Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient features for function matching between binary executables

Binary diffing is the process of reverse engineering two programs, when source code is not available, in order to study their syntactic and semantic differences. For large programs, binary diffing can be performed by function matching which, in turn, is reduced to a graph isomorphism problem between the compared programs' CFGs (Control Flow Graphs) and/or CGs (Call Graphs). In this paper we provide a set of carefully chosen features, extracted from a binary's CG and CFG, which can be used by BinDiff algorithm variants to, first, build a set of initial exact matches with minimal false positives (by scanning for unique perfect matches) and, second, propagate approximate matching information using, for example, a nearest-neighbor scheme. Furthermore, we investigate the benefits of applying Markov lumping techniques to function CFGs (to our knowledge, this technique has not been previously studied). The proposed function features are evaluated in a series of experiments on various versions of the Linux kernel (Intel64), the OpenSSH server (Intel64) and Firefox's xul.dll (IA-32). Our prototype system is also compared to Diaphora, the current state-of-the-art binary diffing software.
A fractionation-based local activation wave detector for atrial electrograms of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) electrograms (EGMs) present high heterogeneity of morphologies and amplitudes that turns the detection of their local activation waves (LAWs) a very hard task to perform. In this study, a novel fractionation-based LAW detector for bipolar EGMs is introduced. The method modifies traditional Botteron's band-pass filtering, decreasing its low cut-off frequency from 40 to 20 Hz, thus benefiting slow local activations detection. Furthermore, high and low amplitude activations in complex fractionated atrial electrograms (CFAEs) are equalized, thus facilitating the detection of low amplitude activations. A minimum refractory period of 50 ms is imposed between activations, however, additional minor activations are later sought for intervals longer than the median cycle length. All the LAWs from a set of 40 real bipolar EGMs, mostly CFAEs, were manually annotated by expert physicians and served to evaluate performance. Detections closer than 40 ms to a manual annotation were considered as correct. Detection results provided 95.41%, 92.13% and 96.37% in Sensitivity, Accuracy and Precision for CFAEs, respectively, whereas for less fractionated EGMs they were 100% in any case. Therefore, the new LAW detector has provided robust performance even under highly fractionated EGMs.
Trends in Mortality of Acute Myocardial Infarction After Discharge From the Hospital

Background—We assessed trends in the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction hospitalized in New Jersey hospitals. In recent decades, in-hospital mortality has declined markedly but the decline in longer-term mortality is less pronounced, implying that mortality after discharge has worsened. Methods and Results—Using the Myocardial Infarction Data Acquisition System (MIDAS), we examined the outcomes of 285 397 patients hospitalized for a first acute myocardial infarction between 1986 and 2007. Mortality at discharge decreased by 9.4% from 16.9% to 7.5% (annual change, −0.44; 95% confidence interval, −0.49 to −0.40), but the decrease at 1 year was less pronounced (6.4%) because of an increase in mortality from discharge to 1 year after discharge (from 12.1% to 13.9%; annual change, +0.15; 95% confidence interval, +0.10 to +0.20). Mortality from 30 days after discharge to 1 year, a measure not affected by length of stay, increased by 1.2% (annual change, +0.10; 95% confidence interval, +0.06 to +0.23). The effect was more evident in the older age groups and was due to noncardiovascular mortality, especially from respiratory and renal diseases, septicemia, and cancer. All effects remained statistically significant (P<0.0001) after adjustment for demographics, comorbidities, infarction type, complications, and interventions. Piecewise linear regressions confirmed these trends. Conclusions—Postdischarge mortality of patients with acute myocardial infarction is increasing, primarily because of higher noncardiovascular mortality in the older age groups.
High precision hand-eye self-calibration for industrial robots

This paper proposes a vision based high precision hand-eye self-calibration method to apply in the industrial robot. In the method, relationship between the robot end-effector and the camera is calculated using known accurate position of a designed chess board. This method can perform hand-eye calibration with high accuracy without operator intervention in the calibration process.
Marginal versus conditional causal effects

Conditional methods of adjustment are often used to quantify the effect of the exposure on the outcome. As a result, the stratums-specific risk ratio estimates are reported in the presence of interaction between exposure and confounder(s) in the literature, even if the target of the intervention on the exposure is the total population and the interaction itself is not of interest. The reason is that researchers and practitioners are less familiar with marginal methods of adjustment such as inverse-probability-weighting (IPW) and standardization and marginal causal effects which have causal interpretations for the total population even in the presence of interaction. We illustrate the relation between marginal causal effects estimated by IPW and standardization methods and conditional causal effects estimated by traditional methods in four simple scenarios based on the presence of confounding and/or effect modification. The data analysts should consider the intervention level of the exposure for causal effect estimation, especially in the presence of variables which are both confounders and effect modifiers.
An automatic test suite regeneration technique ensuring state model coverage using UML diagrams and source syntax

Automated test regeneration intends to ensure high coverage of the system model from an existing test suite. While regenerating test suite, most of the existing techniques ignore coverage achieved so far by existing test suite. An automatic test regeneration technique to achieve high coverage of state model is proposed in this paper which uses coverage result as well as information from UML diagrams and source code. The architecture of the technique is supported by three modules. The first module processes inputted UML diagrams, source code and test suite as XML elements, source class and test steps respectively. The second module measures model coverage result achieved by existing test suite. The final module combines coverage result, extracted UML and source syntax together to regenerate test cases. A case study has been conducted to assess the technique effectiveness and has been successful to regenerate unit and integration test cases that achieve full coverage of the state model.
Interference-based capacity analysis in CDMA cellular systems

In multiple cellular CDMA systems, the channel capacity heavily depends upon the interference caused by the signal power of the other users. In this paper, we exactly quantify the cell capacity by focusing on not only the number of users but also the location of active users. To inspect the effect of multicell CDMA environments, we model three 1/6 cells divided by 60/spl deg/ sector antennas and analyzed the increased interference when a user is added to the unit of cell. Based on the capacity analysis, we propose a new call admission control scheme that uses the location information of users. Whenever a new user arrives, our scheme checks whether the admittance of that user can occur within the cell capacity. Our scheme allows more users to enter the network if they generate less interference. Therefore it has the effect of increased system capacity without sacrificing the QoS of all the other active users. Through simulations we show that the performance is improved by 10 to 20% in terms of the number of active users that can be accommodated.
Study on seed and blanket ADS for transuranic elements transmutation using thorium-reprocessed fuel and its application in Vietnam

of Thesis Most operating nuclear power plants use several-percent-enriched uranium fuel while the uranium resource limitation will be an obstacle to the expand of nuclear power due to the development of the world economy. Moreover, the accumulating of spent nuclear fuel from the nuclear power plants holds the potential risk for the environment. Accelerator driven system (ADS) with its inherent safety feature and waste transmutation potential is recognized as a promising system to annihilate the radioactivity of nuclear waste. Besides, the capability of converting fertile fuel to fissile fuel without exposing the radiotoxic material to the environment, ADS also has capability to utilize thorium resource which is abundant in the nature in order to produce energy. In this thesis, a conceptual design of seed and blanket ADS for efficient TRU transmutation and power generation using thorium-reprocessed fuel and its application in the case of nuclear power installation in Vietnam is presented. Chapter 1 provides an overview of energy production problems and the background of nuclear waste transmutation and thorium utilization potential and purpose of this thesis. Chapter 2 describes the design parameter and core configuration of the seed and blanket ADS for efficient TRU transmutation. In this chapter, the innovative point of the designed compared to other designs is explained. In order to achieve the efficient transmutation, the TRU transmutation performance and the safety features of the system with different design parameters are examined. Chapter 3 provides the multi-cycle design concept of the seed and blanket ADS using thorium-reprocessed fuel in order to achieve the high utilization of thorium fuel assemblies for power production. Instead of removing all the fuel assemblies out of the core after burning for one cycle (430 days), the reprocessed fuel assemblies is shuffled for a second burnt while thorium fuel assemblies are maintained inside the reactor core until the end of core life. TRU rate transmutation and Th utilization of the multi-cycle core is compared with the single one to show the improvement in Th utilization and TRU transmutation of the multi-cycle concept. Chapter 4 discusses the application of the seed and blanket ADS in the case of nuclear power installation in Vietnam. The nuclear power employment in Vietnam in the future is described. The amount of spent nuclear fuel of future reactors in Vietnam is calculated and the benefit of the installation of seed and blanket ADS in that situation is evaluated. In Chapter 5, an additional study is performed in order to validate the thorium cross section data using the experimental and calculated data. The impact of thorium cross section discrepancy on seed and blanket ADS calculation is discussed whether the current thorium cross section data is reliable for the ADS core design and safety evaluation. The obtained results are summarized and the main conclusions are drawn in the Chapter 6.
Anti‐listerial and Anti‐biofilm Activities of Potential Probiotic Lactobacillus Strains Isolated from Tunisian Traditional Fermented Food

Three Lactobacilli were isolated from traditional Tunisian fermented food and then characterized for its ability to inhibit Listeria monocytogenes growth. Antagonistic effect of Lactobacillus plantarum on four L. monocytogenes strains was tested in soft artisanal cheese. Anti-biofilm activity of Lactobacillus extracts was also tested. Our results demonstrate that the selected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) extract exhibited a good antibacterial effect against L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115 with low MICs values: 8.33 2.1, 20 1.2 and 23.33 1, respectively. L. plantarum also exhibited a stronger inhibitory effect against L. monocytogenes when grown in cheese. Moreover, a potential anti-biofilm effect of the three LAB extracts with BIC50 values ranging from 5% to 15% for L. monocytogenes ATCC 19115 was demonstrated. Although LAB extracts were able to eradicate significantly a preformed L. monocytogenes biofilm (P < 0.05). Growth inhibition of preformed biofilm was more difficult to achieve. LAB could be used as a bioprotective culture in cheese ripening to prevent Listeria growth.
Exploring the Robustness of the Balance of Payments-Constrained Growth Idea in a Multiple Good Framework

This paper derives the balance of payments-constrained growth (BPCG) model as a special case of a three good framework that incorporates exportables, importables, and non-tradables. The conditions under which the canonical form of the BPCG rate can be derived are made explicit and the assumptions scrutinized. It is shown that the presence of nontradables, substitutability between exportables and importables, and incomplete specialization in expenditure generally dampen the externallyconstrained growth rate. These …ndings help explain why empirical estimates tend to overestimate the BPCG rate. Overall our …ndings underscore the observation that tests of the BPCG hypothesis are as much a test of the internal structure of the economy under consideration.
Backstepping Control of an Electric Vehicle with Local Control Saturation

For linear systems, the most used method to impose safety limitations on a control signal is to implement nonlinear saturation function into the controller. An anti-windup strategy is classically used to avoid an error accumulation of the integral term of the controller. However, the system stability is difficult to be ensured in this limitation case. Backstepping control deduces stable control laws for most classes of strict feedback nonlinear systems. This paper deals with the backstepping control of an electric vehicle considering the operational limits of the traction system. Energetic Macroscopic Representation is used to organize the backstepping control. The combination of EMR and backstepping control allows taking into account the system limits while ensuring its stability. This results in an original anti-windup strategy developed though the Lyapunov theories. The proposed control has been validated by simulation for an acceleration test with the powertrain limits.
Genetics of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is mainly a disease of childhood that arises from recurrent genetic alterations that block precursor Band T-cell differentiation and drive aberrant cell proliferation and survival [1]. Due to the advances in the cytogenetic and molecular characterization of the acute leukemias in the past two decades, genetic alterations can now be identified in more than 80% of cases of ALL [2]. These genetic lesions influence the prognosis and therapeutic approach used for treatment of ALLs [3]. This chapter describe genetic subtypes of ALL according to the hematological malignancies classification (WHO) 2008, risk groups, frequency of cytogenetic abnormalities, and their relationship with the prognosis of ALL, copy number alterations and somatic mutations in ALL.
Sperm competition in Pholcus phalangioides (Fuesslin, 1775) (Araneae, Pholcidae)—shorter second copulations gain a higher paternity reward than first copulations

Summary Sperm competition has been established as an important evolutionary force shaping mating systems in many animal groups. A measurement of the typical outcome of sperm competition between two males is useful because it can explain a suite of peri-reproductive behaviours. The measure is expressed as the proportion of a brood sired by the second mating male (P2). The P2 was measured in the haplogyne spider Pholcus phalangioides because it has been hypothesized that the sperm storage organ should favour a high P2 in comparison with the few entelegyne spiders already studied. This spider is particularly suited to studies of this kind because its reproductive biology is well known and because sperm competition is important in the wild in this species. As predicted by the theory, a high P2 (0.62, range 0.0–1.0, SD = 0.35, which is significantly greater than 0.5 (P = 0.018) assayed from 833 individual progeny, in 28 broods, laid by 10 females) was found in this species. However, the large range and trend of P2 across broods were incompatible with other predictions of the theory. The high P2 was recorded despite the significantly shorter mating duration of second mating males compared with males mating first. Reasons for this apparent paradox of paternity reward are explored.
Dimensions of Culturally Sensitive Factors in the Design and Development of Learning Objects

Normal 0 false false false Abstract: Open educational resources (OERs) are designed to be globally reusable. Yet comparatively little attention has been given to the cultural issues. This paper addresses the issue of culturally sensitive factors that may influence the design of reusable learning objects. These influences are often subtle and hard to manage. The paper proposes a structured approach to explore and organise the culturally sensitive factors that are likely to be encountered in terms of four major dimensions. These dimensions serve to articulate and classify the large and diverse literature on cultural differences into a manageable format. This provides a basis to address the cross-cultural issues during the process of the design and development of open educational resources (OERs).
Catalytic effect of Fe, Ni, Co and Mo on the CNTs production

In this work a chemical vapour deposition (CVD) process was implemented and automatized for the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Looking the possibility to make an extensive use of biogas, and also for decreasing the costs of the process, methane was used as carbon source. Different CNT structures were obtained using Fe, Ni, Co and also Mo nanoparticles, supported on silica-gel as catalyst for CNT's growing. The number of walls, the morphological effects and efficiency of the process showed dependency on the catalyst type. Cobalt helps the growing of CNTs with fewer layers, compared with Ni, Fe and Mo. Low quality structures are mainly obtained with Fe nanoparticles. Cobalt promotes small diameters in carbon nanotubes and Ni promotes the best quality and yielding during the CVD process.
On Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Compatibilization of Polymer Alloys

According to Utracki /I/ polymer alloys are blends of thermodynamically incompatible polymers. Polymer blends and alloys have many features of polymer composites which are determined by their heterogeneous structure and by the existence of phase borders /2/. The properties of polymer alloys are governed by the structure, morphology and properties of interphase layers. The improving properties of any alloys may be achieved by various physical actions on the interphase region. The latter effect is named by Utracki as compatibilization and is connected with increase in thermodynamic compatibility of alloy components. Compatibilization is the process of modification of interfacial properties of an immiscible polymer blend leading to the creation of a polymer alloy /I/. Usually the compatibility is estimated from changes in free energy of mixing, thermodynamic interaction parameters and from the position of phase diagrams. All these estimations have a relative character being only a measure of apparent miscibility /1,3/, which is dependent on the processing conditions. One of the ways of compatibilization and improvement of thermodynamic stability of binary polymer blend is introducing the third polymer compatible with each of the polymer components of the blend /4-6/. We have proposed principally news ways of blend compatibilization based on introducing some particulate fillers of different chemical nature into a binary blend of two incompatible polymers. The general thermodynamic principles of the approach to solving the problem were discussed by us earlier /7-10/. Presently we have many experimental data on various blends and alloys of thermodynamically incompatible polymers filled by particulate fillers. In Table 1 the studied systems and fillers are shown together with the resulting changes in thermodynamic stability; these data are taken from our papers dispersed in various journals. The discussion of the reliability of the methods used is given in /3/. Having in mind the experimental data and theoretical approaches to the interfacial interaction at the polymer-polymer-solid interfaces, we can substantiate two different principal ways of polymer alloy compatibilization using particulate fillers. The first way may be called equilibrium compatibilization. Its essence consists in equilibrium increase of thermodynamic stability of binary system, which is the result of symmetric pair interactions of each component with the filler surface. Under symmetric interaction we understand here the proximity of the energy of pair interac-
Amelioration of Diabetes-Induced Diabetic Nephropathy by Aloe vera: Implication of Oxidative Stress and Hyperlipidemia

ABSTRACT This study investigated the effect of Aloe vera in diabetes-induced nephropathy in rats. As diabetes-associated hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy, we evaluated the protective effect of whole leaf extract of Aloe vera on the basis of its hypolipidemic and antioxidative property. Aloe vera (300 mg/kg orally) has been noted to possess renoprotective effect in experimental diabetic nephropathy. However, its mechanism is not fully understood. Rats were administered streptozotocin (STZ) (55 mg/kg intraperitoneally once) to induce experimental diabetes mellitus. The development of diabetic nephropathy was assessed biochemically and histologically. In addition, the diabetes-induced lipid profile and renal oxidative stress were assessed. The single administration of STZ produced diabetes, which induced renal oxidative stress, altered the lipid profile, and subsequently produced nephropathy in eight weeks by increasing serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen, proteinuria, and glomerular damage. Treatment with Aloe vera (300 mg/kg/day orally) was noted to be more effective against the diabetes-induced nephropathy and renal oxidative stress as compared to lisinopril (1 mg/kg/day orally), a reference agent. It may be concluded that diabetes-induced oxidative stress and lipid alterations may be accountable for the induction of nephropathy in diabetic rats. The treatment with Aloe vera (300 mg/kg/day orally) may have prevented the development of diabetes-induced nephropathy by reducing lipid alteration, decreasing renal oxidative stress, and providing direct renoprotective action.
Companding Baseband Switched Capacitor Filters and ADCs for WLAN Applications

In this paper, system level design techniques for companding baseband switched capacitor (SC) filters for WLAN applications are presented. With companding, no AGC is required in front of the filter. A filter prototype is designed for 802.11g receiver and simulation results show that, with careful design of the opamps, a total harmonic distortion of less than 0.5% can be achieved. A new type of companding ADCs along with the algorithm to achieve companding in ADCs is proposed. It is shown that companding by a factor of 4 reduces the power consumption of the SC filter by a factor close to 4 times for a given dynamic range whereas it directly results in 12 dB reduction in the dynamic range requirement of the following ADC.