Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A High-Coverage and Efficient Instruction-Level Testing Approach for x86 Processors

The processors have long been treated as trusted black boxes for running software. However, processors may have undocumented instructions and instruction flaws, which increase the attack surface of the computing system. Hardware-related attack surfaces can bypass malware detection tools, resulting in undefined system behavior, instability, and insecurity. Unfortunately, the existing testing methods for undocumented instructions and instruction flaws have issues of insufficient test coverage and low test efficiency. We proposed an approach Skipscan to address these issues, which tests both the legal instructions and the reserved instructions. For the first time, to improve the test coverage, Skipscan leverages an optimized combination algorithm to generate instruction prefix combinations, which covers the entire types of legal prefix combinations. To improve the test efficiency, Skipscan skips a considerable number of redundant legal instructions by leveraging the minimal test set of immediate and displacement operands. We evaluated Skipscan on eight x86 processors from Intel and AMD. The number of legal instructions and reserved instructions tested by Skipscan are 121.4 and 259.55 times that of Sandsifter on average, respectively. The test efficiency of Skipscan is on average 4 times that of Sandsifter. The ratio of legal instructions is reduced from 78.2% to 20.1% on average. Furthermore, we found more undocumented instructions on x86 processors and instruction flaws in x86 disassemblers.
Willingness to Pay the Organic Vegetable: The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesian Experience

The enthusiasm for maintaining health has increased in line with the Covid-19 pandemic, though they have to pay the higher price. Therefore, study aims to determine changes in people's behavior in consuming organic vegetables due to Covid-19, willingness to pay (WTP) and factors that influence. The research was conducted in three stages--descriptive socio-demographic factors, calculation of WTP with the Contingent Valuation Method approach and SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) analysis. Based on 155 respondents who determined by Slovin formula and accidental sampling technique. The study showed that consumers had a higher WTP for various types of organic vegetables, especially spinach, chayote, and kale. However, this WTP is significantly influenced by level of education, type of work and income. Consumer behavior significantly affected WTP for organic vegetables during Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, Covid-19 pandemic provides great potential for an increase in the number of consumption and purchases of organic vegetables.
ADVANCED 3D PARAMETRIC HISTORIC CITY BLOCK MODELING COMBINING 3D SURVEYING, AI AND VPL

Abstract. The presented research aims to define a parametric modelling methodology that allows, in short time and at a sustainable cost, the digital acquisition, modelling and semantic structuring of urban city blocks to facilitate 3D city modelling applied to historic centres. The methodology is based on field surveying and derives 3D data for the realisation of a parametric City Information Model (CIM). This is pursued through the adoption of parametric modelling as main method combined with AI procedures like supervised machine learning. In particular, the Visual Programming Language (VPL) Grasshopper is adopted as main working environment. The methodology proposed, called Scan-to-CIM, is developed to automate the cognitive operations of interpretation and input of surveying data performed in the field in order to create LoD4 city block models in a semi-automatic way. The proposed Scan-to-CIM methodology is applied to a city block located in the historic centre of Catania, Italy.
The causal factors that affect the organizational performance of large-size companies in Thailand through HR analytics

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the causal factors, namely Organizational Culture (OC), Technology Adoption (TEA), and HR Competencies (HRC) on Organizational Performance (ORP), with a focus on the moderating effect of HR analytics (HRA). Design/Methodology/Approach: Data were collected using the purposive sampling method from 498 top management in the human resources department working for large-size organizations in Thailand. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Model (SEM) are applied as statistical techniques to validate and test the proposed hypotheses of the conceptual framework. Findings: Results give strong supporting evidence to accept all the proposed hypotheses that the studied factors are contributing to each other and creating an impact on organizational performance. Conclusion: It is confirmed that ORC, TEA, and HRC have positively impacts on HRA and ORP. In addition, it is also confirmed that HRA acts as a moderating factor to facilitate the impact of ORC, TEA, and HRC on ORP. Research Limitations/Implications: The scope of this study only focuses on large-size organizations that operate in Thailand. Practical Implications: This study provides guidelines for an organization to improve factors that can have a positive impact on their performances. Contribution to Literature: This study serves as one of the pioneering contributions to the field of HRA and its implications for ORP.
Business Strategies and Firm Profitability of Selected Mobile Operating Firms in Nigeria

Purpose: Firms economic and financial growth are the major goals of organizations across the globe to beat competition and survive in the unfriendly business environment. However, despite the positive impact of the mobile telecommunication sector to social and economic development, the mobile operating firms are plagued with challenges militating against the expected growth rate. This is evident in decline in market growth, dwindling profitability and decline in productivity. This study examined business strategies and firm profitability of mobile operating firms in Nigeria. Methodology: The study adopted survey research design. The population of the study was 436 management staff of the selected mobile operating firms in Nigeria. The enumeration sampling method was used. A structured adapted and validated questionnaire was administered. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients for the constructs ranged from 0.71- 0.79. The response rate was 83.3%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential (multiple regression) statistics. Findings: The study revealed business strategies have significant effect on profitability (Adj. R2 = 0.469; F (4, 358) = 81.082, P < 0.05). The study concluded that business strategies (cost leadership, product differentiation, product leadership and service delivery) influenced market growth, firm profitability and productivity of selected mobile operating firms in Nigeria. Recommendation: The study recommended that for mobile operator’s companies to achieve targeted profitability, business strategies measures such as cost leadership, product differentiation, product leadership and service delivery should be given high level of priority.
Incidence and Mortality of Malignant Brain Tumors after 20 Years of Mobile Use

Simple Summary This population-based study, spanning 20 years, revealed trends regarding the incidence and mortality due to malignant neoplasm of the brain (MNB) in association with mobile phone usage in Taiwan. The findings indicate a trend of increase in the number of mobile phone users over the study period, accompanied by a slight rise in the incidence and death rates of MNB. The compound annual growth rates further support these observations, highlighting consistent growth in mobile phone users and a corresponding increase in MNB incidences and deaths. While this study suggests a weak association between mobile phone users and MNB incidence and mortality, it is important to acknowledge that conclusive results cannot be drawn at this stage. Further investigation is required to obtain more definitive findings. Continued research in this area will contribute to better understanding of the potential risks and aid in the development of safer mobile phone usage practices in the future. Abstract (1) Objective: This population-based study was performed to examine the trends of incidence and deaths due to malignant neoplasm of the brain (MNB) in association with mobile phone usage for a period of 20 years (January 2000–December 2019) in Taiwan. (2) Methods: Pearson correlation, regression analysis, and joinpoint regression analysis were used to examine the trends of incidence of MNB and deaths due to MNB in association with mobile phone usage. (3) Results: The findings indicate a trend of increase in the number of mobile phone users over the study period, accompanied by a slight rise in the incidence and death rates of MNB. The compound annual growth rates further support these observations, highlighting consistent growth in mobile phone users and a corresponding increase in MNB incidences and deaths. (4) Conclusions: The results suggest a weaker association between the growing number of mobile phone users and the rising rates of MNB, and no significant correlation was observed between MNB incidences and deaths and mobile phone usage. Ultimately, it is important to acknowledge that conclusive results cannot be drawn at this stage and further investigation is required by considering various other confounding factors and potential risks to obtain more definitive findings and a clearer picture.
Brain Connectivity-Informed Regularization Methods for Regression

One of the challenging problems in brain imaging research is a principled incorporation of information from different imaging modalities. Frequently, each modality is analyzed separately using, for instance, dimensionality reduction techniques, which result in a loss of mutual information. We propose a novel regularization method to estimate the association between the brain structure features and a scalar outcome within the linear regression framework. Our regularization technique provides a principled approach to use external information from the structural brain connectivity and inform the estimation of the regression coefficients. Our proposal extends the classical Tikhonov regularization framework by defining a penalty term based on the structural connectivity-derived Laplacian matrix. Here, we address both theoretical and computational issues. The approach is first illustrated using simulated data and compared with other penalized regression methods. We then apply our regularization method to study the associations between the alcoholism phenotypes and brain cortical thickness using a diffusion imaging derived measure of structural connectivity. Using the proposed methodology in 148 young male subjects with a risk for alcoholism, we found a negative associations between cortical thickness and drinks per drinking day in bilateral caudal anterior cingulate cortex, left lateral OFC, and left precentral gyrus.
Genomic Analysis of Clostridioides difficile Recovered from Horses in Western Australia

Clostridioides difficile poses an ongoing threat as a cause of gastrointestinal disease in humans and animals. Traditionally considered a human healthcare-related disease, increases in community-associated C. difficile infection (CDI) and growing evidence of inter-species transmission suggest a wider perspective is required for CDI control. In horses, C. difficile is a major cause of diarrhoea and life-threatening colitis. This study aimed to better understand the epidemiology of CDI in Australian horses and provide insights into the relationships between horse, human and environmental strains. A total of 752 faecal samples from 387 Western Australian horses were collected. C. difficile was isolated from 104 (30.9%) horses without gastrointestinal signs and 19 (37.8%) with gastrointestinal signs. Of these, 68 (55.3%) harboured one or more toxigenic strains, including C. difficile PCR ribotypes (RTs) 012 (n = 14), 014/020 (n = 10) and 087 (n = 7), all prominent in human infection. Whole-genome analysis of 45 strains identified a phylogenetic cluster of 10 closely related C. difficile RT 012 strains of equine, human and environmental origin (0–62 SNP differences; average 23), indicating recent shared ancestry. Evidence of possible clonal inter-species transmission or common-source exposure was identified for a subgroup of three horse and one human isolates, highlighting the need for a One Health approach to C. difficile surveillance.
Helicopter Roll-Axis Instabilities induced by Pilot Cyclic Control: A Physical Explanation

The main objective of this paper is to give a basic understanding of the mechanisms through which pilot cyclic inputs in lateral cyclic interacts with high-order rotor dynamics destabilizing the helicopter roll motion. The paper will use a “Newtonian formulation” representing the main forces acting on the airframe body-rotor system as the pilot applies his/her control. It will be demonstrated that pilot lateral controls applied through his/her arm (which may involve also pilot biodynamics, i.e. the dynamics of pilot neuromuscular inputs and contraction dynamics of his/her muscles) may excite much higher-order frequency rotor dynamics than thought at the present.
On evil Kronecker sequences and lacunary trigonometric products

— An important result of Weyl states that for every sequence (nk)k>1 of distinct positive integers the sequence of fractional parts of (nkα)k>1 is u.d. mod 1 for almost all α. However, in this general case it is usually extremely difficult to measure the speed of convergence of the empirical distribution of ({n1α}, . . . , {nNα}) towards the uniform distribution. In this paper we investigate the case when (nk)k>1 is the sequence of evil numbers, that is the sequence of non-negative integers having an even sum of digits in base 2. We utilize a connection with lacunary trigonometric products ∏L `=0 ∣∣sinπ2`α∣∣, and by giving sharp metric estimates for such products we derive sharp metric estimates for exponential sums of (nkα)k>1 and for the discrepancy of ({nkα})k>1 . Furthermore, we provide some explicit examples of numbers α for which we can give estimates for the discrepancy of ({nkα})k>1. Résumé. — Un résultat important de Weyl nous dit que pour chaque suite (nk)k>1 de nombres entiers positifs différents la suite {nkα}k>1 est équidistribuée modulo 1 pour presque tous les réels α. Dans ce cas, il est d’habitude extrêmement difficile de mesurer la vitesse de convergence de la distribution empirique vers l’équidistribution. Dans cet article, nous étudions le cas ou (nk)k>1 est la suite des nombres entiers « méchants », donc la suite des nombres positifs la une somme de chiffres paire dans la base 2. Nous relions ce probléme aux produits trigonométriques ∏L l=0 ‖ sinπ2 lα‖ en donnant des estimations exactes pour de tels produits et nous obtenons des estimations exactes pour la discrépance de la suite {nkα}k>1. En plus, nous donnons des exemples concrets de réels α pour lesquels nous pouvons obtenir des estimations pour la discrépance de la suite {nkα}k>1.
Reflections of Adult Learners in Asynchronous Online Degree Programs

The growing prevalence of online higher education courses has attracted millions of students, many of whom fall outside the traditional student demographic. This investigative study aims to close the existing knowledge gap about the experiences and preferences of adult asynchronous learners. The study was conducted as a series of semi-structured interviews with adult students enrolled in free-tuition online asynchronous programs (N = 26). The interviews were then coded using the content analysis technique. The findings suggest that the lack of consistent communication with faculty and university staff is the biggest issue faced by adult students online. Respondents also reported missing the sense of community. Despite that, it is the ability to do work on one’s own schedule and flexibility in choosing the format for learning materials and assignments that are valued the most by adult students. Other findings and their implications are discussed further in the article.
Observer-based event-triggered control for consensus of general linear MASs

This study investigates the consensus problem for general linear multi-agent systems (MAS) via observer-based dynamic output feedback event-triggered control. Assume that the relative state information is unknown for each agent and only the relative output feedback between neighbouring agents can be measured. To solve the consensus problem, the authors develop a novel observer-based event-triggered approach to design a dynamic relative output feedback control. Two event-triggering time sequences are constructed. One is the relative output to the observer and another is the observer error to the controller. One can prove that under the proposed control strategies, the consensus problem can be solved via linear matrix inequalities as well as Riccati inequality if the communication graph of the MAS is connected. Furthermore, the Zeno-behaviour of triggering time sequences can be avoided. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed strategies is illustrated by a numerical example.
Nutritional vitamin D supplementation in chronic hemodialysis: An uncontrolled open-label trial

The present study was evaluated by the incidence of vitamin D deficiency and management of hemodialysis (HD) patients with low doses of vitamin D over 6 months. This uncontrolled open-label trial was fulfilled in descriptive and then analytical phases from 2008 to 2010 recruiting chronic HD patients in our province. For this purpose, 169 patients undergoing regular HD were randomly selected and their vitamin D level was measured. Then, 54 patients with vitamin D levels less than 30 ng/mL entered the second phase. This group received 50,000 IU vitamin D3 monthly for 6 months. The mean vitamin D level in 169 patients was 21.73 ± 20.27 ng/mL. As well, 62.7% had vitamin D levels less than 30 ng/mL. Following the six-month intervention, mean vitamin D levels elevated significantly from 17.03 ± 7.4 to 42.8 ± 16.9 ng/mL (P < .0001). In this study, the incidence rate of vitamin D deficiency was 62.7%, lower than that in previous research in patients undergoing chronic HD. Vitamin D3 administration at lower doses than healthy people could significantly increase vitamin D level.
An exploration of police discretion in the identification of child victims of county lines drug trafficking

ABSTRACT In recent years, children’s involvement in County Lines drug trafficking (CL) has been of increasing concern to national government, the police and safeguarding agencies. However, few studies have explored how child victims of county lines are identified by the police. This exploratory research study provides insights into the police decision-making process for identifying child victims of CL. Interviews with eight police officers from three police forces in South England were conducted to understand how they came to recognise children involved in CL as victims and in turn, how this related to decisions to refer children into the UK’s formal victim-identification system – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The research found decisions to recognise children as victims and later refer them into the NRM varied amongst the police officers in the sample. This was because officers had different understandings of what constitutes modern slavery, considered different factors in their decisions about signs of exploitation, displayed varying attitudes towards children involved in CL and viewed their duties in CL cases differently to one another. The research also identifies various barriers in the process of victim-identification. The most significant barrier appeared to be the over-reliance on victim accounts, compounded by the inability of children to disclose exploitation. The notion that children involved in CL may have experienced differing levels of exploitation and display varying levels of willingness to facilitate CL drug dealing, further complicated understandings of what constitutes a victim and in turn an NRM referral.
An improved method for determining link weights for optimising OSPF routing

A method for determining OSPF link weights is presented. The objective is to minimize network congestion using a limited number of weight changes from an original set of weights. Our solution indicates that generally, for networks with few congested links, the network performance may be significantly improved with weight changes to just a few links. This method is very useful for autonomous system operators to improve the network performance in response to growing or changed traffic demands without necessarily having to upgrade the network resources.
Modeling Geometrical Mysteries of Cafe Wall illusions

This paper explores the tilt illusion effect in the Café Wall pattern using a classical Gaussian Receptive Field model. In this illusion, the mortar lines are misperceived as diverging or converging rather than horizontal. We examine the capability of a simple bioplausible filtering model to recognize different degrees of tilt effect in the Café Wall illusion based on different characteristics of the pattern. Our study employed a Difference of Gaussians model of retinal to cortical “ON” center and/or “OFF” center receptive fields. A wide range of parameters of the stimulus, for example mortar’s thickness, brightness, tile contrast, phase of the tile displacement, have been studied. Our model constructs a multiple scale edge map representation that reveals tilt cues and clues involved in the illusory perception of the Café Wall pattern. We will show here that our model not only can detect the tilt in this pattern, but also can predict the strength of the illusion and quantify the degree of tilt. The results of our simulations are consistent with previous psychophysical findings across the full range of Café Wall variations tested. Our results also suggest that the Difference of Gaussian mechanism is the heart of the effects explained by, and the mechanisms proposed by the Irradiation, Brightness Induction, and Band-pass filtering models.
Efficacy of eco-friendly insecticides against yellow stem borer under spring rice crop ecosystem of Saptari district, Nepal

The study aimed to assess the effectiveness of eco-friendly insecticides in controlling yellow stem borer in spring rice crops of Hardinath-1 variety in Saptari district, Nepal. For this experiment, a Randomized Block Design was used with seven different treatments and an untreated control group. The treatments tested included Bacillus thuringiensis var kurtaski, Beauveria bassiana, Azadiractin 2.00%, garlic extract, tobacco extract, larvosin, and an untreated plot. The plots used were 3 × 4 meters in size and the plants were spaced 20 centimeters apart in both rows and between plants. The crop was sprayed twice, once during the vegetative stage and once during the reproductive stage, when the pest population reached a certain level. The incidence of dead heart was observed on ten randomly selected hills from each plot before and after the insecticide application, and observations on yellow stem borer incidence were recorded. Results showed that B. thuringiensis var kurtaski had the lowest dead heart infestation (0.4889%) and the minimum white head infestation (0.367%), as well as the highest mean yield (5.755mt/ha). Neembicide and B. bassiana also showed promising results.