RSS 1.0Research from April 2016
This area brings together all research published after April 2016.
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Issues associated with citizens in developing countries trusting the security of online servicesOften referred to as Government to Citizen, E-government services are being utilized by many governments and organizations around the world to provide information and services to their citizens and customers. Such serviced are founded on the prevalence and availability of Information and communications technology (ICT). In developing countries such as Saudi Arabia, E-government projects have been identified as one of the top government priorities. However, the adoption of E-services faces many challenges and barriers, such as the technological, cultural, and organizational, which must all be considered and examined and handled carefully. This paper explores the reasons behind the lack of trust in the security of those online services, which are provided by governments and commercial organizations. Based on the analysis of data collected, the researchers were able to identify some of the important barriers and challenges arising in this context. As a result, this study has generated a list of possible recommendations that can help to solve this issue. © 2013 IEEE.
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Trustworthiness in the patient centred health care systemThe trend of the future health care system is patient centred, and patients' involvement is a key to success. ICT will play an important role in enabling and helping patients or citizens to manage and communicate on the individual's health related issues. This includes private and confidential information. Trustworthiness is therefore one of the most vital aspects in such systems. This paper first presents the prototype structure of the health care system, and then discusses questions regarding the trustworthiness of the system. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.
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Investigating big data healthcare security issues with raspberry PiBig Data on Cloud application is growing rapidly. When cloud is attacked, one of the solutions is to get digital forensics evidence. This paper proposed data collection via raspberry pi (RP) devices, assume in a healthcare situation [18]. The significance of this work is it could be expanded into a digital device array that takes big data security issues into account. There are many potential impacts in health area. The field of Digital Forensics Science has been tagged as a reactive science by some who believe research and study in the field often arise as a result of the need to respond to event which brought about the needs for investigation; this work was carried as a proactive research that will add knowledge to the field of Digital Forensic Science. The raspberry pi is a cost effective, pocket sized computer that has gained global recognition since its development in 2008, with the wide spread usage of the device for different computing purposes. It is safe to assume that the device will be a topic of forensic investigation in the nearest future. This work has used a systematic approach to study the structure and operation of the device and has established security issues that the widespread usage of the device can pose, such as health or smart city. As well as its evidential information that will be useful in the event that the device becomes a subject of digital forensic investigation in the foreseeable future.
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Disrupting historical mis-representations and constructions: Talawa Theatre, Tiata Fahodzi and representations of polyphonic Africa on contemporary London stageHistorically, the representations of Africa on the London stage mirror the prevailing socio-political conditions of different periods of Africa-British encounters. Each period is characterised by a distinctive socio-culturally motivated system of thought that both defined and shaped the resulting encounters. In the words of art critic and novelist David Dabydeen, early representations of Africa on the London stage showed an Africa many would not recognise today; theatrically Africa was cast as under-developed, a curiosity and aesthetic foil in which the humanity of the characters and continent were effaced. After WW2, Africa and Black were rolled into one socio-cultural category globally and remained that way from the late 1950s to the early days of postcolonial writings when playwrights and critics such as Wole Soyinka, Athol Fugard, and Stuart Hall began to de-stabilize cultural classifications about monolithic Africa and Black cultures. The subsequent rise of issue-based theatre companies and small venues hosting and producing a more mixed offering of plays on Africa and African characters led to a significant shift in representations of Africa on the London stage, enabling outfits such as Talawa and Fahodzi Theatres and a newer generation of playwrights such as Maria Oshodi, Tunde Ikoli, Dipo Agboluaje to highlight a wide range of characters and different African and Black British cultural nationalities on London stages.
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Cyberstalking IssuesCyberstalking is closely related to Digital forensics. Digital forensics is an investigation and analysis technique to gather and preserve evidence from a particular computing device in a way that is suitable for presentation in a court of law. The goal of computer forensics is to perform a structured investigation while maintaining a documented chain of evidence to find out exactly what happened on a computing device and who was responsible for it. We can extract evidences from digital devices. The cutting edge technology is to track down the Cyber-stalking evidence with the aid of AI technology, report to law enforcement, and pin down the identity of the stalker. A key focus at this moment is how to proactively detect and prevent this kind of crime.
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Finger-drawn signature verification on touch devices using statistical anomaly detectorsThe use of behavioral biometrics in user authentication has recently moved to new security application areas, one of which is verifying finger-drawn signatures and PIN codes. This paper investigates the design of anomaly detectors and feature sets for graphic signature authentication on touch devices. The work involved a selection of raw data feature sets that are extracted from modern mobile devices, such as finger area, pressure, velocity, acceleration, gyroscope, timestamp and position coordinates. A set of computed authentication features are formulated, derived from the raw features. The proposed anomaly detector is based on the outlier method, using three versions of the Z-Score distance metric. The proposed feature sets and anomaly detectors are implemented as a data collection and dynamic authentication system on an Android tablet. Experimental work resulted in collecting a signature dataset that included genuine and forged signatures. The dataset was analyzed using the Equal-Error-Rate (EER) metric. The results for random forgery and skilled forgery showed that the Z-Score anomaly detector with 3.5 standard deviations distance from the mean produced the lowest error rates. The skilled forgery error rates were close to random forgery error rates, indicating that behavioral biometrics are the key factors in detecting forgeries, regardless of pre-knowledge of the signature's shape.
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Security and forensics challenges to the MK smart projectMK Smart project is a joint initiative which is led by the Open university and supported by Key players such as University of Bedfordshire (Milton Keynes Campus), University of Cambridge, British Telecom (BT), Milton Keynes Council, E. ON, Anglian Water, HR Wallingford Ltd, Satellite Applications Catapult, Community Action MK, Fronesys, Graymatter and Playground Energy. The project is partly funded by HEFCE (the Higher Education Funding Council for England) and led by The Open University with the primarily aim of developing innovative solutions to support the economic growth in Milton Keynes [MK Smart]. MK Data Hub is the central infrastructure to the project which supports the acquisition and management of the big data from various data sources relevant to the city systems. [MK Smart, 2014]. Whilst the data plays crucial part to this project, its forensic value of the data held is also important to the investigation of this project. Data might be required to help in any forensic investigation to be proven in a case of Data integrity. The challenges of security and forensics to this project may be hinderance to its future. Mitigating these challenges can go a long way not only to this project but to other smart cities projects. This paper concentrates on realising the security and forensics challenges of the MK Smart project, primarily looking at the challenges of securing such a huge data on a datahub and concentrating on the best possible way to forensically investigate the large complex data such as the data stored on the Datahub.
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Autonomous vehicles' forensics in smart citiesAutonomous vehicles (AVs) are capable of sensing their environment and navigating without any human inputs. When accidents occur between AVs, road infrastructures, or human subjects, liability is decided based on accident forensics. This accident forensics is carried out by the acquisition of sensor data generated within the AVs and through its communication between vehicles to a vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) with a centralised data hub in smart cities that collects and stores this data thereby aiding the relevant authorities in informed decision making. However, practices mostly employed in extracting this information are unprofessional when compared to other areas of digital forensics. In this paper, we designed and implemented a non-invasive mechanism for the collection and storage of forensic data from AVs within smart cities. This mechanism is efficient, secure, and preserves the privacy of data generated by the AV.
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Challenges in ROS forensicsThe usage of robot is rapidly growth in our society. The communication link and applications connect the robots to their clients or users. This communication link and applications are normally connected through some kind of network connections. This network system is amenable of being attached and vulnerable to the security threats. It is a critical part for ensuring security and privacy for robotic platforms. The paper, also discusses about several cyber-physical security threats that are only for robotic platforms. The peer to peer applications use in the robotic platforms for threats target integrity, availability and confidential security purposes. A Remote Administration Tool (RAT) was introduced for specific security attacks. An impact oriented process was performed for analyzing the assessment outcomes of the attacks. Tests and experiments of attacks were performed in simulation environment which was based on Gazbo Turtlebot simulator and physically on the robot. A software tool was used for simulating, debugging and experimenting on ROS platform. Integrity attacks performed for modifying commands and manipulated the robot behavior. Availability attacks were affected for Denial-of-Service (DoS) and the robot was not listened to Turtlebot commands. Integrity and availability attacks resulted sensitive information on the robot.
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A forensic investigation of robot operating systemThe robot operating system for robot which is still relatively new, is rapidly gaining robot manufacture industry market share with dozens of robots and drons either released or set to be released. In this paper we present the first methodology and toolset for acquisition and deep analysis of volatile physical memory from robot operating system devices. The article discusses some of the challenges in performing ros memory acquisition, discusses. For memory forensics we used Lime, volatility memory framework and DD command. The acquisition tool supports dump memory to either exterl drive or via the network.
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Surface water quality prediction system for Luton Hoo lake: a statistical approachLake monitoring is a necessity for aquatic healthy living. Stakeholders are particularly interested not just in the aesthetics but also in the quality of water bodies. Our work tends to initially analyze historic data of the sensed water quality parameters at Luton Hoo lake to detect outliers. Dissolved oxygen has been predicted from available data since its one of the major surface water contaminants
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Modeling and prediction of surface water contamination using on-line sensor dataWater contamination is a great disadvantage to humans and aquatic life. Maintaining the aesthetics and quality of water bodies is a priority for environmental stake holders. The water quality sensor data can be analyzed over a period of time to give an indication of pollution incidents and could be a useful forecasting tool. Here we show our initial finding from statistical analysis on such sensor data from one of the lakes of the river Lea, south of Luton. Our initial work shows patterns which will form the basis for our forecasting model.
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Presence detection from smart home motion sensor datasets: a modelEffective physical presence detection in Smart Homes (SH) can be very useful for supporting ageing in place and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) solutions. It can contribute to ensuring peace of mind and sense of comfort for patients, their families and their carers as well as enhancing their overall physical security. Motion sensor data acquired from SH contain rich, contextual information that can be used to infer single- and multi-user presences. When combined and analysed with other information such as time of day, (expected) total number of occupants and location of any additional presence, among others, decisions can be made about whether the presences detected are legitimate or intrusive. This paper develops a presence detection model based on the analysis of a real-life SH Motion Sensor dataset. The paper also investigates the use of the relationships that exist between devices (nodes) and locations (zones) in SH. The premise is that rules can be used to constrain these relationships and, in combination, the relationships and rules can be used to describe a healthy smart home such that any deviation from the defined healthy state will result in an anomaly being flagged by a SH monitoring system.
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Security audit in mobile apps security designSecurity design of mobile apps is very important, and it is also important that researchers consider and disseminate the continually changing requirements. For mobile application i.e. a software program that runs on a mobile phone, its design, development and management need to consider security impact. In particular, because of mobile app is running on online devices, cyber security defense is required. In this chapter, mobile app security is discussed from the initial planning and design stage to its maintenance after its launch.
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Empirical investigation of factors that impact e-government adoption in NigeriaThis paper is a review of the impact of data protection/privacy, website usability and culture on e-government adoption. Along with Hofstede's cultural dimensions and technology acceptance theory, the paper uses these two theories to analyse the highly anticipated era of electronic government, an aspect through which government communicates with agencies and business organisation through information communication technology. We examine the adoption process, its challenges and difficulties, especially in developing countries like Nigeria considering fundamental deficiencies in basic infrastructure, human capacity, political and cultural constraints. This paper can help Nigerian government policy and decision makers develop strategies to adopt e-government services and improve the further development of these services. The paper does not only provide empirical support to previous research, but it validates and improve the results of similar studies in the field.
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Learner experience in hybrid virtual worlds: interacting with pedagogical agentsStudies related to the Virtual Learning approach are conducted almost exclusively in Distance Learning contexts and focus on the development of frameworks or taxonomies that classify the different ways of teaching and learning. Researchers may be dealing with the topic of interactivity but mainly focusing on the interactions that take place within the virtual world. However, in non-distance learning contexts, where students not only share the virtual but also the physical space, different types of interplay can be observed. In this paper, we classify these ‘hybrid’ interactions and further correlate them with the impact that the instructional design decisions have on motivation and engagement. In particular, a series of experiments were conducted in the context of different Hybrid Virtual Learning units, with Computer Science and Technology students participating in the study, whilst, the chosen instructional design approach included the employment of different Pedagogical Agents who aimed at increasing the incentives for interaction and therefore, engagement. The conclusions provide suggestions and guidelines to educators and instructional designers who wish to offer interactive and engaging learning activities to their students.
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What does the pedagogical agent say?The successful employment of Virtual Reality Environments in distance education contexts led to the development of various frameworks and taxonomies related to the Virtual-Learning approach. However, when it comes to Blended or 'Hybrid' Virtual Learning (HVL) scenarios, where the learners are concurrently co-present both in the physical and in the virtual environment, the lines are hard to be drawn as this has been a relatively unexplored area. Considering the aforementioned change in the setup of the educational context, different implications, challenges and outcomes are expected to be observed. Motivated by this shortcoming, we conducted a series of experiments with Computer Science and Technology students and investigated the impact of interactions on learners' motivation to engage with the 3D virtual world and the educational activities by extension. In this paper, we discuss students' preconceptions towards the inclusion of 3D Virtual Learning Environments in the context of their studies and further elicit their thoughts related to the impact of the 'hybrid' interactions. In addition, we investigate the educational value of different Non-Player Characters (Pedagogical Agents) and their impact on the attractiveness of the virtual world and the educational tasks. The concluding remarks provide guidance to educators and instructional designers who work in such setups or consider to employ Pedagogical Agents. To this end, employing Pedagogical Agents requires careful consideration as they need to be meaningful and fully incorporated in the learner's task. Another take-away message concerns the elements that foster a situated learning experience as they are associated with immersive experiences.
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A qualitative study of healthcare professionals’ experiences of providing maternity services for Muslim women in the UKBackground: A growing Muslim population in the UK suggests the need for healthcare professionals (HCPs) to gain a better understanding of how the Islamic faith influences health related perceptions and healthcare seeking behaviour. Although some researchers have explored the experiences of Muslim women as recipients of healthcare, little attention has been paid to the challenges HCPs face as service providers on a day-to-day basis whilst caring for Muslim women. The aim of this study was to investigate HPCs lived experiences of providing maternity care for Muslim women. Method: Data was collected through twelve semi-structured one-to-one qualitative interviews with HCPs in a large National Health Service (NHS) maternity unit located in the North West of England. Interview participants included Community and specialist clinic (e.g. clinic for non-English speakers), Midwives in a variety of specialist roles (7), Gynaecology Nurses (2), Breastfeeding Support Workers (2) and a Sonographer (1). The audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and analysed thematically. Results: The majority of participants expressed an understanding of some religious values and practices related to Muslim women, such as fasting the month of Ramadhan and that pregnant and breastfeeding women are exempt from this. However, HCPs articulated the challenges they faced when dealing with certain religious values and practices, and how they tried to respond to Muslim women’s specific needs. Emerging themes included: 1) HCPs perceptions about Muslim women; 2) HCPs understanding and awareness of religious practices; 3) HCPs approaches in addressing and supporting Muslim women’s religious needs; 4) Importance of training in providing culturally and religiously appropriate woman-centred care. Conclusion: Through this study we gained insight into the day-to-day experiences of HCPs providing care provision for Muslim women. HCPs showed an understanding of the importance of religious and cultural practices in addressing the needs of Muslim women as part of their role as maternity care providers. However, they also identified a need to develop training programmes that focus on cultural and religious practices and their impact on women’s health care needs. This will help support HCPs in overcoming the challenges faced when dealing with needs of women from different backgrounds.
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Web-based visual analytics of lifestyle data in MyHealthAvatarMyHealthAvatar is a project designed to collect lifestyle and health data to promote citizen's wellbeing. As a lifetime companion of citizens the amount of data to be collected is large. It is almost impossible for citizens, patients and doctors to view, utilise and understand these data without proper visual presentation and user interaction. Visual analytics of lifestyle data is one of the key features of MyHealthAvatar. This paper presents the visual analytics components in MyHealthAvatar to facilitate health and lifestyle data presentation and analysis, including 3D avatar, dashboard, diary, timeline, clock view and map. These components can be used cooperatively to achieve flexible visual analysis of spatial temporal lifestyle and health data.
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MyHealthAvatar: a case study of web-based interactive visual analytics of lifestyle dataMyHealthAvatar is a project designed to collect and track lifestyle and health data to promote citizen wellbeing. As a lifetime companion of citizens, the amount of data collected will be huge. It is almost impossible for citizen, patients and doctors to view, utilise and understand these data without proper visual presentation and user interaction. Interactive visual analytics of lifestyle data is one of the key features of MyHealthAvatar. This paper presents the interactive visual analytics components in MyHealthAvatar to facilitate health and lifestyle data presentation and analysis, including 3d avatar, dashboard, diary, timeline, clock view and map. These components can be integrated to achieve flexible visual analysis of spatio-temporal lifestyle data.
