Analyzing the viability of UAV missions facing cyber attacks

With advanced video and sensing capabilities, un-occupied aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly being usedfor numerous applications that involve the collaboration andautonomous operation of teams of UAVs. Yet such vehicle scan be affected by cyber attacks, impacting the viability of their missions. We propose a method to conduct mission via-bility analysis under cyber attacks for missions that employa team of several UAVs that share a communication network. We apply our method to a case study of a survey mission in a wildfire firefighting scenario. Within this context, we show how our method can help quantify the expected mission performance impact from an attack and determine if the mission can remain viable under various attack situations. Our method can be used both in the planning of the mission and for decision making during mission operation.Our approach to modeling attack progression and impact analysis with Petri nets is also more broadly applicable toother settings involving multiple resources that can be used interchangeably towards the same objectiv

Plasmodium falciparum glutamate dehydrogenase a is dispensable and not a drug target during erythrocytic development

<p>Background: Plasmodium falciparum contains three genes encoding potential glutamate dehydrogenases. The protein encoded by gdha has previously been biochemically and structurally characterized. It was suggested that it is important for the supply of reducing equivalents during intra-erythrocytic development of Plasmodium and, therefore, a suitable drug target.</p> <p>Methods: The gene encoding the NADP(H)-dependent GDHa has been disrupted by reverse genetics in P. falciparum and the effect on the antioxidant and metabolic capacities of the resulting mutant parasites was investigated.</p> <p>Results: No growth defect under low and elevated oxygen tension, no up-or down-regulation of a number of antioxidant and NADP(H)-generating proteins or mRNAs and no increased levels of GSH were detected in the D10(Delta gdha) parasite lines. Further, the fate of the carbon skeleton of [(13)C] labelled glutamine was assessed by metabolomic studies, revealing no differences in the labelling of a-ketoglutarate and other TCA pathway intermediates between wild type and mutant parasites.</p> <p>Conclusions: First, the data support the conclusion that D10(Delta gdha) parasites are not experiencing enhanced oxidative stress and that GDHa function may not be the provision of NADP(H) for reductive reactions. Second, the results imply that the cytosolic, NADP(H)-dependent GDHa protein is not involved in the oxidative deamination of glutamate but that the protein may play a role in ammonia assimilation as has been described for other NADP(H)dependent GDH from plants and fungi. The lack of an obvious phenotype in the absence of GDHa may point to a regulatory role of the protein providing glutamate (as nitrogen storage molecule) in situations where the parasites experience a limiting supply of carbon sources and, therefore, under in vitro conditions the enzyme is unlikely to be of significant importance. The data imply that the protein is not a suitable target for future drug development against intra-erythrocytic parasite development.</p&gt

A new actinic flux 4?-spectroradiometer: Instrument design and application to clear sky and broken cloud conditions

International audienceA new 4p-spectroradiometer was developed for measuring actinic flux especially under cloudy conditions based on a fixed grating imaging spectrograph and a CCD-detector leading to a simultaneous measurement of the spectrum. The new instrument incorporates a novel optical head with a 4p-field of view independent of angle of incidence. Comparisons with the actinic flux spectroradiometer of the Institute of Atmospheric Chemistry of Forschungszentrum Jülich showed a very good agreement within the limit of the uncertainties of the two instruments. Our spectroradiometer was applied to investigate the effects of broken clouds on the actinic flux and photolysis frequencies on the ground during the BERLIOZ campaign. Reductions as well as enhancements compared to the clear sky case were seen, both effects are larger in the UV-A than the UV-B spectral region. Furthermore the new instrument was used for simultaneous measurements in different altitudes on a tower to study the transmission and attenuation of actinic flux in low clouds. A correlation of attenuation with the simultaneously measured liquid water content of the cloud was found

Processing counterfactual and hypothetical conditionals: An fMRI investigation

Counterfactual thinking is ubiquitous in everyday life and an important aspect of cognition and emotion. Although counterfactual thought has been argued to differ from processing factual or hypothetical information, imaging data which elucidate these differences on a neural level are still scarce. We investigated the neural correlates of processing counterfactual sentences under visual and aural presentation. We compared conditionals in subjunctive mood which explicitly contradicted previously presented facts (i.e. counterfactuals) to conditionals framed in indicative mood which did not contradict factual world knowledge and thus conveyed a hypothetical supposition. Our results show activation in right occipital cortex (cuneus) and right basal ganglia (caudate nucleus) during counterfactual sentence processing. Importantly the occipital activation is not only present under visual presentation but also with purely auditory stimulus presentation, precluding a visual processing artifact. Thus our results can be interpreted as reflecting the fact that counterfactual conditionals pragmatically imply the relevance of keeping in mind both factual and supposed information whereas the hypothetical conditionals imply that real world information is irrelevant for processing the conditional and can be omitted. The need to sustain representations of factual and suppositional events during counterfactual sentence processing requires increased mental imagery and integration efforts. Our findings are compatible with predictions based on mental model theory

Children's suggestibility in relation to their understanding about sources of knowledge

In the experiments reported here, children chose either to maintain their initial belief about an object's identity or to accept the experimenter's contradicting suggestion. Both 3– to 4–year–olds and 4– to 5–year–olds were good at accepting the suggestion only when the experimenter was better informed than they were (implicit source monitoring). They were less accurate at recalling both their own and the experimenter's information access (explicit recall of experience), though they performed well above chance. Children were least accurate at reporting whether their final belief was based on what they were told or on what they experienced directly (explicit source monitoring). Contrasting results emerged when children decided between contradictory suggestions from two differentially informed adults: Three– to 4–year–olds were more accurate at reporting the knowledge source of the adult they believed than at deciding which suggestion was reliable. Decision making in this observation task may require reflective understanding akin to that required for explicit source judgments when the child participates in the task

Children's working understanding of knowledge sources : confidence in knowledge gained from testimony

In three experiments children aged between 3 and 5 years (N = 38; 52; 94; mean ages 3;7 to 5;2) indicated their confidence in their knowledge of the identity of a hidden toy. With the exception of some 3-year-olds, children revealed working understanding of their knowledge source by showing high confidence when they had seen or felt the toy, and lower confidence when they had been told its identity by an apparently well-informed speaker, especially when the speaker subsequently doubted the adequacy of his access to the toy. After a 2-minute delay, 3-to 4- year olds, unlike 4- to 5-year-olds, failed to see the implications of the speaker’s doubt about his access

What children know about the source of their knowledge without reporting it as the source

We argue that, amongst 3- to 5- year-olds, failure to report the source of knowledge recently acquired in answer to “How do you know…?” is due to a specific failure to make a causal inference, in line with source monitoring theory but not fuzzy trace theory. In three Experiments, children (N = 37; 30; 59) identified a hidden toy by seeing, feeling, or by being told, having had two modes of access on each trial, one informative (e.g. seeing a toy identified by colour) and the other uninformative (e.g. being told the toy’s colour by the Experimenter who had only felt it). Children who answered the know question wrongly nevertheless reported accurately who saw and who felt the toy, and what the well-informed player had said. They also realised when the Experimenter’s uninformative access implied their own knowledge was unreliable, suggesting precocious working understanding of knowledge sources

Human prostate sphere-forming cells represent a subset of basal epithelial cells capable of glandular regeneration in vivo.

BackgroundProstate stem/progenitor cells function in glandular development and maintenance. They may be targets for tumor initiation, so characterization of these cells may have therapeutic implications. Cells from dissociated tissues that form spheres in vitro often represent stem/progenitor cells. A subset of human prostate cells that form prostaspheres were evaluated for self-renewal and tissue regeneration capability in the present study.MethodsProstaspheres were generated from 59 prostatectomy specimens. Lineage marker expression and TMPRSS-ERG status was determined via immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Subpopulations of prostate epithelial cells were isolated by cell sorting and interrogated for sphere-forming activity. Tissue regeneration potential was assessed by combining sphere-forming cells with rat urogenital sinus mesenchyme (rUGSM) subcutaneously in immunocompromised mice.ResultsProstate tissue specimens were heterogeneous, containing both benign and malignant (Gleason 3-5) glands. TMPRSS-ERG fusion was found in approximately 70% of cancers examined. Prostaspheres developed from single cells at a variable rate (0.5-4%) and could be serially passaged. A basal phenotype (CD44+CD49f+CK5+p63+CK8-AR-PSA-) was observed among sphere-forming cells. Subpopulations of prostate cells expressing tumor-associated calcium signal transducer 2 (Trop2), CD44, and CD49f preferentially formed spheres. In vivo implantation of sphere-forming cells and rUGSM regenerated tubular structures containing discreet basal and luminal layers. The TMPRSS-ERG fusion was absent in prostaspheres derived from fusion-positive tumor tissue, suggesting a survival/growth advantage of benign prostate epithelial cells.ConclusionHuman prostate sphere-forming cells self-renew, have tissue regeneration capability, and represent a subpopulation of basal cells

Recognition memory, self-other source memory, and theory-of-mind in children with autism spectrum disorder.

This study investigated semantic and episodic memory in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), using a task which assessed recognition and self-other source memory. Children with ASD showed undiminished recognition memory but significantly diminished source memory, relative to age- and verbal ability-matched comparison children. Both children with and without ASD showed an “enactment effect”, demonstrating significantly better recognition and source memory for self-performed actions than other-person-performed actions. Within the comparison group, theory-of-mind (ToM) task performance was significantly correlated with source memory, specifically for other-person-performed actions (after statistically controlling for verbal ability). Within the ASD group, ToM task performance was not significantly correlated with source memory (after controlling for verbal ability). Possible explanations for these relations between source memory and ToM are considered

Продукты ограниченного протеолиза: подходы к обнаружению и диагностические возможности в оценке тяжести патологии при эндогенной интоксикации

ПРОДУКТЫ ОГРАНИЧЕННОГО ПРОТЕОЛИЗАПРОТЕИНАЗО-ИНГИБИТОРНАЯ СИСТЕМАОТРАВЛЕНИЕ /ДИАГН /ОСЛЭНДОГЕННАЯ ИНТОКСИКАЦИЯ /ДИАГН /ОСЛСРЕДНЕМОЛЕКУЛЯРНАЯ ПЕПТИДНАЯ ФРАКЦИЯПАТОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ПРОЦЕССЫЛАБОРАТОРНЫЕ МЕТОДЫ И ПРОЦЕДУРЫБЕЛКОВО-ПЕПТИДНЫЕ КОМПОНЕНТ