Container-Based Virtualization for Bluetooth Low Energy Sensor Devices in Internet of Things Applications

Internet of Things (IoT) has become a continuously growing concept with the developments of ubiquitous computing, wireless sensor networks (WSN). With the industry 4.0 revolution, all production activities such as logistics, finance, agriculture, energy and almost all the service and infrastructure applications used by people in the cities we live in will undergo a major change within the IoT paradigm. In this study, a prototype model has been developed and its performance is investigated. Our prototype model can reach the advertisement data of Bluetooth Low Energy sensor devices by using container-based virtualization technology and directly working at layer 2 (L2) of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Virtualization mechanism for the sensor devices could help to exchange context-aware information with Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) structure. Also with virtualization may emerge interoperable sensor node platforms of heterogeneous environments from different vendors

Enabling intuitive and efficient physical computing

Making tools for technology accessible to everyone is important for diverse and inclusive innovation. Significant effort has already been made to make software innovation more accessible, and this effort has created a movement of citizen developers. These citizen developers have the drive to create, but not necessarily the technical skill to innovate with technology. Software, however, has limited impact in the real world compared to hardware and here, physical computing is democratising access to technological innovation. Using microcontroller programming and networking, citizens can now build interactive devices and systems that respond to the real world. But building a physical computing device is riddled with complexity. Memory efficient but hard to use low-level programming languages are used to program microcontrollers, implementation efficient but hard to use wired protocols are used to compose microcontrollers and peripherals, and energy efficient but hard to configure wireless protocols are used to network devices to each other and to the Internet. This consistent trade off between efficiency and ease of use means that physical computing is inaccessible to some. This thesis seeks to democratise microcontroller programming and networking in order to make physical computing accessible to all. It provides a deep exploration of three areas fundamental to physical computing: programming, hardware composition, and wireless networking, drawing parallels with consumer technologies throughout. Based upon these parallels, it presents requirements for each area that may lead to a more intuitive physical computing experience. It uses these requirements to compare existing work in the space and concludes that no existing technology correctly strikes the balance between efficient operation for microcontrollers and intuitive experiences for citizen developers. It therefore goes onto describe and evaluate three new technologies designed to make physical computing accessible to everyone

Détecter et survivre aux intrusions : exploration de nouvelles approches de détection, de restauration, et de réponse aux intrusions

Computing platforms, such as embedded systems or laptops, are built with layers of preventive security mechanisms to reduce the likelihood of attackers successfully compromising them. Nevertheless, given time and despite decades of improvements in preventive security, intrusions still happen. Therefore, systems should expect intrusions to occur, thus they should be built to detect and to survive them. Commodity Operating Systems (OSs) are deployed with intrusion detection solutions, but their ability to survive them is limited. State-of-the-art approaches from industry or academia either involve manual procedures, loss of availability, coarse-grained responses, or non-negligible performance overhead. Moreover, low-level components, such as the BIOS, are increasingly targeted by sophisticated attackers to implant stealthy and resilient malware. State-of-the-art solutions, however, mainly focus on boot time integrity, leaving the runtime part of the BIOS—known as the System Management Mode (SMM)—a prime target. This dissertation shows that we can build platforms that detect intrusions at the BIOS level and survive intrusions at the OS level. First, by demonstrating that intrusion survivability is a viable approach for commodity OSs. We develop a new approach that address various limitations from the literature, and we evaluate its security and performance. Second, by developing a hardware-based approach that detects attacks at the BIOS level where we demonstrate its feasibility with multiple detection methods.Les systèmes informatiques, tels que les ordinateurs portables ou les systèmes embarqués, sont construits avec des couches de mécanismes de sécurité préventifs afin de réduire la probabilité qu'un attaquant les compromettent. Néanmoins, malgré des décennies d'avancées dans ce domaine, des intrusions surviennent toujours. Par conséquent, nous devons supposer que des intrusions auront lieu et nous devons construire nos systèmes afin qu'ils puissent les détecter et y survivre. Les systèmes d'exploitation généralistes sont déployés avec des mécanismes de détection d'intrusion, mais leur capacité à survivre à une intrusion est limitée. Les solutions de l'état de l'art nécessitent des procédures manuelles, comportent des pertes de disponibilité, ou font subir un fort coût en performance. De plus, les composants de bas niveau tels que le BIOS sont de plus en plus la cible d'attaquants cherchant à implanter des logiciels malveillants, furtifs, et résilients. Bien que des solutions de l'état de l'art garantissent l'intégrité de ces composants au démarrage, peu s'intéressent à la sécurité des services fournis par le BIOS qui sont exécutés au sein du System Management Mode (SMM). Ce manuscrit montre que nous pouvons construire des systèmes capables de détecter des intrusions au niveau du BIOS et y survivre au niveau du système d'exploitation. Tout d'abord, nous démontrons qu'une approche de survivabilité aux intrusions est viable et praticable pour des systèmes d'exploitation généralistes. Ensuite, nous démontrons qu'il est possible de détecter des intrusions au niveau du BIOS avec une solution basée sur du matériel

Combining SOA and BPM Technologies for Cross-System Process Automation

This paper summarizes the results of an industry case study that introduced a cross-system business process automation solution based on a combination of SOA and BPM standard technologies (i.e., BPMN, BPEL, WSDL). Besides discussing major weaknesses of the existing, custom-built, solution and comparing them against experiences with the developed prototype, the paper presents a course of action for transforming the current solution into the proposed solution. This includes a general approach, consisting of four distinct steps, as well as specific action items that are to be performed for every step. The discussion also covers language and tool support and challenges arising from the transformation

Das Digitale "Gedächtnis der Menschheit" : eine Untersuchung dokumentarischer Praktiken im Zeitalter der digitalen Technologie

This research is a study of the UNESCO “Memory of the World” Programme established with the purpose to increase awareness of the existence and relevance of documentary heritage, and to achieve its universal and permanent accessibility. In this context, digital technology is increasingly used to provide access to documentary heritage but this activity also leads to a series of changes in how documents are understood and handled. Starting from the observation that the conceptual and practical changes triggered by digital technology in the “Memory of the World” do not seem to accurately reflect its stated philosophy, this research pursues the aim to critically analyze the possibilities and limits it offers. This analysis is facilitated by a conceptual framework anchored in the medium theory of Harold Innis and his concepts of medium, bias, space and time, and balance, which serve as analytical lenses to closely study selected aspects of digital technology and their influence. Despite popular beliefs that digital technology is most suitable for universal access, the findings of this present research lead to the observation that this cannot really be the case, and it reveals that an over-emphasis on the technical possibilities of digital access is not supportive of the overall purpose of the “Memory of the World”, leading to the narrowing down of its potential relevance. At first glance, this may suggest not recommending at all the use of digital technology. However, acknowledging that each medium has both limits and possibilities, instead of rejecting digital technology the study searches for solutions that may assist with integrating it in the “Memory of the World” in accordance with its overall purpose and philosophy. To this end, three recommendations are elaborated, the same conceptual framework that revealed the limits of digital technology being applied to construct on their possibilities. In order to motivate why following the recommendations of this analysis would be necessary, the study concludes by shifting attention from the relevance of digital technology in the “Memory of the World” Programme to the relevance of the Programme in a world changed by digital technology.Diese Forschung befasst sich mit dem UNESCO-Programm „Memory of the World“, das eingeführt wurde, um Achtsamkeit über die Existenz und Bedeutung von Dokumentenerbe zu schaffen, und um ihre universale und permanente Zugänglichkeit zu erreichen. In diesem Zusammenhang benutzt man zunehmend die digitale Technologie, um Zugang zu Dokumentenerbe zu ermöglichen, aber dies führt auch zu einer Reihe von Veränderungen wie Dokumente verstanden und behandelt werden. Angefangen von der Beobachtung, dass die konzeptionellen und praktischen Veränderungen, die durch die digitale Technologie im Memory of the World Programm ausgelöst werden, scheinbar nicht genau die festgelegte Philosophie reflektieren, verfolgt diese Forschung den Zweck, deren Möglichkeiten und Grenzen kritisch zu analysieren. Diese Analyse wird von einem konzeptionellen Rahmen gestützt, welcher in der Medium Theorie von Harold Innis und seinen Konzepten über das Medium, Bias, Space and Time, und Balance verankert ist. Diese Theorie dient als analytisches Objektiv, um ausgesuchte Aspekte der digitalen Technologie und ihren Einfluss näher zu untersuchen. Entgegen der allgemeinen Meinung, dass die digitale Technologie am besten geeignet ist für den universellen Zugang, führen die Resultate dieser aktuellen Forschung zu der Beobachtung, dass dieses nicht wirklich der Fall sein kann, und sie beweisen, das eine Überbewertung der technischen Möglichkeiten des digitalen Zugangs nicht hilfreich für die allumfassenden Absichten des Memory of the World Programms sind, und zu einer Einschränkung seiner potenziellen Bedeutung führt. Auf den ersten Blick könnte dieses heißen, den Gebrauch der digitalen Technologie überhaupt nicht zu empfehlen. Allerdings anerkennend, dass jedes Medium sowohl Grenzen wie auch Möglichkeiten hat, lehnt diese Forschung die digitale Technologie nicht ab, sondern sucht nach Lösungen die helfen könnten, diese in das Memory of the World Programm zu integrieren, und zwar im Einklang mit den allumfassenden Absichten und ihrer Philosophie. Um zu motivieren warum es notwendig wäre den Empfehlungen dieser Analyse zu folgen, beendet diese Forschung ihre Schlussfolgerung durch das Verlagern der Aufmerksamkeit von der Bedeutung der digitalen Technologie im Memory of the World Programm, zu der Bedeutung des Programms in einer durch digitale Technologie veränderten Welt

XSEDE: eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment Third Quarter 2012 Report

The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) is the most advanced, powerful, and robust collection of integrated digital resources and services in the world. It is an integrated cyberinfrastructure ecosystem with singular interfaces for allocations, support, and other key services that researchers can use to interactively share computing resources, data, and expertise.This a report of project activities and highlights from the third quarter of 2012.National Science Foundation, OCI-105357

Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Live Coding

Open Access peer reviewed papers on live coding published at the 1st International Conference on Live Coding (ICLC) in Leeds