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

Performance and …

In titling our chapter 'Performance and...' our intention is not to privilege performance studies over theatre studies or drama but rather to call to attention the longstanding proposition that performance (studies) 'resists or rejects definition' (Schechner, Richard, 1998, 'What Is 'Performance Studies' Anyway?' in: P. Phelan and J. Lane (eds.), The Ends of Performance, NYU Press, p. 360) and as such highlight the potential it holds for interdisciplinary scholarship and the way in which the idea of performance has been conceived fluidly and expansively, both key concerns of all the volumes reviewed here. We are, we hope, at a point in the development of performance and theatre studies where there is an understanding, acceptance and exploration of the mutually constructive and beneficial interweaving of these two 'traditions' of scholarship within the broader field of drama. In the books we look at, both 'theatre' and 'performance' are brought to bear on the matters at hand almost interchangeably, with established text-based dramas taking their place alongside works in the performance art tradition to further arguments pertaining to a variety of disciplines. Such plurality of approach is a defining feature of the works we have chosen to discuss and binds them to a common purpose: the exploration of drama/theatre/performance in, with and between other disciplines and discourses in the pursuit of illuminating the world around us in more meaningful ways

Understanding the mechanism of binding between Gab2 and the C terminal SH3 domain from Grb2

Gab2 is a large disordered protein that regulates several cellular signalling pathways and is overexpressed in different forms of cancer. Because of its disordered nature, a detailed characterization of the mechanisms of recognition between Gab2 and its physiological partners is particularly difficult. Here we provide a detailed kinetic characterization of the binding reaction between Gab2 and the C-terminal SH3 domain of the growth factor receptor-bound protein 2 (Grb2). We demonstrate that Gab2 folds upon binding following an induced fit type mechanism, whereby recognition is characterized by the formation of an intermediate, in which Gab2 is primarily disordered. In this scenario, folding of Gab2 into the bound conformation occurs only after binding. However, an alanine scanning of the proline residues of Gab2 suggests that the intermediate contains some degree of native-like structure, which might play a role for the recognition event to take place. The results, which represent a fundamental step forward in the understanding of this functional proteinprotein interaction, are discussed on the light of previous structural works on these proteins

Phenomenology, theology and psychosis: Towards compassion

The article argues for a phenomenological and theological perspective of psychosis. It draws especially upon Levinas’ philosophy as a way of looking at psychosis and responding with compassion. It aims to show that the world of psychosis parallels the Levinas’ negative characterisation of both ontology and the categories of objectivity, presence and Being. This suggests that the language of ontology itself holds insights into the experience of psychosis and perhaps further that the language of alterity (otherness) could be a possible response to it. Psychosis should not be understood as a ‘psychological problem’, but rather as an altered state of existence dominated by idolisation, ethical escapism, and terrifying and enthralling transcendence. Fear, horror, confusion with the good and the impossibility of death are the dominant emotions and experiences. As a result, the self, consumed by the idol of fear, must not only seek out and deceive the good, but transcend the possibility of death and thus ever deny its reality in life. If the word of God is to be heard in the face of an Other with psychosis, then there must be a compassionate response that might even one day take the form of friendship and solidarity. Like Christ entering into the depths of loneliness on Holy Saturday, so too we are called to enter into a space and time to bring both life and death together, a reality in which the Other’s fear of death and grief might be encountered and transformed into an existence of hope and grace

Siting Foreign Law: How Derrida Can Help

Secondary spectrum access to TV white spaces is considered as a promising solution to relieve the spectrum shortage. In Europe, SE43 working group in CEPT is leading the discussion on the technical requirements for exploiting TV white spaces through the recent ECC report 159. Its analytical approach for determining the maximum permissible power for the secondary user, however, overestimates the power level, and leads to significant violation of the interference limit for TV reception. In this letter, we address the problem by proposing a new approach for determining the secondary user transmit power based on the framework established in ECC report 159. Monte Carlo simulation shows that our method keeps the interference lose to the target.QC 20121113QUASA