Mobility Support Research Articles

Sepsis-Associated Muscle Wasting: A Comprehensive Review from Bench to Bedside.

Sepsis-associated muscle wasting (SAMW) is characterized by decreased muscle mass, reduced muscle fiber size, and decreased muscle strength, resulting in persistent physical disability accompanied by sepsis. Systemic inflammatory cytokines are the main cause of SAMW, which occurs in 40-70% of patients with sepsis. The pathways associated with the ubiquitin-proteasome and autophagy systems are particularly activated in the muscle tissues during sepsis and may lead to muscle wasting. Additionally, expression of muscle atrophy-related genes Atrogin-1 and MuRF-1 are seemingly increased via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. In clinical settings, electrical muscular stimulation, physiotherapy, early mobilization, and nutritional support are used for patients with sepsis to prevent or treat SAMW. However, there are no pharmacological treatments for SAMW, and the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. Therefore, research is urgently required in this field.

Quality of Life with Late-Onset Pompe Disease: Qualitative Interviews and General Public Utility Estimation in the United Kingdom

Background: Late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) is a rare, progressive neuromuscular condition typically characterized by weakness of skeletal muscles, including those involved in respiration and diaphragmatic dysfunction. Individuals with LOPD typically eventually require mobility and/or ventilatory support. Objectives: This study aimed to develop health state vignettes and estimate health state utility values for LOPD in the United Kingdom. Methods: Vignettes were developed for 7 health states of LOPD with states defined in terms of mobility and/or ventilatory support. Vignettes were drafted based on patient-reported outcome data from the Phase 3 PROPEL trial (NCT03729362) and supplemented by a literature review. Qualitative interviews with individuals living with LOPD and clinical experts were conducted to explore the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) impact of LOPD and to review the draft vignettes. Vignettes were finalized following a second round of interviews with individuals living with LOPD and used in health state valuation exercises with people of the UK population. Participants rated the health states using the EQ-5D-5L, visual analogue scale, and time trade-off interviews. Results: Twelve individuals living with LOPD and 2 clinical experts were interviewed. Following the interviews, 4 new statements were added regarding dependence on others, bladder control problems, balance issues/fear of falling, and frustration. One hundred interviews with a representative UK population sample were completed. Mean time trade-off utilities ranged from 0.754 (SD = 0.31) (no support) to 0.132 (SD = 0.50) (invasive ventilatory and mobility support–dependent). Similarly, EQ-5D-5L utilities ranged from 0.608 (SD = 0.12) to -0.078 (SD = 0.22). Discussion: The utilities obtained in the study are consistent with utilities reported in the literature (0.670-0.853 for nonsupport state). The vignette content was based on robust quantitative and qualitative evidence and captured the main HRQoL impacts of LOPD. The general public rated the health states consistently lower with increasing disease progression. There was greater uncertainty around utility estimates for the severe states, suggesting that participants found it harder to rate them. Conclusion: This study provides utility estimates for LOPD that can be used in economic modeling of treatments for LOPD. Our findings highlight the high disease burden of LOPD and reinforce the societal value of slowing disease progression.

Quality of Life with Late-Onset Pompe Disease: Qualitative Interviews and General Public Utility Estimation in the United Kingdom.

Background: Late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) is a rare, progressive neuromuscular condition typically characterized by weakness of skeletal muscles, including those involved in respiration and diaphragmatic dysfunction. Individuals with LOPD typically eventually require mobility and/or ventilatory support. Objectives: This study aimed to develop health state vignettes and estimate health state utility values for LOPD in the United Kingdom. Methods: Vignettes were developed for 7 health states of LOPD with states defined in terms of mobility and/or ventilatory support. Vignettes were drafted based on patient-reported outcome data from the Phase 3 PROPEL trial (NCT03729362) and supplemented by a literature review. Qualitative interviews with individuals living with LOPD and clinical experts were conducted to explore the health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) impact of LOPD and to review the draft vignettes. Vignettes were finalized following a second round of interviews with individuals living with LOPD and used in health state valuation exercises with people of the UK population. Participants rated the health states using the EQ-5D-5L, visual analogue scale, and time trade-off interviews. Results: Twelve individuals living with LOPD and 2 clinical experts were interviewed. Following the interviews, 4 new statements were added regarding dependence on others, bladder control problems, balance issues/fear of falling, and frustration. One hundred interviews with a representative UK population sample were completed. Mean time trade-off utilities ranged from 0.754 (SD = 0.31) (no support) to 0.132 (SD = 0.50) (invasive ventilatory and mobility support-dependent). Similarly, EQ-5D-5L utilities ranged from 0.608 (SD = 0.12) to -0.078 (SD = 0.22). Discussion: The utilities obtained in the study are consistent with utilities reported in the literature (0.670-0.853 for nonsupport state). The vignette content was based on robust quantitative and qualitative evidence and captured the main HRQoL impacts of LOPD. The general public rated the health states consistently lower with increasing disease progression. There was greater uncertainty around utility estimates for the severe states, suggesting that participants found it harder to rate them. Conclusion: This study provides utility estimates for LOPD that can be used in economic modeling of treatments for LOPD. Our findings highlight the high disease burden of LOPD and reinforce the societal value of slowing disease progression.

Load Balancing Algorithms in Fog Computing

Recently, fog computing has been introduced as a modern distributed paradigm and complement to cloud computing to provide services. The fog system extends storing and computing to the edge of the network, which can remarkably solve the problem of service computing in delay-sensitive applications besides enabling location awareness and mobility support. Load balancing is an important aspect of fog networks that avoids a situation with some under-loaded or overloaded fog nodes. Quality of service parameters such as resource utilization, throughput, cost, response time, performance, and energy consumption can be improved by load balancing. In recent years, some research in load balancing algorithms in fog networks has been carried out, but there is no systematic study to consolidate these works. This article investigates the load-balancing algorithms systematically in fog computing in four classifications, including approximate, exact, fundamental, and hybrid algorithms. Also, this article investigates load balancing metrics with all advantages and disadvantages related to chosen load balancing algorithms in fog networks. The evaluation techniques and tools applied for each reviewed study are explored as well. Additionally, the essential open challenges and future trends of these algorithms are discussed.

Abstract P6-05-33: Distress Reduction and Physical Activity Enhancement by Mobile Support Group in Breast Cancer Survivors: a randomized controlled study

Abstract Purpose Improving physical activity (PA) and reducing mental distress are important issues in the treatment of cancer survivors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a mobile app-based community on enhancing PA and decreasing distress in breast cancer survivors. Methods We conducted a single-center, prospective, non-blinded, randomized controlled study. Subjects who got breast cancer surgery were allocated to a control group or a app-based community group (intervention) where members were able to share their daily physical activities. Daily walk steps and weekly distress scores using app-based Distress Thermometer (DT) questionnaires were collected from participants for 24 weeks. To examine the differences in levels of distress and weekly step counts for 6 months, we used a t-test method and multivariable regression modeling. Results From Jan 2019 to Apr 2020, a total of 202 participants were enrolled in this study. The intervention group showed a significant increase in weekly steps by 4,496 for 6 months (p < 0.001). The participants in the intervention group showed a significantly lower rate of above mild distress (DT≥3, beta[B] = -0.731, p < 0.001) and above moderate distress (DT≥5, B = -0.558, p < 0.001) compared to those in the control group for 6 months. Conclusions The mobile app-based community is an effective and less resource-intensive tool to increase PA and decrease distress in breast cancer survivors. Citation Format: Il-Yong Chung, Miyeon Jung, Sae Byul Lee, Jong Won Lee, Sei Hyun Ahn, Haekwon Chung. Distress Reduction and Physical Activity Enhancement by Mobile Support Group in Breast Cancer Survivors: a randomized controlled study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-05-33.

토픽모델링을 활용한 교통약자 이동지원센터 어플리케이션 리뷰 분석

급속한 고령화로 교통약자 인구가 점차 증가하면서 이들의 복지와 사회생활을 지원해 줄 수 있는 다양한 정책이나 기술이 필요하게 되었다. 우리나라는 교통약자들의 편의를 제공하기 위하여 지역별로 교통약자들을 위한 이동지원센터 어플리케이션을 운영하고 있다. 본 연구는 교통약자 이동지원센터 어플리케이션에 대한 사용자 리뷰를 분석하여, 관련된 주요 토픽들을 정의하려고 한다. 우선 지역별로 교통약자 이동지원센터 어플리케이션에 대한 리뷰들을 수집하여 토픽모델링 기법인 LDA(Latent Dirichlet Allocation)로 분석을 수행하였다. 분석 결과, 청각 장애 이용, 차량 배차 시간, 장애인 음성과 자막 설치, 발음 인식, 자막 설치와 업데이트, 음성 변환, 차량 사용과 휠체어와 같은 7개의 토픽으로 분류 되었다. 이러한 토픽들을 고려하여 교통약자 이동지원센터 어플리케이션을 업데이트 한다면, 교통약자들의 편의성을 향상시킬 수 있을 것이다.

Evaluating a community engagement model for malaria elimination in Haiti: lessons from the community health council project (2019–2021)

BackgroundCommunity engagement (CE) plays a critical role in malaria control and elimination. CE approaches vary substantially, with more participatory programmes requiring higher levels of adaptive management. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a volunteer-based CE programme developed in Haiti in 2018. The approach was based on local leaders organizing and implementing monthly anti-malaria activities in their communities, and was implemented as part of Malaria Zero Consortium activities.MethodsThis programme evaluation draws on quantitative and qualitative data collected from 23 Community Health Councils (CHCs) over a two-year period (2019–2021) in Grand’Anse department, a malaria hotspot region in Haiti.ResultsMonthly monitoring data showed that 100% of the 23 CHCs remained functional over the two-year period, with an average of 0.90 monthly meetings held with an 85% attendance rate. A high degree of transparency and diversity in membership helped create strong planning and involvement from members. CHCs conducted an average of 1.6 community-based activities per month, directly engaging an average of 123 people per month. High levels of fluctuation in monthly activities were indicative of local ownership and self-organization. This included school and church sensitization, environmental sanitation campaigns, mass education, support for case referrals and community mobilization during mass drug administration (MDA) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) campaigns. Members drew on the tradition of konbit (mutual self-help), local histories of health and development campaigns and a lexicon of “solidarity” in difficult times as they negotiated their agency as community volunteers. Small incentives played both symbolic and supportive roles. Some level of politicization was viewed as inevitable, even beneficial. Rumours about financial and political profiteering of CHC volunteers took time to dispel while the tendency towards vertical planning in malaria control created conditions that excluded CHCs from some activities. This generated resentment from members who felt sidelined by the government malaria programme.ConclusionThe CHC model was effective in promoting group solidarity and community-based anti-malaria activities over a two-year period in Haiti. With the end of the Malaria Zero Consortium in early 2021, there is now an opportunity to better integrate this programme into the primary healthcare system, evaluate the impact of the CHCs on malaria epidemiology, and promote the greater integration of CHCs with active surveillance and response activities.

Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE): Protocol of a multi-sectoral development project to improve food and nutrition security of secondary city populations in Bangladesh, Kenya and Rwanda.

Secondary cities tend to be better linked with local food systems than primate cities, acting as important platforms to trade agricultural produce with rural surrounding. COVID-19, conflicts and climate change continue to expose inefficiencies in food systems and have further exacerbated malnutrition, calling for substantial food systems transformations. However, tackling current food systems' challenges requires new approaches to ensure food and nutrition security. Nutritious and agroecologically produced food offer the potential to transform food systems by improving diets and alleviating pressure on the environment, as well as by creating jobs and reducing poverty. This paper describes the design of a project by a Swiss public-private consortium to improve food and nutrition security and to reduce poverty in city ecosystems in six secondary cities in Bangladesh, Kenya and Rwanda through governance/policy and supply and demand side interventions. The Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project promotes well-balanced nutrition for city populations through interdisciplinary agricultural, food, and health sector collaborations along city-specific value chains. Adopting a transdiciplinary systems approach, the main interventions of NICE are (i) advocacy and policy dialogue, (ii) building of decentralized institutional capacity in multi-sectoral collaborations, (iii) support of data-driven planning, coordination and resource mobilization, (iv) anchoring of innovations and new approaches in city-level partnerships, (v) capacity building in the agricultural, retail, health and education sectors, as well as (vi) evidence generation from putting policies into practice at the local level. NICE is coordinated by in-country partners and local offices of the Swiss public-private consortium partners. The NICE project seeks to contribute to urban food system resilience and enhanced sustainable nutrition for city populations by (A) strengthening urban governance structures involving key stakeholders including women and youth, (B) generating income for producers along the supply chain, (C) triggering change in producers' and consumers' behavior such that nutritious and agroecologically produced foods are both in demand as well as available and affordable in urban markets, and (D) allowing a scale up of successful approaches to other national and international cities and city networks.

Platelet Functional Testing Via High-Throughput Microtiter Plate-Based Assays.

Platelets play a critical role in hemostasis and thrombosis; therefore, in vitro assays that measure platelet reactivity are fundamental tools to gain insight into these physiologic processes, to diagnose platelet disorders, and to develop antithrombotic therapies. However, conventional platelet assays such as aggregometry, the clinical gold standard for assessing platelet function, are low throughput and require specialized equipment. Since platelets have a finite life span ex vivo, processes to miniaturize and multiplex assays allow a much broader overview of platelet function in significantly less time than conventional assays. Several groups have developed simplified, high-throughput approaches to quantify platelet activation with standard laboratory equipment to lower the barrier of entry to study platelet biology. This article describes a panel of optimized and validated high-throughput microplate assays to comprehensively assess platelet functionality, independently or in combination, to increase throughput and reduce costs. Specifically, following stimulation of platelets, a plate reader can be used to measure light transmission aggregation via absorbance; dense-granule secretion based on ATP-dependent luminescence generation; and cytosolic calcium levels with a cell-permeant, fluorescent Ca2+ -sensitive dye. Additionally, platelets are an easily accessible component of the blood that share signaling pathways with other cells, making them ideal for high-throughput drug screens. The highly adaptable and complementary assays presented in this article can be used to decipher the molecular mechanism underlying platelet activation or to identify novel inhibitors. © 2023 The Authors. Current Protocols published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: Microtiter plate-based light transmission aggregometry Basic Protocol 2: Measuring dense-granule secretion in high-throughput microplate assays Basic Protocol 3: Microtiter plate-based calcium mobilization Support Protocol: Platelet isolation and enumeration.

Increasing Peer Support for Opioid Use Disorder Recovery During COVID-19 Through Digital Health: Protocol for a National Randomized Controlled Trial

Background Increasing numbers of opioid overdoses have been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic, likely reflecting the pandemic’s multiple effects on this already vulnerable population. People in recovery from opioid use disorder (OUD) have reported disproportionate psychosocial distress and isolation, as well as significant disruptions in access to treatment, including peer support, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Peer support is a key component of many evidence-based OUD recovery programs; it improves recovery capital, treatment engagement, and perceived social support and reduces psychosocial distress, particularly when used in conjunction with other evidence-based treatments, such as medication for OUD. Objective This study aims to evaluate a novel mobile peer support app platform among a national sample of individuals in recovery from OUD as an adjunct to usual care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Individuals residing in the United States who are aged ≥18 years; own a smartphone; and self-report being in recovery for an OUD, being in treatment for an OUD (ie, in the past 30 days received prescribed methadone, naltrexone, or buprenorphine), or currently receiving some form of assisted recovery support (n=1300) will be recruited through online, targeted social media advertisements. Eligible participants will be randomly assigned (1:1) to a mobile peer recovery support intervention utilizing a novel smartphone-based app or to a control. Participants will complete 1 baseline survey and then a follow-up survey 1, 3, and 6 months after randomization. The primary aim of recovery capital will be determined by the change in recovery capital between study groups over the 6-month study period. We will also examine treatment engagement by using administrative data from a subset of individuals (n=650) residing in Rhode Island and Indiana. Results As of June 2022, we enrolled 43 participants. Conclusions If this mobile app demonstrates efficacy among a large national sample of patients, it has the potential to augment existing treatment programs, improve recovery capital, and reduce the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on this vulnerable population. Conflicts of Interest None declared. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05405712; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05405712

On the performance of multiple association with mobility support in 5G ultra‐dense networks: Realistic network simulation

AbstractA user equipment (UE) in ultra‐dense networks (UDN) has a high chance of being in close proximity to many cells. multiple association (MA) can be used to serve users with high data rate demands in such a deployment scenario. However, because of the small footprint of the low power node (LPN), mobile users may experience highly frequent cell re‐association issues. This paper focuses on solutions for UEs with high data rate demands as well as mobility management. User‐centric clustering, control, and user‐plane split usages are designed and investigated in coordination with the MA scheme. The clustering involves two stages: a master clustering and user‐centric clustering. This approach goes with mobility management in long term evolution advanced (LTE‐A)/fifth generation (5G) and can easily be integrated with the existing system. By setting some predefined threshold, the scheme attempts to treat UEs separately, based on their speed. In addition, a clustering approach was developed that generates virtual cells with which UEs are associated. The combination of MA with clustering and mobility support improves cooperation between the most appropriate cells to serve a specific UE. To validate the performance gains, synthetic system level and realistic network deployment simulations were used. The results show that the proposed scheme solves the frequent re‐association issues and improves the user throughput performance. In the realistic network evaluation, up to 65.7% decrease in re‐association frequency was obtained for the UEs average speed of 90 Km/h with cluster size . In addition, the percentile UE throughput when showed about 5.5% increase compared with the case when for pedestrian and low speed users.

End-to-end network slicing in vehicular clouds using the MobFogSim simulator

Fog computing and network slicing are drawing attention as promising technologies in modern networks, such as Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs). On the one hand, fog computing lets end-user devices offload part of their computation and data to micro data centres (i.e., fog nodes) that are pervasively deployed in their proximity. On the other hand, network slicing creates different logical networks over a common physical infrastructure, wherein each logical network, called a slice, aims at meeting the requirements and characteristics of a specific class of applications. In this context, simulators allow the evaluation of new solutions in a cost-efficient and repeatable way. MobFogSim is specifically targeted at allowing the evaluation of resource management solutions in modern networks, including the support of device mobility, fog service migration, and network slicing. In this work, we further extend MobFogSim by presenting new functionalities, namely: (i) the support of VANETs; (ii) the modelling of end-to-end (E2E) slices, which include storage and processing resources of fog nodes besides the network resources; and (iii) improvements to the scalability of our simulator. We validate this work by conducting experiments over MobFogSim to assess its improved scalability as well as to test network slicing and fog computing solutions in three different VANET scenarios: (i) fog_only, wherein fog nodes are deployed only at the edge of the fixed infrastructure; (ii) vehicular_only, where fog nodes are provided only by nearby vehicles; and (iii) hybrid, which combines the previous two. Results show that the vehicular_only approach can reduce the latency provided to end-user devices by around 50% with respect to the fog_only approach. Besides, the improved version of MobFogSim reduces the simulation time by around 65% if compared to the previous version.

Routine Immunization Coverage and Immunization Card Retention in Pakistan: Results From a Cross-sectional National Survey.

Immunization is one of the most successful public health interventions available, saving millions of lives from death and disability each year. Therefore, improving immunization coverage is a high priority for the Government of Pakistan and essential to progress toward universal health coverage. This survey reports the national and provincial/regional coverage and determinants of fully, partially, and not-vaccinated children 12-23 months of age, antigen-wise coverage, percentage of home-based vaccination records (HBR) retention, and reasons for nonretention; dropout, timeliness, and prevalence of missed opportunities for simultaneous vaccination (MOSV). The survey was a descriptive cross-sectional national household survey carried out across Pakistan. The survey included 110,790 children 12-23 months old and their caregivers. A World Health Organization (WHO)-Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) Survey questionnaire was adapted to collect information. Data were analyzed using the WHO Vaccination Coverage Quality Indicators (VCQI) software and Stata version 17. Nationally excluding Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Baltistan (GB), the coverage of fully vaccinated children was 76.5%. The likelihood of being fully vaccinated was higher among children of educated parents who belonged to higher wealth quintiles and resided in any province/region other than Balochistan. The main reasons for unimmunization were no faith in immunization, rumors about vaccines, and distance to the facility. About two-thirds (66.2%) of the children had their HBR available, and the main reasons for not having a card were never visiting a health facility and having no awareness about the importance of a card. Dropout was discernible for later doses of vaccines compared with earlier ones. Higher proportions of children received the last doses late by more than two months. Of the 218,002 vaccination visits documented on HBR in the provinces, MOSVs occurred in 17.6% of the visits. The immunization coverage rates provide a direction to strategize the progress to improve the vaccination rates in Pakistan. The country needs to outline the immediate and long-term actions to combat vaccine-preventable diseases, such as escalating integrated immunization campaigns and outreach activities, provision of mobility support, and deploying behavioral interventions as a cross-cutting strategy to improve awareness and reduce misconceptions.

WeECG: a low-cost real-time wireless ECG for new born monitoring with error concealment

This work designs a low-cost wireless HR monitoring device, WeECG, that also stores the data for subsequent analysis. Additional important design requirements include ease of use, baby comfort, support for mobility while insuring also a high level of signal integrity. We first developed a client server architecture using off-the-shelf components and a smartphone running the Android operating system. During the development of the communication module, we tested and compared two separate communication technologies: a popular ultra-low power wireless transceiver with embedded base-band protocols and a BLE communication module. WeECG presented a smaller measurement error when compared with the palpation method and a standard deviation of 0.4069 BPM when the peak interval algorithm was applied. We also examined packet loss and developed strategies to mitigate its effect, making it possible to safely transmit ECG signals. Finally, we also analyse the solution in terms of cost, size and energy consumption.

Classification of Request-Based Mobility Load Balancing in Fog Computing

Every day, more and more data is being produced by the Internet of Things (IoT) applications. IoT data differ in amount, diversity, veracity, and velocity. Because of latency, various types of data handling in cloud computing are not suitable for many time-sensitive applications. When users move from one site to another, mobility also adds to the latency. By placing computing close to IoT devices with mobility support, fog computing addresses these problems. An efficient Load Balancing Algorithm (LBA) improves user experience and Quality of Service (QoS). Classification of Request (CoR) based Resource Adaptive LBA is suggested in this research. This technique clusters fog nodes using an efficient K-means clustering algorithm and then uses a Decision Tree approach to categorize the request. The decision-making process for time-sensitive and delay-tolerable requests is facilitated by the classification of requests. LBA does the operation based on these classifications. The MobFogSim simulation program is utilized to assess how well the algorithm with mobility features performs. The outcome demonstrates that the LBA algorithm’s performance enhances the total system performance, which was attained by (90.8%). Using LBA, several metrics may be examined, including Response Time (RT), delay (d), Energy Consumption (EC), and latency. Through the on-demand provisioning of necessary resources to IoT users, our suggested LBA assures effective resource usage.

Forwarding Strategies for Named Data Networking Based IoT: Requirements, Taxonomy, and Open Research Challenges

The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to efficiently connect various entities, including humans, machines, smart devices, physical environments, and others, so they can communicate and exchange data in real time. However, due to the massive amount of data transferred, the presence of devices with limited resources, heterogeneity, and mobility support would make it difficult to create a robust network with respect to performance in an IoT context. In order to efficiently disseminate the enormous volume of automated data, Named Data Networking (NDN), a viable networking design for the future Internet, has been proposed. NDN has shown great potential for IoT because it has built-in support for naming, caching, mobility, and security. Forwarding strategies play an important role in the successful deployment of NDN-based IoT. In this article, we introduce NDN-based IoT forwarding emphasizing on IoT characteristics and requirements. We classify NDN-based IoT forwarding strategies and then discuss in detail certain exemplary schemes. Additionally, we compare several aspects of current forwarding methods that are now in use, including the types of forwarding strategy, particular issues, and type of solution, assessment metrics, and simulation platform. We wrap up our contribution by outlining the major open research issues that can guide future investigations in this area. We anticipate that this survey will help the community of NDN-based IoT researchers’ understanding of forwarding strategies in IoT environments.

Investigation of binding update schemes in next generation internet protocol mobility

IPv6 development and deployment have opened up several concerns in reference to its transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and its practical challenges. Mobility support is one of the significant features in IPv6 that has improved in every efficient manner than IPv4. Mobile IPv6 allows mobile devices to be connected to the correspondent node even when it moves to the other network. The current location of the mobile node is informed to the home agent and correspondent node through binding update schemes. With the aim of experiencing this improvised network and to perform IPv6 related research, the binding update schemes of mobile IPv6 are explored in this paper. The paper emphasises the number of messages exchanged between the communicants during the location update of mobile devices in the various binding update schemes in mobile IPv6. In addition, it discusses the attacks that are involved in the binding update messages of the existing methods. Finally, the paper focuses on the comparative analysis of the various binding update schemes based on the number of messages communicated between nodes.

A Proposed Scheduling Algorithm for IoT Applications in a Merged Environment of Edge, Fog, and Cloud

With the rapid increase of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications, the ordinary cloud computing paradigm soon becomes outdated. Fog computing paradigm extends services provided by a cloud to the edge of network in order to satisfy requirements of IoT applications such as low latency, locality awareness, low network traffic, mobility support, and so forth. Task scheduling in a Cloud-Fog environment plays a great role to assure diverse computational demands are met. However, the quest for an optimal solution for task scheduling in the such environment is exceedingly hard due to diversity of IoT applications, heterogeneity of computational resources, and multiple criteria. This study approaches the task scheduling problem with aims at improving service quality and load balancing in a merged computing system of Edge-Fog-Cloud. We propose a Multi-Objective Scheduling Algorithm (MOSA) that takes into account the job characteristics and utilization of different computational resources. The proposed solution is evaluated in comparison to other existing policies named LB, WRR, and MPSO. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm improves the average response time while maintaining load balancing in comparison to three existing policies. Obtained results with the use of real workloads validate the outcomes.

On the Design of an Algorithm for Mobility Management Over Fog Geographical Allocation for Healthcare Applications

Healthcare applications need an immediate response with minimal latency. Fog computing provides real-time monitoring and computation at the network edge so the data collected by Internet of Things (IoT) devices can be analyzed with minimal cost in real-time. However, dealing with end-user mobility becomes even more challenging with fog-assisted IoT healthcare frameworks because low latency in mobility support and fog node locating is a vital prerequisite. In this paper, we propose a fog node (FN) allocation and mobility-adapted fog computing architecture. The architecture is based on an algorithm that offers low latency for location-sensitive operations and service stability with high data broadcast quality for user mobility in fog computing. In our proposed architecture, it is no longer obligatory to either carry out a job on, or redirect it to, the cloud but instead connect with other FNs to continue with a request for a new job. The proposed architecture minimizes average network lateness by 40%–50%, bandwidth by 30%–40%, and end-to-end communication by 35%–55%. Additionally, the utilization of the FN computational resources is maximized.

Mental health supported accommodation services in a post-deinstitutionalised era

The movement towards deinstitutionalisation of mental health services has created a space for new and community-based solutions in western countries, but the field still seems to lack coherent ideological and practical features. This is also evident for issues related to housing. The aim of this article is to examine the characteristics of supportive accommodation services for people with psychiatric disabilities in Sweden, according to the experiences of local service providers. The focus is placed on the services’ organizational setting, main orientation, and conceptual content. This article is based on a multiple case study of ten Swedish municipalities, purposely selected regarding size, location, and demographic features. Data mainly consist of interviews with key informants in the social service organisation. The results indicate the emergence of a new generation of service users with complex needs, who challenge both the organisation and the content of the service offered. Group homes and mobile housing support appeared as pillars in the service supply, but several local and pragmatically oriented solutions were also identified, as well as ambitions to scale down the extent of institutional settings. The guiding idea present at most sites is a strive towards increased autonomy among service users.