bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Transforming Schools, Communities, and Universities
Authors: Harkavy Ira , Hodges Rita A. , Weeks Joann
Published: September 2019

The chapter describes the university-assisted community school approach developed by Penn's Netter Center for Community Partnerships with its school and community partners since 1985, as well as adapted nationally. The approach is grounded in John Dewey's theory that the neighborhood school can function as the core neighborhood institution that provides comprehensive services, galvanizes other community partners, and helps solve locally-manifested, universal problems such as health inequities and unequal education. Academically-based community service is presented as a core strategy for engaging the Penn's academic resources with the schools and community. Penn's evolution towards becoming a democratic anchor institution is discussed to highlight the importance of engaging the full resources (academic and economic) of the university in community partnerships. Providing concrete examples from nearly 35 years of work, the authors argue that university-assisted community schools is a promising approach to significantly improve schooling, communities, and universities.
Multidimensional Assessment of Open-Ended Questions for Enhancing the Quality of Peer Assessment in E-Learning Environments
Authors: Hoang Loc Phuoc , Phuong Le Anh , Arch-int Somjit , Arch-Int Ngamnij
Published: September 2019

In online learning environments, peer assessment activities lack the observation and supervision by the teacher or instructor. Therefore, students may be lacked full effort to assess their peers. There exist the students' hesitation about criticizing their peers and scoring their peers honestly, the likelihood for peer assessment to be occasionally unreliable and unfair. The present assessment methods focus only on the single-dimensional assessment of content rather than the activities and collaborations among the students. Students also have no chance to analyze and comment on their peer answers. This study explored the multidimensional assessment method on open-ended question to foster positive attitudes and full effort among students engaging in E-learning environments. The objectives are as follows: 1) To develop a process model for multidimensional assessment (M-DA) to enable effective learning 2) To develop free-text answers assessment by using vector space model and semantic extraction model 3) To develop an algorithm for evaluating students' based on multidimensional assessment. Two groups of parallel students taking an e-course were tested on the system. The results of experiment noted that the proposed method overcomes the method just focuses on student assessment only without consideration and evaluation of the quality of the peer assessment. In light of the findings, the proposed method actively impacted on the development and improvement of learning and the quality of peer assessment among students in E-learning environments.
Using Formal Game Design Methods to Embed Learning Outcomes into Game Mechanics and Avoid Emergent Behaviour
Authors: Grey Simon , Grey David , Gordon Neil Andrew , Purdy Jon
Published: September 2019

This paper offers an approach to designing game-based learning experiences inspired by the Mechanics-Dynamics-Aesthetics (MDA) model (Hunicke et al., 2004) and the elemental tetrad model (Schell, 2008) for game design. A case for game based learning as an active and social learning experience is presented including arguments from both teachers and game designers concerning the value of games as learning tools. The MDA model is introduced with a classic game- based example and a non-game based observation of human behaviour demonstrating a negative effect of extrinsic motivators (Pink, 2011) and the need to closely align or embed learning outcomes into game mechanics in order to deliver an effective learning experience. The MDA model will then be applied to create a game based learning experience with the goal of teaching some of the aspects of using source code control to groups of Computer Science students. First, clear aims in terms of learning outcomes for the game are set out. Following the learning outcomes, the iterative design process is explained with careful consideration and reflection on the impact of specific design decisions on the potential learning experience. The reasons those decisions have been made and where there may be conflict between mechanics contributing to learning and mechanics for reasons of gameplay are also discussed. The paper will conclude with an evaluation of results from a trial of computer science students and staff, and the perceived effectiveness of the game at delivering specific learning outcomes, and the approach for game design will be assessed.
Generic E-Assessment Process Development based on Reverse Engineering
Authors: Hajjej Fahima , Hlaoui Yousra Bendaly , Ben Ayed Leila Jemni
Published: September 2019

The e-assessment, as an important part of any e-learning system, faces the same challenges and problems such as problems related to portability, reusability, adaptability, integration and interoperability. Therefore, we need an approach aiming to generate a general process of the e-assessment. The present study consists of the development of a generic e-assessment process which should be adapted to any learner profile. This e-assessment process is implemented as a composite cloud service which could be invoked by any existing LMS regardless of its environment. The authors are brought the abstraction defined by a workflow about proposing a development approach based on the Reverse Engineering and the cloud environment. To attempt these goals, they have studied the e-assessment politics of different existing LMSs to generate their e-assessment activities. These activities composing the generic e-assessment process using the Reverse Engineering and based on a set of mapping rules. Then, the authors have proposed a pedagogical scenario linking the generated, e-activities in an abstract manner using the concept of workflow. To specify this e-assessment workflow process, they use UML activity diagram language. Finally, to implement their approach, the authors have used the technology of cloud computing services
Instructional Design for Simulations in Special Education Virtual Learning Spaces
Authors: Floyd Kimberly K. , Shambaugh Neal
Published: September 2019

Virtual learning environments provide new teachers with experiences to apply knowledge of learner differences to semi-authentic learning situations involving students with special needs, teachers, and parents. Instructional design provides a systematic process to document instructional designs in an undergraduate special education course, which has students apply universal design for learning principles. A variation of instructional design designed for teacher education, the teacher decision cycle, documents the teaching decisions behind the use of TLE TeachLivE to provide simulated experiences in virtual learning settings, as well as supporting activity structures. Implementation guidelines are provided.
Serious Games for Students' E-Assessment Literacy in Higher Education
Authors: Ibarra-Sáiz María Soledad , Rodríguez-Gómez Gregorio
Published: September 2019

In this chapter it will present partial results from the DevalS Project (Developing Sustainable Assessment – Improving Students' Assessment Competence through Virtual Simulations), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Ref. EDU2012-31804). The results will be focused on the use and usefulness of serious games for e-assessment literacy from a students' point of view. Firstly, it will introduce the project. Secondly, it will review the serious games that have been developed and implemented in different undergraduate courses. Finally, it will present the results and conclusions of surveys undertaken by students.
The Impact of a Scaffolded Assessment Intervention on Students' Academic Achievement in Web-based Peer Assessment Activities
Authors: Lee Chien-I , Yang Ya-Fei , Mai Shin-Yi
Published: September 2019

Web-based peer assessment has been considered an important process for learning. However, students may not offer constructive feedback due to lack of expertise knowledge. Therefore, this study proposed a scaffolded assessment approach accordingly. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the quasi-experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of scaffolded assessment for self-critiques and peer assessment on students' learning effectiveness in the web-based assessment activities. A total of ninety 7th graders participated in the experiment, and divided into three groups with or without the scaffolding critique. The results show the use of the scaffolded assessment in the web-based peer assessment activities did not show a significant difference in the students' learning effectiveness. Even though the results show that learning effectiveness of the participants in the two experimental groups is significantly enhanced, there is no significant effect of providing the scaffolded assessment on the participants' learning effectiveness in the three groups. In addition, the participants showed a positive learning attitude toward the web-based assessment activities and agreed that the activities could enhance the participants' interactions between the peers and instructor.
Using Computer-Based Assessment and Feedback
Authors: Helfaya Akrum , O'Neill James
Published: September 2019

This article describes how assessment and feedback represent two key factors that affect students' learning. Using e-assessment with prompt e-feedback reduces the gap between present and desired performance and is considered to be a reflexive and dynamic system in dealing with the new generation of digital natives. Action research was used to investigate students' perception of using computer-based assessment (CBA) and/or computer-based feedback (CBF) in teaching and learning process. Both semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 UG students to assess their perceptions of using CBA and CBF. Findings show that students are generally agreed on the use of and benefits of CBA and/or CBF in teaching accounting and non-accounting modules. For example, these results reveal that many participants valued working online compared to traditional assessment and appreciated the instant feedback they received. Additionally, technology can provide an avenue for assessment and personalised and comprehensive prompt feedback that diverse and digital students need in the 21st Century Higher Education.
A Case Study of Peer Assessment in a Composition MOOC
Authors: Vu Lan
Published: September 2019

The large enrollments of multiple thousands of students in MOOCs seem to exceed the assessment capacity of instructors; therefore, the inability for instructors to grade so many papers is likely responsible for MOOCs turning to peer assessment. However, there has been little empirical research about peer assessment in MOOCs, especially composition MOOCs. This study aimed to address issues in peer assessment in a composition MOOC, particularly the students' perceptions and the peer-grading scores versus instructor-grading scores. The findings provided evidence that peer assessment was well received by the majority of students although many students also expressed negative feelings about this activity. Statistical analysis shows that there were significant differences in the grades given by students and those given by the instructors, which means the grades the students awarded to their peers tended to be higher in comparison to the instructor-assigned grades. Based on the results, this study concludes with implementations for peer assessment in a composition MOOC context.
Leveraging Mobile Devices for Qualitative Formative Assessment
Authors: Richards Reshan , Meier Ellen B.
Published: September 2019

This chapter explores an approach for using mobile devices—smartphones, tablets, and laptops—to document learning using qualitative formative assessment. This process emerged from case study research on how mobile devices, specifically iPad, and certain approaches, specifically screencasting, can be used to support ongoing assessment of learning. The cases and the literature included are derived from a dissertation on this topic. The chapter will describe and examine relevant literature, processes involved and possibilities created through this approach.
E-Assessment System for Open and Short Answer (Applied to a Course of Arabic Grammar in 7th Year in Tunisia)
Authors: Ben Khalifa Wiem , Souilem Dalila , Neji Mahmoud
Published: September 2019

The goal of this article is the development of an evaluation system based on the Arabic language. This article contains four parts. The first part is the corpus construction from the 7th year basic education classes' grammar book in Tunisia. Then, the second part is on the construction of the Concept Maps (CMaps) ontological for simple Arabic sentences from this corpus, where the automatic extraction of terms is completed. This extraction is based on two major approaches: linguistic and statistical. The third part in this article is the automatic instantiation. The last part is devoted to the application of the similarity measure chosen in the CMaps ontological fusion, which summarizes the various semantic links and which ends with a judgment according to the calculated score.
International Students' Learning Experience and Learning Outcomes in China through Summer Programs
Authors: Zhu Jiabin , Yang Bo , Liu Qunqun , Chen Bing
Published: September 2019

Higher education institutions are facing unprecedented opportunities and challenges due to the rapid development of global contexts. With the momentum of higher education internationalization, leading universities in China began to launch international summer programs. These summer programs offer multiple benefits to university stakeholders, especially students. This chapter reviews the context and characteristics for international programs in leading Chinese universities. The significant role these programs play in designing an innovative learning platform were argued by reviewing and analyzing the trends among sample programs on aspects of curriculum design and implementation. The authors provide an in-depth understanding of students' learning outcomes during these programs by conducting a qualitative study utilizing sample summer programs. Last but not least, the opportunities and challenges concerning the organization and implementation of programs were analyzed and possible recommendations were proposed for future study abroad improvements.
A Corpus-Based Study of Peer Comments and Self-Reflections
Authors: Wong Dora
Published: September 2019

Engaging students in peer reviewing in the writing classroom has been widely practiced as a way of assessment for learning. In-depth research is needed however to investigate how students specifically use peer comments in their editing process. Using a corpus-based approach, this article investigates the acquisition of journalistic writing skills by 112 undergraduates in Hong Kong. The learner corpora comprise student comments and self-reflections from an online news writing project. While grammatical accuracy remains to be a concern for effectiveness of the peer review practice, the findings reflect sound understanding of structure, layout and style of the online news genre among the participants. Although the students commented more on contents and organization of news writing, findings from keyword search and co-text in the concordances demonstrate awareness of main features of the online news genre. The findings further clarified judgement and choices made by the ESL learners during the drafting and editing processes. The study suggests how peer assessment and self-assessment can be effectively practiced through a cycle of reviewing peer writing, receiving peer comments and self-reflecting on their own drafts. It also indicates how peer review may help acquisition of style and lexico-grammar which can be demanding for many ESL learners.
Students' Conceptions of Understanding and Its Assessment
Authors: Hamer Rebecca , Jan van Rossum Erik
Published: September 2019

Understanding means different things to different people, influencing what and how students learn and teachers teach. Mainstream understanding of understanding has not progressed beyond the first level of constructivist learning and thinking, ie academic understanding. This study, based on 167 student narratives, presents two hitherto unknown conceptions of understanding matching more complex ways of knowing, understanding-in-relativism and understanding-in-supercomplexity requiring the development of more complex versions of constructive alignment. Students comment that multiple choice testing encourages learning focused on recall and recognition, while academic understanding is not assessed often and more complex forms of understanding are hardly assessed at all in higher education. However, if study success depends on assessments-of-learning that credit them for meaning oriented learning and deeper understanding, students will put in effort to succeed.
Leadership and Innovative Approaches in Higher Education
Authors: Atiku Sulaiman Olusegun , Anane-simon Richmond
Published: September 2019

The place of leadership support for technological innovation in advancing quality management in higher education cannot be underrated in the fourth industrial revolution. This chapter examines the role of leadership in higher education and innovative teaching and learning methods for quality assurance in higher education system. The literature review approach and author observation were adopted to cross-examine the influence of leadership on innovative teaching/learning methods and quality assurance in higher education. This chapter shows that leadership support for innovative teaching and learning methods is a benchmark for quality assurance in higher education in recent times. Therefore, no meaningful change will happen in any higher institution without a strong leadership support for innovation and quality management. Policymakers in higher education should create a climate that promotes creativity and innovation by ensuring that transformational leaders are at the helm of affairs for quality management.
Situational Leadership for Quality Graduate Research in Higher Education
Authors: Villet Hylton James
Published: September 2019

Quality postgraduate supervision is key in ensuring that postgraduate programs at institutions of higher learning produce quality graduates and in turn play an appropriate role in building a knowledge economy. In essence, the role of the supervisor is to support the postgraduate student to successfully complete specific tasks in line with the research process. Supervisors adopt a variety of styles to supervise students. Adopting an exploratory research approach the chapter deliberates the supervisor-student dyad through the lens of the situational leadership model.
Quality Assurance and Institutional Research for University Strategic Management
Authors: Kadhila Ngepathimo , Likando Gilbert
Published: September 2019

Strategic management in higher education (HE) has become data-reliant. Most higher education institutions (HEIs) all over the world have implemented quality assurance (QA) and institutional research (IR) with the purpose of generating data that that would assist in evidence-based decision making for better strategic management. However, data generated through QA and IR processes have to be integrated and streamlined in order to successfully inform strategic management. One of the challenges facing higher education institutions is to integrate the data generated by QA and IR processes effectively. This chapter examines examples of good practice for integrating the data generated by these processes for use as tools to inform strategic management, using the University of Namibia as a reference point. The chapter offers suggestions on how higher education institutions may be assisted to overcome challenges when integrating the outcomes of QA and IR processes in order to close the quality loop through effective strategic management.
Enhancing Information Retrieval System Using Change-Prone Classes
Authors: Bura Deepa , Choudhary Amit
Published: September 2019

In today's competitive world, each company is required to change software to meet changing customer requirements. At the same time, an efficient information retrieval system is required as changes made to software in different versions can lead to complicated retrieval systems. This research aims to find the association between changes and object-oriented metrics using different versions of open source software. Earlier researchers have used various techniques such as statistical methods for the prediction of change-prone classes. This research uses execution time, frequency, run time information, popularity, and class dependency in prediction of change-prone classes. For evaluating the performance of the prediction model, sensitivity, specificity, and ROC curve are used. Higher values of AUC indicate the prediction model gives accurate results. Results are validated in two phases: Experimental Analysis I validates results using OpenClinic software and OpenHospital software and Experimental Analysis II validates result using Neuroph 2.9.2 and Neuroph 2.6.
Multi-Agent System Based on Data Mining Algorithms to Detect Breast Cancer
Authors: Chakour Imane , El Mourabit Yousef , Baslam Mohamed
Published: September 2019

Recently, data mining and intelligent agents have emerged as two domains with tremendous potential for research. The capacity of agents to learn from their experience complements the data mining process. This chapter aims to study a multi-agent system that evaluates the performance of three well-known data mining algorithms—artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machines (SVM), and logistic regression or logit model (LR)—based on breast cancer data (WBCD). Then the system aggregates the classifications of these algorithms with a controller agent to increase the accuracy of the classification using a majority vote. Extensive studies are performed to evaluate the performance of these algorithms using various differential performance metrics such as classification rate, sensitivity, and specificity using different software modules. In the end, the authors see that this system gives more autonomy and initiative in the medical diagnosis and the agent can dialogue to share their knowledge.
Emerging Information Technology Issues in Higher Education
Authors: Axtell Sarah , Asino Tutaleni I.
Published: September 2019

This chapter explores three emerging IT issues in higher education and how an engineering college has attempted to resolve them. The issues explored include providing or recommending personal devices to students based on their degree program for the college's bring your own device (BYOD) program, exploring how to make supplied technology accessible to students and how to ensure equitable access for all students, and exploring the idea of collaborative learning spaces and VDI environments.
Problems and Prospects of Information Technology Use in Higher Education
Authors: Omwenga Ezekiel Nyambega
Published: September 2019

This chapter presents the problems and prospects of information technology use in higher education institutions, contemplates on the ideal expectations, and presents the current situation. As a result of the analysis, it has been revealed that due to a number of problems such as lack of adequate infrastructure and the cost of transformation of pedagogy content is often region specific. Linguistic and physical barriers, intellectual infrastructure power outages in a number of institutions, and misplacement of funding impacted negatively upon information technology use in higher education. Suggestions are made to achieve this goal. Additionally, information technology has many applications in higher education ranging from interactions between the learners and teachers, development of curriculum content, administration of student, staff, and general; and in teaching and learning, designing of new instructional activities, use of virtual labs(simulations), and enabling achievement of high outcomes and quality education.
We Have Faith in Apple
Authors: Liu Wei , Wang Cheng Lu
Published: September 2019

Research shows that some brands are like religions and have cult-like fans who perceive the brands as sacred. This chapter conceptualizes brand worship and explores its dimensions by using netnography to explore Apple's online fan communities in China from the perspective of dimensions of religiosity. The findings demonstrate that the relationship between extremely devoted fans and their faithful brand exhibits nearly the same characteristics as the relationship between a religious person and a religion. The results emerged with three dimensions of brand worship: brand faith (value identification, paranoid, and hope), brand religiosity (wonder, awe, and ecstasy) and brand devotion (gratitude and allegiance). The chapter contributes to the field of consumer-brand relationships and offers some managerial implications for building brands through a religious approach to cultivate devoted fans.
Celebrity Fans in China
Authors: Jia Xinming , Hung Kineta , Zhang Ke
Published: September 2019

This chapter examines the motives, characteristics, and marketing impacts of celebrity fans in China, and illustrates these points using the fans of Wallace Chung. Based on a grounded theoretical approach, the analysis reveals five fan segments with different motives and marketing impacts: casual fans (playful, limited marketing impacts); fascinated fans (aspirational, fervent purchasers); devoted fans (sense of belonging, voluntary marketer-promoters and fervent purchasers); dysfunctional fans (identification with celebrity, rally pro); and reflective fans (solid self-identity, celebrity image-shapers). The analysis shows that in addition to buying celebrity-related products, fans undertake essential marketing activities (celebrity image-shapers, voluntary marketer-promoter) that in the past were the domains of agency management and marketers of endorsed products. These changes elevate fans to become marketing partners. Implications are discussed.
Theorizing Less Visible Forms of Fandom
Authors: Coffin Jack , Joubert Alison M.
Published: September 2019

This chapter seeks to contribute to the current theorizations of fandom by focusing on the less visible forms that are excluded from the current conceptualizations. The current research contributions to fandom have without a doubt been invaluable in providing theoretical understandings of fan consumption. However, they have largely focused on the stereotypical fan who engages in cumulative, communitarian, and conspicuous expressions of their fandom, thereby largely ignoring the less visible forms of fandom. This chapter aims to begin the construction of an inclusive conceptual counterbalance of fandom theorizations by problematizing the current conceptualizations and providing three potential avenues through which future researchers can explore fandom in a broader way: practice theory, assemblage theory and liquid consumption. In setting this research agenda, the chapter concludes with phenomenological, structural, methodological, managerial, critical, and ethical considerations for future fandom research.
Fan Culture in the Digital Age
Authors: Sayan Anıl , Aksan Gunes Ekin
Published: September 2019

This article seeks to examine the impact of the stadium and its emotional references on spectators' virtual presence and experience. Specifically, the transfer of such practices to the online fan forum Ali-Sami-Yen.net, one of the largest unofficial fan forums founded by supporters of the Turkish popular football team Galatasaray in 1999, is inspected and the significance of spatiality for the football fan cultures is scrutinized with Maffesoli's concept of the “neo-tribe” in this chapter. The notion of neo-tribe helps to discuss the role of shared ambiance and emotions for the construction of the virtual experience in a fan forum. Methodologically, content and interaction among the users on Ali-Sami-Yen.net is analyzed through the primary sources including in-depth interviews and participant observation. It is concluded that the stadium attendance with its specific terrace culture practices constitutes a distinctive source of identity among the Galatasaray fans and their online forum is the replica of this experience.
Follow Me!
Authors: Chang En-Chi , Woo Tony Cheung-Tung
Published: September 2019

This study aims to decipher how Internet celebrities in China, or Wanghong, accumulate their credibility and how they gratify fans in China. By conducting qualitative research based on interviews in Guangzhou, China, this study fills a research gap in understanding the internet celebrity culture in digital China. The analysis shows that Chinese fans were attracted by Wanghong because of their positive personality traits, e.g., being humorous and inner beauty. They followed Wanghong mainly because they gained useful information and advice from Wanghong who at the same time provided entertainment. The benefits from following Wanghong are mainly the acquiring of information and the fulfillment of emotional needs. This information was then shared to boost the follower's self-esteem and to strengthen the follower's connection with his or her social circle. However, although most interviewees were satisfied with their parasocial interactions with Wanghong, they expected more interactions.
The Dark Side of Brand-Fan Relationships
Authors: Buchanan-Oliver Margo , Schau Hope Jensen , Schau Alexander
Published: September 2019

Global media brand Twilight and its fan-created brand extension, Fifty Shades, speak to female consumers who enter into fantastic and corporeal relationships with their market manifestations (books, films, soundtracks, merchandising, and consumption communities). Twilight's narrative encompasses the psychological power and socio-cultural allure of the ‘monstrous' vampire myth, enabling a spectrum of relational positions from devoted fans to addictive, compulsive, and transgressive behaviors. Fifty Shades as an iterative narrative embeds the plot and characters of Twilight into the ‘monstrous' context of the BDSM underworld. This chapter unpacks consumers' relational positions to Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey. The authors discuss tensions and paradoxes which underpin female consumption of these powerful brands. The chapter demonstrates disturbing dimensions of consumer-brand relationships which impact not only the imaginative lives but the physical lives of fans.
Integrating Blockchain Platforms With Big Data Solutions for Regional Innovation Development
Authors: Gamidullaeva Leyla Ayvarovna , Mkrttchian Vardan , Finogeev Alexey
Published: September 2019

The chapter discusses the creation of a mechanism for ensuring reliable and secure interaction among participants in regional innovation systems based on the establishment of smart contracts in the blockchain. The technology allows to reduce the possibility of fraud by dishonest participants, as well as to exclude the need for a third party by transferring its functions to a smart contract. This is important for ensuring confidential and transparent relations between participants in innovative projects, as well as with interested subjects of social and economic activities in the regions. The Ethereum blockchain platform was chosen to create smart contracts. On its basis, there were developed components to perform transactions in contracting, creating, and implementing innovations, transferring intellectual property rights, using rights and licenses for innovation, etc. The main component of the system is a distributed transaction register with digital copies of innovation objects.
Overview of Multicomponent Solid Forms
Authors: Chavan Rahul B , Shastri Nalini R
Published: September 2019

Multi-drug therapy involves the simultaneous or sequential administration of two or more drugs with similar or different mechanisms of action and is efficient in combating various ailments such as cancer, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis. It has emerged advantageous due to larger therapeutic benefits, an increase in patient compliance, lower administrative costs, and reduced number of prescriptions. In the recent past, the clinical success of the Novartis product Entresto (sacubitril, disodium valsartan and water) and Esteve product E-58425 (tramadol and celecoxib) has boosted the development of multi-drug . The present article is hence designed to provide an overview of different multicomponent addicts which provide option of combining the drugs at a supramolecular level (nano-sized level). Key features of multi-drug cocrystal, co-amorphous system and eutectics are described with major emphasis on screening tools, preparation methods, characterization techniques, biopharmaceutical aspects and scale up.
OpTrak
Authors: Zhang Peng , Stodghill Breck , Pitt Cory , Briody Cavin , Schmidt Douglas C. , White Jules , Pitt Alan , Aldrich Kelly
Published: September 2019

This article describes the structure and functionality of OpTrak, a decentralized app implemented using the Ethereum blockchain that targets the opioid epidemic currently plaguing the United States. Over-prescription and distribution of opioids cost the national healthcare system over $78 billion every year. Problems persist in every stage of the process, from doctors prescribing the medication to the pharmacists fulfilling prescriptions. These problems arise from a combination of factors, including lack of accountability, transparency, and reliability in the current prescription drug monitoring programs. This work provides three key contributions to research on a technical approach to mitigate the opioid epidemic. First, the authors pinpoint key problems in the current opioid prescription system. Second, they propose an integrated approach for addressing the problems by leveraging distributed ledgers, focusing on blockchain technology. Third, the authors describe the structure and functionality of OpTrak that allows a consortium of care providers to exchange patient prescription data securely.
The Role of Self-Efficacy and Aging in Managing Disease
Authors: Weiss-Randall Debra N.
Published: September 2019

In 1900, life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years and infectious diseases were the leading cause of mortality; today, life expectancy in the U.S. is almost 80 years and chronic diseases are the leading causes of mortality. Eighty percent of adults 65 and older have multiple chronic health conditions, which are costly to treat. Offering older adults an evidence-based self-management program can reduce medical costs and improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Research has shown that self-efficacy is a key factor in effective self-management programs. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) is an evidence-based program that helps patients to boost their self-efficacy and improve their disease self-management, under the supervision of a physician. In addition, the use of evidence-based complementary modalities is recommended as part of an integrative approach to self-management to help patients manage the daily anger, fear, and depression that frequently accompany living with an incurable disease.
Research-Based Applied Psychophysiology
Authors: Hartfiel Ned , Edwards Rhiannon Tudor
Published: September 2019

Recent research indicates that yoga can be effective for reducing both musculoskeletal conditions and stress. In the workplace, musculoskeletal conditions and stress are the two most common reasons for sickness absence. The World Health Organisation has identified the workplace as a priority area for promoting good health. As a result, yoga is increasingly being offered in workplace settings to improve the physical health and mental wellbeing of employees. In September 2014, a comprehensive search of relevant electronic databases was performed to determine the effectiveness of yoga in workplace settings. Eight randomised trials met the inclusion criteria. The results showed that the effectiveness of yoga in the workplace was strong for musculoskeletal conditions, moderate for perceived stress, limited for sleep quality and conflicting for heart rate variability. Overall, this evidence is promising, yet limited due to a lack of high quality studies of yoga in workplace settings.
Uses of Virtual Reality (VR) for Chronic Pain
Authors: Chi Bradley , Chau Brian , Ta Phillip
Published: September 2019

Chronic pain affects many people worldwide with significant individual impact and societal cost. One such area involves the psychiatric co-morbidities associated with chronic pain. Despite its prevalence, the underlying mechanism of chronic pain is not fully understood although evidence suggests the importance of biologic, psychologic, and social factors in the perception of pain. Virtual reality has the potential to be a powerful therapeutic option for chronic pain. This may be due to its impact on attention, emotion, and potentially central nervous system plasticity. Virtual reality therapy has been used successfully for a variety of chronic pain conditions showing its potential. It has also been safely used in pediatric populations. However, the major current limitation is quality of evidence; therefore, future studies should aim to address this issue.
A Thresholding Approach for Pollen Detection in Images Based on Simulated Annealing Algorithm
Authors: Menad Hanane , Ben-Naoum Farah , Amine Abdelmalek
Published: September 2019

Melissopalynology is a field that studies pollen grain origins to identify their species. It consists of studying either the chemical composition of each grain, or their shapes using microscopic images. This paper presents a system of pollen identification based on the microscopic images, it is divided into two parts, first part is the pollen detection using a thresholding method with simulated annealing algorithm. The second step is the pollen classification, in which we used deep convolutional neural network to extract features from the detected pollen grains and represent them in numerical vectors, therefore, we can use these vectors to classify them based on fully connected neural network, SVM or similarity calculation. The obtained results showed a high efficiency of the neural network in which it could recognize 98.07% of the pollen species compared not just to SVM and similarity methods, but also to works from literature.
Using Blockchain Technology, Artificial and Natural Neural Network in Bioinformatics
Authors: Belyanina Lubov A.
Published: September 2019

Blockchain technology has come up with solutions for the issues faced in the current healthcare system. Stakeholders and researchers can share electronic health records to find the solution to diseases. This not only improves the health sector, but it also provides information about other diseases. To maintain the security and privacy of the patient, a healthcare data gateway storage platform was created based on the blockchain technique. To overcome the problem, this article proposes a dengue diagnosis method based on nucleotides in the gene sequence, it needs only skin cells, hair, or a nail which can be collected easily from the patients. The proposed method not only diagnoses dengue, but also classifies serotypes using wavelet coefficients of EIIP indicator sequences.
Data Security for Cloud Datasets With Bloom Filters on Ciphertext Policy Attribute Based Encryption
Authors: Kumar G. Sravan , Krishna A. Sri
Published: September 2019

Cloud data storage environments allow the data providers to store and share large amounts of datasets generated from various resources. However, outsourcing private data to a cloud server is insecure without an efficient access control strategy. Thus, it is important to protect the data and privacy of user with a fine-grained access control policy. In this article, a Bloom Filter-based Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (BF-CP-ABE) technique is presented to provide data security to cloud datasets with a Linear Secret Sharing Structure (LSSS) access policy. This fine-grained access control scheme hides the whole attribute set in the ciphertext, whereas in previous CP-ABE methods, the attributes are partially hidden in the ciphertext which in turn leaks private information about the user. Since the attribute set of the BF-CP-ABE technique is hidden, bloom filters are used to identify the authorized users during data decryption. The BF-CP-ABE technique is designed to be selective secure under an Indistinguishable-Chosen Plaintext attack and the simulation results show that the communication overhead is significantly reduced with the adopted LSSS access policy.
A Framework for Various Attack Identification in MANET Using Multi-Granular Rough Set
Authors: Ahmed N. Syed Siraj , Acharjya Debi Prasanna
Published: September 2019

The topology changes randomly and dynamically in a mobile adhoc network (MANET). The composite characteristics of MANETs makes it exposed to interior and exterior attacks. Avoidance support techniques like authentication and encryption are appropriate to prevent attacks in MANETs. Thus, an authoritative intrusion detection model is required to prevent from attacks. These attacks can be at either the layers present in the network or can be of a general attack. Many models have been developed for the detection of intrusion and detection. These models aim at any one of the layer present in the network. Therefore, effort has been made to consider either the layers for the detection of intrusion and detection. This article uses a multigranular rough set (MGRS) for the detection of intrusion and detection in MANET. The advantage of MGRS is that it can aim at either the layers present in the network simultaneously by using multiple equivalence relations on the universe. The proposed model is compared with many traditional models and attained higher accuracy.
An Efficient and Secure Certificateless Aggregate Signature From Bilinear Maps
Authors: Kumar Pankaj , Sharma Vishnu , Sharma Gaurav , Bhatia Tarunpreet
Published: September 2019

Certificateless signature schemes are a very intriguing aspect in information security because of its capability of removing the well-known key escrow problem predominately in ID-based cryptography. He et al. proposed an efficient certificateless aggregate signature scheme and proved that their scheme is secure against all possible types of security attacks. However, the authors still managed to find loopholes in the form of insecurities against ‘honest but curious' and ‘malicious but passive' attacks during cryptanalysis of He et al.'s scheme. The authors propose an efficient certificateless aggregate signature scheme which fills the security gaps in He et al.'s scheme and demonstrate the security in their scheme via a mathematical proof, and reinforce the fact that their scheme is much more efficient in a thorough performance comparison of their scheme against the previous schemes.
Early Warning System Design for WEEE Reverse Logistic Network
Authors: Bolat Bersam , Temur Gül , Çelebi Dilay , Ayvaz Berk , Çebi Ferhan
Published: September 2019

The increase of environmental concern as a result of corporate citizenship spreads the applications for collecting end-of-life products to a broader extent. This trend raises the issue of reverse logistics (RL), one of the major challenges in sustainability. One of the greatest barriers for successful RL is the difficulty of developing an accurate system to forecast the amount of product returns. Advanced techniques such as learning systems are proven very helpful for increasing the performance of forecasting methods. This article proposes an “early warning system” for waste collection operations in the electrical and electronic equipment industry. The main goal is to develop a supportive system for manufacturers and authorized organizations that provides foresight about their potential to reach the target values proposed by environmental regulations. The proposed forecasting system is based on an artificial neural network (ANN) model with five basic factors affecting the amount of product return: sales amount, number of houses, electricity consumption, the GINI coefficient (coefficient showing income distribution inequality) and population density. An application of the system is shown for Marmara Region, Turkey, and the compliances of all the big cities in the Marmara Region are checked for target values. The researchers' findings show that only five of eleven cities will be successful at fulfilling the required target e-waste values addressed by WEEE regulations.
Descriptor Optimization for Semantic Concept Detection Using Visual Content
Authors: Hamroun Mohamed , Lajmi Sonia , Nicolas Henri , Amous Ikram
Published: September 2019

Concept detection has been considered a difficult problem and has attracted the interest of the content-based multimedia retrieval community. This detection implies an association between the concept and the visual content. In other words, the visual characteristics extracted from the video. This includes taking knowledge about the concept itself and its context. This work focuses on the problem of concept detection. For that, several stages are elaborated: first, a method of extraction and semi-automatic annotation of the video plans for the training set is proposed. This new method is based on the genetic algorithm. Then, a preliminary concept detection is carried out to generate the visual dictionary (BoVS). This second step is improved thanks to a noise reduction mechanism. This article's contribution has proven its effectiveness by testing it on a large dataset.
WiFiMon
Authors: Bouras Christos , Baumann Kurt , Kokkinos Vasileios , Papachristos Nikolaos , Stamos Kostas
Published: September 2019

Measuring network quality of a wireless network as experienced by end-users is quite difficult, as there is not a single tool available that can record measurements on all sides of the system. The approach presented in this research work is based on the end-user feedback, giving the opportunity of visualization of network performance in real time. This paper initially presents an overview of the developed tool, called WiFiMon, which has the ability to capture, record measurements and export statistics on the quality of Wi-Fi network as perceived by the end-users. The measurements are initiated by the end-users—without their intervention—after they visit a webpage or use a mobile application. WiFiMon aims to give a clear understanding of the Wi-Fi network conditions by measuring specific parameters of the network, such as download/upload throughput, and correlate these measurements with raw data from various log files to obtain additional information regarding the performance of specific access points. The results reveal the functionality of the proposed tool and its scalability.
Reverse Cooperatively Routed Wi-Fi Direct in the Advent of 5G Driven Designs
Authors: Wodczak Michal
Published: September 2019

In this article, the instantiation of the logic behind the so-called “Multi-Connect” mode of Wi-Fi Direct is advocated for and prescribed in order to make it possible to increase, if not multiply, the data throughput attainable by a given P2P Device thanks to traffic aggregation. In general, the described extension to the existing standard, defined by the Wi-Fi Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Technical Specification, enables the reversal of the logical roles of a P2P Group Owner (P2P GO) and its respective P2P Clients, while ensuring that the general architectural framework of Wi-Fi Direct should remain unchanged for backward compatibility reasons. This is achieved with the aid of a number of specifically tailored modifications including: new P2P Attribute allocation, extended Group Owner determination, modified P2P State Machine operation, enhanced Concurrent and Non-Concurrent operation, as well as expanded Reverse Operation Logic definition. The concept is illustrated with and verified through the analysis of cumulative virtual channel capacity and, therefore, the expected data throughput gain.