Detection and Localization of Network Blackholes

According to wikipedia[1], blackholes in networking refer to places in the network where incoming traffic is silently discarded or dropped without informing the source that the data did not reached its intended recipient.

Detection and localization of network black holes was the main concern of this research. The main purpose also for doing such research is that there is a need for providing a new algorithm for detection and localization of network blackholes. The paper discussed the importance of creating such algorithm and how they have done it. The paper also included the experimentation and evaluation of the algorithm. This research is very interesting since network blackholes are very difficult to detect and to localized in a network since we are only dealing with signals and bits. It is very challenging to study such type of application.

When it comes to relevance, this paper is very relevant since this type of network problem is inevitable when transmitting data packets through a medium. There is a tendency that data packets silently drops w/out informing the sender that the connection was unsuccessful. Detection at the same time localization of this blackhole is very intelligent idea to solve the problem by providing algorithms for sending alarms if such scenario occurs. But take note of the title of the research, it focuses only on the detection and localization, not on recovery. It leaves as a challenge to other researchers and other technical reader that will read the paper to continue the development of an algorithm not only detect and localize but also allows the automatic recovery from network blackholes. When it comes to the presentation, the researchers explained the topic very well and provided information such as the experimentation. But one problem of the paper is that there are many technical terms and acronyms w/c is very difficult to understand specially for readers who are not familiar with the context of the research.

References:

[1]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_%28networking%29
[2]. http://research.microsoft.com/netres/publications/infocom07-score.pdf

Spam Filtering Based on Preference Ranking

Wikipedia[1] defines spamming as the abuse of electronic messaging systems to indiscriminately send unsolicited bulk messages.

The research was about creating another solution to the most common problem to the internet nowadays w/c is spamming. The research aims to create another solution to spam this time by using preference ranking. The paper discussed spam filtering algorithm and what are the features of this new algorithm of spam filtering. "Email filtering is the process of monitoring incoming (or outgoing) email and then taking certain actions to that email (Mingjun Lan, Wanlei Zhou, 2005 )[2]. This spam filtering algorithm uses the technique called the preference ranking. "Preference ranking is to calculate the similarity among various documents from a user's preference sources (Mingjun Lan, Wanlei Zhou, 2005)[2]. This research is very relevant in solving w/c I think a world wide problem. The cost of spam to factors such as waste of bandwidth, to ISP services and time is very dramatic [3]. These spams can cause clogging to servers and marks a huge increase to the load of email servers. Providing a spam filtering algorithm could be really a great help to lessen email spam.

Knowing the fact that there are already existing solutions or anti-spam technology such as gateway filtering and Heuristic filtering [2], the researchers completely explains what is unique in the algorithm w/c the paper discussed. It is advantage to readers to know such algorithms in order for them go gain insights about the anti-spam technology and what is unique about this new technique. The research also shows all the relevant information in the research such as the related researches being conducted prior to their work, the experimentation and the testing and evaluation. But one thing is not clear to me, it was not emphasized on the paper on what is its difference to other technology when it comes to performance.

The research is very useful and important because this spamming problem is not yet solve up to this moment. This problem will result to some serious problem such as server clogging, network traffic and most of all lost of revenue for company that makes a living trough the internet. It is a challenge for all future IT and CS professionals to create a more powerful algorithm to solve this problem.

References:

[1]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamming
[2]. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ie5/10445/33169/01562654.pdf
[3]. http://www.prismemail.com/abouteconomics.php

Using Virtual Public Transport for Treating Phobia

Wikipedia[1] defines virtual reality (VR) as a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, be it a real or imagined one.

The paper discussed how virtual reality is used in order to treat phobia. The paper is actually a documentation of a simulation program w/c is used by patients for the therapy. As you read along the paper, you will find all the necessary information or important information about the paper such as its advantages, how the program is implemented and the hardware and software requisites in order for the program to run. The program by the way is a simulation of a train station complete with the sound effects in order for the patients feel as if they were in the actual train station. It is a great help specially for psychotherapist in dealing with their patients. There's no need for doctors in doing the therapy outside. But more importantly, another application of computer and virtual reality is discovered and computer is applied in a more important system as in psychotherapy.

Being a curious reader, it is not bad to assess and evaluate work of others. I find the paper very good and interesting to read because of 2 points. First, the author provides a background about phobia and psychotherapy for treating phobia. It is very important for technical reader who will read the paper in the future to know the background of the problem domain so that it will be easy for the reader to understand the paper. Second, the author enumerated the advantages and disadvantages of the system w/c I think again is very important. Very important for every research or application to know the advantages and disadvantages(if any) so that readers know what are the points that needs to be improved in the system in the future. This will also give an option for users to implement the system. But most importantly, bias were eliminated. There was hidden agenda from the system.

The paper goes to prove that Virtual Reality (VR) is not useful entertainment and educational field but also for medical applications such as in psychotherapy.

References:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality
[2]http://www.icdvrat.reading.ac.uk/2004/papers/S02_N3_Sik_Lanyi_Laky_ICDVRAT2004.pdf

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