Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secure the commodity applications against address exposure attacks

Remote server vulnerability exploit is one of the most troublesome threat to the Internet security. An effective defense against the remote vulnerability exploit is code randomization, which randomizes the program code address to disrupt the malicious payload execution. Unfortunately, code randomization is particularly susceptible to address exposure vulnerabilities; the leak of a single code or data pointer is often sufficient to de-randomize the protected process. Existing solutions either prevent part of the address exposures (e.g., code-pointer exposure only), or are too heavyweight (e.g., have to involve a hypervisor software or a modified OS kernel). In this paper, we propose AXIS that can provide existing code randomization techniques with a comprehensive protection against address exposure. AXIS first redirects the code pointers through an indirection table that is protected by the execute-no-read memory segment. During the load time, all static data will be relocated to random locations, which breaks the fixed offsets between code and data. We have implemented a prototype of AXIS with only a customized compiler and a pre-loaded library. Our experiments show that AXIS can successfully eliminate address exposure with a minimal performance overhead.
Design and Analysis of an Ultra Wideband Matrix Mixer

Ultra wideband matrix mixer using well known harmonic balance (HB) technique is analyzed. Matrix structure gives a suitable conversion gain. The proposed structure contains FET elements in each row and column, and causes an improved performance including conversion gain and output power. Mixer performance is analyzed in ultra wide band (UWB). The structure is used in UWB circuits and systems such as RFID cards.
Hunting for Disease Genes in Multi-Functional Diseases

Abstract Disease genes may be identified through functional, positional, and candidate gene approaches. Although extensive and often labor-intensive studies such as family linkage analysis, functional investigation of gene products and genome database searches are usually involved, thousands of human disease genes, especially for monogenic diseases with Mendelian transmission, have been identified. However, in diseases caused by more than one gene, or by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, identification of the genes is even more difficult. Common examples include atherosclerosis, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, asthma, diabetes, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration. There have been conflicting reports on the roles of associated genes. Even with population-based case-control studies and new statistical methods such as the sib-ship disequilibrium test and the discordant alleles test, there is no agreement on whether α2-macroglobulin (A2M) is a gene for Alzheimer's disease. Another example is the inconsistent association between age-related macular degeneration and ATP-binding cassette transporter (ABCR). Ethnic variation causes further complications. In our investigation of LDL-receptor variants in familial hypercholesterolemia, and the trabecular meshwork inducible glucocorticoid response protein, or myocillin (TIGR-MYOC) mutation pattern in primary open angle glaucoma, we did find dissimilar results in Chinese compared to Caucasians. New information from the Human Genome Project and advancements in technologies will aid the search for and confirm identification of disease genes despite such challenges.
Feature Detection in Radio Astronomy using the Circle Hough Transform

Abstract While automatic detection of point sources in astronomical images has experienced a great degree of success, less effort has been directed towards the detection of extended and low-surface-brightness features. At present, existing telescopes still rely on human expertise to reduce the raw data to usable images and then to analyse the images for non-pointlike objects. However, the next generation of radio telescopes will generate unprecedented volumes of data making manual data reduction and object extraction infeasible. Without developing new methods of automatic detection for extended and diffuse objects such as supernova remnants, bent-tailed galaxies, radio relics and halos, a wealth of scientifically important results will not be uncovered. In this paper we explore the response of the Circle Hough Transform to a representative sample of different extended circular or arc-like astronomical objects. We also examine the response of the Circle Hough Transform to input images containing noise alone and inputs including point sources.
Divergent metabolome and proteome suggest functional independence of dual phloem transport systems in cucurbits

Cucurbitaceous plants (cucurbits) have long been preferred models for studying phloem physiology. However, these species are unusual in that they possess two different phloem systems, one within the main vascular bundles [fascicular phloem (FP)] and another peripheral to the vascular bundles and scattered through stem and petiole cortex tissues [extrafascicular phloem (EFP)]. We have revisited the assumption that the sap released after shoot incision originates from the FP, and also investigated the long-standing question of why the sugar content of this sap is ~30-fold less than predicted for requirements of photosynthate delivery. Video microscopy and phloem labeling experiments unexpectedly reveal that FP very quickly becomes blocked upon cutting, whereas the extrafascicular phloem bleeds for extended periods. Thus, all cucurbit phloem sap studies to date have reported metabolite, protein, and RNA composition and transport in the relatively minor extrafascicular sieve tubes. Using tissue dissection and direct sampling of sieve tube contents, we show that FP in fact does contain up to 1 M sugars, in contrast to low-millimolar levels in the EFP. Moreover, major phloem proteins in sieve tubes of FP differ from those that predominate in the extrafascicular sap, and include several previously uncharacterized proteins with little or no homology to databases. The overall compositional differences of the two phloem systems strongly indicate functional isolation. On this basis, we propose that the fascicular phloem is largely responsible for sugar transport, whereas the extrafascicular phloem may function in signaling, defense, and transport of other metabolites.
A fluorescence assay for assessing chelation of intracellular iron in a membrane model system and in mammalian cells.

Iron chelators are important tools in biochemical studies of iron metabolism and in the therapy of iron overload diseases. Their mode of action is comprised of entry into cells and scavenging intracellular metal, which includes complexation and egress of the complex. Iron is a metal which appears in the cells in various chemical forms and in different compartments. The form of the metal directly affected by the chelators is the most labile, low-molecular-weight type, which is present in the cytosol and is known as the "chelatable iron. " This form is thought to be in dynamic equilibrium with several sequestered forms present in the cell, including the iron-responsive proteins. We recently introduced a fluorescent method for assessing the chelatable iron pool of cells, based on the quenching of the fluorescent calcein by metal ions (Breuer et al., J. Biol. Chem., 1995, 270, 24209-24215). In this work we adapted the method for dynamic assessment of chelator efficacy in scavenging iron from cells. In assay 1, red blood cells ghosts are used as a cell membrane model. The free-acid (impermeant) form of calcein is loaded into ghosts by encapsulation (lysis and resealing) and its fluorescence is quenched by addition of permeant iron(II). Chelators added to ghosts lead to iron removal from calcein and hence to recovery of fluorescence, commensurate with their permeation into ghosts and iron binding affinity. In assay 2, human K562 erythroleukemia cells are loaded with calcein via its permeating and cleavable acetoxymethyl form. A fraction of the intracellular calcein fluorescence is quenched in situ by endogenous cellular iron. The rate of dequenching which is obtained after addition of a chelator provides a measure for the scavenging of the intracellular metal, a process which, as in assay 1, depends on chelator permeation and binding affinity for iron. The two methods provide convenient means for assessing the efficacy of candidate chelator structures in depleting cell iron pools. They are also potentially applicable to chelation of other metals such as Co(II), Ni(II), and Cu(II) and to any cellular system or membrane vesicles.
Inhibition of Predation by Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus via Host Cell Metabolic Activity in the Presence of Carbohydrates

ABSTRACT Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus are highly motile Gram-negative predatory bacteria with the potential of being used as biocontrol agents or living antibiotics. It was suggested previously that sugar-binding proteins play a role in M. aeruginosavorus and B. bacteriovorus host specificity and predator-prey interactions. The effect of carbohydrates on predation was reexamined in this study. It was demonstrated that the presence of carbohydrates could indeed block predation. However, further investigation demonstrated that inhibition of predation was due to medium acidification by the metabolic activity of the host and not to a blocking of a putative sugar-binding protein. The data presented here might be of value when storing, growing, and cultivating predatory bacteria, as well as when considering environmental conditions that might influence predation in the field.
Chapter 4: African American Principals and the Legacy of Brown

The year 2004 was filled with celebrations and commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. There were a significant number of conferences that featured experts from education, law, sociology, and civil rights organizations who spoke of promises fulfilled and unfulfilled 50 years after the historic decision. This volume contributes to the American Educational Research Association’s recognition of the Brown decision, which also included the Brown Lecture in Educational Research (Gordon, 2004) and the DeWitt Wallace Reader’s Digest Distinguished Lecture (Ladson-Billings, 2004). Much of what was written, presented, and discussed during the jubilee year focused on historical accounts of events leading up to Brown, court-ordered desegregation efforts, the displacement of Black educators after the Brown decision, and the current state of African American education 50 years after this landmark case. Indeed, our thinking has been stimulated regarding the impact of the Brown decision on education today, particularly for African Americans. One aspect of the Brown legacy that is underdeveloped in the literature is the significance of the leadership of African American principals in pre-K–12 education both before and after Brown. Pre-Brown African American principals were committed to the education of Black children, worked with other Black leaders to establish schools for these children, and worked in all-Black schools, usually in substandard conditions. Post-Brown African American principals helped to implement desegregation and educate African American children in the face of resistance. Today these men and women are primarily employed in large, urban school districts and continue to work for the social, emotional, and academic achievement of African American students. Yet, many of the historical and contemporary contributions of African Americans have not been documented in the traditional literature on educational leadership and administration. Our knowledge of the contributions of African American school leaders has been enhanced by the work of scholars such as Anderson (1988), Franklin (1984, 1990), Savage (2001), Siddle Walker (1993a, 1993b, 1996, 2003), and Ward Randolph (1997). However, research by and about African Americans in school leadership
The Normalized Distance Preserving Binary Codes and Distance Table *

In the Euclidean space, the approximate nearest neighbors (ANN) search measures the similarity degree through computing the Euclidean distances, which owns high time complexity and large memory overhead. To address these problems, this paper maps the data from the Euclidean space into the Hamming space, and the normalized distance similarity restriction and the quantization error are required to satisfy. Firstly, the encoding centers and their binary labels are obtained through a lookup-based mechanism. Then, the candidate hashing functions are learnt under supervision of the binary labels, and the ones which satisfy the entropy criterion are selected to boost the distinctiveness of the learnt binary codes. During the training procedure, multiple groups of the hashing functions are generated based on different kinds of centers, which can weaken the inferior influence of the initial centers. The data with minimal average Hamming distances are returned as the nearest neighbors. In the Hamming space, different Euclidean distances may be substituted by one identical value, thus a distance table is predefined to distinguish the similarity degrees among the data pairs with the same Hamming distance. The final experimental results show that our algorithm is superior to many state-of-the-art methods.
Educate to Innovate: Fast Tracking ICT Management Capabilities Amongst the Key Government Officials for eGovernment Implementation in Bangladesh

This paper describes a key strategy formulated for a least developed country, Bangladesh, as a part of an eGovernment capacity building project under the auspices of the Australian Government’s Public Sector Linkages Program (PSLP). The project was initiated based on the findings of an ongoing PhD, which identified lack of knowledge and attitudes as the major stumbling blocks preventing ICT adoption in Bangladesh’s public sector. A five year strategic pathway addresses this critical issue by fast tracking ICT management capability of the government officials and decision makers to fill the ‘knowledge gap’ and by empowering them on eGovernment processes for its successful implementation. Accordingly, an education
Market Information Systems in Sub-Sahara Africa: Challenges and Opportunities

The paper deals with the emergence and rise of market information systems in sub-Sahara Africa as a result of economic liberalization. There has already been an evolution is such systems and no particular system dominates. Various types of market information systems exist today, public or private, all or not linked to a commodity exchange. The rationale of a commodity exchange is discussed, linked to a market information system. They all struggle with problems of sustainable financing. Very few if any good impact studies exist on such systems, demonstrating their effects on market transparency, information asymmetry, the bargaining power of poor farmers and their market access. Dissemination of the information, using traditional (radio) or modern (ICT) tools is crucial in order to reach the farmers. But market information alone is unlikely to catalyze market supply chains. More is needed to enable poor farmers to gain better access to markets in a more sustainable and remunerative manner.
Market value, book value and goodwill.

This thesis examines the value relevance of goodwill that has been eliminated through reserves in the year of acquisition. Specifically, it investigates the association beiween goodwill reserve write-off and the value placed on the firm by the stock market. In so doing, the thesis describes the relationship between the implied value of purchased goodwill and that of other assets, and we seek to explain the underlying paffern of the amortisation of goodwill over time. The empirical method uses cross-sectional equity valuation models for the period 1994- 6. Based on the modified balance sheet identity, the equity valuation model parameterises purchased goodwill and other assets separately, and a more meaningful interpretation is given of the intercept term than in previous studies relating to purchased goodwill. The results confirm that the market incorporates information on the goodwill reserve write-off in the valuation of a firm, and the results also show that the market: book ratio is similar to tangible assets but its behaviour suggests a relatively higher amortisation rate. Although the present study provides evidence supporting the requirement in FRS 10 (Goodwill and Intangible Assets) to capitalise purchased goodwill, the findings also show that the incremental value of capitalised goodwill declines far more quickly than FRS1O suggests, thus placing particular importance on the impairment test required by FRS 10.
Glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes: the impact of body weight, beta-cell function and patient education.

We examined the determinants of glycaemic control in a consecutive cohort of 562 newly-referred Chinese type 2 diabetic patients (57% women) during a 12-month period. All patients underwent a structured assessment with documentation of clinical and biochemical characteristics. Pancreatic beta-cell function was assessed by fasting plasma C-peptide concentration. Insulin deficiency was defined as fasting plasma C-peptide <0.2 pmol/ml. Insulin resistance (IR) was calculated using the homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) based on a product of fasting plasma glucose and insulin concentrations. Treatment was considered appropriate when insulin-deficient patients were treated with insulin and non-insulin-deficient patients were treated with oral agents or diet. Mean (+/-SD) age was 54.3+/-13.8 years (range 17-87 years) and disease duration was 5.0+/-5.9 years. At the time of referral, 70.5% (n=396) were on drug therapy (9% on insulin and 62.8% on oral agents), 20.6% (n=116) were on diet and 9% (n=50) had not received any form of treatment. The mean HbA(lc) was 8.4+/-2.3%. The geometric mean (x// antilog SD) of IR was 4.62x//2.51 (range 0. 63-162.7) and correlated only with waist : hip ratio (WHR, p=0.008). The geometric mean of plasma C peptide was 0.47x//2.89 nmol/l and correlated with BMI (p<0.001). Glycated haemoglobin was correlated positively with age (p=0.013), disease duration (p<0.001), IR (p<0. 001) and negatively with BMI (p<0.001). Glycated haemoglobin was lower in patients who had seen a dietitian (7.9% vs. 8.7%, p<0.001) or diabetes nurse (7.8% vs. 8.7%, p<0.001) or who performed self blood glucose monitoring (7.9% vs. 8.6%, p=0.001) and higher among smokers (8.9% vs. 8.2%, p=0.003). Compared to insulin-deficient patients (n=118), non-insulin-deficient patients (n=413) had features resembling that of the Metabolic Syndrome with increased WHR (p=0.005), blood pressure (p<0.001), BMI (p=0.001) and were older (p=0.04). Amongst the insulin-deficient patients, 27% were treated with oral agents or diet. Patients receiving appropriate therapy (n=362) had a lower HbA(lc) than those treated inappropriately (n=173) (8.2% vs. 8.7%, p=0.02). On multivariate analysis, short disease duration (p<0.001), low IR (p<0.001), high BMI (p=0.001), diabetes education (p<0.001), lack of smoking (p=0. 014) and choice of appropriate treatment (p=0.009) were the independent determinants of good glycaemic control.
Developing Experience-Based Luxury Brand Equity in the Luxury Resorts Hotel Industry

Businesses constantly strive to provide added value and brand equity to gain a competitive advantage, particularly in the contemporary hospitality industry. It is widely accepted that a luxury experience brand enhances the value of a luxury resort hotels industry. Since the 1980s, the concept of brand equity has focused mainly on tangible products, as opposed to services or experiences. This study found that experience-based luxury brand equity is perceived through extensive implicit equity related dimensions. In addition, all research tourists of luxury resorts hotel industry in Taiwan and Macao emphasized extended intrinsic values (EIV), which including variables of brand awareness, brand loyalty, organization association and brand identity than fundamental extrinsic value (FEV), including variables of perceived brand loyalty, experience value and unique.
Involvement of a Plastid Terminal Oxidase in Plastoquinone Oxidation as Evidenced by Expression of the Arabidopsis thaliana Enzyme in Tobacco*

Chlororespiration has been defined as a respiratory electron transport chain in interaction with photosynthetic electron transport involving both non-photochemical reduction and oxidation of plastoquinones. Different enzymatic activities, including a plastid-encoded NADH dehydrogenase complex, have been reported to be involved in the non-photochemical reduction of plastoquinones. However, the enzyme responsible for plasquinol oxidation has not yet been clearly identified. In order to determine whether the newly discovered plastid oxidase (PTOX) involved in carotenoid biosynthesis acts as a plastoquinol oxidase in higher plant chloroplasts, theArabidopsis thaliana PTOX gene (At-PTOX) was expressed in tobacco under the control of a strong constitutive promoter. We showed that At-PTOX is functional in tobacco chloroplasts and strongly accelerates the non-photochemical reoxidation of plastoquinols; this effect was inhibited by propyl gallate, a known inhibitor of PTOX. During the dark to light induction phase of photosynthesis at low irradiances, At-PTOX drives significant electron flow to O2, thus avoiding over-reduction of plastoquinones, when photo- synthetic CO2 assimilation was not fully induced. We proposed that PTOX, by modulating the redox state of intersystem electron carriers, may participate in the regulation of cyclic electron flow around photosystem I.
Attempted Suicide, Self-Harm, and Psychological Disorder Among Young Offenders in Custody

This study aims to identify risk factors for suicide and self-harm among young offenders. The data are from the 2009 New South Wales Young People in Custody Health Survey. The sample (N = 313) were 88% male and 48% Aboriginal. Sixteen percent reported ever having suicidal thoughts and 10% reported a suicide attempt. Twenty-one percent reported thoughts of self-harm and 16% reported actual self-harm. Female young offenders reported higher rates of suicidal behavior and self-harm compared to males. Significant correlates of attempted suicide and self-harm included childhood adversity and psychiatric disorder. This study finds that young offenders are at high risk of suicidal and self-harm behaviors. Early identification and support among this vulnerable group are critical.
Are Ex Ante and Ex Post Licensing Agreements Useful Instruments to Lessen Uncertainty in R&D?

In the last decades, technologies became more complex which increased the degree of uncertainty in R&D. To overcome the uncertainty, firms frequently engage in R&D collaborations, e.g., Research Joint Ventures (RJVs), and licensing agreements. While RJVs are well explored in the literature, very little is known about the use of licensing agreements. Building on a novel database which includes licensing agreements in the semiconductor industry between 1989 and 1999, we estimate a bivariate probit model with self-selection. Our estimation results highlight the fact that firms’ relatedness in technology and product markets determine their choices to engage in ex ante and ex post licensing agreements. Our study provides evidence that the decision to engage in ex ante and ex post licensing is formulated with regard to uncertainty in R&D. While ex ante licensing agreements serve as a useful mechanism to insure against uncertainty in R&D, ex post licensing agreements rather serve as an instrument to resolve uncertainty in R&D. Hence, licensing agreements are appropriate instruments to lessen R&D uncertainty.