Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bidirectional Protocol Reverse Engineering : Message Format Extraction and Field Semantics Inference

Automatic protocol reverse-engineering is important for many security applications, including the analysis and defense against botnets. Understanding such C&C protocols is crucial for anticipating a botnet’s repertoire of nefari ous activity and to enable active botnet infiltration. Frequently, messages sent and received by a bot have to be rewritten in order to contain malicious activity and to provide the botmaster with an illusion of successful and unhampered operation. To enable such rewriting, we need detailed information about the intent and structure of the messages inboth directionsof the communication despite the fact that we generally only have access to the implementation of one endpoint, namely the bot binary. Current techniques cannot enable such rewriting. In this paper, we propose techniques to extract the format of the protocol messagesentby an application that implements a protocol specification, and to infer the field semantics for messages both sentandreceivedby the application. Our techniques enable applications such as rewriting the C&C messages for active botnet infiltration. We implement our techniques into Dispatcher, a tool to extract the message format and field semantics of both received and sent messages. We use Dispatcher to analyze MegaD, a prevalent spam botnet employing a hitherto undocumented C&C protocol, and show that the protocol information extracted by Dispatcher can be used to rewrite the messages sent upstream to the botmaster.
True and sham acupuncture produced similar frequency of ovulation and improved LH to FSH ratios in women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

CONTEXT Acupuncture may represent a nonpharmaceutical treatment for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), based on four studies. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to determine whether true, as compared with sham, acupuncture normalizes pituitary gonadotropin hormones and increases ovulatory frequency in women with PCOS. DESIGN This was a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial (5 month protocol). SETTING The study was conducted in central Virginia. PARTICIPANTS Eighty-four reproductive-aged women completed the intervention. Eligibility required a PCOS diagnosis and no hormonal intervention 60 d before enrollment. INTERVENTIONS Intervention included 12 sessions of true or sham acupuncture (Park sham device) for 8 wk. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Serum LH and FSH at baseline, after intervention, and 3 months later were measured. Ovulation was measured with weekly urine or blood samples. RESULTS Both arms demonstrated a similar mean ovulation rate over the 5 months (0.37/month among n = 40 true acupuncture and 0.40/month among n = 44 sham participants, P = 0.6), similar LH to FSH ratio improvement (-0.5 and -0.8 true and sham, respectively, P < 0.04 after intervention vs. baseline) and a similar decline in LH over the 5-month protocol (P < 0.05). Neither arm experienced a change in FSH. There were seven pregnancies (no difference by intervention, P = 0.7). Lower fasting insulin and free testosterone were highly correlated with a higher ovulation rate within the true acupuncture group only (P = 0.03), controlling for prestudy menstrual frequency and body mass index. CONCLUSION We were unable to discern a difference between the true and sham acupuncture protocols for these women with PCOS, and both groups had a similar improvement in their LH/FSH ratio.
The Semantics of amwu-N-to/-irato/-ina in Korean : Arbitrary Choice and Concession

This paper reports the syntactic distribution of amwu-N-to/-irato/-ina phrases, which are representative polarity sensitive items (PSIs) in Korean, and accounts for their semantic characteristics in terms of “arbitrary choice quantification” and “concession. ” In the first section, we extensively illustrate the distributional behaviour of the PSIs in various constructions and roughly generalize the distribution in terms of “(anti/non-) verdicality. ” Section 2 claims amwu denotes an arbitrary choice quantifier, and the particles –to/-irato/-ina as “concessive” markers, so the compounds denote a special element in a pragmatic scale determined by context/situation. Section 3, based on the pragmatics of scalar implicature, accounts for the apparent ambiguity of PSIs between “universal” and “existential” readings, and further characterizes the difference among the concessive markers –to/-irato/-ina in terms of “quantity/quality scale. ” 1. Distributions of amwu-N Phrases This section illustrates the distribution of Korean PSIs amwu-to/-irato/-ina with various constructions which reveal their semantic characteristics. The following table is the summary of the distribution, the relevant data of which are illustrated in the APPENDIX at the end of this paper.
A Review of Advances in Artificial Insemination (AI) and Embryo Transfer (ET) in Sheep, with the Special Reference to Hormonal Induction of Cervical Dilation and its Implications for Controlled Animal Reproduction and Surgical Techniques

Artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET) play an important role in the genetic improvement of sheep herds. This review primarily describes the methods that have recently been researched and/or adapted to circumvent the problematic anatomy of the ovine cervix, which prevents the widespread application of transcervical AI and ET in this species. A mechanism of cervical ripening at parturition and the endocrine influences on cervical tone are described as a backdrop to understanding the action of various pharmacological agents used to induce cervical dilation. Although several catheters have been designed to penetrate the ovine cervix, and a specific protocol has been developed for TCAI in sheep (Guelph Method), penetration rates and resulting pregnancy/lambing rates are still inconsistent and unpredictable. Hormonal dilation of the cervix may significantly improve the ease with which the ovine cervix can be traversed. Treatment with Cervidil ® , a dinoprostone-containing vaginal insert with a slow release mechanism, currently used to induce labor in women, could significantly improve cervical penetration in ewes without adverse effects on uterine contractility. This mode of drug delivery holds promise to result in the development of a safe method to induce cervical dilation for a broad range of transcervical reproductive manipulations in mammalian species including, but not limited to, AI, ET, embryo and oocyte recovery, treatment of ringwomb and transcervical surgical procedures. However, more studies are needed to evaluate the effects of hormonal methods on cervical morphology/pathomorphology, sperm/embryo transport and viability, and fertility in both cyclic and seasonally anovular ewes.
Dynamic data protocol exchange to handle passive attacks on trusted transient simple network (TTSN) transactions

The most difficult part of network security is protecting the traffic content from passive attacks. Passive attacks cannot be avoided because the data structure (data protocol) of Internet transactions is well known and of fixed standard. We have considered an alternative to handle passive attacks through utilising dynamic data protocol exchange. The utilisation of dynamic data protocol exchange within the proposed TTSN security control system can significantly increase the time consumed by a passive attack, i.e. security cryptanalysis or brute-force, on encrypted Internet traffic. Such a dynamic data protocol exchange mechanism allows both parties (requester and provider) to replace or modify the data structure of the traffic package as often as required. In this article we describe the development architecture, and we also present results from implementing the dynamic data protocol exchange as part of the TTSN architecture. Since Internet applications are utilising readable script languages, which are very vulnerable against an interception, dynamic data protocol exchange is a better strategy to protect confidentiality and integrity of data.
Image splicing detection based on general perspective constraints

Image Forensics offers numerous solutions for authenticating the contents of digital images. Unfortunately most of these technologies are ready to work only in controlled environments and their performance heavily drop when applied in real world scenario (e.g, social network, low resolution images, .) where the images have gone through a chain of unknown processes. In this paper we present a method for forgery detection based on perspective constraints; similar techniques have been proposed in the past but they are effective only when the image is captured with no tilt and no roll thus been unusable in most natural scenes. Here, this solution is extended to include these cases, and we show its applicability even when the image is exchanged through a social network (specifically Facebook and Twitter) where the image is subjected to heavy compression and resizing.
High-Intensity Interval Training as an Efficacious Alternative to Moderate-Intensity Continuous Training for Adults with Prediabetes

Aims. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) leads to improvements in various markers of cardiometabolic health but adherence to HIIT following a supervised laboratory intervention has yet to be tested. We compared self-report and objective measures of physical activity after one month of independent exercise in individuals with prediabetes who were randomized to HIIT (n = 15) or traditional moderate-intensity continuous training (MICT, n = 17). Method. After completing 10 sessions of supervised training participants were asked to perform HIIT or MICT three times per week for four weeks. Results. Individuals in HIIT (89 ± 11%) adhered to their prescribed protocol to a greater extent than individuals in MICT (71 ± 31%) as determined by training logs completed over one-month follow-up (P = 0.05, Cohen's d = 0.75). Minutes spent in vigorous physical activity per week measured by accelerometer were higher in HIIT (24 ± 18) as compared to MICT (11 ± 10) at one-month follow-up (P = 0.049, Cohen's d = 0.92). Cardiorespiratory fitness and systolic blood pressure assessed at one-month follow-up were equally improved (P's < 0.05). Conclusions. This study provides preliminary evidence that individuals with prediabetes can adhere to HIIT over the short-term and do so at a level that is greater than MICT.
"The struggle made me a nonracialist": Why there was so little terrorism in the antiapartheid struggle

Most theories of terrorism would lead one to have expected high levels of antiwhite terrorism in apartheid South Africa. Yet the African National Congress, the country's most important and influential antiapartheid political organization, never sanctioned terrorism against the dominant white minority. I argue that the ANC eschewed terrorism because of its commitment to "nonracial internationalism. " From the ANC's perspective, to have carried out a campaign of indiscriminate or "categorical" terrorism against whites would have alienated actual and potential white allies both inside and outside the country. The ANC's ideological commitment to nonracialism had a specific social basis: It grew out of a long history of collaboration between the ANC and white leftists inside and outside the country, especially those in the South African Communist Party.
Conducting a Text Messaging Scavenger Hunt to Promote Financial Aid Literacy Among Community College Students

ABSTRACT Austin Community College’s (ACC) Student Money Management Office conducted a text messaging scavenger hunt to engage ACC students in financial-aid-related education and programming, including when to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and how to ensure Satisfactory Academic Progress. Results demonstrated that 268 students began the hunt and 105 finished, with over 60% female participation, 24% male participation, and 16% gender undisclosed. This endeavor resulted in a number of implications for practitioners, including how to publicize a text messaging scavenger hunt, how to conduct a text messaging scavenger hunt, and how to plan for communication lags during the process.
Impaired expression of glycoproteins on resting and stimulated platelets in uraemic patients.

BACKGROUND The increased bleeding tendency of chronic renal failure (CRF) patients has been attributed to platelet dysfunction. However, reports on various platelet functions in uraemic patients have been conflicting. The present study sought to analyse platelet function by examining their surface glycoproteins in well-identified populations of CRF patients. METHODS Three groups were studied: 22 chronic haemodialysis (HD) patients, 25 conservatively treated patients with CRF and 30 controls. Bleeding tendency was assessed by measuring bleeding time and by recording current haemorrhagic symptoms. We measured the fibrinogen receptor GPIIbIIIa, the von Willebrand receptor GPIb, and P-selectin levels on the platelet surface using flow cytometry. RESULTS Forty percent of CRF and 45% of HD patients had bleeding. The bleeding time was similar in the HD and CRF groups, but was longer in both groups than in controls. In resting platelets, GPIb expression was lower in CRF patients than in controls. In stimulated platelets (i) GPIb expression was higher in HD patients than in both controls and CRF patients; and (ii) GPIIbIIIa and P-selectin expression were lower in CRF and HD patients than in controls. CONCLUSIONS These findings indicate that uraemic platelets are hyporesponsive to stimulation.
"Silence Your Phones": Smartphone Notifications Increase Inattention and Hyperactivity Symptoms

As smartphones increasingly pervade our daily lives, people are ever more interrupted by alerts and notifications. Using both correlational and experimental methods, we explored whether such interruptions might be causing inattention and hyperactivity-symptoms associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) even in people not clinically diagnosed with ADHD. We recruited a sample of 221 participants from the general population. For one week, participants were assigned to maximize phone interruptions by keeping notification alerts on and their phones within their reach/sight. During another week, participants were assigned to minimize phone interruptions by keeping alerts off and their phones away. Participants reported higher levels of inattention and hyperactivity when alerts were on than when alerts were off. Higher levels of inattention in turn predicted lower productivity and psychological well-being. These findings highlight some of the costs of ubiquitous connectivity and suggest how people can reduce these costs simply by adjusting existing phone settings.
The epidemiology of post-traumatic stress disorder after disasters.

Traumatic experiences are relatively common. More than two thirds of persons in the general population may experience a significant traumatic event at some point in their lives, and up to one fifth of people in the United States may experience such an event in any given year (1–5). Although comparable international data are limited, large proportions of populations in many countries have been exposed to terrorism, forced relocation, and violence, which suggests that the overall prevalence of exposure to traumatic events worldwide may be even higher than that in the United States (6, 7). Disasters (e.g., floods, transportation accidents) are traumatic events that are experienced by many people and may result in a wide range of mental and physical health consequences (8). In one survey of US residents, 13 percent of the sample reported a lifetime exposure to natural or human-generated disaster (9). In the National Comorbidity Survey, 18.9 percent of men and 15.2 percent of women reported a lifetime experience of a natural disaster (4). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the most commonly studied and probably the most frequent and debilitating psychological disorder that occurs after traumatic events and disasters (8, 10). The growing threat of terrorism worldwide has heightened our awareness of disasters as a potentially important determinant of population health and suggests a pressing need both to identify key areas of consensus in postdisaster research and to highlight areas that require additional study (11). It is our purpose in this review to contribute to this overall goal by comprehensively and systematically assessing the epidemiologic evidence about PTSD after disasters.
The relationship between personal resources and well-being

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between personal resources and subjective well-being by focusing on the moderation role of resource threatening and consuming conditions on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative research data were collected from a sample of 465 lawyers working in Turkey by using a self-report questionnaire form. The confirmatory factor analysis, correlation and regression analyses were performed to test the research hypothesis. Findings The results showed that personal resources influence positively subjective well-being with the three-way interactions (moderated moderation) of surface acting and perceived stress. The interactions between variables were significant at the conditions of the high level of surface acting and the low level of stress. Originality/value The current research contributes to our understanding of how personal resources can be consumed in such a way that individual well-being is enhanced. The findings also raise a new question about whether or not surface acting causes negative consequences in all conditions.
Stratum Corneum Hydration and Skin Surface pH Variation Indicate that Organ Blood Flow Is Regulated by Meridian Activity at Certain Hours

Day and night are regular occurrences in nature, and the organs and tissues in living bodies follow this cycle. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) at various time points regulates organ excitation to maintain healthy functions in the living body. The energy required from basal metabolism can be used to explain living organisms according to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) concept of relationships between meridian directions and organs at various times (organs “at rest” and organs “in operation”). By monitoring skin reactions after applying a cream, we speculated regular blood flow changes, and established an animated hourglass-shaped trajectory diagram to visualize these changes. A combination of TCM and physiological perspectives were considered to explain how the cardiovascular system produces energy. These two perspectives were applied to interpret the correlation between the SNS and organ metabolism.
Constrained from leaving or comfortable at home? Young people’s explanations for delayed home-leaving in 28 European countries

Many comparative studies of home-leaving examine behavior associated with this transition and the relative importance of both structural and cultural factors in helping or hindering it. Yet, we know surprisingly little about how youth understand these factors on a broad scale to be influencing home-leaving for their generation. This article compares young people’s beliefs across cultures about why late home-leaving occurs using Eurobarometer survey data from 28 countries. I incorporate comparative home-leaving literature with theories about attitudinal worlds of welfare and explanations for social problems to argue that modes of explanation for late home-leaving hinge on whether youth see external, structural causes preventing earlier leaving (constraint-oriented explanations) or internal, more culturally motivated causes that lead individuals to stay at home longer (choice-oriented explanations). Demographic and institutional conditions that capture aspects of nations’ home-leaving contexts, such as women’s mean age at childbirth and the robustness of labor and housing markets, significantly correlate with the prevalence of these explanations. Findings suggest that youth tend to perceive their generation’s housing exits as structurally limited by scarce housing and weak purchasing power. However, in richer countries with more effective employment markets and better access to rental housing stock, choice-oriented explanations are more popular.
Perturbing Dynamin Reveals Potent Effects on the Drosophila Circadian Clock

Background Transcriptional feedback loops are central to circadian clock function. However, the role of neural activity and membrane events in molecular rhythms in the fruit fly Drosophila is unclear. To address this question, we expressed a temperature-sensitive, dominant negative allele of the fly homolog of dynamin called shibirets1 (shits1), an active component in membrane vesicle scission. Principal Findings Broad expression in clock cells resulted in unexpectedly long, robust periods (>28 hours) comparable to perturbation of core clock components, suggesting an unappreciated role of membrane dynamics in setting period. Expression in the pacemaker lateral ventral neurons (LNv) was necessary and sufficient for this effect. Manipulation of other endocytic components exacerbated shits1's behavioral effects, suggesting its mechanism is specific to endocytic regulation. PKA overexpression rescued period effects suggesting shits1 may downregulate PKA pathways. Levels of the clock component PERIOD were reduced in the shits1-expressing pacemaker small LNv of flies held at a fully restrictive temperature (29°C). Less restrictive conditions (25°C) delayed cycling proportional to observed behavioral changes. Levels of the neuropeptide PIGMENT-DISPERSING FACTOR (PDF), the only known LNv neurotransmitter, were also reduced, but PERIOD cycling was still delayed in flies lacking PDF, implicating a PDF-independent process. Further, shits1 expression in the eye also results in reduced PER protein and per and vri transcript levels, suggesting that shibire-dependent signaling extends to peripheral clocks. The level of nuclear CLK, transcriptional activator of many core clock genes, is also reduced in shits1 flies, and Clk overexpression suppresses the period-altering effects of shits1. Conclusions We propose that membrane protein turnover through endocytic regulation of PKA pathways modulates the core clock by altering CLK levels and/or activity. These results suggest an important role for membrane scission in setting circadian period.