Complex systems experience dramatic changes in behavior and can undergo transitions from functional to dysfunctional states. An unstable system is prone to dysfunctional collective cascades that result from self-reinforcing behaviors within the system. Because many human and technological civilian and military systems today are complex systems, understanding their susceptibility to collective f...

In this paper, we analyze the Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) dictionary and the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) feeds. These repositories are widely used in Vulnerability Management Systems (VMSs) to check for known vulnerabilities in software products. The analysis shows, among other issues, a lack of synchronization between both datasets that can lead to incorrect results output...

Although there is increasing support for the hypothesis that negative cognitive styles contribute vulnerability to depression, it remains unclear how best to conceptualize the heterogeneity in cognitive vulnerability to depression. Specifically, does this heterogeneity reflect quantitative or qualitative differences among individuals? The goal of this study was to address this question by exami...

In this thesis, we apply the pattern recognition and data processing strengths of machine learning to accomplish traffic analysis objectives. Traffic analysis relies on the use of observable features of encrypted traffic in order to infer plaintext contents. We apply a clustering technique to HTTPS encrypted traffic on websites covering medical, legal and financial topics and achieve accuracy r...

In this paper, we analyze the security of an RFID authentication protocol proposed by Liu and Bailey [1], called Privacy and Authentication Protocol (PAP), and show its vulnerabilities and faulty assumptions. PAP is a privacy and authentication protocol designed for passive tags. The authors claim that the protocol, being resistant to commonly assumed attacks, requires little computation and pr...

BACKGROUND International literature has illustrated that the health impacts of heat waves vary according to differences in the spatial variability of high temperatures and the social and economic characteristics of populations and communities. However, to date there have been few studies that quantitatively assess the health vulnerability to heat waves in China. OBJECTIVES To assess the spati...

BACKGROUND Studies have demonstrated that mental vulnerability (ie, a tendency to experience psychosomatic symptoms or inadequate interpersonal interactions) is associated with various diseases. The objective of our study is to evaluate whether mental vulnerability is a risk factor for early mortality. METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study of 3 random samples of the population in Co...

Current regional hurricane loss estimation models use the present-day vulnerability of the building inventory in predicting future losses and assume that it remains static throughout the time horizon of interest. In reality, the hurricane vulnerability of a region changes with time due to changes in the types and conditions of buildings. Loss estimation models, therefore, may misestimate risk a...

evaluation soil erosion is an important matter to protecting it from destroying in future due to the excessive use of the inherent capacity of soil and also improper management. therefore, in this study land vulnerability related to water and wind erosion of abyek for crops and pasture land has been evaluated, using raizal model as one of the microleis sub-models. morphological and physical and...

IP multimedia subsystems bring huge security threats to the IMS-based next-generation networks although they bring IMS-based network integration and business ability enhancement. Therefore, the research on the vulnerability of IP multimedia subsystems attracts widespread attention recently. In this article, the security threats of next-generation core networks are discussed first. And then we a...