DS-VBF : dual sink vector-based routing protocol for underwater wireless sensor network

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have become the seat of researchers' attention recently due to their proficiency to explore underwater areas and design different applications for marine discovery and oceanic surveillance. One of the main objectives of each deployed underwater network is discovering the optimized path over sensor nodes to transmit the monitored data to onshore station. The process of transmitting data consumes energy of each node, while energy is limited in UWSNs. So energy efficiency is a challenge in underwater wireless sensor network. Dual sinks vector based forwarding (DS-VBF) takes both residual energy and location information into consideration as priority factors to discover an optimized routing path to save energy in underwater networks. The modified routing protocol employs dual sinks on the water surface which improves network lifetime. According to deployment of dual sinks, packet delivery ratio and the average end to end delay are enhanced. Based on our simulation results in comparison with VBF, average end to end delay reduced more than 80%, remaining energy increased 10%, and the increment of packet reception ratio was about 70%.

Capacity building of early career researchers through cross-institutional mentoring

Most early career researchers in the first five years following doctoral qualification are faced with research challenges and opportunities, which necessitate the ability to navigate and overcome barriers, and to identify and benefit from possibilities. In this chapter, the authors outline an intentional mentoring initiative aimed at building the capacity of early career researchers within the Excellence in Research in Early Years Education Collaborative Research Network (CRN) in Australia. The initiative involved partnering early career researchers with experienced researchers and the inclusion of an early career representative on the network planning committee. The chapter discusses the many benefits for the mentee arising from the initiative including increased publication, momentum and confidence, as well as exposure to new methodologies, theoretical frameworks, and productive collaborative partnerships. It is hoped, however, that the findings will be of relevance to similar and diverse (funded/unfunded) research programs and collaborative networks wherever mentoring is applied as a capacity building strategy to assist researchers.

Network Knowledge versus Cluster Knowledge- The Gordian Knot of Knowledge Transfer Concepts

Both management scholars and economic geographers have studied knowledge and argued that the ability to transfer knowledge is critical to competitive success. Networks and other forms for cooperation are often the context when analyzing knowledge transfer within management research, while economic geographers focus on the role of the cluster for knowledge transfer and creation. With the common interest in knowledge transfer, few attempts to interdisciplinary research have been made. The aim of this paper is to outline the knowledge transfer concepts in the two strands of literature of management and economic geography (EG). The paper takes an analytical approach to review the existing contributions and seek to identify the benefits of further interaction between the disciplines. Furthermore, it offers an interpretation of the concepts of cluster and network, and suggests a clearer distinction between their respective definitions. The paper posits that studies of internal networks transcending national borders and clusters are not necessarily mutually exclusive when it comes to transfer of knowledge and the learning process of the firm. Our conclusion is that researchers in general seem to increasingly acknowledge the importance of studying both the effect of and the need for geographical proximity and external networks for the knowledge transfer process, but that there exists equivocalness in defining clusters and networks.

Artificial intelligence approaches to network management: recent advances and a survey

With increased number of new services and users being added to the communication network, management of such networks becomes crucial to provide assured quality of service. Finding skilled managers is often a problem. To alleviate this problem and also to provide assistance to the available network managers, network management has to be automated. Many attempts have been made in this direction and it is a promising area of interest to researchers in both academia and industry. In this paper, a review of the management complexities in present day networks and artificial intelligence approaches to network management are presented. Published by Elsevier Science B.V.

Network Reconstruction from dynamic data

Over the past decade, many powerful data mining techniques have been developed to analyze temporal and sequential data. The time is now fertile for addressing problems of larger scope under the purview of temporal data mining. The fourth SIGKDD workshop on temporal data mining focused on the question: What can we infer about the structure of a complex dynamical system from observed temporal data? The goals of the workshop were to critically evaluate the need in this area by bringing together leading researchers from industry and academia, and to identify promising technologies and methodologies for doing the same. We provide a brief summary of the workshop proceedings and ideas arising out of the discussions.

Network properties of decoys and CASP predicted models: a comparison with native protein structures

Protein structure space is believed to consist of a finite set of discrete folds, unlike the protein sequence space which is astronomically large, indicating that proteins from the available sequence space are likely to adopt one of the many folds already observed. In spite of extensive sequence-structure correlation data, protein structure prediction still remains an open question with researchers having tried different approaches (experimental as well as computational). One of the challenges of protein structure prediction is to identify the native protein structures from a milieu of decoys/models. In this work, a rigorous investigation of Protein Structure Networks (PSNs) has been performed to detect native structures from decoys/ models. Ninety four parameters obtained from network studies have been optimally combined with Support Vector Machines (SVM) to derive a general metric to distinguish decoys/models from the native protein structures with an accuracy of 94.11%. Recently, for the first time in the literature we had shown that PSN has the capability to distinguish native proteins from decoys. A major difference between the present work and the previous study is to explore the transition profiles at different strengths of non-covalent interactions and SVM has indeed identified this as an important parameter. Additionally, the SVM trained algorithm is also applied to the recent CASP10 predicted models. The novelty of the network approach is that it is based on general network properties of native protein structures and that a given model can be assessed independent of any reference structure. Thus, the approach presented in this paper can be valuable in validating the predicted structures. A web-server has been developed for this purpose and is freely available at http://vishgraph.mbu.iisc.ernet.in/GraProStr/PSN-QA.html.

A guide to monitoring reef fish in the National Park Service's South Florida/Caribbean Network

Reef fishes are conspicuous and essential components of coral reef ecosystems and economies of southern Florida and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Throughout Florida and the USVI, reef fish are under threat from a variety of anthropogenic and natural stressors including overfishing, habitat loss, and environmental changes. The South Florida/Caribbean Network (SFCN), a unit of the National Park Service (NPS), is charged with monitoring reef fishes, among other natural and cultural resources, within six parks in the South Florida - Caribbean region (Biscayne National Park, BISC; Buck Island Reef National Monument, BUIS; Dry Tortugas National Park, DRTO; Everglades National Park, EVER; Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, SARI; Virgin Islands National Park, VIIS). Monitoring data is intended for park managers who are and will continue to be asked to make decisions to balance environmental protection, fishery sustainability and park use by visitors. The range and complexity of the issues outlined above, and the need for NPS to invest in a strategy of monitoring, modeling, and management to ensure the sustainability of its precious assets, will require strategic investment in long-term, high-precision, multispecies reef fish data that increases inherent system knowledge and reduces uncertainty. The goal of this guide is to provide the framework for park managers and researchers to create or enhance a reef fish monitoring program within areas monitored by the SFCN. The framework is expected to be applicable to other areas as well, including the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The favored approach is characterized by an iterative process of data collection, dataset integration, sampling design analysis, and population and community assessment that evaluates resource risks associated with management policies. Using this model, a monitoring program can adapt its survey methods to increase accuracy and precision of survey estimates as new information becomes available, and adapt to the evolving needs and broadening responsibilities of park management.

Product Service Systems and supply network relationships: An exploratory case study

Purpose - In recent years there has been increasing interest in Product Service Systems (PSSs) as a business model for selling integrated product and service offerings. To date, there has been extensive research into the benefits of PSS to manufacturers and their customers, but there has been limited research into the effect of PSS on the upstream supply chain. This paper seeks to address this gap in the research. Design/methodology/approach - The research uses case-based research which is appropriate for exploratory research of this type. In-depth interviews were conducted with key personnel in a focal firm and two members of its supply chain, and the results were analysed to identify emergent themes.b Findings - The research has identified differences in supplier behaviour dependent on their role in PSS delivery and their relationship with the PSS provider. In particular, it suggests that for a successful partnership it is important to align the objectives between PSS provider and suppliers. Originality/value - This research provides a detailed investigation into a PSS supply chain and highlights the complexity of roles and relationships among the organizations within it. It will be of value to other PSS researchers and organizations transitioning to the delivery of PSS. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Evaluating functional network inference using simulations of complex biological systems.

MOTIVATION: Although many network inference algorithms have been presented in the bioinformatics literature, no suitable approach has been formulated for evaluating their effectiveness at recovering models of complex biological systems from limited data. To overcome this limitation, we propose an approach to evaluate network inference algorithms according to their ability to recover a complex functional network from biologically reasonable simulated data. RESULTS: We designed a simulator to generate data representing a complex biological system at multiple levels of organization: behaviour, neural anatomy, brain electrophysiology, and gene expression of songbirds. About 90% of the simulated variables are unregulated by other variables in the system and are included simply as distracters. We sampled the simulated data at intervals as one would sample from a biological system in practice, and then used the sampled data to evaluate the effectiveness of an algorithm we developed for functional network inference. We found that our algorithm is highly effective at recovering the functional network structure of the simulated system-including the irrelevance of unregulated variables-from sampled data alone. To assess the reproducibility of these results, we tested our inference algorithm on 50 separately simulated sets of data and it consistently recovered almost perfectly the complex functional network structure underlying the simulated data. To our knowledge, this is the first approach for evaluating the effectiveness of functional network inference algorithms at recovering models from limited data. Our simulation approach also enables researchers a priori to design experiments and data-collection protocols that are amenable to functional network inference.

The IGNITE network: a model for genomic medicine implementation and research.

BACKGROUND: Patients, clinicians, researchers and payers are seeking to understand the value of using genomic information (as reflected by genotyping, sequencing, family history or other data) to inform clinical decision-making. However, challenges exist to widespread clinical implementation of genomic medicine, a prerequisite for developing evidence of its real-world utility. METHODS: To address these challenges, the National Institutes of Health-funded IGNITE (Implementing GeNomics In pracTicE; www.ignite-genomics.org ) Network, comprised of six projects and a coordinating center, was established in 2013 to support the development, investigation and dissemination of genomic medicine practice models that seamlessly integrate genomic data into the electronic health record and that deploy tools for point of care decision making. IGNITE site projects are aligned in their purpose of testing these models, but individual projects vary in scope and design, including exploring genetic markers for disease risk prediction and prevention, developing tools for using family history data, incorporating pharmacogenomic data into clinical care, refining disease diagnosis using sequence-based mutation discovery, and creating novel educational approaches. RESULTS: This paper describes the IGNITE Network and member projects, including network structure, collaborative initiatives, clinical decision support strategies, methods for return of genomic test results, and educational initiatives for patients and providers. Clinical and outcomes data from individual sites and network-wide projects are anticipated to begin being published over the next few years. CONCLUSIONS: The IGNITE Network is an innovative series of projects and pilot demonstrations aiming to enhance translation of validated actionable genomic information into clinical settings and develop and use measures of outcome in response to genome-based clinical interventions using a pragmatic framework to provide early data and proofs of concept on the utility of these interventions. Through these efforts and collaboration with other stakeholders, IGNITE is poised to have a significant impact on the acceleration of genomic information into medical practice.

Towards groundwater security in coastal East Africa: initiating a regional research network and integrated hydrogeologic, climatic & socio-economic observatories in coastal aquifers of the Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania

African coastal regions are expected to experience the highest rates of population growth in coming decades. Fresh groundwater resources in the coastal zone of East Africa (EA) are highly vulnerable to seawater intrusion. Increasing water demand is leading to unsustainable and ill-planned well drilling and abstraction. Wells supplying domestic, industrial and agricultural needs are or have become, in many areas, too saline for use. Climate change, including weather changes and sea level rise, is expected to exacerbate this problem. The multiplicity of physical, demographic and socio-economic driving factors makes this a very challenging issue for management. At present the state and probable evolution of coastal aquifers in EA are not well documented. The UPGro project 'Towards groundwater security in coastal East Africa' brings together teams from Kenya, Tanzania, Comoros Islands and Europe to address this knowledge gap. An integrative multidisciplinary approach, combining the expertise of hydrogeologists, hydrologists and social scientists, is investigating selected sites along the coastal zone in each country. Hydrogeologic observatories have been established in different geologic and climatic settings representative of the coastal EA region, where focussed research will identify the current status of groundwater and identify future threats based on projected demographic and climate change scenarios. Researchers are also engaging with end users as well as local community and stakeholder groups in each area in order to understanding the issues most affecting the communities and searching sustainable strategies for addressing these.

Establishing a community of practice of researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and communities to sustainably manage environmental health risks in Ecuador

The Sustainably Managing Environmental Health Risk in Ecuador project was launched in 2004 as a partnership linking a large Canadian university with leading Cuban and Mexican institutes to strengthen the capacities of four Ecuadorian universities for leading community-based learning and research in areas as diverse as pesticide poisoning, dengue control, water and sanitation, and disaster preparedness. By 2009, train-the-trainer project initiation involved 27 participatory action research Master’s theses in 15 communities where 1200 community learners participated in the implementation of associated interventions. This led to establishment of innovative Ecuadorian-led master’s and doctoral programs, and a Population Health Observatory on Collective Health, Environment and Society for the Andean region based at the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar. Building on this network, numerous initiatives were begun, such as an internationally funded research project to strengthen dengue control in the coastal community of Machala, and establishment of a local community eco-health centre focusing on determinants of health near Cuenca. Alliances of academic and non-academic partners from the South and North provide a promising orientation for learning together about ways of addressing negative trends of development. Assessing the impacts and sustainability of such processes, however, requires longer term monitoring of results and related challenges.

Establishment of a Cross-European Field Site Network in the ALARM Project for Assessing Large-Scale Changes in Biodiversity

The field site network (FSN) plays a central role in conducting joint research within all Assessing Large-scale Risks for biodiversity with tested Methods (ALARM) modules and provides a mechanism for integrating research on different topics in ALARM on the same site for measuring multiple impacts on biodiversity. The network covers most European climates and biogeographic regions, from Mediterranean through central European and boreal to subarctic. The project links databases with the European-wide field site network FSN, including geographic information system (GIS)-based information to characterise the test location for ALARM researchers for joint on-site research. Maps are provided in a standardised way and merged with other site-specific information. The application of GIS for these field sites and the information management promotes the use of the FSN for research and to disseminate the results. We conclude that ALARM FSN sites together with other research sites in Europe jointly could be used as a future backbone for research proposals

Neural network control of a simple mobile robot

In recent years researchers in the Department of Cybernetics have been developing simple mobile robots capable of exploring their environment on the basis of the information obtained from a few simple sensors. These robots are used as the test bed for exploring various behaviours of single and multiple organisms: the work is inspired by considerations of natural systems. In this paper we concentrate on that part of the work which involves neural networks and related techniques. These neural networks are used both to process the sensor information and to develop the strategy used to control the robot. Here the robots, their sensors, and the neural networks used and all described. 1.

Mid-term evaluation of African Technology Policy Studies Network Phase VI Strategic Plan: for the period January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010

The African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) is a multidisciplinary network of researchers, private sector actors, policymakers and civil society. ATPS has the vision to become the leading international centre of excellence and reference in science, technology and innovation (STI) systems research, training and capacity building, communication and sensitization, knowledge brokerage, policy advocacy and outreach in Africa. It has a Regional Secretariat in Nairobi Kenya, and operates through national chapters in 29 countries (including 27 in Africa and two Chapters in the United Kingdom and USA for Africans in the Diaspora) with an expansion plan to cover the entire continent by 2015. The ATPS Phase VI Strategic Plan aims to improve the understanding and functioning of STI processes and systems to strengthen the learning capacity, social responses, and governance of STI for addressing Africa's development challenges, with a specific focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). A team of external evaluators carried out a midterm review to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the implementation of the Strategic Plan for the period January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2010. The evaluation methodology involved multiple quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the qualitative and quantitative inputs (human resources, financial resources, time, etc.) into ATPS activities (both thematic and facilitative) and their tangible and intangible outputs, outcomes and impacts. Methods included a questionnaire survey of ATPS members and stakeholders, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions (FGDs) with members in six countries. Effectiveness of Programmes Under all six strategic goals, very good progress has been made towards planned outputs and outcomes. This is evidenced by key performance indicators (KPIs) generated from desk review, ratings from the survey respondents, and the themes that run through the FGDs. Institutional and Programme Cost Effectiveness Institutional Effectiveness: assessment of institutional effectiveness suggests that adequate management frameworks are in place and are being used effectively and transparently. Also technical and financial accounting mechanisms are being followed in accordance with grant agreements and with global good practice. This is evidenced by KPIs generated from desk review. Programme Cost Effectiveness: assessment of cost-effectiveness of execution of programmes shows that organisational structure is efficient, delivering high quality, relevant research at relatively low cost by international standards. The evidence includes KPIs from desk review: administrative costs to programme cost ratio has fallen steadily, to around 10%; average size of research grants is modest, without compromising quality. There is high level of pro bono input by ATPS members. ATPS Programmes Strategic Evaluation ATPS research and STI related activities are indeed unique and well aligned with STI issues and needs facing Africa and globally. The multi-disciplinary and trans-boundary nature of the research activities are creating a unique group of research scientists. The ATPS approach to research and STI issues is paving the way for the so called Third Generation University (3GU). Understanding this unique positioning, an increasing number of international multilateral agencies are seeking partnership with ATPS. ATPS is seeing an increasing level of funding commitments by Donor Partners. Recommendations for ATPS Continued Growth and Effectiveness On-going reform of ATPS administrative structure to continue The on-going reforms that have taken place within the Board, Regional Secretariat, and at the National Chapter coordination levels are welcomed. Such reform should continue until fully functional corporate governance policy and practices are fully established and implemented across the ATPS governance structures. This will further strengthen ATPS to achieve the vision of being the leading STI policy brokerage organization in Africa. Although training in corporate governance has been carried out for all sectors of ATPS leadership structure in recent time, there is some evidence that these systems have not yet been fully implemented effectively within all the governance structures of the organization, especially at the Board and National chapter levels. Future training should emphasize practical application with exercises relevant to ATPS leadership structure from the Board to the National Chapter levels. Training on Transformational Leadership - Leading a Change Though a subject of intense debate amongst economists and social scientists, it is generally agreed that cultural mindsets and attitudes could enhance and/or hinder organizational progress. ATPS’s vision demands transformational leadership skills amongst its leaders from the Board members to the National Chapter Coordinators. To lead such a change, ATPS leaders must understand and avoid personal and cultural mindsets and value systems that hinder change, while embracing those that enhance it. It requires deliberate assessment of cultural, behavioural patterns that could hinder progress and the willingness to be recast into cultural and personal habits that make for progress. Improvement of relationship amongst the Board, Secretariat, and National Chapters A large number of ATPS members and stakeholders feel they do not have effective communications and/or access to Board, National Chapter Coordinators and Regional Secretariat activities. Effort should be made to improve the implementation of ATPS communication strategy to improve on information flows amongst the ATPS management and the members. The results of the survey and the FGDs suggest that progress has been made during the past two years in this direction, but more could be done to ensure effective flow of pertinent information to members following ATPS communications channels. Strategies for Increased Funding for National Chapters There is a big gap between the fundraising skills of the Regional Secretariat and those of the National Coordinators. In some cases, funds successfully raised by the Secretariat and disbursed to national chapters were not followed up with timely progress and financial reports by some national chapters. Adequate training in relevant skills required for effective interactions with STI key policy players should be conducted regularly for National Chapter coordinators and ATPS members. The ongoing training in grant writing should continue and be made continent-wide if funding permits. Funding of National Chapters should be strategic such that capacity in a specific area of research is built which, with time, will not only lead to a strong research capacity in that area, but also strengthen academic programmes. For example, a strong climate change programme is emerging at University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), with strong collaborations with Universities from neighbouring States. Strategies to Increase National Government buy-in and support for STI Translating STI research outcomes into policies requires a great deal of emotional intelligence, skills which are often lacking in the first and second generation universities. In the epoch of the science-based or 2GUs, governments were content with universities carrying out scientific research and providing scientific education. Now they desire to see universities as incubators of new science- or technology-based commercial activities, whether by existing firms or start-ups. Hence, governments demand that universities take an active and leading role in the exploitation of their knowledge and they are willing to make funds available to support such activities. Thus, for universities to gain the attention of national leadership they must become centres of excellence and explicit instruments of economic development in the knowledge-based economy. The universities must do this while working collaboratively with government departments, parastatals, and institutions and dedicated research establishments. ATPS should anticipate these shifting changes and devise programmes to assist both government and universities to relate effectively. New administrative structures in member organizations to sustain and manage the emerging STI multidisciplinary teams Second Generation universities (2GUs) tend to focus on pure science and often do not regard the application of their know-how as their task. In contrast, Third Generation Universities (3GUs) objectively stimulate techno-starters – students or academics – to pursue the exploitation or commercialisation of the knowledge they generate. They view this as being equal in importance to the objectives of scientific research and education. Administratively, research in the 2GU era was mainly monodisciplinary and departments were structured along disciplines. The emerging interdisciplinary scientific teams with focus on specific research areas functionally work against the current mono-disciplinary faculty-based, administrative structure of 2GUs. For interdisciplinary teams, the current faculty system is an obstacle. There is a need for new organisational forms for university management that can create responsibilities for the task of know-how exploitation. ATPS must anticipate this and begin to strategize solutions for their member institutions to transition to 3Gus administrative structure, otherwise ATPS growth will plateau, and progress achieved so far may be stunted.