Multi-Zone-Wise Blockchain Based Intrusion Detection and Prevention System for IoT Environment

Blockchain merges technology with the Internet of Things (IoT) for addressing security and privacy-related issues. However, conventional blockchain suffers from scalability issues due to its linear structure, which increases the storage overhead, and Intrusion detection performed was limited with attack severity, leading to performance degradation. To overcome these issues, we proposed MZWB (Multi-Zone-Wise Blockchain) model. Initially, all the authenticated IoT nodes in the network ensure their legitimacy by using the Enhanced Blowfish Algorithm (EBA), considering several metrics. Then, the legitimately considered nodes for network construction for managing the network using Bayesian-Direct Acyclic Graph (B-DAG), which considers several metrics. The intrusion detection is performed based on two tiers. In the first tier, a Deep Convolution Neural Network (DCNN) analyzes the data packets by extracting packet flow features to classify the packets as normal, malicious, and suspicious. In the second tier, the suspicious packets are classified as normal or malicious using the Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). Finally, intrusion scenario performed reconstruction to reduce the severity of attacks in which Improved Monkey Optimization (IMO) is used for attack path discovery by considering several metrics, and the Graph cut utilized algorithm for attack scenario reconstruction (ASR). UNSW-NB15 and BoT-IoT utilized datasets for the MZWB method simulated using a Network simulator (NS-3.26). Compared with previous performance metrics such as energy consumption, storage overhead accuracy, response time, attack detection rate, precision, recall, and F-measure. The simulation result shows that the proposed MZWB method achieves high performance than existing works     

Seat belt utilization in Saudi Arabia and its impact on road accident injuries

Most industrialized countries and many developing countries have passed laws that require the use of seat belts in motor vehicles. It is widely believed that seat belt use is an effective way to reduce road accident fatalities and injuries. Saudi Arabia joined these countries when it enacted a similar law on 5 December 2000 making seat belt use compulsory for all drivers and front-seat passengers. This study measures seat belt use rate and its impact on the number of road accident injuries during the first few months that followed the enactment of the law. It also investigates drivers' behaviour and personal characteristics and their relationship with using seat belts by using a questionnaire specially prepared for this purpose. Results show that seat belt use rate in two Riyadh suburbs were 33% and 87%, respectively, for drivers and 4% and 41%, respectively, for front-seat passengers (FSP's). Such belt use rates are considered low yet encouraging when compared with use rates before enacting the law. Results also show that there was a significant drop in certain types of injuries due to traffic accidents after the enactment of the seat belt law. Questionnaire results show that certain personal characteristics were correlated with seat belt use rate. Finally, implications of these findings in terms of future plans for improving traffic safety are discussed.     

Investigation of the structural,microstructural, and dielectric properties of Ho-doped PbTiO3 for piezoelectric applications

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this work, sol–gel-processed Ho-doped PbTiO3 powder samples with the compositions Pb1?XHoxTiO3 (x?=?0; 1; 3; 6;...     

Cohesiveness and hydrodynamic properties of young drinking water biofilms

Drinking water biofilms are complex microbial systems mainly composed of clusters of different size and age. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements were performed on 4, 8 and 12 weeks old biofilms in order to quantify the mechanical detachment shear stress of the clusters, to estimate the biofilm entanglement rate ξ. This AFM approach showed that the removal of the clusters occurred generally for mechanical shear stress of about 100 kPa only for clusters volumes greater than 200 μm³. This value appears 1000 times higher than hydrodynamic shear stress technically available meaning that the cleaning of pipe surfaces by water flushing remains always incomplete. To predict hydrodynamic detachment of biofilm clusters, a theoretical model has been developed regarding the averaging of elastic and viscous stresses in the cluster and by including the entanglement rate ξ. The results highlighted a slight increase of the detachment shear stress with age and also the dependence between the posting of clusters and their volume. Indeed, the experimental values of ξ allow predicting biofilm hydrodynamic detachment with same order of magnitude than was what reported in the literature. The apparent discrepancy between the mechanical and the hydrodynamic detachment is mainly due to the fact that AFM mechanical experiments are related to the clusters local properties whereas hydrodynamic measurements reflected the global properties of the whole biofilm.     

Probing young drinking water biofilms with hard and soft particles

The aim of our study was to investigate, through the use of soft (Escherichia coli) and hard (polystyrene microspheres) particles, the distribution and persistence of allochthonous particles inoculated in drinking water flow chambers. Biofilms were allowed to grow for 7-10 months in tap water from Nancy's drinking water network and were composed of bacterial aggregates and filamentous fungi. Both model particles adhered almost exclusively on the biofilms (i.e. on the bacterial aggregates and on the filamentous structures) and not directly on the uncolonized walls (glass or Plexiglas). Biofilm age (i.e. bacterial density and biofilm properties) and convective-diffusion were found to govern particle accumulation: older biofilms and higher wall shear rates both increased the velocity and the amount of particle deposition on the biofilm. Persistence of the polystyrene particles was measured over a two-month period after inoculation. Accumulation amounts were found to be very different between hard and soft particles as only 0.03‰ of the soft particles inoculated accumulated in the biofilm against 0.3-0.8% for hard particles.     

Corticoreticular pathways in the cat. I. Projection patterns and collaterization

We propose that the descending command from area 4 that is responsible, in part, for the change in limb trajectory required to step over an obstacle in one's path also plays a role in triggering the anticipatory postural modifications that accompany this movement. To test this hypothesis, we recorded the discharge characteristics of identified classes of corticofugal neurons in area 4 of the cat. Neurons were identified either as: pryamidal tract neurons (PTNs) if their axon projected to the caudal pyramidal tract (PT) but not to the pontomedullary reticular formation (PMRF); as corticoreticular neurons (CRNs) if their axon projected to the PMRF but not to the PT; and as PTN/CRNs if their axon projected to both structures. Altogether, the discharge properties of 212 corticofugal neurons (109 PTNs, 66 PTN/CRNs, and 37 CRNs) within area 4 were recorded during voluntary gait modifications. Neurons in all three classes showed increases in their discharge frequency during locomotion and included groups that increased their discharge either during the swing phase of the modified step, during the subsequent stance phase, or in the stance phase of the cycle preceding the step over the obstacle. A slightly higher percentage of CRNs (39%) discharged in the stance phase prior to the gait modification than did the PTNs or PTN/CRNs (20% and 17% respectively). In 37 electrode penetrations, we were able to record clusters of 3 or more neurons within 500 micro(m) of each other. In most cases, PTN/CRNs recorded in close proximity to PTNs had similar receptive fields and discharged in a similar, but not identical, manner during the gait modifications. Compared with adjacent PTNs, CRNs normally showed a more variable pattern of activity and frequently discharged earlier in the step cycle than did the PTNs or PTN/CRNs. We interpret the results as providing support for the original hypothesis. We suggest that the collateral branches to the PMRF from corticofugal neurons with axons that continue at least as far as the caudal PT provide a signal that could be used to trigger dynamic postural responses that are appropriately organized and scaled for the movements that are being undertaken. We suggest that the more variable and earlier discharge activity observed in CRNs might be used to modify the postural support on which the movements and the dynamic postural adjustments are superimposed.     

Mastering quality of service in GPRS/UMTS an overview

Quality of Service (QoS) has become a very important issue in networking, covering many performance aspects and numerous measures. The deployment of next generation wireless system includes 2.5G General Packet Radio Service (Gprs), which is the packet-switched extension of the Global System for Mobile communications (Gsm), and Third-Generation (3G) Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (Umts) to meet the needs of larger capacity and higher bit rates. AnUmts packet core network is an IP-based network. The Internet Engineering Task Force (Ietf) Forum developed several IP QoS related mechanisms available for IP transport networks. Service Quality Management (Sqm), one component of Telecommunication Management Network (Tun), will enable providers to manage QoS against objectives set out in customer Service Level Agreements (Slas) and will enable customers to compare the service offerings of different service providers.