eavesROP: Listening for ROP Payloads in Data Streams (preliminary full version)

We consider the problem of detecting exploits based on return-oriented programming. In contrast to previous works we investigate to which extent we can detect ROP payloads by only analysing streaming data, i.e., we do not assume any modifications to the target machine, its kernel or its libraries. Neither do we attempt to execute any potentially malicious code in order to determine if it is an attack. While such a scenario has its limitations, we show that using a layered approach with a filtering mechanism together with the Fast Fourier Transform, it is possible to detect ROP payloads even in the presence of noise and assuming that the target system employs ASLR. Our approach, denoted eavesROP, thus provides a very lightweight and easily deployable mitigation against certain ROP attacks. It also provides the added merit of detecting the presence of a brute-force attack on ASLR since library base addresses are not assumed to be known by eavesROP

A design proposal of a river walk along Nyköpingsån

Arbetet syftar till att visa hur ett utsnitt av Nyköpings årum kan gestaltas för att skapa ett enhetligt och sammanhängande parkstråk längsmed Nyköpingsån, parkstråket ska både vara tillgängligt och upplevas som tryggt. Arbetet tar avstamp i Nyköpings kommuns Utvecklingsprogram för Årummet från 2015. Utvecklingsprogrammet avser en sträcka längsmed Nyköpingsån på drygt sju kilometer, där kommunen har ett önskemål om att skapa ett tydligt sammanhängande parkstråk. Inom ramen för examensarbetet finner vi det lämpligt att begränsa oss till en del av denna sträcka. Projektområdet vi valt är en sträcka på ca 300 m, centralt beläget mellan Stadsbron i söder och Repslagarbron i norr. Projektområdet angränsar till S:t Nicolai kyrka, Culturum (bibliotek och kulturcentrum), Barnkulturcentrum, bostäder och historiska Fors Industriers lokaler som idag hyrs ut som kontor. Området upplevs idag som bortglömt och otryggt, entréerna in i området är anonyma och sträckan är på sina håll otillgänglig. Inför gestaltningen har vi gjort en litteraturöversikt av kommunens dokument, områdets historia, begreppet harmoni, ekologi och vad som upplevs tilltalande. Referensprojekt har studerats både digitalt och fysiskt för att hitta inspiration och intressanta lösningar. De städer vi besökt är Norrtälje, Uppsala och Berlin. Genom större delen av arbetet är skissande i olika former vårt huvudsakliga arbetsredskap. Gestaltningsförslaget för projektområdet syftar till att tydliggöra entréerna, skapa ett sammanhängande stråk med tydlig koppling till vattnet. Vi vill genom att adderad en brygga och en bro, tillgängliggöra platsen samt skapa mer rörelse genom området. Den ökade rörelsen hjälper tillsammans med belysning och ökad visibilitet till med att öka den upplevda tryggheten. Växtligheten planeras så att det ska bli en större dynamik mellan öppna och slutna rum längs med stråket. Genom att placera flera olika aktivitetsytor riktade mot vattnet är förhoppningen att Årummet ska komma att upplevas mer som en framsida.The work aims to show how a section of Nyköping's river walk can be designed to create a uniform and coherent park route along the river Nyköpingsån, the park route must be both accessible and perceived as safe. The work is based on Nyköping Municipality's Development Program for the river walk from 2015. The development program refers to a section along the Nyköpingsån of just over seven kilometers, where the municipality has a desire to create a clearly coherent park route. Within the framework of the master thesis, we find it appropriate to limit ourselves to a part of this section. The project area we have chosen is about 300 m, centrally located between Stadsbron in the south and Repslagarbron in the north. The project area adjoins St. Nicolai Church, Culturum (library and cultural center), Children's Culture Center, housing and the historic Fors Industries premises, which are currently rented out as offices. Today, the area is perceived as forgotten and unsafe, the entrances to the area are anonymous and the river walk is inaccessible in some places. Prior to the design, we have made a literature review of the municipality's documents, the area's history, the concept of harmony, ecology and what is perceived as appealing. Reference projects have been studied both digitally and physically to find inspiration and interesting solutions. The cities we visited are Norrtälje, Uppsala and Berlin. Throughout most of the work, sketching in various forms is our main work tool. The design proposal for the project area aims to clarify the entrances, create a coherent route with a clear connection to the water. By adding a boardwalk and a bridge, we want to make the place accessible and create more movement through the area. The increased movement, together with lighting and increased visibility, helps to increase the perceived security. The vegetation is planned so that there will be a greater dynamic between open and closed spaces along the river walk. By placing several different activity areas facing the water, the hope is that the river walk will be experienced more as a frontside than a backyard

Distribution and Environmental Drivers of Fungal Denitrifiers in Global Soils

The microbial process of denitrification is the primary source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) from terrestrial ecosystems. Fungal denitrifiers, unlike many bacteria, lack the N2O reductase, and thereby are sources of N2O. Still, their diversity, global distribution, and environmental determinants, as well as their relative importance, compared to bacterial and archaeal denitrifiers, remain unresolved. Employing a phylogenetically informed approach to analyze 1,980 global soil and rhizosphere metagenomes for the denitrification marker gene nirK, which codes for the copper dependent nitrite reductase in denitrification, we show that fungal denitrifiers are sparse, yet cosmopolitan and that they are dominated by saprotrophs and pathogens. Few showed biome-specific distribution patterns, although members of the Fusarium oxysporum species complex, which are known to produce substantial amounts of N2O, were proportionally more abundant and diverse in the rhizosphere than in other biomes. Fungal denitrifiers were most frequently detected in croplands, but they were most abundant in forest soils when normalized to metagenome size. Nevertheless, the overwhelming dominance of bacterial and archaeal denitrifiers suggests a much lower fungal contribution to N2O emissions than was previously estimated. In relative terms, they could play a role in soils that are characterized by a high carbon to nitrogen ratio and a low pH, especially in the tundra as well as in boreal and temperate coniferous forests. Because global warming predicts the proliferation of fungal pathogens, the prevalence of potential plant pathogens among fungal denitrifiers and the cosmopolitan distribution of these organisms suggest that fungal denitrifier abundance may increase in terrestrial ecosystems.IMPORTANCE Fungal denitrifiers, in contrast to their bacterial counterparts, are a poorly studied functional group within the nitrogen cycle, even though they produce the greenhouse gas N2O. To curb soil N2O emissions, a better understanding of their ecology and distribution in soils from different ecosystems is needed. Here, we probed a massive amount of DNA sequences and corresponding soil data from a large number of samples that represented the major soil environments for a broad understanding of fungal denitrifier diversity at the global scale. We show that fungal denitrifiers are predominantly cosmopolitan saprotrophs and opportunistic pathogens. Fungal denitrifiers constituted, on average, 1% of the total denitrifier community. This suggests that earlier estimations of fungal denitrifier abundance, and, thereby, it is also likely that the contributions of fungal denitrifiers to N2O emissions have been overestimated. Nevertheless, with many fungal denitrifiers being plant pathogens, they could become increasingly relevant, as soilborne pathogenic fungi are predicted to increase with ongoing climate change.Fungal denitrifiers, in contrast to their bacterial counterparts, are a poorly studied functional group within the nitrogen cycle, even though they produce the greenhouse gas N2O. To curb soil N2O emissions, a better understanding of their ecology and distribution in soils from different ecosystems is needed

Minimizing tillage modifies fungal denitrifier communities, increases denitrification rates and enhances the genetic potential for fungal, relative to bacterial, denitrification

Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from arable soils are predominantly caused by denitrifying microbes, of which fungal denitrifiers are of particular interest, as fungi, in contrast to bacteria, terminate denitrification with N2O. Reduced tillage has been shown to increase gaseous nitrogen losses from soil, but knowledge of how varying tillage regimes and associated soil physical and chemical alterations affect fungal denitrifiers is limited. Based on results from a long-term (>40 years) tillage experiment, we show that non-inversion tillage resulted in increased potential denitrification activity in the upper soil layers, compared to annual or occasional (every 4-5 years) conventional inversion tillage. Using sequence-corrected abundance of the fungal nirK gene, we further identified an increased genetic potential for fungal denitrification, compared to that caused by bacteria, with decreasing tillage intensity. Differences in the composition and diversity of the fungal nirK community imply that different tillage regimes select for distinct fungal denitrifiers with differing functional capabilities and lifestyles, predominantly by altering carbon and nitrogen related niches. Our findings suggest that the creation of organic hotspots through stratification by non-inversion tillage increases the diversity and abundance of fungal denitrifier communities and modifies their composition, and thus their overall relevance for N2O production by denitrification, in arable soils

Laboratory measurements of high-frequency, acoustic broadband backscattering from sea ice and crude oil

Recent decreases in summer sea ice cover are spurring interest in hydrocarbon extraction and shipping in Arctic waters, increasing the risk of an oil spill in ice covered waters. With advances in unmanned vehicle operation, there is an interest in identifying techniques for remote, underwater detection of oil spills from below. High-frequency (200–565 kHz), broadband acoustic scattering data demonstrate that oil can be detected and quantified under laboratory grown sea ice and may be of use in natural settings. A simple scattering model based on the reflection coefficients from the interfaces agrees well with the data

Die Bedeutung der Kostenstruktur für die Effektivität von Staatshilfen

For many firms, the coronavirus crisis has lead to persistent sales slumps that generated urgent liquidity demand — unless fixed costs were reduced. The authors use a newly developed classification procedure that makes the cost structure of companies and, thus, their sensitivity to sales shocks visible. This is useful for designing effective relief measures that preserve corporate structures by protecting employment and avoiding insolvencies of companies with healthy prospects for a recovery during the post-crisis period. Such an approach helps to accelerate economic recovery

Crystal structure and proton conductivity of BaZr0.9Sc0

Solid-state sintering has been used to prepare the perovskite BaZr0.9Sc0.1O3-delta. Analysis of X-ray powder diffraction data shows that an increase of the unit cell parameter, a, was observed after deuteration. Rietveld analysis of room-temperature neutron powder diffraction data confirmed cubic symmetry (space group Pm-3m). Dynamic thermogravimetric analysis indicates that the hydration process occurs below 335 degrees C and approximately 58% of the theoretical number of protonic defects can be filled. The presence of protons/deutrons is seen from the strong O-H/O-D stretch band in the infrared spectrum of the hydrated/deuterated samples. The proton conductivity of a prehydrated sample was investigated under dry and wet Ar atmosphere

Design, synthesis and <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> biological evaluation of flurbiprofen amides as new fatty acid amide hydrolase/cyclooxygenase-2 dual inhibitory potential analgesic agents

Compounds combining dual inhibitory action against FAAH and cyclooxygenase (COX) may be potentially useful analgesics. Here, we describe a novel flurbiprofen analogue, N-(3-bromopyridin-2-yl)-2-(2-fluoro-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4-yl)propanamide (Flu-AM4). The compound is a competitive, reversible inhibitor of FAAH with a Ki value of 13 nM and which inhibits COX activity in a substrate-selective manner. Molecular modelling suggested that Flu-AM4 optimally fits a hydrophobic pocket in the ACB region of FAAH, and binds to COX-2 similarly to flurbiprofen. In vivo studies indicated that at a dose of 10 mg/kg, Flu-AM4 was active in models of prolonged (formalin) and neuropathic (chronic constriction injury) pain and reduced the spinal expression of iNOS, COX-2, and NFκB in the neuropathic model. Thus, the present study identifies Flu-AM4 as a dual-action FAAH/substrate-selective COX inhibitor with anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity in animal pain models. These findings underscore the potential usefulness of such dual-action compounds

Kostenflexibilität und Krisenreaktionen von Unternehmen in Deutschland : German Business Panel: Unternehmen in der Coronal-Krise

Die Sorge ist berechtigt, dass Unternehmen mit hohem Kostendruck während der Krise durch drastische, die Substanz angreifende Sparmaßnahmen ihre zukünftige Wettbewerbsfähigkeit verlieren. So zeigen unsere Daten, dass Betriebe mit geringer Kostenflexibilität trotz der staatlichen Hilfsmaßnahmen häufiger um ihre Existenz bangen und zukünftig weniger investieren wollen. Unterstützungsmaßnahmen sollten demnach die Kostenstrukturen der Betriebe noch direkter berücksichtigen, um gerecht und effektiv zu wirken