JMM Abstracts 

Vol.11 No.1&2 April 2, 2015

A Mobile Omnidirectional Wheelchair: Its Implementation and Experimental Evaluation (1-9)
       
Keita Matsuo, Donald Elmazi, Yi Liu, and Leonard Barolli
In recent years, more and more convenient facilities and equipments have been developed in order to satisfy the requirements of elderly people and disabled people. Among them, wheelchair is a common one which is widely used and can provide the user with many benefits, such as maintaining mobility, continuing or broadening community and social activities, conserving strength and energy, and enhancing quality of life. The wheelchair body must be compact enough to go through narrow doorways. The wheelchair must be wide enough to prevent the patient from falling on the floor. A large footprint is therefore desirable for stability and safety, while wheelchairs must conform to dimensional constraints. In this paper, we present the implementation and evaluation of an omnidirectional wheelchair, which has a small size and can move easily in narrow spaces.  In order to evaluate the implemented wheelchair, we carried out some experiments and discussed some implementation and application issues. The experimental results show that the implemented wheelchair in general works properly.

Implementation and Evaluation of A Fuzzy-based Cluster-Head Selection System for Wireless Sensor Networks Considering Network Traffic (10-20)
       
Donald Elmazi, Keita Matsuo, Tetsuya Oda, Makoto Ikeda, and Leonard Barolli
There are many fundamental problems that Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) research will have to address in order to ensure a reasonable degree of cost and system quality. Some of these problems include sensor node clustering, Cluster Head (CH) selection and energy dissipation. Cluster formation and CH selection are important problems in WSNs applications and can drastically affect the WSNs energy. However, selecting of the CH is not easy in different environments which may have different characteristics. In order to deal with this problem, in our previous work, we have proposed a power reduction algorithm for WNSs based on fuzzy logic and number of neighbor nodes. In this paper, we propose a new fuzzy-based CH selection system considering network traffic to improve the performance of the previous system. We evaluate the proposed system by simulations and show that it has a good CH selection.

Evaluation of a RFID-Based System of a Table Type Rfid Reader (21-33)
       
Kiyotaka Fujisaki
RFID system is one of the key technology to bring efficiency to library services such as the automatic rental of book and return. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of table type RFID reader. Furthermore, when RFID reader is on the metallic plate (which affected the performance of RFID), we investigate the relation between the reading rate and the distance between metallic plate and RFID reader. From the experiments, it is clearly shown that communication area decreases and becomes near the center of reader's antenna as the distance between the tag and the reader increases. The influence of the metallic plate to the reader depends on the gap between the metallic plate and the reader.

Improving Reliability of JXTA-Overlay Platform: Evaluation for e-Learning and Trustworthiness (34-49)
       
Yi Liu, Shinji Sakamoto, Keita Matsuo, Makoto Ikeda, and Leonard Barolli
We have implemented JXTA-Overlay platform, which is a middleware built on top of the JXTA specification. The JXTA-Overlay defines a set of protocols that standardize how different devices may communicate and collaborate among them. Also, it provides a set of basic functionalities, primitives, intended to be as complete as possible to satisfy the needs of most JXTA-based applications. In P2P systems, each peer has to obtain information of peers and propagate it to other peers. The trustworthiness of peers is very important for safe communication in P2P systems. In this paper, we propose and evaluate a fuzzy-based system to improve the reliability of JXTA-Overlay platform. The JXTA-Overlay is integrated with Internet of Things (IoT) by using RFID technology and SmartBox. We evaluate JXTA-Overlay platform for e-learning and trustworthiness. The experimental results show that by using JXTA-Overlay is possible to decide the situation of learners. The simulation results have shown that the proposed system has a good performance and can select trusted peers to connect to JXTA-Overlay platform.

Performance Evaluation of Sightseeing Contents Considering Different Computer Skill and Devices (50-65)
       
Kaoru Sugita, Ken Nishimur,_ and Masao Yokota
In our previous work, we already proposed a user interface switching function as a new concept of ‘universal multimedia access’ to narrow the digital divide by providing appropriate multimedia expressions according to users’ (mental and physical) abilities, computer facilities, and network environments. The user interface switching provides a User Interface (UI) with appropriate operations and media according to their computer skill and computer facilities. In order to evaluate our approach for user interface switching, we have constructed sightseeing contents and introduce 28 spots in 6 prefectures of Japan providing 9 types of user interfaces in HTML5 and Java Script. In this paper, we discuss the performance evaluation for the sightseeing contents.

An Interactive e-Learning System for Improving Students Motivation and Self-learning by Using Smartphones (66-74)
       
Noriyasu Yamamoto
In this paper, we present an interactive learning system, which uses a method of acquiring / utilizing the study records for improving the students learning motivation for learning. During the lecture, the students use the smartphone for learning. The results showed that the proposed study record system has a good effect for improving students’ motivation for learning. For the professors of the university, it is difficult to offer all necessary information to the students. In addition, they cannot provide the information to satisfy all students because the quantity of knowledge of each student attending a lecture is different. Therefore, for higher level lectures than intermediate level, the students should study by themselves the learning materials. In this study, we show that our method of acquiring / utilizing the study record promotes the self-learning of the student. In this research, we carried experiments during real lectures at the intermediate level. The results showed that the proposed study record system can improve the degree of self-learning after the lecture.

Adaptive Remeshing for Edge Length Interval Constraining (75-89)
       
João Vitor de Sá Hauck, Ramon Nogueira Da Silva, Marcelo Bernardes Vieira,
       
and Rodrigo Luis de Souza da Silva
This paper presents a method for explicitly remesh an arbitrary input surface into a mesh with all edge lengths within a fixed interval. The process starts with an arbitrary triangular 2-manifold mesh. The proposed method is iterative and uses stellar operations to achieve the necessary amount of vertices and triangles. It also applies a technique to uniformly distribute the vertices of the model over the surface. At earlier stages of the algorithm, this technique is an approximation of the Laplacian filter. In order to preserve the geometry of the model, some constraints are added to the filter. At later stages, we replace the global uniformization strategy with a nonlinear optimizer, that performs only locally. A projection step is also applied at each iteration, to prevent the geometric distortions caused by the method. We also apply a post processing step to correct the final edges, if the standard iterations do not converge. Our method results in a very regular mesh, with uniform distribution of vertices. The dual trivalent mesh obtained by this mesh can be useful for several applications. The main contribution of this work is a new approach for edge length equalization, with explicit constraints definition, higher computational performance and lower global geometry losses if compared to previous works.

A Video Tensor Self-descriptor Based on Block Matching (90-102)
       
Helena Almeida Maia, Ana Mara De Oliveira Figueiredo, Fabio Luiz Marinho De Oliveira,
       
Virginia
Fernandes Mota, and Marcelo Bernardes Vieira
This paper presents a different and simple approach for video description using only block matching vectors, considering that most works on the field are based on the gradient of image intensities. We first divide the image into blocks of different sizes. The block matching method returns a displacement vector for each block, which we use as motion information to obtain orientation tensors and to generate the final self-descriptor, since it depends only on the input video. The resulting descriptor is evaluated by a classification of KTH, UCF11 and Hollywood2 video datasets with a non-linear SVM classifier. Our results indicate that the method runs fast and has fairly competitive results compared to similar approaches. It is suitable when the time response is a major application issue. It also generates compact descriptors which are desirable to describe large datasets.

Tracing Fast-Changing Landscape of Study on Big Data (103-118)
       
Weiguang Wang, Xi Zhang, Patricia Ordonez de Pablos, and Jinghuai She
This study traced the fast-changing landscape of study on big data. Three hottest aspects of big data study are: technologies, application to academic study and real value in big data. With the rising of mobile multimedia and social media, more and more data were produced in our daily life. Traditional methods and technologies are inefficient or even powerless facing such large scales of data. Also, academics gained greater abilities to produce much more data than before, but had few good methods of analysing big data. Therefore, new technologies targeting efficient utilization of big data are being proposed, like MapReduce, Hadoop and so on. Methods of applying big data to academic study are also being discussed intensively. Furthermore, the political and business value hidden in big data is very attractive. People believe that although some profits have been made, much more are hidden in big data to be dug out. In this paper, current stage, influential references, outstanding authors, important institutions, top-tier journals and evolution of hot topics are all analysed with help of CiteSpace to map big data study. Finally, forecasting on development of big data study was made to provide help for future study.

Mobile and Multimedia Learning in Preschool Education (119-133)
       
Athanasios Drigas, Georgia Kokkalia, and Miltiadis D. Lytras
The growing use of mobile and multimedia learning in our day lives has affected different domains of education. Nowadays, recent development in the role of kindergarten –preschool education in children’s progress includes the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and especially the support of mobile and multimedia tools. Mobile and multimedia are recognized as the tools that can foster the knowledge and the experiences for this crucial age and the support of specific areas in kindergarten according to the educational perspective is thought significant. In this paper we present an overview of the most representative studies of the last decade (2003-2014) which concentrates on the skills that are examined in kindergarten (early literacy, early mathematics, cognitive, social-emotional, motor) and are supported by mobile and multimedia educational tools. The effectiveness of them in special education is also examined.

The TPACK Model to Prepare and Evaluate Lesson Plans: An Experience with Pre-service Teachers Using Social Networks and Digital Resources (134-146)
       
Maria Graciela Badilla Quintana and Diana Sabillón Zelaya
It is essential to understand and manage technology for pre-service teachers in order to propose methodological, educational and assessment strategies that allow them to innovate and respond adequately to the demands of the educational system. The objective is to identify the elements that pre-service teachers use in learning situations for the production of digital educational resources created to teach using social networks through the TPACK rubric. This research was developed focused on a quantitative methodology and a descriptive design. The sample was formed by 32 pre-service teachers who attend an Information and Communication Technology Course in 2014, at the Faculty of Education, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción. Main results obtained from the analysis of three educational resources (blog, Prezi and cartoons) indicate that they possess a low level of integration of curricular objectives and technologies; however, results show that students have a high level to select the technological resources in the design of didactic activities. It can be concluded that incorporation of the TPACK model, positively helps pre-service students to know how to integrate the teaching resources in an innovative way. It enables the achievement of an adequate articulation of technology in teaching and learning.

Mobile Learning and Higher Education: A Theoretical Overview (147-156)
       
Monica Aresta, Luis Pedro, and Carlos Santos
Nowadays, mobile technologies play an important role in Higher Education students’ academic and social lives. When the digital and "always-connected" dimension of the students’ lives becomes an issue of crescent importance, Higher Education Institutions face the need to develop approaches focused on the integration of mobile devices in learning processes. When the adoption of mobile technology for teaching and learning is recognized as an important area of educational research, this paper reviews recent literature on mobile learning in Higher Education settings and summarizes the findings of empirical investigations. Reviewed literature uncovered some benefits and limitations of the adoption of mobile devices in education, showing that Higher Education students’ value the opportunities and improvements brought by mobile learning as well as reveal some frustration and concerns. In the centre of everything and as one of the mains reason for either adopting of rejecting mobile learning, lies the perception of students regarding the added value of mobile devices in their learning processes.

Fuzzy, Neural Network and Expert Systems Methodologies and Applications: A Review (157-176)
       
Ul Amin Rooh, AiJun Li, and Malik M. Ali
The rapid growth in the field of artificial intelligence from past one decade has a significant impact on various application areas i.e. health, security, home appliances among many. In this paper we aim to review artificial intelligence methodologies and their potential applications intended for variable purposes i.e. Agriculture, applied sciences, business, engineering, finance, management etc. For this purpose articles from past one decade (from 2004 to 2013) are reviewed in order to explore the most recent research advancements in this domain. The review includes 172 articles gathered from related sources including conference proceedings and academic journals. We have categorized the selected articles into four main categories i.e. fuzzy systems, neural network based systems, neuro fuzzy systems and expert systems. Furthermore, expert systems are further classified into three categories: (i) rule based expert systems, (ii) knowledge based expert systems and (iii) intelligent agents. This review presents research implications for practitioners regarding integration of artificial intelligence techniques with classical approaches and suggestions for exploration of AI techniques in variable applications.

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