Deploying Secure Distributed Systems: Comparative Analysis of GNS3 and SEED Internet Emulator

Network emulation offers a flexible solution for network deployment and operations, leveraging software to consolidate all nodes in a topology and utilizing the resources of a single host system server. This research paper investigated the state of cybersecurity in virtualized systems, covering vulnerabilities, exploitation techniques, remediation methods, and deployment strategies, based on an extensive review of the related literature. We conducted a comprehensive performance evaluation and comparison of two network-emulation platforms: Graphical Network Simulator-3 (GNS3), an established open-source platform, and the SEED Internet Emulator, an emerging platform, alongside physical Cisco routers. Additionally, we present a Distributed System that seamlessly integrates network architecture and emulation capabilities. Empirical experiments assessed various performance criteria, including the bandwidth, throughput, latency, and jitter. Insights into the advantages, challenges, and limitations of each platform are provided based on the performance evaluation. Furthermore, we analyzed the deployment costs and energy consumption, focusing on the economic aspects of the proposed application

FOOD HABITS AND MANAGEMENT OF INTRODUCED RED FOX IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Introduced red fox in urban Orange County, California ate a wide variety of foods. Mammals and birds were consumed at all times of the year and both taxa appeared in approximately half or more of the fecal samples at all times of the year. Human supplied food remains were also common and supplemental feeding occurred at all study sites. Supplemental feeding has the potential to exacerbate problems for management of introduced red fox and several endangered species

Securing Distributed Systems: A Survey on Access Control Techniques for Cloud, Blockchain, IoT and SDN

Access Control is a crucial defense mechanism organizations can deploy to meet modern cybersecurity needs and legal compliance with data privacy. The aim is to prevent unauthorized users and systems from accessing protected resources in a way that exceeds their permissions. The present survey aims to summarize state-of-the-art Access Control techniques, presenting recent research trends in this area. Moreover, as the cyber-attack landscape and zero-trust networking challenges require organizations to consider their Information Security management strategies carefully, in this study, we present a review of contemporary Access Control techniques and technologies being discussed in the literature and the various innovations and evolution of the technology. We also discuss adopting and applying different Access Control techniques and technologies in four upcoming and crucial domains: Cloud Computing, Blockchain, the Internet of Things, and Software-Defined Networking. Finally, we discuss the business adoption strategies for Access Control and how the technology can be integrated into a cybersecurity and network architecture strategy

A Survey on Intrusion Detection Systems for Fog and Cloud Computing

The rapid advancement of internet technologies has dramatically increased the number of connected devices. This has created a huge attack surface that requires the deployment of effective and practical countermeasures to protect network infrastructures from the harm that cyber-attacks can cause. Hence, there is an absolute need to differentiate boundaries in personal information and cloud and fog computing globally and the adoption of specific information security policies and regulations. The goal of the security policy and framework for cloud and fog computing is to protect the end-users and their information, reduce task-based operations, aid in compliance, and create standards for expected user actions, all of which are based on the use of established rules for cloud computing. Moreover, intrusion detection systems are widely adopted solutions to monitor and analyze network traffic and detect anomalies that can help identify ongoing adversarial activities, trigger alerts, and automatically block traffic from hostile sources. This survey paper analyzes factors, including the application of technologies and techniques, which can enable the deployment of security policy on fog and cloud computing successfully. The paper focuses on a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and intrusion detection, which provides an effective and resilient system structure for users and organizations. Our survey aims to provide a framework for a cloud and fog computing security policy, while addressing the required security tools, policies, and services, particularly for cloud and fog environments for organizational adoption. While developing the essential linkage between requirements, legal aspects, analyzing techniques and systems to reduce intrusion detection, we recommend the strategies for cloud and fog computing security policies. The paper develops structured guidelines for ways in which organizations can adopt and audit the security of their systems as security is an essential component of their systems and presents an agile current state-of-the-art review of intrusion detection systems and their principles. Functionalities and techniques for developing these defense mechanisms are considered, along with concrete products utilized in operational systems. Finally, we discuss evaluation criteria and open-ended challenges in this area

An Exploration into Human–Computer Interaction::Hand Gesture Recognition Management in a Challenging Environment

Scientists are developing hand gesture recognition systems to improve authentic, efficient, and effortless human–computer interactions without additional gadgets, particularly for the speech-impaired community, which relies on hand gestures as their only mode of communication. Unfortunately, the speech-impaired community has been underrepresented in the majority of human–computer interaction research, such as natural language processing and other automation fields, which makes it more difficult for them to interact with systems and people through these advanced systems. This system’s algorithm is in two phases. The first step is the Region of Interest Segmentation, based on the color space segmentation technique, with a pre-set color range that will remove pixels (hand) of the region of interest from the background (pixels not in the desired area of interest). The system’s second phase is inputting the segmented images into a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model for image categorization. For image training, we utilized the Python Keras package. The system proved the need for image segmentation in hand gesture recognition. The performance of the optimal model is 58 percent which is about 10 percent higher than the accuracy obtained without image segmentation

Adoption of cloud computing as innovation in the organization

Over the years, there has been a heavy reliance on cloud computing as IT has innovated through time. In recent times cloud computing has grown monumentally. Many organizations rely on this technology to perform their business as usual and use it as a backbone of their companies' IT infrastructure. This paper investigates the organizational adaptation for cloud computing technology - reviewing case studies from various institutions and companies worldwide to provide a detailed analysis of innovative techniques with cloud computing. We investigate the features and delivery approaches cloud computing offers and the potential challenges and constraints we face when adopting cloud computing into the business setting. We also explore the cybersecurity elements associated with cloud computing, focusing on intrusion detection and prevention and understanding how that can be applied in the cloud. Finally, we investigate the future research directions for cloud computing and expand this paper into further articles with experiments and results

Cybersecurity for children: an investigation into the application of social media

The paper discusses cybersecurity for children (particularly teenagers) and focuses on Social Media’s impact using a theoretical approach. Many social media users are unaware of their Cybersecurity in Social Media and all-round digital privacy and do not understand the importance of developing privacythrough taking both digital and physical measures. We identify seven categories of hacking motivations through multimedia platforms: Emotions, Financial gains, Entertainment, Proficiency for jobs, Hacktivism, Espionage, and Cyber-warfare, particularly for children. As vulnerable people, they can be the principal victims. We explore various methods used for hacking, such as Sexting, Facebook depression, and Influence on buying advertisements. In our findings, we demonstrate that the most critical protection method is to fully understand the digital footprint left behind and its possible consequences. The users should know this as a self-protection mechanism to mitigate security issues before problems occur. It means adopting the same mindset and attitude of protecting oneself in the online world as in the real world

Risk factors for progression from severe maternal morbidity to death: a national cohort study.

Women continue to die unnecessarily during or after pregnancy in the developed world. The aim of this analysis was to compare women with severe maternal morbidities who survived with those who died, to quantify the risk associated with identified factors to inform policy and practice to improve survival

The association between walking speed from short- and standard-distance tests with the risk of all-cause mortality among adults with radiographic knee osteoarthritis: data from three large United States cohort studies

Objective: Adults with radiographic knee OA (rKOA) are at increased risk of mortality and walking difficulty may modify this relation. Little is known about specific aspects of walking difficulty that increase mortality risk. We investigated the association of walking speed (objective measure of walking difficulty) with mortality and examined the threshold that best discriminated this risk in adults with rKOA. Methods: Participants with rKOA from the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project (JoCoOA, longitudinal population-based cohort), Osteoarthritis Initiative and Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study (OAI and MOST, cohorts of individuals with or at high risk of knee OA) were included. Baseline speed was measured via 2.4-meter (m) walk test (short-distance) in JoCoOA and 20-m walk test (standard-distance) in OAI and MOST. To examine the association of walking speed with mortality risk over 9 years, hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated from Cox regression models adjusted for potential confounders. A Maximal Likelihood Ratio Chi-square Approach was utilized to identify an optimal threshold of walking speed predictive of mortality. Results: Deaths after 9 years of follow-up occurred in 23.3% (290/1244) of JoCoOA and 5.9% (249/4215) of OAI + MOST. Walking 0.2 m/s slower during short- and standard-distance walk tests was associated with 23% (aHR [95%CI]; 1.23 [1.10, 1.39]) and 25% (1.25 [1.09, 1.43]) higher mortality risk, respectively. Walking <0.5 m/s on short-distance and <1.2 m/s standard-distance walk tests, best discriminated those with and without mortality risk. Conclusion: Slower walking speed measured via short- and standard-distance walk tests was associated with increased mortality risk in adults with rKOA

Workshop on identification of future emerging technologies in the ocean energy sector

As part of the Commission's internal Low Carbon Energy Observatory (LCEO) project, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) is developing an inventory of Future Emerging Technologies (FET) relevant to energy supply. A key part of the LCEO initiative is the consultation of external experts, addressing both those with in-depth experience in specific fields and those with a broad perspective on relevant science and engineering aspects. In this context, on March 27, 2018 the JRC organised a Workshop on Identification of Future Emerging Technologies for Ocean Enery, on it premises in Ispra. The workshop was organized on the idea of a colloquium between international experts to discuss about future emerging technologies considering different aspects such as their technology readiness level (TRL) , the potential advantages and challenges affecting their development, and evaluating the possible speed of development . A number of different technological solutions were discussed, identified directly by the invited experts on the condition that they respected the following criteria: • To be a technology for energy supply/conversion in the field of ocean energy. • To be a radically new technology/concept, not achievable by incremental research on mainstream technologies (this should match the concept of the Future Emerging Technology in the Horizon 2020 work program http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/future-and-emerging-technologies). • To be in an early stage of development: their Technology Readiness Level should not be more than 3. Questionnaires were sent to experts for the identification of ocean energy FETs. The templates can be found in Appendix B. The structure of the workshop was builtupon the inputs received from the experts and on in-house analysis undertaken by the JRC. The aim of this document is to gather, organize and highlight all the knowledge and information, provided by the external and internal experts, which were discussed during the workshop.JRC.C.7-Knowledge for the Energy Unio