Enhancing traditional behavioral testing through program slicing

Although there has been much research on the application of program slicing to the problem of software testing, most of it has focussed on regression testing. The objective of the published techniques is to reduce its cost by identifying the set of existing test cases which are guaranteed to exercise the modified program components. In this research, program slicing is applied to behavioral testing. Three testing approaches are presented to ensure that modifications made to a program have not adversely affected its correct behavior. The proposed testing techniques, as well as the underlying dynamic program slicing algorithm, are implemented as part of the CONCEPT research project. A case study using the JUnit testing framework is also presented to demonstrate their applicability in detecting faults, which could escape from traditional testing techniques

Pluvio: Assembly Clone Search for Out-of-domain Architectures and Libraries through Transfer Learning and Conditional Variational Information Bottleneck

The practice of code reuse is crucial in software development for a faster and more efficient development lifecycle. In reality, however, code reuse practices lack proper control, resulting in issues such as vulnerability propagation and intellectual property infringements. Assembly clone search, a critical shift-right defence mechanism, has been effective in identifying vulnerable code resulting from reuse in released executables. Recent studies on assembly clone search demonstrate a trend towards using machine learning-based methods to match assembly code variants produced by different toolchains. However, these methods are limited to what they learn from a small number of toolchain variants used in training, rendering them inapplicable to unseen architectures and their corresponding compilation toolchain variants. This paper presents the first study on the problem of assembly clone search with unseen architectures and libraries. We propose incorporating human common knowledge through large-scale pre-trained natural language models, in the form of transfer learning, into current learning-based approaches for assembly clone search. Transfer learning can aid in addressing the limitations of the existing approaches, as it can bring in broader knowledge from human experts in assembly code. We further address the sequence limit issue by proposing a reinforcement learning agent to remove unnecessary and redundant tokens. Coupled with a new Variational Information Bottleneck learning strategy, the proposed system minimizes the reliance on potential indicators of architectures and optimization settings, for a better generalization of unseen architectures. We simulate the unseen architecture clone search scenarios and the experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach against the state-of-the-art solutions.Comment: 13 pages and 4 figures. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessibl

RESource: A Framework for Online Matching of Assembly with Open Source Code

Software reverse engineering is a fastidious task demanding a strong expertise in assembly coding. Various existing tools may help analyze the functionality of a binary file without executing it and an interesting step would naturally be the search for the original source files. Our tool called RESource considers the extraction of some features in the assembly code so that queries can be triggered to a source repository in a reliable way: either (1) the result is a set of references to the original project files provided they are hosted on the repository or (2) at least some functionalities of the binary file are unleashed. Such an approach is very promising given its proved performances in real assembly code applications

Optical spectroscopy for real-time neuronavigation during deep brain stimulation surgeries

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Nia ta kdak / moi et l’autre : La dénomination des nations autochtones selon l’ethnonymie abénakise

Cet article traite des ethnonymes employés par les Abénakis, à travers le temps, pour désigner les nations autochtones les côtoyant. Comme bien des toponymes, les ethnonymes ont subi différentes variations à travers le temps, variations dues entre autres à la méconnaissance des langues autochtones et à la bureaucratisation de ce vocabulaire, qui rendent de nos jours difficiles leur lecture, leur compréhension et leur interprétation. À travers une recherche exhaustive des ethnonymes disponibles dans les sources primaires, il a été possible d’identifier dix-neuf ethnonymes se rapportant à quatorze groupes autochtones du Nord-Est (Algonquin, Attikamek, Huron-Wendat, Inuit, Iroquois, Malécite, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Mohawk, Mohican, Naskapi, Nipissing, Odawa et Pénobscot). Plusieurs des ethnonymes trouvés se sont avérés être des emprunts linguistiques à d’autres langues algonquiennes, et certains groupes sont identifiés par plus d’un ethnonyme. Assez étrangement, certains des groupes du Québec n’ont pas de nom en abénakis malgré leurs contacts attestés à travers le temps.This article is a discussion of the ethnonyms used by the Abenaki people to designate other indigenous nations with which they had contact. As with many toponyms, these ethnonyms have been subject to variations throughout history that make reading, understanding and interpreting them difficult; these variations arise mainly from a lack of knowledge of native languages and the bureaucratisation of their vocabulary. Through exhaustive research of the ethnonyms available in primary sources, it was possible to identify 19 ethnonyms referring to 14 Indigenous groups of the northeast (Algonquin, Attikamek, Huron-Wendat, Inuit, Iroquois, Maliseet, Micmac, Passamaquoddy, Mohawk, Mohican, Naskapi, Nipissing, Odawa and Penobscot). Several of the ethnoynms identified were found to be loanwords from other Algonquian languages, while some groups were designated by more than one ethnonym. Also of note is the fact that for certain indigenous groups of Quebec, no Abenaki-language ethnonym could be identified in spite of documented contact between the two groups.Este artículo trata sobre los etnónimos utilizados a través del tiempo por los Abenaki para designar a las naciones aborígenes vecinas. Como muchos de los topónimos, los etnónimos experimentaron diversas variaciones a través del tiempo, variaciones dadas entre otros al desconocimiento de las lenguas indígenas y a la burocratización de su vocabulario, que hacen hoy difícil su lectura, comprensión e interpretación. A través de una búsqueda exhaustiva de etnónimos disponibles en las fuentes primarias, ha sido posible identificar diecinueve etnónimos pertenecientes a catorce grupos indígenas del noreste (algonquino, attikamek, hurón-wendat, inuit, iroqueses, maliseet, micmac, passamaquoddy, mohawk, mohicano, naskapi, nipissing, odawa y penobscot). Muchos de los etnónimos encontrados son el resultado de préstamos lingüísticos de otras lenguas algonquinas, y algunos grupos son identificados por más de un etnónimo. Curiosamente, algunos de los grupos de Quebec no tienen nombre en Abenaki a pesar de sus contactos evidenciados a través del tiempo

Définition et reconstitution de l'espace territorial du nord-est amériquain : la reconstruction de la carte du W8banaki par la toponymie abénakise au Québec Aln8baïwi Kdakina-- notre monde à la manière abénakise

This thesis relates to the reconstitution and the definition of the Northeast of America's territorial space. The main objective is the reconstruction of the Abenaki's territorial map, one of the aboriginal nations who live in this region. Supported by the essence of identity expressed through the original Abenaki toponymy within le territoire quebecois, it was possible to trace their historical territory, the W8banaki . By examining systematically the historical, cartographical and geographical sources available, it was possible to collect more than 1000 toponyms of Abenaki origin; they referring to more than 800 geographical entities. Based on this gazetteer the toponymic classification was carried based on the toponyms' character; the toponyms were then placed on maps. Related to the presence of Abenaki in various sources, the complementarity of the data established the effective presence of the Abenaki within a definite territory in Quebec according to the historical sources that the European colonists preserved.Being mainly and everywhere dispersed throughout southernmost Quebec, the toponyms of Abenaki origin follow a pattern strongly linked to the rivers. The highest concentration of Abenaki toponyms lies on the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River, which is included in the original territory. The toponyms follow mainly the limit of the Richelieu River to the west and appear down to the Bas-Saint-Laurent in the east. However, the Malecite presence at the same area does not allow the identification of this zone with precision. On the north bank of the St. Lawrence, the two extensions that hold the attention are the Outaouais, where the presence of Abenaki toponyms is recent and not based on settlement and Mauricie, which corresponds to the hunting practices in these territories.The conclusion is that the southern bank of the St. Lawrence River has been Abenaki territory from the Richelieu River to the Bas-Saint-Laurent from 17th century to the beginning of the 21st century. During the 20th century the Bas-Saint-Laurent is the easternmost zone where Abenaki toponyms are established. On the northern side, the Saint-Maurice River constitutes a zone of Abenaki occupation only since the 19th century and in the Outaouais it can be traced back to the 20 th century. It is almost totally the southernmost territory of Quebec with the concentration of 80% of its population that constitutes an indigenous world that had entirely been lost in memory, conscience and presence at the same time