Improving trust in cloud, enterprise, and mobile computing platforms

Trust plays a fundamental role in the adoption of technology by society. Potential consumers tend to avoid a particular technology whenever they feel suspicious about its ability to cope with their security demands. Such a loss of trust could occur in important computing platforms, namely cloud, enterprise, and mobile platforms. In this thesis, we aim to improve trust in these platforms by (i) enhancing their security mechanisms, and (ii) giving their users guarantees that these mechanisms are in place. To realize both these goals, we propose several novel systems. For cloud platforms, we present Excalibur, a system that enables building trusted cloud services. Such services give cloud customers the ability to process data privately in the cloud, and to attest that the respective data protection mechanisms are deployed. Attestation is made possible by the use of trusted computing hardware placed on the cloud nodes. For enterprise platforms, we propose an OS security model—the broker security model—aimed at providing information security against a negligent or malicious system administrator while letting him retain most of the flexibility to manage the OS. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this model by building BrokULOS, a proof-of-concept instantiation of this model for Linux. For mobile platforms, we present the Trusted Language Runtime (TLR), a software system for hosting mobile apps with stringent security needs (e.g., e-wallet). The TLR leverages ARM TrustZone technology to protect mobile apps from OS security breaches.Für die gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz von Technologie spielt Vertrauen eine entscheidende Rolle. Wichtige Rechnerplattformen erfüllen diesbezüglich die Anforderungen ihrer Nutzer jedoch nicht zufriedenstellend. Dies trifft insbesondere auf Cloud-, Unternehmens- und Mobilplattformen zu. In dieser Arbeit setzen wir uns zum Ziel, das Vertrauen in diese Plattformen zu stärken, indem wir (1) ihre Sicherheitsmechanismen verbessern sowie (2) garantieren, dass diese Sicherheitsmechanismen aktiv sind. Zu diesem Zweck schlagen wir mehrere neuartige Systeme vor. Für Cloud-Plattformen präsentieren wir Excalibur, welches das Erstellen von vertrauenswürdigen Cloud-Diensten ermöglicht. Diese Cloud-Dienste erlauben es den Benutzern, ihre Daten in der Cloud vertraulich zu verarbeiten und sich darüber hinaus den Einsatz entsprechender Schutzvorkehrungen bescheinigen zu lassen. Eine solche Attestierung geschieht mit Hilfe von Trusted Computing Hardware auf den Cloud-Servern. Für Unternehmensplattformen stellen wir ein Sicherheitsmodell auf Betriebssystemebene vor—das Broker Security Model. Es zielt darauf ab, Informationssicherheit trotz fahrlässigem oder böswilligem Systemadministrator zu gewährleisten, ohne diesen bei seinen Administrationsaufgaben stark einzuschränken. Wir demonstrieren die Leistungsfähigkeit dieses Modells mit BrokULOS, einer Prototypimplementierung für Linux. Für Mobilplattformen stellen wir die Trusted Language Runtime (TLR) vor, ein Softwaresystem zum Hosting von mobilen Anwendungen mit strikten Sicherheitsanforderungen (z.B. elektronische Bezahlfunktionen). TLR nutzt die ARM TrustZone-Technologie um mobile Anwendungen vor Sicherheitslücken im Betriebssystem selbst zu schützen

Filosofia e Teoria da Imagem em Gilles Deleuze

O objectivo deste estudo é elucidar o estatuto da noção de imagem na filosofia de Gilles Deleuze. Para o atingir, começaremos por situar o nosso inquérito no problema que determina a sua primeira aparição no sistema – a «imagem do pensamento» –, seguindo de perto a sua acidentada trajectória em Nietzsche e a Filosofia, Proust e os Signos e Diferença e Repetição. Depois de clarificado o equívoco sentido do apelo de Deleuze, no magnum opus Diferença e Repetição, a um «pensamento sem Imagem» – que interpretamos, à luz das suas publicações ulteriores, menos como um rejeição do mundo das imagens do que como uma crítica da representação –, analisaremos a teoria da imagem-simulacro que, na mesma obra, se constitui como uma das principais formas de executar o programa do empirismo transcendental e de realizar aquela que é maior ambição da sua filosofia: instaurar um plano de univocidade e imanência desprovido de instâncias transcendentes. Na segunda metade deste estudo, que incide sobre os livros que Deleuze consagrou ao cinema – A Imagem-Movimento e a A Imagem-Tempo - examinaremos a singular aliança estabelecida pelo filósofo francês entre a teoria das imagens de Matéria e Memória de Bergson e a natureza do médium cinematográfico. Numa tentativa de pôr em evidência o aspecto sistemático do pensamento de Deleuze, a nossa análise desta nova filosofia da imagem – que não visa apenas as imagens cinematográficas mas pretende designar igualmente a própria textura do universo – deixar-se-á guiar pelo horizonte teórico e pelos principais problemas recortados no comentário a Diferença e Repetição que a precede: uma doutrina das faculdades renovada; uma filosofia do tempo distribuída em três sínteses passivas; a função da arte no empirismo transcendental e, acima de tudo, o papel atribuído à noção de imagem na instauração de um plano de imanência

A imagem-sensação: Deleuze e a pintura

Tese de mestrado em Filosofia apresentada à Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, 200

Enquadramento e impacto dos sistemas de informação no Programa Aveiro Norte

O propósito deste artigo é o de demonstrar o relevo que os sistemas de informação têm em todo o processo de criação e desenvolvimento de uma nova oferta formativa potenciada pela Universidade de Aveiro no norte do distrito. Inicialmente, e com o intuito de desenvolver ferramentas para a gestão e administração do Programa Aveiro- Norte, criou-se o sítio do Programa Aveiro-Norte. A sua forte aderência por parte dos vários actores envolvidos na utilização do mesmo sistema, deu origem a novos inputs com vista ao aperfeiçoamento do mesmo, bem como novos sistemas que promovem uma maior interacção com o tecido empresarial da região. O Programa Aveiro-Norte surge como uma acção de Intervenção da Universidade de Aveiro no Norte do Distrito, com o objectivo de promover o reforço do ensino superior orientado para a formação inicial politécnica, formação especializada e requalificação profissional. Consiste numa Rede de Unidades de Formação Especializada a partir da qual se pretende implementar um conjunto de cursos, cujas propostas de formação pretendem responder não só às necessidades locais de formação inicial, mas também de actualização dos quadros das empresas e serviços existentes na região norte do distrito de Aveiro. Pretende-se que a oferta formativa do Programa Aveiro Norte articule e compatibilize tanto os graus do sistema de ensino superior que lhe estão a jusante (licenciaturas e pós- graduações) como as vias de acesso a montante, com origem no ensino secundário e pós-secundário não superior (cursos profissionalizantes, cursos de especialização , etc.). Pretendemos apresentar, de uma forma sucinta e clara, os vários sistemas em produção e desenvolvimento e como é que interagem no ‘Universo Aveiro-Norte’, dando origem a um portal informativo que promova todas as entidades envolvidas criando um fluxo de informação comum, em especial o sistema de informação do Programa Aveiro Norte

Understanding dengue virus capsid protein interaction with key biological targets

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Supplementary information accompanies this paper at http://www.nature.com/srepDengue virus (DENV) causes over 500,000 hospitalizations and 20,000 deaths worldwide every year. Dengue epidemics now reach temperate regions due to globalization of trade and travel and climate changes. Currently, there are no successful therapeutic or preventive approaches. We previously developed a peptide drug lead, pep14-23, that inhibits the biologically relevant interaction of DENV capsid (C) protein with lipid droplets (LDs). Surprisingly, pep14-23 also inhibits DENV C interaction with very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). We thus investigated the similarity between the proposed DENV C molecular targets in LDs and VLDL, respectively, the proteins perilipin 3 (PLIN3) and apolipoprotein E (APOE). APOE N-terminal and PLIN3 C-terminal regions are remarkably similar, namely APOE α -helix 4 (APOEα 4) and PLIN3 α -helix 5 (PLIN3α 5) sequences, which are also highly superimposable structurally. Interestingly, APOE α -helical N-terminal sequence and structure superimposes with DENV C α -helices α 1 and α 2. Moreover, the DENV C hydrophobic cleft can accommodate the structurally analogous APOEα 4 and PLIN3α 5 helical regions. Mirroring DENV C-LDs interaction (previously shown experimentally to require PLIN3), we experimentally demonstrated that DENV C-VLDL interaction requires APOE. Thus, the results fit well with previous data and suggest future drug development strategies targeting the above mentioned α –helical structures.We acknowledge the support of Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia – Ministério da Educação e Ciência (FCT-MEC, Portugal) project PTDC/SAU-ENB/117013/2010, and Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Portugal). AFF and ICM also acknowledge FCT-MEC fellowship SFRH/BD/77609/2011 and Investigador FCT Program research contract IF/00772/2013, respectively

Assessing cognitive function in older adults using a videoconference approach

Background: The use of communication technologies is an emerging trend in healthcare and research. Despite efficient, reliable and accurate neuropsychological batteries to evaluate cognitive performance in-person, more diverse and less expensive and time consuming solutions are needed. Here we conducted a pilot study to determine the applicability of a videoconference (VC, Skype (R)) approach to assess cognitive function in older adults, using The Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-Modified - Portuguese version (TICSM-PT). Methods: After inclusion and exclusion criteria, 69 individuals (mean age = 74.90 +/- 9.46 years), selected from registries of local health centers and assisted-living facilities, were assessed on cognitive performance using videoconference, telephone and in-person approaches. Findings: The videoconference administration method yielded comparable results to the traditional application. Correlation analyses showed high associations between the testing modalities: TICSM-PT VC and TICSM-PT telephone (r=0.885), TICSM-PT VC and MMSE face-to-face (r=0.801). Using the previously validated threshold for cognitive impairment on the TICSM-PT telephone, TICSM-PT VC administration presented a sensitivity of 87.8% and a specificity of 84.6%. Interpretation: Findings indicate for the range of settings where videoconference approaches can be used, and for their applicability and acceptability, providing an alternative to current cognitive assessment methods. Continued validation studies and adaptation of neuropsychological instruments is warranted.This work was funded by the European Commission (FP7): "SwitchBox" (Contract HEALTH-F2-2010-259772), and co-financed by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Program (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), and by the Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal) (Contract grant number: P-139977; project "Better mental health during ageing based on temporal prediction of individual brain ageing trajectories (TEMPO)"). TCC and LA are recipients of a doctoral fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal; SFRH/BD/90078/2012 and SFRH/BD/101398/2014, respectively, the latter from the POCH program and co-financed by the Fundo Social Europeu and MCTES); PSM is supported by the FCT fellowship grant (PDE/BDE/113601/2015 from the PhD-iHES program); and, NCS of a Research Assistantship by FCT through the "FCT Investigator Programme (2008 Ciencia)".info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Molecular data confirm the validity of the portuguese blenny (Parablennius ruber, Valenciennes, 1836) and its presence in Western Europe

DNA sequence analysis confirms the distinction between Parablennius ruber and Parablennius gattorugine, simultaneously validating the presence of the former species in Western Europe where it has been reported for >150 years. A possible scenario involving speciation of P. ruber at the Azores and subsequent transport of larvae to Europe, a process that may be still occurring nowadays, could explain this pattern of occurrence

A inteligência emocional: da clarificação do constructo à sua aplicabilidade ao exercício da liderança

Due to the increasing importance that the subject of Emotional Intelligence (EI) is becoming to have in the scientific and managerial community, particularly in its application to the leadership exercise, in this article we analyze what is emotional intelligence, as well as whether there is scientific support that allows applying emotional intelligence to leadership, from the research and intervention point of view. To this end, we conducted a historical framework of the construct of Emotional Intelligence, we analyze the assumptions of the model of Goleman (1995, 1998a, 2001a, 2001b) and the capabilities model of emotional intelligence (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2000a, 2000b, 2004a, 2004b, 2008). We had, too, a critical analysis of the construct of Emotional Intelligence and, finally, we analyze the current research on the applicability of Emotional Intelligence to exercise leadership. After having done this analysis, we draw conclusions regarding the possible application of emotional intelligence construct for both research and for intervention in the organizational context, with regard to leadership.En raison de l’importance croissante que le sujet de l’intelligence émotionnelle (IE) est devenu un problème dans la communauté scientifique est géré, en particulier dans son application à leadership, dans cet article, nous analysons ce qui est de l’intelligence émotionnelle, ainsi que s’il existe un soutien scientifique qui permet l’application de l’intelligence émotionnelle à l’exercice du leadership, du point de recherche et d’ intervention. À cette fin, nous avons effectué un cadre historique de la construction de l’intelligence émotionnelle, nous analysons les hypothèses du modèle de Goleman (1995, 1998a, 2001a, 2001b) et de modèle de les capacités de l’intelligence émotionnelle (Mayer, Salovey et Caruso, 2000a, 2000b, 2004a, 2004b , 2008). Nous avons fait, aussi, une analyse critique de l’intelligence émotionnelle construct et, enfin, nous analysons les recherches actuelles sur l’applicabilité de l’intelligence émotionnelle à exercer un leadership. Après avoir fait cette analyse, tirer des conclusions sur l’application éventuelle de l’intelligence émotionnelle pour la recherche et d’intervention dans le cadre de l’organisation, en ce qui concerne le leadership.Face à importância crescente que a temática da Inteligência Emocional (IE) tem vindo a assumir na comunidade científica e gestionária, sobretudo na sua aplicação ao exercício da liderança, neste artigo investigamos o que é a Inteligência Emocional, assim como se existe apoio científico que permita aplicar a Inteligência Emocional à liderança, sob o ponto de vista de investigação e de intervenção. Para tal, efectuamos um enquadramento histórico do constructo Inteligência Emocional, analisamos os pressupostos do modelo de Goleman (2001a, 2001b) e do modelo das capacidades da Inteligência Emocional (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2008). Procedemos, também, a uma análise crítica do constructo Inteligência Emocional e, por fim, fizemos um ponto da situação sobre a investigação actual relativa à aplicabilidade da Inteligência Emocional à liderança. Após termos feito esta análise, extraímos conclusões relativamente à possível aplicação do constructo Inteligência Emocional tanto para a investigação como para a intervenção em contexto organizacional, no que concerne ao exercício da liderança

Longitudinal measurement invariance of memory performance and executive functioning in healthy aging

In this work, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a battery composed of distinct cognitive parameters. A sample of 86 individuals (53.5% females; mean age = 65.73), representative of the Portuguese older population, with respect to sex, age and level of education was assessed twice over an average of two years. By means of a confirmatory factor analysis approach, we tested whether a two-factor solution [corresponding to measures of memory performance (MEM) and executive functioning (EXEC)] was reliable over time. Nested models of longitudinal invariance demonstrated the existence of partial strong invariance over time. In other words, this indicates that there is an equivalence of the factorial structure and factor loadings for all items; this was also observed for the item intercepts for all the items, except for one of the items from the EXEC dimension. Stability coefficients revealed high associations between the dimensions over time and that, whereas there was a significant decline of the MEM across time, this was not observed for the EXEC dimension. These findings reveal that changes in MEM and EXEC scores can be attributed to true changes on these constructs, enabling the use of this battery as a reliable method to study cognitive aging.PSM (ref: PDE/BDE/113601/2015 - PhD-iHES program), TCC (ref: SFRH/BD/90078/2012), LA (SFRH/BD/101398/2014) and CPN (ref: PD/BD/106050/2015 - PhDOC program) were supported by FCT fellowship grants. The work has been developed under the scope of the projects NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013 supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 (P2020) Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016428 supported by the Operational Programme Competitiveness and Internationalization (COMPETE 2020) and the Regional Operational Program of Lisbon and National Funding through Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal); and, by the Portuguese North Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through FEDER, the Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal) (contract grant number: P-139977; project "TEMPO - Better mental health during ageing based on temporal prediction of individual brain ageing trajectories") and SwitchBox-FP7-HEALTH-2010-grant 259772-2info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

SRC inhibition prevents P-cadherin mediated signaling and function in basallike breast cancer cells

© The Author(s). 2018. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.BACKGROUND: Basal-like breast cancer (BLBC) is a poor prognosis subgroup of triple-negative carcinomas that still lack specific target therapies and accurate biomarkers for treatment selection. P-cadherin is frequently overexpressed in these tumors, promoting cell invasion, stem cell activity and tumorigenesis by the activation of Src-Family kinase (SRC) signaling. Therefore, our aim was to evaluate if the treatment of BLBC cells with dasatinib, the FDA approved SRC inhibitor, would impact on P-cadherin induced tumor aggressive behavior. METHODS: P-cadherin and SRC expression was evaluated in a series of invasive Breast Cancer and contingency tables and chi-square tests were performed. Cell-cell adhesion measurements were performed by Atomic Force Microscopy, where frequency histograms and Gaussian curves were applied. 2D and 3D cell migration and invasion, proteases secretion and self-renew potential were evaluated in vitro. Student's t-tests were used to determine statistically significant differences. The cadherin/catenin complex interactions were evaluated by in situ proximity-ligation assay, and statistically significant results were determined by using Mann-Whitney test with a Bonferroni correction. In vivo xenograft mouse models were used to evaluate the impact of dasatinib on tumor growth and survival. ANOVA test was used to evaluate the differences in tumor size, considering a confidence interval of 95%. Survival curves were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier's method, using the log-rank test to assess significant differences for mice overall survival. RESULTS: Our data demonstrated that P-cadherin overexpression is significantly associated with SRC activation in breast cancer cells, which was also validated in a large series of primary tumor samples. SRC activity suppression with dasatinib significantly prevented the in vitro functional effects of P-cadherin overexpressing cells, as well as their in vivo tumorigenic and metastatic ability, by increasing mice overall survival. Mechanistically, SRC inhibition affects P-cadherin downstream signaling, rescues the E-cadherin/p120-catenin complex to the cell membrane, recovering cell-cell adhesion function. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion our findings show that targeting P-cadherin/SRC signaling and functional activity may open novel therapeutic opportunities for highly aggressive and poor prognostic basal-like breast cancer.This work was funded by Laço Grant 2014, by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia/ Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior under the projects PTDC/SAU-GMG/120049/2010-FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-021209, PEst-C/SAU/LA0003/2013, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000029 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016390. FCT funded the research grants of ASR (SFRH/BPD/75705/2011), ARN (SFRH/BD/100380/2014), BS (SFRH/BPD/104208/2014), AFV (SFRH/BPD/90303/2012), as well as JP with Programa IFCT 2013 (FCT Investigator). IPATIMUP integrates the i3S Research Unit, which is partially supported by FCT in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio