Using problem descriptions to represent variabilities for context-aware applications

This paper investigates the potential use of problem descriptions to represent and analyse variability in context-aware software products. By context-aware, we refer to recognition of changes in properties of external domains, which are recognised as affecting the behaviour of products. There are many reasons for changes in the operating environment, from fluctuating resources upon which the product relies, to different operating locations or the presence of objects. There is an increasing expectation for software intensivedevices to be context-aware which, in turn, adds further variability to problem description and analysis. However, we argue in this paper that the capture of contextual variability on current variability representations and analyses has yet to be explored. We illustrate the representation of this type of variability in a pilot study, and conclude with lessons learnt and an agenda for further work

A Process Framework for Semantics-aware Tourism Information Systems

The growing sophistication of user requirements in tourism due to the advent of new technologies such as the Semantic Web and mobile computing has imposed new possibilities for improved intelligence in Tourism Information Systems (TIS). Traditional software engineering and web engineering approaches cannot suffice, hence the need to find new product development approaches that would sufficiently enable the next generation of TIS. The next generation of TIS are expected among other things to: enable semantics-based information processing, exhibit natural language capabilities, facilitate inter-organization exchange of information in a seamless way, and evolve proactively in tandem with dynamic user requirements. In this paper, a product development approach called Product Line for Ontology-based Semantics-Aware Tourism Information Systems (PLOSATIS) which is a novel hybridization of software product line engineering, and Semantic Web engineering concepts is proposed. PLOSATIS is presented as potentially effective, predictable and amenable to software process improvement initiatives

WSN and RFID integration to support intelligent monitoring in smart buildings using hybrid intelligent decision support systems

The real time monitoring of environment context aware activities is becoming a standard in the service delivery in a wide range of domains (child and elderly care and supervision, logistics, circulation, and other). The safety of people, goods and premises depends on the prompt reaction to potential hazards identified at an early stage to engage appropriate control actions. This requires capturing real time data to process locally at the device level or communicate to backend systems for real time decision making. This research examines the wireless sensor network and radio frequency identification technology integration in smart homes to support advanced safety systems deployed upstream to safety and emergency response. These systems are based on the use of hybrid intelligent decision support systems configured in a multi-distributed architecture enabled by the wireless communication of detection and tracking data to support intelligent real-time monitoring in smart buildings. This paper introduces first the concept of wireless sensor network and radio frequency identification technology integration showing the various options for the task distribution between radio frequency identification and hybrid intelligent decision support systems. This integration is then illustrated in a multi-distributed system architecture to identify motion and control access in a smart building using a room capacity model for occupancy and evacuation, access rights and a navigation map automatically generated by the system. The solution shown in the case study is based on a virtual layout of the smart building which is implemented using the capabilities of the building information model and hybrid intelligent decision support system.The Saudi High Education Ministry and Brunel University (UK

Quality assessment technique for ubiquitous software and middleware

The new paradigm of computing or information systems is ubiquitous computing systems. The technology-oriented issues of ubiquitous computing systems have made researchers pay much attention to the feasibility study of the technologies rather than building quality assurance indices or guidelines. In this context, measuring quality is the key to developing high-quality ubiquitous computing products. For this reason, various quality models have been defined, adopted and enhanced over the years, for example, the need for one recognised standard quality model (ISO/IEC 9126) is the result of a consensus for a software quality model on three levels: characteristics, sub-characteristics, and metrics. However, it is very much unlikely that this scheme will be directly applicable to ubiquitous computing environments which are considerably different to conventional software, trailing a big concern which is being given to reformulate existing methods, and especially to elaborate new assessment techniques for ubiquitous computing environments. This paper selects appropriate quality characteristics for the ubiquitous computing environment, which can be used as the quality target for both ubiquitous computing product evaluation processes ad development processes. Further, each of the quality characteristics has been expanded with evaluation questions and metrics, in some cases with measures. In addition, this quality model has been applied to the industrial setting of the ubiquitous computing environment. These have revealed that while the approach was sound, there are some parts to be more developed in the future

Penilaian kualiti persekitaran dalaman (IEQ) bangunan Akademik Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) Malaysia dalam konteks pengurusan fasiliti

Kualiti Persekitaran Dalaman atau Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) merupakan komponen penting dalam konteks bangunan mesra alam yang akan menentukan tahap kualiti penghuni di dalam sesebuah bangunan. Secara purata dianggarkan 80% kehidupan seharian manusia adalah berada di dalam bangunan. Ketidakseimbangan IEQ menyumbang kepada Sindrom Bangunan Sakit (Sick Building Syndrome) sekali gus memberi kesan kepada produktiviti para penghuni juga kepada struktur bangunan. Sehubungan itu, kajian ini dilaksanakan untuk mengenal pasti tahap kesedaran pihak pengurusan harta dan fasiliti di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) terhadap IEQ dalam konteks bangunan akademik. Kajian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengukur tahap IEQ dan tahap kepuasan pengguna dalam bangunan akademik di IPTA. Kajian ini melibatkan bangunan akademik di 20 IPTA di Malaysia. Metodologi kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif, kajian saintifik dan juga pendekatan secara kuantitatif. Pendekatan Kualitatif digunakan bagi menilai tahap kesedaran pihak pengurusan harta dan fasiliti IPTA melalui proses temubual yang melibatkan 20 orang responden. Manakala pendekatan kedua adalah melalui kajian saintifik ke atas bangunan akademik yang memfokuskan kepada pengukuran elemen keselesaan terma, keselesaan bunyi, kualiti udara dalaman dan pencahayaan. Hasil pengukuran elemen tersebut dibandingkan dengan piawaian dari Malaysia Standard (MS 1525;2007) dan UNESCO. Bagi setiap IPTA, lima buah bilik kuliah dijadikan sampel dengan tiga kali bacaan setiap hari selama dua hari diperolehi bagi mendapatkan bacaan purata. Seterusnya, melalui pendekatan kuantitatif, data yang diperolehi melalui kaji selidik melibatkan 500 responden dan dianalisis menggunakan perisian Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Hasil kajian menunjukkan kesedaran para pengurus harta dan fasililti di IPTA terhadap IEQ adalah baik tetapi masih ada beberapa kelemahan yang perlu ditambahbaik. Hasil ujian saintifik yang diperolehi menunjukkan bacaan bagi suhu dalaman, hanya UniSZA, UTHM dan UniMAS yang menepati piawaian, manakala bagi pencahayaan, UM, UIAM, UPSI, USM, UniSZA, UTM, UTHM, UTeM, UMS dan UniMAS berada di bawah tahap piawaian ditetapkan. Bagi keamatan bunyi, hanya UM, UPM, UPSI, USM dan UniMAP yang menunjukkan bacaan pada piawaian ditetapkan. Keseluruhannya menunjukkan bacaan berada pada tahap yang sederhana dan masih lagi memerlukan pernambahbaikan. Kajian ini turut mempamerkan bacaan purata bagi setiap elemen IEQ bagi bangunan akademik seluruh IPTA. Penemuan hasil kajian ini dijangka dapat membantu pihak pengurusan harta dan fasiliti IPTA dalam usaha menambahbaik tahap IEQ dalam bangunan akademik di kampus universiti sekaligus dapat meningkatkan tahap pengurusan fasiliti dalam mencapai tahap kelestarian kampus IPTA di Malaysia

Achieving supply chain integration using RFID technology: The case of emerging intelligent B-to-B e-commerce processes in a living laboratory

Purpose: Despite the high operational and strategic potentials of RFID technology, very little studies have been conducted about its role as enabler of supply chain integration to achieve high-level operational efficiency. Therefore, this study is an initial effort towards bridging the existing knowledge gap in the literature. Design/methodology: This exploratory research was conducted in one retail supply chain. A multi-method approach combining a longitudinal real-life case study and a methodology integrating several steps, including a “Living Laboratory” strategy was used and involved all members of a product line to analyze in terms of their contributing activities and their interface with other supply chain members, the aim being to explore the impact of RFID technology on inter- and intra-organizational processes and information systems. Findings: Our results provide support to the role of RFID as enabler of better integration of timeliness and accuracy data flows into information systems, business process optimization through automation, better system-to-system communication and better inter- and-intra-organizational business process integration. Furthermore, they also validate the unique characteristics of RFID technology such as enabler of realtime multiple tags items data collection and exchange within the supply chain and the read-and-write capability that may help, for example, to reuse some RFID tags within the supply chain and therefore reduce the cost related to the purchase of the said RFID tags. Finally, the study also reveals the importance of business process renovation and complementary investments during the adoption of RFID technology in order to achieve high level of business value from the technology

Achieving supply chain integration using RFID technology: The case of emerging intelligent B-to-B e-commerce processes in a living laboratory

Purpose: Despite the high operational and strategic potentials of RFID technology, very little studies have been conducted about its role as enabler of supply chain integration to achieve high-level operational efficiency. Therefore, this study is an initial effort towards bridging the existing knowledge gap in the literature. Design/methodology: This exploratory research was conducted in one retail supply chain. A multi-method approach combining a longitudinal real-life case study and a methodology integrating several steps, including a “Living Laboratory” strategy was used and involved all members of a product line to analyze in terms of their contributing activities and their interface with other supply chain members, the aim being to explore the impact of RFID technology on inter- and intra-organizational processes and information systems. Findings: Our results provide support to the role of RFID as enabler of better integration of timeliness and accuracy data flows into information systems, business process optimization through automation, better system-to-system communication and better inter- and-intra-organizational business process integration. Furthermore, they also validate the unique characteristics of RFID technology such as enabler of realtime multiple tags items data collection and exchange within the supply chain and the read-and-write capability that may help, for example, to reuse some RFID tags within the supply chain and therefore reduce the cost related to the purchase of the said RFID tags. Finally, the study also reveals the importance of business process renovation and complementary investments during the adoption of RFID technology in order to achieve high level of business value from the technology

Context-aware Dynamic Discovery and Configuration of 'Things' in Smart Environments

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a dynamic global information network consisting of Internet-connected objects, such as RFIDs, sensors, actuators, as well as other instruments and smart appliances that are becoming an integral component of the future Internet. Currently, such Internet-connected objects or `things' outnumber both people and computers connected to the Internet and their population is expected to grow to 50 billion in the next 5 to 10 years. To be able to develop IoT applications, such `things' must become dynamically integrated into emerging information networks supported by architecturally scalable and economically feasible Internet service delivery models, such as cloud computing. Achieving such integration through discovery and configuration of `things' is a challenging task. Towards this end, we propose a Context-Aware Dynamic Discovery of {Things} (CADDOT) model. We have developed a tool SmartLink, that is capable of discovering sensors deployed in a particular location despite their heterogeneity. SmartLink helps to establish the direct communication between sensor hardware and cloud-based IoT middleware platforms. We address the challenge of heterogeneity using a plug in architecture. Our prototype tool is developed on an Android platform. Further, we employ the Global Sensor Network (GSN) as the IoT middleware for the proof of concept validation. The significance of the proposed solution is validated using a test-bed that comprises 52 Arduino-based Libelium sensors.Comment: Big Data and Internet of Things: A Roadmap for Smart Environments, Studies in Computational Intelligence book series, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 201