Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dirty Jobs: The Role of Freelance Labor in Web Service Abuse

Modern Web services inevitably engender abuse, as attackers find ways to exploit a service and its user base. However, while defending against such abuse is generally considered a technical endeavor, we argue that there is an increasing role played by human labor markets. Using over seven years of data from the popular crowd-sourcing site Freelancer.com, as well data from our own active job solicitations, we characterize the labor market involved in service abuse. We identify the largest classes of abuse work, including account creation, social networking link generation and search engine optimization support, and characterize how pricing and demand have evolved in supporting this activity.
A Polynomial Time Algorithm for Lossy Population Recovery

We give a polynomial time algorithm for the lossy population recovery problem. In this problem, the goal is to approximately learn an unknown distribution on binary strings of length n from lossy samples: for some parameter &mu; each coordinate of the sample is preserved with probability &mu; and otherwise is replaced by a `? '. The running time and number of samples needed for our algorithm is polynomial in n and 1/&epsi; for each fixed &mu;>0. This improves on algorithm of Wigderson and Yehudayoff that runs in quasi-polynomial time for any &mu; > 0 and the polynomial time algorithm of Dvir et al which was shown to work for &mu; > rapprox 0.30 by Batman et al. In fact, our algorithm also works in the more general framework of Batman et al. in which there is no a priori bound on the size of the support of the distribution. The algorithm we analyze is implicit in previous work; our main contribution is to analyze the algorithm by showing (via linear programming duality and connections to complex analysis) that a certain matrix associated with the problem has a robust local inverse even though its condition number is exponentially small. A corollary of our result is the first polynomial time algorithm for learning DNFs in the restriction access model of Dvir et al [9].
Bayesian Stable Mixture Model of State Densities of Generalized Chua's Circuit

In this paper, the probability density functions (PDFs) of the states of Generalized Chua's Circuit (GCC) have been modeled by Finite Mixture α-Stable (FMαS) distributions which is a Bayesian mixture model of α-stable distributions and it provides semiparametric characterization for the distributions of multiscroll chaotic attractors. Fully Bayesian approach has been applied to estimate the mixture parameters of multimodal distributions corresponding to the multiscroll chaotic attractors.
CYP2D6 worldwide genetic variation shows high frequency of altered activity variants and no continental structure

Background and objective CYP2D6, a member of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, is responsible for the metabolism of about 25% of the commonly prescribed drugs. Its activity ranges from complete deficiency to excessive activity, potentially causing toxicity of medication or therapeutic failure with recommended drug dosages. This study aimed to describe the CYP2D6 diversity at the global level. Methods A total of 1060 individuals belonging to 52 worldwide-distributed populations were genotyped at 12 highly informative variable sites, as well as for gene deletion and duplications. Phenotypes were predicted on the basis of haplotype combinations. Results and conclusions Our study shows that (i) CYP2D6 diversity is far greater within than between populations and groups thereof, (ii) null or low-activity variants occur at high frequencies in various areas of the world, (iii) linkage disequilibrium is lowest in Africa and highest in the Americas. Patterns of variation, within and among populations, are similar to those observed for other autosomal markers (e.g. microsatellites and protein polymorphisms), suggesting that the diversity observed at the CYP2D6 locus reflects the same factors affecting variation at random genome markers.
Cooperative Control of Multiple Biomimetic Robotic Fish

There has been a spurt of interest in recent years in the area of group coordination and cooperative control among different research communities, involving biology, robotics, artificial intelligence, advanced control, sensor network, etc (Ogren et al., 2004; Kumar et al., 2005; Pettersen et al., 2006). As we know, fish shoals, bird flocks, etc exhibit typical aggregation behaviours, in which collective motions are employed to achieve useful tasks, e.g., avoiding predators, capturing prey, and breeding offspring. Similarly, when coordinating in unstructured or dynamic environments, it is possible that a team of relatively simple and cheap agents are capable of accomplishing complex tasks that exceed the capabilities of one single agent. In the robotic context, multi-robot systems presenting as distributed solutions have advantages such as increasing robustness to unexpected disturbances, fault-tolerance, thanks to redundancy, self-adaptation, and self-organization. Thus, applications of multi-robot systems are associated with a large group of autonomously functioning vehicles in the air, on land or sea or underwater, to jointly perform tasks such as demining operations, environmental surveillance, object transportation, search and rescue, and so forth (Kumar et al., 2002; Rabbath et al., 2007 ; Wang et al., 2007 ; Zhang et al., 2007). Rapidly growing interests in cooperation and coordination of multi-robot systems have brought a lot of real-world applications as stated above. However, most significant efforts are devoted to ground and air based cooperation issues, and cooperative studies on underwater or surface vehicle are relatively few and immature (Rabbath et al., 2007). In particular, research on a group of robotic fish has not yet been implemented. The primary objective of this chapter is to build an artifical multi-fish system mimicking cooperative mechanism of fish flock, which provides a platform to test and verify the algorithms and strategies for cooperation of multiple underwater robots. Although the topic of underwater biorobotics is not new, and there is a long history, the selfpropelled, fish-like robots were indeed created in the 1990s (Triantafyllou & Triantafyllou, 1995; Triantafillou et al., 2004; Lauder et al., 2007a). The fish-like robot, i.e., robotic fish, as a marriage of biomechanism with engineering technology, is a cross-disciplinary subject O pe n A cc es s D at ab as e w w w . in te hw eb . c om
A continuation‐based task programming model for C++: design of the Causeway library

There is a big class of problems that requires writing programs in an asynchronous manner. Cloud computing, service‐oriented architectures, multi‐core and heterogeneous systems all require programs to be written with asynchronous components. The necessity of concurrency and asynchronous execution brings in the added complexity of the inversion of control into the system, either through message passing or through event processing. In this paper, we introduce explicit programming language support for asynchronous programming that completely hides inversion of control. The presented programming model defines a common abstraction of the different types of tasks, both synchronous and asynchronous. It defines common imperative control constructs equivalent to those of the host programming language, along with a few more advanced ones for transactional and parallel execution that can universally work for any task type. It allows the programmer to implement the logic of an asynchronous system in a natural way by writing simple, seemingly, synchronous imperative code. We will show that the programs written using this approach are easier to understand by programmers. They are also easier to design automated tests for, and for performing computer‐based static analysis of the program logic. The principles behind this approach were tested in a couple of real‐world systems with worldwide user base. Our experience shows that it makes the complex code with a lot of interdependencies between asynchronously executed tasks easy to write and reason about. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Detecting E-mail Spam Using Spam Word Associations

— Now-a-days, mailbox management has become a big task. A large proportion of the emails we receive are spam. These unwanted emails clog the inbox and are very ubiquitous. Here, a new technique for spam detection is presented that makes use of clustering and association rules generated by the Apriori algorithm. Vector space notation is used to represent the emails. The results obtained from experiments conducted on the ling-spam dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Programmable neural logic

Circuits of threshold elements (Boolean input, Boolean output neurons) have been shown to be surprisingly powerful. Useful functions such as XOR, ADD and MULTIPLY can be implemented by such circuits more efficiently than by traditional AND/OR circuits. In view of that, we have designed and built a programmable threshold element. The weights are stored on polysilicon floating gates, providing long-term retention without refresh. The weight value is increased using tunneling and decreased via hot electron injection. A weight is stored on a single transistor allowing the development of dense arrays of threshold elements. A 16-input programmable neuron was fabricated in the standard 2 μm double-poly, analog process available from MOSIS. We also designed and fabricated the multiple threshold element introduced in [5]. It presents the advantage of reducing the area of the layout from O(n2) to O(n), (n being the number of variables) for a broad class of Boolean functions, in particular symmetric Boolean functions such as PARITY. A long term goal of this research is to incorporate programmable single/multiple threshold elements, as building blocks in field programmable gate arrays.
Infection of red foxes with Echinococcus multilocularis in western Switzerland

Abstract In the Jura mountains, Plateau and Alps of western Switzerland important variations in the prevalence of Echinococcus multilocularis infection in red foxes were observed between geographical areas from 1990 to 1995. The Jura mountains and the Plateau had higher mean prevalence levels than the Alps with 30.6, 32.4 and 18.8%, respectively. The highest rate was recorded in the Plateau in the canton of Fribourg with a prevalence of 52.3%. The prevalence of E. multilocularis infection in foxes in the alpine canton of Valais was the lowest (7.1%). Juvenile foxes were found to be more susceptible to E. multilocularis than adults. Adult foxes were less heavily infected in summer and autumn, while the prevalence in juveniles (less than 1 year old) increased between the spring and winter, when they are more than 6 months old. The retrospective data relate to the beginning of the 1990s, since when a drastic prevalence increase of E. multilocularis infection in foxes has occurred in several regions of Europe. Nevertheless, the study is a major contribution to the epidemiological situation of E. multilocularis in central Europe, in that it contains valuable information on spatial distribution and seasonal differences in different age groups of foxes.
A Testbed for Examining the Timing of Feedback using a Map Task

In this paper, we present a fully automated spoken dialogue sys-tem that can perform the Map Task with a user. By implementing a trick, the system can convincingly act as an attentive listener, without any speech recognition. An initial study is presented where we let users interact with the system and recorded the interactions. Using this data, we have then trained a Support Vector Machine on the task of identifying appropriate locations to give feedback, based on automatically extractable prosodic and contextual features. 200 ms after the end of the user’s speech, the model may identify response locations with an accuracy of 75%, as compared to a baseline of 56.3%.
Designing Intelligence Augmentation System with a Semiotic-Oriented Software Development Process

In this paper, the authors describe the first steps of a semiotic-oriented software development process called "Brainmerge" [1], and present a case study where the process is used to coordinate the steps required for the design of a locomotive and car assignment system, modeled as an Intelligence Augmentation Systems (IAS). IAS represent an extension of Decision Support Systems (DSS) [2] with the use of Peircean semiotics [4], intelligence augmentation techniques [3], computational agents [5] and usually dynamic decision making processes (DDMP). IAS are suitable for DDMP Traditional software methodologies are usually inefficient when dealing with IAS, and our methodology aims at fulfilling these shortcomings. This work considers the resolution of a real world problem of tactical planning in railroads where such DDMP play a key role.
Lack of an association of apolipoprotein E gene polymorphisms with familial age-related macular degeneration.

BACKGROUND Previously, the epsilon 4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) was reported to have a significant association with a decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In addition, the epsilon 2 allele of APOE was reported to be possibly associated with an increased risk of AMD. OBJECTIVE To determine if APOE polymorphisms, previously reported to be associated with AMD, affect its expression in medium to large families, as well as in unrelated patients with AMD. METHODS The APOE genotype was determined by HhaI restriction digests of polymerase chain reaction-amplified products in a collection of 259 affected and 207 unaffected individuals from 56 AMD families. Genotypes were determined similarly in a set of 104 unrelated AMD patients and in 113 unaffected control subjects. Diagnosis of AMD was based on clinical examination and evaluation of fundus photographs. Evidence of an association between alleles of APOE and AMD in families was tested by the following 4 statistical methods: chi2 analysis of simple allele counting, logistic regression analysis adjusting for age, construction of likelihood ratios of haplotype frequencies, and the pedigree disequilibrium test. RESULTS None of the statistical methods used showed a significant association between the common alleles of APOE and AMD in our collection of families or in the set of unrelated AMD patients. CONCLUSIONS No evidence was found to support an association between AMD in medium to large families and the epsilon 4 or epsilon 2 alleles of APOE. Neither was any evidence found for an association of APOE polymorphisms with the set of unrelated patients with AMD. However, a trend for a decreased risk of AMD associated with APOE epsilon 4 was observed in the set of unrelated patients with a family history of AMD.
The Transcription Factor ABI4 Is Required for the Ascorbic Acid–Dependent Regulation of Growth and Regulation of Jasmonate-Dependent Defense Signaling Pathways in Arabidopsis[C][W]

This work demonstrates that low ascorbate triggers abscisic acid-, salicylic acid-, and jasmonate-dependent signaling pathways in leaves that together regulate plant growth and defense responses. It provides insights into how cellular redox state regulates the expression of transcription factors and controls plant growth. Cellular redox homeostasis is a hub for signal integration. Interactions between redox metabolism and the ABSCISIC ACID-INSENSITIVE-4 (ABI4) transcription factor were characterized in the Arabidopsis thaliana vitamin c defective1 (vtc1) and vtc2 mutants, which are defective in ascorbic acid synthesis and show a slow growth phenotype together with enhanced abscisic acid (ABA) levels relative to the wild type (Columbia-0). The 75% decrease in the leaf ascorbate pool in the vtc2 mutants was not sufficient to adversely affect GA metabolism. The transcriptome signatures of the abi4, vtc1, and vtc2 mutants showed significant overlap, with a large number of transcription factors or signaling components similarly repressed or induced. Moreover, lincomycin-dependent changes in LIGHT HARVESTING CHLOROPHYLL A/B BINDING PROTEIN 1.1 expression were comparable in these mutants, suggesting overlapping participation in chloroplast to nucleus signaling. The slow growth phenotype of vtc2 was absent in the abi4 vtc2 double mutant, as was the sugar-insensitive phenotype of the abi4 mutant. Octadecanoid derivative-responsive AP2/ERF-domain transcription factor 47 (ORA47) and AP3 (an ABI5 binding factor) transcripts were enhanced in vtc2 but repressed in abi4 vtc2, suggesting that ABI4 and ascorbate modulate growth and defense gene expression through jasmonate signaling. We conclude that low ascorbate triggers ABA- and jasmonate-dependent signaling pathways that together regulate growth through ABI4. Moreover, cellular redox homeostasis exerts a strong influence on sugar-dependent growth regulation.
Liver-Specific Disruption of the Murine Glucagon Receptor Produces α-Cell Hyperplasia

Glucagon is a critical regulator of glucose homeostasis; however, mechanisms regulating glucagon action and α-cell function and number are incompletely understood. To elucidate the role of the hepatic glucagon receptor (Gcgr) in glucagon action, we generated mice with hepatocyte-specific deletion of the glucagon receptor. GcgrHep−/− mice exhibited reductions in fasting blood glucose and improvements in insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance compared with wild-type controls, similar in magnitude to changes observed in Gcgr−/− mice. Despite preservation of islet Gcgr signaling, GcgrHep−/− mice developed hyperglucagonemia and α-cell hyperplasia. To investigate mechanisms by which signaling through the Gcgr regulates α-cell mass, wild-type islets were transplanted into Gcgr−/− or GcgrHep−/− mice. Wild-type islets beneath the renal capsule of Gcgr−/− or GcgrHep−/− mice exhibited an increased rate of α-cell proliferation and expansion of α-cell area, consistent with changes exhibited by endogenous α-cells in Gcgr−/− and GcgrHep−/− pancreata. These results suggest that a circulating factor generated after disruption of hepatic Gcgr signaling can increase α-cell proliferation independent of direct pancreatic input. Identification of novel factors regulating α-cell proliferation and mass may facilitate the generation and expansion of α-cells for transdifferentiation into β-cells and the treatment of diabetes.
Diffusion of “Following” Links in Microblogging Networks

When a “following” link is formed in a social network, will the link trigger the formation of other neighboring links? We study the diffusion phenomenon of the formation of “following” links by proposing a model to describe this link diffusion process. To estimate the diffusion strength between different links, we first conduct an analysis on the diffusion effect in 24 triadic structures and find evident patterns that facilitate the effect. We then learn the diffusion strength in different triadic structures by maximizing an objective function based on the proposed model. The learned diffusion strength is evaluated through the task of link prediction and utilized to improve the applications of follower maximization and followee recommendation, which are specific instances of influence maximization. Our experimental results reveal that incorporating diffusion patterns can indeed lead to statistically significant improvements over the performance of several alternative methods, which demonstrates the effect of the discovered patterns and diffusion model.
Memory Bank Partitioning for Fixed-Priority Tasks in a Multi-core System

In a multi-core platform, resources, such as memory banks and buses, are mostly shared among all cores for power, performance, and cost reasons. The access interference on the shared resources poses a major challenge on the analysis of real-time properties, but can be alleviated if task data partition onto memory banks is applied with care. In this paper, we consider to schedule RAS (resource access sporadic) tasks onto a platform consisting of homogeneous cores and capacity-limited memory banks. According to our observation, we should avoid internal data spreading among the memory banks for a task while advocate external data spreading among memory banks for a given task set. We propose a two-phase algorithm with (4 + ρ + 3(2γ+1)/γ) speedup factor and (γ + 1) memory augmentation factor, where ρ γ 0 and ρ ≥ 1. The derived adjustable resource augmentation factors can be useful in terms of system synthesis and schedulability. Moreover, under the premise that a given task set is feasible, we devise a bi-section approach that can derive a schedulable solution requiring the least amount of memory augmentation. According to our experiment results, the proposed algorithm significantly outperformed the state-of-the-art algorithm [15] in terms of schedulability test even when memory augmentation is prohibited.
On the Use of Modular Routers for Implementing Multicast Communications in Hybrid Ad hoc Networks

Current solutions for the specific problem of IP Multicast inter-working between IP access networks and wireless and mobile ad hoc networks are not able to work with standard IP multicast routers. We propose the MMARP protocol which is able to provide a smooth interoperation without an impairment in the overall per- formance. Modular routers are arousing a great interest, although some people have concerns regarding their performance. We show by comparing a C++ and a Click- based implementation of the MMARP protocol the validity of our proposal as well as the benefits of using modular routers to easily implement ad hoc routing protocols without any reduction in the protocol's performance.
IT Impact on Management Education Using the Case Method

Information technology (IT) has become rapidly accepted as a complement or substitute of the traditional learning setting, hence challenging Management education. This research examines the impact of IT platforms on Management education using the case method. We theorize that traditional learning platforms may enable instructors to engage students to increase learning performance, which in turn leads to a greater student satisfaction. Social media applications (i.e., social media for teaching activities) may amplify the relationships between traditional learning platforms, student engagement, learning performance, and student satisfaction. Using the variance-structural equation modeling technique, and the partial least squares method of estimation on a combination of survey and secondary data from 94 Spanish students from a Management course, the empirical analysis gives support to our theory.
Genome Sequence of Salegentibacter salarius KCTC 12974, Isolated from a Marine Solar Saltern of the Yellow Sea in South Korea

ABSTRACT Salegentibacter salarius KCTC 12974 is isolated from a marine solar saltern of the Yellow Sea in South Korea. Here, we report the draft genome sequence of Salegentibacter salarius KCTC 12974. Various glycoside hydrolase genes in even numbers in the genome reflect the ecological adaption of KCTC 12974 to its habitat.
Monte-Carlo Tree Search: To MC or to DP?

State-of-the-art Monte-Carlo tree search algorithms can be parametrized with any of the two information updating procedures: MC-backup and DP-backup. The dynamics of these two procedures is very different, and so far, their relative pros and cons have been poorly understood. Formally analyzing the dependency of MC-and DP-backups on various MDP parameters, we reveal numerous important issues that get hidden by the worst-case bounds on the algorithm performance, and reconfirm these findings by a systematic experimental test.