Trust Management in Social Internet of Things (SIoT): A Survey

A survey on trust management in the Social Internet of Things (SIoT) is provided, beginning with a discussion of SIoT architectures and relationships. Using a variety of publication databases, we describe efforts that focus on various trust management aspects of SIoT. Trust management models comprise three themes: trust computation, aggregation, and updates. Our study presents a detailed discussion of all three steps. Trust computation and trust aggregation depend upon Trust Attributes (TAs) for the calculation of local and global trust values. Our paper discusses many strategies for aggregating trust, but “Weighted Sum” is the most frequently used in the relevant studies. Our paper addresses trust computation and aggregation scenarios. Our work classifies research by TAs (Social Trust, Quality of Service). We’ve categorized the research (reputation-based, recommendation-based, knowledge-based) depending on the types of feedback/opinions used to calculate trust values (global feedback/opinion, feedback from a friend, trustor’s own opinion considering the trustee’s information). Our work classifies studies (policy-based, prediction-based, weighted sum-based/weighted linear combination-based) by trust computation/aggregation approach. Two trust-update schemes are discussed: time-driven and event-driven schemes, while most trust management models utilize an event-driven scheme. Both trust computation and aggregation need propagating trust values in a centralized, decentralized, or semi-centralized way. Our study covers classifying research by trust updates and propagation techniques. Trust models should provide resiliency to SIoT attacks. This analysis classifies SIoT attacks as collaborative or individual. We also discuss scenarios depicted in the relevant studies to incorporate resistance against trust-related attacks in SIoT. Studies suggest context-based or context-free trust management strategies. Our study categorizes studies based on context-based or context-free approaches. To gain the benefits of an immutable, privacy-preserving approach, a future trust management system should utilize Blockchain technology to support non-repudiation and tracking of trust relationships

Ericsson : TV is a new game : diversification strategy for TV & Media business

The thesis hereby presented in the form of a case study aims to address the challenges faced by the multinational Ericsson throughout the process of developing a diversification strategy for the TV & Media business and the strategic options made associated to this diversification maneuver. The case study functions as an educational tool since it allows students to apply the strategic frameworks and theoretical concepts learned in class to a real business situation. Ericsson is a Swedish multinational company operating in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry, being a provider of communications technology and services and operating and investing in several business areas, among them the TV & Media business. The corporate business strategies followed by Ericsson, as well as the strategic options taken regarding the TV & Media business, and the analysis to the diversification strategy, as well as to the strategic options taken, constitute interesting topics for discussion in strategy courses, supported by the theoretical concepts and strategy frameworks proposed in the literature review. The proposed reflection focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the strategic decision to diversify into the TV & Media business and the strategic options taken, particularly, the development of the business area through an acquisitions strategy

Enhancing trustability in MMOGs environments

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs; e.g., World of Warcraft), virtual worlds (VW; e.g., Second Life), social networks (e.g., Facebook) strongly demand for more autonomic, security, and trust mechanisms in a way similar to humans do in the real life world. As known, this is a difficult matter because trusting in humans and organizations depends on the perception and experience of each individual, which is difficult to quantify or measure. In fact, these societal environments lack trust mechanisms similar to those involved in humans-to-human interactions. Besides, interactions mediated by compute devices are constantly evolving, requiring trust mechanisms that keep the pace with the developments and assess risk situations. In VW/MMOGs, it is widely recognized that users develop trust relationships from their in-world interactions with others. However, these trust relationships end up not being represented in the data structures (or databases) of such virtual worlds, though they sometimes appear associated to reputation and recommendation systems. In addition, as far as we know, the user is not provided with a personal trust tool to sustain his/her decision making while he/she interacts with other users in the virtual or game world. In order to solve this problem, as well as those mentioned above, we propose herein a formal representation of these personal trust relationships, which are based on avataravatar interactions. The leading idea is to provide each avatar-impersonated player with a personal trust tool that follows a distributed trust model, i.e., the trust data is distributed over the societal network of a given VW/MMOG. Representing, manipulating, and inferring trust from the user/player point of view certainly is a grand challenge. When someone meets an unknown individual, the question is “Can I trust him/her or not?”. It is clear that this requires the user to have access to a representation of trust about others, but, unless we are using an open source VW/MMOG, it is difficult —not to say unfeasible— to get access to such data. Even, in an open source system, a number of users may refuse to pass information about its friends, acquaintances, or others. Putting together its own data and gathered data obtained from others, the avatar-impersonated player should be able to come across a trust result about its current trustee. For the trust assessment method used in this thesis, we use subjective logic operators and graph search algorithms to undertake such trust inference about the trustee. The proposed trust inference system has been validated using a number of OpenSimulator (opensimulator.org) scenarios, which showed an accuracy increase in evaluating trustability of avatars. Summing up, our proposal aims thus to introduce a trust theory for virtual worlds, its trust assessment metrics (e.g., subjective logic) and trust discovery methods (e.g., graph search methods), on an individual basis, rather than based on usual centralized reputation systems. In particular, and unlike other trust discovery methods, our methods run at interactive rates.MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Games, como por exemplo, World of Warcraft), mundos virtuais (VW, como por exemplo, o Second Life) e redes sociais (como por exemplo, Facebook) necessitam de mecanismos de confiança mais autónomos, capazes de assegurar a segurança e a confiança de uma forma semelhante à que os seres humanos utilizam na vida real. Como se sabe, esta não é uma questão fácil. Porque confiar em seres humanos e ou organizações depende da percepção e da experiência de cada indivíduo, o que é difícil de quantificar ou medir à partida. Na verdade, esses ambientes sociais carecem dos mecanismos de confiança presentes em interacções humanas presenciais. Além disso, as interacções mediadas por dispositivos computacionais estão em constante evolução, necessitando de mecanismos de confiança adequados ao ritmo da evolução para avaliar situações de risco. Em VW/MMOGs, é amplamente reconhecido que os utilizadores desenvolvem relações de confiança a partir das suas interacções no mundo com outros. No entanto, essas relações de confiança acabam por não ser representadas nas estruturas de dados (ou bases de dados) do VW/MMOG específico, embora às vezes apareçam associados à reputação e a sistemas de reputação. Além disso, tanto quanto sabemos, ao utilizador não lhe é facultado nenhum mecanismo que suporte uma ferramenta de confiança individual para sustentar o seu processo de tomada de decisão, enquanto ele interage com outros utilizadores no mundo virtual ou jogo. A fim de resolver este problema, bem como os mencionados acima, propomos nesta tese uma representação formal para essas relações de confiança pessoal, baseada em interacções avatar-avatar. A ideia principal é fornecer a cada jogador representado por um avatar uma ferramenta de confiança pessoal que segue um modelo de confiança distribuída, ou seja, os dados de confiança são distribuídos através da rede social de um determinado VW/MMOG. Representar, manipular e inferir a confiança do ponto de utilizador/jogador, é certamente um grande desafio. Quando alguém encontra um indivíduo desconhecido, a pergunta é “Posso confiar ou não nele?”. É claro que isto requer que o utilizador tenha acesso a uma representação de confiança sobre os outros, mas, a menos que possamos usar uma plataforma VW/MMOG de código aberto, é difícil — para não dizer impossível — obter acesso aos dados gerados pelos utilizadores. Mesmo em sistemas de código aberto, um número de utilizadores pode recusar partilhar informações sobre seus amigos, conhecidos, ou sobre outros. Ao juntar seus próprios dados com os dados obtidos de outros, o utilizador/jogador representado por um avatar deve ser capaz de produzir uma avaliação de confiança sobre o utilizador/jogador com o qual se encontra a interagir. Relativamente ao método de avaliação de confiança empregue nesta tese, utilizamos lógica subjectiva para a representação da confiança, e também operadores lógicos da lógica subjectiva juntamente com algoritmos de procura em grafos para empreender o processo de inferência da confiança relativamente a outro utilizador. O sistema de inferência de confiança proposto foi validado através de um número de cenários Open-Simulator (opensimulator.org), que mostrou um aumento na precisão na avaliação da confiança de avatares. Resumindo, a nossa proposta visa, assim, introduzir uma teoria de confiança para mundos virtuais, conjuntamente com métricas de avaliação de confiança (por exemplo, a lógica subjectiva) e em métodos de procura de caminhos de confiança (com por exemplo, através de métodos de pesquisa em grafos), partindo de uma base individual, em vez de se basear em sistemas habituais de reputação centralizados. Em particular, e ao contrário de outros métodos de determinação do grau de confiança, os nossos métodos são executados em tempo real

The impact of cloud computing on startups’ success in Portugal: a quantitative study

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Statistics and Information Management, specialization in Information Analysis and ManagementIn opposition to traditional on-premises architectures, the consumption of cloud computing services has risen exponentially over the last decade, led by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Simultaneously, Portugal has become an attractive hub for young entrepreneurs from all across the world, aiming to launch and grow their startups motivated by the high quality of education and the booming ecosystem of accelerators and incubators. This dissertation aims to understand the interaction between these phenomena, studying the impact of cloud computing on the business success of Portuguese startups through a quantitative analysis. Leveraging Intricately and Crunchbase as data sources, this study hopes to depict the relationship between cloud computing consumption and the success of a startup, based on its funding round status

Forests and climate change: adaptation and mitigation

ETFRN news No. 50: Forests and Climate Change: adaptation and mitigation. This newsletter contains interesting materials for those who think about the question how to proceed with forests and climate change after Copenhagen, with or without an agreement. Here below are presented some observations from this newsletter: • Adaptation and mitigation are separate issues in the climate discussions, but in forest practice they are two sides of the same coin. • We need forest management directed at the realization of different objectives at the same time, we do not need pure ‘carbon forests’. Not addressing ‘people’ and ‘planet’ considerations is increasingly seen – by both the public and private sector – as a business risk. • Not all countries will be able to comply with REDD rules in the short term. The voluntary carbon market will remain important. • REDD is an opportunity and a risk for local communities. Risks should be made transparent, and open and equal participation by communities in design and decision-making should be promoted • REDD and other forest-based climate change mitigation measures are likely to be low-cost and effective in the short to medium term. Some stakeholders fear that forests may become a too-cheap mitigation option and corrupt the overall climate agreement. In most calculations, however, the costs of developing, operating and managing the institutional system required to produce credible and sustainable forest carbon credits are not internalized in forest carbon prices. If they were, forest carbon prices would become much higher and more realistic. • The role of forests must be clarified and articulated in National Adaptation Programs of Action (NAPAs). At present most political attention and financing is focused on REDD, and, in general, on climate mitigation. Only recently has the concern for the role of forests in adaptation gained ground; this emanates from the growing recognition that climate change will happen anyway. Moreover, climate change will affect the most vulnerable ecosystems and poorer regions. • There is a clear need for harmonization and coherence in the certification market (SFM, and carbon, fair trade etc.). Certification is not necessarily the only credible basis for payment. As illustrated in this issue, mutual trust can be an alternative, particularly for small-scale initiatives that cannot afford the high transaction costs of certification

Evaluating Ethical Technology Leadership: Organizational Culture, Leader Behavior, and a Cyberspace Ethic of Business

Evaluating ethical technology leadership at a financial services firm in North Carolina requires discovering interactions amongst organizational culture, leadership approaches, and ethical decision-making practices. This study provides insight into how the participating firm’s organizational culture creates a leadership climate accommodative of an applied cyberspace business ethic. A cyberspace business ethic provides guidance to technology leaders addressing ethical challenges arising from emergent digital technologies. The identification of four key influencers that support ethical decision-making and provide protection against reputational risk exposures create an understanding of the collective nature of core values, relational, reputational, and technological influences on ethical behaviors. Self-determination theory assists in understanding the motivations for ethical leader behavior in the form of competency, autonomy, and relatedness. Coupling this theoretical knowledge with identification of the four influencers of ethical decision-making provides the basis of understanding the participating firm’s applied cyberspace business ethic. Given the rapid pace of emerging digital technology deployment, a dynamic condition of internal environmental complexity and external environmental uncertainty creates the need for leaders to develop a cyberspace business ethic appropriate for the business context. The participating firm’s cyberspace business ethic centers on core values, transparency, and communication clarity, purposefully utilized to mitigate reputational risk. Applying a Christian worldview to study findings adds a theological construct to organizational core values and underlying virtue ethics

Ecosystem synergies, change and orchestration

This thesis investigates ecosystem synergies, change, and orchestration. The research topics are motivated by my curiosity, a fragmented research landscape, theoretical gaps, and new phenomena that challenge extant theories. To address these motivators, I conduct literature reviews to organise existing studies and identify their limited assumptions in light of new phenomena. Empirically, I adopt a case study method with abductive reasoning for a longitudinal analysis of the Alibaba ecosystem from 1999 to 2020. My findings provide an integrated and updated conceptualisation of ecosystem synergies that comprises three distinctive but interrelated components: 1) stack and integrate generic resources for efficiency and optimisation, 2) empower generative changes for variety and evolvability, and 3) govern tensions for sustainable growth. Theoretically grounded and empirically refined, this new conceptualisation helps us better understand the unique synergies of ecosystems that differ from those of alternative collective organisations and explain the forces that drive voluntary participation for value co-creation. Regarding ecosystem change, I find a duality relationship between intentionality and emergence and develop a phasic model of ecosystem sustainable growth with internal and external drivers. This new understanding challenges and extends prior discussions on their dominant dualism view, focus on partial drivers, and taken-for-granted lifecycle model. I propose that ecosystem orchestration involves systematic coordination of technological, adoption, internal, and institutional activities and is driven by long-term visions and adjusted by re-visioning. My analysis reveals internal orchestration's important role (re-envisioning, piloting, and organisation architectural reconfiguring), the synergy and system principles in designing adoption activities, and the expanding arena of institutional activities. Finally, building on the above findings, I reconceptualise ecosystems and ecosystem sustainable growth to highlight multi-stakeholder value creation, inclusivity, long-term orientation and interpretative approach. The thesis ends with discussing the implications for practice, policy, and future research.Open Acces

Training researchers how to manage data to produce better results, enable reuse, and provide for long-term access

The existing academic research workforce is ill equipped to manage research data using increasingly complex computing technologies available to them. Despite the availability of ever more powerful desktops, mobile technologies, and high performance cloud computing and storage, universities are failing to provide graduate students with adequate data management skills for research in academia or industry. The challenge for mid- and late-career faculty is even greater, given that it is much more difficult to change established research practices in the midst of ongoing projects. This skills gap puts at risk billions of research dollars, the integrity of vast quantities of research data, and the quality of life for millions of people. Providing faculty and students with the skills they need to collect, manage, and share their data effectively is a challenge many academic libraries are taking on. Though libraries may provide some technological solutions, our most valuable contributions lay in expertise and trust. We have the resources to fill this skills gap using our information management expertise, teaching skills, knowledge of the scholarly ecosystem, ability to facilitate conversation across departmental and disciplinary boundaries, and a uniquely holistic understanding of the scholarly record. At IUPUI, data management training is the foundation of our data services. This perspective is informed by the recognition that many graduate programs are not sufficiently preparing students to manage research data in this digital age. Before we can expect academic researchers to share, preserve, and curate their data, they must understand the value and importance of data management. This chapter will describe our initial foray into data management training, the lessons learned, and the next phase of our educational efforts. In developing the program, we drew upon best practices in instructional design and information literacy, literature on the lab experience in science, and data management expertise from various research communities. Focusing on teaching practical techniques for responsible data management, we use the data management plan as a tool for teaching as well as for research. The initial training offered at IUPUI has reached a diverse audience, many of whom were not identified as stakeholders when developing the curriculum. Development of the lab, assessment results, and modifications made to subsequent iterations will be described as a working example of an evolving data literacy program

Organizational Architecture, Resilience, and Cyberattacks

This study develops a unique model of organizational resilience architecture with an emphasis on the ways in which organizations respond to cyber-attacks. The model elucidates the dynamics and approaches through which organizations mobilize and utilize expertise and resources to combat the effects of cyber-attackson normal business operations. Drawing on recent cases of cyber-attacks against organizations, the study identifies a host of strategic and tactical responses victims usedto aid recoveryand return to daily activities. The responses are grouped into three stages to demonstrate the steps that organizations can take to enhance their resilience: Stage 1 focuses on proactive environmental scanning and locating potential threatsand attacks, Stage 2 emphasizes neutralizing threats and attacks,and Stage 3 focuses on re-designing, upgrading and updating human, technological and financial resources. On this basis, the study sheds light on levels of organizational resilience and strategies for organizational design in withstanding cyber-attacks and security breaches. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed