The PER model of abstract non-interference

Abstract. In this paper, we study the relationship between two models of secure information flow: the PER model (which uses equivalence relations) and the abstract non-interference model (which uses upper closure operators). We embed the lattice of equivalence relations into the lattice of closures, re-interpreting abstract non-interference over the lattice of equivalence relations. For narrow abstract non-interference, we show non-interference it is strictly less general. The relational presentation of abstract non-interference leads to a simplified construction of the most concrete harmless attacker. Moreover, the PER model of abstract noninterference allows us to derive unconstrained attacker models, which do not necessarily either observe all public information or ignore all private information. Finally, we show how abstract domain completeness can be used for enforcing the PER model of abstract non-interference

Crystallization kinetics as a sensitive tool to detect degradation in poly(lactide)/poly(ε-caprolactone)/ PCL-co-PC copolymers blends

Poly(lactide)/poly(ε-caprolactone) blends (PLA/PCL) with composition 80/20 (w/w%) are immiscible but biodegradable and therefore often studied in the literature. We have prepared 80/20 PLA/PCL blends with and without poly(ε-caprolactone)-co-poly(carbonate) copolymers (block and random). The blends were prepared both by melt extrusion and by solution blending. The concentration of PCL-co-PC copolymers added to the blends was 2 wt%. Compression molded sheets and solvent cast films were evaluated by GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography), TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy), PLOM (Polarized Light Optical Microscopy) and DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimetry). Copolymer addition causes a reduction of molecular weight in melt mixed blends. In particular, the random copolymer (PCL-ran-PC) causes the highest molecular weight reduction, since it has lower thermal stability, as shown by TGA. PLOM experiments show that these degraded PLA chains in melt-mixed blends can nucleate and grow faster than similar but undegraded PLA chains in solution-mixed blends. As a result, the PLA phase within melt mixed blends containing PCL-co-PC copolymers shows a higher tendency to crystallize during both isothermal and non-isothermal DSC experiments. Upon molecular weight reduction in melt mixed blends containing copolymers, PLA chains have a higher mobility resulting in faster diffusion towards the growing crystal front. Our results show crystallization kinetic measurements, performed by PLOM or DSC, are useful tools to qualitatively detect molecular weight changes produced by degradation of PLA chains, when the molecular weight reduction is not large enough to decrease Tm values

Ogre and Pythia: An Invariance Proof Method for Weak Consistency Models

We design an invariance proof method for concurrent programs parameterised by a weak consistency model. The calculational design of the invariance proof method is by abstract interpretation of a truly parallel analytic semantics. This generalises the methods by Lamport and Owicki-Gries for sequential consistency. We use cat as an example of language to write consistency specifications of both concurrent programs and machine architectures

In-hospital and out-of-hospital stroke in patients with COVID-19: two different diseases?

Background: Ischemic stroke is a known complication of COVID-19. It may have a different pathogenesis and worse outcome compared to stroke in patients without COVID-19. Furthermore, patients with COVID-19 and out-of-hospital stroke onset might have different characteristics compared to patients with COVID-19 and in-hospital stroke onset. The aim of our study was to analyze the characteristics of patients with stroke with and without COVID-19 and of patients with COVID-19 with in-hospital and out-of-hospital stroke. Methods: We performed a retrospective study of all consecutive patients admitted to our hospital with ischemic stroke between October 2020 and February 2021. We compared functional outcome, lab test, demographic, and clinical characteristics between patients with or without COVID-19. We performed a sub-analysis comparing patients with COVID-19 and in-hospital and out-of-hospital stroke onset. Results: We included in the final analysis 137 patients of whom 26 with COVID-19. Half (13) had out-of-hospital stroke and half in-hospital stroke onset. Overall, patients with COVID-19 had higher mortality compared to the control group (27% vs 9%, p: 0.02), and non-significantly lower rate of good functional outcome (50% vs 63%, p: 0.22). Patients with COVID-19 and out-of-hospital stroke had higher rate of good functional outcome (69% vs 39%, p: 0.05), higher lymphocyte count, and lower D-dimer compared with patients with in-hospital stroke onset. Conclusions: Patients with stroke and COVID-19 had higher mortality compared to patients without COVID-19. Among patients with COVID-19 those with out-of-hospital stroke had better outcome and fewer blood test abnormalities compared to patients with in-hospital stroke

Program Verification by Using DISCOVERER

Recent advances in program verification indicate that various verification problems can be reduced to semi-algebraic system (SAS for short) solving. An SAS consists of polynomial equations and polynomial inequalities. Algorithms for quantifier elimination of real closed fields are the general method for those problems. But the general method usually has low efficiency for specific problems. To overcome the bottleneck of program verification with a symbolic approach, one has to combine special techniques with the general method. Based on the work of complete discrimination systems of polynomials [33,31], we invented new theories and algorithms [32,30,35] for SAS solving and partly implemented them as a real symbolic computation tool in Maple named DISCOVERER. In this paper, we first summarize the results that we have done so far both on SAS-solving and program verification with DISCOVERER, and then discuss the future work in this direction, including SAS-solving itself, termination analysis and invariant generation of programs, and reachability computation of hybrid systems etc. ? IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2008.EI

Foreword: programming language interference and dependence

Interference and dependence are closely related concepts: interference being the observable phenomenon connected with dependence. Essentially, interference means that the behaviour of some parts of a dynamic system may influence the behaviour of other parts of the same system, while dependence specifies how the semantics of sub-components of a dynamic system are related. Identifying, measuring and controlling interference is essential in many aspects of modern computer science, in particular, in security, program analysis and verification, debugging, systems specification, model checking, program manipulation, program slicing, reverse engineering, data mining, distributed databases and systems biology. In all these fields, dependency and interference play a key role in designing suitable abstractions or in partitioning complex systems into simpler ones. Reasoning about dependency and interference requires theories, models and semantics, as well as algorithms and tools for their analysis. Beginning in 2004, the series of Programming Language Interference and Dependence (PLID) workshops has been devoted to promoting and spreading cutting-edge research in this field, with a particular emphasis on unpublished results with great impact on the theoretical basis. PLID2007, which was held at the The Technical University of Denmark on 21 August 2007, was particularly successful, and constituted the ideal forum for announcing a call for papers for a special journal issue on programming language interference and dependence, which would not necessarily be restricted to PLID2007 contributions. From the many expressions of interest, we selected six contributions by leading researchers in the field, some of which had been presented at the PLID2007 workshop. The selected papers focus on foundational aspects of dependency and interference, with applications in language-based security, data-base management systems and program slicing

Strong Preservation by Model Deformation

Reliable and secure system design requires an increasing number of methods, algorithms, and tools for automatic program manipulation. Any program change corresponds to a transformation that affects the semantics at some given level of abstraction. We call these techniques model deformations. In this paper we propose a mathematical foundation for completeness-driven deformations of transition systems w.r.t. a given abstraction, and we introduce CEGMOD, an algorithm for the systematic deformation of Kripke structures for inducing strong preservation in abstract model checking. We prove that our model deformations are deeply related with the notions of must and may transitions in modal transition systems, providing a theoretical characterization of strong preservation in these systems

Timed Abstract Non-Interference

In this paper, we introduce a timed notion of abstract non-interference. This is obtained by considering semantics which observe time elapsed in computations. Timing channels can be modeled in this way either by letting the attacker to observe time as a public variable or reckon the time elapsed by observing the computational traces' length, corresponding to observe the program counter. In the first case abstract non-interference provides a model for abstracting the information about time, namely we can for example consider models of attackers that can observe only intervals of time, or other more abstract properties. In the second case abstract non-interference provides a model for attackers able to observe properties of trace length, e.g., the public memory during the whole computation. We investigate when adding the observation of time does not increase the attacker's power in disclosing confidential information about data. This models the absence of timing channels in language-based security