Reducing false positives in anomaly detectors through fuzzy alert aggregation

In this paper we focus on the aggregation of IDS alerts, an important component of the alert fusion process. We exploit fuzzy measures and fuzzy sets to design simple and robust alert aggregation algorithms. Exploiting fuzzy sets, we are able to robustly state whether or not two alerts are “close in time”, dealing with noisy and delayed detections. A performance metric for the evaluation of fusion systems is also proposed. Finally, we evaluate the fusion method with alert streams from anomaly-based IDS.     

The anti-reflective algebra: structural and computational analysis with application to image deblurring and denoising

Anti-reflective (AR) boundary conditions (BC) have been introduced recently in connection with fast deblurring algorithms, both in the case of signals and images. Here we extend such BCs to d dimensions (d ≥ 1) and we study in detail the algebra induced by the AR-BCs, with strongly symmetric point spread functions (PSF), both from a structural and computational point of view. The use of the re-blurring idea and the computational features of the AR-algebra allow us to apply Tikhonov-like techniques within O(n ^d log(n)) arithmetic operations, where n ^d is the number of pixels of the reconstructed object. Extensive numerical experimentation concerning 2D images and strongly symmetric PSFs confirms the effectiveness of our proposal.      

Test Technology Newsletter

Journal of Electronic Testing -     

Joint Estimation of Location and Scatter in Complex Elliptically Symmetric Distributions

The joint estimation of the location vector and the shape matrix of a set of independent and identically Complex Elliptically Symmetric (CES) distributed observations is investigated from both the theoretical and computational viewpoints. This joint estimation problem is framed in the original context of semiparametric models allowing us to handle the (generally unknown) density generator as an infinite-dimensional nuisance parameter. In the first part of the paper, a computationally efficient and memory saving implementation of the robust and semiparmaetric efficient R-estimator for shape matrices is derived. Building upon this result, in the second part, a joint estimator, relying on the Tyler’s M-estimator of location and on the R-estimator of shape matrix, is proposed and its Mean Squared Error (MSE) performance compared with the Semiparametric Cramér-Rao Bound (SCRB).

     

Plasmon hybridization engineering in self-organized anisotropic metasurfaces

Nano Research - The engineering of self-organized plasmonic metasurfaces is demonstrated using a maskless technique with defocused ion-beam sputtering and kinetically controlled deposition. The...     

Support environment for active rule design

The lack of tools for rule generation, analysis, and run-time monitoring appears one of the main obstacles to the widespreading of active database applications. This paper describes a complete tool environment for assisting the design of active rules applications; the tools were developed at Politecnico di Milano in the context of the IDEA Project, a 4-years Esprit project sponsored by the European Commission which was launched in June 1992. We describe tools for active rule generation, analysis, debugging, and browsing; rules are defined in Chimera, a conceptual design model and language for the specification of active rules applications. We also introduce a tool for mapping from Chimera into Oracle, a relational product supporting triggers.Most of the tools described in this paper are fully implemented and currently in operation (beta-testing) within the companies participating to the IDEA Project, with the exception of two of them (called Argonaut-V and Pandora), which will be completed by the end of 1996.Research presented in this paper is supported by Esprit project P6333 IDEA, and by ENEL contract VDS 1/94: Integrity Constraint Management     

Two is better than one: A diploid genotype for neural networks

In nature the genotype of many organisms exhibits diploidy, i.e., it includes two copies of every gene. In this paper we describe the results of simulations comparing the behavior of haploid and diploid populations of ecological neural networks living in both fixed and changing environments. We show that diploid genotypes create more variability in fitness in the population than haploid genotypes and buffer better environmental change; as a consequence, if one wants to obtain good results for both average and peak fitness in a single population one should choose a diploid population with an appropriate mutation rate. Some results of our simulations parallel biological findings.     

Interactive teaching of task-oriented robot grasps

This paper focuses on the problem of grasp stability and grasp quality analysis. An elegant way to evaluate the stability of a grasp is to model its wrench space. However, classical grasp quality measures suffer from several disadvantages, the main drawback being that they are not task related. Indeed, constructive approaches for approximating the wrench space including also task information have been rarely considered. This work presents an effective method for task-oriented grasp quality evaluation based on a novel grasp quality measure. We address the general case of multifingered grasps with point contacts with friction.The proposed approach is based on the concept of programming by demonstration and interactive teaching, wherein an expert user provides in a teaching phase a set of exemplar grasps appropriate for the task. Following this phase, a representation of task-related grasps is built. During task planning and execution, a grasp could be either submitted interactively for evaluation by a non-expert user or synthesized by an automatic planning system. Grasp quality is then assessed based on the proposed measure, which takes into account grasp stability along with its suitability for the task. To enable real-time evaluation of grasps, a fast algorithm for computing an approximation of the quality measure is also proposed. Finally, a local grasp optimization technique is described which can amend uncertainties arising in supplied grasps by non-expert users or assist in planning more valuable grasps in the neighborhood of candidate ones.The paper reports experiments performed in virtual reality with both an anthropomorphic virtual hand and a three-fingered robot hand. These experiments suggest the effectiveness and task relevance of the proposed grasp quality measure.