Scheduling Security Model for a Cloud Environment

Context: Scheduling in the cloud is a complex task due to the number and variety of resources available and the volatility of usage-patterns of resources considering that the resource setting is on the service provider. This is compounded further when security issues and Quality of Service (QoS) are also factored in. Aim: The aim of this research is to address limitations and gaps in current approaches of resource scheduling in cloud computing by developing a Scheduling Security Model (SSM). Method: Considering security as a key element that cloud services rely on which affects the services performance, cost and time concerns within the security constraints of the cloud service. Furthermore, this research will investigate and define the considerable challenges facing trusted and cost-effective resource scheduling in cloud computing environments. The SSM analyses the customer requirements for a service then works to schedule all tasks submitted to run over available resources depending on the security level. It then uses the SSM Algorithm and the Fast-Track technique to reduce the cost and the overall waiting time. Results: The worked examples of the SSM with different scenarios and comparing the SSM against other approaches in the same field show that the SSM can meet the customer requirements for cost effective and the QoS required. Conclusions: The advantages from the results show that the SSM can reduce the overall service cost compared to other approaches

Contribution of road transport to Pakistan’s air pollution in the urban environment

The urban areas of Pakistan exhibit some of the world’s highest levels of air pollution, primarily due to sub-2.5 μm particulate emissions. This issue significantly impairs both the country’s economy and the quality of life of its residents. Road transport is a significant contributor to anthropogenic air pollution but there are discrepancies about the extent of its share. Source apportionment and sectoral inventory studies attribute anywhere between 5 and >80% of the total air pollution to vehicular sources. This uncertainty propagates into the transport policy interventions that are informed by such studies and can thus hinder the achievement of desired pollution mitigation targets. In an effort to reconcile such discrepancies and guide future studies and policy-making efforts, this paper critically reviews source apportionment studies conducted in the urban centres of Pakistan over the past two decades. The strengths and weaknesses of different approaches are compared, and results from the studies are discussed based on the emissions profile of Pakistan’s automotive fleet that emerges. Inconsistencies in the reporting of pollutant concentrations and interpreting their impacts without accounting for the relative disease burden of different pollutant species are found to be the major reasons for the large variations in the reported sectoral shares. At the end, a framework for regular air pollution monitoring and source tracking is proposed in which high-fidelity receptor-based studies inform lower-fidelity but economical sectoral inventory assessments

Identifying Network-Biomarkers of Breast Cancer Survivability

One of the key challenges of breast cancer research is to predict whether a patient identified with specific subtype or treated with a specific therapy is going to survive or die. Current studies find small subsets of gene biomarkers able to accurately predict the response to therapy. In these studies, the selected genes are not necessarily functionally related, and hence, they may not correctly indicate the molecular mechanism behind breast cancer survivability. Also, several studies have shown there is a very low overlap between the different respective biomarkers subsets for the same cancer disease. To improve the robustness of classification performance and stability of detected biomarkers, recent methods take existing knowledge on relations between genes into account in the classifier, by aggregating functionality related genes to produce discriminative gene subnetworks called network-biomarkers. In this paper, given a breast cancer dataset of patients with different subtypes treated with a given therapy drug, we devised network-based machine learning approach by integrating protein protein interaction network (PPI) with gene expression data (1) to identify the network-biomarkers of breast cancer survivability a) based on subtypes and b) based on therapy and (2) to predict the survivability of breast cancer patients a) based on subtypes b) treated with a therapy drug. We used the concept of seed gene for identification of network-biomarkers with distance 2, 3 and 4 from seed gene protein and our method found distance 3 and $4$ are the distance that gives us best result for identifying survivability of breast cancer patient based on subtype and therapy respectively. To solve the class imbalance problem in some subtypes, we implemented ADASYN. We obtained best classification performance using random forest where the geometric mean, F1-measure and accuracy are respectively 0.867, 0.850 and 87.00% for subtype specific study, and 0.829, 0.807 and 83.77%, for therapy specific

Determinants of best HR practices in Chinese SMEs

AbstractPurpose&ndash; The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors which determine the adoption of best HR practices in Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approach &ndash; Regression analysis was utilized to analyse survey data obtained from 345 enterprises operating across China in a wide range of industrial sectors.Findings &ndash; Enterprises with greater resources in terms of their size, their relationships with external organizations, their cooperation with foreign partners and the human capital of their CEO were found to be more likely to adopt best HR practices. Contrary to the findings of the existing literature no relationship was found of a relationship between family ownership and the use of best HR practices.Research limitations/implications &ndash; The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Other limitations relate to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken, and the use of convenience sampling.Practical implications &ndash; Enterprises should consider building strategic relationships with external organizations and developing cooperation with foreign partners as a way of leveraging human resource expertise at a limited cost.Originality/value &ndash; This is the first study to examine how differences in the resource endowments of Chinese SMEs influence their adoption of best HR practices.<br /

Organizational rewards and employee commitment: a Chinese study

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to assess how the cultural value orientations of individual employees moderate their attitudinal responses to different categories of organizational rewards. Specifically, it seeks to examine how one dimension of traditionality, respect for authority, moderates the relationship between affective organizational commitment and three variables: pay satisfaction, autonomy and satisfaction with supervision. Design/methodology/approach: Hierarchical regression analysis was utilized to analyze survey data obtained from a sample of 290 employees of a major Chinese airline company. Findings: Employees high in traditionality were found to exhibit higher levels of affective commitment when autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was low. When autonomy and satisfaction with supervision was high employees low in traditionality exhibited higher levels of emotional attachment to the organization. Research limitations/implications: The cross-sectional design is an obvious limitation of the study. Another limitation relates to the generalizability of the study findings outside the context in which the research was undertaken. Social implications: Organizations should consider taking the cultural orientations of their workforce into account when developing appropriate human resource policies aimed at heightening employee commitment. This should enhance employee well-being, which is especially important in a global economy characterized by uncertainty and rapid change. Originality/value: This is the first study to examine how employees with different cultural value orientations respond to different categories of organizational rewards, in a predominantly traditional society

Conceptual model for usable multi-modal mobile assistance during Umrah

Performing Umrah is very demanding and to be performed in very crowded environments. In response to that, many efforts have been initiated to overcome the difficulties faced by pilgrims. However, those efforts focus on acquiring initial perspective and background knowledge before going to Mecca. Findings of preliminary study show that those efforts do not support multi-modality for user interaction. Nowadays the computational capabilities in mobile phones enable it to serve people in various aspects of daily life. Consequently, the mobile phone penetration has increased dramatically in the last decade. Hence, this study aims to propose a comprehensive conceptual model for usable multimodal mobile assistance during Umrah called Multi-model Mobile Assistance during Umrah (MMA-U). Thus, four (4) supporting objectives are formulated, and the Design Science Research Methodology has been adopted. For the usability of MMA-U, Systematic Literature Review (SLR) indicates ten (10) attributes: usefulness, errors rate, simplicity, reliability, ease of use, safety, flexibility, accessibility, attitude, and acceptability. Meanwhile, the content and comparative analysis result in five (5) components that construct the conceptual model of MMA-U: structural, content composition, design principles, development approach, technology, and the design and usability theories. Then, the MMA-U has been reviewed and well-accepted by 15 experts. Later, the MMA-U was incorporated into a prototype called Personal Digital Mutawwif (PDM). The PDM was developed for the purpose of user test in the field. The findings indicate that PDM facilitates the execution of Umrah and successfully meet pilgrims’ needs and expectations. Also, the pilgrims were satisfied and felt that they need to have PDM. In fact, they would recommend PDM to their friends, which mean that use of PDM is safe and suitable while performing Umrah. As a conclusion, the theoretical contribution; the conceptual model of MMA-U; provides guidelines for developing multimodal content mobile applications during Umrah

Mobile Dua and Zikr for Hajj (MDZ4H)

In the last decade, the number of mobile phone users has increased dramatically. Nowadays, mobile phone has become part of people's life. Today's mobile phones provide not just voice call and messaging services, but plethora of other services. This research is about the utilization of mobile phone for dua and zikr for Hajj. The main aim of this research is to develop a mobile Dua and Zikr in order to help Hajj pilgrims to recite them while performing all the required rituals. At the moment, this research focuses on developing the application on Android platform. In developing the application, all the required Dua and Zikr have to be gathered, compiled and verified before the prototype could be developed using J2ME. The prototype consists of the text and audio files of the recited Dua and Zikr in Arabic as well as the translation in Malay. Finally the prototype has been evaluated by users and experts using two sets of questionnaires. It is hoped that the developed prototype would be able to help the pilgrims to easily and conveniently recite the Dua and Zikr towards achieving Hajj Mabrur

Evaluating a Cloud Service using Scheduling Security Model (SSM)

The development in technology makes cloud com-puting widely used in different sectors such as academic and business or for a private purposes. Also, it can provide a convenient services via the Internet allowing stakeholders get all the benefits that the cloud can facilitate. With all the benefits of cloud computing still there are some risks such as security. This brings into consideration the need to improve the Quality of Service (QoS). A Scheduling Security Model (SSM) for Cloud Computing has been developed to address these issues. This paper will discuss the evaluation of the SSM model on some examples with different scenarios to investigate the cost and the effect on the service requested by customers

Design of the usability measurement tool for multimodal mobile applications

Nowadays, mobile phones provide not just voice call and messaging services, but plethora of other services.Those computational capabilities allow mobile phones to serve people in various areas including education, banking, commerce, travelling, and other daily life aspects. Meanwhile, the number of mobile phone users has increased dramatically in the last decade.On the other hand, the usability of an application can usually be verified through the user interface. Therefore, this paper aims to design a measurement tool to evaluate the usability of mobile applications based on the usability attributes and dimensions that must be considered in the interface.To obtain the appropriate attributes, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) has been conducted and the Goal Question Metric (GQM) has been used to design the tool. From 261 related works only 18 most relevant ones were selected, through four SLR. 25 dimensions were found through the SLR, but some of these dimensions are synonymous or a part of other dimensions. Consequently, three dimensions must be included in any usability evaluation instrument, which is broken down into ten sub dimensions