Future Internet, Volume 7, Issue 2 (June 2015) – 7 articles , Pages 94-213

In recent years, train passengers have been transferring increasing amounts of data using mobile devices. Wireless networks with mobile relay nodes support broadband wireless communications for passengers of such vehicles using backhaul links. However, the mobility management entity reuses the handover of existing user equipment, resulting in the handover of the Long-Term Evolution network being unsuitable for user equipment within the cabins of vehicles traveling at high speed. In this paper, we propose a self-optimizing handover hysteresis scheme with dual mobile relay nodes for wireless networks in high-speed mobile environments. The proposed mechanism tunes the hysteresis and cell individual offset handover parameters based on the velocity of the vehicle and the handover performance indicator, which affects the handover triggering decision and performance. The results of simulations conducted in which the performance of the proposed scheme was compared to that of an existing scheme show that the proposed scheme can reduce the number of radio link failures and service interruptions during handover procedures. Full article

Background: In 2011, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) consulted with the Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes) team at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, to reproduce their successful model within the VHA. Methods: The VHA launched SCAN-ECHO (Specialty Care Access Network-Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a multisite videoconferencing system to conduct live clinical consultations between specialists at a VHA Medical Center (hospital) and primary care providers stationed at satellite VHA CBOCs (Community-Based Outpatient Clinic). Results: Analysis of the first three years rendered a mean attendee satisfaction of 89.53% and a consultation satisfaction score of 88.10%. About half of the SCAN-ECHO consultations resulted in patients receiving their treatment from their local primary care providers; the remaining half were referred to the VHA Medical Center when the treatment involved equipment or services not available at the CBOCs (e.g., MRI, surgery). Conclusion: This paper details the setup, operation logistics and preliminary findings, suggesting that SCAN-ECHO is a viable model for providing quality specialty clinical consultation service, prompter access to care, reduced commutes and continuing education. Additionally, the use of a secured Internet-based videoconferencing system that supports connectivity to multiple (mobile) devices could expand the utilization of this service. Full article

We describe how statistical predictive models might play an expanded role in educational analytics by giving students automated, real-time information about what their current performance means for eventual success in eLearning environments. We discuss how an online messaging system might tailor information to individual students using predictive analytics. The proposed system would be data-driven and quantitative; e.g., a message might furnish the probability that a student will successfully complete the certificate requirements of a massive open online course. Repeated messages would prod underperforming students and alert instructors to those in need of intervention. Administrators responsible for accreditation or outcomes assessment would have ready documentation of learning outcomes and actions taken to address unsatisfactory student performance. The article’s brief introduction to statistical predictive models sets the stage for a description of the messaging system. Resources and methods needed to develop and implement the system are discussed. Full article

When a disaster hits a wide area, communication services for public use will be rendered unavailable. This will make it difficult to confirm the safety of people in the disaster area. A solution to this problem is to form delay/disruption tolerant networks (DTN) using mobile terminals of victims, those of rescuers, who serve as information carriers, and terminals (servers) in shelters. In this paper, we propose using a receiver-triggered handshake protocol for communication between these terminals. We have developed the bundle layer protocol for this handshake method. The proposed method has been implemented on a network simulator to build an evaluation environment. The disaster area has been modeled on an area around Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. Victims are randomly distributed in the area. We have compared the proposed method with Epidemic Routing and Spray and Wait in terms of the delivery rate at which messages reach their destinations, and the length of time taken for messages to reach their destinations. We have found that the delivery rate of the three methods are, more or less, the same, but that the proposed method is superior to the other two methods in terms of storage usage and battery consumption of terminals, and the number of bundles generated in the network. Full article

To improve the learning of basic concepts in molecular biology of an undergraduate science class, a pedagogical tool was developed, consisting of learning objectives listed at the end of each lecture and answers to those objectives made available as videos online. The aim of this study was to determine if the pedagogical tool was used by students as instructed, and to explore students’ perception of its usefulness. A combination of quantitative survey data and measures of online viewing was used to evaluate the usage of the pedagogical practice. A total of 77 short videos linked to 11 lectures were made available to 71 students, and 64 completed the survey. Using online tracking tools, a total of 7046 views were recorded. Survey data indicated that most students (73.4%) accessed all videos, and the majority (98.4%) found the videos to be useful in assisting their learning. Interestingly, approximately half of the students (53.1%) always or most of the time used the pedagogical tool as recommended, and consistently answered the learning objectives before watching the videos. While the proposed pedagogical tool was used by the majority of students outside the classroom, only half used it as recommended limiting the impact on students’ involvement in the learning of the material presented in class. Full article

Quality web service discovery requires narrowing the search space from an overwhelming set of services down to the most relevant ones, while matching the consumer’s request. Today, the ranking of services only considers static attributes or snapshots of current attribute values, resulting in low-quality search results. To satisfy the user’s need for timely, well-chosen web services, we ought to consider quality of service attributes. The problem is that dynamic attributes can be difficult to measure, frequently fluctuate, are context-sensitive and depend on environmental factors, such as network availability at query time. In this paper, we propose the Dynamis algorithm to address these challenges effectively. Dynamis is based on well-established database techniques, such as skyline and aggregation. We illustrate our approach using observatory telescope web services and experimentally evaluate it using stock market data. In our evaluation, we show significant improvement in service selection over existing techniques. Full article

A wide range of IDS implementations with anomaly detection modules have been deployed. In general, those modules depend on intrusion knowledge databases, such as Knowledge Discovery Dataset (KDD99), Center for Applied Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) or Community Resource for Archiving Wireless Data at Dartmouth (CRAWDAD), among others. Once the database is analyzed and a machine learning method is employed to generate detectors, some classes of new detectors are created. Thereafter, detectors are supposed to be deployed in real network environments in order to achieve detection with good results for false positives and detection rates. Since the traffic behavior is quite different according to the user’s network activities over available services, restrictions and applications, it is supposed that behavioral-based detectors are not well suited to all kind of networks. This paper presents the differences of detection results between some network scenarios by applying traditional detectors that were calculated with artificial neural networks. The same detector is deployed in different scenarios to measure the efficiency or inefficiency of static training detectors. Full article