Moving in next door: Network flooding as a side channel in cloud environments

The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-48965-0_56Co-locating multiple tenants' virtual machines (VMs) on the same host underpins public clouds' affordability, but sharing physical hardware also exposes consumer VMs to side channel attacks from adversarial co-residents. We demonstrate passive bandwidth measurement to perform traffic analysis attacks on co-located VMs. Our attacks do not assume a privileged position in the network or require any communication between adversarial and victim VMs. Using a single feature in the observed bandwidth data, our algorithm can identify which of 3 potential YouTube videos a co-resident VM streamed with 66% accuracy. We discuss defense from both a cloud provider's and a consumer's perspective, showing that effective defense is difficult to achieve without costly under-utilization on the part of the cloud provider or over-utilization on the part of the consumer.We would like to acknowledge the MIT PRIMES program and thank in particular Dr. Slava Gerovitch and Dr. Srini Devadas for their support. We are also grateful to Boston University, the Hariri Institute, and the Massachusetts Open Cloud. This paper is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. 1414119 and 1413920

Predicting Remaining Useful Life using Time Series Embeddings based on Recurrent Neural Networks

We consider the problem of estimating the remaining useful life (RUL) of a system or a machine from sensor data. Many approaches for RUL estimation based on sensor data make assumptions about how machines degrade. Additionally, sensor data from machines is noisy and often suffers from missing values in many practical settings. We propose Embed-RUL: a novel approach for RUL estimation from sensor data that does not rely on any degradation-trend assumptions, is robust to noise, and handles missing values. Embed-RUL utilizes a sequence-to-sequence model based on Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) to generate embeddings for multivariate time series subsequences. The embeddings for normal and degraded machines tend to be different, and are therefore found to be useful for RUL estimation. We show that the embeddings capture the overall pattern in the time series while filtering out the noise, so that the embeddings of two machines with similar operational behavior are close to each other, even when their sensor readings have significant and varying levels of noise content. We perform experiments on publicly available turbofan engine dataset and a proprietary real-world dataset, and demonstrate that Embed-RUL outperforms the previously reported state-of-the-art on several metrics.Comment: Presented at 2nd ML for PHM Workshop at SIGKDD 2017, Halifax, Canad

Microbial Biofilms

Biofilms are the aggregation of microbial cells, which are associated with the surface in almost an irreversible manner. It exists in variety of forms like dental plaque, pond scum, or the slimy build up in sink. Biofilm formation involves sequence of steps like conditioning, attachment, metabolism, and detachment. Biofilm consists of water channels, EPS (Exopolysaccharide), and eDNA (Environmental DNA), which plays an important role in nutrient circulation, its development, and structure stabilization. Resistance of planktonic bacteria against antimicrobial agents gets increased on the formation of biofilm, which may be the presence of diffusive barrier EPS or neutralizing enzyme, cells undergoing starvation, or due to spore formation. There are numerous factors, which affects biofilm formation such as substratum effects, conditioning film on substratum, hydrodynamics, characteristics of the aqueous medium, cell characteristics, and environmental factors. Biofilm can cause industrial, medical, and household damage and is a reason for loss of billions of dollars every year. Development of biofilm on catheters, medical implants, and devices is a major cause of infections and diseases in humans. Examples include Plaque, Native Valve Endocarditis, Otitis media, Prostatitis, Cystic fibrosis, Periodontitis, Osteomyelitis, and many more

EFFECT OF Staphylococcus epidermidis ON Pseudomonas aeruginosa BIOFILM IN MIXED-SPECIES CULTURE

Staphylococcus epidermidis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, are clinically relevant pathogens that often produce biofilms. To investigate the co-survivability of S. epidermidis and P. aeruginosa in mixed cultures biofilm and planktonic form, it is important to understand more about the interspecies interaction of both species. The interspecies interaction was analyzed using streak and drop agar plate assay, cell viability assay (CFU), spectrophotometry-based method, and microscopic analysis. The findings suggest that both cells and supernatant of P. aeruginosa inhibit the planktonic growth of S. epidermidis. The cell viability result shows that PAO1 biofilm cells were decreased by 88%, and SE biofilm cells were increased by 75% concerning their control. Opposite to the P. aeruginosa, the S. epidermidis biofilm and EPS matrix were found to increase in mixed culture biofilm, which was further confirmed by microscopic analysis. In contrast, differential agar media result shows that the reduction in the biofilm (CFU/ml) of P. aeruginosa is independent of S. epidermidis cells concentration. Finally, the effect of the supernatant on biofilm was investigated, and it found that S. epidermidis biofilm was enhanced while P. aeruginosa biofilm was reduced in the presence of partner bacterial supernatant, which indicated that S. epidermidis in biofilm mode could hinder the biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa. The outcomes show that the culture supernatant of S. epidermidis can be used to prevent P. aeruginosa associated biofilm infections

Bike Location and Road Obstacle Tracking Using Smart Helmet

In India, most of the people prefer two wheelers compared to other form of vehicle due to simplicity and low cost. One important problem is bike riders suffer from inadequate roads and bad driving conditions. Other important problem with biker is that most of the time they don?t like to wear helmet which could be fatal when accidents happen. Since in India the usage of two wheelers is more as compared to four wheelers, it requires more attention as far as safety is concerned. Motorcycles have high rate of fatal accidents than automobiles or trucks and buses. According to some statistics serious head injuries can happen even in low speeds. Ninety percent of head injury cases are due to road traffic accidents, about 72 percent are youngsters in the age group of 18 to 40. So to overcome this problem we have introduced a smart helmet with additional features like road hazard warning, bike authentication. In the previous research work that focuses on the point that the bike will not get start if the rider is not wearing helmet, so we modified this feature and make ones bike secure at crucial time especially when one is away from the bike and somebody is trying to steal it. So, we recapitulated the above features and introduce the project with some more unique characteristics. The main aim of this project is to introduce the smart interactive robotic helmet with features such as road obstacle identification, bike authentication, would help the rider in detecting important traffic sounds like fire siren or horn and the smart helmet would warn the rider when hazard is ahead. In this research work, the helmet is designed in such a way that it would provide more security to the rider hence the user is attracted towards the helmet because of its peculiar characteristics. If the rider runs on the bad intersection path, he could record for the present and upcoming road obstacle which is saved in mp3 format and can play that recording by pressing the button when he goes on same path again

Study of the profile of stroke in a tertiary-care hospital in the sub-Himalayan region in north India

Background: Rapid urbanization of rural areas is predicted to increase the incidence of risk factors for vascular events such as stroke among the ruralites. A different culture, beliefs, terrain, and climatic conditions of Himachal Pradesh may have an impact on the profile of stroke. Objectives: To study the profile and the various risk factors of stroke in the sub-Himalayan region of north India. Material and Methods: It was an observational cross-sectional study conducted at the Department of Medicine, R.P. Government Medical College, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, for a duration of 12 months, from June 2012 to May 2013. Consecutive patients presenting to the hospital with signs and symptoms of stroke were included in the study. Detailed history and clinical examination was carried out in all patients. CT scan, routine blood examination, and lipid profile were evaluated in all patients. Results: Total number of patients who presented with stroke in a year was 374. It formed 4.0% of the total hospital admissions in medical wards. The mean age of stroke patients was 66.17±12.9 years. Of the total patients, 254 (67.9%) were males and 120 (32%) were females; 127 patients (33.9%) presented between 6 am and 12 pm. The majority of patients presented in winter months, from November to January. Average delay in the presentation to hospital was 29 h. Only 79 (21.1%) patients presented within 3 h. Among the patients, 342 (91.4%) belonged to rural area, 61.4% had an infarct, and 38.6% had intracerebral bleed. The most common symptoms reported were weakness in 276 (73%) followed by speech abnormality in 53%. Hypertension as a risk factor was found in 174 (46.5%); 155 patients (41.4%) were smokers; and diabetes was present in 61 patients (16.4%). Average cholesterol level was 176±54.99 mg/dl, and average triglyceride level was 339 mg/dl. Conclusions: The major strength in our study was the predominance of rural population. The state has witnessed an increase in the incidence of stroke. Elderly population is predominantly affected. Average delay in presentation was 29 h, which is substantially high. Majority of the events occurred in winter months

Influence of sex on the profile of acute coronary syndrome: a tertiary care hospital based study from the Sub-Himalayan region in North India

Background: Coronary events presents about ten years later in women than men. There exist distinct gender differences in terms of presentation of symptoms, validity of diagnostic tests and complications. Methods: The study was conducted in the department of medicine R.P. Govt. Medical College (RPGMC) Himachal Pradesh. Consecutive 300 patients of acute coronary syndrome from June 2011 to June 2012 were included in the study. Demographical profile was recorded with focused clinical examination and relevant investigation with lipid profile was done.Results:Among the study population of 300 individuals, 201 (67%) were males and 99 (33%) were females. The mean age among male patients was 61.3±11.7 years and in female patients the mean age was 65.6±11.20 years. 68.8% of females presented after 60 yrs of age. Dyslipidemia was the commonest risk factor followed by hypertension and obesity. 12.2% of female patients were smokers. Chest pain was the commonest presenting symptom seen in 82% cases. There was mean delay of 31.0±54.5 hrs in the presentation of females for treatment. ST Elevated Myocardial Infarction occurred less frequently in females.Conclusions: Acute coronary syndrome is more age dependent in females. The predominance of dyslipidemia, hypertension and obesity as risk factors gives a message for primary care physicians to create awareness for the prevention of Acute Coronary Syndrome. The atypical symptoms should be recognised early which should further prevent the delay in presentation.

USE OF RECYCLED PLASTIC AS REPLACEMENT OF FINE AGGREGATE IN STRUCTURAL CONCRETE

Now a days disposal of dissipate plastic is one of the major green problem all above the world. The objective of this review paper is to examine the usefulness of using waste plastic as fine aggregate substitute in concrete mixtures. The compressive and tensile strength of a variety of concrete specimens were tested to establish how the amalgamation of recycled plastic as a replacement of fine aggregate would affect the expansion of strength in the mixes. In this reading plastic waste was mixed with cement concrete in a variety of scope such as 0%-15% and the M20 grade test specimen were casted to learning the behavior of plastic mixed concrete. All stages of plastic replacement show a perceptible diminish in compressive strength and tensile strength. https://journalnx.com/journal-article/2015071

Study of LV functions in patients of subclinical hypothyroidism in patients coming to rural medical college of Sub-Himalayan region of India

Background:Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) is a common disorder and has been implicated in increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is important to study the effect of SCH on cardiac morphology and function. Thus, present study titled “Study of LV functions in patients of subclinical hypothyroidism in patients coming to rural medical of sub-Himalayan region of India” was conducted in the department of medicine, Rajinder Prasad government medical Tanda over a period of three years from December, 2010 to November, 2013 to study left ventricular function in subclinical hypothyroidism.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of medicine, Rajinder Prasad government medical Tanda over a period of three years from December, 2010 to November, 2013 to study left ventricular function in subclinical hypothyroidism. The data was analysed using computer software Epi-info version 6.0 and SPSS version 12.0 for Windows. Descriptive characteristics were presented as percentages for quantitative variables including measurement of thyroid hormones and ejection fraction. Mean and standard deviation were reported.Results:Diastolic parameters were markedly altered, mainly isovolumic relaxation time, which was increased and reduction of E/A wave ratio (1.Conclusions:Implication for echocardiography in SCH patients observed were that early recognition of silent diastolic dysfunction can be done. We can institute L-thyroxinee therapy which has been found to reverse diastolic dysfunction of heart along with improvement in lipid levels, decreased systemic vascular resistance, diastolic hypertension and coagulation profile. SCH, invariably affects heart and sooner or later and leads to diastolic dysfunction. Early recognition by echocardiography and then treatment with L-thyroxinee is indicated.