A novel energy‐aware routing mechanism for SDN‐enabled WSAN

Energy consumption is one of the most important design constraints when building a wireless sensor and actuator network since each device in the network has a limited battery capacity, and prolonging the lifetime of the network depends on saving energy. Overcoming this challenge requires a smart and reconfigurable network energy management strategy. The Software‐Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm aims at building a flexible and dynamic network structure, especially in wireless sensor networks. In this study, we propose an SDN‐enabled wireless sensor and actuator network architecture that has a new routing discovery mechanism. To build a flexible and energy‐efficient network structure, a new routing decision approach that uses a fuzzy‐based Dijkstra's algorithm is developed in the study. The proposed architecture can change the existing path during data transmission, which is the key property of our model and is achieved through the adoption of the SDN approach. All the components and algorithms of the proposed system are modeled and simulated using the Riverbed Modeler software for more realistic performance evaluation. The results indicate that the proposed SDN‐enabled structure with fuzzy‐based Dijkstra's algorithm outperforms the one using the regular Dijkstra's and the ZigBee‐based counterpart, in terms of the energy consumption ratio, and the proposed architecture can provide an effective cluster routing while prolonging the network lifetime.     

On the capacity of the state‐dependent interference relay channel

This paper considers the state‐dependent interference relay channel (SIRC) in which one of the two users may operate as a secondary user and the relay has a noncausal access to the signals from both users. For discrete memoryless SIRC, we first establish the achievable rate region by carefully merging Han‐Kobayashi rate splitting encoding technique, superposition encoding, and Gelfand‐Pinsker encoding technique. Then, based on the achievable rate region that we derive, the capacity of the SIRC is established in many different scenarios including (a) the weak interference regime, (b) the strong interference regime, and (c) the very strong interference regime. This means that our capacity results contain all available known results in the literature. Next, the achievable rate region and the associated capacity results are also evaluated in the case of additive Gaussian noise. Additionally, many numerical examples are investigated to show the value of our theoretical derivations.     

ONVisor: Towards a scalable and flexible SDN‐based network virtualization platform on ONOS

Network virtualization (NV) technologies have attracted a lot of attention as an essential solution for future networking infrastructure. The NV enables multiple tenants to share the same physical infrastructure and to create independent virtual networks (VNs) by decoupling the physical network in terms of topology, address, and control functions. One feasible way to realize full NV involves considering solutions based on the software‐defined networking (SDN) paradigm using its programmability. The SDN contributes many benefits to both network operations and management including programmability, agility, elasticity, and flexibility. There are several SDN‐based NV solutions; however, they suffered from a lack of scalability, high availability. Also, they have high latency between control and data plane because of proxy‐based architecture. In this thesis, we introduce a new NV platform, named Open Network Hypervisor (ONVisor). The design objectives include, among the features, (1) multitenancy, (2) scalability, (3) flexibility, (4) isolated VNs, and (5) VN federation. ONVisor was designed and implemented by extending Open Network Operating System, an open‐source SDN controller. The main features of ONVisor are (1) isolated control and data plane per VN, (2) support of distributed operations, (3) extensible translators, (4) on‐platform VN application development and execution, and (5) support of heterogenous SDN data‐plane implementations. Several experiments are conducted on various test scenarios in different test environments in terms of control and data plane performance compared to nonvirtualized SDN network. The results show that ONVisor can provide VNs a little bit lower control plane performance and similar data plane performance.     

Coexistence of OFDM‐Based IMT‐Advanced and FM Broadcasting Systems

Coexistence analysis is extremely important in examining the possibility for spectrum sharing between orthogonal frequency‐division multiplexing (OFDM)‐based international mobile telecommunications (IMT)‐Advanced and other wireless services. In this letter, a new closed form method is derived based on power spectral density analysis in order to analyze the coexistence of OFDM‐based IMT‐Advanced systems and broadcasting frequency modulation (FM) systems. The proposed method evaluates more exact interference power of IMT‐Advanced systems in FM broadcasting systems than the advanced minimum coupling loss (A‐MCL) method. Numerical results show that the interference power is 1.3 dB and 3 dB less than that obtained using the A‐MCL method at cochannel and adjacent channel, respectively. This reduces the minimum separation distance between the two systems, which eventually saves spectrum resources.     

REGIONAL 3D MODELLING OF THE PERMO‐CARBONIFEROUS AL KHLATA FORMATION IN THE RIMA AREA,EASTERN FLANK OF THE SOUTH OMAN SALT BASIN

The glaciogenic Al Khlata Formation (Late Carboniferous – Early Permian) contains important reservoir and seal intervals in oil fields in southern Oman. Here we describe a 3D regional geological model of the Al Khlata Formation and the underlying Misfar Group in a 1750 km² area in the Eastern Flank of the South Oman Salt Basin. The Misfar Group (Devonian‐Carboniferous?) was included in the model because it also contains glaciogenic facies in the study area. The 3D model is based on wireline logs from 42 wells, palynological zonation in 31 wells, cores from three wells, and a 2011 3D seismic dataset from which three horizons (top‐Huqf, top‐Rahab Shale and top‐Gharif) were interpreted throughout the study area. The combined Al Khlata and Misfar interval varies in thickness in the area from 20 to 730 m over relatively short distances. These large variations in thickness were due to the creation of accommodation in mini‐basins resulting from the removal of underlying Infracambrian salt at the basin margin. In places, some of the available accommodation was occupied by Cambrian sandstones of the Nimr Group and Haima Supergroup, influencing the location and thickness of the Al Khlata mini‐basins. These local depocentres vary in scale, shape and orientation relative to the present‐day salt edge: some are ovoid in plan‐view, others more linear and parallel to the salt edge, and one takes the form of a narrow graben almost perpendicular to the salt edge. By the Early Permian, towards the end of Al Khlata time, deposits become more blanket‐like and uniform, indicating an external or more regional control on base level. Four key lithofacies have been distinguished from wireline logs and were populated zone‐by‐zone through the geological model: sandstone (reservoir), shale (seal), and sandy and silty diamictite. Sandstones are most common towards the base of the Misfar – Al Khlata interval and shales towards the top. The Rahab Shale (Early Permian) at the top of the Al Khlata Formation forms an important seal for oil fields in South Oman, often in combination with seals in overlying intervals. The Rahab Shale was the first widespread seal to be deposited which may have trapped oil migrating from the South Oman Salt Basin during the Palaeozoic. The most common lithofacies in the Misfar – Al Khlata interval in the modelled area is diamictite (60%), which is normally considered to be a waste‐rock lithology. However thick silty diamictites of sufficient extent can seal hydrocarbon accumulations, and some sandy diamictites have the potential to be unconventional reservoir rocks. Even after 50 years of exploration and production of oil from the Al Khlata Formation, there remains potential for further discoveries and overlooked pay zones due to its heterogeneous character and the occurrence of intra‐formational seals.     

PALAEO‐EXPOSURE SURFACES IN THE APTIAN DARIYAN FORMATION,OFFSHORE SW IRAN: GEOCHEMISTRY AND RESERVOIR IMPLICATIONS

Palaeo‐exposure surfaces within and at the top of the carbonate‐dominated Aptian Dariyan Formation have been poorly studied in the Iranian sector of the Persian Gulf. This paper presents an integrated sedimentological and geochemical study of the Dariyan Formation at four oil and gas fields located in the western, central and eastern parts of the Gulf. Facies stacking patterns in general indicate shallowing‐upwards trends toward the exposure surfaces, which are interpreted to correspond to unconformities. The Dariyan Formation in the study area is divided into upper and lower carbonate units by a deep‐water, high‐gamma shale‐marl interval. At fields in the western and central Gulf, significant diagenetic changes were recorded in the top of the upper carbonate unit, including meteoric dissolution and cementation, brecciation and paleosol formation. An exposure surface is also present at the top of the lower carbonate unit in all the fields in the study area, and is associated with meteoric dissolution and cementation of grain‐dominated facies. Age calibration of studied intervals was carried out using microfossil assemblages including benthic and planktonic foraminifera. Negative excursions of both δ¹⁸O (?10‰ VPDB) and δ¹³C (?0.66‰ VPDB) were recorded in weathered intervals located below the unconformity surfaces. A sequence stratigraphic framework for the Dariyan Formation was established by integrating sedimentological, palaeontological and geochemical data. The δ¹³C curve for the formation in the Iranian sector of the Persian Gulf can be correlated with the reference curve for the northern Neotethys and used as a basis for regional stratigraphic correlation. Where the top‐Aptian unconformity is present, it has resulted in an enhancement of the reservoir characteristics of the underlying carbonate succession. Accordingly, the best reservoir zones in the Dariyan Formation occur in the upper parts of the lower and upper carbonate units which are bounded above by significant palaeo‐exposure surfaces.     

Supramolecular Assembly of Aminoethylene‐Lipopeptide PMO Conjugates into RNA Splice‐Switching Nanomicelles

Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are oligonucleotide analogs that can be used for therapeutic modulation of pre‐mRNA splicing. Similar to other classes of nucleic acid‐based therapeutics, PMOs require delivery systems for efficient transport to the intracellular target sites. Here, artificial peptides based on the oligo(ethylenamino) acid succinyl‐tetraethylenpentamine (Stp), hydrophobic modifications, and an azide group are presented, which are used for strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition conjugation with splice‐switching PMOs. By systematically varying the lead structure and formulation, it is determined that the type of contained fatty acid and supramolecular assembly have a critical impact on the delivery efficacy. A compound containing linolenic acid with three cis double bonds exhibits the highest splice‐switching activity and significantly increases functional protein expression in pLuc/705 reporter cells in vitro and after local administration in vivo. Structural and mechanistic studies reveal that the lipopeptide PMO conjugates form nanoparticles, which accelerate cellular uptake and that the content of unsaturated fatty acids enhances endosomal escape. In an in vitro Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon skipping model using H2K‐mdx52 dystrophic skeletal myotubes, the highly potent PMO conjugates mediate significant splice‐switching at very low nanomolar concentrations. The presented aminoethylene‐lipopeptides are thus a promising platform for the generation of PMO‐therapeutics with a favorable activity/toxicity profile.     

Analysis of malware propagation behavior in Social Internet of Things

Social Internet of Things (SIoT) is an evolution of the Internet of Things, where objects interact socially with each other in the sense that they can independently establish new relationships, offer, or discover services, in order to accomplish their tasks with minimum involvement of the user. This additional convenience comes at the expense of higher risk of speeding up malware propagation through the dynamically created relationships. Because of the undesirable effects of malware (eg, disruption of device operation), it is essential to understand their spreading behavior in order to minimize their negative impacts. In this paper, we analyze malware propagation behavior in SIoT and investigate different parameters that influence spreading of malware. Toward that end, a simulator has been developed to simulate the spreading process of malware in SIoT. Many propagation scenarios were analyzed using the proposed simulator. Simulation results show that adding more relationships in the SIoT or increasing the number of owned objects per user has increased malware spreading rate. For example, the time to infect all objects is faster by 45% when objects communicate through four relationships compared with the case when objects communicate through only two relationships in SIoT. We also investigated ways to restrict the malware spreading. Results show that preventing objects from establishing dynamic social relationship slows down the infection by 40% compared with the next best scenario (ie, blocking co‐location relationships), which means more time for vendors to patch up their products.     

Highly Efficient,Solution‐Processed,Single‐Layer,Electrophosphorescent Diodes and the Effect of Molecular Dipole Moment

A new family of highly soluble electrophosphorescent dopants based on a series of tris‐cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes (1–4) of 2‐(carbazol‐3‐yl)‐4/5‐R‐pyridine ligands with varying molecular dipole strengths have been synthesized. Highly efficient, solution‐processed, single‐layer, electrophosphorescent diodes utilizing these complexes have been prepared and characterized. The high triplet energy poly(9‐vinylcarbazole) PVK is used as a host polymer doped with 2‐(4‐biphenylyl)‐5‐(4‐tert‐butyl‐phenyl)‐1,3,4‐oxadiazole (PBD) for electron transport. Devices with a current efficiency of 40 cd A^?1 corresponding to an EQE of 12% can thus be achieved. The effect of the type and position of the substituent (electron‐withdrawing group (CF₃) and electron‐donating group (OMe)) on the molecular dipole moment of the complexes has been investigated. A correlation between the absorption strength of the singlet metal‐to‐ligand charge‐transfer (¹MLCT) transition and the luminance spectral red shift as a function of solvent polarity is observed. The strength of the transition dipole moments for complexes 1–4 has also been obtained from TD‐DFT computations, and is found to be consistent with the observed molecular dipole moments of these complexes. The relatively long lifetime of the excitons of the phosphorescence (microseconds) compared to the charge‐carrier scattering time (less than nanoseconds), allows the transition dipole moment to be considered as a “quasi permanent dipole”. Therefore, the carrier mobility is sufficiently affected by the long‐lived transition dipole moments of the phosphorescent molecules, which are randomly oriented in the medium. The dopant dipoles cause positional and energetic disorder because of the locally modified polarization energy. Furthermore, the electron‐withdrawing group CF₃ induces strong carrier dispersion that enhances the electron mobility. Therefore, the strong transition dipole moment in complexes 3 and 4 perturbs both electron and hole mobilities, yielding a reduction in exciton formation and an increase in the device dark current, thereby decreasing the device efficiency.     

Evaluation and testing of internet firewalls

In this article we propose a testing methodology for evaluating Internet firewalls and apply it to compare two popular firewalls. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.