Keeping the Zombies at Bay: Fourth Amendment Problems in the Fight Against Botnets

You may not have heard of a botnet. If you have, you may have linked it to election shenanigans and nothing else. But if you are reading this on a computer or smartphone, there is a good chance you are in contact with a botnet right now. Botnets, sometimes called “Zombie Armies,” are networks of devices linked by a computer virus and controlled by cybercriminals. Botnets operate on everyday devices owned by millions of Americans, and thus pose a substantial threat to individual device owners as well as the nation’s institutions and economy. Accordingly, the United States government has been fighting back vigorously against botnets. As botnets advance in sophistication, the government’s methods for taking them down have become more intrusive. In executing a botnet takedown, the government collects IP addresses of the computers interfacing with the botnet. Because botnets are camouflaged in personal computers and devices, the government is unable to know which devices are infected until the takedown is effectuated. But what about the Fourth Amendment rights of innocent owners, whose devices are enabling the botnet without their consent or knowledge? Takedowns are beneficial to the owners because they liberate devices, but should we acquiesce to a government cyber-invasion simply because of this benefit? This Note argues no. Although the Fourth Amendment is implicated in botnet takedowns, this should not mean the government cannot perform the search; it simply means that the government needs to get a warrant authorizing the search first. This Note argues that the 2016 amendment to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which allows multi-district warrants to be issued by one judge, is a positive development for the Fourth Amendment and for the fight against cybercriminals. But Rule 41 must be implemented in a way that protects Fourth Amendment rights. To address this concern, this Note argues that judges should be trained regarding cybercrime, botnets, and the government’s takedown efforts so that judges can do their jobs: Make sure the warrants are reasonable and protect the Fourth Amendment rights of innocent victims

Footwork: A Novel

My thesis is a contemporary realistic novel using alternating perspectives. Footwork explores the modern day-to-day struggles and temptations that face monogamous relationships. How do we negotiate truth within society and expectations that others have of us? What are the deals we make with ourselves and each other in order to live within society? Footwork examines how truth and pain interact. Does truth always have to come forward at the cost of pain? There are three books that represent the contemporary cannon where Footwork could be situated. Infidelity by Stacey May Fowles encompasses alternate perspectives and deals with an affair as the central theme. Love and the Mess We’re In by Stephen Marche focuses on two perspectives of an affair and much of the book uses dialogue with the characters’ inner thoughts also written. Roddy Doyle’s The Snapper concentrates on a dysfunctional family, infidelity and is primarily dialogue. All three novels explore realistic portrayals of truth and infidelity. Footwork goes further by examining the intricacies of how people deal with deception and also forces the reader to have an emotional reaction. One of the ways this emotional reaction is achieved is by Footwork primarily being written in dialogue form. The dialogue encourages the reader to become emotionally invested in the characters’ struggles. The novel does not employ flashbacks, but instead focuses on the immediacy of the characters’ lives to create a story authentic to contemporary relationships. Footwork also uses alternating perspectives as a device to make the reader question which character he/she should be fighting for or against. All the characters have motives for why and how they deceive. The reader understands one character’s perspective only to be challenged by another character’s perspective. All three main characters at the end of Footwork find and/or speak their truth despite the pain that is inflicted

Gentrification or...? Injustice in large-scale residential projects in Hanoi

Large-scale residential developments on expropriated lands in periurban Hanoi resemble forms of gentrification seen elsewhere. But is it gentrification? Current debate over the definition of gentrification has focused on whether the term has become too broad to be useful in different institutional and spatiotemporal contexts. While some push for a generalizable definition based in capitalist development, others argue that the term harbors Western assumptions that fail to usefully explain unique local circumstances. The paper first identifies one such conceptual assumption that must be made explicit since it provides the term’s politicizing thrust: displacement generates an experience of social injustice. Then, drawing on surveys and interviews with residents as well as interviews with real estate agents, government officials, and academics conducted in Hanoi between 2013 and 2017, the paper evaluates five types of displacement on the city’s outskirts. Because displacement only occurs in marginal cases and generates limited feelings of social injustice, the term “gentrification” is of little use. Instead, the paper suggests that in a context of rapid urbanization and relatively inclusive economic growth like that of Hanoi the terms “livelihood dispossession” and “value grabbing” may better capture the experience of social injustice and are therefore more likely to generate political traction

Motivation and attitudes toward changing health (MATCH): A new patient-reported measure to inform clinical conversations.

ObjectiveTo identify and assess patient motivation to initiate or maintain behavior changes.MethodsAttitudinal statements were developed from structured patient interviews and translated into 18 survey items. Items were analyzed with exploratory factor analysis (EFA).ResultsAn EFA with 340 type 2 diabetes patients identified three areas of patient attitudes toward changing health behaviors: (1) willingness to make changes (3 items; α = 0.69), (2) perceived ability to make or maintain changes (3 items; α = 0.74), and (3) and feeling changes are worthwhile (3 items; α = 0.61). Greater perceived ability and feelings of worthwhileness were associated with positive psychosocial and behavioral management indicators. All three areas were associated with confidence and attitudes toward making a specific behavioral change (e.g., improve diet).ConclusionsMATCH is an internally consistent and valid 9-item scale that provides a profile of factors influencing motivation that can be used in clinical and research settings

3D Heart Model for Mapping RF Ablation Sites

Electro-Cardiologists routinely insert radiofrequency probes into the heart and conduct targeted ablation procedures to correct irregular heartbeats. Current techniques are very experience and “touch” based, and require the novice cardiologist about 50 procedures to become proficient. There is a need for a functional heart model device that can be used to reduce the amount of procedures on human patients before cardiologist become proficient. Project constraints included limited software availability for segmenting accuracy, available 3D printing technology and materials, and cost to 3D print heart models due to the complex geometry. The team began with a CT scan, ITK SNAP and MIMICS segmenting software, but the heart models appeared inaccurate and were filled with holes after segmenting. The team then downloaded an accurate heart model from an open source site and printed the model in thermoplastic material using a fused deposition modeling 3D printer. Metal nodes were placed throughout the heart model, which act as points the cardiologists can practice navigating the catheter to. Attached to these nodes is a circuit board which uses LEDs to display when the cardiologist correctly touches the desired node. There is not a model currently on the market that would help cardiologists become proficient with RF ablation; therefore this model will increase the safety of human patients during a RF ablation procedure.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1123/thumbnail.jp

Individual variability in preference for energy-dense foods fails to predict child BMI percentile

Many studies show that higher dietary energy density is associated with greater body weight. Here we explored two propositions: i) that child BMI percentile is associated with individual differences in children's relative preference for energy-dense foods, ii) that child BMI percentile is associated with the same individual differences between their parents. Child-parent dyads were recruited from a local interactive science center in Bristol (UK). Using computerized tasks, participants ranked their preference and rated their liking for a range of snack foods that varied in energy density. Children (aged 3–14 years, N = 110) and parents completed the tasks for themselves. Parents also completed two further tasks in which they ranked the foods in the order that they would prioritize for their child, and again, in the order that they thought their child would choose. Children preferred (t(109) = 3.91, p ≺ 0.001) and better liked the taste of (t(109) = 3.28, p = 0.001) higher energy-dense foods, and parents correctly estimated this outcome (t(109) = 7.18, p ≺ 0.001). Conversely, lower energy-dense foods were preferred (t(109) = − 4.63, p ≺ 0.001), better liked (t(109) = − 2.75, p = 0.007) and served (t(109) = − 15.06, p ≺ 0.001) by parents. However, we found no evidence that child BMI percentile was associated with child or parent preference for, or liking of, energy-dense foods. Therefore, we suggest that the observed relationship between dietary energy density and body weight is not explained by individual differences in preference for energy density

The impact of initial antibiotic treatment failure: Real-world insights in patients with complicated, health care-associated intra-abdominal infection

Purpose: The RECOMMEND study (NCT02364284; D4280R00005) assessed the clinical management patterns and treatment outcomes associated with initial antibiotic therapy (IAT; antibiotics administered ≤48 hours post-initiation of antibiotic therapy) for health care-associated infections across five countries. Patients and methods: Data were collected from a retrospective chart review of patients aged ≥18 years with health care-associated complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI). Potential risk factors for IAT failure were identified using logistic regression analyses. Results: Of 385 patients with complete IAT data, bacterial pathogens were identified in 270 (70.1%), including Gram-negative isolates in 221 (81.9%) and Gram-positive isolates in 92 (34.1%). Multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens were identified in 112 patients (41.5% of patients with a pathogen identified). IAT failure rate was 68.3% and in-hospital mortality rate was 40.8%. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated three factors to be significantly associated with IAT failure: patients admitted/transferred to the intensive care unit during index hospitalization, isolation of an MDR pathogen and previous treatment with β-lactam antibiotics. Conclusion: We reveal the real-world insights into the high rates of IAT failure and mortality observed among patients with cIAI. These data highlight the challenges associated with choosing IAT, the impact of MDR pathogens on IAT outcomes and the importance of tailoring IAT selection to account for local epidemiology and patient history

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment—A Plan for Integrated, Large Fire–Atmosphere Field Campaigns

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) is designed to collect integrated observations from large wildland fires and provide evaluation datasets for new models and operational systems. Wildland fire, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry models have become more sophisticated, and next-generation operational models will require evaluation datasets that are coordinated and comprehensive for their evaluation and advancement. Integrated measurements are required, including ground-based observations of fuels and fire behavior, estimates of fire-emitted heat and emissions fluxes, and observations of near-source micrometeorology, plume properties, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry. To address these requirements the FASMEE campaign design includes a study plan to guide the suite of required measurements in forested sites representative of many prescribed burning programs in the southeastern United States and increasingly common high-intensity fires in the western United States. Here we provide an overview of the proposed experiment and recommendations for key measurements. The FASMEE study provides a template for additional large-scale experimental campaigns to advance fire science and operational fire and smoke models

A Pilot Study of the Effects of Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae Exposure on Domestic Lamb Growth and Performance

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae is a globally distributed pathogen that has been associated with pneumonia in both domestic and wild Caprinae. It is closely related to M. hyopneumoniae, a respiratory pathogen of swine that is associated with decreased growth rates of pigs as well as clinical respiratory disease. In order to assess the effects of M. ovipneumoniae on lamb performance, we generated a cohort of lambs free of M. ovipneumoniae by segregation of test negative ewes after lambing, then compared the growth and carcass quality traits of M. ovipneumoniae-free and -colonized lambs from weaning to harvest. Some signs of respiratory disease were observed during the feeding trial in both lamb groups, but the M. ovipneumoniae-exposed group included more affected lambs and higher average disease scores. At harvest, lungs of lambs in both groups showed few grossly visible lesions, although the M. ovipneumoniae-exposed group did exhibit increased microscopic lung lesions (P\u3c0.05). In addition, M. ovipneumoniae exposed lambs produced lower average daily gains (P\u3c0.05), and lower yield grade carcasses (P\u3c0.05) compared to those of non-exposed lambs. The results demonstrated the feasibility of test and segregation for elimination of M. ovipneumoniae from groups of sheep and suggested that this pathogen may impair lamb growth and productivity even in the absence of overt respiratory disease