Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
Fortifying Your Defenses: Techniques to Thwart Adversarial Attacks and Boost Performance of Machine Learning-Based Intrusion Detection Systems

Machine learning has seen significant advancements in recent years and has proven to be highly effective in a wide range of applications, including intrusion detection systems (IDS). However, while working in adversarial environments, machine learning-based systems are known to be vulnerable to a range of attacks. In this talk, we will discuss techniques aimed at strengthening machine learning-based IDS. On the one hand, we explore techniques for enhancing the performance and robustness of IDS in adversarial environments, where we propose a contrastive learning-based approach that builds highly differentiating IDS. On the other hand, we develop efficient security mechanisms to thwart common attacks, including an adversarial example (AE) detector that filters out suspicious inputs at the model testing time, and a robust model evaluation method that leverages latent space representations to build resiliency in model aggregation against model poisoning attacks in federated learning. This talk will report our research results along this line of research.
Approximate Wireless Communication for Federated Learning

This paper presents an approximate wireless communication scheme for federated learning (FL) model aggregation in the uplink transmission. We consider a realistic channel that reveals bit errors during FL model exchange in wireless networks. Our study demonstrates that random bit errors during model transmission can significantly affect FL performance. To overcome this challenge, we propose an approximate communication scheme based on the mathematical and statistical proof that machine learning (ML) model gradients are bounded under certain constraints. This bound enables us to introduce a novel encoding scheme for float-to-binary representation of gradient values and their QAM constellation mapping. Besides, since FL gradients are error-resilient, the proposed scheme simply delivers gradients with errors when the channel quality is satisfactory, eliminating extensive error-correcting codes and/or retransmission. The direct benefits include less overhead and lower latency. The proposed scheme is well-suited for resource-constrained devices in wireless networks. Through simulations, we show that the proposed scheme is effective in reducing the impact of bit errors on FL performance and saves at least half the time than transmission with error correction and retransmission to achieve the same learning performance. In addition, we investigated the effectiveness of bit protection mechanisms in high-order modulation when gray coding is employed and found that this approach considerably enhances learning performance.
Quantum algorithms for generator coordinate methods

This paper discusses quantum algorithms for the generator coordinate method (GCM) that can be used to benchmark molecular systems. The GCM formalism defined by exponential operators with exponents defined through generators of the fermionic $U(N)$ Lie algebra (Thouless theorem) offers a possibility of probing large subspaces using low-depth quantum circuits. In the present study, we illustrate the performance of the quantum algorithm for constructing a discretized form of the Hill-Wheeler equation for ground- and excited-state energies. We also generalize the standard GCM formulation to multiproduct extension that when collective paths are properly probed can systematically introduce higher rank effects and provide elementary mechanisms for symmetry purification when generator states break the spatial or spin symmetries. The GCM quantum algorithms also can be viewed as an alternative to existing variational quantum eigensolvers, where multistep classical optimization algorithms are replaced by a single-step procedure for solving the Hill-Wheeler eigenvalue problem.
Machine-learning-based detection for quantum hacking attacks on continuous-variable quantum-key-distribution systems

Continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CVQKD) is a mature technology that can theoretically provide an unconditional security guarantee. However, a practical CVQKD system may be vulnerable to various quantum hacking attacks due to imperfect devices and insufficient assumptions. In this paper, we propose a universal defense strategy called a machine-learning-based attack detection scheme (MADS). Leveraging the combined advantages of density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN) and multiclass support vector machines (MCSVMs), MADS demonstrates remarkable effectiveness in detecting quantum hacking attacks. Specifically, we first establish a set of attack-related features to extract feature vectors. These vectors are then utilized as input data for DBSCAN to identify and remove any noise or outliers. Finally, the trained MCSVMs are employed to classify and predict the processed data. The predicted results can immediately determine whether or not to generate a final secret key. Simulation results show that the proposed MADS can efficiently detect most quantum hacking attacks and revise the overestimated secret key rates caused by a CVQKD system without any defense strategy to obtain a tighter security bound.
LTESniffer: An Open-source LTE Downlink/Uplink Eavesdropper

LTE sniffers are important for security and performance analysis because they can passively capture the wireless traffic of users in LTE network. However, existing open-source LTE sniffers have only limited functionality and cannot decode data traffic. This paper introduces LTESNIFFER, the first open-source LTE sniffer that can passively decode both uplink and downlink data traffic. Implementing a sniffer is not trivial because one needs to understand detailed configurations and parameters to successfully decode each user's traffic. Using multiple techniques, we found mechanisms to understand these, which improves our decoding performance. We evaluated the performance of LTESNIFFER on both testbed and commercial network environments. We also compare the performance of LTESNIFFER with AirScope, a popular commercial LTE sniffer. Additionally, LTESNIFFER provides a proof-of-concept API with three functions that can be used for security applications, including identity mapping, identity collecting, and device capability profiling. We release LTESNIFFER as open-source for future research.
Satellite Spoofing from A to Z: On the Requirements of Satellite Downlink Overshadowing Attacks

Satellite communications are increasingly crucial for telecommunications, navigation, and Earth observation. However, many widely used satellites do not cryptographically secure the downlink, opening the door for radio spoofing attacks. Recent developments in software-defined radio hardware have enabled attacks on wireless systems including GNSS, which can be effectively spoofed using only cheap hardware available off the shelf. However, these conclusions do not generalize well to other satellite systems such as high data rate backhauls or satellite-to-customer connections, where the spoofing requirements are currently unknown. In this paper, we present a systematic review of spoofing attacks against satellite downlink communications systems. We establish a threat model linking attack feasibility and impact to required budget through real-world experiments and channel simulations. Our results show that nearly all evaluated satellite systems were overshadowable at a distance of 1 km in the worst case, for a budget of ~2000 USD or less. We evaluate how key challenges surrounding modulation schemes, antenna directionality, and legitimate satellite signal strength can be overcome in practice through antenna sidelobe targeting, overshadowing, and automatic gain control takeover. We also show that, surprisingly, protocols designed to be more robust against channel noise are significantly less robust against an overshadowing attacker. We conclude with a discussion of physical-layer countermeasures specifically applicable to satellite systems which can not be cryptographically upgraded.
Optimal quantum state tomography with noisy gates

Abstract Quantum state tomography (QST) represents an essential tool for the characterization, verification, and validation (QCVV) of quantum processors. Only for a few idealized scenarios, there are analytic results for the optimal measurement set for QST. E.g., in a setting of non-degenerate measurements, an optimal minimal set of measurement operators for QST has eigenbases which are mutually unbiased. However, in other set-ups, dependent on the rank of the projection operators and the size of the quantum system, the optimal choice of measurements for efficient QST needs to be numerically approximated. We have generalized this problem by introducing the framework of customized efficient QST . Here we extend customized QST and look for the optimal measurement set for QST in the case where some of the quantum gates applied in the measurement process are noisy. To achieve this, we use two distinct noise models: first, the depolarizing channel, and second, over- and under-rotation in single-qubit and to two-qubit gates (for further information, please see Methods). We demonstrate the benefit of using entangling gates for the efficient QST measurement schemes for two qubits at realistic noise levels, by comparing the fidelity of reconstruction of our optimized QST measurement set to the state-of-the-art scheme using only product bases.
An empirical study of automated privacy requirements classification in issue reports

Abstract The recent advent of data protection laws and regulations has emerged to protect privacy and personal information of individuals. As the cases of privacy breaches and vulnerabilities are rapidly increasing, people are aware and more concerned about their privacy. These bring a significant attention to software development teams to address privacy concerns in developing software applications. As today’s software development adopts an agile, issue-driven approach, issues in an issue tracking system become a centralised pool that gathers new requirements, requests for modification and all the tasks of the software project. Hence, establishing an alignment between those issues and privacy requirements is an important step in developing privacy-aware software systems. This alignment also facilitates privacy compliance checking which may be required as an underlying part of regulations for organisations. However, manually establishing those alignments is labour intensive and time consuming. In this paper, we explore a wide range of machine learning and natural language processing techniques which can automatically classify privacy requirements in issue reports. We employ six popular techniques namely Bag-of-Words (BoW), N-gram Inverse Document Frequency (N-gram IDF), Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF), Word2Vec, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) to perform the classification on privacy-related issue reports in Google Chrome and Moodle projects. The evaluation showed that BoW, N-gram IDF, TF-IDF and Word2Vec techniques are suitable for classifying privacy requirements in those issue reports. In addition, N-gram IDF is the best performer in both projects.
A Concept Forensic Methodology For The Investigation Of IoT Cyberincidents

Abstract The number of Internet of Things (IoT) forensic investigations has increased considerably over recent years due to the weak nature of the security measures of its devices. In order to ensure the effectiveness and completeness of their examinations, investigators rely on forensic models, frameworks and methodologies. However, given the novelty of the environment, the existing ones are not refined enough, and the conventional counterparts do not satisfy the requirements of the IoT. Consequently, further improvements are needed in order for a more suitable IoT methodology to be designed. After reviewing the proposals from the research community for the development of procedures for performing IoT investigations, this article presents a practical concept methodology for conducting IoT forensic investigations that details step by step the whole examination process from its opening to its closing. In order to test its effectiveness and feasibility, it is submitted to a theoretical, a practical and a hybrid evaluation. Firstly, by comparing its level of detail, practicality and content with the related work. Secondly, by assessing its performance in two practical scenarios that depict real-life forensic investigations and the challenges that they present. And, finally, by studying how the existing models from the research community would have behaved in these cases. After performing these three different evaluations, it can be concluded that the results achieved by the proposed methodology were satisfactory, confirmed the feasibility of the proposal and showed clear benefits compared with the related work in terms of practicality and level of detail.
A method to improve the computational performance of nonlinear all—optical diffractive deep neural network model

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Effect of blockchain technology in innovating accountants’ skills: a multimethodology study in the industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange

Abstract This study aimed at analyzing the effect of blockchain technology in innovating accountants’ skills as a multimethodology study in the industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange. For achieving this goal, the researchers adopted the multimethodology approach using mixed methods between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies by conducting interviews with accountants, auditors, and financial managers forming a study sample of 50 individuals. Results show that the highest remarkable indication concerning the phenomenon of analyzing the effect of Blockchain technology in innovating accountants’ skills is ( Increasing performance efficiency ) as an emerging theme. Then followed by ( Blockchain technology w ill work on innovating accountants’ skills ) as the second emerging theme. And then followed by ( Enhancing accountants’ skills ) as the third emerging theme. And these results reflect the convictions and expectations of the study sample of accountants, auditors, and financial managers that the impact of implementing blockchain technology will innovate accountants’ skills.
Ancient thangka Buddha face recognition based on the Dlib machine learning library and comparison with secular aesthetics

Abstract Presently, face recognition technology is rapidly advancing and has emerged as a crucial field of research. Thangka, being a significant repository of Buddhist imagery, encompass a vast amount of Buddha image data depicting diverse Buddhist themes from various historical epochs. Accurate recognition of facial features in these Buddha images is particularly significant in comprehending the historical evolution of thangka, especially the facial features correlation between Buddha society and secular society. Hence, in this study, 68 facial feature points was employed to obtain using the Dlib deep learning library, from which 16 facial geometric feature indices were derived. These indices served as the foundation for the establishment of a facial measurement standard and aesthetic evaluation index for thangka Buddha. A meticulous evaluation and identification of thangka facial details spanning nearly a millennium were conducted, and the transformation of thangka facial features was analyzed and deliberated from a secular aesthetic perspective. Upon conducting this study, it was discovered that: (1) The deep learning library exhibited effective performance in identifying facial characteristics in thangka Buddha images, and the facial evaluation index proved to be a reliable tool for evaluating both measurement standards and aesthetics. (2) The facial measurement standards depicted in thangka Buddha images have evolved and become increasingly standardized over time, maintaining a highly symmetrical aesthetic. (3) The aesthetic of thangka facial features draw upon the secular Tibetan face as their primary reference(Euclidean distance is 0.42), however, during the 17-19th centuries, Han Chinese facial features were gradually incorporated(Euclidean distance is 0.492), and the degree of fusion between Han Chinese and Tibetan facial aesthetics has become more profound.
Topic Modeling Analysis of Diabetes-Related Health Information during the Coronavirus Disease Pandemic

This study aimed to provide diabetes-related health information by analyzing queries posted in the diabetes-related online community required during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 9156 queries from the diabetes-related online community, dated between 1 December 2019 and 3 May 2022, were used in the study. The collected data were preprocessed for bidirectional encoder representation from transformer topic modeling analysis. Topics were extracted using the class-based term frequency-inverse document frequency for nouns and verbs. From the extracted verbs, words with common definitions were subject to substitution and unification processes, which enabled the identification of multifrequent verb categories by noun topics. The following nine noun topics were extracted, in this order: dietary management, drug management, gestational and childhood diabetes, management of diabetic complications, use and cost of medical treatment, blood glucose management, exercise treatment, COVID-19 vaccine and complications, and diabetes in older adults. The top three verb categories by noun topics were permission, method, and possibility. This study provided baseline data that can be used by clinical nurses to deliver diabetes-related education and management based on information sought by patients.
Literature Review: Clinical Data Interoperability Models

A medical entity (hospital, nursing home, rest home, revalidation center, etc.) usually includes a multitude of information systems that allow for quick decision-making close to the medical sensors. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is an area of IoT that generates a lot of data of different natures (radio, CT scan, medical reports, medical sensor data). However, these systems need to share and exchange medical information in a seamless, timely, and efficient manner with systems that are either within the same entity or other healthcare entities. The lack of inter- and intra-entity interoperability causes major problems in the analysis of patient records and leads to additional financial costs (e.g., redone examinations). To develop a medical data interoperability architecture model that will allow providers and different actors in the medical community to exchange patient summary information with other caregivers and partners to improve the quality of care, the level of data security, and the efficiency of care should take stock of the state of knowledge. This paper discusses the challenges faced by medical entities in sharing and exchanging medical information seamlessly and efficiently. It highlights the need for inter- and intra-entity interoperability to improve the analysis of patient records, reduce financial costs, and enhance the quality of care. The paper reviews existing solutions proposed by various researchers and identifies their limitations. The analysis of the literature has shown that the HL7 FHIR standard is particularly well adapted for exchanging and storing health data, while DICOM, CDA, and JSON can be converted in HL7 FHIR or HL7 FHIR to these formats for interoperability purposes. This approach covers almost all use cases.
New Variants of the Multi-Verse Optimizer Algorithm Adapting Chaos Theory in Benchmark Optimization

In this work, we present multiple variations of the Multi-verse Optimizer Algorithm (MVO) using chaotic maps, using it in the formation of new solutions. In these new variations of the MVO algorithm, which we call the Fuzzy-Chaotic Multi-verse Optimizer (FCMVO), we use multiple chaotic maps used in the literature to substitute some of the parameters for which the original algorithm used a random value in the formation of new universes or solutions. To implement chaos theory on these new variants, we also use Fuzzy Logic for dynamic parameter adaptation; the first tests are performed only using chaotic maps, and then we merge the use of Fuzzy Logic in each of these cases to analyze the improvement over the Fuzzy MVO. Subsequently, we use only the best-performing chaos maps in a new set of variants for the same cases; after these results, we observe the behavior of the algorithm in different cases. The objective of this study is to compare whether there is a significant improvement over the MVO algorithm using some of the best-performing chaotic maps in conjunction with Fuzzy Logic in benchmark mathematical functions prior to moving on to other case studies.
Research on the Deep Deterministic Policy Algorithm Based on the First-Order Inverted Pendulum

With the mature development of artificial intelligence technology, the application of intelligent control algorithms in control systems has become a trend to meet the high-performance requirements of modern society. This paper proposes a deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) controller design method based on deep reinforcement learning to improve system control performance. Firstly, the optimal control policy of the DDPG algorithm is derived from the Markov decision process and the Actor–Critic algorithm. Secondly, in order to avoid local optima in traditional control systems, the capacity and the settlement method of the DDPG experience pool are adjusted to absorb positive experience to accelerate convergence and to complete efficient training. In response, and to solve the overestimation of the Q value in DDPG, the overall structure of the Critic network is changed to shorten the convergence period of DDPG at low learning rates. Finally, a first-order inverted pendulum control system was constructed in a simulation environment to verify the control effectiveness of PID, DDPG, and improved DDPG. The simulation results reveal that the improved DDPG controller has a faster response to disturbances, smaller displacement, and angular displacement of the first-order inverted pendulum. The simulation further proves that the improved DDPG algorithm has better stability and convergence and stronger anti-interference ability and stability recovery. This control method provides a certain reference for the application of reinforcement learning in traditional control systems.