Initial trust establishment for personal space IoT systems

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology.Internet of Things (IoT) is becoming a reality with innovative applications, and IoT platforms have been developed to transfer technologies from research to business solutions. With IoT applications, we have greater control over personal devices and achieve more insights into the resource consumption habits; business processes can be streamlined; people are also better connected to each other. Despite the benefits derived from the IoT systems, users are concerned about the trustworthiness of their collected data and offered services. Security controls can prevent user’s data from being compromised during transmission, storage or unauthorized access, but do not provide a guarantee against the misbehaved devices that report incorrect information and poor services or avoid conducting a common task. Establishing trust relationship among devices and continuously monitoring their trust is the key to guarantee a reliable IoT system and hence mitigate user’s concerns. In this dissertation, we propose and investigate a novel initial trust establishment architecture for personal space IoT systems. In the initial trust establishment architecture, we propose a trust evidence generation module based on a challenge-response mechanism to generate the trust evidence relying on the device’s responses to the challenges, a trust knowledge assessment module to obtain the knowledge about the device from the generated trust evidence, and a trust evaluation scheme to quantify the initial trust level of the devices. We design and investigate a challenge-response information design to determine feasible designs of the challenge-response mechanism that ensure meaningful and related trust knowledge about the device’s trustworthiness captured from the challenge-response operations. A new trust-aware communication protocol is designed and implemented by incorporating the proposed initial trust establishment architecture into existing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) protocol to demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed initial trust establishment architecture in practice. In this work, we first study building blocks and possible architectures of the IoT and analyze key requirements of an IoT system. Based on the analysis, we identify the critical role of the initial trust establishment model and the challenges of establishing initial trust in IoT systems due to the lack of knowledge for the trust assessment to work. To address the challenges, we propose a novel initial trust establishment architecture that can generate trust evidence for assessing the initial trust level of new devices by conducting challenge-response operations within a limited time window before they are admitted to the system. We propose three new initial trust establishment models based on the proposed architecture. An implicit relationship between the responses and the challenges is assumed for the system to judge the initial trustworthiness of the devices. The first model assesses the initial trust value based on a probability associated with the device’s behavior captured from the challenge-response process. The second model investigates the initial trust value based on a binary outcome set, and the third model quantifies the initial trust level based on a multiple-component outcome set from the challenge-response process. Subsequently, we propose the challenge-response information design where the challenge-response process is investigated and designed to determine the information space of the challenger’s view on its environment so that the challenge can invite relevant responses from the target environment. Based on the design of the challenge-response mechanism, the system can capture meaningful trust knowledge about the devices from challenge-response operations at their admission phase. We finally design and implement the initial trust-aware BLE protocol which incorporates the proposed initial trust establishment architecture into the existing BLE protocol. The simulation results show the efficiency, feasibility, and dependability of using initial trust-aware BLE protocol for building a trustworthy personal space IoT systems. The novelty of this research lies in assessing the devices’ initial trust level within a limited time window, before their admission to the personal space IoT system, without requiring prior experience or recommendations. The major contribution of this thesis is that it helps the IoT business solution providers to build secure and trustworthy IoT systems by admitting dependable devices, monitoring the trust of admitted devices, detecting maligned devices, and building long-term trust among. As a result, it mitigates the user’s concerns about the trustworthiness of IoT systems and encourages broader adoption of IoT applications

The effects of apologies and causal attribution on public responses

Apologies have been used in crisis communications to address organizational transgressions. Yet, there is no consensus about the components of an apology (e.g., Hearit, 2006; Smith, 2008). Also, the causes of an organization’s transgression could affect an individuals’ attribution of responsibility toward the organization, which in turn makes a difference to public responses regarding the crisis situation. This study uses data breach crises as examples. Data breaches have become so commonplace that no organization is immune to the dangers of identity theft in the digital world. Organizations whose consumers’ personally identifiable information has been compromised could trigger consumers’ anger, damage organizational reputation, and injure their trust in the organizations. This study examines the effects of causal attribution and components of apologies, specifically responsibility acceptance and expression of sympathy on public anger relief, organizational reputation, and trust in an organization’s competence, integrity, and benevolence. An experimental study used a 2 (causal attribution: internal vs. external) x 3 (explicitness of responsibility acceptance: none, implicit, explicit) x 2 (expression of sympathy: high vs. low) between-subjects design in which participants received sample stimuli in order to measure individuals’ judgment on organizational apologies. Findings indicated that there were significant effects of causal attributions on anger relief and trust in an organization’s competence and benevolence. Apologies with an explicit statement of responsibility acceptance were found to have significant effects on generating positive perceptions on organizational reputation and regaining trust in the organization’s competence, benevolence, and integrity. No significant effects of sympathetic expression were found on dependent variables. There was a marginal interaction effect of causal attribution, responsibility acceptance, and sympathetic expression on public anger relief. No interaction effects between and among the three independent variables were found on other dependent variables. Findings were limited to severe crises because the fictional data breach scenario used in this study revealed a larger number of breached accounts with important personally identifiable information. Discussions about theoretical and practical implications emphasized the role of apology strategy in crisis communications and apologetic components included in an apology statement that could help generate favorable public responses. Keywords: crisis communications, apologies, responsibility acceptance, sympathetic expression, causal attribution, anger relief, reputation, and trust

HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ CHALLENGES OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION IN READING CLASSES

Research into online instruction as an alternative to traditional teaching has indicated its role in facilitating student learning with the use of technology in times of COVID-19 pandemic. However, an intriguing question is how to conduct this mode of teaching English reading within the Vietnamese context. In Vietnam, little information has examined the challenges that high school teachers and students encountered in implementing online English reading classes to meet the needs and interests of the student and facilitate instructional practices. This study is therefore aimed to look into this area of interest. A mixed-methods study was used with fifty teachers and one hundred high school students. Data were collected from questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. The findings show that online instruction in reading classes challenged teachers and students to use technology, prepare lesson contents, and assess student comprehension. Implications are provided to teachers and students for the sake of the quality of online instruction.  Article visualizations

Anomalous Magnetic Dipole Moment (g−2)μ(g-2)\mu in 3-3-1 Model with Inverse Seesaw Neutrinos

We will show that the recent experimental value of the anomalous magnetic moment (AMM) of the charged lepton m , denoted as $a_mu (g-2)\mu/2$, can be explained successfully in a 3-3-1 model with right handed neutrino adding new heavy $SU (3)_L$ neutrinos singlets. Allowed regions satisfying the recent AMM data are illustrated numerically

When Vaccine Uncertainty Prevails: Association Between Online Social Influence and COVID-19 Vaccine Intentions

Guided by the integrative model of behavioral prediction and the social identity of deindividuation effects model, this study used an online experiment (N = 322) to test a moderated-mediation model that linked exposure to user comments posted to COVID-19 vaccine news stories and vaccine intentions. The study was conducted in Vietnam when the Delta variant of COVID-19 spread to the country and the efficacy and side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine were controversial in the news. Results showed that, compared with vaccine-hesitancy comments, vaccine-acceptance comments significantly increased vaccine intentions through injunctive norms, response efficacy, and attitudes. This indirect association was only significant among participants who perceived commenters as in-group members. Compared with vaccine-hesitancy comments, a mixture of comments that featured both acceptance and hesitancy significantly increased perceived norms, perceived efficacy, and attitudes. Further, comments significantly changed participants’ perceived norms, perceived efficacy, and attitudes compared with the news stories. Theoretical and practical implications are presented

Factors Affecting the Perception of Happiness among Teachers in Vietnam

Vietnam is in the process of implementing education reforms in which teachers play a crucial role in determining success. This study aims to identify the main factors influencing the perception of happiness at work of Vietnamese teachers during the period of educational reform. In any period, teachers are always considered as being the force behind the success of education. Therefore, teachers' happiness is the most vital factor to be taken into consideration when educating students. Identifying the factors that affect teachers' happiness at work is the key to improving their teaching quality and quality of life. This study was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the perceived happiness of secondary school teachers in Vietnam today, thereby objectively assessing the emotional status of teachers in Vietnam in relation to the work they are doing. The results are as follows: 1) Teachers face a lot of pressure from many sides; 2) There is still a large percentage of teachers who do not really attach importance to the teaching profession; 3) State policies have not helped teachers feel secure in their professional activities; 4) Teacher capacity still needs to be greatly improved; 5) It is necessary to strengthen the connection between teachers, educational leaders, policy makers, school administrators and colleagues. This study uses descriptive statistics to present the research results. The survey was carried out in September 2021

Study on the effect of processing methods on the total polyphenol, 2,3,5,4’-tetrahydroxystilben-2-O-β-D-glucoside, and physcion contents in Fallopia multiflora Thunb. Haraldson root

This study investigated the changes in the ingredients in Fallopia multiflora Thunb. Haraldson (FMT) root after processing it with different methods such as soaking, stewing, and steaming or combined methods. The total polyphenol, 2,3,5,4′-tetrahydroxystilben-2-O-β-D-glucoside (THSG), and physcion contents in FMT products after processing were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-VIS) methods. The results demonstrated that the processing method and time significantly affected the contents of polyphenol, THSG, and physcion. The physcion and total polyphenol content increased or decreased during processing depending upon the processing time, while the THSG content gradually decreased with an increase in the processing time. The content of physcion (a substance that can cause liver toxicity) was analysed, and the suitable conditions for processing of the FMT products were determined as initial soaking in rice swill for 24 h and subsequent stewing with black beans and water for 12 h