ESASCF: Expertise Extraction, Generalization and Reply Framework for an Optimized Automation of Network Security Compliance

The Cyber threats exposure has created worldwide pressure on organizations to comply with cyber security standards and policies for protecting their digital assets. Vulnerability assessment (VA) and Penetration Testing (PT) are widely adopted Security Compliance (SC) methods to identify security gaps and anticipate security breaches. In the computer networks context and despite the use of autonomous tools and systems, security compliance remains highly repetitive and resources consuming. In this paper, we proposed a novel method to tackle the ever-growing problem of efficiency and effectiveness in network infrastructures security auditing by formally introducing, designing, and developing an Expert-System Automated Security Compliance Framework (ESASCF) that enables industrial and open-source VA and PT tools and systems to extract, process, store and re-use the expertise in a human-expert way to allow direct application in similar scenarios or during the periodic re-testing. The implemented model was then integrated within the ESASCF and tested on different size networks and proved efficient in terms of time-efficiency and testing effectiveness allowing ESASCF to take over autonomously the SC in Re-testing and offloading Expert by automating repeated segments SC and thus enabling Experts to prioritize important tasks in Ad-Hoc compliance tests. The obtained results validate the performance enhancement notably by cutting the time required for an expert to 50% in the context of typical corporate networks first SC and 20% in re-testing, representing a significant cost-cutting. In addition, the framework allows a long-term impact illustrated in the knowledge extraction, generalization, and re-utilization, which enables better SC confidence independent of the human expert skills, coverage, and wrong decisions resulting in impactful false negatives

Hybrid active damping of LCL-filtered grid connected converter

A method for hybrid active damping in power converters connected to a weak grid using an LCL filter is proposed. It uses feedback of the grid current and capacitor voltage and is derived as an equivalent to the capacitor current feedback active damping method. A co-design procedure for the grid current controller with the proposed hybrid active damping method is presented. The robustness, system bandwidth and harmonic rejection are studied. The proposed method is applied to a single grid connected converter with variable grid inductance to investigate its ability to damp different system resonance frequencies and its effectiveness is verified via frequency domain analysis and time domain simulation

Recurrence Risk Stratification for Women with FIGO Stage I Uterine Endometrioid Carcinoma Who Underwent Surgical Lymph Node Evaluation

Purpose/Objective(s): To estimate the recurrence risk based on the number of prognostic factors in women with FIGO stage I uterine endometrioid carcinoma (EC) in a large cohort of patients who underwent surgical staging including surgical lymph node evaluation (SLNE) and were managed with no adjuvant therapy. Materials/Methods: We queried our in-house prospectively maintained uterine cancer database for patients with FIGO stage I EC underwent surgical staging including SLNE between 1/1990-12/2020. Patients with synchronous ovarian and breast cancer diagnosis were excluded as well as those who received adjuvant therapy of any form. Patient\u27s demographics and pathologic variables were analyzed. We used multivariate analysis (MVA) with Stepwise Model Selection to determine risk factors for 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS). Study population was then stratified based on the number of risk factors identified (0, 1 or 2). The resultant groups were compared for RFS, disease-specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) using log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier curves. Additionally, independent predictors of DSS and overall OS were estimated. Results: 706 patients were identified who met our inclusion criteria with a median age of 60 years (range, 30-93) and a median follow-up of 120 months. All patients had at least pelvic SLNE with a median number of examined lymph node (LN) of 8 (range, 1-66): 66 patients (11%) had a sentinel LN sampling and 43% had paraaortic SLNE. 639 patients (91%) were stage IA and lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) was detected in 6% (n=41). Recurrence was diagnosed in 44 patients (6%). Independent predictors of 5-year RFS include age ≥ 60 years (p=0.038), grade 2 vs. 1 (p=0.003), and grade 3 vs 1 (p\u3c0.001). 5-year RFS for group-0 (age \u3c 60 years and grade 1) was 98% vs. 92% for group-1 (either: age ≥ 60 years or grade 2/3) vs 84% for group-2 (both: age ≥ 60 years and grade 2/3), respectively (p\u3c0.001). 5- year DSS for the three groups was (100% vs 98% vs 95%, p=0.012) and 5-year OS was (98% vs 90% vs 81%, p\u3c0.001), respectively. On MVA, stage IB vs IA was deterministic for DSS (p=0.02); whereas age ≥ 60 years (p\u3c0.001) and grade 3 vs grade 1 (p=0.004) were predictors for worse OS. Conclusion: In patients with stage I endometrioid carcinoma who had surgical staging including SLNE and no adjuvant therapy, only age ≥ 60 years and high tumor grade were independent predictors of cancer recurrence and hence can be used to quantify individualized recurrence risk. Surprisingly, LVSI was not an independent prognostic factor in this study cohort with SLNE

Synthesis and Characterizations of Titanium Tungstosilicate and Tungstophosphate Mesoporous Materials

The work reports a development approach for the synthesis of novel multi-components mesoporous materials of titanium tungstate (meso-TiW) titanium tungstosilicate (meso-TiWSi) and tungstophosphate (meso-TiWP) mixed oxides that have high surface area and ordered mesoporous structures at nanometer length scale. Using the solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) new oxides of bi- and tri-component of meso-TiW, meso-TiWSi and meso-TiWP oxides with different compositions and porosity were achieved. The physicochemical properties of the mesoporous oxides were characterized by X-ray diffraction, BET surface area analyzer, scanning, and transmission electron microscopes. Subject to the oxide composition, the obtained meso-TiW, meso-TiWSi and meso-TiWP exhibits high surface area, ordered 2D hexagonal mesostructured with order channels extended over a large area. The produced meso-TiW, meso-TiWSi, and meso-TiWP adsorbents exhibit good adsorption efficiency for the removal of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II) ions from water solution due to the presence of high surface area and accessibility of surface active sites. The adsorption efficiency of these mesoporous oxide reaches up to 95% and is found to be dependent contact time and adsorbents dose. The synthesis strategy is particularly advantageous for the production of new complex (multi-component) inorganic mesoporous materials that might have an application in the field of environmental, catalysis or energy storage and production

Grid impedance estimation for islanding detection and adaptive control of converters

The grid impedance is time varying due to the changing structure of the power system configuration and it can have a considerable influence on the control and stability of grid connected converters. This paper presents an online grid impedance estimation method using the output switching current ripple of a SVPWM based grid connected converter. The proposed impedance estimation method is derived from the discretised system model using two consecutive samples within the switching period. The estimated impedance is used for islanding detection and online current controller parameter adaptation. Theoretical analysis and MATLAB simulation results are presented to verify the proposed method. The effectiveness of the grid impedance estimator is validated using experimental results

Pramipexole protective effect on rotenone induced neurotoxicity in mice

Introduction: 
Pramipexole is a new dopaminergic drug which has been approved for PD treatment. However, we tried to find a new capacity for this drug rather than symptomatic effect. 

Materials and Methods: 
A chronic rotenone model with daily oral dose of 30mg/kg was induced in mice. Pramipexole was tried in a new approach where the treatment began in the middle of rotenone course with oral dose 1mg/kg/day of pramipexole. 

Results: 
Further analysis of behavioral tests and immunohistochemistry revealed success of pramipexole in improving the rotenone intoxicated mice. 

Conclusion: 
These results showed possible beneficial effects of pramipexole against rotenone-induced neurotoxicity

Survival Outcomes and Patterns of Recurrence After Adjuvant Vaginal Cuff Brachytherapy and Chemotherapy in Early-Stage Uterine Serous Carcinoma

Background: Uterine serous carcinoma (USC) is a relatively rare histology that portends a poor prognosis. The optimal adjuvant therapy for early-stage USC remains controversial; however, adjuvant vaginal cuff brachytherapy (VB) and chemotherapy is a commonly utilized strategy. Objectives: We sought to characterize predictors of survival endpoints and determine recurrence patterns in women with early-stage USC who received adjuvant VB and chemotherapy. Methods: We queried our prospectively maintained database for patients with 2009 FIGO stages I-II USC who underwent adequate surgical staging at our institution and received adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin and paclitaxel along with VB. We excluded women with synchronous malignancies. Overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were assessed by Kaplan-Meier and log-rank tests. Univariate (UVA) and multivariate analyses (MVA) were performed to identify statistically significant predictors of survival endpoints. Variables with P\u3c0.1 on UVA were included in a MVA and any variable with P\u3c0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: We identified 77 women who met our inclusion criteria who underwent surgical staging between 1991 and 2018. The median follow-up time was 36 months (range 6-125). The median age was 66 years. Of the cohort, 70% were FIGO stage IA, 17% were stage IB, and 13% were stage II. The median number of dissected lymph nodes (LN) was 22. There were 10 women (13%) diagnosed with a recurrence with a median time to recurrence of 12.0 months. The main site of initial recurrence was distant in seven patients (70%) with the remaining recurrences being pelvic/para-aortic. The 5-year RFS for patients who experienced a distant recurrence was 87% (95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.75-0.94). For the entire cohort, 5-year OS, DSS, and RFS were 83% (95% CI 0.68-0.91), 92% (95% CI 0.78-0.97), and 83% (95% CI 0.71-0.91), respectively. The sole predictor of 5-year OS on UVA was receipt of omentectomy (P=0.09). The predictors of 5-year DSS on UVA were presence of positive peritoneal cytology (P=0.03), number of LN examined (Hazard Ratio [HR] 1.10, 95% CI 1.00-1.21, P=0.05), and number of para-aortic LN examined (HR 1.16 [95% CI 1.01-1.32], P=0.03). The sole independent predictor of DSS was the presence of positive peritoneal cytology (HR 0.03 [95% CI 0.00-0.72], P=0.03). Predictors of five-year RFS on UVA were robotic vs open surgery technique (P=0.06), presence of positive peritoneal cytology (P=0.01), percent myometrial invasion (HR 5.59 [95% CI 0.84-37.46], P=0.08), and presence of lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI) (P=0.05). Conclusions: Five-year survival outcomes were promising in this cohort of women with early-stage USC treated with adjuvant chemotherapy and VB; however, this study shows that the predominant pattern of relapse in this population is distant, suggesting the need to optimize systemic therapy. Possible predictors of worse outcomes include positive peritoneal cytology, deep myometrial invasion, and presence of LVSI. Multi-institutional pooled analyses are warranted to confirm our study results

Parkinson's Disease: Is It a Toxic Syndrome?

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the neurodegenerative diseases which we can by certainty identify its pathology, however, this confidence disappeares when talking about the cause. A long history of trials, suggestions, and theories tried linking PD to a specific causation. In this paper, a new suggestion is trying to find its way, could it be toxicology? Can we—in the future—look to PD as an occupational disease, in fact, many clues point to the possible toxic responsibility—either total or partial—in causing this disease. Searching for possible toxic causes for PD would help in designing perfect toxic models in animals

Mantle cell lymphoma of the larynx: Primary case report

INTRODUCTION: Primary laryngeal lymphomas are exceedingly rare. Only about a hundred cases have been reported. They consist mainly of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, especially of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue. We report the first case of a primary laryngeal mantle cell lymphoma. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a case of a primary mantle cell lymphoma of the larynx in a 70-year-old North African non-smoker male. We present a detailed report of his clinical and paraclinical data as well as treatment options. CONCLUSIONS: Mantle cell lymphoma is a very aggressive lymphoma subset associated with poor prognosis. Laryngeal mantle cell lymphoma is exceedingly rare. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case to ever be reported

Enhancing the Optical Absorption and Interfacial Properties of BiVO4 with Ag3PO4 Nanoparticles for Efficient Water Splitting

Photoelectrochemical water splitting using semiconductor materials has emerged as a promising approach to produce hydrogen (H2) from renewable resources such as sunlight and water. In the present study, Ag3PO4 nanoparticles were electrodeposited on BiVO4 photoanodes for water splitting. A remarkable water oxidation photocurrent of 2.3 mA·cm–2 at 1.23 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode with ∼100% Faradaic efficiency was obtained, which constitutes a notable increase compared to the pristine BiVO4 photoanode. It is demonstrated that the enhancement of optical absorption (above-band gap absorbance) and the decrease of surface losses after the optimized deposition of Ag/Ag3PO4 nanoparticles are responsible for this notable performance. Remarkably, this heterostructure shows promising stability, demonstrating 25% decrease of photocurrent after 24 h continuous operation. This approach may open new avenues for technologically exploitable water oxidation photoanodes based on metal oxides