Securing ubiquitous AR services

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This article describes a new approach to creating and securing ubiquitous augmented reality (AR) systems. Creation of AR presentations in distributed...     

Model-driven engineering of middleware-based ubiquitous services

Supporting the execution of service-oriented applications over ubiquitous networks specifically calls for a service-oriented middleware (SOM), which effectively enables ubiquitous networking while benefiting from the diversity and richness of the networking infrastructure. However, developing ubiquitous applications that exploit the specific features offered by a SOM might be a time-consuming task, which demands a deep knowledge spanning from the application domain concepts down to the underlying middleware technicalities. In this paper, first we present the model-driven development process underpinning ubiSOAP, a SOM for the ubiquitous networking domain. Then, based on the domain concepts defined by the conceptual model of ubiSOAP, its architecture and its technicalities, we propose a domain-specific environment, called ubiDSE, that aids the development of applications that exploits the ubiSOAP features, from design to implementation. ubiDSE allows developers to focus on the main behavior of the modeled systems, rather than on complex details inherent to ubiquitous environments. As part of ubiDSE, specific tools are provided to automatically generate skeleton code for service-oriented applications to be executed on ubiSOAP-enabled devices, hence facilitating the exploitation of ubiSOAP by developers.     

Location-based services in ubiquitous computing environments

This paper presents a framework for providing dynamically deployable services in ubiquitous computing settings. The goal of the framework is to provide people, places, and objects with computational functionalities to support and annotate them. Using RFID-based tracking systems, the framework detects the locations of physical entities, such as people or things, and deploys services bound to the entities at proper computing devices near where they are located. It enables location-based and personalized information services to be implemented as mobile agents and operated at stationary or mobile computing devices, which are at appropriate locations, even if the services do not have any location-information. This paper presents the rationale, design, implementation, and applications of our prototype infrastructure.     

The security challenges for mobile ubiquitous services

It is envisaged that in future mobile ubiquitous environments, users will be able to seamlessly, search, access and consume a rich offering of services and content from an array of Service/Content Providers, whilst they are on the move, anytime, anywhere. Unfortunately, this new computing paradigm also brings along new and unique security challenges. Novel security solutions are therefore required. But, in order for appropriate security solutions to be devised, all possible security threats must first be thoroughly analysed, and the corresponding security requirements be identified. In this paper, we examine the security issues germane to a mobile ubiquitous environment. We then suggest some possible solutions which may be employed to address these security issues. Open research issues are also highlighted.     

An efficient and scalable ubiquitous storage scheme for delay-sensitive IT applications

Ubiquitous storage services oriented to social networks need timely responses to users’ requests and high scalability with the increasingly size of storage systems. In this paper, we propose a virtual node based ring-like storage system architecture and data placement scheme for delay-sensitive ubiquitous applications. For improving the fault-tolerant ability of the storage service, we design a data replication approach based on a quorum-fault-tolerant state machine protocol. Moreover, we investigate a three-layered messaging protocol based on the heartbeat mechanism to detect the node failure and maintain the ring topology. The theoretic analysis and experiment results demonstrate the feasibility and high operation efficiency of our ubiquitous storage scheme.     

Activity-oriented access control to ubiquitous hospital information and services

In hospital information systems, protecting the confidentiality of health information, whilst at the same time allowing authorized physicians to access it conveniently, is a crucial requirement. The need to deliver health information at the point-of-care is a primary factor to increase healthcare quality and cost efficiency. However, current systems require considerable coordination effort of hospital professionals to locate relevant documents to support a specific activity. This paper presents a flexible and dynamic access control model, Activity-Oriented Access Control (AOAC), which is based on user activity to authorize access permissions. A user is allowed to perform an activity if he/she holds a number of satisfactory attributes (i.e. roles, assignments, etc.) under a specified condition (e.g. time, location). Results of AOAC implementation in a realistic healthcare scenario have shown to meet two important requirements: protecting confidentiality of health information by denying an unauthorized access, and allowing physicians to conveniently browse medical data at the point-of-care. Furthermore, the average execution time was 0.078 s which allows AOAC to work in real-time.     

Intelligent negotiation model for ubiquitous group decision scenarios

Supporting group decision-making in ubiquitous contexts is a complex task that must deal with a large amount of factors to succeed. Here we propose an approach for an intelligent negotiation model to support the group decision-making process specifically designed for ubiquitous contexts. Our approach can be used by researchers that intend to include arguments, complex algorithms, and agents’ modeling in a negotiation model. It uses a social networking logic due to the type of communication employed by the agents and it intends to support the ubiquitous group decision-making process in a similar way to the real process, which simultaneously preserves the amount and quality of intelligence generated in face-to-face meetings. We propose a new look into this problem by considering and defining strategies to deal with important points such as the type of attributes in the multicriterion problems, agents’ reasoning, and intelligent dialogues.     

E-government and IT policy: Choices for government outreach and policy making

The conventional method for criminal investigation and trial of cases in the law courts in developing countries is usually slow. Consequently, the society is characterized by prolonged periods of detention of the suspects awaiting trial and congestion in the prisons and law courts. This paper attempts to describe the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the investigation of crime. An Expert System (ES) is proposed which supports the storage and intelligent interactive processing of the knowledge acquired by study and experience of the human expert in the domain of criminal investigation, law and justice. One of the objectives of the study is to provide an intelligent computer‐based system which will enhance the efficient performance of the human expert in the domain of criminal investigation. The other objective is to provide a system for computer aided learning of criminal investigation.     

Security considerations in outsourcing IT services

This article examines the range of security issues that need to be considered when outsourcing IT services.     

The ubiquitous provisioning of internet services to portable devices

Advances in mobile telecommunications and device miniaturization call for providing both standard and novel location- and context-dependent Internet services to mobile clients. Mobile agents are dynamic, asynchronous, and autonomous, making the MA programming paradigm suitable for developing novel middleware for mobility-enabled services.     

Proactive privacy practices in transition: Toward ubiquitous services

As the Internet paved the way for electronic businesses, ubiquitous services (u-services) will be the next wave launched by electronic services based on current customer information potential. However, privacy is a strategic issue and has been identified as a key hindrance to u-services. As a proactive approach and drawing upon integrative social contracts theory, this study presents a proactive privacy practices framework to examine how the interplays within electronic service, providers’ proactive approaches influence customer disclosure willingness for future u-services, adoption. The results and implications of this study are discussed and expected to shed light on privacy practices.     

Intelligent electric drives with IT algorithms

Structural schemes and features of implementation of up-to-date automated electric drives in different process control systems are examined. New IT algorithms that ensure realization of intelligent functional capabilities of local industrial automation systems are presented.