A comparative study of teaching forensics at a university degree level

Computer forensics is a relatively young University discipline which has developed strongly in the United States and the United Kingdom but is still in its infancy in continental Europe. The national programmes and courses offered therefore differ in many ways. We report on two recently established degree programmes from two European countries: Great Britain and Germany. We present and compare the design of both programmes and conclude that they cover two complementary and orthogonal aspects of computer forensics education: (a) rigorous practical skills and (b) competence for fundamental research discoveries

Examination of the Catalytic Role of the Axial Cystine Ligand in the Co-Type Nitrile Hydratase from \u3cem\u3ePseudonocardia thermophila\u3c/em\u3e JCM 3095

The strictly conserved αSer162 residue in the Co-type nitrile hydratase from Pseudonocardia thermophila JCM 3095 (PtNHase), which forms a hydrogen bond to the axial αCys108-S atom, was mutated into an Ala residue. The αSer162Ala yielded two different protein species: one was the apoform (αSerA) that exhibited no observable activity, and the second (αSerB) contained its full complement of cobalt ions and was active with a kcat value of 63 ± 3 s−1 towards acrylonitrile at pH 7.5. The X-ray crystal structure of was determined at 1.85 Å resolution and contained no detectable cobalt per α2β2 heterotetramer. The axial αCys108 ligand itself was also mutated into Ser, Met, and His ligands. All three of these αCys108 mutant enzymes contained only half of the cobalt complement of wild-type PtNHase, but were able to hydrate acrylonitrile with kcat values of 120 ± 6, 29 ± 3, and 14 ± 1 s−1 for the αCys108His, Ser, and Met mutant enzymes, respectively. As all three of these mutant enzymes are catalytically competent, these data provide the first experimental evidence that transient disulfide bond formation is not catalytically essential for NHases

We Value Your Privacy ... Now Take Some Cookies: Measuring the GDPR's Impact on Web Privacy

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect on May 25, 2018. Its privacy regulations apply to any service and company collecting or processing personal data in Europe. Many companies had to adjust their data handling processes, consent forms, and privacy policies to comply with the GDPR's transparency requirements. We monitored this rare event by analyzing the GDPR's impact on popular websites in all 28 member states of the European Union. For each country, we periodically examined its 500 most popular websites - 6,579 in total - for the presence of and updates to their privacy policy. While many websites already had privacy policies, we find that in some countries up to 15.7 % of websites added new privacy policies by May 25, 2018, resulting in 84.5 % of websites having privacy policies. 72.6 % of websites with existing privacy policies updated them close to the date. Most visibly, 62.1 % of websites in Europe now display cookie consent notices, 16 % more than in January 2018. These notices inform users about a site's cookie use and user tracking practices. We categorized all observed cookie consent notices and evaluated 16 common implementations with respect to their technical realization of cookie consent. Our analysis shows that core web security mechanisms such as the same-origin policy pose problems for the implementation of consent according to GDPR rules, and opting out of third-party cookies requires the third party to cooperate. Overall, we conclude that the GDPR is making the web more transparent, but there is still a lack of both functional and usable mechanisms for users to consent to or deny processing of their personal data on the Internet.Comment: Published at NDSS 201

Relative Erfolgsfälle strategischer Verkehrsplanung und Verkehrspolitik in Europa

Der Beitrag beschreibt die Verkehrsstrukturen in den internationalen Untersuchungsstädten des Forschungsprojekts WIVER. Neben den allgemeinen städtischen und verkehrlichen Strukturen werden die Motorisierungsentwicklung und Verkehrsmengenentwicklung betrachtet. In Zürich und Wien ist die Zunahme des Pkw-Bestandes trotz steigender Einwohnerzahlen deutlich abgeschwächt, die Verkehrsbelastungen im MIV sogar leicht rückläufig. Dem stehen eine zunehmende Nutzung des jeweils deutlich ausgebauten öffentlichen Verkehrs (ÖV) und des Fahrrads gegenüber. Jedoch ist davon auszugehen, dass der Pkw-Bestand im Umland weiter zunimmt und sich in einer regionalen Perspektive keine Reduzierung des MIV nachweisen lässt. Die Entwicklungen über die letzten Jahrzehnte werden im Anschluss aus verkehrsplanerischer und verkehrspolitischer Sicht betrachtet. Die niederländischen Fallbeispiele verfolgen eine eher radverkehrsfokussierte Verkehrspolitik, Wien und Zürich eine ÖV-fokussierte. In den drei großen Untersuchungsstädten spielen die Parkraumbewirtschaftung und der langfristige Ausbau des öffentlichen Verkehrs eine herausragende Rolle. Im Abschluss werden Schlussfolgerungen für die verkehrspolitische und verkehrsplanerische Diskussion in Deutschland abgeleitet

Localized direct material removal and deposition by nanoscale field emission scanning probes

The manufactory of advanced micro- and nanoscale devices relies on capable patterning strategies. Focused electron beams, as for instance implemented since long in electron beam lithography and electron beam induced deposition, are in this regard key enabling tools especially at the early stages of device development and research. We show here that nanoscale field emission scanning probes can be potentially utilized as well for a prospective direct device fabrication by localized material deposition but notably, also by localized material removal. Field emission scanning probe processing was specifically realized on 10 nm chromium and 50 nm gold thin film stacks deposited on a (1 × 1) cm2 fused silica substrate. Localized material deposition and metal removal was studied in various atmospheres comprising high vacuum, nitrogen, ambient air, naphthalene and carbon-dioxide. Stable and reliable regimes were in particular obtained in a carbonaceous atmosphere. Hence, localized carbon deposits were obtained but also localized metal removal was realized. We demonstrate furthermore that the selected electron emission parameters (20 V - 80 V, 180 pA) and the overall operation environment are crucial aspects that determine the degree of material deposition and removal. Based on our findings, direct tip-based micro- to nanoscale material patterning appears possible. The applied energy regime is also enabling new insights into low energy (< 100 eV) electron interaction. However, the underlying mechanisms must be further elucidated

The Clustering of Massive Halos

The clustering properties of dark matter halos are a firm prediction of modern theories of structure formation. We use two large volume, high-resolution N-body simulations to study how the correlation function of massive dark matter halos depends upon their mass and formation history. We find that halos with the lowest concentrations are presently more clustered than those of higher concentration, the size of the effect increasing with halo mass; this agrees with trends found in studies of lower mass halos. The clustering dependence on other characterizations of the full mass accretion history appears weaker than the effect with concentration. Using the integrated correlation function, marked correlation functions, and a power-law fit to the correlation function, we find evidence that halos which have recently undergone a major merger or a large mass gain have slightly enhanced clustering relative to a randomly chosen population with the same mass distribution.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; text improved, references and one figure added; accepted for publication in Ap

Verkehrsentwicklung als Untersuchungsrahmen

Dieses Arbeitspapier definiert für das Forschungsvorhaben des Projektes WIVER die Begriffe Verkehr, Mobilität und Erreichbarkeit und darauf basierend die Begriffe der Verkehrs- und Mobilitätswende. Ferner beleuchtet es die Entwicklungen des Verkehrssektors und somit auch die positiven und negativen Folgen der Verkehrsexpansion sowie umstrittene (nicht) realisierte push & pull-Maßnahmen. Darüber hinaus beinhaltet der Beitrag eine kritische Einordnung der technologischen Verbesserungen im Verkehrssektor, der neuen Verkehrsmittel und der Veränderungen des Verkehrsverhaltens, mit denen im Kontext der Verkehrs- und Mobilitätswende große Hoffnungen verbunden sind. Aufbauend darauf werden die Untersuchungsfragen des Projektes abgeleitet

Enhanced adenosine A(1) receptor and Homer1a expression in hippocampus modulates the resilience to stress-induced depression-like behavior

Resilience to stress is critical for the development of depression. Enhanced adenosine A1 receptor (A1R) signaling mediates the antidepressant effects of acute sleep deprivation (SD). However, chronic SD causes long-lasting upregulation of brain A1R and increases the risk of depression. To investigate the effects of A1R on mood, we utilized two transgenic mouse lines with inducible A1R overexpression in forebrain neurons. These two lines have identical levels of A1R increase in the cortex, but differ in the transgenic A1R expression in the hippocampus. Switching on the transgene promotes robust antidepressant and anxiolytic effects in both lines. The mice of the line without transgenic A1R overexpression in the hippocampus (A1Hipp-) show very strong resistance towards development of stress-induced chronic depression-like behavior. In contrast, the mice of the line in which A1R upregulation extends to the hippocampus (A1Hipp+), exhibit decreased resilience to depression as compared to A1Hipp-. Similarly, automatic analysis of reward behavior of the two lines reveals that depression resistant A1Hipp-transgenic mice exhibit high sucrose preference, while mice of the vulnerable A1Hipp + line developed stress-induced anhedonic phenotype. The A1Hipp + mice have increased Homer1a expression in hippocampus, correlating with impaired long-term potentiation in the CA1 region, mimicking the stressed mice. Furthermore, virus-mediated overexpression of Homer1a in the hippocampus decreases stress resilience. Taken together our data indicate for first time that increased expression of A1R and Homer1a in the hippocampus modulates the resilience to stress-induced depression and thus might potentially mediate the detrimental effects of chronic sleep restriction on mood