Dynamic User Defined Permissions for Android Devices

Mobile computing devices have become an essential part of everyday life and are becoming the primary means for collecting and storing sensitive personal and corporate data. Android is, by far, the dominant mobile platform, which makes its permissions model responsible for securing the vast majority of this sensitive data. The current model falls well short of actual user needs, as permission assignments are made statically at installation time. Therefore, it is impossible to implement dynamic security policies that could be applied selectively depending on context. Users are forced to unconditionally trust installed apps without means to isolate them from sensitive data. We describe a new approach, app sanitization, which automatically instruments apps at installation time, such that users can dynamically grant and revoke individual permissions. The main advantage of our technique is that it runs in userspace and utilizes standard aspect-oriented methods to incorporate custom security controls into the app

A Domain Specific Language for Digital Forensics and Incident Response Analysis

One of the longstanding conceptual problems in digital forensics is the dichotomy between the need for verifiable and reproducible forensic investigations, and the lack of practical mechanisms to accomplish them. With nearly four decades of professional digital forensic practice, investigator notes are still the primary source of reproducibility information, and much of it is tied to the functions of specific, often proprietary, tools. The lack of a formal means of specification for digital forensic operations results in three major problems. Specifically, there is a critical lack of: a) standardized and automated means to scientifically verify accuracy of digital forensic tools; b) methods to reliably reproduce forensic computations (their results); and c) framework for inter-operability among forensic tools. Additionally, there is no standardized means for communicating software requirements between users, researchers and developers, resulting in a mismatch in expectations. Combined with the exponential growth in data volume and complexity of applications and systems to be investigated, all of these concerns result in major case backlogs and inherently reduce the reliability of the digital forensic analyses. This work proposes a new approach to the specification of forensic computations, such that the above concerns can be addressed on a scientific basis with a new domain specific language (DSL) called nugget. DSLs are specialized languages that aim to address the concerns of particular domains by providing practical abstractions. Successful DSLs, such as SQL, can transform an application domain by providing a standardized way for users to communicate what they need without specifying how the computation should be performed. This is the first effort to build a DSL for (digital) forensic computations with the following research goals: 1) provide an intuitive formal specification language that covers core types of forensic computations and common data types; 2) provide a mechanism to extend the language that can incorporate arbitrary computations; 3) provide a prototype execution environment that allows the fully automatic execution of the computation; 4) provide a complete, formal, and auditable log of computations that can be used to reproduce an investigation; 5) demonstrate cloud-ready processing that can match the growth in data volumes and complexity

Toward a New Diversity and the Revitalization of hte Campus Spirit: A Bandung 2000 Conference for Students, Staff and Faculty

In this session, New Diversity programs are designed and proposed, aimed at enabling minority staff, students and faculty the kind of cultural inoculation needed to be able to address the concerns which plague most campuses

Development of a 63K SNP array for cotton and high-density mapping of intraspecific and interspecific populations of Gossypium spp.

High-throughput genotyping arrays provide a standardized resource for plant breeding communities that are useful for a breadth of applications including high-density genetic mapping, genome-wide association studies (GWAS), genomic selection (GS), complex trait dissection, and studying patterns of genomic diversity among cultivars and wild accessions. We have developed the CottonSNP63K, an Illumina Infinium array containing assays for 45,104 putative intraspecific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers for use within the cultivated cotton species Gossypium hirsutum L. and 17,954 putative interspecific SNP markers for use with crosses of other cotton species with G. hirsutum. The SNPs on the array were developed from 13 different discovery sets that represent a diverse range of G. hirsutum germplasm and five other species: G. barbadense L., G. tomentosum Nuttal × Seemann, G. mustelinum Miers × Watt, G. armourianum Kearny, and G. longicalyx J.B. Hutchinson and Lee. The array was validated with 1,156 samples to generate cluster positions to facilitate automated analysis of 38,822 polymorphic markers. Two high-density genetic maps containing a total of 22,829 SNPs were generated for two F2 mapping populations, one intraspecific and one interspecific, and 3,533 SNP markers were co-occurring in both maps. The produced intraspecific genetic map is the first saturated map that associates into 26 linkage groups corresponding to the number of cotton chromosomes for a cross between two G. hirsutum lines. The linkage maps were shown to have high levels of collinearity to the JGI G. raimondii Ulbrich reference genome sequence. The CottonSNP63K array, cluster file and associated marker sequences constitute a major new resource for the global cotton research community. (Résumé d'auteur

Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease

Background: Experimental and clinical data suggest that reducing inflammation without affecting lipid levels may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Yet, the inflammatory hypothesis of atherothrombosis has remained unproved. Methods: We conducted a randomized, double-blind trial of canakinumab, a therapeutic monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-1β, involving 10,061 patients with previous myocardial infarction and a high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level of 2 mg or more per liter. The trial compared three doses of canakinumab (50 mg, 150 mg, and 300 mg, administered subcutaneously every 3 months) with placebo. The primary efficacy end point was nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or cardiovascular death. RESULTS: At 48 months, the median reduction from baseline in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level was 26 percentage points greater in the group that received the 50-mg dose of canakinumab, 37 percentage points greater in the 150-mg group, and 41 percentage points greater in the 300-mg group than in the placebo group. Canakinumab did not reduce lipid levels from baseline. At a median follow-up of 3.7 years, the incidence rate for the primary end point was 4.50 events per 100 person-years in the placebo group, 4.11 events per 100 person-years in the 50-mg group, 3.86 events per 100 person-years in the 150-mg group, and 3.90 events per 100 person-years in the 300-mg group. The hazard ratios as compared with placebo were as follows: in the 50-mg group, 0.93 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80 to 1.07; P = 0.30); in the 150-mg group, 0.85 (95% CI, 0.74 to 0.98; P = 0.021); and in the 300-mg group, 0.86 (95% CI, 0.75 to 0.99; P = 0.031). The 150-mg dose, but not the other doses, met the prespecified multiplicity-adjusted threshold for statistical significance for the primary end point and the secondary end point that additionally included hospitalization for unstable angina that led to urgent revascularization (hazard ratio vs. placebo, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73 to 0.95; P = 0.005). Canakinumab was associated with a higher incidence of fatal infection than was placebo. There was no significant difference in all-cause mortality (hazard ratio for all canakinumab doses vs. placebo, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.06; P = 0.31). Conclusions: Antiinflammatory therapy targeting the interleukin-1β innate immunity pathway with canakinumab at a dose of 150 mg every 3 months led to a significantly lower rate of recurrent cardiovascular events than placebo, independent of lipid-level lowering. (Funded by Novartis; CANTOS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01327846.

Phylogeography and modes of reproduction in diploid and tetraploid halophytes of Limonium species (Plumbaginaceae): evidence for a pattern of geographical parthenogenesis

Background and Aims The genus Limonium (Plumbaginaceae) has long been recognized to have sexual and apomictic (asexual seed formation) modes of reproduction. This study aimed to elucidate phylogeographical patterns and modes of reproduction in diploid and tetraploid Limonium species, namely three putative sexual diploid species with morphological affinities (L. nydeggeri, L. ovalifolium, L. lanceolatum) and three related, probably apomict tetraploid species (L. binervosum, L. dodartii, L. multiflorum). Methods cpDNA diversity and differentiation between natural populations of the species were investigated using two chloroplast sequence regions (trnL intron and trnL–trnF intergenic spacer). Floral heteromorphies, ovule cytoembryological analyses and pollination and crossing tests were performed in representative species of each ploidy group, namely diploid L. ovalifolium and tetraploid L. multiflorum, using plants from greenhouse collections. Key Results and Conclusions Genetic analyses showed that diploid species have a higher haplotype diversity and a higher number of unique (endemic) haplotypes than tetraploid species. Network analysis revealed correlations between cpDNA haplotype distribution and ploidy groups, species groups and geographical origin, and haplotype sharing within and among species with distinct ploidy levels. Reproductive biology analyses showed that diploid L. ovalifolium mainly forms meiotically reduced tetrasporic embryo sacs of Gagea ova, Adoxa and Drusa types. Limonium multiflorum, however, has only unreduced, diplosporic (apomictic) embryo sacs of Rudbeckia type, and autonomous apomictic development seems to occur. Taken together, the findings provide evidence of a pattern of ‘geographical parthenogenesis’ in which quaternary climatic oscillations appear to be involved in the geographical patterns of coastal diploid and tetraploid Limonium speciesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enriching college students through study abroad: a case of Nepal Field Experience - Part 2

With a view of providing an unsurpassed opportunity to college students, who are mostly from Louisiana, in gaining a comprehensive understanding of Global Climate Change issues, we completed the first Nepal Field Experience Pilot Study Abroad from May 21-June 8, 2019. A total of fifteen students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, and one graduate student from University of Arizona, Arizona, USA, participated in the program. Students examined and documented the effects of climate change impacts on agriculture, water resources, wildlife, local communities, forest resources, and other ecological and environmental settings of the country. They identified various climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that had been implemented and noted gaps between policy measures and ground realities. Research topics selected by the students included the following: climate change impacts on wildlife, water pollution, structural geology of Nepal, changing rainfall patterns and adaptation, climate change and agricultural production, geology of Kathmandu valley, air quality of Kathmandu valley, changing hydrology of glaciated landscape, climate change and geohazards, emerging diseases and pests on agricultural crops, climate change adaptation by local communities, green infrastructure and climate-smart technologies, climate change impact on drinking water sources, the roadside geology, and emerging diseases, parasites and zoonotics. Each student completed their individual research project, synthesized the results, and presented to local stakeholders in conference organized by a nonprofit nongovernmental organization, Asta-Ja Rsearch and Development Center (Asta-Ja RDC), Kathmandu, Nepal. Findings of the study reveal that Nepal is experiencing huge impacts of climate change in multiple fronts including atmospheric conditions and snowfall, temperature rise, occurrence of droughts and flooding, changes on monsoon pattern, emerging diseases and pests on crops and livestock, and declining drinking water sources. Environmental pollution, especially the air and water pollution and waste management, was very serious affecting public health, aesthetics, and even the tourism of the country. In order to reverse environmental degradation and enhance climate change adaptation, immediate implementation of effective, comprehensive, coordinated, and well-thought-out climate change adaptation and environmental initiatives are necessary. Nepal Field Experience was a lifetime learning experience for the students

Enriching college students through study abroad: a case of Nepal Field Experience - Part 2

With a view of providing an unsurpassed opportunity to college students, who are mostly from Louisiana, in gaining a comprehensive understanding of Global Climate Change issues, we completed the first Nepal Field Experience Pilot Study Abroad from May 21-June 8, 2019. A total of fifteen students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, and one graduate student from University of Arizona, Arizona, USA, participated in the program. Students examined and documented the effects of climate change impacts on agriculture, water resources, wildlife, local communities, forest resources, and other ecological and environmental settings of the country. They identified various climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that had been implemented and noted gaps between policy measures and ground realities. Research topics selected by the students included the following: climate change impacts on wildlife, water pollution, structural geology of Nepal, changing rainfall patterns and adaptation, climate change and agricultural production, geology of Kathmandu valley, air quality of Kathmandu valley, changing hydrology of glaciated landscape, climate change and geohazards, emerging diseases and pests on agricultural crops, climate change adaptation by local communities, green infrastructure and climate-smart technologies, climate change impact on drinking water sources, the roadside geology, and emerging diseases, parasites and zoonotics. Each student completed their individual research project, synthesized the results, and presented to local stakeholders in conference organized by a nonprofit nongovernmental organization, Asta-Ja Rsearch and Development Center (Asta-Ja RDC), Kathmandu, Nepal. Findings of the study reveal that Nepal is experiencing huge impacts of climate change in multiple fronts including atmospheric conditions and snowfall, temperature rise, occurrence of droughts and flooding, changes on monsoon pattern, emerging diseases and pests on crops and livestock, and declining drinking water sources. Environmental pollution, especially the air and water pollution and waste management, was very serious affecting public health, aesthetics, and even the tourism of the country. In order to reverse environmental degradation and enhance climate change adaptation, immediate implementation of effective, comprehensive, coordinated, and well-thought-out climate change adaptation and environmental initiatives are necessary. Nepal Field Experience was a lifetime learning experience for the students

Enriching college students through study abroad: a case of Nepal Field Experience - Part 3

With a view of providing an unsurpassed opportunity to college students, who are mostly from Louisiana, in gaining a comprehensive understanding of Global Climate Change issues, we completed the first Nepal Field Experience Pilot Study Abroad from May 21-June 8, 2019. A total of fifteen students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, and one graduate student from University of Arizona, Arizona, USA, participated in the program. Students examined and documented the effects of climate change impacts on agriculture, water resources, wildlife, local communities, forest resources, and other ecological and environmental settings of the country. They identified various climate change mitigation and adaptation measures that had been implemented and noted gaps between policy measures and ground realities. Research topics selected by the students included the following: climate change impacts on wildlife, water pollution, structural geology of Nepal, changing rainfall patterns and adaptation, climate change and agricultural production, geology of Kathmandu valley, air quality of Kathmandu valley, changing hydrology of glaciated landscape, climate change and geohazards, emerging diseases and pests on agricultural crops, climate change adaptation by local communities, green infrastructure and climate-smart technologies, climate change impact on drinking water sources, the roadside geology, and emerging diseases, parasites and zoonotics. Each student completed their individual research project, synthesized the results, and presented to local stakeholders in conference organized by a nonprofit nongovernmental organization, Asta-Ja Rsearch and Development Center (Asta-Ja RDC), Kathmandu, Nepal. Findings of the study reveal that Nepal is experiencing huge impacts of climate change in multiple fronts including atmospheric conditions and snowfall, temperature rise, occurrence of droughts and flooding, changes on monsoon pattern, emerging diseases and pests on crops and livestock, and declining drinking water sources. Environmental pollution, especially the air and water pollution and waste management, was very serious affecting public health, aesthetics, and even the tourism of the country. In order to reverse environmental degradation and enhance climate change adaptation, immediate implementation of effective, comprehensive, coordinated, and well-thought-out climate change adaptation and environmental initiatives are necessary. Nepal Field Experience was a lifetime learning experience for the students