BYOD NETWORK: Enhancing Security through Trust–Aided Access Control Mechanisms

The growth of mobile devices both in variety and in computational abilities have given birth to a concept in the corporate world known as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Under this concept, Employees are allowed to bring personally owned mobile devices for official work. Though relatively new, it has gained up to 53% patronage among organisations, and it is expected to hit 88% in the near future. Its popularity is driven by significant advantages ranging from reduced cost, employee satisfaction to improved productivity. However, the concept also introduces new security challenges; for instance, the organisation looses the ownership of devices used for official work, to the employees. Implying that the employees own and manage the devices they use to work, including seeing to the security needs of such devices. With this development, protecting the corporate network becomes pertinent and even more challenging with an audacious need for outwittingconventional access control mechanisms, giving the highly dynamic nature of mobile devices. Considering the fact that BYOD is also a type of pervasive/dynamic environment, this work studies similar dynamic environments, relating to how their security challenges are addressed, and from such bases a Trust-Aided Dynamic Access Control Approach is proposed for enhancing the security of BYOD devices. Through computational analysis, this scheme has been seen to be security-compliant and could significantly improving the overall security of BYOD networks

Progress in waste oil to sustainable energy, with emphasis on pyrolysis techniques

This paper begins with a review on the current techniques used for the treatment and recovery of waste oil, which is then followed by an extensive review of the recent achievements in the sustainable development and utilization of pyrolysis techniques in energy recovery from waste oils. The advantages and limitations shown by the use of pyrolysis technique and other current techniques were discussed along with the future research that can be performed on the pyrolysis of waste oil. It was revealed that the current techniques (transesterification, hydrotreating, gasification, solvent extraction, and membrane technology) are yet to be sustainable or completely feasible for waste oil treatment and recovery. It was established that pyrolysis techniques offer a number of advantages over other existing techniques in recovering both the energetic and chemical value of waste oil by generating potentially useful pyrolysis products suitable for future reuse. In particular, microwave pyrolysis shows a distinct advantage in providing a rapid and energy-efficient heating compared to conventional pyrolysis techniques, and thus facilitating increased production rates. It was found that microwave pyrolysis of waste oil showed good performance with respect to product yield, reaction time, energy consumption, and product quality, and thus showing exceptional promise as a sustainable means for energy recovery from waste oils. Nevertheless, it was revealed that some important characteristics of the pyrolysis process have yet to be fully investigated. It was thus concluded that more studies are needed to extend existing understanding in the optimal reaction and process parameters in order to develop the pyrolysis technology to be a sustainable and commercially viable route for energy recovery from problematic waste oils.The authors acknowledges the financial support by Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation Malaysia (MOSTI), Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia (MOHE), and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu for the conduct of the research under the E-Science fund (UMT/RMC/SF/13/52072(5), Vot no.: 52072), the Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (Project no.: FRGS/1/2013/TK05/UMT/02/2, Vot no.: 59296), and the Research Acculturation Grant Scheme (Project no.: RAGS/2012/UMT/TK07/3, Vot no.: 57085).This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.09.00

Microwave pyrolysis for valorisation of horse manure biowaste

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Biomass-based feedstock is an attractive alternative to fossil fuel due to its sustainability and potential as a clean energy source. The present work focuses on the valorisation of horse manure biowaste to produce bioenergy via microwave-assisted pyrolysis technique. The thermal decomposition process is conducted by considering the effects of pyrolysis temperature, catalyst loading and carrier gas flow rate on the yield and quality of end products. The pyrolysed gaseous product contains up to 73.1 vol% of syngas components. The solid biochar obtained contains a heating value of 35.5 MJ/kg with high surface to pore volume ratio. The relatively high specific energy contents of gaseous products and biochar indicate their potential as biofuels. The liquid product is found to contain oxygenated phenolic compound of up to 79.4 wt%. In spite of an overall energy deficit achieved when comparing the total energy of end products with the feedstock, the energy balance analysis indicates the optimum production parameters. The least energy deficit is achieved at the reactive conditions of 350–450 °C and manure-to-catalyst ratio of 1:1. A reaction mechanism pathway for the pyrolysis of horse manure is presented to show the production route for bioenergy and valuable chemicals

Urban Farmers’ Adoption of Improved Dry Season Vegetable Production Technologies in in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State, Nigeria

This study analyzed the adoption of improved vegetable production technologies among urban farmers in Owerri Municipal Council of Imo State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study sought to ascertain the technologies adopted in dry season urban vegetable production, reasons for participation in the production, sources of information to the farmers, constraints to adoption of the technologies, and the socio-economic determinants of adoption of the technologies by the farmers. Data were collected from 125 randomly sampled urban farmers with the aid of semi-structured and validated questionnaire. The data were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) Multiple Regression analysis. The result showed that the production technologies adopted were use of improved crop varieties (69.5%), use of fertilizers (95.6%), irrigation (88.7%), mulching (62.6%) and seed treatment before planting (59.1%). It was also revealed that the reasons for participation in dry season urban vegetable farming included increased access to vegetable for household consumption (Mean = 2.92), income generation ( mean = 3.42), and employment creation (Mean = 3.11). The major sources of information on dry season vegetable production were informal interaction with neighbours/friends (35.7%), Extension Agents (EAs)(14.8%), the radio (12.5%)and the television (11.3%). The constraints included land scarcity (88.7%), lack of water for irrigation (70.5%) and poor awareness on dry season farming (50.6%). The socio-economic determinants of participation in dry season urban farming included major occupation, income level, length of time lived in the city, and access to land. The study concluded that dry season vegetable farming in Owerri Municipal was very useful for ensuring households’ access to vegetables, increased income generation and alternative means of employment.Key words: Dry season, vegetable production, Urban, Farmer