Introducing the SlowDrop Attack

In network security, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks target network systems with the aim of making them unreachable. Last generation threats are particularly dangerous because they can be carried out with very low resource consumption by the attacker. In this paper we propose SlowDrop, an attack characterized by a legitimate-like behavior and able to target different protocols and server systems. The proposed attack is the first slow DoS threat targeting Microsoft IIS, until now unexploited from other similar attacks. We properly describe the attack, analyzing its ability to target arbitrary systems on different scenarios, by including both wired and wireless connections, and comparing the proposed attack to similar threats. The obtained results show that by executing targeted attacks, SlowDrop is successful both against conventional servers and Microsoft IIS, which is closed source and required us the execution of so called \u201cnetwork level reverse engineering\u201d activities. Due to its ability to successfully target different servers on different scenarios, the attack should be considered an important achievement in the slow DoS field

The Future of the Leader-Member Exchange Theory

This study wants to examine effects of job insecurity on several work-related outcomes (perceived work-related symptoms, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions) by developing a moderated mediation model. The model emphasizes the role played by the quality of leader-member exchange (LMX) in mediating the relation between perceived job insecurity and outcomes related to work, and the moderating role of perceived organizational support (POS) in influencing the mediation. Survey data from 510 workers at Italian organizations were collected, and regression was used to evaluate the hypotheses. After age, gender, education, and organizational tenure were controlled, results showed that perceived quality of LMX carried the effect of job insecurity on all outcomes, and that this relationship was stronger for employees who reported higher levels of POS. This study makes important theoretical and practical contributions to job insecurity, LMX, and POS research, underlining the importance of promoting the leader-member relationships quality in an ethical and supportive work environment

Effects of dance therapy on balance, gait and neuro-psychological performances in patients with Parkinson's disease and postural instability

Postural Instability (PI) is a core feature of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and a major cause of falls and disabilities. Impairment of executive functions has been called as an aggravating factor on motor performances. Dance therapy has been shown effective for improving gait and has been suggested as an alternative rehabilitative method. To evaluate gait performance, spatial-temporal (S-T) gait parameters and cognitive performances in a cohort of patients with PD and PI modifications in balance after a cycle of dance therapy

In-situ procjena zidanih svodova: Dinamička ispitivanja i numerička analiza

This paper concerns the structural identification of historical masonry buildings with reference to a case study, which is discussed in detail. The building is located in Southern Italy (Lecce). It has an ancient vaulted roof that is complex and commonly found in old masonry structures. This study takes advantage of extensive historical and structural investigations of the building. Preliminary activities have been conducted to obtain information about the current state of the structure including the geometry, morphology, structural details, material properties, prior interventions, and existing damage. This process was supported by an historical investigation into the conceptual background and construction methods used to build the structure. After the historical investigation, a series of experiments, including dynamic tests, were conducted on a number of the vaults to determine their dynamic response characteristics under operational conditions. A numerical model was also determined. In this paper, the primary dynamic test results and modelling assumptions are reported. Comparisons between numerical and experimental results are discussed.U ovom se članku razmatra konstrukcija jedne kulturno-povijesne zidane zgrade, detaljno obrađena još u jednoj ranijoj studiji. Zgrada se nalazi u Južnoj Italiji (Lecce). Zgrada ima složenu konstrukciju krova, sa svodovima, kakva je česta kod starih zidanih zgrada. U članku se uzimaju u obzir ranija opsežna povijesna i statička istraživanja. Ta ranija istraživanja bila su usmjerena ka dobivanju informacija o prethodnim ispitivanjima te o sadašnjem stanju konstrukcije, uključujući geometrijske karakteristike, oblikovnost, konstruktivne detalje, svojstva materijala i oštećenja zgrade. Pri tome su pomogla i ranija istraživanja o koncepciji i načinu gradnje zgrade. Nakon ovih istraživanja, obavljene su serije ispitivanja, između ostalog i dinamički pokusi na mnogim svodovima da se ustanove svojstva njihovog dinamičkog odziva u uvjetima standardne uporabe. Postavljen je i numerički model. U ovom su članku prikazani rezultati prvih dinamičkih ispitivanja i svojstava modela. Diskutira se odnos rezultata dobivenih numerički i eksperimentalno

Proton Sensing of CLC-0 Mutant E166D

CLC Cl− channels are homodimers in which each subunit has a proper pore and a (fast) gate. An additional slow gate acts on both pores. A conserved glutamate (E166 in CLC-0) is a major determinant of gating in CLC-0 and is crucially involved in Cl−/H+ antiport of CLC-ec1, a CLC of known structure. We constructed tandem dimers with one wild-type (WT) and one mutant subunit (E166A or E166D) to show that these mutations of E166 specifically alter the fast gate of the pore to which they belong without effect on the fast gate of the neighboring pore. In addition both mutations activate the common slow gate. E166A pores have a large, voltage-independent open probability of the fast gate (popen), whereas popen of E166D pores is dramatically reduced. Similar to WT, popen of E166D was increased by lowering pHint. At negative voltages, E166D presents a persistent inward current that is blocked by p-chlorophenoxy-acetic acid (CPA) and increased at low pHext. The pHext dependence of the persistent current is analogous to a similar steady inward current in WT CLC-0. Surprisingly, however, the underlying unitary conductance of the persistent current in E166D is about an order of magnitude smaller than that of the transient deactivating inward Cl− current. Collectively, our data support the possibility that the mutated CLC-0 channel E166D can assume two distinct open states. Voltage-independent protonation of D166 from the outside favors a low conductance state, whereas protonation from the inside favors the high conductance state

The Parrot Dilemma: Human-Labeled vs. LLM-augmented Data in Classification Tasks

In the realm of Computational Social Science (CSS), practitioners often navigate complex, low-resource domains and face the costly and time-intensive challenges of acquiring and annotating data. We aim to establish a set of guidelines to address such challenges, comparing the use of human-labeled data with synthetically generated data from GPT-4 and Llama-2 in ten distinct CSS classification tasks of varying complexity. Additionally, we examine the impact of training data sizes on performance. Our findings reveal that models trained on human-labeled data consistently exhibit superior or comparable performance compared to their synthetically augmented counterparts. Nevertheless, synthetic augmentation proves beneficial, particularly in improving performance on rare classes within multi-class tasks. Furthermore, we leverage GPT-4 and Llama-2 for zero-shot classification and find that, while they generally display strong performance, they often fall short when compared to specialized classifiers trained on moderately sized training sets.Comment: Accepted at EACL 2024. 14 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

Height as a potential indicator of early life events predicting Parkinson's disease: a case-control study.

Aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between height in young adult age and Parkinson's disease (PD) risk. We included 266 persons affected by idiopathic PD. Patients were matched by age and sex to 266 controls by a random selection from the municipality of residence. We collected information about height preceding PD from official documents where these characteristics referred to young adult age (nearly 30 years). We compared height in cases and controls by calculating differences in mean distribution and by χ2 analyses. Crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated by logistic regression models. Mean height was significantly lower in persons affected by PD compared to controls (P = 0.03). Difference was significant only in men (P = 0.001). Logistic regression models showed an inverse association between height and PD (OR 0.35; CI 0.16, 0.79; P < 0.01 comparing individuals in the highest percentiles of height with those in the lowest). Our results indicate an association between height and PD in men. Considering that dopamine sensitivity in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis is related to adult height, our findings suggest a relationship between PD and factors modulating somatic growth early in life

Current experience in testing mitochondrial nutrients in disorders featuring oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction: rational design of chemoprevention trials

An extensive number of pathologies are associated with mitochondrial dysfunction (MDF) and oxidative stress (OS). Thus, mitochondrial cofactors termed “mitochondrial nutrients” (MN), such as α-lipoic acid (ALA), Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), and l-carnitine (CARN) (or its derivatives) have been tested in a number of clinical trials, and this review is focused on the use of MN-based clinical trials. The papers reporting on MN-based clinical trials were retrieved in MedLine up to July 2014, and evaluated for the following endpoints: (a) treated diseases; (b) dosages, number of enrolled patients and duration of treatment; (c) trial success for each MN or MN combinations as reported by authors. The reports satisfying the above endpoints included total numbers of trials and frequencies of randomized, controlled studies, i.e., 81 trials testing ALA, 107 reports testing CoQ10, and 74 reports testing CARN, while only 7 reports were retrieved testing double MN associations, while no report was found testing a triple MN combination. A total of 28 reports tested MN associations with “classical” antioxidants, such as antioxidant nutrients or drugs. Combinations of MN showed better outcomes than individual MN, suggesting forthcoming clinical studies. The criteria in study design and monitoring MN-based clinical trials are discussed

Advancement flap in the management of chronic anal fissure: A prospective study

Lateral internal sphincterotomy is the surgical treatment of choice of chronic anal fissure after failure of conservative measures. Several randomized trials identified an overall risk of incontinence of 10 % mostly for flatus. Fissurectomy is the most commonly used procedure to preserve the integrity of the anal sphincters. However, a possible complication is keyhole defect that may lead to faecal soiling. In this study, chronic anal fissure (CAF) was treated by fissurectomy and anal advancement flap to preserve the anatomo-functional integrity of sphincters and to reduce healing time and the risk of anal stenosis. In patients with hypertonia, surgical treatment was combined with chemical sphincterotomy by injection of botulinum toxin to enhance tissue perfusion. Forty eight patients with CAF underwent fissurectomy and anal advancement flap. In 22 subjects with hypertonia of the internal anal sphincter, intrasphincter injection of 30 UI of botulinum toxin at the completion of the surgical operation was used. All patients were followed up to 24 months. Since the first defecation, the intensity and duration of pain were significantly reduced. Two patients had urinary retention, five had infections and three had partial breakdowns. No anal stenosis, keyhole deformity or necrosis flap was recorded. At the 24 months follow-up visit, anal incontinence was similar to those detected preoperatively. Only four recurrences were detected at 18 and 20 months. After medical treatment failure, fissurectomy with advancement flap is a valid sphincter-conserving procedure for treatment of anterior or posterior CAF, regardless of hypertonia of the internal anal sphincter. © 2011 Springer-Verlag

Effects of 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine on the liver of high fat diet fed rats

Experimental studies have highlighted that the administration of 3,5-diiodo-L-thyronine (T2) to rats fed diets rich in lipids induces a decrease of cholesterol and triglycerides plasma levels and body weight (BW) without inducing liver steatosis. On the basis of these observations we carried out some experimental in vivo studies to assess the effects of multiple high doses of T2 on the pituitary thyroid axis of rats fed diet rich in lipids. Fifteen male Wistar rats were divided into three groups of five animals each. The first group (N group) received standard diet, the second group was fed with a high fat diet (HFD group), while the third group (HFDT2 group) was additionally given T2 intraperitoneally at a dose level of 70 µg/100 g of BW three times a week up to four weeks. At the end of the treatment, blood sample from each animal was collected, centrifuged and the serum was stored at -20°C. The serum concentrations of thyroidstimulating hormone (TSH), triiodothyronine, thyroxine, adrenocorticotropic hormone, triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase were then determined. In addition, liver of rats was examined by histology in order to assess the presence and degree of steatosis. The administration of T2 to rats fed with a high fat diet suppressed TSH secretion (P=0.013) while no steatosis was observed in the liver of these animals. Our data show that multiple administrations of high doses of T2 to rats fed diets rich in lipid inhibit TSH secretion and prevent the onset of liver steatosis in these animals