Ubiquitous Environment Research Articles

Real-Time IoV Task Offloading through Dynamic Assignment of SDN Controllers: Algorithmic Approaches and Performance Evaluation

Task offloading in Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is very crucial. The widespread use of IoT applications frequently interacts with the cloud, thereby increasing the load on centralized cloud controllers. Centralized network management in cloud infrastructure is not feasible for the latest IoT trends. Decentralized and decoupled network management in Software Defined Networks (SDN) can enhance IoV services. SDN and IoV coupling can better handle task offloading in ubiquitous and dynamic IoV environments. However, appropriate SDN controller assignment and allotment strategies play a prominent role in IoV communication. In this study, we developed algorithms for SDN controller assignment and allotment namely 1) Next Fit Allotment and Assignment of SDN Controller in IoV (NFAAC), 2) Dynamic Bin Packing Allotment and Assignment of SDN Controller in IoV (DBPAAC), and 3) Dynamic Focused and Bidding Allotment and Assignment algorithm of SDN Controller in IoV (DFBAAC). These algorithms were simulated using open-flow switch controllers. The controllers were modeled as Road Side Units (RSU) that can allocate bandwidth and resource requirements to vehicles on the road. Our results show that our proposed algorithm works efficiently for SDN controller assignment and allocation, outperforming the existing work by a significant improvement of 13.5%. The working of the proposed algorithms are verified, tested, and analytically presented in this study.

The Effectiveness and Privacy Preservation of IoT on Ubiquitous Learning: Modern Learning Paradigm to Enhance Higher Education

The progress made in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has played a crucial role in turning the Internet of Things (IoT) into a reality. IoT is an emerging technology that refers to networks of interconnected and Internet-enabled objects equipped with sensors, processors, and actuators that interact with each other to create significant collaboration and interaction environments. The field of education is one of the areas where IoT can be applied. However, the implementation of IoT poses security and privacy risks, such as unauthorized access, denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, and interference with wireless signals where IoT devices collect a significant amount of data, including user’s personal information like identity, location, and daily behavior. Therefore, it is crucial to protect users’ privacy in IoT applications. The innovative Ubiquitous Learning Environments (ULEs) have been created by ubiquitous computing technologies (mobile, wireless, network), which provide learners with learning experiences beyond the traditional classroom in both the real and virtual worlds. Ubiquitous learning (U-learning) is an emerging technology as a result of the tremendous technological revolution of ICT. U-learning is a novel learner-centered approach that aims to enhance learning, motivation, and creativity by utilizing innovative technology and IoT. U-learning enables learners to access the appropriate learning content, collaborate with the right learning partners, and engage in self-learning at the right time and place in a ubiquitous computing environment. To support learners in developing their social skills, in this study a framework for implementing the ULE based on the Internet of Things is designed, which consists of three main layers: perception, network, and application. The article explores the effects of IoT on education and how U-learning, which incorporates IoT to enhance learning experiences, has the potential to replace traditional classroom learning. Furthermore, the article addresses privacy preservation measures for different layers within the IoT environment and ULE. A framework for implementing the ULE model is in progress, which is a part of our future work.

A biometric‐based implicit authentication protocol with privacy protection for ubiquitous communication environments

SummaryDue to the proliferation of the wireless communication technologies, we are now in the era of ubiquitous computing. People can enjoy services almost in any time and any location based on the mobile intelligent devices. Meanwhile, more and more personal information are transmitted through the network. To protect these sensitive information, authentication and privacy protection are primary concerns in ubiquitous communication environments. However, traditional physical‐based biometric authentication scheme usually requires explicit cooperation of the user, which is inconvenient to the users. In order to solve this problem, a behavior biometric authentication protocol with privacy protection is designed using matrix multiplication and homomorphic encryption for ubiquitous communication environments. The correctness, security, and privacy protection properties are proved with security analysis. Performance evaluation shows that our protocol achieves stronger security and higher communication efficiency compared with other related protocols, which makes it very suitable for ubiquitous communication environments because communication consumes much more energy than computation does in mobile communication.

Can Emotional Intelligence Increase the Positive Psychological Capital and Life Satisfaction of Chinese University Students?

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has led to dramatic changes in the learning environment and living conditions of college students, who face enormous psychological challenges in the ubiquitous AI environment. Modern student-management research has focused on developing mechanisms for enhancing life satisfaction, alleviating emotional anxiety, and improving self-confidence. This study aims to investigate the influence of participation in cultural and artistic activities on college students' life satisfaction. Through a questionnaire survey and data analysis of 708 college students, this study found a significant positive relationship between participation in cultural and artistic activities and college students' life satisfaction. Further mediation analysis showed that positive psychological capital played a mediating role between participation in cultural and artistic activities and life satisfaction. Additionally, emotional intelligence was found to play a moderating role in this relationship, and college students with higher emotional intelligence had a more significant effect on positive psychological capital in terms of participation in cultural and artistic activities. The results of this study herein provide a new understanding of life satisfaction research among college students and offer practical guidance for promoting college students' mental health and psychological well-being. This research also demonstrates the importance of participation in cultural and artistic activities and encourages college students to be active therein to enhance their psychological capital and improve life satisfaction. Furthermore, the cultivation and enhancement of emotional intelligence is emphasized as a key factor for college students to improve their psychological well-being through cultural and artistic activities.

AI and Digital Transformation in Higher Education: Vision and Approach of a Specific University in Vietnam

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is opening up new opportunities and challenges for all industries, professions, and fields, aiming to bring humanity more optimal tools and services. During the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digital transformation has been one of the most critical problems. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT) are two technologies that have the potential to cause the biggest breakout to evolve in the educational domain. In recent years, digital transformation has seen implementation across all sectors, including education, healthcare, agriculture, transportation, and other smart ecosystems. Among those areas, education, especially higher education, is among the most challenging due to the diversity in training programs, duration, and subjects. The Internet of Things makes it possible to create smart and ubiquitous learning environments, while artificial intelligence can completely transform the way we learn and teach. In this paper, we present the digital transformation process in higher education in Vietnam and internationally and analyze some characteristics of Vietnamese higher education in the digital transformation process. Moreover, we present the vision, approach, and challenges to digital transformation at universities of low- and middle-income countries from the perspective of the Hung Yen University of Technology and Education in Vietnam.

MUS3E: A Mobility Ubiquitous Sensor Edge Environment for the Elderly

With the ageing of society, the number of households with older individuals or couples living alone is increasing. An “ageing-in-place” approach allows older adults to continue to live at home and receive help only when needed. However, this approach is insufficient for emergencies, such as falls, as well as for individuals with gradually deteriorating health conditions, such as frailty. Unexpected accidents significantly reduce the quality of life (QoL) of older adults. This paper proposes a new framework, the mobility ubiquitous sensor edge environment (MUS3E), to digitally transform ordinary houses to detect the movement of older individuals throughout their home environment and to notify family members and care providers of residents’ health status and safety information. The framework can be easily and inexpensively installed in any home, transforming an ordinary house into a smart home with an automated function for monitoring older residents. It uses ambient sensors such as passive infrared ray sensors to automatically measure health conditions by measuring factors such as walking speed. Residents need not interact with or control the system and can go about their daily lives. Since the sensors used in this system are mass-produced consumer products, they are inexpensive and easily replaceable, as there are many alternatives. In this study, we were able to demonstrate the practically and feasibility of this framework using a prototype that uses open architecture Internet of Things (IoT) software (Debian GNU/Linux 11, Arduino 1.8.19, ESP8266 2.7.4, ESP32 1.0.6, PubSubClient 2.8.0, ESPPerfectTime 0.3.0, mosquitto 2.0.11) components to digitally transform the living environment of older individuals.

MODELING OF AN ADAPTIVE E-LEARNING SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED LEARNING PERFORMANCE

Majority of the online learning systems in use today, lack proper integration of adaptive, collaborative, personalized and ubiquitous concepts in their design and implementation. Integration of these basic concepts in online learning systems will enable adaptation, individualization, and collaboration of learning resources to learners’ preferences, with an added advantage of accessibility to online resources anywhere and anytime. Hence, the research proposes an Adaptive E-Learning System (AES) model that incorporates activities sequencing in a personalised, adaptive, collaborative and ubiquitous learning environment. The system model consists of the system (software) architectural diagram and mathematical model of activity sequence. The design is presented using the UML activity diagram and the class diagram. The full implementation of the system is currently being carried out and is being tested with real life cases.

A Novel Cloud Enabled Access Control Model for Preserving the Security and Privacy of Medical Big Data

In the context of healthcare, big data refers to a complex compilation of digital medical data collected from many sources that are difficult to manage with normal technology and software due to its size and complexity. These big data are useful in various aspects of healthcare, such as disease diagnosis, early prevention of diseases, and predicting epidemics. Even though medical big data has many advantages and a lot of potential for revolutionizing healthcare, it also has a lot of drawbacks and problems, of which security and privacy are of the utmost concern, owing to the severity of the complications once the medical data is compromised. On the other hand, it is evident that existing security and privacy safeguards in healthcare organizations are insufficient to protect their massive, big data repositories and ubiquitous environment. Thus, motivated by the synthesizing of the current knowledge pertaining to the security and privacy of medical big data, including the countermeasures, in the study, firstly, we provide a comprehensive review of the security and privacy of medical big data, including countermeasures. Secondly, we propose a novel cloud-enabled hybrid access control framework for securing the medical big data in healthcare organizations, and the result of this research indicates that the proposed access control model can withstand most cyber-attacks, and it is also proven that the proposed framework can be utilized as a primary base to build secure and safe medical big data solutions. Thus, we believe this research would be useful for future researchers to comprehend the knowledge on the security and privacy of medical big data and the development of countermeasures.

Synthesis of Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes based Electronic Sensors for Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to advance devices other than computers that are connected to the Internet and can send and receive information. IoT is a new paradigm that has transformed traditional lifestyles into high-tech ones. It is the notion of a ubiquitous computer environment in which custom-sized electronics are effortlessly implanted into common things. Electronic sensors at the heart of the IoT detect physical/environmental occurrences, translate these measurements into electrical signals, and wirelessly transfer the data for remote computation. Indeed, the 5G communication and cloud computing stimulate the research in applications of carbon nanotubes in electronic devices. CNTs have demonstrated potential applications in electronics, biosensing, artificial intelligence and the Internet of ThingsIn present study, we report the synthesis of Multi Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) at 600C on Zinc Oxide (ZnO) catalyst coated silicon substrate by thermal evaporation technique. As-grown MWCNTs are characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). High density growth of MWCNTs have been confirmed by SEM image. Catalyst nanoparticles play very important roles in the decomposition of the hydrocarbon source and to provide nucleation site for growth of MWCNTs. High MWCNT density is required for IoT-based sensors with high performance, sensitivity, selectivity, and distant sensing. Because IoT not only provides services but also creates massive amounts of data. Hence, this study would be helpful for the next generation 5G communication and cloud computing stimulate to enhance living style.

Smartphones as Smart Tools for Science and Engineering Laboratory: A Review

This article reviews a decade of research in transforming smartphones into smart measurement tools for science and engineering laboratories. High-precision sensors have been effectively utilized with specific mobile applications to measure physical parameters. Linear, rotational, and vibrational motions can be tracked and studied using built-in accelerometers, magnetometers, gyroscopes, proximity sensors, or ambient light sensors, depending on each experiment design. Water and sound waves were respectively captured for analysis by smartphone cameras and microphones. Various optics experiments were successfully demonstrated by replacing traditional lux meters with built-in ambient light sensors. These smartphone-based measurements have increasingly been incorporated into high school and university laboratories. Such modernized science and engineering experimentations also provide a ubiquitous learning environment during the pandemic period.

A Literature Review on the Application of Ibeacon in Education Settings

With the advent of iOS 7, a new technology from Apple called iBeacon appeared, iBeacon made a significant step forward in the Internet of Things (IoT) (Townsend, 2023). As technology is becoming a more central part of people’s lives, people’s devices start to talk to each other more and iBeacon helps a device figure out what is nearby and what it can talk to. Currently, iBeacon is also widely applied in education settings, which promotes heated discussion on its potential in education sector application (Spachos & Mackey, 2018), many publications have also been issued in the academia on the application of iBeacon in education settings, but so far, there has not been any review on these studies. This article presents a literature review of the studies on the application of iBeacon in education settings published from 2016 to 2020, aiming to discuss the widespread application of iBeacon in educational contexts, and shed light on its innovative potential and revolutionary potential; the discussions on using iBeacon in smart green building courses, context-aware ubiquitous learning environments, flipped classroom learning, and smart campus classroom attendance system show that iBeacon can efficaciously support teachers’ instructional activities and students’ learning activities, help teachers quickly obtain students' learning situation in classroom and then may adjust their instructional approaches or contents, and help pupils effectually engage with their daily learning and develop their learning skills.

Construction of SIoT CG virtual reality framework under ubiquitous clouds environment

Construction of SIoT CG virtual reality framework under ubiquitous clouds environment

ED-Sense, platformă tehnologică pentru educație personalizată în era digitală bazată pe inteligență artificială și conținut interactiv

The article analyses the current platforms for digital education, identifying the key needs of participants in the educational process and presenting innovative solutions, based on recent research and well-founded theories, to respond to these needs effectively. The EdSense platform addresses the challenges of digitizing education with a creative approach, integrating artificial intelligence and augmented reality to create a ubiquitous, accessible and personalized learning environment. Gamification elements and augmented reality enrich the learning experience, turning it into an engaging and collaborative adventure. Adapting flexibly to the school curriculum and individual student needs through its artificial intelligence component, it offers an adaptive, interactive and deeply personalized learning style. The analysis of similar approaches, as well as the integrative, complex, but well-modularized architecture of the system, profiles EdSense as a reference model for the future of digital education.

Trust Assessment Skills Among Close Friends in a Ubiquitous Social Media Environment

Trust Assessment Skills Among Close Friends in a Ubiquitous Social Media Environment

Intelligent Multilevel Fusion System for Wireless Sensor Network Virtualization Using Deep Reinforcement Learning in Education

wireless sensor networks (WSN) in ubiquitous learning environments to enhance teaching and learning quality. WSNs can serve as a learner-to-context interface, enabling learners to interact with the learning environment while collecting contextual information. With the help of WSN virtualization technology, learners can leverage different virtualized characteristics of the state-of-the-art WSN and engage with the ubiquitous learning paradigm to gain knowledge and skills. The report examines the current state of WSN virtualization and its potential for sharing in this context. Research concerns are discussed in-depth, and an in-depth overview of the current state of the art is provided. This paper presents the fundamentals of WSN virtualization and argues for its usefulness. By allowing learners to learn while on the go in an environment that interests them, gadgets and embedded computers work together to keep students connected to their learning environment. Recent years have seen an increase in interest in deep reinforcement learning technologies. Despite the availability of several internet resources for researching this field, it might be challenging for those just getting started to design effective teaching systems for autonomous vehicles. This article offers a model for a highly effective and interactive ubiquitous learning environment system based on ubiquitous computing technology. An educational system based on deep reinforcement learning and system development is developed in this project using the WSNV-ES method. The web-based system that has been designed can do the following: settings for reinforcing student success, learning scripts to run, and the learning state to monitor are described.

The Emerging Technologies of Digital Payments and Associated Challenges: A Systematic Literature Review

The interplay between finance and technology with the use of the internet triggered the emergence of digital payment technologies. Such technological innovation in the payment industry is the foundation for financial inclusion. However, despite the continuous progress and potential of moving the payment landscape towards digital payments and connecting the population to the ubiquitous digital environment, some critical issues need to be addressed to achieve a more harmonious inclusive and sustainable cashless society. The study aims to provide a comprehensive literature review on the emerging digital payment technologies and associated challenges. By systematically reviewing existing empirical studies, this study puts forward the state-of-the-art classification of digital payment technologies and presents four categories of digital payment technologies: card payment, e-payment,mobile payment and cryptocurrencies. Subsequently, the paper presents the key challenges in digital payment technologies categorized into broad themes: social, economic, technical, awareness and legal. The classification and categorization of payment technologies and associated challenges can be useful to both researchers and practitioners to understand, elucidate and develop a coherent digital payment strategy.

Types and Sources of Microplastics; The Ubiquitous Environment Contaminant: A Review

Types and Sources of Microplastics; The Ubiquitous Environment Contaminant: A Review

In the Digital Age of 5G Networks: Seamless Privacy-Preserving Authentication for Cognitive-Inspired Internet of Medical Things

Cognitive-inspired Internet of Medical Things (CI-IoMT) combines cognitive science and artificial intelligence to interact with humans and ubiquitous digital environments. The Internet of Things devices generate massive amounts of data and process it with cognitive computing to perform efficient analysis at the edge nodes. Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) uses the said analysis to design smart communication systems to facilitate ubiquitous services. However, the protocols used in IoMT use conventional number theory systems that are vulnerable to quantum-computer attacks. Therefore, an efficient CI-IoMT scheme is required to handle access privacy, preservation, and trust guarantee. This article presents an identity-based seamless privacy preservation (IB-SPP) for CI-IoMT to authorize smart device communications. It is entirely based on fast user authentication to shorten access timing in an emergency situation. The simulation analysis shows that the proposed IB-SPP scheme consumes less response time and minimum data volume than other existing schemes.

UbiAccess: an Instrument to Assess System Access in Ubiquitous Scenarios

Abstract Ubiquitous computing has brought new challenges for the design of scenarios for people–technology interactions. Despite considerable research on formal accessibility standards, related work has hardly investigated them in ubiquitous computing contexts. In this work, we investigate means of analyzing accessibility aspects in ubiquitous environments based on two standard instruments: the Universal Design (UD) Principles and Guidelines and the W3C-WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium). Both instruments were applied to the context of socioenactive ubiquitous environments, providing insights into their applicability and shortcomings. As a result of this analysis we constructed UbiAccess, an instrument to evaluate access in ubiquitous scenarios, which combines and extends characteristics of both UD and W3C-WCAG, filling in some of the gaps we identified. The application of UbiAccess to a case study shows the advantages of its use in informing the evaluation of access in ubiquitous scenarios.

Data Acquisition Network Configuration and Real-Time Energy Consumption Characteristic Analysis in Intelligent Workshops for Social Manufacturing

To achieve energy-saving production, one critical step is to calculate and analyze the energy consumption and energy efficiency of machining processes. However, considering the complexity and uncertainty of discrete manufacturing job shops, it is a significant challenge to conduct data acquisition and energy consumption data processing of manufacturing systems. Meanwhile, under the growing trend of personalization, social manufacturing is an emerging technical practice that allows prosumers to build individualized services with their partners, which produces new requirements for energy data processing. Thus, a real-time energy consumption characteristic analysis method in intelligent workshops for social manufacturing is established to realize data processing and energy efficiency evaluation automatically. First, an energy-conservation production architecture for intelligent manufacturing processes is introduced, and the configuration of a data acquisition network is described to create a ubiquitous manufacturing environment. Then, an energy consumption characteristic analysis method is proposed based on the process time window. Finally, a case study of coupling-part manufacturing verifies the feasibility and applicability of the proposed method. This method realizes a combination of social manufacturing and real-time energy characteristic analysis. Meanwhile, the energy consumption characteristics provide a decision basis for the energy-saving control of intelligent manufacturing workshops.