Tailored Source Code Transformations to Synthesize Computationally Diverse Program Variants

The predictability of program execution provides attackers a rich source of knowledge who can exploit it to spy or remotely control the program. Moving target defense addresses this issue by constantly switching between many diverse variants of a program, which reduces the certainty that an attacker can have about the program execution. The effectiveness of this approach relies on the availability of a large number of software variants that exhibit different executions. However, current approaches rely on the natural diversity provided by off-the-shelf components, which is very limited. In this paper, we explore the automatic synthesis of large sets of program variants, called sosies. Sosies provide the same expected functionality as the original program, while exhibiting different executions. They are said to be computationally diverse. This work addresses two objectives: comparing different transformations for increasing the likelihood of sosie synthesis (densifying the search space for sosies); demonstrating computation diversity in synthesized sosies. We synthesized 30184 sosies in total, for 9 large, real-world, open source applications. For all these programs we identified one type of program analysis that systematically increases the density of sosies; we measured computation diversity for sosies of 3 programs and found diversity in method calls or data in more than 40% of sosies. This is a step towards controlled massive unpredictability of software

Method of Stimulation of Pharmacy Workers Involved in the Government Program “Available Medicines”

The aim is to study the current state of the organization of work in pharmacies under the government program “Available medicines” and to create proposals for the improvement of material incentives to increase the motivation of workers of such pharmacies.Materials and methods. The research used the general methods of scientific knowledge: analysis and synthesis, analogy and comparison; method of questioning to determine the actual state and opinions of specialists on the organization of work in the conditions of pharmacy participation in the program "Available medicines".Results and discussion. In the course of the study, the problem of lack of incentives and motivation for the work of pharmacy workers under the Government program "Available medicines" has been highlighted. According to the results of the survey of specialists of three different forms of pharmacy' ownership, participating in the program of reimbursement of the cost of drugs, it was found that the volume and intensity of work of workers has significantly increased, and wages have remained at the same level. The number of operations performed by employees in such pharmacies has considerably increased, which is related to the registration and maintenance of recipes under the program "Available medicines". The questionnaire survey has showed that the best option for optimizing the organization of remuneration in the prevailing conditions would be to pay extra for work (overpays). It was found that the number of recipes taken by one pharmacist per day varies considerably in different pharmacies, and there are also differences in the duration of the work of pharmacies under the reimbursement program during the month. To increase the motivation of pharmacists to work in the prevailing conditions, the method of calculating the additional payment for work in the conditions of the program "Available medicines" for each chemist's worker is offered individually in accordance with the post based on a formula that takes into account the intensity of labor using the intensity coefficient and the percentage of the additional payment.Conclusions. The conducted researches have shown that the increased intensity of labor, which takes place in pharmacies working under the program "Available medicines", is the basis for the calculation of additional payments. The application of the system of material stimulation of the work of pharmacists based on the proposed methodology will allow compensating additional labor of specialists, taking into account the intensity of their work

Expanding the role of research evidence in family planning policy, program, and practice decisionmaking

This working paper focuses on the emerging knowledge translation literature to provide lessons learned on ways to increase the role that evidence plays in decision-making for family planning and reproductive health policies, programs, and practices. It is part of a larger synthesis of the literature that explores what “evidence” means, what types of evidence policymakers, program managers, and implementers seek when facing implementation decisions, and how evidence relates to other factors that influence decision-making. This paper and the larger synthesis are based on a literature search whose objective was to locate references on evidence-based policy in health or social science, knowledge transfer, translation or utilization for health or social science programs, evidence collected from “intervention studies” in family planning programs, and “implementation science” for family planning and reproductive health. The literature search included databases, individual websites, and reviews of bibliographies. References were limited to 2000–2014 in the database searches; snowballing of materials goes back to the 1990s, and in some cases earlier, to capture earlier literature on research utilization in family planning and seminal writing on research utilization