An overview of dynamic anomaly detection in social networks via control charts

Detection of anomalies in social networks has always been a topic of interest in the realm of social network analysis. However, in recent years, researchers from industrial process monitoring area have applied their methods for monitoring social networks. In this review paper, we discuss social network monitoring approaches that apply control charts to detect anomalies in social networks. We mention the characteristics of the approaches and will shed some light on different topics that can be considered for further investigation by interested researchers.     

Machine Learning-Driven Optimization for Intrusion Detection in Smart Vehicular Networks

An essential element in the smart city vision is providing safe and secure journeys via intelligent vehicles and smart roads. Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have played a significant role in enhancing road safety where vehicles can share road information conditions. However, VANETs share the same security concerns of legacy ad hoc networks. Unlike exiting works, we consider, in this paper, detection a common attack where nodes modify safety message or drop them. Unfortunately, detecting such a type of intrusion is a challenging problem since some packets may be lost or dropped in normal VANET due to congestion without malicious action. To mitigate these concerns, this paper presents a novel scheme for minimizing the invalidity ratio of VANET packets transmissions. In order to detect unusual traffic, the proposed scheme combines evidences from current as well as past behaviour to evaluate the trustworthiness of both data and nodes. A new intrusion detection scheme is accomplished through a four phases, namely, rule-based security filter, Dempster–Shafer adder, node’s history database, and Bayesian learner. The suspicion level of each incoming data is determined based on the extent of its deviation from data reported from trustworthy nodes. Dempster–Shafer’s theory is used to combine multiple evidences and Bayesian learner is adopted to classify each event in VANET into well-behaved or misbehaving event. The proposed solution is validated through extensive simulations. The results confirm that the fusion of different evidences has a significant positive impact on the performance of the security scheme compared to other counterparts.

     

Auto-organization approach with adaptive frame periods for IEEE 802.15.4/zigbee forest fire detection system

Wireless Networks - Using efficiently the wireless sensor networks based on IEEE 802.15.4/zigbee remains a real challenge for the forest fire detection and monitoring applications. The most...     

Adsorption behavior and kinetics of exchange of Co2+ and Eu3+ ions on polymer composite ion exchanger

Equilibrium and kinetics of exchange of ⁶⁰Co and ^152+154Eu radionuclides on hydrous titanium oxide incorporated in polyacrylonitrile, TiO-OH-PAN, were studied. The capacities of TiO-OH-PAN for ⁶⁰Co and ^152+154Eu were found to be 2.35 and 2.69 meq/g respectively. Freundlich and Langmiur isotherms were investigated. The validity of the Langmuir isotherm over the specified concentration range indicates monolayer coverage of the surface of TiO-OH-PAN by cobalt and europium. Sorption data was treated with the Dubinin-Radushkevich equation. The results indicated that hydrous titanium oxide incorporated in polyacrylonitrile can be considered as a promising material for removal of cobalt and europium ions from aqueous solution.     

Intention to Use Mobile Augmented Reality in the Tourism Sector

This article examines the main variables that influence the intention to use Augmented Reality (AR) applications in the tourism sector in Jordan. The study model has been constructed based on the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology2 (UTAUT2), by incorporating a new construct (aesthetics) to explore the usage intention of Mobile Augmented Reality in Tourism (MART). A questionnaire was used and distributed to a sample of 450 participants. Data were analyzed using the Smart PLS version 3.0. for testing 12 hypotheses. 29 measurement items were carefully reviewed based on previous studies that were selected to assess the research hypotheses. The findings revealed that the proposed model elucidates 35.7% of the variance in the users’ intention to use MART. The results also showed that both performance expectancy and aesthetics were found to be the most significant factors at level (0.001). Four variables, respectively, were at level (0.01) which consisted of social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, and price value. The weakest effect was effort expectancy at level (0.05). As the use of AR has become important for tourists, this study establishes a research base that can be built upon for future researchers. MART developers can benefit from the results of this research to design and deliver this service successfully and to ensure that its adoption by users is achieved.     

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction in robot vision for industrial monitoring process via deep three dimensional Spearman correlation analysis (D3D-SCA)

Multimedia Tools and Applications - During the era of Industry 4.0, the industrial robot monitoring process is getting success and popularity day by day. It also plays a vital role in the...     

Refurbishment of public housing villas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): energy and economic impact

This study aims at assessing the technical and economic benefits of refurbishing existing public housing villas in the UAE. Four representative federal public housing villas built between 1980s and 2010s were modeled and analyzed. The Integrated Environmental Solutions-Virtual Environment (IES-VE) energy modeling software was used to estimate the energy consumption and savings due to different refurbishment configurations applied to the villas. The refurbishment technical configurations were based on the UAE’s Estidama green buildings sustainability assessment system. The refurbishment configurations include upgrading three elements: the wall and roof insulation as well as replacing the glazing. The annual electricity savings results indicated that the most cost-efficient refurbishment strategy is upgrading of wall insulation (savings up to 20.8 %) followed by upgrading the roof’s insulation (savings up to 11.6 %) and lastly replacing the glazing (savings up to 3.2 %). When all three elements were refurbished simultaneously, savings up to 36.7 % were achieved (villa model 670). The savings translated to CO₂ emission reduction of 22.6 t/year. The simple and discounted payback periods for the different configurations tested ranged between 8 and 28 and 10 and 50 years, respectively.     

Strategy for a sustainable development in the UAE through hydrogen energy

Recently, it has been reported that United Arab Emirates is considered one of the highest energy consumers per capita in the world. Consequently, environmental pollution and carbon emission has been a major challenge facing the country over the past several years due to unprecedented high economic growth rate and abnormal population increase. Utilization of hydrogen energy to fulfill UAE’s energy needs would be one of the key measures that the country could undertake to achieve a sustainable development and without any major environmental consequences. Hydrogen energy, which is an energy carrier, is consider by many scientists and researchers a major player in fulfilling the global energy demand due to its attractive features such as being environmentally clean, storable, transportable and inexhaustible. It can be used as a fuel in the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, which is an electrochemical device that generates electric power and it can be utilized in various applications. Production of hydrogen energy can be carried out either through utilizing conventional resources or by renewable resources. Conventional resources such as crude oil and natural gas can produce hydrogen by steam-reformation while hydrogen can be produced from coal through gasification. On the other hand, hydrogen production through renewable resources can be achieved through biomass gasification, solar-hydrogen, wind-hydrogen and hydropower electrolysis process. Other renewable resources such as geothermal, wave, tidal and ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) can also contribute into hydrogen production but at a marginal level. In this report, a roadmap to achieve a sustainable development in the UAE through utilization of hydrogen energy is presented. The report highlights the potentials of energy resources that the country possesses with respect to both conventional and non-conventional energy and determines major resources that could significantly contribute to production of hydrogen energy. Moreover, the study will present three proposals where PEM fuel cells are introduced in the country’s electricity, transportation and commercial sectors to fulfill its energy demand and achieve the desired sustainability as well as environmental and economical benefits associated with such schemes compared with business as usual.     

Melt extrusion of polyethylene nanocomposites reinforced with nanofibrillated cellulose from cotton and wood sources

Replacing petroleum‐based materials with biodegradable materials that offer low environmental impact and safety risk is of increasing importance in sustainable materials processing. The objective of this study was to produce uniform nanofibrillated cotton from recycled waste cotton T‐shirts using microgrinding techniques and compare its performance as reinforcing agent in thermoplastic polymers constructs with wood‐originated materials. The effect of the microgrinding process on morphology, crystallinity, and thermal stability of materials was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). Nanofibrillated cotton resulted in higher crystallinity and thermal stability than fibrillated bleached and unbleached softwood. All the materials were extruded with low‐density polyethylene to fabricate nanocomposite films. Nanofibrillated cotton nanocomposites had a higher optical transparency than did the wood‐based composites. The mechanical properties of the nanofibrillated cotton nanocomposites were largely improved and showed 62.5% increase in strength over the wood‐based nanofibrillated containing composites, in agreement with the higher crystallinity of the nanosized cotton‐derived filler material. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 41857.