Towards a Layered Architectural View for Security Analysis in SCADA Systems

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems support and control the operation of many critical infrastructures that our society depend on, such as power grids. Since SCADA systems become a target for cyber attacks and the potential impact of a successful attack could lead to disastrous consequences in the physical world, ensuring the security of these systems is of vital importance. A fundamental prerequisite to securing a SCADA system is a clear understanding and a consistent view of its architecture. However, because of the complexity and scale of SCADA systems, this is challenging to acquire. In this paper, we propose a layered architectural view for SCADA systems, which aims at building a common ground among stakeholders and supporting the implementation of security analysis. In order to manage the complexity and scale, we define four interrelated architectural layers, and uses the concept of viewpoints to focus on a subset of the system. We indicate the applicability of our approach in the context of SCADA system security analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Future Trends of Virtual, Augmented Reality, and Games for Health

Serious game is now a multi-billion dollar industry and is still growing steadily in many sectors. As a major subset of serious games, designing and developing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and serious games or adopting off-the-shelf games to support medical education, rehabilitation, or promote health has become a promising frontier in the healthcare sector since 2004, because games technology is inexpensive, widely available, fun and entertaining for people of all ages, with various health conditions and different sensory, motor, and cognitive capabilities. In this chapter, we provide the reader an overview of the book with a perspective of future trends of VR, AR simulation and serious games for healthcare

Estimating the Algorithmic Complexity of Stock Markets

Randomness and regularities in Finance are usually treated in probabilistic terms. In this paper, we develop a completely different approach in using a non-probabilistic framework based on the algorithmic information theory initially developed by Kolmogorov (1965). We present some elements of this theory and show why it is particularly relevant to Finance, and potentially to other sub-fields of Economics as well. We develop a generic method to estimate the Kolmogorov complexity of numeric series. This approach is based on an iterative "regularity erasing procedure" implemented to use lossless compression algorithms on financial data. Examples are provided with both simulated and real-world financial time series. The contributions of this article are twofold. The first one is methodological : we show that some structural regularities, invisible with classical statistical tests, can be detected by this algorithmic method. The second one consists in illustrations on the daily Dow-Jones Index suggesting that beyond several well-known regularities, hidden structure may in this index remain to be identified

A multimedia package for patient understanding and rehabilitation of non-contact anterior cruciate ligament injuries

Non-contact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is one of the most common ligament injuries in the body. Many patients’ receive graft surgery to repair the damage, but have to undertake an extensive period of rehabilitation. However, non-compliance and lack of understanding of the injury, healing process and rehabilitation means patient’s return to activities before effective structural integrity of the graft has been reached. When clinicians educate the patient, to encourage compliance with treatment and rehabilitation, the only tools that are currently widely in use are static plastic models, line diagrams and pamphlets. As modern technology grows in use in anatomical education, we have developed a unique educational and training package for patient’s to use in gaining a better understanding of their injury and treatment plan. We have combined cadaveric dissections of the knee (and captured with high resolution digital images) with reconstructed 3D modules from the Visible Human dataset, computer generated animations, and images to produce a multimedia package, which can be used to educate the patient in their knee anatomy, the injury, the healing process and their rehabilitation, and how this links into key stages of improving graft integrity. It is hoped that this will improve patient compliance with their rehabilitation programme, and better long-term prognosis in returning to normal or near-normal activities. Feedback from healthcare professionals about this package has been positive and encouraging for its long-term use

A Wireless Future: performance art, interaction and the brain-computer interfaces

Although the use of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) in the arts originates in the 1960s, there is a limited number of known applications in the context of real-time audio-visual and mixed-media performances and accordingly the knowledge base of this area has not been developed sufficiently. Among the reasons are the difficulties and the unknown parameters involved in the design and implementation of the BCIs. However today, with the dissemination of the new wireless devices, the field is rapidly growing and changing. In this frame, we examine a selection of representative works and artists, in comparison to the current scientific evidence. We identify important performative and neuroscientific aspects, issues and challenges. A model of possible interactions between the performers and the audience is discussed and future trends regarding liveness and interconnectivity are suggested

Comparing location decisions of domestic and foreign auto supplier plants

Plant locations in the U.S. auto industry have been moving southward for some time now. This paper utilizes a comprehensive dataset of the U.S. auto industry and focuses on plant location decisions of auto supplier plants that were opened less than 15 years ago in the U.S. We find that agglomeration continues to matter: suppliers want to be close to each other as well as to their assembly plant customers. We also find evidence of differences in location factors for domestic and foreign suppliers. Foreign suppliers exhibit a stronger preference to be near highways, other foreign suppliers and foreign assembly plants. That helps explain the different location patterns observed for these two groups within the auto region.Automobile industry and trade ; Automobiles - Prices ; Industrial location

Quantum Hall effect and Quillen metric

We study the generating functional, the adiabatic curvature and the adiabatic phase for the integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) on a compact Riemann surface. For the generating functional we derive its asymptotic expansion for the large flux of the magnetic field, i.e., for the large degree $k$ of the positive Hermitian line bundle $L^k$. The expansion consists of the anomalous and exact terms. The anomalous terms are the leading terms of the expansion. This part is responsible for the quantization of the adiabatic transport coefficients in QHE. We then identify the non-local (anomalous) part of the expansion with the Quillen metric on the determinant line bundle, and the subleading exact part with the asymptotics of the regularized spectral determinant of the Laplacian for the line bundle $L^k$, at large $k$. Finally, we show how the generating functional of the integer QHE is related to the gauge and gravitational (2+1)d Chern-Simons functionals. We observe the relation between the Bismut-Gillet-Soul\'e curvature formula for the Quillen metric and the adiabatic curvature for the electromagnetic and geometric adiabatic transport of the integer Quantum Hall state. Then we relate the adiabatic phase in QHE to the eta invariant and show that the geometric part of the adiabatic phase is given by the Chern-Simons functional.Comment: 36 pages, v4: greatly expanded version, added: references, Sec. 1.1 and Appendix A with background material, examples in Sec. 2.3 and Sec. 4, Thm. 3 and Sec. 5 expanded with more details on the relation between the adiabatic phase, eta invariant and Chern-Simons functional. To appear in Commun. Math. Phy

T′T^{'} Predictions of PMNS and CKM Angles

Generalizing a previous model to accommodate the third quark family and CP violation, we present a $T^{'}$ model which predicts tribimaximal neutrino (PMNS) mixings while the central predictions for quark mixings are $|V_{td}/V_{ts}| = 0.245$ and $|V_{ub}/V_{cb}| = 0.237$ with a predicted CP violating KM phase $\delta_{KM} = 65.8^{0}$. All these are acceptably close to experiment, including the KM phase for which the allowed values are $63^{0} < \delta_{KM} < 72^{0}$, and depend only on use of symmetry $T^{'} \times Z_2$ to define the model and no additional parameters.Comment: Simplified presentatio

Predictions of Neutrino Mixing Angles in a T'Model

Flavor symmetry ($T^{'} \times Z_2$) where $T^{'}$ is the binary tetrahedral group predicts for neutrino mixing angles $\theta_{13} = \sqrt{2} (\frac{\pi}{4} - \theta_{23})$ and, with one phenomenological input, provides upper and lower bounds on both $\theta_{13}$ and $\theta_{23}$. The predictions arise from the deviation of the Cabibbo angle $\Theta_{12}$ from its lowest-order value $\tan 2\Theta_{12} = (\sqrt{2})/3$ and from the $T^{'}$ mechanism which relates mixing of $(\nu_{\tau}, \nu_{\mu}, \nu_e)$ neutrinos to mixing of $(s, d)$ quarks.Comment: Typos. Reference adde