Challenges and Opportunities for Practical and Effective Dynamic Information Flow Tracking

Information flow tracking was proposed more than 40 years ago to address the limitations of access control mechanisms to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of information flowing within a system, but has not yet been widely applied in practice for security solutions. Here, we survey and systematize literature on dynamic information flow tracking (DIFT) to discover challenges and opportunities to make it practical and effective for security solutions. We focus on common knowledge in the literature and lingering research gaps from two dimensions— (i) the layer of abstraction where DIFT is implemented (software, software/hardware, or hardware) and (ii) the security goal (confidentiality and/or integrity). We observe that two major limitations hinder the practical application of DIFT for on-the-fly security applications: (i) high implementation overhead and (ii) incomplete information flow tracking (low accuracy). We posit, after review of the literature, that addressing these major impedances via hardware parallelism can potentially unleash DIFT’s great potential for systems security, as it can allow security policies to be implemented in a built-in and standardized fashion. Furthermore, we provide recommendations for the next generation of practical and efficient DIFT systems with an eye towards hardware-supported implementations.

Abnormal activity of functional groups during uranyl ions sorption by polymethacrylic acid-poly-4-vinylpyridine intergel system

Uranyl ions sorption by intergel system consisting of polymethacrylic acid hydrogel (hPMAA) and poly-4-vinylpyridine hydrogel (hP4VP) has been studied. First, reciprocal activation of PMAA and P4VP polymeric hydrogels in water environment was examined in order to predict intergel system sorption activity. Based on the obtained results, it was found that area of maximum hydrogel activation was within the ratios of 100 % hPMAA and 67 % hPMAA:33 % hP4VP. The maximum rate of uranyl ions extraction was also observed within these ratios. The highest uranyl ions sorption by intergel system occurred at 83 %hPMAA:17 % hP4VP ratio. Maximum uranyl ions extraction rate after 56 hours of hydrogels remote interaction was 82.5 %, when polymeric chain binding rate was 9.94 % and effective dynamic exchange capacity was 1.12 mmol/g. Significant increase of intergel system sorption activity within the ratios of 100 % hPMAA and 67 % hPMAA:33 % hP4VP in comparison with initial inactivated hydrogels 100 % hPMAA and 100 % hP4VP was confirmed by combined calculation data of extraction rates of inactivated PMAA and P4VP polymeric hydrogels. The obtained results illustrated changes of initial polymeric hydrogels’ electrochemical sorption properties in intergel system leading to functional groups obtaining higher reactive ability, which made it possible to use them for further development of highly efficient uranyl ions extraction sorption technology

The risk assessment of a crude oil pipeline using fuzzy and bayesian based bow-tie analysis

Cross country pipelines are one of the major modes of transportation of petroleum products. Due to external and internal factors, the failure probability of pipeline is increasing over the past decades. The failure of pipelines can cause fires, which can result in environmental damage, loss of materials and further resulting into casualties. Effective risk assessment is vital to prevent and mitigate such potential incidents. In this work, an efficient tool that makes use of Bayesian approach along with Bow-tie analysis is used to obtain the failure frequencies of all the identified causes that may lead to failure of the selected pipeline located in Kerala, India. Bayesian networks can perform effective dynamic risk analysis by considering the conditional dependencies between various basic events leading to pipeline failure. The fuzzy logic and expert elicitation method are incorporated to determine the prior failure frequencies of all the identified causes of pipeline failure. The effectiveness of Bayesian network in performing forward analysis to determine the probabilities of pipeline failure consequences is demonstrated. This study also identifies the weak links associated with the occurrence of particular consequences, so that adequate measures can be taken to rectify them.

An Effective Dynamic Immune Optimization Control for the Wastewater Treatment Process

Aiming at the conflict of multiple performance indicators in the complex wastewater treatment process (WWTPs), an effective optimization control based on dynamic multi-objective immune (DMOIA-OC) is designed. This method first designs a dynamic optimization control scheme. It also divides the control process into a dynamic optimization layer and a tracking control layer. Secondly, based on analyzing the performance of WWTPs, the optimization layer establishes energy consumption and effluent quality models that adapt to the environment. Thirdly, an adaptive dynamic immune optimization algorithm is proposed to optimize complex and conflicting performance indicators. Besides, a suitable preference solution is selected from many Pareto solutions. It is to obtain the best set values of dissolved oxygen and nitrate nitrogen. Finally, the solution will be tested on the benchmark simulation platform (BSM1). The results show that the DMOIA-OC method can solve the complex optimization problem of multiple performance indicators in WWTPs. And it has a competitive advantage in the control effect.

Demonstration of Tunable Shielding Effectiveness in GHz and THz Bands for Flexible Graphene/Ion Gel/Graphene Film

To satisfy the demands of wireless communication systems for tunable shielding materials, in this work, a graphene/ion gel/graphene sandwich structure is proposed, based on graphene and a solid ionic material ion gel. After modelling, preparing and testing, it was found that the structure could achieve more than 10 dB shielding effectiveness tuning in GHz and THz bands. Meanwhile, the adjusting speed of the structure was also studied, displaying effective dynamic tuning in the second order. Furthermore, the fabricated samples have the advantages of a low profile, easily conformable, and convenient processing, which are of great potential in emerging electronic devices.