bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Increasing Student Engagement through Virtual Worlds
Authors: Pigatt Yvonne , Braman James
Published: January 2016

Virtual worlds allow for an immersive 3D experience with rich content and interactive potential for students. Through this richness and interactivity, educators have abundant creative power to design and facilitate meaningful learning experiences and collaboration opportunities. In this chapter, we discuss one such initiative using Second Life as an educational space for a community college course activity as a means to enhance student engagement. A brief literature review on education using virtual worlds will be presented, which underpin our pedagogical methodology for the project framework. Focusing on a community college course titled “Diversity in a Technological Society”, the course goals and project requirements will be discussed. The chapter concludes with a detailed description of the proposed methodology for the next phase, recommendations and future work.
Teaching Economics in World of Warcraft
Authors: Margitay-Becht András
Published: January 2016

This chapter is a go-to guide for education professionals (primarily in the undergraduate and graduate college-level degree programs) for understanding and designing Economics classes in World of Warcraft. The premier MMORPG of the Western world, World of Warcraft boasts a number of features that makes it an ideal sandbox for economic education. It was deliberately designed to represent a large number of important real-world institutions like trade, production, cooperation, thus it can become a platform for learning about them. Moreover, since students encounter these institutions in a vibrant virtual world setting, they not only get to verify the learned materials but can practice their applications in their day-to-day dealings with other World of Warcraft denizens. This will lead to more student engagement, better learning outcomes, a more thorough understanding of both the principles of the theory and their applications, and greatly improved knowledge retention.
Seeing Numbers Differently
Authors: Patterson Rebecca Lynne , Patterson D. Cooper , Robertson Anna-Marie
Published: January 2016

Numbers are the most powerful adjective in the human language, being that they are descriptive and quantifiable. Humans can harness that power with our eyes and our innate ability to see shape patterns. Virtual worlds afford us this opportunity without the physical world hindrances of materials, space, time, or gravity. Explore how language, decimal-centricity, and symbols with their processes have clouded the view of numbers, their shapes, and the discovery of metapatterns: visually recognizable algebraic expressions and equations. The experiences shared in the case study within reveal the need of a working virtual world environment for educational training, prototyping, and studio image capturing. Common Core Standards for Mathematics aspire to bring the student into the understanding of the “why”. In the virtual reality of Second Life, the metaphor of seeing the forest before the trees is realized with our example and number patterns: from the earliest subitizing, to multi-digit, multi-base number recognition, to metapatterns, to deriving polynomial equations through differences.
Ethics in Virtual World Environments Research
Authors: Goel Amit , Rivera William A. , Kincaid Peter , Montgomery Michele , Karwowski Waldemar , Finkelstein Neal M.
Published: January 2016

With increased use of virtual worlds in education, training, military, arts, engineering, architecture, astronomy, medical, physical sciences, and many other fields, research in the field of distributed virtual world simulation environments has increased manifold in the last decade. This astounding growth has motivated us to think seriously about issues related to ethics in such research. Awareness of ethical issues is not only a responsibility of the researcher conducting research in virtual worlds, but also for ethics committees and institutional review board members. In this chapter we provide an overview of the past and current research attempting to identify ethics issues related to distributed virtual world simulation environments research. We raise questions related to virtual world research ethics that researcher and ethics committee members should ponder, and we provide several references for the reader to engage in thought provoking further study and discussion.
Designing, Developing, and Evaluating a Cloud-Based Laboratory for Online STEM IT Students
Authors: Yuan Dongqing , Cross Brandon
Published: January 2016

In an IT learning environment, hands-on learning is central to one's learning. Many previous studies found that STEM students who were taught through a hands-on learning method, as opposed to only the textbook and lecture method, showed higher comprehension of the concepts. Hands-on labs and experimenting expand a student's understanding and appreciation of science. For many years, traditional IT program instructors have been able to integrate hands-on approaches into the classroom. Although hands-on laboratory exercises are integral to a successful IT program, e-Learning students in IT do not have the same laboratory experience as onsite students. Consequentially, there is a problem with e-Learning IT students not acquiring all the essential hands-on skills with equipment used in the IT industry. In this chapter, we present a solution which is based on private cloud computing and can be used to build a laboratory and learning environment for a variety of online hands-on IT courses including Wireless System, IP Telephony and Server Application. Students, as cloud clients, can access the server by web access through VPN connection.
Context-Aware Cloud Computing for Personal Learning Environment
Authors: Chen Feng , Al-Bayatti Ali H. , Siewe Francois
Published: January 2016

Virtual learning means to learn from social interactions in a virtual platform that enables people to study anywhere and at any time. Current Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are normally institution centric and are designed to support formal learning, which do not support lifelong learning. These limitations led to the research of Personal Learning Environments (PLEs), which are learner-centric and provide lifelong access as well as the ability of a user to produce (share) and consume information resources easily. In this research, a context-aware cloud based PLE architecture is proposed, which is driven by a Context-Aware Engine to acquire, filter and interpret context information based on the preferences defined in user profile, where cloud computing is taken as service infrastructure. An illustrative personal learning scenario is investigated to demonstrate the proof of concept implementation. The results show the benefits of the proposed architecture on resource utilisation and user experience.
Cloud Computing for Teaching and Learning
Authors: Arinze Bay , Sylla Cheickna , Amobi Onuora
Published: January 2016

Cloud-based courses are now in widespread use by universities and other educational institutions. The cloud-based approach to course delivery is now used to provide scalable, granular educational content and training to millions of students asynchronously and synchronously in an innovative, effective manner. In the case of universities, more variables are under their control, such as student enrollment and student use of course elements. For universities with a focus on STEM-related programs, courses are offered to multiple categories of students with a mix of face-to-face and distance learning approaches, and the courses are often also open to the general public under different contracts. These universities typically aim to offer specially designed programs to companies and the general public who have diverse requirements and challenges. Aided by advances in cloud computing platforms, STEM focused-educational programs are increasingly adopting cloud-based learning systems to meet the diverse needs of their students. In this chapter, we discuss the motivation behind leveraging the cloud for STEM based higher education. We use the case study approach and examine two cases. The first is a large private university with 18,000 students and the second is a for-profit private educational company offering courses mainly to the general public. We examine best practices that are involved in developing such systems, progressive delivery mechanisms for course presentations, setting up the required cloud infrastructure and the operational use of the entire system. The aim is to give researchers and developers deeper insights into the development of successful private cloud-based STEM-based educational offerings.
Hands-On Learning of Cloud Computing
Authors: Beltrán Marta
Published: January 2016

Professionals with deep knowledge about cloud computing are in high demand in the industry these days. This knowledge should comprehend concepts related to models, technologies, techniques, frameworks, interfaces and tools needed to design, develop, deploy, integrate and manage cloud-based architectures. Universities are trying to offer different undergraduate and graduate courses teaching these contents at different levels, aimed at students' development of strong practical skills to deal with the new paradigm in real-world environments. In this chapter, a hands-on learning approach is proposed to achieve this goal, considering an essential element of this approach - the use of cloud simulators. A survey of open source cloud simulators is provided, presenting an exhaustive comparison of the existing alternatives and determining an appropriate set of criteria to decide the best simulator for each learning objective. Furthermore, two examples of hands-on contents are presented using these simulators.
Screencasts in Mathematics
Authors: Hankin Robin
Published: January 2016

A screencast is a video recording of a computer monitor display, together with voice-over. This teaching technique has multiple advantages including the ability to model the thought processes of a mathematician in a context in which content may be repeated at will. Anecdotal evidence suggests that screencasts can be a very effective teaching tool, especially for providing model answers. Here, screencasts are discussed from a pedagogical and curriculum perspective using student feedback statistics as data. Specifically, screencasts offer a teaching resource that has value for many traditionally difficult groups of students. For example, poorly engaged students are well-served, as the barriers for participation are low; and high-achieving students benefit from the directed narrative. All students valued the ability to view material multiple times at will. The chapter concludes with some observations about how the overall learning environment might be improved in the context of undergraduate mathematics.
Inquiry-Based Learning on the Cloud
Authors: Mikroyannidis Alexander , Okada Alexandra , Correa Andre , Scott Peter
Published: January 2016

Cloud Learning Environments (CLEs) have recently emerged as a novel approach to learning, putting learners in the spotlight and providing them with the cloud-based tools for building their own learning environments according to their specific learning needs and aspirations. Although CLEs bring significant benefits to educators and learners, there is still little evidence of CLEs being actively and effectively used in the teaching and learning process. This chapter addresses this issue by introducing a European initiative called weSPOT (Working Environment with Social, Personal and Open Technologies for Inquiry-based Learning) for supporting and enhancing inquiry-based learning in STEM education via a cloud-based inquiry toolkit. The chapter presents evidence of using this toolkit within a case study that investigates how a secondary education community of students / co-learners selects information sources on the web and identifies factors associated with the reliability of information sources during their collaborative inquiry (co-inquiry) project in online environments.
Improving the Effectiveness of Research Supervision in STEM Education
Authors: Rickards Tony
Published: January 2016

Higher degree STEM research students working at a distance often report that they feel more isolated than students who have face-to-face contact with their supervisors (Macauley, 2002). Though face-to-face often implies “on campus” contact, face-to-face can now also be via videoconference software and cloud based solutions. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide an auto ethnographic example of some ways to enhance student supervision at a distance using these education technologies. The author has utilised technology to enhance teacher-student interpersonal behaviour (Fisher & Rickards, 1998), social presence (Stacey & Fountain, 2001) and learning outcomes in STEM Education since 1999. Reductions in the time research students take to complete research proposals and a greater sense of personalised supervision have been positive outcomes from using these learning environment enhancements. This chapter presents a journal like case study perspective to show academics and teachers everywhere how utilizing freely available online software might improve the effectiveness of the supervisory experience for all.
Designing a Cloud-Based Assessment Model
Authors: Rickards Tony , Steele Aaron
Published: January 2016

A cloud based assessment learning environment exists when the collaborative sharing features of cloud computing tools (e.g. Google Docs) are utilised for a continuous assessment of student learning activity over an extended period of time. This chapter describes a New Zealand Polytechnic based success story which utilised a multi-method approach to investigate student perceptions of a cloud assessment learning environment. The learning environment factors that are examined in this chapter include progress monitoring, cloud tools (i.e. Google Docs), feedback, cloud storage, technology preference, student achievement, and student engagement. This chapter not only describes this unique learning environment, it also provides a clear insight into student perceptions of the cloud assessment learning environment. In concluding, the chapter provides some outcomes that may be utilised to improve pedagogy and student outcomes in a STEM based multimedia learning environment.
The Significance of Situation Awareness in Education
Authors: Di Tore Pio Alfredo , Corona Felice
Published: January 2016

Learning today is no longer related to the “classroom” as the physical environment; it is instead an “across spaces” place characterized by the possibility to build serendipitous, pervasive and seamless experiences. Such experiences are in fact no more constrained to space-time limits and bounds but focused on context and situation awareness to enhance the learning process. Also, these experiences are often associated with next generation technologies which well fit to a paradigm shift marked by seamless continuity of learning. The interest in context-aware educational settings mainly based on mobile and sensor systems has led researchers to investigate new ways to recognize issues mainly related to the definition of “learner's contextual information” (profile information in situation) and, on the basis of this information, to identify the “types of adaptation”. In this work, we present the first theoretical and applicative results that the Italian scientific community has achieved as part of the research lines that revolve around the concept of Situation Awareness (SA).
Analyzing Virtualization Vulnerabilities and Design a Secure Cloud Environment to Prevent from XSS Attack
Authors: Nagar Nitin , Suman Ugrasen
Published: January 2016

Cloud virtualization has created an enormous impact on IT and networking worlds. A cloud environment is built on virtualization technology. Virtualization and its exclusive architecture have numerous features and advantages over non-conventional virtual machines. However, these new uniqueness create new vulnerabilities and attacks on a virtualization based cloud system. Cross Site Scripting (XSS) is among the top cloud vulnerabilities, according to recent studies. This exposure occurs when a user uses the input from a cloud environment application without properly looking into them. This allows an attacker to execute malicious scripts in cloud. The scripts execute harmful actions when a user visits the exploited cloud. Current approaches to mitigate this problem, especially on effective detection of XSS vulnerabilities in the application or prevention of real-time XSS attacks. To address this problem, the survey of different vulnerability attacks on cloud virtualization performed and also presents a concept for the removal of XSS vulnerabilities to secure the cloud environment.
A Survey on MapReduce Implementations
Authors: Al-Badarneh Amer , Mohammad Amr , Harb Salah
Published: January 2016

A distinguished successful platform for parallel data processing MapReduce is attracting a significant momentum from both academia and industry as the volume of data to capture, transform, and analyse grows rapidly. Although MapReduce is used in many applications to analyse large scale data sets, there is still a lot of debate among scientists and researchers on its efficiency, performance, and usability to support more classes of applications. This survey presents a comprehensive review of various implementations of MapReduce framework. Initially the authors give an overview of MapReduce programming model. They then present a broad description of various technical aspects of the most successful implementations of MapReduce framework reported in the literature and discuss their main strengths and weaknesses. Finally, the authors conclude by introducing a comparison between MapReduce implementations and discuss open issues and challenges on enhancing MapReduce.
Applications of Intelligent Agents in Health Sector-A Review
Authors: Sankaranarayanan Suresh , Ganesan Subramaniam
Published: January 2016

Health sector is a growing field and health conscience has been a major concern for everyone. Particularly in the health care sector, Information and communication Technology, enabled devices like Smart phones, Tablet PC, Sensors, RFID etc are predominantly used for ease of access and use towards decision processing. So looking into expectations of making devices smarter and intelligent enough for health care application, there has been a growing interest in the use of Software agents in health care application. This Survey paper predominantly concentrates on showing the usage and application of intelligent agent technology in health care sector pertaining to hospital search & appointment, patient health monitoring and mobile health record, with a thorough literature review and appropriate screenshots necessary.
Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Using Intelligent Information Systems Techniques
Authors: Al-Khasawneh Ahmad
Published: January 2016

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Early diagnosis of this illness can increase the chances of long-term survival of cancerous patients. To help in this aid, computerized breast cancer diagnosis systems are being developed. Machine learning algorithms and data mining techniques play a central role in the diagnosis. This paper describes neural network based approaches to breast cancer diagnosis. The aim of this research is to investigate and compare the performance of supervised and unsupervised neural networks in diagnosing breast cancer. A multilayer perceptron has been implemented as a supervised neural network and a self-organizing map as an unsupervised one. Both models were simulated using a variety of parameters and tested using several combinations of those parameters in independent experiments. It was concluded that the multilayer perceptron neural network outperforms Kohonen's self-organizing maps in diagnosing breast cancer even with small data sets.
Design of a Hybrid Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) Controller for Position and Angle control of Inverted Pendulum (IP) Systems
Authors: Kharola Ashwani
Published: January 2016

This paper illustrates a comparison study of Fuzzy and ANFIS Controller for Inverted Pendulum systems. IP belongs to a class of highly non-linear, unstable and multi-variable systems which act as a testing bed for many complex systems. Initially, a Matlab-Simulink model of IP system was proposed. Secondly, a Fuzzy logic controller was designed using Mamdani inference system for control of proposed model. The data sets from fuzzy controller was used for development of a Hybrid Sugeno ANFIS controller. The results shows that ANFIS controller provides better results in terms of Performance parameters including Settling time(sec), maximum overshoot(degree) and steady state error.
An Overview and Study on the Use of Games, Simulations, and Gamification in Higher Education
Authors: Wiggins Bradley E
Published: January 2016

This article examines the use of both game-based learning (GBL) and gamification in tertiary education. This study focuses specifically on the use of games and/or simulations as well as familiarity with gamification strategies by communication faculty. Research questions concentrate on the rate, frequency, and usage of digital and non-digital games and/or simulations in communication courses, as well as instructor familiarity with gamification. A survey was constructed with questions emerging from the game-based learning and gamification literature. It was distributed to communication faculty at public institutions of higher education in a southern state. In this context, the author argues that while the term gamification is novel, the approach is not. Based on the results, current gamification strategies appear to be a repackaging of traditional instructional strategies.
Game Design for Older Adults
Authors: Brown Julie A. , De Schutter Bob
Published: January 2016

Play is a lifelong construct that is individually defined and is influenced by multiple variables that affect how play is interpreted and experienced in old age. This study highlights the significance of using a life course perspective to explore how play is shaped and reflected through digital gameplay and preferences as a game player ages. Using grounded theory methodology, 51 participants (age 43 - 77) were interviewed individually. The resulting transcripts were coded to identify emergent themes. The findings demonstrate 1) how play changes throughout the lifespan, 2) how play preferences established in childhood influence digital gameplay for aging adults, and 3) how aging adult gamers aspire to continue gaming as they grow older. Collectively, these themes provide insight into the aspects that need to be taken into account when designing games for aging gamer populations.
Meet your Users in Situ Data Collection from within Apps in Large-Scale Deployments
Authors: Batalas Nikolaos , Quevedo-Fernandez Javier , Martens Jean-Bernard , Markopoulos Panos
Published: January 2016

Increasingly, ‘app-store' releases of software are used as a vehicle for large-scale user trials ‘in the wild'. Several opportunities and methodological challenges arise from having little or no access to users, other than through the application itself. So far, researchers have needed to hardcode survey items into the software application studied, which is laborious and error prone. This paper discusses how these problems are addressed using TEMPEST, a platform for longitudinal in situ data collection. The authors illustrate the use of TEMPEST to study the deployment and real-world use of a tablet application called idAnimate; this application has been designed to support the creation of simple animations as design representations during the creative design process. The authors discuss how the tool has supported the gathering of data in over 4000 installations, both from a development and research perspective, and relate their experiences to current research perspectives on large-scale app trials.
Optical Head-Mounted Displays in Mass Casualty Incidents
Authors: Berndt Henrik , Mentler Tilo , Herczeg Michael
Published: January 2016

Optical head-mounted displays (OHMDs) could support members of emergency medical services in responding to and managing mass casualty incidents. In this contribution, the authors describe the human-centered design of two applications for supporting the triage process as well as the identification of hazardous materials. They were evaluated with members of emergency medical services and civil protection units. In this regard, challenges and approaches to human-computer interaction with OHMDs in crisis response and management are discussed. The conclusion is drawn that often mentioned advantages of OHMDs like hands-free interaction alone will not lead to usable solutions for safety-critical domains. Interaction design needs to be carefully considered right down to the last detail.
Should I Try Turning It Off and On Again?
Authors: Ludwig Thomas , Kotthaus Christoph , Pipek Volkmar
Published: January 2016

The flexible production and process designs of complex and automated manufacturing systems – called Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) – lead to enormous challenges for the machine operator with regard to understanding their “behavior” and therefore their technical controllability. One way to face these challenges is to foster the operator's appropriation of highly complex hardware-centered ICT-systems. Based on the historical development of CPPS and a short excursion into a study about the appropriation of 3D printers, the authors will adapt the concept of sociable technologies, as hardware-centered appropriation infrastructures, to CPPS.
A Work System Front End for Object-Oriented Analysis and Design
Authors: Alter Steven , Bolloju Narasimha
Published: January 2016

This paper proposes that basic ideas from the work system theory (WST) and the work system method (WSM) might serve as a front end to object-oriented analysis and design (OOAD), thereby providing a path from business-oriented descriptions to formal, technical specifications. After describing the background motivation and summarizing work system concepts, the paper uses a hiring system example to show how two tools from WSM can be used as a front end for OOAD, in effect, a step before creating use case diagrams and other types of Unified Modeling Language (UML) artifacts. Potential benefits of this approach stem from a business-oriented question, “how can we improve this work system's performance,” rather than an IT-oriented question, “how can we create a technical artifact that will be used?”
Teaching Math to Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing (DHH) Children Using Mobile Games
Authors: Shelton Brett E. , Parlin Mary Ann
Published: January 2016

Leveraging the use of mobile devices for education, such as instructional games, is an area of increasing interest for targeted subpopulations of students including those who are deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH). This paper outlines the perspectives of Deaf Education teachers and DHH children who participated in the GeePerS*Math project. Interviews and surveys provide data from the primary implementation of the technology in an ecologically valid setting. Findings included similar results from both teachers and students with regard to attitudes and transfer of skills within the game to those in traditional curriculum. Unintended outcomes, such as gaining orienteering skills and peer-tutoring, were also noted. The results helped to inform the designers of educational technology with ways to relate with classroom instructors and children when creating advanced mobile applications.
Seamless Learning Environments in Higher Education with Mobile Devices and Examples
Authors: Marín Victoria I. , Jääskelä Päivikki , Häkkinen Päivi , Juntunen Merja , Rasku-Puttonen Helena , Vesisenaho Mikko
Published: January 2016

The use of seamless learning environments that have the potential to support lifelong learning anytime and anywhere has become a reality. In this sense, many educational institutions have started to consider introducing seamless learning environments into their programs. The aim of this study is to analyze how various educational university programs implement the design elements for seamless learning environments with mobile devices. For that purpose, three cases involved in a Finnish teaching development project are explored by conducting semi-structured interviews with key participants. The themes of the interviews were related to the theoretical background for (mobile) seamless learning environments from previous literature. This paper describes the findings of the three cases as common aspects for designing mobile, seamless learning environments; and it proposes a research agenda on challenges related to designing seamless learning environments with the integrated use of mobile devices in the curricula.
Applying Theory to Inform Competency Development
Authors: Mupepi Mambo Governor , Mupepi Sylvia C
Published: January 2016

This article describes the deliberate making of a knowledge community to advance specialization in divided labor and structuring a successful enterprise. A knowledge network is characterized by mutual engagement in a joint enterprise that gives rise to a shared repertoire of knowledge, skillsets, and practices. The division of labor is identified to enable the novice to develop the proficiencies required for specialty to happen. Bootstrapping and other techniques are applied to replicate the performance required in making effective specialists. A conclusion is drawn taking the position that the centricity of an epistemic community is the locus of control of the job, individual, and team; additionally, it is the only organization that can authenticate the practices necessary to boost productivity.
Adhesive Wear Based on Accurate FEA Study of Asperity Contact and n-Point Asperity Model
Authors: Waghmare Ajay K. , Sahoo Prasanta
Published: January 2016

The paper describes a theoretical study of adhesive wear based on accurate finite element analysis (FEA) of elastic-plastic contact of single asperity and n-point asperity model. The wear model developed considers wear particle generation in whole range of deformation, ranging from fully elastic through elastic-plastic to fully plastic. Well defined adhesion index and plasticity index are used to study the prospective situations arising out of variation in load, material properties, and surface roughness. It is observed that the wear volume at particular level of separation increases with increase in plastic deformation and adhesion effect. Materials having higher tendency to adhesion show higher wear rate. Trend of the results obtained is found in line with the existing solutions which are modeled with conventional asperity concept. Inclusion of separate formulations for intermediate state of deformation of asperities which are based on accurate FEA study gives complete solution.
Multithreading MAS Platform for Real-Time Scheduling
Authors: Shepilov Yaroslav , Pavlova Daria , Kazanskaia Daria
Published: January 2016

The scheduling is the process of the optimal resource allocation that is widely used both in everyday life and specific domains. In the paper the description of scheduling problem is given. The authors consider traditional methods and tools for solving this problem, then describe the proposed approach based on multi-agent technologies and multithreading application. Nowadays there exist numerous approaches to solving of the scheduling problem. In the most of cases this process has to be supported and managed by the complex tools, sometimes based on mathematical principles. The suggested method of multithreading multi-agent scheduling allows efficient and fast solution of complex problems in real-time featuring rapid dynamic changes and uncertainty that cannot be handled by the other methods and tools.
Mining and Analysis of Periodic Patterns in Weighted Directed Dynamic Network
Authors: Gupta Anand , Thakur Hardeo Kumar , Garg Anshul , Garg Disha
Published: January 2016

Periodic patterns are mined individually on structural and weight aspects of an interaction in a dynamic network. However, these interactions possess a direction aspect too. Moreover, some applications require patterns on both aspects i) on direction and ii) on weight of directed interactions for a better understanding of their behaviour. To the authors' knowledge, no such work is available that mines both types of periodic patterns in a single run. To overcome this limitation, the authors propose a framework to mine periodic patterns on both the aspects. The framework first mines periodic patterns on direction, and then only the edges present in the patterns obtained are considered further for patterns on weight of directed interactions. Further, the patterns are being analysed to develop a better understanding of the dynamic network. To do so, a set of six parameters explained later in the text is proposed to study the behaviour of interactions at microscopic level. The framework is tested on real world and synthetic datasets. The results highlight its practical scalability and prove its efficiency.
CTL Model Checking of Web Services Composition based on Open Workflow Nets Modeling
Authors: Sbaï Zohra , Guerfel Rawand
Published: January 2016

Web services composition (WSC) has an enormous potential for the organizations in the B2B area. In fact, different services collaborate through the exchange of messages to implement complex business processes. BPEL is one of the most used languages to develop such cooperation. However, it has been proved that its use is complex and can require some expertise in XML syntax. Even its graphical representation is not evident to handle. This is why the authors propose to model Web services using oWF-nets, a subclass of Petri nets, and then, to translate them to BPEL. Whilst, a WSC is with added value only if the involved services are compatible. So in this context, across the translation proposed the researchers develop a verification layer of the WSC compatibility. Hence, they propose a framework named D&A4WSC which allows to model the WSC by oWF-nets, to check their compatibility with the model checker NuSMV and to translate them if they are compatible in BPEL processes using the oWFN2BPEL compiler. D&A4WSC permits, furthermore, to formally analyze a BPEL process.
Bangla and Oriya Script Lines Identification from Handwritten Document Images in Tri-script Scenario
Authors: Obaidullah Sk Md , Halder Chayan , Das Nibaran , Roy Kaushik
Published: January 2016

In this paper, two popular eastern Indian scripts namely Bangla and Oriya are considered for Line-level script identification considering two Tri-script groups where Devnagari and Roman are kept common in each group. A 27 dimensional feature vector has been constructed using FD (Fractal Dimension) and IMT (Interpolated Morphological Transform). 600 Line-level handwritten document images of each Tri-script groups have been considered for experimentation. Promising results has been found using multiple classifiers where MLP (Multi-Layer Perceptron) Neural Network and LMT (Logistic Model Tree) perform best for BDR (Bangla-Devnagari-Roman) combinations with 97% accuracy and LMT outperforms over others for ODR (Oriya-Devnagari-Roman) combinations with 97.7% accuracy. Bi-script performance analysis has also been made where combinations BR (Bangla-Roman) and BD (Bangla-Devnagari) results with accuracy of 98% and 97.5% respectively for the first group. Whereas for the second group OD (Oriya-Devnagari) and OR (Oriya-Roman) shows an accuracy of 98.25% and 98% respectively.
Understanding How Students Interact With Technology For Knowledge-Sharing
Authors: Lichy Jessica , Kachour Maher
Published: January 2016

The context of this enquiry is the rapid evolution of Internet technology. The aim is to explore the extent to which young adults exchange information and share knowledge within the sphere of French higher education, public and private. The enquiry uses a two-phase approach: survey methodology followed by depth interviews to examine technology usage and preferences in the learning process - from a student perspective. An analysis of the data provides an insight into the culture of Internet usage in France; a widening chasm between students and tutors in the use of technology within communities of learners. The study focuses on the French higher education system; more research would be needed to compare cross-culturally. It is nevertheless instructive for tutors and academic managers within higher education to be aware of the findings to rethink the role of technology in learning and knowledge-sharing. This enquiry contributes to the body of literature on the evolution of Internet user behaviour and our understanding of contemporary trends.
Disorders of the erythrocyte membrane
Authors: Delicou Sophia , Xydaki Aikaterini , Kontaxi Chryssanthi , Maragkos Konstantinos
Published: January 2016

Hemolytic anemia due to abnormalities of the erythrocyte membrane comprises an important group of inherited disorders. These include hereditary spherocytosis, hereditary elliptocytosis, hereditary pyropoikilocytosis, and the hereditary stomatocytosis syndromes. The erythrocyte membrane skeleton composed of spectrin, actin, and several other proteins is essential for the maintenance of the erythrocyte shape, reversible deformability, and membrane structural integrity in addition to controlling the lateral mobility of integral membrane proteins. These disorders are characterized by clinical and laboratory heterogeneity and, as evidenced by recent molecular studies, by genetic heterogeneity. Defects in various proteins involved in linking the lipid bilayer to membrane skeleton result in loss in membrane cohesion leading to surface area loss and hereditary spherocytosis while defects in proteins involved in lateral interactions of the spectrin-based skeleton lead to decreased mechanical stability, membrane fragmentation and hereditary elliptocytosis. The disease severity is primarily dependent on the extent of membrane surface area loss. Treatment with splenectomy is curative in most patients.
Dyskinesia, cardiac arrhythmia and partial seizure associated with paliperidone overdose: a case report
Authors: Villa Antonio , Gallotta Giulia , Malaguti Alessia , Galimberti Vilma , Leva Raffaella
Published: January 2016

Paliperidone is a new atypical antipsychotic agent. There are few literature reports of paliperidone overdoses and we report a case of these. A 32-year-old man was admitted to Emergency Department for occurrence of opisthotonus, muscular spasms and rigidity. Twenty hours before, he had an ingestion of 168 mg of paliperidone. He had hypotension and tachycardia. The dystonic reaction completely resolved within a few minutes after diazepam. Nine hours after admission, he sudden showed a right hemisoma partial seizure. The peculiar interest of our case is that three different and rare symptoms occurred in successive times after overdose. Some symptoms occurred after several hours following overdose. Oral paliperidone is available as an osmotic release delivery system that results in a gradual rise in plasma concentrations. According to this limited experience in which delayed onset of toxicity has been observed, it may be prudent to recommend prolonged observation after overdose of paliperidone.
MicroRNAs Expressed during Viral Infection: Biomarker Potential and Therapeutic Considerations
Authors: Louten Jennifer , Beach Michael , Palermino Kristina , Weeks Maria , Holenstein Gabrielle
Published: January 2016

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short sequences of noncoding single-stranded RNAs that exhibit inhibitory effects on complementary target mRNAs. Recently, it has been discovered that certain viruses express their own miRNAs, while other viruses activate the transcription of cellular miRNAs for their own benefit. This review summarizes the viral and/or cellular miRNAs that are transcribed during infection, with a focus on the biomarker and therapeutic potential of miRNAs (or their antagomirs). Several human viruses of clinical importance are discussed, namely, herpesviruses, polyomaviruses, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, human papillomavirus, and human immunodeficiency virus.
Clinical Features of Neuropsychiatric Syndromes in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Other Connective Tissue Diseases
Authors: Kasama Tsuyoshi , Maeoka Airi , Oguro Nao
Published: January 2016

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and related disorders are chronic inflammatory diseases characterized by abnormalities and, in some cases, even complete failure of immune responses as the underlying pathology. Although almost all connective tissue diseases and related disorders can be complicated by various neuropsychiatric syndromes, SLE is a typical connective tissue disease that can cause neurological and psychiatric syndromes. In this review, neuropsychiatric syndromes complicating connective tissue diseases, especially SLE are outlined, and pathological and other conditions that should be considered in the differential diagnosis are also discussed.
Phylotranscriptomic Analysis Based on Coalescence was Less Influenced by the Evolving Rates and the Number of Genes: A Case Study in Ericales
Authors: Zhang Lu , Wu Wei , Yan Hai-Fei , Ge Xue-Jun
Published: January 2016

Advances in high-throughput sequencing have generated a vast amount of transcriptomic data that are being increasingly used in phylogenetic reconstruction. However, processing the vast datasets for a huge number of genes and even identifying optimal analytical methodology are challenging. Through de novo sequenced and retrieved data from public databases, we identified 221 orthologous protein-coding genes to reconstruct the phylogeny of Ericales, an order characterized by rapid ancient radiation. Seven species representing different families in Ericales were used as in-groups. Both concatenation and coalescence methods yielded the same well-supported topology as previous studies, with only two nodes conflicting with previously reported relationships. The results revealed that a partitioning strategy could improve the traditional concatenation methodology. Rapidly evolving genes negatively affected the concatenation analysis, while slowly evolving genes slightly affected the coalescence analysis. The coalescence methods usually accommodated rate heterogeneity better and required fewer genes to yield well-supported topologies than the concatenation methods with both real and simulated data.
A Polyglot Approach to Bioinformatics Data Integration: A Phylogenetic Analysis of HIV-1
Authors: Reisman Steven , Hatzopoulos Thomas , Läufer Konstantin , Thiruvathukal George K. , Putonti Catherine
Published: January 2016

As sequencing technologies continue to drop in price and increase in throughput, new challenges emerge for the management and accessibility of genomic sequence data. We have developed a pipeline for facilitating the storage, retrieval, and subsequent analysis of molecular data, integrating both sequence and metadata. Taking a polyglot approach involving multiple languages, libraries, and persistence mechanisms, sequence data can be aggregated from publicly available and local repositories. Data are exposed in the form of a RESTful web service, formatted for easy querying, and retrieved for downstream analyses. As a proof of concept, we have developed a resource for annotated HIV-1 sequences. Phylogenetic analyses were conducted for >6,000 HIV-1 sequences revealing spatial and temporal factors influence the evolution of the individual genes uniquely. Nevertheless, signatures of origin can be extrapolated even despite increased globalization. The approach developed here can easily be customized for any species of interest.
Biochemical Analysis of Genome Functions Using Locus-Specific Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Technologies
Authors: Fujita Toshitsugu , Fujii Hodaka
Published: January 2016

To isolate specific genomic regions that retain their molecular interactions, allowing direct identification of chromatin-bound molecules, we developed two locus-specific chromatin immunoprecipitation (locus-specific ChIP) technologies, insertional ChIP (iChIP) and engineered DNA-binding molecule-mediated ChIP (enChIP) using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system or transcription activator-like (TAL) proteins. Essentially, a locus-specific ChIP consists of locus-tagging and affinity purification and can be combined with downstream analyses to identify molecules associated with the target genomic regions. In this review, we discuss the applications of locus-specific ChIP to analyze the genome functions, including transcription and epigenetic regulation.
Interfering with Bacterial Quorum Sensing
Authors: Reuter Kerstin , Steinbach Anke , Helms Volkhard
Published: January 2016

Quorum sensing (QS) describes the exchange of chemical signals in bacterial populations to adjust the bacterial phenotypes according to the density of bacterial cells. This serves to express phenotypes that are advantageous for the group and ensure bacterial survival. To do so, bacterial cells synthesize autoinducer (AI) molecules, release them to the environment, and take them up. Thereby, the AI concentration reflects the cell density. When the AI concentration exceeds a critical threshold in the cells, the AI may activate the expression of virulence-associated genes or of luminescent proteins. It has been argued that targeting the QS system puts less selective pressure on these pathogens and should avoid the development of resistant bacteria. Therefore, the molecular components of QS systems have been suggested as promising targets for developing new anti-infective compounds. Here, we review the QS systems of selected gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, namely, Vibrio fischeri, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, and discuss various antivirulence strategies based on blocking different components of the QS machinery.
Cost modelling as decision support when locating manufacturing facilities
Authors: Windmark Christina , Andersson Carin
Published: January 2016

This paper presents a methodology for cost estimation in developing decision supports for production location issues. The purpose is to provide a structured work procedure to be used by practitioners to derive the knowledge needed to make informed decisions on where to locate production. This paper present a special focus on how to integrate cost effects during the decision process. The work procedure and cost models were developed in close collaboration with a group of industrial partners. The result is a structure of cost estimation tools aligned to different steps in the work procedure. The cost models can facilitate both cost estimation for manufacturing a product under new preconditions, including support costs, and cost simulations to analyse the risks of wrong estimations and uncertainties in the input parameters. Future research aims to test the methodology in ongoing transfer projects to further understand difficulties in managing global production systems. In existing models and methods presented in the literature, cost is usually estimated on a too aggregated level to be suitable for decision support regarding production system design. The cost estimation methodology presented here provides new insights on cost driving factors related to the production system.