PROTECT: Proximity-based Trust-advisor using Encounters for Mobile Societies

Many interactions between network users rely on trust, which is becoming particularly important given the security breaches in the Internet today. These problems are further exacerbated by the dynamics in wireless mobile networks. In this paper we address the issue of trust advisory and establishment in mobile networks, with application to ad hoc networks, including DTNs. We utilize encounters in mobile societies in novel ways, noticing that mobility provides opportunities to build proximity, location and similarity based trust. Four new trust advisor filters are introduced - including encounter frequency, duration, behavior vectors and behavior matrices - and evaluated over an extensive set of real-world traces collected from a major university. Two sets of statistical analyses are performed; the first examines the underlying encounter relationships in mobile societies, and the second evaluates DTN routing in mobile peer-to-peer networks using trust and selfishness models. We find that for the analyzed trace, trust filters are stable in terms of growth with time (3 filters have close to 90% overlap of users over a period of 9 weeks) and the results produced by different filters are noticeably different. In our analysis for trust and selfishness model, our trust filters largely undo the effect of selfishness on the unreachability in a network. Thus improving the connectivity in a network with selfish nodes. We hope that our initial promising results open the door for further research on proximity-based trust

Zero Trust Architecture: Trend and Impacton Information Security

Traditional-based security models are a threat to information security; they have been regarded as weak and ineffective to meet the dynamics of information system trust. An emerging framework, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA) seeks to close the trust gap in information security through enforcing policies based on identity and continuous authentication and verification. This framework is built on several trust nodes and logical components that attempt to close the trust gap that exists in an information system. The adoption of this framework is still in its teething stage which is a result of several misleading deductions and assumptions. We attempt to explore the intricacies in the framework and close the existing knowledge gap. we surveyed the literature on ZTA and provided a foundational discussion on its implementation and effectiveness from prior studies. while we do not critique other models, this paper studied the strength and variables of the zero-trust security architecture and attempt to provide an overview of the model and close the knowledge gap on the effectiveness of adopting a Zero trust philosophy

Open-Source, Open-Architecture SoftwarePlatform for Plug-InElectric Vehicle SmartCharging in California

This interdisciplinary eXtensible Building Operating System–Vehicles project focuses on controlling plug-in electric vehicle charging at residential and small commercial settings using a novel and flexible open-source, open-architecture charge communication and control platform. The platform provides smart charging functionalities and benefits to the utility, homes, and businesses.This project investigates four important areas of vehicle-grid integration research, integrating technical as well as social and behavioral dimensions: smart charging user needs assessment, advanced load control platform development and testing, smart charging impacts, benefits to the power grid, and smart charging ratepayer benefits

Collective Social Capital Within a Performance-Based Management System

Local education agencies utilizing performance-based management systems as a means to improve educator effectiveness and student performance is becoming more prevalent within the United States. High-need schools are implementing these systems and endeavor to create an environment that promotes a professional learning community that improves educator quality and student achievement. This study seeks to measure the level of collective social capital generated by the implementation of one such management system, Rewarding Excellence in Instruction and Leadership, through the use of a sociological case study. Through the use of document analysis and interviews, the degree of collective social capital fostered will be sought to better understand the potential for impacting educator effectiveness

The Social Context of Smoking: Measuring Social Capital among College Students

Social capital is an ecological theory that explains access to resources as a result of social relationships between individuals and communities. The appeal of social capital across scientific disciplines, including public health, lies in its ability to account for multiple individual and ecological factors in relation to health outcomes, economic and social disparity, and social empowerment as a result of social connections. However, scientists do not agree on the most appropriate indicators of social capital, and a panel of experts tasked with developing a methodological approach to measure social capital indicate that measurement should be context specific. Currently, there are no instruments available for researchers to measure the impact of social capital on health behaviors that is unique to college campuses. The primary goal of this project is to develop an instrument to measure social capital in college students which can then be used to assess the relationship between social capital and health behaviors in college students, such as cigarette use. The objectives of the dissertation include 1) to investigate the relationship between campus environment and individual behaviors using data from a large national college health survey; 2) to conduct a qualitative assessment to examine social capital in college students to ascertain differences between campus and hometown social capital; and 3) to develop an instrument to measure social capital specific to college students. We chose to focus on cigarette use in the first study because college students are at risk for cigarette smoking initiation and current occasional smokers are at risk of progression to heavy or daily smoking. The environment is recognized to have an influence on smoking initiation and maintenance, but the interaction between individual smoking behaviors and the college environment is largely unknown. We expect that the development of a college student social capital instrument will serve to increase understanding of the inter-relations between campus environment and individual characteristics and eventually be able to as relate them to smoking behaviors in college students. Such understanding can inform college campus-level smoking prevention and cessation interventions in order to achieve better and more efficient outcomes

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation explores the impact of an authoritarian state on the university as represented by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt. I examine how academics negotiate their tasks of acquiring, disseminating and producing knowledge within the confines of an authoritarian state. The 2003 Arab Human Development Report argues that a knowledge society, consisting of the acquisition, dissemination, and production of knowledge is needed to overcome developmental lags within the Arab Middle East. My dissertation explores that argument within the microcosm of the knowledge society as represented by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science. Most critically I ask the question of how the university was depoliticized by an authoritarian state. Hence, my work begins to uncover the irrelevance to the Egyptian Revolution and ouster of President Husni Mubarak in 2011. My dissertation reveals how an authoritarian state depoliticizes a university and improves our understanding of the utility of elements of the social capital concept. Known metaphorically as bridges and holes, the linkages or mechanisms (bridges) that span networks that are not affiliated with one another (holes) can inhibit or support change as well as inhibit or promote the introduction of new knowledge and resources. It is this last conceptual finding that holds most promise for future research in diverse settings