XML Schema-based Minification for Communication of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) Systems in Cloud Environments

XML-based communication governs most of today's systems communication, due to its capability of representing complex structural and hierarchical data. However, XML document structure is considered a huge and bulky data that can be reduced to minimize bandwidth usage, transmission time, and maximize performance. This contributes to a more efficient and utilized resource usage. In cloud environments, this affects the amount of money the consumer pays. Several techniques are used to achieve this goal. This paper discusses these techniques and proposes a new XML Schema-based Minification technique. The proposed technique works on XML Structure reduction using minification. The proposed technique provides a separation between the meaningful names and the underlying minified names, which enhances software/code readability. This technique is applied to Intrusion Detection Message Exchange Format (IDMEF) messages, as part of Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) system communication hosted on Microsoft Azure Cloud. Test results show message size reduction ranging from 8.15% to 50.34% in the raw message, without using time-consuming compression techniques. Adding GZip compression to the proposed technique produces 66.1% shorter message size compared to original XML messages.Comment: XML, JSON, Minification, XML Schema, Cloud, Log, Communication, Compression, XMill, GZip, Code Generation, Code Readability, 9 pages, 12 figures, 5 tables, Journal Articl

Comments on "Effects of variable viscosity and thermal conductivity on unsteady MHD flow of non-Newtonian fluid over a stretching porous sheet", by Gamal M. Abdel-Rahman [Thermal science: year 2013, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 1035-1047]

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Q-ESP: a QoS-compliant Security Protocol to enrich IPSec Framework

IPSec is a protocol that allows to make secure connections between branch offices and allows secure VPN accesses. However, the efforts to improve IPSec are still under way; one aspect of this improvement is to take Quality of Service (QoS) requirements into account. QoS is the ability of the network to provide a service at an assured service level while optimizing the global usage of network resources. The QoS level that a flow receives depends on a six-bit identifier in the IP header; the so-called Differentiated Services code point (DSCP). Basically, Multi-Field classifiers classify a packet by inspecting IP/TCP headers, to decide how the packet should be processed. The current IPSec standard does hardly offer any guidance to do this, because the existing IPSec ESP security protocol hides much of this information in its encrypted payloads, preventing network control devices such as routers and switches from utilizing this information in performing classification appropriately. To solve this problem, we propose a QoS-friendly Encapsulated Security Payload (Q-ESP) as a new IPSec security protocol that provides both security and QoS supports. We also present our NetBSD kernel-based implementation as well as our evaluation results of Q-ESP

The use of cardiopulmonary bypass in the extraction of intracardiac foreign bodies

Background:  Intracardiac foreign bodies (FBs) are uncommon and have diverse presentations. The objectives of this study were to assess the types and presentation of intracardiac FBs and to evaluate the use of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in their extraction.   Methods: A retrospective descriptive study was carried out on 12 patients with a history or radiological evidence of a foreign body in the heart or the great vessels who were admitted between 2013 and 2018. Sternotomy was performed in 8 patients and left anterior thoracotomy in 4 patients. CPB was used in 4 patients with cardioplegic cardiac arrest. Aorto-bicaval cannulation was performed in 3 patients and femero-femoral bypass in 1 patient. Results: The mean age of our patients was 32.7 ±21.7 years (range 2-62 years), six were males. Six different intracardiac FBs were reported including retained bullets (n= 3), migrated catheter piece (n=3), sewing needles (n=3), displaced pacemaker lead (n= 1), circular saw (n=1) and missed pigtail catheter after pericardiocentesis (n=1). Recovery from cardiopulmonary bypass was smooth, and no hospital complications were reported. The mean duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation in all sternotomy patients was 7.8 ± 6.7 hours (5 ±2.1 in CPB patients and 10.7±8.9 in non- CPB). The duration of hospital stay in CPB cases vs. non-CPB was (5.5±1.3 vs. 5.7±0.9 days). No postoperative wound infection nor sternal dehiscence were reported. One baby who had lateral thoracotomy died on the fifth postoperative day because of severe gastroenteritis. No residual pericardial or pleural collection were reported in 6 months follow-up period. Conclusions: Retrieval of intracardiac FBs can be performed safely with low morbidity and mortality. The use of CPB did not increase morbidity or mortality. Removal of all types of intracardiac FBs is recommended to avoid complication

Assessment of Antiviral and Photodynamic Inactivation Activity of Different Compounds Against Hepatitis A Virus

Food contamination from hepatitis A virus (HAV) is a great concern to food producers worldwide. Finding an innovative approach to inactivate HAV on food contact surfaces and on different produce remains a challenge. Using chemical disinfectants (e.g. chlorine) is an effective way to inactivate HAV on fomites, but it maybe unfavorable for food products. While heat inactivation of HAV remains the most efficient way to inactivate HAV when present in foods, most foodborne outbreaks of HAV are related to ready-to-eat (RTE) foods including produce which do not undergo further heating. Therefore, finding compounds with effective anti-HAV activities will be of great benefit to the food sector. In our study, oleanolic acid (OA) and ursolic acid (UA) have been investigated for their anti-HAV properties. OA at 600 μg/ml and UA at 360 μg/ml showed 2.27±0.67 and 1.33±0.35 log PFU/ml reduction after a 1 h treatment, respectively. Furthermore, to increase virus inactivation, photodynamic inactivation (PDI) was applied, which uses oxygen, light and a photosensitizer to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Grape seed extract (GSE) and oleanolic acid with known antiviral properties were tested as photosensitizers. Conditions using UV light at 254 nm with a distance of 72 cm and doses (energy density) of 0.012±0.000, 0.020±0.001, 0.040±0.001, 0.061±0.002, 0.081±0.002 and 0.121±0.003 J/cm2 for 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 30 min exposure times, respectively were applied for the PDI experiments. However, the acquired viral reductions by GSE and OA mediated PDI were attributed to UV light more than ROS production. Future work may include the use of different light sources for illumination, and the use of UA as a potential photosensitizer compound