Asynchronous Communication Research Articles

Towards a Domain-Neutral Platform for Sustainable Digital Twin Development

In this paper, we propose an abstract domain-neutral architecture for a cognitive digital twin (CDT) and a software platform to develop such CDTs, including machine reasoning capabilities. Sustainable development refers here to an abstract model that enables a holistic view of limiting resources and has an ability to adapt to different application domains while reusing existing resources. The proposed solution allows for a unified abstract representation and the development of a wide range of diverse digital twins, as well as facilitating their interoperability. The abstract architecture consists of a four-layer structure (observation/actuation layer, data management layer, reasoning layer, and simulation layer) with an upper ontology to which the domain ontology of the specific CDT is mapped. The architecture relies on semantic web technologies, including ontology-based reasoning using OWL, and a loosely coupled, component-based service-oriented software architecture. The platform utilizes a microservice architecture that enables separate, loosely coupled services on each layer, message queues to provide asynchronous communication, and possesses cloud technologies to achieve scalability. The proposed approach was validated by implementing a software platform prototype and demonstrating its key features through two dissimilar scenarios. The first scenario demonstrates simple sustainable energy management through IoT systems inside smart buildings, while the second one demonstrates knowledge quality management based on knowledge space theory.

F-NIDS — A Network Intrusion Detection System based on federated learning

The rise of IoT networks has presented fresh challenges in terms of scalability and security for distributed Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) due to privacy concerns. While some progress has been made in addressing these challenges, there are still unanswered questions regarding how to achieve a balance between performance and robustness to ensure privacy in a distributed manner. Additionally, there is a need to develop a reliable and scalable architecture for distributed NIDS that can be effectively deployed in various IoT scenarios. These questions about robustness relied mainly on choosing privacy-secured and distributed Machine Learning techniques. In this work, we propose the F-NIDS, an intrusion detector that utilizes federated artificial intelligence and asynchronous communication techniques between system entities to provide horizontal scalability, along with differential privacy techniques to address data confidentiality concerns. The architecture of F-NIDS is designed to be adaptable for usage in IoT networks, suited to be used in cloud or fog-based environments. Results from our experiments have shown that the confidential detection model employed in F-NIDS – considering multi-class accuracy, binary accuracy, precision, and recall metrics – was capable of predicting and determining the nature of attacks when they occur. In order to determine optimal parameters that strike a balance between data privacy and classification performance, three strategies were employed, each evaluated for its corresponding robustness performance. Firstly, models were trained with varying Gaussian noise values, and subjected to membership inference black box rule-based attacks. Secondly, regular membership inference black box attacks were performed, utilizing different stolen samples with varying sizes to determine the maximum amount of data that could be securely stored on the detection agents for training tasks. Lastly, the robustness of the trained models was evaluated against a model inversion attack, and the results were compared through graphical comparisons. Based on these evaluations, Gaussian noise level and sample size values of 21 were obtained for each detection agent in the system, with sample sizes ranging from 10K to 25K.

Output synchronization of heterogeneous multi-agent systems based on the distributed continuous-discrete state observer

The output synchronization of heterogeneous multi-agent systems is investigated in this note based on the leader–follower architecture. We first propose a distributed continuous-discrete state observer for each follower to continuously estimate the state of the leader only utilizing the discrete samples. The local estimates of the observer are sampled and updated at the periodic sampling time, while the local samples are transmitted aperiodically between neighboring agents. Thus, it allows the asynchronous intermittent communication in the network with the interval time-varying communication delay. Then, the distributed controller is constructed based on the distributed observer to achieve exponential output synchronization. A numerical example is used to illustrate the validity of the theoretical results.

At your service: supportiveness of servant leadership, communication frequency and communication channel fostering job satisfaction across generations.

The present study contributes to the conversations on the role of 'autonomy supportive' factors in employee wellbeing in remote work contexts by examining the relationships between servant leadership, communication frequency - overall and via synchronous (i.e., individual video-calls, individual telephone calls) and asynchronous communication channels (i.e., e-mail messages, and WhatsApp) - on the one hand, and job satisfaction, on the other, and the moderating role of generation (Baby Boomers and Gen X versus Gen Y) in these relationships. Building on self-determination theory, incorporating insights from servant leadership, telework, and media richness and synchronicity literatures, we developed hypotheses that were tested via multilevel analysis (273 employees nested in 89 managers). In line with expectations, servant leadership had a positive relationship with job satisfaction. Total communication frequency, however, was not related to job satisfaction. Further analyses per communication channel showed that only level 2 e-mail communication frequency was positively related to job satisfaction. In contrast to expectations, the relationships studied were not moderated by generation. We concluded that, for all generations, both servant leadership and frequent (e-mail) communication can be regarded as 'autonomy supportive' factors in employee wellbeing. Paradoxically, whereas servant leadership, considered as a human-centric leadership style, suggests close trust-based employment relationships, employees valued frequent asynchronous communication (via e-mail). Having access to information and knowledge when needed may satisfy employees' need for autonomy (and perhaps for flexibility to engage in work and non-work activities). The insights gained in our study can inform organizations, managers, and employees, particularly in future remote work contexts.

Special Delivery: Programming with Mailbox Types

The asynchronous and unidirectional communication model supported by mailboxes is a key reason for the success of actor languages like Erlang and Elixir for implementing reliable and scalable distributed systems. While many actors may send messages to some actor, only the actor may (selectively) receive from its mailbox. Although actors eliminate many of the issues stemming from shared memory concurrency, they remain vulnerable to communication errors such as protocol violations and deadlocks. Mailbox types are a novel behavioural type system for mailboxes first introduced for a process calculus by de’Liguoro and Padovani in 2018, which capture the contents of a mailbox as a commutative regular expression. Due to aliasing and nested evaluation contexts, moving from a process calculus to a programming language is challenging. This paper presents Pat, the first programming language design incorporating mailbox types, and describes an algorithmic type system. We make essential use of quasi-linear typing to tame some of the complexity introduced by aliasing. Our algorithmic type system is necessarily co-contextual, achieved through a novel use of backwards bidirectional typing, and we prove it sound and complete with respect to our declarative type system. We implement a prototype type checker, and use it to demonstrate the expressiveness of Pat on a factory automation case study and a series of examples from the Savina actor benchmark suite.

Verifying Reliable Network Components in a Distributed Separation Logic with Dependent Separation Protocols

We present a foundationally verified implementation of a reliable communication library for asynchronous client-server communication, and a stack of formally verified components on top thereof. Our library is implemented in an OCaml-like language on top of UDP and features characteristic traits of existing protocols, such as a simple handshaking protocol, bidirectional channels, and retransmission/acknowledgement mechanisms. We verify the library in the Aneris distributed separation logic using a novel proof pattern---dubbed the session escrow pattern---based on the existing escrow proof pattern and the so-called dependent separation protocols, which hitherto have only been used in a non-distributed concurrent setting. We demonstrate how our specification of the reliable communication library simplifies formal reasoning about applications, such as a remote procedure call library, which we in turn use to verify a lazily replicated key-value store with leader-followers and clients thereof. Our development is highly modular---each component is verified relative to specifications of the components it uses (not the implementation). All our results are formalized in the Coq proof assistant.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION’S ONLINE COMMUNICATION DURING PANDEMIC (A CASE STUDY ON KRAMAT PULO SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH IN THE TIME OF COVID-19 OUTBREAK)

Religious organizations are now forced to change their form of communication into online communication because of government policies that urge religious organizations to postpone carrying out religious activities in places of worship in order to reduce the level of transmission of the Covid-19 outbreak. Organizational communication is the process of delivering information and building understanding from individual to individual, or individual to group within an organization. This study raises the issue of online communication as a new form of communication in religious organizations with a focus on knowing the type of online communication used, the flow of online communication of religious organizations, and barriers in online communication. With a qualitative approach used on this research, researchers also used a case study method. Collecting data using in-depth interview and observation techniques. The subject of this research is the administrator of the Kramat Pulo GMAHK organization. The results of the study show that online communication of religious organizations uses asynchronous communication social media such as Facebook, Youtube, and Whatsapp Group as a means of disseminating information, coordinating, and alternative means of religious deepening activities. Meanwhile, synchronous communication media such as Zoom is intended as a substitute for religious activities or worship services, and organizational meetings. The flow of organizational communication online in the process of disseminating information is vertical linear from the leader of the organization to the bottom. Technical barriers, such as internet network problems, are a major problem in online communication of religious organizations.

Consensus robustness of multi-agent systems against heterogeneous asymmetric input saturations and asynchronous time-varying communication delays

This paper investigates the combined effect of input saturations and communication delays on the multi-agent consensus over a switching topology of weak connectivity. The input saturations are in a general form such that the saturation level of each agent is asymmetric and those of distinct agents are heterogeneous. Besides, the communication delays are time-varying and those in different channels are asynchronous. Both continuous- and discrete-time multi-agent systems are studied. For both the multi-agent systems over a switching digraph of uniform joint strong connectivity, it is demonstrated that the conventional distributed protocols, despite the simultaneous existence of the input saturations and communication delays, still guarantee the consensus results. It turns out that the consensus results are of great robustness against arbitrary heterogeneous asymmetric input saturations and arbitrary bounded communication delays. Simulations are carried out to verify this finding.

Bagaimana Sekolah Dasar Mengikuti Pedoman Teknis Internasional UNESCO dalam Menerapkan Pendidikan Seks?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation of sex education at the Al Abidin International Islamic Elementary School (SDII) Al Abidin, identify the level of suitability of the implementation of sex education based on the UNESCO sex education guidelines, identify the obstacles faced by teachers when implementing sex education in schools. Method: This research uses a qualitative descriptive research type. The data analysis technique used interactive analysis. Result: (1) SDII Al Abidin in the sex education program invites parents to take part in the planning and implementation of school sex education. SDII Al Abidin implements sex education through a combination of fiqh material and school material which is internalized into the planning of the PreKBM program and the school's KBM period. (2) the sex education program at SDII Al Abidin as a whole has complied with the sex education guidelines by UNESCO, methods have not been fully implemented, such as: involving youth and community leaders in sexual education planning; not yet informed about the sexually transmitted disease HIV/AIDS; and have not demonstrated individual attitudes and norms with peers about condoms and various types of contraception (3) the obstacles experienced by SDII Al Abidin, namely: asynchronous communication between teachers and some parents and teachers lack confidence in managing language.

Fedlabx: a practical and privacy-preserving framework for federated learning

Federated learning (FL) draws attention in academia and industry due to its privacy-preserving capability in training machine learning models. However, there are still some critical security attacks and vulnerabilities, including gradients leakage and interference attacks. Meanwhile, communication is another bottleneck in basic FL schemes since large-scale FL parameter transmission leads to inefficient communication, latency, and slower learning processes. To overcome these shortcomings, different communication efficiency strategies and privacy-preserving cryptographic techniques have been proposed. However, a single method can only partially resist privacy attacks. This paper presents a practical, privacy-preserving scheme combining cryptographic techniques and communication networking solutions. We implement Kafka for message distribution, the Diffie–Hellman scheme for secure server aggregation, and gradient differential privacy for interference attack prevention. The proposed approach maintains training efficiency while being able to addressing gradients leakage problems and interference attacks. Meanwhile, the implementation of Kafka and Zookeeper provides asynchronous communication and anonymous authenticated computation with role-based access controls. Finally, we prove the privacy-preserving properties of the proposed solution via security analysis and empirically demonstrate its efficiency and practicality.

Analysis of the baud rate of the UART to affects the data

This article explores the impact of different baud rates on Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) asynchronous serial communication. It discusses the frame format and calculation method of baud rate error, as well as the main reasons for error, such as clock error, sampling error, line noise, data bit error, and software delay. To ensure reliable communication, it is essential to test and debug the actual baud rate and adjust it accordingly. The study found that higher expected baud rates resulted in higher baud rate errors, affecting transmission distance, speed, reliability, and system complexity. The appropriate baud rate should be selected based on specific application scenarios and requirements. Higher baud rates are needed for high-speed transmissions, while lower baud rates are required for long transmission distances or high reliability requirements. However, further research is needed to determine the impact of unallocated baud rates on data. Overall, this article provides valuable insights into the development of UART.

A Systematic Analysis of The UART Transceiver Theory and Application

This article introduces the theoretical foundation and application of Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter (UART) in four chapters, including the history and structure of UART transceivers, and so on. UART is a kind of communication hardware using serial Asynchronous communication, which has the advantages of simple structure and good stability. It can convert serial data and parallel data to each other and transmit data between devices. It is widely used on various devices. In the 50 years since its invention, it has undergone many improvements and improvements. In the end, UART transceivers became one of the extremely important hardware in modern electronic technology. At present, UART transceivers are applied in many fields, including healthcare, the Internet of Things, and avionics. Its application in the fields of healthcare and the Internet of Things is of great significance, providing more possibilities for a more convenient life for humanity. Meanwhile, researchers are also attempting to continue improving the transmission speed of UART transceivers and reducing their power consumption.

Finding digital solutions in pandemic times: the case of appointment procedures for professors at German universities

AbstractIn higher education and beyond, the Covid-19 pandemic is considered to have accelerated digitalisation. While this acceleration is usually viewed in the context of the digital transformation that is characterised by its longevity, the permanence of pandemic-driven digitalisation requires investigation. Focusing on appointment procedures for professors as a central element of universities’ governance, the qualitative study presented here employed expert interviews and group discussions to investigate how German universities responded to the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic by furthering digitalisation. Drawing on the concept of synchronous and asynchronous communication and Luhmann’s understanding of decision programmes, this article proposes differentiating between two modes of digitalisation in order to systematise the empirical findings and thus analytically distinguish pandemic-driven digitalisation from the general digital transformation. It finds that not all of the newly implemented digital solutions will be used permanently and argues that this can be understood in terms of obstructed decision programmes.

Online Asynchronous Learning English for Specific Purposes Terminology

The pandemic and military actions in the country triggered our study in considering the challenges Ukrainian higher education faces referring asynchronous learning. We assume that the challenges are threefold – namely – psychological, technical (availability of means for providing asynchronous communication and technological (scientifically grounded methods of quality asynchronous learning). In our study the focus is on the methods of asynchronous learning specialized terminology. The background of the research was the study of the literature concerning benefits and limitations of asynchronous learning and implementing online courses into the learning process. The purpose of this research was to prove the effectiveness of asynchronous learning specialized vocabulary with the help of the Moodle-based course. The aim was achieved by fulfilling the following tasks: literary review to study the benefits and limitations of asynchronous and synchronous learning for finding the most suitable mode of communication for the Ukrainian students, to design a Moodle-based course, to verify it in the experimental learning. The experiment was conducted in 2020 in the time of Covid-19 pandemic at the National Technical University of Ukraine, Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, and involved seventy students of the Power Engineering Department. The research purpose of both the article and the experiment was to assess the effectiveness of the developed online simulator which included audio recordings of native English specialists’ communication, interdisciplinary and industry-specific terminology, training tasks, and instructional guidelines. The outcome of the research proves the efficiency of applying an online simulator in the development of students’ professional competence in terms of adequate using interdisciplinary and industry-specific terminology.

Disseminating action-based cognitive remediation to an early psychosis network: Clinician perspectives on feasibility and implementation barriers.

Action-based cognitive remediation (ABCR) is a group cognitive remediation treatment that aims to improve neurocognitive impairments experienced in patients with severe mental illness. Developed in research settings, ABCR is not yet widely available in community settings. As such, this study examines the feasibility of implementing ABCR in community clinics in an early psychosis network. Eighty-five allied health professionals who work within an early psychosis intervention network were trained in the provision of ABCR. They were surveyed 6-months after training to gather information regarding their experience implementing ABCR within their clinical settings (e.g., barriers, perceived helpfulness of the treatment, modifications made to the manualized treatment). Access to ongoing training supports (e.g., treatment manual, asynchronous digital communication, conference calls) was also assessed. Fifty-one clinicians responded to the survey. Staff time, manager support, and equipment were rated as organizational barriers. Geographic location, other responsibilities, and motivation were rated as patient barriers. Over half of the sample modified the overall dose of ABCR to offer fewer sessions and/or shorter duration of sessions than the manualized approach. Clinicians that reduced the dose of ABCR reported significantly higher barriers with manager support than staff who delivered ABCR as manualized but did not report worse patient outcomes. We found asynchronous learning opportunities (i.e., manual, online discussion forum) were perceived as the most accessible and helpful methods of ongoing training support. The results provide preliminary information about barriers to implementing time-intensive cognitive treatments into clinical settings and may inform future training practices to increase successful implementation of cognitive remediation treatments.

Asynchronous dynamic event‐triggered control for network systems with dual triggers

AbstractThis work proposes the framework of dual dynamic triggers to deal with the communication problem of remote control under the event‐triggered scheme for network control systems (NCSs). Compared with the existing NCSs, a local controller is set up at the plant site, which provides the local control input for the plant as a remote controller. The remote controller and the plant measurement have their individual dynamic triggers. Thus it is allowed that the local controller and the remote controller permit asynchronous communication, which is governed by different event conditions. It is proven that the proposed control strategy can drive the closed‐loop system asymptotically to equilibrium. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Event-Triggered Communication in Cooperative, Adaptive Model Predictive Control of a Nuclear Power Plant’s Turbo–Generator Set

This paper discusses the issue of optimizing the communication between the components of a cooperating control system formed by a pair of MPC controllers of a nuclear power plant turbine set using online recursive least squares identification. It is proposed to use event-triggered communication, i.e., sending information only at selected time instants, as opposed to the standard approach where communication is triggered by time (time-triggered approach). The aim of this paper is to propose a change in the method of information exchange in the case of asynchronous communication between control system components and to prove its suitability for the selected application. Resignation from continuous communication in favor of sending information only at selected moments allows the load on the communication network to be reduced by approximately 90% while maintaining the quality of control.

Stepping outside of comfort zones: Transformational learning in online asynchronous communication courses

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the impact of communication educators’ teaching practices on student transformation and growth in asynchronous online communication courses. The literature focuses on high-impact practices, self-transformation in higher education, and Experiential Learning Theory. Qualitative interview data, collected from metropolitan university students using a narrative inquiry approach, suggests that when educators incorporate active experimentation and concrete experience in asynchronous online communication classrooms, students are more likely to perceive they have experienced transformational learning, which students conceptualize as good for their individual personal growth and for changing their perspective, despite requiring them to step out of their comfort zone. Future research should focus on the impacts of incorporating service-learning, reflective writing assignments, and group work into the online learning environment to help ignite transformations and growth within classes in other disciplines.

Making applications faster by asynchronous execution: Slowing down processes or relaxing MPI collectives

Comprehending the performance bottlenecks at the core of the intricate hardware–software interactions exhibited by highly parallel programs on HPC clusters is crucial. This paper sheds light on the issue of automatically asynchronous MPI communication in memory-bound parallel programs on multicore clusters and how it can be facilitated. For instance, slowing down MPI processes by deliberate injection of delays can improve performance if certain conditions are met. This leads to the counter-intuitive conclusion that noise, independent of its source, is not always detrimental but can be leveraged for performance improvements. We employ phase-space graphs as a new tool to visualize parallel program dynamics. They are useful in spotting certain patterns in parallel execution that will easily go unnoticed with traditional tracing tools. We investigate five different microbenchmarks and applications on different supercomputer platforms: an MPI-augmented STREAM Triad, two implementations of Lattice-Boltzmann fluid solvers (D3Q19 and SPEChpc D2Q37), the LULESH and HPCG proxy applications.

Ethical and methodological reflections: Digital storytelling of self-care with students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a South African University.

The enforcement of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic restrictions disrupted the traditional face-to-face qualitative data collection in public health. The pandemic forced qualitative researchers to transition to remote methods of data collection such as digital storytelling. Currently, there is a limited understanding of ethical and methodological challenges in digital storytelling. We, therefore, reflect on the challenges and solutions for implementing a digital storytelling project on self-care at a South African university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guided by Salmon's Qualitative e-Research Framework, reflective journals were used in a digital storytelling project between March and June 2022. We documented the challenges of online recruitment, obtaining informed consent virtually, and collecting data using digital storytelling as well as the efforts of overcoming the challenges. Our reflections identified major challenges, namely online recruitment and informed consent compromised by asynchronous communication; participants' limited research knowledge; participants' privacy and confidentiality concerns; poor internet connectivity; quality of digital stories; devices with a shortage of storage space; participants' limited technological skills; and time commitment required to create digital stories. Strategies adopted to address these challenges included an ongoing informed consent process; flexible timelines for the creation of digital stories; one-on-one guidance on creating digital stories; and multiple online platforms to share digital stories. Our critical reflection offers practical guidance for the ethical conduct of digital storytelling in public health research and makes a significant contribution to methodological considerations for use in future pandemics. These ethical and methodological challenges should be recognized as features of the context of the research setting including restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic than disadvantages of digital storytelling.