A test-bed for the Correlation Center of Digital Services

For an e-business to be successful, companies need to formulate a business strategy, have informative strategic alliances, develop an international system, build a proactive infrastructure, internationalize their model, capture the residual value, exploit the international telecommunications liberalization, homogenize the data structure and globalize human resources. To achieve their objective, businesses need a more integrated automation system to speed up the process of establishing and conducting Internet-based services. In this paper, a component-based prototyping approach is used in developing a generic model and framework for a correlation center that provides entrepreneurs with a tool to quickly build and automate e-commerce linkages, thus enabling companies to establish their businesses over the Internet using a proven methodology

Hybrid-Vehfog: A Robust Approach for Reliable Dissemination of Critical Messages in Connected Vehicles

Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANET) enable efficient communication between vehicles with the aim of improving road safety. However, the growing number of vehicles in dense regions and obstacle shadowing regions like Manhattan and other downtown areas leads to frequent disconnection problems resulting in disrupted radio wave propagation between vehicles. To address this issue and to transmit critical messages between vehicles and drones deployed from service vehicles to overcome road incidents and obstacles, we proposed a hybrid technique based on fog computing called Hybrid-Vehfog to disseminate messages in obstacle shadowing regions, and multi-hop technique to disseminate messages in non-obstacle shadowing regions. Our proposed algorithm dynamically adapts to changes in an environment and benefits in efficiency with robust drone deployment capability as needed. Performance of Hybrid-Vehfog is carried out in Network Simulator (NS-2) and Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO) simulators. The results showed that Hybrid-Vehfog outperformed Cloud-assisted Message Downlink Dissemination Scheme (CMDS), Cross-Layer Broadcast Protocol (CLBP), PEer-to-Peer protocol for Allocated REsource (PrEPARE), Fog-Named Data Networking (NDN) with mobility, and flooding schemes at all vehicle densities and simulation times

A Web-based interactive Student Advising system using Java frameworks

The use of open source frameworks and tools has become popular in Java development. These frameworks and tools have core strengths and weaknesses and are selected accordingly for development. Consequently, one of the key issues that developers face is to integrate and configure these tools together. This paper demonstrates the use of popular Java frameworks and tools to develop a Web-based interactive Student Registration and Advising system

Process Personalization Framework for Service-Driven Enterprises

Service functions and service activities are integral part of enterprises. Although technologies have improved for developing service functions, errors persist in service activities. Noted computer scientist Ramamoorthy describes personalization, customization, and humanization of service functions as an effective approach for reducing error in service activities. This paper argues that current personalization approaches does not effectively address the entire spectrum of service functions. The proposed personalization framework can advance current state of personalization through enabling tools as services and services as tools. We discuss the framework utilizing biological research as a service-driven enterprise example. The proposed framework is based on our enterprise process personalization patent

Genetic region characterization (Gene RECQuest) - software to assist in identification and selection of candidate genes from genomic regions

BACKGROUND: The availability of research platforms like the web tools of the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) has transformed the time-consuming task of identifying candidate genes from genetic studies to an interactive process where data from a variety of sources are obtained to select likely genes for follow-up. This process presents its own set of challenges, as the genetic researcher has to interact with several tools in a time-intensive, manual, and cumbersome manner. We developed a method and implemented an effective software system to address these challenges by multidisciplinary efforts of professional software developers with domain experts. The method presented in this paper, Gene RECQuest, simplifies the interaction with existing research platforms through the use of advanced integration technologies. FINDINGS: Gene RECQuest is a web-based application that assists in the identification of candidate genes from linkage and association studies using information from Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) and PubMed. To illustrate the utility of Gene RECQuest we used it to identify genes physically located within a linkage region as potential candidate genes for a quantitative trait locus (QTL) for very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) response on chromosome 18. CONCLUSION: Gene RECQuest provides a tool which enables researchers to easily identify and organize literature supporting their own expertise and make informed decisions. It is important to note that Gene RECQuest is a data acquisition and organization software, and not a data analysis method

A Component-Based Approach for Scientific Services for Education and Research (Scientific SEARCH)

Today’s challenge for retrieving digital information by users such as “students,” educators,” or “researchers” is coping, more than ever before, with the excessive data and information available. The problem is further compounded because of the way scientific knowledge is structured, in terms of expert interviews, articles, conference coverage, journal scans etc. Great progress has been made in digital library research. The NSF/NSDL through their initiatives has assembled a great set of tools and techniques that hold significant potential. Many projects are now underway applying these tools and techniques to meet the information needs of different user communities. The primary focus of Scientific SEARCH project is enhancing access to high quality learning materials and resources, modules, and other digital objects targeted towards scientific consumer and scientific producer. The project will use a multi-phased approach to achieve the objective. The paper describes the first-phase work submitted to NSF 04-542 solicitation

Design and Process Development for Smart Phone Medication Dosing Support System and Educational Platform in HIV/Aids-TB Programs in Zambia

The widespread adoption of cell phones and other mobile platforms represents an opportunity to extend the benefits of personalized, point-of-care, healthcare applications to providers and patients in the developing world. However, the challenges facing the effective deployment of mobile health care applications are complex, and thus require a scalable, flexible, and configurable approach. A service-oriented-architecture-based conceptual framework is proposed to address the challenges of developing and deploying mobile health care applications. A particular emphasis of the framework is a service-agent-modeling-based composite process-personalization support that is needed to support the diverse and adaptable needs of the users

Maternal age, education level and migration: Socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy in a field study from Turkey

WOS: 000279909900003PubMed ID: 20534133Background: Smoking during pregnancy has been associated with socioeconomic determinants and it is recognized as the most important preventable risk factor for an unsuccessful pregnancy outcome. Turkey has national data on the prevalance of smoking during pregnancy; however there is no data on the characteristics of the high-risk population. This is a field study that aims to identify socioeconomic determinants for smoking during pregnancy as well as differentiating the daily and occasional smokers. Method: Cross sectional study was conducted among women with 0-5 year old children living in the area served by Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) in Burhaniye, Turkey. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by the researchers during January-March 2008 at the home of the participants with 83.7% response rate (n = 256). The relation of "smoking during pregnacy" and "daily smoking during pregnancy" with the independent variables was determined with chi(2) tests. Women's age, educational level, number of previous births, place of origin, migration, partner's educational level, poverty, perceived income, social class were evaluated. Statistical significance was achieved when the p value was less than 0.05. The variables in relation with the dependent variables in the chi(2) tests were included in the forward-stepwise logistic analysis. Results: Prevalance of smoking during pregnancy was 22.7%. The majority (74.1%) were daily smokers. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants were at increased risk for smoking during pregnancy. Low education and being a migrant were risk factors for daily consumption (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Systematic attention should be paid to socioeconomic determinants in smoking for pregnant women, especially in countries like Turkey with high rates of infant and mother mortality and substantial health inequalities. Young mothers (< 20), low educated women and migrants are important groups to focus on