Identifying Persistent Faults in Network Access Control System

The task of configuring and managing security policies in enterprise networks is becoming harder due to complex policy constraints of the organizations and rapid changes in the network topologies. Typically, the organizational security policies are defined as a collection of rules for allowing/denying service accesses among various network zones. Implementation of the policy can be realized in a distributed fashion via implementation of appropriate sets of access control rules (ACL) within the interface switches (Layer-3 routers) of the network. Due to organizational complex security needs the verification of the ACL implementations with respect to the security policy is a major technical challenge to the network administrators. The problem’s complexity increases with changes in network topologies. In any point of time, the failure within the network infrastructure may occur, causing invalidation and performance degradation of the network parameters. Hence, the existing security implementation (distribution of ACL rules) may not conform to the policy.Here we address the problem by analysing Network Access Control model with ACL implementation in a static fault environment considering static and persistent faults in network access control. We have considered various network topologies for our study and the simulation has been run for networks comprising of number of nodes from 8 to 256. Then we have induced faults to these networks and tried to determine the average and maximum fault latency in these networks in a simulation based approach

Accuracy of pulse oximetry in pigmented patients

Objective. Prospective assessment of the accuracy of three pulse oximeters and  two probe sites in darkly pigmented critically·i11 patients under clinical conditions.Patients and methods. One hundred consecutive, darkly pigmented critically ill adutt patients with arterial lines in situ were studied. Patients were excluded if thehaemoglobin concentration was less than 7 g/dl and carboxyhaemoglobin or  methaemoglobin levels exceeded 2%. Pigmentation was objectively quantified with a portable EEL reflectance spectrophotometer (Evans E1ectroselenium Company, Diffusion Systems Limited. London). Reflectance was measured at nine wavelengths.Results. The degree of pigmentation as measured by percentage reflectance closely matched that of a control group of black Africans from a pigmentation study. The limits of agreement (2.6% to 5.8%), precision and bias values between pulse  oximeter and co-ox!meter readings fell within a narrow range. The 95% confidence intervals of the limits of agreement reflected a small variation in the difference between pulse oximeter and co-oximeter readings. These small differences were not clinically. significant in the pigmented patients who were enrolled in the study.Conclusion. The accuracy of pulse oximetry is not adversely affected by skin  pigmentation, and it remains a useful oxygenation monitoring device in darkly pigmented patients

Synthesis and structure activity relationship of novel small molecules as inhibitors of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1

Plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1) is a member of the serine protease inhibitor (serpin) family. PAI-1 is involved in the regulation of fibrinolysis, which is the breakdown of blood clots. PAI-1 inhibits serine proteases tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), which are key factors in fibrinolysis. Excess levels of PAI-1 have also been shown to increase the risk of diabetes, stroke, and atherosclerosis, as well as tumor development. Previous attempts at synthesizing a practical drug for the regulation of PAI-1 have not been successful; therefore, it has been the purpose of this study to further advance progress in this area. Working from a lead molecule derived from a high-throughput library screen, different derivatives were synthesized and tested for anti-PAI-1 activity. By studying the relationships between different aromatic substitutions, our goal was to discover a connection between these substitutions and more potent inhibition of PAI-1. This study discusses the synthesis and impact of the different derivatives of those small molecules on PAI-1 inhibition

Proportional valves with embedded electronics

The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at sites in all states and territories in Australia. This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2014 influenza season. In this observational study, cases were defined as patients admitted to one of the sentinel hospitals with an acute respiratory illness with influenza confirmed by nucleic acid detection. During the period 3 April to 31 October 2014 (the 2014 influenza season), 1,692 adult patients (>16 years) were admitted with confirmed influenza to one of 15 of 17 FluCAN sentinel hospitals (excluding 2 paediatric hospitals). Of these, 47% were over 65 years of age, 10% were Indigenous Australians, 3.3% were pregnant and 85% had chronic co-morbidities. The majority of cases were due to influenza A. Influenza B was detected in 7% of patients. There were a large number of hospital admissions detected with confirmed influenza in this national observational surveillance system in 2014. These are estimated to represent a national annual burden of around 15,000 admissions and almost 100,000 bed-days nationally