Safe, Remote-Access Swarm Robotics Research on the Robotarium

This paper describes the development of the Robotarium -- a remotely accessible, multi-robot research facility. The impetus behind the Robotarium is that multi-robot testbeds constitute an integral and essential part of the multi-agent research cycle, yet they are expensive, complex, and time-consuming to develop, operate, and maintain. These resource constraints, in turn, limit access for large groups of researchers and students, which is what the Robotarium is remedying by providing users with remote access to a state-of-the-art multi-robot test facility. This paper details the design and operation of the Robotarium as well as connects these to the particular considerations one must take when making complex hardware remotely accessible. In particular, safety must be built in already at the design phase without overly constraining which coordinated control programs the users can upload and execute, which calls for minimally invasive safety routines with provable performance guarantees.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 code samples, 72 reference

Electronic Payment Systems – Payment Gateways and Data Security Standards

The use of mobile applications has allowed electronic transactions to be made anytime, anywhere, and by anyone. The Internet has made it possible for businesses to expand their reach across the globe. As a guiding agent for purchasing decisions, social media’s proliferation has expanded businesses’ ability to generate revenue [1]. In short, e-commerce has become a mainstay in the way consumers shop. The findings related to this study are three-fold. First, a systematic and rigorous approach is applied to research the importance of Payment Gateways and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards in today’s electronic marketplace. Next, a quantitative survey was administered to college-level students to validate the need to expand the course curriculum. Lastly, suggestions for future studies are provided to help bridge the gap between academia and the corporate world. When combined, this information will equip students with the needed knowledge to succeed when they enter the e-commerce workforce. Keywords: Payment Gateways, Data Security Standards, Electronic Payment Systems DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-3-21 Publication date: January 31st 2021

Analysis of current middleware used in peer-to-peer and grid implementations for enhancement by catallactic mechanisms

This deliverable describes the work done in task 3.1, Middleware analysis: Analysis of current middleware used in peer-to-peer and grid implementations for enhancement by catallactic mechanisms from work package 3, Middleware Implementation. The document is divided in four parts: The introduction with application scenarios and middleware requirements, Catnets middleware architecture, evaluation of existing middleware toolkits, and conclusions. -- Die Arbeit definiert Anforderungen an Grid und Peer-to-Peer Middleware Architekturen und analysiert diese auf ihre Eignung für die prototypische Umsetzung der Katallaxie. Eine Middleware-Architektur für die Umsetzung der Katallaxie in Application Layer Netzwerken wird vorgestellt.Grid Computing

Design Principles for Diffusion of Reports and Innovative Use of Business Intelligence Platforms

In order to innovate and respond quickly to new requirements, employees frequently supplement their information systems. This particularly applies to the context of business intelligence (BI) because many users supplement their BI platforms with individually tinkered spreadsheets. Unfortunately, these supplements bear numerous threats such as limited report reuse across all potential users. To address this gap, we establish a design science project. First, we qualitatively explore impediments to diffusion of reports and impediments to innovative use. Second, upon our findings and extant literature, we derive meta-requirements for BI platforms that foster diffusion of reports and innovative use. Third, we develop and discuss principles for how to design a BI platform that would meet the identified meta-requirements. The resulting design principles emphasize (1) permanent user sandboxes to improve innovative use and (2) hybrid recommendation agents based on user interaction, collaborative-filtering, and users\u27 social influence to improve diffusion of reports

A Decision Technology System To Advance the Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer

Geographical variations in cancer rates have been observed for decades. Described spatial patterns and trends have provided clues for generating hypotheses about the etiology of cancer. For breast cancer, investigators have demonstrated that some variation can be explained by differences in the population distribution of known breast cancer risk factors such as menstrual and reproductive variables (Laden, Spiegelman, and Neas, 1997; Robbins, Bescianini, and Kelsey, 1997; Sturgeon, Schairer, and Gail, 1995). However, regional patterns also may reflect the effects of Workshop on Hormones, Hormone Metabolism, Environment, and Breast Cancer (1995): (a) environmental hazards (such as air and water pollution), (b) demographics and the lifestyle of a mobile population, (c) subgroup susceptibility, (d) changes and advances in medical practice and healthcare management, and (e) other factors. To accurately measure breast cancer risk in individuals and population groups, it is necessary to singly and jointly assess the association between such risk and the hypothesized factors. Various statistical models will be needed to determine the potential relationships between breast cancer development and estimated exposures to environmental contamination. To apply the models, data must be assembled from a variety of sources, converted into the statistical models’ parameters, and delivered effectively to researchers and policy makers. A Web-enabled decision technology system can be developed to provide the needed functionality. This chapter will present a conceptual architecture for such a decision technology system. First, there will be a brief overview of a typical geographical analysis. Next, the chapter will present the conceptual Web-based decision technology system and illustrate how the system can assist users in diagnosing and treating breast cancer. The chapter will conclude with an examination of the potential benefits from system use and the implications for breast cancer research and practice

The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019

An inclusive, digitally-enabled agricultural transformation could help achieve meaningful livelihood improvements for Africa’s smallholder farmers and pastoralists. It could drive greater engagement in agriculture from women and youth and create employment opportunities along the value chain. At CTA we staked a claim on this power of digitalisation to more systematically transform agriculture early on. Digitalisation, focusing on not individual ICTs but the application of these technologies to entire value chains, is a theme that cuts across all of our work. In youth entrepreneurship, we are fostering a new breed of young ICT ‘agripreneurs’. In climate-smart agriculture multiple projects provide information that can help towards building resilience for smallholder farmers. And in women empowerment we are supporting digital platforms to drive greater inclusion for women entrepreneurs in agricultural value chains

Testing Mobile Web Applications for W3C Best Practice Compliance

Adherence to best practices and standards when developing mobile web applications is important to achieving a quality outcome. As smartphones and tablet PCs continue to proliferate in the consumer electronics market, businesses and individuals are increasingly turning from the native application paradigm to HTML 5-based web applications as a means of software development and distribution. With an everincreasing reliance by users on the correct functioning of such applications, the requirement for stringent and comprehensive quality assurance measures is also brought sharply into focus. This research investigates the increasing trend towards mobile web application development in the mobile software domain, and assesses the requirement for an automated approach to best practice validation testing for mobile web applications. Contemporary approaches to automated web application testing are examined, with particular emphasis on issues relating to mobile web application tests. The individual guidelines proposed by the W3C Mobile Web Application Best Practices are analysed and where applicable automated conformance tests are implemented in a customised testing tool. A range of mobile web applications are tested using this tool in order to examine the extent to which implementation of the tested-for guidelines is detected. Automated tests were successfully implemented in respect of nearly 60% of the best practices