We propose a collaborative training platform where students collectively contribute to the co-construction of the required knowledge to produce their individual semester project. Peers feedback is implemented in order to complete trainers' supervision with peer-training. This collaborative platform is implemented as a social network, where collaborative interactions are organized 1) to engage and stimulate students to share their resources and contributions; 2) to monitor and comment peers' contributions.
Service-oriented programming has dramatically changed the way software applications are developed. Auto- matic composition of services reduces human interaction on choosing the set of services that satisfy a specific request. Automatic composition has mainly been done in a centralised way with the composition specified at design time or in a decentralised manner through multi-agent systems planing. These approaches present several limitations when used in dynamically changing environments like pervasive computing scenarios. Very few proposals investigate the design of the com- position arising as a result of an ongoing self-organising process that permanently adapts to context and environmental changes. In this paper we define three chemically inspired approaches for self-composition of services operating on top of a shared tuple space. We show how tuple spaces can be exploited to design spontaneous and emergent compositions that deal with context information and a dynamic set of available services. Then we prove that our algorithms can be generalised to produce compositions of services with very common features. and show how our algorithms can be easily implemented to provide self-composition of actual Web services.
Present-day computer-based information systems are increasingly required to be open systems. This means that they must cope with open networks, heterogeneous interoperable hardware and software systems, and, above all, evolving and changing requirements. The CHASSIS project aims to develop a software and methodology framework for (i) the security- and reliability-oriented systematic design and construction of heterogeneous information systems from individual existing and newly developed application software components and database systems, and (ii) their secure and reliable interoperation. In CHASSIS, object-orientation is the key technology for the construction of such a system as its uniform interface is realized by an object-oriented data model and the homogenization layer is realized by object-oriented software. CHASSIS includes object models for database and language integration, software to support system integration, specification methods to support the design process and advanced security mechanisms to provide the resulting information system with a high degree of security. CHASSIS is a joint Swiss project between the University of Zürich, the University of Geneva, and the Asea Brown Boveri Research Centre (Baden).
Optimal operation of network based multimedia applications requires a precise specification of the network parameters. Different models have been used in the past in calculating the behavior of the network and defining parameters like throughput and delays of packets, using among others fluid analogy. In this paper we extend the bundled packet level perspective towards the macroscopic level of propagation dynamics focusing on the impedance that observed packets experienced during propagation using the analogy of particles propagating in a wave-guide. By defining notions like packet pressure, packet velocity and stream impedance, we define the required frame that allows us to directly use existing methods and equations for the study of streaming networks.
Socio-technical developments in computing have resulted in the emergence of innovative mobile systems which exploit the information available on the Internet to optimize the performance of hosted applications and services. One of the challenges in the real-time critical mobile applications such as remote patient monitoring is to ensure optimal power usage. We consider herewith a case, where context-aware middleware hosted on the mobile device uses wireless networks availability data obtained from the remote QoS Information Service to selectively turn on the network interface and handover to the wireless access network which results in the optimal power consumption on the mobile device. We evaluate the power savings potential of the proposed concept using close-to-real life simulations and compare the results with the network selection mechanism which uses only information locally available on the mobile device. The results obtained from the simulations encourage applying the proposed concept in real operational remote patient monitoring systems.
This paper proposes a location-based service for disseminating geo-localised information generated by and aimed at mobile users. The service itself works in a self-organising manner. A piece of hovering information is attached to a geographical point, called the anchor location, and to its vicinity area, called the anchor area. It is responsible for keeping itself alive, available and accessible to other devices within its anchor area. Hovering information uses mechanisms such as active hopping, replication and dissemination among mobile nodes to satisfy the above requirements. It does not rely on any central server. Previous results involving a single piece of hovering information have shown the interest of the concept. This paper reports on a series of simulations involving multiple pieces of hovering information. Our goal is to investigate the scalability of the technique up to 200 pieces in a small geographic area. Two main replication algorithms for pieces of hovering information are compared, an Attraction Point algorithm and a Broadcast-based one. These replication algorithms are combined with two different caching policies, Location-based and Generation-based, for discarding hovering information pieces from mobile nodes buffer when memory is not enough.
ERCIM, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics, aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. In the ERCIM eMobility workshop, current progress and future developments in the area of eMobility should be discussed and the existing gap between theory and application closed. This volume contains all accepted papers of the second eMobility workshop, which has been held in Tampere, Finland, on May 30, 2008. Papers from three main areas have been selected for this workshop. The contributions discuss several topics of the ERCIM eMobility working group, namely – Transport protocols – Multi-hop networks – Services, user interfaces and mobility.
Serious games are about to enter the medical sector to give people with behavioural or addictive disorders the ability to use them as part of health promotion and disease prevention. The PlayMancer framework will support physical rehabilitations and psycho-education programs thru a modular multiplayer networked 3D game based on the Universally Accessible Games (UA games) guidelines.
The first hour following the trauma is of crucial importance in trauma care. The sooner treatment begins, the better the ultimate outcome for the patient. Generally the initial treatment is handled by paramedical personnel arriving at the site of the accident with an ambulance. There is evidence to show that if the expertise of the on-site paramedic team can be supported by immediate and continuous access to and communication with the expert medical team at the hospital, patient outcomes can be improved. After care also influences the ultimate recovery of the patient. After-treatment follow up often occurs in-hospital in spite of the fact that care at home can offer more advantages and can accelerate recovery. Based on emerging and future wireless communication technologies, in a previous paper [1] we presented an initial vision of two future healthcare settings, supported by applications which we call Virtual Trauma Team and Virtual Homecare Team. The Virtual Trauma Team application involves high quality wireless multimedia communications between ambulance paramedics and the hospital facilitated by paramedic Body Area Networks (BANs) [2] and an ambulance-based Vehicle Area Network (VAN). The VAN supports bi-directional streaming audio and video communication between the ambulance and the hospital even when moving at speed. The clinical motivation for Virtual Trauma Team is to increase survival rates in trauma care. The Virtual Homecare Team application enables homecare coordinated by home nursing services and supported by the patient's PAN which consists of a patient BAN in combination with an ambient intelligent home environment. The homecare PAN provides intelligent monitoring and support functions and the possibility to ad hoc network to the visiting health professionals' own BANs as well as high quality multimedia communication links to remote members of the virtual team. The motivation for Virtual Homecare Team is to improve quality of life and independence for patients by supporting care at home; the economic motivation is to replace expensive hospital-based care with homecare by virtual teams using wireless technology to support the patient and the carers. In this paper we develop the vision further and focus in particular on the concepts of personal and body area networks
This volume contains all accepted papers of the ERCIM Workshop on eMobility, which has been held in Coimbra, Portugal, on May 21, 2007. Papers from three main areas have been selected for the workshop. The workshop papers discuss several topics of the ERCIM eMobility working group, namely – Traffic engineering and mobility management – Wireless (sensor) networks – Pervasive computing and mobile applications. The goal of the ERCIM workshop is to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Current progress and future developments in the area of eMobility should be discussed and the gap between theory and application should be closed.
