Designing traffic profiles for bursty Internet traffic

Long-term average mineral weathering rates from watershed geochemical mass balance methods: Using mineral modal abundances to solve more equations in more unknowns

We consider private commons for secondary sharing of licensed spectrum bands with no access coordination provided by the primary license holder. In such environments, heterogeneity in demand patterns of the secondary users can lead to constant changes in the interference levels, and thus can be a source of volatility to the utilities of the users. In this paper, we consider secondary users to be service providers that provide downlink services. We formulate the spectrum sharing problem as a non-cooperative iterated game of power control where service providers change their power levels to fix their long-term average rates at utility-maximizing values. First, we show that in any iterated 2x 2 game, the structure of the single-stage game dictates the degree of control that a service provider can exert on the long-term outcome of the game. Then we show that if service providers use binary actions either to access or not to access the channel at any round of the game, then the long-term rate can be fixed regardless of the strategy of the opponent. We identify these rates and show that they can be achieved using mixed Markovian strategies which will be also identified.

Summary. The consistency of earthquake data and plate tectonic models and other estimates of fault slip, may be tested by estimating rates of motion from the earthquakes using the concept of seismic moment. The contribution of individual events may simply be summed, but a generally better estimate of long-term average slip rate is obtained by integration over magnitudefrequency of occurrence relations. Estimates of fault motion rates associated with earthquakes are possible within about a factor of 2 using this approach if the major sources of uncertainty are given careful consideration; e.g. incompleteness and inaccuracies in the earthquake data; empirical moment-magnitude relations and the effect of their stochasticity; fault ‘widths’ or depth extents; the recurrence relations; maximum magnitudes and the form of truncation at the maximum magnitude. A formulation for the recommended magnitude density truncation is developed. Application of the latter method to the earthquake data of the offshore transform faults of the Juan de Fuca ridge system, the Queen Charlotte fault zone and the northern Vancouver Island area in each case gives good agreement with rates from plate tectonic models. For the southern San Andreas fault and Gulf of California area there is also good agreement with previous estimates obtained by summing the contributions of individual events. However, the displacement rate in the margin convergence zone of southern British Columbia, Washington and Oregon computed from the seismicity is at least a factor of 10 lower than from plate models and from other convergence estimates, and primarily aseismic slip is suggested. The fault motions as a function of time computed from the seismicity records have also been plotted and compared to the longterm average rates. The plots permit estimates of the minimum present accumulated elastic strain, and show if there are any temporal relations among earthquake displacements on different fault zones.

Stateful, in-depth, in-line traffic analysis for intrusion detection and prevention has grown increasingly more difficult as the data rates of modern networks rise. One point in the design space for high-performance network analysis - pursued by a number of commercial products - is the use of sophisticated custom hardware. For very high-speed processing, such systems often cast the entire analysis process in ASICs. This project pursued a different architectural approach, which we term Shunting. Shunting marries a conceptually quite simple hardware device with an Intrusion Prevention System (IPS) running on commodity PC hardware. The overall design goal is was to keep the hardware both cheap and readily scalable to future higher speeds, yet also retain the unparalleled flexibility that running the main IPS analysis in a full general-computing environment provides. The Shunting architecture we developed uses a simple in-line hardware element that maintains several large state tables indexed by packet header fields, including IP/TCP flags, source and destination IP addresses, and connection tuples. The tables yield decision values the element makes on a packet-by-packet basis: forward the packet, drop it, or divert ('shunt') it through the IPS (the default). By manipulating table entries, the IPS can, on a fine-grained basis: (i) specify the traffic it wishes to examine, (ii) directly block malicious traffic, and (iii) 'cut through' traffic streams once it has had an opportunity to 'vet' them, or (iv) skip over large items within a stream before proceeding to further analyze it. For the Shunting architecture to yield benefits, it needs to operate in an environment for which the monitored network traffic has the property that - after proper vetting - much of it can be safely skipped. This property does not universally hold. For example, if a bank needs to examine all Web traffic involving its servers for regulatory compliance, then a monitor in front of one of the bank's server farms cannot safely omit a subset of the traffic from analysis. In this environment, Shunting cannot realize its main performance benefits, and the monitoring task likely calls for using custom hardware instead. However, in many other environments we find Shunting holds promise for delivering major performance gains. This arises due to the the widely documented 'heavy tail' nature of most forms of network traffic, which we might express as 'a few of the connections carry just about all the bytes.' The key additional insight is '... and very often for these few large connections, the very beginning of the connection contains nearly all the information of interest from a security analysis perspective.' We argue that this second claim holds because it is at the beginning of connections that authentication exchanges occur, data or file names and types are specified, request and reply status codes conveyed, and encryption is negotiated. Once these occur, we have seen most of the interesting facets of the dialog. Certainly the remainder of the connection might also yield some grist for analysis, but this is generally less likely, and thus if we want to lower analysis load at as small a loss as possible of information relevant to security analysis, we might best do so by skipping the bulk of large connections. In a different context, the 'Time Machine' work by Kornexl and colleagues likewise shows that in some environments we can realize major reductions in the volume of network traffic processed, by limiting the processing to the first 10-20 KB of each connection. As a concrete example, consider an IPS that monitors SSH traffic. When a new SSH connection arrives and the Shunt fails to find an entry for it in any of its tables (per-address, per-port, per-connection), it executes the default action of diverting the connection through the IPS. The IPS analyzes the beginning of the connection in this fashion. As long as it is satisified with the dialog, it reinjects the packets forwarded to it so that the connection can continue. If the connection successfully negotiates encryption, the IPS can no longer profitably analyze it, so it downloads a per-connection table entry to the Shunt specifying that the action for the connection in the future is 'forward.' For heavy-tailed connections, this means a very large majority of the connection's packets will now pass through the Shunt device without burdening the IPS with any further analysis load. On the other hand, if the IPS is dissatisfied with some element of the initial dialog, it downloads a 'drop' entry to terminate the connection. Note that by providing for reinjection, we can promote an intrusion detection system into an intrusion prevention system, one that does not merely detect attacks but can block them before they complete. Reinjection also allows the IPS to normalize traffic to remove ambiguities that attackers can leverage to evade the IPS.

Loss of top predators may contribute to high ungulate population densities and chronic over-browsing of forest ecosystems. However, spatial and temporal variability in the strength of interactions between predators and ungulates occurs over scales that are much shorter than the scales over which forest communities change, making it difficult to characterize trophic cascades in forest ecosystems. We applied the LANDIS-II forest succession model and a recently developed ungulate browsing extension to model how the moose population could interact with the forest ecosystem of Isle Royale National Park, USA, under three different wolf predation scenarios. We contrasted a 100-yr future without wolves (no predation) with two predation scenarios (weak, long-term average predation rates and strong,higher than average rates). Increasing predation rates led to lower peak moose population densities, lower biomass removal rates, and higher estimates of forage availability and landscape carrying capacity, especially during the first 40 yr of simulations. Thereafter, moose population density was similar for all predation scenarios, but available forage biomass and the carrying capacity of the landscape continued to diverge among predation scenarios. Changes in total aboveground live biomass and species composition were most pronounced in the no predation and weak predation scenarios. Consistent with smaller-scale studies, high browsing rates led to reductions in the biomass of heavily browsed Populus tremuloides, Betula papyrifera, and Abies balsamea, and increases in the biomass of unbrowsed Picea glauca and Piceamariana, especially after the simulation year 2050, when existing boreal hardwood stands at Isle Royale are projected to senesce. As a consequence, lower predation rates corresponded with a landscape that progressively shifted toward dominance by Piceaglauca and Piceamariana, and lacking available forage biomass. Consistencies with previously documented small-scale successional shifts, and population estimates and trends that approximate those from this and other boreal forests that support moose provide some confidence that these dynamics represent a trophic cascade and therefore provide an important baseline against which to evaluate long-term and large-scale effects of alternative predator management strategies on ungulate populations and forest succession.

Short and long-term delivery rates of meteoric 10Be to terrestrial soils

Introduction: The complex of exogenous and endogenous risk factors in multidisciplinary hospitals creates conditions for the development of nosocomial infections induced by ESKAPE pathogens. Objective: To establish epidemiological features and etiological significance of antibiotic resistant strains of the leading pathogens inducing hospital-acquired infections and to determine their prevalence in multidisciplinary clinics of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. Materials and methods: We analyzed the incidence of nosocomial infections and results of the microbiological monitoring of antimicrobial drug resistance in leading pathogens for the years 2012–2021. Detection of genes encoding the production of metallo-β-lactamases was performed in P. aeruginosa strains, extended-spectrum β-lactamases and PFGE profiles of E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains. Results: In the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, the average long-term incidence rate of hospital-acquired infections in the study period was 0.74 per 1,000 inpatients. We established that 44.2 % of all such cases were diagnosed in surgical departments, 32.4 % – in maternity departments, 6.6 % – in pediatric departments, and 16.8 % – in other clinical departments. The average long-term incidence rate of nosocomial infections was the highest (0.85 per 1,000 patients) in departments of surgery, the most prevalent being surgical and injection site infections, lower respiratory tract and urinary tract infections. The leading pathogens in the etiological structure were Enterobacteriaceae spp., P. aeruginosa and Staphylococcus spp. The incidence rates estimated based on microbiological monitoring results were on average 2.5 times higher than those registered within the routine surveillance system. Conclusions: Incidence rates of healthcare-associated infections in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania are comparable to those in the Russian Federation. Patients of surgery departments are at higher risk for nosocomial infections. Optimization of preventive measures requires a risk-based approach that takes into account in-depth microbiological monitoring data on the most common pathogens resistant to drugs of choice in local hospitals.

Secure transmission of IRS-UAV buffer-aided relaying system with delay constraint

Objective: to identify modern epidemiological features of viral acute intestinal infections in children and adolescents in the Sakhalin Region.Materials and methods. Data on acute intestinal infection incidence obtained from statistical reports of the Rospotrebnadzor during 2021-2023 was compared with long-term average incidence rates calculated over the period before the COVID-19 pandemic (2010-2019) to perform epidemiological analysis. Incidence was calculated for different age groups; according to months of the year, monthly long-term average incidence rates were established. Index of seasonality, coefficient of seasonality, and index of seasonal growth were determined.Results and discussion. Manifestations of acute intestinal infections epidemic process in the Sakhalin Region indicate persisting conditions for an increase in the registration of both sporadic cases of diseases and outbreaks of infectious diarrhea. Viruses were prevailing in the structure of cases of known etiology (mainly caused by rotaviruses and noroviruses). Their intra-annual dynamics showed changes in rotavirus and norovirus infection incidence rates: a shift in periods of increased incidence, a decrease in the coefficient of seasonality, and for rotavirus infection, a decrease in the index of seasonal growth. Age-adjusted rotavirus infection incidence showed predominance of the infection among preschool-aged children; norovirus infection was frequently detected among schoolchildren and adolescents. An increase in the focality index may indicate ongoing problems in the public catering sector, non-compliance with sanitary rules and hygiene standards, and untimely detection and isolation of patients with acute intestinal infections.Conclusion. Obtained results confirm the epidemiological significance of viral gastroenteritis and the necessity of anti-epidemic measures optimization.

In this paper, we consider a buffer-aided multiuser multiple-input single-output (MISO) network consisting of one multi-antenna access point (AP) and multiple single-antenna users, in which the AP is provisioned with data buffers for temporarily storing the data for each user either from the upper layer applications or the message by the AP. The data for one specific user must be kept confidential from all other unintended users. For such a system, we aim at maximizing the long-term average achievable secrecy rate region by carefully designing the flow control, the information signal and artificial noise beamforming, as well as the user selection. To address this issue, we first transform the time average optimization problem into a real-time one by using the Lyapunov optimization framework. Then it is proposed to decompose the optimization problem into several sub-problems by using the optimization decomposition technique. Although the information signal and artificial noise beamforming sub-problem is non-convex, we show that it can be decomposed into a two-stage optimization problem to effectively solve it by using the exact line search and DC (difference of two convex functions) algorithms. Moreover, we extend the average secrecy rate region maximization problem to the worst-case scenario, in which all unintended users are colluding in eavesdropping. Our analysis discloses that, there exists an inherent tradeoff between the average achievable secrecy rate region and the average queueing length. It is shown that a better average secrecy rate region can be realized by fully taking advantage of the buffer-aided transmission potentials in the MISO network, if a certain queueing delay is tolerable.

The combination of aggregation, ARQ, QoS guarantee and mapping of Application flows in Very High Throughput 802.11ac networks

Correlation between early and late wear rates in total hip arthroplasty with application to the performance of marathon cross-linked polyethylene liners

Background. The epidemiological situation in the Astrakhan region indicates the activation of the natural foci of the Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), due to a sharp increase in carriers and guardians of the CCHF pathogen, Hyalomma marginatum, on both farm animals and in open biotopes. Natural conditions in combination with human activities (animal husbandry, crop production) and the lack of anti-tick measures create a favorable environment for the population of vectors and, therefore, for the circulation of the CCHF virus. Aim - identification of features of ecological and epidemiological manifestations of the CCHF in the Astrakhan region in 2000-2016. Results. The state of the natural foci of CCHF was monitored, which is endemic and the most severely occurring natural focal disease of arbovirus etiology in the Astrakhan region, preserving the tendency to expand the range. For the analyzed period from 2000 to 2016.151 cases of CCHF were registered in the Astrakhan region, the average long-term incidence rate of the population was 0.88 ± 0.2 per 100 ths of the population. The disease is registered in all districts of the region and the city of Astrakhan, but the largest number is noted in the floodplain-delta regions, where there are favorable conditions for grazing cattle. There is a clear connection between the infection and certain landscapes, where the necessary set of conditions for the circulation of the pathogen is provided.

The Tibetan Plateau, the largest highland on Earth, formed due to the collision of India-Asia over the past 50–60 m.y., and the evolution of the Tibetan Plateau impacts our knowledge of continental tectonics. Examination of the northernmost margin of the Tibetan Plateau is key to unravelling the deformation mechanisms acting in northern Tibet. The left-slip Altyn Tagh fault system defines the northwest margin of the Tibetan Plateau, separating the Western and Eastern Kunlun Ranges in the southwest. Both Cenozoic and pre-Cenozoic crustal deformation events at this junction between the Altyn Tagh and Kunlun Ranges were responsible for the construction of northwestern Tibet, yet the relative contribution of each phase remains unconstrained. The western domain of the Eastern Kunlun Range is marked by active NE-trending, left-slip deformation of the Altyn Tagh fault and an E-striking Cenozoic thrust system developed in response India-Asia collision. To better constrain the Paleozoic Altyn Tagh and Kunlun orogens and establish the Cenozoic structural framework, we conducted an integrated investigation involving detailed geologic mapping (∼1:50,000 scale), U-Pb zircon geochronology, and synthesis of existing data sets across northwestern Tibet. Our new zircon analyses from Paleoproterozoic–Cretaceous strata constrain stratigraphic age and sediment provenance and highlight Proterozoic–Paleozoic arc activity. We propose a tectonic model for the Neoproterozoic–Mesozoic evolution of northwestern Tibet wherein restoration of an ∼56-km-long balanced cross section across the western domain of the Eastern Kunlun suggests that Cenozoic minimum shortening strain was ∼30% (∼24 km shortening). Field evidence suggests this shortening commenced after ca. 25–20 Ma, which yields an average long-term shortening rate of 1.2–0.9 mm yr–1 and strain rates of 4.7 × 10–16 s–1 to 2.3 × 10–16 s–1. Geometric considerations demonstrate that this contractional deformation did not significantly contribute to left-slip offset on the Altyn Tagh fault, which has ∼10 mm/yr slip rates.

BACKGROUND: A comparative epidemiological analysis of the primary incidence of tuberculosis was performed using its standard approach with a generalized indicator that considers the main statistical criteria for incidence. The “sensitivity” of the method may vary depending on the population from analyzed territories. AIM: This study aimed to perform a comparative assessment of the epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) in different territories based on the standard incidence rate and modified method of its integral assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of the dynamics of the incidence of tuberculosis in the total population from the federal districts (FD) of Russia and participants from the Siberian Federal District (SFD) and urban municipalities of the Irkutsk Region (a structural unit of the SFD) between 2005 and 2019 was performed. Based on the obtained integral indicators, a generalized visibility coefficient was calculated. RESULTS: A significant decrease in the incidence of TB was found in all patients from FD and SFD participants. Assessment of the average long-term incidence rates showed that the maximum discrepancy between ranking places was inversely proportional to the size of the studied territories: 1.5 positions, at the level of the FD; two positions, at the level of regional formations; and five positions, at the level of urban settlements. CONCLUSIONS: The integral assessment method can be used in the primary analysis of morbidity in all types of infectious and noninfectious pathologies. The generalized morbidity criterion expands the informative possibilities of the standard indicator, contributes to the substantiation of risk areas at the initial stages of epidemiological analysis, and responds more “sensitively” to changes in the epidemiological situation in relatively small areas.