Signature schemes are a fundamental component of cybersecurity infrastructure. While they are designed to be mathematically secure against cryptographic attacks, they are vulnerable to Rowhammer fault-injection attacks. Since all existing attacks are ad-hoc in that they target individual parameters of specific signature schemes, it remains unclear about the impact of Rowhammer on signature schemes as a whole. In this paper, we present Achilles, a formal framework that aids in leaking secrets in various real-world signature schemes via Rowhammer. Particularly, Achilles can be used to find potentially more vulnerable parameters in schemes that have been studied before and also new schemes that are potentially vulnerable. Achilles mainly describes a formal procedure where Rowhammer faults are induced to key parameters of a generalized signature scheme, called G-sign, and a post-Rowhammer analysis is then performed for secret recovery on it. To illustrate the viability of Achilles, we have evaluated six signature schemes (with five CVEs assigned to track their respective Rowhammer vulnerability), covering traditional and post-quantum signatures with different mathematical problems. Based on the analysis with Achilles, all six schemes are proved to be vulnerable, and two new vulnerable parameters are identified for EdDSA. Further, we demonstrate a successful Rowhammer attack against each of these schemes, using recent cryptographic libraries including wolfssl, relic, and liboqs.
In this paper, we develop a new adaptive hyperbolic-cross-space mapped Jacobi (AHMJ) method for solving multidimensional spatiotemporal integrodifferential equations in unbounded domains. By devising adaptive techniques for sparse mapped Jacobi spectral expansions defined in a hyperbolic cross space, our proposed AHMJ method can efficiently solve various spatiotemporal integrodifferential equations such as the anomalous diffusion model with reduced numbers of basis functions. Our analysis of the AHMJ method gives a uniform upper error bound for solving a class of spatiotemporal integrodifferential equations, leading to effective error control.
Quorum quenching (QQ)-based strategies are efficient for biofouling control. However, the feasibility of using QQ bacteria in antibiotic-stressed membrane bioreactors (MBRs) remains unknown. In this study, we isolated three novel QQ strains (Bacillus sp. QX01 and QX03, Delftia sp. QX14) from the activated sludge of an actual MBR. They can degrade 11 N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) with high efficiencies and rates through intracellular QQ pathways involving putative acylases and lactonases. Running two lab-scale MBRs, we found that introducing antibiotics (sulfamethoxazole, azithromycin, and ciprofloxacin, each at 100 μg/L) shortened the fouling cycle by 71.4 %. However, the immobilized inoculation of QX01 into one MBR extended the fouling cycle by 1.5-2.0 times. Quantitative detection revealed that QX01 significantly reduced the concentrations of two AHLs (C4-HSL and C8-HSL), which were positively correlated with the contents of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (Pearson's r = 0.62-0.83, P < 0.01). This suggests that QX01 could perform its QQ activity robustly under antibiotic stress, thereby inhibiting EPS production (proteins especially) and biofilm formation. Moreover, QX01 notably altered the succession patterns of both sludge and fouling communities, with more pronounced effects on abundant taxa. Genera associated with AHL synthesis and EPS production, such as Terrimonas and Rhodobacter, were significantly depleted, contributing to the mitigated biofouling. Additionally, QX01 increased the bacterial community diversity (evenness especially), which was inhibited by antibiotics. Overall, we demonstrate that the novel QQ bacteria could be effective for biofouling control in antibiotic-stressed MBRs, though future work is needed to develop practical approaches for prolonging QQ activity.
This study examines the socio-political landscape of the ancient city of Amastris (modern Amasra) through the lens of its road infrastructure, with a particular focus on the construction and significance of Aquila’s roads. Situated in the challenging terrain of northern Anatolia’s Küre Mountains, Amastris served as a vital maritime hub, linking diverse inland and coastal communities within Paphlagonia. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates ancient literary analysis, archaeological evidence, and geospatial modeling, this paper reconstructs the network of primary and secondary Roman roads emanating from Amastris. The research highlights the dual role of these roads in fostering territorial coherence and enhancing regional connectivity, supporting both local autonomy and imperial governance. Key findings demonstrate that Aquila’s roads were not merely infrastructural projects but strategic undertakings that blended private investment with public utility. These projects reflect the intricate interplay between individual agency and state interests in Roman provincial administration. Furthermore, the study explores the broader cultural and economic impacts of road construction on Amastris, illustrating how connectivity shaped civic identity, social integration, and territorial integrity. The paper concludes that Aquila’s road-building initiatives were instrumental in sustaining Amastris’s strategic significance and functionality within the Roman Empire. By examining the dynamic relationship between local and imperial priorities, this study offers insights into how infrastructure functioned as a nexus of governance, economic development, and regional integration in ancient Anatolia.
Wetlands are major microplastic sinks with a large atmospheric input. However, many details of such deposited atmospheric microplastics entering into wetlands remain unclear, including temporal patterns of input and ecological effects. We monitored the aerial microplastics during four seasons in eleven economically developed cities along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, China. The average microplastic deposition rate was 512.31 items m−2 d−1, equivalent to an annual contribution of 17.46 metric tons of plastic to the surveyed wetlands with a total area of 1652 km2. These microplastics were predominantly composed of polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate with 61.85 ± 92.29 µm sized pellets, and we obtained similar results for microplastics intercepted on moss in wetlands. Microplastic input varied between wet and dry periods, primarily influenced by wind, rainfall and ozone concentration. Civilian vehicle density and textile industry were the primary socioeconomic factors driving microplastic deposition. Further indoor microcosm experiments revealed that moss phyllosphere bacterial community structure and function were influenced by microplastic abundance and size, exemplifying the unique ecological risks of aerially deposited microplastics to wetlands. These results indicate that mosses and their phyllosphere microbiota could serve as bio-indicators of aerial microplastic characteristics and impacts.