Game-theoretic Resource Allocation Methods for Device-to-Device (D2D) Communication

Device-to-device (D2D) communication underlaying cellular networks allows mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets to use the licensed spectrum allocated to cellular services for direct peer-to-peer transmission. D2D communication can use either one-hop transmission (i.e., in D2D direct communication) or multi-hop cluster-based transmission (i.e., in D2D local area networks). The D2D devices can compete or cooperate with each other to reuse the radio resources in D2D networks. Therefore, resource allocation and access for D2D communication can be treated as games. The theories behind these games provide a variety of mathematical tools to effectively model and analyze the individual or group behaviors of D2D users. In addition, game models can provide distributed solutions to the resource allocation problems for D2D communication. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the applications of game-theoretic models to study the radio resource allocation issues in D2D communication. The article also outlines several key open research directions.Comment: Accepted. IEEE Wireless Comms Mag. 201

Secure and Reconfigurable Network Design for Critical Information Dissemination in the Internet of Battlefield Things (IoBT)

The Internet of things (IoT) is revolutionizing the management and control of automated systems leading to a paradigm shift in areas such as smart homes, smart cities, health care, transportation, etc. The IoT technology is also envisioned to play an important role in improving the effectiveness of military operations in battlefields. The interconnection of combat equipment and other battlefield resources for coordinated automated decisions is referred to as the Internet of battlefield things (IoBT). IoBT networks are significantly different from traditional IoT networks due to the battlefield specific challenges such as the absence of communication infrastructure, and the susceptibility of devices to cyber and physical attacks. The combat efficiency and coordinated decision-making in war scenarios depends highly on real-time data collection, which in turn relies on the connectivity of the network and the information dissemination in the presence of adversaries. This work aims to build the theoretical foundations of designing secure and reconfigurable IoBT networks. Leveraging the theories of stochastic geometry and mathematical epidemiology, we develop an integrated framework to study the communication of mission-critical data among different types of network devices and consequently design the network in a cost effective manner.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

An Open-Source Microscopic Traffic Simulator

We present the interactive Java-based open-source traffic simulator available at www.traffic-simulation.de. In contrast to most closed-source commercial simulators, the focus is on investigating fundamental issues of traffic dynamics rather than simulating specific road networks. This includes testing theories for the spatiotemporal evolution of traffic jams, comparing and testing different microscopic traffic models, modeling the effects of driving styles and traffic rules on the efficiency and stability of traffic flow, and investigating novel ITS technologies such as adaptive cruise control, inter-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communication

Building the legitimacy of business networks through certification: The development of differentiated relationships.

In this paper we analyze how legitimacy allows us to develop differentiated relationships in business networks. Our central argument is that the building of legitimacy in business networks through certification needs the development of what we call differentiated relationships, based on the use of governance mechanisms. Mainly theoretical, our communication develops the argument through a critical review of literature. We use the organizational legitimacy (Elsbach, 1994) and institutional theories (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983) approach to explain how business networks can adopt and manage legitimacy. We exploit also the economic theory (Brousseau and Raynaud, 2006) and social theory of agency (Westphal and Zajac, 1998) to explain the adoption of specific governance mechanisms (Provan and Kenis, 2007) that legitimate business networks. We apply our question to a specific third party certification market: the fair trade market. We show that to build legitimacy in business networks it is necessary to use and manage governance mechanisms in the best way. These actions lead to establish differentiated relationships in business networks between all of the partners involving third party certifiers.relationships; Legitimacy; networks; certification;

Sentiment Polarization and Balance among Users in Online Social Networks

Communication within online social network applications enables users to express and share sentiments electronically. Existing studies examined the existence or distribution of sentiments in online communication at a general level or in small-observed groups. Our paper extends this research by analyzing sentiment exchange within social networks from an ego-network perspective. We draw from research on social influence and social attachment to develop theories of node polarization, balance effects and sentiment mirroring within communication dyads. Our empirical analysis covers a multitude of social networks in which the sentiment valence of all messages was determined. Subsequently we studied ego-networks of focal actors (ego) and their immediate contacts. Results support our theories and indicate that actors develop polarized sentiments towards individual peers but keep sentiment in balance on the ego-network level. Further, pairs of nodes tend to establish similar attitudes towards each other leading to stable and polarized positive or negative relationships

Advances to network analysis theories and methods with applications in social, organizational, and crisis settings

This dissertation proposes several solutions to the advancement of network analysis theories and methods with specific applications in the domains of social, organizational, and crisis scenarios. The field of network analysis has attracted interest from scholars coming from a wide range of disciplines as it provides valuable theoretical and methodological toolkits to investigate complex systems of social relations. Furthermore, network theories and methods can examine dynamics present at multiple levels of analysis, from individual- to global-levels. As a result, network analysis has been applied to various contexts of social science research such as social interactions, organizational communication, and crisis response collaboration. In this thesis, I present substantive insights into the application of several network analysis theories and applications to the (1) social, (2) organizational, and (3) crisis response settings. For the context of social interactions, I expand structural balance evaluation to signed and directed networks, and apply this approach to examine 12 social networks. For the context of organizational communication, I demonstrate the application of multilevel modeling for egocentric networks to examine factors associated with the formation of interdisciplinary ties in a scientific organization. In addition, I leverage an extended version of structural balance evaluation for signed and directed networks to examine the sources of tension present in three organizational networks. Third, I provide a case study of response dynamics during the 2010 Haiti earthquake by examining collaboration networks prescribed by national guidelines for response, and interaction networks of the actual collaborations that took place during the earthquake response. Altogether, this work contributes to the growing literature on the theories and applications of network analysis to real-world social networks. In particular, the study designs and findings developed in this thesis can provide a framework for network-based studies from many domains of interest, that includes components of network theories and methods that can help explain the social mechanisms involved in tie formation