Runtime model checking for sla compliance monitoring and qos prediction

Sophisticated workflows, where multiple parties cooperate towards the achievement of a shared goal are today common. In a market-oriented setup, it is key that effective mechanisms be available for providing accountability within the business process. The challenge is to be able to continuously monitor the progress of the business process, ideally,anticipating contract breaches and triggering corrective actions. In this paper we propose a novel QoS prediction approach which combines runtime monitoring of the real system with probabilistic model-checking on a parametric system model. To cope with the huge amount of data generated by the monitored system, while ensuring that parameters are extracted in a timing fashion, we relied on big data analytics solutions. To validate the proposed approach, a prototype of the QoS prediction framework has been developed, and an experimental campaign has been conducted with respect to a case study in the field of Smart Grids

The C-X-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 1 Sustains Breast Cancer Stem Cell Self-Renewal and Promotes Tumor Progression and Immune Escape Programs

Breast cancer (BC) mortality is mainly due to metastatic disease, which is primarily driven by cancer stem cells (CSC). The chemokine C-X-C motif ligand-1 (CXCL1) is involved in BC metastasis, but the question of whether it regulates breast cancer stem cell (BCSC) behavior is yet to be explored. Here, we demonstrate that BCSCs express CXCR2 and produce CXCL1, which stimulates their proliferation and self-renewal, and that CXCL1 blockade inhibits both BCSC proliferation and mammosphere formation efficiency. CXCL1 amplifies its own production and remarkably induces both tumor-promoting and immunosuppressive factors, including SPP1/OPN, ACKR3/CXCR7, TLR4, TNFSF10/TRAIL and CCL18 and, to a lesser extent, immunostimulatory cytokines, including IL15, while it downregulates CCL2, CCL28, and CXCR4. CXCL1 downregulates TWIST2 and SNAI2, while it boosts TWIST1 expression in association with the loss of E-Cadherin, ultimately promoting BCSC epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Bioinformatic analyses of transcriptional data obtained from BC samples of 1,084 patients, reveals that CXCL1 expressing BCs mostly belong to the Triple-Negative (TN) subtype, and that BC expression of CXCL1 strongly correlates with that of pro-angiogenic and cancer promoting genes, such as CXCL2-3-5-6, FGFBP1, BCL11A, PI3, B3GNT5, BBOX1, and PTX3, suggesting that the CXCL1 signaling cascade is part of a broader tumor-promoting signaling network. Our findings reveal that CXCL1 functions as an autocrine growth factor for BCSCs and elicits primarily tumor progression and immune escape programs. Targeting the CXCL1/CXCR2 axis could restrain the BCSC compartment and improve the treatment of aggressive BC

Notulae to the Italian flora of algae, bryophytes, fungi and lichens: 5

In this contribution, new data concerning bryophytes, fungi, and lichens of the Italian flora are presented. It includes new records and confirmations for the bryophyte genera Diplophyllum and Ptychostomum, the fungal genera Arrhenia, Gymnosporangium, and Sporidesmium and the lichen genera Arthonia, Coenogonium, Flavoplaca, Gyalolechia, Parmotrema, Peltigera, Pterygiopsis, Squamarina, Tornabea, and Waynea

Evolving trends in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 waves. The ACIE appy II study

Background: In 2020, ACIE Appy study showed that COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the management of patients with acute appendicitis (AA) worldwide, with an increased rate of non-operative management (NOM) strategies and a trend toward open surgery due to concern of virus transmission by laparoscopy and controversial recommendations on this issue. The aim of this study was to survey again the same group of surgeons to assess if any difference in management attitudes of AA had occurred in the later stages of the outbreak. Methods: From August 15 to September 30, 2021, an online questionnaire was sent to all 709 participants of the ACIE Appy study. The questionnaire included questions on personal protective equipment (PPE), local policies and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection, NOM, surgical approach and disease presentations in 2021. The results were compared with the results from the previous study. Results: A total of 476 answers were collected (response rate 67.1%). Screening policies were significatively improved with most patients screened regardless of symptoms (89.5% vs. 37.4%) with PCR and antigenic test as the preferred test (74.1% vs. 26.3%). More patients tested positive before surgery and commercial systems were the preferred ones to filter smoke plumes during laparoscopy. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the first option in the treatment of AA, with a declined use of NOM. Conclusion: Management of AA has improved in the last waves of pandemic. Increased evidence regarding SARS-COV-2 infection along with a timely healthcare systems response has been translated into tailored attitudes and a better care for patients with AA worldwide

Il Futuro della Cybersecurity in Italia: Ambiti Progettuali Strategici

Il presente volume nasce come continuazione del precedente, con l’obiettivo di delineare un insieme di ambiti progettuali e di azioni che la comunità nazionale della ricerca ritiene essenziali a complemento e a supporto di quelli previsti nel DPCM Gentiloni in materia di sicurezza cibernetica, pubblicato nel febbraio del 2017. La lettura non richiede particolari conoscenze tecniche; il testo è fruibile da chiunque utilizzi strumenti informatici o navighi in rete. Nel volume vengono considerati molteplici aspetti della cybersecurity, che vanno dalla definizione di infrastrutture e centri necessari a organizzare la difesa alle azioni e alle tecnologie da sviluppare per essere protetti al meglio, dall’individuazione delle principali tecnologie da difendere alla proposta di un insieme di azioni orizzontali per la formazione, la sensibilizzazione e la gestione dei rischi. Gli ambiti progettuali e le azioni, che noi speriamo possano svilupparsi nei prossimi anni in Italia, sono poi accompagnate da una serie di raccomandazioni agli organi preposti per affrontare al meglio, e da Paese consapevole, la sfida della trasformazione digitale. Le raccomandazioni non intendono essere esaustive, ma vanno a toccare dei punti che riteniamo essenziali per una corretta implementazione di una politica di sicurezza cibernetica a livello nazionale. Politica che, per sua natura, dovrà necessariamente essere dinamica e in continua evoluzione in base ai cambiamenti tecnologici, normativi, sociali e geopolitici. All’interno del volume, sono riportati dei riquadri con sfondo violetto o grigio; i primi sono usati nel capitolo introduttivo e nelle conclusioni per mettere in evidenza alcuni concetti ritenuti importanti, i secondi sono usati negli altri capitoli per spiegare il significato di alcuni termini tecnici comunemente utilizzati dagli addetti ai lavori. In conclusione, ringraziamo tutti i colleghi che hanno contribuito a questo volume: un gruppo di oltre 120 ricercatori, provenienti da circa 40 tra Enti di Ricerca e Università, unico per numerosità ed eccellenza, che rappresenta il meglio della ricerca in Italia nel settore della cybersecurity. Un grazie speciale va a Gabriella Caramagno e ad Angela Miola che hanno contribuito a tutte le fasi di produzione del libro. Tra i ringraziamenti ci fa piacere aggiungere il supporto ottenuto dai partecipanti al progetto FILIERASICURA

Advanced SIEM Technology for Critical Infrastructure Protection

In the last two years an increasing number of coordinated and targeted cyber-attacks, characterized by an unprecedented level of sophistication, has been conducted against critical infrastructures. This cyber-threat generates serious concerns especially when targets of attacks are critical infrastructures, whose failure may result in death of hundreds or thousands of people, as well as in dramatic damages to the environment. The current SCADA technology is not able to cope with cyber-attacks, since it was not designed with security in mind. Protection from cyber-attacks has to be provided by additional technology, which need to be integrated with the existing SCADA systems in a seamless way. In this chapter we present the approach taken in the MASSIF project to enhance current SIEM technology in order to make it suitable for the protection of Critical Infrastructures. In particular, we focus on issues related to data collection and parsing. We propose data gathering techniques and illustrate their implementation in an enhanced SIEM platform. We do this in the context of a challenging case study, namely monitoring and control of a dam

Integration of a System for Critical Infrastructure Protection with the OSSIM SIEM Platform: A dam case study

In recent years the monitoring and control devices in charge of supervising the critical processes of Critical Infrastructures have been victims of cyber attacks. To face such threat, organizations providing critical services are increasingly focusing on protecting their network infrastructures. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) frameworks support network protection by performing centralized correlation of network asset reports. In this work we propose an extension of a commercial SIEM framework, namely OSSIM by AlienVault, to perform the analysis of the reports (events) generated by monitoring, control and security devices of the dam infrastructure. Our objective is to obtain evidences of misuses and malicious activities occurring at the dam monitoring and control system, since they can result in issuing hazardous commands to control devices. We present examples of misuses and malicious activities and procedures to extend OSSIM for analyzing new event types

A Comprehensive Survey of Hardware-assisted Security: from the Edge to the Cloud

Sensitive data processing occurs more and more on machines or devices out of users control. In the Internet of Things world, for example, the security of data could be posed at risk regardless the adopted deployment is oriented on Cloud or Edge Computing. In these systems different categories of attacks — such as physical bus sniffing, cold boot, cache side-channel, buffer overflow, code-reuse, or Iago — can be realized. Software-based countermeasures have been proposed. However, the severity and complexity of these attacks require a level of security that only the hardware support can ensure. In the last years, major companies released a number of architectural extensions aiming at provide hardware-assisted security to software. In this paper, we realize a comprehensive survey of HW-assisted technological solutions produced by vendors like Intel, AMD, and ARM for both embedded edge-devices and hosting machines such as cloud servers. The different approaches are classified based on the type of attacks prevented and the enforced techniques. An analysis on their mechanisms, issues, and market adoption is provided to support investigations of researchers approaching to this field of systems security