Anomaly Detection over User Profiles for Intrusion Detection

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) have often been used to analyse network traffic to help network administrators quickly identify and respond to intrusions. These detection systems generally operate over the entire network, identifying “anomalies” atypical of the network’s normal collective user activities. We show that anomaly detection could also be host-based so that the normal usage patterns of an individual user could be profiled. This enables the detection of masquerading intruders by comparing a learned user profile against the current session’s profile. A prototype behavioural IDS applies the concept of anomaly detection to user behaviour and compares the effects of using multiple characteristics to profile users. Behaviour captured within the system consists of application usage, application performance (CPU and memory), the websites a user visits, the number of windows a user has open, and their typing habits. The results show that such a system is entirely feasible, that characteristics physically related to the user are more relevant to profiling behaviour and that the combination of characteristics can significantly decrease the time taken to detect an intruder

Comparative Phylogeography of a Coevolved Community: Concerted Population Expansions in Joshua Trees and Four Yucca Moths

Comparative phylogeographic studies have had mixed success in identifying common phylogeographic patterns among co-distributed organisms. Whereas some have found broadly similar patterns across a diverse array of taxa, others have found that the histories of different species are more idiosyncratic than congruent. The variation in the results of comparative phylogeographic studies could indicate that the extent to which sympatrically-distributed organisms share common biogeographic histories varies depending on the strength and specificity of ecological interactions between them. To test this hypothesis, we examined demographic and phylogeographic patterns in a highly specialized, coevolved community – Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) and their associated yucca moths. This tightly-integrated, mutually interdependent community is known to have experienced significant range changes at the end of the last glacial period, so there is a strong a priori expectation that these organisms will show common signatures of demographic and distributional changes over time. Using a database of >5000 GPS records for Joshua trees, and multi-locus DNA sequence data from the Joshua tree and four species of yucca moth, we combined paleaodistribution modeling with coalescent-based analyses of demographic and phylgeographic history. We extensively evaluated the power of our methods to infer past population size and distributional changes by evaluating the effect of different inference procedures on our results, comparing our palaeodistribution models to Pleistocene-aged packrat midden records, and simulating DNA sequence data under a variety of alternative demographic histories. Together the results indicate that these organisms have shared a common history of population expansion, and that these expansions were broadly coincident in time. However, contrary to our expectations, none of our analyses indicated significant range or population size reductions at the end of the last glacial period, and the inferred demographic changes substantially predate Holocene climate changes

Data exploration in phylogenetic inference: scientific, heuristic, or neither

The methods of data exploration have become the centerpiece of phylogenetic inference, but without the scientific importance of those methods having been identified. We examine in some detail the procedures and justifications of Wheeler's sensitivity analysis and relative rate comparison (saturation analysis). In addition, we review methods designed to explore evidential decisiveness, clade stability, transformation series additivity, methodological concordance, sensitivity to prior probabilities (Bayesian analysis), skewness, computer‐intensive tests, long‐branch attraction, model assumptions (likelihood ratio test), sensitivity to amount of data, polymorphism, clade concordance index, character compatibility, partitioned analysis, spectral analysis, relative apparent synapomorphy analysis, and congruence with a “known” phylogeny. In our review, we consider a method to be scientific if it performs empirical tests, i.e., if it applies empirical data that could potentially refute the hypothesis of interest. Methods that do not perform tests, and therefore are not scientific, may nonetheless be heuristic in the scientific enterprise if they point to more weakly or ambiguously corroborated hypotheses, such propositions being more easily refuted than those that have been more severely tested and are more strongly corroborated. Based on common usage, data exploration in phylogenetics is accomplished by any method that performs sensitivity or quality analysis. Sensitivity analysis evaluates the responsiveness of results to variation or errors in parameter values and assumptions. Sensitivity analysis is generally interpreted as providing a measure of support, where conclusions that are insensitive (robust, stable) to perturbations are judged to be accurate, probable, or reliable. As an alternative to that verificationist concept, we define support objectively as the degree to which critical evidence refutes competing hypotheses. As such, degree of support is secondary to the scientific optimality criterion of maximizing explanatory power. Quality analyses purport to distinguish good, reliable, accurate data from bad, misleading, erroneous data, thereby assessing the ability of data to indicate the true phylogeny. Only the quality analysis of character compatibility can be judged scientific—and a weak test at that compared to character congruence. Methods judged to be heuristic include Bremer support, long‐branch extraction, and safe taxonomic reduction, and we underscore the great heuristic potential of a posteriori analysis of patterns of transformations on the total‐evidence cladogram. However, of the more than 20 kinds of data exploration methods evaluated, the vast majority is neither scientific nor heuristic. Given so little demonstrated cognitive worth, we conclude that undue emphasis has been placed on data exploration in phylogenetic inference, and we urge phylogeneticists to consider more carefully the relevance of the methods that they employ. [T]he cult of impressive technicalities or the cult of precision may get the better of us, and interfere with our search for clarity, simplicity, and truth [Popper, 1983, p. 60. Empirical papers chosen for publication are judged to be of interest to a broad systematics audience because they represent exemplary case studies involving some important contemporary issue or issues. These may be unusually thorough explorations of data , applications of new methodology, illustrations of fundamental principles, and/or investigations of interesting evolutionary questions. [Systematic Biology: Instructions for authors, 2002; italics added]Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/93511/1/j.1096-0031.2003.tb00311.x.pd

Anomaly detection over user profiles for intrusion detection

Intrusion detection systems (IDS) have often been used to analyse network traffic to help network administrators quickly identify and respond to intrusions. These detection systems generally operate over the entire network, identifying “anomalies” atypical of the network‟s normal collective user activities. We show that anomaly detection could also be host-based so that the normal usage patterns of an individual user could be profiled. This enables the detection of masquerading intruders by comparing a learned user profile against the current session‟s profile. A prototype behavioural IDS applies the concept of anomaly detection to user behaviour and compares the effects of using multiple characteristics to profile users. Behaviour captured within the system consists of application usage, application performance (CPU and memory), the websites a user visits, the number of windows a user has open, and their typing habits. The results show that such a system is entirely feasible, that characteristics physically related to the user are more relevant to profiling behaviour and that the combination of characteristics can significantly decrease the time taken to detect an intruder.

Comparison of High-Protein, Intermittent-Fasting Low-Calorie Diet and Heart Healthy Diet for Vascular Health of the Obese

Aim: It has been debated whether different diets are more or less effective in long-term weight loss success and cardiovascular diseases among men and women. Thus, the present study evaluated the combined effects of a high-protein, intermittent-fasting, low-calorie diet plan compared with heart healthy diet plan during weight loss maintenance on blood lipids and vascular compliance of individuals with obesity. Methods: The experiment involved 40 adults with obesity (men, n = 21; women, n = 19) and was divided into two phases: (a) 12-week high-protein, intermittent-fasting, low-calorie weight loss diet comparing men and women (Phase 1) and (b) a 1-year (52-week) weight loss maintenance comparing high-protein, intermittent-fasting with a heart healthy diet (Phase 2). Body weight, body mass index, blood lipids, and arterial compliance outcomes were assessed at weeks 1 (baseline control), 12 (weight loss), and 64 (12+52 week; weight loss maintenance).Results: At the end of weight loss intervention, concomitant with reductions in body weight, body mass index, blood lipids, and arterial compliance was enhanced (p < 0.05). No sex-specific differences were observed. During phase 2, high-protein, intermittent-fasting, low-calorie group demonstrated less weight regain and percentage change in aortic pulse wave velocity than heart healthy group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that high-protein, intermittent-fasting and low-calorie diet is associated with body weight loss and reduction in blood lipids. This diet also demonstrated a potential advantage in minimizing weight gain relapse as well as enhancing arterial compliance compared to the heart healthy diet in the long term

The development, regulation and use of biopesticides for integrated pest management

Over the past 50 years, crop protection has relied heavily on synthetic chemical pesticides, but their availability is now declining as a result of new legislation and the evolution of resistance in pest populations. Therefore, alternative pest management tactics are needed. Biopesticides are pest management agents based on living micro-organisms or natural products. They have proven potential for pest management and they are being used across the world. However, they are regulated by systems designed originally for chemical pesticides that have created market entry barriers by imposing burdensome costs on the biopesticide industry. There are also significant technical barriers to making biopesticides more effective. In the European Union, a greater emphasis on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as part of agricultural policy may lead to innovations in the way that biopesticides are regulated. There are also new opportunities for developing biopesticides in IPM by combining ecological science with post-genomics technologies. The new biopesticide products that will result from this research will bring with them new regulatory and economic challenges that must be addressed through joint working between social and natural scientists, policy makers and industry

Sexual selection in plants.

SummaryDarwin's theory of evolution by natural selection provided an immediately convincing explanation for the close fit between form and function in nature that had previously only been explicable in terms of supernatural design. Traits evolved in a way that improved their bearer's chances of survival and its success at producing offspring. But what could be said of exaggerated ornamental traits such as the long and lurid tail feathers of many male birds and the ferocious looking mandibles and horned protuberances of various male insects, which were almost certain to compromise their bearer's survival? To explain these traits, Darwin proposed the theory of sexual selection, first in ‘Origin of Species’ and then, at greater length, in ‘The Descent of Man’. In a nutshell, he argued that certain traits (secondary sex characters) will be favoured not because they improve survivorship or fecundity (i.e., by natural selection), but because they improve an individual's mating success. This basic idea has been broadly accepted by zoologists, but it has been contentious when applied to plants, not least because they are often hermaphrodites. In this Primer, we explain the application of sexual-selection ideas to both dioecious and hermaphroditic plants. We point out that, far from being irrelevant to their study, sexual selection to increase male mating success can be interpreted as a major selective force in the evolution of floral diversity (Figure 1)

The scope of Baker's law.

Baker's law refers to the tendency for species that establish on islands by long-distance dispersal to show an increased capacity for self-fertilization because of the advantage of self-compatibility when colonizing new habitat. Despite its intuitive appeal and broad empirical support, it has received substantial criticism over the years since it was proclaimed in the 1950s, not least because it seemed to be contradicted by the high frequency of dioecy on islands. Recent theoretical work has again questioned the generality and scope of Baker's law. Here, we attempt to discern where the idea is useful to apply and where it is not. We conclude that several of the perceived problems with Baker's law fall away when a narrower perspective is adopted on how it should be circumscribed. We emphasize that Baker's law should be read in terms of an enrichment of a capacity for uniparental reproduction in colonizing situations, rather than of high selfing rates. We suggest that Baker's law might be tested in four different contexts, which set the breadth of its scope: the colonization of oceanic islands, metapopulation dynamics with recurrent colonization, range expansions with recurrent colonization, and colonization through species invasions