Deduction with XOR Constraints in Security API Modelling

We introduce XOR constraints, and show how they enable a theorem prover to reason effectively about security critical subsystems which employ bitwise XOR. Our primary case study is the API of the IBM 4758 hardware security module. We also show how our technique can be applied to standard security protocols

Probabilistic Search for Object Segmentation and Recognition

The problem of searching for a model-based scene interpretation is analyzed within a probabilistic framework. Object models are formulated as generative models for range data of the scene. A new statistical criterion, the truncated object probability, is introduced to infer an optimal sequence of object hypotheses to be evaluated for their match to the data. The truncated probability is partly determined by prior knowledge of the objects and partly learned from data. Some experiments on sequence quality and object segmentation and recognition from stereo data are presented. The article recovers classic concepts from object recognition (grouping, geometric hashing, alignment) from the probabilistic perspective and adds insight into the optimal ordering of object hypotheses for evaluation. Moreover, it introduces point-relation densities, a key component of the truncated probability, as statistical models of local surface shape.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Training to translate: Understanding and informing translational animal research in pre-clinical pharmacology

This is the final version. Available on open access from Tecnoscienza via the link in this recordWe investigate translation in biomedicine by exploring how researchers supported by the British Pharmacological Society’s Integrative Pharmacology Fund (IPF) have responded to increasing translational aspirations within pre-clinical animal research. The IPF sought to enhance institutional capacities, collaborative practices, and personal skills within in vivo research in the quintessentially translational fields of pharmacology, physiology and toxicology. We identify three manifestations of the influence of translational aspirations: 1) shifting from the standardisation of animal models to the alignment of research on animals with human therapeutic pathways; 2) expanding relationalities of care in animal research from a focus on the animal body to institutional arrangements around clinical care; and 3) changing training around research ethics, integrity and good statistical practice. Concluding, we discuss the value of working interactively with those involved in the changing practices of animal research and translation as a means to foster reflexivity about what matters when ‘training to translate’.British Pharmacological SocietyWellcome TrustEuropean Research CouncilAustralian Research Counci

Remote sensing in Michigan for land resource management

The Environmental Research Institute of Michigan is conducting a program whose goal is the large-scale adoption, by both public agencies and private interests in Michigan, of NASA earth-resource survey technology as an important aid in the solution of current problems in resource management and environmental protection. During the period from June 1975 to June 1976, remote sensing techniques to aid Michigan government agencies were used to achieve the following major results: (1) supply justification for public acquisition of land to establish the St. John's Marshland Recreation Area; (2) recommend economical and effective methods for performing a statewide wetlands survey; (3) assist in the enforcement of state laws relating to sand and gravel mining, soil erosion and sedimentation, and shorelands protection; (4) accomplish a variety of regional resource management actions in the East Central Michigan Planning and Development Region. Other tasks on which remote sensing technology was used include industrial and school site selection, ice detachment in the Soo Harbor, grave detection, and data presentation for wastewater management programs

Remote sensing in Michigan for land resource management

An extensive program was conducted to establish practical uses of NASA earth resource survey technology in meeting resource management problems throughout Michigan. As a result, a broad interest in and understanding of the usefulness of remote sensing methods was developed and a wide variety of applications was undertaken to provide information needed for informed decision making and effective action

AdS/CFT and the Information Paradox

The information paradox in the quantum evolution of black holes is studied within the framework of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The unitarity of the CFT strongly suggests that all information about an initial state that forms a black hole is returned in the Hawking radiation. The CFT dynamics implies an information retention time of order the black hole lifetime. This fact determines many qualitative properties of the non-local effects that must show up in a semi-classical effective theory in the bulk. We argue that no violations of causality are apparent to local observers, but the semi-classical theory in the bulk duplicates degrees of freedom inside and outside the event horizon. Non-local quantum effects are required to eliminate this redundancy. This leads to a breakdown of the usual classical-quantum correspondence principle in Lorentzian black hole spacetimes.Comment: 16 pages, harvmac, reference added, minor correction

Blood rheology, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study

The West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study (WOSCOPS) showed that pravastatin reduced the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) events in 6,595 middle-aged hypercholesterolaemic men aged 45-64 years without prior myocardial infarction followed for an average of 4.9 years. We hypothesised prospectively (a) that baseline levels of haemorheological variables were related to baseline and incident CHD and to mortality; and (b) that reduction in lipoproteins by pravastatin would lower plasma and blood viscosity, a potential contributory mechanism to CHD events. We therefore studied plasma and blood viscosity, fibrinogen, haematocrit, and blood cell counts at baseline and 1 year. At baseline, plasma and blood viscosity were related to risk factors, CHD measures, and claudication. On univariate analysis, baseline levels of all rheological variables (except platelet count) were related to incident CHD; CHD mortality; and total mortality. On multivariate analysis including baseline CHD and risk factors, plasma and blood viscosity, haematocrit and white cell count each remained significantly associated with incident CHD; while fibrinogen remained an independent predictor of mortality (all p<0.03). After one year, lipoprotein reduction by pravastatin was associated with significant reductions (about one quarter of a standard deviation) in plasma viscosity (mean difference 0.02 mPa.s, p<0.001) and in blood viscosity (mean difference 0.06 mPa.s, p<0.001), but was not associated with significant changes in other rheological variables. We therefore suggest that pravastatin therapy, which reduces elevated lipoproteins in hypercholesterolaemic men, may lower risks of CHD and mortality partly by lowering plasma and blood viscosity. Further studies are required to test this hypothesis

TAuth: Verifying timed security protocols

Quantitative timing is often explicitly used in systems for better security, e.g., the credentials for automatic website logon often has limited lifetime. Verifying timing relevant security protocols in these systems is very challenging as timing adds another dimension of complexity compared with the untimed protocol verification. In our previous work, we proposed an approach to check the correctness of the timed authentication in security protocols with fixed timing constraints. However, a more difficult question persists, i.e., given a particular protocol design, whether the protocol has security flaws in its design or it can be configured secure with proper parameter values? In this work, we answer this question by proposing a parameterized verification framework, where the quantitative parameters in the protocols can be intuitively specified as well as automatically analyzed. Given a security protocol, our verification algorithm either produces the secure constraints of the parameters, or constructs an attack that works for any parameter values. The correctness of our algorithm is formally proved. We implement our method into a tool called PTAuth and evaluate it with several security protocols. Using PTAuth, we have successfully found a timing attack in Kerberos V which is unreported before.No Full Tex

Mapping and explaining the productivity of Pinus radiata in New Zealand

Mapping Pinus radiata productivity for New Zealand not only provides useful information for forest owners, industry stakeholders and policy managers, but also enables current and future plantations to be visualised, quantified, and planned. Using an extensive set of permanent sample plots, split into fitting (n = 1,146) and validation (n = 618) datasets, models of P. radiata 300 Index (an index of volume mean annual increment) and Site Index (an index of height growth) were developed using a regression kriging technique. Spatial predictions were accurate and accounted for 61% and 70% of the variance for 300 Index and Site Index, respectively. Productivity predicted from these surfaces for the entire plantation estate averaged 27.4 m³ ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for the 300 Index and 30.4 m for Site Index. Surfaces showed wide regional variation in this productivity, which was attributable mainly to variation in air temperature and root-zone water storage from site to site