Online Child Sex Solicitation: Exploring the Feasibility of a Research 'Sting'

A small scale test of the integrity of Internet Web 2.0 social network sites was undertaken over several weeks in 2007. The fictional identities of four female underage children where posted on three network sites and later introduced to relay chat forums in order to explore the impact of apparent vulnerability on potential selection of Internet victims. Only one of the three social network sites in the study recognised that the postings violated child protection policies and subsequently closed down the underage postings. Two basic identities were created: one that engendered a needy and vulnerable characterisation of a child while the other identity was created to represent a happy and attached child character. The number of contacts and suspicious contacts were monitored to test assumptions about child ‘vulnerability’ and risks of unwanted sexual solicitations. The characters created also included either an avatar and/or contact details. These variants of the experiment showed that the inclusion of an image or access details increased the likelihood of contacts, including suspicious contact regardless of ‘vulnerability’. This small experiment noted that although vulnerable children with additional cues maybe at more risk all children who posted details about themselves on social network sites faced the risk of contact by predators. The need for further research and better means of regulating such sites was suggested

Network Coding with Limited Overhearing

The two key benefits of network coding are increased reliability and throughput. Most network coding approaches for wireless networks rely on overhearing neighboring transmissions. Overhearing in sensor networks, however, is not energy-efficient. In this paper, we extend GinMAC, a state-of-the-art MAC protocol, applying network coding with limited overhearing. Our approach reduces the delay allocating less retransmission slots. Our results show that network coding with limited overhearing reduces the power consumption of GinMAC while maintaining the desired level of reliability

Poster Abstract: Network Coding with Limited Overhearing

CONETGINSEN

Explainable Neural Networks based Anomaly Detection for Cyber-Physical Systems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) are the core of modern critical infrastructure (e.g. power-grids) and securing them is of paramount importance. Anomaly detection in data is crucial for CPS security. While Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are strong candidates for the task, they are seldom deployed in safety-critical domains due to the perception that ANNs are black-boxes. Therefore, to leverage ANNs in CPSs, cracking open the black box through explanation is essential. The main objective of this dissertation is developing explainable ANN-based Anomaly Detection Systems for Cyber-Physical Systems (CP-ADS). The main objective was broken down into three sub-objectives: 1) Identifying key-requirements that an explainable CP-ADS should satisfy, 2) Developing supervised ANN-based explainable CP-ADSs, 3) Developing unsupervised ANN-based explainable CP-ADSs. In achieving those objectives, this dissertation provides the following contributions: 1) a set of key-requirements that an explainable CP-ADS should satisfy, 2) a methodology for deriving summaries of the knowledge of a trained supervised CP-ADS, 3) a methodology for validating derived summaries, 4) an unsupervised neural network methodology for learning cyber-physical (CP) behavior, 5) a methodology for visually and linguistically explaining the learned CP behavior. All the methods were implemented on real-world and benchmark datasets. The set of key-requirements presented in the first contribution was used to evaluate the performance of the presented methods. The successes and limitations of the presented methods were identified. Furthermore, steps that can be taken to overcome the limitations were proposed. Therefore, this dissertation takes several necessary steps toward developing explainable ANN-based CP-ADS and serves as a framework that can be expanded to develop trustworthy ANN-based CP-ADSs

PHOTOESSAY: Manus to Meanjin: A case study of refugee migration, polymorphic borders and Australian ‘imperialism’

This non-traditional research article argues that the refugee and asylum-seeker protests in Brisbane’s Kangaroo Point between April 2, 2020 and April 14, 2021 can be viewed against a backdrop of Australian colonialism—where successive Australian governments have used former colonies in Nauru and Manus Island in Papua New Guinea as offshore detention facilities—as a dumping ground for asylum-seekers. Within the same context this article argues that the men’s removal to the Kangaroo Point Alternative Place of Detention is a continuation of this colonial policy of incarcerating ‘undesirables’ on occupied land, in this case on Meanjin—Jagera land identified by the colonial name of Brisbane. This extension of Australian sub-imperial and neo-colonial dominion and the imagining of its boundaries is viewed though the theoretical prism of a polymorphic border, a border that shifts and morphs depending on who attempts to cross it. In a departure from orthodox research practice, this article will use visual storytelling drawn from photojournalism praxis alongside more traditional text-based research prose.  In doing so, it will use photo-journalistic artifacts and the visual politics that surround them, as core dialogical components in the presentation of the article as opposed to using them as mere illustrations or props

“The feeling of fear was not from my student, but from myself”: A pre-service teacher’s shift from traditional to problem-posing second language pedagogy in a Mexican youth prison

This era of globalization, capitalism, and economic progress has given rise to mass incarceration, as a considerable number of youths in developing and developed countries live behind bars in detention facilities without appropriate educational support. Educators in these facilities deposit knowledge, through traditional pedagogical approaches, under systemic oppression and surveillance deemed necessary for safety and security. This study investigated implementations of Freire’s (2000) problem-posing pedagogy using a participatory action research (PAR) approach through the lens of critical theory. Two of the co-authors helped develop a Freirean language teaching program in an urban youth prison in Mexico, centering student teachers’ critical self-awareness by providing them with opportunities to reflect on their identity, life experiences, and reality while teaching in prison. Through critical, autoethnographic self-reflections of a bilingual teacher candidate on her teaching practices, this study provides insights into how the teacher was impacted by the problem-posing pedagogy and how it was reflected in her transformation to a critical, loving teacher and student progress. This research embraces a humanistic approach to teaching incarcerated youth in Mexico through care and courage by supporting them as students, as well as by empowering their voices and thoughts. Building a learning community, where students and teachers create respectful human connections through dialogue and discussions on language, culture, and lived experiences, is portrayed in this research as essential