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The prevalence of social media and mobile computing has led to intensive user engagement in the emergent Cyber-Physical-Social-Thinking (CPST) space. However, the easy access, the lack of governance, and excessive use has generated a raft of new behaviors within CPST, which affects users’ physical, social, and mental states. In this paper, we conceive the Cyber-Syndrome concept to denote the collection of cyber disorders due to excessive or problematic Cyberspace interactions based on CPST theories. Then we characterize the Cyber-Syndrome concept in terms of Maslow’s theory of Needs, from which we establish an in-depth theoretical understanding of Cyber-Syndrome from its etiology, formation, symptoms, and manifestations. Finally, we propose an entropy-based Cyber-Syndrome control mechanism for its computation and management. The goal of this study is to give new insights into this rising phenomenon and offer guidance for further research and development.


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Cyber-Syndrome: Concept, Theoretical Characterization, and Control Mechanism

Show Author's information Feifei Shi1Huansheng Ning1( )Liming Chen2Sahraoui Dhelim3
School of Computer and Communication Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Faculty of Computing, Ulster University, Newtownabbey, BT37 0QB, UK
School of Computer Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, D04 V1W8, Ireland

Abstract

The prevalence of social media and mobile computing has led to intensive user engagement in the emergent Cyber-Physical-Social-Thinking (CPST) space. However, the easy access, the lack of governance, and excessive use has generated a raft of new behaviors within CPST, which affects users’ physical, social, and mental states. In this paper, we conceive the Cyber-Syndrome concept to denote the collection of cyber disorders due to excessive or problematic Cyberspace interactions based on CPST theories. Then we characterize the Cyber-Syndrome concept in terms of Maslow’s theory of Needs, from which we establish an in-depth theoretical understanding of Cyber-Syndrome from its etiology, formation, symptoms, and manifestations. Finally, we propose an entropy-based Cyber-Syndrome control mechanism for its computation and management. The goal of this study is to give new insights into this rising phenomenon and offer guidance for further research and development.

Keywords: cyber-physical systems, entropy, Cyber-Syndrome, Cyber-Physical-Social-Thinking (CPST) space, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

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Received: 15 December 2022
Revised: 20 April 2023
Accepted: 26 May 2023
Published: 04 December 2023
Issue date: June 2024

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© The Author(s) 2024.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2020YFB1712101).

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