Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DroidScope: Seamlessly Reconstructing the OS and Dalvik Semantic Views for Dynamic Android Malware Analysis

The prevalence of mobile platforms, the large market share of Android, plus the openness of the Android Market makes it a hot target for malware attacks. Once a malware sample has been identified, it is critical to quickly reveal its malicious intent and inner workings. In this paper we present DroidScope, an Android analysis platform that continues the tradition of virtualization-based malware analysis. Unlike current desktop malware analysis platforms, DroidScope reconstructs both the OS-level and Java-level semantics simultaneously and seamlessly. To facilitate custom analysis, DroidScope exports three tiered APIs that mirror the three levels of an Android device: hardware, OS and Dalvik Virtual Machine. On top of DroidScope, we further developed several analysis tools to collect detailed native and Dalvik instruction traces, profile API-level activity, and track information leakage through both the Java and native components using taint analysis. These tools have proven to be effective in analyzing real world malware samples and incur reasonably low performance overheads.
Brightness contrast-contrast induction model predicts assimilation and inverted assimilation effects.

In classical assimilation effects, intermediate luminance patches appear lighter when their immediate surround is comprised of white patches and appear darker when their immediate surround is comprised of dark patches. With patches either darker or lighter than both inducing patches, the direction of the brightness effect is reversed and termed as "inverted assimilation effect. " Several explanations and models have been suggested, some are relevant to specific stimulus geometry, anchoring theory, and models that involve high level cortical processing (such as scission, etc.). None of these studies predicted the various types of assimilation effects and their inverted effects. We suggest here a compound brightness model, which is based on contrast-contrast induction (second-order adaptation mechanism). The suggested model predicts the various types of brightness assimilation effects and their inverted effects. The model is composed of three main stages: (1) composing post-retinal second-order opponent receptive fields, (2) calculations of local and remote contrast, and (3) adaptation of the second-order (contrast-contrast induction). We also utilize a variation of the Jacobi iteration process to enable elegant edge integration in order to evaluate the model is performance.
Theoretical Analysis of Pulse Dynamics in Silicon Photonic Crystal Wire Waveguides

In this paper, we present a comprehensive theoretical description of the propagation of optical pulses in 1-D waveguides consisting of a line defect in a photonic crystal (PhC) slab waveguide made of silicon. We incorporate in our analysis linear optical effects, such as group-velocity dispersion and optical losses, as well as nonlinear effects induced by the Kerr nonlinearity of the PhC. We also include in our model the free-carrier (FC) dispersion and FC-induced optical losses, and thus study the influence of FCs generated through two-photon absorption on the pulse dynamics. Our analysis reveals that important quantities, such as the pulse group velocity, dispersion coefficients, or the waveguide nonlinear coefficient are strongly affected by the periodic nature of the guiding structure. Finally, we demonstrate that both linear and nonlinear effects are stronger in the case of slow-light modes, with the nonlinear effects being enhanced more as compared to the linear ones.
In vivo P-glycoprotein function before and after epilepsy surgery

Objectives: To study the functional activity of the multidrug efflux transporter P-glycoprotein (Pgp) at the blood-brain barrier of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy using (R)-[11C]verapamil (VPM)-PET before and after temporal lobe surgery to assess whether postoperative changes in seizure frequency and antiepileptic drug load are associated with changes in Pgp function. Methods: Seven patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy underwent VPM-PET scans pre- and postsurgery. Patients were followed up for a median of 6 years (range 4–7) after surgery. Pgp immunoreactivity in surgically resected hippocampal specimens was determined with immunohistochemistry. Results: Optimal surgical outcome, defined as seizure freedom and withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs, was associated with higher temporal lobe Pgp function before surgery, higher Pgp-positive staining in surgically resected hippocampal specimens, and reduction in global Pgp function postoperatively, compared with nonoptimal surgery outcome. Conclusions: The data from our pilot study suggest that Pgp overactivity in epilepsy is dynamic, and complete seizure control and elimination of antiepileptic medication is associated with reversal of overactivity, although these findings will require confirmation in a larger patient cohort.
Evaluation of Nootropic Activity of Persicaria flaccida on Cognitive Performance, Brain Antioxidant Markers and Acetylcholinesterase Activity in Rats: Implication for the Management of Alzheimer’s Disease

Oxidative stress is the leading cause of neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer´s disease (AD). The plant Persicaria flaccida (PF) is known in Bengali as red Biskatali belongs to family Polygonaceae. Preliminary studies have shown the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, neuroprotective activities of Biskatali. In this consequence, methanolic extract of PF (MEPF) was selected to explore the ability of this plant to enhance cognitive functions, brain antioxidant enzymes and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity which can be used for the treatment of AD. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of MEPF on cognitive performance, brain antioxidant enzymes and acetylcholinesterase activity in rats by using behavioral and biochemical study. Treatment with MEPF (i.e., 100 and 200 mg/kg b.w.) was investigated for 14 days in Swiss albino male rats and its effects on different types of memory were examined using Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) test, Passive Avoidance (PA) test, Morris Water Maze (MWM) test as well as level of antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), glutathione reductase (GSR), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and contents of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in rat brain tissue homogenates. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity was determined by colorimetric method. Administration of highest dose of MEPF significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) decreased retention transfer latency (RTL) of rats on 7th and 14th day compared to the control group in EPM test. In PA test highest dose of MEPF meaningfully (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) increased step-through latency (STL) of rats on 7th, 12th, 13th and 14th day with respect to control group. Both doses of MEPF markedly (P < 0.01, P < 0.001) decreased escape latency (EL), increased time spent in the target quadrant (TSTQ) and time spent in the annuli (TSA) of rats on successive days as compared to that of control group in MWM test. MEPF administration, especially highest dose significantly (P < 0.05, P < 0.01, P < 0.001) increased the level of CAT, SOD, GSR, GST & GSH-Px and considerably (P < 0.01, P < 0.001) decreased TBARS level & AChE activity in the brain tissue homogenates of rats compared to the control group. Behavioral and biochemical studies suggest that MEPF promotes cognitive function by improving different types of memory and reduces oxidative stress by increasing the level of brain antioxidant markers and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity. Therefore, this plant extract can be used for enhancing memory in neurodegenerative disorders like AD.
Optimal Policy in a Dynamic Search Model with Risk Aversion

This paper characterizes the optimal labor market policy within a dynamic search model which allows for workers' risk aversion. In a …rst-best allocation of resources, unemployment bene…ts should provide perfect insurance against the unemployment risk, layotaxes are necessary to induce employers to internalize the cost of dismissing an employee but should not be too high in order to allow a desirable reallocation of workers from low to high productivity jobs, hiring subsidies are needed to partially oset the adverse impact of layotaxes on job creation and payroll taxes should be approximately equal to zero. I derive an optimal rate of unemployment and show that it is lower when the unemployment risk is partly non-insurable. Importantly, the optimal level of layotaxes and hiring subsidies is independent of the amount of public good expenditures, even when payroll taxes are distortionary. When workers have some bargaining power, it is optimal to reduce the rate of job creation below the output maximizing level in order to lower wages and increase the level of unemployment bene…ts. Thus, layotaxes should typically exceed hiring subsidies which generates enough surpluses to …nance at least some of the unemployment bene…ts. The inclusion of moral hazard does not change this conclusion, unless workers have very low bargaining power.
Neural control of limb coordination. I. Comparison of hatching and walking motor output patterns in normal and deafferented chicks

Previous work has shown that the neural circuits underlying the leg movements of walking and hatching coexist in post-hatching chicks (Bekoff and Kauer, 1984). In the present study, quantitative analysis of leg EMGs shows that there are some similarities, but also significant differences, in the motor output patterns of walking and hatching. This study examines the effect of removing sensory feedback from the legs on the production of the distinctive leg motor patterns. The temporal characteristics and interlimb coordination of hatching and walking are little affected. However, major changes in intralimb motor output patterns are seen when compared to records from normal chicks. These changes fall into one of 2 categories. Some parameters show similar changes in both behaviors after deafferentation (e.g., increases in flexor burst durations and cycle period). This suggests that certain features of sensory input from the legs normally modulate the hatching and walking pattern-generating circuitry in similar ways. Other parameters show convergence. That is, these aspects of the 2 intralimb motor patterns become more similar to each other after removal of sensory input. This is consistent with the hypothesis that some feature of sensory input from the legs normally modulates one set of multiuse intralimb circuitry to produce different output patterns. In general, the walking pattern becomes more like hatching after deafferentation, rather than the reverse, which suggests that the hatching pattern is a more basic one. The maintenance of some residual differences in intralimb motor patterns after leg deafferentation suggests that other sources of modulation must also be involved, or that there are some additional elements of circuitry that are called into play during the normal production of walking and hatching.
Attitudes towards doping in Spanish competitive female Cyclists vs. Triathletes

The aim of the present study was to know and compare the attitudes towards doping in Spanish competitive female cyclists and triathletes. All the female cyclists and triathletes who competed (U23 and elite) under license in Spain in 2012 (n = 206; 29.62±8.70 years) in the highest national competitions level comprised the sample. The total sample was divided into two: cyclists (n = 80; 28.86±9.64 years), and triathletes (n = 126; 30.10±8.06 years). Descriptive design was carried out using a validated questionnaire (Performance Enhancement Attitude Scale: PEAS). Complementary, four top-level athletes of each group were interviewed. Regarding results from PEAS, for the whole sample, overall score (17-102) was 34.02±12.74. Regarding different groups, data were: cyclists: 36.63±14.27; and triathletes: 32.37±11.41 (p=0.032). Regarding semi-structured interviews (n = 8). The most mentioned word associated with doping was “cheating” (% n: 62.5). As responsible agents of doping was the word “coach/manager” (% n: 75.0) and the main reason for the initiation in doping was “sport achievement” and “Contract/Money” (% n: 75.0). This study shows that Spanish competitive female cyclists and triathletes, in general, are not tolerant in relation to doping. Nevertheless, competitive female cyclists are significantly more permissive towards the use of banned substances than female triathletes. Results from semi-structured interviews have shown interesting data in specific open-ended questions. The current findings may contribute to the development of anti-doping prevention programmes and interventions in an appropriate and effective manner, which could be the key to better fight the battle against doping in sport.
The Abundance of Distant and Extremely Red Galaxies: The Role of AGN Feedback in Hierarchical Models

We investigate the effect of AGN feedback associated with the bright QSO phase on the color distribution of galaxies from z = 0 up to z = 4. To this aim, we insert a blast-wave model of AGN feedback in our semianalytic model of galaxy formation, which includes the growth of supermassive black holes and the AGN activity triggered by interactions of the host galaxies. The AGN feedback is directly related to the impulsive, luminous quasar phase. We test our model by checking the consistency of its results against (1) the QSO luminosity functions from z = 0 to 4, and (2) the observed local relation between the black hole mass mBH and the mass of the host galaxy. At low redshift the inclusion of AGN feedback enhances the number of red bright galaxies so that the color distribution of Mr < -22 objects is entirely dominated by red (u - r > 1.5) galaxies; at 0.5 < z < 2 it yields a rest-frame U - V color distribution, in agreement with existing observations. In the range z ≈ 1.5-2.5, we find that 31% of galaxies contribute to the extremely red object (ERO) population with mK < 20 (Vega system); at such a magnitude, the model yields an ERO surface density of 6.3 × 103 deg2, matching existing data. Extending our analysis to z = 4, the model matches the observed surface density 1.5 × 103 deg2 of distant red galaxies (DRGs) at mK = 20; such a population is predicted to be dominated by galaxies with old stellar populations for z > 2.5.
A Hybrid Approach to Sentence Alignment Using Genetic Algorithm

Sentence alignment in bilingual corpora has been an active research topic in the machine translation research groups. There have been multiple works in the past to align sentences in bilingual corpus in English and European languages and some Asian languages like Chinese and Japanese. This work introduces a novel approach for sentence alignment in bilingual corpora using lexical and statistical information about the language pair using genetic algorithm. The only lexical information used in this work is a restricted form of bilingual dictionary (incomplete). The algorithm works based on the weighted sum of a set of statistical parameters and the parameter denoting degree of dictionary match. No other lexical information like part of speech tagging, chunking, n-gram statistics etc has been used in this work. Our approach has been tested for structurally dissimilar language pair of English-Hindi and is shown to yield a high performance even under noisy conditions. We compare our results with that of Microsoft alignment tool on the same corpus and we find our results to be superior
Lifestyle gambling, indebtedness and anxiety: A deviant leisure perspective

While once subject to wide-ranging state control, gambling has successfully culturally embedded itself within the normalised and legitimised forms of leisure such as the night-time economy, sports fandom and online forums of socialisation. Consequently, this article argues that existing research which conceptualises gambling as separate from everyday life is largely obsolete in the contemporary context. We argue here that gambling has become an integral feature of the wider masculine weekend leisure experience, intimately connected to an infantilised consumer identity that is peculiar to late-capitalism. This article, drawing upon ongoing ethnographic research among what we term ‘lifestyle gamblers’, utilises a deviant leisure perspective to problematise the myriad harms that emerge from this relationship, situated within a broader critique of consumerism and global capitalism. While social gambling is defended fiercely by the industry, this article argues that an identity-based culture of sports-betting that attaches fragile social and cultural capital to the allure of the gambling win encourages the chasing of losses and impulsive betting. Underscored by a culture of readily available and high-interest credit, we explore how gamblers in a technologically accelerated culture develop a pathological relationship to money as it becomes desublimated and loses its symbolic value. Such processes, exacerbated by the promise of consumer culture, have the potential to cast these young adults into a paralysing reality of indebtedness that is fraught with depression, stress, domestic instability and destructive behaviours of consumption.
Arsenic in Drinking Water and Bladder Cancer Mortality in the United States: An Analysis Based on 133 U.S. Counties and 30 Years of Observation

This study analyzes the relationship between arsenic exposure through drinking water and bladder cancer mortality. The county-specific white male bladder cancer mortality data (1950–1979) and county-specific groundwater arsenic concentration data were obtained for 133 U.S. counties known to be exclusively dependent on groundwater for their public drinking water supply. No arsenic-related increase in bladder cancer mortality was found over the exposure range of 3 to 60 &mgr;g/L using stratified analysis and regression analyses (both unweighted and weighted by county population and using both mean and median arsenic concentrations). These results, which provide a direct estimate of arsenic-related cancer risk for U.S. residents, exclude the National Research Council’s 2001 risk estimate that was based on Southwest Taiwan data and required adjusting for differences between the body mass and water consumption rates of U.S. and Taiwanese residents.
Long-Term Control of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection Is Mediated by Dynamic Immune Responses1

The primary goal of this study was to determine how chronic exposure to Ag influences the functionality of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific T cell responses. The frequency of IFN-γ-producing effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells dynamically changed during persistent M. tuberculosis infection. CD8+ T cells used differential effector functions during acute and chronic phases of the immune response, where CD8+ T cells produced negligible amounts of IFN-γ early in infection, but switched to cytokine production during the chronic stage of infection. Using limiting dilution analysis, CD8+ T cells isolated during the initial phase of infection demonstrated lytic potential, but this waned in the chronic stage. The apparent loss of cytotoxic activity was not associated with the lack of perforin. Ag dose could potentially govern the functional program of CD8+ T cells. Collectively, these results depict a host immune response mounted against M. tuberculosis of a significantly more dynamic nature than previously recognized.
Proton affinity of the oxyanion hole in the active site of ketosteroid isomerase.

The absorption spectra of a series of inhibitors bound at the active site of Delta(5)-3-ketosteroid isomerase from Pseudomonas putida were found to exhibit substantial variations in the contributions of the protonated and deprotonated forms. Systematic variation of the inhibitor solution pK(a) combined with a method of quantifying the contributions of each protonation state showed the oxyanion hole in the active site of wild-type Delta(5)-3-ketosteroid isomerase to have a proton affinity equal to a solution pK(a) of 10.05 +/- 0.03, which is similar to the measured pK(a) (10.0) of the reaction intermediate. This observation supports the prediction of Cleland, Kreevoy, Frey, Gassman, and Gerlt that an enzyme utilizing a strong hydrogen bond for catalysis matches the proton affinity of the protein to the intermediate [Cleland, W. W. , and Kreevoy, M. M. (1994) Science 264, 1887-1890; Frey, P. A. , Whitt, S. , and Tobin, J. (1994) Science 264, 1927-1930; Gerlt, J. A. , and Gassman, P. G. (1993) Biochemistry 32, 11934-11952]. As the difference in proton affinity decreases, the strength of the hydrogen bond increases, and the closely matched proton affinity between the active site and the reaction intermediate supports the possibility that a short, strong hydrogen bond is catalytically relevant in Delta(5)-3-ketosteroid isomerase.
Bactericidal Efficacy of Cold Plasma at Different Depths of Infected Root Canals In Vitro

Objectives: Cold plasma (CP) has been shown to be effective even against multiresistant microorganisms. As previous investigations on the effect of CP in root canals showed promising results, the aim of the present study was to analyze the bactericidal efficacy of CP in different depths of infected dentin. Methods: 32 standardized root canals of human mandibular premolars were infected with Enterococcus faecalis and incubated for one week. Specimens were randomly selected for one of four disinfection methods: control (5mL NaCl), 5mL chlorhexidine (CHX), CP alone (CP), and a combination of 5mL CHX and cold plasma (CHX+CP). CHX was ultrasonically activated for 30s, while cold plasma was used for 60s in the root canals. Dentin samples at depths of 300, 500 and 800 µm were obtained and diluted serially. Colony forming units (CFUs) were counted on agar plates after 24h of incubation. Results: The highest overall logarithmic reduction factors (RF) were obtained from CHX+CP (log RF 3.56 p<0.01; Mann-Whitney U test), followed by CP (log RF 3.27 p<0.01) and CHX alone (log RF 2.65 p<0.01) related to the control. All disinfection methods showed significantly lower CFU counts compared to the control group in 300 µm and 800 µm (both p<0.01, Kruskal-Wallis test). Discussion: The adjuvant use of CP might be beneficial in highly infected root canals to improved disinfection. However, the disinfection effect against Enterococcus faecalis of CP is comparable to ultrasonically activated CHX.
Impact of Network Load on Forward Link Inter-Cell Interference in Cellular Data Networks

We study the impact of network load in the neighboring sectors on the inter-cell interference in a cellular data network. The signal received by a user over the forward link in such a system contains interference from the neighboring base stations. We note that the strength of this interference is a function of the network load in the neighboring cells. We obtain an expression for the received SINR (signal to interference and noise ratio) as a function of the traffic load in the interfering cells. Using this result, we propose an improvement to the conservative pilot-based SINR estimation scheme that is implemented in the current cellular data networks. The proposed scheme provides a more accurate estimate of the user SINR by taking better account of the contribution of inter-cell interference. It builds on top of the current SINR measurement scheme by using a combination of pilot measurement and traffic load measurement. With the proposed scheme, a terminal reports a less conservative data rate, and hence it receives a higher throughput. The scheme especially benefits the "poor" users, i.e., the users that receive low throughput because they are located far from the base station. For example, when the network load in the neighboring sectors is 0.5, with the proposed scheme, the throughput received by a single vehicular user located about three-fourth of the way between the serving base station and the cell boundary, is about 35% higher than the throughput obtained using the scheme that is used in current practice