An intelligent multimodal biometric authentication model for personalised healthcare services

With the advent of modern technologies, the healthcare industry is moving towards a more personalised smart care model. The enablers of such care models are the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). These technologies collect and analyse data from persons in care to alert relevant parties if any anomaly is detected in a patient’s regular pattern. However, such reliance on IoT devices to capture continuous data extends the attack surfaces and demands high-security measures. Both patients and devices need to be authenticated to mitigate a large number of attack vectors. The biometric authentication method has been seen as a promising technique in these scenarios. To this end, this paper proposes an AI-based multimodal biometric authentication model for single and group-based users’ device-level authentication that increases protection against the traditional single modal approach. To test the efficacy of the proposed model, a series of AI models are trained and tested using physiological biometric features such as ECG (Electrocardiogram) and PPG (Photoplethysmography) signals from five public datasets available in Physionet and Mendeley data repositories. The multimodal fusion authentication model shows promising results with 99.8% accuracy and an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 0.16

Establishing class membership through distinctive features and adaptive negative recognition

In this work, an approach that can unambiguously classify objects and patterns based on identification of distinctive features in labeled training sets is described. By considering a pattern as a representation of extracts of information regarding various features of an object, most established recognition methods tend to achieve classification by identifying the resemblances amongst the class members. This paper looks at the recognition act differently, through negative recognition. It argues that the basic functioning of the established methods also implies that the members of distinct classes must exhibit different characteristics resulting in different values for some or all of the features that describe the objects under consideration. That is, the categorization can also be based on recognition of differences between objects that belong to different classes. Such characteristics, when identified, will form the distinctive features of patterns and objects, in our proposed approach. In other words, using training sets, distinctive features for all or at least some of the classes are determined. The distinctive features are then used to classify all objects, even for complex systems

Fuzzy modelling to enhance cooperative management

Efficient management of any complex system, such as modern enterprise networks, depends on understanding the roles of its constituents and their interactions with one another. As such, awareness modelling and levels can play significant roles in improving the management efficiency. The awareness levels in human beings and managers have a fuzzy nature with linguistic variables extensively used in their definitions and communications. This paper explores the notion of fuzzy logic and soft computing to improve awareness modelling to achieve more effective cooperative management. This is further demonstrated through its application to an illustrative example

Internet of Things and Smart Environments: Assistive Technologies for Disability, Dementia, and Aging

This book is focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) services and smart environments that can be of assistance to the elderly and individuals living with dementia or some sensory impairment. The book outlines the requirements of the systems that aim to furnish some digital sensory or cognitive assistance to the individuals and their caregivers. Internet of Things and Smart Environments: Assistive Technologies for Disability, Dementia, and Aging covers the important evolutions of the IoT, the sensors, actuators, wireless communication and pervasive computing systems, and other enabling technologies that power up this megatrend infrastructure. The use of the IoT-based systems in improving the conventional assistive technologies and provisions of ambient assisted living are also covered. The book takes an impartial, and yet holistic, view to providing research insights and inspirations for more development works in the areas related to assistive IoT. It will show the potentials of using normally available interactive devices, like smartphones or smart TVs, which can be supplemented with low-cost gadgets or apps to provide assistive capabilities. It aims to accentuate the need for taking a comprehensive and combinatory view of the comprising topics and approaches that are based on the visions and ideas from all stakeholders. The book will examine these points and considerations to conclude with recommendations for future development works and research directions. This book can be of value to a diverse array of audience. The researchers and developers in healthcare and medicine, aged care and disability services, as well as those working in the IoT-related fields, may find many parts of this book useful and stimulating. It can be of great value to postgraduate and research students working in these areas. It can also be adapted for use in upper-level classroom courses relevant to communication and smart technologies, IoT applications, and assistive technologies. Many parts of the book can be of interest to the elderly and individuals living with a disability, as well as their families and caregivers. From an industry perspective, it can be of interest to software, hardware, and particularly app developers working on the IoT applications, smart homes and environments, and assistive technologies for the elderly and people living with disability or dementia

Improving the network performance and management of operability regions

The explosive growth of the Internet has provided modern societies with many new opportunities and challenges. The Internet is greatly reliant on the use of TCP/IP protocol suite. Inevitable delays and congestions over the networks are generally managed using TCP, making it a protocol of significant practical value. However, it is well established that for most large networks its simplistic utilization can result in severe inefficiencies. Alternatively, more sophisticated congestion control mechanisms, such as AQM/RED, are widely employed. But given the complexities of these mechanisms, in many situations, their nonlinear dynamics are usually ignored. As such to avoid instability and oscillatory dynamics, their parameters may be set more conservatively than what is really needed, leading to underutilization of the resources. This preliminary work, reports on a global management scheme and the control laws to expand the stability and operability regions for communication systems and the Internet. In turn, these provide for improved efficiency in utilization of the networks

ICT education : challenges and prospects

There are clear indications that the number of ICT student enrollments and graduates have been dropping at alarming rates. This has led to serious skills shortages in many countries, with projections pointing to a worsening situation. In turn this has put increasing pressure on policy makers, universities and other training institutions to come up with approaches to inspire young students to choose ICT for their studies. There is also a strong argument for retraining many people who already have post-secondary education, whether in the workforce or not, to overcome to looming ICT skills crises. This paper reports on the examination of these points. It will also explore appropriate ways to combat this problem through analysis and identification of real prospects for ICT education

Classification in complex systems through negative recognition

In this work, the applications of an approach that is based on establishment of class membership to diagnosis of complex system faults are reported. The adaptive recognition to achieve the classification is based on discovery of pattern features that make them distinct from objects belonging to different classes. In contrast to most systems for fault identification and diagnosis, which depend on heuristic rules, this approach does not resort to any heuristic rule. Consequently, it is more appropriate for diagnosis of faults in large and complex systems. To facilitate the evaluation of the ensuing scheme, results of diagnosis for a large power system, based on data provided by its protection simulator, are also reported. Those results clearly demonstrate that, after proper training, with minimal supervision, fast and successful diagnosis of all faults can be achieved

Fuzzy modelling for enhancement of integrated network management effectiveness

It is well established that the basic idea of managing networks, through monitoring and control of their comprising elements and nodes are not effective for modern complex enterprise networks. For these networks, an integrated management approach that also takes the nature of the enterprise and the services it provides into account must be utilized. This is a complex task. While many automated approaches are in use, to a large extent the effectiveness of the integrated management depends on understanding the functions of its components and their relations with one another. In most cases, it is impossible to identify precise crisp models describing the roles, functions, and interactions of such components in a useful manner. One of the main reasons for that is that characterization of these concepts by human beings and managers has a fuzzy nature. Linguistic variables are extensively used in communication of such understandings. In this paper, these ideas are further discussed and ways to utilize fuzzy modelling to improve integrated management effectiveness are explored

Improving network management efficiency : knowledge level granulation and fuzzy representation

Modern system management needs the capabilities to deal with a combination of areas, ranging from administration of elements to provision of services and management of the enterprise itself. As such, traditional element-based network management views are being rapidly replaced by integrated management approaches that take the nature of the enterprises and the services they provide into account. More conventional computer applications and established protocols, like Simple Network Management Protocol, provide automation to some extent. But generally speaking, human interactions are crucial for their proper operations. The need for such interactions mainly stems from the incoherency, incompleteness, and conflicting data with varying degrees of relevance available for achieving the management functions. In such complex environments, artificial intelligence-based solutions can be utilized to improve integrated management efficiency. This paper elaborates on these topics. In particular, this work describes several ways that fuzzy representations and knowledge granulations can be used to identify or to improve the solutions to problems encountered in an integrated network management environment. Some specific application areas that demonstrate the effectiveness of these ideas in improving management of the networks are also discussed

ICT healthcare : overcoming complex barriers for successful deployment

eHealth covers the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) related interaction between healthcare professionals and the system clients. It can also include telemedicine services, systems for monitoring and assisting patients and health information networks. Health ICT industry can become the third largest industry in the health sector with a global turnover of €50-60 billion. While the advantages of ICT health related systems are rather noticeable, they have not yet enjoyed prevalent deployments. Many studies have been carried out to identify the reasons for that. Several of these reasons are at least implicitly related to the underlying communication networks and the Internet characteristics. The heterogeneous nature of the Internet, along with its intentional lack of central control and loose hierarchy pose many challenges for its management. In this work, a framework for analysis and management of such complex systems is presented. In particular, the advantages of utilizing these approaches to improve the overall performance of Internet and network-based healthcare systems for a wide range of operating conditions are discussed