State of runtime adaptation in service-oriented systems:what, where, when, how and right

Software as a Service reflects a ‘service-oriented’ approach to software development that is based on the notion of composing applications by discovering and invoking network-available services to accomplish some task. However, as more business organisations adopt service-oriented solutions and the demands on them grow, the problem of ensuring that the software systems can adapt fast and effectively to changing business needs, changes in their runtime environment and failures in provided services has become an increasingly important research problem. Dynamic adaptation has been proposed as a way to address the problem. However, for adaptation to be effective several other factors need to be considered. This study identifies the key factors that influence runtime adaptation in service-oriented systems (SOSs) and examines how well they are addressed in 29 adaptation approaches intended to support SOSs

Leveraging women participation in entrepreneurship through mobile technology

A desktop survey of existing literature on technology adaption and women participation in the workforce and SMEs identified some gaps in the Kenyan Economic Sector. These gaps included: The contribution to economic growth between Micro and Small and Medium Sized Enterprise's (SMEs); Representation in the workforce between women and their male counterparts; The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in business between the low and high education background entrepreneurs. This research set out to bridge these gaps. It was funded by the National Council of Science and Technology1(NCST) and is being conducted by researchers From the United States International University, Kenya Polytechnic and The Ark solution providers. The project comprises of two phases with the first involving the development of an adaptive model that boosts women in the MSE sector through the use of relevant and accessible technology. The second phase involves the development of a mobile application to implement the proposed model. The first phase is almost complete and the second phase commences in May 2013. This paper discusses the activities conducted in the first phase to arrive at the proposed adaptive model that boosts the MSE sector through the use of relevant and accessible technology. The data has already been collected and analyzed and the initial results are ready for dissemination

Leveraging health through the enhancement of information access using Mobile and service oriented technology

Kenya has a vision to create a globally competitive and prospective nation with a high quality of life by 2030. In order to achieve this, it developed a social pillar that aims at improving the quality of life through projects that are health related. We propose a project that aims at contributing to this vision by ensuring that health related information is accessible to all through an affordable and flexible solution. This study sets out to find a flexible, adaptable, and cost efficient, approach for storing and accessing information from the government portal. We draw these benefits from using the concept of cloud computing. However, cloud computing is not a new concept. The use of popular and readily available technology such as the Mobile phone can aid in leveraging information access through cloud computing. The innovative aspect of this study is the proposal of a solution that is flexible through the concept of runtime software adaptation in Service Orientated Architecture. An increasingly important requirement of software is ensuring that the system can adapt quickly and effectively to changing business and system needs. Several problem specific runtime adaptation techniques have been put forward. We propose a solution that is generic and hence can be used to address any challenge presented by information access on any information or sector represented on the government porta