Trustworthy placements: Improving quality and resilience in collaborative attack detection

Abstract In distributed and collaborative attack detection systems decisions are made on the basis of the events reported by many sensors, e.g., Intrusion Detection Systems placed across various network locations. In some cases such events originate at locations over which we have little control, for example because they belong to an organisation that shares information with us. Blindly accepting such reports as real encompasses several risks, as sensors might be dishonest, unreliable or simply having been compromised. In these situations trust plays an important role in deciding whether alerts should be believed or not. In this work we present an approach to maximise the quality of the information gathered in such systems and the resilience against dishonest behaviours. We introduce the notion of trust diversity amongst sensors and argue that detection configurations with such a property perform much better in many respects. Using reputation as a proxy for trust, we introduce an adaptive scheme to dynamically reconfigure the network of detection sensors. Experiments confirm an overall increase both in detection quality and resilience against compromise and misbehaviour

Trustworthy placements: Improving quality and resilience in collaborative attack detection

Abstract In distributed and collaborative attack detection systems decisions are made on the basis of the events reported by many sensors, e.g., Intrusion Detection Systems placed across various network locations. In some cases such events originate at locations over which we have little control, for example because they belong to an organisation that shares information with us. Blindly accepting such reports as real encompasses several risks, as sensors might be dishonest, unreliable or simply having been compromised. In these situations trust plays an important role in deciding whether alerts should be believed or not. In this work we present an approach to maximise the quality of the information gathered in such systems and the resilience against dishonest behaviours. We introduce the notion of trust diversity amongst sensors and argue that detection configurations with such a property perform much better in many respects. Using reputation as a proxy for trust, we introduce an adaptive scheme to dynamically reconfigure the network of detection sensors. Experiments confirm an overall increase both in detection quality and resilience against compromise and misbehaviour

Designing text-messaging (SMS) in HIV programs: ethics-framed recommendations from the field

Text messages (SMS) are being increasingly integrated into HIV programs across Southern Africa to improve patient adherence, linkage to care and provide psycho-social support. Careful attention needs to be paid to the design of SMS-based interventions for clients of HIV-care services to ensure that any potential harm, such as unwanted disclosure of HIV status, is minimized. In this article we propose a set of best practice recommendations to ensure that any SMS-based intervention considers ethical principles to safeguard safety, autonomy and confidentiality of its targeted HIV-positive beneficiaries. This analysis draws from our operational experience in Southern Africa in the design and conduct of mHealth interventions in the frame of HIV projects. The recommendations, framed in the context of the Belmont Report's three ethical pillars, may contribute to more safely operationalize any SMS service integrated into an HIV program if adopted by mHealth planners and implementers. We encourage actors to report on the ethical and methodological pathways followed when conducting SMS-based innovations to improve the wellbeing and quality provision of HIV-care for their targeted clients

Salicylate method for ammonia quantification in nitrogen electroreduction experiments: The correction of iron III interference

[EN] The salicylate method is one of the ammonia quantification methods that has been extensively used in literature for quantifying ammonia in the emerging field of nitrogen (electro)fixation. The presence of iron in the sample causes a strong negative interference on the salicylate method. Today, the recommended method to deal with such interferences is the experimental correction method: the iron concentration in the sample is measured using an iron quantification method, and then the corresponding amount of iron is added to the calibration samples. The limitation of this method is that when a batch of samples presents a great iron concentration variability, a different calibration curve has to be obtained for each sample. In this work, the interference of iron III on the salicylate method was experimentally quantified, and a model was proposed to capture the effect of iron III interference on the ammonia quantification result. This model can be used to correct the iron III interferences on ammonia quantification. The great advantage of this correction method is that it only requires three experimental curves in order to correct the iron III interference in any sample provided the iron III concentration is below the total peak suppression concentration.This work was supported by the Toyota Research Institute through the Accelerated Materials Design and Discovery program. This work made use of the MRSEC Shared Experimental Facilities at MIT (SEM) supported by the National Science Foundation under award number DMR-1419807 as well as the HZDR Ion Beam Center TEM facilities. J.J.G.S. is very grateful to the Generalitat Valenciana and to the European Social Fund, for their economic support in the form of Vali+d postdoctoral grant (APOSTD-2018-001). G.M.L. was partially supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PGS-D.Giner-Sanz, JJ.; Leverick, G.; Pérez-Herranz, V.; Shao-Horn, Y. (2020). Salicylate method for ammonia quantification in nitrogen electroreduction experiments: The correction of iron III interference. Journal of The Electrochemical Society. 167(13):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1149/1945-7111/abbdd6S11016713Kibsgaard, J., Nørskov, J. K., & Chorkendorff, I. (2019). The Difficulty of Proving Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis. ACS Energy Letters, 4(12), 2986-2988. doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.9b02286Wang, Q., Guo, J., & Chen, P. (2020). The Power of Hydrides. Joule, 4(4), 705-709. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2020.02.008Wang, Y., Shi, M., Bao, D., Meng, F., Zhang, Q., Zhou, Y., … Jiang, Q. (2019). Generating Defect‐Rich Bismuth for Enhancing the Rate of Nitrogen Electroreduction to Ammonia. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 58(28), 9464-9469. doi:10.1002/anie.201903969Andersen, S. 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Excess executive compensation and corporate governance in the United Kingdom and Spain: a comparative analysis

Literature on executive compensation has relatively neglected the impact of institutional governance contexts. Regarding filling this gap, this study examines the influence of governance mechanisms on excess executive compensation comparing a set of listed UK and Spanish firms on an 8-year panel data. Findings indicate that Spanish firms are characterized by higher excess executive compensation than UK firms because of the less effectiveness of ownership structure and board of directors. Differences in concentration and structure of ownership as well as in composition and size of boards result in more aligned executive compensation design in the UK firms.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidade

Short-term microbial response after laboratory heating and ground mulching adition.

Fire alters soil organic matter inducing quantitative and qualitative changes that presumably will affect post-fire soil microbial recolonisation. Several studies have evidenced marked soil organic carbon reduction after moderate and high intensity fire, which limit the total recovery of microbial biomass during years. In order to evaluate the role of soil organic matter alteration in short-term microbial colonization process, we perform a preliminary experiment where unaltered soil from Sierra Nevada Natural Park was heated at 300 ºC during 20 minutes in a muffle furnace (H300) to simulate a medium-high intensity fire. After heating, soil samples were inoculated with unaltered fresh soil, rewetted at 55-65% of water holding capacity and incubated during 3 weeks. At the same time, unheated soil samples were incubated under the same conditions as control (UH). In addition, trying to partially alleviate soil organic matter fire-induced alterations effects on microbial colonization, we include an organic amendment treatment (M+). So, part of heated and unheated samples were amended with a mix of ground alfalfa:straw (1:1) and soil microbial abundance and activity were monitored together with soil organic matter changes. Heating process reduces total organic carbon content. After one week of incubation carbon content in heated samples was lower than the control one, in both, amended and un-amended samples. Microbial biomass and respiration were negatively affected by heating. Ground mulching addition increase microbial biomass and respiration but was not enough to reach control values during the whole study. Nevertheless, viable and cultivable fungi and bacteria showed different pattern. After two weeks of incubation both, fungi and bacteria were higher in heated samples. Ground mulching addition appears to stimulate fungal response in both, heated and unheated samples. Preliminary results of this experiment evidence the transcendence of soil organic matter fire-induced changes on microbial colonization process and the importance to determine several microbial parameters to obtain a more faithful conclusion about microbial response. The organic amendment appears to alleviate partially heated-induced damage, highlighting the positive stimulation on fungal abundance in both, heated and unheated samples.This research has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, through research projects POSTFIRE (CGL2013-47862-C2-1-R) and GEOFIRE (CGL2012-38655-C04-01)Peer Reviewe

Oscillations of a rapidly rotating annular Bose-Einstein condensate

A time-dependent variational Lagrangian analysis based on the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional serves to study the dynamics of a metastable giant vortex in a rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. The resulting oscillation frequencies of the core radius reproduce the trends seen in recent experiments [Engels et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 170405 (2003)], but the theoretical values are smaller by a factor approximately 0.6-0.8.Comment: 7 pages, revtex

Environmental predictors of filarial infection in Amazonian primates : Ecological factors and primate filarial infection

Altres ajuts: acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUTP en procés de revisióAltres ajuts: ERANet17/HLH-0271, and by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) (grant number 201,475/2017-0).Filarial nematode infections are common in primates, but have received little attention in the Neotropics. Epidemiological data on filarial infections in primates are still too sparse to fully understand the complex of this parasitism, especially because of the difficulty in studying the ecology and epidemiology of wild primates. We describe natural infections by Dipetalonema parasitizing 211 primates belonging to eight free-living primate genera in Amazonia, and assess the relationships between parasitic indicators and climatic (rainfall and river level), ecological (fruiting periods of plants) and biological (sex, species' body mass, group size and density) factors. The overall prevalence was 64.4% (95% CI: 64.0 - 64.9); parasitic mean abundance (N filariae per individual) and parasitic mean intensity (N filariae per infected host) of infection were 11.9 (95% CI: 8.3 - 15.6) and 18.4 (95% CI: 13.4 - 23.4) filariae/individual, respectively. Although we observed differences in parasitic parameters among primate genera, there was no correlation between parasitic parameters with density, body mass or group size. Sapajus, Cebus and Lagothrix had the highest prevalence and parasitic mean intensity. Using Lagothrix lagotricha poeppigii, the most sampled species (n = 92), as a model, we found that the number of filariae per infected host was associated with fruit production in swamp forests during the dry season, the time of food scarcity. The long periods of food shortage may cause environmental stress on primates, impairing their immune defenses and leading to increased parasite load but not affecting infection prevalence. However, the lack of information on vector ecology, key to understand risk factors associated to infection rate, prevents confirming the existence of an infection pattern dependent on food availability

Effect of Ph and vegetation cover in soil organic matter structure at a high-mountain ecosystem (Sierra Nevada National Park, Granada, Spain)

Poster nº 8246 en EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020During the last decade, soil organic matter dynamics and its determining factors have received increased attention, mainly due to the evident implication of these parameters in climate change understanding, predictions and possible management. High-mountain soil could be considered as hotspot of climate change dynamic since its high carbon accumulation and low organic matter degradation rates could be seriously altered by slight changes in temperature and rainfall regimes associated to climate change effects. In the particular case of Sierra Nevada National Park, this threat could be even stronger due to its Southern character, although its elevated biodiversity could shed some light on how could we predict and manage climate change in the future. In this study, a quantitative and qualitative organic matter characterization was performed and soil microbial activity measured to evaluate the implication of pH and vegetation in soil organic matter dynamics. The sampling areas were selected according to vegetation and soil pH; with distinct soil pH (area A with pH7) and vegetation (high-mountain shrubs and pine reforested area). Soil samples were collected under the influence of several plant species representatives of each vegetation series. Six samples were finally obtained (five replicates each); three were collected in area A under Juniperus communis ssp. Nana (ENE), Genista versicolor (PIO) and Pinus sylvestris (PSI) and other three were collected in area B under Juniperus Sabina (SAB), Astragalus nevadensis (AST) and Pinus sylvestris (PCA). Qualitative and quantitative analyses of soil organic matter were made to establish a possible relationship with microbial activity estimated by respiration rate (alkali trap) and fungi-to-bacteria ratio using a plate count method. Soil easily oxidizable organic carbon content was determined by the Walkley-Black method (SOC %) and organic matter amount was estimated by weight loss on ignition (LOI %). Analytical pyrolysis (Py-GC/MS) was used to analyse in detail the soil organic carbon composition. Our results showed that the microbial and therefore the dynamics of organic matter is influenced by both, soil pH and soil of organic matter. So that the pH in acidic media prevail as a determining factor of microbial growth over soil organic matter composition conditioned by vegetation.Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades (MICIU) for INTERCARBON project (CGL2016-78937-R). N.T. Jiménez-Morillo and L. San Emeterio also thanks MICIU for funding FPI research grants (BES-2013-062573 and Ref. BES-2017-07968). Mrs Desiré Monis is acknowledged for technical assistance

Solutions of Gross-Pitaevskii equations beyond the hydrodynamic approximation: Application to the vortex problem

We develop the multiscale technique to describe excitations of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) whose characteristic scales are comparable with the healing length, thus going beyond the conventional hydrodynamical approximation. As an application of the theory we derive approximate explicit vortex and other solutions. The dynamical stability of the vortex is discussed on the basis of the mathematical framework developed here, the result being that its stability is granted at least up to times of the order of seconds, which is the condensate lifetime. Our analytical results are confirmed by the numerical simulations.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.