Analyzing Attacks on Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC)

Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) is one of the driving applications of vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) and promises to bring more efficient and faster transportation through cooperative behavior between vehicles. In CACC, vehicles exchange information, which is relied on to partially automate driving; however, this reliance on cooperation requires resilience against attacks and other forms of misbehavior. In this paper, we propose a rigorous attacker model and an evaluation framework for this resilience by quantifying the attack impact, providing the necessary tools to compare controller resilience and attack effectiveness simultaneously. Although there are significant differences between the resilience of the three analyzed controllers, we show that each can be attacked effectively and easily through either jamming or data injection. Our results suggest a combination of misbehavior detection and resilient control algorithms with graceful degradation are necessary ingredients for secure and safe platoons.Comment: 8 pages (author version), 5 Figures, Accepted at 2017 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference (VNC

Digital Transitions: Nonprofit Investigative Journalism: Evaluation Report on the Center for Public Integrity

Summarizes outcomes of a one-year grant to CPI to transform itself into a leader in digital nonprofit journalism. Examines CPI's track record, use of new tools and methods, capacity as an effective and credible online presence, and areas for improvement

A Tripartite Framework for Leadership Evaluation

The Tripartite Framework for Leadership Evaluation provides a comprehensive examination of the leadership evaluation landscape and makes key recommendations about how the field of leadership evaluation should proceed. The chief concern addressed by this working paper is the use of student outcome data as a measurement of leadership effectiveness. A second concern in our work with urban leaders is the absence or surface treatment of race and equity in nearly all evaluation instruments or processes. Finally, we call for an overhaul of the conventional cycle of inquiry, which is based largely on needs analysis and leader deficits, and incomplete use of evidence to support recurring short cycles within the larger yearly cycle of inquiry

Effective Mechanism for Social Recommendation of News

Recommendation systems represent an important tool for news distribution on the Internet. In this work we modify a recently proposed social recommendation model in order to deal with no explicit ratings of users on news. The model consists of a network of users which continually adapts in order to achieve an efficient news traffic. To optimize network's topology we propose different stochastic algorithms that are scalable with respect to the network's size. Agent-based simulations reveal the features and the performance of these algorithms. To overcome the resultant drawbacks of each method we introduce two improved algorithms and show that they can optimize network's topology almost as fast and effectively as other not-scalable methods that make use of much more information

Improved dynamical particle swarm optimization method for structural dynamics

A methodology to the multiobjective structural design of buildings based on an improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is presented, which has proved to be very efficient and robust in nonlinear problems and when the optimization objectives are in conflict. In particular, the behaviour of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) classical algorithm is improved by dynamically adding autoadaptive mechanisms that enhance the exploration/exploitation trade-off and diversity of the proposed algorithm, avoiding getting trapped in local minima. A novel integrated optimization system was developed, called DI-PSO, to solve this problem which is able to control and even improve the structural behaviour under seismic excitations. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the methodology is tested against some benchmark problems. Then a 3-story-building model is optimized under different objective cases, concluding that the improved multiobjective optimization methodology using DI-PSO is more efficient as compared with those designs obtained using single optimization.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Transactions, Transformations, Translations: Metrics that Matter for Building, Scaling, and Funding Social Movements

This report provides an evaluative framework and key milestones to gauge movement building. Aiming to bridge the gap between the field of community organizing that relies on the one-on-one epiphanies of leaders and the growing philanthropic emphasis on evidence-based giving, the report stresses three main insights. The first is that any good set of movement metrics should capture quantity and quality, numbers and nuance, transactions and transformations. They are related -- an energized leader with a clear power analysis (a transformative measure) may turn out more members for a coalition rally (a transactional measure) -- and the report offers a matrix that weaves together both types of metrics across ten different movement-building strategies. The second is that a movement is more than one organization -- and if the whole is to be greater than the sum of its parts, we must measure accordingly. While report includes measures of success at the organizational level, it attempts to move beyond and focus on whether groups can align and work together to create a more powerful force for social change -- suggesting that in the same way that movements need to scale up to face the challenges of our times, metrics, too, must expand to capture the whole. The third is that metrics must be co-created, not imposed. Recognizing the gravity of the times and hoping to gauge their effectiveness, movement builders are eager to come up with a common language and framework for themselves -- and are developing the tools and capacities to do so. The report suggests that the funder-grantee relationship can build on this wisdom in the field and develop a set of evaluative measures that are not onerous requirements but tools for mutual accountability. The report also offers a set of recommendations to funders and the field, ranging from practical steps (like building a new toolbox of measures, improving the capacity to use them, and documenting innovation and experimentation) to more far-reaching suggestions about leadership development, the connection of policy outcomes with broader social change, and the need to generate movement-level measures. We, at USC PERE, hope this report contributes to a conversation about how to best capture transformations as well as transactions in social movement organizing, and how to build the broader public and philanthropic support necessary to realize the promise of a more inclusive America

Needle-Moving Community Collaboratives: A Promising Approach to Addressing America's Biggest Challenges

Communities face powerful challenges -- a high-school dropout epidemic, youth unemployment, teen pregnancy -- that require powerful solutions. In a climate of increasingly constrained resources, those solutions must help communities to achieve more with less. A new kind of community collaborative -- an approach that aspires to significant community-wide progress by enlisting all sectors to work together toward a common goal -- offers enormous promise to bring about broader, more lasting change across the nation

Supporting a Thriving Bay Area Performing Arts Ecosystem: A Mid-Point Assessment of the Hewlett Foundation's Performing Arts Program

As one of the largest institutional funders of performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Hewlett Foundation's Performing Arts Program (Program) plays an important role in the arts ecosystem across California. The Performing Arts Program works to "ensure continuity and innovation in the performing arts through the creation, performance, and appreciation of exceptional works that enrich the lives of individuals and benefit communities through the Bay Area." Monitoring and evaluation are integral to the Strategic Framework. It outlines metrics, short (2013) and longterm (2017) growth targets, and activities and strategies for each component of the Program, taking into consideration economic conditions, the arts landscape in California and current demographic trends in the Bay Area. Program staff built in evaluation activities that would enable the Program to determine if its strategies are effective, to measure how much progress has been made toward its goals, and to identify opportunities for learning and improving outcomes. In 2015, the Foundation partnered with Informing Change and Olive Grove to conduct a mid-point assessment of the Program's six-year Strategic Framework. The evaluation centers on four core questions, each of which has additional sub-questions (see Appendix A for a full list of the questions and subquestions). In partnership with Program staff, Informing Change and Olive Grove developed a plan to assess these questions using a mixed-methods approach. A primary data source for this assessment is interviews that solicit insight and feedback from six types of constituents: grantees from all three of the Program's component areas, peer arts funders, community-based arts leaders, and artists and cultural entrepreneurs (Appendix A includes a list of all interview informants and Appendix B provides interview protocols). The interview informant sample includes individuals and organizations connected to the Program as grantees or partners, as well as other key leaders in the arts ecosystem that do not receive funding. This assessment also draws heavily upon quantitative analysis of data about the portfolio funding (i.e., GIFTS, the Foundation's grant tracking software), grantees' work (i.e., Cultural Data Project (CDP), Audience Research Collaborative (ARC) and Grantee Perception Report (GPR)), and arts education (i.e., California Department of Education (CDE)). A review of existing literature and research studies provided data on changes in different fields and contextual information (Appendix C provides references for all works cited)