Categorizing Blog Spam

The internet has matured into the focal point of our era. Its ecosystem is vast, complex, and in many regards unaccounted for. One of the most prevalent aspects of the internet is spam. Similar to the rest of the internet, spam has evolved from simply meaning ‘unwanted emails’ to a blanket term that encompasses any unsolicited or illegitimate content that appears in the wide range of media that exists on the internet. Many forms of spam permeate the internet, and spam architects continue to develop tools and methods to avoid detection. On the other side, cyber security engineers continue to develop more sophisticated detection tools to curb the harmful effects that come with spam. This virtual arms race has no end in sight. Most efforts thus far have been toward accurately detecting spam from ham, and rightfully so since initial detection is essential. However, research is lacking in understanding the current ecosystem of spam, spam campaigns, and the behavior of the botnets that drive the majority of spam traffic. This thesis focuses on characterizing spam, particularly the spam that appears in forums, where the spam is delivered by bots posing as legitimate users. Forum spam is used primarily to push advertisements or to boost other websites’ perceived popularity by including HTTP links in the content of the post. We conduct an experiment to collect a sample of the blog posts and network activity of the spambots that exist in the internet. We then present a corpora available to conduct analysis on and proceed with our own analysis. We cluster associated groups of users and IP addresses into entities, which we accept as a model of the underlying botnets that interact with our honeypots. We use Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Machine Learning (ML) to determine that creating semantic-based models of botnets are sufficient for distinguishing them from one another. We also find that the syntactic structure of posts has little variation from botnet to botnet. Finally we confirm that to a large degree botnet behavior and content hold across different domains

A Century of Catholic Mission Roman Catholic Missiology 1910 to the Present

A Century of Catholic Mission surveys the complex and rich history and theology of Roman Catholic Mission in the one hundred years since the 1910 Edinburgh World Mission Conference. Essays written by an international team of Catholic mission scholars focus on Catholic Mission in every region of the world, summarize church teaching on mission before and after the watershed event of the Second Vatican Council, and reflect on a wide variety of theological issues.https://scholar.csl.edu/edinburghcentenary/1000/thumbnail.jp

God of Mercy, People of Mercy

Portia"™s well known speech in Shakespeare"™s The Merchant of Venice"”probably quoted a lot in this Year of Mercy"”startled me when I read it once again as I searched for words in literature to speak to you about mercy in a Year of Mercy. I was startled, because I found in these beautiful, powerful words the entire outline of what I want to share in this presentation about Mercy and Mission. God"™s mercy, Shakespeare says, is an attribute of God as such. God is a God of Mercy, and human beings are most like God when they are merciful themselves, especially "œseasoning" justice with mercy. Without God"™s mercy, if God dealt "œwith us according to our sins" (Ps 103:10), none of us would see salvation. Keywords: God of Mercy, Mission, People of Mercy, Merc

The Spirit Moving over the Great Deep

My reflection is about the Holy Spirit, about that Spirit of gentleness and restlessness who moves over the waters of the Great Deep, stirring up the thirsts of the world, and calling us to join her, as Christians and religious, to slake those thirsts. A first part will reflect on the Spirit who stirs up those thirsts. A second part will outline several of those thirsts. A third part will reflect on how the Spirit calls Christians to join her mission of slaking those thirsts, and a fourth and final part will suggest that we as religious women and men can play a particular part in that thirst-slaking mission of the Spirit. Keywords: Holy Spirit, Christian Spirituality, Mission of the Church, Mission of the Spirit, Missiolog

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the “real world” of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its “corporate” legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as “corporative”. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is “embedded”, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to “save” capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe goal of this study was to investigate the bioavailability, efficacy, and safety of inhaled remifentanil, inhaled remimazolam, and combinations of both drugs in mouse, rat, and pig models. Anesthesiology could benefit from efficacious, noninvasively delivered, short acting, and thereby easily titratable analgesic/sedative agents. Remifentanil and remimazolam are potentially advantageous due to their esterase-based metabolism and rapid elimination profiles, particularly to high-risk populations such as obese, elderly, and pediatric populations. Dosing via spontaneous respiration can inherently and safely control the duration and level of sedation and analgesia via patient minute ventilation. There is no inhaled opioid or benzodiazepine currently available for clinical use as an anesthetic agent. It was our hypothesis that remifentanil and remimazolam delivered by inhalation would be rapidly absorbed, pharmacologically active, rapidly cleared, and noninjurious to rodent airways and lungs. We also hypothesized that the pharmacokinetics of inhaled remifentanil in pigs would exhibit similar rapid onset and recovery. Inhaled remifentanil in rats induced profound analgesia with rapid recovery. Inhaled remimazolam in mice produced sedation, while inhaled remimazolam in rats did not produce sedation at the maximum dose able to be achieved in aerosols. Remimazolam delivered in combination with remifentanil potentiated the analgesic response. Pulmonary mechanics and histology showed no irritation or injury by either drug or the combination. Pharmacokinetic analysis of both drugs in rodents were consistent with the pharmacological effects and a study of inhaled remifentanil in pigs demonstrated rapid absorption and clearance of the drug consistent with those reported for intravenous dosing in humans and animals. We have shown that remifentanil and remimazolam, administered alone or in combination, can be a clinically relevant method of anesthesia. These fundamental experiments and results are critical for the future development of formulations for inhalation delivery of these drugs for clinical use. These inhaled drugs could eventually revolutionize the ease and practicality of administering inhaled anesthetic agents, both inside and outside of the operating room

A Corporative Theory of Corporate Law and Governance

ABSTRACT This book investigates how a corporation, as a legal entity with certain specific attributes, but lacking human form, can take action in the real world of human activity. It contends that a corporation must take such action through, and by means of, an organization, both inside and outside its corporate legal limits, consisting of real individual persons and groups of persons. The corporation thus presents itself both as a legal entity assuming the legal form of a corporation and as a social entity taking the form of an organization. One form overlays the other. Those with whom it has legal relations, its legal counterparties, are also, in respect of its organization, participants in that organization. This theory of, or perspective on, the corporation and its governance is explicated here as corporative. The corporation comes into being, is situated, participates, and is embedded, in a complex sociopolitical-economic environment, which includes its legal counterparties and organizational participants. In addition to shareholders, they include employees, customers, suppliers, creditors, local, regional, and national communities, polities and governments, and non-governmental and other organizations, including those whose objectives include the environment, sustainability, governance, and social responsibility. Despite arguments from advocates of shareholder primacy and maximizing shareholder value, neither the corporation nor any of its participants, including shareholders, have any single objective. Instead, such participants have a variety of objectives which may be consistent to varying degrees with those of each other and with those of the corporation. However, the prosperity and well-being of corporations and their organizational participants, and the groups and other organizations of which organizational participants are members, at a macro-level, are, in many ways, interdependent. Today, prompted by various concerns (including the environment, sustainability, technology, changes in employment and other economic engagement patterns, and increasing income disparities), corporations, industry groups and NGOs, like governments, educational institutions, and other organizations, are facing challenges to the continued viability of contemporary capitalism and of its paradigmatic vehicle, the corporation. Addressing these challenges requires that corporations be considered in the context of the complex socio-political-economic environment in which they are situated and of which they partake. Drawing on analysis of corporate statutes and other relevant law, and historical, social, political, economic, organizational, business, and other theory, information and analysis, this work elucidates the corporative theory of, or perspective on, the corporation. It outlines how this might be applied in analyzing the corporation and its governance from a legal perspective. It illustrates how organizational participants may, and do, influence the behaviour of the relevant corporations; and how corporations may, and do, influence the behaviour of organizational participants. This contributes to understanding how such relationships may be employed, not only to save capitalism and the corporation, but to advance common interests in human prosperity, happiness, meaning, and even simple sustenance

Validation of an Individual Quick Freezing (IQF) Process to Reduce Vibrio vulnificus Numbers to \u3c30MPN/g in Raw Oysters

This validation study was conducted during the months of July, August and Sept., 2003. The Food and Drug Administration and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference require that oysters used for a validation study are collected during the same processing day, are from the same lot of shellfish, and have an adjusted geometric mean (AGM) MPN of at least I 00,000/g of Vibrio vulnificus as an initial load. The oysters were removed from refrigerated storage and held at 71 °F (21 °C) for 40-45 hours prior to freezing in order to achieve a minimum AGM of 100,000/g Vibrio vulnificus . After quick freezing the oysters at -70°F (-57°C) for nine minutes, approximately 8-10 weeks of frozen storage at 0°F (-l 8°C) were required to reduce V. vulnificus levels from 105 MPN/g to less than 30MPN/g. Initial V. vulnificus numbers in excess of 1,000,000/g, required prolonged frozen storage (\u3e20 weeks) of the oysters at 0°F (-18°C) to reduce V. vulnificus numbers to less than 30MPN/g

The Association of Transnational Law Schools’ Agora: An Experiment in Graduate Legal Pedagogy

The Association of Transnational Law Schools [ATLAS] is a consortium of law schools from around the world that launched an annual academic summer program, called the Agora, for doctoral students in July of 2008. The authors outline the history of the creation of the program, describe it, and consider its significance as it relates to the changing landscape of legal practice and pedagogy. The Agora both reflects and furthers a trend in legal scholarship, and as a consequence legal education, toward a focus on a set of interrelated concerns, which include globalization, international governance, transnational law, comparative legal studies, legal transplantation and the apparent conceptual challenges that these pose. In important respects these new conceptual challenges have a long pedigree in questions about the scope of legal pedagogy and theory. The pedagogical controversy is rooted in questions about the purpose of legal education, namely, whether it is trade training and should focus on practical legal skills, or whether it should be conceived of as broader than this. Intimately connected to this pedagogical controversy is a legal-theoretical controversy about the scope of legal theory (and thus the nature of law and its investigation). Does the word “law” designate the organizational instruments of state power, or should we think of “law” as referring to a more diverse set of socialorganizational systems that may have greater or less affinity and connection with state law