214 research outputs found

    The Road Ahead for Networking: A Survey on ICN-IP Coexistence Solutions

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    In recent years, the current Internet has experienced an unexpected paradigm shift in the usage model, which has pushed researchers towards the design of the Information-Centric Networking (ICN) paradigm as a possible replacement of the existing architecture. Even though both Academia and Industry have investigated the feasibility and effectiveness of ICN, achieving the complete replacement of the Internet Protocol (IP) is a challenging task. Some research groups have already addressed the coexistence by designing their own architectures, but none of those is the final solution to move towards the future Internet considering the unaltered state of the networking. To design such architecture, the research community needs now a comprehensive overview of the existing solutions that have so far addressed the coexistence. The purpose of this paper is to reach this goal by providing the first comprehensive survey and classification of the coexistence architectures according to their features (i.e., deployment approach, deployment scenarios, addressed coexistence requirements and architecture or technology used) and evaluation parameters (i.e., challenges emerging during the deployment and the runtime behaviour of an architecture). We believe that this paper will finally fill the gap required for moving towards the design of the final coexistence architecture.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 3 table

    Use of EMLA cream as a topical anaesthetic before venepuncture procedures in field surveys: A practice that helps children, parents and health professionals

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    Background. Topical analgesia is becoming essential as the number of invasive screening procedures involving children rises steadily. Little is known about the frequency of these procedures, or about interventions to ease the pain.Methods. We investigated the use of EMLA cream in 184 school-aged children in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Another group of 20 children did not receive any local analgesia and was assessed as a control. Anticipatory anxiety, pain, adverse reactions and ease of procedure were assessed using a subjective visual analogue scale (VAS) pain score generated by the researcher and obtained from each child immediately after the procedure.Results. The use of EMLA cream resulted in reduced pain and distress. The pain-relieving influence of EMLA was good (91.3% analgesic effect). Participants who received EMLA cream reported significantly lower VAS pain scores (p=0.001). Pain scores generated by the researcher were also significantly lower in the EMLA group than in the control group (p=0.000). No adverse reactions were observed, and the children could continue with other research activities during the application time and after the procedure. Parent or caregiver scores were in favour of EMLA cream.Conclusion. EMLA cream was safe and effective for alleviating the pain associated with venepuncture in a fieldwork setting. We therefore believe that it merits a place in the routine premedication of children before phlebotomy and cannulation procedures in clinical settings, research studies and field surveys. Further research is recommended to assess whether EMLA cream can be used for immunisations

    An Adaptive Spectrum-Sensing Algorithm for Cognitive Radio Networks based on the Sample Covariance Matrix

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    A novel adaptive threshold spectrum sensing technique based on the covariance matrix of received signal samples is proposed. The adaptive threshold in terms of signal to noise ratio (SNR) and spectrum utilisation ratio of primary user is derived. It considers both the probability of detection and the probability false alarm to minimise the overall decision error probability. The energy- based spectrum sensing scheme shows high vulnerability under noise uncertainty and low SNR. The existing covariance-based spectrum sensing technique overcomes the noise uncertainty problem but its performance deteriorates under low SNR. The proposed covariance-based scheme effectively addresses the low SNR problem. The superior performance of this scheme over the existing covariance-based detection method is confirmed by the simulation results in terms of probability of detection, probability of error, and requirement of samples for reliable detection of spectrum

    Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of the HemoCue device for detecting anaemia in healthy schoolaged children in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

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    Background. The prevalence of anaemia in school-aged children is reported to be high (>10%), yet neither the onset of anaemia nor the disease causing it is easily established. Any form of anaemia, even if mild, can compromise children’s health and survival. This study was conducted to generate data to support or reject use of the HemoCue device as a potential point-of-care method for haemoglobin (Hb) assessment in field and primary healthcare settings.Objective. To assess the validity of the HemoCue in relation to the gold-standard laboratory method.Methods. A cross-sectional study of children aged 6 - 8 years, analysing the diagnostic accuracy of the HemoCue in determining Hb levels in venous blood. Agreement between the HemoCue and laboratory techniques was evaluated using the Bland-Altman plot. The intra-class correlation coefficient was used to assess within-subject variability of measured Hb.Results. A trend of underestimation of Hb values was noted. The mean Hb with the HemoCue was 11.70 g/dL and that with the laboratory method 12.19 g/dL. The mean difference between the two methods was 0.49 g/dL, with a standard deviation of 0.77 g/dL (95% confidence interval –0.59 - –0.38). Discrepancies >1 g/dL were identified in 14.1% of cases. Bias increased with increasing Hb values.Conclusion. The HemoCue was found to be comparable to the standard laboratory method for determining Hb concentrations in school-aged children. Its usefulness for screening healthy children was demonstrated, although a full blood count is recommended if anaemia or iron deficiency is suspected

    Fair-RTT-DAS: A robust and efficient dynamic adaptive streaming over ICN

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    To sustain the adequate bandwidth demands over rapidly growing multimedia traffic and considering the effectiveness of Information-Centric Networking (ICN), recently, HTTP based Dynamic Adaptive Streaming (DASH) has been introduced over ICN, which significantly increases the network bandwidth utilisation. However, we identified that the inherent features of ICN also causes new vulnerabilities in the network. In this paper, we first propose a novel attack called as Bitrate Oscillation Attack (BOA), which exploits fundamental ICN characteristics: in-network caching and interest aggregation, to disrupt DASH functionality. In particular, the proposed attack forces the bitrate and resolution of video received by the attacked client to oscillate with high frequency and high amplitude during the streaming process. To detect and mitigate BOA, we design and implement a reactive countermeasure called Fair-RTT-DAS. Our solution ensures efficient bandwidth utilisation and improves the user perceived Quality of Experience (QoE) in the presence of varying content source locations. For this purpose, Fair-RTT-DAS consider DASH\u2019s two significant features: round-trip-time (RTT) and throughput fairness. In the presence of BOA in a network, our simulation results show an increase in the annoyance factor in user\u2019s spatial dimension, i.e., increase in oscillation frequency and amplitude. The results also show that our countermeasure significantly alleviates these adverse effects and makes dynamic adaptive streaming friendly to ICN\u2019s implicit features

    The validity of teacher nomination of pupils for inclusion in a gifted programme in ''Indian'' schools

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    A RESEARCH PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION - DIVISION OF SPECIALISED EDUCATION - UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG - TOWARDS THE DL'GREE OF MASTER OF EDUCATION (EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY). JOHANNESBURG, 1990.The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of teacher nomination of pupils for inclusion in a giftei programme in "Indian" schools. Correlations between teacher nominations and the Renzulli Satin* Scale (FRS) were used to test the validity of teacher nomination and highly significant correlations were found . The RRS was adopted because it covered * broader, interactive, multiple criteria definition than the more traditional, narrow, measures of intelligence< As the RRS hi reliability and validity only in respect of an American context a pilot study was undertaken to validate the RRS as a test of intelligence for South African children. The pilot study correlated the intellectual category of RRS scores with scores on the Junior South African Individual Scale (JSAIS) the latter being a unidimensional measure of intelligence. Correlations obtained were highly significant suggesting that the RRS was valid as a measure o' intelligence. At the same time it had the added advantage of considering other dimensions of giftedness (namely, task commitment and creativity). The results of the correlations between the RRS and teacher nomination suggest that teacher nomination is a valid, cost effective and reliable method of of giftedness standardised id establishe
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