Exploiting node localization for performance improvement of vehicular delay-tolerant networks

“Copyright © [2010] IEEE. Reprinted from IEEE International Conference on Communications (IEEE ICC 2010) - General Symposium on Selected Areas in Communications (ICC'10 SAS).ISSN:1550-3607. This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) are characterized by high node mobility, intermittent connectivity, and short contact durations. Such factors cause incomplete transmissions and the waste of link capacity. To address these issues, this paper explores the use of node localization in VDTNs. The exchange of signaling information related to nodes’ real-time location, current trajectory, velocity, and transmit range allows a Contact Prediction Algorithm to estimate contact durations. This information can be used in conjunction with additional signaling information (e.g. link data rate), to determine the maximum number of bytes that can be transmitted during contact opportunities. A Contact Duration Scheduling Policy can use this information to prevent incomplete transmissions, while increasing the number of successfully relayed bundles and improving data link utilization. Through a simulation study, we investigate the benefits of introducing the concept of node localization, and evaluate the performance of the proposed Contact Prediction Algorithm and Contact Duration Scheduling Policy. We demonstrate the gains introduced by this approach in comparison with an environment where VDTN nodes have no access to localization information.Part of this work has been supported by Instituto de Telecomunicações, Next Generation Networks and Applications Group (NetGNA), Portugal, in the framework of the Project VDTN@Lab, and by the Euro-NF Network of Excellence from the Seventh Framework Programme of EU

MP-Collaborator: a mobile collaboration tool in pervasive environment

“Copyright © [2009] IEEE. Reprinted from 5th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications. WIMOB 2009. ISBN: 978-0-7695-3841-9 . This material is posted here with permission of the IEEE. Internal or personal use of this material is permitted. However, permission to reprint/republish this material for advertising or promotional purposes or for creating new collective works for resale or redistribution must be obtained from the IEEE by writing to [email protected]. By choosing to view this document, you agree to all provisions of the copyright laws protecting it.”In modern organizations, the communication between collaborators is essential to improve productivity. There is a need for mobile collaboration tools that allow efficient collaboration among staff in organization which may be located in different geographical areas and time zones. Mobile and pervasive computing provides easy and convenient access to information, enabling effective collaboration. This paper describes a context and location-aware mobile application, called MP-Collaborator, created to improve and optimize the communication between collaborators in any organization. MP- Collaborator draws information from location, user status and Pocket Outlook Calendar to create a user availability profile, which is published to any other user in the network. Based on availability status, the user can be reached using a simple phone call or a message. Through the opportunistic use of available mobile technologies MP-Collaborator provides a simple but critical service - user presence service. The proposed solution is validated both in terms of features and communication through a series of experiments on real devices through Wi-Fi network

A Dynamic Reputation Management System for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (cc BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Nodes in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are mandated to utilize their limited energy resources in forwarding routing control and data packets for other nodes. Since a MANET lacks a centralized administration and control, a node may decide to act selfishly, either by refusing to respond to route requests from other nodes or deceitfully by responding to some route requests, but dropping the corresponding data packets that are presented for forwarding. A significant increase in the presence of these misbehaving nodes in a MANET can subsequently degrade network performance. In this paper, we propose a dynamic reputation management system for detecting and isolating misbehaving nodes in MANETs. Our model employs a novel direct monitoring technique to evaluate the reputation of a node in the network, which ensures that nodes that expend their energy in transmitting data and routing control packets for others are allowed to carry out their network activities while the misbehaving nodes are detected and isolated from the network. Simulation results show that our model is effective at curbing and mitigating the effects of misbehaving nodes in the networkPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN AND THE PHENOMENON OF MAN

Aware that it is very difficult in one text to review and critically to analyse the entire thought of such a philosopher, Catholic theologian, paleontologist, cultural anthropologist and humanist as Chardin, the author tries to, at least to mention and critically commented on only a few important aspects, parts and dimensions of his polydimensional and transdiscursive thought. Chardin’s discourse is complex and multi-layered. It exceeds the boundaries of special philosophical sciences and disciplines and in its comprehensive holistic systematicity maximally relativizes and makes transparent the border between spiritual/humanistic and natural/biological sciences. At the end of the short review of Chardin, the author presents several critical reviews of his works, which, until today, despite the increased interest in them, unfortunately still remain relatively unknown to the wider philosophical and intellectual public. The text is supported by quoted and referenced philosophical and other professional literature in foreign languages and Macedonian

(POST) CIVILIZATION OF FEAR

The main objective of this text is to give a presentation/interpretation/comment on several philosophical authors and their philosophical scientific works, which in any direct or indirect way explore/reflect on the phenomenon of fear that controls the human unconsciousness/ sub-consciousness/ consciousness, starting from antiquity to the present day, when man lives in a (post)modern/ post-human urban civilization/ culture. The current pandemic of Covid 19 is just an occasion to start from a series of older philosophers and scientists, who explicitly or implicitly warned of the dangers of the emergence of such and similar pandemics and the occurrence of new and unforeseen human situations, in which civilization found itself as a result of the spread of deadly diseases of all kinds. The main focus is on several (four) contemporary philosophers: Giorgio Agamben, Slavoj Žižek, Lieven De Cauter, and Lars Svendsen. In the final part of the text, instead of the usual conclusion, and with previous own incidental remarks and comments, the author gives his short critical comment on the views and philosophical/scientific predictions of the authors, who are the subject of his philosophical and scientific criticism

Granične situacije kao nepromjenjive ljudske situacije (prema Karlu Jasperu, Erichu Frommu & Noamu Chomskyom)

The first aim of this paper is to raise the interest in the works of three authors, Karl Jaspers, Erich Fromm, and Noam Chomsky. The second intention is to show and prove that despite being different in vocation, they essentially speak of the same social reality, regardless of the fact that they observe and reflect reality from different theoretical/scientific positions/aspects: philosophical, ethical/bioethical, anthropological, sociological, psychological, political, legal, economic, cultural, philological/linguistic, ideological. Despite certain differences, what brings them together spiritually/cognitively are the “diagnoses” of the diseased tissue of (post)modern civil society, as well as the assessments of the phenomenon of social/existential reality of our time. What unites them is the comprehensive humanism and care for the man and man’s psychosomatic health and their present and future life, at the time when civilization is on the verge of self-destruction.Prvenstvena namjera ovog rada je podizanje interesa za rad triju autora, naime Karla Jaspera, Ericha Fromma i Noama Chomskyog. Drugotna namjera je pokazati i pokušati dokazati da unatoč pripadnosti drugačijim vokacijama, navedeni autori u osnovi govore o istoj društvenoj stvarnosti, neovisno o činjenici što je promatraju iz različitih teoretsko-znanstvenih pozicijaaspekata: filozofskih, etičko-bioloških, antropoloških, socioloških, psiholoških, političkih, pravnih, ekonomskih, kulturnih, filološko-lingvističkih, ideoloških itd. Unatoč određenim razlikama, ono što ih dugovno-kognitivno spaja je „dijagnoza“ oboljelog tkiva (post)modernog civilnog društva, kao i procjena fenomena društevno-egzistencijalne stvarnosti našega vremena. Nadalje, ono što ih ujedinjuje je sveobuhvatni humanizam i briga za čovjeka i njegovo psihosomatsko zdravlje, kako u sadašnjosti tako i budućnosti, upravo u vremenu kada je civilizacija na rubu samouništenja

A Privacy Vulnerability in Smart Home IoT Devices

Smart home IoT devices are becoming increasingly popular and increasingly prevalent in people’s homes. These devices create new potential attack surfaces in people’s homes, and therefore it is important that the manufacturers are taking the appropriate measures to secure these devices. The motivation for this work was to determine if these measures were being taken since people could be unknowingly purchasing smart home IoT devices with security or privacy vulnerabilities.Smart home IoT devices that are available to consumers were purchased and analyzed for this paper. Some of these devices were found to contain privacy vulnerabilities. Therefore, some smart home IoT devices on the market contain a privacy vulnerability, which is they do not encrypt transmitted data over a local WiFi network, and therefore can be subject to a man in the middle attack.The privacy and security of seven different smart home IoT devices were analyzed including smart light bulbs, WiFi thermostats, a smart plug, and the Amazon Echo. It was found that four of the seven devices do not encrypt transmitted data over the local WiFi network connection, which is a privacy vulnerability. For two of these devices, the transmitted data could be visible in plain text, which can be easily deciphered by an attacker. Three of the four devices that contain a privacy vulnerability were also vulnerable to replay attacks, meaning replaying recorded packets causes the device to perform an action such as turn the lights on. It is discussed how the data obtained due to this privacy vulnerability can be used to track a user’s lifestyle habits. From this data an attacker can infer if the user is currently home or away. Lastly, solutions to these vulnerabilities are presented, which includes encrypting the communication data that is transmitted between the different nodes of the smart home IoT devices. For devices that use a point-to-point type of architecture, lightweight encryption techniques are needed and discussed.Master of Science in EngineeringComputer Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer ScienceUniversity of Michigan-Dearbornhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/139706/1/49698122_ECE_699_Masters_Thesis_Denko_Michael.pdfDescription of 49698122_ECE_699_Masters_Thesis_Denko_Michael.pdf : Master's Thesi

Age-related changes in Serum Growth Hormone, Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 and Somatostatin in System Lupus Erythematosus

BACKGROUND: Systemic lupus erythematosus is an age- and gender-associated autoimmune disorder. Previous studies suggested that defects in the hypothalamic/pituitary axis contributed to systemic lupus erythematosus disease progression which could also involve growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and somatostatin function. This study was designed to compare basal serum growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and somatostatin levels in female systemic lupus erythematosus patients to a group of normal female subjects. METHODS: Basal serum growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-1 and somatostatin levels were measured by standard radioimmunoassay. RESULTS: Serum growth hormone levels failed to correlate with age (r(2 )= 3.03) in the entire group of normal subjects (i.e. 20 – 80 years). In contrast, serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels were inversely correlated with age (adjusted r(2 )= 0.092). Of note, serum growth hormone was positively correlated with age (adjusted r(2 )= 0.269) in the 20 – 46 year range which overlapped with the age range of patients in the systemic lupus erythematosus group. In that regard, serum growth hormone levels were not significantly higher compared to either the entire group of normal subjects (20 – 80 yrs) or to normal subjects age-matched to the systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Serum insulin-like growth factor-1 levels were significantly elevated (p < 0.001) in systemic lupus erythematosus patients, but only when compared to the entire group of normal subjects. Serum somatostatin levels differed from normal subjects only in older (i.e. >55 yrs) systemic lupus erythematosus patients. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated that systemic lupus erythematosus was not characterized by a modulation of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 paracrine axis when serum samples from systemic lupus erythematosus patients were compared to age- matched normal female subjects. These results in systemic lupus erythematosus differ from those previously reported in other musculoskeletal disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis and hypermobility syndrome where significantly higher serum growth hormone levels were found. Somatostatin levels in elderly systemic lupus erythematosus patients may provide a clinical marker of disease activity in these patients