3,672 research outputs found

    A Survey on Forensics and Compliance Auditing for Critical Infrastructure Protection

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    The broadening dependency and reliance that modern societies have on essential services provided by Critical Infrastructures is increasing the relevance of their trustworthiness. However, Critical Infrastructures are attractive targets for cyberattacks, due to the potential for considerable impact, not just at the economic level but also in terms of physical damage and even loss of human life. Complementing traditional security mechanisms, forensics and compliance audit processes play an important role in ensuring Critical Infrastructure trustworthiness. Compliance auditing contributes to checking if security measures are in place and compliant with standards and internal policies. Forensics assist the investigation of past security incidents. Since these two areas significantly overlap, in terms of data sources, tools and techniques, they can be merged into unified Forensics and Compliance Auditing (FCA) frameworks. In this paper, we survey the latest developments, methodologies, challenges, and solutions addressing forensics and compliance auditing in the scope of Critical Infrastructure Protection. This survey focuses on relevant contributions, capable of tackling the requirements imposed by massively distributed and complex Industrial Automation and Control Systems, in terms of handling large volumes of heterogeneous data (that can be noisy, ambiguous, and redundant) for analytic purposes, with adequate performance and reliability. The achieved results produced a taxonomy in the field of FCA whose key categories denote the relevant topics in the literature. Also, the collected knowledge resulted in the establishment of a reference FCA architecture, proposed as a generic template for a converged platform. These results are intended to guide future research on forensics and compliance auditing for Critical Infrastructure Protection.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Planetary Hinterlands:Extraction, Abandonment and Care

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    This open access book considers the concept of the hinterland as a crucial tool for understanding the global and planetary present as a time defined by the lasting legacies of colonialism, increasing labor precarity under late capitalist regimes, and looming climate disasters. Traditionally seen to serve a (colonial) port or market town, the hinterland here becomes a lens to attend to the times and spaces shaped and experienced across the received categories of the urban, rural, wilderness or nature. In straddling these categories, the concept of the hinterland foregrounds the human and more-than-human lively processes and forms of care that go on even in sites defined by capitalist extraction and political abandonment. Bringing together scholars from the humanities and social sciences, the book rethinks hinterland materialities, affectivities, and ecologies across places and cultural imaginations, Global North and South, urban and rural, and land and water

    Displacement and the Humanities: Manifestos from the Ancient to the Present

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    This is the final version. Available on open access from MDPI via the DOI in this recordThis is a reprint of articles from the Special Issue published online in the open access journal Humanities (ISSN 2076-0787) (available at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/humanities/special_issues/Manifestos Ancient Present)This volume brings together the work of practitioners, communities, artists and other researchers from multiple disciplines. Seeking to provoke a discourse around displacement within and beyond the field of Humanities, it positions historical cases and debates, some reaching into the ancient past, within diverse geo-chronological contexts and current world urgencies. In adopting an innovative dialogic structure, between practitioners on the ground - from architects and urban planners to artists - and academics working across subject areas, the volume is a proposition to: remap priorities for current research agendas; open up disciplines, critically analysing their approaches; address the socio-political responsibilities that we have as scholars and practitioners; and provide an alternative site of discourse for contemporary concerns about displacement. Ultimately, this volume aims to provoke future work and collaborations - hence, manifestos - not only in the historical and literary fields, but wider research concerned with human mobility and the challenges confronting people who are out of place of rights, protection and belonging

    Analysis and Design of Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) Techniques for Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems

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    The current surge in wireless connectivity, anticipated to amplify significantly in future wireless technologies, brings a new wave of users. Given the impracticality of an endlessly expanding bandwidth, there’s a pressing need for communication techniques that efficiently serve this burgeoning user base with limited resources. Multiple Access (MA) techniques, notably Orthogonal Multiple Access (OMA), have long addressed bandwidth constraints. However, with escalating user numbers, OMA’s orthogonality becomes limiting for emerging wireless technologies. Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA), employing superposition coding, serves more users within the same bandwidth as OMA by allocating different power levels to users whose signals can then be detected using the gap between them, thus offering superior spectral efficiency and massive connectivity. This thesis examines the integration of NOMA techniques with cooperative relaying, EXtrinsic Information Transfer (EXIT) chart analysis, and deep learning for enhancing 6G and beyond communication systems. The adopted methodology aims to optimize the systems’ performance, spanning from bit-error rate (BER) versus signal to noise ratio (SNR) to overall system efficiency and data rates. The primary focus of this thesis is the investigation of the integration of NOMA with cooperative relaying, EXIT chart analysis, and deep learning techniques. In the cooperative relaying context, NOMA notably improved diversity gains, thereby proving the superiority of combining NOMA with cooperative relaying over just NOMA. With EXIT chart analysis, NOMA achieved low BER at mid-range SNR as well as achieved optimal user fairness in the power allocation stage. Additionally, employing a trained neural network enhanced signal detection for NOMA in the deep learning scenario, thereby producing a simpler signal detection for NOMA which addresses NOMAs’ complex receiver problem

    Multidisciplinary perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and the law

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    This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty. The potential and perils of AI have thus come to dominate modern discussions of technology and ethics – and although AI was initially allowed to largely develop without guidelines or rules, few would deny that the law is set to play a fundamental role in shaping the future of AI. As the debate over AI is far from over, the need for rigorous analysis has never been greater. This book thus brings together contributors from different fields and backgrounds to explore how the law might provide answers to some of the most pressing questions raised by AI. An outcome of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law and its interdisciplinary working group on Law and Artificial Intelligence, it includes contributions by leading scholars in the fields of technology, ethics and the law.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Inovação na diplomacia cultural: o caso da China

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    This study focuses on the innovation of China’s cultural diplomacy (CCD) by means of the Confucius Institute (CI). The main contents revolve around the following research goals: 1) to understand the strategic framework and practical path of CCD, and to clarify the context of its inheritance and innovation; 2) to analyze whether the CI, epitomized as a crucial innovation of CCD, has improved China’s national image in Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) and enhanced the attraction and international competitiveness of Chinese culture; and 3) to explore how China can better formulate its CD strategy in line with the exigencies of the modern era. The study combines the methods of literature review, case study, and questionnaire research to explore the topics from different perspectives to strengthen the scientific nature of the research results. In addition to the introduction and conclusion, the thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 discusses the connotation and value of CD. Chapter 2 expounds the development and innovation of CCD. Chapter 3 systematically summarizes China’s cultural interaction in its diplomatic process with PSCs. Chapter 4 elaborates on the CI in terms of its operation mode and diplomatic means. Chapter 5 forms the core of the study and involves empirical analysis of case-study and questionnaire data. It aims to investigate the functions, public image, influence, and practical means of CIs in the process of CD. Major findings indicate that CIs in PSCs have achieved ideal social feedback and play a positive role in shaping the image of China. However, according to the different continents where CIs are located, the survey results show distinct characteristics which are closely related to China’s different foreign policies towards Latin America, Europe, and Africa and are determined by the historical experiences and national conditions of the various countries. The future task for CCD is to clarify China’s institutional roots and the cultural genes behind its development by using cultural exchanges and China’s fluid culture to convey a message of China’s pursuit of peace, development, and cooperation.Este estudo tem como foco a inovação da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC) através do Instituto Confúcio (IC). Os principais conteúdos giram em torno dos seguintes objetivos de investigação: 1) compreender o enquadramento estratégico e o percurso prático da Diplomacia Cultural da China e clarificar o contexto da sua herança e inovação; 2) analisar se o IC, exemplo de inovação crucial da Diplomacia Cultural da China, melhorou a imagem nacional da China nos Países de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP) e aumentou a atração e competitividade internacional da cultura chinesa; e 3) explorar como a China pode formular melhor a sua estratégia de Diplomacia Cultural, de acordo com as exigências da era moderna. O estudo combina os métodos de revisão de literatura, estudo de caso e pesquisa de questionário para explorar os tópicos de diferentes perspetivas com o objetivo de fortalecer a natureza científica dos resultados de investigação. Além da introdução e da conclusão, a tese está dividida em cinco capítulos. O Capítulo 1 discute a conotação e o valor de Diplomacia Cultural (DC). O Capítulo 2 expõe o desenvolvimento e a inovação da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC). O Capítulo 3 resume sistematicamente a interação cultural da China no seu processo diplomático com os Países de Língua Oficial Portuguesa (PALOP). O Capítulo 4 discorre sobre o papel do IC em termos do seu modo de operar e dos seus meios diplomáticos. O Capítulo 5 constitui o núcleo da tese e envolve a análise empírica dos dados do estudo de caso e do questionário. Tem como objetivo investigar as funções, a imagem pública, a influência e os meios práticos dos IC no processo de Diplomacia Cultural (DC). As principais descobertas indicam que os IC nos PALOP alcançaram o feedback social ideal e desempenham um papel positivo na formação da imagem da China. No entanto, de acordo com os diferentes continentes onde os IC estão situados, os resultados da pesquisa apresentam caraterísticas distintas que estão intimamente relacionadas com as diferentes políticas externas da China para a América Latina, a Europa e a África e são determinadas pelas experiências históricas e pelas condições nacionais dos vários países. A futura tarefa da Diplomacia Cultural da China (DCC) será a de esclarecer as raízes institucionais da China e os genes culturais por trás do seu desenvolvimento, usando intercâmbios culturais e a cultura fluida da China para transmitir uma mensagem de busca de paz, de desenvolvimento e de cooperação por parte da China.Programa Doutoral em Políticas Pública

    Resource-aware scheduling for 2D/3D multi-/many-core processor-memory systems

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    This dissertation addresses the complexities of 2D/3D multi-/many-core processor-memory systems, focusing on two key areas: enhancing timing predictability in real-time multi-core processors and optimizing performance within thermal constraints. The integration of an increasing number of transistors into compact chip designs, while boosting computational capacity, presents challenges in resource contention and thermal management. The first part of the thesis improves timing predictability. We enhance shared cache interference analysis for set-associative caches, advancing the calculation of Worst-Case Execution Time (WCET). This development enables accurate assessment of cache interference and the effectiveness of partitioned schedulers in real-world scenarios. We introduce TCPS, a novel task and cache-aware partitioned scheduler that optimizes cache partitioning based on task-specific WCET sensitivity, leading to improved schedulability and predictability. Our research explores various cache and scheduling configurations, providing insights into their performance trade-offs. The second part focuses on thermal management in 2D/3D many-core systems. Recognizing the limitations of Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) in S-NUCA many-core processors, we propose synchronous thread migrations as a thermal management strategy. This approach culminates in the HotPotato scheduler, which balances performance and thermal safety. We also introduce 3D-TTP, a transient temperature-aware power budgeting strategy for 3D-stacked systems, reducing the need for Dynamic Thermal Management (DTM) activation. Finally, we present 3QUTM, a novel method for 3D-stacked systems that combines core DVFS and memory bank Low Power Modes with a learning algorithm, optimizing response times within thermal limits. This research contributes significantly to enhancing performance and thermal management in advanced processor-memory systems

    Medical Image Analysis using Deep Relational Learning

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    In the past ten years, with the help of deep learning, especially the rapid development of deep neural networks, medical image analysis has made remarkable progress. However, how to effectively use the relational information between various tissues or organs in medical images is still a very challenging problem, and it has not been fully studied. In this thesis, we propose two novel solutions to this problem based on deep relational learning. First, we propose a context-aware fully convolutional network that effectively models implicit relation information between features to perform medical image segmentation. The network achieves the state-of-the-art segmentation results on the Multi Modal Brain Tumor Segmentation 2017 (BraTS2017) and Multi Modal Brain Tumor Segmentation 2018 (BraTS2018) data sets. Subsequently, we propose a new hierarchical homography estimation network to achieve accurate medical image mosaicing by learning the explicit spatial relationship between adjacent frames. We use the UCL Fetoscopy Placenta dataset to conduct experiments and our hierarchical homography estimation network outperforms the other state-of-the-art mosaicing methods while generating robust and meaningful mosaicing result on unseen frames.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2007.0778

    Recombinant spidroins from infinite circRNA translation

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    Spidroins are a diverse family of peptides and the main components of spider silk. They can be used to produce sustainable, lightweight and durable materials for a large variety of medical and engineering applications. Spiders’ territorial behaviour and cannibalism precludes farming them for silk. Recombinant protein synthesis is the most promising way of producing these peptides. However, many approaches have been unsuccessful in obtaining large titres of recombinant spidroins or ones of sufficient molecular weight. The work described here is focused on expressing high molecular weight spidroins from short circular RNA molecules. Mammalian host cells were transfected with designed circular-RNA-producing plasmid vectors. A backsplicing approach was implemented to successfully circularise RNA in a variety of mammalian cell types. This approach could not express any recombinant spidroins based on a variety of qualitative protein assays. Further experiments investigated the reasons behind this. Additionally, due to the diversity of spidroins in a large number of spider lineages, there are potentially many spidroin sequences left to be discovered. A bioinformatic pipeline was developed that accepts transcriptome datasets from RNA sequencing and uses tandem repeat detection and profile HMM annotation to identify novel sequences. This pipeline was specifically designed for the identification of repeat domains in expressed sequences. 21 transcriptomes from 17 different species, encompassing a wide selection of basal and derived spider lineages, were investigated using this pipeline. Six previously undescribed spidroin sequences were discovered. This pipeline was additionally tested in the context of the suckerin protein family. These proteins have recently been investigated for their potential properties in medicine and engineering including adhesion in wet environments. The computational pipeline was able to double the number of suckerins known to date. Further phylogenetic analysis was implemented to expand on the knowledge of suckerins. This pipeline enables the identification of transcripts that may have been overlooked by more mainstream analysis methods such as pairwise homology searches. The spidroins and suckerins discovered by this pipeline may contribute to the large repertoire of potentially useful properties characteristic of this diverse peptide family
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