Success Factors in Secure Software Development of Cloud Applications in Germany: A Qualitative-explorative Expert Study

The use of cloud computing continues to increase in Germany, according to Germany’s digital association. However, threats to information security stand in the way of a comprehensive acceptance and penetration of cloud computing. Secure software development is described in the standard ISO/IEC 27001, security control A.14.2 “Security in development and support processes” and in the cloud related code of practice standard ISO/IEC 27017 in chapter 14.2 “Security in development and support processes”. Secure software development has the potential to reduce vulnerabilities and thus increase the security level of applications. When implementing a secure software development process of cloud applications, the question for organizations is which factors have a positive influence on success, where success is defined as an increased security level of cloud applications. This paper contributes to answering the questions of (RQ1) what potential success factors exist in secure software development of cloud applications in Germany and (RQ2) what role does strategic and operational aspects play

Simulation algorithm to model the visible tunable filter for the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

Journal of astronomical telescopes, instruments, and systems : JATIS 3 (2017), Nr. 0

Cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of Theileria annulata schizont surface proteins

The invasion of Theileria sporozoites into bovine leukocytes is rapidly followed by the destruction of the surrounding host cell membrane, allowing the parasite to establish its niche within the host cell cytoplasm. Theileria infection induces host cell transformation, characterised by increased host cell proliferation and invasiveness, and the activation of anti-apoptotic genes. This process is strictly dependent on the presence of a viable parasite. Several host cell kinases, including PI3-K, JNK, CK2 and Src-family kinases, are constitutively activated in Theileria-infected cells and contribute to the transformed phenotype. Although a number of host cell molecules, including IkB kinase and polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1), are recruited to the schizont surface, very little is known about the schizont molecules involved in host-parasite interactions. In this study we used immunofluorescence to detect phosphorylated threonine (p-Thr), serine (p-Ser) and threonine-proline (p-Thr-Pro) epitopes on the schizont during host cell cycle progression, revealing extensive schizont phosphorylation during host cell interphase. Furthermore, we established a quick protocol to isolate schizonts from infected macrophages following synchronisation in S-phase or mitosis, and used mass spectrometry to detect phosphorylated schizont proteins. In total, 65 phosphorylated Theileria proteins were detected, 15 of which are potentially secreted or expressed on the surface of the schizont and thus may be targets for host cell kinases. In particular, we describe the cell cycle-dependent phosphorylation of two T. annulata surface proteins, TaSP and p104, both of which are highly phosphorylated during host cell S-phase. TaSP and p104 are involved in mediating interactions between the parasite and the host cell cytoskeleton, which is crucial for the persistence of the parasite within the dividing host cell and the maintenance of the transformed state

Promoting vaccinations - an analysis of measures taken by German statutory health insurers

Introduction: Prophylactic vaccinations play a significant role in health care. As a relatively cost-effective preventive measure they can help to avert transmissible diseases and thus protect not only the vaccinated individuals themselves but also those who have not been vaccinated. In order to achieve this, a high vaccination rate is necessary; for many prophylactic vaccinations this rate is not reached in Germany. In order to counteract this trend the importance of prophylactic vaccinations was upgraded in 2007 within the scope of the reform of the health system. The reimbursement of patients' vaccination fees was made compulsory for the statutory health insurance companies and statutory requirements were imposed on the insurers to ensure a nationwide provision of prophylactic vaccinations for insured persons. The objective of this paper is to evaluate to what extent the health insurance companies promote the increasing of vaccination coverage rate today and what measures are being used to present this topic to the public. Methods: In order to assess the public presentation of the topic "prophylactic vaccinations" we have examined the websites of 68 statutory health insurance companies. We have assessed the attitude of the companies towards the promotion of participation in vaccination programs by conducting qualitative, structured interviews with representatives of 8 health insurers. Results: Measures to promote vaccinations, such as information, recall offers, projects to educate people or even monetary incentives, are employed relatively extensively by the health insurers and are considered important. However, it became clear that the discussion about prophylactic vaccinations, in particular concerning the costs and benefits thereof, had not been completed yet within the companies. Vaccination-specific data is not collected or evaluated on a regular or even isolated basis. There are no concrete targets concerning specific vaccination rates and incentives are neither evaluated nor compared with one another. Conclusions: The relatively extensive range of measures used to promote the vaccination rate contrasts with insufficient knowledge about their efficacy and efficiency. There is an urgent requirement for more research here

Optimal spectral nudging for global dynamic downscaling

AbstractThis study analyzes a method to construct a homogeneous, high-resolution global atmospheric hindcast. The method is the spectral nudging technique which was applied to a state-of-the-art general circulation model (ECHAM6, T255L95). Large spatial scales of the global climate model prognostic variables were spectrally nudged towards a reanalysis data set (NCEP1, T62L28) for the last decades. The main idea is the addition of dynamically consistent regional weather details to the coarse grid NCEP1 reanalysis. A large number of sensitivity experiments were performed, using different nudging e-folding times, vertical profiles, wave numbers, and variables. Comparisons with observations and several reanalyses showed a high dependency on the variations of the nudging configuration. At the global scale, the accordance is very high for extra-tropical regions and lower in the tropics. A wave number truncation of 30, a relatively short e-folding time of 50 min and a plateau-shaped nudging profile applied only to divergence and vorticity generally yielded the best results. This is one of the first global spectral nudging hindcast studies and the first applying an altitude-dependent profile to selected prognostic variables. The method can be applied to reconstruct the history of extreme events such as intense storms in the context of ongoing climate change

Rolling-Shutter Modelling for Direct Visual-Inertial Odometry

We present a direct visual-inertial odometry (VIO) method which estimates the motion of the sensor setup and sparse 3D geometry of the environment based on measurements from a rolling-shutter camera and an inertial measurement unit (IMU). The visual part of the system performs a photometric bundle adjustment on a sparse set of points. This direct approach does not extract feature points and is able to track not only corners, but any pixels with sufficient gradient magnitude. Neglecting rolling-shutter effects in the visual part severely degrades accuracy and robustness of the system. In this paper, we incorporate a rolling-shutter model into the photometric bundle adjustment that estimates a set of recent keyframe poses and the inverse depth of a sparse set of points. IMU information is accumulated between several frames using measurement preintegration, and is inserted into the optimization as an additional constraint between selected keyframes. For every keyframe we estimate not only the pose but also velocity and biases to correct the IMU measurements. Unlike systems with global-shutter cameras, we use both IMU measurements and rolling-shutter effects of the camera to estimate velocity and biases for every state. Last, we evaluate our system on a novel dataset that contains global-shutter and rolling-shutter images, IMU data and ground-truth poses for ten different sequences, which we make publicly available. Evaluation shows that the proposed method outperforms a system where rolling shutter is not modelled and achieves similar accuracy to the global-shutter method on global-shutter data

Non-Genomic AhR-Signaling Modulates the Immune Response in Endotoxin-Activated Macrophages After Activation by the Environmental Stressor BaP

Emerging studies revealed that the Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a receptor sensing environmental contaminants, is executing an immunomodulatory function. However, it is an open question to which extent this is achieved by its role as a transcription factor or via non-genomic signaling. We utilized a multi-post-translational modification-omics approach to examine non-genomic AhR-signaling after activation with endogenous (FICZ) or exogenous (BaP) ligand in endotoxin-activated (LPS) monocyte-derived macrophages. While AhR activation affected abundances of few proteins, regulation of ubiquitination and phosphorylation were highly pronounced. Although the number and strength of effects depended on the applied AhR-ligand, both ligands increased ubiquitination of Rac1, which participates in PI3K/AKT-pathway-dependent macrophage activation, resulting in a pro-inflammatory phenotype. In contrast, cotreatment with ligand and LPS revealed a decreased AKT activity mediating an antiinflammatory effect. Thus, our data show an immunomodulatory effect of AhR activation through a Rac1ubiquitination-dependent mechanism that attenuated AKT-signaling, resulting in a mitigated inflammatory response

Stickstoffdynamik im ökologischen Gemüsebau im Freiland mit organischen Düngern unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Flachabdeckungen zur Verfrühung und Verlängerung der Anbausaison

Der intensiv wirtschaftende ökologische Gemüsebau ist auf Zufuhr von organischen stickstoffhaltigen Materialien angewiesen. Seit der BSE-Krise werden verschiedene organische Materialien pflanzlicher Herkunft als Alternative zu Düngern tierischer Herkunft betrachtet. Organische Handelsdünger pflanzlicher Herkunft und Leguminosenschrote wurden in Freilandversuchen verglichen und bezüglich ihrer Düngewirkung bei verschiedenen Gemüsekulturen überprüft. Im ersten Versuchsjahr wurden in Vorversuchen im Gemüsebauversuchsbetrieb Bamberg der LWG Veitshöchheim verschiedene pflanzliche Dünger, ein betriebseigener Kompost und ein Horndünger auf deren Ertragswirksamkeit getestet. In den folgenden Vegetationsperioden wurden die N-Umsetzung verschiedener Materialien und deren Ertragswirksamkeit untersucht. Zu einer Frühkultur wurde zusätzlich der Einfluss einer Flachabdeckung überprüft. Analog zu den Hauptkulturen im Versuchsbetrieb wurden Versuche in Praxisbetrieben durchgeführt. Im Versuchsbetrieb wurde bei einer Auswahl von Düngern in deren Parzellen Brachen integriert und verschiedene N-Fraktionen untersucht. Mit dem Projekt 03OE102 „Synchronisation der N-Mineralisierung aus Mulch mit der N-Aufnahme von Freilandgemüse durch optimiertes Management einer Leguminosengründüngung“ wurden Versuchsplanung abgestimmt und Ergebnisse ausgetauscht. Die Ertragsergebnisse der Vorversuche bei Spinat und Weißkohl zeigen, dass verschiedene pflanzlicher Dünger als Alternative zu Hornprodukten möglich sind. In den folgenden Freilandversuchen konnte eine unterschiedliche Wirkung der verwendeten Dünger bei einer frühen Kultur mit Kohlrabi (Frischmasse- und N-Ertrag, Netto-N-Ausnutzung, Nmin-Gehalt) festgestellt werden. So zeichnet sich am Beispiel der Netto-N-Ausnutzung die Reihenfolge Rizinusschrot > Maltaflor®, Gelbe Lupine > Ackerbohne > Blaue Lupine ab. Es konnte ein Einfluss der Vliesabdeckung auf die Erträge, jedoch nicht auf den Nmin-Gehalt oder die Netto-N-Ausnutzung ermittelt werden. Bei den weiteren Kulturen (Knollensellerie, Porree und Spinat) lassen sich die verwendeten Dünger nicht deutlich differenzieren. Eine Aufteilung von Düngergaben zeigte keine positive Wirkung. Es bestätigte sich, dass auch mit Leguminosenschroten eine N-Versorgung von Gemüsekulturen möglich ist. Die pflanzlichen Dünger wurden überwiegend schnell mineralisiert, was durch die hohen Nmin-Gehalte im Boden bereits kurze Zeit nach der Düngung deutlich wird. In den Brachen war teilweise ein kurzzeitiger Anstieg des mikrobiellen N zu verzeichnen, am deutlichsten nach der Düngung mit dem Schrot der Blauen Lupine. In Abstimmung mit dem Projekt 03OE102 ergab sich ein deutlich unterschiedliches Mineralisationsverhalten der Böden der verschiedenen Standorte