A framework based approach to the development of network awareapplications

Modern networks provide a QoS (quality of service) model to go beyond best-effort services, but current QoS models are oriented towards low-level network parameters (e.g., bandwidth, latency, jitter). Application developers, on the other hand, are interested in quality models that are meaningful to the end-user and, therefore, struggle to bridge the gap between network and application QoS models. Examples of application quality models are response time, predictability or a budget (for transmission costs). Applications that can deal with changes in the network environment are called network-aware. A network-aware application attempts to adjust its resource demands in response to network performance variations. This paper presents a framework-based approach to the construction of network-aware programs. At the core of the framework is a feedback loop that controls the adjustment of the application to network properties. The framework provides the skeleton to address two fundamental challenges for the construction of network-aware applications: how to find out about dynamic changes in network service quality; and how to map application-centric quality measures (e.g., predictability) to network-centric quality measures (e.g., QoS models that focus on bandwidth or latency). Our preliminary experience with a prototype network-aware image retrieval system demonstrates the feasibility of our approach. The prototype illustrates that there is more to network-awareness than just taking network resources and protocols into account and raises questions that need to be addressed (from a software engineering point of view) to make a general approach to network-aware applications useful     

Supporting Unified Distributed Management and Autonomic Decisions: Design,Implementation and Deployment

Nowadays, the prevailing use of networks based on traditional centralized management systems reflects on a fast increase of the management costs. The growth in the number of network equipments and services reinforces the need to distribute the management responsibilities throughout the network devices. In this approach, each device executes common network management functionalities, being part of the overall network management platform. In this paper, we present a Unified Distributed Network Management (UDNM) framework that provides a unified (wired and wireless) management network solution, where further different network services can take part of this infrastructure, e.g., flow monitoring, accurate routing decisions, distributed policies dissemination, etc. This framework is divided in two main components: (A) Situation awareness, which sets up initial information through bootstrapping, discovery, fault-management process and exchange of management information; (B) Autonomic Decision System (ADS) that performs distributed decisions in the network with incomplete information. We deploy the UDNM framework in a testbed which involves two cities (\(\approx\)250 km between), different standards (IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16e) and network technologies, such as, wired virtual grid, wireless ad-hoc gateways, ad-hoc mobile access devices. The UDNM framework integrates management functionalities into the managed devices, proving to be a lightweight and easy-respond framework. The performance analysis shows that the UDNM framework is feasible to unify devices management functionalities and to take accurate decisions on top of a real network.     

Multi-layer Virtual Transport Network Design

Service overlay networks and network virtualization enable multiple overlay/virtual networks to run over a common physical network infrastructure. They are widely used to overcome deficiencies of the Internet (e.g., resiliency, security and QoS guarantees). However, most overlay/virtual networks are used for routing/tunneling purposes, and not for providing scoped transport flows (involving all mechanisms such as error and flow control, resource allocation, etc.), which can allow better network resource allocation and utilization. Most importantly, the design of overlay/virtual networks is mostly single-layered, and lacks dynamic scope management, which is important for application and network management. In response to these limitations, we propose a multi-layer approach to virtual transport network (VTN) design. This design is a key part of VTN-based network management, where network management is done via managing various VTNs over different scopes (i.e., ranges of operation). We explain the details of the multi-layer VTN design problem as well as our design algorithms, and focus on leveraging the VTN structure to partition the network into smaller scopes for better network performance. Our simulation and experimental results show that our multi-layer approach to VTN design can achieve better performance compared to the traditional single-layer design used for overlay/virtual networks.     

Performance management of public–private collaboration in innovation

The open innovation literature has highlighted that more focus should be placed on non‐pecuniary sources such as public research institutes (PRIs) and their performance management (PM), while innovation network studies have highlighted the growing importance of universities and PRIs in public‐private research partnerships. Building on PM capability and portfolio management perspectives, this research aims is to examine the relationship between knowledge resources and collaboration outcome in such public‐private collaborations, and the mediating role of senior management team's (SMT) ability to govern project portfolio approval and management processes. Examining 153 innovation commercialization collaboration projects between PRIs and firms in Singapore, our study has made several significant contributions to the existing research on innovation and performance in public‐private partnership. First, we empirically demonstrate that there is a direct positive relationship between PRIs' knowledge resources and collaboration outcome. Second, our findings establish that the PRIs' SMT ability to govern project portfolio processes mediates this positive relationship. Third, this research highlights that the SMT ability to govern project portfolio processes fully mediates the conversion of market knowledge into innovation. Only partial mediation is observed in the case of technological knowledge, which directly creates value by virtue of generating discoveries or breakthroughs.     

Innovation Contests: A Review,Classification and Outlook

Innovation contests as a means to realize innovative product or service solutions are growing in popularity among practitioners and researchers. An increasing number of organizations worldwide have adopted innovation contests, not only for innovation purposes, but also for other reasons such as promoting sustainability. At the same time, innovation contests represent a growing research field to scholars from different backgrounds, e.g., economics or information systems. In this article, first, the growing body of literature on innovation contests is reviewed and classified into five research categories: economic perspective, management perspective, education focus, innovation focus and sustainability focus. Second, some design elements of innovation contests that are central for the understanding, design and management of innovation contests are presented based on the current body of literature. Finally, current research gaps are presented and some of the research questions are developed that could be explored to contribute to the body of literature.     

Network mining: Applications to business data

This research addresses the problem of analyzing the temporal dynamics of business organizations. In particular, we concentrate on inferring the related businesses, i.e., are there groups of companies that are highly correlated through some measurement (metric)? We argue that business relationships derived from general literature (i.e., newspaper articles, news items etc.) may help us create a network of related companies (business networks). On the other hand, relative movement of stock prices can give us an indication of related companies (asset graphs). We also expect to see some relationships between these two kinds of networks. We adapt the asset graph construction approach from the literature for our asset graph implementations, and then, define our methodology for business network construction. Finally, an introduction to the exploration of some relationships between the asset graphs and business networks is presented.     

Antecedents of Network Capability and Their Effects on Innovation Performance: An Empirical Test of Hi‐tech Firms in China

A firm's competitive advantage can come not only from internal resources but also from inter‐firm innovation networks. This paper shows that network capabilities (i.e., network visioning capability, network constructing capability, network operating capability and network centring capability) are special skills that enable values residing in network resources. Based on a sample of 211 Chinese hi‐tech firms and by applying structural equation modelling, network capabilities are found to have a positive relationship with innovation performance. Four antecedents of network capabilities – IT maturity, openness of culture, the management system involved and experience with network activities – are also identified in the research and empirically tested. The results of this study provide a new framework that describes how networked firms can gain a competitive advantage.     

A Comparative Study of Cost Effective Multiplexing Approaches for Online Permutation Embedding and Scheduling in Optical Networks

In this paper, we describe a framework for exploring various multiplexing approaches in optical networks and for evaluating their cost-effectiveness. A comparative study of two representative approaches, known as path multiplexing (PM) and link multiplexing (LM) [1, 2], is conducted with respect to online permutation embedding and scheduling. It is found that in many networks, PM can be nearly as effective as LM in that they require (1) about the same multiplexing degree (e.g., the number of wavelengths or time slots) to make a network wide-sense nonblocking and (2) about the same number of rounds on average to schedule a permutation in a blocking network. It is also found that the performance advantage of LM over PM is more obvious in the online case than in the offline case [2]. In addition, such an advantage is proportional to the average connection distance in a network and may be maximized or minimized at some multiplexing degrees. Finally, in either LM or PM, the average schedule length of a permutation is almost the same when the values of the multiplexing degree fall into certain ranges, suggesting that the lowest multiplexing degree within such a range may be used for improved cost-effectiveness.     

The value for innovation of inter-firm networks and forming alliances: A meta-analytic model of indirect effects

In the past few decades, we have seen strong growth in the number of publications on the role of alliances and networking on innovative performance and, more generally, firm performance. The empirical results of these studies are, however, often debated, and there seems to be little consensus in the academic literature. We therefore focus our meta-analytical model test on the accumulated direction and magnitude of the indirect relationships reported in the literature between innovation, networking, alliances, and firm performance. Our meta-analysis is based on 517 correlations, 156 studies, and a total sample size of 93,048 firms. We compare the findings of our meta-analysis to the results of a bootstrapping analysis. Our results corroborate the bulk of studies, which suggests that networks and alliance experience play an important role in generating rents from innovation resources through both direct and indirect effects. The practical implication is that firms need to engage in networks and also develop strong alliance management capabilities to be able to increase the contribution innovation resources can make to their performance.     

一种被用于网络性能管理的模型及实现

高速通信网络（例如ＡＴＭ）技术能够架构一种灵活的支持宽带的多业务网络．诚然, ＣＯＲＢＡ（Ｃｏｍ ｍ ｏｎＯｂｊｅｃｔ Ｒｅｑｕｅｓｔ Ｂｒｏｋｅｒ Ａｒｃｈｉｔｅｃｔｕｒｅ）、移动计算（Ｔｒａｎｓｐｏｒｔａｂｌｅ ｃｏｍ ｐｕｔａｔｉｏｎ）、虚拟机（Ｖｉｒｔｕａｌｍ ａｃｈｉｎｅｓ）和积极网络管理技术的方法实现的网管系统具有灵活、健壮和容易修改的特征．但是,另一方面,它需要稳定、可靠和有效地提交ＱｏＳ（Ｑｕａｌｉｔｙ ｏｆＳｅｒｖｉｃｅ）,而且其仅仅依靠网络协议本身是做不到的．为此,提出了一种用于网络性能管理的模型,该模型具有以下特点：第一,利用随机回应模型（Ｓｔｏｃｈａｓｔｉｃ Ｒｅｗ ａｒｄ Ｍｏｄｅｌ,ＳＲＭ）建立整体网络性能和可信度的模型;第二,能够实时地计算和预测整体网络端到端的性能可靠性（Ｐｅｒｆｏｒｍ ａｎｃｅ－ｒｅｌｉａｂｉｌｉｔｙ）、可用性（Ｐｅｒｆｏｒ－ｍ ａｎｃｅ－ａｖａｉｌａｂｉｌｉｔｙ）、该网络的平均无故障时间（ＭＴＴＦ）和可信度的值;第三,由于模型求真解十分复杂,对于高可靠性网络的管理,得到了该模型的近似模型及其它的数值解法,并在文章的最后,给出了一个例子．     

Leveraging diverse knowledge sources through proactive behaviour: How companies can use inter‐organizational networks for business model innovation

The relevance of business model innovation (BMI) for strategic renewal and competitive advantage has been increasingly recognized by both strategy scholars and managers. In this paper, we explore how inter‐organizational networks and firms' proactiveness influence BMI. By examining Dutch design companies, we show that having a network of companies with different sizes has a positive effect on BMI. We also observe a positive effect of ties change. Finally, we show the importance of firms' proactiveness. Through the discussion of network elements and proactiveness as antecedents of BMI, we contribute to the business model and social network literature.     

Digital product innovation within four classes of innovation networks

The increased digitization of organizational processes and products poses new challenges for understanding product innovation. It also opens new horizons for information systems research. We analyse how ongoing pervasive digitization of product innovation reshapes knowledge creation and sharing in innovation networks. We argue that advances in digital technologies (1) increase innovation network connectivity by reducing communication costs and increasing its reach and scope and (2) increase the speed and scope of digital convergence, which increases network knowledge heterogeneity and need for integration. These developments, in turn, stretch existing innovation networks by redistributing control and increasing the demand for knowledge coordination across time and space presenting novel challenges for knowledge creation, assimilation and integration. Based on this foundation, we distinguish four types of emerging innovation networks supported by digitalization: (1) project innovation networks; (2) clan innovation networks; (3) federated innovation networks; and (4) anarchic innovation networks. Each network involves different cognitive and social translations – or ways of identifying, sharing and assimilating knowledge. We describe the role of five novel properties of digital infrastructures in supporting each type of innovation network: representational flexibility, semantic coherence, temporal and spatial traceability, knowledge brokering and linguistic calibration. We identify several implications for future innovation research. In particular, we focus on the emergence of anarchic network forms that follow full‐fledged digital convergence founded on richer innovation ontologies and epistemologies calling to critically re‐examine the nature and impact of modularization for innovation.     

Fast attack detection using correlation and summarizing of security alerts in grid computing networks

Due to the extensive growth of grid computing networks, security is becoming a challenge. Usual solutions are not enough to prevent sophisticated attacks fabricated by multiple users especially when the number of nodes connected to the network is changing over the time. Attackers can use multiple nodes to launch DDoS attacks which generate a large amount of security alerts. On the one hand, this large number of security alerts degrades the overall performance of the network and creates instability in the operation of the security management solutions. On the other hand, they can help in camouflaging other real attacks. To address these issues, a?correlation mechanism is proposed which reduces the security alerts and continue detecting attacks in grid computing networks. To obtain the more accurate results, a?major portion of the experiments are performed by launching DDoS and Brute Force (BF) attacks in real grid environment, i.e., the Grid??5000 (G5K) network.     

基于深度残差学习的自动驾驶道路场景理解

随着道路场景理解技术的快速发展，自主驾驶领域取得了长足的进步。在相关任务中，包括道路分割、分类和车辆检测的实时性和准确性是安全性的一个关键问题。为此，提出了一个具有编/解码器网络结构的基于深度残差学习的方法。一方面，编码器网络结构使用不同层次的残差网络来提取高维中的抽象特征，这些特征在接下来的三个任务中共享使用；另一方面，解码器网络结构采用一种子任务的并行计算机制，即道路分割、车辆检测和道路分类任务同时执行。此外，全卷积神经网络用于对提取的图像特征进行上采样以解决道路分割问题。最终，实验结果表明在保证高精度的前提下处理帧率可达到15 fps以上。     

The changing roles of a multinational enterprise's subsidiaries and headquarters in innovation transfer: A network perspective

The aim of this paper is to identify the changing roles of actors involved in successful innovation transfer within a multinational enterprise. This should help in understanding how multinational enterprises are paving the way for performance management and management control in the innovation network. In examining successful innovation transfer, we identify how the internal (HQ, subsidiaries) and external actors contribute to innovation transfer and how this involvement changes over time. For the analysis, we use case studies of four different multinational enterprises and their chosen successful innovation transfer assessed from the perspective of their subsidiaries. In the analysis, we apply the idea of developing, producing and using settings of innovation derived from industrial network analysis. Our study makes a useful contribution to existing literature by shedding more light on the phenomenon of successful innovation transfer and providing a new, dynamic perspective on the roles of internal and external actors of multinational enterprises in this innovation transfer. We identify the changing roles of headquarters and subsidiaries in successful innovation transfer, indicate the importance of sister subsidiaries for this process and the lack of necessity to involve external customers in order to achieve a successful innovation transfer.     

Automated wireless video surveillance: an evaluation framework

In the past years, surveillance systems have attracted both industries and researchers due to its importance for security. Automated Video Surveillance (AVS) systems are established to automatically monitor objects in real-time. Employing wireless communication in an AVS system is an attractive solution due to its convenient installation and configuration. Unfortunately, wireless communication, in general, has limited bandwidth, not to mention the intrinsic dynamic conditions of the network (e.g., collision and congestion). Many solutions have been proposed in the literature to solve the bandwidth allocation problem in wireless networks, but much less work is done to design evaluation frameworks for such solutions. This paper targets the demand for a realistic wireless AVS system simulation framework that models and simulates most of the details in a typical wireless AVS framework. The proposed simulation framework is built over the well-known NS-3 network simulator. This framework also supports the testing and the evaluation of cross-layer solutions that manages many factors over different layers of AVS systems in the wireless 802.11 infrastructure network. Moreover, the simulation framework supports the collection of many used performance metrics that are usually used in AVS system performance evaluation.     

一种新的基于广义细胞自动机的网络快速包交换优化方法

实时优化求解快速包交换问题(FPS)是提高网络性能的重要手段．基于梯度下降法等数学规划方法，不能并行地实时地优化求解FPS问题，而基于Hopfield型神经网络和细胞神经网络的优化方法中，都只有单一粒度的细胞动力学方程和单一粒度细胞之间的相互作用，不仅收敛到平衡点的过程长，而且神经网络参数的选择和修正十分困难．该文提出一种新的具有多粒度宏细胞的广义细胞自动机模型和方法，广义细胞自动机中的小粒度宏细胞聚合成可以独立演化的大粒度宏细胞，通过多粒度群体的不同程度群体智能的相互作用，能够比目前其他方法更快更有效地分布并行地优化求解FPS问题和其它类似的复杂的网络优化问题．     

Exploring practices in collaborative innovation: Unpacking dynamics,relations, and enactment in in‐between spaces

In the field of innovation management, the study of collaborative innovation has focused primarily on the type of networks to support innovation, the modularity of the product's architecture required to engage actors in collaboration, the strategies for patenting and knowledge appropriation, and the public policies likely to stimulate collaborative innovation. But given that many efforts to collaborate collapse and fail to generate the desired innovative value, previous research needs to be complemented with perspectives on what individuals and collectives actually do when creating collaborative innovation as they engage in “in‐between spaces”, spaces between actors created by and simultaneously creating social interaction, to understand the practices that both form and constitute the collaboration. Through such studies, new knowledge can be created building on detailed insights about what ensues as different actors engage in interaction to innovate together and contribute to identifying levers to build collaborative spaces that indeed foster innovation. With this special section, we wish to encourage innovation management scholars to rethink their approach to collaborative innovation research by complementing macro‐level insights with an exploration of the micro‐foundations of collaborative innovation to gain a more nuanced understanding of collaborative dynamics, relations and enactment.     

Crisis management using MAS-based wireless sensor networks

Wireless communication is increasingly used to manage large-scale crises (e.g., natural disasters or a large-scale city fire). Communication has traditionally been based on cellular networks. However, real-life experience has proven that the base stations of these networks may collapse or become unreachable during a crisis. An incident commander must also know as much information as possible about the occurring events to control them quickly and efficiently. This paper thus proposes a crisis management approach that overcomes the problems encountered by the base stations and insures relevant, rich and real-time information about events. This approach is based on wireless sensor networks, which are distributed in nature with no need for infrastructure and could be deployed in dangerous and inaccessible zones to gather information. Our proposal uses a multi-agent system as a software layer. The multi-agent system aims to improve the wireless sensor network performance by allowing cooperation between sensor nodes, offering better lifetime management and virtualizing the application layer. This virtualization supports several required applications simultaneously, including event monitoring and object tracking. Through successive simulations, we prove the importance of our approach in crisis management using several criteria to estimate the position’s error in object tracking, end-to-end delay and wireless sensor network lifetime management.     

Failure-Aware, Open-Loop, Adaptive Video Streaming With Packet-Level Optimized Redundancy

A plethora of coding and streaming mechanisms have been proposed for real-time multimedia transmission over the Internet. However, most proposed mechanisms rely only on global (e.g. based on end-to-end measurements), delayed (at least by the round-trip-time), or statistical (often based on simplistic network models) information available about the network state. Based on recently-proposed state-of-the-art open-loop video coding schemes, we propose a new integrated streaming and routing framework for robust and efficient video transmission over networks exhibiting path failures. Our approach explicitly takes into account the network dynamics, path diversity, and the modeled video distortion at the receiver side to optimize the packet redundancy and scheduling. In the derived framework, multimedia streams can be adapted dynamically at the video server based on instantaneous routing-layer information or failure-modeling statistics. The performance of our integrated application and network-layer method is simulated against equivalent approaches that are not optimized based on routing-layer feedback and distortion modeling, and the obtained gains in video quality are quantified