A new sinkhole attack detection algorithm for RPL in wireless sensor networks (WSN)

With the continuous improvement of science and technology, wireless sensor network technology has gradually been widely used, and provides great convenience for people's living, but with the continuous improvement of the degree of application, wireless sensor network security issues also enter people's field of vision. Sensor nodes can be used for continuous sensing, event recognition and event identification. 6LoWPAN plays an important role in this convergence of heterogeneous technologies, which allows sensors to transmit information using IPv6 stack. Sensors perform critical tasks and become targets of attacks. Sinkhole attack is one of the most common attacks to sensor networks, threatening the network availability by dropping data or disturbing routing paths. RPL is a standard routing protocol commonly used in sensor networks. Therefore, this research presents the works in designing and developing Secured-RPL using the eave-listening concept (overhearing) to treating sinkhole attack. The suggested mechanism method could determine transmitted packages then overhear to the received packet, meaning that the node can overhearing to the neighbor node. Furthermore, three different simulation scenarios were applied, which are the scenario without attacker nodes, scenario with attacker nodes and the scenario with attacker and security by using Cooja simulator to Measurement and analysis performance of RPL in terms of packet delivery ratio (PDR) and power consumption over different packet transmission rate. The experimental results show that the proposed recognition method can identify sinkholes attack effectively and with less storage cost under various wireless sensor networks. Where the optimization ratio of the PDR in scenario with attacker node with the security was close to the scenario with a normal node

Iraq : a deeply divided polity and challenges to democracy-building

In the post-2003 Iraq, democratization and state building have contradictorily overlapped with dramatic consequences. The major constraint to Iraq’s statebuilding project is the misfit between identity and sovereignty of the state in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country where the construction of a new national identity (i.e. Iraqi) is sought at the expense of eradicating other existing identities (i.e. Kurd, Assyrian). The Iraqi state is seeming foisting the identity of the ruling majority Shiite-Arabs composing 65% of the population, thus marginalizing the identity of minorities such as the Kurds who constitute 20% of the population. Further, Iraq’s religious diversity and, precisely, the sectarian cleavage between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, impose serious challenges to the notion of democracy and democratic transition. This paper shows that in Iraq, democracy and nation-building have resulted in majority rule in a way that marginalizes minorities and dissenting voices. The processes of state building and democratization, it is argued, are intertwined and their challenges overlap and interlinked, making democracy a contested subject in the Iraqi context

THE USE OF BLOCKCHAIN IN THE MANAGEMENT OF COVID-19 VACCINE DATA

ABSTRACT - The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted nearly every sector of the world economy. The recently discovered vaccine has promised a return to normalcy. Since traditional database storage systems can be tampered with quickly, the incorporation of blockchain would preclude the limitations of conventional database systems. This paper thus discusses the use of blockchain technology in managing the COVID-19 vaccine data to ensure credibility, safety, security, and transparency. Keywords - Blockchain technology, COVID-19 vaccine data, and vaccine supply chain

Performance Evaluation of Mannasim Framework for Wireless Sensor Network in Network Simulator 2

Optimizing sensor networks involves addressing a wide range of issues steaming from limited energy reserves, computation power, communication capabilities, and self-managing sensor nodes. The high cost and difficulties in deploying wireless sensor networks are the main challenges that motivate investigating the performance of a sensor network in a simulated environment. The Network Simulator 2 (ns-2) is one of the flexible tools available for network engineers to study how various protocols perform under different configurations and topologies. ns-2 lacks of modules for studying the sensor networks. However, many researchers have developed several modules for ns-2, which help exploring wireless sensor network before real deployment. This project concerns the reliability of Mannasim module for studying the performance of wireless sensor networks in ns-2. This project supports the analysis of different sensor network configurations under the demands of specific sensor applications. The project showed that Mannasim module reliable and it is able to meet the requirements of different layers that are involved in sensor networks

Recreation Use Value of Wondo Genet Wetland Forest Ecosystem to Domestic Visitors - South Ethiopia

The study was conducted to estimate the recreation use of value of Wondo Genet Wabeshebele resort which makes use of wetland forest ecosystem to provide its outdoor recreation services. The amenity of the site is being affected due to degradation and conversion of the natural ecosystem into other land uses. Although many domestic visitors and foreign tourists benefited from the recreation services of the site for a long time, this non-market recreation benefits rarely considered in land use decision in the area.  An individual travel cost model was employed in this study to value the recreation benefits of the nature based site to domestic recreation users. Recreation service at the study site provided a consumer surplus per trip of 456 Birr (US$24) and 892 Birr (US$ 47) for day visitors and overnight visitors respectively. The aggregate recreation value of the site was estimated at 103.5 million Birr (US$5.54 million) in year 2013. The wetland forest ecosystem generated a recreation benefit flow of 1.9 million Birr (US$ 100,662) per hectare per year, considering only its service to domestic recreation users alone. The annual recreation benefit flow obtained from Wondo Genet wetland forest ecosystem could make the site to be among the terrestrial ecosystems that generates the highest benefit flow to society in comparison to value estimates made for similar ecosystems. It is important to consider this non-market recreation benefit of the wetland forest in future land use decisions in the landscape. Keywords: Wondo Genet resort, wetland forest, travel cost, valuation, recreation benefits, hot spring, non-market ecosystem service

THE FUTURE ROLE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

This paper looks at the role of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the evolving global financial system from the perspective of developing country interests. It finds that on certain issues, such as the scope and purposes of its lending operations, a consensus has been reached that IMF should continue to serve all its members, including the poorest, and that its resources should be available for supporting macro-relevant structural reforms as well as for dealing with financial crises. On a number of other issues, there remain differences between industrial and developing country views, including on the extension of IMF surveillance to cover the observance of international standards and codes. Largely unsettled are the modalities of the involvement of the private sector in crisis resolution, with special reference to the development of arrangements in the international sphere that would be analogous to domestic bankruptcy procedures, including the declaration of standstills and principles for orderly and equitable debt workouts. The liberalization of the capital account and the choice of exchange regimes are two interconnected areas in which international prescriptions conflict with developing country insistence on the preservation of national autonomy and in favour of intermediate regimes, as opposed to corner solutions. The scope and content of IMF conditionality raises the issue of how to reconcile it with the importance of assuring country ownership. Finally, the governance of IMF poses questions about the exercise of decision-making powers in the institution. Developing country positions are evolving in all these areas, especially on the subject of private-sector involvement in financial crisis prevention and resolution. However, there appears to be a general preference for a more rules-based framework, rather than one derived on a “case-by-case” basis. There are four areas of great interest to developing countries where the international debate has remained muted or has been largely absent in the recent literature: these relate to the surveillance over, and coordination of, the macroeconomic policies of the three principal international currency issuers; the relationship of international and regional arrangements; the distribution of voting power in both IMF and the international system generally, and the future evolution of the international reserve system.

BURDEN SHARING AT THE IMF

In the context of the financial governance of the International Monetary Fund, what are the equity implications of the way in which the IMF distributes the cost of running its regular (non-concessionary) lending operations as well as how it funds its concessionary lending and debt relief operations? While the IMF charges borrowers roughly what it pays its creditor members for the resources used in its regular lending operations, its overhead costs (administrative budget plus addition to reserves) are shared between the two groups of members in a less equitable manner. With overhead costs rising inexorably to meet the increasing number and range of responsibilities being placed on the institution – largely at the instance of the IMF‘s principal creditors by virtue of their dominant majority of voting power – the under-representation of the IMF’s debtors undermines the legitimacy of its decision making. With regard to the concessionary lending and debt relief operations, some of the IMF’s funding modalities have involved a substantial contribution by IMF debtors, sometimes under pressure. While this has been accepted as part of an intra-developing-country burden-sharing exercise, it has also significantly reduced the cost to developed countries of meeting their responsibilities to the poorest members of the international community.