Compliant Storage Research Articles

Enabling Fast Exploratory Analyses Over Voluminous Spatiotemporal Data Using Analytical Engines

Fueled by the proliferation of IoT devices and increased adoption of sensing environments the collection of spatiotemporal data has exploded in recent years. Disk based storage systems provide reliable archives but are far too slow for efficient analytics and spatiotemporal datasets quickly exceed the memory capacity of cluster environments. Current solutions focused on in-memory analytics suffer from memory contention and unnecessary network I/O, failing to provide a suitable platform for iterative, exploratory analytics in shared environments. In this work we propose Anamnesis, the first in-memory, sketch aligned, HDFS compliant storage system. Data sketching algorithms reduce dataset sizes by summarizing feature values and inter-feature relationships. Anamnesis leverages data sketches to alleviate memory contention and vastly reduce network I/O during analytics. Upon request, we generate accurate full-resolution datasets with negligible resource and time costs. Datasets are available using a fully HDFS compliant interface allowing Anamnesis to achieve unprecedented compatibility with popular analytics engines. This facilitates adoption into existing workflows by serving as a drop-in replacement for canonical HDFS. We evaluate the system using 2 spatiotemporal datasets, a variety of popular analytics engines, and real-world analytical operations.

Survalytics: An Open-Source Cloud-Integrated Experience Sampling, Survey, and Analytics and Metadata Collection Module for Android Operating System Apps.

BackgroundWe describe here Survalytics, a software module designed to address two broad areas of need. The first area is in the domain of surveys and app analytics: developers of mobile apps in both academic and commercial environments require information about their users, as well as how the apps are being used, to understand who their users are and how to optimally approach app development. The second area of need is in the field of ecological momentary assessment, also referred to as experience sampling: researchers in a wide variety of fields, spanning from the social sciences to psychology to clinical medicine, would like to be able to capture daily or even more frequent data from research subjects while in their natural environment.ObjectiveSurvalytics is an open-source solution for the collection of survey responses as well as arbitrary analytic metadata from users of Android operating system apps.MethodsSurveys may be administered in any combination of one-time questions and ongoing questions. The module may be deployed as a stand-alone app for experience sampling purposes or as an add-on to existing apps. The module takes advantage of free-tier NoSQL cloud database management offered by the Amazon Web Services DynamoDB platform to package a secure, flexible, extensible data collection module. DynamoDB is capable of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliant storage of personal health information.ResultsThe provided example app may be used without modification for a basic experience sampling project, and we provide example questions for daily collection of blood glucose data from study subjects.ConclusionsThe module will help researchers in a wide variety of fields rapidly develop tailor-made Android apps for a variety of data collection purposes.

The BRUTUS automatic cryptanalytic framework

This report summarizes our results from security analysis covering all 57 competitions for authenticated encryption: security, applicability, and robustness (CAESAR) first-round candidates and over 210 implementations. We have manually identified security issues with three candidates, two of which are more serious, and these ciphers have been withdrawn from the competition. We have developed a testing framework, BRUTUS, to facilitate automatic detection of simple security lapses and susceptible statistical structures across all ciphers. From this testing, we have security usage notes on four submissions and statistical notes on a further four. We highlight that some of the CAESAR algorithms pose an elevated risk if employed in real-life protocols due to a class of adaptive-chosen-plaintext attacks. Although authenticated encryption with associated data are often defined (and are best used) as discrete primitives that authenticate and transmit only complete messages, in practice, these algorithms are easily implemented in a fashion that outputs observable ciphertext data when the algorithm has not received all of the (attacker-controlled) plaintext. For an implementor, this strategy appears to offer seemingly harmless and compliant storage and latency advantages. If the algorithm uses the same state for secret keying information, encryption, and integrity protection, and the internal mixing permutation is not cryptographically strong, an attacker can exploit the ciphertext–plaintext feedback loop to reveal secret state information or even keying material. We conclude that the main advantages of exhaustive, automated cryptanalysis are that it acts as a very necessary sanity check for implementations and gives the cryptanalyst insights that can be used to focus more specific attack methods on given candidates.

Microstructure evolution during tensile loading histories of a polyurea

AbstractThe evolution in the hard/soft domain microstructure of an elastomeric‐like polyurea during different tensile loading histories was studied using in situ small‐ and wide‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS/WAXS). The nonlinear stress–strain behavior is initially stiff with a rollover yield to a more compliant response; unloading is highly nonlinear showing substantial hysteresis while also exhibiting significant recovery. Reloading reveals a substantially more compliant “softened” behavior and dramatically reduced hysteresis. WAXS peaks monitor characteristic dimensions of regular features within the hard domains; the peak location remains unchanged with tensile deformation indicating no separation of the internal structure within a domain, but the peak intensity becomes anisotropic with deformation evolving in a reversible manner consistent with orientation due to stretch. The SAXS profiles provide information between major hard domains. SAXS peaks are found to shift with tensile loading in a relatively affine manner up to a tensile true strain of ∼0.4, which, using a Bragg reduction to aid interpretation, reveals an axial increase and a transverse decrease in interdomain spacings; this evolution is reversible for strains less than ∼0.4. Increasing axial strain beyond a true strain of ∼0.4 is accompanied by a dramatic, progressive, and irreversible reduction in axial Bragg spacing, indicating a breakdown in the hard domain aggregate network structure. A four‐point pattern is seen to develop during stretching. The breakdown in networked structure during a first load cycle gives a new structure for subsequent load cycles, which is seen to evolve in a reversible manner for strains less than or equal to the prior maximum strain. However, for strains exceeding the prior maximum strain excursion, additional breakdown is found. These SAXS results show that a breakdown in the hard domain aggregate network structure is a governing mechanism for the large dissipation (hysteresis) loops of the first load cycle and are also responsible for the softened reloading response. The absence of structure breakdown during subsequent load cycles corresponds to the substantially reduced hysteresis loops as well as the stable softened behavior. DMA data on pristine and previously deformed samples show a more compliant storage modulus in the predeformed sample, supporting the softened cyclic stress–strain data and the structural breakdown observed in the SAXS; the loss modulus was unchanged with deformation, which correlates with the lossy features measured in DMA with time‐dependent viscosity rather than losses due to structural breakdown. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2011

Biometric access drug cabinets for personal controlled drugs in hospices

The secure storage of controlled drugs (CDs) is defined in the Misuse of Drugs (Safe Custody) Regulations 1973. The 2007 Amendment specified its application to care homes which includes hospices....

Cultured bladder cells and their response to mechanical strain.

The mechanism responsible for the transformation of a normal bladder into a poorly compliant storage vesicle is not well understood. However, a common feature of many poorly compliant bladders is an abnormal accumulation and distribution of matrix proteins within the bladder wall1–4. Histological examination of tissues from bladders with outlet obstruction is frequently associated with infiltration of connective tissue2. This abnormal accumulation is uniquely associated with the muscle bundles of the detrusor layer and has been shown by immunohistochemistry to be largely composed of type III collagen4. Biochemical studies of myelodysplastic bladders show this characteristic fibrosis to result from a quantitative increase in type III collagen5. Since these same bladders have altered compliance, we believe that the loss of elasticity is related to the changed collagen composition of the bladder wall. A common link in pathological conditions with poor bladder compliance is premorbid exposure of the bladder wall and its constituent cells to an abnormal physical environment, e.g., uncontrolled intermittent contractions. The impact of this abnormal environment upon bladder function is difficult to assess in whole bladder studies. It is likewise difficult to assess the relative contributions of the various tissue components within the bladder wall to the overall loss of compliance. We have previously isolated and maintained and characterized fetal bovine bladder urothelial, fibroblastic and smooth muscle cells in culture6–8. To begin to understand the role of mechanical forces in altering synthesis of connective tissue proteins and assess the relative responses of the individual cell types found in the bladder wall, we have applied equibiaxial deformations to the three major cell types found in the bladder wall9.

Use of Bowel in Undiversion

Urinary undiversion is becoming an uncommon procedure because fewer patients are being diverted. The lessons learned from undiversion, however, have made possible early primary reconstructions in patients who would previously have been candidates for diversion. Intermittent clean catheterization and the use of bowel to augment or form a compliant storage vessel for urine have permitted reconstruction in patients with abnormal bladder and urethral function. Thus patients with neurogenic bladder or with severe lower urinary tract abnormalities can look forward to healthy kidneys and urinary continence without the use of appliances. Certainly there are yet many lessons to be learned, but the potential is just starting to be appreciated.

Use of Bowel in Undiversion

Urinary undiversion is becoming an uncommon procedure because fewer patients are being diverted. The lessons learned from undiversion, however, have made possible early primary reconstructions in patients who would previously have been candidates for diversion. Intermittent clean catheterization and the use of bowel to augment or form a compliant storage vessel for urine have permitted reconstruction in patients with abnormal bladder and urethral function. Thus patients with neurogenic bladder or with severe lower urinary tract abnormalities can look forward to healthy kidneys and urinary continence without the use of appliances. Certainly there are yet many lessons to be learned, but the potential is just starting to be appreciated.