Software Engineering Tools For Secure Application Development

Software security has become a crucial part of an organization’s overall security strategy due to increasingly sophisticated attacks at the application layer. One of the major concerns in software engineering is the inadequate use of secure software development methods and tools. Such deficiency is caused by a lack of knowledge and training on available secure tools among software developers. This project conducts a thorough investigation of the tools that can be used by developers throughout the software development life cycle to assist in the development of secure applications, including tools used by individuals and teams, classified by open-source or commercial, tools based on project size, etc. This paper also includes a summary table that provides a quick overview of all the tools listed for developers and individuals to use

The Role of Inflammatory Lipid Mediators on Colon Cancer Initiating Cells (CICs)

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the major causes of cancer globally. Recent studies proposed a role for cancer initiating cells (CICs), a small subset of replication-competent cells, in colon carcinogenesis. Although the role of inflammatory lipid-mediators in CRC progression is well known, their role in the promotion of cancer-initiating cells remains to be elucidated. For this thesis, we investigated the role of eicosanoids – leukotriene D4 (LTD4) or prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) – on CIC properties and changes occurring in the tumor environment that could possibly support CIC-induced tumor growth. To this end, we identified the CICs on the basis of ALDH expression and evaluated their in vitro characteristics like colony formation, radio or chemoresistance and in vivo tumorigenic properties in the presence of LTD4 or PGE2. We showed that LTD4 and PGE2 enriched the ALDH+ cell population and augmented the colonies formation and tumor progression in xenograft mice model. The ALDH+ cells were also resistant to 5-fluorouracil and radiation that is additionally augmented by both the lipid-mediators. Moreover the impact of lipid inflammatory mediators on the stemness properties of CICs was evident by increased expression of genes that confer survival and self-renewal ability to CICs. In immunodeficient mice, LTD4 or PGE2 treatment amplified CIC-induced tumor growth. Furthermore, LTD4 and PGE2 increased cell proliferation activated β-catenin signaling and up-regulated COX-2. Additionally, LTD4 or PGE2 drive massive inflammatory responses identified as CD45+ enrichment, particularly of macrophages within tumors. The ability of ALDH+ cells to form tumors in immunodeficient mice could not be challenged by radiation therapy. In a separate series of experiments, we investigated the contribution of CICs in the development of sensitivity against montelukast, a CysLT1R antagonist. In this context we report that sensitivity of tumors against montelukast could depend on the variation in CICs content, activation of prosurvival factors such as BCL-2 and β-catenin signaling. Collectively, our data showed that LTD4 and PGE2 exacerbate CIC characteristics and promote tumor growth by allowing modifications in the tumor environment. New therapeutic strategies could aim to resolve not only cancer associated inflammation, but also to target CICs in order to achieve better remission and cure advanced colon cancer stages

Creating the Perfect Debater

This past week, my classmates engaged each other in the aggressive art of debate. Several rhetorical devices and strategies were implemented in order to sway the audience. Some were successful, while others failed. However, some aspects of delivery truly stood out to me. Those who wore an air of competency, by speaking self-assuredly and maintaining good physical appearance through posture and hand gestures, were as a whole more convincing. In addition, those who appealed to logic and emotion had generally more believable arguments. Thus, in order to create the perfect debater, I would unify the skills of the speakers who were most confident and competent in their delivery, both vocally and physically, and who effectively utilized pathos and logos

Modeling of shear strengthening of reinforced concrete beams retrofitted with externally bonded fiber reinforced polymers

This thesis presents a study on the shear retrofit of reinforced concrete (RC) beams with externally bonded fiber reinforced polymers (FRP), since it is very important for RC beam to have a shear strength that is higher than the flexural strength in order to ensure ductile flexural failure mode. The study proposes a new model to predict the FRP shear strength contribution for different modes of failure, i.e., bending, shear with FRP rupture, shear with FRP debonding, and mixed shear-flexure and various retrofit techniques, i.e., side-bonding, U-jacketing, and full wrapping. The proposed model is compared to other existing models for FRP shear strength contribution, which are available in the literature. This comparison is made in terms of model prediction capabilities for experimentally measured shear strength increments due to FRP retrofit, which are also taken from previous literature studies. It is observed that the proposed model is in overall in good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, the results of this study are used to formulate a general-purpose frame finite element (FE) to compute the load carrying capacity and predict the behavior of RC beams when retrofitted with externally bonded FRP in shear. The finite element is extended to model a two dimensional frame structure with strong columns and weak beams that are deficient in shear. It is found that the proposed frame FE captures well the increase in load carrying capacity of the frame structures

A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF ALLERGIC RHINITIS

Objectives: Allergic rhinitis (AR) is on the rise in our society for various reasons. It is said that allergy might represent a primary or secondary factor in up to half the patients encountered in an otolaryngology practice. Thus, the management of AR constitutes a large proportion of the day-to-day practice. In addition to its primary effect, inhalant allergy of the upper respiratory tract might affect the development and clinical course of other disease states such as sinusitis, otitis media, and asthma due to the mucosal continuity. Hence, this study was conducted to know the comorbid associations of AR and also the pathology in inferior turbinate hypertrophy (ITH).Methods: A time-bound, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in ENT OPD. Patients were selected for the study after proper history taking, clinical examination, laboratory investigations such as absolute eosinophil count (AEC) and diagnostic nasal endoscopy, and consent for biopsy from inferior turbinate and histopathological examination using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Nasal symptoms of sneezing, rhinorrhea, nasal pruritus, nasal obstruction, anosmia and non-nasal symptoms of eye itching, watering, foreign body sensation, and pharyngeal itching were recorded.Results: The mean age of the patients was 27.08 years with a standard deviation of 6.1. Patients were clinically evaluated regarding symptoms in ear, nose, throat, eyes, and respiratory system. All patients had nasal symptoms whereas 53.34% patients had ophthalmic and pharyngeal symptoms. Aural comorbidity was most common with complaints in 68.33% followed by respiratory symptoms in 30% patients. About 40% patients complained of sleep disturbances. Nearly 31.67% patients had a positive family history. The pale nasal mucosa was seen in 63.33% patients. Almost 70% patients had intermittent AR, of which 43.33% had a mild degree. About 55% cases had AEC <350 cells/cumm. Almost 51.67% patients had more than five eosinophils per high power field in the biopsy of their inferior turbinates.Conclusion: Although most patients presented with nasal symptoms, ophthalmic and pharyngeal symptoms were commonly presented. ITH with pale nasal mucosa were the most common examination findings. Although AEC was not raised in most of the patients, more than half patients had a raised eosinophil count in the inferior turbinate biopsy. Thus, in a patient with AR, special attention has to be given to the ear, throat, eye, and asthmatic aspect. Eosinophil count in inferior turbinate biopsy is fairly reliable indicator in allergic turbinates.Keywords: Allegic rhinitis, Asthma, Absolute eosinophil count, Eosinophil count, Inferior turbinate biopsy

TEACHER EFFICACY AND TEACHING SATISFACTION OF THE TEACHERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

This study aims to study the relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction among teachers working in Higher Education Institutions. The study was conceived to find the relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction and variation in the connection concerning teachers' experience, qualifications, academic teaching stream, designation, age, and gender. The Research measured the relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction. It also tested the effects of teachers' experience, qualifications, academic teaching stream, age, and gender. The sample included 155 university teachers working in various state-funded universities in Telangana, India. The findings indicate a strong positive relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction. The results suggest that the relationship between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction does not differ based on teaching experience in years, age, gender, academic stream, and educational qualifications. Further Research may find the issues contributing to the variation in the association between teacher efficacy and teaching satisfaction

Materials for neural interfaces

The treatment of disorders of the nervous system poses a major clinical challenge. Development of neuromodulation (i.e., interfacing electronics to nervous tissue to modulate its function) has provided patients with neuronal-related deficits a new tool to regain lost function. Even though, in principle, electrical stimulation and recording by interfacing technology is simple and straightforward, each presents different challenges. In stimulation, the challenge lies in targeting the effects of stimulation on precise brain regions, as each region specializes for particular functions on a millimeter scale. In practice, our experience with deep brain stimulation for treating Parkinson's disease reveals that stimulation of larger regions of the brain can be relatively well tolerated. However, the task of fabricating an ideal electrode that performs reliably for long periods of time has been daunting. The primary obstacle in successful interfacing comes from integration of electrodes ("foreign” material) into the nervous system (biological material). The second tier of complexity is added by the need for the electrodes to "sense” signals emanating from individual neurons, an estimated microenvironment of 10 to 20 microns in diameter. Materials design and technology impact electrode design—with their size, shape, mechanical properties, and composition all being actively optimized to enable chronic, stable recordings of neural activity. The articles in this issue discuss designing interfacing technology to "listen to the nervous system” from a materials perspective. These include identification of materials with a potential for in vivo development, electrodes with various material types, including natural nanocomposites, and optical neural interfacin