Security analysis of IoT protocols: A focus in CoAP

© 2016 IEEE. Internet of things (IoT) or Web of Things (WoT) is a wireless network between smart products or smart things connected to the internet. It is a new and fast developing market which not only connects objects and people but also billions of gadgets and smart devices. With the rapid growth of IoT, there is also a steady increase in security vulnerabilities of the linked objects. For example, a car manufacturer may want to link the systems within a car to smart home network networks to increase sales, but if all the various people involved do not embrace security the system will be exposed to security risks. As a result, there are several new published protocols of IoT, which focus on protecting critical data. However, these protocols face challenges and in this paper, numerous solutions are provided to overcome these problems. The widely used protocols such as, 802.15.4, 6LoWPAN, and RPL are the resenting of the IoT layers PHY/MAC, Adoption and Network. While CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol) is the application layer protocol designed as replication of the HTTP to serve the small devices coming under class 1 and 2. Many implementations of CoAP has been accomplished which indicates it\u27s crucial amd upcoming role in the future of IoT applications. This research article explored the security of CoAP over DTLS incurring many issues and proposed solutions as well as open challenges for future research

Exploring Practitioner Perspectives of Sourcing Risks: Towards the Development of an Integrated Risk and Control Framework

Outsourcing of information and communication technologies (ICT) and related services is an established and growing industry. Recent trends, such as the move toward multi-sourcing have increased the complexity and risk of these outsourcing arrangements. There is a critical research need to identify the risks faced by both the organisations that outsource ICT and the vendors that provide it in this changing landscape. To address growing concerns regarding the best way to deal with risk and control in this environment, our research focuses on establishing a Sourcing Risk and Control Framework to assist organisations identify these risks and develop effective mitigation strategies. In this paper we report on the first stage of our research that sought to document how sourcing risk is represented and considered in practice. To date, limited empirical research has been conducted in an Australian context. Using a series of workshops involving client and vendor representatives, we identified a broad range of risks and developed a cohesive categorisation scheme that incorporates functional and multi-stakeholder perspectives

Do parental stimulation practices modify the effect of child’s health status on early developmental risk? Findings from a hospitalized cohort

The current study conducted in Pakistan aimed to test if parental stimulation practices modify the effect of general child health status on early developmental risks in hospitalized children. Development was assessed using the Survey of Well-being of Young Children. Child health status was a global rating on a Likert scale. Parental engagement was categorized based on the number of activities with their children (low ≤ 3, high > 3). A total of 231 children were assessed. Children with poor health status were reported to be 1.9 (95% Confidence Intervals [CI] 1.4–2.8, p = 0.000) times at risk of developmental delay by parents who had lower engagement and about 3 times (3.63 for mothers CI 1.79–7.37, p = 0.003; 2.96 for fathers CI 1.17–7.49, p = 0.027) significantly at risk of behaviour–emotional concerns by parents with higher engagement. The authors conclude that parental engagement and developmental screening can be incorporated as part of in-patient paediatric assessment.publishedVersio

What method of contact works best for recruiting participants in a study: lessons for health care researchers?

Objectives: To assess the various recruitment strategies used by medical researchers and their response rates. Methods: The observational study, part of a larger retrospective cohort, was done at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, from May 2008-December 2010, covering a period from 1999 to 2005. We used a multi-mode contact approach for including participants in the study. This comprised an invitational letter that described the study sent along with a mail-back, postage-paid envelope and multiple phone calls for recruitment of participants. The response to each mode was noted and described as frequency and percentage. Results: There were 1335 participants eligible for recruitment in the study. Of them, 1247 (93.4%) were sent mailouts to which only 84 (6.7%) responded. Besides, 1133 participants,whose phone numbers were available, were called. Overall, the number of people that we were able to contact was low. The response to postage paid mail was very poor whereas the majority of participants were contacted via phone calls. Out of such participants, 257 (19.25%) agreed to participate at the very first call and our results suggest that more than three calls made very little contribution to the consent rate. CONCLUSION: Recruiting subjects from contact information available in the medical records may not be the best method. Multiple and innovative approaches are required for approaching potential participants and requesting them to participate in a study

Role of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy in Congenital Obstructive Hydrocephalus

Object:  To improve the care of Obstructive Hydrocephalic infants, from six months to twelve months and to evaluate the efficacy and complications of Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV). Materials and Methods:  The study was conducted in the Department of Neurosurgery PGMI, Lahore General Hospital, Lahore from July 2007 to June 2008. Total numbers of patients were 30, which were divided into two equal groups. Group A (15 patients) underwent Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) and Ventriculo-peritoneal VP Shunt were done in Group B (15 patients). Cases were selected randomly. Results:  The mean age for Group A was 9 months and for Group B was 8 months Endoscopic Third Ventriculo-stomy (ETV) procedure found successful in older than 8 months of age while ventriculoperitoneal VP Shunt procedure found successful in all age groups. Before procedure mean head circumference for Group A was 50.86 cm and for Group B was 50.84 cm. After one year follow up mean head circumference in Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group was 50.18 cm and in VP Shunt Group was 47.38 cm. Primary success in Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group was 53.3% (8 out of 15), whereas in VP Shunt Group it was 66.7% (10 out of 15).  Conclusion:  Although results are same in both groups but Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy (ETV) Group remain shunt free. Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy seems to be an effective alternative than VP Shunt in the management of Hydrocephalus in infants provided careful patient selection is done and surgeon is competent enough with Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy technique

Real-time routing protocols for (m,k)-firm streams based on multi-criteria in wireless sensor networks

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. Even though some velocity based routing protocols for (m,k)-firm stream have been recently proposed in multimedia wireless sensor networks, there are still many perspective parameters to be considered for forwarding procedure. Moreover, since they are not correlated with each other, multi-criteria system for forwarding is desirable to select next hop. However, current existing protocols apply these parameters sequentially without any prioritization. To address this issue, in this paper, we propose two (m,k)-firm specific routing protocols based on fuzzy interference system and analytical hierarchical process in conjunction with the gray relational analysis. In each protocol, delivery ratio, energy, speed, (m,k)-firm stream requirement as well as current stream status are used to select the best appropriate next hop while considering given node’s constraints. Through the simulation results, we demonstrate that the proposed scheme gracefully maintains (m,k)-firm requirement while extending the network lifetime. Finally, superiority of the proposed approach to existing velocity based routing protocols is also proven through diverse simulation scenarios

Design and SAR Analysis of AMC-Based Fabric Antenna for Body-Centric Communication

This study focused on the design and analysis of an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC)-based fabric antenna for body-centric communication. The antenna was made of felt and had a loss tangent of 0.044 and relative permittivity of 1.3. The proposed antenna was built to function in the frequency band centered at 2.45 GHz, widely used in wireless communication devices. The antenna’s performance was evaluated using the electromagnetic simulation software CST MWS. A 50 Ω SubMiniature version connector was used to excite the proposed antenna. A 2×2 AMC array was integrated into the antenna below it to improve its performance in terms of radiation efficiency, gain, and backward radiation reduction. The antenna and AMC array were fabricated on flexible fabric substrates. The total volume of the AMC-integrated antenna is 0.55λo×0.55λo×0.016λo . It was demonstrated that adding an AMC array enhanced the radiation properties of the antenna and significantly decreased its back lobes. The on- and off-body maximum gains of the AMC-integrated antenna are (≥ 4.11 dBi) and 5.23 dBi, respectively. Furthermore, employing the AMC array, a significant reduction in the specific absorption rate value, which is (≤ 0.43 W/kg) for human body tissue chest/back and (≤ 0.75 W/kg) for human body tissue arm, was obtained, ensuring safety for human use. The simulated and measured results were in agreement. The tested on- and off-body radiation efficiencies in the frequency band centered at 2.45 GHz is (>67%) and (>83%), respectively. The proposed antenna can potentially be used in various applications such as healthcare monitoring, wearable electronics, and Internet of Things (IoT) systems, where reliable and efficient communication is required in a body-centric environment

The Electrokinetic Stabilization (EKS) Green Approach Towards Improving the Geotechnical Properties of the Gulf Sabkha Soil at Rabigh, Saudi Arabia

Objectives: Sabkha soil is widely formed in the Arabian Gulf in the Kingdom of Saudia Arabia, particularly along the coastline. Over the past 25 years, numerous studies have been conducted to understand and characterize sabkha soil and increase its strength and durability. To enhance the geotechnical properties of Sabkha soil using an environmentally friendly electrokinetic stabilization method. From a geotechnical perspective, the construction process heavily depends on improving weak soil strength, durability, and treatment cost. The presence of water, high salinity, low shear strength, and low specific gravity are the soft geotechnical features that need to be enhanced before any construction on sabkha soil. Methods/Analysis: The electrokinetic stabilization method was applied to extract salty particles and enhance the geotechnical properties of sabkha soil. The voltage gradient of 40 V was applied for 1, 3, and 7 days using stainless steel electrodes. Findings: The result showed an outstanding improvement of sabkha soil geotechnical properties where the shear strength was increased from 116 to 165, 230, and 360 kPa for Rabigh I (RI), 122 to 155, 254, and 371 kPa for Rabigh II (RII), and for Rabigh III (RIII), the shear strength was improved up to 405 kPa. The moisture content decreased from 34.5 to 16.8% for RI, 35.2 to 15.9% for RII, and 37.5 to 14.7% for RIII. Novelty and applications: Experimental results demonstrated that all parameters were improved massively by increasing the voltage gradient and operational time. This technique is highly recommended to strengthen weak soil and improve geotechnical properties

Optimal Clustering in Wireless Sensor Networks for the Internet of Things Based on Memetic Algorithm: MemeWSN

In wireless sensor networks for the Internet of Things (WSN-IoT), the topology deviates very frequently because of the node mobility. The topology maintenance overhead is high in flat-based WSN-IoTs. WSN clustering is suggested to not only reduce the message overhead in WSN-IoT but also control the congestion and easy topology repairs. The partition of wireless mobile nodes (WMNs) into clusters is a multiobjective optimization problem in large-size WSN. Different evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are applied to divide the WSN-IoT into clusters but suffer from early convergence. In this paper, we propose WSN clustering based on the memetic algorithm (MemA) to decrease the probability of early convergence by utilizing local exploration techniques. Optimum clusters in WSN-IoT can be obtained using MemA to dynamically balance the load among clusters. The objective of this research is to find a cluster head set (CH-set) as early as possible once needed. The WMNs with high weight value are selected in lieu of new inhabitants in the subsequent generation. A crossover mechanism is applied to produce new-fangled chromosomes as soon as the two maternities have been nominated. The local search procedure is initiated to enhance the worth of individuals. The suggested method is matched with state-of-the-art methods like MobAC (Singh and Lohani, 2019), EPSO-C (Pathak, 2020), and PBC-CP (Vimalarani, et al. 2016). The proposed technique outperforms the state of the art clustering methods regarding control messages overhead, cluster count, reaffiliation rate, and cluster lifetime

An overview on phytochemical, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial activity of basella alba leaves extract

Inflammation is the complex biological response of vascular tissue to harmful stimuli such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. In the present investigation an attempt was made to screen the anti-inflammatory activity of Basellaalba leaf. From this study, it can be concluded that, Basellaalba possesses a good anti-inflammatory activity. In the cotton pellet induced inflammation and In the carrageenan induced inflammation the animals treated with the plant extract have been shown a significant activity at 500 mg/kg dose (p<0.001) which was comparable with the standard drug. In view of the percentage inhibition also the plant was studied, in which the plant extract was found effective. The antibacterial activity was carried out using different dilutions of methanolic extract against gram positive strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Bacillus subtilus) and gram negative ones (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) by the cup-plate assay method and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). The different concentrations of extract showed moderate activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtiliswhile weak response against Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus and Escherichiacoli. The minimum inhibitory concentration of methanolic extract was 6.25μg/ml against Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillussubtilus and 12.5 μg/ml against Escherichia coli. The overall result of this study indicates that the methanolic extract of Basellaalba have interesting anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties