COLLOQUIUM
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
and
Advanced Solutions Group
University of South Carolina
Modeling Active Immune Response
with Computer Network Considerations
Victor A. Skormin
Department of Electrical Engineering
Binghamton University
Date: September 27, 2004 (Monday)
Time: 1-2:30
Place: Swearingen 1A03 (Faculty Lounge)
Abstract
Response of the immune system to invading alien proteins presents an example of a highly successful defense of a complex system against an information attack. Specific components of this defense mechanism are well established in immunology and could be subjected to mathematical modeling. The entire mechanism is viewed as a closed-loop, nonlinear, negative feedback circuit. Generic conditions resulting in two distinctive outcomes of such an attack, lethality and full recovery, are established. The control law that inevitably results in the full recovery outcome is formulated. In application to the immune system these results are virtually useless due to unknown parameters of the mathematical model and inability to implement any “control law” in a biological system. A chronology of a recent information attack on the international computer network community is presented, and the resemblance between the particular stages of the attacks on the computer network and the immune system is emphasized. Indeed such a model could be applied for the description of an information attack in a computer network and the network defenses. In this case model parameters could be reliably estimated and consequently, the control law established for the immune defenses could be fruitful in application to computer defenses.
Victor A. Skormin is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Watson School of Engineering, Binghamton University (SUNY). He holds a MS (1968) from Kazakh National Technical University, Kazakhstan, and Ph.D. (1975) degrees from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys, Russia. His area of research includes modern control theory and applications (motion control, pointing-acquisition-tracking systems in laser communication, novel robotics-based gimbals systems, high-performance hybrid laser positioning systems), technical diagnostics (system diagnostics for power generators and avionics), mathematical modeling and system optimization, information security (biological approach to system information security, detection of the “gene of self-replication” in malicious codes, immunocomputing), and biometrics (effects of intoxicants and fatigue on speech). His current research is funded by NSF, NASA, and Air Force. Dr. Skormin is a recipient of the IEEE Region I Award “For Leadership in Establishing University-Industry Links in Research and Education”, the University Award for Graduate Teaching from Binghamton University, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, and the 2004 Book of the Year Award for his book on IMMUNOCOMPUTING from the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics (IIAS). He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and served as the Editor for Space Systems of the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems. From 1999-2000 Dr. Skormin was the appointed National Research Council’s Senior Researcher with the Air Force. In 1999 Dr. Skormin was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the Kazakh National Technical University, Almaty, Kazakhstan. In 2000 he was elected an International Member of the Russian Academy of Navigation and Control. He is a Member of the Cyber Security Task Force of SUNY-Central. He authored three books and many journal papers.