Chord-PKI: A distributed trust infrastructure based on P2P networks

Many P2P applications require security services such as privacy, anonymity, authentication, and non-repudiation. Such services could be provided through a hierarchical Public Key Infrastructure. However, P2P networks are usually Internet-scale distributed systems comprised of nodes with an undetermined trust level, thus making hierarchical solutions unrealistic. In this paper, we propose Chord-PKI, a distributed PKI architecture which is build upon the Chord overlay network, in order to provide security services for P2P applications. Our solution distributes the functionality of a PKI across the peers by using threshold cryptography and proactive updating. We analyze the security of the proposed infrastructure and through simulations we evaluate its performance for various scenarios of untrusted node distributions.     

Usable optimistic fair exchange

Fairly exchanging digital content is an everyday problem. It has been shown that fair exchange cannot be achieved without a trusted third party (called the Arbiter). Yet, even with a trusted party, it is still non-trivial to come up with an efficient solution, especially one that can be used in a p2p file sharing system with a high volume of data exchanged.We provide an efficient optimistic fair exchange mechanism for bartering digital files, where receiving a payment in return for a file (buying) is also considered fair. The exchange is optimistic, removing the need for the Arbiter’s involvement unless a dispute occurs. While the previous solutions employ costly cryptographic primitives for every file or block exchanged, our protocol employs them only once per peer, therefore achieving an O(n) efficiency improvement when n blocks are exchanged between two peers. Our protocol uses very efficient cryptography, making it perfectly suitable for a p-2-p file sharing system where tens of peers exchange thousands of blocks and they do not know beforehand which ones they will end up exchanging. Therefore, our system yields up to one-to-two orders of magnitude improvement in terms of both computation and communication (40 s vs. 42 min, 1.6 MB vs. 200 MB). Thus, for the first time, a provably secure (and privacy-respecting when payments are made using e-cash) fair exchange protocol can be used in real bartering applications (e.g., BitTorrent) [14] without sacrificing performance.     

Secure authentication scheme for passive C1G2 RFID tags

Privacy and security concerns inhibit the fast adaption of RFID technology for many applications. A number of authentication protocols that address these concerns have been proposed but real-world solutions that are secure, maintain low communication cost and can be integrated into the ubiquitous EPCglobal Class 1 Generation 2 tag protocol (C1G2) are still needed and being investigated. We present a novel authentication protocol, which offers a high level of security through the combination of a random key scheme with a strong cryptography. The protocol is applicable to resource, power and computationally constraint platforms such as RFID tags. Our investigation shows that it can provide mutual authentication, untraceability, forward and backward security as well as resistance to replay, denial-ofth-service and man-in-the-middle attacks, while retaining a competitive communication cost. The protocol has been integrated into the EPCglobal C1G2 tag protocol, which assures low implementation cost. We also present a successful implementation of our protocol on real-world components such as the INTEL WISP UHF RFID tag and a C1G2 compliant reader.     

An efficient IP address lookup algorithm based on a small balanced tree using entry reduction

Due to a tremendous increase in internet traffic, backbone routers must have the capability to forward massive incoming packets at several gigabits per second. IP address lookup is one of the most challenging tasks for high-speed packet forwarding. Some high-end routers have been implemented with hardware parallelism using ternary content addressable memory (TCAM). However, TCAM is much more expensive in terms of circuit complexity as well as power consumption. Therefore, efficient algorithmic solutions are essentially required to be implemented using network processors as low cost solutions.Among the state-of-the-art algorithms for IP address lookup, a binary search based on a balanced tree is effective in providing a low-cost solution. In order to construct a balanced search tree, the prefixes with the nesting relationship should be converted into completely disjointed prefixes. A leaf-pushing technique is very useful to eliminate the nesting relationship among prefixes [V. Srinivasan, G. Varghese, Fast address lookups using controlled prefix expansion, ACM Transactions on Computer Systems 17 (1) (1999) 1-40]. However, it creates duplicate prefixes, thus expanding the search tree.This paper proposes an efficient IP address lookup algorithm based on a small balanced tree using entry reduction. The leaf-pushing technique is used for creating the completely disjointed entries. In the leaf-pushed prefixes, there are numerous pairs of adjacent prefixes with similarities in prefix strings and output ports. The number of entries can be significantly reduced by the use of a new entry reduction method which merges pairs with these similar prefixes. After sorting the reduced disjointed entries, a small balanced tree is constructed with a very small node size. Based on this small balanced tree, a native binary search can be effectively used in address lookup issue. In addition, we propose a new multi-way search algorithm to improve a binary search for IPv4 address lookup. As a result, the proposed algorithms offer excellent lookup performance along with reduced memory requirements. Besides, these provide good scalability for large amounts of routing data and for the address migration toward IPv6. Using both various IPv4 and IPv6 routing data, the performance evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms have better performance in terms of lookup speed, memory requirement and scalability for the growth of entries and IPv6, as compared with other algorithms based on a binary search.     

An on-line learning neural controller for helicopters performing highly nonlinear maneuvers

This paper presents an on-line learning adaptive neural control scheme for helicopters performing highly nonlinear maneuvers. The online learning adaptive neural controller compensates the nonlinearities in the system and uncertainties in the modeling of the dynamics to provide the desired performance. The control strategy uses a neural controller aiding an existing conventional controller. The neural controller is based on a online learning dynamic radial basis function network, which uses a Lyapunov based on-line parameter update rule integrated with a neuron growth and pruning criteria. The online learning dynamic radial basis function network does not require a priori training and also it develops a compact network for implementation. The proposed adaptive law provides necessary global stability and better tracking performance. Simulation studies have been carried-out using a nonlinear (desktop) simulation model similar to that of a BO105 helicopter. The performances of the proposed adaptive controller clearly shows that it is very effective when the helicopter is performing highly nonlinear maneuvers. Finally, the robustness of the controller has been evaluated using the attitude quickness parameters (handling quality index) at different speed and flight conditions. The results indicate that the proposed online learning neural controller adapts faster and provides the necessary tracking performance for the helicopter executing highly nonlinear maneuvers.     

Nodal ant colony optimization for solving profit based unit commitment problem for GENCOs

This paper proposes a nodal ant colony optimization (NACO) technique to solve profit based unit commitment problem (PBUCP). Generation companies (GENCOs) in a competitive restructured power market, schedule their generators with an objective to maximize their own profit without any regard for system social benefit. Power and reserve prices become important factors in decision process. Ant colony optimization that mimics the behavior of ants foraging activities is suitably implemented to search the UCP search space. Here a search space consisting of optimal combination of binary nodes for unit ON/OFF status is represented for the movement of the ants to maintain good exploration and exploitation search capabilities. The proposed model help GENCOs to make decisions on the quantity of power and reserve that must be put up for sale in the markets and also to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. The effectiveness of the proposed technique for PBUCP is validated on 10 and 36 generating unit systems available in the literature. NACO yields an increase of profit, greater than 1.5%, in comparison with the basic ACO, Muller method and hybrid LR-GA.     

GA-BP神经网络的非线性函数拟合

由于BP神经网络具有良好的非线性映射能力,但在极值寻优时易陷入局部极值。本文利用具有全局搜索寻优的遗传算法优化BP神经网络(GA-BP),用于非线性函数拟合,弥补了BP网络寻优时的缺点。通过实例比较分析,GA-BP神经网络明显地提高了拟合精度,也使模型具有较强的应用性与推广性。     

Output controllability and optimal output control of state-dependent switched Boolean control networks

In the present paper, we investigate the output-controllability and optimal output control problems of a state-dependent switched Boolean control network. By using the semi-tensor product, the algebraic form of the system is obtained. Then, output-controllability problems of the system are discussed and some necessary and sufficient conditions are given. Next, the Mayer-type optimal output control issue is considered and an algorithm is provided to find out the control sequence. At last, an example is given to show the effectiveness of the main results.     

A survey of support for structured communication in concurrency control models

The two standard models used for communication in concurrent programs, shared memory and message passing, have been the focus of much debate for a long time. Still, we believe the main issue at stake should not be the choice between these models, but rather how to ensure that communication is structured, i.e., it occurs only in syntactically restricted code regions. In this survey, we explore concurrency control models and evaluate how their characteristics contribute positively or negatively to the support for structured communication. We focus the evaluation on three properties: reasonability, which is the main property we are interested in and determines how easily programmers can reason about a concurrent program’s execution; performance, which determines whether there are any distinct features which can prevent or facilitate efficient implementations; and composability, which determines whether a model offers constructs that can be used as building blocks for coarser-grained, or higher-level, concurrency abstractions.