92,763 research outputs found
Specifying Exposure Classification Parameters for Sensitivity Analysis: Family Breast Cancer History
One of the challenges to implementing sensitivity analysis for exposure misclassification is the process of specifying the classification proportions (eg, sensitivity and specificity). The specification of these assignments is guided by three sources of information: estimates from validation studies, expert judgment, and numerical constraints given the data. The purpose of this teaching paper is to describe the process of using validation data and expert judgment to adjust a breast cancer odds ratio for misclassification of family breast cancer history. The parameterization of various point estimates and prior distributions for sensitivity and specificity were guided by external validation data and expert judgment. We used both nonprobabilistic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to investigate the dependence of the odds ratio estimate on the classification error. With our assumptions, a wider range of odds ratios adjusted for family breast cancer history misclassification resulted than portrayed in the conventional frequentist confidence interval.Children's Cancer Research Fund, Minneapolis, MN, US
Modality effects in implicit artificial grammar learning: An EEG study
Recently, it has been proposed that sequence learning engages a combination of modality-specific operating networks and modality-independent computational principles. In the present study, we compared the behavioural and EEG outcomes of implicit artificial grammar learning in the visual vs. auditory modality. We controlled for the influence of surface characteristics of sequences (Associative Chunk Strength), thus focusing on the strictly structural aspects of sequence learning, and we adapted the paradigms to compensate for known frailties of the visual modality compared to audition (temporal presentation, fast presentation rate). The behavioural outcomes were similar across modalities. Favouring the idea of modality-specificity, ERPs in response to grammar violations differed in topography and latency (earlier and more anterior component in the visual modality), and ERPs in response to surface features emerged only in the auditory modality. In favour of modality-independence, we observed three common functional properties in the late ERPs of the two grammars: both were free of interactions between structural and surface influences, both were more extended in a grammaticality classification test than in a preference classification test, and both correlated positively and strongly with theta event-related-synchronization during baseline testing. Our findings support the idea of modality-specificity combined with modality-independence, and suggest that memory for visual vs. auditory sequences may largely contribute to cross-modal differences. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour; Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia [PTDC/PSI-PC0/110734/2009, UID/BIM/04773/2013, CBMR 1334, PEst-OE/EQB/1A0023/2013, UM/PSI/00050/2013
Adversarial Detection of Flash Malware: Limitations and Open Issues
During the past four years, Flash malware has become one of the most
insidious threats to detect, with almost 600 critical vulnerabilities targeting
Adobe Flash disclosed in the wild. Research has shown that machine learning can
be successfully used to detect Flash malware by leveraging static analysis to
extract information from the structure of the file or its bytecode. However,
the robustness of Flash malware detectors against well-crafted evasion attempts
- also known as adversarial examples - has never been investigated. In this
paper, we propose a security evaluation of a novel, representative Flash
detector that embeds a combination of the prominent, static features employed
by state-of-the-art tools. In particular, we discuss how to craft adversarial
Flash malware examples, showing that it suffices to manipulate the
corresponding source malware samples slightly to evade detection. We then
empirically demonstrate that popular defense techniques proposed to mitigate
evasion attempts, including re-training on adversarial examples, may not always
be sufficient to ensure robustness. We argue that this occurs when the feature
vectors extracted from adversarial examples become indistinguishable from those
of benign data, meaning that the given feature representation is intrinsically
vulnerable. In this respect, we are the first to formally define and
quantitatively characterize this vulnerability, highlighting when an attack can
be countered by solely improving the security of the learning algorithm, or
when it requires also considering additional features. We conclude the paper by
suggesting alternative research directions to improve the security of
learning-based Flash malware detectors
Recommended from our members
From print to Web: issues in re-purposing for an Open Resources Repository
The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement has gained rapid support for its goals of universal access to education. The UK Open University's contribution is OpenLearn, a project funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation which, over the next two years, aims to re-purpose several thousand study-hours of existing learning materials for online delivery.
The UK Open University has gained a hard-won reputation for the quality of its learning materials and integrated Supported Open Learning model. However, these materials are, as a rule, developed within the framework of long courses that typically require between 300 and 600 hours of study. Furthermore, many of the courses are 'interdisciplinary' in that they are developed by teams that include members associated with different faculties. The courses are, therefore, generally structured in terms of themes that run throughout the course and may span a variety of academic disciplines. Also, despite the breadth of knowledge brought into play when a course is developed, the courses normally reflect pedagogical and disciplinary assumptions and views that are prevalent in the UK.
Based on the authors' experience of the OpenLearn project, this paper explores some of the key issues encountered when re-purposing resources. These issues include how to provide material not supported by tutorial guidance, the suitability of media components for conversion and the inter-relationship between the multimedia components. The paper will also briefly discuss the requirements for evaluation of the re-purposing process. The issues raised are potentially of relevance to other re-purposing initiatives
- …