Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Defending embedded systems against buffer overflow via hardware/software

Buffer over-flow attacks have been causing serious security problems for decades. With more embedded systems networked, it becomes an important research problem to defend embedded systems against buffer overflow attacks. We propose the hardware/software address protection (HSAP) technique to solve this problem. We first classify buffer overflow attacks into two categories (stack smashing attacks and function pointer attacks) and then provide two corresponding defending strategies. In our technique, hardware boundary check method and function pointer XOR method are used to protect a system against stack smashing attacks and function pointer attacks, respectively. Although the focus of the HSAP technique is on embedded systems because of the availability of hardware support, we show that the HSAP technique is applied to any type of processors to defend against buffer overflow attacks. We use four classes of processors to illustrate that the applicability of our technique is independent of architectures. We experiment with our HSAP technique in ARM Evaluator-7T simulation development environments. The results show that our HSAP technique defends a system against more types of buffer overflow attacks with little overhead.
Performance Comparison of DFT and Hartley Plane Sectorization with its Wavelets across RGB, LUV and YCbCr Colour Planes in CBIR

This paper uses the sectorization method on DFT and Hartley transforms along with sectorization of the DFT and Hartley wavelets over 3 different color spaces namely RGB, LUV and YCbCr. A comparison and evaluation of these methods is carried out and the results are drawn based on the retrieval rates of each class of images from the database. Three different similarity measures such as Precision, Recall, Precision- Recall Crossover are used for the matching the feature vectors of the query image with that of the images in the database. Euclidean distance and sum of Absolute difference are used for measuring the distances between the images. The average precision-recall cross-over point plot (PRCP) and the overall average PRCP performances have been compared for all the methods.
Epistemic Modality and Knowledge Attribution in Scientific Discourse: A Taxonomy of Types and Overview of Features

We propose a model for knowledge attribution and epistemic evaluation in scientific discourse, consisting of three dimensions with different values: source (author, other, unknown); value (unknown, possible, probable, presumed true) and basis (reasoning, data, other). Based on a literature review, we investigate four linguistic features that mark different types epistemic evaluation (modal auxiliary verbs, adverbs/adjectives, reporting verbs and references). A corpus study on two biology papers indicates the usefulness of this model, and suggest some typical trends. In particular, we find that matrix clauses with a reporting verb of the form ‘ These results suggest’ , are the predominant feature indicating knowledge attribution in scientific text.
A CCII-based relaxation oscillator as a versatile interface for resistive and capacitive sensors

In this paper, a novel Current-Mode (CM) square/triangular wave oscillator, based on second generation current conveyor (CCII), operating as resistance/capacitance to time conversion is described. The proposed oscillator, which consists of two CCII as an active element, three grounded resistances and one capacitance found to be an effective alternate of voltage mode based interfaces for wide range capacitive and resistive sensors. The interface circuit was implemented with commercially available current feedback operational amplifier AD844 from Analog Devices and passive components. Experimental results confirmed the theoretical expectations, showing good linearity in wide oscillation frequency/period range, which can be independently adjusted through resistive or capacitive external passive components. Experimental measurement was also conducted on a fabricated capacitive humidity sensor to verify the real time application of the proposed interface circuit. The interface circuit has shown a good accuracy and linearity for wide variation in capacitance of humidity sensor.
The Virological and Immunological Characteristics of the HIV-1-Infected Population in Brazil: From Initial Diagnosis to Impact of Antiretroviral Use

Background Immunological and virological status of HIV-infected individuals entering the Brazilian public system over time was analyzed. We evaluated the impact of ART on virological, immunological and antiretroviral resistance over time. Methods CD4+ T cell counts, viral loads and genotypes from patients over 13 years old from 2001–2011 were analyzed according to demographic data. We compared groups using parametric t-tests and linear regression analysis in the R statistical software language. Results Mean baseline CD4+ T cell counts varied from 348 (2003) to 389 (2009) and was higher among women (p = 1.1 x 10−8), lower in older patients (p< 1 x 10−8) and lower in less developed regions (p = 1.864 x 10−5). Percentage of treated patients with undetectable viral loads increased linearly from 46% (2001) to 77% (2011), was lower among women (p = 2.851 x 10−6), younger ages (p = 1 x 10−3), and in less developed regions (p = 1.782 x 10−4). NRTI acquired resistance was 86% in 2001–3 and decreased over time. NNRTI resistance increased from 2001-3(50%) to 2006–9 (60%), PI resistance decreased from 2001–3 (60%) to 2009 (40%), and 3-class resistance was stable over time around 25%. Subtype prevalence comprised B (75.3%), B/F recombinants (12.2%), C (5.7%), F (5.3%) and B/C recombinants (1.5%), with regional variations. Three-class resistance was 26.5% among Bs, 22.4% among Fs and 17.2% among Cs. Conclusions HIV diagnosis occurs late, especially among elderly Brazilians. Younger individuals need special attention due to poor virological response to treatment. Antiretroviral Resistance profile is subtype related.
Two NFC interaction techniques for quickly exchanging pictures between a mobile phone and a computer

Uploading and downloading pictures between a mobile phone and a computer is still a very cumbersome process. Because of this, many users actually do not copy, move or backup their pictures onto another computer until the storage capacity of the mobile phone is reached. This paper presents the prototypes (and respective implementation details) of the touch & connect and touch & select interaction techniques. Both techniques allow the quick and easy exchange of pictures by touching the computer with the mobile device. The first interaction technique: touch & connect, allows the user to touch a computer with their mobile phone in order to establish a Bluetooth connection and initiate a file transfer between the two devices. The second interaction technique: touch & select, extends this concept and allows the selection of a specific picture or location on the computer screen by touching it with the mobile phone. The interaction techniques were implemented using Near Field Communication (NFC) tags attached to the computer and an NFC phone capable of reading those tags.
Hundreds of new cluster candidates in the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea survey DR1

VISTA variables in the Via Lactea is an ESO Public survey dedicated to scan the bulge and an adjacent portion of the Galactic disk in the fourth quadrant using the VISTA telescope and the near-infrared camera VIRCAM. One of the leading goals of the VVV survey is to contribute to the knowledge of the star cluster population of the Milky Way. To improve the census of the Galactic star clusters, we performed a systematic scan of the JHKs images of the Galactic plane section of the VVV survey. Our detection procedure is based on a combination of superficial density maps and visual inspection of promising features in the NIR images. The material examined are color-composite images corresponding to the DR1 of VVV. We report the discovery of 493 new star cluster candidates. The analysis of the spatial distribution show that the clusters are very concentrated in he Galactic plane, presenting some local maxima around the position of large star-forming complexes, such as G305, RCW 95, and RCW 106. The vast majority of the cluster candidates are quite compact and generally surrounded by bright and/or dark nebulosities. IRAS point sources are associated with 59% of the sample, while 88% are associated with MSX point sources. GLIMPSE 8 mum images of the cluster candidates show a variety of morphologies, with 292 clusters dominated by knotty sources, while 361 clusters show some kind of nebulosity. Spatial cross-correlation with young stellar objects, masers, and extended green-object catalogs suggest that a large sample of the new cluster candidates are extremely young. In particular, 104 star clusters associated to methanol masers are excellent candidates for ongoing massive star formation. Also, there is a special set of sixteen cluster candidates that present clear signspot of star-forming activity having associated simultaneosly dark nebulae, young stellar objects, EGOs, and masers.
Patterns of Bidirectional Communication between Cortex and Basal Ganglia during Movement in Patients with Parkinson Disease

Cortico-basal ganglia networks are considered to comprise several parallel and mostly segregated loops, where segregation is achieved in space through topographic connectivity. Recently, it has been suggested that functional segregation may also be achieved in the frequency domain, by selective coupling of related activities at different frequencies. So far, however, any coupling across frequency in the human has only been modeled in terms of unidirectional influences, a misplaced assumption given the looped architecture of the basal ganglia, and has been considered in static terms. Here, we investigate the pattern of bidirectional coupling between mesial and lateral cortical areas and the subthalamic nucleus (STN) at rest and during movement, with and without pharmacological dopaminergic input, in patients with Parkinson's disease. We simultaneously recorded scalp electroencephalographic activity and local field potentials from depth electrodes and deduced patterns of directed coherence between cortical and STN levels across three frequency bands [sub-β (3–13 Hz), β (14–35 Hz), γ (65–90 Hz)] in the different states. Our results show (1) asymmetric bidirectional coupling between STN and both mesial and lateral cortical areas with greater drives from cortex to STN at frequencies <35 Hz, (2) a drop of β band coupling driven from mesial cortex to STN during movement, and (3) an increase in symmetrical bidirectional drives between STN and mesial cortex and in lateral cortical drive to STN in the γ band after dopaminergic therapy. The results confirm a bidirectional pattern of cortico-basal ganglia communication that is differentially patterned across frequency bands and changes with movement and dopaminergic input.
The asymptotic elasticity of utility functions and optimal investment in incomplete markets

The paper studies the problem of maximizing the expected utility of terminal wealth in the framework of a general incomplete semimartingale model of a financial market. We show that the necessary and sufficient condition on a utility function for the validity of several key assertions of the theory to hold true is the requirement that the asymptotic elasticity of the utility function is strictly less then one. (author's abstract)
Learning equivariant structured output SVM regressors

Equivariance and invariance are often desired properties of a computer vision system. However, currently available strategies generally rely on virtual sampling, leaving open the question of how many samples are necessary, on the use of invariant feature representations, which can mistakenly discard information relevant to the vision task, or on the use of latent variable models, which result in non-convex training and expensive inference at test time. We propose here a generalization of structured output SVM regressors that can incorporate equivariance and invariance into a convex training procedure, enabling the incorporation of large families of transformations, while maintaining optimality and tractability. Importantly, test time inference does not require the estimation of latent variables, resulting in highly efficient objective functions. This results in a natural formulation for treating equivariance and invariance that is easily implemented as an adaptation of off-the-shelf optimization software, obviating the need for ad hoc sampling strategies. Theoretical results relating to vicinal risk, and experiments on challenging aerial car and pedestrian detection tasks show the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
International Journal of English Language & Translation Studies Promoting Student Motivation in Efl Classroom: a Perspective on the Role of Teacher

Teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language has not been easy either for teachers or for learners. Teachers face problems while teaching it while learners face difficulties while learning it. Many factors contribute to these problems and difficulties and lack of motivation on the part of learners or demotivated learners is one of the most common problems faced by the teachers which affects both teachers and learners in negative way. Motivated learners are a dream of every ESL/EFL teachers but it is hardy realized. However, it is also important to note that teachers enjoy and lay a very significant role in ESL/EFL teaching and learning process. In this respect, what role ESL/EFL teachers can play in motivating their learners inside and outside the ESL/EFL classrooms and what strategies can be used and utilized to motivate and promote motivation among ESL/EFL learners are the topics of discussion of this paper. Briefing the term motivation and its types, attempt has also been done to systematically propose certain practical strategies for ESL/EFL teachers to employ inside and outside the classroom for motivating their students to learn so that the aims and objectives of teaching English are fulfilled easily.
Monads through program extraction

Closing the gap between formalized proof and practical programming has long been an objective of working in type theory. Monads epitomize this balance. They are a formal construct but have revolutionized programming in purely functional environments. We play on this relationship by formalizing the structure of a monad as a type. By instantiating the type constructor and its associated operators in a dependent type theory we are able to reason about monads as we would a type. By the fact that we are working in a constructive context this reasoning means that we can begin to close that gap between a formal proof and practical programming when it comes to monads. We are able to extract instances of the operators by the fact that we can prove propositions that correspond to that type. In this paper we will do this in two varieties. The first is that by knowing the algorithm the operators correspond to we can easily state them as an object in our language. We then prove that they have the correct type, the type of the output for which we are trying to generate. The second methodology is to prove a behavior specification and there by obtain an extract based on what the program is supposed to do. Our extract is in the form of a term in a purely functional programming language that is just as powerful as any more common language. We contrast this with the first method which is a statement of verification, or of how to do a certain computation. In our process of verifying and specifying (extracting) monads we show that particular instances of common monads are definable in our type theory. We show that the monad is a well defined type. And we give examples showing that our monads are usable.
An Almanac Manager of Meetings

Designing and developing user-friendly software is difficult. The use of HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) within software design and development, usability engineering and evaluation techniques all play an important part in producing usable software. This paper explores how HCI and usability fit within the software lifecycle. It examines the advantages and disadvantages over traditional software methodologies such as formal methods, as well evaluating some of the techniques in the development of software. A meetings almanac manager for a Computer Science University Department was developed using iterative prototyping and user-based interviews and observation techniques. The use of such methods concentrated the design on the needs of the users, and through feedback ensured the final system was user-friendly and implemented on time, incorporating additional functionality.
An Integrated Geovisual Analytics Framework for Analysis of Energy Consumption Data and Renewable Energy Potentials

We present an integrated geovisual analytics framework for utility consumers to interactively analyze and benchmark their energy consumption. The framework uses energy and property data already available with the utility companies and county governments respectively. The motivation for the developed framework is the need for citizens to go beyond the conventional utility bills in understanding the patterns in their energy consumption. There is also a need for citizens to go beyond one-time improvements that are often not monitored and measured over time. Some of the features of the framework include the ability for citizens to visualize their historical energy consumption data along with weather data in their location. The quantity of historical energy data available is significantly more than what is available from utility bills. An overlay of the weather data provides users with a visual correlation between weather patterns and their energy consumption patterns. Another feature of the framework is the ability for citizens to compare their consumption on an aggregated basis to that of their peers other citizens living in houses of similar size and age and within the same or different geographical boundaries, such as subdivision, zip code, or county. The users could also compare their consumptionmore » to others based on the size of their family and other attributes. This feature could help citizens determine if they are among the best in class . The framework can also be used by the utility companies to better understand their customers and to plan their services. To make the framework easily accessible, it is developed to be compatible with mobile consumer electronics devices. « less
Genetic Clustering of Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma Based on Array-Comparative Genomic Hybridization: Its Association with DNA Methylation Alteration and Patient Outcome

Purpose: The aim of this study was to clarify genetic and epigenetic alterations occurring during renal carcinogenesis. Experimental Design: Copy number alterations were examined by array-based comparative genomic hybridization analysis using an array harboring 4,361 bacterial artificial chromosome clones, and DNA methylation alterations on CpG islands of the p16, human MutL homologue 1, von Hippel-Lindau, and thrombospondin 1 genes and the methylated in tumor (MINT-1, MINT-2, MINT-12, MINT-25, and MINT-31) clones were examined in 51 clear cell renal cell carcinomas (RCC). Results: By unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis based on copy number alterations, clear cell RCCs were clustered into the two subclasses, clusters A (n = 34) and B (n = 17). Copy number alterations were accumulated in cluster B. Loss of chromosome 3p and gain of 5q and 7 were frequent in both clusters A and B, whereas loss of 1p, 4, 9, 13q, and 14q was frequent only in cluster B. The average number of methylated CpG islands in cluster B was significantly higher than those in cluster A. Clear cell RCCs showing higher histologic grades, vascular involvement, renal vein tumor thrombi, and higher pathologic stages were accumulated in cluster B. The recurrence-free and overall survival rates of patients in cluster B were significantly lower than those of patients in cluster A. Multivariate analysis revealed that genetic clustering was a predictor of recurrence-free survival and was independent of histologic grade and pathologic stage. Conclusions: This genetic clustering of clear cell RCC is significantly associated with regional DNA hypermethylation and may become a prognostic indicator for patients with RCC.
Synthesis of Passive RFID from Backscatter Using Soft-Computing Techniques

By analyzing backscatter signal from antenna, using stacked rectangular metal patches, one could determine the characteristics (poles and zeros) of the antenna. In an ideal situation, when the incident chirp contains the resonant frequencies of the patch, the scattered signal would clearly display them. The characteristic parameters could then be used as a signature of the patch, i.e., information stored in its physical structure. This could open the possibility of a new technology for cheap chipless RFID tag, if the scattered signal could be successfully analyzed, even in a noisy real world working environment. The analysis of the scattered signal poses two problems : (1) unwanted scattering from metallic objects and other noise sources in any realistic environment, (2) an additional phase shift, different for various frequency components of the chirp, due to positioning of the reception antenna at a distance. In addition, because the transfer function is non-linear, we need a fast optimization algorithm to get least-square-error parameter values in real-time. In this preliminary work, we explain how we solved these problems using soft-computing techniques and compare results with true parameter values.
Tag Anti-collision Algorithm for RFID Systems with Minimum Overhead Information in the Identification Process

This paper describes a new tree based anti-colli- sion algorithm for Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. The proposed technique is based on fast parallel binary splitting (FPBS) technique. It follows a new identi- fication path through the binary tree. The main advantage of the proposed protocol is the simple dialog between the reader and tags. It needs only one bit tag response followed by one bit reader reply (one-to-one bit dialog). The one bit reader response represents the collision report (1: collision; 0: no collision) of the tags' one bit message. The tag achieves self transmission control by dynamically updating its relative replying order due to the received collision report. The proposed algorithm minimizes the overhead transmitted bits per one tag identification. In the collision state, tags do modify their next replying order in the next bit level. Performed computer simulations have shown that the collision recovery scheme is very fast and simple even with the successive reading process. More- over, the proposed algorithm outperforms most of the re- cent techniques in most cases.
Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology Open Access Laser Capture Microdissection of Gonads from Juvenile Zebrafish

Background: Investigating gonadal gene expression is important in attempting to elucidate the molecular mechanism of sex determination and differentiation in the model species zebrafish. However, the small size of juvenile zebrafish and correspondingly their gonads complicates this type of investigation. Furthermore, the lack of a genetic sex marker in juvenile zebrafish prevents pooling gonads from several individuals. The aim of this study was to establish a method to isolate the gonads from individual juvenile zebrafish allowing future investigations of gonadal gene expression during sex determination and differentiation.