User location privacy protection mechanism for location-based services

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things(IoT),Location-Based Services(LBS)are becoming more and more popular.However,for the users being served,how to protect their location privacy has become a growing concern.This has led to great difficulty in establishing trust between the users and the service providers,hindering the development of LBS for more comprehensive functions.In this paper,we first establish a strong identity verification mechanism to ensure the authentication security of the system and then design a new location privacy protection mechanism based on the privacy proximity test problem.This mechanism not only guarantees the confidentiality of the user s information during the subsequent information interaction and dynamic data transmission,but also meets the service provider's requirements for related data.

Location Privacy in Device-Dependent Location-Based Services:Challenges and Solution

With the evolution of location-based services(LBS),a new type of LBS has already gain a lot of attention and implementation,we name this kind of LBS as the Device-Dependent LBS(DLBS).In DLBS,the service provider(SP)will not only send the information according to the user’s location,more significant,he also provides a service device which will be carried by the user.DLBS has been successfully practised in some of the large cities around the world,for example,the shared bicycle in Beijing and London.In this paper,we,for the first time,blow the whistle of the new location privacy challenges caused by DLBS,since the service device is enabled to perform the localization without the permission of the user.To conquer these threats,we design a service architecture along with a credit system between DLBS provider and the user.The credit system tie together the DLBS device usability with the curious behaviour upon user’s location privacy,DLBS provider has to sacrifice their revenue in order to gain extra location information of their device.We make the simulation of our proposed scheme and the result convince its effectiveness.

Design and implementation of user information sharing system using location-based services for social network services

Internet takes a role as a place for communication between people beyond a space simply for the acquisition of information.Recently,social network service(SNS)reflecting human’s basic desire for talking and communicating with others is focused on around the world.And location-based service(LBS)is a service that provides various life conveniences like improving productivity through location information,such as GPS and WiFi.This paper suggests an application combining LBS and SNS based on Android OS.By using smart phone which is personal mobile information equipment,it combines location information with user information and SNS so that the service can be developed.It also maximizes sharing and use of information via twit based on locations of friends.This proposed system is aims for users to show online identity more actively and more conveniently.

Privacy Preserving Scheme for Location-Based Services

Homomorphic encryption schemes make it possible to perform arithmetic operations, like additions and multiplications, over encrypted values. This capability provides enhanced protection for data and offers new research directions, including blind data processing. Using homomorphic encryption schemes, a Location-Based Service (LBS) can process encrypted inputs to retrieve encrypted location-related information. The retrieved encrypted data can only be decrypted by the user who requested the data. The technology still faces two main challenges: the encountered processing time and the upper limit imposed on the allowed number of operations. However, the protection of users’ privacy achieved through this technology makes it attractive for more research and enhancing. In this paper we use homomorphic encryption schemes to build a fully secure system that allows users to benefit from location-based services while preserving the confidentiality and integrity of their data. Our novel system consists of search circuits that allow an executor (i.e. LBS server) to receive encrypted inputs/requests and then perform a blind search to retrieve encrypted records that match the selection criterion. A querier can send the user’s position and the service type he/she is looking for, in encrypted form, to a server and then the server would respond to the request without any knowledge of the contents of the request and the retrieved records. We further propose a prototype that improves the practicality of our system.

The NCC: An Improved Anonymous Method for Location-Based Services Based on Casper

Casper Cloak is a privacy protection method based on K-anonymity algorithm. To be anonymous, Casper Cloak needs to search regional sibling and parent node, which requires a complex process and huge expenditure. In addition,the anonymous area has space redundancy and it is not accurate enough to achieve high Location-Based Services (LBS) quality. To address these problems,this paper proposes an improved privacy protection method-NCC, based on the Casper Cloak. To reduce the unnecessary search, NCC introduced the concept of the first sibling node. NCC also improves the LBS quality by considering the characteristics of user mobility. Moreover, the improved method,NCC, which is incorporated with a redundancy optimization processing strategy,realizing more precise in the anonymous area and accurately guaranteeing the related degree of privacy. Adopting NCC verification experiments reflects varied advantages as bellow: (1) By reducing 80% searching time, NCC highly improved searching process. (2) The anonymous area produced in NCC not only meet users' anonymous demands, but the direction of the mobility which improves 4 times accuracy of services in comparison with Casper mode.(3) According to optimization strategy, NCC can reach minimum anonymous area index, increasing the rates of anonymous optimization in original algorithm.

Location and Its Semantics in Location-Based Services

Starting with a simple presentation of location determination techniques, physical location and geographic location as two common kinds of location description methods are discussed. The semantic location concept is then introduced and a correction is given, which especially emphasizes that location property is an important part of semantic location. By analyzing the connotation and extension of every geographic location, what should be contained in a location property is determined. Using a hierarchical model, the relations and associations among locations are clearly described. To realize a formalized description of semantic location, an ontology technique that can adequately describe semantic information of location is used. Organized by ontology web language, a location ontology model allows semantic location to be read and processed by computer. The location ontology model realizes the knowledge description of location information and establishes an important foundation to personalized preference services in location based services.

DPPS: A novel dual privacy-preserving scheme for enhancing query privacy in continuous location-based services

Since smartphones embedded with positioning systems and digital maps are widely used,location-based services(LBSs)are rapidly growing in popularity and providing unprecedented convenience in people’s daily lives;however,they also cause great concern about privacy leakage.In particular,location queries can be used to infer users’sensitive private information,such as home addresses,places of work and appointment locations.Hence,many schemes providing query anonymity have been proposed,but they typically ignore the fact that an adversary can infer real locations from the correlations between consecutive locations in a continuous LBS.To address this challenge,a novel dual privacy-preserving scheme(DPPS)is proposed that includes two privacy protection mechanisms.First,to prevent privacy disclosure caused by correlations between locations,a correlation model is proposed based on a hidden Markov model(HMM)to simulate users’mobility and the adversary’s prediction probability.Second,to provide query probability anonymity of each single location,an advanced k-anonymity algorithm is proposed to construct cloaking regions,in which realistic and indistinguishable dummy locations are generated.To validate the effectiveness and efficiency of DPPS,theoretical analysis and experimental verification are further performed on a real-life dataset published by Microsoft,i.e.,GeoLife dataset.

Privacy Quantification Model Based on the Bayes Conditional Risk in Location-Based Services

The widespread use of Location-Based Services （LBSs）, which allows untrusted service providers to collect large quantities of information regarding users＇ locations, has raised serious privacy concerns. In response to these issues, a variety of LBS Privacy Protection Mechanisms （LPPMs） have been recently proposed. However, evaluating these LPPMs remains problematic because of the absence of a generic adversarial model for most existing privacy metrics. In particular, the relationships between these metrics have not been examined in depth under a common adversarial model, leading to a possible selection of the inappropriate metric, which runs the risk of wrongly evaluating LPPMs. In this paper, we address these issues by proposing a privacy quantification model, which is based on Bayes conditional privacy, to specify a general adversarial model. This model employs a general definition of conditional privacy regarding the adversary＇s estimation error to compare the different LBS privacy metrics. Moreover, we present a theoretical analysis for specifying how to connect our metric with other popular LBS privacy metrics. We show that our privacy quantification model permits interpretation and comparison of various popular LBS privacy metrics under a common perspective. Our results contribute to a better understanding of how privacy properties can be measured, as well as to the better selection of the most appropriate metric for any given LBS application.

Expanding the SDI environment:comparing current spatial data infrastructure with emerging indoor location-based services

The authors compare key elements of the emerging field of Indoor Location-Based Services(Indoor LBS)to those currently found in spatial data infrastructure(SDI)programs.After a brief review of SDIs and Location-Based Services,the corresponding drivers,characteristics and emerging issues within the field of Indoor LBS are introduced and discussed.A comparative framework relates the two in terms of the criteria‘People’,‘Data’,‘Technologies’,‘Standards’and‘Policies/Institutional Arrangements’.After highlighting key similarities and differences,the authors suggested three areas–definition of common framework datasets in Indoor LBS,more effective use of volunteered geographic information by SDI programs and development of appropriate privacy policies by both communities–that may benefit from sharing‘lessons learned’.

A Scalable Testing Framework for Location-Based Services

A novel testing framework for location based services is introduced. In particular, the paper showcases a novel architecture for such a framework. The implementation of the framework illustrates both the functionality and the feasibility of the framework proposed and the utility of the architecture. The new framework is evaluated through comparison to several other methodologies currently available for the testing of location-based applications. A case study is presented in which the testing framework was applied to a typical mobile service tracking system. It is concluded that the proposed testing framework achieves the best coverage of the entire location based service testing problem of the currently available methodologies; being equipped to test the widest array of application attributes and allowing for the automation of testing activities.

The digital‘connected’earth:open technology for providing location-based services on degraded communication environments

n the current world,it is easy to listen that everybody and everything is connected.Over this connected world,the concept of location-based services has grown in order to provide digital services in everyplace and at every time.Nevertheless,this is not 100%true because the connection is not guaranteed for many people and in many places.These are the Degraded Communications Environments(DCE),environments where the availability of high-speed communications is not guaranteed in at least the 75%of the time.This paper works over the experience of a previous work in developing light protocols that do not need broadband for communication.This work provides an extension of these protocols for the inclusion of mobile devices as elements of the communication process and a set of libraries to allow the development of applications in DCE.The work done has involved the development of two frameworks:an Android framework that makes the incorporation of Android devices easier and a server-based framework that provides the server side for the development of the referred applications.A use case that uses these two frameworks has been developed.Finally,all technology developed is available throw a public Git repository.

Healthcare Services Interoperability in Kenya: Challenges and Opportunities

In an attempt to assess the Kenyan healthcare system, this study looks at the current efforts that are already in place, what challenges they face, and what strategies can be put into practice to foster interoperability. By reviewing a variety of literature and using statistics, the paper ascertains notable impediments such as the absence of standard protocols, lack of adequate technological infrastructure, and weak regulatory frameworks. Resultant effects from these challenges regarding health provision target enhanced data sharing and merging for better patient outcomes and allocation of resources. It also highlights several opportunities that include the adoption of emerging technologies, and the establishment of public-private partnerships to strengthen the healthcare framework among others. In this regard, the article provides recommendations based on stakeholder views and global best practices addressed to policymakers, medical practitioners, and IT specialists concerned with achieving effective interoperability within Kenya’s health system. This research is relevant because it adds knowledge to the existing literature on how healthcare quality can be improved to make it more patient-centered especially in Kenya.

Spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem services and their trade-offs and synergies against the background of the gully control and land consolidation project on the Loess Plateau,China

Studying the spatiotemporal variations in ecosystem services and their interrelationships on the Loess Plateau against the background of the gully control and land consolidation(GCLC)project has significant implications for ecological protection and quality development of the Yellow River Basin.Therefore,in this study,we took Yan'an City,Shaanxi Province of China,as the study area,selected four typical ecosystem services,including soil conservation service,water yield service,carbon storage service,and habitat quality service,and quantitatively evaluated the spatiotemporal variation characteristics and trade-offs and synergies of ecosystem services from 2010 to 2018 using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs(InVEST)model.We also analysed the relationship between the GCLC project and regional ecosystem service changes in various regions(including 1 city,2 districts,and 10 counties)of Yan'an City and proposed a coordinated development strategy between the GCLC project and the ecological environment.The results showed that,from 2010 to 2018,soil conservation service decreased by 7.76%,while the other three ecosystem services changed relatively little,with water yield service increasing by 0.56% and carbon storage service and habitat quality service decreasing by 0.16% and 0.14%,respectively.The ecological environment of Yan'an City developed in a balanced way between 2010 and 2018,and the four ecosystem services showed synergistic relationships,among which the synergistic relationships between soil conservation service and water yield service and between carbon storage service and habitat quality service were significant.The GCLC project had a negative impact on the ecosystem services of Yan'an City,and the impact on carbon storage service was more significant.This study provides a theoretical basis for the scientific evaluation of the ecological benefits of the GCLC project and the realization of a win-win situation between food security and ecological security.

Exploring the Spatiotemporal Changes and Driving Forces of Ecosystem Services of Zhejiang Coasts,China,Under Sustainable Development Goals

Ecosystem services(ESs)refer to the continuous provisioning of ecosystem goods and services that benefit human beings.Over recent decades,rapid urbanization has exerted significant pressure on coastal ecosystems,resulting in biodiversity and habitat loss,environmental pollution,and the depletion of natural resources.In response to these environmental challenges,the Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)were proposed.Given the pressing need to address these issues,understanding the changes in ESs under the SDGs is crucial for formulating specific ecological strategies.In this study,we first analyzed land use and cover change in the Zhejiang coasts of China during 2000–2020.Then,we investigated the spatiotemporal configuration of ESs by integrating carbon storage(CS),soil retention(SR),habitat quality(HQ)and water yield(WY)using the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs(InVEST)model.The driving mechanisms of ESs,which varied by space and time,were also explored using the Geo-detector method.The results revealed that,over the past two decades:1)the Zhejiang coasts have experienced a significant increase of 2783.72 km^(2) in built-up land areas and a continuous decrease in farmland areas due to rapid urbanization;2)owing to higher precipitation,extensive vegetation cover,and reduced anthropogenic disturbances,forests emerge as a crucial land use type for maintaining ecosystem services such as HQ,CS,WY,and SR;3)ESs have generally declined across the entire Zhejiang coasts,with a significant decrease observed in the northern areas and an increase in the southern areas spatially;4)the expansion of built-up land areas emerged as the primary factor affecting ecosystem services,while the vegetation factor has been increasingly significant and is expected to become predominant in the near future.Our study provides insights of understanding of ecosystem service theory and emphasizing the importance of preserving biodiversity for long-term sustainable development,and valuable scientific references to support the ecological management decision-making for local governments.

Regional Digital Financial Services Security Clinic for Asia Pacific Region

April 24-25, Seoul, Republic of Korea The International Telecommunication Union(ITU) is organizing the Regional Digital Financial Services Security Clinic for Asia Pacific Region on April 24-25, 2024 in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The event is being jointly held with FNSV Korea and the Korean Fintech Center.

A Hybrid Machine Learning Approach for Improvised QoE in Video Services over 5G Wireless Networks

Video streaming applications have grown considerably in recent years.As a result,this becomes one of the most significant contributors to global internet traffic.According to recent studies,the telecommunications industry loses millions of dollars due to poor video Quality of Experience(QoE)for users.Among the standard proposals for standardizing the quality of video streaming over internet service providers(ISPs)is the Mean Opinion Score(MOS).However,the accurate finding of QoE by MOS is subjective and laborious,and it varies depending on the user.A fully automated data analytics framework is required to reduce the inter-operator variability characteristic in QoE assessment.This work addresses this concern by suggesting a novel hybrid XGBStackQoE analytical model using a two-level layering technique.Level one combines multiple Machine Learning(ML)models via a layer one Hybrid XGBStackQoE-model.Individual ML models at level one are trained using the entire training data set.The level two Hybrid XGBStackQoE-Model is fitted using the outputs(meta-features)of the layer one ML models.The proposed model outperformed the conventional models,with an accuracy improvement of 4 to 5 percent,which is still higher than the current traditional models.The proposed framework could significantly improve video QoE accuracy.

Mapping Climate Services for Disaster Risk Management: A Systematic Review and Research Gaps from a Policy Process Perspective

Climate services (CS) are crucial for mitigating and managing the impacts and risks associated with climate-induced disasters. While evidence over the past decade underscores their effectiveness across various domains, particularly agriculture, to maximize their potential, it is crucial to identify emerging priority areas and existing research gaps for future research agendas. As a contribution to this effort, this paper employs the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to review the state-of-the-art in the field of climate services for disaster risk management. A comprehensive search across five literature databases combined with a snowball search method using ResearchRabbit was conducted and yielded 242 peer-reviewed articles, book sections, and reports over 2013-2023 after the screening process. The analysis revealed flood, drought, and food insecurity as major climate-related disasters addressed in the reviewed literature. Major climate services addressed included early warning systems, (sub)seasonal forecasts and impact-based warnings. Grounded in the policy processes’ theoretical perspective, the main focus identified and discussed three prevailing policy-oriented priority areas: 1) development of climate services, 2) use-adoption-uptake, and 3) evaluation of climate services. In response to the limitations of the prevalent supply-driven and top-down approach to climate services promotion, co-production emerges as a cross-cutting critical aspect of the identified priority areas. Despite the extensive research in the field, more attention is needed, particularly pronounced in the science-policy interface perspective, which in practice bridges scientific knowledge and policy decisions for effective policy processes. This perspective offers a valuable analytical lens as an entry point for further investigation. Hence, future research agendas would generate insightful evidence by scrutinizing this critical aspect given its importance to institutions and climate services capacity, to better understand intricate facets of the development and the integration of climate services into disaster risk management.

Coupling Coordination Analysis of Cropland Intensification and Agroecosystem Services:Evidence from Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province,China

One of the greatest challenges in the agroecosystem is to improve cropland intensification while preserving agroecosystem services.While many studies have investigated the effect of cropland intensification on agroecosystem service,the interactive coupling and coordination among these factors remain largely unexplored.In view of this,this study performed a case study of the Loess Plateau in Shaanxi Province,China and constructed comprehensive evaluation models to quantify the cropland intensification and agroecosystem service in this area.Balance analysis and the coupling coordination degree model were used to evaluate the interactive relationship between cropland intensification and agroecosystem service,and statistical analysis and spatial autocorrelation were used to analyze the spatial characteristics and potential mechanism of the coupling coordination.Results show that both the cropland intensification and agroecosystem service in the study area were relatively low yet gradually increased from 2000 to 2020.Agroecosystem service lag was identified as the dominant unbalanced development type.Improving the supply capacity of agroecosystem services plays a key role in the balanced development of cropland in the Loess Plateau.The coupling coordination degree between cropland intensification and agroecosystem service ranges from basic coordination to serious incoordination.Therefore,cropland intensification practices in the area should be optimized to enhance this coordination degree.An upward trend was also observed in the coupling coordination degree from2000 to 2020.The withdrawal of marginal cropland in the Grain for Green program is one of the most important reasons for this trend,especially for the northern region.Around 83.6%of the high-high clusters are concentrated in the southern region of the Loess Plateau,whereas 70.5%of the low-low clusters are distributed in the northern region.These clustering characteristics are mainly attributed to the environmental suitability of these areas for agriculture and their degree of economic development.

Which Neighborhoods Have Easier Access to Online Home Delivery Services?A Spatiotemporal Accessibility Analysis in Nanjing,China

The rise in online home delivery services(OHDS)has had a significant impact on how urban services are supplied and used in recent years.Studies on the spatial accessibility of OHDS are emerging,but few is known about the temporal dimension of OHDS accessibility as well as the geographic and socioeconomic differences in the spatiotemporal accessibility of OHDS.This study measures the spatiotemporal accessibility of four types of OHDS,namely leisure,fresh and convenient,medical,and catering services.The geographic and socioeconomic disparities in the spatiotemporal accessibility of these four types of OHDS are then identified using spatial statistical methods and the Kruskal-Wallis test(K-W test).The case study in Nanjing,China,suggests that:1)spatiotemporal accessibility better reflects the temporal variation of OHDS accessibility and avoids overestimation of OHDS accessibility when only considering its spatial dimension.2)The spatiotemporal accessibility of OHDS varies geographically and socioeconomically.Neighborhoods located in the main city or neighborhoods with higher housing prices,higher population density,and higher point of interest(POI)mix have better OHDS spatiotemporal accessibility.Our study contributes to the understanding of OHDS accessibility from a spatiotemporal perspective,and the empirical insights can assist policymakers in creating intervention plans that take into account variations in OHDS spatiotemporal accessibility.

Diversified Elderly Care Services to Promote the Silver Economy

China is striving to build an elderly-friendly society,with comfortable living facilities,convenient transportation,and accessible leisure services.THE Chinese path to modernization entails the modernization of a huge population.Part of this,as was declared at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC),means China will pursue a proactive national strategy in response to population aging,and develop elderly care programs and services.To actively respond to population aging,there is more to care than just the physical health of the elderly.Their needs are multi-level and diverse.To some extent,it’s fair to say that a society’s happiness is largely dependent on whether or not the elderly are happy.The silver economy,which meets the needs of the elderly for a better life,therefore has enormous development potentials.