Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Side-channel plaintext-recovery attacks on leakage-resilient encryption

Differential power analysis (DPA) is a powerful tool to extract the key of a cryptographic implementation from observing its power consumption during the en-/decryption of many different inputs. Therefore, cryptographic schemes based on frequent re-keying such as leakage-resilient encryption aim to inherently prevent DPA on the secret key by limiting the amount of data being processed under one key. However, the original asset of encryption, namely the plaintext, is disregarded. This paper builds on this observation and shows that the re-keying countermeasure does not only protect the secret key, but also induces another DPA vulnerability that allows for plaintext recovery. Namely, the frequent re-keying in leakage-resilient streaming modes causes constant plaintexts to be attackable through first-order DPA. Similarly, constant plaintexts can be revealed from re-keyed block ciphers using templates in a second-order DPA. Such plaintext recovery is particularly critical whenever long-term key material is encrypted and thus leaked. Besides leakage-resilient encryption, the presented attacks are also relevant for a wide range of other applications in practice that implicitly use re-keying, such as multi-party communication and memory encryption with random initialization for the key. Practical evaluations on both an FPGA and a microcontroller support the feasibility of the attacks and thus suggest the use of cryptographic implementations protected by mechanisms like masking in scenarios that require data encryption with multiple keys.
Cloning and characterization of a Rhizobium meliloti homolog of the Escherichia coli cell division gene ftsZ

The ftsZ gene is essential for initiation of cell division in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. To begin our studies of division arrest during differentiation of Rhizobium meliloti bacteroids, we isolated a R. meliloti ftsZ homolog, ftsZRm. Degenerate primers directed towards a conserved region of ftsZ were used to amplify a segment of R. meliloti DNA by polymerase chain reaction, and the product of this reaction was then used to isolate positive clones from a bacteriophage library. The DNA sequence of an open reading frame containing the region of homology indicated that the R. meliloti FtsZ protein (FtsZRm) is 50% homologous to the known E. coli and B. subtilis FtsZ proteins, but at 590 amino acids (63 kDa), it is predicted to be nearly 50% larger. Strong expression of an approximately 70-kDa labeled protein in a coupled in vitro transcription-translation system supports this prediction. The additional 200 amino acids appear to fall in a single internal domain highly enriched for proline and glutamine residues. When we regulated R. meliloti ftsZ (ftsZRm) expression on a high-copy-number plasmid in E. coli with Plac and laclq, cells were smaller than normal in the presence of low FtsZRm levels (with no isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside [IPTG]) and filamentous when FtsZRm was overproduced (with IPTG). These results suggest that low levels of FtsZRm stimulate E. coli cell division, while high levels may be inhibitory.
Impact of Soil Moisture Dynamics on ASAR σo Signatures and Its Spatial Variability Observed over the Tibetan Plateau

This paper reports on the analysis of a 2.5 year-long time series of ASAR wide swath mode (WSM) observations for characterizing the soil moisture dynamics. The employed ASAR WSM data set consists of 152 VV-polarized scenes acquired in the period between April 2005 and September 2007 over the Naqu river basin located on the Tibetan Plateau. For four different spatial domains, with areas of 30×30 km2, 5×5 km2 and (two domains of) 1×1 km2, the mean backscatter (σo) and the standard deviation (stdev) have been computed for each ASAR acquisition. Comparison of the mean σo values with the stdev values results in a specific triangular distribution of data points for all spatial domains. Analysis of the mean σo and stdev with respect to in-situ soil moisture measurements demonstrates that this triangular shaped distribution can be explained by soil moisture dynamics during monsoon and winter periods. This shows that the relationship between the spatial mean soil moisture and variability is not uniquely defined and may change throughout seasons. Downscaling of coarse resolution soil moisture products should, therefore, be ideally based on additional near real time data sources. In this context, the presented results could form a basis for the development of SAR-based soil moisture downscaling methodologies.
Arbitrage Asymmetry and the Idiosyncratic Volatility Puzzle

Many investors purchase stock but are reluctant or unable to sell short. Combining this arbitrage asymmetry with the arbitrage risk represented by idiosyncratic volatility (IVOL) explains the negative relation between IVOL and average return. The IVOL-return relation is negative among overpriced stocks but positive among underpriced stocks, with mispricing determined by combining 11 return anomalies. Consistent with arbitrage asymmetry, the negative relation among overpriced stocks is stronger, especially for stocks less easily shorted, so the overall IVOL-return relation is negative. Further supporting our explanation, high investor sentiment weakens the positive relation among underpriced stocks and, especially, strengthens the negative relation among overpriced stocks.
An embryonic story: Analysis of the gene regulative network controlling Xist expression in mouse embryonic stem cells

In mice, dosage compensation of X‐linked gene expression is achieved through the inactivation of one of the two X‐chromosomes in XX female cells. The complex epigenetic process leading to X‐inactivation is largely controlled by Xist and Tsix, two non‐coding genes of opposing function. Xist RNA triggers X‐inactivation by coating the inactive X, while Tsix is critical for the designation of the active X‐chromosome through cis‐repression of Xist RNA accumulation. Recently, a plethora of trans‐acting factors and cis‐regulating elements have been suggested to act as key regulators of either Xist, Tsix or both; these include ubiquitous factors such as Yy1 and Ctcf, developmental proteins such as Nanog, Oct4 and Sox2, and X‐linked regulators such as Rnf12. In this paper we summarise recent advances in our knowledge of the regulation of Xist and Tsix in embryonic stem (ES) and differentiating ES cells.
Fast and Effective Retrieval of Medical Tumor Shapes

Investigates the problem of retrieving similar shapes from a large database; in particular, we focus on medical tumor shapes (finding tumors that are similar to a given pattern). We use a natural similarity function for shape matching, based on concepts from mathematical morphology, and we show how it can be lower-bounded by a set of shape features for safely pruning candidates, thus giving fast and correct output. These features can be organized in a spatial access method, leading to fast indexing for range queries and nearest-neighbor queries. In addition to the lower-bounding, our second contribution is the design of a fast algorithm for nearest-neighbor searching, achieving significant speedup while provably guaranteeing correctness. Our experiments demonstrate that roughly 90% of the candidates can be pruned using these techniques, resulting in up to 27 times better performance compared to sequential scanning.
Interaction of acid ceramidase inhibitor LCL521 with tumor response to photodynamic therapy and photodynamic therapy‐generated vaccine

Acid ceramidase has been identified as a promising target for cancer therapy. One of its most effective inhibitors, LCL521, was examined as adjuvant to photodynamic therapy (PDT) using mouse squamous cell carcinoma SCCVII model of head and neck cancer. Lethal effects of PDT, assessed by colony forming ability of in vitro treated SCCVII cells, were greatly enhanced when combined with 10 µM LCL521 treatment particularly when preceding PDT. When PDT‐treated SCCVII cells are used to vaccinate SCCVII tumor‐bearing mice (PDT vaccine protocol), adjuvant LCL521 treatment (75 mg/kg) resulted in a marked retardation of tumor growth. This effect can be attributed to the capacity of LCL521 to effectively restrict the activity of two main immunoregulatory cell populations (Tregs and myeloid‐derived suppressor cells, MDSCs) that are known to hinder the efficacy of PDT vaccines. The therapeutic benefit with adjuvant LCL521 was also achieved with SCCVII tumors treated with standard PDT when using immunocompetent mice but not with immunodeficient hosts. The interaction of LCL521 with PDT‐based antitumor mechanisms is dominated by immune system contribution that includes overriding the effects of immunoregulatory cells, but could also include a tacit contribution from boosting direct tumor cell kill.
TRANSMISSION OF ATTACHMENT ACROSS THREE GENERATIONS

Bowlby (1969/1982) suggested that internal working models are dynamic mental processes that influence an individual’s affect, behaviour, and perceptions of the self, others, and relationships. He also proposed that working models are stable within individuals and across generations. A major breakthrough in attachment research was the development of ways to “measure” a) working models of attachment in infants, using the Strange Situation (SS) and b) states of mind with respect to attachment in adults, using the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI).
False discovery control with p-value weighting

We present a method for multiple hypothesis testing that maintains control of the false discovery rate while incorporating prior information about the hypotheses. The prior information takes the form of p-value weights. If the assignment of weights is positively associated with the null hypotheses being false, the procedure improves power, except in cases where power is already near one. Even if the assignment of weights is poor, power is only reduced slightly, as long as the weights are not too large. We also provide a similar method for controlling false discovery exceedance. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Teachers’ attitudes toward assessment of student learning and teacher assessment practices in general educational institutions: The case of Georgia

The aim of this article is to study teachers’ attitudes toward assessment of students’ learning and their assessment practices in Georgia’s general educational institutions. Georgia is a country in the South Caucasus with a population of 4.5 million people, with 2300 general educational institutions and about 559,400 students. The research included 106 schools, 928 surveyed teachers, and 292 observed classes. Overall, teachers have positive attitudes toward using assessment methods that require cognitive complexity from students as well as asking questions that require higher level reasoning to answer. Although teachers’ attitudes are related to their willingness toward using such assessment approaches in their classes to some extent, this research reveals the lack of correspondence between teachers’ attitudes and their assessment practices. Cognitive complexity is not often emphasized in classroom practice.
EFFECT OF VARYING INTAKE OF PROTEIN AND SALTS ON THE COMPOSITION AND SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF URINE.

It has been shown in a previous paper (1) that the specific gravity of urine is a simple additive function of the concentrations of the individual solutes. By the use of appropriate factors, the specific gravity " pattern," i.e., the fraction of the specific gravity accounted for by each of the constituents of the urine, may be calculated when the composition is known. In urine from subjects on a standard 40 or 50 gram protein diet, urea accounted for 15 to 20 per cent, chloride for 25 to 30 per cent, sulfate and phosphate together for 15 to 25 per cent, bicarbonate for 1 to 5 per cent, and creatinine for 1 to 2 per cent of the observed specific gravity. On a 100 or 110 gram protein diet, urea, sulfate, and phosphate made a slightly greater contribution to the specific gravity. On the lower protein diet, 70 to 80 per cent, and on the higher protein diet, 80 to 90 per cent of the specific gravity could be accounted for by the substances determined (urea, creatinine, inorganic salts, and ammonia). The undetermined fraction of specific gravity made up 10 to 30 per cent of the observed value and, in the same urines, the excretion of undetermined solids amounted to 9 to 15 grams daily, which was 10 to 30 per cent of the total solids. The undetermined solids were organic substances, about one-half being organic acids, and the daily excretion increased only slightly when the protein intake was more than doubled. The specific gravity pattern observed in this previous study was remarkably constant, presumably attributable to the fact that the subjects were on relatively uniform diets, particularly with regard to protein and salt intake. The present study is an extension of this investigation to include the effect of free choice of diet, the influence of specific dietary factors, and the ability of the kidney to vary the composition and specific gravity pattern of urine under ex-
A Role for Acidic Residues in Di-leucine Motif-based Targeting to the Endocytic Pathway (*)

Recent reports have suggested that major histocompatibility complex class II molecules load peptide through a specialized compartment of the endocytic pathway and are targeted to this pathway by association with invariant chain (Iip31). Therefore we used a site-directed mutagenesis approach to determine whether Iip31 possesses novel protein targeting signals. Our results indicate that two di-leucine-like pairs mediate Iip31 targeting and that an acidic amino acid residue four or five residues N-terminal to each Iip31 di-leucine-like pair is required for endocytic targeting. Results from additional testing with hybrid Iip31 molecules indicate that the acidic residues N-terminal to di-leucine pairs are critical for accumulation of these molecules in large endocytic vesicles and in some cases provide a structure favorable for internalization. The acidic residues N-terminal to di-leucine pairs are important in some sequence contexts in providing a structure favorable for internalization, whereas in other contexts an acidic residue is critical for targeting to, and formation of, large endocytic vesicles. Although our results do not support the idea that Iip31 possesses unique protein targeting motifs, they do suggest that di-leucine motifs may be recognized as part of a larger secondary structure. In addition, our data imply that the targeting motif requirements for internalization may differ from the requirements for further transport in the endocytic pathway.
Distributed coverage with multi-robot system

In this paper, we proposed an improved algorithm for the multi-robot complete coverage problem. Real world applications such as lawn mowing, chemical spill clean-up, and humanitarian de-mining can be automated by the employment of a team of autonomous mobile robots. Our approach builds on a single robot coverage algorithm, Boustrophedon decomposition. The robots are initially distributed through space and each robot is allocated a virtually bounded area to cover. The area is decomposed into cells where each cell width is fixed. The decomposed area is represented using an adjacency graph, which is incrementally constructed and shared among all the robots. Communication between the robots is available without any restrictions. Experiments on both simulated and physical hardware demonstrated the viability of employing the algorithm to perform distributed coverage of a given unknown area with multiple robots
Chloramphenicol encapsulated in poly-ε-caprolactone–pluronic composite: nanoparticles for treatment of MRSA-infected burn wounds

The emergence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection has increased precipitously over the past several decades, with far-reaching health care and societal costs. MRSA infections in the context of burn wounds lead to invasive disease that could potentially cause mortality. Chloramphenicol is a well-known broad-spectrum bacteriostatic antibiotic that has been used since 1949, but due to its hydrophobicity, poor penetration in skin, fast degradation, and toxicity, its application has been hindered. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that old antibiotics such as chloramphenicol remained active against a large number of currently prevalent resistant bacterial isolates due to their low-level use in the past. Recently, the novel nanoparticulate drug-delivery system has been used and reported to be exceptionally useful for topical therapeutics, due to its distinctive physical characteristics such as a high surface-to-volume ratio and minuscule size. It helps to achieve better hydrophilicity, bioavailability, and controlled delivery with enhanced therapeutic index, which has resulted in decreased toxicity levels compared to the crude drug. Here, we report a novel chloramphenicol loaded with poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL)-pluronic composite nanoparticles (CAM-PCL-P NPs), physicochemical characterizations, and its bioactivity evaluation in a MRSA-infected burn-wound animal model. CAM-PCL-P NPs could encapsulate 98.3% of the drug in the nanoparticles and release 81% of the encapsulated drug over 36 days with a time to 50% drug release of 72 hours (51%). Nanoparticle suspensions maintained the initial properties with respect to size and encapsulation efficiency, even after 6 months of storage at 4°C and 25°C, respectively (P>0.05). Significant reduction in the level of toxicity was observed for CAM-PCL-P NPs compared with that of free drug as confirmed from hemolytic activity against human blood erythrocytes and cytotoxicity assay against an MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. In vitro antibacterial activities were performed by zone of inhibition, minimum inhibitory concentrations, minimum bacterial concentration, and time-kill assays, which showed that CAM-PCL-P NPs exhibited significantly enhanced anti-MRSA activity against ten clinical isolates of MRSA strains. The augmented activity of CAM-PCL-P NPs was further tested on a MRSA-infected burn-wound animal model and achieved quicker efficacy in MRSA clearance and improved the survival rate compared with free-chloramphenicol treatment. Thus, we propose CAM-PCL-P NPs as a promising novel antimicrobial candidate that may have a good potential for preclinical applications.
Lumbar Intraspinal Injection of Neural Stem Cells in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Results of a Phase I Trial in 12 Patients

Advances in stem cell biology have generated intense interest in the prospect of transplanting stem cells into the nervous system for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we report the results of an ongoing phase I trial of intraspinal injections of fetal‐derived neural stems cells in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This is a first‐in‐human clinical trial with the goal of assessing the safety and tolerability of the surgical procedure, the introduction of stem cells into the spinal cord, and the use of immunosuppressant drugs in this patient population. Twelve patients received either five unilateral or five bilateral (10 total) injections into the lumbar spinal cord at a dose of 100,000 cells per injection. All patients tolerated the treatment without any long‐term complications related to either the surgical procedure or the implantation of stem cells. Clinical assessments ranging from 6 to 18 months after transplantation demonstrated no evidence of acceleration of disease progression due to the intervention. One patient has shown improvement in his clinical status, although these data must be interpreted with caution since this trial was neither designed nor powered to measure treatment efficacy. These results allow us to report success in achieving the phase I goal of demonstrating safety of this therapeutic approach. Based on these positive results, we can now advance this trial by testing intraspinal injections into the cervical spinal cord, with the goal of protecting motor neuron pools affecting respiratory function, which may prolong life for patients with ALS. STEM CELLS2012;30:1144–1151
Input-to-State Stabilizing Control Under Denial-of-Service

The issue of cyber-security has become ever more prevalent in the analysis and design of networked systems. In this paper, we analyze networked control systems in the presence of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks, namely attacks that prevent transmissions over the network. We characterize frequency and duration of the DoS attacks under which input-to-state stability (ISS) of the closed-loop system can be preserved. To achieve ISS, a suitable scheduling of the transmission times is determined. It is shown that the considered framework is flexible enough so as to allow the designer to choose from several implementation options that can be used for trading-off performance versus communication resources. Examples are given to substantiate the analysis.
Competitive algorithms for on-line problems

An on-line problem is one in which an algorithm must handle a sequence of requests, satisfying each request without knowledge of the future requests. Examples of on-line problems include scheduling the motion of elevators, finding routes in networks, allocating cache memory, and maintaining dynamic data structures. A competitive algorithm for an on-line problem has the property that its performance on any sequence of requests is within a constant factor of the performance of any other algorithm on the same sequence. This paper presents several general results concerning competitive algorithms, as well as results on specific on-line problems.
Generalized Value Iteration Networks: Life Beyond Lattices

In this paper, we introduce a generalized value iteration network (GVIN), which is an end-to-end neural network planning module. GVIN emulates the value iteration algorithm by using a novel graph convolution operator, which enables GVIN to learn and plan on irregular spatial graphs. We propose three novel differentiable kernels as graph convolution operators and show that the embedding-based kernel achieves the best performance. Furthermore, we present episodic Q-learning, an improvement upon traditional n-step Q-learning that stabilizes training for VIN and GVIN. Lastly, we evaluate GVIN on planning problems in 2D mazes, irregular graphs, and real-world street networks, showing that GVIN generalizes well for both arbitrary graphs and unseen graphs of larger scaleand outperforms a naive generalization of VIN (discretizing a spatial graph into a 2D image).
Formation and maintenance of high-nitrate, low pH layers in the eastern Indian Ocean and the role of nitrogen fixation

We investigated the biogeochemistry of low dissolved oxygen high-nitrate (LDOHN) layers forming against the backdrop of several interleaving regional water masses in the eastern Indian Ocean, off northwest Australia adjacent to Ningaloo Reef. These water masses, including the forming Leeuwin Current, have been shown directly to impact the ecological function of Ningaloo Reef and other iconic coastal habitats downstream. Our results indicate that LDOHN layers are formed from multiple subduction events of the Eastern Gyral Current beneath the Leeuwin Current (LC); the LC originates from both the Indonesian Throughflow and tropical Indian Ocean. Density differences of up to 0.025 kg m −3 between the Eastern Gyral Current and the Leeuwin Current produce sharp gradients that can trap high concentrations of particles (measured as low transmission) along the density interfaces. The oxidation of the trapped particulate matter results in local depletion of dissolved oxygen and regeneration of dissolved nitrate (nitrification). We document an associated increase in total dissolved carbon dioxide, which lowers the seawater pH by 0.04 units. Based on isotopic measurements ( δ 15 N and δ 18 O) of dissolved nitrate, we determine that ~ 40–100% of the nitrate found in LDOHN layers is likely to originate from nitrogen fixation, and that, regionally, the importance of N-fixation in contributing to LDOHN layers is likely to be highest at the surface and offshore.