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IntroductionHypertriglyceridemia is associated with increased atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) event risk, which persists even in statin-treated patients. The objective of this analysis was to estimate the prevalence of triglyceride (TG) levels ≥ 150mg/dl in statin-treated adults with diabetes or ASCVD in the United States.MethodsLaboratory data, medical history, and prescription data from 40,617 subjects who participated in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning 8years (four 2-year surveys; 2007-2014) were analyzed. Patients included were ≥ 20years old and had morning fasting (at least 8.5h) TG values available. The proportion and weighted number of individuals in the US population with TG ≥ 150mg/dl was calculated according to statin use, as well as in key subgroups of statin-treated patients including those with low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels

BackgroundHigh-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) is individually associated with incident hypertension (HTN) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) events. We hypothesize that the increases in hs-cTnT with increases in blood pressure will be related to higher incidence of CVD.MethodsThe Cardiovascular Health Study is a longitudinal cohort of older adults. Those with hs-cTnT data and CVD risk factors at baseline and follow-up (2-3 years later) were stratified based on systolic blood pressure (SBP; optimal

Efficient separation of different chemical components in liquid hydrocarbons from direct coal liquefaction is a meaningful process. This paper aims to separate the 150–180 °C coal liquid distillate into three fractions: aromatics, alkanes, and phenolics. The coal liquid distillate is composed mostly of hundreds of single-ring compounds and is not easy to study directly. Therefore, a model of the distillate on a molar ratio was defined as 1 t-butylbenzene (TBB): 1 t-butylcyclohexane (TBC): 1 phenol. And dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was selected as the solvent to separate them from each other. The model compounds' vapor–liquid equilibrium shows that DMSO's effectiveness is obvious. In TBB-TBC-phenol ternary system, DMSO can entrain TBB into the light fraction and keep phenol in the heavy fraction, while TBC is in the middle fraction, which isn't affected. DMSOs' influence was studied and divided as follow: the hydrogen bond terminator between TBB and phenol, an entrainer for TBB, and an extractant for phenol. Finally the 150–180 °C coal liquid distillate is separated via batch distillation into three fractions: 150–160 °C fraction (containing 79.17 wt. % aromatics and 20.25 wt. % alkanes), 160–185 °C fraction (containing 81.30 wt. % alkanes and 17.69 wt. % aromatics) and a bottom product (containing 27.95 wt. % phenolics and 72.05 wt. % DMSO).

A high isolation, high gain and compact patch antenna arrays that operates in 11.4–11.78 GHz by using fractal defected ground structure (Fractal-DGS) is designed. Performance of the antenna arrays, such as isolation and radiation, are simulated and compared with conventional patch antenna array without Fractal-DGS. As is presented in this paper, the mutual coupling is −33dB at working frequency, it reduces 13dB compared with the traditional antenna array. And the radiation direction is better than conventional antennas too. Higher isolation and stable directional radiation pattern make this antenna array a better choice for millimeter wave communication system.

A low cost, simple and compact patch antenna that operates in 4.76-5.45 GHz by using step impedance resonator (SIR) is designed. Performance of the antenna, such as return loss, radiation patterns and gains, are simulated and compared with conventional rectangular patch antenna. As is presented in this paper, the impedance bandwidth is 4.3 times of traditional antenna. The radiation bandwidth is 0.94GHz. And the harmonic suppression is stronger compared with conventional antennas. Low cross-polarization level, stable directional radiation pattern, flat gain performances and proper working frequency band make this antenna a better choice for 5G (future fifth generation) outdoor communication system.

Los sistemas de información en red están profundamente integrados en todos los aspectos de la actual sociedad moderna sobrecargada de información. En ella se desarrollan constantemente actividades tales como la ejecución de transacciones comerciales, relacionadas con servicios gubernamentales o de carácter social entre miles de millones de usuarios, cuyo funcionamiento depende en gran parte de grandes sistemas informáticos en red. El crecimiento reciente del denominado ciberespacio en el que se desarrollan estas actividades ha sido espectacular. Sin embargo, los ordenadores y las redes que lo forman se han convertido en blanco de ataques por parte de adversarios y criminales. Las crecientes intrusiones en los sistemas informáticos en red son actividades que los desestabilizan, comprometiendo su seguridad en términos de confidencialidad, disponibilidad o integridad, las tres características principales que debe tener un sistema seguro y estable. Un sistema trampa o sistema señuelo (honeypot) es un importante recurso de seguridad que sacrifica su propia seguridad con el fin de capturar el tráfico de red y las actividades de usuarios sospechosos con el objeto de estudiarlos posteriormente. Las contribuciones de esta tesis se centran en el diseño de sistemas flexibles y adaptativos de creación y gestión de señuelos. La tesis presenta un estado del arte completo y actualizado en el ámbito de los señuelos, proponiendo una nueva taxonomía basada en una visión anatómica que extrae dos elementos comunes a todos los sistemas señuelo (el señuelo propiamente dicho y el programa de seguridad), así como la forma en que ambos se organizan (acoplamiento fuerte o débil). La taxonomía propuesta ha sido validada mediante su aplicación a un extenso conjunto de herramientas y proyectos de sistemas señuelo existentes, lo que ha permitido mejorar la compresión de esa área de investigación y desarrollo. La principal contribución de la tesis es el diseño de un nuevo sistema de creación y gestión de señuelos basado en tecnologías de redes definidas por software (SDN), denominado HoneyMagic. Dicho sistema propone una nueva arquitectura flexible y extensible basada en un lenguaje genérico de definición de redes de señuelos (TIHDL) y que utiliza la tecnología SDN para facilitar el mecanismo de redirección transparente del tráfico interesante desde señuelos de baja intensidad hacia señuelos de media o alta intensidad para una investigación más detallada. Con este objeto, el controlador SDN de HoneyMagic implementa un mecanismo de transferencia de conexiones TCP transparente. Además, aporta un enfoque de control de datos personalizable que permite al usuario configurar reglas arbitrarias de filtrado y redirección de tráfico según sus requisitos, así como el despliegue de redes de señuelos heterogéneos sobre distintas plataformas de virtualización. Adicionalmente la tesis presenta las pruebas realizadas para validar las funciones de HoneyMagic, así como datos de ataques específicos para comparar las funcionalidades y el rendimiento de HoneyMagic con otras herramientas relativas. Los resultados experimentales muestran que el sistema puede manejar de forma eficiente diferentes sistemas señuelo para capturar datos, gestionando la redirección del tráfico interesante de acuerdo con los objetivos de seguridad. ABSTRACT Networked computer systems are deeply integrated into every aspect of modern information-overloaded society. The mechanisms that keep our modern society owing smoothly, with activities such as efficient execution of government and commercial transactions and services, or consistent facilitation of social transactions among billions of users, are all dependent on large networked computer systems. Recent growth of the cyberspace has been phenomenal and consequently, the computers and the networks that make the Internet have become the targets of adversaries and criminals. Intrusions into a computer or network system are activities that destabilize them by compromising security in terms of confidentiality, availability or integrity, the three main characteristics of a secure and stable system. A honeypot is a valid and vital security facility used to deliberately sacrifice its own information system resource in order to capture unauthorized network traffic and malicious system activity. This thesis focuses on contribution to the design of flexible and adaptive honeypot systems. It encompasses discussion of the state of the art in the honeypot development and research area. It presents a novel taxonomy of honeypots based on a new anatomic view over honeypots, which extracts two common elements in all honeypots, decoy and security program, to define the honeypot, and also, provides the organization forms of these two elements, which are tight coupling and loose coupling. The taxonomy is validated by applying it to investigate an extensive set of existing honeypots. Detailed discussion and analysis of the related work provide a clear understanding of the research and development statement of this area. The main contribution of this thesis is the design of a novel creation and management system based on software-defined network technologies (SDN), called HoneyMagic. This system proposes a new flexible and extensible architecture based on SDN framework and a generic honeynet description language (TIHDL). It uses the SDN technology to facilitate transparent traffic redirection mechanism to forward or redirect the interesting traffic into corresponding honeypots for further investigation. For this purpose, the HoneyMagic SDN controller application implements the stealthy TCP connection handover mechanism. Also, it also presents a customizable data control approach that can allow the user to configure arbitrary traffic filtering and redirection rules according to the research requirement, as well as the deployment of the heterogeneous decoys on different virtualization platforms. In addition, the thesis presents the tests performed to validate the functions of HoneyMagic, as well as specific attack data to compare the functionalities and performance of HoneyMagic with other related tools. The experimental results show that the system can efficiently handle different honeypot systems to capture data, managing the traffic redirection interesting according to security objectives. The thesis presents experiment to validate the functions of the HoneyMagic. The thesis also provides specific attacks to compare the functionalities and performance of HoneyMagic with other relative tools. The experimental results show that the system can efficiently handle different honeypots to capture data and redirect the interesting traffic in stealthy into corresponding honeypots according to the security goals as well.

A new heterogeneous catalyst, polyaniline supported palladium (II) chloride (PANI–PdCl 2 ), was synthesized and studied for alternating copolymerization of styrene (ST) with carbon monoxide (CO) to prepare polyketone (PK). The SEM, FTIR and XRD results indicated that PdCl 2 was successfully supported on PANI backbone. The 1 H NMR, FTIR, 13 C NMR, TG and DTG results indicated that the supported catalyst changed the microstructures of PK, and the product is a linear alternating copolymer with higher degradation rates and decomposition temperatures. Furthermore, PANI–PdCl 2 catalyst was found to serve as an effective recycled catalyst after the third recover time.

Honeypots have been largely used to capture and investigate malicious behavior through deliberately sacrificing their own resources in order to be attacked. Hybrid honeypot architectures consisting of frontends and backends are widely used in the research area, specially due to the benefits of their high scalability and fidelity for detailed attacking data collection. A hybrid honeypot system often needs a facility aimed to tightly control the network traffic, for purposes such as redirecting the traffic from the frontends to the backends for in-depth attack analysis. However, the current traffic redirection approaches, particularly the TCP connection handover mechanisms, are not stealthy and they can be easily detected by attackers.This paper proposes an SDN based network data controller for hybrid honeypot systems that uses a transparent TCP connection handover mechanism and provides a traffic filtering approach based on the Snort alert functionality. The controller is implemented as an application based on the open-source Ryu SDN framework. It allows the users to configure their own network data control rules, which based on the Snort alert messages will forward or redirect the traffic to the corresponding honeypots. The experiments validate the proposed mechanism and the testing results show that the controller can efficiently perform the stealthy TCP connection handover as well.

Extended data

ObjectiveThe prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is increasing rapidly, particularly in Asia. Asian immigrants in Western countries are a fast-growing population who carry both intrinsic risks due to their genetic background and extrinsic risks associated with Western lifestyles. However, recent trends in diabetes prevalence and associated risk factors among Asian immigrants in the USA are not well understood.Research design and methodsWe examined adults aged 18 and older from the recent California Health Interview Survey data sets from 2003 to 2013 to determine prevalence of known DM among first-generation Asian immigrants and whites. The impact of various DM risk factors in Asian immigrants relative to whites was analyzed and multivariable regression models were constructed to obtain adjusted DM risk in Asian immigrants versus in whites.ResultsAcross the study span, we identified 2007 first-generation Asian immigrants and 14 668 whites as having known DM or prediabetes mellitus (pre-DM). From 2003 to 2013, the prevalence of DM and pre-DM combined rose from 6.8% to 12.4% in Asian immigrants and 5.5% to 6.9% in whites. Much of the increase could be attributed to pre-DM, which rose from 0.7% to 3.2% in Asian immigrants during the study period. The impacts of age and body mass index on DM risk were consistently greater in Asian immigrants than in whites. Non-DM Asian immigrants were found less likely to engage in physical activity than were non-DM whites. After adjustment of various associated factors, Asian immigrants were more likely than whites to have DM and this relative risk for DM gradually increased across the study period.ConclusionsA rising prevalence of known DM and particularly pre-DM among Asian immigrants in California was observed during the previous decade. To reduce the burden of diabetes and its complications, future strategies should consider specific risk factors for this ethnic group, including encouraging physical activity.

Extended data

We developed a novel Escherichia coli cell surface display system by employing the NCgl1221 protein truncated at AA 423 (for example NCgl1221423) as an anchoring motif. The enzyme selected for display was α-amylase (AmyA) from Streptococcus bovis 148. The N terminus of AmyA was fused to NCgl1221423, and the resulting fusion protein was expressed on the cell surface by IPTG induction. The NCgl1221423-AmyA fusion protein was shown to be displayed by immunofluorescence microscopy and flow cytometric analysis, while AmyA without fusion to the C terminus of NCgl1221423 anchor was only expressed in the cytoplasm. This result indicated that NCgl1221423 fromCorynebacterium glutamicum contains a robust surface anchor to attach large target proteins toward the cellular membrane of E. coli. The displayed enzyme was active form, and AmyA activity on the cell surface reached 48.7 ± 1.6 U/l after 8 h of induction, while no activity was detected in control cells. The activity of displayed AmyA was increased during cultivation and reached the maximum value of 88.3 ± 2.4 U/l at 16 h of induction. Our results provided the successful application of NCgl1221423 anchor in the E. coli cell surface display system. Key words: α-Amylase, cell-surface display, Corynebacterium glutamicum, NCgl1221

A new kind of mechanism of lasing is investigated experimentally. It is quite different from the traditional laser with cavity and the random laser with random scattering. In this mechanism, the intensity-dependent refractive index effect and thermal lensing effects of the pump beam induce a large gradient of the refractive index in the gain material, which forms a passive equivalent boundary that provides the feedback in the lasing system. A real lasing system, a liquid disk laser, is performed, it achieves 2-D omnidirectional radiation with a high efficiency of 28%, its radiation spectral property can be explained by resonant Raman scattering.

In this paper, we numerically demonstrate a near-infrared negative-index metamaterial (NIM) slab consisting of multiple layers of perforated metal-dielectric stacks and exhibiting low imaginary part of index over the wavelength of negative refraction. The effective index is obtained using two different numerical methods and found to be consistent. Backward phase propagation is verified by calculation of fields inside the metamaterial. These results point to a new design of low loss thick metamaterial at optical frequencies., Comment: 18 pages

Metal-based negative refractive index materials have been extensively studied in the microwave region. However, negative-index metamaterials have not been realized at near-IR or visible fre-quencies due to difficulties of fabrication and to the generally poorer optical properties of metals at these wavelengths. In this paper, we report the first fabrication and experimental verification of a transversely structured metal-dielectric-metal multilayer exhibiting a negative refractive in-dex around 2 mm. Both the amplitude and the phase of the transmission and reflection were measured experimentally, and are in good agreement with a rigorous coupled wave analysis., Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters on March 07, 2005