Latin-American Journal of Computing

Editorial

Gabriela Suntaxi (LAJC) — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:50:35 +0000

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 1 of the Latin-American Journal of Computing (LAJC).

It is a privilege to introduce this latest edition, which brings together eight high-quality research articles addressing some of the most pressing challenges in the fields of computing and technology. These studies showcase the innovation and dedication of researchers committed to advancing knowledge and tackling real-world problems.

This issue covers a diverse range of relevant and timely topics, including environmental monitoring, data visualization, systematic reviews, renewable energy systems, microservices architecture, and smart city solutions. Each article offers valuable insights and practical applications, reflecting the journal's mission to foster impactful and rigorous research.

Among the contributions of this issue, readers will find:

An innovative wireless geolocation system designed to monitor and reduce pollution in urban areas.
A systematic data visualization framework tailored to support strategic decision-making in global trade.
Insights into routing attack defense mechanisms for Internet of Things (IoT) networks.
A user-friendly web-based tool for sizing photovoltaic systems aligned with Ecuador’s renewable energy targets.
Comprehensive reviews and methodologies that enhance cloud computing adoption, protect mobile users, and streamline urban traffic management.

These contributions emphasize the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing complex societal issues, both in Latin America and on a global scale.

On behalf of the editorial committee, I want to extend my gratitude to all authors, reviewers, and the editorial team whose dedication makes this issue possible. We remain committed to supporting our contributors and readers by providing a platform for sharing cutting-edge research and fostering academic collaboration.

We hope this issue inspires further innovations and meaningful conversations within the computing community.

Gabriela Suntaxi

Editor-in-Chief

Data Domain Servitization for Microservices Architecture

Patricio Michael Paccha, Victor Vicente Velepucha — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:10:44 +0000

Microservices have emerged as a software design paradigm where small, autonomous services interact to meet business requirements. However, transitioning from monolithic systems to microservices presents challenges, especially when multiple subdomains share transactional tables to maintain referential integrity across separate databases. Ensuring each microservice handles business data while adhering to ACID properties (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) is crucial.
This requires unique, consistent, and low-dependency data from a business domain perspective. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is a secondary research method used to evaluate the current body of scientific literature.
It helps identify existing work, highlight research gaps, and propose new research directions. In software engineering, SLRs offer a comprehensive overview of studied research areas. This article reports an empirical study based on a systematic literature review aimed at identifying modeling techniques for segmenting data structures during microservice design. The review found limited methods to address the appropriate level of data granularity per microservice. These findings highlight a need for further research into processes and methodologies that can effectively handle data segmentation and consistency within microservice architectures.

Traffic Congestion in Ecuador: A Comprehensive Review, Key Factors, Impact, and Solutions of Smart Cities

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 17:03:12 +0000

This study explores the main sources of traffic congestion in Ecuadorian cities and propose solutions to address this issue. The findings reveal that the main causes are natural disasters disrupting the transportation infrastructure and leading to chaotic traffic flow, lack of infrastructure maintenance, inadequate education, cultural issues, improper traffic signal timing, or the absence of exclusive lanes for public transportation. Fast transit projects have also faced obstacles, including a lack of political leadership, underestimation of implementation complexities, rushed planning processes, resistance from stakeholders like bus operators, and inaccurate cost estimations. Vehicle pollution is another consequence of lower-quality fuel and the topography of highland cities, which demand more engine power. The proposed solutions are categorized into three types: smart city technologies, implementing regulations, and enhancing public transportation systems. To address traffic accidents, it is recommended to identify high-risk areas, monitor fleet variables of buses, educate the population on responsible driving practices, and implement designated driver applications. By considering and implementing these solutions, Ecuadorian cities can alleviate traffic congestion, enhance transportation efficiency, reduce pollution, and improve road safety.

A Systematic Literature Review on Defense Techniques Against Routing Attacks in Internet of Things

Lanka Chris Sejaphala, Vusimuzi Malele, Francis Lugayizi — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 16:56:30 +0000

The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) has attracted different sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, smart cities, transportation, etc. to adopt these technologies. Most IoT networks utilize Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy Networks (RPL) to exchange control and data packets across the network. However, RPL is susceptible to routing attacks such as rank attacks, DIS-flooding, etc. In recent years different defense techniques have been proposed to act against these attacks i.e., Secure-Protocol, conventional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and Machine Learning (ML)-based. This systematic literature review explores 39 published papers in the domain of defense techniques against routing attacks in RPL-based IoT. We review. The findings of this study suggest that most Secure-Protocol can detect and mitigate routing attacks utilizing distributed placement, ML-based can detect most attacks but lack mitigation mechanisms, and conventional IDS technique utilizes a hybrid approach in detection and placement strategies. Additionally, this study reveals that India publishes more research papers in ML-based and Secure-Protocol. Furthermore, flooding attacks are the most discussed attacks in the selected studies. Finally, Cooja Contiki is the most used simulation tool.

A Visual Review and Bibliometric Analysis of Cloud Computing Traffic Flow Forecasting for a Digital Africa

Sello Prince Sekwatlakwatla, Vusumuzi Malele — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The use of cloud computing has grown globally in recent years. When allocating resources, cloud resources and traffic flow management need to be closely watched and controlled. This paper conducted a bibliographic study based on the Scopus database and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to evaluate the adoption rate of resource management and traffic flow forecasting in cloud computing in Africa. There is still uncertainty about cloud computing adoption on the African continent. It is difficult to say that 54 African countries are fully prepared to adopt cloud computing. The growth of internet connectivity and potential economic development in Africa are contributing to cloud computing's rapid growth. Cloud computing enables individuals, private companies, and the government to access computing resources and services remotely. It has the potential to significantly impact the education, healthcare, and economic sectors; however, there are challenges such as limited infrastructure and data security concerns in Africa. This study demonstrates the limitations of the implementation of cloud computing in African countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Cameron, Egypt, and Ghana. Only 18.5% of the continent is researching the implementation of cloud computing, and the lack of cloud implementation is a persistent issue because of scarce resources. Africa's adoption of cloud computing can be increased through alternative solutions suggested in the study.

Data Visualization Model for Multi-party Analysis and Strategic Decision-Making in International Trade

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents a detailed analysis of Ecuador’s non-oil exports over ten years. The study was performed using the SPEM methodology and data-cleaning processes. The results highlight a notable coherence in analyzing the most relevant export items and the main trading partners, providing essential information for strategic decision-making. Furthermore, recommendations related to the technical conditions necessary to achieve precise and accurate communication through data visualization were considered, and adequate answers to the questions generated in the business knowledge stage contributed to the users’ knowledge.
Furthermore, the study suggests incorporating import data to enhance the analysis and provide a foundation for future research in this area.

A web-based tool for the sizing of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) systems in Ecuador

Ángel Ordóñez, Andrea Enriquez, Juan Carlos Solano — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources involves the use of solar photovoltaic energy. This energy source has the potential to re-duce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. The research project focused on the development of a web-based tool for sizing photovoltaic systems in Ecuador. This tool considers several factors, including technical, theoretical, economic and environmental aspects. The tool allows sizing based on electricity consumption and power requirements. Further-more, the tool provides technical information, CO₂reduction data and eco-nomic perspectives based on the operation of the electricity system in Ecuador. The comparative validation with installed systems and similar web tools demonstrated the reliability and robustness of the developed tool.

Safeguarding Mobile Users from Violation by Third-party Apps

Vusumuzi Malele, Kagiso Mphasane — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Insecure third-party mobile applications (apps) can have a detrimental impact on mobile users in terms of information security and data privacy. Insufficient protection for third-party mobile apps platforms may result in harmful installations. The purpose of this paper was to make recommendation on guidelines for safeguarding mobile users from violations by third-party apps. In this regard, empirical data was collected through questionnaires developed to determine the necessary themes that led to the development of the recommendations. The findings showed that a large percentage of participants are not aware of basic security methods to safeguard themselves. Secondly, there is a need for increased confidence in data integrity protocols, and the necessity to ability for emphasizing strong availability controls and backup strategies for mobile users’ continuous access to services. Since the findings align to the Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) triad framework, then the recommendations were made as an implementation strategy of the CIA triad for safeguarding mobile users against violation by the third-party apps. Mobile users will benefit immensely on the recommendations as empower them as the first line of defense against cybercrimes.

SIGMA: Wireless System with Geolocation for Environmental Monitoring

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The increase in the number of automotive parks, the emissions generated by industries, and the forest fires, among others, deteriorate the air quality of the Metropolitan District of Quito. Low-cost devices (sensors) distributed throughout the city to collect and deliver information on concentrations of gaseous pollutants in real time are essential for preserving the health of the citizens. This kind of technology can contribute to improving air quality by controlling the emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. This paper shows a prototype system for environmental monitoring using open hardware and software technologies. The system comprises two subsystems: a transmitter (mobile) and a receiver (fixed). The transmitter unit has been installed in a public transport vehicle (a taxi or any public transportation), which allows the acquisition of environmental parameters such as carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen, temperature, humidity, geographic location, time, and date. The obtained measurements are sent in real-time to a receiver subsystem, mainly consisting of a server, where the received data is processed and published in a pollution map. This data informs citizens by geographical areas, about the different levels or concentration ranges of a particular gas, and general air pollution in the city.