Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mobile Malware Evolution , Detection and Defense

Use of smartphones has increased exponentially and we are increasingly relying on smartphones for operations like accessing online information, making payment, playing games, using utility applications etc. that were once performed only by computers. The aforementioned operations are besides storing personal details like contact information in Address book, text messages etc. and business data. We are in a new era, where wide range of devices exchange data with each other thus opening up new security concerns. The tremendous growth of smartphone usage makes it a target for malicious attackers to propagate malware and perform other malicious attacks. This survey paper provides an overview of evolution for mobile malware, attack vectors, detection methodologies and defense mechanisms that are still in its infancy stage. This survey paper highlights the unique aspects of mobile malware when compared with PC security and researches that are done to mitigate them. Also, given the popularity of some mobile platforms amongst users, this paper focuses on security mechanisms adopted in iPhone and Android devices to prevent attacks.
Animal research highlights a therapeutic potential of cannabinoids for the treatment of depression

Long known for their mood altering effects, cannabinoids are currently under investigation for their therapeutic potential in the treatment of depression. Findings from multiple areas of basic research indicate that this system is indeed a viable target for novel antidepressant drugs. Rodent models of depression have been shown to alter levels of the endogenous cannabinoids and the cannabinoid CB1 receptor, implicating this system in the etiology of depression. Additionally, cannabinoid drugs have demonstrated efficacy in rodent tests for antidepressant drug-like activity, and these effects appear to share common mechanisms of action with current antidepressant drugs, such as the selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Thus, although the effects of cannabinoids on depression in humans remain to be elucidated, animal studies have provided impetus to further pursue this line of clinical research.
Estrogens in the Syrian Hamster Kidney Relative Carcinogenic Activity of Various Synthetic and Natural Updated Version

Both synthetic and natural estrogens have been studied for their ability to induce renal carcinomas in castrated male ham sters after 9.0 months of treatment. Tumor foci were detected in frozen serial sections stained histochemically for esterase activity. Both diethylstilbestrol (DES) and 17. ^-estradiol had equal ability (100%) to induce renal tumors [~20.5 Â±3 (S.E.) tumor foci] in these animals. Hexestrol induced the same incidence and number of renal carcinoma foci as DES or 17/3-estradiol. How ever, a-dienestrol and DES 3,4-oxide showed an 86 to 88% incidence of renal tumors in hamsters (~10.8 Â±3). When equilin and d-equilenin, components of therapeutic conjugated estro gens, were tested, only equilin had a 76% incidence of renal tumor foci (5.5 Â±0.9). The ability of these stilbene and steroidal estrogens to compete for renal tumor estrogen receptor gener ally correlated well with their ability to cause renal tumorigenesis in the hamster with one notable exception. Although ethinyl estradiol competed as well as did DES or 17/3-estradiol for estrogen receptor, had similar ability to induce renal progester one receptor, and led to similar high serum prolactin levels as either DES or 17/3-estradiol, it had only weak carcinogenic activity (21%) in the hamster kidney (0.6 Â± 0.5 foci). These data represent the first detailed analysis of the relative carcinogenic activity of different estrogens within a given tumor-inducing system, and based on the carcinogenicity data of hexestrol and a-dienestrol presented herein, they suggest that epoxidation of the olefinic double bond and the p-quinone metabolite of DES probably are not involved significantly in its carcinogenic activity. Moreover, the poor carcinogenic activity of ethinyl estradiol in this system, despite strong estrogenicity. suggests that estronic activity alone may not be sufficient to effect renal tumorigenesis in the hamster.
p300 Plays a Critical Role in Maintaining Cardiac Mitochondrial Function and Cell Survival in Postnatal Hearts

Rationale: It is known that the transcriptional coactivator p300 is crucially involved in the differentiation and growth of cardiac myocytes during development. However, the physiological function of p300 in the postnatal hearts remains to be characterized. Objective: We have now investigated the physiological function of p300 in adult hearts. Methods and Results: We analyzed transgenic mice exhibiting cardiac-specific overexpression of a dominant-negative p300 mutant lacking the C/H3 domain (p300&Dgr;C/H3 transgenic [TG] mice). p300&Dgr;C/H3 significantly inhibited p300-induced activation of GATA- and myocyte enhancer factor 2–dependent promoters in cultured ventricular myocytes, and p300&Dgr;C/H3-TG mice showed cardiac dysfunction that was lethal by 20 weeks of age. The numbers of mitochondria in p300&Dgr;C/H3-TG myocytes were markedly increased, but the mitochondria were diminished in size. Moreover, cardiac mitochondrial gene expression, mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP contents were all significantly disrupted in p300&Dgr;C/H3-TG hearts, suggesting that mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the progression of the observed cardiomyopathy. Transcription of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor &ggr; coactivator (PGC)-1&agr;, a master regulator of mitochondrial gene expression, and its target genes was significantly downregulated in p300&Dgr;C/H3-TG mice, and p300&Dgr;C/H3 directly repressed myocyte enhancer factor 2C-dependent PGC-1&agr; promoter activity and disrupted the transcriptional activity of PGC-1&agr; in cultured ventricular myocytes. In addition, myocytes showing features of autophagy were observed in p300&Dgr;C/H3-TG hearts. Conclusions: Collectively, our findings suggest that p300 is essential for the maintenance of mitochondrial integrity and for myocyte survival in the postnatal left ventricular myocardium.
Essays on Inflation Volatility

Inflation volatility is one of the key constituents of inflation dynamics and has not received much attention in the literature. The study of inflation volatility is important because it has adverse economic consequences. This thesis aims to study the determinants of inflation volatility for advanced and developing countries. At the outset, I explore the empirical regularities of inflation volatility based on monthly and quarterly CPI inflation data (1968 to 2011) using time and frequency domain analysis. I establish a stylised fact that inflation is significantly more volatile in developing countries than advanced countries. This raises a research question why it is so. Using a New Keynesian paradigm, an answer to this research question is sought from two angles. First, a policy rule for interest rate (known as Taylor rule) is estimated over a balanced panel of advanced and developing countries to examine the difference in policy activism between these two groups of countries. This follows from the New Keynesian argument that an active monetary policy is a necessary condition for stable dynamics of inflation. Using the Generalized Method of Moments and the Arellano and Bover (1995) method of dynamic panel estimation, I find that monetary policy is active in advanced countries but passive in developing economies. This striking difference in the policy regimes between these two groups can be one of the reasons for the difference in inflation volatility. Second, motivated by the asymmetry in consumption basket of CPI between advanced and developing economies, a two-sector New Keynesian model with food and non-food is developed. The model features: i) composite consumption and labour index, ii) differential Calvo-type price adjustment of firms across sectors, and iii) Taylor type monetary policy rule. Characterising the distinct structures of advanced and developing economies by two different parameterizations, the model calibration shows that demand disturbance generated by the preference shock is one of the fundamental forces for inflation volatility. In addition, my simulation analysis demonstrates that other structural parameters such as the frequency of price adjustment, distribution of labour and the elasticity of labour substitution, and the policy parameter of inflation in the Taylor rule are also critical factors explaining the greater volatility of inflation in developing economies.
A Peer-to-peer Communication Architecture for Networked Games

Although IP multicast can be used to support message transmission among players in large network games running on Intranets, it is mostly not available on the Internet. Alternatively, researches have in recent years proposed the use of Application Layer Multicasting techniques (ALM) to alleviate this problem and to allow a somewhat scalable message passing among peers in a group of users on the Internet. In this paper, we propose a peer-to-peer communication architecture for networked games. Our architecture uses both proxies and end-systems to provide a number of communication services: 1) best effort LAN multicast 2) timely-reliable LAN multicast 3) best effort P2P delivery on the Internet 4) timely-reliable P2P delivery on the Internet, and 5) any combination of the above, including LAN to Internet translation and vice versa. Our filed trials using a shoot'em up game show that the proposed framework performs satisfactorily over the Internet.
Vertical variability and effect of stability on turbulence characteristics down to the floor of a pine forest

Among the fundamental problems in canopy turbulence, particularly near the forest floor, remain the local diabatic effects and linkages between turbulent length scales and the canopy morphology. To progress on these problems, mean and higher order turbulence statistics are collected in a uniform pine forest across a wide range of atmospheric stability conditions using five 3-D anemometers in the subcanopy. The main novelties from this experiment are: (1) the agreement between second-order closure model results and measurements suggest that diabatic states in the layer above the canopy explain much of the modulations of the key velocity statistics inside the canopy except in the immediate vicinity of the trunk space and for very stable conditions. (2) The dimensionless turbulent kinetic energy in the trunk space is large due to a large longitudinal velocity variance but it is inactive and contributes little to momentum fluxes. (3) Near the floor layer, a logarithmic mean velocity profile is formed and vertical eddies are strongly suppressed modifying all power spectra. (4) A spectral peak in the vertical velocity near the ground commensurate with the trunk diameter emerged at a moderate element Reynolds number consistent with Strouhal instabilities describing wake production.
THE AFTERGLOWS OF SWIFT-ERA GAMMA-RAY BURSTS. II. TYPE I GRB VERSUS TYPE II GRB OPTICAL AFTERGLOWS

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been separated into two classes, originally along the lines of duration and spectral properties, called “short/hard” and “long/soft. ” The latter have been conclusively linked to the explosive deaths of massive stars, while the former are thought to result from the merger or collapse of compact objects. In recent years, indications have been accumulating that the short/hard versus long/soft division does not map directly onto what would be expected from the two classes of progenitors, leading to a new classification scheme called Type I and Type II which is based on multiple observational criteria. We use a large sample of GRB afterglow and prompt-emission data (adding further GRB afterglow observations in this work) to compare the optical afterglows (or the lack thereof) of Type I GRBs with those of Type II GRBs. In comparison to the afterglows of Type II GRBs, we find that those of Type I GRBs have a lower average luminosity and show an intrinsic spread of luminosities at least as wide. From late and deep upper limits on the optical transients, we establish limits on the maximum optical luminosity of any associated supernova (SN), confirming older works and adding new results. We use deep upper limits on Type I GRB optical afterglows to constrain the parameter space of possible mini-SN emission associated with a compact-object merger. Using the prompt-emission data, we search for correlations between the parameters of the prompt emission and the late optical afterglow luminosities. We find tentative correlations between the bolometric isotropic energy release and the optical afterglow luminosity at a fixed time after the trigger (positive), and between the host offset and the luminosity (negative), but no significant correlation between the isotropic energy release and the duration of the GRBs. We also discuss three anomalous GRBs, GRB 060505, GRB 060614, and GRB 060121, in light of their optical afterglow luminosities.
Azimuthally Anisotropic 3D Velocity Continuation

We extend time-domain velocity continuation to the zero-offset 3D azimuthally anisotropic case. Velocity continuation describes how a seismic image changes given a change in migration velocity. This description turns out to be of a wave propagation process, in which images change along a velocity axis. In the anisotropic case, the velocity model is multiparameter. Therefore, anisotropic image propagation is multidimensional. We use a three-parameter slowness model, which is related to azimuthal variations in velocity, as well as their principal directions. This information is useful for fracture and reservoir characterization from seismic data. We provide synthetic diffraction imaging examples to illustrate the concept and potential applications of azimuthal velocity continuation and to analyze the impulse response of the 3D velocity continuation operator.
Optimal Tests for Reduced Rank Time Variation in Regression Coefficients and Level Variation in the Multivariate Local Level Model

This paper constructs tests for martingale time variation in regression coefficients in the regression model y t = x t ′β t + u t , where β t is k×1, and Σ β is the covariance matrix of Δβ t. Under the null there is no time variation, so H o : Σ β = 0; under the alternative there is time variation in r linear combinations of the coefficients, so H a : rank(Σ β) = r, where r may be less than k. The Gaussian point optimal invariant test for this reduced rank testing problem is derived, and the test's asymptotic behavior is studied under local alternatives. The paper also considers the analogous testing problem in the multivariate local level model Z t = μ t + a t , where Z t is a k×1 vector, μ t is a level process that is constant under the null but is subject to reduced rank martingale variation under the alternative, and a t is an I(0) process. The test is used to investigate possible common trend variation in the growth rate of per-capita GDP in France, Germany and Italy.
The Relation between Nonverbal IQ and Postoperative CI Outcomes in Cochlear Implant Users: Preliminary Result

Objectives. This study assessed the correlation between performance intelligence and the postoperative cochlear implant (CI) outcome in Korean-speaking children. In addition, the relationship between the performance intelligence subscales and the post-CI speech outcome was evaluated. Materials and Methods. Thirteen pediatric CI users (five males, eight females; median age at implantation 6.2 (range 1.3–14.2) years; median age at intelligence test 9.3 (range 5–16) years) who were tested using the Korean Educational Development Institute-Wechsler Intelligence Scale for children were studied. The correlations between the intelligence scores and 1-2 years postoperative Categories of Auditory Performance (CAP) scores and between subscales of performance and 1-2 years postoperative CAP scores were analyzed. Results. There was no correlation between the categories of verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) and performance IQ for “mentally retarded” and “average,” respectively (Spearman's rho = 0.42, P = 0.15). There was a strong correlation between performance IQ and the postoperative CAP scale (Spearman's rho = 0.8977, P = 0.0008). “Picture arrangement” and “picture completion,” reflecting social cognition, were strongly correlated with the postoperative CAP scales. Conclusion. Performance intelligence, especially social cognition, was strongly related to the postoperative CI outcome of cochlear implant users. Therefore, auditory rehabilitation, including social rehabilitation, should maximize the postoperative CI outcomes.
Simulating Chinese brush painting: the parametric hairy brush

In Chinese brush painting each stroke exists on its own as a piece of art. The distinct characteristics of a brush stroke come from the combination of a painter’s skill with the unique physical properties of the paper, ink, and brush. As an artist paints the brush bristles deposit ink and water on the paper, the ink and water diffuse through the paper, and the bristles deform due to external forces.
ARTI: An Adaptive Radio Tomographic Imaging System

Radio tomographic imaging systems use received signal strength measurements between static wireless sensors to image the changes in the radio propagation environment in the area of the sensors, which can be used to localize a person causing the change. To date, spatial models used for such systems are set a priori and do not change. Imaging and tracking performance suffers because of the mismatch between the model and the measurements. Collecting labeled training data requires intensive effort, and the data degrade quickly as the environment changes. This paper provides a means for a radio tomographic imaging system to bootstrap to improve its spatial models using unlabeled data, iteratively improving itself over time. A collection of tracking filters are presented to improve the accuracy of image and coordinate estimates. This paper presents an online method to use these estimates to instantaneously update spatial model parameters. Further, a smoothing method is presented to fine-tune the model with a given finite latency. The development efforts are evaluated using simulations and validated with real-world experiments conducted in three different environments. With respect to another state-of-the-art radio tomographic imaging system, the results suggest that the presented system increases the median tracking accuracy by twofold in the most challenging environment and by threefold when the model parameters are trained using the smoothing method.
On Gromov's theory of rigid transformation groups: a dual approach

Geometric problems are usually formulated by means of (exterior) differential systems. In this theory, one enriches the system by adding algebraic and differential constraints, and then looks for regular solutions. Here we adopt a dual approach, which consists of enriching a plane field, as this is often practised in control theory, by adding brackets of the vector fields tangent to it and, then, looking for singular solutions of the obtained distribution. We apply this to the isometry problem of rigid geometric structures.
Blind partial extraction of instantaneous mixtures of sources using second order statistics

We introduce a criterion for blindly extracting a small subset of most interesting sources in instantaneous mixtures, based on second order statistics. The extracted sources are those for which the time varying spectral density varies the most. The gradient and an approximation to the Hessian of the criterion are derived. Based on the block diagonal form of the approximate Hessian, an algorithm of relaxation type is developed. A simulation example is provided showing the good performance of the algorithm.
Hayman-like techniques for computing input-output weight distribution of convolutional encoders

In this paper we derive exact formulæ of the input-output weight enumerators for truncated convolutional encoders. Although explicit analytic expressions can be computed for relatively small code lengths, they become prohibitively complex to calculate as the truncation length increases. By applying Hayman-like techniques, we present an accurate and easy to compute approximation of the weight enumerators. One of our main results is the proof that the sequence of their exponential growths converges uniformly to the asymptotic growth rate. Finally, we estimate the speed of this convergence.
Which Genetic Markers and GSI Methods are More Appropriate for Defining Marine Distribution and Migration of Salmon ?

Potential for increased statistical power in stock discrimination gained through employing more polymorphic marker types such as microsatellites is attractive for applications in determining the distribution and migration of salmon in the high seas. Increased sampling requirements owing to the many character types (alleles) that typify microsatellites, however, raise question about accuracy. While increasing the number of individuals characterized for baseline data addresses this issue, it is seldom feasible to characterize all likely contributing stocks. Furthermore, increasing population sample size (minimum n) requirements per stock inevitably will result in a reduction in the total number of potential contributing stocks that can be characterized in baselines, as funding for research is always finite. This approach thus results in diminishing returns because it increases the potential for more individuals in any study that may have originated from stocks other than those characterized in baselines. Methods invoking Baye's rule and a number of new approaches have shown promise in overcoming this enigma. This study reviews empirical findings from working with some of these new approaches (SPAM, Debevec et al. 2000; WHICHLOCI, Banks et al. 2003; and GMA, Kalinowski 2003). Primary goals were to determine how alternate genetic markers, sample sizes and population compositions effect precision and accuracy of results for known mixtures. Data includes microsatellites, major histocompatibility complex (MHC), and D-Loop mtDNA sequence variance (Table 1) from five alternate Chinook life history types of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers of central California, USA. Our primary finding is that the statistical power of genetic stock identification is critically dependent on the information content of genetic markers (loci) employed. Power is maximized through ranking loci according to their discriminatory ability among populations under consideration and using a resource such as WHICHLOCI (Banks et al. 2003) to evaluate what minimum numbers of high ranking loci are necessary in order to achieve desired assignment accuracy and precision criteria (Fig. 1). Earlier studies have suggested that a modest number of loci, each with a modest number of alleles provides better assignment accuracy (Smouse and Chevillon 1998; Bernatchez and Duchesne 2000) and Cornuet et al. (1999) noted a converse relationship between number of loci (8– 30) and number of individuals required (30–12) in order to achieve 100% assignment. Our studies, however, reveal that no simple predictor such as number of alleles or heterozygositiy of loci provides consistent prediction of individual based assignment performance. While more polymorphic and heterozygous …