Constant Connectivity Research Articles

Everyday communication management and perceptions of use

For media users enjoying a context of near constant connection across a changing set of platforms, the management of that communication environment is a central concern in the management of everyday life. The multiplication and divergence of possible uses across these platforms emerge alongside the increasing cross-media integration of informational, interactive and entertainment practices with interpersonal communication. The individual’s perception of that environment of increasingly differentiated communication possibilities becomes a site for managing and partially negotiating the limits, form and organization of one’s social world. Expanding upon Gershon’s (2010) notion of media ideologies, this article focuses on the increasing divergence of the perceived and preferred uses of media technologies. The analytical terms ‘social tool’ and ‘social device’ are deployed to tease apart the central ordering experience of perceived ‘mutual engagement’ within media practices. The perceived presence or lack thereof within such engagement serves to recursively delimit and order the media user’s social landscape, pointing to further reflexive management of one’s own media ideology through a highly idiosyncratic ‘relational ordering’ of perceived and preferred platform uses, amidst social and technological change.

SMASheD: Sniffing and Manipulating Android Sensor Data for Offensive Purposes

The current Android sensor security model either allows only restrictive read access to sensitive sensors (e.g., an app can only read its own touch data) or requires special install-time permissions (e.g., to read microphone, camera, or GPS). Moreover, Android does not allow write access to any of the sensors. Sensing-based security and non-security applications, therefore, crucially rely upon the sanity of the Android sensor security model. In this paper, we show that such a model can be effectively circumvented. Specifically, we build SMASheD, a legitimate framework under the current Android ecosystem that can be used to stealthily sniff as well as manipulate many of the Android's restricted sensors (even touch input). SMASheD exploits the Android debug bridge functionality and enables a malicious app with only the INTERNET permission to read, and write to, multiple different sensor data files at will. SMASheD is the first framework, to the best of our knowledge, that can sniff and manipulate protected sensors on unrooted Android devices, without user awareness, without constant device-PC connection and without the need to infect the PC. The primary contributions of this paper are twofold. First, we design and develop the SMASheD framework, and evaluate its effectiveness on multiple Android devices, including phones, watches, and glasses. Second, as an offensive implication of the SMASheD framework, we introduce a wide array of potentially devastating attacks. Our attacks against the touch sensor range from accurately logging the touchscreen input (TouchLogger) to injecting touch events for accessing restricted sensors and resources, installing and granting special permissions to other malicious apps, accessing user accounts, and authenticating on behalf of the user-essentially almost doing whatever the device user can do (secretively). Our attacks against various physical sensors (motion, position, and environmental) can subvert the functionality provided by numerous existing sensing-based security and non-security applications, including those used for (continuous) authentication, authorization, safety, and elderly care.

Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity

AbstractOur smartphones enable—and encourage—constant connection to information, entertainment, and each other. They put the world at our fingertips, and rarely leave our sides. Although these devi...

Adversarial Testing to Increase the Overall Security of Embedded Systems: A Review of the Process

In the evolving world of the Internet of Things, the security of any piece of electronic equipment can easily come into question. Traditional electronics are being replaced with upgraded smart alternatives that are deployed worldwide as embedded systems in connected cars, autonomous aircraft, wireless medical devices, and control systems. The desire to maintain a constant connection to these systems and share data, monitor operation, and diagnose and resolve performance issues has driven designers and developers to adopt new technologies to support the task. Each of these pieces of technology, whether just the next wirelessenabled gadget or mission critical equipment, offers an attack surface that may be taken advantage of and successfully exploited.

Digital Disruption in Asia

This introduction to the fourth special issue ofAsiascape: Digital Asiadiscusses the complex interactions between technology and society in the context of ‘digital Asia’. The special issue is drawn from contributions to a conference held in May 2016 titled ‘Digital Disruption in Asia: Methods and Issues’. Inspired by the idea that the use of digital technologies is shaking up some major political and economic institutions, the conference aimed to see whether some of the same processes were playing out across Asia. But while the wording of its title focused on the impact of digital technologies in Asian societies, what emerged were much more complex stories detailing the different ways the technologies are used in their offline contexts. This introduction traces these stories, identifying some common elements of digitality that range from constant connectivity, to mobility, speed, and the potential to break down social and even disciplinary boundaries.

Parnassius apollo nevadensis: identification of recent population structure and source–sink dynamics

Population persistence depends in many cases on gene flow between local populations. Parnassius apollo nevadensis is an endemic subspecies of Apollo butterfly in the Sierra Nevada (southern Spain), whose populations are distributed in discrete patches at altitudes between 1850 and 2700 m. In this paper, we use 13 microsatellite loci to examine the genetic structure of this P. apollo subspecies. We revealed both a strong pattern of isolation by distance (which was stronger when calculated with realistic travel distances that accounted for topography) and source–sink dynamics. The observed population genetic structure is consistent with strongly asymmetrical gene flow, leading to constant directional migration and differential connectivity among the populations. The apparently contradictory results from the clustering algorithms (Structure and Geneland) are also consistent with a recent (<100 ya) reduction in the distribution range. The results point to global warming as a possible cause of this reduction, as in other populations of this species. We identify some natural and anthropogenic barriers to gene flow that may be the cause of the recent population structure and source–sink dynamics.

Estimation of Effectiveness of Hydroengineering Structures for Ensuring a Constant Connection of Lagoons of the North-Western Black Sea Region with the Sea

Estimation of Effectiveness of Hydroengineering Structures for Ensuring a Constant Connection of Lagoons of the North-Western Black Sea Region with the Sea

Ethics at the Frontier

Today's society is characterized by a rapid state of change, and technological innovation plays a significant part in that. So how should one approach ethics at the technological frontier? This technical note discusses the challenges of our modern, highly innovative world; the muddled ethical lines this advancement can produce; and considerations to make and conversations to have around these new norms. Excerpt UVA-E-0392 Rev. Mar. 11, 2014 ETHICS AT THE FRONTIER Today's society is characterized by a rapid state of change. Technological innovation plays a significant part in our rapidly changing world; as of November 2013, the online social network Facebook reported 1.19 billion monthly active users, providing unprecedented visibility into the daily lives of everyday people. The ubiquity of cell phone cameras has made it dramatically easier for those everyday people to capture images of their surroundings, and Google plans to start selling its wearable camera interface, Google Glass, to the masses in 2014. In the fourth quarter of 2013, Apple Inc. sold 14.1 million iPads, which (when equipped with wireless access) allow portable and almost constant connectivity with the Internet yet resembles the imagined devices of science fiction movies and novels from less than a generation ago. In 2003, a decade-long project to map the human genome was completed, paving the way for advances in medical diagnosis and preventive care. Recent years have seen the increased use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or drones) in scientific research, agriculture, law enforcement, journalism, espionage, and warfare—and likewise dramatically evolving standard practices in each of these arenas. Countless other examples of rapid technological change abound, and the high-velocity environment created by such advancement has a profound effect on business organizations, which are typically the drivers of such innovation. Rapid technological change introduces ambiguity about industry forces, competitive dynamics, and institutionalized patterns of strategic actions, and firms confronted with such conditions must find innovative ways to handle the strategic uncertainties in order to thrive. . . .

Intelligent Wildlife Tracking Using Ubiquitous Technological Suite

This paper proposes an intelligent system to track location of an individual animal or animals in wildlife sanctuary. Existing systems makes use of various technologies such as RFID, GPS, GSM, etc. RFID based systems either lack in range if passive tags are used or lack in cost effectiveness if active tags are used. Similarly, GSM based system becomes costlier and requires constant network connectivity. Hence this paper proposes a Wi-Fi based tracking system. Proposed system makes use of ubiquitous technology which encourages the use of Wi-Fi Transceivers. The Stationary Wi-Fi Transceiver consists of ESP8266 NodeMCU development board which detects the Mobile Transceiver. The Mobile Transceiver consists of ESP8266 NodeMCU attached to animals. The Stationary Wi-Fi transceiver detects Mobile Transceivers under its vicinity and sends the data to other Stationary transceiver through hop based transmission and ultimately the data is stored in the database. The mobile application accesses the location information from the database for particular animal and plots it onto the Map. This paper comprises of system architecture, proposed algorithm and mathematical model.

Phonion: Practical Protection of Metadata in Telephony Networks

Abstract The majority of people across the globe rely on telephony networks as their primary means of communication. As such, many of the most sensitive personal, corporate and government related communications pass through these systems every day. Unsurprisingly, such connections are subject to a wide range of attacks. Of increasing concern is the use of metadata contained in Call Detail Records (CDRs), which contain source, destination, start time and duration of a call. This information is potentially dangerous as the very act of two parties communicating can reveal significant details about their relationship and put them in the focus of targeted observation or surveillance, which is highly critical especially for journalists and activists. To address this problem, we develop the Phonion architecture to frustrate such attacks by separating call setup functions from call delivery. Specifically, Phonion allows users to preemptively establish call circuits across multiple providers and technologies before dialing into the circuit and does not require constant Internet connectivity. Since no single carrier can determine the ultimate destination of the call, it provides unlinkability for its users and helps them to avoid passive surveillance. We define and discuss a range of adversary classes and analyze why current obfuscation technologies fail to protect users against such metadata attacks. In our extensive evaluation we further analyze advanced anonymity technologies (e.g., VoIP over Tor), which do not preserve our functional requirements for high voice quality in the absence of constant broadband Internet connectivity and compatibility with landline and feature phones. Phonion is the first practical system to provide guarantees of unlinkable communication against a range of practical adversaries in telephony systems.

Anderson localization and ergodicity on random regular graphs

A numerical study of Anderson transition on random regular graphs (RRG) with diagonal disorder is performed. The problem can be described as a tight-binding model on a lattice with N sites that is locally a tree with constant connectivity. In certain sense, the RRG ensemble can be seen as infinite-dimensional ($d\to\infty$) cousin of Anderson model in d dimensions. We focus on the delocalized side of the transition and stress the importance of finite-size effects. We show that the data can be interpreted in terms of the finite-size crossover from small ($N\ll N_c$) to large ($N\gg N_c$) system, where $N_c$ is the correlation volume diverging exponentially at the transition. A distinct feature of this crossover is a nonmonotonicity of the spectral and wavefunction statistics, which is related to properties of the critical phase in the studied model and renders the finite-size analysis highly non-trivial. Our results support an analytical prediction that states in the delocalized phase (and at $N\gg N_c$) are ergodic in the sense that their inverse participation ratio scales as $1/N$.

Creating micro-videos to demonstrate technology learning and digital literacy

Purpose Short videos, also known as micro-videos, have emerged as a platform for sharing ideas, experiences and life events via online social networks. This paper aims to share preliminary results of a study, involving students from two universities who created six-second videos using the Vine mobile app to explain or illustrate technological concepts. Design/methodology/approach Students were assigned the task of creating a Vine video to demonstrate their understanding of an assigned technological concept. A survey, performed after creating their micro-videos, asked students about the technology tools they use that allow them to be creative, their current personal digital literacy skills and the extent to which they are able to express a complex concept in a simple way. The study categorizes the students’ micro-videos to determine which formats might be most effective in demonstrating technology learning. Findings An analysis of their videos shows that the six-second constraint often inspires creativity and critical thinking, as students need to carefully consider the message they wish to convey, and how they can do so effectively in a compelling micro-video. The creation of such videos provides an effective way to demonstrate student learning and digital literacy skills. Research limitations/implications The study presents preliminary results gathered during one semester, with 68 videos created by 75 students. Practical implications Micro-video platforms are popular among today’s students, whose increased use of social media, dependence on mobile devices and desire for constant connectivity enable new outlets for creativity and communication. This study examines the introduction of a micro-video platform, which many students already use in their personal lives, in an educational context to develop their technology and digital literacy skills. Social implications Students learn to use an emerging social media platform as a vehicle to inspire creativity and learning. Originality/value This study explores and shares preliminary results related to the use of micro-videos for demonstrating technology learning and developing digital literacy skills in the information technology classroom.

EPIGENETICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL BIOETHICS

Despite being a new area of scientific knowledge, Bioethics has developed two main references that alternate temporally: a more global Ethics, as the one defended by Potter, and the Georgetown model, which was limited to the issue of Medical Ethics, revitalizing the practical Ethics. In the last decades, a widening of Bioethics is being followed up and it came to be recognized as a new transdisciplinary discipline that is inseparable from concerns about the environment. The advancements of Genetics and the creation of Epigenetics opened new paths to Bioethics. The interaction between the environment and the structure of DNA became known, but modifications that can be passed on to the offspring without affecting the structure of the DNA were also discovered. This paper is dedicated to the analysis of the changes that can hereditarily be passed on to future generations through the interference of the environment, from Rachel Yehuda et al’s recent article: Holocaust exposure induced intergenerational effects on FKBP5 methylation. Yehuda’s study allowed for a glimpse over what unfolds for the future of Bioethics, its new challenges and issues and it also evidenced the fact that health and environment are in constant and inseparable connection.

Mobility, Modernity, and Abroad

Mobility, Modernity, and Abroad

Utilizing hash graphs for key distribution for mobile and replaceable interconnected sensors in the IoT context

In most general terms, Internet of Thing (IoT) applications and networks contain interconnected equipment, which are mostly resource constrained. Sensor nodes with sensing and communication capabilities are widely referred as a "thing" in IoT domain in the literature. On the other hand, mobility is an important concern to provide sustainable security and privacy for IoT applications. Solutions that provide high performance security and privacy with static nodes may perform badly when the nodes are mobile. To this end, a security and privacy infrastructure for mobile IoT deployments requires a flexible cryptographic key distribution mechanism with the support of continuous secure connectivity and resiliency even in the case of node replacements. The concept of continuity by deploying new nodes in the area has been studied under multiphase wireless sensor network topic in the literature. In this type of multiphase networks, key rings of the newly deployed nodes are selected from their deployment generation key pools to improve the resiliency and to ensure constant secure connectivity. Nevertheless, the existing research in this area assumes fixed and/or uniformly distributed network lifetime from key distribution point of view. In IoT terms, as the entire lifetime of an application and the underlying networks cannot be guessed a priori, this issue should also be addressed while designing a key distribution mechanism. In this paper, we propose Hash Graph (HaG) scheme for key predistribution among a large set of sensor nodes in a sustainable and secure way. In our HaG scheme, every generation has its own key pool which is generated using the key pool of the previous generation. Since this is an iterative process, there is no limit on the total number of generations, providing flexible network lifetime property to our HaG scheme. This allows nodes deployed at different generations to have the ability to establish secure channels. Likewise, a captured node can only be used to obtain keys for a limited amount of successive generations. We also consider sensor nodes as mobile and use different mobility models to show its effects on the performance. We compare the connectivity and resiliency performance of our scheme with a state-of-the-art multiphase key predistribution scheme and show that our scheme performs considerably better when the attack rate is low. When the attack rate increases, our scheme still has better resiliency performance considering that it requires less key ring size compared to a state-of-the-art multiphase scheme.

The flipside of ubiquitous connectivity enabled by smartphone-based social networking service: Social presence and privacy concern

The spread of smartphones triggers the universal use of smartphone-based social networking services (SNS) by satisfying users' needs for maintaining seamless, constant connection and developing intimate relationships with others, such as family, friends, and acquaintances. Under the circumstances, this study examines the consequences of ubiquitous connectivity, considering that it is a typical characteristic of mobile technologies. More specifically, this study addresses both sides of ubiquitous connectivity due to smartphone-based SNS namely, social presence and privacy concern. Furthermore, the study verifies the role of enjoyment which has been argued as a key determinant of the continued use of hedonic IS. The results show that first, ubiquitous connectivity increases social presence and privacy concern simultaneously. Second, enjoyment derives from not only ubiquitous connectivity but also social presence and privacy concern. Finally, smartphone-based SNS continuance intention is determined by enjoyment, social presence, and privacy concern. Discussion and implications on the results are presented.

Peer-supported self-management to facilitate community re-entry after discharge from spinal cord injury rehabilitation: Engaging peers as change agents and research partners

Peer support is an important adjunct to clinical care for people with disabilities, and may help address barriers to community reintegration. Peers offer positive role models and the benefit of learning from shared experiences of living with disability. Despite potential benefits, peer support is not consistently integrated in the rehabilitation process. This presentation describes three interventions recommended by patients, and directed by peer mentors, to promote successful community transition after rehabilitation for traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). The interventions were one-to-one peer mentoring, a peer-directed patient education program, and a patient-centered Internet portal, providing access to peers, educational materials, and healthcare professionals for continuation of care post-discharge. The initiatives were undertaken to improve patient engagement in the care process, and to instill self-efficacy in their ability to effectively manage their own care needs. Experimental and quasi-experimental studies were undertaken to evaluate the impact of the three interventions. The research setting is a large hospital specializing in neurorehabilitation of traumatic SCI or brain injuries. Research participants were patients admitted for neurorehabilitation after SCI. Approximately 500 SCI patients are admitted annually. In study one, 158 patients were randomized to receive usual care or to receive intensive one-to-one peer mentoring during and after their hospital stay. Over 40 former patients were trained as certified peer mentors. Peers met with patients at least one hour per week throughout the hospital stay. Additional face-to-face or telephone contacts were continued for up to 90 days post-discharge. In study two, 208 patients participated in a trial comparing traditional, didactic, nurse-directed education to a novel, peer-directed and patient-focused education program emphasizing transformative learning. The new program was implemented step-wise over three class topics–bowel and bladder care, skin care, and managing health concerns common in SCI, in order to evaluate the effects on patient engagement and healthcare outcomes. Study three involves working with peer mentors to design and build an internet portal to provide a constant connection for the patient to healthcare professionals, personalized health information, educational resources, and peer support. An interrupted time-series analysis will evaluate the impact of the portal on self-efficacy at discharge and healthcare outcomes up to 6 months post-discharge. Results of these interventions have been dramatic in improving patient engagement and self-efficacy to manage their own care needs. Significant reductions in secondary complications and hospital readmissions post-discharge have also been noted. Peer-directed self-management strategies appear to be effective and cost-effective in promoting successful community reintegration. Moreover, these strategies have contributed to a broader change in the organization's culture of patient-centered care and rehabilitation.

Multiscale design of coarse-grained elastic network-based potentials for the μ opioid receptor.

Despite progress in computer modeling, most biological processes are still out of reach when using all-atom (AA) models. Coarse-grained (CG) models allow classical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to be accelerated. Although simplification of spatial resolution at different levels is often investigated, simplification of the CG potential in itself has been less common. CG potentials are often similar to AA potentials. In this work, we consider the design and reliability of purely mechanical CG models of the μ opioid receptor (μOR), a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). In this sense, CG force fields (FF) consist of a set of holonomic constraints guided by an elastic network model (ENM). Even though ENMs are used widely to perform normal mode analysis (NMA), they are not often implemented as a single FF in the context of MD simulations. In this work, various ENM-like potentials were investigated by varying their force constant schemes and connectivity patterns. A method was established to systematically parameterize ENM-like potentials at different spatial resolutions by using AA data. To do so, new descriptors were introduced. The choice of conformation descriptors that also include flexibility information is important for a reliable parameterization of ENMs with different degrees of sensitivity. Hence, ENM-like potentials, with specific parameters, can be sufficient to accurately reproduce AA MD simulations of μOR at highly coarse-grained resolutions. Therefore, the essence of the flexibility properties of μOR can be captured with simple models at different CG spatial resolutions, opening the way to mechanical approaches to understanding GPCR functions. Graphical Abstract All atom structure, residue interaction network and coarse-grained elastic network models of the μ opioid receptor (μOR).

Possible Effects of Internet Use on Cognitive Development in Adolescence

The rise of digital media use and the ability to be in almost constant connection to the Internet has raised a number of concerns about how Internet use could impact cognitive abilities. In particular, parents and policy makers are concerned with how being ‘constantly online’ might disrupt social and cognitive development. This review integrates the latest empirical evidence on Internet use with relevant experimental studies to discuss how online behaviors, and the structure of the online environment, might affect the cognitive development of adolescents. Popular concerns are discussed in light of the reviewed evidence, and remaining gaps in knowledge are highlighted.

‘Brazilians’1 houses’: an example of nostalgia and a proposal of touristic empowerment

On the second half of the 19th century, Portuguese emigration to Brazil was a major historical and sociological phenomenon. After an arduous path, the Portuguese returned and became part of the political, economical, social and artistic lives of their hometowns, causing a change on the architectural landscape in the north of the country. These emigrants built houses that became hugely important as social buildings; they represented the way in which each one of them inserted himself in the community that saw him leave. The taste printed by each one of the emigrants in their houses made them a landmark for the application of several artistic movements of that time in the country as well as in Europe, such as Art Noveau (wrought iron) or Romanticism (gardens). The exterior and the interior of these houses portray a constant connection to Brazil and Portugal, proved by the national flags that hang on the façades or by the landscapes represented in paintings or tile panels. However, many of those houses were already destroyed and along them the memory of a Brazilian that stated himself as the paradigm of the self-made man. This type of houses was an important example of the emigration architecture, main feature of the Iberian Peninsula, which needs a fast cultural and touristic valuation, once it was part of a people’s material memory. To protect this kind of patrimony and avoid a loss of a vast estate about emigration, it is considered that these houses may be grouped into a set of touristic routes that will lead us to the finding and knowledge of the material and immaterial inheritance of these men and women. Setting up these routes might constitute an important step towards the museualization of the migrations, recovering the cultural routes of the migrant people.