Policy-based Framework Research Articles

Colonial Project Finance Initiative: to what extent did the UK export its public-private partnership model to Caribbean British Overseas Territories?

ABSTRACT Public–Private Partnerships (PPP) are long-term agreements for procuring public projects that bundle up design, build, finance, operation and management. The UK’s version, Project Finance Initiative, was a policy-based framework, now defunct. Instead, PPPs in Caribbean British Overseas Territories (BOTs) are based on rigid models, with early stopovers focused on ensuring financial sustainability. A comparative analysis among Caribbean BOTs concludes that they show common models, and that those BOTs that need PPPs the most have set up the biggest hurdles to get them started. The analysis comprises four features: legal sources, administrative safeguards, scope restrictions for sector and value, and accountability.

Dr Ambedkar’s idea of human rights and its scope of teaching in social work education: from text to context

ABSTRACT Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (Ambedkar henceforth) is not merely known as the chief architect of the Indian constitution, social activist, philosopher, and social reformer but also as a great human rights defender in India. His idea and vision of human rights have been referencing points for creating an egalitarian society and formulating social policies. Despite his strong vision, teaching, and philosophy about an equal and just society, the pedagogy of social work is underutilized in social work education. His ideas of human rights were enshrined in the Indian constitution which even prevented marginalized social groups such as Dalit (Dalits are ex-untouchable caste group who live at the bottom in Indian social structure), tribal, and women from exploitation and protect their human rights. We argue that Ambedkar’s strong vision for a just and egalitarian society, and his rights and policy-based framework are key human rights features to introduce in the curriculum of social work education within India and outside India. This will not merely equip social work professionals to be better human rights defenders but also equip them significantly to contribute to creating a just and equal society.

A policy-based framework for the determination of management options to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems under the EU deep-sea access regulations

Abstract Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are particularly susceptible to bottom-fishing activity as they are easily disturbed and slow to recover. A data-driven approach was developed to provide management options for the protection of VMEs under the European Union “deep-sea access regulations.” A total of two options within two scenarios were developed. The first scenario defined VME closure areas without consideration of fishing activity. Option 1 proposed closures for the protection of VME habitats and likely habitat, while Option 2 also included areas where four types of VME geophysical elements were present. The second scenario additionally considered fishing. This scenario used VME biomass—fishing intensity relationships to identify a threshold where effort of mobile bottom-contact gears was low and unlikely to have caused significant adverse impacts. Achieving a high level of VME protection requires the creation of many closures (> 100), made up of many small (∼50 km2) and fewer larger closures (> 1000 km2). The greatest protection of VMEs will affect approximately 9% of the mobile fleet fishing effort, while closure scenarios that avoid highly fished areas reduce this to around 4–6%. The framework allows managers to choose the level of risk-aversion they wish to apply in protecting VMEs by comparing alternative strategies.

Mitigation of Privacy Threats due to Encrypted Traffic Analysis through a Policy-Based Framework and MUD Profiles

It has been proven in research literature that the analysis of encrypted traffic with statistical analysis and machine learning can reveal the type of activities performed by a user accessing the network, thus leading to privacy risks. In particular, different types of traffic (e.g., skype, web access) can be identified by extracting time based features and using them in a classifier. Such privacy attacks are asymmetric because a limited amount of resources (e.g., machine learning algorithms) can extract information from encrypted traffic generated by cryptographic systems implemented with a significant amount of resources. To mitigate privacy risks, studies in research literature have proposed a number of techniques, but in most cases only a single technique is applied, which can lead to limited effectiveness. This paper proposes a mitigation approach for privacy risks related to the analysis of encrypted traffic which is based on the integration of three main components: (1) A machine learning component which proactively analyzes the encrypted traffic in the network to identify potential privacy threats and evaluate the effectiveness of various mitigation techniques (e.g., obfuscation), (2) a policy based component where policies are used to enforce privacy mitigation solutions in the network and (3) a network node profile component based on the Manufacturer Usage Description (MUD) standard to enable changes in the network nodes in the cases where the first two components are not effective in mitigating the privacy risks. This paper describes the different components and how they interact in a potential deployment scenario. The approach is evaluated on the public dataset ISCXVPN2016 and the results show that the privacy threat can be mitigated significantly by removing completely the identification of specific types of traffic or by decreasing the probability of their identification as in the case of VOIP by 50%, Chat by 40% and Browsing by 33%, thus reducing significantly the privacy risk.

Extending a re-identification risk-based anonymisation framework and evaluating its impact on data mining classifiers

Preserving sensitive information in data mining processes is one of the major issues in the context of big data. Handling huge volumes of data demands techniques to assure that private data is not accessible to non-authorised users. One of these techniques is data anonymisation, which aims to avoid individual identification. However, even when anonymised, data may be subject to re-identification through privacy attacks. This paper presents a two-stage policy-based anonymisation framework, which applies anonymisation techniques in ETL process and before exporting data analytic results. We extended part of this framework - the k-anonymity-based component - to help minimising the risk of data re-identification. Experiments evaluated the impact of applying this two-stage anonymisation on data mining regarding accuracy, performance, re-identification risk and information loss. Results showed that, when applied carefully, the anonymisation barely affect classifier results, improving accuracy in some cases.

Curtailment-storage-penetration nexus in the energy transition

The nexus between growing shares of renewables (penetration), storage requirements, and curtailment was studied using a linear optimisation model. The study was performed using a dataset of Israel’s electricity system. Five scenarios are designed to assess the techno-economic impact of curtailment under various policy-based frameworks. The results show that the three parameters are linked to each other in a way that necessitates simultaneous increase of a total loss (curtailment plus storage efficiency), penetration and storage capacity in the energy transition. Depending on the curtailment policy, penetration increases significantly with a small increase in storage capacity until it reaches a corresponding point of inflection. Based on these physical relationships, storage technologies were classified as diurnal and seasonal. Diurnal storage capacity continually increases to a maximum capacity of about daily average demand, which corresponds to a penetration of approximately 90% of annual demand where the deployment of seasonal storage significantly increases. Having no curtailment was shown to lead to higher total system cost as compared to the system optimised with curtailment. Overall, the nexus between the three factors was shown to define when to deploy and dispatch storage technologies. The evidence supporting these findings is detailed for the first time.

A Policy-Based Framework for Preserving Confidentiality in BYOD Environments: A Review of Information Security Perspectives

Today, many organizations allow their employees to bring their own smartphones or tablets to work and to access the corporate network, which is known as a bring your own device (BYOD). However, many such companies overlook potential security risks concerning privacy and confidentiality. This paper provides a review of existing literature concerning the preservation of privacy and confidentiality, with a focus on recent trends in the use of BYOD. This review spans a large spectrum of information security research, ranging from management (risk and policy) to technical aspects of privacy and confidentiality in BYOD. Furthermore, this study proposes a policy-based framework for preserving data confidentiality in BYOD. This framework considers a number of aspects of information security and corresponding techniques, such as policy, location privacy, centralized control, cryptography, and operating system level security, which have been omitted in previous studies. The main contribution is to investigate recent trends concerning the preservation of confidentiality in BYOD from the perspective of information security and to analyze the critical and comprehensive factors needed to strengthen data privacy in BYOD. Finally, this paper provides a foundation for developing the concept of preserving confidentiality in BYOD and describes the key technical and organizational challenges faced by BYOD-friendly organizations.

Ethical Design in the Internet of Things

Even though public awareness about privacy risks in the Internet is increasing, in the evolution of the Internet to the Internet of Things (IoT) these risks are likely to become more relevant due to the large amount of data collected and processed by the “Things”. The business drivers for exploring ways to monetize such data are one of the challenges identified in this paper for the protection of Privacy in the IoT. Beyond the protection of privacy, this paper highlights the need for new approaches, which grant a more active role to the users of the IoT and which address other potential issues such as the Digital Divide or safety risks. A key facet in ethical design is the transparency of the technology and services in how that technology handles data, as well as providing choice for the user. This paper presents a new approach for users’ interaction with the IoT, which is based on the concept of Ethical Design implemented through a policy-based framework. In the proposed framework, users are provided with wider controls over personal data or the IoT services by selecting specific sets of policies, which can be tailored according to users’ capabilities and to the contexts where they operate. The potential deployment of the framework in a typical IoT context is described with the identification of the main stakeholders and the processes that should be put in place.

MOSES: Supporting and Enforcing Security Profiles on Smart Phones

Smart phones are very effective tools for increasing the productivity of business users. With their increasing computational power and storage capacity, smart phones allow end users to perform several tasks and be always updated while on the move. Companies are willing to support employee-owned smart phones because of the increase in productivity of their employees. However, security concerns about data sharing, leakage and loss have hindered the adoption of smart phones for corporate use. Present MOSES, a policy-based framework for enforcing software isolation of applications and data on the Android platform. In MOSES, it is possible to define distinct Security Profiles within a single smart phone. Each security profile is associated with a set of policies that control the access to applications and data. Profiles are not predefined or hardcoded, they can be specified and applied at any time. One of the main characteristics of MOSES is the dynamic switching from one security profile to another. To run a thorough set of experiments using our full implementation of MOSES. The results of the experiments confirm the feasibility of our proposal.

MOSES: Supporting and Enforcing Security Profiles on Smartphones

Smartphones are very effective tools for increasing the productivity of business users. With their increasing computational power and storage capacity, smartphones allow end users to perform several tasks and be always updated while on the move. Companies are willing to support employee-owned smartphones because of the increase in productivity of their employees. However, security concerns about data sharing, leakage and loss have hindered the adoption of smartphones for corporate use. In this paper we present MOSES, a policy-based framework for enforcing software isolation of applications and data on the Android platform. In MOSES, it is possible to define distinct Security Profiles within a single smartphone. Each security profile is associated with a set of policies that control the access to applications and data. Profiles are not predefined or hardcoded, they can be specified and applied at any time. One of the main characteristics of MOSES is the dynamic switching from one security profile to another. We run a thorough set of experiments using our full implementation of MOSES. The results of the experiments confirm the feasibility of our proposal.

An Adaptive Policy-Based Approach for Static and Dynamic Policy Conflict Detection: An Implementation of Location-Based System

The new paradigm in mobile services lies in providing a location-based user experience and here lies the tremendous scope for expansion of location-based services (LBS). One of the key approaches that have been recognized as an enabler of such a view is policy-based management, which has been mostly acknowledged as a methodology that provides adaptability and support to automatically assign network resources, control Quality of Service and security, by considering administratively specified rules. Whilst current research focuses mostly on rules for low-level device configuration, significant challenges remain to be addressed in order to provide dynamic adaptation of policy in response to changes and ensure that policies will lead to a feasible implementation within the managed environment. In this paper, the emphasis is on building the described environment using today's existing technologies. We use our policy-based framework PobMC to combine mobile (location-based) services, ubiquitous and autonomic computing concepts. The goal is to bring the kind of information rich environment, which is currently limited to computer screens, to the real world. This is achieved by constructing an architecture based on existing wireless network technologies and Web applications. Location information of destinations and users is computed by the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) values of the Wi-Fi sensors, to provide adaptive services over wireless Web. The users use their mobile devices to access these location-based services.

Adaptive Measurement-Based Policy-Driven QoS Management with Fuzzy-Rule-based Resource Allocation

Fixed and wireless networks are increasingly converging towards common connectivity with IP-based core networks. Providing effective end-to-end resource and QoS management in such complex heterogeneous converged network scenarios requires unified, adaptive and scalable solutions to integrate and co-ordinate diverse QoS mechanisms of different access technologies with IP-based QoS. Policy-Based Network Management (PBNM) is one approach that could be employed to address this challenge. Hence, a policy-based framework for end-to-end QoS management in converged networks, CNQF (Converged Networks QoS Management Framework) has been proposed within our project. In this paper, the CNQF architecture, a Java implementation of its prototype and experimental validation of key elements are discussed. We then present a fuzzy-based CNQF resource management approach and study the performance of our implementation with real traffic flows on an experimental testbed. The results demonstrate the efficacy of our resource-adaptive approach for practical PBNM systems.

Implementation and Evaluation of Measurement-Based Admission Control Schemes Within a Converged Networks QoS Management Framework

Policy-based network management (PBNM) paradigms provide an effective tool for end-to-end resource management in converged next generation networks by enabling unified, adaptive and scalable solutions that integrate and co-ordinate diverse resource management mechanisms associated with heterogeneous access technologies. In our project, a PBNM framework for end-to-end QoS management in converged networks is being developed. The framework consists of distributed functional entities managed within a policy-based infrastructure to provide QoS and resource management in converged networks. Within any QoS control framework, an effective admission control scheme is essential for maintaining the QoS of flows present in the network. Measurement based admission control (MBAC) and parameter based admission control (PBAC) are two commonly used approaches. This paper presents the implementation and analysis of various measurement-based admission control schemes developed within a Java-based prototype of our policy-based framework. The evaluation is made with real traffic flows on a Linux-based experimental testbed where the current prototype is deployed. Our results show that unlike with classic MBAC or PBAC only schemes, a hybrid approach that combines both methods can simultaneously result in improved admission control and network utilization efficiency.

Self-Management Framework for Mobile Autonomous Systems

The advent of mobile and ubiquitous systems has enabled the development of autonomous systems such as wireless-sensors for environmental data collection and teams of collaborating Unmanned Autonomous Vehicles (UAVs) used in missions unsuitable for humans. However, with these range of new application-domains comes a new challenge—enabling self-management in mobile autonomous systems. Autonomous systems have to be able to manage themselves individually as well as form self-managing teams which are able to adapt to failures, protect themselves from attacks and optimise performance. This paper proposes a novel distributed policy-based framework that enables autonomous systems of varying scale to perform self-management individually and as a team. The framework allows missions to be specified in terms of roles in an adaptable and reusable way, enables dynamic and secure team formation with a utility-based approach for optimal role assignment, caters for communication link maintenance amongst team-members and recovery from failure. Adaptive management is achieved by employing a policy-based architecture to enable dynamic modification of the management strategy relating to resources, role behaviour, communications and team management, without interrupting the basic software within the system. Evaluation of the framework shows that it is scalable with respect to the number of roles, and consequently the number of autonomous systems involved in the mission. It is also optimal with respect to role assignments, and robust to intermittent communication link and permanent team-member failures.

A Policy-based Adaptive Web Services Security Framework

Web services security has become a hot topic in the research of service oriented computing. This paper aims to study many pivotal technologies in the web services security. Firstly, a policy-based framework for adaptive web services security is proposed, with the policy concept, management mechanism and execution mechanism can be separated effectively, moreover, by management of user context and web services context, web services access control can adapt to the changed environment. Secondly, a policy description language called ReiT is given, ReiT is a declarative language based on the rules and ontology and can express the structural and non-structural knowledge. A mixed reasoning mechanism is proposed, the web service access control policy including the user context and web services context can be evaluated by the reasoner. Finally, a policy aware BDI agent to authorize the access control of the web services is presented, and a prototype system based on Java EE and Jade Agent platform is implemented, Simulation experimental results and an example demonstrate the security framework is feasible and effective.

A Scalable Framework for Policy-based QoS Management in SOA Environments

The successful integration of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) in large distributed environments greatly depends on their support of quality of service (QoS) management. The aim of QoS management is to guarantee diverse QoS levels to users issuing requests from a variety of platforms and underlying networks. In this paper, we present our policy-based framework for QoS management in SOA environment with both usual and mobile users. The framework is based on a federation of QoS Brokers that are in charge of mediating between service requestors and service providers, and carrying out various QoS management operations. We describe an auction-based ranking algorithm of functionally equivalent services, which ranks services according to their ability to fulfill the service requestor QoS requirements. The brokers are also in charge of handling appropriately service requests from mobile users equipped with various handheld devices.

Policy-based customisation and corrective adaptation of composite web services

Due to the typical long-running character of business processes, it is often desirable to be able to change a running process to respond to changes of business requirements and company policies. However, current process orchestration engines do not provide the flexibility and dynamism needed to support ad hoc changes (e.g., add, shift or delete activities) to a pre-defined service composition in order to deal with an exceptional situation that may occur during process execution. In this paper, we advocate a policy-based framework to manage customisation and corrective adaptation of web services in a controlled and reliable way. WSPolicy4MASC language is used to define process-level adaptation requirements. The latter are enforced by manageable and adaptable service compositions (MASC) middleware both at creation time and during an instance’s lifecycle. This paper presents MASC middleware prototype implementation and some experimental results showing the viability and scalability of our approach to providing adaptive services.

Context-aware policy-based framework for self-management in delay-tolerant networks: A case study for deep space exploration

Policy-based management allows the deployment of networks offering quality services in environments beyond the reach of real-time human control. A policy-based protocol stack middleware, the context-aware broker, has been developed by the authors to autonomically manage the remote deep space network. In this article example policy rules demonstrate the concept, and prototype results from ns-2.30 show the overall positive cost-benefit impact in an example scenario.

A versatile policy toolkit supporting run-time policy reconfiguration

This paper describes an autonomics development tool which serves as both a powerful and flexible policy-expression language and a policy-based framework that supports the integration and dynamic composition of several autonomic computing techniques including signal processing, automated trend analysis and utility functions. Each of these technologies has specific advantages and applicability to different types of dynamic adaptation. The AGILE platform enables seamless interoperability of the different technologies to each perform various aspects of self-management within a single application. Self-management behaviour is specified using the policy language semantics to bind the various technologies together as required. Since the policy semantics support run-time re-configuration, the self-management architecture is dynamically composable. The policy language and implementation library have integrated support for self-stabilising behaviour, enabling oscillation and other forms of instability to be handled at the policy level with very little effort on the part of the application developer. Example applications are presented to illustrate the integration of different autonomics techniques, and the achievement of dynamic composition.

Enabling policy-based access control in BI applications

Protecting the sensitive information in a company’s data warehouse from unauthorized access is an important component of regulatory compliance and privacy protection for Business Intelligence (BI) applications. The access control features in current database systems are not suitable to meet this requirement since they are limited to base table accesses whereas BI applications typically use materialized views for better performance. In this paper, we provide a middleware-enabled policy-based framework that allows access control to be uniformly applied to both base tables and materialized views to enable selective access to data warehouse. We also provide empirical evaluation of our approach.