Design-Efficiency in Security

In this document, we present our applied results on balancing security and performance using a running example, which is based on sensor networks. These results are forming a basis for a new approach to balance security and performance, and therefore provide design-efficiency of key updates. We employ probabilistic model checking approach and present our modelling and analysis study using PRISM model checker

Optimal Design of Social Security Reforms

We argue that a privatization of the social security system, going from a Pay-As-You- Go to a Fully Funded system, can be interpreted as the explicit recognition of an implicit debt and there is no efficiency gain in doing so. As a consequence, potential efficiency gains upon reforming the system come from the elimination of distortions and the optimal management of that implicit debt. Based on that argument, this paper studies the optimal design of a social security privatization in a Pareto improving way. The government decides endogenously how to finance the transition and the welfare of the initial generations alive becomes policy constraint. We find that the government can design a Pareto improving reform that exhibits sizeable welfare gains, arising because of a reduction in labor supply distortions. In contrast, the welfare gain from reducing savings distortions is relatively small. Our approach explicitly provides quantitative policy prescriptions towards the policy design of future and maybe unavoidable social security reforms.

Solutions and Tools for Secure Communication in Wireless Sensor Networks

Secure communication is considered a vital requirement in Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) applications. Such a requirement embraces different aspects, including confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of exchanged information, proper management of security material, and effective prevention and reaction against security threats and attacks. However, WSNs are mainly composed of resource-constrained devices. That is, network nodes feature reduced capabilities, especially in terms of memory storage, computing power, transmission rate, and energy availability. As a consequence, assuring secure communication in WSNs results to be more difficult than in other kinds of network. In fact, trading effectiveness of adopted solutions with their efficiency becomes far more important. In addition, specific device classes or technologies may require to design ad hoc security solutions. Also, it is necessary to efficiently manage security material, and dynamically cope with changes of security requirements. Finally, security threats and countermeasures have to be carefully considered since from the network design phase. This Ph.D. dissertion considers secure communication in WSNs, and provides the following contributions. First, we provide a performance evaluation of IEEE 802.15.4 security services. Then, we focus on the ZigBee technology and its security services, and propose possible solutions to some deficiencies and inefficiencies. Second, we present HISS, a highly scalable and efficient key management scheme, able to contrast collusion attacks while displaying a graceful degradation of performance. Third, we present STaR, a software component for WSNs that secures multiple traffic flows at the same time. It is transparent to the application, and provides runtime reconfigurability, thus coping with dynamic changes of security requirements. Finally, we describe ASF, our attack simulation framework for WSNs. Such a tool helps network designers to quantitatively evaluate effects of security attacks, produce an attack ranking based on their severity, and thus select the most appropriate countermeasures

Food Security and Economic Growth: An Asian Perspective

Food security is an elusive concept. Many economists doubt that it has any precise meaning at all. Having enough to eat on a regular basis, however, is a powerful human need, and satisfying this need drives household behavior in both private and public markets in predictable ways. Indeed, the historical record suggests that policy initiatives by central governments to satisfy this need for food security—at the level of both households and national markets—can speed economic growth in countries where a substantial proportion of the population does not get enough to eat. Paradoxically, in most successfully developing countries, especially those in the rice-based economies of Asia, the public provision of food security quickly slips from its essential role as an economic stimulus into a political response to the pressures of rapid structural transformation, thereby becoming a drag on economic efficiency. The long-run relationship between food security and economic growth thus tends to switch from positive to negative over the course of development. Because of inevitable inertia in the design and implementation of public policy, this switch presents a serious challenge to the design of an appropriate food policy.Food security, democracy, foreign assistance, economic development

Stakeholder role in improving agribusiness efficiency and food security in developing countries

Purpose: Food security is one of the main goals for sustainable development having an important position in determining the government policies. The main objective of this study is to analyze the role of stakeholders in corn farming business efficiency by 1) analyzing the efficiency of small-scale corn farming in Grobogan Regency, Central Java and 2) analyzing the role of stakeholders in increasing food security. Design/methodology/approach: The study used a mixed method, a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis. The analytical tool used was Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), regression analysis, and stakeholder analysis with a focus on convergence and divergence among stakeholders. Findings: The calculation results show that as many as 18 (30%) corn farming has been efficient. The main stakeholders’ role was found between the Agriculture office and farmers’ associations. Practical implications: The results show a close relationship and communication among actors. Furthermore, the actors share the same objectives so that the convergence path is mutually supportive and synergistic. Originality/value: The study provides a new discourse in an effort to improve agricultural efficiency in developing countries by analyzing the closeness between actors and modeling farmers' access to agricultural resources and governance.peer-reviewe