F (3,103) = 37.845, p -?¤ .001, R^2 = .527. Habit (β = .430, p = .001) was a statistically significant predictor for UB at a .05 level. Using the study results, NPO IT managers may be able to develop strategies to improve the adoption of cloud computing within their organization. The implication for positive social change is that, by using the study results, NPO leaders may be able to improve their IT infrastructure and services for those in need, while also reducing their organization\u27s carbon footprint through use of shared data centers for processing

Factors impeding the usage of elearning at a telecommunication organization in South Africa: bridging the gap with cloud services

With the enormous competition in the industry, organizations must frequently find better ways to embrace organizational learning. This research study advocates eLearning to be one of the best methods for organizational learning, and this is the study’s main area of interest. This research explored a case at a telecommunication organization named ComTek (pseudonym). The research study addressed a problem of eLearning low usage rate, which resulted in ComTek not meeting their set learning targets during the time of the study. The usage rate was measured using the number of enrolled assessments. The study uses qualitative methods to propose a conceptual framework to understand the causes of low eLearning usage. This conceptual framework illustrated the use of the activity theory elements to understand the problem of eLearning low usage, paired with the use of cloud computing services to access eLearning, and the use of content delivery techniques to help understand eLearning low usage. This conceptual framework took advantage of cloud services like Software as a Service (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS). This research study focused on the periods from 2016 to 2017 for collecting data and creating an understanding of the research setting, while other data was derived from historical documents about the phenomenon studied. During this period, there was inadequate literature about cloud computing and other aspects to consider within the domain of telecommunication organizations. The literature study, therefore, comprised of literature from different domains. During the study, ComTek used eLearning with the aid of learning management systems (LMS) to manage learning and leverage employee skills. During the period of the study compared to other years, about 50% of assessments had a usage rate of below 80%, a standard target established by ComTek as a benchmark, placing compliance and training at a low rate. Of the 50% of assessments, some were just above 40% in usage rate, were of a high stake, and were in the categories of compliance and training iv assessments. While this was the case, this study did not consider the technical implementation of the application systems involved, and did not create any form of intervention, but focused on understanding the activities that were involved in the learning environment. This research study used a paradigm that was constructive and interpretive in nature, using qualitative methods with the belief that there were multiple realities in understanding the situation at ComTek and possible solutions to it. To unpack the multiple realities, an exploratory case study was conducted as a research approach. In this study, the researcher used multiple data collection methods, including open-ended questionnaires and unstructured interviews.School of Computin