Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Survey of Sybil Attacks in Networks

Most peer-to-peer systems are vulnerable to Sybil attacks. The Sybil attack is an attack wherein a reputation system is subverted by a considerable number of forging identities n peer-to-peer networks. By illegitimately infusing fals e or biased information via the pseudonymous identities, an a dversary can mislead a system into making decisions benefiting herself. For example, in a distributed voting sys tem, an adversary can easily change the overall popularity of an option by providing plenty of false praise, or bad-mout hing the option through these fake identities. In this paper, we summarize the existing Sybil defense techniques, and further provide some new research areas. Unlike traditional surveys about Sybil defense, we first categoriz e the Sybil defense methods, mainly according to their designed time, and then classify the methods by their approa ches. We believe that by understanding the evolution of the solutions, readers could essentially have more insight s on the problem. In a nutshell, the research on the Sybil defense technique has experienced four phases: (1) traditi onal security key-based approaches, (2) specific peer-topeer system feature-based solutions, (3) social network-b ased methods, and (4) social community-based techniques. Besides all of these anti-sybil methods, readers will also fi nd some Sybil attack-related topics, such as Sockpuppets in online discussion forums. By the end of the paper, we will p rovide some predictions about directions for future research.
Wiener and Luhmann on feedback: from complexity to sustainability

Purpose The rise of the general systems theory in the twentieth century would not have been possible without the concept of feedback. Of special interest to the present paper is Niklas Luhmann’s reconstruction and critique of Wiener’s cybernetic approach to the feedback concept. Luhmann has suggested that the operation of the feedback-controlled systems potentially poses problems of sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to explore this suggestion in more detail. Design/methodology/approach The reconstruction of the arguments of Luhmann and Wiener shows that both scholars approached the feedback concept from the “system-environment” perspective. Luhmann takes system-environment relations to be inherently precarious. Wiener underscores the importance of the sensitivity of the feedback-controlled systems to their environment. Findings Drawing on Norbert Wiener’s and Niklas Luhmann’s ideas, the paper shows that every specification of the feedback mechanism implies the drawing of the moral boundary that demarcates those parts of the environment to which the relevant system is sensitive from those to which it is not. A likely outcome of this boundary drawing is the maintenance of intra-systemic complexity at the cost of the deteriorating sustainability of the system in its environment. Originality/value Until today, the general system theory has sought to explain organized complexity and rightly underscored the role of feedback in maintaining it, thereby inadvertently creating the chasm between the complexity and sustainability dimensions of human civilization. The present paper pleads for reorienting of the systems-theoretic analysis of the feedback concept toward closing this chasm.
Hybrid BIST using an incrementally guided LFSR

A new hybrid BIST scheme is proposed which is based on using an "incrementally guided LFSR". It very efficiently combines external deterministic data from the tester with on-chip pseudo-random BIST. The hardware overhead is very small as a conventional STUMPS architecture (P. H. Bardell et al., Proc. Int. Test Conf., p.200-204, 1982) is used with only a small modification to the feedback of the LFSR which allows the tester to incrementally guide the LFSR so that it can embed patterns that detect the random-pattern-resistant faults in the pseudo-random sequence. Compared with external testing, the proposed approach achieves dramatic reductions in tester storage requirements while using very simple on-chip hardware. Results indicate that the proposed approach provides very attractive tradeoffs between test length and tester storage requirements.
Molecular Genetics and Genomics of Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a major type of liver cancer and third leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. It is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, and hence typically has a poor prognosis. The advances in high-throughput “omics” technologies (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) parallel to the availability of high-density microarrays and next-generation sequencing technologies feature important advances in understanding of the complex biological processes underlying tumorigenesis and metastasis of HCC, and uncovering promising biomarkers with clinical potential. Ultimately, the trend will be toward a personalized medicine that will improve diagnosis, treatment and prevention of primary liver cancer. In this chapter, we present an overview of most up-todate developments regarding these approaches toward an understanding of molecular mechanisms of HCC and for the development of novel biomarkers and cancer therapeutics targets.
Garlic (Allium sativum L.) yield as influenced by different levels of irrigation water by drip irrigation system

The response of garlic yield to different levels of irrigation with drip irrigation system was studied. Four levels of irrigation comprised of irrigating at pan evaporation replenishment of 25% (I1), 75% (I2), 125% (I3) and 175% (I4). Irrigation levels I3 and I4 had a significant effect on the growth parameters of garlic and subsequently influencing the crop yield. Irrigation water use efficiency was highest in I2 and then declined with the increase in irrigation. In water constraint situation I4 would be the most appropriate irrigation level for garlic production considering bulb grade in I4 with drip irrigation system. Garlic yield versus irrigation water applied was found to be polynomial. The developed functions can be used as a guide to potential allocation decision related to limited irrigation water.
A Case of Rapidly Growing Extraocular Sebaceous Carcinoma

Sebaceous carcinoma is a rare malignant tumor differentiated from the adnexal epithelium of sebaceous glands and forms less than 1% of all cutaneous malignancies. We present a case of a 93-year-old woman with a rapidly growing mass on the right cheek. Initial histiopathologic finding was basal cell carcinoma. The mass was widely excised and superficial parotidectomy was performed while preserving the facial nerve branches. The resulting defect was covered with a transposition flap from the ipsilateral posterior auricular area and the donor site was closed primarily. However, histopathologic examination of the excised mass showed a poorly differentiated sebaceous carcinoma with a clear resection margin. The diagnosis of sebaceous carcinoma can be difficult to make at initial presentation. This report describes a rare case of a rapidly growing extraocular sebaceous carcinoma, which resulted in a good treatment outcome, and provides a review of relevant literature.
Arabic Dialect Identification - 'Is the Secret in the Silence?' and Other Observations

Conversational telephone speech (CTS) collections of Arabic dialects distributed trough the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) provide an invaluable resource for the development of robust speech systems including speaker and speech recognition, translation, spoken dialogue modeling, and information summarization. They are frequently relied on also in language (LID) and dialect identification (DID) evaluations. The first part of this study attempts to identify the source of the relatively high DID performance on LDC’s Arabic CTS corpora seen in recent literature. It is found that recordings of each dialect exhibit unique channel and noise characteristics and that silence regions are sufficient for performing reasonably accurate DID. The second part focuses on phonotactic dialect modeling that utilizes phone recognizers and support vector machines (PRSVM). A simple N-gram normalization of PRSVM input supervectors utilizing hard limiting is introduced and shown to outperform the standard approach used in current LID and DID systems.
Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Modulates Host Intestinal Cell Membrane Asymmetry and Metabolic Activity

ABSTRACT Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a common cause of travelers' and postweaning diarrhea in humans and swine, respectively. The extent to which ETEC damages host cells is unclear. Experiments are presented that probe the ability of porcine ETEC isolates to induce apoptosis and cell death in porcine intestinal epithelial cells. Quantification of host phosphatidylserine exposure following ETEC infection suggested that ETEC induced changes in plasma membrane asymmetry, independent of the expression of the heat-labile enterotoxin. Significant host cell death was not observed. ETEC infection also caused a drastic inhibition of host esterase activity, as measured by calcein fluorescence. While ETEC infection resulted in activation of host caspase 3, terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling of DNA double-strand breakage, indicative of late stages of apoptosis, was not observed. Camptothecin-induced apoptosis markedly increased subsequent ETEC adherence. Transfer of cell-free supernatants from apoptotic cells to bacterial inocula prior to infection of naïve cells increased the transcriptional activity of the regulatory region upstream of the K88ac operon and promoted subsequent adherence to host cells.
Insensitivity of the Human Sentence-Processing System to Hierarchical Structure

Although it is generally accepted that hierarchical phrase structures are instrumental in describing human language, their role in cognitive processing is still debated. We investigated the role of hierarchical structure in sentence processing by implementing a range of probabilistic language models, some of which depended on hierarchical structure, and others of which relied on sequential structure only. All models estimated the occurrence probabilities of syntactic categories in sentences for which reading-time data were available. Relating the models’ probability estimates to the data showed that the hierarchical-structure models did not account for variance in reading times over and above the amount of variance accounted for by all of the sequential-structure models. This suggests that a sentence’s hierarchical structure, unlike many other sources of information, does not noticeably affect the generation of expectations about upcoming words.
Intrasubject reproducibility of functional MR imaging activation in language tasks.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to examine the reproducibility of functional MR imaging (fMRI) activation (volume and laterality) within both inferior frontal and temporoparietal regions of interest for both receptive and expressive language tasks. METHODS Ten healthy volunteers participated in fMRI experiments for 6 language tasks: verb generation, confrontation naming, semantic decision making, visual sentence comprehension, auditory sentence comprehension, and story listening. Each subject was scanned during 2 separate sessions separated by a minimum of 4 weeks. Laterality of activation was defined by laterality indices (LIs), which were calculated by 2 methods: one method based on the measured volume of activation and the other method based on the F statistic of the activation. Reproducibility was calculated by using concurrence ratios for the volume of activation (R(overlap), R(volume)) and test-retest correlation for LIs. RESULTS All tasks generated reproducible LIs within at least one of the regions of interest, but verb generation produced the highest test-retest correlations (r = 0.99) within both regions of interest. Verb generation was associated with the highest average concurrence ratios within the inferior frontal region of interest (R(overlap) = 45.2; R(volume) = 70.9). In general, the concurrence ratios were lower within the temporoparietal region of interest compared with the inferior frontal region of interest. LIs calculated with F statistics were more reproducible than the LIs calculated by activation volume. CONCLUSION fMRI is able to provide reproducible LIs in both inferior frontal and temporoparietal regions for assessing hemispheric dominance in language processing. The volume of activation, especially within the temporoparietal regions, is less reproducible than the laterality of activation, so the former should be used with caution.
Colorectal Cancer in Iran: Molecular Epidemiology and Screening Strategies

Purpose. The increasing incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in the past three decades in Iran has made it a major public health burden. This study aimed to report its epidemiologic features, molecular genetic aspects, survival, heredity, and screening pattern in Iran. Methods. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the relevant published articles. We used medical subject headings, including colorectal cancer, molecular genetics, KRAS and BRAF mutations, screening, survival, epidemiologic study, and Iran. Results. Age standardized incidence rate of Iranian CRCs was 11.6 and 10.5 for men and women, respectively. Overall five-year survival rate was 41%, and the proportion of CRC among the younger age group was higher than that of western countries. Depending on ethnicity, geographical region, dietary, and genetic predisposition, mutation genes were considerably diverse and distinct among CRCs across Iran. The high occurrence of CRC in records of relatives of CRC patients showed that family history of CRC was more common among young CRCs. Conclusion. Appropriate screening strategies for CRC which is amenable to early detection through screening, especially in relatives of CRCs, should be considered as the first step in CRC screening programs.
Trait Impulsivity and Anhedonia: Two Gateways for the Development of Impulse Control Disorders in Parkinson’s Disease?

Apathy and impulsivity are two major comorbid syndromes of Parkinson’s disease (PD) that may represent two extremes of a behavioral spectrum modulated by dopamine-dependent processes. PD is characterized by a progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta to which are attributed the cardinal motor symptoms of the disorder. Dopamine replacement therapy (DRT), used widely to treat these motor symptoms, is often associated with deficits in hedonic processing and motivation, including apathy and depression, as well as impulse control disorders (ICDs). ICDs comprise pathological gambling, hypersexuality, compulsive shopping, binge eating, compulsive overuse of dopaminergic medication, and punding. More frequently observed in males with early onset PD, ICDs are associated not only with comorbid affective symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, but also with behavioral traits, such as novelty seeking and impulsivity, as well as with personal or familial history of alcohol use. This constellation of associated risk factors highlights the importance of inter-individual differences in the vulnerability to develop comorbid psychiatric disorders in PD patients. Additionally, withdrawal from DRT in patients with ICDs frequently unmasks a severe apathetic state, suggesting that apathy and ICDs may be caused by overlapping neurobiological mechanisms within the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical networks. We suggest that altered hedonic and impulse control processes represent distinct prodromal substrates for the development of these psychiatric symptoms, the etiopathogenic mechanisms of which remain unknown. Specifically, we argue that deficits in hedonic and motivational states and impulse control are mediated by overlapping, yet dissociable, neural mechanisms that differentially interact with DRT to promote the emergence of ICDs in vulnerable individuals. Thus, we provide a novel heuristic framework for basic and clinical research to better define and treat comorbid ICDs in PD.
Selling Online Versus Live

A seller choosing between auctioning online and live faces a tradeoff: lower transaction costs online against more rents left with the bidders. We model this tradeoff, and apply the theory to auctions of art. The crucial parameter for whether the seller does better online than live is not the expected price but the valuation uncertainty.
Search for susceptibility genes in schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder affecting 0.4-1% of the population worldwide. It is characterized by impairments in the perception of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction. The disorder is one of the major contributors to the global burden of diseases. Studies of twins, families, and adopted children point to strong genetic components for schizophrenia, but environmental factors also play a role in the pathogenesis of disease. Molecular genetic studies have identified several potential positional candidate genes. The strongest evidence for putative schizophrenia susceptibility loci relates to the genes encoding dysbindin (DTNBP1) and neuregulin (NRG1), but studies lack impressive consistency in the precise genetic regions and alleles implicated. We have studied the role of three potential candidate genes by genotyping 28 single nucleotide polymorphisms in the DNTBP1, NRG1, and AKT1 genes in a large schizophrenia family sample consisting of 441 families with 865 affected individuals from Finland. Our results do not support a major role for these genes in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia in Finland. We have previously identified a region on chromosome 5q21-34 as a susceptibility locus for schizophrenia in a Finnish family sample. Recently, two studies reported association between the -aminobutyric acid type A receptor cluster of genes in this region and one study showed suggestive evidence for association with another regional gene encoding clathrin interactor 1 (CLINT1, also called Epsin 4 and ENTH). To further address the significance of these genes under the linkage peak in the Finnish families, we genotyped SNPs of these genes, and observed statistically significant association of variants between GABRG2 and schizophrenia. Furthermore, these variants also seem to affect the functioning of the working memory. Fetal events and obstetric complications are associated with schizophrenia. Rh incompatibility has been implicated as a risk factor for schizophrenia in several epidemiological studies. We conducted a family-based candidate-gene study that assessed the role of maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility at the RhD locus in schizophrenia. There was significant evidence for an RhD maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility, and the risk ratio was estimated at 2.3. This is the first candidategene study to explicitly test for and provide evidence of a maternal-fetal genotype incompatibility mechanism in schizophrenia. In conclusion, in this thesis we found evidence that one GABA receptor subunit, GABRG2, is significantly associated with schizophrenia. Furthermore, it also seems to affect to the functioning of the working memory. In addition, an RhD maternalfetal genotype incompatibility increases the risk of schizophrenia by two-fold.
Validation of the Comprehensive Feeding Practices Questionnaire among Brazilian Families of School-Aged Children

Introduction Children’s eating behaviors are influenced by parents, who are the first nutritional educators. The comprehensive feeding practices questionnaire (CFPQ) was developed to measure feeding practices among parents, but has not yet been validated in Brazil, where child obesity rates are steeply increasing. The aim of the study was to test the validity of the CFPQ among Brazilian parents of school-aged children and propose a new version of the instrument. Methods Transcultural adaptation included translation into Portuguese, back translation, content validity, testing for semantic equivalence, and piloting. Questionnaire data were obtained for 659 parents of 5- to 9-year olds. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses and psychometric analyses (tests for internal consistency, factor correlations, item-discriminant and convergent validity, and test–retest reliability) were conducted. Results Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a poor fit of the data to the original 12-factor model. Exploratory factor analysis generated a 6-factor model composed of 42 items: healthy eating guidance, monitoring, restriction for weight control, restriction for health, emotion regulation/food as reward, and pressure. This factor solution was supported by internal consistency tests (α = 0.71–0.91) and factor correlations (ρ = −0.16 to 0.32). Item-discriminant and convergent validity tests showed that parents who used coercive practices had more overweight children and were more concerned about their child’s weight (ρ = 0.09–0.40). Test–retest reliability was acceptable (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.45–0.77). Conclusion Since parental practices are highly culturally and age group sensitive, it is essential to conduct careful evaluations of questionnaires when introduced into specific age groups within new cultural settings. This modified six-factor model of the CFPQ is valid to measure parental feeding behaviors of school-aged children in urban Brazilian settings.
Frass Analysis of Diets of Aphidophagous Lady Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) in Utah Alfalfa Fields

ABSTRACT Aphidophagous lady beetles enhance their foraging success in natural settings by consuming other types of food in addition to aphids. Frass analysis was used to examine natural diets of female lady beetles in fields of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) in northern Utah. The first (spring) alfalfa crop was censused in 2004 and 2005 to determine the diet of female adults of the introduced Coccinella septempunctata L. , and two native species, C. transversoguttata richardsoni Brown, and Hippodamia convergeas Guerin. The proportion of females of the three lady beetle species that fed on pea aphids [Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) ] and alfalfa weevil larvae [Hypera postica (Gyllenhal), an abundant alternative prey] increased from early to late season during the first crop. A corresponding seasonal decrease occurred in the proportion of females consuming other types of arthropods (e.g., thrips and collembolans) and nonarthropod food (pollen and fungal spores). Overall, frass analysis indicated that the diets of C. septempunctata and the two native species in alfalfa were similar in their inclusion of a broad variety of foods. The study shows that frass analysis can provide a good overview of the diets of lady beetles in natural settings.
Modelling nonlinear hydroelastic waves

This paper uses the special Cosserat theory of hyperelastic shells satisfying Kirchoff’s hypothesis and irrotational flow theory to model the interaction between a heavy thin elastic sheet and an infinite ocean beneath it. From a general discussion of three-dimensional motions, involving an Eulerian description of the flow and a Lagrangian description of the elastic sheet, a special case of two-dimensional travelling waves with two wave speed parameters, one for the sheet and another for the fluid, is developed only in terms of Eulerian coordinates.