bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Incisive Real-Time Biosafety Decision-Making Under Societal Reopening
Authors: Hai-Jew Shalin
Published: April 2021

In a time of the SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19 pandemic (and future ones), the choices made by each individual accumulates to population scale and can have widespread repercussions on individual and population health. A critical part of the public health mandate is communicating the nature of the health threats and ways to defend against and mitigate them. For a general population that may not have any training in microbiology or the health sciences or other related fields, understanding the proper defensive measures may be challenging. This work explores the building of ego-level decision-tree understructures for serious games that may inform on such daily life decision-making at a time of societal reopening from pandemic lockdown in a complex ethical and legal space.
Combatting the “Silo Effect” in the Online Classroom
Authors: Barney James J.
Published: April 2021

This case study explores the revision process and experience learned by teaching 12 sections of an asynchronous online graduate Homeland Security Law course over a two-year period from 2018 to 2020. The chapter charts the transition of the course from a traditional format with high-stakes episodic assessments (midterm, final, and a lengthy research paper) to a discussion board-centric class using curated reading materials, case study analysis, role-playing, structured debates, and the scaffolding of shorter, low-stakes writing assignments predominately completed in the online discussion boards increased both student engagement and satisfaction as reflected by student evaluations and feedback. The chapter further argues that a collection of low-tech, low-cost design and delivery tips derived from the insights provided from scholarship and online teaching experience can create a rich and transparent online learning environment.
Integrating Simulations Across a Curriculum
Authors: Smith Robert Eugene , Coulson Gordon Samuel , Wilson Wendy Smith
Published: April 2021

Emergency managers, firefighters, and homeland security professionals are a valuable resource at the local, state, and federal levels. Conducting live training and exercises is a high-cost endeavor, more so when the exercise is a “full-scale” exercise as identified in the Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) manual. In an online program, the cost of creating highly interactive simulations can be cost-prohibitive; however, simulations that are designed to challenge students and provide a quality learning environment are possible using a systems approach from planning to evaluation. Simulations creation is not difficult; however, it requires a team of experts to create a learning experience that is productive from the first course to the final course in a degree program. This chapter will provide material on one way to accomplish this. How others choose to create their program is based upon their degree needs, budget, and expert knowledge.
COVID-19 and the Learning, Teaching, Assessment, and Personal Experiences of UK-Based International Students During Lockdown
Authors: Khan Muzammal Ahmad
Published: April 2021

COVID-19 has brought challenges to the education systems globally. This chapter aims to examine the impact of the pandemic crisis from the viewpoint of international students. This involves a survey-based descriptive study distributed during lockdown to international students studying at UK universities. Students were affected by raised stress and anxiety levels, particularly female PhD students who identified as having lower levels of resilience than their male counterparts and other cohorts. International students perceived positive issues resulting from the experience, for example the use of digital assessments and online interaction, as well as negative issues including lack of support and poor communication. Implications include improving communications, training, time allocation for educators, support for students lacking adequate ICT software and connectivity, and provision of key support for mental health.
Is It Accessible?
Authors: Kutnak Michael John
Published: April 2021

This chapter discusses the role of accessibility in higher education institutions during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Under the law, administrators in higher education are obligated to provide accessible programs and services to students. They are also required to provide accessible work environments for employees. Administrators also have other incentives for doing so, such as building a sense of community. As a result of the shift to hybrid and or totally virtual delivery models of instruction, institutional administrators need a research-based methodology to assess their programs and services for accessibility consideration. This chapter provides higher education administrators with such a methodology. It also makes recommendations for creating return to campus plans, including how universal design can be implemented as part of the plan.
The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on E-Learning Strata Among University Students in Morocco
Authors: Brigui Hind
Published: April 2021

This chapter investigates the e-learning experience of Moroccan public university students during the COVID-19-prompted quarantine. It aims to identify and analyze the effects of the online learning context during the pandemic on students' actual learning process as divided into three main stages. It consequently attempts to determine and measure means of receiving—technically, mentally, and emotionally—cognizing or understanding, and appropriating class contents online amidst the unintentional shock of the pandemic and the limited affordability and accessibility to web-based education. A sample of 448 students was randomly selected and surveyed by means of an online detailed self-prepared questionnaire in order to test three hypotheses. Results show that learners did not manage to succeed in all the three stages of the e-learning process, which puts their actual e-learning usability and usefulness into question.
Technological Convergence
Authors: Cordeiro Jose Luis
Published: April 2021

Technological convergence is accelerating and allowing humanity to move from slow and erratic biological evolution to fast and precise technological evolution. The expression “emerging technologies” is used to cover new and potentially powerful fields such as biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology. Although the expression might be somewhat ambiguous, several clusters of different technologies are advancing exponentially and will be critical to humanity's future. NBIC is a common abbreviation that stands for nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. Other technologies like robotics, quantum computing, and space technologies can be added towards an accelerating “technological convergence” that might lead to a “technological singularity” as proposed by US engineer and futurist Ray Kurzweil. According to Kurzweil, we will reach a “technological singularity” by 2045, when we will be able to transcend many of our current limitations and move from biological humans to technological transhumans, both on planet Earth and beyond.
Technological Beyond
Authors: Bas Enric
Published: April 2021

In our condition as human beings, we have experienced a love-and-hate relationship with technology since the very beginning: from primitive humans (probably scared the very first time they saw fire) to 19th century Luddites to the recent conspiracy theories that link 5G to COVID-19, human beings have dreaded technology. But, for bad or for good, machines—which could be loosely defined from an etymological point of view as “structures of any kind created by humans”—have been, are, and probably will be an essential part in the history of mankind, thus playing a fundamental in the social evolution of human. This chapter attempts to shed some light and provide some insights into plausible conjectures by exploring future developments, either in the short and medium or in the long term, which might result from a synergistic context where exponentially-increasing technological innovation may lead to a radical change, an evolutionary paradigm shift in human life and civilization, by reaching toward a post-technological era characterized by consciousness of the noosphere.
Revisiting Our Quantum World
Authors: Ingber Lester
Published: April 2021

We now know that quantum mechanics has been a fundamental structure of our world since the universe came into being. However, it has been only a century since the experimental and theoretical discoveries of quantum mechanics were made. We are becoming increasingly aware of its many implications and applications. In particular, there are implications across many disciplines that most likely will affect education, health, and security. Examples are given of the need to start education as early as possible in schools, the use of nano-robots to deliver drugs targeted to specific molecular sites, and to developing new cryptographic systems to safeguard our privacy.
Ageing
Authors: Tannous Wadad Kathy , Quilty Kathleen
Published: April 2021

In 2019, the number of people in the world aged over 65 was 703 million. By 2050, this number is projected to be 1.5 billion. However, it is not only the number of older persons but the proportion that is changing. Italy was the first country to experience a demographic milestone known as the ‘Historic Reversal', reporting in 1995 that the population of people aged 65 years and older outnumbered children under the age of 15 for the first time ever. By 2050, this number is expected to reach 90 countries. This social ‘megatrend' collides with another shifting paradigm: technological advancement, accelerating every year at an extraordinary pace. While this trend of continuous technological evolution is not developing uniformly around the world, the scope of potential support that new and emergent technologies can bring to older adults is enormous. This chapter explores key areas of consideration to ensure that the promise of the digital future is realised for older people and that it is an enabling force, rather than a barrier to enjoying a longer, more supported later life.
The Coming Space Age
Authors: Halal William
Published: April 2021

This chapter draws on forecasts from The TechCast Project to map out the beginning of the Space Age about 2050. The author's work on the Life Cycle of Evolution shows that the world is moving beyond the Knowledge Age, which began about AD 2000, and is now entering an Age of Consciousness about 2020. This seems to mark the culmination of civilization on Earth, when the planet reaches a stage of maturity needed to resolve historic threats such as climate change. If this passage to a unified global order is successful, it should mark the beginning of space exploration beyond the solar system. The commercialization of space will likely be well underway, and colonies established on the Moon and possibly Mars, solar satellites will likely be functioning, and space tourism will become normal. With Earth a stable civilization, attention should then turn to this final frontier of space. The intellectual resources of roughly 10 billion educated people will be drawn on to make the breakthroughs in our understanding of physics needed to travel to star systems.
Asteroid Futures
Authors: Baldwin Nicholas , Fletcher Amy Lynn
Published: April 2021

This chapter evaluates the emerging industry of asteroid mining and the pivotal role of the United States in shaping the new rules for an extra-terrestrial economy. The Outer Space Treaty 1967 (OST) governs the use of space, with over 100 signatories, including the United States and China. However, as space exploration expands to encompass both public and private stakeholders, there is a growing international debate about whether the OST's provisions prohibit the assertion of sovereignty and, hence, property rights, in outer space. With the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (2015), the United States has pursued a legal framework that facilitates commercial asteroid mining and a political strategy that focuses on bilateral space exploration agreements with countries such as Luxembourg, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. Due to its dominant position in the space sector, the United States will strongly influence the regulatory roadmap for the era of Space 2.0.
Financial Technologies
Authors: Lee Debra Hooi Chern , Rehman Mobashar , Au Yong Hui Nee , Hashmani Manzoor Ahmed
Published: April 2021

This chapter explores the concept of Financial Technology (FinTech) and how it has progressed to where it is today. This understanding is further supplemented with the applications of FinTech and the challenges it has to tackle in order to continue to evolve in a favourable manner. Being a key player in the FinTech sector, this chapter also delves into the concept of blockchain technology (BCT) to comprehend how it holds the power to impact society through revolutionary applications. As the world heralds an era of FinTech, this chapter aims to give insights on the potential of FinTech and how it cross borders to change the lives of many.
Financial Technology and Innovative Financial Inclusion
Authors: Sumarsono  , Al-Mudimigh Abdullah , Anshari Muhammad
Published: April 2021

A portmanteau of financial technology (FinTech) centralizes on the innovative use of smart mobile devices to design and deliver financial services and products, elevating an innovative way of delivering financial services. The chapter mainly focuses on the definition and the importance of FinTech to the financial ecosystem especially in the Southeast Asia region. It focuses on how financial technology (FinTech) came to be, how transactions in the past mostly use cash, and then shifted to credit card and then shifted to a cashless transaction, for example using e-wallet or simply using smartphone for any financial transaction. The research found out how the huge percentage of internet users in the Southeast Asia region were the cause of the development of FinTech companies in the region for FinTech startups. It also showed how FinTech helped to provide solutions for financial inclusion, especially unbanked population.
The New Financial System
Authors: Caruso de Assis Luciana
Published: April 2021

This chapter shows the revolution that is happening in the financial system, having as main actor the technological companies—the fintechs—that don't have financial knowhow. The traditional banks didn't structure their business trying to attend the client's needs. The clients always suited themselves to banks' services. The fintechs are changing this reality by putting the client in another baseline, filling the gaps left by the banks, offering new services, and acting in places where banks have never gone before. The fintechs are offering these services with a lower price and more quality for the clients.
Digitalisation of the Global FinTech Industry
Authors: Butt Muhammad Waleed , Butt Usman Javed
Published: April 2021

The digitalisation of global financial technology and marketing is central for the success of many banking organisations across the globe. Digital disruption is a change that occurs when new emerging digital technologies and business models affect the value proposition of existing goods and services for low end demanding customers or for new market customers. Digital banking or online or virtual banking is leading to the digitization of all the traditional banking activities, products, process, or services. It is needless to state that mere adaptation of digital media to comply with trends does not guarantee success. The digital trends in the banking industry has seen banks focusing on digitalization core processes, increasing awareness, financial inclusions, and undertaking sustainable practices. FinTech (i.e., financial technology) is competing with traditional financial methods in the delivery of financial services and reaching the unbanked segment of society, particularly in developing countries. There is a strong need to understand drivers and trends in the FinTech industry.
FinTech and SMEs
Authors: Marrara Stefania , Pejic-Bach Mirjana , Seljan Sanja , Topalovic Amir
Published: April 2021

In this chapter, a study about how Italian SMEs understand and use FinTech technologies is presented. The study focuses on FinTech-aided banking services, in particular, due to the fact that these are, at present, the most widely used FinTech technologies available in Italy. The study shows how, despite FinTech entering Italy only in recently, the Italian SMEs market is very active and fruitful for digital companies. In the last years, a continuous growth of investment has seen the development of FinTech technologies in multiple areas, such as mobile networks, big data, trust management, mobile embedded systems, cloud computing, image processing, and data analytic techniques.
Regulating FinTech Businesses
Authors: Kunhibava Sherin Binti , Muneeza Aishath
Published: April 2021

The Malaysian finance industry is governed by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC). BNM governs the banking and insurance industries and the SC regulates and develops its capital market. Both authorities have issued regulations to cater for the proliferation of fintech businesses. For example, BNM issued regulations on digital currency exchanges, electronic-know your customer requirements for fintech companies facilitating remittances, and a regulatory sandbox framework for fintech businesses. Similarly, the SC issued a digital investment management framework, another to facilitate equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and digital asset exchanges, and the instrumental digital currency and digital token order. All were issued to encourage innovation in the industry, manage disruption, mitigate risks, and ensure consumer protection. This chapter will explain the steps taken by Malaysia's financial regulatory authorities in dealing with fintech-based companies, critically review the regulations, and recommend some ways forward.
Inclusive Disruption
Authors: Smirnova Oksana , Korovkin Vladimir , Plaksenkov Evgeny
Published: April 2021

This chapter discusses the important socioeconomic role of financial technologies in the emerging market which is Russia today. While the issues of financial inclusion are of recognized importance for the developing markets, until recently they were seen largely as areas of affirmative regulatory action, not of competitive play by private market actors. However, the advent of fintech companies changes the paradigm. Many fintech companies in Russia view the gaps in financial inclusion as attractive market niches and formulate relevant consumer offers. This chapter reviews their strategic approaches based on the study of five business cases, and introduces an analytical matrix mapping the approaches to existing inclusivity gaps. The model strengthens the existing policy aimed at developing financial inclusion as it allows a targeted cost-benefit analysis of market players' actions. As Russia demonstrates many of the financial inclusivity challenges seen in other countries, the findings of this chapter have certain applicability in the context of both emerging and advanced economies.
Ethics in Mobile Banking
Authors: Kiarie Rehema Kagendo
Published: April 2021

This chapter addresses the ethical issues relating to mobile money transfer in Kenya. The mobile money transfer industry has grown exponentially in Kenya. Both the formal and informal sectors have embraced the use of mobile money transfer as a convenient means of transacting. With a plethora of advantages, most notably financial inclusion of the informal sector, mobile money transfer also has its ethical demerits. Despite the ethical challenges being experienced, the use of regulation coupled with education of users on ethical issues and security of mobile money transactions will assist in reducing unethical conduct.
Mobile Payment and Its Social Impact
Authors: Yu Liguo , Sun Liping
Published: April 2021

This chapter describes mobile payment, a mobile financial activity born of digital revolution, which is the combination of electronic money and mobile technology. The underlying technologies of mobile payment, its big players, and its status quo and future trend are discussed. In addition, this chapter discusses how mobile payment is related to social equality and social inclusion. Through presenting the historical, technical, economic, and social aspects of mobile payment, this chapter intends to provide readers with a holistic view of one of the fast-evolving financial activities that are transforming business, individuals, and the society.
Intention to Use Mobile Commerce
Authors: Bui Nhuong , Pham Long , Williamson Stan , Mohebbi Cyrus , Le Hanh
Published: April 2021

With mobile technologies' rapid development involving wireless networks and internet infrastructure, e-commerce has been evolving into a new, more significant phase: mobile commerce. Businesses throughout the world are highly motivated to invest in mobile commerce infrastructure and deploy their mobile commerce strategies as a source of sustainable competitive advantage to maintain existing and attract new customers. As probably the first systematic and comprehensive effort to date, this study analyzes the factors affecting customers' intention to use mobile commerce in Vietnam. The results show that perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, variety of services, and trialability have both direct and indirect positive (via perceived usefulness) impacts on intention to use mobile commerce, while trust and social influence have indirect positive impacts on intention to use mobile commerce in Vietnam. Cost does not have any impact on intention to use mobile commerce in Vietnam. The results of this study are also compared with that of studies on mobile commerce conducted in China and Malaixia by Chong et al. Theoretical and practical implications, especially for helping businesses understand how to capture more customers in a rapidly developing country, Vietnam, are discussed.
Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries
Authors: Bwemelo Gordian Stanslaus
Published: April 2021

This chapter describes how mobile technologies have recently emerged as the new wave in Information Technology revolution and are constantly gaining importance and popularity in nearly every avenue of our working and social lives. One area of mobile technology that has become a focus in recent times is the use of mobile devices particularly the mobile phones for an array of financial services. Mobile financial services and their massive adoption and rapid spread in the developing world, has deepened investments in mobile infrastructure and has further contributed to financial inclusion and economic development. Their adoption, in particular, has had a significant impact on consumer financial behaviour. This chapter builds on a rich body of literature available to highlight the impact of mobile financial services on consumer financial behaviour and the implications for financial institutions.
Profiling Mobile Service Customers in the Spanish Market
Authors: Calvo-Porral Cristina
Published: April 2021

This research aims to examine whether different user groups exist in the mobile services industry and to profile and characterize them in order to provide management recommendations for mobile service companies. To examine the users' behavior in the mobile services sector, customer segmentation by means of factor analysis and k-means cluster analysis is developed with data from 443 mobile service users. Further, a Manova test is conducted to confirm differences among the obtained user segments. Mobile service customers cannot be seen as a homogenous group, since different customer profiles coexist in the mobile service industry. More specifically, four user clusters emerge from the research findings, namely “pragmatic uninvolved,” “satisfied savers,” “prone-to-switch” users, and “service mavens,” the “service mavens” being the most attractive segment for mobile service companies. A behavioral-based segmentation is developed to extend the understanding of customer behavior in the mobile services field.
Mobile Wallets in India
Authors: Phutela Nidhi , Altekar Shrirang
Published: April 2021

Adoption of technology by the Indians is setting an example for the others. Considering the penetration of mobile phones and its usage success stories all over the world, a good number of companies are exploring new uses of mobile technology. Many companies have come up with a new use of mobile technology, mobile wallets. This research article has been undertaken to understand the previous research work on the adoption of mobile technology in the developed countries and the factors that are influential to understand the reasons for such adoption. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Model has been taken as a base for understanding the adoption by Indian consumers and two factors namely – Trust in mobile wallet services and trust in mobile wallet service providers have been examined for their impact on its adoption. A survey was conducted across Delhi NCR to examine attitude of Indian consumers for mobile wallets adoption.
The Wasta Model
Authors: Sfeir Elizabeth Kassab
Published: April 2021

This article explores the concept of Wasta, an interpersonal influence. It is defined by Mohamed and Mohamed as involvement of a third-party person to attain a favour. This research examines the impact that Wasta has on human resources practices in Lebanon. A mixed methods approach, being questionnaires and interviews, was used in order to obtain data. Implications of Wasta in a new model are illustrated showing the effect on employees when recruited through knowing someone. It subsequently shows the influences on other HR practices of training and development, compensation, and career development. This paper is the first of its kind illustrating the impact of Wasta on employee engagement. It is a pillar for future research, giving added value to the minimal studies available on HR practices in Lebanon and the Middle East.
Consumer Perception and Satisfaction of Rail Transport Service in an Urban Centre
Authors: Semente Efigenia Madalena Mario , Tshoopara Gloria M. , Silva Jacinto , Chufama Maxwell
Published: April 2021

Public transport efficiency is critical for any economy as it directly impacts on a country's ability to provide efficient and effective movement of goods and services. Given the importance of the rail sector to the Namibian economy, this study assesses consumer perceptions of and satisfaction with the rail transport services in Namibia. A total of 75 questionnaires were collected from participants in Windhoek. The data was analysed using SPSS version 25. Factor analysis (FA) through principal components analysis (PCA) was used to assess the underlying structure of the components, and the reliability and validity were assessed through Cronbach's alpha coefficients. The study concluded that the Namibian consumers' perception of or attitude towards the Namibian rail services is a function of several factors including service quality and price. The findings are deemed important for socio-economic and marketing decision making.
Performance Management Systems
Authors: Ntalasha John , Phiri Jackson
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this study is to develop a model for evaluating and improving performance in organizations. The design of research is based on Pulakos' performance management process model and follows the mixed methods research approach. The findings of the study reveal factors leading to challenges with performance management systems (PMS) in firms based on Pulakos' performance management process model. The study then provides recommendations for factors that can be used to address challenges with performance management systems in firms. The recommendations made are consistent with the general propositions among leading researchers in this field that effective performance management systems should be simplified, aligned with organizational goals and culture, tailored to the employees and should have strong leadership. The study also generated an integrated process model that can be used as a simplified guide for designing new PM systems, modeling and improving existing PM systems, reviewing and testing PM systems for efficiency, etc.
Hydrodynamic Flood Modelling of Large Regions Under Data-Poor Situations
Authors: Mohanty Mohit Prakash , Karmakar Subhankar
Published: April 2021

A serious constraint of data availability over flood-prone areas in India limits the potential of carrying out hydrodynamic flood modelling studies. Such difficulties are encountered because of a lack of high-resolution topography, cross-section data of the rivers, and sufficient and accurate calibration and validation data sets. The present study addresses the problems faced in performing a comprehensive 1D-2D coupled flood modelling over a flood disastrous region Jagatsinghpur, Odisha, India. The constraints faced in terms of hydraulic parameters such as water level, discharge, and geometric parameters such as river geometry are investigated. The simulations were performed for a severe flood event in 2011 that incurred heavy socio-economic losses in the district. The establishment of a modelling platform for flood simulation shall elucidate the major constraints faced in hydrodynamic modelling for such flood-prone areas with poor data availability.
Time Series for Forecasting Stock Market Prices Based on Sentiment Analysis of Social Media
Authors: Sivamani Babu Aravind , Karthikeyan Dakshinamoorthy , Arumugam Chamundeswari , Kalyan Pavan
Published: April 2021

This paper attempts to find a relation between the public perception of a company and its stock value price. Since social media is a very powerful tool used by a lot of people to voice their opinions on the performance of a company, it is a good source of information about the public sentiment. Previous studies have shown that the overall public sentiment collected from sites like Twitter do have a relation to the market price of a company over a period of time. The goal is to build on their research to improve the accuracy of predictions and determine if the public perception surrounding a company is a driving factor of its stock growth.
JomMachineLearning
Authors: Liow K.M. , Ng P.S. Joseph , Eaw H.C.
Published: April 2021

When a user intends to custom make a name card, the very first step that the printing service provider would ask for is their name card design artwork, yet users do not have their name card design artwork. The client would feel frustrated with the designer to create artwork that does not meet their requirements. The designer would also feel the same as the artwork has been rejected regularly by the client. From the primary data survey result, most respondents agreed that they have a clear idea in mind but have difficulty expressing their idea to the designer. The opinions concluded from the interviews would there be another choice for the user to design an artwork besides hiring a designer. This study has proposed a designer matching platform to match the client's preference and designer's talent and an online artwork design editor as an additional option for the user.
Photovoltaic Thermal Module With Paraboloid Type Solar Concentrators
Authors: Panchenko Vladimir
Published: April 2021

The article presents the results of the development and research of the solar photovoltaic thermal module with paraboloid type solar radiation concentrators. The structure of the solar module includes a composite concentrator, which provides uniform illumination by concentrated solar radiation on the surface of the cylindrical photovoltaic thermal photoreceiver in the form of the aluminum radiator with photovoltaic converters. When exposed in concentrated solar radiation, the electrical efficiency of specially designed matrix photovoltaic converters increases, and the heat taken by the heat carrier increases the overall efficiency of the solar module. Uniform illumination of photovoltaic converters with concentrated solar radiation provides an optimal mode of operation. The consumer can use the received electric and thermal energy in an autonomous or parallel power supply with the existing power grid.
A New Hybrid Binary-Real Coded Cuckoo Search and Tabu Search Algorithm for Solving the Unit-Commitment Problem
Authors: Terki Amel , Boubertakh Hamid
Published: April 2021

This paper proposes a new intelligent optimization approach to deal with the unit commitment (UC) problem by finding the optimal on/off states strategy of the units under the system constraints. The proposed method is a hybridization of the cuckoo search (CS) and the tabu search (TS) optimization techniques. The former is distinguished by its efficient global exploration mechanism, namely the levy flights, and the latter is a successful local search method. For this sake, a binary code is used for the status of units in the scheduled time horizon, and a real code is used to determine the generated power by the committed units. The proposed hybrid CS and TS (CS-TS) algorithm is used to solve the UC problem such that the CS guarantees the exploration of the whole search space, while the TS algorithm deals with the local search in order to avoid the premature convergence and prevent from trapping into local optima. The proposed method is applied to the IEEE standard systems of different scales ranging from 10 to 100 units. The results show clearly that the proposed method gives better quality solutions than the existing methods.
A Self-Organized Scheduling Algorithm for Embedded Real-Time Systems
Authors: Bendib Sonia Sabrina , Kalla Hamoudi , Kalla Salim , Hocine Riadh
Published: April 2021

In this paper, the authors present a self-organized approach for scheduling tasks on processors in embedded real-time systems. For such a mapping, two conflicting objectives have to be optimized: the reliability and the schedule length. Since the scheduling problem is NP-hard, a heuristic algorithm is used to produce schedules achieving different trade-offs between the two objectives. Moreover, a self-organization strategy based on dynamic crowding distance is adopted. This allows a better exploration of the objective space as well as an enhanced solution diversity. The proposed algorithm, reliability schedule length trad-offs algorithm (RSTA), is tested and compared with the popular SPEA2 algorithm where experimental results are promising on both quality and diversity of solutions.
Software-Based Testing Kit Using Machine Learning for Diagnosis and Predictive Analytics of COVID-19 Patients
Authors: Goar Vishal Kumar , Prabha Jyoti
Published: April 2021

Nowadays, the global community is being affected with COVID-19 disease and integrated infections, which are becoming a menace to the whole world. Research is going on to find out the solution, and still, no particular vaccination or solution has been achieved. This research work is focusing on the analytics of dataset extracted, which has assorted attributes, and these attributes are processed in the machine learning algorithm so that the prime factor can be recognized. In this research manuscript, the usage of COVID-19 dataset is done and trained using supervised learning approach of artificial neural network (ANN) on Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) algorithm so that the predictions of the test patients can be done on the key attributes of age, gender, location, and related parameters. The selection of LM-based implementation with ANN is done as it is the faster approach compared to other functions in neural networks.
Fine Grained Decentralized Access Control With Provable Data Transmission and User Revocation in Cloud
Authors: Kaushik Shweta , Gandhi Charu
Published: April 2021

Cloud computing started a new era for IT enterprises. It allows the movement of application from local to remote location, massive data storage. Owner has access to centralized or decentralized data storage server, where data management handled by remote vendor. But, the heterogeneous and dynamic nature of cloud introduces security challenges. Among them, access control and integrity checking are most important which incur high consideration. Attribute-based encryption is one of the access control technique which allows integration of access policies, attributes, and encrypted data. In this paper, a new fine-grained decentralized data access control technique with user revocation has been proposed. Here, service provider is responsible for verifying the user authenticity. The proposed schema supports integrity checking and user revocation. The integrity checking proof validates that the user data is intact and revocation mechanism will help to revoke the user in linear time. Moreover, the proposed access control and authentication schemes are decentralized and comparable to other approaches.
Anomaly Intrusion Detection Using SVM and C4.5 Classification With an Improved Particle Swarm Optimization (I-PSO)
Authors: Sandeep V. , Kondappan Saravanan , Jone Amir Anton , Raj Barath S.
Published: April 2021

In the last decade, many researchers have proposed several models of classification algorithms for enhancing the accuracy performance of IDSs. However, there is a minor issue arising in the classifier's incapability to process high-dimensional data. Using several classifiers always outperforms a single classifier's performance. This paper proposes a novel intrusion detection system by classifying data with SVM as well as C4.5 decision tree algorithm. The NSL-KDD dataset is first preprocessed with principal component analysis (PCA) and later feature selected with an improved particle swarm optimization (I-PSO). This framework improved the time consumption and inaccurate feature selection issues in other methodologies. Upon simplifying features more effectively, the outcomes display an excellent agreement with the conventional PSO techniques and their results, and also produce enhanced outcomes when compared to only single classifier. The results demonstrate better performance when subject to different attack-scenarios and can be used for enterprise network security applications.
DS-kNN
Authors: Taguelmimt Redha , Beghdad Rachid
Published: April 2021

On one hand, there are many proposed intrusion detection systems (IDSs) in the literature. On the other hand, many studies try to deduce the important features that can best detect attacks. This paper presents a new and an easy-to-implement approach to intrusion detection, named distance sum-based k-nearest neighbors (DS-kNN), which is an improved version of k-NN classifier. Given a data sample to classify, DS-kNN computes the distance sum of the k-nearest neighbors of the data sample in each of the possible classes of the dataset. Then, the data sample is assigned to the class having the smallest sum. The experimental results show that the DS-kNN classifier performs better than the original k-NN algorithm in terms of accuracy, detection rate, false positive, and attacks classification. The authors mainly compare DS-kNN to CANN, but also to SVM, S-NDAE, and DBN. The obtained results also show that the approach is very competitive.
Assessing HIPAA Compliance of Open Source Electronic Health Record Applications
Authors: Shahriar Hossain , Haddad Hisham M. , Farhadi Maryam
Published: April 2021

Electronic health record (EHR) applications are digital versions of paper-based patient health information. EHR applications are increasingly being adopted in many countries. They have resulted in improved quality in healthcare, convenient access to histories of patient medication and clinic visits, easier follow up of patient treatment plans, and precise medical decision-making process. The goal of this paper is to identify HIPAA technical requirements, evaluate two open source EHR applications (OpenEMR and OpenClinic) for security vulnerabilities using two open-source scanner tools (RIPS and PHP VulnHunter), and map the identified vulnerabilities to HIPAA technical requirements.
Performance and Applicability of Transfer Learners for Cocoa Swollen Shoot Detection
Authors: Appati Justice Kwame
Published: April 2021

An accurate and reliable cocoa swollen shoot disease diagnosis is the desire of traditional farmers with low-resolution smart devices. In this study, an efficient cocoa swollen shoot disease identification method base on transfer learners using pre-trained VGG16 and ResNet was proposed. These pre-trained models were trained using 456 samples and validated with 114 samples. The dataset constitutes low-resolution images, VGG16 and ResNet, and achieved an accuracy of 98.25 and 94.73%, respectively. With the objective of proposing a more reliable and accurate model, VGG16 is noted to scale better in terms of performance for implementation.
Towards Smart Transportation System
Authors: Li Guofu , Cao Ning , Zhu Pengjia , Zhang Yanwu , Zhang Yingying , Li Lei , Li Qingyuan , Zhang Yu
Published: April 2021

Smart transportation system is a cross-field research topic that involves both the organizations that manage the large-scaled system and individual end-users who enjoy these services. Recent advancement of machine learning-based algorithms has either enabled or improved a wide range of applications due to its strength in making accurate predictions for complex problems with a minimal amount of domain knowledge and great ability of generalization. These nice properties imply potential to be explored for building smart transportation system. This paper studies how deep reinforcement learning (DRL) can be used to optimize the operating policy in modern bike sharing systems. As a case study, the authors demonstrate the potential power of the modern DRL by showing a policy-gradient-based reinforcement learning approach to the rebalancing problem in a bike sharing system, which can simultaneously improve both the user experience and reduce the operational expense.
Impact of Mobile Ad Wearout on Consumer Irritation, Perceived Intrusiveness, Engagement, and Loyalty
Authors: Alwreikat Ahmad A.M. , Rjoub Husam
Published: April 2021

Mobile and smart devices provide a platform for firms/brands to communicate directly with past, present, or potential consumers (via online pop-ups, sponsored ads, ads on social media messengers, timelines, walls, etc.). Existing research on human-mobile interaction and end-user mobile management only highlights the positive fronts of repetitive exposures to mobile ads, ignoring the negative. The present study examines the effects of mobile ad wearout on irritation, intrusiveness, engagement, and loyalty via social media outlets. Survey data were solicited from consumers in Jordan, and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was applied. Results show that mobile ad wearout is a strong determinant for increased consumer irritation and perceived intrusiveness. Intrusiveness resulted in lower levels of consumer engagement and higher levels of consumer loyalty. Irritation resulted in lower levels of consumer engagement; no changes were observed in consumer loyalty. This study shows managers how mobile ad wearout causes irritation and intrusiveness, which diminishes consumer engagement and loyalty. In essence, managers can gain insights on the positive and negative outcomes of mobile ad wearout. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
Microstructure Evolution and Mossbauer Spectroscopy Research of Nanostructured Ni3 Fe Intermetallic
Authors: Kaibi Amel , Guittoum Abderrahim , Souami Nassim , Kechouane Mohamed
Published: April 2021

Nanocrystalline Ni75Fe25 (Ni3Fe) powders were prepared by mechanical alloying process using a vario-planetary high-energy ball mill. The intermetallic Ni3Fe formation and different physical properties were investigated, as a function of milling time, t, (in the range 6 to 96 h range), using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Mössbauer Spectroscopy techniques. X-ray diffraction were performed on the samples to understand the structural characteristics and get information about elements and phases present in the powder after different time of milling. The refinement of XRD spectra revealed the complete formation of fcc Ni (Fe) disordered solid solution after 24 h of milling time, the Fe and Ni elemental distributions are closely correlated. With increasing the milling time, the lattice parameter increases and the grains size decreases. The Mössbauer experiments were performed on the powders in order to follow the formation of Ni3Fe compound as a function of milling time. From the adjustment of Mössbauer spectra, we extracted the hyperfine parameters. The evolution of hyperfine magnetic field shows that the magnetic disordered Ni3Fe phase starts to form from 6 h of milling time and grow in intensity with milling time. For the milling time more than 24 h, only the Ni3Fe disordered phase is present with a mean hyperfine magnetic field of about 29.5 T. The interpretation of the Mossbauer spectra confirmed the results obtained by XRD.
Photocatalytic Activities of Cobalt-Doped ZnO Nanoparticles by Hydrothermal Method
Authors: Sathiya S. , Vijayapriya J. , Parasuraman K. , Anburaj Durairaj Benny , Gnanamuthu S. Joshua , Nedunchezian G.
Published: April 2021

Photocatalytically active cobalt-doped ZnO (Co: ZnO) hexagonal nanoparticles have been prepared by hydrothermal process. X-ray diffraction, SEM, FTIR and UV–vis spectroscopy confirmed that the dopant ions substitute for some of the lattice zinc ions, and furthermore, that Co2+ ion exists. The as-prepared Co: ZnO samples have an extended light absorption range compared with pure ZnO and showed highly efficient photocatalytic activity, only requiring 120 min to decompose ~90% of MB dye under sun light irradiation. The results indicated that a strong electronic interaction between the Co and ZnO was present, and that the incorporation of Co promoted the charge separation and enhanced the charge transfer ability and, at the same time, effectively inhibited the recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in ZnO, resulting in high visible light photocatalytic activity.
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Disease Severity and Quality of Life in Parkinson's Disease
Authors: Saluja Alvee , Parihar Jasmine , Garg Divyani , Dhamija Rajinder K.
Published: April 2021

Background:

The challenges being faced during the lockdown period may worsen motor or non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Objective:

This study was undertaken to investigate the impact of lockdown on the disease activity, caregiver perceptions and the quality of life of patients with PD.

Materials and Methods:

This cross-sectional study was conducted from June till September 2020. Sixty-four patients with PD and caregivers were interviewed telephonically after obtaining consent. The responses were recorded by means of a structured questionnaire. Non-motor symptoms scale (NMSS) and the Parkinson Disease Questinnaire-8 (PDQ-8) were applied. PDQ-8 severity index (PDQ-8 SI) scores were expressed as percentage of the raw PDQ-8 score of the total score. Data were analsyed by using SPSS version 20.0.

Results:

Of 64 patients, 39 (60.9%) were men and 25 (39.1%) were women. The overall median age of the patients was 65 (55.25–69.75) years. The median duration was 48 (30–84) months. Twenty-six (40.6%) patients reported symptomatic worsening during the lockdown period. Slowness in activities of daily living and walking worsened in 15 (57.7%) and 14 (53.8%) patients, respectively, while tremors increased in 12 (46.2%) patients. Mood and sleep disturbances were the most common non-motor symptoms to worsen. Increase in non-motor symptoms and the NMSS total score were independent predictors of PDQ-8 scores. Increase in non-motor symptoms during the lockdown was an independent predictor of the highest quartile of PDQ-8 SI scores.

Conclusions:

Motor and non-motor symptoms have worsened in patients with PD during the lockdown. The increase in non-motor symptoms was independently associated with poorer quality of life among patients with PD during the lockdown.