Reporting an Experience on Design and Implementation of e-Health Systems on Azure Cloud

Electronic Health (e-Health) technology has brought the world with significant transformation from traditional paper-based medical practice to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-based systems for automatic management (storage, processing, and archiving) of information. Traditionally e-Health systems have been designed to operate within stovepipes on dedicated networks, physical computers, and locally managed software platforms that make it susceptible to many serious limitations including: 1) lack of on-demand scalability during critical situations; 2) high administrative overheads and costs; and 3) in-efficient resource utilization and energy consumption due to lack of automation. In this paper, we present an approach to migrate the ICT systems in the e-Health sector from traditional in-house Client/Server (C/S) architecture to the virtualised cloud computing environment. To this end, we developed two cloud-based e-Health applications (Medical Practice Management System and Telemedicine Practice System) for demonstrating how cloud services can be leveraged for developing and deploying such applications. The Windows Azure cloud computing platform is selected as an example public cloud platform for our study. We conducted several performance evaluation experiments to understand the Quality Service (QoS) tradeoffs of our applications under variable workload on Azure.Comment: Submitted to third IEEE International Conference on Cloud and Green Computing (CGC 2013

Mobile support in CSCW applications and groupware development frameworks

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) is an established subset of the field of Human Computer Interaction that deals with the how people use computing technology to enhance group interaction and collaboration. Mobile CSCW has emerged as a result of the progression from personal desktop computing to the mobile device platforms that are ubiquitous today. CSCW aims to not only connect people and facilitate communication through using computers; it aims to provide conceptual models coupled with technology to manage, mediate, and assist collaborative processes. Mobile CSCW research looks to fulfil these aims through the adoption of mobile technology and consideration for the mobile user. Facilitating collaboration using mobile devices brings new challenges. Some of these challenges are inherent to the nature of the device hardware, while others focus on the understanding of how to engineer software to maximize effectiveness for the end-users. This paper reviews seminal and state-of-the-art cooperative software applications and development frameworks, and their support for mobile devices

Overview of a media convergence centre (MC2)

Organizational alliances are rapidly being formed as a means for effective cooperation with a common goal within a targeted value chain. The combination of such communication, coordination and cooperation leads to new organisational forms and scenarios within the Digital Ecosystem space that require technological support. Convergence refers to the move towards the use of a single united interaction medium and media. Such a solution enables telecommunications services that are concurrently coupled with enterprise and internet data. Due to the versatile nature of today's extended enterprise, a flexible, feature-rich, adaptive and widely accessible converged solution is required.This paper proposes a Media Convergence Centre (MC:) solution that allows users to participate in a converged multimedia collaboration network using a variety of interaction devices in an easy and convenient manner

Development of an advanced web application for managing videoconference

El objetivo del proyecto es realizar un cliente para videoconferencias de alta definición basado en Web. Se ha utilizado SIP como protocolo de señalización (establecimiento, finalización) de videoconferencias, para la gestión la lista de los contactos, la presencia, y la negociación de las capacidades multimedia.Existen numerosas aplicaciones que ofrecen al usuario la posibilidad de realizar videoconferencias en alta definición sobre Internet. Estas aplicaciones centran sus esfuerzos en la transmisión de contenido de alta calidad sobre Internet, pero dejan sin resolver la gestión del establecimiento, finalización de llamadas, aceptación, rechazo de invitaciones, suscripción y recepción de notificaciones del servicio de presencia (aparición de usuarios, cambios de estado, etc). El objetivo del proyecto es realizar un cliente para videoconferencias de alta definición basado en Web. Se ha utilizado SIP como protocolo de señalización (establecimiento, finalización) de videoconferencias, para la gestión la lista de los contactos, la presencia, y la negociación de las capacidades multimedia La aplicación desarrollada permite que, un usuario a partir de una web, sea capaz de ver todos los usuarios conectados al servicio, conocer sus características y poder establecer videoconferencias de alta calidad, utilizando el entorno de videoconferencia negociado (por ejemplo dvts, ultragrid). La aplicación actúa como un gateway HTTP-SIP, traduciendo las peticiones SIP a peticiones HTTP y viceversa. Las peticiones HTTP son enviadas hacia el cliente para que la trate y realice los cambios necesarios en la interfaz web y en su modelo de datos. La interfaz de web del usuario se ha desarrollado con Google Web Toolkit, un toolkit de Google para el desarrollo de aplicaciones AJAX en lenguaje de programación Java. El servidor se comunica con tres módulos. Con el mundo SIP para la señalización de videoconferencia, con el agente de presencia para gestionar la lista y con el cliente AJAX para comunicarse con los usuarios de la aplicación. El proyecto explica las fases de definición de requerimientos, diseño y arquitectura de la aplicación. Expone el estado del arte de las tecnologías y comenta algunos detalles de la implementación, finalizando con una planificación temporal y unos resultados finales del proyecto

Towards the definition of a quality model for mail servers

The paper presents an approach for building a Mail Server Quality Model, based on the ISO/IEC software quality standard. We start by defining the mail system domain to be used as general framework and the relevant technologies involved. Then a general overview of the ISO/IEC standard is given. The basic steps, the relevant considerations and criteria used to select the appropriated subcharacteristics and quality attributes are also presented. The selected attributes are categorized under the six ISO/IEC quality characteristics conforming the model. Finally some case studies requirements and two commercial mail server tools are used to evaluate the model.Postprint (published version

Concurrent engineering research center

The projects undertaken by The Concurrent Engineering Research Center (CERC) at West Virginia University are reported and summarized. CERC's participation in the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Project relating to technology needed to improve the product development process is described, particularly in the area of advanced weapon systems. The efforts committed to improving collaboration among the diverse and distributed health care providers are reported, along with the research activities for NASA in Independent Software Verification and Validation. CERC also takes part in the electronic respirator certification initiated by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, as well as in the efforts to find a solution to the problem of producing environment-friendly end-products for product developers worldwide. The 3M Fiber Metal Matrix Composite Model Factory Program is discussed. CERC technologies, facilities,and personnel-related issues are described, along with its library and technical services and recent publications

Video Conference as a tool for Higher Education

The book describes the activities of the consortium member institutions in the framework of the TEMPUS IV Joint Project ViCES - Video Conferencing Educational Services (144650-TEMPUS-2008-IT-JPGR). In order to provide the basis for the development of a distance learning environment based on video conferencing systems and develop a blended learning courses methodology, the TEMPUS Project VICES (2009-2012) was launched in 2009. This publication collects the conclusion of the project and it reports the main outcomes together with the approach followed by the different partners towards the achievement of the project's goal. The book includes several contributions focussed on specific topics related to videoconferencing services, namely how to enable such services in educational contexts so that, the installation and deployment of videoconferencing systems could be conceived an integral part of virtual open campuses

On the benefits of speech and touch interaction with communication services for mobility impaired users

Although technology for communication has evolved tremendously over the past decades, mobility impaired individuals still face many difficulties interacting with communication services, either due to HCI issues or intrinsic design problems with the services. In this paper we present the results of a usability study, conducted with a group of five mobility impaired users, comprising paraplegic and quadriplegic individuals. The study participants carried out a set of tasks with a multimodal (speech, touch, gesture, keyboard and mouse) and multiplatform (mobile, desktop) prototype, offering an integrated access to communication and entertainment services, such as email, agenda, conferencing and social media. The prototype was designed to take into account the requirements captured from these users, with the objective of evaluating if the use of multimodal interfaces for communication and social media services, could improve the interaction with such services. Our study revealed that a multimodal prototype system, offering natural interaction modalities, especially supporting speech and touch, can in fact improve access to the presented services, contributing to a better social inclusion of mobility impaired individuals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Converged voice access to data (CVAD)

The rapid growth of the Internet and widespread use of mobile computing and telephony has resulted in a broad range of ways to communicate and access information. Data and telecommunications convergence promises a wide range of possible solutions that will increase productivity, reduce costs, and provide new opportunities and revenues for enterprises. However, such converged telecommunications and data services have been largely isolated to static environments where fixed Personal Computers (PC) and an Internet connection are used in conjunction with various software tools to simulate a pseudo converged session. Generally, data presented on the internet and in enterprise applications is not available on voice networks and vice-versa. Due to the versatile nature of today's enterprise, a feature-rich, flexible, adaptive and widely accessible convergence solution is required. This paper presents an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) driven approach that uses Converged Voice Access to Data (CVAD) services. The CVAD solution offers enhanced service effectiveness, flexibility and convenience for professionals on the move