Quantum Primitives

“Copyright 2009 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics.”We explore possible characterisations of entanglement classes which may be interpreted as gates acting on globally distributed systems. The cyclic nature of a selection of entanglement gates, primitives, is explored commencing with gates for generating Bell, GHZ and W states

The Somatic Genomic Landscape of Glioblastoma

We describe the landscape of somatic genomic alterations based on multi-dimensional and comprehensive characterization of more than 500 glioblastoma tumors (GBMs). We identify several novel mutated genes as well as complex rearrangements of signature receptors including EGFR and PDGFRA. TERT promoter mutations are shown to correlate with elevated mRNA expression, supporting a role in telomerase reactivation. Correlative analyses confirm that the survival advantage of the proneural subtype is conferred by the G-CIMP phenotype, and MGMT DNA methylation may be a predictive biomarker for treatment response only in classical subtype GBM. Integrative analysis of genomic and proteomic profiles challenges the notion of therapeutic inhibition of a pathway as an alternative to inhibition of the target itself. These data will facilitate the discovery of therapeutic and diagnostic target candidates, the validation of research and clinical observations and the generation of unanticipated hypotheses that can advance our molecular understanding of this lethal cancer

A Quantum Stochastic Calculus

Martingales are fundamental stochastic process used to model the concept of fair game. They have a multitude of applications in the real world that include, random walks, Brownian motion, gamblers fortunes and survival analysis, Just as commutative integration theory may be realised as a special case of the more general non-commutative theory for integrals, so too, we find classical probability may be realised as a limiting, special case of quantum probability theory. In this thesis we are concerned with the development of multiparameter quantum stochastic integrals extending non-commutative constructions to the general n parameter case, these being multiparameter quantum stochastic integrals over the positive n - dimensional plane, employing martingales as integrator. The thesis extends previous analogues of type one, and type two stochastic integrals, for both Clifford and quasi free representations. As with one and two dimensional parameter sets, the stochastic integrals constructed form orthogonal, centred L2 - martingales, obeying isometry properties. We further explore analogues for weakly adapted processes, properties relating to the resulting quantum stochastic integrals, develop analogues to Fubini’s theorem, and explore applications for quantum stochastic integrals in a security setting

Multiparameter Quantum Stochastic Processes

We extend the non-commutative constructions outlined in Ref.1–3 to the general n parameter case, these being integrals over an n - dimensional parameter space, employing martingales as integrand. We extend previous results in type one,1,4 type two1,5 stochastic integrals and introduce new integrals for the Clifford sheet. These stochastic integrals are orthogonal, centred L2 - martingales, obeying isometry properties. We develop the construction to consider general martingale representations for the Clifford sheet

SEVA: A Smart Electronic Voting Application Using Blockchain Technology

© 2021 IEEE.The development of electronic voting applications remains an active area of research and this has led to the proposal and implementation of many models based on blockchains. However, most of the proposed models are partially decentralized solutions, in which the blockchain is used as a storage media for votes while the application is written in programming tools such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. This makes them vulnerable to attacks such as Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, Single Point of Failure (SPF), and fraudulent record modification. In this paper, we propose a fully decentralized electronic voting application, SEVA, in which we placed the whole application (code and data) in Ethereum to protect the application from vul- nerabilities. Additionally, we propose a new consensus algorithm, Proof of Smart Vote (PoSV) for SEVA, as a viable energy-saving alternative to the energy-intensive Proof of Work (PoW). We implemented and evaluated SEVA with PoSV and compared it with a partially decentralized model of the application.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Synchronizing DDoS Defense at Network Edge with P4, SDN, and Blockchain

© 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2022.109267Botnet-originated DDoS attacks continue to plague the internet and disrupt services for legitimate users. While various proposals have been presented in the last two decades, the botnet still has advantages over the defenders, because botnets have orchestrated processes to launch disruptive attacks. On the other hand, the defenders use manual methods, siloed tools, and lack orchestration among different organizations. These unorchestrated efforts slow down the attack response and extend the lifespan of botnet attacks. This article presents shieldSDN and shieldCHAIN, an inter-organization collaborative defense framework using P4, SDN, and Blockchain, which extends our earlier research on microVNF, a solution of Edge security for SIP- enabled IoT devices with P4. Besides mitigating DDoS attacks, microVNF also produces attack fingerprints called Indicator of Compromise (IOC) records. ShieldSDN and shieldCHAIN dis- tribute these IOCs to other organizations so that they can create their own packet filters. Effectively, shieldSDN and shieldCHAIN synchronize packet filters for different organizations to mitigate against the same botnet strain. Four experiments were performed successfully to validate the functionalities of shieldSDN and shieldCHAIN. The scope for the first experiment was intra- company, while the second, third, and fourth experiments were inter-company. In the first experiment, shieldSDN extracted IOCs from the source switch and installed these as packet filters on other switches within the same organization (in the U.S.). In the second experiment, the shieldCHAIN in the publishing organization (in the U.S.) shared IOCs by posting them to the Blockchain. In the third experiment, the shieldCHAIN in the subscriber organizations (in Singapore & the U.K.) retrieved these IOCs from Blockchain. Finally, in the last experiment, the shieldCHAIN in the subscriber organizations installed the retrieved IOCs as packet filters; that are identical to those in the originating organization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first framework that uses the P4 switch, SDN controller, and Blockchain together for this use case. As SDN and Blockchain gain acceptance, this framework empowers community members to collaborate and defend against botnet DDoS attacks.Peer reviewe

Edge Security for SIP-enabled IoT Devices with P4

© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2021.108698The exponential growth of IoT devices poses security concerns, in part because they provide a fertile breeding ground for botnets. For example, the Mirai botnet infected almost 65,000 devices in its first 20 hours. With the prevalence of Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones and devices on the networks today, the attacker could easily target and recruit these IoT devices as bots. Conventional network security measures do not provide adequate attack prevention, detection, and mitigation for these widely distributed IoT devices. This paper presents microVNF, a Virtualized Network Function (VNF) that leverages the programmable data plane feature on the edge switch. Based on knowledge gained from the Mirai botnet incident and following the defense-in-depth principle, microVNF protects IoT devices against SIP DDoS attacks in two stages: before and after infection. Prior to infection, it protects against SIP scanning, enumeration, and dictionary attacks. After infection, microVNF blocks botnet registration attempts to the command-and-control (CNC) server, thereby preventing the botnet from receiving commands sent from the CNC server, and detects and mitigates botnet SIP DDoS attacks. We conducted six experiments that involved using popular attack tools against microVNF, and it successfully performed deep-packet inspection of unencrypted SIP packets so as to track anomalies from a typical SIP state-machine. In this use case, besides providing physical connectivity to the IoT devices, the edge switch containing microVNF also provides the first line of defense in stopping malicious packets from propagating upstream to the core network. In addition to securing SIP, the microVNF approach can be adapted to other text-based, application-layer protocols such as HTTP and SMTP. MicroVNF leverages the native capability of programmable data planes without depending on external devices, thereby making this approach practical for securing edge-computing environments against application-layer attacks.Peer reviewe

Division C Fireside Chat: The Journey From Doctoral Student to a Tenure-Track Job

Presentation given at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Many graduate students believe that navigating the job market consists of following a precise flow chart with little room to stray from the course. However, there are many different roads that may be traveled when seeking tenure line employment. Not all are immediately following a dissertation defense or the completion of a post doc. This Fireside Chat will introduce a collection of professors, each with a unique tale of how they traveled the sometimes frustrating, but rewarding road from doc student to professor. The session will begin with an introduction of each panel member, followed by a 60-minute session where our panelists will answer questions posed from attendees. Graduate students of all stages are encouraged to attend