Cooperative hunting by distributed mobile robots based on local interaction

This paper proposes a distributed control approach called local interactions with local coordinate systems (LILCS)to multirobot hunting tasks in unknown environments, where a team of mobile robots hunts a target called evader, which will actively try to escape with a safety strategy. This robust approach can cope with accumulative errors of wheels and imperfect communication networks. Computer simulations show the validity of the proposed approach.

Multi-cluster computing interconnection network performance modeling and analysis

The overall performance of a distributed system often depends on the effectiveness of its interconnection network. Thus, the study of the communication networks for distributed systems–which is the focus of this paper–is very important. In particular, we address the problem of fat-tree based interconnection networks performance modeling for multi-user heterogeneous multi-cluster computing systems. To this end, we present an analytical model and validate the model through comprehensive simulation. The results of the simulation demonstrate that the proposed model exhibits a good degree of accuracy for various system organizations and under different working conditions. On the basis of the validated model, we propose an adaptive assignment function based on the existing heterogeneity of the system to minimize multi-user environment overhead.

Analysis and modelling of critical infrastructure systems

The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of critical infrastructure systems, including the information systems and communication networks that support their existence and functionality, poses questions and challenges. Particularly, in terms of modelling and analysis of the security, survivability and ultimately reliability and continued availability of critical infrastructure systems and the services they deliver to modern society. The focus of this research enquiry is with regard to critiquing and modelling critical infrastructure systems. There are numerous systems analyse and modelling approaches that outline any number of differing methodological approaches, each with their own characteristics, expertise, strengths and weaknesses. The intention of this research is to investigate the merit of applying a ‘softer’ approach to critical infrastructure system security analysis and modelling that broadly views the systems in holistic terms, including their relationships with other systems. The intention is not to discuss or criticise existing research applying quantitative approaches, but to discuss a ‘softer’ system analysis and modelling approach in a security context that is adaptable to analysis modelling of critical infrastructure systems.

Guest editors' introduction : Special issue on trust, security, and privacy in parallel and distributed systems

In modern computing paradigms, most computing systems, e.g., cluster computing, grid computing, cloud computing, the Internet, telecommunication networks, Cyber- Physical Systems (CPS), and Machine-to-Machine communication networks (M2M), are parallel and distributed systems. While providing improved expandability, manageability, efficiency, and reliability, parallel and distributed systems increase their security weaknesses to an unprecedented scale. As the system devices are widely connected, their vulnerabilities are shared by the entire system. Because tasks are allocated to, and information is exchanged among the system devices that may belong to different users, trust, security, and privacy issues have yet to be resolved. This special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems (TPDS) highlights recent advances in trust, security, and privacy for emerging parallel and distributed systems. This special issue was initiated by Dr. Xu Li, Dr. Patrick McDaniel, Dr. Radha Poovendran, and Dr. Guojun Wang. Due to a large number of submissions, Dr. Zhenfu Cao, Dr. Keqiu Li, and Dr. Yang Xiang were later invited to the editorial team. Dr. Xu Li was responsible for coordinating the paper review process. In response to the call for papers, we received 150 effective submissions, out of which 24 are included in this special issue after rigorous review and careful revision, presenting an acceptance ratio of 16 percent. The accepted papers are divided into three groups, covering issues related to trust, security, and privacy, respectively.

Further observations on certificateless public key encryption

Certificateless public key encryption can be classified into two types, namely, CLE and CLE † , both of which were introduced by Al-Riyami and Paterson in Asiacrypt 2003. Most works about certificateless public key encryption belong to CLE, where the partial secret key is uniquely determined by an entity’s identity. In CLE † , an entity’s partial secret key is not only determined by the identity information but also by his/her (partial) public key. Such techniques can enhance the resilience of certificateless public key encryption against a cheating KGC. In this paper, we first formalize the security definitions of CLE † . After that, we demonstrate the gap between the security model of CLE † and CLE, by showing the insecurity of a CLE † scheme proposed by Lai and Kou in PKC 2007. We give an attack that can successfully break the indistinguishability of their CLE † scheme, although their scheme can be proved secure in the security model of CLE. Therefore, it does not suffice to consider the security of CLE † in the security model of CLE. Finally, we show how to secure Lai-Kou’s scheme by providing a new scheme with the security proof in the model of CLE †

Job embeddedness: a multifoci theoretical extension

Integrating the expanding job embeddedness (JE) literature, in this article we advance a multifoci model of JE that is theoretically grounded in conservation of resources (COR) theory. From COR theory, we posit that employees' motivation to acquire and protect resources explains why they become embedded and how they behave once embedded. Our COR-based JE model highlights contextual antecedents that clarify how employees become embedded within different foci. Its multifoci theoretical lens also illustrates how different forms of work-focused embeddedness differentially affect work outcomes and how they interact with nonwork foci to influence those outcomes. Along with directions for further research, we further discuss theoretical and practical implications of our integrative formulation.

Frontier technologies of trust computing and network security

The increasing complexity of computer systems and communication networks induces tremendous requirements for trust and security. This special issue includes topics on trusted computing, risk and reputation management, network security and survivable computer systems/networks. These issues have evolved into an active and important area of research and development. The past decade has witnessed a proliferation of concurrency and computation systems for practice of highly trust, security and privacy, which has become a key subject in determining future research and development activities in many academic and industrial branches. This special issue aims to present and discuss advances of current research and development in all aspects of trusted computing and network security. In addition, this special issue provides snapshots of contemporary academia work in the field of network trusted computing. We prepared and organized this special issue to record state-of-the-art research, novel development and trends for future insight in this domain. In this special issue, 14 papers have been accepted for publication, which demonstrate novel and original work in this field. A detailed overview of the selected works is given below.

Trust, security and privacy in emerging distributed systems FGCS

The rapid development and increasing complexity of computer systems and communication networks coupled with the proliferation of services and applications in both Internet-based and ad-hoc based environments have brought network and system security issues to the fore. We have been witnessing ever-increasing cyber attacks on the network and system leading to tarnished confidence and trusts in the use of networked distributed systems. As a result, there is an increasing demand for development of new trust, security and privacy approaches to guarantee the privacy, integrity, and availability of resources in networked distributed systems.

Space-crossing : community-based data forwarding in mobile social networks under the hybrid communication architecture

In this paper, we study two tightly coupled issues, space-crossing community detection and its influence on data forwarding in mobile social networks (MSNs). We propose a communication framework containing the hybrid underlying network with access point (AP) support for data forwarding and the base stations for managing most of control traffic. The concept of physical proximity community can be extended to be one across the geographical space, because APs can facilitate the communication among long-distance nodes. Space-crossing communities are obtained by merging some pairs of physical proximity communities. Based on the space-crossing community, we define two cases of node local activity and use them as the input of inner product similarity measurement. We design a novel data forwarding algorithm Social Attraction and Infrastructure Support (SAIS), which applies similarity attraction to route to neighbor more similar to destination, and infrastructure support phase to route the message to other APs within common connected components. We evaluate our SAIS algorithm on real-life datasets from MIT Reality Mining and University of Illinois Movement (UIM). Results show that space-crossing community plays a positive role in data forwarding in MSNs. Based on this new type of community, SAIS achieves a better performance than existing popular social community-based data forwarding algorithms in practice, including Simbet, Bubble Rap and Nguyen's Routing algorithms.

Trustworthiness-hypercube-based reliable communication in mobile social networks

In mobile social networks (MSNs), the routing packet is forwarded from any user of in a group to any user of the other group until it reaches the destination group - the group where the destination is located. However, it is inevitable that malicious groups could compromise the quality and reliability of data. To alleviate such effect, analyzing the trustworthiness of a group has a positive influence on the confidence with which a group conducts transactions with that group. In our previous work, the feature-based first-priority relation graph (FPRG) of MSNs is proposed, in which two vertices (groups) are connected iff they have a first-priority relationship. In this paper, the trustworthiness computation of a group is firstly presented in the algorithm TC (Trustworthiness Computing) based on the FPRG. The trustworthiness of a group is evaluated based on the trustworthiness of neighbors and the number of malicious users in the group. We then establish the Trustworthiness-Hypercube-based Reliable Communication (THRC) algorithm in MSNs. The algorithm THRC can provide an effective and reliable data delivery routing. Finally, we also give two scenario simulations to elaborate the processes of the trustworthiness computation and reliable communication.

Conservation and development interventions as networks: The case of the India ecodevelopment project, Karnataka

Experience with community-based biodiversity conservation programs in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to the conviction among donor agencies and researchers that such programs must be based on the active support of local resource users, appropriate incentives, and institutional support. Yet the continuing struggles of practitioners to implement conservation interventions that are socially and ecologically sustainable point to difficulty in realizing these principles on the ground. Actor-oriented research in rural development and actor network theory emphasize that the capacity of facilitators to engage effectively in negotiation processes and establish strong networks with key actors is critical in mediating intervention outcomes. Drawing on the case of the India Ecodevelopment Project at Rajiv Gandhi (Nagarahole) National Park in Karnataka, India, this paper explores the role of relationships and networks between actors in a conservation and development intervention, finding that practitioners need to focus on negotiation and network building as a central rather than subsidiary part of the intervention process. Associated with this is the need for change in the way donor and implementing agencies conduct themselves, to promote communication and greater flexibility in intervention processes.

End-to-end QoS framework for heterogeneous wired-cum-wireless networks

With information access becoming more and more ubiquitous, there is a need for providingQoSsupport for communication that spans wired and wireless networks. For the wired side, RSVP/SBM has been widely accepted as a flow reservation scheme in IEEE 802 style LANs. Thus, it would be desirable to investigate the integration of RSVP and a flow reservation scheme in wireless LANs, as an end-to-end solution for QoS guarantee in wired-cum-wireless networks. For this purpose, we propose WRESV, a lightweight RSVPlike flow reservation and admission control scheme for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs. Using WRESV, wired/wireless integration can be easily implemented by cross-layer interaction at the Access Point. Main components of the integration are RSVP-WRESV parameter mapping and the initiation of new reservation messages, depending on where senders/receivers are located. In addition, to support smooth roaming of mobile users among different basic service sets (BSS), we devise an efficient handoff scheme that considers both the flow rate demand and network resource availability for continuous QoS support. Furthermore, various optimizations for supporting multicast session and QoS re-negotiation are proposed for better performance improvement. Extensive simulation results showthat the proposed scheme is promising in enriching the QoS support of multimedia applications in heterogeneous wired-cum-wireless networks.