Digital-forensics based pattern recognition for discovering identities in electronic evidence

With the pervasiveness of computers and mobile devices, digital forensics becomes more important in law enforcement. Detectives increasingly depend on the scarce support of digital specialists which impedes efficiency of criminal investigations. This paper proposes and algorithm to extract, merge and rank identities that are encountered in the electronic evidence during processing. Two experiments are described demonstrating that our approach can assist with the identification of frequently occurring identities so that investigators can prioritize the investigation of evidence units accordingly

Evaluation of On-line Reconfiguration Techniques for a Distributed Avionic Middleware

On-board Computers are at the centre of space-faring systems. Commercial Of The Shelf (COTS) components provide higher performance but do not provide fault-tolerance mechanisms. To tackle this, the DLR utilises a distributed system of COTS components, that run a middleware called ScOSA. ScOSA manages nodes in a distributed system and, upon a node failure, mitigates the effects by reconfiguring the system to a configuration that excludes the failed node. An online algorithm was implemented in the middleware of ScOSA, designed as a combination of the online algorithms acquired during literature research. After defining specific requirements for the tailor-made online algorithm, it was tested on the target hardware and by using virtual nodes for its feasibility and scalability. It was compared with the offline situation on time and network usage. The design of an online algorithm for ScOSA proved to be feasible. It was not only capable of creating configurations dynamically but also provided scalability

First Report on Real-World Outcomes with Evoked Compound Action Potential (ECAP)-Controlled Closed-Loop Spinal Cord Stimulation for Treatment of Chronic Pain

Introduction: A novel closed-loop spinal cord stimulation (SCS) system has recently been approved for use which records evoked compound action potentials (ECAPs) from the spinal cord and utilizes these recordings to automatically adjust the stimulation strength in real time. It automatically compensates for fluctuations in distance between the epidural leads and the spinal cord by maintaining the neural response (ECAP) at a determined target level. This data collection was principally designed to evaluate the performance of this first closed-loop SCS system in a ‘real-world’ setting under normal conditions of use in a single European center. Methods: In this prospective, single-center observational data collection, 22 patients were recruited at the outpatient pain clinic of the St. Antonius Hospital. All candidates were suffering from chronic pain in the trunk and/or limbs due to PSPS type 2 (persistent spinal pain syndrome). As standard of care, follow-up visits were completed at 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months post-device activation. Patient-reported outcome data (pain intensity, patient satisfaction) and electrophysiological and device data (ECAP amplitude, conduction velocity, current output, pulse width, frequency, usage), and patient interaction with their controller were collected at baseline and during standard of care follow-up visits. Results: Significant decreases in pain intensity for overall back or leg pain scores (verbal numerical rating score = VNRS) were observed between baseline [mean ± SEM (standard error of the mean); n = 22; 8.4 ± 0.2)], 3 months (n = 12; 1.9 ± 0.5), 6 months (n = 16; 2.6 ± 0.5), and 12 months (n = 20; 2.0 ± 0.5), with 85.0% of the patients being satisfied at 12 months. Additionally, no significant differences in average pain relief at 3 months and 12 months between the real-world data (77.2%; 76.8%) and the AVALON (71.2%; 73.6%) and EVOKE (78.1%; 76.7%) studies were observed. Conclusions: These initial ‘real-world’ data on ECAP-controlled, closed-loop SCS in a real-world clinical setting appear to be promising, as they provide novel insights of the beneficial effect of ECAP-controlled, closed-loop SCS in a real-world setting. The presented results demonstrate a noteworthy maintenance of pain relief over 12 months and corroborate the outcomes observed in the AVALON prospective, multicenter, single-arm study and the EVOKE double-blind, multicenter, randomized controlled trial. Trial Registration: The data collection is registered on the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (Trial NL7889).</p

Enabling Rapid Development of On-board Applications: Securing a Spacecraft Middleware by Separation and Isolation

Today’s space missions require increasingly powerful hardware to achieve their mission objectives, such as high-resolution Earth observation or autonomous decision-making in deep space. At the same time, system availability and reliability require- ments remain high due to the harsh environment in which the system operates. This leads to an engineering trade-off between the use of reliable and high performance hardware. To overcome this trade-off, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is developing a special computer architecture that combines both reliable computing hardware with high-performance commercial-off-the- shelf (COTS) hardware. This computer architecture is called Scalable On-Board Computing for Space Avionics (ScOSA) and is currently being prepared for demonstration on a CubeSat, also known as the ScOSA Flight Experiment [1]. The ScOSA software consists of a middleware to execute distributed applications, perform critical on-board software functionalities, and do fault detection and recovery tasks. The software is based on the Distributed Tasking Framework which is a derivate of the open-source, data-flow oriented Tasking Framework [2], for this reason, developers organize their applications as a set of tasks and channels. The middleware handles the task distribution among the nodes [3]. ScOSA will detect failing compute nodes and reallocate tasks to maintain the availability of the entire system. The middleware can also change the set of allocated tasks to support different mission phases. Thus, ScOSA allows software to be reloaded and executed after startup. By this the software can be tested quickly and safely on the system. Combined with an upload strategy, ScOSA can be used for in-situ testing of on-board applications. Since ScOSA will also perform mission-critical tasks, such as an Attitude and Orbit Control System or a Command and Data Handling System, the opening of the platform leads to the problem of mixed criticality [4]. This problem is already present in the ScOSA Flight Experiment, since the demonstration will include typical satellite applications developed by different teams in the DLR. Thus, not only the teams implement different quality standards for their software, but also the applications themselves have different Technical Readiness Levels (TRLs). The challenge of mixed criticality is often met by completely separating and isolating the different software components, e.g. by using a hypervisor or a separation kernel [5], [6]. Due to the distributed nature of the ScOSA system and its execution platform a separation using hypervisor technique is not easily achievable. For this reason, we discuss in this work how we separate the critical services and communication components into their own Linux process to guarantee that best-effort applications are not inflicting the critical components of the middleware. We also consider and discuss in this work how to implement further mechanisms of the Linux kernel in order to strengthen the separation, i.e. the cgroups and the kernel namespaces. However, a complete isolation between software components is undesirable, due to the necessary interaction between them. Given that the applications themselves can be spread over several nodes, the application tasks need to communicate and this can be only done if the critical software components relays messages from other nodes to the separated application processes. For this reason the middleware provides a relay service which takes care of the intra-node-inter-process-communication. Using a relaying mechanism simplifies development and does not require a complete rewrite of the existing middleware network stack. The proposed techniques were applied in a case study to integrate applications of unknown quality standards into the ScOSA software system in an agile way. We discuss how the presented measures ensure that the resultant software is sufficiently tested and meets the required quality level. Finally, we discuss possible improvements to our existing separation and isolation solution for ScOSA and outline how these techniques can be used in other platforms such as the RTEMS operating system

De toepassing van hedge accounting onder IAS

Met de implementatie van IAS 39 is de verslaggeving over hedges grondig gewijzigd. Aan de toepassing van hedge accounting zijn strikte voorwaarden verbonden en de modellen zijn gebaseerd op waardering van het hedging-instrument op reële waarde, in plaats van waardering en resultaatbepaling van de hedge op basis van de grondslagen van de ingedekte positie. Vooral voor ondernemingen, waaronder financiële instellingen, met aanzienlijke hedging-activiteiten, vergt de invoering van IAS 39 een aanzienlijke investering. Velen vragen zich zelfs af of toepassing van hedge accounting nog wel mogelijk is. In dit artikel wordt hedge accounting in IAS 39 uitgelegd en in internationaal perspectief geplaatst. Tevens wordt aan de hand van voorbeelden de vraag behandeld op welke wijze hedge accounting mogelijk is in een internationale groep met aanzienlijke hedging-activiteiten

Deep Facial Reconstruction

Everyone wants their images to look as good as possible when they post on social media. It is not always possible to retake a picture or to manually edit small mistakes afterwards. This paper investigates the viability of using deep learning to perform this task for a type of edit. More specifically, we want to “photoshop” a face onto a subject wearing a facemask. To explore this possibility, we examined techniques and methodologies from facial attribute removal and image completion. Then, we structurally test and implement the most promising ideas. The result is a CycleGAN model capable of reconstructing a realistic looking face. The model matches performance with state-of-the-art image completion and outperforms models in facial attribute removal

Zorg én ondernemen

Inleiding Ondernemen en ondernemerschap worden in de gezondheidszorg steeds belangrijker. Zowel binnen als buiten de bestaande kaders zoeken zorgondernemers naar nieuwe mogelijkheden om op de behoeften van cliënten in te spelen. Concurrentie, commercialisering en privatisering zijn hierbij de nieuwe sleutelwoorden. Om enigszins in te kunnen spelen op de toename van marktgerichte zorg overweegt de afdeling orthopedie van het UMCG om in de toekomst een privé-kliniek orthopedie op te zetten. In dit onderzoek is getracht de mogelijkheden voor de vormgeving van een samenwerkingsverband van een privé-kliniek orthopedie met het UMCG in kaart te brengen. De vraag die centraal staat tijdens dit onderzoek luidt: ‘Op welke manieren kan een samenwerkingsverband van een privé-kliniek orthopedie met het UMCG vorm gegeven worden?’ Methode Ter beantwoording van de onderzoeksvraag is een koppeling gelegd tussen theorie (literatuuronderzoek) en praktijk (empirisch onderzoek). Het empirisch onderzoek heeft de vorm van een casestudie. Daarbij is een zestal Zelfstandige BehandelCombinaties (ZBC’s; privé-klinieken) op orthopedisch gebied in Nederland onder de loep genomen. Resultaten Orthopedische ZBC’s in Nederland zijn te onderscheiden naar de oorsprong van oprichting. Er is een drietal typen: 1. Eén (of meerdere) medisch specialist(en) richt(en) een ZBC op; 2. Een ziekenhuis richt een ZBC op; 3. Twee ziekenhuizen richten een ZBC op. Conclusie Voor een mogelijk samenwerkingsverband van een privé-kliniek orthopedie met het UMCG zijn een drie opties: 1. Eén of meerdere individuele medische specialist(en) van de afdeling orthopedie van het UMCG richt(en) een ZBC op. Het samenwerkingsverband staat in het teken van een entrepreneurial spin-off. 2. De afdeling orthopedie van het UMCG richt zelf een ZBC op. Samenwerkingsverband staat in het teken van een managerial spin-off. 3. De afdeling orthopedie van het UMCG en een ander (regionaal of internationaal) ziekenhuis richten een ZBC op. Samenwerkingsverband staat in het teken van een joint-venture (twee-ouder spin-off).

De invloed van thematische congruentie op de overtuigingskracht van advertenties

De consument wordt iedere dag aan een enorme hoeveelheid reclame blootgesteld. Er worden miljoenen euro’s uitgegeven in de reclamebranche en zodoende worden consumenten blootgesteld aan honderden reclame-uitingen per dag. De consument lijkt reclames echter steeds vaker te negeren en zonder aandacht voor de reclame, gaat het effect van de reclame al snel verloren. Voor communicatiedeskundigen is het daarom van groot belang te kijken naar de factoren die bepalen dat een reclame niet aan zijn doel voorbij schiet. Één van de factoren die bij de effectiviteit van een reclame mee kan spelen is de thematische congruentie. Over het algemeen worden advertenties in congruente (passende) omgevingen geplaatst. Zo’n passende omgeving levert meestal een goede match tussen de doelgroepen van zowel advertentie als tijdschrift. De kans bestaat echter dat ook bij een incongruente omgeving de lezersgroep van het tijdschrift en de doelgroep van de advertentie goed overeenkomen. De vraag die gesteld kan worden is of lezers de advertenties in een thematische congruente context ook overtuigender vinden. De vraagstelling die hieruit voortkomt, luidt: In welke mate heeft thematische congruentie invloed op de overtuigingskracht van advertenties voor fotografieproducten en voor wintersportproducten? Op grond van de onderzoeksresultaten kan worden gesteld dat de overtuigingskracht van congruente advertenties gelijk is aan de overtuigingskracht van incongruente advertenties. De praktische betekenis van dit resultaat is dat adverteerders hun advertentie niet alleen in congruente tijdschriften maar ook in incongruente tijdschriften kunnen plaatsen.