Lockdown: Dynamic Control-Flow Integrity

Applications written in low-level languages without type or memory safety are especially prone to memory corruption. Attackers gain code execution capabilities through such applications despite all currently deployed defenses by exploiting memory corruption vulnerabilities. Control-Flow Integrity (CFI) is a promising defense mechanism that restricts open control-flow transfers to a static set of well-known locations. We present Lockdown, an approach to dynamic CFI that protects legacy, binary-only executables and libraries. Lockdown adaptively learns the control-flow graph of a running process using information from a trusted dynamic loader. The sandbox component of Lockdown restricts interactions between different shared objects to imported and exported functions by enforcing fine-grained CFI checks. Our prototype implementation shows that dynamic CFI results in low performance overhead.Comment: ETH Technical Repor

Intensification of the freeze drying process by the control of both freezing and primary drying steps

The problem of optimization of freeze-drying cycles is addressed, with emphasis in both freezing and primary drying steps. In particular, this study shows that the control of the nucleation event produces more uniform batches (as ice nucleation is induced in all the vials of batch almost at the same time and temperature) and allows a marked reduction in the duration of the optimized cycle (if compared to cycles carried out with conventional stochastic nucleation

Tissue Targeted Embryonic Chimeras: Zebrafish Gastrula Cell Transplantation

Certain fundamental questions in the field of developmental biology can only be answered when cells are placed in novel environments or when small groups of cells in a larger context are altered. Watching how one cell interacts with and behaves in a unique environment is essential to characterizing cell functions. Determining how the localized misexpression of a specific protein influences surrounding cells provides insightful information on the roles that protein plays in a variety of developmental processes. Our lab uses the zebrafish model system to uniquely combine genetic approaches with classical transplantation techniques to generate genotypic or phenotypic chimeras. We study neuron-glial cell interactions during the formation of forebrain commissures in zebrafish. This video describes a method that allows our lab to investigate the role of astroglial populations in the diencephalon and the roles of specific guidance cues that influence projecting axons as they cross the midline. Due to their transparency zebrafish embryos are ideal models for this type of ectopic cell placement or localized gene misexpression. Tracking transplanted cells can be accomplished using a vital dye or a transgenic fish line expressing a fluorescent protein. We demonstrate here how to prepare donor embryos with a vital dye tracer for transplantation, as well as how to extract and transplant cells from one gastrula staged embryo to another. We present data showing ectopic GFP+ transgenic cells within the forebrain of zebrafish embryos and characterize the location of these cells with respect to forebrain commissures. In addition, we show laser scanning confocal timelapse microscopy of Alexa 594 labeled cells transplanted into a GFP+ transgenic host embryo. These data provide evidence that gastrula staged transplantation enables the targeted positioning of ectopic cells to address a variety of questions in Developmental Biology

Fiscal Smell Tests: A Mid-Term Reality Check of Massachusetts Finances

In his latest budget message the Governor points to achievement of a real, but fragile fiscal balance. On the credit side of the ledger, he cites four balanced budgets, reduced reliance on one-time revenues, no new taxes, five tax cuts, no deficit borrowing, and a triple upgrade in bond rating. On the debit side are continued spending pressures, slow tax revenue growth and burdensome levels of debt. But is the fiscal condition of the Commonwealth stable, albeit fragile? Or would a careful reading of the numbers transmit another message? The purpose of this report is to measure the Commonwealth\u27s financial health against a generally accepted list of performance indicators in order to render an independent judgment about the state\u27s fiscal progress and condition

Process Analytical Technology for monitoring pharmaceuticals freeze drying - A Comprehensive Review

The goal of this paper is to review the available process analytical technology tools for monitoring the batch freeze-drying process for pharmaceuticals. These systems aim evaluating in-line product temperature, sublimation flow rate, and values of some model parameters in such a way that it can be used for in-line or off-line process optimization. A detailed survey of the systems proposed in the literature is presented, grouping them on the basis of monitored variable, namely, product temperature, heat flux to the product, sublimation flux, and, finally, other variables. The advantages and drawbacks of the techniques are critically assessed, taking into account the possibility of using them not only at lab-scale but also at production scale, beside, obviously, the possibility of getting reliable measurements of the desired variables

Quality by Design in process development and scale-up for lyophilized parenteral products

In the last decade FDA invited pharmaceutical industry to modernize their manufacturing, applying the most recent Process Analytical Technologies and the Quality by Design paradigm. The final goal is the promotion of more efficient and cost-effective processes, building drug product quality within the process rather than testing it off-line at the end of the process (1). This article shows how this goal can be achieved in the case of freeze-drying of parenteral products. In particular, the problem of design and scale-up is shown for a real case in industry, i.e., the freeze-drying of an antiviral drug. Examples are given of cycles designed varying either freezing conditions or scale of equipment