40,557 research outputs found
A Methodology for Engineering Collaborative and ad-hoc Mobile Applications using SyD Middleware
Today’s web applications are more collaborative and utilize standard and ubiquitous Internet protocols. We have earlier developed System on Mobile Devices (SyD) middleware to rapidly develop and deploy collaborative applications over heterogeneous and possibly mobile devices hosting web objects. In this paper, we present the software engineering methodology for developing SyD-enabled web applications and illustrate it through a case study on two representative applications: (i) a calendar of meeting application, which is a collaborative application and (ii) a travel application which is an ad-hoc collaborative application. SyD-enabled web objects allow us to create a collaborative application rapidly with limited coding effort. In this case study, the modular software architecture allowed us to hide the inherent heterogeneity among devices, data stores, and networks by presenting a uniform and persistent object view of mobile objects interacting through XML/SOAP requests and responses. The performance results we obtained show that the application scales well as we increase the group size and adapts well within the constraints of mobile devices
Secure and Private Cloud Storage Systems with Random Linear Fountain Codes
An information theoretic approach to security and privacy called Secure And
Private Information Retrieval (SAPIR) is introduced. SAPIR is applied to
distributed data storage systems. In this approach, random combinations of all
contents are stored across the network. Our coding approach is based on Random
Linear Fountain (RLF) codes. To retrieve a content, a group of servers
collaborate with each other to form a Reconstruction Group (RG). SAPIR achieves
asymptotic perfect secrecy if at least one of the servers within an RG is not
compromised. Further, a Private Information Retrieval (PIR) scheme based on
random queries is proposed. The PIR approach ensures the users privately
download their desired contents without the servers knowing about the requested
contents indices. The proposed scheme is adaptive and can provide privacy
against a significant number of colluding servers.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Initial experiences in developing e-health solutions across Scotland
The MRC funded Virtual Organisations for Trials and Epidemiological Studies (VOTES) project is a collaborative effort between e-Science, clinical and ethical research centres across the UK including the universities of Oxford, Glasgow, Imperial, Nottingham and Leicester. The project started in September 2005 and is due to run for 3 years. The primary goal of VOTES is to develop a reusable Grid framework through which a multitude of clinical trials and epidemiological studies can be supported. The National e-Science Centre (NeSC) at the University of Glasgow are looking at developing the Scottish components of this framework. This paper presents the initial experiences in developing this framework and in accessing and using existing data sets, services and software across the NHS in Scotland
Disease surveillance and patient care in remote regions: an exploratory study of collaboration among healthcare professionals in Amazonia
The development and deployment of information technology, particularly mobile tools, to support collaboration between different groups of healthcare professionals has been viewed as a promising way to improve disease surveillance and patient care in remote regions. The effects of global climate change combined with rapid changes to land cover and use in Amazonia are believed to be contributing to the spread of vector-borne emerging and neglected diseases. This makes empowering and providing support for local healthcare providers all the more important. We investigate the use of information technology in this context to support professionals whose activities range from diagnosing diseases and monitoring their spread to developing policies to deal with outbreaks. An analysis of stakeholders, their roles and requirements, is presented which encompasses results of fieldwork and of a process of design and prototyping complemented by questionnaires and targeted interviews. Findings are analysed with respect to the tasks of diagnosis, training of local healthcare professionals, and gathering, sharing and visualisation of data for purposes of epidemiological research and disease surveillance. Methodological issues regarding the elicitation of cooperation and collaboration requirements are discussed and implications are drawn with respect to the use of technology in tackling emerging and neglected diseases
The Internet-of-Things Meets Business Process Management: Mutual Benefits and Challenges
The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of connected devices
collecting and exchanging data over the Internet. These things can be
artificial or natural, and interact as autonomous agents forming a complex
system. In turn, Business Process Management (BPM) was established to analyze,
discover, design, implement, execute, monitor and evolve collaborative business
processes within and across organizations. While the IoT and BPM have been
regarded as separate topics in research and practice, we strongly believe that
the management of IoT applications will strongly benefit from BPM concepts,
methods and technologies on the one hand; on the other one, the IoT poses
challenges that will require enhancements and extensions of the current
state-of-the-art in the BPM field. In this paper, we question to what extent
these two paradigms can be combined and we discuss the emerging challenges
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