Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between spinal and non-spinal health conditions reported in epidemiological studies: a scoping review protocol

Introduction The increasing prevalence of coexisting health conditions poses a challenge to healthcare providers and healthcare systems. Spinal pain (eg, neck and back pain) and spinal pathologies (eg, osteoporotic fractures and degenerative spinal disease) exist concurrently with other non-spinal health conditions (NSHC). However, the scope of what associations may exist among these co-occurring conditions is unclear. Therefore, this scoping review aims to map the epidemiological literature that reports associations between spine-related pain and pathologies (SPPs) and NSHCs. Methods and analysis This scoping review will follow the JBI protocol and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. We will systematically search the literature using key words and MeSH terms for SPPs and NSHCs. Terminology/vocabulary for NSHCs will include those for communicable and non-communicable diseases as reported by WHO Global Burden of Disease reports. Five databases will be searched from inception: MEDLINE, EMBASE, APA PsycInfo, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection. Papers published in English, in peer-reviewed journals, including measures of association between SPPs and NSHCs and using observational epidemiologic study designs will be included. Excluded will be studies of cadaveric, animal or health behaviours; studies with no measures of association and non-observational epidemiologic studies. Results will include the number of studies, the studies that have evaluated the measures of association and the frequency of the studied associations between SPPs and NSHCs. Results will be reported in tables and diagrams. Themes of comorbidities will be synthesised into a descriptive report. Ethics and dissemination This scoping review was deemed exempt from ethics review. This review will provide a comprehensive overview of the literature that reports associations between SPPs and NSHCs to inform future research initiatives and practices. Results will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and research conferences. Registration details https://osf.io/w49u3.
Leader: Defense Against Exploit-Based Denial-of-Service Attacks on Web Applications

Exploit-based denial-of-service attacks (exDoS) are challenging to detect and mitigate. Rather than flooding the network with excessive traffic, these attacks generate low rates of application requests that exploit some vulnerability and tie up a scarce key resource. It is impractical to design defenses for each variant of exDoS attacks separately. This approach does not scale, since new vulnerabilities can be discovered in existing applications, and new applications can be deployed with yet unknown vulnerabilities. We propose Leader, an attack-agnostic defense against exDoS attacks. Leader monitors fine-grained resource usage per application on the host it protects, and per each external request to that application. Over time, Leader learns the time-based patterns of legitimate user’s usage of resources for each application and models them using elliptic envelope. During attacks, Leader uses these models to identify application clients that use resources in an abnormal manner, and blocks them. We implement and evaluate Leader for Web application’s protection against exDoS attacks. Our results show that Leader correctly identifies around 99% of attack IPs, and around 99% of legitimate IPs across six different exDoS attacks used in our evaluation. On the average, Leader can identify and block an attacker after six requests. Leader has a small run time cost, adding less than 0.5% to page loading time.
Arboretum: A Planner for Large-Scale Federated Analytics with Differential Privacy

Federated analytics is a way to answer queries over sensitive data that is spread across multiple parties, without sharing the data or collecting it in a single place. Prior work has developed solutions that can scale to large deployments with millions of devices but, due to the distributed nature of federated analytics, these solutions can support only a limited class of queries - typically various forms of numerical queries, which can be answered with lightweight cryptographic primitives. Supporting richer queries, such as categorical queries, requires heavier cryptography, whose cost can quickly exceed even the resources of a powerful data center. In this paper, we present Arboretum, a new federated analytics system that can efficiently answer a broader range of queries, including categorical queries, in deployments with millions or even billions of participants. Arboretum achieves this by 1) automatically optimizing query plans to find highly efficient ways to answer each query, and by 2) including the participant devices in the computation. Our evaluation shows that Arboretum can match the cost of earlier systems that have been hand-optimized for particular kinds of queries, and that it can additionally support a range of new queries for which no efficient solution exists today.
Validating JIT Compilers via Compilation Space Exploration

This paper introduces the novel concept of compilation space, which facilitates the thorough validation of just-in-time (JIT) compilers in modern language virtual machines (LVMs). The compilation space, even for a single program, consists of an extensive array of JIT compilation choices, which can be cross-validated for the correctness of JIT compilation. To thoroughly explore the compilation space in a lightweight and LVM-agnostic manner, we strategically mutate test programs with JIT-relevant, yet semantics-preserving code structures to trigger diverse JIT compilation choices. We realize our technique in Artemis, a tool for the Java virtual machine (JVM). Our evaluation has led to 85 bug reports for three widely used production JVMs, namely HotSpot, OpenJ9, and the Android Runtime. Among them, 53 have already been confirmed or fixed with many being critical. It is also worth mentioning that all the reported bugs concern JIT compilers, demonstrating the clear effectiveness and strong practicability of our technique. We expect that the generality and practicability of our approach will make it broadly applicable for understanding and validating JIT compilers.
A Vector-fitting-based Impedance Reshaping Method for Sub-synchronous Oscillation Suppression in Converter-dominated System

In this paper, a vector-fitting-based impedance reshaping method for sub-synchronous oscillation suppression in a converter-dominated system is proposed to enhance system damping. In this method, an impedance network model is first established based on a frequency-domain scanning method, the candidate converters to be reshaped are then determined based on the impedance participation factor (IPF), and a virtual impedance controller is further introduced and designed using vector fitting algorithm. Finally, a four-bus test system is constructed on the MATLAB/Simulink platform to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Phase and Group Delay Calibration of a Very Long Baseline Interferometer by East-Coast

Precisely timed pulses injected into the input of each receiver are used to calibrate the phase and group delay through each interferometer terminal. The short duration pulses are generated at a 1 MHz rate directly from the output of the frequency standard. The pulses are injected into the receiver at a level low enough to produce less than one percent increase in system temperature, yet can be extracted during processing with a high enough signal to noise ratio to determine the phase of the calibration rails within 1 degree in 1 second of integration. The calibration system also includes precise cable measurement electronics and a pulse echo for clock synchronization.
TouchLog: Finger Micro Gesture Recognition Using Photo-Reflective Sensors

Fingertip input allows for interactions that are natural, easy to perform, and socially acceptable. It also has advantages in terms of low physical demand, confidentiality, and haptic feedback. In this study, we propose TouchLog, a fingernail-type device that uses skin deformation of the fingertip to identify finger micro gestures written with the thumb on the index finger. TouchLog is attached to the index fingernail and allows for one-handed fingertip input without compromising the haptic feedback on the finger. To evaluate the accuracy of 11 types of finger micro gesture recognition, we conducted a user study (N = 10) and obtained an average identification accuracy of 91.5% (SD = 3.1%). A continuous input method using skin deformation and contact pressure was also examined, and its usefulness as a wearable device was discussed.
One Simple API Can Cause Hundreds of Bugs An Analysis of Refcounting Bugs in All Modern Linux Kernels

Reference counting (refcounting) is widely used in Linux kernel. However, it requires manual operations on the related APIs. In practice, missing or improperly invoking these APIs has introduced too many bugs, known as refcounting bugs. To evaluate the severity of these bugs in history and in future, this paper presents a comprehensive study on them. In detail, we study 1,033 refcounting bugs in Linux kernels and present a set of characters and find that most of the bugs can finally cause severe security impacts. Besides, we analyze the root causes at implementation and developer's sides (i.e., human factors), which shows that the careless usages of find-like refcounting-embedded APIs can usually introduce hundreds of bugs. Finally, we propose a set of anti-patterns to summarize and to expose them. On the latest kernel releases, we totally found 351 new bugs and 240 of them have been confirmed. We believe this study can motivate more proactive researches on refcounting problems and improve the quality of Linux kernel.
Evaluation of the risk of occupational exposure to antineoplastic drugs in healthcare sector: part I – medical gloves

Abstract Antineoplastic drugs (ADs) are essential tools in cancer treatment, but their cytotoxicity poses a risk to workers involved in their handling. In a hospital environment fundamental strategies for minimising exposure involve proper use of safety cabinets and closed-circuit transfer devices, along with personnel training and increased awareness of risks. However, medical gloves remain the first line of defence. In this respect the evaluation of glove materials and best choices can improve hospital safety management and prevent potential hazards and long-term consequences. The aim of this study was to assess contamination of gloves in samples taken from AD administration and preparation units of nine Italian hospitals and to raise awareness of the importance of evaluating chemico-physical properties of gloves. Our findings show that 33 % of the analysed gloves were positive for at least one AD, with contaminations ranging from 0.6 to 20,729 pg/ cm2. We proposed the alert glove values (AGVs) for each AD as a limit value for contamination assessment and good practice evaluation. Our findings also point to multiple AD contamination (43 % of positive findings in preparation units), calculated as total AGV (AGV-T), and confirm that gloves should be replaced after 30 min of AD handling, based on cumulative permeation and area under the curve (AUC), to maintain safety and limit dermal exposure.
EBugDec: Detecting Inconsistency Bugs caused by RFC Evolution in Protocol Implementations

The implementation of network protocol must comply with respective Request for Comments (RFC) and updated as RFCs evolve. However, due to the richness of RFCs and the complex relationships between them, systematically discovering the evolution of RFC requirements is non-trivial, which consequently brings in inconsistency bugs when modifying code to support new RFC documents. This can lead to inconsistency bugs when modifying code to support new RFC documents, known as RFC-evolutionary bugs or ebugs. Recent approaches have used natural language processing techniques to extract RFC rules and employed differential testing or static analysis to discover inconsistency bugs in protocol implementations. However, they seldom consider the evolution of RFC requirements nor their related bugs. In this paper, we present EBugDec. Given a protocol implementation and the RFCs it claims to support, our approach identifies evolutionary relationships between RFC documents and their corresponding requirement changes. From this, we derive two major types of evolutionary rules: primitive rules that dictate requirements for newly-introduced packet items, and derivative rules that describe the influence the new items made on requirements stipulated in earlier RFCs. Both of them are represented in formal expressions that dictate packet-related operations should be guarded by specific conditions under special cases (if necessary). Then we use clues found in code annotations and release notes to locate rule-related code in the implementation, and leverage a predominator-based algorithm to discover rule violations in the implementation. We also uncover incomplete error handling logic when the rule-specified conditions fail. We implemented a prototype of EBugDec and demonstrated its efficiency by applying it on 12 implementations of protocol services, along with 178 RFC documents their historical releases claim to support. On average, EBugDec consumed 37.29 seconds to finish its analysis, and detected 17 new ebugs, 5 of which can only be triggered under harsh prerequisites.
Inner-tropical ozone measurements at the Mérida Atmospheric Research Station (MARS) using ground-based microwave radiometry

Since March 2004 the ground-based 268–280 GHz radiometer MIRA 2 has been in quasi-continuous operation at the inner-tropical Mérida Atmospheric Research Station (MARS) on Pico Espejo (8.58°N, 71.15°W, 4765 m above sea level) in the Venezuelan Andes. Using the optimal estimation method concentration profiles of ozone have been retrieved in the stratosphere and mesosphere. In the middle stratosphere variations of ozone on a time scale of several months were revealed in the resulting time series that probably result from the turnaround of the Brewer–Dobson circulation. In the mesosphere photochemistry plays the most important role for the ozone concentration. Therefore a diurnal cycle is observed in the upper part of the retrieved ozone profiles. The measurements are used to verify model results of ozone in the mesosphere obtained by a photochemistry model, which reproduces the diurnal variation of ozone very well. Also an inter-annual variation of mesospheric ozone during the month of November in 2004–2007 was observed, primarily during the night. As the time series is still too short to clearly distinguish solar or QBO signals, the cause of this inter-annual variation cannot yet be related to one or the other. In November 2006 an unusual decrease of the ozone partial columns above 60 km was measured; the cause of this decrease is also not identified so far.
Beneficial metabolic effects of PAHSAs depend on the gut microbiota in diet-induced obese mice

Dietary lipids play an essential role in regulating the function of the gut microbiota and gastrointestinal tract, and these luminal interactions contribute to mediating host metabolism. PAHSAs are a class of lipids with anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory properties, but whether the gut microbiota contributes to their beneficial effects on host metabolism is unknown. Here, we report that treating high fat diet (HFD)-fed germ-free mice with PAHSAs does not improve insulin sensitivity. However, transfer of feces from PAHSA-treated, but not Vehicle-treated, chow-fed mice increases insulin-sensitivity in HFD-fed germ free mice. Thus, the gut microbiota is necessary for and can transmit the insulin-sensitizing effects of PAHSAs in HFD-fed germ-free mice. Functional analyses of the cecal metagenome and lipidome of PAHSA-treated mice identified multiple lipid species that associate with the gut commensal Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt) and with insulin sensitivity resulting from PAHSA treatment. Bt supplementation in HFD-fed female mice prevented weight gain, reduced adiposity, improved glucose tolerance, fortified the colonic mucus barrier and reduced systemic inflammation versus chow-fed controls, effects that were not observed in HFD-fed male mice. Furthermore, ovariectomy partially reversed the beneficial Bt effects on host metabolism, indicating a role for sex hormones in mediating probiotic effects. Altogether, these studies highlight the fact that lipids can modulate the gut microbiota resulting in improvement in host metabolism and that PAHSA-induced changes in the microbiota result in at least some of their insulin-sensitizing effects in female mice.
Verbenone and L-arginine from Daucus carota Seeds Attenuate Oxidative Stress in Streptozotocin-Nicotinamide (STZ-NAD)-Induced Diabetic Mice: Evidence from In vitro and In vivo Studies

Free radicals are produced in diabetes mellitus (DM), due to protein glycosylation and glucose autooxidation. However, compounds from plants were proven to be effective in the management of DM and related conditions. This study evaluated the antioxidant effect of verbenone, L-arginine, and their ratio combinations in diabetic mice. DM was induced in mice by intraperitoneal (IP) injection of streptozotocin and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and the diabetic mice were treated with verbenone, L-arginine, and their ratios for 28 days. In the in vitro study, L-arginine expressed higher 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, while verbenone and L-arginine expressed higher nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) scavenging activities, especially at higher concentrations when compared with vitamin C. At the end of the treatment period, the levels of blood glucose, total protein, and malondialdehyde were significantly increased while the levels of reduced glutathione, nitrite, and activities of glutathione peroxidase, glutathione transferase, catalase, superoxide dismutase were significantly decreased in the diabetic untreated mice. However, these diabetes-induced alterations were reversed to normal levels after the administration of verbenone, L-arginine, and their ratio combinations at 100 and 200 mg/kg body weight. Furthermore, in silico studies revealed the antioxidant potential of both verbenone and L-arginine by their interaction with antioxidant proteins, expressing their potential antioxidant properties. The results of the study indicated that verbenone, L-arginine, and their ratio combination possess antioxidant property and attenuate oxidative stress in diabetic mice. Highlights Verbenone and L-arginine are natural compounds found in Daucus carota seeds and other plants. Verbenone and L-arginine possess in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities. Verbenone, L-arginine and their ratio combination (1:1) enhance the activities of antioxidant enzymes in streptozotocin-nicotinamide (NAD-STZ) induced diabetic mice. Furthermore, the two compounds interacted with antioxidant proteins, expressing their potential antioxidant property in an in silico model.
Multiepitope-based vaccine design against DiiA in Streptococcus pneumoniae, An immunoinformatics approach

Streptococcus pneumoniae (SPN) infection has resulted in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide in children and adults. It is responsible for colonizing the human nasopharynx and can also cause diseases, including otitis media, pneumonia, bacteraemia, and meningitis. SPN is exhibiting resistance to multiple antibiotics and current vaccines have a number of limitations including poor immunogenicity and limited effectiveness against all pneumococcal serotypes. Here, we explain the design of a novel multi-epitope vaccine using Dimorphic invasion-involved protein A (DiiA) as a target protein. For designing the vaccine, the sequence of DiiA was obtained and various bioinformatics tools were employed to predict multiple CTL, HTL, B lymphocyte epitopes of DiiA. After evaluating antigenicity, allergenicity, toxicity, and immunogenicity, the most promising epitopes were chosen for constructing the vaccine, followed by an analysis of their physicochemical and immunological characteristics.The prediction, refinement, and validation of the 3D structure of the vaccine were carried out. Molecular docking, molecular dynamic simulation, and immune simulation were executed to examine the binding affinities and biological interactions at the atomic level between the vaccine and Toll-like receptor (TLR4). Vaccine translation, codon optimization were performed and expression efficiency was assessed through an in-silico cloning experiment performed to transfer into pET28a(+) plasmid vector.The obtained results proved that the vaccine maintained structural stability and possessed the capability to stimulate an efficient immune response against S. pneumoniae infection. The constructed vaccine has the potential for subsequent wet lab experimentation, leading to the development of an innovative vaccine.
A Cloud-Scale Characterization of Remote Procedure Calls

The global scale and challenging requirements of modern cloud applications have led to the development of complex, widely distributed, service-oriented applications. One enabler of such applications is the remote procedure call (RPC), which provides location-independent communication and hides the myriad of cloud communication complexities and requirements within the RPC stack. Understanding RPCs is thus one key to understanding the behavior of cloud applications. While there have been numerous studies of RPCs in distributed systems, as well as attempts to optimize RPC overheads with both software and hardware, there is still a lack of knowledge about the characteristics of RPCs "in the wild" in the modern cloud environment. To address this gap, we present, to the best of our knowledge, the first large-scale fleet-wide study of RPCs. Our study is conducted at Google, where we measured the infrastructure supporting Google's user-facing, billion-user web services, such as Google Search, Gmail, Maps, and YouTube, and the information and data management systems that support them. To carry out the study, we examined over 10,000 different RPC methods sampled from over one billion traces, along with statistics collected every 30 minutes over a period of nearly two years. Among other things, we consider the volume, throughput and growth rate of RPCs in the datacenter, the latency of RPCs and their components (the "RPC latency tax"), and the structure of RPC call chains. Our analysis shows that the characteristics, scope and complexity of RPCs at hyperscale differ significantly from the assumptions made in prior research. Overall, our work provides new insights into RPC usage and characteristics at the largest scale and motivates further research on optimizing the diverse behavior of this crucial communication mechanism.
How (Not) to Build Threshold EdDSA

Edwards-curve digital signature algorithm (EdDSA) is a highly efficient scheme with a short key size. It is derived from the threshold-friendly Schnorr signatures and is covered by the NIST standardization efforts of threshold cryptographic primitives. Nevertheless, extending its deterministic nonce generation to the threshold setting requires heavyweight cryptographic techniques, even when the hash function is replaced with one optimized for secure multi-party computation. Indeed, an efficient extension to the threshold setting is considered a major challenge by NIST and academia. In RAID 2022, a threshold EdDSA scheme is proposed with the nonce generation using only modular addition instead of a hash. This paper unveils the security flaw of this efficient design. We also propose a generic hybrid approach with a showcase of extending a state-of-the-art threshold Schnorr signature scheme. It enjoys a similar level of immunity to side-channel or fault injection attacks as the more heavyweight threshold extension of deterministic nonce generation, but is much more efficient due to its simplicity.