Quantifying Timing Leaks and Cost Optimisation

We develop a new notion of security against timing attacks where the attacker is able to simultaneously observe the execution time of a program and the probability of the values of low variables. We then show how to measure the security of a program with respect to this notion via a computable estimate of the timing leakage and use this estimate for cost optimisation.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. A shorter version is included in the proceedings of ICICS'08 - 10th International Conference on Information and Communications Security, 20-22 October, 2008 Birmingham, U

On dynamical probabilities, or: how to learn to shoot straight

© IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2016.In order to support, for example, a quantitative analysis of various algorithms, protocols etc. probabilistic features have been introduced into a number of programming languages and calculi. It is by now quite standard to define the formal semantics of (various) probabilistic languages, for example, in terms of Discrete Time Markov Chains (DTMCs). In most cases however the probabilities involved are represented by constants, i.e. one deals with static probabilities. In this paper we investigate a semantical framework which allows for changing, i.e. dynamic probabilities which is still based on time-homogenous DTMCs, i.e. the transition matrix representing the semantics of a program does not change over time

A Methodology for the Reverse Engineering of the Energy Management Strategy of a Plug -In Hybrid Electric Vehicle for Virtual Test Rig Development

Nowadays, the need for more sustainable mobility is fostering powertrain electrification as a way of reducing the carbon footprint of conventional vehicles. On the other side, the presence of multiple energy sources significantly increases the powertrain complexity and requires the development of a suitable Energy Management System (EMS) whose performance can strongly affect the fuel economy potential of the vehicle. In such a framework, this article proposes a novel methodology to reverse engineer the control strategy of a test case P2 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) through the analysis of experimental data acquired in a wide range of driving conditions. In particular, a combination of data obtained from On-Board Diagnostic system (OBD), Controller Area Network (CAN)-bus protocol, and additional sensors installed on the High Voltage (HV) electric net of the vehicle is used to point out any dependency of the EMS decisions on the powertrain main operating variables. Furthermore, the impact that Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) connections have on the control law is assessed on several tests performing the same real-world route with the vehicle navigation system alternatively switched on and off. Finally, a virtual test rig of the tested vehicle, developed in the GT- SUITE environment, is used to validate the set of extracted rules against the experimental data. An error of about 1-2% on the prediction of the vehicle CO2 emissions and good matching of the State of Charge (SoC) profile in both Charge Depleting (CD) and Charge Sustaining (CS) phases prove the effectiveness of the proposed methodology

Prospects for detecting Gamma-Ray Bursts with the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi gamma-ray satellite telescope observes Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) at energies above 100 MeV. Thanks to a new detection algorithm and a new event reconstruction, it is expected to publish a catalogue with more than 100 GRBs. This work aims at revising the prospects for GRB alerts with the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) based on the new LAT results. We start by considering the simulation of the observations with the full CTA of two extremely bright events, the long GRB 130427A and the short GRB 090510; then we investigate how these GRBs would be observed by different subsamples of the array pointing to different directions, adopting the \u201ccoupled divergent\u201d mode

An amino acids mixture improves the hepatotoxicity induced by acetaminophen in mice

Acetaminophen (APAP) is a widely used analgesic and antipyretic drug, but at high dose it leads to undesirable side effects, such as hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective role of DDM-GSH, a mixture of L-cysteine, L-methionine, and L-serine in a weight ratio of 2\u2009:\u20091\u2009:\u20091, in comparison to N-acetylcysteine (NAC), against acetaminophen- (APAP-) induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Toxicity was induced in mice by the intraperitoneal (ip) administration of low dose (2\u2009mmol/kg) or high dose (8\u2009mmol/kg) of APAP. DDM-GSH (0.4 to 1.6\u2009mmol/kg) was given ip to mice 1\u2009h before the APAP administration. The same was done with NAC (0.9 to 3.6\u2009mmol/kg), the standard antidote of APAP toxicity. Mice were sacrificed 8\u2009h after the APAP injection to determine liver weight, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and total glutathione (GSH) depletion and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation in liver tissues. DDM-GSH improved mouse survival rates better than NAC against a high dose of APAP. Moreover, DDM-GSH significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner not only APAP-induced increases of ALT but also APAP-induced hepatic GSH depletion and MDA accumulation. Our results suggest that DDM-GSH may be more potent than NAC in protecting the liver from APAP-induced liver injury

Next-to-Leading Order QCD Corrections to Spectator Effects in Lifetimes of Beauty Hadrons

Theoretical predictions of beauty hadron lifetimes, based on the heavy quark expansion up to and including order 1/mb^2, do not to reproduce the experimental measurements of the lifetime ratios tau(B+)/tau(Bd) and tau(Lambdab)/tau(Bd). Large corrections to these predictions come from phase-space enhanced 1/mb^3 contributions, i.e. hard spectator effects. In this paper we calculate the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the Wilson coefficients of the local operators appearing at O(1/mb^3). We find that these corrections improve the agreement with the experimental data. The lifetime ratio of charged to neutral B mesons, tau(B+)/tau(Bd), turns out to be in very good agreement with the corresponding measurement, whereas for tau(Bs)/tau(Bd) and tau(Lambdab)/tau(Bd) there is a residual difference at the 1-sigma level. We discuss, however, why the theoretical predictions are less accurate in the latter cases.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures, uses epsf. Misprints in eqs. (28) and (52) corrected. Results unchanged. Final version to appear on Nucl.Phys.

Monte Carlo Performance Studies of Candidate Sites for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is the next-generation gamma-ray observatory with sensitivity in the energy range from 20 GeV to beyond 300 TeV. CTA is proposed to consist of two arrays of 40-100 imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, with one site located in each of the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The evaluation process for the candidate sites for CTA is supported by detailed Monte Carlo simulations, which take different attributes like site altitude and geomagnetic field configuration into account. In this contribution we present the comparison of the sensitivity and performance of the different CTA site candidates for the measurement of very-high energy gamma rays.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Second large-scale Monte Carlo study for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) represents the next generation of ground based instruments for Very High Energy gamma-ray astronomy. It is expected to improve on the sensitivity of current instruments by an order of magnitude and provide energy coverage from 20 GeV to more than 200 TeV. In order to achieve these ambitious goals Monte Carlo (MC) simulations play a crucial role, guiding the design of CTA. Here, results of the second large-scale MC production are reported, providing a realistic estimation of feasible array candidates for both Northern and Sourthern Hemisphere sites performance, placing CTA capabilities into the context of the current generation of High Energy $\gamma$-ray detectors.Comment: In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589