Automatic service discovery is essential for the usability of self-configuring Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs). Existing service discovery solutions are either directory based or directory-less. The directory based approaches are fast and reliable but have the complexity of maintaining directories in the dynamic MANET environment. On the other hand, the directory-less approaches use broadcasts ...

Implementing distributed applications in mobile ad-hoc networks is a challenge because of low bandwidth, small transmission range, unpredictable topology changes and the need to conserve energy in low powered devices. This paper presents a distributed auction system using a large scale adhoc network as its sole communication platform. The auction system is built on top of a basic middleware ser...

Service discovery in large scale, open distributed systems is difficult because of the need to filter out services suitable to the task at hand from a potentially huge pool of possibilities. Semantic descriptions have been advocated as the key to expressive service discovery, but the most commonly used service descriptions and registry protocols do not support such descriptions in a general man...

Nursing service managers need certain essential managerial attributes in taking the lead in effective management of the nowadays health care organisations in South Africa. Major changes in restructuring and human resources planning are taking place through transformation of health services and specific managerial attributes are needed in this scenario. Without nursing service managers with the ...

by moving government closer to the people, it brings public sector activities and decisions in line with popular preferences. Yet, in practice, the civil service—a critical component of government— rarely enters the decision calculus of decentralization design. The civil service is often recognized as an afterthought rather than seen as essential to successful decentralization. This is lamentab...

Service migration can be used as a security mechanism to dynamically move critical services from their current compromised platforms to other clean, healthy platforms in a security incident to avoid further loss and to ensure the services are continuously provided to users. We present a holistic approach for service migration decision, strategy specification and scheduling arrangement. Our appr...

Existing telecommunications systems are gradually converging into a ubiquitous information infrastructure inside an open deregulated multi-provider telecommunications market place. Additionally, the demand for new value-generating telecommunications services is increasing and will increase rapidly in the years to come. Therefore, in order to derive a viable service paradigm, a service creation ...

A patient-centred study of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Service at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia was conducted to establish patients' satisfaction with service delivery and the Service's effectiveness in epilepsy management. The aim of the study was to determine accurate information regarding the Service and the people who use it, their priorities and satisfaction with service p...