A Hybrid Approach for Data Analytics for Internet of Things

The vision of the Internet of Things is to allow currently unconnected physical objects to be connected to the internet. There will be an extremely large number of internet connected devices that will be much more than the number of human being in the world all producing data. These data will be collected and delivered to the cloud for processing, especially with a view of finding meaningful information to then take action. However, ideally the data needs to be analysed locally to increase privacy, give quick responses to people and to reduce use of network and storage resources. To tackle these problems, distributed data analytics can be proposed to collect and analyse the data either in the edge or fog devices. In this paper, we explore a hybrid approach which means that both innetwork level and cloud level processing should work together to build effective IoT data analytics in order to overcome their respective weaknesses and use their specific strengths. Specifically, we collected raw data locally and extracted features by applying data fusion techniques on the data on resource constrained devices to reduce the data and then send the extracted features to the cloud for processing. We evaluated the accuracy and data consumption over network and thus show that it is feasible to increase privacy and maintain accuracy while reducing data communication demands.Comment: Accepted to be published in the Proceedings of the 7th ACM International Conference on the Internet of Things (IoT 2017

A Systematic Review on What Features Should be Supported by Fitness Apps and Wearables to Help Users Overcome Obesity

Obesity is a major global challenge. It increases the risk of developing health problems such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Its prevalence puts pressure on the healthcare systems and on individuals’ health and finances as well. The use of fitness technology, mobile apps and wearable devices in supporting health behaviour change is promising. Fitness technology not only expands opportunities for users to access health related information but also facilitate cueing behaviour change and collection of ongoing personal data. The objective of this paper is to identify the features that should be supported by health and fitness apps and fitness wearable devices to encourage obese individuals to be active, change their lifestyle and to keep them motivated to overcome obesity. Firstly, it investigates the effectiveness and the efficiency of prevalent fitness apps and fitness wearable devices design features used to encourage physical activity. It then provides a method to evaluate both fitness apps and fitness wearable devices as motivational tools. The results regarding mobile apps highlight that goal setting, monitoring/tracking and feedback are the best features for motivation and that Zombie Run is the best fitness app for the Australian market in 2015. The results in regards to wearable devices emphasise reminders, tracking / monitoring/ feedback and goals / rewards are the best features for motivation and that Garmin Vivofitis the best fitness wearable devices for the American market in 2015. These results are useful for the users; fitness apps’ and fitness wearable devices’ developers because they provide some understanding of the various features needed to motivate individuals

Three Essays on Energy Markets

This dissertation includes three essays investigating topics relevant to the energy markets. The first essay employs a new dataset to measure the impact of investor sentiment regarding oil prices on the U.S. inflation premium. The empirical analysis relies on Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) and out-of-sample forecasts. The results indicate that a one standard deviation positive shock to overall investor sentiment regarding oil prices results in a significant increase in the U.S. inflation premium by approximately 1.2% over the subsequent 10 weeks. Compared to individual investor sentiment, institutional investor sentiment regarding oil prices has a larger impact on the U.S. inflation premium. Finally, the study finds out-of-sample evidence that the overall investor sentiment regarding oil prices has predictive power on the U.S. inflation premium. The second essay uses sequential energy inventory announcements to shed new light on the informational efficiency of financial markets. The findings provide clear evidence of inefficiency in oil futures and stock markets. This inefficiency can be exploited by sophisticated traders. The study further examines the effect of market conditions, such as liquidity and oil attention, on the efficient incorporation of information in this setting. It also constructs a predictor that can predict inventory surprises and pre-announcement returns in-sample and out-of-sample. Finally, it develops a combination forecast that can be used as a proxy for market expectations of oil inventory announcements. The third essay examines the impact of oil shocks on sovereign credit default swaps (CDS) for the G10 countries and major oil-exporting countries. The results show that oil demand shocks have a uniformly negative impact on CDS spreads. In contrast, oil supply shocks increase the spreads of the G10 countries, but reduce the spreads of oil-exporting countries. Using quantile regressions, the study finds that oil demand shocks affect spreads across the conditional distribution, while oil supply shocks mostly influence the upper quantiles of spread changes. Furthermore, a two-state Markov-switching modeling confirms a significant non-linearity in the impact of oil shock

Voluntary Disclosure by Saudi Companies

In a developing country, such as Saudi Arabia, which depends on real time information, investigating voluntary disclosure is crucial for the capital market efficiency and shareholders satisfactory. A firm’s voluntary disclosure is important to reduce the level of information asymmetry and increase the firm’s credibility in the capital market. This study reports on voluntary disclosure practices of Saudi non-financial publicly traded companies listed in the Saudi Stock Market (Tadawul) during the period 2012-2013, and relates the extent of disclosure to : corporation size, auditor size, leverage, profitability, and listing age. A disclosure index has been developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. Voluntary disclosure varies widely within a sample of 116 non-financial publicly traded companies during the period covered. The findings indicated that firms, on average, report 0.29 percent of the voluntary information. Further, in an effort to examine the relationship between the voluntary disclosure level and firm specific characteristics, the results of the regression analyses indicated that corporation size, profitability, and listing age have significant positive association with voluntary disclosure level in annual reports, however, auditor size and leverage do not have any significant association with voluntary disclosure level. Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Annual Reports; Saudi Arabi

Reduction Semantics and Formal Analysis of Orc Programs

AbstractOrc is a language for orchestration of web services developed by J. Misra that offers simple, yet powerful and elegant, constructs to program sophisticated web orchestration applications. The formal semantics of Orc poses interesting challenges, because of its real-time nature and the different priorities of external and internal actions. In this paper, building upon our previous SOS semantics of Orc in rewriting logic, we present a much more efficient reduction semantics of Orc, which is provably equivalent to the SOS semantics thanks to a strong bisimulation. We view this reduction semantics as a key intermediate stage towards a future, provably correct distributed implementation of Orc, and show how it can naturally be extended to a distributed actor-like semantics. We show experiments demonstrating the much better performance of the reduction semantics when compared to the SOS semantics. Using the Maude rewriting logic language, we also illustrate how the reduction semantics can be used to endow Orc with useful formal analysis capabilities, including an LTL model checker. We illustrate these formal analysis features by means of an online auction system, which is modeled as a distributed system of actors that perform Orc computations

Characterization the role of telomeric RNA (TERRA) in telomeric DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair in human ALT (telomerase independent) cells

2019 Fall.Includes bibliographical references.Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein complexes that protect natural chromosomal termini from degradation and prevent their detection as of DNA damage. Therefore, telomeres play critical roles in maintaining genomic stability. Telomeres are composed of tandem arrays of conserved repetitive sequences (TTAGGG in vertebrates), bound by a suite of proteins collectively termed "shelterin". Shelterin proteins are essential for telomere length regulation and end-capping structure/function. Due to their repetitive nature and together with telomeres possessing an abundance of heterochromatic marks, telomeres have long been regarded as silenced, non-transcribed features of the genome. The relatively recent discovery of telomeric RNA (TElomere Repeat- containing RNA; TERRA) opened many new avenues of investigation. TERRA is a long, noncoding RNA (lncRNA) that serves a structural role at telomeres, as well as function in regulation of telomere length and telomerase activity, the specialized reverse transcriptase capable of elongating telomeres de novo. Further, TERRA participates in telomeric recombination in tumors that maintain telomere length in a telomerase independent fashion via the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres (ALT) pathway. Emerging evidence also supports telomeric "DNA- TERRA hybrids" as indispensable for end protection and capping function; e.g., RNA interference mediated depletion of TERRA induced telomeric DNA damage responses (DDRs) and aberrations. Thus, TERRA participates in facilitating telomeric recombination and in preventing inappropriate telomeric DNA damage responses. We hypothesized that TERRA plays a critical role in the repair of telomeric DNA damage. To address the intriguing possibility that TERRA plays a role in the telomeric DNA damage response, we evaluated the colocalization of TERRA and γ-H2AX, a well-accepted marker of double-strand breaks (DSBs), at broken telomeres in human Osteosarcoma U2OS-ALT cells in different phases of the cell cycle. To test our hypothesis, we generated U2OS-ALT cells that stably expressed FUCCI green fluorescent signals to label cells in G2 phase. Telomeric DSBs were then induced in FUCCI-U2OS cells utilizing the ENT endonuclease fused to Telomere Repeat Factor 1 TRF1 (ENT-TRF1), and validated via colocalization of telomeres with γ-H2AX-FLAG. Forty-eight hours following transfection, FUCCI-U2OS cells were also treated with EdU to label cells in S phase. Cells negative for both FUCCI and EdU identified cells in G1 phase. Using this powerful strategy to distinguish cells in G1, S and G2 phases of the cell cycle, we showed that FUCCI-U2OS cells accumulate in G2 phase following transient transfection with ENT-TRF1. We validated that expression of ENT-TRF1 generates telomeric DSBs in U2OS-ALT cells through detection of telomere- γ-H2AX-FLAG colocalization events. Importantly, our data revealed that telomeric DSB induction triggers enrichment of TERRA in G2 phase. Taken together, these observations suggested that TERRA is increased in cells transfected with ENT-TRF1; i.e., in U2OS cells harboring telomere-specific DSBs. TERRA recruitment to telomeric DSB damage sites in G2 was validated by assessing co-localization between TERRA and ENT (FLAG). Similarly, TERRA recruitment to telomeric DSBs in G1/S was also evaluated. Futhermore, non-denaturing Telomere DNA FISH was employed to visualize G-rich and C-rich single-stranded (ss)telomeric DNA. Treatment of U2OS ENT transfected cells with Rnase A and Rnase H to remove TERRA, uncovered elevated levels of resected 5' C-rich (ss)telomeric DNA (complementary TERRA sequence), suggesting a potential role for TERRA in protecting resected telomeric DNA prior to cells entering G2 phase where Homologous Recombination (HR)-mediated elongation/repair would be possible. Consistent with published reports, telomeric DSBs were also significantly induced in cells transfected with TRF1-only (positive control). However, although TERRA co-localized with FLAG/broken telomeres, resected (ss)telomeric DNA was not detected upon removal of TERRA. Therefore, our results further support induction of telomeric DSBs with overexpression of TRF1, and additionally indicate that they are repaired via a different pathway than those induced by ENT, potentially alternative End Joining (alt-EJ), as previously proposed. In conclusion, our work revealed for the first time that the telomeric RNA TERRA, is enriched specifically at telomeric DNA DSB sites in U2OS (ALT) cells

Forensic Accounting Impact on Fraud Detection in Saudi Arabia

The primary subject matter of this research is to examines the effect of forensic accounting on fraud detection in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this study is to determine the relationship between fraud detection and forensic accounting in the context of a developing country, Saudi Arabia. Descriptive Statistics are used to present quantitative descriptions in a manageable form. The collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics using ordinary least square (OLS) regression and Chi-square. The study reveals that the application of forensic accounting services on firms affects the level of fraudulent activities. This paper findings conclude that forensic accounting services provide Saudi Arabian companies with the necessary tools to deter fraudulent activities but does not curb fraudulent activities. Keywords: Forensic Accounting; Financial Fraud, Anti-fraud detection; falsification of accounts; and Saudi Arabia. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/13-20-02 Publication date:October 31st 202

A novel approach for treating resistant hypertension using a controlled-pump accumulator relief device

Hypertension contributes to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality worldwide. While many hypertensive patients respond to drug therapy, a growing number of these cases are called resistant hypertension (RH), when patients cannot control their blood pressure to goal levels despite the use of multiple antihypertensive medications. While current interventional treatments for RH are based on dealing with the nervous system, there is no existing procedure that considers altering the way in which blood is pumped into the aorta such that to reduce blood pressure. We hypothesize that RH may be controlled by altering the way in which blood is pumped into the aorta. We introduce a novel idea of implementing what we called the accumulator device, which may be classified as a mechanical assist device for the cardiac system. A lumped-parameter model describing the cardiovascular system is presented and validated. The novel idea of accumulator device is also modeled and incorporated with the cardiovascular system model using analogies between the circulatory system, hydraulic systems, and electric circuits. The simulation work of the proposed accumulator device idea reveals promising preliminary results. It shows an ability to significantly decrease the systolic pressure by regulating the way in which blood is pumped into the aorta during the cardiac cycle, without reducing the cardiac output. It is our hope that this novel approach provides a transformational alternative to existing methods for treating RH, becomes a successful treatment option in the future, and improves life for millions of RH patients.Includes bibliographical reference

Assessing Nurses’ Knowledge Sharing Problems Associated with Shift Handover in Hospital Settings

In hospital settings, the quality and effectiveness of shift handover are critical for continuous and high quality patient care. This paper explores nurses’ knowledge sharing problems during shift handover in 6 Australian hospitals. A single focus group was conducted to collect empirical evidence of knowledge sharing problems during shift handover, across the hospitals. Findings indicate a broader set of problems that hinder effective knowledge sharing and suggest that handover standards, codification guidelines, the format of templates, and training in conducting handover need to be improved. Additionally, knowledge codification by health professionals other than nurses needs to be encouraged to improve shift handover. Finally, more guidance and training in using various IT hospital systems are necessary to give entry-level and graduate nurses adequate skills to ensure more effective shift handover. This study emphasizes the importance of people, technology, systems, standards and routine activities to capture and share important shift knowledge