IoTSan: Fortifying the Safety of IoT Systems

Today's IoT systems include event-driven smart applications (apps) that interact with sensors and actuators. A problem specific to IoT systems is that buggy apps, unforeseen bad app interactions, or device/communication failures, can cause unsafe and dangerous physical states. Detecting flaws that lead to such states, requires a holistic view of installed apps, component devices, their configurations, and more importantly, how they interact. In this paper, we design IoTSan, a novel practical system that uses model checking as a building block to reveal "interaction-level" flaws by identifying events that can lead the system to unsafe states. In building IoTSan, we design novel techniques tailored to IoT systems, to alleviate the state explosion associated with model checking. IoTSan also automatically translates IoT apps into a format amenable to model checking. Finally, to understand the root cause of a detected vulnerability, we design an attribution mechanism to identify problematic and potentially malicious apps. We evaluate IoTSan on the Samsung SmartThings platform. From 76 manually configured systems, IoTSan detects 147 vulnerabilities. We also evaluate IoTSan with malicious SmartThings apps from a previous effort. IoTSan detects the potential safety violations and also effectively attributes these apps as malicious.Comment: Proc. of the 14th ACM CoNEXT, 201

Production of Medical Radioisotopes with High Specific Activity in Photonuclear Reactions with γ\gamma Beams of High Intensity and Large Brilliance

We study the production of radioisotopes for nuclear medicine in $(\gamma,x{\rm n}+y{\rm p})$ photonuclear reactions or ($\gamma,\gamma'$) photoexcitation reactions with high flux [($10^{13}-10^{15}$)$\gamma$/s], small diameter $\sim (100 \, \mu$m$)^2$ and small band width ($\Delta E/E \approx 10^{-3}-10^{-4}$) $\gamma$ beams produced by Compton back-scattering of laser light from relativistic brilliant electron beams. We compare them to (ion,$x$n$+ y$p) reactions with (ion=p,d,$\alpha$) from particle accelerators like cyclotrons and (n,$\gamma$) or (n,f) reactions from nuclear reactors. For photonuclear reactions with a narrow $\gamma$ beam the energy deposition in the target can be managed by using a stack of thin target foils or wires, hence avoiding direct stopping of the Compton and pair electrons (positrons). $(\gamma,\gamma')$ isomer production via specially selected $\gamma$ cascades allows to produce high specific activity in multiple excitations, where no back-pumping of the isomer to the ground state occurs. We discuss in detail many specific radioisotopes for diagnostics and therapy applications. Photonuclear reactions with $\gamma$ beams allow to produce certain radioisotopes, e.g. $^{47}$Sc, $^{44}$Ti, $^{67}$Cu, $^{103}$Pd, $^{117m}$Sn, $^{169}$Er, $^{195m}$Pt or $^{225}$Ac, with higher specific activity and/or more economically than with classical methods. This will open the way for completely new clinical applications of radioisotopes. For example $^{195m}$Pt could be used to verify the patient's response to chemotherapy with platinum compounds before a complete treatment is performed. Also innovative isotopes like $^{47}$Sc, $^{67}$Cu and $^{225}$Ac could be produced for the first time in sufficient quantities for large-scale application in targeted radionuclide therapy.Comment: submitted to Appl. Phys.

Night optimised care technology for users needing assisted lifestyles

There is growing interest in the development of ambient assisted living services to increase the quality of life of the increasing proportion of the older population. We report on the Night Optimised Care Technology for UseRs Needing Assisted Lifestyles project, which provides specialised night time support to people at early stages of dementia. This article explains the technical infrastructure, the intelligent software behind the decision-making driving the system, the software development process followed, the interfaces used to interact with the user, and the findings and lessons of our user-centred approach

Formal Verification and Validation of ERTMS Industrial Railway Train Spacing System

Abstract. Formal verification and validation is a fundamental step for the certifi-cation of railways critical systems. Many railways safety standards (e.g. the CEN-ELEC EN-50126, EN-50128 and EN-50129 standards implement the mandatory safety requirements of IEC-61508-7 standard for Functional and Safety) currently mandate the use of formal methods in the design to certify correctness. In this paper we describe an industrial application of formal methods for the ver-ification and validation of “Logica di Sicurezza ” (LDS), the safety logic of a railways ERTMS Level 2 system developed by Ansaldo-STS. LDS is a generic control software that needs to be instantiated on a railways network configuration. We developed a methodology for the verification and validation of a critical sub-set of LDS deployed on typical realistic railways network configurations. To show feasibility, effectiveness and scalability, we have experimented with several state of the art symbolic software model checking techniques and tools on different network configurations. From the experiments, we have successfully identified an effective strategy for the verification and validation of our case study. More-over, the results of experiments show that formal verification and validation is feasible and effective, and also scales reasonably well with the size of the config-uration. Given the results, Ansaldo-STS is currently integrating the methodology in its internal Development and Verification & Validation Flow.

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

A search for resonances decaying into a Higgs boson and a new particle X in the XH → qqbb final state with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a Higgs boson (H) and a new particle (X) is reported, utilizing 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The particle X is assumed to decay to a pair of light quarks, and the fully hadronic final state is analysed. The search considers the regime of high XH resonance masses, where the X and H bosons are both highly Lorentz-boosted and are each reconstructed using a single jet with large radius parameter. A two-dimensional phase space of XH mass versus X mass is scanned for evidence of a signal, over a range of XH resonance mass values between 1 TeV and 4 TeV, and for X particles with masses from 50 GeV to 1000 GeV. All search results are consistent with the expectations for the background due to Standard Model processes, and 95% CL upper limits are set, as a function of XH and X masses, on the production cross-section of the resonance

Measurement of prompt photon production in sNN√=8.16 TeV p+Pb collisions with ATLAS

The inclusive production rates of isolated, prompt photons in p+Pb collisions at sNN√=8.16 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 165 nb−1 recorded in 2016. The cross-section and nuclear modification factor RpPb are measured as a function of photon transverse energy from 20 GeV to 550 GeV and in three nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass pseudorapidity regions, (-2.83,-2.02), (-1.84,0.91), and (1.09,1.90). The cross-section and RpPb values are compared with the results of a next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculation, with and without nuclear parton distribution function modifications, and with expectations based on a model of the energy loss of partons prior to the hard scattering. The data disfavour a large amount of energy loss and provide new constraints on the parton densities in nuclei.We acknowledge the support of ANPCyT, Argentina; YerPhI, Ar-menia; ARC, Australia; BMWFW and FWF, Austria; ANAS, Azer-baijan; SSTC, Belarus; CNPq and FAPESP, Brazil; NSERC, NRC and CFI, Canada; CERN; CONICYT, Chile; CAS, MOST and NSFC, China; COLCIENCIAS, Colombia; MSMT CR, MPO CR and VSC CR, Czech Republic; DNRF and DNSRC, Denmark; IN2P3-CNRS, CEA-DRF/IRFU, France; SRNSFG, Georgia; BMBF, HGF, and MPG, Germany; GSRT, Greece; RGC, Hong Kong SAR, China; ISF and Benoziyo Center, Is-rael; INFN, Italy; MEXT and JSPS, Japan; CNRST, Morocco; NWO, Netherlands; RCN, Norway; MNiSW and NCN, Poland; FCT, Portu-gal; MNE/IFA, Romania; MES of Russia and NRC KI, Russian Fed-eration; JINR; MESTD, Serbia; MSSR, Slovakia; ARRS and MIZŠ, Slovenia; DST/NRF, South Africa; MINECO, Spain; SRC and Wallen-berg Foundation, Sweden; SERI, SNSF and Cantons of Bern and Geneva, Switzerland; MOST, Taiwan; TAEK, Turkey; STFC, United Kingdom; DOE and NSF, United States of America. In addition, in-dividual groups and members have received support from BCKDF, Canarie, CRC and Compute Canada, Canada; COST, ERC, ERDF, Hori-zon 2020, and Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Union; Investissements d’ Avenir Labex and Idex, ANR, France; DFG and AvH Foundation, Germany; Herakleitos, Thales and Aristeia pro-grammes co-financed by EU-ESF and the Greek NSRF, Greece; BSF-NSF and GIF, Israel; CERCA Programme Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain; The Royal Society and Leverhulme Trust, United Kingdom

Combination of searches for Higgs boson pairs in pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using up to 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The combination is performed using six analyses searching for Higgs boson pairs decaying into the b (b) over barb (b) over bar, b (b) over barW(+)W(-), b (b) over bar tau(+)tau(-), W+W-W+W-, b (b) over bar gamma gamma and W+W-gamma gamma final states. Results are presented for non-resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production modes. No statistically significant excess in data above the Standard Model predictions is found. The combined observed (expected) limit at 95% confidence level on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section is 6.9 (10) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section. Limits are also set on the ratio (kappa(lambda)) of the Higgs boson self-coupling to its Standard Model value. This ratio is constrained at 95% confidence level in observation (expectation) to -5.0 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0 (-5.8 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0). In addition, limits are set on the production of narrow scalar resonances and spin-2 Kaluza-Klein Randall-Sundrum gravitons. Exclusion regions are also provided in the parameter space of the habemus Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Electroweak Singlet Model. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135103</p

Searches for lepton-flavour-violating decays of the Higgs boson in s=13\sqrt{s}=13 TeV pp\mathit{pp} collisions with the ATLAS detector

This Letter presents direct searches for lepton flavour violation in Higgs boson decays, H → eτ and H → μτ , performed with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The searches are based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1. No significant excess is observed above the expected background from Standard Model processes. The observed (median expected) 95% confidence-level upper limits on the leptonflavour-violating branching ratios are 0.47% (0.34+0.13−0.10%) and 0.28% (0.37+0.14−0.10%) for H → eτ and H → μτ , respectively.publishedVersio