Uncertainty management in connectionist expert system

A connectionist expert system is an expert system whose knowledge base is generated from training examples using an artificial neural network learning technique. Gallant [13] developed a model for a connectionist expert system in which a variable is represented by a node and accepts two values, true or false. This study adopts two approaches to help manage uncertainty in Gallant's model. The first approach is called the random cell method while the second one is the stairstep method.Computer Scienc

An OAuth2-based protocol with strong user privacy preservation for smart city mobile e-Health apps

In the context of the Smart City concept, mobile e-Health applications can play a pivotal role towards the improvement of citizens’ quality of life, since they can enable citizens to access personalized e-Health services, without limitations on time and location. However, accessing personalized e-Health services through citizens’ mobile e-Health applications, running on their mobile devices, raises many privacy issues in terms of citizens’ identity and location. These privacy issues should be addressed so that citizens, concerned about privacy leakage, will embrace Smart City mobile e-Health applications and reap their benefits. Hence, in this paper we propose an OAuth2-based protocol with strong user privacy preservation that addresses these privacy issues. Our proposed protocol follows the OAuth2 protocol flow and integrates a pseudonym-based signature scheme and a delegation signature scheme into the user authentication phase of the OAuth2 protocol. The proposed protocol enables citizens authentication towards the servers providing personalized e-Health services, while preserving their privacy from malicious mobile applications and/or eavesdroppers. Moreover, the proposed protocol does not require to store sensitive information in the citizens’ mobile devices

A Lightweight Privacy-Preserving OAuth2-Based Protocol for Smart City Mobile Apps

In the forthcoming Smart City scenario, users' mobile applications will be of fundamental role towards supporting the envisioned functionalities and services. Mobile users, provided with a smartphone, will be capable of ubiquitously connecting to service providers through their installed mobile applications. However, this connection must be authenticated, which threatens the citizen privacy rights. Privacy-preserving mechanisms have already been proposed in the past; nevertheless, they are based on RSA groups or groups with bilinear pairings, which are inefficient in mobile devices due to its computational complexity. Thus, in this paper, we integrate a lightweight anonymous credential mechanism, suitable for computationally-limited mobile devices, into the user authentication phase of the OAuth2 protocol, which has become a de facto solution for user authentication in mobile applications. The proposed protocol enables citizen's authentication towards service providers, while preserving their privacy. Additionally, the protocol is compliant with the OAuth2 specification, which enables an easy integration in current mobile application implementations

Congestion relief in CDMA cellular networks using multihop inter-cell relay

Abstract-Multihop communication has been proposed in cellular networks to overcome some inherent limitations. Congestion relief is amongst the promised gains. In this paper, the concept of inter-cell relay, which uses multihop communication to divert calls from heavy loaded cells to less loaded adjacent cells, is introduced. We show that using inter-cell relay, the number of supported calls inside a congested cell can be significantly increased. We devise two approaches for congestion relief based on the conditions of the network, to maximize the number of supported calls inside a congested cell. The distribution-based approach determines the number of extra hops for inter-cell relay based on call distribution. On the other hand, the delay sensitive approach assumes that the number of extra hops for inter-cell relay is limited by calls quality of service requirements. By imposing a limit on the number of extra hops, the approach decides the number of inter-cell relayed calls and the number of calls connected to the congested BS. Our results illustrate the benefits gained from inter-cell relay in congestion relief. We demonstrate that inter-cell relay can decrease congestion of a cell by fully utilizing the available resources in surrounding cells

Energy Efficient Mobility Management for the Macrocell – Femtocell LTE Network

Femtocells will play a key role in future deployments of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, as they are expected to enhance system capacity, and greatly improve the energy-efficiency in a cost-effective manner. Due to the short transmit-receive distance, femtocells prolong handset battery life and enhance the Quality of Service (QoS) perceived by the end users. However, large-scale femtocell deployment comprises many technical challenges, mainly including security, interference and mobility management. Under the viewpoint of energy-efficient mobility management, this chapter discusses the key features of the femtocell technology and presents a novel energy-efficient handover decision policy for the macrocell – femtocell LTE network. The proposed HO decision policy aims at reducing the transmit power of the LTE mobile terminals in a backwards compatible with the standard LTE handover decision procedure. Simulation results show that significantly lower energy and power consumption can be attained if the proposed approach is employed, at the cost of a moderately increased number of handover executions events

Key management for beyond 5G mobile small cells: a survey

The highly anticipated 5G network is projected to be introduced in 2020. 5G stakeholders are unanimous that densification of mobile networks is the way forward. The densification will be realized by means of small cell technology, and it is capable of providing coverage with a high data capacity. The EU-funded H2020-MSCA project “SECRET” introduced covering the urban landscape with mobile small cells, since these take advantages of the dynamic network topology and optimizes network services in a cost-effective fashion. By taking advantage of the device-to-device communications technology, large amounts of data can be transmitted over multiple hops and, therefore, offload the general network. However, this introduction of mobile small cells presents various security and privacy challenges. Cryptographic security solutions are capable of solving these as long as they are supported by a key management scheme. It is assumed that the network infrastructure and mobile devices from network users are unable to act as a centralized trust anchor since these are vulnerable targets to malicious attacks. Security must, therefore, be guaranteed by means of a key management scheme that decentralizes trust. Therefore, this paper surveys the state-of-the-art key management schemes proposed for similar network architectures (e.g., mobile ad hoc networks and ad hoc device-to-device networks) that decentralize trust. Furthermore, these key management schemes are evaluated for adaptability in a network of mobile small cells

Fiber Bragg Gratings as e-Health Enablers: An Overview for Gait Analysis Applications

Nowadays, the fast advances in sensing technologies and ubiquitous wireless networking are reflected in medical practice. It provides new healthcare advantages under the scope of e-Health applications, enhancing life quality of citizens. The increase of life expectancy of current population comes with its challenges and growing health risks, which include locomotive problems. Such impairments and its rehabilitation require a close monitoring and continuous evaluation, which add financial burdens on an already overloaded healthcare system. Analysis of body movements and gait pattern can help in the rehabilitation of such problems. These monitoring systems should be noninvasive and comfortable, in order to not jeopardize the mobility and the day-to-day activities of citizens. The use of fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) as e-Health enablers has presented itself as a new topic to be investigated, exploiting the FBGs’ advantages over its electronic counterparts. Although gait analysis has been widely assessed, the use of FBGs in biomechanics and rehabilitation is recent, with a wide field of applications. This chapter provides a review of the application of FBGs for gait analysis monitoring, namely its use in topics such as the monitoring of plantar pressure, angle, and torsion and its integration in rehabilitation exoskeletons and for prosthetic control

A novel intrusion detection and prevention scheme for network coding-enabled mobile small cells

Network coding (NC)-enabled mobile small cells are observed as a promising technology for fifth-generation (5G) networks that can cover the urban landscape by being set up on demand at any place and at any time on any device. Nevertheless, despite the significant benefits that this technology brings to the 5G of mobile networks, major security issues arise due to the fact that NC-enabled mobile small cells are susceptible to pollution attacks; a severe security threat exploiting the inherent vulnerabilities of NC. Therefore, intrusion detection and prevention mechanisms to detect and mitigate pollution attacks are of utmost importance so that NC-enabled mobile small cells can reach their full potential. Thus, in this article, we propose for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a novel intrusion detection and prevention scheme (IDPS) for NC-enabled mobile small cells. The proposed scheme is based on a null space-based homomorphic message authentication code (MAC) scheme that allows detection of pollution attacks and takes proper risk mitigation actions when an intrusive incident is detected. The proposed scheme has been implemented in Kodo and its performance has been evaluated in terms of computational overhead

Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies: Status and analysis

Concentrated solar power (CSP) technology is a promising renewable energy technology worldwide. However, many challenges facing this technology nowadays. These challenges are mentioned in this review study. For the first time, this work summarized and compared around 143 CSP projects worldwide in terms of status, capacity, concentrator technologies, land use factor, efficiency, country and many other factors. Further, the various challenges facing the spread-out of this system are highlighted in terms of the heat transfer fluids (HTF), various energy storage (ES) technologies, cooling techniques, water management, and the Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE). Also, various thermophysical properties of the HTF are compared within the applicable range of the CSP operation. At the end of the review, various hybridization technologies for the CSP with various renewable energy sources, including photovoltaic, wind, and geothermal, are highlighted and compared. The pioneering country in using CSP, leading concentrator technology, suitable ES technology, and efficient hybrid technique based on the LCOE are determined. The analyzed data in this study is essential for predicting the future of the CSP in the markets and its contribution to reducing global warming potential