Remote User Research Articles

Library and Information Services in the Library User’s Personal Account

A priority for modern libraries is the comprehensive transformation of the library and information service model in the context of universal digitalization. Digitalization of the library and information sphere is expressed in the emergence of new methods involving the use of innovative software tools as an alternative to the traditional approach. Through the implementation of digitalization initiatives, libraries are creating managed electronic environments with a wide range of digital library and information services. Software tools oriented towards the provision of these kinds of services include the creation of a user’s personal account on the library website. Today a personal account is an essential attribute of the websites of many national and university libraries, both local and foreign. The aim of the article is to analyze the possibilities of a personal account in terms of providing library and information services, including bibliographic ones, to remote library users. The article discusses ways of online registration and authorization in a personal account, its services available to users, as well as software tools to make the user’s work comfortable. Personal account is a tool for managing a set of connected services, which is constantly being improved and supplemented with new services. The range of services available to the user can vary, reflecting the specifics and size of the library. The features of the personal account are illustrated by examples from Russian and foreign libraries. The personal account has been successfully used to provide bibliographic services to support research and teaching activities. Based on the results of the analysis of the information in the personal account, libraries make decisions aimed at increasing loyalty, formation of individual offers to improve the comfort of service for users. The personal account is predominantly used in university libraries, where it is a part of the integrated information and educational environment. Using the potential of the virtual working environment is an opportunity for libraries to find their place in the digital world.

Azure DevOps The Next Era of Application Lifecycle Management

The software development, testing, and deployment process is a series of actions that are carried out in order to achieve a particular result. highly manual process, resulting in a significant number of code errors and bugs. Development and operations (Support) teams can often be out of sync, slowing software delivery and disappointing business stakeholders. DevOps creates efficiency across all tasks involved in software development, deployment, and maintenance. Connecting development with operations leads to increased visibility, more accurate requirements, improved communication, and faster time to Industry. Azure DevOps supports a joint culture and set of multiple steps and processes that bring together the development team, managers, and contributors to build software quickly. It allows the software industry to improve software at a faster pace than they can with traditional software development approaches. Compared with ADO Server, ADO Services offers the following added benefits: • Easy for server management. • Fastest access to greatest features. • Improved faster connectivity for remote users. • A transition from capital expenditures (like servers) to operational expenditures (subscriptions). DevOps is becoming a software industry standard for multiple businesses. According to a report issued by Capgemini, 61% of businesses either adopted DevOps or planned to do so during 2018. Statistics like this demonstrate that DevOps is a necessary part of your business plan if you expect to respond quickly to the market's demands, improve your business’s time-to-market, and keep your software solutions updated regularly. DevOps creates efficiency across all tasks involved in software development, deployment, and maintenance. Connecting development with operations leads to increased visibility, more accurate requirements, improved communication, and faster time to Industry.

Secrecy performance analysis of UAV-based full-duplex two-way relay NOMA system

In this paper, we investigate the secrecy performance of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based full-duplex (FD) two-way relay non-orthogonal multiple access (TWR-NOMA) system with two terrestrial users and an eavesdropper. To ensure secure communications, a UAV acts as an aerial relay station, which not only forwards confidential information to legitimate users but also keeps emitting the jamming signal to degrade the performance of any potential eavesdropper. The ergodic secrecy rate (ESR) and secrecy outage probability (SOP) of users and the system are successfully investigated under the assumption of imperfect successive interference and self-interference cancellation. In addition, to provide a better understanding of the secrecy performance, mathematical expressions of asymptotic ESR, secrecy slope, asymptotic SOP, and secrecy diversity order are also studied. Simulation results demonstrate that the FD TWR-NOMA system attains better secrecy performance than that of the FD TWR-NOMA system with a terrestrial relay, the FD TWR-NOMA system without jamming signal, as well as the half-duplex TWR-NOMA system. The secrecy performance of the system is significantly enhanced when UAVs approach the remote user. Furthermore, there is a reasonable power allocation value for jamming and legitimate signals on the UAV to improve secrecy performance.

An Application of TAM on Use of Remotely Accessible E-Resources of Dhanvantri Library, University of Jammu

This study examines how remote users used electronic resources made available by the Dhanvantri Library at the University of Jammu. Quantitative techniques were employed to investigate how effectively e-resources are being used remotely. The study focused on users’ assessments of e-resources and the satisfaction level derived from them. The Technology Acceptance Approach (TAM) model is used to explore the level of adoption of e-resources through remote access in two dimensions, i.e., PU and PEU. The results revealed a positive attitude towards e-resources and moderately adopted 2.05 ± .83, the remote access environment of the Dhanvantri library, where the average perceived usefulness is 2.97 ± 1.17, and the perceived ease of use is 2.58 ± 1.99. Consequently, TAM is significantly related to PEU [ χ2(12, 299) = 219.06, p<.001] and PU [χ2(10, 299) = 48.33, p<.001].

Photonic-reconfigurable entanglement distribution network based on silicon quantum photonics

The entanglement distribution network connects remote users by sharing entanglement resources, which is essential for realizing quantum internet. We propose a photonic-reconfigurable entanglement distribution network (PR-EDN) based on a silicon quantum photonic chip. The entanglement resources are generated by a quantum light source array based on spontaneous four-wave mixing in silicon waveguides and distributed to different users through time-reversed Hong–Ou–Mandel interference by on-chip Mach–Zehnder interferometers with thermo-optic phase shifters (TOPSs). A chip sample is designed and fabricated, supporting a PR-EDN with 3 subnets and 24 users. The network topology of the PR-EDN could be reconfigured in three network states by controlling the quantum interference through the TOPSs, which is demonstrated experimentally. Furthermore, a reconfigurable entanglement-based quantum key distribution network is realized as an application of the PR-EDN. The reconfigurable network topology makes the PR-EDN suitable for future quantum networks requiring complicated network control and management. Moreover, it is also shown that silicon quantum photonic chips have great potential for large-scale PR-EDN, thanks to their capacities for generating and manipulating plenty of entanglement resources.

A Privacy-Preserving Scheme for Managing Secure Data in Healthcare System

In the world of modern technology and the huge spread of its use, it has been combined with healthcare systems and the establishment of electronic health records (EHR) to follow up on patients. This merging of technology with healthcare has allowed for more accurate EHRs that follow a patient to different healthcare facilities. Timely exchange of electronic health information (EHR) between providers is critical for aiding medical research and providing fast patient treatment. As a result, security issues and privacy problems are viewed as significant difficulties in the healthcare system. Several remote user authentication methods have been suggested. In this research, we present a feasible patient EHR migration solution for each patient. finally, each patient may securely delegate their current hospital’s information system to a hospital certification authority in order to receive migration proof that can be used to transfer their EHR to a different hospital. In addition, the proposed scheme is based on crypto-hash functions and asymmetric cryptosystems by using homomorphic cryptography. The proposed scheme carried out two exhaustive formal security proofs for the work that was provided. Using Scyther, a formal security tool, we present a secure user authentication technique in the proposed healthcare scheme that ensures security and informal analysis.

An improved authentication and key management scheme in context of IoT-based wireless sensor network using ECC

Wireless sensor network (WSN) is used for sensing data/information from the nearby environment with the help of various spatially dispersed miniature sensor devices/nodes and forwarding the data to the direction of the base station which is connected to the network through the Internet for processing the collected data. Currently, Internet of Things (IoT) based smart computing applications are becoming popular in which WSN is used to run a process to output information from sensed data or events. However, these sensor nodes have less computation ability and low power capacity. In these resource-constrained WSNs, remote user authentication is a serious challenge that demands the attention of the researchers’ community. Several authentication protocols which address a variety of security concerns are present in the literature. Ghani et al. proposed an efficient authentication and key management scheme that claims to be resistant to known attacks. During the study of their scheme, we found that it is efficient and effective for protecting against a few attacks. However, it does not have the ability to counter several security threats like user impersonation attack, insider attack, database attack, and stolen smart card attack. To counter these aforesaid security loopholes, in this paper a new ECC integrated scheme suitable for IoT-based WSN with a higher level of protection is proposed. The informal security analysis using mathematical approaches and the formal security analysis using a well-accepted AVISPA simulator and BAN logic ensures that the suggested work is highly secure from all the relevant threats. Moreover, the performance analysis and comparison of the proposed scheme with the most recent relevant schemes proves that our scheme is much more efficient in terms of computation, communication, and storage overheads than all the available schemes in the literature.

Resource Allocation in Quantum-Key-Distribution- Secured Datacenter Networks With Cloud–Edge Collaboration

Datacenter networks (DCNs) with cloud-edge collaboration are emerging to satisfy the communication, computation, and caching (3C) requirements of future services such as cloud-based IoT services. However, the enroute data over DCNs with cloud-edge collaboration is likely to suffer from cyberattacks such as eavesdropping. A large number of services require not only 3C resources, but also cryptographic resources for encryption to ensure high security. Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a practical approach to provide secret keys for remote users with information-theoretic security against eavesdropping attacks from quantum computing. A QKD-secured DCN (QKD-DCN) with cloud-edge collaboration can be deployed to satisfy the communication, computation, caching, and cryptographic (4C) requirements of services. This paper innovatively solves the new 4C resource-allocation (4CRA) problem in the network to minimize the cryptographic resource consumption. It formulates an integer linear programming (ILP) model and proposes a heuristic cryptographic-dependent 4C resource-allocation algorithm to find optimal solutions. The proposed algorithm is compared with two baseline 4CRA algorithms which respectively consider the minimized service delivery latency and the first-fit resource availability. Analytical simulations show that the proposed algorithm minimizes the key-resource-consumption ratio and the average key-resource consumption under static and dynamic traffic scenarios in different network topologies.

Effect of Context on Smartphone Users’ Typing Performance in the Wild

Smartphones play a crucial role in daily activities, however, situationally-induced impairments and disabilities (SIIDs) can easily be experienced depending on the context. Previous studies explored the effect of context but mainly done in controlled environments with limited research done in the wild. In this article, we present an in-situ remote user study with 48 participants’ keyboard interaction on smartphones including the performance and context details. We first propose an automated approach for error detection by combining approaches introduced in the literature and with a follow-up study, show that the accuracy of error detection is improved. We then investigate the effect of context on the typing performance based on five dimensions: environment, mobility, social, multitasking, and distraction, and reveal that the context affects participants’ error rate significantly but with individual differences. Our main contribution is providing empirical evidence with an in-situ study showing the effect of context on error rate.

Artificial intelligence in the library: gauging the potential application and implications for contemporary library services in Nigeria

Purpose: libraries may become obsolete in the twenty-first century unless they begin to harness new technology and improve information and service delivery. This paper examines the potential application and implications of artificial intelligence for contemporary library services in Nigeria. Methods: this paper adopts the expository research approach to evaluate the application and implication of artificial intelligence in contemporary library services in Nigeria. Through systematic analysis of literature, the study addresses how academic libraries can utilize artificial intelligence to support innovative library services. Findings: the column emphasizes that, academic libraries in Nigeria have not yet adopted and applied AI, in spite of the potential that it holds for libraries. Given that there has been relatively little study linking artificial intelligence (AI) to librarianship, this may be because there is a low degree of awareness and adoption of AI's importance in libraries.Conclusions: this column is the original idea from the authors and does not reflect on any copyrighted materials. The column recommended that, academic libraries in Nigeria should fully embrace artificial intelligence like chatbots, barcodes, RFIDs, and robots for delivering quality services and libraries should also leverage on the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence to reconnect their remote users, and consequently re-establish their relevance among the user community

ScPUAK: Smart card-based secure Protocol for remote User Authentication and Key agreement

Internet of Things (IoT) is a fast-growing trend in wireless communication where various connected objects become an everyday part of our lives. The richness of the network is leading to open challenges and exposure to various attacks. Thus, security remains a major concern. Our purpose for this paper is to propose a smart card-based protocol that enables mutual authentication between a user and a server and allows for the establishment of a secure session key. In this context, we use Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) and other lightweight operations as hash function and exclusive OR (XOR). We perform an evaluation of our protocol using Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, Scyther verification tool and Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) tool. The results show that our solution is robust to most known attacks, suitable to IoT devices and more efficient compared to recent related protocols.

Wedge Video: Supporting Remote Participants in a Mixed-Mode Videoconference Meeting

Abstract As global COVID-19 pandemic response has moved from full lockdowns and partial lockdowns in most parts of the world to a post-COVID era, an interesting new phenomenon that has emerged is the increased prevalence of hybrid meetings with a mixture of online and in-person attendees. The opportunity for remote participants to observe the responses and interactions of others in the meeting is generally accepted as being limited. An experimental prototype system, called Wedge Video, has been constructed as an attempt to improve the experience of remote participants in hybrid in-person/remote meetings. Wedge Video uses standard screen and camera equipment with existing video conferencing software (Zoom). An evaluation of the prototype system was conducted based on three simple games that each required players to interact rapidly and with some use of body language or gaze direction. Encouraging results led to the examination of the geometry of screen and camera placement in detail. A system that has a somewhat ‘virtual reality’ feeling to it has now been developed. The remote user is given a view of the in-person part of the meeting with participants at the same scale and location as they would be if the remote user were at the table themselves. Similarly, the local participants see the remote person in place at their table, at a realistic scale and with close to accurate gaze direction. A very preliminary evaluation of these concepts has been promising.

The implementation of Shannon-limited polar codes-based information reconciliation for quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) gives a way to generate unconditionally secure keys for two remote users, Alice and Bob. Information reconciliation (IR), which can correct the errors caused by the imperfections of the QKD systems, is a critical component in QKD. Due to the high-security requirements and large volumes of data processing, robustness and efficiency are two main factors that must be considered for the implementation of IR. The polar codes-based IR has several potential advantages, such as capacity to reach Shannon-limit, high IR efficiency, and low computational complexity. Although CPU-based IR is always implemented in most of the previous works, it is not the optimal implementation in terms of performance and power dissipation. To the best of our knowledge, there is still no work to build a special-purpose hardware module for polar codes-based IR. In this paper, a dedicated design of hardware accelerator is first proposed for polar codes-based IR, in which the block-checked successive cancellation list (SCL) algorithm is used to verify the consistency of the sifted keys, and the overall failure probability of IR is significantly reduced. The proposed design is constructed into a partially-unrolled parallel architecture to accelerate the core decoder as well as balance the resource utilization. Furthermore, the hardware implementation is completed based on Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+ XCZU5EV MPSoC platform and achieves an IR throughput of 15 Mbps with a block length of 212, while less than of the amount of on-chip resources are used in other previous designs of SCL decoder. The proposed design can provide a real-time, low-cost solution for IR in QKD systems, and enhance the performance of QKD.

Using Virtual Replicas to Improve Mixed Reality Remote Collaboration.

In this paper, we explore how virtual replicas can enhance Mixed Reality (MR) remote collaboration with a 3D reconstruction of the task space. People in different locations may need to work together remotely on complicated tasks. For example, a local user could follow a remote expert's instructions to complete a physical task. However, it could be challenging for the local user to fully understand the remote expert's intentions without effective spatial referencing and action demonstration. In this research, we investigate how virtual replicas can work as a spatial communication cue to improve MR remote collaboration. This approach segments the foreground manipulable objects in the local environment and creates corresponding virtual replicas of physical task objects. The remote user can then manipulate these virtual replicas to explain the task and guide their partner. This enables the local user to rapidly and accurately understand the remote expert's intentions and instructions. Our user study with an object assembly task found that using virtual replica manipulation was more efficient than using 3D annotation drawing in an MR remote collaboration scenario. We report and discuss the findings and limitations of our system and study, and present directions for future research.

Toward a Holistic Virtual Environment for Graph Visualization and Analysis.

Interactive data visualization plays a crucial role in the interpretability of large datasets. Virtual reality offers unique advantages in exploring data, beyond traditional 2-D views. This article presents a set of interaction artifacts designed for analyzing and interpreting complex datasets through immersive 3-D graph visualization and interaction. Our system makes complex datasets easier to work with by offering a wide range of visual customization tools and intuitive methods for selection, manipulation, and filtering. It also provides a cross-platform, collaborative environment that can be accessed by remote users through traditional computers, drawing tablets, and touchscreen devices.

MP-453092-1 FEASIBILITY OF REMOTE MAPPING AND CLINICAL SUPPORT USING NOVEL SOFTWARE

Covid redefined how the world functions. The electrophysiology (EP) community identified multiple needs that arose due to this paradigm and redefined workflows. The geographic paucity of experienced clinical mapping support was a crucial issue that limited the worldwide adoption of complex ablation procedures. To ascertain the feasibility and safety of utilizing a novel software for remote mapping and remote clinical support for all spectrums of cardiac ablation procedures and to compare the adoption of ablation technology in that geography. Ablation procedures performed at Metromed International Cardiac Centre (MICC), India were included in this early feasibility analysis (EFA). All procedures were performed by a single EP operator. Remote Clinical support was provided by an EP physician (primary operator's sibling) in the USA. All mapping was performed by an experienced mapper from a remote location 400 miles away from the primary EP operator in India. The mapping system utilized was Ensite Precision with SJM Connect software. 300 contiguous ablation procedures from 2020 to 2022 were included in this EFA. The proprietory SJM Connect software allows remote access to the Ensite console via a secured connection. The software requires the operator to be granted access to the Ensite console via a permission request that must be acknowledged on the Ensite Console. The software will then allow the remote operator to levels of access to the system, view-only access, or complete control of the console to provide full remote support. Communication occurs between the remote user and the console via a chat function and over a voice call. This remote connection can be terminated at any time from either the console or the remote operator. There is no PHI displayed. Results detailing case demographics and acute procedural success and safety will be presented. Results comparing the adoption of ablation technology with the previous 3 years in this geography will be presented. This EFA demonstrates the safety and efficacy of using remote clinical support and remote mapping for ablation procedures. This opens a world of possibilities including the expansion of ablation technology to all corridors of the world with experienced clinical and mapping support connecting the EP community on a worldwide platform. Additional studies and strategies are needed to further understand the implication of remote support algorithms in bridging the healthcare gaps in the field of cardiac EP.

Viewpoint-Controllable Telepresence: A Robotic-Arm-Based Mixed-Reality Telecollaboration System.

In mixed-reality (MR) telecollaboration, the local environment is remotely presented to a remote user wearing a virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display (HMD) via a video capture device. However, remote users frequently face challenges in naturally and actively manipulating their viewpoints. In this paper, we propose a telepresence system with viewpoint control, which involves a robotic arm equipped with a stereo camera in the local environment. This system enables remote users to actively and flexibly observe the local environment by moving their heads to manipulate the robotic arm. Additionally, to solve the problem of the limited field of view of the stereo camera and limited movement range of the robotic arm, we propose a 3D reconstruction method combined with a stereo video field-of-view enhancement technique to guide remote users to move within the movement range of the robotic arm and provide them with a larger range of local environment perception. Finally, a mixed-reality telecollaboration prototype was built, and two user studies were conducted to evaluate the overall system. User study A evaluated the interaction efficiency, system usability, workload, copresence, and user satisfaction of our system from the remote user's perspective, and the results showed that our system can effectively improve the interaction efficiency while achieving a better user experience than two traditional view-sharing techniques based on 360 video and based on the local user's first-person view. User study B evaluated our MR telecollaboration system prototype from both the remote-user side and the local-user side as a whole, providing directions and suggestions for the subsequent design and improvement of our mixed-reality telecollaboration system.

Augmented Reality in Real-time Telemedicine and Telementoring: Scoping Review

Over the last decade, augmented reality (AR) has emerged in health care as a tool for visualizing data and enhancing simulation learning. AR, which has largely been explored for communication and collaboration in nonhealth contexts, could play a role in shaping future remote medical services and training. This review summarized existing studies implementing AR in real-time telemedicine and telementoring to create a foundation for health care providers and technology developers to understand future opportunities in remote care and education. This review described devices and platforms that use AR for real-time telemedicine and telementoring, the tasks for which AR was implemented, and the ways in which these implementations were evaluated to identify gaps in research that provide opportunities for further study. We searched PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and MEDLINE to identify English-language studies published between January 1, 2012, and October 18, 2022, implementing AR technology in a real-time interaction related to telemedicine or telementoring. The search terms were "augmented reality" OR "AR" AND "remote" OR "telemedicine" OR "telehealth" OR "telementoring." Systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and discussion-based articles were excluded from analysis. A total of 39 articles met the inclusion criteria and were categorized into themes of patient evaluation, medical intervention, and education. In total, 20 devices and platforms using AR were identified, with common features being the ability for remote users to annotate, display graphics, and display their hands or tools in the local user's view. Common themes across the studies included consultation and procedural education, with surgery, emergency, and hospital medicine being the most represented specialties. Outcomes were most often measured using feedback surveys and interviews. The most common objective measures were time to task completion and performance. Long-term outcome and resource cost measurements were rare. Across the studies, user feedback was consistently positive for perceived efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability. Comparative trials demonstrated that AR-assisted conditions had noninferior reliability and performance and did not consistently extend procedure times compared with in-person controls. Studies implementing AR in telemedicine and telementoring demonstrated the technology's ability to enhance access to information and facilitate guidance in multiple health care settings. However, AR's role as an alternative to current telecommunication platforms or even in-person interactions remains to be validated, with many disciplines and provider-to-nonprovider uses still lacking robust investigation. Additional studies comparing existing methods may offer more insight into this intersection, but the early stage of technical development and the lack of standardized tools and adoption have hindered the conduct of larger longitudinal and randomized controlled trials. Overall, AR has the potential to complement and advance the capabilities of remote medical care and learning, creating unique opportunities for innovator, provider, and patient involvement.

Design and Implementation of a Secure Virtual Private Network Over an Open Network (Internet)

Aim: The main objective of this research project is to design and implement a functional secure virtual private network over the internet considering that use of traditional fixed telephones lines is not cost effective and it is unsecured especially in the context of Cameroon.
 Methods: In the VPN, internet is used as the data pipelined replacing the traditional data lines. This approach was deployed through simulation with CISCO Packet Tracer.
 Results: Simulation results showed that the system can provide a secured, reliable and cost effective transmission system over the Internet for organizations in Cameroon. As such, VPNs form an integral part of remote business communications across the internet due to the inherent risks that exist when sending private information over a public network.
 Conclusion: VPNs not only prevent unethical use of private business correspondence by unauthorized parties but they also play an important role in reducing the environmental impact of business travel.
 Recommendations: This study recommend an organization which considers security as its top priority to embrace the rather expensive solution of implementing an email/Web/DNS/FTP server at each site rather than using only a single email/web/DNS/FTP server for the entire intranet. This will reduce the amount of information that organization sends across the Internet and increase information access speeds. Home users or small office can equally be installed with an email/web/DNS/FTP server. Also, in the remote access case, a company can outsource the installation and management of their remote access VPN server to the ISP. Moreover, just using IPSec for remote access users is not enough. Remote access IPSec VPN implementation should always be associated with a tunneling protocol such as PPTP.

Chaotic Map-Based Authentication Scheme Using Physical Unclonable Function for Internet of Autonomous Vehicle

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) are a highly discussed topic owing to their great performance and convenience. However, some requirements limit their wider deployment. Specifically, AV should be controlled by remote users during emergencies. It may lead to AV’s system facing the risk of being intruded on by a malicious party, resulting in unreasonable decisions. We, therefore, design the Internet of autonomous vehicle (IoAV) model to mitigate the problems arising from these limitations. To promote a secure remote control of the AV, a reliable authentication scheme, which can be used in IoAV, must be performed. Our proposed chaotic map-based authenticated key agreement (CMAKA) method provides secure remote control features for AVs. In this method, users, data centers, and AV establish a secure communication channel through the negotiation of three independent session keys. Furthermore, a physical unclonable function (PUF) is employed to produce a trusted private key during the authentication. The security of our scheme is evaluated using game hopping through the widespread Real-or-Random (ROR) model. Compared with other existing three-factor authentication schemes, the performance of our protocol is higher in both security requirements and total cost.