Mobile Web and Intelligent Information Systems

When large-scale disasters occur, evacuees have to evacuate to safe places quickly. In this paper, we propose an automatic evacuation guiding scheme using mobile nodes of evacuees. Each node tries to navigate its evacuee by presenting an evacuation route. It can also trace the actual evacuation route of the evacuee as the trajectory by measuring his/her positions periodically. The proposed scheme automatically estimates blocked road segments from the difference between the presented evacuation route and the actual evacuation route, and then recalculates the alternative evacuation route. In addition, evacuees also share such information among them through direct wireless communication with other mobile nodes and that with a server via remaining communication infrastructures. Through simulation experiments, we show that 1) the effectiveness of the proposed scheme becomes high with the increase of degree of damage and 2) the effect of information sharing through communication infrastructures is higher than that through direct wireless communication.

The recent indoor localization techniques use inertial sensors for position estimations in order to obtain a certain degree of freedom from infrastructure based solutions. Unfortunately, this dependency cannot be completely eliminated due to the cumulative errors induced in the localization process. While many methods are designed to reduce the required number of reference points, completely infrastructure independent solutions are still missing. In this paper we extend the approach of DREAR, a mobile-based context-aware indoor localization framework. DREAR exploits the ability to recognize certain human motion patterns with a smartphone, representing activities related to walking, climbing stairs, taking escalators, etc. This allows the detection of corridors, staircases and escalators, knowledge which can be used to create building interior related reference points. Based on these a scenario specific context interpreter controls the localization process and provides position refinement for the elimination of the cumulated errors. However, due to the cumulated errors in the trajectory, in case of neighbouring reference points with similar characteristics an adequate distinction cannot made, based solely on the detected activities, which leads to wrong reference point associations and erroneous location refinements. Thus, we extended DREAR with a trajectory reconstruction algorithm, to cope with these errors and their effect on the outcome of reference point selection. The proposed solution is evaluated in a complex subway scenario, its performance is analysed focusing on path reconstructions and the benefits of using specific context-related information. The results are promising, the proposed algorithm presents further improvements relative to the performance of DREAR, providing an excellent localization and path reconstruction solution.

To access services on the Web, users need quite often to have accounts, i.e. user names and passwords. This becomes a problem when the number of accounts keeps increasing at the same time password is a very weak form of authentication exposing the users to fraud and abuses. To address both mentioned issues we propose a Mobile Universal identity, which by combining Internet identifiers with mobile identifiers is capable of delivering strong authentication for Internet services. By introducing an identity provider, the solution enables the user to employ the Mobile Universal identity for multiple service providers. By federation with other identities, Mobile Universal identity can be used with service providers worldwide.

Computer graphics in combination with mobile devices find much use in the fields of entertainment, education and data displaying. The amount of information that is possible to provide to the user depends greatly on the optimization of graphic chain in the development of given application. The important element is simplification of the scene by removing objects that are not currently visible or degrading the complexity of the models from the distance of the observer. This paper describes implementation of the frustum culling method on the Android platform as a solution for these problems.

This paper tries to address problems that come out when designing a web page and how these problems affect people who use it. We will try to find the way to make our web pages easy to use and to give our user as little obstacles in his efforts as possible. He has to feel that every time he comes back to our web site, everything is on places where it should be and that everything acts as it should. One could say he has to see that everything looks normal. In this paper our aim will be to address web users, their needs and ways to improve their overall efficiency with achieving their tasks. We go through all main parts of usability issues according HCI as well as the current state of the art based on the most cited or specialised literature. In second part we introduce a development of a software platform that will sends user clicks to the server and allows us to go through these data in the web application for administrators. Design and development of this framework along with concrete computation of websites evolution index is also presented.

Customer profiling in the mobile commerce (m-commerce) domain has recently gained importance due to the increased proliferation of smartphones and tablets. One of the major challenges confronting m-commerce developers is the need to know user perceptions of m-commerce applications in order to better design and deliver m-commerce services. In this paper, user perceptions of mobile commerce applications is analyzed based on their gender and the operating system (OS) of the devices in use, which are important factors for user profiling in mobile business models. The results show that there is a significant difference between Android and iOS device users’ perceptions of mobile commerce applications except for their perception of advertisements. On the other hand, user perceptions of mobile applications in general does not exhibit significant differences except for the perception of usefulness for both gender and OS.

In the wave of digital learning, Mobile learning (M-learning) captures more and more attention. Advanced developments in wireless technology and the availability of mobile devices provide the learners the freedom of mobility in using. In this context, the learning process had gained more flexibility, as well as challenges in order to adapt and manage the learning object to this new framework through the use of Mobile Learning Management Systems (M-LMS), a cross domain between LMSs and mobile device . Moreover, as part of the learning process, Knowledge Management (KM) is integrated in the practical teaching activities as one of the methods that enhance the abilities of learners by encouraging them to create, share, apply, and store knowledge. For that, it is necessary to find a way to successfully transform ordinary M-learning to knowledge-based learning. In this study we compare three main M-LMSs that integrated a KM approach in their system: MOODLE, Blackboard and mEKP. We focus our investigation on how these systems apply KM strategy in their system. We compared these tools based on Nonaka and Takeuchi Knowledge Conversion Process Model that represents one of the common KM models helping to extract knowledge from data collection. We found that Moodle has adopted a Mobile Knowledge Management Learning System (MKLMS) that helps capture tacit and explicit knowledge from users through the use of mobile devices; and based on this we propose guidelines that might be followed to enhance integration of KM approach in M-LMSs and ensure gaining valuable results of the integration.

Augmented reality applications are gaining increased popularity due to the advances in mobile and wearable technologies and devices. In this paper, we categorize augmented reality applications with regard to the used visualization elements and techniques. Moreover, we present corresponding application areas and used metaphors to emphasize their usefulness.

The explosion of the internet and its service are changing our daily lives and making our lives more convenient by becoming easily accessible from anywhere. However, the popularity of the internet also poses a challenge for network managers and internet service providers (ISPs): how is it possible meet the needs of users and optimize network resources? To solve this problem, it is necessary to find a feasible solution that allocates limited network resources to users reasonably. One allocation method, which has been investigated in previous studies, is based on the viewpoint of fairness in the quality of service (QoS). However, user satisfaction may vary depending on a users characteristics and individual psychological factors, even with the same network resources. To overcome this limitation, an allocation method based on the viewpoint of fairness in the quality of experience (QoE) is developed. From the viewpoint of the QoE, this paper proposes a bandwidth allocation method for mobile services that is based on the users psychological factors using the Newton-Raphson method. The proposed method can meet the requirements of both users and ISPs: it guarantees a fair QoE for users and increases the efficient management of network resources by ISPs.

In this paper, we propose piecewise mixed integer linear programming (PWMIP) models for joint subcarrier and power allocation in downlink wireless orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) networks. In particular, we consider the problem of maximizing the total capacity of an OFDMA system subject to user power, subcarrier and quality of service constraints. For this purpose, we model the problem as a (0-1) mixed integer nonlinear programming problem. Then, we obtain two PWMIP models by means of a convex combination approach [17] and with the approach proposed in [21]. The latter consists of reducing the cardinality of a subset of binary variables to a logarithmic number of binary variables. Finally, we propose a variable neighborhood search (VNS) procedure [10, 11]. Our preliminary numerical results indicate that the first model is more effective and that the VNS approach allows to obtain feasible solutions in less computational cost.

This paper presents a reconfigurable hardware architecture of Forward Error Correction (FEC) coding algorithm for mobile networks, with high throughput on Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The design can be reconfigured for different message length and different generator number, the encoder and decoder has been described using VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language). The decoder has the ability to detect and correct different types and different numbers of errors based on the message length and the length of redundant data. The design has been simulated and tested using ModelSim PE student edition 10.4. Spartan 3 FPGA starter kit from Xilinx has been used for implementing and testing the design in a hardware level.

The concept of relaying was raised recently in networking world. This technology has a great impact on multi-hop wireless networks. There had been many research studies on the role of Relay Node placement in Multi-hop Wireless Networks. Therefore, in this paper a comprehensive review on the strategies and techniques of Relay Node placement in MWNs, categorized based on either ad hoc or infrastructure-based, is presented. Ad hoc category contains WSNs strategies and techniques which classified into quality of service, fault tolerance, Federating disjoint segments and connectivity restoration. While Infrastructure-based includes WiMAX, Wireless Mesh Networks and LTE-Advanced networks. This work proposes open research ideas in this filed. As a result, several findings and recommendations are emerged that greatly direct the researchers to new and important research areas.

The growing number of services in the Web providing the same functionality but different QoS (e.g., price, execution time, and availability) and transactional properties (e.g., compensable or not) has lead to the emergence of several approaches for service selection and recommendation. Some of these approaches use collaborative filtering, QoS prediction, service reputation, among others. Existing works lack from a way to integrate all those methods and benefit from their multiple perspectives to decide how to select a service. The problem tackled in this work is the selection of the most suitable service from a set of functionally equivalent services according to the opinions of multiple contributors. We propose a framework to easily rely on crowdsourcing for service selection, where crowdsourcing contributors can be independently developed services or human experts. Our framework emphasizes on the definition of a collaborative system to allow contributors to join and participate in the selection of services.

The traditional service life cycle starts with the formulation of required needs and ends with the adoption and ownership of the service. In an e-government context, this takes the form of citizens consuming services provided by the public sector bodies. We examine how a combination of mobile e-services and open data can extend and allow possible citizen-driven continuation of the service life cycle. The chosen method is a concept-driven approach, manifesting our concept in a digital prototype, which allows citizens to generate and acquire open data, as well as develop and publish their own e-services.

In the modern world there exists many solutions for storing and processing of data outside the company. However, despite the fast development of many outsourcing technologies, especially cloud computing, still there are many problems and barriers connected with provisioning of data storage and processing to the third parties. The paper presents Extendable Software as a Service (ESaaS) cloud solution to allow customer to store and process data and their software using external provider, with keeping control over the algorithms and methods used for processing this data.

The paper comprises three aspects of our contemporary society: the importance of the tertiary sector of the economy - services in the developed countries, the development of new (mobile) technologies and the high penetration rate as well as an acceptance of “the device” in contemporary history - smartphone. The aim of this work is to translate these three aspects into the banking service sector in Austria with a focus on the payments. Due to the fact that banks are much impacted by developments in new ICT technologies, and they are among the heaviest investors in IT, this paper attempts to provide an insight of how the banks implement or could implement new (mobile) technologies and end-devices such as the smartphones, and how it can influence banking services in general.

A key technical product feature of today’s Smartphones is the mobile Operating System (OS). The choice in OS, not only commits consumers to essential technical features, but also has implications with regard to the user interface or availability of applications in the associated App Stores. In this context, this article examines the significance of the mobile operating systems with regards to the purchase decision. To this end, an empirical survey of Android and iOS buyers was carried out using a Choice Based Conjoint (CBC) analysis. In addition, the importance of various OS features as well as differences in personal attributes of Android and iOS users were analyzed. As a result, important differences are presented in terms of the attitudes and preferences of these groups of buyers with regard to mobile operating systems. In particular, it was found that the mobile OS plays the most important role in the purchase decision compared to brand, price, or design.

Supporting Mashup on mobile devices allows supporting advanced use cases and thus to accelerate the creation and combination of smart mobile applications. In this paper, we evaluate the three client-side Mashups proposals JS.JS, OMash and SMash on mobile devices. Our evaluation on mobile devices shows that the SMash proposal by IBM is reasonably suited for mobile mashups development as it requires less amount of effort from developers and at the same time it has cross-mobile-browser compatibility. In order to address the security, we integrated a sandbox functionality. We have modified the OpenAjax JavaScript library proposed in SMash and have added support of HTML5 \(\langle \)iframe\(\rangle \) tag’s “sandbox” attribute to it. \(\langle \)iframe\(\rangle \) “sandbox” attribute, mobile mashups developers can restrict the framed-content (which may not be trustworthy) in a low-privileged environment. We demonstrate our proposal on a mobile mashup application that integrates content from three different providers (i.e., News, Stock and Weather service).

The rapid growth of the smartphone market and its increasing revenue has motivated developers to target multiple platforms. Market leaders, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, develop their smartphone applications complying with their platform specifications. The specification of each platform makes a platform-dedicated application incompatible with other platforms due to the diversity of operating systems, programming languages, and design patterns. Conventional development methodologies are applied to smartphone applications, yet they perform less well. Smartphone applications have unique hardware and software requirements. All previous factors push smartphone developers to build less sophisticated and low-quality products when targeting multiple smartphone platforms. Model-driven development have been considered to generate smartphone applications from abstract models to alleviate smartphones platform fragmentation. Reusing these abstract models for other platforms was not considered because they do not fit new platforms requirements. It is possible that defining smartphone applications using a portability-driven modeling notation would facilitate smartphone developers to understand better their applications to be ported to other platforms. We call for a portability-driven modeling notation to be used within a smartphone development process. Our in-process research work will be manifested through the application of a domain-specific language complying with the three software portability principles and three design factors. This paper aims to highlight our research work, methodology and current statue.