Examining key mobility resources through denial of service attacks on proposed global name resolution services

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-68).The problem we address in this thesis is to uncover the design elements in a network architecture design that may open it up to denial of service (DoS) attacks and to expose the tradeoffs in mitigating those DoS opportunities. We take as our candidate network architecture design the Future Internet Architecture project MobilityFirst. MobilityFirst's overarching goal, driven by increasingly available wireless communication, is the support of mobility in an Internet architecture. At its core, MobilityFirst separates identification from location, as distinct from the current Internet architecture, and postulates the existence of globally unique, flat identifiers. In order to support mobility in this context, it also postulates a global name resolution service (GNRS). In this thesis we examine three alternative designs for the GNRS and the opportunities they expose for DoS attacks. We consider each one in depth analytically. As an example, we then study one particular attack in depth and are forced to conclude that approaches to mitigating this attack would have significant negative impact on the support of mobility thus exposing the dilemma in such system design tradeoffs.by Colleen T. Rock.M. Eng

Examining key mobility resources through denial of service attacks on proposed global name resolution services

Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 66-68).The problem we address in this thesis is to uncover the design elements in a network architecture design that may open it up to denial of service (DoS) attacks and to expose the tradeoffs in mitigating those DoS opportunities. We take as our candidate network architecture design the Future Internet Architecture project MobilityFirst. MobilityFirst's overarching goal, driven by increasingly available wireless communication, is the support of mobility in an Internet architecture. At its core, MobilityFirst separates identification from location, as distinct from the current Internet architecture, and postulates the existence of globally unique, flat identifiers. In order to support mobility in this context, it also postulates a global name resolution service (GNRS). In this thesis we examine three alternative designs for the GNRS and the opportunities they expose for DoS attacks. We consider each one in depth analytically. As an example, we then study one particular attack in depth and are forced to conclude that approaches to mitigating this attack would have significant negative impact on the support of mobility thus exposing the dilemma in such system design tradeoffs.by Colleen T. Rock.M. Eng

Abelson kinase acts as a robust, multifunctional scaffold in regulating embryonic morphogenesis

Abelson family kinases (Abls) are key regulators of cell behavior and the cytoskeleton during development and in leukemia. Abl’s SH3, SH2, and tyrosine kinase domains are joined via a linker to an F-actin–binding domain (FABD). Research on Abl’s roles in cell culture led to several hypotheses for its mechanism of action: 1) Abl phosphorylates other proteins, modulating their activity, 2) Abl directly regulates the cytoskeleton via its cytoskeletal interaction domains, and/or 3) Abl is a scaffold for a signaling complex. The importance of these roles during normal development remains untested. We tested these mechanistic hypotheses during Drosophila morphogenesis using a series of mutants to examine Abl’s many cell biological roles. Strikingly, Abl lacking the FABD fully rescued morphogenesis, cell shape change, actin regulation, and viability, whereas kinase-dead Abl, although reduced in function, retained substantial rescuing ability in some but not all Abl functions. We also tested the function of four conserved motifs in the linker region, revealing a key role for a conserved PXXP motif known to bind Crk and Abi. We propose that Abl acts as a robust multidomain scaffold with different protein motifs and activities contributing differentially to diverse cellular behaviors

AEMON-J/DSOS Archive: "Hacking Limnology" Workshop + Virtual Summit in Data Science & Open Science in Aquatic Research

This OSF project is meant to serve as a long-term storage repository for presentations and workshop materials for the Aquatic Ecosystem Modeling-Junior (AEMON-J) and Virtual Summit: Incorporating Data Science and Open Science (DSOS) communities. Contributors in this repository include past presenters and workshop organizers. Contributors are only responsible for those individual presentations that are labeled with their surname

Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment.

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notable successes in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targeted therapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a few disease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistant immortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are not reliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, an international task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspects of relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a wide range of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For these targets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which were phytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed for known effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procarcinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixed evidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of the relationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. This novel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types of cancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for future research is offered.Multiple funders. See acknowledgments within article for details.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.semcancer.2015.09.00