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Internet-of-things-based smart environments : state of the art, taxonomy, and open research challenges

- Ahmed, Ejaz, Yaqoob, Ibrar, Gani, Abdullah, Imran, Muhammad, Guizani, Mohsen

  • Authors: Ahmed, Ejaz , Yaqoob, Ibrar , Gani, Abdullah , Imran, Muhammad , Guizani, Mohsen
  • Date: 2016
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Wireless Communications Vol. 23, no. 5 (2016), p. 10-16
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  • Description: The rapid advancements in communication technologies and the explosive growth of the Internet of Things have enabled the physical world to invisibly interweave with actuators, sensors, and other computational elements while maintaining continuous network connectivity. The continuously connected physical world with computational elements forms a smart environment. A smart environment aims to support and enhance the abilities of its dwellers in executing their tasks, such as navigating through unfamiliar space and moving heavy objects for the elderly, to name a few. Researchers have conducted a number of efforts to use IoT to facilitate our lives and to investigate the effect of IoT-based smart environments on human life. This article surveys the state-of-the-art research efforts to enable IoT-based smart environments. We categorize and classify the literature by devising a taxonomy based on communication enablers, network types, technologies, local area wireless standards, objectives, and characteristics. Moreover, the article highlights the unprecedented opportunities brought about by IoT-based smart environments and their effect on human life. Some reported case studies from different enterprises are also presented. Finally, we discuss open research challenges for enabling IoT-based smart environments. © 2016 IEEE.

Social-aware resource allocation and optimization for D2D communication

- Ahmed, Ejaz, Yaqoob, Ibrar, Gani, Abdullah, Imran, Muhammad, Guizani, Mohsen

  • Authors: Ahmed, Ejaz , Yaqoob, Ibrar , Gani, Abdullah , Imran, Muhammad , Guizani, Mohsen
  • Date: 2017
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Wireless Communications Vol. 24, no. 3 (2017), p. 122-129
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  • Description: The undiminished growth of research activities to converge social awareness with D2D communication has paved the way for facilitating and providing significant benefits to users. Realizing these benefits depends on efficiently addressing several main technical challenges associated with the convergence. Although there are many research studies related to social networks and D2D communication, convergence of these two areas leads to further research efforts to implement social-aware D2D communication. In this article, we discuss recent advances in the domain of D2D communication from the perspective of social-aware resource allocation and optimization. We also categorize and classify the literature by devising a taxonomy based on channel-centric attributes, objectives, solving approaches, networking technologies, characteristics, and communication types. Moreover, we also outline the key requirements with the aim of providing guidelines for the domain researchers and designers to enable the social-aware resource allocation for D2D communication. Several open research challenges are presented as future research directions. © 2002-2012 IEEE.

Texture as pixel feature for video object segmentation

- Ahmed, Rakib, Karmakar, Gour, Dooley, Laurence

An environment-aware mobility model for wireless ad hoc network

- Ahmed, Sabbir, Karmakar, Gour, Kamruzzaman, Joarder

  • Authors: Ahmed, Sabbir , Karmakar, Gour , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
  • Date: 2010
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Computer Networks Vol. 54, no. 9 (2010), p. 1470-1489
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  • Description: Simulation is a cost effective, fast and flexible alternative to test-beds or practical deployment for evaluating the characteristics and potential of mobile ad hoc networks. Since environmental context and mobility have a great impact on the accuracy and efficacy of performance measurement, it is of paramount importance how closely the mobility of a node resembles its movement pattern in a real-world scenario. The existing mobility models mostly assume either free space for deployment and random node movement or the movement pattern does not emulate real-world situation properly in the presence of obstacles because of their generation of restricted paths. This demands for the development of a node movement pattern with accurately representing any obstacle and existing path in a complex and realistic deployment scenario. In this paper, we propose a general mobility model capable of creating a more realistic node movement pattern by exploiting the concept of flexible positioning of anchors. Since the model places anchors depending upon the context of the environment through which nodes are guided to move towards the destination, it is capable of representing any terrain realistically. Furthermore, obstacles of arbitrary shapes with or without doorways and any existing pathways in full or part of the terrain can be incorporated which makes the simulation environment more realistic. A detailed computational complexity has been analyzed and the characteristics of the proposed mobility model in the presence of obstacles in a university campus map with and without signal attenuation are presented which illustrates its significant impact on performance evaluation of wireless ad hoc networks.

Geographic constraint mobility model for ad hoc network

- Ahmed, Sabbir, Karmakar, Gour, Kamruzzaman, Joarder

  • Authors: Ahmed, Sabbir , Karmakar, Gour , Kamruzzaman, Joarder
  • Date: 2008
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis & Simulation of Computer & Telecommunication Systems
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  • Description: In this paper, we propose a mobility model and present its simulation tool to generate realistic mobility traces for mobile ad hoc network. The mobility model is capable of creating realistic node movement pattern in the presence of geographic constraints by exploiting the concepts of anchors. The model dynamically places anchors depending upon the context of the environment through which nodes are guided to move towards the destination, and obstacles of arbitrary shapes with or without doorways and any existing pathways, in full or part of the terrain can be incorporated which makes the simulation environment more realistic. The characteristics of the proposed mobility model tested on a real world university campus map at various movement patterns are presented that illustrate the impact of the mobility model on the performance of a routing protocol and usefulness of the proposed scenario generation tool.

Benefit based transmission expansion planning for ASEAN power grid

- Ahmed, Tofael, Mekhilef, Saad, Shah, Rakibuzzaman

Green HRM and green innovation : Can green transformational leadership moderate : Case of pharmaceutical firms in Australia

- Ahmed, Umair, Mozammel, Soleman, Zaman, Fazluz

  • Authors: Ahmed, Umair , Mozammel, Soleman , Zaman, Fazluz
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy Vol. 11, no. 7 (2020), p. 616-617
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  • Description: Following the footsteps of resource-based view theory, the present study attempted to examine green HRM and its impact on green innovation followed by the interplay of green transformational leadership. The study collected triadic data by using survey questionnaire from 185 pharmaceutical firms in Australia. Through using structural equation modeling technique, bootstrap procedures were applied to assess the hypothesized relationships. Results from the data analysis suggest that green HRM prospects of green ability and motivation have significant relationship with green innovation. Accordingly, the results also indicated significant relationship between green transformational leadership and green innovation. Notably, the study advanced literature in the area by confirming the moderating potential of green transformational leadership on green ability-green innovation and green motivation-green motivation relationship. Overall, the present research has advanced understanding of green GRM and green leadership to utilize personnel prospects to further green innovation effectively. © 2020 EManuscript Technologies. All rights reserved.

Dynamic point cloud geometry compression using cuboid based commonality modelling framework

- Ahmmed, Ashek, Paul, Manoranjan, Murshed, Manzur, Taubman, David

  • Authors: Ahmmed, Ashek , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Taubman, David
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing, ICIP 2021, Anchorage, USA, 19-21 September 2021, Proceedings - International Conference on Image Processing, ICIP Vol. 2021-September, p. 2159-2163
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  • Description: Point cloud in its uncompressed format require very high data rate for storage and transmission. The video based point cloud compression (V-PCC) technique projects a dynamic point cloud into geometry and texture video sequences. The projected geometry and texture video frames are then encoded using modern video coding standard like HEVC. However, HEVC encoder is unable to exploit the global commonality that exists within a geometry frame and between successive geometry frames to a greater extent. This is because in HEVC, the current frame partitioning starts from a rigid 64 × 64 pixels level without considering the structure of the scene need be coded. In this paper, an improved commonality modeling framework is proposed, by leveraging on cuboid-based frame partitioning, to encode point cloud geometry frames. The associated frame-partitioning scheme is based on statistical properties of the current geometry frame and therefore yields a flexible block partitioning structure composed of cuboids. Additionally, the proposed commonality modeling approach is computationally efficient and has a compact representation. Experimental results show that if the V-PCC reference encoder is augmented by the proposed commonality modeling technique, a bit rate savings of 2.71% and 4.25% are achieved for full body and upper body of human point clouds’ geometry sequences respectively. © 2021 IEEE.

A commonality modeling framework for enhanced video coding leveraging on the cuboidal partitioning based representation of frames

- Ahmmed, Ashek, Murshed, Manzur, Paul, Manoranjan, Taubman, David

  • Authors: Ahmmed, Ashek , Murshed, Manzur , Paul, Manoranjan , Taubman, David
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: IEEE Transactions on Multimedia Vol. 24, no. (2022), p. 4446-4457
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  • Description: Video coding algorithms attempt to minimize the significant commonality that exists within a video sequence. Each new video coding standard contains tools that can perform this task more efficiently compared to its predecessors. Modern video coding systems are block-based wherein commonality modeling is carried out only from the perspective of the block that need be coded next. In this work, we argue for a commonality modeling approach that can provide a seamless blending between global and local homogeneity information. For this purpose, at first the frame that need be coded, is recursively partitioned into rectangular regions based on the homogeneity information of the entire frame. After that each obtained rectangular region's feature descriptor is taken to be the average value of all the pixels' intensities encompassing the region. In this way, the proposed approach generates a coarse representation of the current frame by minimizing both global and local commonality. This coarse frame is computationally simple and has a compact representation. It attempts to preserve important structural properties of the current frame which can be viewed subjectively as well as from improved rate-distortion performance of a reference scalable HEVC coder that employs the coarse frame as a reference frame for encoding the current frame. © 1999-2012 IEEE.

Discrete cosine basis oriented motion modeling with cuboidal applicability regions for versatile video coding

- Ahmmed, Ashek, Hamidouche, Wassim, Lambert, Andrew, Pickering, Mark, Murshed, Manzur

  • Authors: Ahmmed, Ashek , Hamidouche, Wassim , Lambert, Andrew , Pickering, Mark , Murshed, Manzur
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 2022 Picture Coding Symposium, PCS 2022, San Jose, Costa Rica, 7-9 December 2022, 2022 Picture Coding Symposium, PCS 2022 - Proceedings p. 337-341
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  • Description: The relentless expansion of video based applications is underpinned by video coding technologies. The latest video coding standard i.e. versatile video coding (VVC) can provide superior compression performance than its predecessors. In this regard, motion modeling plays a central role. Experimental results showed that the discrete cosine basis oriented motion model can describe complex motion better than an affine motion model, adopted in the VVC. Hence, in this paper we propose to augment the VVC motion modeling technique with a set of discrete cosine basis oriented motion models and the applicability region of each such motion model is determined by non-overlapping rectangular regions, known as cuboids. Experimental results show a bit rate savings of up to 2.37% is achievable with respect to a VVC reference. © 2022 IEEE.

Dynamic mesh commonality modeling using the cuboidal partitioning

- Ahmmed, Ashek, Paul, Manoranjan, Murshed, Manzur, Pickering, Mark

  • Authors: Ahmmed, Ashek , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Pickering, Mark
  • Date: 2022
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 2022 IEEE International Conference on Visual Communications and Image Processing, VCIP 2022, Suzhou, China, 13-16 December 2022, 2022 IEEE International Conference on Visual Communications and Image Processing, VCIP 2022
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  • Description: For 3D object representation, volumetric contents like meshes and point clouds provide suitable formats. However, a dynamic mesh sequence may require significantly large amount of data because it consists of information that varies with time. Hence, for the facilitation of storage and transmission of such content, efficient compression technologies are required. MPEG has started standardization activities aiming to develop a mesh compression standard that would be able to handle dynamic meshes with time varying connectivity information and time varying attribute maps. The attribute maps are features associated with the mesh surface and stored as 2D images/videos. In this paper, we propose to capture the commonality information in the dynamic mesh attribute maps using the cuboidal partitioning algorithm. This algorithm is capable of modeling both the global and local commonality within an image in a compact and computationally efficient way. Experimental results show that the proposed approach can outperform the anchor HEVC codec, suggested by MPEG to encode such sequences, with a bit rate savings of up to 3.66%. © 2022 IEEE.

Dynamic point cloud compression using a cuboid oriented discrete cosine based motion model

- Ahmmed, Ashek, Paul, Manoranjan, Murshed, Manzur, Taubman, David

  • Authors: Ahmmed, Ashek , Paul, Manoranjan , Murshed, Manzur , Taubman, David
  • Date: 2021
  • Type: Text , Conference paper
  • Relation: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, ICASSP 2021 Vol. 2021-June, p. 1935-1939
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  • Description: Immersive media representation format based on point clouds has underpinned significant opportunities for extended reality applications. Point cloud in its uncompressed format require very high data rate for storage and transmission. The video based point cloud compression technique projects a dynamic point cloud into geometry and texture video sequences. The projected texture video is then coded using modern video coding standard like HEVC. Since the properties of projected texture video frames are different from traditional video frames, HEVC-based commonality modeling can be inefficient. An improved commonality modeling technique is proposed that employs discrete cosine basis oriented motion models and the domains of such models are approximated by homogeneous regions called cuboids. Experimental results show that the proposed commonality modeling technique can yield savings in bit rate of up to 4.17%. ©2021 IEEE

Analysis of cost and schedule performance of international development projects

- Ahsan, Kamrul, Gunawan, Indra

  • Authors: Ahsan, Kamrul , Gunawan, Indra
  • Date: 2010
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Project Management Vol. 28, no. 1 (2010), p. 68-78
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  • Description: This study focuses on cost and schedule issues of international development (ID) projects. Through empirical analysis we examine ID project cost and schedule performance and the main reasons for poor project outcome. We look at 100 projects that are sponsored by the Asian Development Bank and hosted by several Asian countries. The study identifies that most late projects experience cost underrun – an unusual cost and schedule variation relation in projects. Further we identify the root causes of project delay and cost underrun. Research findings will benefit ID project professionals, organizations and the ID project body of knowledge. The study can be extended to analyse other developing country projects sponsored by different donors.

Countering stasistical attacks in cloud-based searchable encryption

- Ahsan, M., Ali, Ihsan, Bin Idris, Mohd, Imran, Muhammad, Shoaib, Muhammad

  • Authors: Ahsan, M. , Ali, Ihsan , Bin Idris, Mohd , Imran, Muhammad , Shoaib, Muhammad
  • Date: 2020
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: International Journal of Parallel Programming Vol. 48, no. 3 (2020), p. 470-495
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  • Description: Searchable encryption (SE) is appearing as a prominent solution in the intersection of privacy protection and efficient retrieval of data outsourced to cloud computing storage. While it preserves privacy by encrypting data, yet supports search operation without data leakage. Due to its applicability, many research communities have proposed different SE schemes under various security definitions with numerous customary features (i.e. multi keyword search, ranked search). However, by reason of multi-keyword ranked search, SE discloses encrypted document list corresponding to multiple (secure) query keywords (or trapdoor). Such disclosure of statistical information helps an attacker to analyze and deduce the content of the data. To counter statistical information leakage in SE, we propose a scheme referred to as Countering Statistical Attack in Cloud based Searchable Encryption (CSA-CSE) that resorts to randomness in all components of an SE. CSA-CSE adopts inverted index that is built with a hash digest of a pair of keywords. Unlike existing schemes, ranking factors (i.e. relevance scores) rank the documents and then they no longer exist in the secure index (neither in order preserving encrypted form). Query keywords are also garbled with randomness in order to hide actual query/result statistics. Our security analysis and experiment on request for comments database ensure the security and efficiency of CSA-CSE. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. Correction to: Countering Statistical Attacks in Cloud-Based Searchable Encryption (International Journal of Parallel Programming, (2020), 48, 3, (470-495), 10.1007/s10766-018-0584-8)The original article has been published with an incorrect grant number in the acknowledgements which should be RG # 1439-036. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.

The microinsurance market in Bangladesh : An analytical overview

- Ahsan, Syed, Khalily, M. A. Baqui, Hamid, Syed, Barua, Shubhasish, Barua, Suborna

  • Authors: Ahsan, Syed , Khalily, M. A. Baqui , Hamid, Syed , Barua, Shubhasish , Barua, Suborna
  • Date: 2013
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: The Bangladesh Development Studies Vol. 36, no. 1 (2013), p. 1-54
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  • Description: This paper provides an analytical overview of the current state of the microinsurance market in Bangladesh comprising of products offered by commercial insurance companies, microfinance institutions (MFIs) and those by INAFI’s MIME programme. For the commercial life insurers, available products are characterised by a mix of inadequate risk coverage, excessively high premium rates unrelated to any plausible model of mortality of the insured, lengthy process of claim settlement and, above all, high costs of intermediation. Such products therefore appear unattractive to the vulnerable. The MFIs, on the other hand, mainly offer loan insurance thus minimising lenders’ risks and having a much quicker claim settlement process. Some MFIs also offer a variety of other products (notably, term life, health and livestock insurance). However, the health plans reviewed in the paper clarify that most of these are not examples of true insurance products since the bulk of the risk eventually remains with the insured. The requirement of cash transactions in each step of the way is a further drawback eroding popularity of the products. Finally, it is seen that, while INAFI has been implementing both term and endowment life policies, the premium structure appears rather steep vis-à-vis the cost of risks, presumably reflecting high costs of intermediation. In view of very limited competition in the market for commercial life coverage, regulatory directives may be targeted at improving competition in each segment of the market, thereby fostering innovation and fair play.

Implicit individual differences : Relationships between implicit self-esteem, gender identity, and gender attitudes

- Aidman, Eugene, Carroll, Steve

  • Authors: Aidman, Eugene , Carroll, Steve
  • Date: 2003
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: European Journal of Personality Vol. 17, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2003), p. 19-37
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  • Description: The study examined whether the magnitude of same-sex-favouring implicit gender bias depends on individual differences in self-esteem and gender identity as theorized by Greenwald et al. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) was used to measure implicit self-esteem, gender identity, and gender attitudes. Explicit self-esteem and gender identity were measured with questionnaires. The IAT revealed a strong automatic preference for female words in 34 female undergraduates but, surprisingly, no significant gender bias in 32 males. Individual levels of this gender bias were predicted in both sexes by IAT-derived implicit measures of self-esteem and gender identity, as well as by their interaction. Neither declared gender identity nor explicit self-esteem added to the prediction. The results are discussed in terms of balanced identity design and the potential influence of method effects on the findings. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.
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  • Description: 2003000505

Mimics : A symbolic conflict/cooperation simulation program, with embedded protocol recording and automatic psychometric assessment

- Aidman, Eugene, Shmelyov, Alexander

  • Authors: Aidman, Eugene , Shmelyov, Alexander
  • Date: 2002
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers Vol. 34, no. 1 (2002), p. 83-89
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  • Description: This paper describes an interactive software environment designed as a social interaction simulator with embedded comprehensive recording and flexible assessment facilities. Using schematized visual sketches similar to cross-cultural facial universals (Ekman, 1999), Mimics (Shmelyov & Aidman, 1997) employs a computer-game-like scenario that requires the subject to identify with an avatar and navigate it through a playing field inhabited by hosts who display a range of facial expressions. From these expressions (which are highly consequential), the player has to anticipate the hosts' reactions to the avatar (which may vary from friendly to obstructing or aggressive) and choose between negotiating with a host (by altering the avatar's facial expression), attacking it, or searching for an escape route. Comprehensive recording of player moves and interactions has enabled computation of several fine-grained indices of interactive behavior, such as aggressive response styles, efficiency and motivation in conflict/cooperation contexts. Initial validation data and potential applications of the method in the assessment of personality and social behavior are discussed.

Computerized interaction simulation in the assessment of aggression-related response style and dispositions

- Aidman, Eugene

The influence of self-reported exercise addiction on acute emotional and physiological responses to brief exercise deprivation

- Aidman, Eugene, Woollard, Simon

  • Authors: Aidman, Eugene , Woollard, Simon
  • Date: 2003
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: Psychology of Sport and Exercise Vol. 4, no. 3 (2003), p. 225-236
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  • Description: Objectives: To examine the association between self-reported exercise addiction among competitive runners and their emotional and physiological response to a one-day deprivation from scheduled training. Design: A controlled experiment was utilised with random selection to exercise-deprived and control groups to examine the causal link between acute exercise deprivation and the presence and magnitude of withdrawal symptoms. Method : Club-level runners (n=60) who had been training at least five times weekly towards a major regional competition (30 women and 30 men, average age: 24.2 years) volunteered to abstain from a one-day training fixture with less than 24-hours' notice. All subjects completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS), Running Addiction Scale (RAS) and resting heart rate (RHR) measurements. From this group, 15 men and 15 women were randomly selected to miss the next scheduled training (exercise-deprived group), while the remaining 30 runners continued their training uninterrupted (controls). Both groups repeated POMS and RHR measures within 24 hours after the experiment. Results: The exercise-deprived group reported significant withdrawal-like symptoms of depressed mood, reduced vigour and increased tension, anger, fatigue and confusion (measured by POMS), as well as significantly elevated RHR, within 24 hours after the missed training session. The control group showed no changes in mood or RHR. More importantly, the observed negative mood changes and RHR response in the exercise-deprived group were moderated by self-reported exercise addiction. The sub-median RAS scorers experienced significantly less mood change and RHR shifts than the higher scoring half of the sample. Further, correlations between RAS scores and the magnitude of increases in tension, anger, confusion, depression and RHR ranged from 0.46 to 0.58. Conclusions: Self-reported exercise addiction in habitual exercisers moderates their emotional and physiological responses to a short-term controlled exercise deprivation, indicating that the magnitude of these responses may, in turn, serve as early markers of exercise dependence. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Implicit concept mapping : A computerized tool for knowledge assessment in undergraduate psychology

- Aidman, Eugene, Ward, Janine

  • Authors: Aidman, Eugene , Ward, Janine
  • Date: 2002
  • Type: Text , Journal article
  • Relation: MPR-online Vol. 7, no. 3 (2002), p. 31-48
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  • Description: The study continued validating the computerised method of implicit concept mapping (Aidman & Egan, 1998), while extending it from assessing the map's structural properties to content-based expert evaluation. The on-line concept mapping task (Aidman & Egan, 1998) was modified to elicit similarity / contrast judgements for a set of basic personality concepts, in a group of 65 introductory psychology students. The resulting individual concept proximity matrices were scored for complexity and internal consistency, as well as individually factor- and cluster analysed. Hierarchical cluster tree and un-rotated factorial representations were generated for each individual map. Students were asked to interpret their own cluster trees and factor plots by naming the clusters and factor axes (a brief statement accompanying the name was allowed). Three independent experts (lecturers in the subject) rated the clarity and accuracy of these interpretations, as well as the soundness of cluster trees and the factorial representations themselves. These data were compared with the overall grade the students had obtained in the Introductory Psychology course immediately prior to participating in the study. Internal consistency and complexity of students' implicit concept maps produced only crude associations with their course achievement. The expert ratings of cluster- and factorial representations of the maps, especially expert ratings of students' own interpretations of their maps, showed a more refined association with course achievement, thus confirming that structural assessment of the implicit maps needs to be complemented by their content-based evaluation in order to achieve a more accurate estimate of the learner's level of expertise in the subject.