Experimenting with pattern-matching algorithms

Two new pattern-matching algorithms based on the Boyer-Moore algorithm are presented. Their performance is compared to that of earlier relevant variants in terms of the number of character comparisons and the required running time by exhaustive simulation. Experimental results show the efficiency of both these two new algorithms.     

Cooperative Caching in Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks

The recent advances in miniaturization and the creation of low-power circuits, combined with small-sized batteries have made the development of wireless sensor networks a working reality. Lately, the production of cheap complementary metal-oxide semiconductor cameras and microphones, which are able to capture rich multimedia content, gave birth to what is called Wireless Multimedia Sensor Networks (WMSNs). WMSNs will boost the capabilities of current wireless sensor networks, and will fuel several novel applications, like multimedia surveillance sensor networks. WMSNs introduce several new research challenges, mainly related to mechanisms to deliver application-level Quality-of-Service (e.g., latency minimization). To address this goal in an environment with extreme resource constraints, with variable channel capacity and with requirements for multimedia in-network processing, the caching of multimedia data, exploiting the cooperation among sensor nodes is vital. This article presents a cooperative caching solution particularly suitable for WMSNs. The proposed caching solution exploits sensor nodes which reside in “positions” of the network that allow them to forward packets or communicate decisions within short latency. These so-called “mediator” nodes are selected dynamically, so as to avoid the creation of hot-spots in the communication and the depletion of their energy. The mediators are not more powerful than the rest of the nodes, but they have some special role in implementing the cooperation among the sensors. The proposed cooperative caching protocol includes components for locating cached data as well as for implementing data purging out of the sensor caches. The proposed solution is evaluated extensively in an advanced simulation environment, and it is compared to the state-of-the-art cooperative caching algorithm for mobile ad hoc networks. The results confirm that the proposed caching mechanism prevails over its competitor.     

An integrated implementation framework for compile‐time metaprogramming

Compile‐time metaprograms are programs executed during the compilation of a source file, usually targeting to update its source code. Even though metaprograms are essentially programs, they are typically treated as exceptional cases without sharing common practices and development tools. Toward this direction, we identify a set of primary requirements related to language implementation, metaprogramming features, software engineering support, and programming environments and elaborate on addressing these requirements in the implementation of a metaprogramming language. In particular, we introduce the notion of integrated compile‐time metaprograms, as coherent programs assembled from specific metacode fragments present in the source code. We show the expressiveness of this programming model and illustrate its advantages through various metaprogram scenarios. Additionally, we present an integrated tool chain, supporting full‐scale build features and compile‐time metaprogram debugging. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The SAINT observatory subsystem: an open-source intelligence tool for uncovering cybersecurity threats

International Journal of Information Security - Data from Online Social Networks, search engines, and the World Wide Web are forms of unstructured knowledge that are not regularly used in...     

Risk and protection factors in fatal accidents

This paper aims at addressing the interest and appropriateness of performing accident severity analyses that are limited to fatal accident data. Two methodological issues are specifically discussed, namely the accident-size factors (the number of vehicles in the accident and their level of occupancy) and the comparability of the baseline risk. It is argued that - although these two issues are generally at play in accident severity analyses - their effects on, e.g., the estimation of survival probability, are exacerbated if the analysis is limited to fatal accident data. As a solution, it is recommended to control for these effects by (1) including accident-size indicators in the model, (2) focusing on different sub-groups of road-users while specifying the type of opponent in the model, so as to ensure that comparable baseline risks are worked with. These recommendations are applied in order to investigate risk and protection factors of car occupants involved in fatal accidents using data from a recently set up European Fatal Accident Investigation database (Reed and Morris, 2009). The results confirm that the estimated survival probability is affected by accident-size factors and by type of opponent. The car occupants’ survival chances are negatively associated with their own age and that of their vehicle. The survival chances are also lower when seatbelt is not used. Front damage, as compared to other damaged car areas, appears to be associated with increased survival probability, but mostly in the case in which the accident opponent was another car. The interest of further investigating accident-size factors and opponent effects in fatal accidents is discussed.     

Dynamics of infectious disease transmission by inhalable respiratory droplets

Transmission of respiratory infectious diseases in humans, for instance influenza, occurs by several modes. Respiratory droplets provide a vector of transmission of an infectious pathogen that may contribute to different transmission modes. An epidemiological model incorporating the dynamics of inhalable respiratory droplets is developed to assess their relevance in the infectious process. Inhalable respiratory droplets are divided into respirable droplets, with droplet diameter less than 10 µm, and inspirable droplets, with diameter in the range 10–100 µm: both droplet classes may be inhaled or settle. Droplet dynamics is determined by their physical properties (size), whereas population dynamics is determined by, among other parameters, the pathogen infectivity and the host contact rates. Three model influenza epidemic scenarios, mediated by different airborne or settled droplet classes, are analysed. The scenarios are distinguished by the characteristic times associated with breathing at contact and with hand-to-face contact. The scenarios suggest that airborne transmission, mediated by respirable droplets, provides the dominant transmission mode in middle and long-term epidemics, whereas inspirable droplets, be they airborne or settled, characterize short-term epidemics with high attack rates. The model neglects close-contact transmission by droplet sprays (direct projection onto facial mucous membranes), retaining close-contact transmission by inspirable droplets.     

Exposure data and risk indicators for safety performance assessment in Europe

The objective of this paper is the analysis of the state-of-the-art in risk indicators and exposure data for safety performance assessment in Europe, in terms of data availability, collection methodologies and use. More specifically, the concepts of exposure and risk are explored, as well as the theoretical properties of various exposure measures used in road safety research (e.g. vehicle- and person-kilometres of travel, vehicle fleet, road length, driver population, time spent in traffic, etc.). Moreover, the existing methods for collecting disaggregate exposure data for risk estimates at national level are presented and assessed, including survey methods (e.g. travel surveys, traffic counts) and databases (e.g. national registers). A detailed analysis of the availability and quality of existing risk exposure data is also carried out. More specifically, the results of a questionnaire survey in the European countries are presented, with detailed information on exposure measures available, their possible disaggregations (i.e. variables and values), their conformity to standard definitions and the characteristics of their national collection methods. Finally, the potential of international risk comparisons is investigated, mainly through the International Data Files with exposure data (e.g. Eurostat, IRTAD, ECMT, UNECE, IRF, etc.). The results of this review confirm that comparing risk rates at international level may be a complex task, as the availability and quality of exposure estimates in European countries varies significantly. The lack of a common framework for the collection and exploitation of exposure data limits significantly the comparability of the national data. On the other hand, the International Data Files containing exposure data provide useful statistics and estimates in a systematic way and are currently the only sources allowing international comparisons of road safety performance under certain conditions.