On the Security Assessment of the Cloud

Cloud computing is an enabling technology paradigm that provides access to the geodistributed pool of resources that are rapidly and flexibly provisioned at run-time with minimum management from the user. These benefits have driven the proliferation of the Cloud over the last decade. Many organizations have migrated to the Cloud or have a Cloudfirst strategy for their businesses. Despite these benefits, the security of the Cloud has been flagged as among the top concerns by its users. To address security concerns, Threat Analysis (TA) is often advocated to ascertain a system’s exposure to threats. A plethora of TA techniques exist that focus on analyzing threats to targeted assets at the system’s level (e.g., components, hardware) or at the user’s level (e.g., virtual machine) in the Cloud. These techniques are effective, but their applicability is limited beyond their targeted asset. However, the Cloud is a complex system entailing both the physical and virtual resources. Moreover, these resources can instantiate, migrate across physical hosts, or decommission to provide rapid resource elasticity to the users. On this background, this thesis aims at assessing the security of the Cloud holistically by considering the interactions among the services/components involved in the operational stack of the Cloud. In this regard, a technology-agnostic information flow model is developed that represents the Cloud’s functionality through a set of conditional transitions. Furthermore, threats are added to the model to analyze their impact on the Cloud. This enables the exploration of a threat’s behavior and its propagation across the Cloud and supports assessing the security of the Cloud by analyzing the impact of multiple threats across various operational layers/assets. Using public information on threats from the National Vulnerability Database (NVD), actual Cloud attacks were traced and speculatively postulated alternate potential attack paths. Furthermore, the thesis also investigates different threats with similar indicators of compromise (e.g., attack patterns) to be considered in the security assessment along with the specific user’s requirements. Finally, the thesis also targets the evaluation of potential violations from the Cloud providers that breach users’ requirements. The results presented in the thesis demonstrate that by ascertaining the attack paths and considering the interplay between threats and security requirements, the security of the Cloud can be comprehensively assessed

CO2 Emission from Oil & Gas Production - Challenges & Opportunities

The analysis in the report is related to the issue of emission of CO2 from the oil and gas companies in Pakistan. The issue was selected considering the increasing threats for the environmental sustainability that are caused due to the emission of CO2 gases on consistent basis. The variables that were chosen for the purpose of analysis were knowledge of the firm, incentives of the government, magnitude of CO2, cost and scale of CCU technology. The statistical techniques that were applied were regression, correlation and Cronbach alpha analysis. The findings that were obtained through regression and correlation illustrated a positive impact between the independent and the dependent variables. Keywords: Carbon Capture and Utilization, Awareness, Acceptance, Perception, Emissions, Greenhouse Gases, Emissions Reduction, Emissions Mitigation. DOI: 10.7176/CER/12-2-07 Publication date: February 29th 2020

Potential Barriers to Implementing Energy Management System in Pakistan: A Case of Wet Processing in the Textile Sector

The purpose of the research was to observe that greater and more structured barriers that limit the implementation of energy management systems. This was, however, narrowed to focus especially on the wet processing in the textile sector of Pakistan. It was considered pivotal to focus on the economic and regulatory barriers as operational barriers had been observed the case for previous researches. To ensure these mixed research methods were used to cross over into both qualitative and quantitative research method. Data collection remained limited due to time constraints, and five managers have opted for the interviews, while 130 respondents formed the sample for the questionnaire survey. Finding has led to the conclusion that a major economic barrier was the increase in tariff for the commercial sector, which makes energy cost rise higher and leave lesser room to explore new options such as the EMS. It has also been found that regulations are lenient, and apparently, no policy exists to limit energy usage.Keywords: Wet-processing, Energy Management System, Textile Sector, Energy efficiency.DOI: 10.7176/JETP/10-1-04Publication date: January 31st 202

Lack of Academic-Industrial Liaison in Pakistan – A Quantitative Study

The primary focus of this work is to explore the causes and key limitations in Pakistan's current academic-industrial liaison. This work is aimed at highlighting the different forms and benefits and the conditions for the university-business partnership. The study has a quantitative structure and a chosen philosophy of positivism and deductive methodology, and the novel knowledge is obtained through a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire. Pakistani organizations should help universities to use the views on education programs, learning achievements, practical training, internships and vocational training for businesses contributing to schools. The scientists at the school should also address other issues of the economy and business sector and provide the answers as a guide in the cycle for companies.Keywords: Pakistan; Academic-industry liaison; university-business; Positivism philosophyDOI: 10.7176/EJBM/12-2-09Publication date: January 31st 202

An Empirical Insight into the Theory and Practices of Capital Budgeting in Pakistan

The study explores the different stages of the capital investment decision process and empirically investigates these stages’ mediating role. We have used firms, managers, and economic attributes as independent variables. Likewise, ROA, ROE, and EPS are used as proxies for measuring firm performance, which is the dependent variable. A survey was conducted through a self-developed questionnaire for non-financial listed firms of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The questionnaire comprises of two parts. The first part is related to managers and firm attributes. The second part covers the nine steps of the Capex Appraisal Model (CAM). PLS-SEM was used to investigate the objectives of the study. Moreover, the results support the applicability of CAM in the corporate sector of Pakistan. For this purpose, 27 hypotheses were empirically tested, of which 21 were found to be significant. However, 6 hypotheses were not supported. The findings suggest that the “Capex Appraisal Model” is a useful approach for the corporate sector of Pakistan. Thus, firms should properly evaluate Capex decisions to enhance performance in the long run

Studying the effect of variation in volume fractions of carbon fibres on mechanical and electrical properties of copper based composites

Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) belong to a class of weight efficient structural materials that are becoming popular in engineering applications especially in electronics, aerospace, aircraft, packaging and various other industries. This study focuses on the effect of varying carbon fiber wt. % on the mechanical properties of the Cu-C composite. The carbon fibers were coated with copper by electroless plating in order to increase the wettability of fibers with the copper matrix. Four compositions of copper based composite were developed by varying amount of carbon fibers. The yield strength decreases with increasing fiber size while the ultimate  tensile strength increases with increasing fiber size. Rockwell hardness test showed an increasing trend of hardness for increasing carbon fibers. The conductivity of Cu-C composite decreases by increasing carbon fibers content. Wear rate of Cu-C composite increases when carbon fiberscontent increases in the composite. SEM/EDX analysis revealed the size and distribution of fibers and indicated the fracture phenomenon.Keywords: Copper based Composites, Mechanical, Electrical and Wear Properties, Microstructur

Radiological locations of mental foramen in local population

Objective: To evaluate the accurate radiographic location of the mental foramen and its prevalence by gender and different age groups.Methodology: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at dental department at ISRA University Hospital Hyderabad, from September 2014 to Feb 2015. We studied 70 patients. All patients > 18 years age and both sex and presence of the canine, first premolar, second premolar and first molar in the images were included. Detailed patients’ history was taken and detailed clinical examination was done. Patients were subject to relevant investigation panoramic digital images. All the data was recorded in the proforma.Results: Out of total 70 patients included in this study 30 were male (42.85%) and 40 females (57.14%); with male to female ratio of 1:1.3. The mean age was 22+3.20 years. Mental foramen on radiographic were visible below first premolar in 35(50%) cases followed by mental foramen at below 2nd premolar in 30(42.85 %) cases and below first premolar in 5(7.14%) cases. Variation in the inferior alveolar canal observed. Variation in the inferior alveolar canal was Bifid canal only in two patients.Conclusion: Mental foramen on radiographic were visible below first premolar 50%, below 2nd premolar 42.85% and below first premolar in 7.14%. While no significant relationship was found with gender and age

Radiological locations of mental foramen in local population

Objective: To evaluate the accurate radiographic location of the mental foramen and its prevalence by gender and different age groups.Methodology: This Cross-sectional study was conducted at dental department at ISRA University Hospital Hyderabad, from September 2014 to Feb 2015. We studied 70 patients. All patients > 18 years age and both sex and presence of the canine, first premolar, second premolar and first molar in the images were included. Detailed patients’ history was taken and detailed clinical examination was done. Patients were subject to relevant investigation panoramic digital images. All the data was recorded in the proforma.Results: Out of total 70 patients included in this study 30 were male (42.85%) and 40 females (57.14%); with male to female ratio of 1:1.3. The mean age was 22+3.20 years. Mental foramen on radiographic were visible below first premolar in 35(50%) cases followed by mental foramen at below 2nd premolar in 30(42.85 %) cases and below first premolar in 5(7.14%) cases. Variation in the inferior alveolar canal observed. Variation in the inferior alveolar canal was Bifid canal only in two patients.Conclusion: Mental foramen on radiographic were visible below first premolar 50%, below 2nd premolar 42.85% and below first premolar in 7.14%. While no significant relationship was found with gender and age

Poster: Effectiveness of Moving Target Defense Techniques to Disrupt Attacks in the Cloud

Moving Target Defense (MTD) can eliminate the asymmetric advantage that attackers have in terms of time to explore a static system by changing a system's configuration dynamically to reduce the efficacy of reconnaissance and increase uncertainty and complexity for attackers. To this extent, a variety of MTDs have been proposed for specific aspects of a system. However, deploying MTDs at different layers/components of the Cloud and assessing their effects on the overall security gains for the entire system is still challenging since the Cloud is a complex system entailing physical and virtual resources, and there exists a multitude of attack surfaces that an attacker can target. Thus, we explore the combination of MTDs, and their deployment at different components (belonging to various operational layers) to maximize the security gains offered by the MTDs.We also propose a quantification mechanism to evaluate the effectiveness of the MTDs against the attacks in the Cloud

Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Hippocampus Sclerosis: Prevalence, Etiology, And Treatment Options with Herbal Medicines

ABSTRACT Background and objectives: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which the patient suffers with two or more unprovoked seizures. It is one of the most common neurological disorders worldwide, affecting more than 70 million people. Currently various modes of effective treatments are available, but still there are many cases that remain drug resistant. Hence, there is a need to explore herbal medications for the treatment of drug resistant epilepsy. Methods: Recent reviews and research articles (2000-2022) from PubMed and Google Scholar have been explored. Review: Based on etiology, there are six categories of epilepsy: Genetic, Structural, Metabolic, Immune, Infectious, and Unknown epilepsy. Temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampus sclerosis (TLE-HS) is one of the most common forms of structural epilepsy. Even though several new anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) have been discovered, but the treatment of some cases, especially TLE-HS remain resistant to them. Surgery is one of the most effective treatment options for TLE-HS; however, this usually results in memory deficits, and occasionally, intracranial hematoma, delayed hydrocephalus, subdural empyema, and visual field defects in patients. Conclusion: Hence, to overcome drug resistance, new pharmacological and herbal therapies are required. Animal trials are first step in the development of new drugs, to study toxicity and efficacy of proposed drugs. Many herbs have anticonvulsant activity but remain an under-explored treatment option for epilepsy. Further research on herbal extracts as a possible treatment for epilepsy needs to be conducted