A Distributive, Non-Destructive, Real-Time Approach to Snowpack Monitoring

This invention is designed to ascertain the snow water equivalence (SWE) of snowpacks with better spatial and temporal resolutions than present techniques. The approach is ground-based, as opposed to some techniques that are air-based. In addition, the approach is compact, non-destructive, and can be communicated with remotely, and thus can be deployed in areas not possible with current methods. Presently there are two principal ground-based techniques for obtaining SWE measurements. The first is manual snow core measurements of the snowpack. This approach is labor-intensive, destructive, and has poor temporal resolution. The second approach is to deploy a large (e.g., 3x3 m) snowpillow, which requires significant infrastructure, is potentially hazardous [uses a approximately equal to 200-gallon (approximately equal to 760-L) antifreeze-filled bladder], and requires deployment in a large, flat area. High deployment costs necessitate few installations, thus yielding poor spatial resolution of data. Both approaches have limited usefulness in complex and/or avalanche-prone terrains. This approach is compact, non-destructive to the snowpack, provides high temporal resolution data, and due to potential low cost, can be deployed with high spatial resolution. The invention consists of three primary components: a robust wireless network and computing platform designed for harsh climates, new SWE sensing strategies, and algorithms for smart sampling, data logging, and SWE computation

Distributive, Non-destructive Real-time System and Method for Snowpack Monitoring

A ground-based system that provides quasi real-time measurement and collection of snow-water equivalent (SWE) data in remote settings is provided. The disclosed invention is significantly less expensive and easier to deploy than current methods and less susceptible to terrain and snow bridging effects. Embodiments of the invention include remote data recovery solutions. Compared to current infrastructure using existing SWE technology, the disclosed invention allows more SWE sites to be installed for similar cost and effort, in a greater variety of terrain; thus, enabling data collection at improved spatial resolutions. The invention integrates a novel computational architecture with new sensor technologies. The invention's computational architecture is based on wireless sensor networks, comprised of programmable, low-cost, low-powered nodes capable of sophisticated sensor control and remote data communication. The invention also includes measuring attenuation of electromagnetic radiation, an approach that is immune to snow bridging and significantly reduces sensor footprints

Self-Identifying Sensor Data

Public-use sensor datasets are a useful scientific resource with the unfortunate feature that their provenance is easily disconnected from their content. To address this we introduce a technique to directly associate provenance information with sensor datasets. Our technique is similar to traditional watermarking but is intended for application to unstructured datasets. Our approach is potentially imperceptible given sufficient margins of error in datasets, and is robust to a number of benign but likely transformations including truncation, rounding, bit-flipping, sampling, and reordering. We provide algorithms for both one-bit and blind mark checking. Our algorithms are probabilistic in nature and are characterized by a combinatorial analysis.Engineering and Applied Science

Self-Identifying Data for Fair Use

Public-use earth science datasets are a useful resource with the unfortunate feature that their provenance is easily disconnected from their content. “Fair-use policies” typically associated with these datasets require appropriate attribution of providers by users, but sound and complete attribution is difficult if provenance information is lost. To address this we introduce a technique to directly associate provenance information with sensor datasets. Our technique is similar to traditional watermarking but is intended for application to unstructured time-series datasets. Our approach is potentially imperceptible given sufficient margins of error in datasets, and is robust to a number of benign but likely transformations including truncation, rounding, bit-flipping, sampling, and reordering. We provide algorithms for both one-bit and blind mark checking, and show how our system can be adapted to various data representation types. Our algorithms are probabilistic in nature and are characterized by both combinatorial and empirical analyses. Mark embedding can be applied at any point in the data lifecycle, allowing adaptation of our scheme to social or scientific concerns.Engineering and Applied Science

Correct Audit Logging: Theory and Practice

Retrospective security has become increasingly important to the theory and practice of cyber security, with auditing a crucial component of it. However, in systems where auditing is used, programs are typically instrumented to generate audit logs using manual, ad-hoc strategies. This is a potential source of error even if log analysis techniques are formal, since the relation of the log itself to program execution is unclear. This paper focuses on provably correct program rewriting algorithms for instrumenting formal logging specifications. Correctness guarantees that the execution of an instrumented program produces sound and complete audit logs, properties defined by an information containment relation between logs and the program’s logging semantics. We also propose a program rewriting approach to instrumentation for audit log generation, in a manner that guarantees correct log generation even for untrusted programs. As a case study, we develop such a tool for OpenMRS, a popular medical records management system, and consider instrumentation of break the glass policies.Engineering and Applied Science

Critical Involvement of the ATM-Dependent DNA Damage Response in the Apoptotic Demise of HIV-1-Elicited Syncytia

DNA damage can activate the oncosuppressor protein ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), which phosphorylates the histone H2AX within characteristic DNA damage foci. Here, we show that ATM undergoes an activating phosphorylation in syncytia elicited by the envelope glycoprotein complex (Env) of human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) in vitro. This was accompanied by aggregation of ATM in discrete nuclear foci that also contained phospho-histone H2AX. DNA damage foci containing phosphorylated ATM and H2AX were detectable in syncytia present in the brain or lymph nodes from patients with HIV-1 infection, as well as in a fraction of blood leukocytes, correlating with viral status. Knockdown of ATM or of its obligate activating factor NBS1 (Nijmegen breakage syndrome 1 protein), as well as pharmacological inhibition of ATM with KU-55933, inhibited H2AX phosphorylation and prevented Env-elicited syncytia from undergoing apoptosis. ATM was found indispensable for the activation of MAP kinase p38, which catalyzes the activating phosphorylation of p53 on serine 46, thereby causing p53 dependent apoptosis. Both wild type HIV-1 and an HIV-1 mutant lacking integrase activity induced syncytial apoptosis, which could be suppressed by inhibiting ATM. HIV-1-infected T lymphoblasts from patients with inactivating ATM or NBS1 mutations also exhibited reduced syncytial apoptosis. Altogether these results indicate that apoptosis induced by a fusogenic HIV-1 Env follows a pro-apoptotic pathway involving the sequential activation of ATM, p38MAPK and p53

Static use-based object confinement

Abstract. The confinement of object references is a significant security concern for modern programming languages. We define a language that serves as a uniform model for a variety of confined object reference systems. A use-based approach to confinement is adopted, which we argue is more expressive than previous communicationbased approaches. We then develop a readable, expressive type system for static analysis of the language, along with a type safety result demonstrating that run-time checks can be eliminated. The language and type system thus serve as a reliable, declarative, and efficient foundation for secure capability-based programming and object confinement