Improving the network transmission cost of differentiated web services

This paper investigates into the transmission cost of web services related messages which is affected by network latency. Web services enable seamless interaction and integration of e-business applications. Web services contain a collection of operations so as to interact with outside world over the Internet through XML messaging. Though XML effectively describe message related information and is fairly human readable, it badly affects the performance of Web services in terms of transmission cost, processing cost, and so on. This paper aims to minimize network latency of message communication of Web services by employing pre-emptive resume scheduling. Fundamental principle of this approach is the provision of preferential treatment to some messages as compared to others. This approach assigns different priorities to distinct classes of messages given the fact that some messages may tolerate longer delays than others. For instance, shorter messages may be given higher priority than longer messages, or the Web service provider may give higher priority to the messages of paying subscribers

Information extraction from template-generated hidden web documents

The larger amount of information on the Web is stored in document databases and is not indexed by general-purpose search engines (such as Google and Yahoo). Databases dynamically generate a list of documents in response to a user query – which are referred to as Hidden Web databases. Such documents are typically presented to users as templategenerated Web pages. This paper presents a new approach that identifies Web page templates in order to extract queryrelated information from documents. We propose two forms of representation to analyse the content of a document – Text with Immediate Adjacent Tag Segments (TIATS) and Text with Neighbouring Adjacent Tag Segments (TNATS). Our techniques exploit tag structures that surround the textual contents of documents in order to detect Web page templates thereby extracting query-related information. Experimental results demonstrate that TNATS detects Web page templates most effectively and extracts information with high recall and precision

Query-related data extraction of hidden web documents

The larger amount of information on the Web is stored in document databases and is not indexed by general-purpose search engines (i.e., Google and Yahoo). Such information is dynamically generated through querying databases — which are referred to as Hidden Web databases. Documents returned in response to a user query are typically presented using templategenerated Web pages. This paper proposes a novel approach that identifies Web page templates by analysing the textual contents and the adjacent tag structures of a document in order to extract query-related data. Preliminary results demonstrate that our approach effectively detects templates and retrieves data with high recall and precision

Mobile application platform heterogeneity: Android vs Windows phone vs iOS vs Firefox OS

Modern smartphones have a rich spectrum of increasingly sophisticated features, opening opportunities for software-led innovation. Of the large number of platforms to develop new software on, in this paper we look closely at three platforms identified as market leaders for the smartphone market by Gartner Group in 2013 and one platform, Firefox OS, representing a new paradigm for operating systems based on web technologies. We compare the platforms in several different categories, such as software architecture, application development, platform capabilities and constraints, and, finally, developer support. Using the implementation of a mobile version of the tic-tac-toe game on all the four platforms, we seek to investigate strengths, weaknesses and challenges of mobile application development on these platforms. Big differences are highlighted when inspecting community environments, hardware abilities and platform maturity. These inevitably impact upon developer choices when deciding on mobile platform development strategies

Every Cloud Has a Push Data Lining: Incorporating Cloud Services in a Context-Aware Application

We investigated context-awareness by utilising multiple sources of context in a mobile device setting. In our experiment we developed a system consisting of a mobile client, running on the Android platform, integrated with a cloud-based service. These components were integrated using pushmessaging technology.One of the key featureswas the automatic adaptation of smartphones in accordance with implicit user needs. The novelty of our approach consists in the use of multiple sources of context input to the system, which included the use of calendar data and web based user configuration tool, as well as that of an external, cloud-based, configuration file storing user interface preferences which, pushed at log-on time irrespective of access device, frees the user from having to manually configure its interface.The systemwas evaluated via two rounds of user evaluations (n = 50 users), the feedback of which was generally positive and demonstrated the viability of using cloud-based services to provide an enhanced context-aware user experience

A Mobile Money Solution for Illiterate Users

Existing mobile money platforms have text based interfaces and target literate people. Illiterate people, without the assistance of literate individuals, cannot use such platforms. Applying user-centered requirements gathered in an Ethiopian context, this paper presents the design and development of a mobile money solution that targets illiterate people. Particular emphasis is given to how illiterate users deal with cash money in their everyday life and how such practices can be mapped into financial technology design. Given the ubiquity of mobile telephony in Africa, our solution is based on the widely available, relatively inexpensive and open source Android mobile web platform. The proposed system enables illiterate individuals to count money bills, while providing the facility to accept and make payments. In so doing, we provide an example of how a pervasive technology such as smartphones can empower a hitherto often neglected user category of illiterate users

Context-aware and automatic configuration of mobile devices in cloud-enabled ubiquitous computing

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00779-013-0698-3. Copyright @ Springer-Verlag London 2013.Context-sensitive (or aware) applications have, in recent years, moved from the realm of possibilities to that of ubiquity. One exciting research area that is still very much in the realm of possibilities is that of cloud computing, and in this paper, we present our work, which explores the overlap of these two research areas. Accordingly, this paper explores the notion of cross-source integration of cloud-based, context-aware information in ubiquitous computing through a developed prototypical solution. Moreover, the described solution incorporates remote and automatic configuration of Android smartphones and advances the research area of context-aware information by harvesting information from several sources to build a rich foundation on which algorithms for context-aware computation can be based. Evaluation results show the viability of integrating and tailoring contextual information to provide users with timely, relevant and adapted application behaviour and content

Transient 1-d model simulation of a packed-beds chemical-looping combustion reactor of syngas with ilmenite

A packed-bed chemical-looping combustion (CLC) reactor is developed using syngas as fuel with ilmenite as an oxygen carrier. The aim of the current study is to analyze, design and optimize the performance of this novel reactor concept using numerical simulations. Transient 1-D reactor models of the fuel and air reactors have been developed to investigate the dynamic temperature and concentration profiles along the length of the reactor. Simulation studies show that a very high temperature air stream can be produced efficiently with packed-bed CLC using syngas combustion with ilmenite with intrinsic capture of CO2. On the other hand, due to the relatively low reduction rates, much more attention has to be paid to fuel slip during the reduction cycle

Sensors in your clothes: Design and development of a prototype

Wearable computing is fast advancing as a preferred approach for integrating software solutions not only in our environment, but also in our everyday garments to exploit the numerous information sources we constantly interact with. This paper explores this context further by showing the possible use of wearable sensor technology for information critical information systems, through the design and development of a proof-of-concept prototyp

Data analysis as a service: an infrastructure for storing and analyzing the internet of things

As the Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming an increasingly trendy topic both for individuals, businesses and governments, the need for academically reviewed and developed prototypes focusing on certain aspects of IoT are increasing as well. Throughout this paper we propose an architecture and a technology stack for creating real-time applications focusing on time-series data generated by IoT devices. The architecture and technology stack are then implemented through a proof-of-concept prototype named Office Analysis as a Service, DaaS, a data-centric web application developed using Meteor. js and MongoDB. We also propose a data structure for storing time-series data in a MongoDB document for optimal query performance of large datasets. One common research challenge in the IoT, security, is considered only briefly, and is of utmost importance in future research