Middleware for Wireless Sensor Networks: An Outlook

In modern distributed computing, applications are rarely built directly atop operating system facilities, e.g., sockets. Higher-level middleware abstractions and systems are often employed to simplify the programmer’s chore or to achieve interoperability. In contrast, real-world wireless sensor network (WSN) applications are almost always developed by relying directly on the operating system. Why is this the case? Does it make sense to include a middleware layer in the design of WSNs? And, if so, is it the same kind of software system as in traditional distributed computing? What are the fundamental concepts, reasonable assumptions, and key criteria guiding its design? What are the main open research challenges, and the potential pitfalls? Most importantly, is it worth pursuing research in this field? This paper provides a (biased) answer to these and other research questions, preceded by a brief account on the state of the art in the field

Synergizing Roadway Infrastructure Investment with Digital Infrastructure for Infrastructure-Based Connected Vehicle Applications: Review of Current Status and Future Directions

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.The safety, mobility, environmental and economic benefits of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) are potentially dramatic. However, realization of these benefits largely hinges on the timely upgrading of the existing transportation system. CAVs must be enabled to send and receive data to and from other vehicles and drivers (V2V communication) and to and from infrastructure (V2I communication). Further, infrastructure and the transportation agencies that manage it must be able to collect, process, distribute and archive these data quickly, reliably, and securely. This paper focuses on current digital roadway infrastructure initiatives and highlights the importance of including digital infrastructure investment alongside more traditional infrastructure investment to keep up with the auto industry's push towards this real time communication and data processing capability. Agencies responsible for transportation infrastructure construction and management must collaborate, establishing national and international platforms to guide the planning, deployment and management of digital infrastructure in their jurisdictions. This will help create standardized interoperable national and international systems so that CAV technology is not deployed in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner

New Jersey's Growing Remote Workforce and the Skill Requirements of Employers

Highlights factors driving the rise in remote work jobs, the ways remote work is affecting the workplace, and the skills workers need to be effective in remote work environments

Experiences and issues for environmental science sensor network deployments

Sensor network research is a large and growing area of academic effort, examining technological and deployment issues in the area of environmental monitoring. These technologies are used by environmental engineers and scientists to monitor a multiplicity of environments and services, and, specific to this paper, energy and water supplied to the built environment. Although the technology is developed by Computer Science specialists, the use and deployment is traditionally performed by environmental engineers. This paper examines deployment from the perspectives of environmental engineers and scientists and asks what computer scientists can do to improve the process. The paper uses a case study to demonstrate the agile operation of WSNs within the Cloud Computing infrastructure, and thus the demand-driven, collaboration-intense paradigm of Digital Ecosystems in Complex Environments

Experiences and issues for environmental engineering sensor network deployments

Sensor network research is a large and growing area of academic effort, examining technological and deployment issues in the area of environmental monitoring. These technologies are used by environmental engineers and scientists to monitor a multiplicity of environments and services, and, specific to this paper, energy and water supplied to the built environment. Although the technology is developed by Computer Science specialists, the use and deployment is traditionally performed by environmental engineers. This paper examines deployment from the perspectives of environmental engineers and scientists and asks what computer scientists can do to improve the process. The paper uses a case study to demonstrate the agile operation of WSNs within the Cloud Computing infrastructure, and thus the demand-driven, collaboration-intense paradigm of Digital Ecosystems in Complex Environments

English for Study and Work

Подано всі види діяльності студентів з вивчення англійської мови, спрямовані на розвиток мовної поведінки, необхідної для ефективного спілкування в академічному та професійному середовищах. Містить завдання і ситуації, типові для різноманітних академічних та професійних сфер. Структура організації змісту – модульна, охоплює певні мовленнєві вміння залежно від мовної поведінки. Даний модуль має на меті розвиток у студентів умінь і навичок академічного і професійно- орієнтованого мовлення, необхідних для участі в дискусіях, семінарах, конференціях та при підготовці й проведенні презентацій (виступів-доповідей). Зразки текстів – автентичні, містять цікаву та актуальну інформацію з загальнонаукової та професійної тематики. Ресурси для самостійної роботи (Частина ІІ) містять завдання та вправи для розвитку словникового запасу та розширення діапазону функціональних зразків, необхідних для виконання певних функцій, та завдання, які спрямовані на організацію самостійної роботи студентів. За допомогою засобів діагностики студенти можуть самостійно перевірити засвоєння навчального матеріалу та оцінити свої досягнення. Наводяться граматичні явища і вправи для їх засвоєння. Призначений для студентів технічних університетів гірничого профілю. Може використовуватися для викладання вибіркових курсів з англійської мови, а також для самостійного вивчення англійської мови викладачами, фахівцями і науковцями різних інженерних галузей

A Priority-based Fair Queuing (PFQ) Model for Wireless Healthcare System

Healthcare is a very active research area, primarily due to the increase in the elderly population that leads to increasing number of emergency situations that require urgent actions. In recent years some of wireless networked medical devices were equipped with different sensors to measure and report on vital signs of patient remotely. The most important sensors are Heart Beat Rate (ECG), Pressure and Glucose sensors. However, the strict requirements and real-time nature of medical applications dictate the extreme importance and need for appropriate Quality of Service (QoS), fast and accurate delivery of a patient’s measurements in reliable e-Health ecosystem. As the elderly age and older adult population is increasing (65 years and above) due to the advancement in medicine and medical care in the last two decades; high QoS and reliable e-health ecosystem has become a major challenge in Healthcare especially for patients who require continuous monitoring and attention. Nevertheless, predictions have indicated that elderly population will be approximately 2 billion in developing countries by 2050 where availability of medical staff shall be unable to cope with this growth and emergency cases that need immediate intervention. On the other side, limitations in communication networks capacity, congestions and the humongous increase of devices, applications and IOT using the available communication networks add extra layer of challenges on E-health ecosystem such as time constraints, quality of measurements and signals reaching healthcare centres. Hence this research has tackled the delay and jitter parameters in E-health M2M wireless communication and succeeded in reducing them in comparison to current available models. The novelty of this research has succeeded in developing a new Priority Queuing model ‘’Priority Based-Fair Queuing’’ (PFQ) where a new priority level and concept of ‘’Patient’s Health Record’’ (PHR) has been developed and integrated with the Priority Parameters (PP) values of each sensor to add a second level of priority. The results and data analysis performed on the PFQ model under different scenarios simulating real M2M E-health environment have revealed that the PFQ has outperformed the results obtained from simulating the widely used current models such as First in First Out (FIFO) and Weight Fair Queuing (WFQ). PFQ model has improved transmission of ECG sensor data by decreasing delay and jitter in emergency cases by 83.32% and 75.88% respectively in comparison to FIFO and 46.65% and 60.13% with respect to WFQ model. Similarly, in pressure sensor the improvements were 82.41% and 71.5% and 68.43% and 73.36% in comparison to FIFO and WFQ respectively. Data transmission were also improved in the Glucose sensor by 80.85% and 64.7% and 92.1% and 83.17% in comparison to FIFO and WFQ respectively. However, non-emergency cases data transmission using PFQ model was negatively impacted and scored higher rates than FIFO and WFQ since PFQ tends to give higher priority to emergency cases. Thus, a derivative from the PFQ model has been developed to create a new version namely “Priority Based-Fair Queuing-Tolerated Delay” (PFQ-TD) to balance the data transmission between emergency and non-emergency cases where tolerated delay in emergency cases has been considered. PFQ-TD has succeeded in balancing fairly this issue and reducing the total average delay and jitter of emergency and non-emergency cases in all sensors and keep them within the acceptable allowable standards. PFQ-TD has improved the overall average delay and jitter in emergency and non-emergency cases among all sensors by 41% and 84% respectively in comparison to PFQ model

Scent By A Wireless Web

‘Scent Whisper’ is a jewellery project that provides a new way to send a scented message. The two pieces focus on a spider and the defence mechanism in bombardier beetles that squirt predators with a high-pressure jet of boiling liquid in a rapid-fire action. The devices involve microfluidics and wireless technology that link a remote sensor (a spider) with a fragrance-dispensing unit (a bombardier beetle) to create two items of jewellery that constitute the ‘wireless web’. A message is ‘scent by a wireless web’’ from a spider to a bombardier beetle brooch, that sprays a minute sample of fragrance. The purpose is to benefit human wellbeing, through olfaction stimulation of the autonomic nervous system, and as a novel communication system to send an aroma ‘message’ that could be healing (lavender), protective (insect repellent), seductive (pheromones) informative or communicative. The user whispers a secret message into a spider brooch, which transmits the message to a beetle brooch worn by an admirer. The spider’s sensor, implanted in its abdomen records the humidity of her breath and releases scent from the beetle onto a localized area, creating a personal ‘scent bubble’. About this conference: Wearable Futures was an interdisciplinary conference, aiming to bring together practitioners, inventors, and theorists in the field of soft technology and wearables including those concerned with fashion, textiles, sportswear, interaction design, media and live arts, medical textiles, wellness, perception and psychology, IPR, polymer science, nanotechnology, military, and other relevant research strands. Examining how some broad generic questions could be explored in relation to wearable technology the conference referred to but was not restricted to: aesthetics and design, function and durability versus market forces; the desires, needs and realities of wearable technologies; technology and culture; simplicity and sustainability; design for wearability; wearables as theatre and wearables as emotional 'tools'. Wearable Futures actively aimed to encourage debate, discussion and the formation of collaborative projects across a wide range of disciplines. Key fundamental questions across the conference in relation to wearables were: What is out there? Who wants it? What do they want? How is it achieved? Keynotes were drawn from the field of fashion and textiles through Suzanne Lee and Sarah E. Braddock Clarke; interactive design through Chris Baber; and design and computational arts through Joanna Berzowska. These diverse speakers provided an overview for the wide range of papers, poster and exhibits (over 60) presented in the panels and exhibition covering four broad themes drawn from strands taken from the initial call: Technology and Culture; Aesthetics and Making; Design for Wearability; and Desires, Need and Reality. The conference set out to highlight the growing arena for wearable technologies in an interdisciplinary context and also to look at the positive and negative applications of technology in this context. This was enhanced by the inclusion of an exhibition, supported by the Arts Council of Wales, which ensured that there was space for the rhetoric and the reality of the field to be discussed concurrently. Research within the Smart Clothes Wearable Technologies Group at University of Wales proposes the end-user as key to its practice and this conference reflected that in the approach to selection of papers and exhibits. The conference ensured that the full landscape of the field in 2005 was reflected through practitioners in design, art, craft, science, technology, cultural theory & performance, thus taking the subject beyond 80's and 90's research in which, for example, the work of Steve Mann and MIT put the individual researcher at the centre. Prototypes were an essential component to the conference and curated into the exhibition, which in 2005, in contrast to Mann, shows a focus on making the technology appear seamless rather than celebrating it through high visibility. One year on from Wearable Futures, research in the field seems to have expanded out into other areas of technology and practice with further conferences, applications and publications reflecting these developments. As 2010 becomes the present rather than the future (see Sarah E. Braddock Clarke and Marie OMahony, Tecnho Textiles: Revolutionary Fabrics for Fashion & Design, Thames and Hudson, 1997), what will the realities of wearables, smart materials and technology be in the next ten years? Wearable Futures generated a starting point for this area of debate; a key emerging strand being the focus on the body and its relationship to technology. Cyborg culture is being revisited but the concerns and relationship with the technology are different from the ones of 20 years ago. New materials evolving through Biotech and Nanoscience have the potential to supersede the machine and/or electronic driven devices, contributing to the design and creation of 'new flesh' or carrier of technology. These applications are being explored by creatives, academics and cultural theorists, whilst being applied to prototypes and industry with the end user in mind. Wearable Futures was a window on that changing role in 2005