Internet-enabled Devices Research Articles

A Study of Threats, Vulnerabilities and Countermeasures: An IoT Perspective

IoT or the Internet of things refers to all the physical devices connected to the internet. IoT consists of computing devices that are web-enabled and have the capability of sensing, collecting, and sending data. IoT provides the ability to remote control appliances and has many more applications. Since IoT is becoming a big part of society, it is necessary to ensure that these devices provide adequate security measures. This paper discusses various security issues in IoT systems like threats, vulnerabilities and some countermeasures which can be used to provide some security. Developing a secure device is now more important than ever, as with the increase in digitization, much of a user’s data is available on these devices. Securing data is a primary concern in any system, as internet-enabled devices are easier to hack. The idea of this paper is to spread awareness and improve the security of IoT devices.

ESRRA-IoT: Edge-based spatial redundancy reduction approach for Internet of Things

Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a result of the explosive growth of smart and internet-enabled devices that integrated our physical world into the virtual one. These ever-growing numbers of devices gather a huge quantity of data that contains very useful data. However, the gathered data contains highly redundant data for a variety of reasons. Redundant data is desirable for its positive impact as it is used to improve the accuracy and reliability of sensed data and make the network fault-tolerant. It also leads to different issues in terms of the network’s longevity, data processing cost, network bottleneck, delay in data throughput, and network congestion and contention. This paper presents a spatial redundancy reduction approach for IoT data to reduce the issues of redundant data without compromising the accuracy and reliability of data. In the proposed approach, spatial redundancy reduction is performed through two algorithms. The first algorithm is Correlation Tree Construction (CTC), which is constructed based on the spatial correlation of sensor nodes. Based on the correlation tree, the second algorithm is Data Fusion (DF) to carry out data fusion for correlated sensor nodes to maintain the accuracy and reliability of data and reduce redundancy. The simulation of the proposed approach is carried out using the Cooja simulator and Python. The obtained results demonstrate that the proposed approach shows efficiency in terms of spatial redundancy reduction, accuracy, and integrity.

Comparing Alternative Route Planning Techniques: A Comparative User Study on Melbourne, Dhaka and Copenhagen Road Networks

Many modern navigation systems and map-based services do not only provide the fastest route from a source location s to a target location t but also provide a few alternative routes to the users as more options to choose from. Consequently, computing alternative paths has received significant research attention. However, it is unclear which of the existing approaches generates alternative routes of better quality because the quality of these alternatives is mostly subjective. Motivated by this, in this paper, we present a user study conducted on the road networks of Melbourne, Dhaka and Copenhagen that compares the quality (as perceived by the users) of the alternative routes generated by four of the most popular existing approaches including the routes provided by Google Maps. We also present a web-based demo system that can be accessed using any internet-enabled device and allows users to see the alternative routes generated by the four approaches for any pair of selected source and target. We report the average ratings received by the four approaches and our statistical analysis shows that there is no credible evidence that the four approaches receive different ratings on average. We also discuss the limitations of this user study and recommend the readers to interpret these results with caution because certain factors may have affected the participants' ratings.

Low-Cost Adaptive Monitoring Techniques for the Internet of Things

Internet-enabled physical devices with “smart” processing capabilities are becoming the tools for understanding the complexity of the global inter-connected world we inhabit. The Internet of Things (IoT) churns tremendous amounts of data flooding from devices scattered across multiple locations to the processing engines of almost all industry sectors. However, as the number of “things” surpasses the population of the technology-enabled world, real-time processing and energy-efficiency are great challenges of the big data era transitioning to IoT. In this article, we introduce a lightweight adaptive monitoring framework suitable for smart IoT devices with limited processing capabilities. Our framework, inexpensively and in place dynamically adjusts the monitoring intensity and the amount of data disseminated through the network based on a low-cost adaptive and probabilistic learning model capable of capturing at runtime the current evolution and variability of the data stream. By accomplishing this, energy consumption and data volume are reduced, allowing IoT devices to preserve battery and ease processing on cloud computing and streaming services. Experiments on real-world data from cloud services, internet security services, wearables and intelligent transportation services, show that our framework achieves a balance between efficiency and accuracy. Specifically, our framework reduces data volume by 74 percent, energy consumption by at least 71 percent, while maintaining accuracy always above 89 percent.

Vulnerability Analysis of Internet Devices from Indonesia Based on Exposure Data in Shodan

The growth of internet-enabled devices has increased interest in cybersecurity. In 2014, Project SHINE (SHodan INtelligence Extraction) published a report of large-scale security assessments for devices connected to the Internet. However, the number of IP addresses harvested from Indonesia in 2014 is very small. There were 7.182 IP address from Indonesia. It was about 0,0032% from the total 2.186.971 IP addresses. In this paper, we propose an initiative to gather all information for all Autonomous System Number (AS Number) from Indonesia in Shodan. We have gathered a dataset about all information of AS Numbers in Indonesia such as 12.787 unique ports, 79 unique operating systems, 409 unique products, 3.634 unique domains, 145.543 unique IP addresses, and 790 unique organizations. We use the K-Means algorithm to cluster all AS Numbers into several classes according to the exposure level in shodan. Based on the result, we have 4 classes of AS Numbers. There are 1.075 AS Numbers in class:0 (no information in Shodan yet), 614 AS Numbers in class:1 (exposure level = low), 9 AS Numbers in class:2 (exposure level = medium), and 1 AS Number in class:3 (exposure level = high). This information can be used to warn the organizations that manage AS Numbers in Indonesia to be aware of the security and the threats to their systems.

Petroleum pipeline monitoring using an internet of things (IoT) platform

In this study, we present the use of an internet of things (IoT) analytics platform service to mimic real-time pipeline monitoring and determine the location of damage on a pipeline. Pressure pulses, based on the principle of vibration in pipes are used for pipeline monitoring in this study. The principle of time delay between pulse arrivals at sensor positions is also adopted in this study. An Arduino and a Wi-Fi module were combined, programmed and used to produce a wireless communication device which communicates with the ThingSpeak internet of things (IoT) analytics platform. A total of five channels were created on the platform to collect data from the five sensors that were used in the experimental test rig that made use of wireless communication device. Signal data was collected once every 15 s and all the channels were updated every 2 min. ThingSpeak provided instant visualizations of data posted by the wireless communication device. Online analysis and processing of the data was performed as it came in. A second test rig was built that made use of a data logger for processing of data. The measured velocity of pulse propagation using the data logger and air as transport fluid was 355 m/s. The computed estimates of event location for the 50 measurements taken ranged between 4.243 m and 4.246 m. This had a scatter of just 3 mm against the actual measured event location of 4.23 m. The experimental results obtained showed that the performance of the wireless communication device compared satisfactorily with the data logger and is capable of detecting the location of damage on real pipelines when used for real time monitoring.Using this communication device and an analytics platform, real-time monitoring of pipelines can be carried out from any location in the world on any internet-enabled device.

Remote or Removed: Predicting Successful Engagement with Online Learning during COVID-19

Using data from a spring 2020 survey of nearly 10,000 parents of elementary school parents in one large southeastern public school district, the authors investigate predictors of elementary school student engagement during the initial period of pandemic remote learning. The authors hypothesize that household material and technological resources, school programming and instructional strategies, and family social capital contribute to student engagement in remote learning. The analyses indicate that even after controlling for rich measures of family socioeconomic resources, students with access to high-speed Internet and Internet-enabled devices have higher levels of engagement. Exposure to more diverse socioemotional and academic learning opportunities further predicts higher levels of engagement. In addition, students whose families remained socially connected to other students’ families were more likely to engage online.

Blockchain-Based UAV Path Planning for Healthcare 4.0: Current Challenges and the Way Ahead

The Internet of Things (IoT) provides billions of Internet-enabled devices connections across the globe. In the IoT era, the healthcare industry has grown up from Healthcare 1.0 to Healthcare 4.0. As in Healthcare 3.0, patients visit hospital for their regular checkups, which increases the overall expenditure on medical treatment. However, with the recent technological advancements such as UAVs and blockchain, healthcare problems are solved with minimum payments and security of shared medical data. Motivated by these facts, this article provides blockchain-based UAV path planning to provide privacy-preservation in Healthcare 4.0. We propose a three-layered architecture for real-time collection, processing, and transmission of medical data. The proposed architecture provides a distributed platform for UAVs that ensures security and privacy for the transfer of medical data from one location to another with the proof of work (PoW) consensus mechanism. The simulation results show that the proposed model provides an effective solution for reliable data transmission and privacy-preserving sensitive healthcare information against potential threats. The comparative analysis also demonstrates the performance improvements in sharing medical data with patients and doctors. In summary, this article provides insights into the end users for the use of blockchain with UAVs in Healthcare 4.0 for future research directions.

Smartphones as consumption tools: The adoption of Internet-enabled devices for shopping purposes

Research background: We develop a conceptual framework based on a systematic and comprehensive literature review on smartphones as consumption tools globally. Purpose of the article: Building our argument by drawing on data collected from Comscore, Econsultancy, and Statista, we performed analyses and made estimates regarding the adoption of Internet-enabled devices for shopping purposes: selected retail and shopping activities of EU smartphone users, most popular mobile shopping apps in the U.S. (by reach), adults in the EU who never make purchases on mobile devices (by gender), and consumers who use a mobile device for product research while shopping in-store worldwide (by country). Methods: The data for this research were gathered via an online survey questionnaire and were analyzed through structural equation modeling on a sample of 4,200 respondents. Findings & Value added: Smartphones have permeated the online community swiftly. The difficult task retailers confront is in obtaining consumers’ mutual support in supplying the information required to provide a customized shopping experience. Mobile payment privacy is associated with apprehensions that users may have concerning what will become of the data supplied when they adopt mobile payment. A satisfactory array of facilitating circumstances brings about greater purpose to adopt mobile shopping applications, especially when diverse viable functions such as convenience and swift purchase are provided. Intention to raise subsequent benefits from mobile buying should harmonize the lasting value predisposition of the mobile purchasers. The essential issue encountered by the service suppliers is how to turn the developing mobile payment operation into financial earnings.

Social Media in the Social Distancing Era: Paramount and Pitfall

Birthed with technology at our fingertips, Millennials and Gen-Z medical students have seamlessly incorporated internet-enabled devices into every facet of our lives. As the COVID-19 pandemic entered the public consciousness, these phones and tablets were the first things we reached for to find out the up-to-the-minute impact on our community and the world at large. The internet and social media enabled many of us medical students to educate ourselves on epidemiology and treatments, transition glitch-free into distance learning, and feel the pulse of the international community. As we capitalized on the benefits of social media during the pandemic, some of us also discerned first-hand how these platforms enabled unforeseen harm and mistrust in the realm of public health. In reflection of the year, we now recognize that social media is a double-edged sword and that as health practitioners, we have a role to play in sharpening the benefits and blunting the risks of social media use in public health.

The IoT: Uses and Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a pervasive web in which each object or machine has a unique identity and is be able to use the Internet to link with other machine or send data; also known as the industrial Internet(Laudon, 2019). IoT makes it easier for people to communicate, collaborate with each other, and access educational resources, creating a multitude of opportunities for consumers, educators, and business owners to transform their lives. The following report defines the Internet of Things, provides several examples of how IoT technology is currently used, and explains the potential applications of IoT in an educational setting. The Internet-enabled devices used with the Internet of Things are useful in preschools, elementary and secondary schools, and colleges and universities, as they increase efficiency, facilitate better interactions between students and educators, and give educators more time to deliver instructional content. The report concludes with an overview of the barriers that make it difficult to implement IoT technology.

Age-Cohort Differences in Longitudinal Associations Between the Rate of Internet Use and Memory Functioning

Cross-sectional analyses of internet use patterns among older adults find that the rate of internet use is less with greater physical and memory difficulties. It is not clear, however, how age-cohorts differ in their internet use as physical and memory difficulties increase over time. In addition to factors such as increasing accessibility (cost) and social influences, the expansion and cognitive complexity of functions performed by the internet-enabled devices over time could influence internet use patterns. In this study, we investigate how the association between internet use and episodic memory difficulties over time varies between cohorts. We analyzed longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (N = 15,703 in 2002; Aged 51 and older) between years 2002-2016 using mixed effects logistic regression models. Immediate and delayed word recall measures were used to assess episodic memory. Rate of internet use in the sample increased from 30% in 2002 to 53% in 2016. Rate of internet use among younger age groups was significantly higher in the baseline year. Younger age groups also showed a significantly higher rate of increase in internet use over time. In general, internet use decreased with episodic memory impairment. In addition to these effects, the effect of episodic memory on the rate of increase in internet use over time is lower in younger cohorts. These results indicate that younger cohorts of older adults are more likely to maintain internet use as they continue to age and therefore could better utilize technology for communication, social interactions and health interventions.

"Diagnostic inflation" will not resolve taxonomical problems in the study of addictive online behaviours. •.

This article suggests that the type of Internet-enabled device should not be prioritised when conceptualizing diagnostic categories of addictive online behaviours. The diagnostic distinction between “predominantly mobile” and “predominantly non-mobile” forms of Internet use disorders (IUD) is not empirically based, may not be clinically useful and may lead to “diagnostic inflation.” Problems with the concepts of smartphone use disorder and IUD on which the proposed distinction is largely based call for their re-examination. Future proposals for the taxonomy of addictive behaviours may not need to be based on online/offline and mobile/non-mobile dichotomies.

Utilisation of internet-enabled devices for academic and religious purposes among Muslim undergraduates

This study investigated utilisation of internet-enabled devices for academic and religious purposes among Muslim undergraduates in University of Ilorin, Nigeria. All Muslim students in the University constituted the population of the study, while only those in the Faculty of Arts were the target population. Meanwhile, 50 Muslim students were randomly selected from each of the seven departments which totaled 350 undergraduate Muslim students. The instrument used to collect data was researcher-designed questionnaire. Two research hypotheses were formulated and tested using inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation Statistics, at 0.05 level of significance. It was revealed from the findings of the study that utilisation of internet-enabled devices significantly related to Muslim students' religious practices and academic performance. Therefore, it was concluded that students should always ensure moderation in chit-chatting and use their internet-enabled devices for the purposes which would boost their academic performance and improve them spiritually.

Stakeholder feedback at four ePRO-naïve healthcare institutions about the need, effectiveness, and barriers to usage of a fully EHR-integrated ePRO tool.

165 Background: Collecting patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is a proven method to enhance doctor-patient communication and care. With the influx of technology and usage of telehealth services, electronic PROs (ePROS) have become the mainstay for ascertaining how a patient is doing at home. Collection of ePROs is particularly valuable for providers caring for rural and vulnerable populations with limited access to high quality care. A fully EHR-integrated ePRO collection system could help bridge the gap. Methods: To inform the design, function, and deployment of a new EHR-integrated ePRO symptom management system, focus groups with stakeholders were conducted at four institutions caring for largely rural-based populations (Baptist Cancer Center, West Virginia University Cancer Institute, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Maine Medical Center). Sessions were conducted 2 to 3 months prior to the launch of a new ePRO platform and included oncologists, surgeons, practice nurses, tech analysts, operations staff, and institutional leadership. Each group included a 30-minute overview of the new tool followed by a 30-minute discussion with qualitative open-ended questions and clicker-enabled multiple-choice questions. Developed questions utilized the CFIR and RE-AIM implementation frameworks. Results: In total, 134 stakeholders participated from the four institutions. RNs made up nearly half of respondents (47%). 97% of participants felt a new ePRO system would complement existing healthcare initiatives and 64% felt it would be extremely effective/very effective in improving symptom management. Each group was asked to rate the barriers to patient usage of an ePRO system in the home-care setting. Computer literacy (51%) and access to an internet-enabled device (48%) ranked as the highest barriers. Other barriers perceived to be of less significance included privacy, distrust, and limited English-language proficiency. Consequently, two-thirds of respondents felt patients would only be somewhat likely/not so likely to use an ePRO system; one-third felt patients would be likely/extremely likely to utilize the system. Conclusions: From the perspective of stakeholders at four engaged institutions, an integrated ePRO tool is considered a widely acceptable symptom management solution, but uncertainty remains around patient acceptance and uptake. Future research will include post-implementation discussions with stakeholders and evaluation of patient utilization and clinical outcomes.

Reliable Nickel-Free Surface Finish Solution for High-Frequency, HDI PCB Applications

Abstract The evolution of Internet-enabled mobile devices has driven innovation in the manufacturing and design of technology capable of high-frequency electronic signal transfer. Among the primary factors affecting the integrity of high-frequency signals is the surface finish applied on printed circuit board copper pads—a need commonly met through the electroless nickel immersion gold process (ENIG). However, there are well-documented limitations of ENIG due to the presence of nickel, the properties of which result in an overall reduced performance in the high-frequency data transfer rate for ENIG-applied electronics, compared with bare copper. An innovation over traditional ENIG is a nickel-less approach involving a special nano-engineered barrier designed to coat copper contacts, finished with an outermost gold layer. In this study, assemblies involving this nickel-less novel surface finish have been subjected to extended thermal exposure, then intermetallics analyses, contact resistance comparison after every reflow cycle (up to six reflow cycles) to assess the prevention of copper atom diffusion into the gold layer, solder ball pull and shear tests to evaluate the aging and long-term reliability of solder joints, and insertion loss testing to gauge whether this surface finish can be used for high-frequency, high-density interconnect applications.

Digital Media and Political Participation among Nigerian Youths in the 2019 General Elections

Every era in life throws up its own opportunities and challenges, and here we are, in a digital era made possible by advancements in information and communication technologies. That being the case, it will amount to self-deceit for anybody in this era to pretend that the advancements in information and communication technologies do not have any effects on the political, social, cultural and religious lives of the people. At the political arena, the advent of digital media has brought about an entirely different type of politicking and campaigns referred to as digital political campaigns. This type of campaign permits politicians to reach out to the electorate through digital platforms without necessarily embarking on rallies. As a matter of truth, the technologies of those digital media and their resultant online platforms have not only bridged the communication gap between content-creators and content-consumers; but have even gone a long way in turning the communication process into a more interactive, participatory and democratic dialogue. Thus, the public communication sphere has been flung wide-open for public participation without restrictions. By the very nature of the digital media (interactive, participatory and democratic); it could be assumed that anybody with an internet-enabled device can become a partaker in the communication process. But such an assumption may forever remain conjecture until it is connected or experimented upon. To that end, this study investigated the use of digital media for political participation in the 2019 general elections in Nigeria. It adopted the survey method of research to determine: (i) the most-frequently-used digital media for political participation of Nigerian youths in the 2019 elections (ii) the amount of time Nigerian youths spent on the digital media for political participation in the 2019 elections (iii) the number of times Nigerian youths visited the digital media for political participation in the 2019 elections (iv) the gratifications which Nigerian youths sought from the digital media and (v) the relationship between use of the digital media and political-needs gratification among Nigerian youths.

Occupational dermatoses among front-line health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Occupational dermatoses among front-line health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional survey

Review of Sensor Network-Based Irrigation Systems Using IoT and Remote Sensing

The motivation for this review paper came from the developing countries where the economy is mostly dependent on agriculture and climate conditions. Based on current conditions and historical records, profitability in production farming depends on making a right and timely operational decision. Precision farming is a systematic program designed to maximize the productivity of agriculture by carefully tailoring the soil and crop management to meet the specific requirements in each field while preserving environmental quality. This review paper highlights the development of an automated irrigation system with portable wireless sensor networks and decision support methods to remotely measure the environmental parameters in an agriculture field. Radio satellite, mobile phones, sensors, internet-based communication, and microcontroller capture the ecological parameters such as soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and light intensity. The knowledge gained from the sensors is transferred directly to the cloud server by using IoT technology. Users from anywhere in the world can display them through an internet-enabled device. Development of sensor-based application in modern agriculture makes it cost-effective and potentially productive and increases the efficiency through precision agriculture farming. Different limitations have been reported in the previously reviewed publications like the shortage of power in the field that can be solved by using a solar panel that recharges the battery at the same time using electricity. Bluetooth application in the agriculture sector is mainly improved by design system optimization. Problems related to transmission and radio range frequency can be solved by using a power class upgraded antenna.

Genetic algorithm for intrusion detection system in computer network

<span>Internet connection nowadays has become one of the essential requirements to execute our daily activities effectively. Among the major applications of wide Internet connections is local area network (LAN) which connects all internet-enabled devices in a small-scale area such as office building, computer lab etc. This connection will allow legit user to access the resources of the network anywhere as long as authorization is acquired. However, this might be seen as opportunities for some people to illegally access the network. Hence, the occurrence of network hacking and privacy breach. Therefore, it is very vital for a computer network administrator to install a very protective and effective method to detect any network intrusion and, secondly to protect the network from illegal access that can compromise the security of the resources in the network. These resources include sensitive and confidential information that could jeopardise someone’s life or sovereignty of a country if manipulated by wrong hands. In Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) framework, apart from detecting unauthorized access, it is equally important to recognize the type of intrusions in order for the necessary precautions and preventive measures to take place. This paper presents the application of Genetic Algorithm (GA) and its steps in performing intrusion detection process. Standard benchmark dataset known as KDD’99 cup was utilized with forty-one distinctive features representing the identity of network connections. Results presented demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method and warrant good research focus as it promises exciting discovery in solving similar-patent of problems. </span>