Design and evaluation of a privacy architecture for crowdsensing applications

By using consumer devices such as cellphones, wearables and Internet of Things devices owned by citizens, crowdsensing systems are providing solutions to the community in areas such as transportation, security, entertainment and the environment through the collection of various types of sensor data. Privacy is a major issue in these systems because the data collected can potentially reveal aspects considered private by the contributors of data. We propose the Privacy-Enabled ARchitecture (PEAR), a layered architecture aimed at protecting privacy in privacy-aware crowdsensing systems. We identify and describe the layers of the architecture. We propose and evaluate the design of MetroTrack, a crowdsensing system that is based on the proposed PEAR architecture

Recent Advances in Wearable Sensing Technologies

Wearable sensing technologies are having a worldwide impact on the creation of novel business opportunities and application services that are benefiting the common citizen. By using these technologies, people have transformed the way they live, interact with each other and their surroundings, their daily routines, and how they monitor their health conditions. We review recent advances in the area of wearable sensing technologies, focusing on aspects such as sensor technologies, communication infrastructures, service infrastructures, security, and privacy. We also review the use of consumer wearables during the coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and we discuss open challenges that must be addressed to further improve the efficacy of wearable sensing systems in the future

A Communication Architecture for Crowd Management in Emergency and Disruptive Scenarios

Crowd management aims to develop support infrastructures that can effectively manage crowds at any time. In emergency and disruptive scenarios this concept can minimize the risk to human life and to the infrastructure. We propose the Communication Architecture for Crowd Management (CACROM), which can support crowd management under emergency and disruptive scenarios. We identify, describe, and discuss the various components of the proposed architecture, and we briefly discuss open challenges in the design of crowd management systems for emergency and disruptive scenarios

Investigating Security for Ubiquitous Sensor Networks

The availability of powerful and sensor-enabled mobile and Internet-connected devices have enabled the advent of the ubiquitous sensor network paradigm which is providing various types of solutions to the community and the individual user in various sectors including environmental monitoring, entertainment, transportation, security, and healthcare. We explore and compare the features of wireless sensor networks and ubiquitous sensor networks and based on the differences between these two types of systems, we classify the security-related challenges of ubiquitous sensor networks. We identify and discuss solutions available to address these challenges. Finally, we briefly discuss open challenges that need to be addressed to design more secure ubiquitous sensor networks in the future

Factors affecting student educational choices regarding OER material in Computer Science

The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) in course settings provides a solution to reduce the textbook barrier. Several published studies have concluded that high textbook costs may influence students\u27 educational choices. However, there are other student characteristics that may be relevant to OER. In this work, we study various factors that may influence students\u27 educational choices regarding OER and their impact on a student’s perspectives on OER use and quality. More specifically, we investigate whether there are significant differences in the frequency of use and perceived quality of the OER textbook based on gender, prior academic achievements, income, seniority, sentiment about online format, and motivation to learn. Our study involved students enrolled in the “Data Structures” course at Columbus State University (N=61) and analyzed students’ feedback before and during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide insights that can inform the decision of adopting OER in higher education settings. The results indicate that there is no significant difference between most of the students’ characteristics and the perception of the quality and use of the OER textbook. However, two student characteristics presented significant differences. Students who used the OER textbook more frequently were more likely to have a less positive attitude towards the online format of the textbook. Also, students with higher motivation to learn perceived it as a better resource than the traditional textbook compared to students with lower motivation to learn

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spy2.15#:~:text=A%20review%20and%20an%20empirical%20analysis%20of%20privacy%20policy%20and%20notices%20for%20consumer%20Internet%20of%20things

The privacy policies and practices of six consumer Internet of things (IoT) devices were reviewed and compared. In addition, an empirical verification of the compliance of privacy policies for data collection practices on two voice-activated intelligent assistant devices, namely the Amazon Echo Dot and Google Home devices was performed. The review shows that IoT privacy policies may not be usable from the human-computer interaction perspective because IoT policies are included as part of the manufacturers\u27 general privacy policy (which may include policies unrelated to the device), or the IoT policy requires to read (in addition to the IoT policies) the manufacturers\u27 general privacy policy which increase the cognitive load for the user. It was also found that future policy changes along with the approach to provide user consent to changes may adversely affect the privacy of the consumer because changes to policies may not provide choice to consumers to opt out from data collection practices if consumers are not aware of the changes. Finally, the empirical results for the Amazon Echo Dot and the Google Home devices demonstrate they adhere to their privacy policies when voice is collected through these devices

G-Sense: a scalable architecture for global sensing and monitoring

The pervasiveness of cellular phones combined with Internet connectivity, GPS embedded chips, location information, and integrated sensors provide an excellent platform to collect data about the individual and its surrounding environment. As a result, new applications have recently appeared to address large-scale societal problems as well as improve the quality of life of the individual. However, these new applications, recently called location-based services, participatory sensing, and human-centric sensing, bring many new challenges, one of them being the management of the huge amount of traffic (data) they generate. This article presents G-Sense, for Global-Sense, an architecture that integrates mobile and static wireless sensor networks in support of location-based services, participatory sensing, and human-centric sensing applications. G-Sense includes specific mechanisms to control the amount of data generated by these applications while meeting the application requirements. Furthermore, it creates a network of servers organized in a peer-to-peer architecture to address scalability and reliability issues. An example prototype application is presented along with some basic results and open research issues

On the Security of Bluetooth Low Energy in Two Consumer Wearable Heart Rate Monitors/Sensing Devices

Since its inception in 2013, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has become the standard for short-distance wireless communication in many consumer devices, as well as special-purpose devices. In this study, we analyze the security features available in Bluetooth LE standards and evaluate the features implemented in two BLE wearable devices (a Fitbit heart rate wristband and a Polar heart rate chest wearable) and a BLE keyboard to explore which security features in the BLE standards are implemented in the devices. In this study, we used the ComProbe Bluetooth Protocol Analyzer, along with the ComProbe software to capture the BLE traffic of these three devices. We found that even though the standards provide security mechanisms, because the Bluetooth Special Interest Group does not require that manufacturers fully comply with the standards, some manufacturers fail to implement proper security mechanisms. The circumvention of security in Bluetooth devices could leak private data that could be exploited by rogue actors/hackers, thus creating security, privacy, and, possibly, safety issues for consumers and the public. We propose the design of a Bluetooth Security Facts Label (BSFL) to be included on a Bluetooth/BLE enabled device’s commercial packaging and conclude that there should be better mechanisms for informing users about the security and privacy provisions of the devices they acquire and use and to educate the public on protection of their privacy when buying a connected device

An Approach to the Optimization of Convergent Networks on IP/MPLS with an Optical GMPLS Backbone in Multicast

This paper shows the solution of a multiobjective scheme for multicast transmissions in MPLS networks with a GMLS optical backbone using evolutive algorithms. It has not been showed models that optimize one or more parameters integrating these two types of networks. Because the proposed scheme is a NP-Hard problem, an algorithm has been developed to solve the problem on polynomial time. The main contributions of this paper are the proposed mathematical model and the algorithm to solve it

Recent Upgrades for the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range

Recent upgrades to the performance capabilities of the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range(AVGR) are presented. Upgrades include: the successful implementation of a fast-acting, gun gases suppression valve to minimize target contamination and perturbations to both the target and ejecta; powder gun and light-gas gun operational parameter adjustments to provide clean, low speed test conditions; a liquid nitrogen-based system and methodology for chilling targets and/or other impact chamber situated equipment; and imaging system capabilities enhancements to enable observing 50 micrometer particles traveling at 2 km/s. Many of these performance improvements were motivated by AVGR customer requirements for very clean shot conditions at speeds below 1.9 km/s and to provide testing in support of proposed NASA missions to Enceladus and 16-Psyche