Research on Mobile Cloud Computing in Teaching and Learning: A Conceptual Model

Advances in cloud computing technology coupled with increasing volumes of data has driven the growth and differentiation of cloud-based solutions in teaching and learning. The cloud computing industry has matured over the past decade and the number of publications steadily rose, to build on the maturity of the field researchers investigating cloud computing research in the mobile teaching and learning domain need to be cognisant of the state of the art. The objective of this paper is to analyse the available literature in the field of cloud computing for mobile teaching and learning to identify the main categories of research, the prevalent methodologies and research gaps, and then integrate the findings in a conceptual framework representing the current state of the field in terms of research opportunities. A systematic mapping study on relevant publications in journals and conferences was conducted. Mapping studies are a suitable method for structuring a research field concerning research questions about contents, methods and trends in the available publications. A systematic literature review and mapping was used to select 107 articles from a total of 21 822 publications in five prominent databases, namely ACM, ERIC, IEEE, Google Scholar and Springer. The analysis was done in October 2017 on papers published between 2013 and 2017. The contribution is to classify existing work and suggest future opportunities based on a systematic mapping of mobile cloud computing (MCC) for teaching and learning research. The analysis provides an overview of the field in terms of what is researched, how that is researched and where the future research contributions may lie. The findings are integrated to present a non-prescriptive, conceptual framework on mobile cloud computing research for teaching and learning. Researchers can use the proposed framework as a point of reference in starting or aligning their own projects and establishing where future research opportunities exist.School of Computin

An Overview of Data Storage in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is a functional paradigm that is evolving and making IT utilization easier by the day for consumers. Cloud computing offers standardized applications to users online and in a manner that can be accessed regularly. Such applications can be accessed by as many persons as permitted within an organisation without bothering about the maintenance of such application. The Cloud also provides a channel to design and deploy user applications including its storage space and database without bothering about the underlying operating system. The application can run without consideration for on-premise infrastructure. Also, the Cloud makes massive storage available both for data and databases. Storage of data on the Cloud is one of the core activities in Cloud computing. Storage utilizes infrastructure spread across several geographical locations. Storage on the Cloud makes use of the internet, virtualization, encryption and others technologies to ensure security of data. This paper presents the state of the art from some literature available on Cloud storage. The study was executed by means of review of literature available on Cloud storage. It examines present trends in the area of Cloud storage and provides a guide for future research. The objective of this paper is to answer the question of what the current trend and development in Cloud storage is? The expected result at the end of this review is the identification of trends in Cloud storage, which can beneficial to prospective Cloud researches, users and even providers

Systematic Review on Security and Privacy Requirements in Edge Computing: State of the Art and Future Research Opportunities

Edge computing is a promising paradigm that enhances the capabilities of cloud computing. In order to continue patronizing the computing services, it is essential to conserve a good atmosphere free from all kinds of security and privacy breaches. The security and privacy issues associated with the edge computing environment have narrowed the overall acceptance of the technology as a reliable paradigm. Many researchers have reviewed security and privacy issues in edge computing, but not all have fully investigated the security and privacy requirements. Security and privacy requirements are the objectives that indicate the capabilities as well as functions a system performs in eliminating certain security and privacy vulnerabilities. The paper aims to substantially review the security and privacy requirements of the edge computing and the various technological methods employed by the techniques used in curbing the threats, with the aim of helping future researchers in identifying research opportunities. This paper investigate the current studies and highlights the following: (1) the classification of security and privacy requirements in edge computing, (2) the state of the art techniques deployed in curbing the security and privacy threats, (3) the trends of technological methods employed by the techniques, (4) the metrics used for evaluating the performance of the techniques, (5) the taxonomy of attacks affecting the edge network, and the corresponding technological trend employed in mitigating the attacks, and, (6) research opportunities for future researchers in the area of edge computing security and privacy

Virtualization in Cloud Computing : Developments and Trends

Cloud computing is an interesting paradigm that is making computing and other related activities easy for consumers. The cloud infrastructure is not new, but it is working on new technology based on various services offered. The cloud provides application software online for users to conduct common activities like word processing. Cloud computing also enables consumers to leverage on cloud infrastructure by designing and deploying their application on the cloud. A unique feature of the cloud is the provision of scalable storage for data which are usually spread across several geographical locations. A core technology used on the cloud is virtualization. This allows virtual machines to be hosted on physical servers. This provides great benefits to users on the cloud. This paper presents the state of the art from some literature available on cloud virtualisation. The study was executed by means of review of some literature available on cloud virtualisation. The study was performed by means of review of some literature using reliable methods. This paper examines present trends in the area of cloud virtualisation and provides a guide for future research. In the present work, the objective is to answer the following question: what is the current trend and development in cloud virtualisation? Papers published in journals, conferences, white papers and those published in reputable magazines were analysed. The expected result at the end of this review is the identification of trends in cloud virtualisation. This will be of benefit to prospective cloud users and even cloud providers

Cloud Service Level Agreements –Issues and Development

Cloud computing is a broad paradigm that has influence across major fields of human endeavour. The unique services it offers makes organisations curious about understanding the cloud and its likely benefits. The cloud offers services such as custom built applications deployed on remote systems and ready to use platforms which reduce the efforts needed to develop and deploy applications for cloud users. In addition to these, there are other services such as storage and infrastructural resources which the cloud also avails to its users. These services are usually provided to users on a pay-per-use bases, thus necessitating the need to have documented agreements in place to ensure a smooth relationship between the providers and the users. These documented agreements are referred to as Service Level Agreements (SLAs). SLAs detail the terms, conditions and service expectation of the users from their service provider in terms of availability, redundancy, uptime, cost and penalties for violations. These ensures users’ confidence in the services being offered. In this paper, the state of the art with respect to cloud SLAs is presented. The paper seeks to answer questions related of what the current trends and developments in terms of cloud SLA are and it does so by means of a review of existing literature available. This paper therefore is a survey of cloud SLAs, their issues and developmental challenges. It provides a guide for future research and is expected to benefit prospective cloud users and cloud providers alik

Next Generation Technologies for Smart Healthcare: Challenges, Vision, Model, Trends and Future Directions

Modern industry employs technologies for automation that may include Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud and/or Fog Computing, 5G as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), or Blockchain. Currently, a part of research for the new industrial era is in the direction of improving healthcare services. This work throws light on some of the major challenges in providing affordable, efficient, secure and reliable healthcare from the viewpoint of computer and medical sciences. We describe a vision of how a holistic model can fulfill the growing demands of healthcare industry, and explain a conceptual model that can provide a complete solution for these increasing demands. In our model, we elucidate the components and their interaction at different levels, leveraging state‐of‐the art technologies in IoT, Fog computing, AI, ML and Blockchain. We finally describe current trends in this field and propose future directions to explore emerging paradigms and technologies on evolution of healthcare leveraging next generation computing systems