C-RAN (Cloud Radio Access Network) is an architecture designed to the new generation of mobile networks. It has handled many problems arising from the 4-generation network, and made several improvements, such as centralized processing and energy efficiency, among others. However, time-varying traffic, known as the tidal effect, impairs the network by making resource allocation less efficient, and this affects network performance in terms of problems related to blocked users and power consumption. This study seeks to evaluate an optimized mapping model between RRH (Remote Radio Head) and BBU (Base Band Unit) by providing a fairer and more efficient load balancing. In addition, this solution is compared with some key algorithms used in the literature for addressing optimization problems. The results demonstrated that, owing to its effective search feature, the Firefly algorithm, was the most promising system, since it obtained better performance measures than the others.

Due to the significant increase in data traffic and the large number of Internet Protocol (IP) devices, operators and researchers are seeking solutions to address the greater demand. One of the most attractive of these is Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks (H-CRAN), which has the capacity to solve problems of the current generation and add several improvements, such as centralized processing and greater energy efficiency. However, resource orchestration such as radio, mapping between radio and BaseBand Unit (BBU) and load balance in BBU pool are still of the utmost importance. This paper proposes a multilayer approach that enables Peak Remote Radio Head (PRRH)-underutilized reconfiguration model and optimized mapping between PRRH and BBU, with the aim of achieving high availability, energy savings and a reduction in high-speed processing. Obtained results were compared with other approaches in the literature and showed that our model offers a more efficient means of mitigating the problems addressed in this paper.

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s, is one of the listed neglected tropical diseases as a major health problem global. Treatment is one of the main alternatives, however, the scarcity of medication and its poor distribution are important factors that have driven the spread of the disease, leading to irreversible and multi-resistant complications. This paper uses a distribution methodology to optimize medication administration, taking into account the most relevant attributes for the epidemiological profile of patients and the deficit in treatment via Polychemotherapy. Multi-criteria Decision Methods were applied based on AHP-Electre model in a database with information from patients in the state of Para between 2015 and 2020. The results pointed out that 84% of individuals did not receive any treatment and, among these, the method obtained a gain in the distribution of 68% in patients with positive diagnosis for leprosy.

Leprosy remains a major public health problem in the world. Despite the availability of treatment, the disease continues to be neglected. Treatment is one of the main alternatives, however, the scarcity of medication and its poor distribution are important factors that have driven the spread of the disease, leading to irreversible and multi-resistant complications. This paper uses a distribution methodology to optimise medication administration, taking into account the most relevant attributes for the epidemiological profile of patients and the deficit in treatment via polychemotherapy. Multi-criteria decision methods were used applied in a database with information from patients in the State of Pará between 2015 and 2020. The results pointed out that 84% of individuals did not receive any treatment and of these, the method obtained a gain in the distribution of 68% in patients with positive diagnosis for leprosy.

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) extends Cloud Computing to the edge of the network, creating a hierarchy of data centers. This paradigm provides computing capacity close to final users, relieves backhaul and the leading network, and serves latency-sensitive applications. When providing computing services at different network levels, it becomes necessary to carry out a more efficient distribution of the resources that come to coexist. A random allocation of these resources can lead to a low service acceptance rate and backhaul overhead problems. Problems like these can be solved with MEC. To maximize the service acceptance and ensure a fair distribution of services in the kinds of servers guaranteeing their quality of service requirements, we propose a MILP (Mixed Integer Linear Programming). The model performs an optimal allocation of applications in a two-level hierarchy of data centers: (i) MEC and (ii) cloud computing. On a large scale, the use of MILP becomes unfeasible due to the high computational cost, so we propose a heuristic based on the application profiles. We compare the proposed heuristic with two metaheuristics: (i) Genetic Algorithm and (ii) Particle Swarm Optimization. The solutions are compared in terms of service acceptance rate, large-scale performance, and efficient use of available resources. Results show that the proposed heuristic reaches 91% of the optimal solution and over 140% compared to GA and PSO solutions.

This work aims to produce indicators according to the perception of residents of communities and ecosystems of the Amazon biome, through the collection and analysis of the results of a form in which they express their impressions about events and practices of anthropization.The results found allowed the application of the analytical method of decision making (Analytic Hierarchy Process -AHP), to indicate the degree of anthropization of the people surveyed on a hierarchical scale, according to the syntagma of the three ordering axes of the themes of the form.The contribution allows the generation of correlation models, which help the understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment and the level of anthropic perception of those involved.This is why institutional indexes and indicators may be unable to represent more reliably the environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity of the Amazon region.This is also why we propose the production of information from the inhabitants of the communities and ecosystems of the Amazon biome, through a form in which they manifest themselves according to their impressions of an event or a practice, based on references of vegetative (survival) and volitive (enterprise in space) anthropization.

—The Handover (HO) concept was developed to facilitate the mobility of users and guarantee the quality of service on mobile networks. This article presents a Heuristic for HO based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) (H 2 AG) taking into account parameters that directly impact the HO process in heterogeneous network. The proposed HO strategy aims to minimize the number of HO ping-pong (HPP) and HO Failures (HF). Through this proposal, it was possible to define the best time and, together, the best Base Station (BS) to perform the HO. Results demonstrate a decrease of up to 83% in HO failure, a metric widely used in the literature to evaluate HO policies.

Business platform models frequently require continuous adaptation and agility to allow new experiences to be created and delivered to customers. To understand user behavior in online systems, researchers have taken advantage of a combination of traditional and recently developed analysis techniques. Earlier studies have shown that user behavior monitoring data, as obtained by mouse tracking, can be utilized to improve user experience (UX). Many mouse-tracking solutions exist; however, the vast majority is proprietary, and open-source packages do not provide the resources and data needed to support UX research. Thus, this paper presents: 1) the development of an interaction monitoring application titled Artificial Intelligence and Mouse Tracking-based User eXperience Tool (AIMT-UXT); 2) the validation of the tool in a case study conducted on the Website of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (BFR); 3) the definition of a new relationship pattern of variables that determine user behavior; 4) the construction of a fuzzy inference system for measuring user performance using the defined variables and the data captured in the case study; and 5) the application of a clustering algorithm to complement the analysis. A comparison of the results of the applied quantitative methodologies indicates that the developed framework was able to infer UX scores similar to those reported by users in questionnaires.

Handover (HO) is designed to facilitate user mobility and ensure quality of service in mobile networks. In multiple base station (eNodeBs) scenarios, the HO priority process is a problem that has been studied in many surveys, as neglecting the use of priority-based schemes can result in high amounts of HO and, consequently, a decrease in the quality of services provided. This paper presents a Heuristic for Handover based on AHP-TOPSIS-FUZZY (H2ATF), which generates a priority ranking of eNodeBs from the use of (a) the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) to define the weights of the criteria; (b) the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to rank the selected target cells; and (c) the use of an adaptive hysteresis calculated through a fuzzy inference system based on parameters that directly impact the HO process. Through this proposal, it was possible to define the best time and, together, the best antenna to perform the HO. The results demonstrate a decrease of up to 43% in HO ping pong (HPP), a widely used metric in the literature to evaluate HO heuristics.

The development of systems that aim to spread public information, for example, public awareness campaigns for spotting the signs and symptoms of infectious diseases and how to prevent them, should be addressed by human-computer interaction, or more specifically, by devising interfaces that have a high degree of usability or user-friendliness. This paper examines a serious game that aims at providing people with the means of preventing diseases transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. An empirical test with groups of users was carried out to validate and observe the benefits of the game. The first group answered some questions about the diseases and how to combat the Aedes aegypti proliferation without playing the game and the second group answered the same questions after having played the game. The results showed a significant increase in the knowledge of Aedes aegypti and the diseases transmitted by it. As well as seeking to play the game to spread information about this disease, the purpose of this study is to understand the user's experience by interacting with a serious game and assisting in the evaluation of the usability and the cognitive benefits of serious games.

O aumento da demanda de dados, gerados em sua grande maioria por aplicativos de multimídia, torna o funcionamento da nova geração de redes moveis uma tarefa desafiadora.Uma das propostas para suportar esse trafego e a Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), a qual centraliza o poder de processamento a fim de resolver o desbalanceamento de carga, executando a alocação recursos conforme a demanda da rede.Neste trabalho, e proposto um modelo de alocação de recursos que otimiza o balanceamento

O crescimento da demanda por acesso à informação, gerado por aplicativos multimı́dia, é um dos desafios da nova geração de redes móveis. Uma das arquiteturas propostas para suportar esse tráfego é a Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN), a qual centraliza o poder de processamento para resolver o desbalanceamento de carga, alocando recursos de acordo com a demanda da rede. Este artigo propõe um modelo de alocação de recursos otimizado que realiza o balanceamento de carga em BBUs (Baseband Units). Para este fim, foi desenvolvido um DPSO (Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization) que otimiza a função objetivo proposta. Resultados apontam desempenho superior desta função objetivo em comparação ao benchmarking proposto, tanto em cenários de alta, como em baixa densidade de trafégo.

A computação em nuvem, além de promover um modelo de armazena- mento e processamento de dados compartilhados, fortalece o potencial técnico-econômico do CSP (Cloud Service Provider), apresentando inúmeras possibilidades no âmbito computacional. Neste trabalho, é proposto um modelo de custo e um cenário de avaliação com base no TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), avaliando o contexto, aquisição e operação de equipamentos para implantação de infraestruturas em nuvem. Dessa forma, foi possı́vel especificar os principais ativos de infraestruturas tı́picas de nuvem e sobretudo, avaliar seu desempenho financeiro a partir de projeções de custos considerando aspectos que inferem diretamente no retorno de investimentos de um Data Center.

As redes de comunicacoes Smart Grid sao consideravelmente diferentes dos sistemas tradicionais de comunicacao utilizados para acessar a Internet quando se considera usuarios, aplicacoes, Qualidade de Servico e, principalmente, os impactos decorrentes de falhas. Tais redes de dados sao geralmente de propriedade e usadas exclusivamente por operadores de sistemas eletricos e exigem alto investimento financeiro. Portanto, este trabalho apresenta uma analise economica para comparar diferentes possibilidades de implantacao de redes de dados para o Smart Grid. Os resultados demostraram que, para o cenario proposto o 5 Gem comparacao com outras tecnologias, obteve a melhor avaliacao para implantacao da comunicacao de uma rede de dados aplicada ao Smart Grid, pois os dados de Qualidade de Servico e os resultados obtidos no Custo Total de Propriedade, mostraram que em medio e longo prazo o 5G tem seu custo inferior quando confrontado com dispendios de outras tecnologias de comunicacao, apresentando 100% e 99.02% de IEDs com Qualidade de Servico para uplink e downlink maximo, e a media de IEDs atendidos, e de 100% para uplink e 99.4%para downlink em modo NORMAL e RESTRITO, respectivamente.

Following the recent advances in computing, the multimodal interface concept has attracted a good deal of attention as a means of enabling users to interact naturally with a computer. This paper examines a case study to evaluate how access can be obtained to local and cloud servers through a multimodal interface, which is quite usual when handling applications in a Digital TV. The area of interest is the multimodal application as well as its validation by means of a case study using Quality of Service (QoS) metrics. In addition, this IS followed by a discussion on the use of local and cloud servers with a focus on costs and computational resources. The results are shown with regard to both the technical and financial feasibility of the proposed architectures.

This article presents a case study that uses recommendations from the literature of Human-computer interaction (HCI) for adaptation of a second screen application entitled DFapp, in order to improve the user experience. The paper explains how an application was tested including the implementation of HCI recommendations, with final users. A set of guidelines sourced from recommendations found in the literature permitted the improvement of the application's interactivity and were essential to this process. With this study, we intend not only to contribute to the development of a better understanding of the combined use of TV and second screen in diverse environments, but also to provide support literature for second screen application developers. As a result, it is presented recommendations concerning not only general concepts for HCI, but also a core recommendation for second screen applications.

Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets) have been introduced as an alternative means of improving the overall network capacity. However, HetNets increase the complexity and cost of transport due to the large number of smallcells (SCs) that have to be connected, and hence, it is essential to investigate the best way to plan the joint deployment of radio and transport resources. For this reason, some planning strategies have been put forward in the literature with the aim of reducing both the number of SCs and amount of transport. These systems are generally based on OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) which uses a radio frequency range from 2 to 20 GHz. However, those papers do not evaluate path loss, which is a major component in the analysis or how to design the link budget of a telecommunication system. In this paper, we examine a heuristic for the joint planning of radio (i.e., SCs) and transport resources (i.e., point-to-point fiber links) by using suitable propagation models for next generation networks. Through the proposed heuristics, it is possible to save up to 12% of the total costs of the network deployment incurred by other systems found in the literature.

Mobile networks are constantly growing. Technologies such as heterogeneous networks (HetNets) and C-RAN (Centralized Radio Access Networks) appear as possible solutions for the evolution of these networks. In this sense, this work presents approaches for the use of both technologies. Scenarios with parameters that illustrate real environments were created, along with the use of metrics for the possible performance evaluation. With the results, it is possible to perceive that the change in the size of the network (number of connected users) directly influences the results, besides having a good indication of which technology to use in a given situation. Keywords— HetNets, C-RAN, D-RAN, deployment, optimization.

Este artigo apresenta um estudo sobre avaliação da qualidade da experiência do usuário a partir do uso de um aplicativo de segunda tela que interage com a programação televisiva. Para isto, foi empregado um modelo de inteligência computacional – Rede Bayesiana – para correlacionar os principais fatores que influenciam na experiência do usuário, sendo estes: fatores humanos, sistema e de contexto. Como resultado, é apresentada uma discussão que visa promover a melhoria da experiência do usuário por meio de critérios que permitam avaliar os aplicativos, quer seja durante a sua fase de design ou durante sua fase de operação.