CGC monitor: A vetting system for the DARPA cyber grand challenge

The article of record as published may be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diin.2018.04.016In PressThe CGC Monitor is available at https://github.com/mfthomps/ cgc-monitor. Analysis results from CFE, generated by the monitor, are at https://github.com/mfthomps/CGC-Analysis.The DARPA Cyber Grand Challenge (CGC) pit autonomous machines against one another in a battle to discover, mitigate, and take advantage of software vulnerabilities. The competitors repeatedly formulated and submitted binary software for execution against opponents, and to mitigate attacks mounted by opponents. The US Government sought confidence that competitors legitimately won their rewards (a prize pool of up to $6.75 million USD), and competitors deserved evidence that all parties operated in accordance with the rules, which prohibited attempts to subvert the competition infrastructure. To support those goals, we developed an analysis system to vet competitor software submissions destined for execution on the competition infrastructure, the classic situation of running untrusted software. In this work, we describe the design and implementation of this vetting system, as well as results gathered in deployment of the system as part of the CGC competition. The analysis system is imple- mented upon a high-fidelity full-system simulator requiring no modifications to the monitored operating system. We used this system to vet software submitted during the CGC Qualifying Event, and the CGC Final Event. The overwhelming majority of the vetting occurred in an automated fashion, with the system automatically monitoring the full x86-based system to detection corruption of operating system execution paths and data structures. However, the vetting system also facilitates investigation of any execution deemed suspicious by the automated process (or indeed any analysis required to answer queries related to the competition). An analyst may replay any software interaction using an IDA Pro plug-in, which utilizes the IDA debugger client to execute the session in reverse. In post-mortem analysis, we found no evidence of attempted infrastructure subversion and further conclude that of the 20 vulnerable software services exploited in the CGC Final Event, half were exploited in ways unintended by the service authors. Six services were exploited due to vulnerabilities accidentally included by the authors, while an additional four were exploited via the author-intended vulnerability, but via an unanticipated path.This work was supported in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyAir Force award number FA8750- 12-D-0005Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

An approach to cork oak forest management planning: a case study in southwestern Portugal

This paper presents results of research aiming at the development of tools that may enhance cork oak (Quercus suber L.) forest management planning. Specifically, it proposes an hierarchical approach that encompasses the spatial classification of a cork oak forest and the temporal scheduling of cork harvests. The use of both geographical information systems and operations research techniques is addressed. Emphasis is on the achievement of cork even flow objectives. Results from an application to a case study in the Charneca Plioce´nica of Ribatejo in southern Portugal encompassing a cork oak forest extending over 4.8 thousand ha are discussed. They suggest that the proposed approach is capable of effective spatial classification of cork oak management units. They further suggest that it may be used to select optimal cork even flow scheduling strategies. Results also show that the proposed approach may lead to a substantial increase in net present value when compared to traditional approaches to cork oak forest management planning

Coideal Quantum Affine Algebra and Boundary Scattering of the Deformed Hubbard Chain

We consider boundary scattering for a semi-infinite one-dimensional deformed Hubbard chain with boundary conditions of the same type as for the Y=0 giant graviton in the AdS/CFT correspondence. We show that the recently constructed quantum affine algebra of the deformed Hubbard chain has a coideal subalgebra which is consistent with the reflection (boundary Yang-Baxter) equation. We derive the corresponding reflection matrix and furthermore show that the aforementioned algebra in the rational limit specializes to the (generalized) twisted Yangian of the Y=0 giant graviton.Comment: 21 page. v2: minor correction

The Bound State S-matrix of the Deformed Hubbard Chain

In this work we use the q-oscillator formalism to construct the atypical (short) supersymmetric representations of the centrally extended Uq (su(2|2)) algebra. We then determine the S-matrix describing the scattering of arbitrary bound states. The crucial ingredient in this derivation is the affine extension of the aforementioned algebra.Comment: 44 pages, 3 figures. v2: minor correction

The Quantum Affine Origin of the AdS/CFT Secret Symmetry

We find a new quantum affine symmetry of the S-matrix of the one-dimensional Hubbard chain. We show that this symmetry originates from the quantum affine superalgebra U_q(gl(2|2)), and in the rational limit exactly reproduces the secret symmetry of the AdS/CFT worldsheet S-matrix.Comment: 22 page

Reflection algebra, Yangian symmetry and bound-states in AdS/CFT

We present the `Heisenberg picture' of the reflection algebra by explicitly constructing the boundary Yangian symmetry of an AdS/CFT superstring which ends on a boundary with non-trivial degrees of freedom and which preserves the full bulk Lie symmetry algebra. We also consider the spectrum of bulk and boundary states and some automorphisms of the underlying algebras.Comment: 31 page, 8 figures. Updated versio

Gene expression profile of peripheral blood lymphocytes from renal cell carcinoma patients treated with IL-2, Interferon-α and dendritic cell vaccine

© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 7 (2012): e50221, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050221.Lymphocytes are a key component of the immune system and their differentiation and function are directly influenced by cancer. We examined peripheral blood lymphocyte (PBL) gene expression as a biomarker of illness and treatment effect using the Affymetrix Human Gene ST1 platform in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who received combined treatment with IL-2, interferon-?-2a and dendritic cell vaccine. We examined gene expression, cytokine levels in patient serum and lymphocyte subsets as determined by flow cytometry (FCM). Pre-treatment PBLs from patients with mRCC exhibit a gene expression profile and serum cytokine profile consistent with inflammation and proliferation not found in healthy donors (HD). PBL gene expression from patients with mRCC showed increased mRNA of genes involved with T-cell and TREG-cell activation pathways, which was also reflected in lymphocyte subset distribution. Overall, PBL gene expression post-treatment (POST) was not significantly different than pre-treatment (PRE). Nevertheless, treatment related changes in gene expression (post-treatment minus pre-treatment) revealed an increased expression of T-cell and B-cell receptor signaling pathways in responding (R) patients compared to non-responding (NR) patients. In addition, we observed down-regulation of TREG-cell pathways post-treatment in R vs. NR patients. While exploratory in nature, this study supports the hypothesis that enhanced inflammatory cytotoxic pathways coupled with blunting of the regulatory pathways is necessary for effective anti-cancer activity associated with immune therapy. This type of analysis can potentially identify additional immune therapeutic targets in patients with mRCC.This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (RO1 CA5648, R21CA112761, P20RR016437, and P30CA023108)

The earliest thymic T cell progenitors sustain B cell and myeloid lineage potential

The stepwise commitment from hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow to T lymphocyte-restricted progenitors in the thymus represents a paradigm for understanding the requirement for distinct extrinsic cues during different stages of lineage restriction from multipotent to lineage-restricted progenitors. However, the commitment stage at which progenitors migrate from the bone marrow to the thymus remains unclear. Here we provide functional and molecular evidence at the single-cell level that the earliest progenitors in the neonatal thymus had combined granulocyte-monocyte, T lymphocyte and B lymphocyte lineage potential but not megakaryocyte-erythroid lineage potential. These potentials were identical to those of candidate thymus-seeding progenitors in the bone marrow, which were closely related at the molecular level. Our findings establish the distinct lineage-restriction stage at which the T cell lineage-commitment process transits from the bone marrow to the remote thymus. © 2012 Nature America, Inc. All rights reserved