Evolution of the human fear-circuitry and acute sociogenic pseudoneurological symptoms: The Neolithic balanced-polymorphism hypothesis

In light of the increasing threat of large-scale massacres such as terrorism against non-combatants (civilians), more attention is warranted not only to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) but also to acute sociogenic pseudoneurological ("conversion") symptoms, especially epidemic sociogenic symptoms. We posit that conversion disorders are etiologically related to specific evolutionary pressures (inescapable threats to life) in the late stage of the human environment of evolutionary adaptedness (EEA). Bracha et al. have recently argued that from the neuroevolutionary perspective, medically unexplained efferent vasovagal syncope and medically unexplained craniofacial musculoskeletal pain in young otherwise healthy individuals, may be taxonomized as stress and fear-circuitry disorders. In the present article, we extend neuroevolutionary perspectives to acute pseudoneurological sociogenic ("conversive") symptoms: psychogenic non-epileptic attacks ("pseudoseizures"), epidemic sociogenic disorders (DSM-IV-TR Epidemic "Hysteria"), conversive motor deficits (pseudo-paralysis and pseudo-cerebellar symptoms), and psychogenic blindness. We hypothesize that these perplexing pseudoneurological stress-triggered symptoms, which constitute psychopathology in extant humans, are traceable to allele-variant polymorphisms which spread during the Neolithic EEA. During Neolithic warfare, conversive symptoms may have increased the survival odds for some non-combatants by visually (i.e., "non-verbally") signaling to predatory conspecifics that one does not present a danger. This is consistent with the age and sex pattern of conversive disorders. Testable and falsifiable predictions are presented; e.g., at the genome-transcriptome interface, one of the major oligogenic loci involved in conversive spectrum disorders may carry a developmentally sensitive allele in a stable polymorphism (balanced polymorphism) in which the gene expression mechanism is gradually suppressed by pleiotropic androgens especially dehydroxyepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S). Taxonomic implications for the much-needed rapprochement between the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) are discussed

XSS-FP: Browser Fingerprinting using HTML Parser Quirks

There are many scenarios in which inferring the type of a client browser is desirable, for instance to fight against session stealing. This is known as browser fingerprinting. This paper presents and evaluates a novel fingerprinting technique to determine the exact nature (browser type and version, eg Firefox 15) of a web-browser, exploiting HTML parser quirks exercised through XSS. Our experiments show that the exact version of a web browser can be determined with 71% of accuracy, and that only 6 tests are sufficient to quickly determine the exact family a web browser belongs to

Link-time smart card code hardening

This paper presents a feasibility study to protect smart card software against fault-injection attacks by means of link-time code rewriting. This approach avoids the drawbacks of source code hardening, avoids the need for manual assembly writing, and is applicable in conjunction with closed third-party compilers. We implemented a range of cookbook code hardening recipes in a prototype link-time rewriter and evaluate their coverage and associated overhead to conclude that this approach is promising. We demonstrate that the overhead of using an automated link-time approach is not significantly higher than what can be obtained with compile-time hardening or with manual hardening of compiler-generated assembly code

Selected Computing Research Papers Volume 1 June 2012

An Evaluation of Anti-phishing Solutions (Arinze Bona Umeaku) ..................................... 1 A Detailed Analysis of Current Biometric Research Aimed at Improving Online Authentication Systems (Daniel Brown) .............................................................................. 7 An Evaluation of Current Intrusion Detection Systems Research (Gavin Alexander Burns) .................................................................................................... 13 An Analysis of Current Research on Quantum Key Distribution (Mark Lorraine) ............ 19 A Critical Review of Current Distributed Denial of Service Prevention Methodologies (Paul Mains) ............................................................................................... 29 An Evaluation of Current Computing Methodologies Aimed at Improving the Prevention of SQL Injection Attacks in Web Based Applications (Niall Marsh) .............. 39 An Evaluation of Proposals to Detect Cheating in Multiplayer Online Games (Bradley Peacock) ............................................................................................................... 45 An Empirical Study of Security Techniques Used In Online Banking (Rajinder D G Singh) .......................................................................................................... 51 A Critical Study on Proposed Firewall Implementation Methods in Modern Networks (Loghin Tivig) .................................................................................................... 5

Stories with happy endings: Preventing pet dog attacks on children

A number of dog safety resources have been produced as a result of this research. Obtain a copy of the children’s leaflet (about 5-6yrs) in English from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/968. Obtain a copy of the children’s leaflet (about 5-6yrs) in Te Reo Maori from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/975. Obtain a copy of the children’s booklet (about 8-9yrs) in English from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/930. Obtain a copy of the children’s booklet (about 8-9yrs) in Te Reo Maori from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/984. Obtain a copy of the parents’/caregivers’ booklet in English from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/931. The Te Reo Maori version of the parents’/caregivers’ booklet will be available in 2009.This 2007-8 CAPFNZ Summer Research Scholarship had as its objective the identification of valid and reliable guidelines for safe interaction between children and pet dogs in their homes or known to them and their incorporation in a range of age-appropriate educational resources

Migraine: Diagnosis, treatment and understanding c1960-2010

seminar transcriptThere are around eight million migraine sufferers in the UK today. This Witness Seminar looked at the last 50 years of research into the diagnosis and treatment of the condition and the changing attitudes of the medical profession towards this debilitating disorder. Chaired by Dr Mark Weatherall, the participants, some of whom were also migraine sufferers, included neurologists and pharmacologists, representatives from patient organizations such as Migraine Action and the Migraine Trust, and GPs and headache nurses. The discussion covered the vascular and neuronal theories of migraine, the early treatment with ergotamine, analgesics and antiemetics, and investigations into the importance of 5-HT. It then moved on to examine the scientific research behind the development of the triptans during the 1980s and impact of their introduction in the early 1990s. More recent treatments, such as the use of Botox (botulinum toxin), were also considered. Other topics included the development of headache classification and diagnostic criteria for migraine; the support for migraine sufferers such as headache clinics, specialist headache nurses, and charities; and the reason why, despite the number of sufferers and its high socio-economic cost, there is often little interest in migraine and research attracts limited fundin