A Framework for Improving Intrusion Detection Systems by Combining Artificial Intelligence and Situational Awareness

The vast majority of companies do not have the requisite tools and analysis to make use of the data obtained from security incidents in order to protect themselves from attacks and lower their risk. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are deployed by numerous businesses to lessen the impact of network attacks. This is mostly attributable to the fact that these systems are able to provide a situational picture of network traffic regardless of the method or technology that is used to generate alerts. In this paper, a framework is proposed for improving the performance of contemporary IDSs by incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into multiple layers, presenting the appropriate abstraction and accumulation of information, and generating valuable logs and metrics for security analysts to use in order to make the most informed decisions possible. This is further enabled by including Situational Awareness (SA) at the fundamental levels of the framework. Keywords: Intrusion Detection System, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Shallow Learning, Security Operation Center, Situational Awarenes

A Framework for Improving Intrusion Detection Systems by Combining Artificial Intelligence and Situational Awareness

The vast majority of companies do not have the requisite tools and analysis to make use of the data obtained from security incidents in order to protect themselves from attacks and lower their risk. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are deployed by numerous businesses to lessen the impact of network attacks. This is mostly attributable to the fact that these systems are able to provide a situational picture of network traffic regardless of the method or technology that is used to generate alerts. In this paper, a framework is proposed for improving the performance of contemporary IDSs by incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into multiple layers, presenting the appropriate abstraction and accumulation of information, and generating valuable logs and metrics for security analysts to use in order to make the most informed decisions possible. This is further enabled by including Situational Awareness (SA) at the fundamental levels of the framework. Keywords: Intrusion Detection System, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Shallow Learning, Security Operation Center, Situational Awarenes

Ethical Discourse on the Use of Genetically Modified Crops: A Review of Academic Publications in the Fields of Ecology and Environmental Ethics

The use of genetically modified plants in agriculture (GM crops) is controversially discussed in academic publications. Important issues are whether the release of GM crops is beneficial or harmful for the environment and therefore acceptable, and whether the modification of plants is ethically permissible per se. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the moral reasoning on the use of GM crops expressed in academic publications from 1975 to 2008. Environmental ethical aspects in the publications were investigated. Overall, 113 articles from 15 ecology, environmental ethics, and multidisciplinary science journals were systematically reviewed. Three types of moral concerns were used to structure the normative statements, moral notions, and moral issues found in the articles: concerns addressing consequences of the use of GM crops, concerns addressing the act (the technique itself), and concerns addressing the virtues of an actor. Articles addressing consequences (84%) dealt with general ecological and risk concerns or discussed specific ecological issues about the use of GM crops. Articles addressing the act (57%) dealt with the value of naturalness, the value of biotic entities, and conceptual reductionism, whereas articles addressing the actor (43%) dealt with virtues related to the handling of risks and the application of GM crops. The results of this study may help to structure the academic debate and contribute to a better understanding of moral concerns that are associated with the key aspects of the ethical theories of consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethic

Solstice: An Electronic Journal of Geography and Mathematics: Vol. 31, No. 1

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155623/1/SolsticeVolumeXXXINumber1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155623/4/vitaFull2020.pdfDescription of SolsticeVolumeXXXINumber1.pdf : Solstice, Vol. XXXI, No. 1.Description of vitaFull2020.pdf : CVarlinghau

Analysis of Prototype Foamy Virus particle-host cell interaction with autofluorescent retroviral particles

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The foamy virus (FV) replication cycle displays several unique features, which set them apart from orthoretroviruses. First, like other B/D type orthoretroviruses, FV capsids preassemble at the centrosome, but more similar to hepadnaviruses, FV budding is strictly dependent on cognate viral glycoprotein coexpression. Second, the unusually broad host range of FV is thought to be due to use of a very common entry receptor present on host cell plasma membranes, because all cell lines tested in vitro so far are permissive.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In order to take advantage of modern fluorescent microscopy techniques to study FV replication, we have created FV Gag proteins bearing a variety of protein tags and evaluated these for their ability to support various steps of FV replication. Addition of even small N-terminal HA-tags to FV Gag severely impaired FV particle release. For example, release was completely abrogated by an N-terminal autofluorescent protein (AFP) fusion, despite apparently normal intracellular capsid assembly. In contrast, C-terminal Gag-tags had only minor effects on particle assembly, egress and particle morphogenesis. The infectivity of C-terminal capsid-tagged FV vector particles was reduced up to 100-fold in comparison to wild type; however, infectivity was rescued by coexpression of wild type Gag and assembly of mixed particles. Specific dose-dependent binding of fluorescent FV particles to target cells was demonstrated in an Env-dependent manner, but not binding to target cell-extracted- or synthetic- lipids. Screening of target cells of various origins resulted in the identification of two cell lines, a human erythroid precursor- and a zebrafish- cell line, resistant to FV Env-mediated FV- and HIV-vector transduction.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have established functional, autofluorescent foamy viral particles as a valuable new tool to study FV - host cell interactions using modern fluorescent imaging techniques. Furthermore, we succeeded for the first time in identifying two cell lines resistant to Prototype Foamy Virus Env-mediated gene transfer. Interestingly, both cell lines still displayed FV Env-dependent attachment of fluorescent retroviral particles, implying a post-binding block potentially due to lack of putative FV entry cofactors. These cell lines might ultimately lead to the identification of the currently unknown ubiquitous cellular entry receptor(s) of FVs.</p

Structural basis for spumavirus GAG tethering to chromatin

The interactions between a retrovirus and host cell chromatin that underlie integration and provirus expression are poorly understood. The prototype foamy virus (PFV) structural protein GAG associates with chromosomes via a chromatin-binding sequence (CBS) located within its C-terminal region. Here, we show that the PFV CBS is essential and sufficient for a direct interaction with nucleosomes and present a crystal structure of the CBS bound to a mononucleosome. The CBS interacts with the histone octamer, engaging the H2A–H2B acidic patch in a manner similar to other acidic patch-binding proteins such as herpesvirus latency-associated nuclear antigen (LANA). Substitutions of the invariant arginine anchor residue in GAG result in global redistribution of PFV and macaque simian foamy virus (SFVmac) integration sites toward centromeres, dampening the resulting proviral expression without affecting the overall efficiency of integration. Our findings underscore the importance of retroviral structural proteins for integration site selection and the avoidance of genomic junkyards

Circulating Biomarkers and Resistance to Endocrine Therapy in Metastatic Breast Cancers: Correlative Results from AZD9496 Oral SERD Phase I Trial.

PURPOSE: Common resistance mechanisms to endocrine therapy (ET) in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive metastatic breast cancers include, among others, ER loss and acquired activating mutations in the ligand-binding domain of the ER gene (ESR1LBDm). ESR1 mutational mediated resistance may be overcome by selective ER degraders (SERD). During the first-in-human study of oral SERD AZD9496, early changes in circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) were explored as potential noninvasive tools, alongside paired tumor biopsies, to assess pharmacodynamics and early efficacy. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: CTC were enumerated/phenotyped for ER and Ki67 using CellSearch in serial blood draws. ctDNA was assessed for the most common ESR1LBDm by droplet digital PCR (BioRad). RESULTS: Before starting AZD9496, 11 of 43 (25%) patients had ≥5 CTC/7.5 mL whole blood (WB), none of whom underwent reduction to <5 CTC/7.5 mL WB on C1D15. Five of 11 patients had baseline CTC-ER+, two of whom had CTC-ER+ reduction. CTC-Ki67 status did not change appreciably. Patients with ≥5 CTC/7.5 mL WB before treatment had worse progression-free survival (PFS) than patients with <5 CTC (P = 0.0003). Fourteen of 45 (31%) patients had ESR1LBDm + ctDNA at baseline, five of whom had ≥2 unique mutations. Baseline ESR1LBDm status was not prognostic. Patients with persistently elevated CTC and/or ESR1LBDm + ctDNA at C1D15 had worse PFS than patients who did not (P = 0.0007). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated CTC at baseline was a strong prognostic factor in this cohort. Early on-treatment changes were observed in CTC-ER+ and ESR1LBDm + ctDNA, but not in overall CTC number. Integrating multiple biomarkers in prospective trials may improve outcome prediction and ET resistance mechanisms' identification over a single biomarker

Improving the understanding of the melting behaviour of Mo, Ta, and W at extreme pressures

We discus existent conflicts between experimentally measured and theoretically calculated melting curves of Mo, Ta, and W. By assuming that vacancy formation plays a fundamental role in the melting process, an explanation for the measured melting curves is provided. Furthermore, we show that the Lindemann law fits well all the measured melting curves of bcc transition metals if the Grueneisen parameter is written as a power series of the interatomic distance. For completeness, we examine possible reasons for current disagreements between shock-wave and DAC experiments. To solve them, we propose the existence of an extra high P-T phase for Mo, Ta, and WComment: 23 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl