(Press-News.org) COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Computer networks are the battlefields in cyberwarfare, as exemplified by the United States' recent use of computer viruses to attack Iran's nuclear program. A computer model developed at the University of Missouri could help military strategists devise the most damaging cyber attacks as well as guard America's critical infrastructure. The model also could benefit other projects involving interconnected groups, such as restoring ecosystems, halting disease epidemics and stopping smugglers.
"Our model allows users to identify the best or worst possible scenarios of network change," said Tim Matisziw, assistant professor of geography and engineering at MU. "The difficulty in evaluating a networks' resilience is that there are an infinite number of possibilities, which makes it easy to miss important scenarios. Previous studies focused on the destruction of large hubs in a network, but we found that in many cases the loss of smaller facilities can be just as damaging. Our model can suggest ways to have the maximum impact on a network with the minimum effort."
Limited resources can hinder law enforcement officers' ability to stop criminal organizations. Matisziw's model could help design plans which efficiently use a minimum of resources to cause the maximum disruption of trafficking networks and thereby reduce flows of drugs, weapons and exploited people. In a similar fashion, disease outbreaks could be mitigated by identifying and then blocking important links in their transmission, such as airports.
However, there are some networks that society needs to keep intact. After the breakdown of such a network, the model can be used to evaluate what could have made the disruption even worse and help officials prevent future problems. For example, after an electrical grid failure, such as the recent blackout in the eastern United States, future system failures could be pinpointed using the model. The critical weak points in the electrical grid could then be fortified before disaster strikes.
The model also can determine if a plan is likely to create the strongest network possible. For example, when construction projects pave over wetland ecosystems, the law requires that new wetlands be created. However, ecologists have noted that these new wetlands are often isolated from existing ecosystems and have little value to wildlife. Matisziw's model could help officials plan the best places for new wetlands so they connect with other natural areas and form wildlife corridors or stretches of wilderness that connect otherwise isolated areas and allow them to function as one ecosystem.
Matisziw's model was documented in the publicly available journal PLoS ONE. Making such a powerful tool widely available won't be a danger, Matisziw said. To use his model, a network must be understood in detail. Since terrorists and other criminals don't have access to enough data about the networks, they won't be able to use the model to develop doomsday scenarios.
###
Matisziw is an assistant professor in the Department of Geography in the College of Arts and Science and the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering. He is also affiliated with the University of Missouri's interdisciplinary Center for Geospatial Intelligence and the Informatics Institute.
The paper "Robustness Elasticity in Complex Networks" can be viewed online in the journal PLoS ONE: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039788
Cyberwarfare, conservation and disease prevention could benefit from MU researcher's network model
2012-07-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Potential cause of HIV-associated dementia revealed
2012-07-11
WASHINGTON — Researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center appear to have solved the mystery of why some patients infected with HIV, who are using antiretroviral therapy and show no signs of AIDS, develop serious depression as well as profound problems with memory, learning, and motor function. The finding might also provide a way to test people with HIV to determine their risk for developing dementia.
They say the answer, published in the July 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, may ultimately lead to a therapeutic solution that helps these patients as well ...
Metamolecules that switch handedness at light-speed
2012-07-11
A multi-institutional team of researchers that included scientists with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) has created the first artificial molecules whose chirality can be rapidly switched from a right-handed to a left-handed orientation with a beam of light. This holds potentially huge possibilities for the application of terahertz technologies across a wide range of fields, including biomedical research, homeland security and ultrahigh-speed communications.
Chirality is the distinct left/right orientation or "handedness" ...
Not so happy: King penguins stressed by human presence
2012-07-11
King penguins tolerate some, but not all, human interference. Research published in BioMed Central's open access journal, BMC Ecology, investigates the adjustment of a king penguin colony on the protected Possession island in the subantarctic Crozet Archipelago to over 50 years of constant human disturbance.
A team of researchers from the University of Strasbourg, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Lausanne, compared 15 king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) breeding in areas disturbed daily by humans and 18 penguins breeding ...
Blood-brain barrier less permeable in newborns than adults after acute stroke
2012-07-11
The ability for substances to pass through the blood-brain barrier is increased after adult stroke, but not after neonatal stroke, according to a new study the UCSF that will be published July 11 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The novel findings may have major implications for drug development and the treatment of neonatal stroke, the researchers said.
The blood-brain barrier is selectively permeable and blocks unwanted molecules from entering into the brain. The selectivity is achieved through fine coordination in function of many transporting systems in endothelial ...
Moderate drinking may reduce risk of rheumatoid arthritis
2012-07-11
Research: Long term alcohol intake and risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women: a population based cohort study
Moderate consumption of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, suggests a study published on bmj.com today.
The results show that women who regularly consume more than three alcoholic drinks a week for at least 10 years have about half the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis compared with non-drinkers.
After adjusting for factors such as age, smoking and dietary habits, women who reported drinking more than three ...
Weight gain after quitting smoking higher than previously thought
2012-07-11
Research: Weight gain in smokers after quitting cigarettes: meta-analysis
Editorial: Quitting smoking and gaining weight: the odd couple
Giving up smoking is associated with an average weight gain of 4-5 kg after 12 months, most of which occurs within the first three months of quitting, finds a study published on bmj.com today.
Although this figure is higher than previously thought, an accompanying editorial argues that the health benefits of quitting far outweigh this modest gain in body weight and should not deter people from quitting.
It is well known that ...
Not all brand-consumer relationships are created equal, says University of Toronto study
2012-07-11
Toronto – Not all brand–consumer relationships are created equal.
Marketers who realize this will be in a better position to retain customers and improve the perceptions of consumers who are unhappy with a brand's service or product, says a new paper from the University of Toronto.
Consumers form connections with brands in ways that mirror social relationships.
How consumers evaluate a brand depends heavily on whether the brand adheres to—or violates—the implicit relationship agreement.
Pankaj Aggarwal, a marketing professor at the Rotman School of Management and ...
Preclinical development shows promise to treat hearing loss with Usher syndrome III
2012-07-11
A new study published in the July 11 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience details the development of the first mouse model engineered to carry the most common mutation in Usher syndrome III causative gene (Clarin-1) in North America. Further, the research team from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine used this new model to understand why mutation in Clarin-1 leads to hearing loss.
Usher Syndrome is an incurable genetic disease and it is the most common cause of the dual sensory deficits of deafness and blindness. It affects an estimated 50,000 Americans ...
Researchers develop secure protocol for linking data registries for HPV surveillance
2012-07-11
Ottawa, ON – July 10, 2012 — Monitoring the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine in Canada requires that data from multiple registries and other data sources be combined. Linking registries can be problematic, however, since they are often managed by unrelated organizations. Privacy legislation may also restrict the sharing of data for such linkages. To address these challenges, Dr. Khaled El-Emam and his team at the CHEO Research Institute have developed a secure protocol that allows the linking of individual patient records without revealing personal information, which has ...
Why do low-income couples marry less and divorce more?
2012-07-11
People with lower incomes value the institution of marriage just as much as those with higher incomes and have similar romantic standards for marriage, according to a new study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family. The new research suggests that government initiatives to strengthen marriage among low-income populations should move beyond promoting the value of marriage and instead focus on the actual problems that low-income couples face.
The study, which analysed results from a survey of 6,012 people, was carried out by Dr Thomas Trail and Dr Benjamin Karney ...