Named data networking for efficient IoT-based disaster management in a smart campus

Disasters are uncertain occasions that can impose a drastic impact on human life and building infrastructures. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) plays a vital role in coping with such situations by enabling and integrating multiple technological resources to develop Disaster Management Systems (DMSs). In this context, a majority of the existing DMSs use networking architectures based upon the Internet Protocol (IP) focusing on location-dependent communications. However, IP-based communications face the limitations of inefficient bandwidth utilization, high processing, data security, and excessive memory intake. To address these issues, Named Data Networking (NDN) has emerged as a promising communication paradigm, which is based on the Information-Centric Networking (ICN) architecture. An NDN is among the self-organizing communication networks that reduces the complexity of networking systems in addition to provide content security. Given this, many NDN-based DMSs have been proposed. The problem with the existing NDN-based DMS is that they use a PULL-based mechanism that ultimately results in higher delay and more energy consumption. In order to cater for time-critical scenarios, emergence-driven network engineering communication and computation models are required. In this paper, a novel DMS is proposed, i.e., Named Data Networking Disaster Management (NDN-DM), where a producer forwards a fire alert message to neighbouring consumers. This makes the nodes converge according to the disaster situation in a more efficient and secure way. Furthermore, we consider a fire scenario in a university campus and mobile nodes in the campus collaborate with each other to manage the fire situation. The proposed framework has been mathematically modeled and formally proved using timed automata-based transition systems and a real-time model checker, respectively. Additionally, the evaluation of the proposed NDM-DM has been performed using NS2. The results prove that the proposed scheme has reduced the end-to-end delay up from 2% to 10% and minimized up to 20% energy consumption, as energy improved from 3% to 20% compared with a state-of-the-art NDN-based DMS

Contested heritage: an analysis of the physical transformation of Derry/Londonderry’s siege monument

Transformations of Derry/Londonderry’s medieval city walls during the twentieth century have shaped an urbanism of segregated settlements within a city of religious confrontation. The heritage of military blockades, peace lines and watchtowers imposed upon the city’s Walls has influenced the disintegration of public space and created areas of no man’s land around the peripheries of the monument. The aim of this paper is to examine physical transformation and trace the consequences of urban planning regarding the historic city Walls. This change includes the shifting of residential settlements in the Bogside/Fountain areas and the movement of Protestant settlements towards the Waterside of Derry/Londonderry. The history and heritage of the Walls are analysed by focusing on four periods: 1600, when the first medieval walls were constructed; the housing crisis of 1948; the 1968 urban area plan and the beginning of the ‘Troubles’; and the present day. This analysis offers an understanding of the spatial relationships between enclaves and the monument over key moments of conflict and political change. The paper reveals that the manifestations of the Walls have aided in the further division of religiously segregated communities in Derry/Londonderry

Virtual platforms for heritage preservation in the Middle East: the case of medieval Cairo

Much of the effort in VH is directed towards accurate representation of historic structures, objects or artefacts. There is little attention is paid, however, to the human aspects of city life, the intangible heritage to which people can actually relate. Digital models of historic buildings and spaces only give a sense of precision. Yet, rituals, human attitude and cultural traditions remained a gap in current research and advanced technology in heritage visualization. Virtual Heritage Environments (VHE) suffer from the lack of ‘thematic interactivity’ due to the limited cultural content and engaging modules largely used in photorealistic video gaming systems. In order to approach virtual fidelity and accurate reproduction of historic environments, this paper reports on a research process to investigate and incorporate a Cultural-feed into digital platforms of Virtual Heritage. In doing so, the paper focuses on the Middle East in general and Medieval Cairo in particular. It discusses conceptual and practical framework for the development of virtual heritage platforms as a research, educational and engagement tool that brings historic spaces and buildings back to the recognition of the public eye of the ordinary user. It analyses current practices and projects of the virtual heritage technologies and reports on field work that took place in Islamic Cairo with Five Start-Up entrepreneurs

Cytokine gene polymorphisms and serum cytokine levels in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Studies have demonstrated associations between cytokine gene polymorphisms and the risk of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We therefore examined polymorphisms in the genes encoding interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10, interferon gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β(1)), and compared the serum levels of these cytokines in IPF patients and healthy controls. Furthermore, we examined the association of the studied genotypes and serum cytokine levels with physiological parameters and the extent of parenchymal involvement determined by high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). METHODS: Sixty patients with IPF and 150 healthy controls were included. Cytokine genotyping was performed using the polymerase chain reaction sequence specific primer (PCR-SSP) method. In a subset of patients and controls, serum cytokine levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: There was no difference between IPF patients and controls in the genotype and allele distributions of polymorphisms in TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-6, IL-10, and TGF-β(1) (all p > 0.05). The TNF-α (−308) GG, IL-6 (−174) GG and CG, and IL-10 (−1082, -819, -592) ACC ATA genotypes were significantly associated with HRCT scores (all p < 0.05). IL-10 (−1082, -819, -592) ACC haplotype was associated with the diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, and ATA haplotype was associated with the partial pressure of oxygen (PaO(2)) (all p < 0.05). The TGF-β(1) (codons 10 and 25) TC GG, TC GC, CC GG and CC GC genotypes were significantly associated with the PaO(2) and HRCT scores (p < 0.05). The TGF-β(1) (codons 10 and 25) CC GG genotype (5 patients) was significantly associated with higher PaO(2) value and less parenchymal involvement (i.e., a lower total extent score) compared to the other TGF-β(1) genotypes (81.5 ± 11.8 mm Hg vs. 67.4 ± 11.1 mm Hg, p = 0.009 and 5.60 ± 1.3 vs. 8.51 ± 2.9, p = 0.037, respectively). Significant differences were noted between patients (n = 38) and controls (n = 36) in the serum levels of IL-6 and IL-10 (both, p < 0.0001), but not in the levels of TNF-α and TGF-β(1) (both, p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The studied genotypes and alleles do not predispose to the development of IPF but appear to play an important role in disease severity. Our results suggest that the TGF-β(1) (codons 10 and 25) CC GG genotype could be a useful genetic marker for identifying a subset of IPF patients with a favorable prognosis; however, validation in a larger sample is required

Boutchichia Order: Scope and Erroneous Beliefs

The research aims to investigate the reality of the Boutchichia order and the causes of its spread, and to identify its defective doctrines. It derives supporting evidences from the Quran and Sunnah, and it attempts to refute identified erroneous beliefs and practices. The research fulfils the Salafist requirements of investigation. The research applies an inductive, analytical and critical methodology. Among the important findings and recommendations of the research are the following: the Boutchichia order is Qadiri and Sufi; it was created and promoted Abbaas Ibn-Almokhtar; it eVol.ved and spread in the era of the current Sheikh Hamza Ibn-Abbas Al-Qadiri; as a spiritual order, it has a global presence and followers, and it adopts an educational approach to guide its members, and this approach distinguishes it from other orders. The research recommends that Jamaa'at Al-'Adl wa Al-Ihsaan be studied, for it is considered an extension of the Boutchichia order; the order's founder, Abdulsalaam Yasseen, belongs to the Boutchichia school of thought

Screening for hen’s egg and chicken meat specific IgE antibodies in Saudi patients with allergic disorders

Background: Allergy to hen’s egg and meat contributes significantly to the manifestations of food allergy all over the world.Objectives: This study was performed to assess the presence of hen’s egg and meat specific IgE antibodies among patients investigated for various allergic disorders.Methods. This is a retrospective study performed at King Khalid University Hosptial, Riyadh. Data from 421 patients with allergic disorders screened for food specific IgE antibodies between January 2009 and March 2011 were analyzed. Sixty (14.25%) patients including 42 males and 18 females with the mean age (sd) of 7.5 (7.4) years were found to have specific IgE antibodies against hen’s egg and chicken meat. There were 56 (93.3%) children and 4 (6.7%) adult patients. Specific IgE antibodies were measured by radioallergosorbent test (RAST) using Pharmacia ImmunoCAP 250 analyzer.Results: Atopic dermatitis was the most common (55%) clinical condition. Out of the total 60 patients harboring hen’s egg and chicken meat specific IgE antibodies high levels of egg white, yolk and chicken meat specific IgEs were detected in 58 (96.6%), 37 (61.6%) and 6 (10%) patients respectively. Both the egg white and yolk antibodies coexisted in 35 (58.3%) patients.Conclusion: Sensitization against hen’s egg was higher compared to the chicken meat. Egg white sensitization higher than the egg yolk particularly in Saudi children with food related allergic disorders.Key words: Allergy, atopic dermatitis, chicken meat, hen’s egg, IgE antibodie

Enhanced Living by Assessing Voice Pathology Using a Co-Occurrence Matrix.

A large number of the population around the world suffers from various disabilities. Disabilities affect not only children but also adults of different professions. Smart technology can assist the disabled population and lead to a comfortable life in an enhanced living environment (ELE). In this paper, we propose an effective voice pathology assessment system that works in a smart home framework. The proposed system takes input from various sensors, and processes the acquired voice signals and electroglottography (EGG) signals. Co-occurrence matrices in different directions and neighborhoods from the spectrograms of these signals were obtained. Several features such as energy, entropy, contrast, and homogeneity from these matrices were calculated and fed into a Gaussian mixture model-based classifier. Experiments were performed with a publicly available database, namely, the Saarbrucken voice database. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed system in light of its high accuracy and speed. The proposed system can be extended to assess other disabilities in an ELE

A Localization Based Cooperative Routing Protocol for Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks

Localization is one of the major aspects in underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs). Therefore, it is important to know the accurate position of the sensor node in large scale applications like disaster prevention, tactical surveillance, and monitoring. Due to the inefficiency of the global positioning system (GPS) in UWSN, it is very difficult to localize a node in underwater environment compared to terrestrial networks. To minimize the localization error and enhance the localization coverage of the network, two routing protocols are proposed; the first one is mobile autonomous underwater vehicle (MobiL-AUV) and the second one is cooperative MobiL (CO-MobiL). In MobiL-AUV, AUVs are deployed and equipped with GPS and act as reference nodes. These reference nodes are used to localize all the nonlocalized ordinary sensor nodes in order to reduce the localization error and maximize the network coverage. CO-MobiL is presented in order to improve the network throughput by using the maximal ratio combining (MRC) as diversity technique which combines both signals, received from the source and received from the relay at the destination. It uses amplify-and-forward (AF) mechanism to improve the signal between the source and the destination. To support our claims, extensive simulations are performed.</jats:p

A Cost-Effective Optimization for Scheduling of Household Appliances and Energy Resources

In literature, proposed approaches mostly focused on household appliances scheduling for reducing consumers' electricity bills, peak-to-average ratio, electricity usage in peak load hours, and enhancing user comfort level. The scheduling of smart home deployed energy resources recently became a critical issue on demand side due to a higher share of renewable energy sources. In this paper, a new hybrid genetic-based harmony search (HGHS) approach has been proposed for modeling the home energy management system, which contributes to minimizing consumers' electricity bills and electricity usage during peak load hours by scheduling both household appliances and smart home deployed energy resources. We have comparatively evaluated the optimization results obtained from the proposed HGHS and other approaches. The experimental results confirmed the superiority of HGHS over genetic algorithm (GA) and harmony search algorithm (HSA). The proposed HGHS scheduling approach outperformed more efficiently than HSA and GA. The electricity usage cost for completing one-day operation of household appliances was limited to 1305.7 cents, 953.65 cents, and 569.44 cents in the proposed scheduling approach for case I, case II, and case III, respectively and was observed as lower than other approaches. The electricity consumption cost was reduced upto 23.125%, 43.87% and 66.44% in case I, case II, and case III, respectively using proposed scheduling approach as compared to an unscheduled load scenario. Moreover, the electrical peak load was limited to 3.07 kW, 2.9478 kW, and 1.9 kW during the proposed HGHS scheduling approach and was reported as lower than other approaches