Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Malicious packet dropping: how it might impact the TCP performance and how we can detect it

Among various types of denial of service attacks, "dropping attack" is probably the most difficult one to handle. This paper explores the negative impacts of packet dropping attacks and a method to detect such attacks. First, three dropping patterns are classified and investigated. We demonstrate that attackers can choose different dropping patterns to degrade TCP service to different levels, and selectively dropping a very, small number of packets can result in severe damage to TCP performance. Second, we show that a hacker can utilize a DDoS attack tool to control a "uncompromised" router to emulate dropping attacks. This proves that dropping attacks are indeed practically very possible to happen in today's Internet environment. Third, we present a statistical analysis module for the detection of TCP packet dropping attacks. Three measures, session delay, the position and the number of packet reorderings, have been implemented in the statistical module. This paper has evaluated and compared their detection performance.
Coupling Detection to Facilitate Maintenance of Database Applications

Enterprise applications typically include a relational database layer. Unfortunately, the current generation of IDE’s (Integrated Development Environments) do not adequately capture the interaction between the database management system and other layers of the application. For example, current Java IDE's do not evaluate the relationship of classes with the database, or how a particular java method interacts with database tables and columns. We report here our recent progress in developing an Eclipse plug-in that helps the programmer by providing a visual map of interactions between Java code and relational databases. A primary motivation is to facilitate code maintenance in the face of database modifications.
The effect of animation, dual view, difference layers, and relative re-layout in hierarchical diagram differencing

We present a new system for visualizing and merging differences in diagrams that uses animation, dual views, a storyboard, relative re-layout, and layering. We ran two user studies investigating the benefits of the system. The first user study compared pairs of hierarchical diagrams with matching node positions. The results underscore that naive dual-view visualization is undesirable. On the positive side, participants particularly liked the dual-view with difference layer technique. The second user study focused on diagrams with partially varying node positions and difference visualization and animation. We found evidence that both techniques are beneficial, and that the combination was preferred.
Neural Network based Approach for Recognition of Text Images

Handwritten character recognition is a difficult problem due to the great variations of writing styles, different size of the characters. Multiple types of handwriting styles from different persons are considered in this work. An image with higher resolution will certainly take much longer time to compute than a lower resolution image. In the practical image acquisition systems and conditions, shape distortion is common processes because different people’s handwriting has different shape of characters. The process of recognizing character recognition in this work has been divided into 2 phases. In the first phase, Image preprocessing is done in which image is firstly converted into binary form based on some threshold value obtained through Otsu’s method. After that removal of noise is done using median filter. After that feature extraction takes place that is done here through Fourier descriptor method using Fourier transform and correlation between template made through training data and test data is obtained. A multilayer feed forward neural network is created and trained through Back Propagation algorithm. After the training, testing is done to match the pattern with test data. Results for various convergence objective of neural network are obtained and analyzed.
Are indirect measures of abundance a useful index of population density? The case of red grouse harvesting

Indirect measures of population abundance, such as harvest data, are often used to make inference on long term population dynamics when direct data are either not available or are logistically difficult to obtain. However, when harvesting records are used, a common concern is that they may not reflect actual population abundance. We investigated the extent to which harvest data reflected changes in population density of the red grouse Lagopus lagopus scoticus in Great Britain. We used 92 independently managed populations over the period 1977-2000 and examined the temporal and spatial variability of the hunting records and independently obtained count data from each of these managed estates. Three different analyses support the conclusion that grouse hunting records are a reliable indicator of grouse abundance: 1) the number of red grouse shot in autumn showed a tendency to be linearly related to the density of individuals counted in the summer prior to the harvesting, 2) the relationships between the variance and the mean in the harvesting and corresponding count data, calculated over different populations at the same time, or the same locations at different times, were not statistically distinguishable, 3) similar direct and delayed density dependence patterns were observed in hunting records and count data. Our results suggest that red grouse hunting time series are a good proxy for population abundance.
Mediterranean diet and mild cognitive impairment.

BACKGROUND Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MeDi) may protect from Alzheimer disease (AD), but its association with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has not been explored. OBJECTIVE To investigate the association between the MeDi and MCI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS In a multiethnic community study in New York, we used Cox proportional hazards to investigate the association between adherence to the MeDi (0-9 scale; higher scores indicate higher adherence) and (1) the incidence of MCI and (2) the progression from MCI to AD. All of the models were adjusted for cohort, age, sex, ethnicity, education, APOE genotype, caloric intake, body mass index, and duration between baseline dietary assessment and baseline diagnosis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence of MCI and progression from MCI to AD. RESULTS There were 1393 cognitively normal participants, 275 of whom developed MCI during a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.5 (2.7) years (range, 0.9-16.4 years). Compared with subjects in the lowest MeDi adherence tertile, subjects in the middle tertile had 17% less risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.62-1.12; P = .24) of developing MCI and those in the highest tertile had 28% less risk (HR = 0.72; 95% CI, 0.52-1.00; P = .05) of developing MCI (trend HR = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.72-1.00; P for trend = .05). There were 482 subjects with MCI, 106 of whom developed AD during a mean (SD) follow-up of 4.3 (2.7) years (range, 1.0-13.8 years). Compared with subjects in the lowest MeDi adherence tertile, subjects in the middle tertile had 45% less risk (HR = 0.55; 95% CI, 0.34-0.90; P = .01) of developing AD and those in the highest tertile had 48% less risk (HR = 0.52; 95% CI, 0.30-0.91; P = .02) of developing AD (trend HR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.53-0.95; P for trend = .02). CONCLUSIONS Higher adherence to the MeDi is associated with a trend for reduced risk of developing MCI and with reduced risk of MCI conversion to AD.
Estimation of Displacement Vector Field from Noisy Data using Maximum Likelihood Estimator

The present study proposes an approach for robust motion estimation between two successive image frames, from a degraded sequence. The method is based on generalized cross-correlation (GCC) methods, where the phase of the Fourier components is used for motion parameter estimation. This method uses "whitening" FIR filters to sharpen the cross-correlation maximum, thereby improving the accuracy of identification of the peak. The estimators of interest are the phase transform (PHAT), and the maximum likelihood (ML) estimators. For robust motion estimation it has been found that the ML estimator is particularly suited to this purpose. The accuracy of the estimators is also discussed. Significant results have been obtained for sub-pixel translation of images of different nature and across different spectral bands.
Mentorship as a Protective Factor for Children with a History of Paternal Incarceration

With a univocal number of parents in correctional confinement, children of incarcerated fathers are at risk for negative outcomes ranging from increased family strain to increased behavior problems and unfavorable school outcomes. Prior research suggested these obstacles occurred due to parental incarceration that creates a vulnerable group of children. However, few researchers have analyzed the impact of mentorship for children of incarcerated fathers. Elucidating the effects of mentorship for these children is crucial to changing the life trajectory for children with a history of paternal incarceration. The current study examined behavioral and school outcomes of children who have and have not experienced paternal incarceration. The goal of the study was to determine whether mentorship is a protective factor for children of incarcerated fathers and if there are gender differences in mentorship outcomes. The current findings suggest children of incarcerated fathers experience more risks than their counterparts. Nevertheless, when controlling for maternal or peer attachment, adolescents who were previously enrolled in mentorship reported significantly fewer behaviors including: anxious/depressed, aggressive, rule-breaking, and externalizing behaviors. Data also suggests females reported significantly higher internalizing and externalizing behaviors, and less favorable school psychological engagement. Being so, the current study underscores the powerful impact of mentorship and the importance of a supportive adult in the lives of children experiencing paternal incarceration. MENTORSHIP FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED FATHERS Dedication To the children and families affected by parental incarceration. To the mentoring programs and mentors who sacrifice their time to support children with a history of parental incarceration. MENTORSHIP FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED FATHERS Acknowledgements First, I thank God for directing my every foot step and leading me to this achievement. This dissertation was not a stand-alone project but a result of collaborative efforts. I want to thank each member of my committee. I am so grateful for the support throughout my time at Bellarmine as well as during this process. Your support has helped me evolve both professionally and personally. I also want to thank the Y-NOW Mentoring Program for allowing me to participate in the activities and for giving me access to the mentored children of incarcerated fathers. A special thanks to the children and families who participated in this study. I want to thank the love of my life who has helped me grow, and keeps me smiling in love and amazement. I am thankful to my mother who made me feel I could accomplish anything. To my family who has helped me become a better person. Lastly, I want to thank my good friends for all our wonderful moments and memories. MENTORSHIP FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED FATHERS Table of
Remembering Mary Ann Scheirer

When I walked into the meeting room at the University of Chicago in 2009, I did not expect that I would know any of the gathered researchers. We had been invited by Jeanne Century, then an assistant professor in education, to come and discuss the scale up of effective K–12 math education programs, which included learning about her work and how her team was planning to support the adoption, implementation, and sustained use of their own math program across school districts. At that time, I’d spent less time with education researchers than I had with health researchers so I was eager to get to work. I poured a cup of coffee and walked by a mature woman who wore glasses framed by curly hair. Her smile said “you’d be welcome to sit here. ” I did. “Mary Ann Scheirer,” she announced confidently. “Program sustainability? ” “Guilty as charged! ” she replied, thus beginning one of my most satisfying relationships borne from a fortuitous decision about where to sit at a conference. I had known of Mary Ann’s contributions to the study of program implementation dating from her 1988 article in Health Education Quarterly about the role of linking agents in the diffusion of innovations, her 1990 article in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, where she reported on a study of innovation lifecycles, as well as her 2005 article in the American Journal of Evaluation that took a sophisticated and critical stance on the topic of program sustainability—vintage Mary Ann—in provocatively asking if health program sustainability were even possible. I don’t really remember what we learned at the conference. As is often the case, however, someone you meet can make the whole experience worthwhile. Mary Ann and I had strong common interests—credit Jeanne there—and quickly realized sitting at that table butting up against a room divider that her insights about program sustainability could be productively paired with mine about diffusion, to mutual advantage. We went on to write a conference workshop proposal together, together led that workshop at the Third Annual National Institutes of Health Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation, and coauthored a resulting manuscript that made for a journal article (Scheirer & Dearing, 2011), and then along with a couple other scholars submitted a grant proposal to The Wallace Foundation and won that award. Mary Ann became ill and passed away during the subsequent research project. Some scholars are minutely sensitive to others’ ideas, are willing to change their own beliefs, and are amenable to compromising their plans for research designs or data collection. That wasn’t Mary Ann. She was principled. She knew what she thought and why and she was skilled at expressing
Book Review: The Osiris Complex: Case Studies in Multiple Personality Disorder

The Osiris Complex is written for the general public as well as for mental health professionals. It purports to elucidate the relationship between childhood trauma (due mainly, but not entirely, to childhood sexual abuse) and multiple personality disorder, and does so by detailing case studies of patients who have been diagnosed or treated by the author. Fourteen of the 19 patients in part one are regarded as having been sexually abused, two others are considered to have suffered abuse (unspecified), two are described as not having suffered abuse, and one is not described with regard to abuse history.
Aging of the human photoreceptor mosaic: evidence for selective vulnerability of rods in central retina.

PURPOSE Because previous studies suggested degeneration and loss of photoreceptors in aged human retina, the spatial density of cones and rods subserving the central 43 degrees of vision as a function of age was determined. METHODS Cones and rods were counted in 27 whole mounted retinas from donors aged 27 to 90 years with macroscopically normal fundi. Photoreceptor topography was analyzed with new graphic and statistical techniques. RESULTS Changes in cone density throughout this age span showed no consistent relationship to age or retinal location, and the total number of foveal cones was remarkably stable. In contrast, rod density decreased by 30%, beginning inferior to the fovea in midlife and culminating in an annulus of deepest loss at 0.5 to 3 mm eccentricity by the ninth decade. Space vacated by dying rods was filled in by larger rod inner segments, resulting in a similar rod coverage at all ages. At the temporal equator, cone density declined by 23%, but rods were stable throughout adulthood. CONCLUSIONS The stability of both rod coverage and rhodopsin content despite decreasing cell number suggests plasticity of the adult rod system and that age-related declines in scotopic sensitivity may be due to postreceptoral factors. There is no evidence for the massive loss of foveal cones required to explain even modest decrements in acuity, consistent with evidence that visual deficits at high photopic levels may be largely due to optical factors. Why the rods of central retina, which share a common support system and light exposure with the neighboring cones, are preferentially vulnerable to aging remains to be determined.
Evolving characteristics of lung cancer: a surgical appraisal.

OBJECTIVE Lung cancer management has changed due to emergence of new imaging techniques and of multimodal therapies. Our purpose was to analyse how lung cancer evolved in surgical practice. METHODS The records of patients who underwent surgical resection for lung cancer from 1983 to 2006 in two centres were reviewed. Data were split into four time periods of 6 years. We analysed and compared the epidemiological, pathological and prognostic characteristics of each period. RESULTS There were 832, 1148, 1493 and 1195 patients during the periods 1983-88, 1989-94, 1995-2000 and 2001-06, respectively. The main changed characteristics were increasing numbers of older patients, females, past history of another cancer and/or cardio-vascular disease, adenocarcinomas and undifferentiated large-cell carcinomas, smaller tumour size, T1-T2, N0 (47.2-61.2%) and neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) (3.8-24.9%). There were also a decreasing number of exploratory thoracotomies, pneumonectomies and adjuvant therapy (AT) (48.5-30%). The 5-year survival rates improved (34.5-46.3%, P < 10(-6)), mainly after lobectomy, and in the case of adenocarcinoma, N0 and N2 patients. Multivariate analysis confirmed that time trend was an independent factor of prognosis (P < 10(-6)), just as important as N involvement, complete resection (R0), tumour size, age, another cancer history and more significant than the type of resection, histology, NAT and AT. CONCLUSIONS During the last 25 years, the clinico-pathological features of operated patients have progressively changed and the results following surgery improved. Earlier stage diagnosis might explain overall survival improvement, and play a more major role than associated peri-operative treatments. Therefore, it is advisable to consider the time-related factor in future studies on lung cancer surgery.
Image Compression Using Discrete Wavelet Transform

Image compression is a key technology in transmission and storage of digital images because of vast data associated with them. This research suggests a new image compression scheme with pruning proposal based on discrete wavelet transformation (DWT). The effectiveness of the algorithm has been justified over some real images, and the performance of the algorithm has been compared with other common compression standards. The algorithm has been implemented using Visual C++ and tested on a Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.1 GHz PC with 1 GB RAM. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique provides sufficient high compression ratios compared to other compression techniques.
1 Supporting Information : What Evidence is There for the Homology of Protein-Protein Interactions ?

We are considering the transfer of interactions between interacting proteins A and B in a source species to proteins A′ and B′ in a target species, where A and A′ are homologs and B and B′ are homologs. For any given inferred interaction in the target species, there can be multiple possible interactions in the source species from which it could have been inferred. In order to consider properties of the proteins in the source species, it is necessary to state which of these multiple possible interactions is considered to underlie a given inferred interaction A′ − B′ in the target species. We select, as the ‘closest’ inference, the one that would be made using the strictest definition of homology (i.e., the one with the minimum value of max{Eval(A,A ′), Eval(B,B ′)}). The first property that we investigated was the size of the family to which a protein belongs. If only one or a few interactions between proteins from one family and proteins from another family is needed for the maintenance of biological function, then one might expect that an inference from or to proteins with many homologs in the other species would be less conserved. We tested how inferences to and from proteins in large protein families affected our results by discarding all predictions in which any of proteins A, B, A′, and B′ had more than 10 homologs in the other species. This definition of size of family is clearly dependent on the E-value threshold, as a protein’s family size becomes smaller at stricter E-values. Our intention was to get an idea of the magnitude of the effect of large families, so we chose one definition of a large protein family (i.e., those of size at least 10). We show the results in Figure S7. We also investigated the effects of several other properties, listed below; the list is by no means exhaustive. We choose to investigate the utility of these properties for selecting conserved interactions by defining the following ratio: the Os,t values obtained using only the inferences with values above or below the median value of the property of interest to the values obtained with all inferences. In inferring A′ −B′ from A−B, we assess the relevance of the following properties:
Listening to the Quran Recitations: 'Does It Affect Psychophysiological Measures of Emotion?'

This study was designed to examine the effect of listening to the Quran recitations based on different melodies on the psychophysiological measurements of emotion. The skin conductance and heart rate were measured as the physiological response; meanwhile, the mood and emotion scale were analysed as participant’s psychological assessment.The experiment was conducted with 22 Indonesian postgraduate students studying from various programs who are Muslims. An individual experiment was carried out in the listening laboratory of the Music Department, The University of York. Four different recitations were delivered. Shimmer GSR unit was used to measure the skin conductance and heart rate. Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), Geneva Emotional Music Scale (GEMS), and some demographic questionnaire were also used.Findings show that three kinds of recitations had no significant impact on the skin conductance (recitation without melody, Hicazmaqam, and KurdiMaqam); however, the third recital (Rastmaqam) had a significant effect on the skin conductance (p< 0.05). There was no significant effect of all recitations on heart rate. The mood response mean, both before and after listening to all stimuli, also demonstrated no significant difference. However, there were significant differences on emotional assessment both before and after listening to each stimulus, and a significant difference on some emotion categories of the effect of listening to Quran recitations based on the different melody. The recitation without melody influenced a lower level of wonder, transcendence, power, tenderness, nostalgia, and peacefulness emotion categories, though it increased tension. The Hicazmaqam (second stimulus) had a significant effect on the transcendence emotion, but still affect a higher tension level. The Rastmaqam (third stimulus) influenced the peacefulness emotion significantly, and impact a lower level of tension. The Kurdimaqam (fourth stimulus) had no significant difference on the effect on all nine categories of emotion. The Rast maqam showed the most powerful outcome in this study. We recommend Rast maqam can be applied on Quran recitation therapy for tension