UbuntuNet-Connect 2013 Conference Papers and Presentations

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This collection contains the paper presentations made at the UbuntuNet-Connect 2023 conference

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SCIFI – A Software-Based Controller for Efficient Wireless Networks
(2013-11-13) Magalhães, Luiz Claudio Schara; Balbi, Helga Dolorico; Corrêa, Cosme; Valle, Rafael De Tommaso do; Stanton, Michael
SCIFI is an open source software wireless controller. Large scale wireless networks that use low cost (SOHO) Access Points are hard to install and run due to the complexity of configuring and monitoring many APs with a distributed interface, coupled with the difficulty of creating a good network configuration with no help from the system. On the other hand, hardware controllers and their compatible APs are too expensive, proprietary and ultimately tie the buyer to a single vendor. SCIFI allows the use of inexpensive hardware to create large scale wireless installations. This paper describes the SCIFI algorithms, its interface, the current deployment at UFF and the future work planned for SCIFI.
Promoting e-Infrastructures for VRCs in Africa: the eI4Africa Project
(2013-11-30) La Rocca, Giuseppe
The CHAIN-REDS Semantic Search Engine
(2013-11-30) Carrubba, Carla; Barbera, Roberto; Inserra, Giuseppina
e-Infrastructures, and in particular Data Repositories and Open Access Data Infrastructures, are essential platforms for e-Science and e-Research and are being built since several years both in Europe and the rest of the world to support diverse multi/inter-disciplinary Virtual Research Communities. So far, however, it is difficult for scientists to correlate papers to datasets used to produce them and to discover data and documents in an easy way. In this paper, the CHAINREDS project’s Knowledge Base and its Semantic Search Engine are presented, which attempt to address those drawbacks and contribute to the reproducibility of science.
Distributed Computing Services on top of a Research and Education Network: GARR
(2013-11-30) Mantovani, Maria Laura; Ruggieri, Federico
Since the beginning of 2013 the Italian National Research and Education Network GARR has started a new Distributed Computing and Storage Department (DCSD). The new DCSD in the Italian NREN, follows the new mission of GARR that will not only provide very advanced Network services to the Research community, but also manage, consolidate and expand an Italian Distributed Computing and Storage Infrastructure based on Grid and Cloud. This paper provides state of the art information on the planning and deployment of such infrastructure presenting the motivations, the objectives and the vision that will bring this infrastructure into the next Horizon 2020 programme of the European Commission. The first pillar of this strategic evolution of GARR is the new project "GARR-X Progress" which has been recently approved by the Italian Ministry of Research and Education and that aims to deploy an advanced e-Infrastructure in the south of Italy (Regions of Convergence). GARR-X Progress will use a new fibre optics backbone and deploy a new distributed system of 6.000 Virtual CPUs and more than 6 PB of storage.
e-Infrastructure Acceptance in e-Health, eLearning and e-Agriculture in Zimbabwe: The Quest for the User Acceptance Variable
(2013-11-30) Chiome, Chrispen
One of the best ways to achieve global literacy is through communication, collaborative learning, research, and problem solving. Technology helps tremendously in these areas, so it is a great tool to use in this process. As e-infrastructures gain ground in many African countries and at the same time promises a new way of delivering health, education and agriculture. New technologies should be readily acceptable in order to deliver these essential services to the populace. However, against a background of previous studies pointing to e-learning as a monster under the bed (Chiome, Kurasha and Mupa, 2011) and after 98% of the students failed to voluntarily register for an e-learning blended programme, this research set out to find the factors affecting user acceptance of e- infrastructures in health, agriculture and education. This was a survey of institutions engaged in e-agriculture, e-health and e-learning in Zimbabwe. A purposive sample of 65students who were exposed to e-infrastructures was interviewed in order to determine the user acceptance variable applicable in Zimbabwe. The study found out that e-infrastructure users made rational choices faced with alternatives, belief in the usefulness or lack of it of the system, too much effort put into using technology, content richness, e-infrastructure usefulness and update regularity of the e-infrastructure are some of the absolutely vital technology acceptance variables. The research argues that the ability to navigate the complex life and work environments in the globally competitive information age requires e-infrastructure developers to pay rigorous attention to technology acceptance to engage e-infrastructure users other than the “early adopters” with the opportunities in e-infrastructures.
South Africa's Federated Identity Management Initiative
(2013-11-30) Mammen, Siju A.
An overview of the concepts involved with identity federation, focusing specifically on it as a means to complement the existing digital identity management infrastructure for research and educational institutions in South Africa, is provided. The paper juxtaposes traditional identity management ideas to the federated model. A description of the South African initiative to establish a pilot Federation is described. The novelty of the South African initiative is the approach that was followed. Specifically it has been driven in a top down fashion. This is compared with other approaches in establishing Federated Identity Management within the NREN community. The ultimate goal of which is to show the reader that several methods exist to establish a federation.
The best practices e-learning inside University of Rwanda (UR)
(2013-11-30) Ntagwirumugara, Etiénne
NREN Network Security: A case study of Uganda Christian University ICT Infrastructure
(2013-11-30) Matsiko, Perez; Kiden, Sarah
The long wait for high-speed access to the Internet is finally coming to an end. National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) are being connected to the rest of the world through high-speed fiber optic cables. This paper focuses on NREN security with Uganda Christian University (UCU) as a case study. It discusses how regional and national reseach and education networks will signifiantly lower bandwidth costs for the member institutions. It goes ahead to discuss the initial UCU ICT infrastructure, security practices and implementation, and then suggest recommendations based on lessons learnt and experiences.
AfricaConnect Extension Project Project Financed by European Union Astec Global ICT Consorti
(2013-11-30) Adam, Lishan
Content Alert System Using Short Message Service (SMS): A Testimony of two Collaborative Projects in Africa and Asia
(2013-11-30) Anbu, John Paul; Jetty, Sridevi
This paper is a case study of a semi-automated Content Alert System implemented at two university libraries; The university of Swaziland, Swaziland, Southern Africa and Bundelkhand University Library at Jhansi in India. Among the various mobile services, Short Message Service (SMS) is one of the most popular services widely used all over the world. The projects initiated at these libraries were intended to use the SMS service to provide an effective content alert system with very little cost impact on the libraries and at the same time aimed to increase the usage of library resources among the library patrons. The project ran in two phases. In the first phase a successful content alert system was tried and tested at the University of Swaziland with the help of Emerald Publishers. On successful completion of the project a prototype was developed. Using the prototype the second phase of the project was designed. In the second phase a similar content alert service was established with a larger user group and the alerts were generated from a number of publishers and SMSs were sent to the patrons. This paper describes in detail the background, the rationale, details of the project, the methods used and the findings of the projects.
Advantages of an Industry Membership Program for Emerging NRENs
(2013-11-30) Savory, Brian
Hydroclimate Project for Lake Victoria Basin (HYVIC)
(2013-11-30) Semazzi, Fredrick
On the Development of Climate Data Visualization tool for Interpretation of Empirical Results from Climate Model: Does it add Value to Different Stakeholders?
(2013-11-30) Sanga, Camilius; Sumari, Neema; Tumbo, Siza
In time of climate change there is a lot of interest in communicating detailed information and knowledge pertaining to climate to different stakeholders. In order to aid informed decision making related to changing climate and weather variability there is need for data visualization tool. Data visualization tool plays a great role in interpreting bulk climate information produced or collected from different districts, regions and nations at large. In Tanzania, online real-time data visualization tool can help to bridge the gap in the current system whereby climate information is disseminated using television, radio as well as face-to face. These methods have many problems, one being difficulty for end user to aggregate the disseminated climate information over long period of time. This paper seeks to present a work toward developing of a tool for such purpose. The work was done by Database for Crop Models Simulation team from Tanzania with consultation of team members from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. It is anticipated that the tool will enhance efficiency and effectiveness in dissemination and communication of climate information and knowledge to all actors who need it. Furthermore, the results from this study will simulate the debate about climate data visualization in this era where the climate change is a problem which needs to be mitigated using a state-of-art solution.
Survival of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) in a competitive market of Africa: A Case Study of the Zambia Research and Education Network (ZAMREN)
(2013-11-30) Mkandawire, Stein
The proliferation of not for profit associations called National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) on the African market particularly in the area of Broadband Internet provision has made commercial Internet Service Providers (ISPs) develop apprehensions against NRENs. What is happening is that NREN’s are being viewed as competitors by commercial ISPs. However, the truth of the matter is that commercial ISPs should consider NRENs as incubators of technology users that will grow their market base. In the absence of this realisation by commercial ISPs, NRENs are likely to face stiff competition which will in turn adversely affect the survival of NRENs. This paper suggests measures that NRENs should employ to survive in a competitive African market.
The NREN Business Model
(2013-11-30) Janz, Robert
The need for National Research and Education Network (NREN) organisations might be well known within the academic and higher education community, beyond this inner circle a lot of missionary work needs to be done to convince government, telecom providers and even parts of the academic community it self of this necessity. Every country has its own particular regulations, politics and educational setting, making it impossible to provide a one fits all blue print for a successful NREN. Even though the end result differs per country, a common approach to arrive at the NREN model that is most suitable for the country can be presented. This approach is derived from the common approach in business, namely to develop a business model of the NREN is close contact with the mayor stakeholders, in this case government, telecom providers and the academic community.
Mobile Applications to Enhance Versatility of Mobile Learning in Higher Education
(2013-11-30) Macharia, Jimmy
In recent times, despite the fact that Mobile learning or m-learning is a relatively new concept, it has become a buzz word in academic, researchers and companies developing learning systems and instructional materials. Unfortunately, standards and platforms like those that exist in elearning are still evolving. One thorny issue is that of m-examinations. Although in e-learning setup supervised examination rooms/center, have worked well the ability to authenticate the candidate doing an examination in unsupervised environment on remote place is limited. Moreover, the requirement of internet access throughout the examination session and particularly for the student to be able to submit his answers is also a major limitation. This study was not only an effort to remove the two limitations, but also to do so on the mobile learning environment. The study investigated the concept of sending by email a locked examination as an android mobile application. The student would then download and install the App in their smart devices a few minutes, days or even weeks but will not be able to run the App until the instructor sends a key to the registered student’s mobile hone number in the device to unlock the examination App installed in their phones two or three minutes before the examination start time. The approach used in this study was mixed methods. The first method was experimental where a mobile examination application was developed in Android. Then the mobile examination application was send by email to the 60 students who participated so that they could download it in their smart devices. The second method was a questionnaire survey to capture the student’s perception. The findings of the study show that the effect of Organizational Support (OS), Availability of ICTs (ICT) and Effort Expectancy (EE) on Behavioral intention to use M-learning and particularly m-examination was significant. The findings of this research will not only help m-learning practitioners develop m-learning examinations and promote this new IT to potential users, but also provide insights into research on m-examination acceptance.
A Software-Based Solution for Distributing and Displaying UHD Video Content over Packet Networks with Applications to Telemedicine and Culture
(2013-11-30) Ciuffo, Leandro; Filho, Souza; Aquino Junior, Lucenildo; Stanton, Michael; Reis, Clayton; Malaguti, Alvaro; Martins, Graciela; Messina, Luiz
Since 2009, RNP has participated in demonstrations related to streaming ultra-high-definition (UHD) content over packet networks. However, working UHD media requires the use of specialized equipment that usually is expensive and has limited availability in developing markets like Brazil. This has led RNP to foster the development of national technology for 4K equipment. Since 2011, RNP has funded a research group to develop a low-cost solution for 4K video-player and streamer. This approach relies on an architecture of distributed and parallelized software components that enables the building of 4K systems using COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) hardware. This represents an alternative to traditional 4K systems, presenting a better cost effectiveness ratio and may be useful to facilitate the large-scale deployment of such systems, especially in contexts where access to technological innovation is limited. In 2013, a pilot project funded by the Brazilian Ministry of Culture is deploying the RNP-funded 4K player/streamer in a set of six cinemas connected to the RNP backbone. Also this year, it was possible to attach a 4K camcorder to our layer/streamer, enabling the live streaming of 4K content. This was first used to stream an open-heart surgical procedure from a university hospital, member of the Telemedicine University Network RUTE [MCTI], to a visualization room, both located in the Brazilian city of Natal, around 30km apart. This paper presents this low-cost software-based solution for 4K player/streamer, in addition to describing the two aforementioned use cases.
UbuntuNet After AfricaConnect: Looking Ahead to Maintaining Relevance in an Evolving World
(2013-11-30) Tusubira, Francis F.
Health sciences faculty perception and practices on OA scholarly communication
(2013-11-30) Lwoga, Edda Tandi
This study sought to investigate the faculty’s awareness, attitudes and use of open scholarly communication in Tanzanian health sciences universities. Based on a questionnaire survey, 415 faculty members were selected through a stratified random sampling from a population of 679 in all eight health sciences universities in Tanzania. The response rate was 71.1%. The study found a high level of engagement with scholarly publishing, where senior members were more likely to participate in scholarly communication as journal authors, referee and editors. The majority of respondents were aware about open access (OA) issues; however, a small proportion of faculty’s research materials was made available in OA. Senior faculty with more proficient technical skills are more likely to use OA than junior faculty. Major barriers to OA usage were related to ICT infrastructure, awareness, skills, journal author pay model, and copyright and plagiarism concerns. This study recommends the following: universities to improve information and communication technology infrastructure, and develop institutional repositories and policies, and librarians to create awareness about OA, conduct information literacy programmes, and provide information services on copyright management issues and other related OA aspects. This is first comprehensive and detailed study focusing on the health sciences faculty use behaviour of OA initiatives in Tanzania, and reveals findings that are useful for planning and implementing OA initiatives in other institutions with similar conditions.
Use of Electronic Medical Records System to Enforce Adherence to Maternal and Infant Health Treatment Protocol in Malawi: A Pilot Case Study at at Bwaila Maternity Hospital
(2013-11-30) Khomani, Patricia; Mputeni, Chimwemwe; Gadabu, Oliver
Technology continues to present opportunities of being used in different settings to meet information needs. Healthcare has been an emerging area in which this need has manifested itself with several initiatives being carried out in resource constrained settings. This paper describes the design, development and implementation of an electronic medical record system in a busy ante-natal and maternity clinic in Sub-Saharan Africa in Malawi. The development of the EMR follows agile paradigm with the Heeks reality gap model to improve the features in the system. The system has now been deployed at the Bwaila maternity wing and has recorded over 6,400 deliveries since April 2013. The system has embedded ante-natal and maternal protocols and presents an opportunity to improve care outcomes.

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