Review of the Usage of Security Mechanisms within the Android Operating System

The Android operating system was designed to afford users secure, but unrestricted use of their device. The crux of this solution is that the burden of system administrator has been, possibly unknowingly, placed upon each individual user. The goal of this paper is to identify the significant threats Android users are faced with, and recommend possible solutions. Through the course of this study, an Android application was developed and voluntarily downloaded, collecting a significant set of data from users. This data, combined with additional literary and product research, has identified multiple shortcomings in the existing Android security landscape. In particular, difficulty using the Permission mechanism, inconsistent communication regarding security patches and their distribution, and a general lack of usage of the user-controlled security features was identified

Designing Mobile Educational Games on Voter‟s Education: A Tale of Three Engines

The rapid growth of mobile learning is influenced by the ability to access learning content anytime and anywhere. The on demand capability is available because mobile devices allow for convergence of internet and communications technologies. At the same time, the availability of engines makes development of mobile applications faster and seamless. However, not all mobile development engines are alike. This paper discusses on the development of mobile learning applications using mobile development engines in teaching Filipinos on responsible voting. Specifically, this paper discusses how AndEngine, Ren’Py, and homegrown Usbong were used to develop a mobile board game and a mobile comic book to promote responsible voting to the Filipino youth

Developing a Prototype to Translate Pakistan Sign Language into Text and Speech While Using Convolutional Neural Networking

The purpose of the study is to provide a literature review of the work done on sign language in Pakistan and the world. This study also provides a framework of an already developed prototype to translate Pakistani sign language into speech and text while using convolutional neural networking (CNN) to facilitate unimpaired teachers to bridge the communication gap among the deaf learners and unimpaired teachers. Due to the lack of sign language teaching, unimpaired teachers face difficulty in communicating with impaired learners. This communication gap can be filled with the help of this translation tool. Research indicates that a prototype has been evolved that can translate the English textual content into sign language and highlighted that there is a need for translation tool which can translate the signs into English text. The current study will provide an architectural framework of the Pakistani sign language to English text translation tool that how different components of technology like deep learning, convolutional neural networking, python, tensor Flow, and NumPy, InceptionV3 and transfer learning, eSpeak text to speech help in the development of a translation tool prototype. Keywords: Pakistan sign language (PSL), sign language (SL), translation, deaf, unimpaired, convolutional neural networking (CNN). DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-15-18 Publication date:May 31st 201

Attacks on the Android Platform

The focus of this research revolves around Android platform security, specifically Android malware attacks and defensive techniques. Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. With the rise of device mobility in our data-driven world, Android constitutes most of the operating systems on these mobile devices playing a dominant role in today’s world. Hence, this paper analyzes attacks and the various defensive mechanisms that have been proposed to prevent those attacks

Preliminary investigation into the development of an electronic forage budget and land condition application, for use on existing hand-held devices, for the northern grazing industry

Within this project Agri-Science Queensland (DAF) and Meat and Livestock Australia conducted a preliminary investigation into the viability, likely uptake and benefits of developing an ‘app’ (a software application hosted on a smart phone) to assist northern Australian graziers with their land condition monitoring and forage budgeting. Undertaking regular land condition assessments and forage budgets to match pasture supply to animal demand is considered part of best-practice management for graziers in northern Australia. Undertaking these management tasks, however, is often complex and requires a number of steps, both in the paddock and the office along with supporting tools and learnt skills to reach the end points; “what is the current condition of my pastures” and “how long will this feed last given the stock in the paddock”. A specifically designed app for a smart phone or tablet was proposed as a potential solution to increase the adoption of these management practices amongst graziers. Three tasks were undertaken concurrently as part of the investigation; a review of literature, a survey of graziers and advisors in northern Australia, and consultation with software developers to scope the technical feasibility of developing the proposed app. The review of literature considered the evolution of hand-held decision support tools, a comparison of operating platforms and ‘smart’ devices for the task, and currently available agricultural apps and their uptake. A survey of northern Australian graziers and advisors sought views from industry what would be the likely benefit and uptake of this proposed app. The survey found that 76% of respondents thought this 'app' would be either useful or very useful for the grazing industry generally. Around 74% and 73% of respondents respectively said the app would increase the number or frequency of forage budgets and land condition assessments undertaken. Approximately 80% of respondents said the app would help them get started on forage budgeting and land condition assessments if they did not currently undertake these practices already. There are no technical constraints to developing the desired app and development costs were investigated. If development of an app proceeds, it will be important to provide a strong extension framework to support its piloting and promotion

Searching Inside Google: Cases, Controversies and the Future of the World\u27s Most Provocative Company

For a company whose motto is Do No Evil, Google certainly has its share of detractors. The company is at the center of numerous controversies that will determine how people use the Internet, find information, and communicate with each other. Professor Jon Garon explores the cases that will shape Google’s future and the implications for copyright and trademark owners, including: the latest AdWords’ case Rescuecom v. Google, the proposed Book Search settlement, the Viacom v. YouTube copyright infringement case, and looming antitrust investigations. He also will speculate about the future of Google as it consolidates its control over online search and advertising and expands into telecommunications, mobile devices and cloud computing

A Novel Non-Enzymatic Glucose Biofuel Cell with Mobile Glucose Sensing

Herein, we report a novel non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell with mobile glucose sensing. We characterized the power generation and biosensing capabilities in presence of glucose analyte. This system was developed using a non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell consisting of colloidal platinum coated gold microwire (Au-co-Pt) employed as an anode and the cathode which was constructed using a Gas diffusion electrode (GDE) with a platinum catalyst. The non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell produced a maximum open circuit voltage of 0.54 V and delivered and a maximum short circuit current density of 1.6 mA/cm2 with a peak power density of 0.226 mW/cm2 at a concentration of 1 M glucose. The non-enzymatic glucose biofuel cell produced an open circuit voltage of 0.38 V and delivered and a short circuit current density of 0.225 mA/cm2 with a peak power density of 0.022 mW/cm 2 at a concentration of 5 mM glucose. These findings showed that glucose biofuel cells can be further investigated in the development of a self-powered glucose biosensor. When used as self-powered glucose sensor, the system showed a good sensitivity of 0.616 μA mM−1 and linear dependence with a correlation coefficient of 0.995 in the glucose concentration range of 2 mM to 50 mM. The system was further characterized by testing the performance of the system at various temperature, pH and amidst various interfering and competing chemical species such as uric acid, ascorbic acid, fructose, maltose and galactose. A charge pump circuit consisting of a blinking LED was connected to the biofuel cell to amplify the input voltage to power small electronic devices. The blinking frequency of the LED corresponds to the glucose concentration. An android mobile phone camera application was used to measure this LED blinking frequency which was in turn converted into the glucose concentration readings using image processing in MATLAB. The user was notified via text message and an email

Dynamic Assessment of Academic Writing for Business Studies

This study explores the application of a formative assessment approach known as Dynamic Assessment (DA), as developed within the Vygotskian sociocultural theory of learning. DA blends instruction with assessment by targeting and further developing students’ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The study investigates whether, and if so, how DA enhances students’ academic writing and conceptual development in business studies over time. DA and Hallidayan Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) informed the methodological design of this study, which employed a mixed methods approach in order to track learners’ ZPDs regarding academic writing development. The use of SFL to provide linguistic evidence for student writing development (ZPD) is new in DA and thus an innovative feature of this study. The data consists of six undergraduate business studies students’ three to four drafts of three assessments, which were analysed for textual and ideational meanings, as well as associated text-based interaction (mediation), complemented by student interviews and subject tutors’ written comments. This study extends previous DA studies such as Poehner and Lantolf (2005) in two key ways: i) its explicit focus on the construction of a macrogenre (whole text) as opposed to investigations of decontextualized language fragments, and ii) the range of mediational strategies identified and the consequent expansion of Poehner’s (2005) framework of mediation typologies. The findings suggest that DA, combined with SFL, provides insights into the learners’ maturing writing abilities, which the tutor can nurture further to help the learners internalise them. This study also shows that DA students made more gains than their non-DA counterparts regarding their ability to write a case study analysis genre. Additionally, the findings suggest that students can transfer their academic writing and conceptual knowledge from one assessment task to another, albeit at a varying level. The study, though small in scale, thus supports the view that targeted tutor support enhances students’ academic writing development. Implications are drawn concerning formative writing assessment research and practice in higher education

Smart Wearable Device for Reduction of Parkinson’s Disease Hand-Tremor

Parkinson\u27s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects over 10 million people worldwide (Health Unlocked, 2017). People diagnosed with Parkinson\u27s Disease can experience tremors, muscular rigidity and slowness of movement. Tremor is the most common symptom and external agents like stress and anxiety can make it worse, which may cause complications to complete simple day-to-day tasks. Therefore Bio Protech proposes the development of a smart wearable device for reduction of the hand-tremors based on medical evidence that by applying vibration to the wrist may result in a reduction of the involuntary tremor. The device imitates the shape of a wristwatch and the vibration is supplied by motors placed around the wrist. The users will be given the possibility to regulate the frequency according to their needs using a mobile application connected via Bluetooth