Integrity Coded Databases (ICDB) - An Evaluation of Efficiency, Performance, and Practicality

Recently, cloud database storage has become an inexpensive and convenient option to store information; however, this relatively new area of service can be vulnerable to security breaches. Storing data in a foreign location requires the owner to relinquish control of their information. This opens the possibility for internal, malicious attacks that can involve the manipulation, omission, or addition of data. Our research tests a potential solution for retaining data as it was intended to be stored (known as integrity) in these cloud-stored databases: by converting the original databases to Integrity-Coded Databases (ICDB). ICDBs utilize Integrity Codes: cryptographic codes created for the data by a private key that only the data owner has access to. When the database is queried, an integrity code is returned along with the queried information. The owner is able to verify that the information is correct, complete, and fresh. Consequently, ICDBs also incur performance and memory penalties. In our research, we explore, test, and benchmark ICDBs to determine the costs and benefits of maintaining an ICDB versus a standard database

Evaluación del plan de desarrollo del municipio de Fundación. Periodo 1.998 - 2.000

La finalidad de esta investigación es comparar los objetivos planteados con las metas y los resultados obtenidos del Plan de Desarrollo del Municipio de Fundación durante el período 1.998 - 2.000 en los sectores sociales de mayor impacto. Teniendo en cuenta la cultura de la Planeación de Desarrollo en sus diferentes fases o etapas se van conformando una serie de procedimientos articulados y lógicos con el objeto de que una vez se formule un Plan de Desarrollo, este debe operatividad por medio de los planes de acción, el cual se convierte en un instrumento guía para la acción de las instancias públicas y privadas del Municipio, en el cual se expresan los resultados de un proceso de planeación concertado entre los diversos sectores de la población local. En este sentido, la investigación pretende aportar al Municipio de Fundación unos mecanismos técnicos, a través de la aplicación de un sistema de monitoreo, de seguimiento y evaluación, seleccionando y 29 utilizando una serie de indicadores que permitan medir el grado de gestión, reflejado en la eficacia, eficiencia y equidad de la administración local Municipal, si se tiene en cuenta que no existe una memoria técnica institucional que permita contar con una base de datos e información pertinente para la planeación y toma de decisiones futuras. A nivel de la Academia - Sector Público, se pretende que la Universidad del Magdalena, abra espacios sólidos para interactuar directamente con la realidad de los entes territoriales y hacer presencia institucional en ellos, por consiguiente, este trabajo debe constituirse en un instrumento para prestarle a las instancias locales llámese Municipios o Distritos asesorías especializadas en monitoreo de los planes de desarrollo

Identification of Host Genes Involved in Geminivirus Infection Using a Reverse Genetics Approach

Geminiviruses, like all viruses, rely on the host cell machinery to establish a successful infection, but the identity and function of these required host proteins remain largely unknown. Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (TYLCSV), a monopartite geminivirus, is one of the causal agents of the devastating Tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD). The transgenic 2IRGFP N. benthamiana plants, used in combination with Virus Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS), entail an important potential as a tool in reverse genetics studies to identify host factors involved in TYLCSV infection. Using these transgenic plants, we have made an accurate description of the evolution of TYLCSV replication in the host in both space and time. Moreover, we have determined that TYLCSV and Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) do not dramatically influence each other when co-infected in N. benthamiana, what makes the use of TRV-induced gene silencing in combination with TYLCSV for reverse genetic studies feasible. Finally, we have tested the effect of silencing candidate host genes on TYLCSV infection, identifying eighteen genes potentially involved in this process, fifteen of which had never been implicated in geminiviral infections before. Seven of the analyzed genes have a potential anti-viral effect, whereas the expression of the other eleven is required for a full infection. Interestingly, almost half of the genes altering TYLCSV infection play a role in postranslational modifications. Therefore, our results provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying geminivirus infections, and at the same time reveal the 2IRGFP/VIGS system as a powerful tool for functional reverse genetics studies

Measurement of vector boson scattering and constraints on anomalous quartic couplings from events with four leptons and two jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for supersymmetry in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV using identified top quarks

A search for supersymmetry is presented based on proton-proton collision events containing identified hadronically decaying top quarks, no leptons, and an imbalance p(T)(miss) in transverse momentum. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). Search regions are defined in terms of the multiplicity of bottom quark jet and top quark candidates, the p(T)(miss) , the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, and themT2 mass variable. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model. Lower limits on the masses of supersymmetric particles are determined at 95% confidence level in the context of simplified models with top quark production. For a model with direct top squark pair production followed by the decay of each top squark to a top quark and a neutralino, top squark masses up to 1020 GeVand neutralino masses up to 430 GeVare excluded. For amodel with pair production of gluinos followed by the decay of each gluino to a top quark-antiquark pair and a neutralino, gluino masses up to 2040 GeVand neutralino masses up to 1150 GeVare excluded. These limits extend previous results.Peer reviewe

Search for resonances in the mass spectrum of muon pairs produced in association with b quark jets in proton-proton collisions at root 8 and 13 TeV

A search for resonances in the mass range 12-70 GeV produced in association with a b quark jet and a second jet, and decaying to a muon pair, is reported. The analysis is based on data from proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 8 and 13 TeV, collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponding to integrated luminosities of 19.7 and 35.9 fb(-1), respectively. The search is carried out in two mutually exclusive event categories. Events in the first category are required to have a b quark jet in the central region (|| 2.4) and at least one jet in the forward region (|| > 2.4). Events in the second category are required to have two jets in the central region, at least one of which is identified as a b quark jet, no jets in the forward region, and low missing transverse momentum. An excess of events above the background near a dimuon mass of 28 GeV is observed in the 8 TeV data, corresponding to local significances of 4.2 and 2.9 standard deviations for the first and second event categories, respectively. A similar analysis conducted with the 13 TeV data results in a mild excess over the background in the first event category corresponding to a local significance of 2.0 standard deviations, while the second category results in a 1.4 standard deviation deficit. The fiducial cross section measurements and 95% confidence level upper limits on those for a resonance consistent with the 8 TeV excess are provided at both collision energies

Search for Evidence of the Type-III Seesaw Mechanism in Multilepton Final States in Proton-Proton Collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for a light pseudoscalar Higgs boson produced in association with bottom quarks in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Pseudorapidity distributions of charged hadrons in proton-lead collisions at root s(NN)=5:02 and 8.16 TeV

The pseudorapidity distributions of charged hadrons in proton-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energies root s(NN) = 5.02 and 8.16 TeV are presented. The measurements are based on data samples collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The number of primary charged hadrons produced in non-single-diffractive proton-lead collisions is determined in the pseudorapidity range vertical bar eta(lab)vertical bar vertical bar(vertical bar eta cm vertical bar) <0.5 are 17.1 +/- 0.01 (stat) +/- 0.59 (syst) and 20.10 +/- 0.01 (stat) +/- 0.5(syst) at root s(NN) = 5.02 and 8.16 TeV, respectively. The particle densities per participant nucleon are compared to similar measurements in proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions.Peer reviewe