The Internet of Hackable Things

The Internet of Things makes possible to connect each everyday object to the Internet, making computing pervasive like never before. From a security and privacy perspective, this tsunami of connectivity represents a disaster, which makes each object remotely hackable. We claim that, in order to tackle this issue, we need to address a new challenge in security: education

REPRODUCTION AND HABITAT OF TEN BRAZILIAN FROGS (ANURA)

Basic data on habitat, behavior, and reproduction arelacking for most Neotropical frog species and even highertaxonomic groups (Crump 1974; Haddad and Prado2005), particularly for those restricted to the AtlanticForest. Basic reproductive features are the basis of comparativestudies on evolution of major natural historyfeatures (Harvey and Pagel 1998), such as the interspecific relationship between body size and egg number/size (Salthe and Duellman 1973, Crump 1974, Stearns1992). Here, we present data on habitat, reproductivebehavior and quantitative parameters such as adult sizes,egg numbers/sizes of ten sympatric frogs of an altitudinalAtlantic Forest site in Southeastern Brazil

DDoS-Capable IoT Malwares: comparative analysis and Mirai Investigation

The Internet of Things (IoT) revolution has not only carried the astonishing promise to interconnect a whole generation of traditionally “dumb” devices, but also brought to the Internet the menace of billions of badly protected and easily hackable objects. Not surprisingly, this sudden flooding of fresh and insecure devices fueled older threats, such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. In this paper, we first propose an updated and comprehensive taxonomy of DDoS attacks, together with a number of examples on how this classification maps to real-world attacks. Then, we outline the current situation of DDoS-enabled malwares in IoT networks, highlighting how recent data support our concerns about the growing in popularity of these malwares. Finally, we give a detailed analysis of the general framework and the operating principles of Mirai, the most disruptive DDoS-capable IoT malware seen so far

Il leveraged buy out: delitto perfetto o ingegneria finanziaria?

Trattando di merger and acquisition si potrebbero ricordare molteplici tecniche di acquisizione societaria: tra esse, il leveraged buy out appare, oggi, di grande interesse per le potenzialità che lo caratterizzano e per il tortuoso percorso che ha condotto alla regolamentazione di tale istituto nel nostro ordinamento

AntibIoTic: Protecting IoT Devices Against DDoS Attacks

The 2016 is remembered as the year that showed to the world how dangerous Distributed Denial of Service attacks can be. Gauge of the disruptiveness of DDoS attacks is the number of bots involved: the bigger the botnet, the more powerful the attack. This character, along with the increasing availability of connected and insecure IoT devices, makes DDoS and IoT the perfect pair for the malware industry. In this paper we present the main idea behind AntibIoTic, a palliative solution to prevent DDoS attacks perpetrated through IoT devices

Deterministic and Stochastic Modeling of Human Papillomavirus Gene Regulatory Network

In this thesis a novel stochastic and deterministic mathematical model of Human papillomavirus (HPV) gene regulatory network was developed. The novelty of this project is both on methodological and biological /clinical site. The former is in line with the current challenge in recent years to have a holistic view of the basics regulatory mechanisms interconnected to form a complex machinery, where complex patterns can arise, only form the interconnection of basics modules. In fact, HPV offers a case of study of great interest in molecular systems biology. It involves a number of relevant regulatory mechanisms (e.g. transcription, translation, promoter modulation, polyadenylation regulation, splicing,…) connected together to form a complex network, albeit its genome is relatively simple, thus suitable for an accurate deterministic and even stochastic modeling. HPVs cause a series of diseases of the cutaneous and mucosal epithelium, ranging from minor lesions to precancerous cervical lesions and cervical cancer, which is considered one of the most common cancer in the women worldwide. Therefore, on the biological/clinical aspect the development of a mathematical model of HPV gene expression, is of great interest in order to dispose of an in silico simulator useful to achieve a better comprehension of the complex gene regulatory network, and capable to predict different scenarios from the first stages of viral infection up to a cervical cancer condition. As far as we know, there is no model of HPV gene regulation available in literature. A new synthesis of the HPV molecular biology with especial regard to gather/infer from literature the parameters useful for designing a dynamical model, and to shed light in what is still lacking in the biological literature, was preformed. The biological knowledge was translated into a stochastic model in terms of biochemical reactions. In particular, we modeled the HPV early and late promoters that account for the transcripts and proteins evolution during the entire viral life cycle. Even the post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications were modeled in order to properly capture the complex viral regulation known from literature. As far as we know, it is the first time a stochastic model accounts for the complex post-transcriptional control, modeling the splicing and polyadenylation sites regulation, and connect this latter to the transcriptional control layer, mediated by the promoters activities, in order to explore complex patterns that can arise only from the interconnection of different control layers. The Master Equation (ME) of the system was considered in order to predict and investigate its stochastic behavior. Because of the complex system structure it wasn't possible to solve the whole ME analytically, hence numerical exact simulations were performed by means of the Gillespie's algorithm. A quasi-equilibrium approximation of the ME was developed in order to get a deterministic approximation of the model. The model structure together with the fixed parameters we have gathered/inferred from literature was able to fit a dataset consistent of the early promoter activity and to qualitatively reproduce the main dynamical behavior of two of the most important regulatory transcripts during viral late phase. Different in silico experiments were designed to opportunely explore both the capability of the stochastic model to follows the deterministic predictions, when in fast fluctuations regimen, and to discover complex stochastic patterns, that can arise through the interconnection of the transcriptional and post-transcriptional control layers. In general, both the stochastic and deterministic formulation of the model showed the capability to reproduce the HPV gene expression dynamics, during the entire viral life cycle, in good agreement with the current biological knowledge

VOCAL REPERTORY OF TWO SPECIES OF THE LEPTODACTYLUS PENTADACTYLUS GROUP (ANURA, LEPTODACTYLIDAE)

Among frogs, vocalizations play important roles in their social interactions. Herein we describefi ve new types of vocalizations for two foam-nesting species of the Leptodactylus pentadactylusgroup, L. syphax and L. labyrinthicus. Behavioral observations and recordings were done in fourlocalities within the Cerrado biome, at southeast and central Brazil. Before emitting advertisementcalls, males of L. syphax often started producing a sequence of notes, which gradually turned into theadvertisement call. These different notes may be an introductory call, which would serve to preparethe vocal structures for the emission of the high-frequency/amplitude advertisement calls. A male ofL. syphax was emitting advertisement calls when a female approached and started to emit brief andlow-amplitude calls; these vocalizations probably are reciprocation calls. Males of L. labyrinthicusinvolved in agonistic interactions can emit vocal cracks (encounter call) and deep rough sounds (territorialcalls). Five courting males of L. labyrinthicus released screams with their mouth slightly openedin response to the approach of human observers. We conclude that these screams do not representdistress or territorial calls

Can an Economic Activities Inventory Fill the Knowledge Gap about the Economic Sector in a Policy Making Process?

Nowadays, Brussels’ population is growing and requires more and more space for housing. This constantly growing process tend to push the industrial and medium / large economic activities out of the city. These activities are wrongly perceived to be unsightly for an urban environment. Economic activities, often mixed with other functions play an important role within cities and their suburbs areas. However this role is not well understood. For that reason an analysis that identifies the different types of activities and their location can be fundamental in the early phase of a urban development project, to give at all the stakeholders a better and more complete view. This work is based on the will to get a better and new kind of knowledge about the location and differentiation of economic activities in Brussels metropolitan northern area. The visualization of the diversity of types and scales of economic activities, and understanding trends and dynamics, can be considered as a useful set of information to be used in a urban development and economic policy making process. The work, conceived as a pilot project, which could be extended and repeated in other areas, is based on an empirical research, done by a visual check of what is identifiable as economic or designed for an economic use directly on the site, aimed to identify, locate and classify all the different types of existing economic activities in the selected areas. This economic activities inventory is the only one existing for Brussels Capital and Flanders Regions based on field work. In this paper we will explain the method used for the field work and inventarisation, the possible link with existing economic databases and the difficulties encountered during the work. We will also show how this new data is used in ongoing spatial planning processes and to what extend these new insights promote different spatial planning proposals and realisation

Contribuições de um curso online na formação de professores de cálculo: reflexões a partir da perspectiva conhecimento da prática

Apresentamos neste artigo as contribuições de um curso à distância online para a formação continuada de professores de Cálculo Diferencial Integral em relação a prática de ensinar e aprender no contexto das tecnologias digitais. As reflexões apresentadas são oriundas do Curso supracitado que abordou a inserção das tecnologias digitais no âmbito da sala de aula de Cálculo Diferencial e Integral bem como possibilitou discussões envolvendo Funções, Limites, Derivadas e Integrais com o software GeoGebra. Para tecer considerações acerca desta experiência, tomamos como ferramenta de análise a perspectiva conhecimento da prática (Cochran-Smith e Lytle, 1999a). Finalmente, apresentamos algumas discussões concernentes a formação continuada de professores, e encerramos enfatizando que além de ensinar e dos modos relacionados a ação de ensinar, compreendemos que a formação do professor de Cálculo Diferencial e Integral precisa considerar questões que articulem as tecnologias digitais à abordagem dos conceitos inerentes a disciplina em questão

Building LABDRIVE, a Petabyte Scale, OAIS/ISO 16363 Conformant, Environmentally Sustainable Archive, Tested by Large Scientific Organisations to Preserve their Raw and Processed Data, Software and Documents

Vast amounts of scientific, cultural, social, business and government, and other, information is being created every day. There are billions of objects, in a multitude of formats, semantics and associated software. Much, perhaps the majority, of this information is transitory but there is still an immense amount which should be preserved for the medium and long term – perhaps even indefinitely. Preservation requires that the information continues to be usable, not simply to be printed or displayed. Of course, the digital objects (the bits) must be preserved, as must the “metadata” which enables the bits to the understood which includes the software. Before LABDRIVE no system could adequately preserve such information, especially in such gigantic volume and variety.  In this paper we describe the development of LABDRIVE and its ability to preserve tens or hundreds of petabytes in a way which is conformant to the OAIS Reference Model and capable of being ISO 16363 certified