RISK ASSESSMENT OF MALICIOUS ATTACKS AGAINST POWER SYSTEMS

The new scenarios of malicious attack prompt for their deeper consideration and mainly when critical systems are at stake. In this framework, infrastructural systems, including power systems, represent a possible target due to the huge impact they can have on society. Malicious attacks are different in their nature from other more traditional cause of threats to power system, since they embed a strategic interaction between the attacker and the defender (characteristics that cannot be found in natural events or systemic failures). This difference has not been systematically analyzed by the existent literature. In this respect, new approaches and tools are needed. This paper presents a mixed-strategy game-theory model able to capture the strategic interactions between malicious agents that may be willing to attack power systems and the system operators, with its related bodies, that are in charge of defending them. At the game equilibrium, the different strategies of the two players, in terms of attacking/protecting the critical elements of the systems, can be obtained. The information about the attack probability to various elements can be used to assess the risk associated with each of them, and the efficiency of defense resource allocation is evidenced in terms of the corresponding risk. Reference defense plans related to the online defense action and the defense action with a time delay can be obtained according to their respective various time constraints. Moreover, risk sensitivity to the defense/attack-resource variation is also analyzed. The model is applied to a standard IEEE RTS-96 test system for illustrative purpose and, on the basis of that system, some peculiar aspects of the malicious attacks are pointed ou

Bidding Strategy with Forecast Technology Based on Support Vector Machine in Electrcity Market

The participants of the electricity market concern very much the market price evolution. Various technologies have been developed for price forecast. SVM (Support Vector Machine) has shown its good performance in market price forecast. Two approaches for forming the market bidding strategies based on SVM are proposed. One is based on the price forecast accuracy, with which the being rejected risk is defined. The other takes into account the impact of the producer's own bid. The risks associated with the bidding are controlled by the parameters setting. The proposed approaches have been tested on a numerical example.Comment: 8pages, 13figures, paper for the conference "Applications of Physics in Financial Analysis 6th International Conference

Salvatore Calandruccio, Sicilian parasitologist: a story we never wanted to tell.

Salvatore Calandruccio was born on Christmas Day 1858 in Taormina to a family of humble origins. The family's financial straits did not allow him to continue his studies and so he decided to work as a teacher. For ten years, he worked in this profession; however, the flame of knowledge that burned within him had not dimmed in the slightest and so he decided to continue his studies and first took a degree in Medicine (1888) and then one in Natural Sciences (1891) at the Royal University of Catania. He conducted studies with Giovanni Battista Grassi that were relevant to the progress of parasitology. Grassi published under his own name the results of joint research carried out on the relationship between malaria and mosquitoes, for which he received awards including the Darwin Medal in 1896. Salvatore Calandruccio's contribution, who appealed against the non-recognition, was only recognised after his death from nephritis, contracted while conducting sampling for the study on Murenoids

Enabling Fine Sample Rate Settings in DSOs with Time-Interleaved ADCs

The time-base used by digital storage oscilloscopes allows limited selections of the sample rate, namely constrained to a few integer submultiples of the maximum sample rate. This limitation offers the advantage of simplifying the data transfer from the analog-to-digital converter to the acquisition memory, and of assuring stability performances, expressed in terms of absolute jitter, that are independent of the chosen sample rate. On the counterpart, it prevents an optimal usage of the memory resources of the oscilloscope and compels to post processing operations in several applications. A time-base that allows selecting the sample rate with very fine frequency resolution, in particular as a rational submultiple of the maximum rate, is proposed. The proposal addresses the oscilloscopes with time-interleaved converters, that require a dedicated and multifaceted approach with respect to architectures where a single monolithic converter is in charge of signal digitization. The proposed time-base allows selecting with fine frequency resolution sample rate values up to 200 GHz and beyond, still assuring jitter performances independent of the sample rate selection

FPGA Implementation of Gaussian Mixture Model Algorithm for 47 fps Segmentation of 1080p Video

Circuits and systems able to process high quality video in real time are fundamental in nowadays imaging systems. The circuit proposed in the paper, aimed at the robust identification of the background in video streams, implements the improved formulation of the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) algorithm that is included in the OpenCV library. An innovative, hardware oriented, formulation of the GMM equations, the use of truncated binary multipliers, and ROM compression techniques allow reduced hardware complexity and increased processing capability. The proposed circuit has been designed having commercial FPGA devices as target and provides speed and logic resources occupation that overcome previously proposed implementations. The circuit, when implemented on Virtex6 or StratixIV, processes more than 45 frame per second in 1080p format and uses few percent of FPGA logic resources

Switched capacitor charge pump voltage-controlled current source

This manuscript describes a switched-capacitor current source for applications such as driving high brightness LEDs and lasers. By introducing a third phase of operation into a two-phase charge pump DC-DC converter, the proposed design offers a potential solution to the excessive power typically consumed in regulating the diode or laser current. This results in a highly integrable voltage-to-current regulator

Approaches to the Security Analysis of Power Systems: Defence Strategies Against Malicious Threats

This report is intended to provide a conceptual framework for assessing the security risk to power systems assets and operations related to malicious attacks. The problem is analysed with reference to all the actors involved and the possible targets. The specific nature of the malicious attacks is discussed and representations in terms of strategic interaction are proposed. Models based on Game Theory and Multi Agent Systems techniques specifically developed for the representation of malicious attacks against power systems are presented and illustrated with reference to applications to small-scale test systems.JRC.G.6-Sensors, radar technologies and cybersecurit

Season-long control of flea and tick infestations in a population of cats in the Aeolian archipelago using a collar containing 10% imidacloprid and 4.5% flumethrin

Cats that have outdoor access are highly exposed to ticks, fleas, mites and flying insects, though the risk to become infested by arthropods is less perceived in cats than in dogs. This has resulted in fewer treatment and prevention options being available for cats than for dogs. A collar containing a combination of 10% imidacloprid and 4.5% flumethrin (Seresto®, Bayer Animal Health) is available for cats and licensed with claims against ticks and fleas for 7â8 months. Following the assessment of the efficacy of the collar against Leishmania infantum infection in privately owned cats living in the Aeolian archipelago, herein we report the efficacy of the collar in the treatment and prevention of tick and flea infestations in the same population of cats over a period of one year of observation. At the inclusion day (Study Day 0, SD 0), cats were visited and examined for ectoparasites (i.e., flea combing and tick thumb counts) and allocated to group 1 (G1; n = 104; cats treated with Seresto® collar) or group 2 (G2; n = 100; untreated controls) and further checked at SDs 210, 270 and 360 (study closure). At SD 0, G1 and G2 had a comparable percentage of cats infested by fleas (45.2% and 49.0%; Ï2 = 0.164; P = 0.6859) and ticks (6.7% and 14.0%; Ï2 = 2.946; P = 0.0861). The number of cats infested by fleas was reduced in G1, being 8.3%, 0% and 3.8% on SDs 210, 270 and 360, respectively, resulting in efficacies against fleas of 79.4%, 100% and 93.6% on SDs 210, 270 and 360. None of the cats in G1 was found infested by ticks after the application of the collar, whereas in G2 ticks were observed on 15.7%, 4.8%, 17.5% of the cats at the different follow up visits, leading to an overall efficacy against ticks of 100%. A total of 375 ectoparasites were collected from cats, being 249 fleas (six Ctenocephalides canis, 240 Ctenocephalides felis and three Nosopsyllus fasciatus) and 126 ticks (87 Ixodes ventalloi and 39 Rhipicephalus pusillus). Field data gathered herein confirm a high efficacy of the collar in the prevention of tick and flea infestations on cats. This is of great importance both for the primary role of fleas and ticks as blood feeding parasites and, more importantly, because of their role as vectors of pathogens causing diseases of veterinary and medical importance

Synthesis and biological evaluation of new N-alkylcarbazole derivatives as STAT3 inhibitors: preliminary study

The signalling pathway of Janus tyrosine Kinases-Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (JAKSTAT) is activated by a number of cytokines, hormones (GH, erythropoietin and prolactin), and growth factors. JAK-STAT signalling is involved in regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. These activities are due to different members of JAK-STAT family consisting of: JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, Tyk2 and STAT1, STAT2, STAT3, STAT4, STAT5a, STAT5b, STAT6. Recent studies suggest a key role for STAT family proteins, in particular for STAT3, in selectively inducing and maintaining a pro-carcinogenic inflammatory microenvironment, that promote tumour cells transformation. Moreover, a striking correlation between cancer development/progression and STAT3 persistent activation exists, probably due to STAT3 promoting of the pro-oncogenic inflammatory pathways, like NF-kB, IL-6 and JAK family kinases. Recent study demonstrated that carbazoles can inhibit STAT3 mediated transcription. From these evidences, STAT3 represents a therapeutic target, so we have synthesized a new set of N-alkylcarbazole derivatives substituted in positions 2, 4 and 6, to evaluate their activity on STAT3. Some of these compounds showed an interesting activity as STAT3 selective inhibitors; in particular, compounds 9a 9b and 9c revealed to inhibit the STAT3 activation for the 50%, 90% and 95%, respectively

Long-term treatment with sulfhydryl angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition reduces carotid intima-media thickening and improves the nitric oxide/oxidative stress pathways in newly diagnosed patients with mild to moderate primary hypertension.

Aim. Sulfhydryl angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors exert antiatherosclerotic effects in preclinical models and antioxidant effects in patients. However, whether ACE inhibitors have any clinically significant antiatherogenic effects remains still debated. Objectives. In mildly hypertensive patients, we evaluated the effect of the sulfhydryl ACE inhibitor zofenopril in comparison with the carboxylic ACE inhibitor enalapril on carotid atherosclerosis (intima-media thickness [IMT] and vascular lumen diameter) and systemic oxidative stress (nitrite/nitrate, asymmetrical dimethyl-L-arginine, and isoprostanes). Material and methods. In 2001, we started a small prospective randomized clinical trial on 48 newly diagnosed mildly hypertensive patients with no additional risk factors for atherosclerosis (eg, hyperlipidemia, smoke habit, familiar history of atherosclerosisrelated diseases or diabetes). Patients were randomly assigned either to the enalapril (20 mg/d, n = 24) or the zofenopril group (30 mg/d, n = 24); the planned duration of the trial was 5 years. Carotid IMT and vascular lumen diameter were determined by ultrasonography for all patients at baseline and at 1, 3, and 5 years. Furthermore, nitrite/nitrate, asymmetrical dimethyl-L-arginine, and isoprostane levels were measured. Results. In our conditions, IMT of the right and left common carotid arteries was similar at baseline in both groups (P = NS). Intima-media thickness measurements until 5 years revealed a significant reduction in the zofenopril group but not in the enalapril group (P b .05 vs enalapril-treated group). This effect was coupled with a favorable nitric oxide/oxidative stress profile in the zofenopril group. Conclusion. Long-term treatment with the sulfhydryl ACE inhibitor zofenopril besides its blood pressure–lowering effects may slow the progression of IMT of the carotid artery in newly diagnosed mildly hypertensive patients. (Am Heart J 2008;156:1154.e1-1154.e8.