PIANO: Proximity-based User Authentication on Voice-Powered Internet-of-Things Devices

Voice is envisioned to be a popular way for humans to interact with Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. We propose a proximity-based user authentication method (called PIANO) for access control on such voice-powered IoT devices. PIANO leverages the built-in speaker, microphone, and Bluetooth that voice-powered IoT devices often already have. Specifically, we assume that a user carries a personal voice-powered device (e.g., smartphone, smartwatch, or smartglass), which serves as the user's identity. When another voice-powered IoT device of the user requires authentication, PIANO estimates the distance between the two devices by playing and detecting certain acoustic signals; PIANO grants access if the estimated distance is no larger than a user-selected threshold. We implemented a proof-of-concept prototype of PIANO. Through theoretical and empirical evaluations, we find that PIANO is secure, reliable, personalizable, and efficient.Comment: To appear in ICDCS'1

Alginates: From the ocean to gastroesophageal reflux disease treatment

Reckitt Benckiser Turke

Renal complications of lipodystrophy: A closer look at the natural history of kidney disease

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144612/1/cen13732_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144612/2/cen13732.pd

Loss of thymidine phosphorylase activity disrupts adipocyte differentiation and induces insulin-resistant lipoatrophic diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Thymidine phosphorylase (TP), encoded by the TYMP gene, is a cytosolic enzyme essential for the nucleotide salvage pathway. TP catalyzes the phosphorylation of the deoxyribonucleosides, thymidine and 2'-deoxyuridine, to thymine and uracil. Biallelic TYMP variants are responsible for Mitochondrial NeuroGastroIntestinal Encephalomyopathy (MNGIE), an autosomal recessive disorder characterized in most patients by gastrointestinal and neurological symptoms, ultimately leading to death. Studies on the impact of TYMP variants in cellular systems with relevance to the organs affected in MNGIE are still scarce and the role of TP in adipose tissue remains unexplored. METHODS: Deep phenotyping was performed in three patients from two families carrying homozygous TYMP variants and presenting with lipoatrophic diabetes. The impact of the loss of TP expression was evaluated using a CRISPR-Cas9-mediated TP knockout (KO) strategy in human adipose stem cells (ASC), which can be differentiated into adipocytes in vitro. Protein expression profiles and cellular characteristics were investigated in this KO model. RESULTS: All patients had TYMP loss-of-function variants and first presented with generalized loss of adipose tissue and insulin-resistant diabetes. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated TP KO in ASC abolished adipocyte differentiation and decreased insulin response, consistent with the patients' phenotype. This KO also induced major oxidative stress, altered mitochondrial functions, and promoted cellular senescence. This translational study identifies a new role of TP by demonstrating its key regulatory functions in adipose tissue. CONCLUSIONS: The implication of TP variants in atypical forms of monogenic diabetes shows that genetic diagnosis of lipodystrophic syndromes should include TYMP analysis. The fact that TP is crucial for adipocyte differentiation and function through the control of mitochondrial homeostasis highlights the importance of mitochondria in adipose tissue biology

Malware in smart grid

With the advancement in communication technology of Smart Grid, cyber-attacks are becoming the serious threat. Specifically, the vulnerabilities created due to the successful malware installation in smart grid is a very serious concern since it can be exploited to disable the system along with taking control or damaging the critical infrastructure permanently. The main idea behind this thesis is to explore the malware issue in the remedial action scheme (RAS), widely used for wide area protection, of smart grid. This thesis is concerned mainly on the cyber part of the Smart Grid. The main contribution of the work is divided into two major parts. In the first part, we modelled the stealthy coordinated cyber-attack with a malware at its core. The purpose of this attack is to damage the grid without getting detected by legitimate users. The attack uses a Trojan Horse malware to get a backdoor access to one of the RAS controllers. Once malware is installed, the attacker gets control of the RAS controller whenever he desires. This includes outside the LAN of the RAS controller as well. Specifically, the malware provides undetectable communication between the attacker and the device, and provides attacker the ability to execute commands in the affected device. Once the malware installation is successful, we perform the coordinate cyber-attacks by replacing the existing RAS controller script with a malicious one which plays with a generator to damage the system. This part is intended to demonstrate the dangers of the malware in Smart grid. In the second part, the defense scheme against the malware attack is proposed. The main idea is to detect and disable the device operating for RAS controller that is affected by some type of malware. This is done by introducing the one other device called Overseer. The Overseer should not have any access or control over any part of the actual grid (relays, generators, etc.). However, it should be able to communicate with all RAS controllers. RAS controllers are also upgraded so that they will take an extra measurement from a randomly selected generator which is reported to the Overseer with all the other measurements they normally take periodically. The main task of the overseer is to oversee the RAS controllers by taking updates from them. Through the usage of the proposed architecture, the overseer can detect a RAS controller which is acting maliciously. Once the malicious controller is detected, it can disable it using denial of service (DOS) attack on it until the situation is fixed. It is to be noted that the Smart Grid requires RAS controllers to perform corrective action during disturbances in the grid, they are just there to keep track of the grid during normal functioning of the power system. This means that grid does not need RAS controllers to function normally. Another possibility is when the Overseer is infected. Since Overseer has no access/control over the grid, the worst thing an attacker can do is to DOS a RAS controller which, again, will not affect the grid.</p

A Rare Case of Diabetes Mellitus in an Adolescent: Partial Lipodystrophy

WOS: 00044520410211

Characterization of cancer stem-like cells in chordoma Laboratory investigation

Object. Chordomas are locally aggressive bone tumors known to arise from the remnants of the notochord. Because chordomas are rare, molecular studies aimed at developing new therapies are scarce and new approaches are needed. Chordoma cells and cancer stem-like cells share similar characteristics, including self-renewal, differentiation, and resistance to chemotherapy. Therefore, it seems possible that chordomas might contain a subpopulation of cancer stem-like cells. The aim of this study is to determine whether cancer stem-like cells might be present in chordomas