Smart meter security: Vulnerabilities, threat impacts, and countermeasures

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is the aggregation of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that are tailored to meet the efficient integration of renewable energy resources. The more complex features and soundless functionalities the AMI is enhanced with, the more cyber security concerns are raised and must be taken into consideration. It is imperative to assure consumer’s privacy and security to guarantee the proliferation of rolling out smart metering infrastructure. This research paper analyzes AMI from security perspectives; it discusses the possible vulnerabilities associated with different attack surfaces in the smart meter, their security and threat implications, and finally it recommends proper security controls and countermeasures. The research findings draw the foundation upon which robust security by design approach is geared for the deployment of the AMI in the future

30 days wild: development and evaluation of a large-scale nature engagement campaign to improve well-being

There is a need to increase people’s engagement with and connection to nature, both for human well-being and the conservation of nature itself. In order to suggest ways for people to engage with nature and create a wider social context to normalise nature engagement, The Wildlife Trusts developed a mass engagement campaign, 30 Days Wild. The campaign asked people to engage with nature every day for a month. 12,400 people signed up for 30 Days Wild via an online sign-up with an estimated 18,500 taking part overall, resulting in an estimated 300,000 engagements with nature by participants. Samples of those taking part were found to have sustained increases in happiness, health, connection to nature and pro-nature behaviours. With the improvement in health being predicted by the improvement in happiness, this relationship was mediated by the change in connection to nature

Conventional and CT angiography in children: dosimetry and dose comparisons

Tremendous advances have been made in imaging in children with both congenital and acquired heart disease. These include technical advances in cardiac catheterization and conventional angiography, especially with advancements in interventional procedures, as well as noninvasive imaging with MR and CT angiography. With rapid advances in multidetector CT (MDCT) technology, most recently 64-detector array systems (64-slice MDCT), have come a number of advantages over MR. However, both conventional and CT angiography impart radiation dose to children. Although the presence of radiation exposure to children has long been recognized, it is apparent that our ability to assess this dose, particularly in light of the rapid advancements, has been limited. Traditional methods of dosimetry for both conventional and CT angiography are somewhat cumbersome or involve a potential for substantial uncertainty. Recent developments in dosimetry, including metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFET) and the availability of anthropomorphic, tissue-equivalent phantoms have provided new opportunities for dosimetric assessments. Recent work with this technology in state-of-the-art cardiac angiography suites as well as with MDCT have offered direct comparisons of doses in infants and children undergoing diagnostic cardiac evaluation. It is with these dose data that assessment of risks, and ultimately the assessment of risk-benefit, can be better achieved

Genetic inhibition of neurotransmission reveals role of glutamatergic input to dopamine neurons in high-effort behavior

Midbrain dopamine neurons are crucial for many behavioral and cognitive functions. As the major excitatory input, glutamatergic afferents are important for control of the activity and plasticity of dopamine neurons. However, the role of glutamatergic input as a whole onto dopamine neurons remains unclear. Here we developed a mouse line in which glutamatergic inputs onto dopamine neurons are specifically impaired, and utilized this genetic model to directly test the role of glutamatergic inputs in dopamine-related functions. We found that while motor coordination and reward learning were largely unchanged, these animals showed prominent deficits in effort-related behavioral tasks. These results provide genetic evidence that glutamatergic transmission onto dopaminergic neurons underlies incentive motivation, a willingness to exert high levels of effort to obtain reinforcers, and have important implications for understanding the normal function of the midbrain dopamine system.Fil: Hutchison, M. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Gu, X.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Adrover, Martín Federico. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones en Ingeniería Genética y Biología Molecular "Dr. Héctor N. Torres"; ArgentinaFil: Lee, M. R.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Hnasko, T. S.. University of California at San Diego; Estados UnidosFil: Alvarez, V. A.. National Institutes of Health; Estados UnidosFil: Lu, W.. National Institutes of Health; Estados Unido

Effects of perceived cocaine availability on subjective and objective responses to the drug

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Rationale</p> <p>Several lines of evidence suggest that cocaine expectancy and craving are two related phenomena. The present study assessed this potential link by contrasting reactions to varying degrees of the drug's perceived availability.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>Non-treatment seeking individuals with cocaine dependence were administered an intravenous bolus of cocaine (0.2 mg/kg) under 100% ('unblinded'; N = 33) and 33% ('blinded'; N = 12) probability conditions for the delivery of drug. Subjective ratings of craving, high, rush and low along with heart rate and blood pressure measurements were collected at baseline and every minute for 20 minutes following the infusions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Compared to the 'blinded' subjects, their 'unblinded' counterparts had similar craving scores on a multidimensional assessment several hours before the infusion, but reported higher craving levels on a more proximal evaluation, immediately prior to the receipt of cocaine. Furthermore, the 'unblinded' subjects displayed a more rapid onset of high and rush cocaine responses along with significantly higher cocaine-induced heart rate elevations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results support the hypothesis that cocaine expectancy modulates subjective and objective responses to the drug. Provided the important public health policy implications of heavy cocaine use, health policy makers and clinicians alike may favor cocaine craving assessments performed in the settings with access to the drug rather than in more neutral environments as a more meaningful marker of disease staging and assignment to the proper level of care.</p

UV-Green Iridescence Predicts Male Quality during Jumping Spider Contests

10.1371/journal.pone.0059774PLoS ONE84

How the co-benefits of addressing climate change can motivate action across the world

It is traditionally thought that the public must be convinced of the reality and importance of anthropogenic climate change in order to take personal and political action. However, convincing the broad public involves overcoming powerful ideological obstacles1-4, and in many places climate change is slipping in public importance5,6. Here we examined whether beliefs about the “co-benefits” of mitigating climate change7 can avoid these obstacles by motivating behavior in both those who accept climate change and those who are unconvinced or unconcerned. We describe an integrative framework for assessing co-benefits8, distinguishing sociological dimensions (e.g., pollution, disease, economic development), and community character (e.g., benevolence, competence). Data from all inhabited continents (24 countries; N=6059), showed that two types of co-benefits, Development (economic and scientific advancement) and Benevolence (a more moral and caring community), rivalled climate change importance in the strength of their relationships with motivations to act. These co-benefits showed effects independent of climate change importance beliefs, and showed similar effects for both climate change believers and skeptics. Communicating these co-benefits of addressing climate change can help motivate action on climate change where traditional approaches have stalled

Working Together May Be Better: Activation of Reward Centers during a Cooperative Maze Task

Humans use theory of mind when predicting the thoughts and feelings and actions of others. There is accumulating evidence that cooperation with a computerized game correlates with a unique pattern of brain activation. To investigate the neural correlates of cooperation in real-time we conducted an fMRI hyperscanning study. We hypothesized that real-time cooperation to complete a maze task, using a blind-driving paradigm, would activate substrates implicated in theory of mind. We also hypothesized that cooperation would activate neural reward centers more than when participants completed the maze themselves. Of interest and in support of our hypothesis we found left caudate and putamen activation when participants worked together to complete the maze. This suggests that cooperation during task completion is inherently rewarding. This finding represents one of the first discoveries of a proximate neural mechanism for group based interactions in real-time, which indirectly supports the social brain hypothesis

Cocaine Serves as a Peripheral Interoceptive Conditioned Stimulus for Central Glutamate and Dopamine Release

Intravenous injections of cocaine HCl are habit-forming because, among their many actions, they elevate extracellular dopamine levels in the terminal fields of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system. This action, thought to be very important for cocaine's strong addiction liability, is believed to have very short latency and is assumed to reflect rapid brain entry and pharmacokinetics of the drug. However, while intravenous cocaine HCl has almost immediate effects on behavior and extracellular dopamine levels, recent evidence suggests that its central pharmacological effects are not evident until 10 or more seconds after IV injection. Thus the immediate effects of a given intravenous cocaine injection on extracellular dopamine concentration and behavior appear to occur before there is sufficient time for cocaine to act centrally as a dopamine uptake inhibitor. To explore the contribution of peripheral effects of cocaine to the early activation of the dopamine system, we used brain microdialysis to measure the effects of cocaine methiodide (MI)—a cocaine analogue that does not cross the blood brain barrier—on glutamate (excitatory) input to the dopamine cells. IP injections of cocaine MI were ineffective in cocaine-naïve animals but stimulated ventral tegmental glutamate release in rats previously trained to lever-press for cocaine HCl. This peripherally triggered glutamate input was sufficient to reinstate cocaine-seeking in previously trained animals that had undergone extinction of the habit. These findings offer an explanation for short-latency behavioral responses and immediate dopamine elevations seen following cocaine injections in cocaine-experienced but not cocaine-naïve animals