Detecting vandalism on Wikipedia across multiple languages

Vandalism, the malicious modification or editing of articles, is a serious problem for free and open access online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia. Over the 13 year lifetime of Wikipedia, editors have identified and repaired vandalism in 1.6% of more than 500 million revisions of over 9 million English articles, but smaller manually inspected sets of revisions for research show vandalism may appear in 7% to 11% of all revisions of English Wikipedia articles. The persistent threat of vandalism has led to the development of automated programs (bots) and editing assistance programs to help editors detect and repair vandalism. Research into improving vandalism detection through application of machine learning techniques have shown significant improvements to detection rates of a wider variety of vandalism. However, the focus of research is often only on the English Wikipedia, which has led us to develop a novel research area of cross-language vandalism detection (CLVD). CLVD provides a solution to detecting vandalism across several languages through the development of language-independent machine learning models. These models can identify undetected vandalism cases across languages that may have insufficient identified cases to build learning models. The two main challenges of CLVD are (1) identifying language-independent features of vandalism that are common to multiple languages, and (2) extensibility of vandalism detection models trained in one language to other languages without significant loss in detection rate. In addition, other important challenges of vandalism detection are (3) high detection rate of a variety of known vandalism types, (4) scalability to the size of Wikipedia in the number of revisions, and (5) ability to incorporate and generate multiple types of data that characterise vandalism. In this thesis, we present our research into CLVD onWikipedia, where we identify gaps and problems in existing vandalism detection techniques. To begin our thesis, we introduce the problem of vandalism onWikipedia with motivating examples, and then present a review of the literature. From this review, we identify and address the following research gaps. First, we propose techniques for summarising the user activity of articles and comparing the knowledge coverage of articles across languages. Second, we investigate CLVD using the metadata of article revisions together with article views to learn vandalism models and classify incoming revisions. Third, we propose new text features that are more suitable for CLVD than text features from the literature. Fourth, we propose a novel context-aware vandalism detection technique for sneaky types of vandalism that may not be detectable through constructing features. Finally, to show that our techniques of detecting malicious activities are not limited to Wikipedia, we apply our feature sets to detecting malicious attachments and URLs in spam emails. Overall, our ultimate aim is to build the next generation of vandalism detection bots that can learn and detect vandalism from multiple languages and extend their usefulness to other language editions of Wikipedia

Astrocytes protect against diazinon- and diazoxon-induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth by regulating neuronal glutathione

Evidence demonstrating that human exposure to various organophosphorus insecticides (OPs) is associated with neurobehavioral deficits in children continues to emerge. The present study focused on diazinon (DZ) and its active oxygen metabolite, diazoxon (DZO), and explored their ability to impair neurite outgrowth in rat primary hippocampal neurons as a mechanism of developmental neurotoxicity. Both DZ and DZO (0.5-10. μM) significantly inhibited neurite outgrowth in hippocampal neurons, at concentrations devoid of any cyototoxicity. These effects appeared to be mediated by oxidative stress, as they were prevented by antioxidants (melatonin, N-t-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone, and glutathione ethyl ester). Inhibition of neurite outgrowth was observed at concentrations below those required to inhibit the catalytic activity of acetylcholinesterase. The presence of astrocytes in the culture was able to provide protection against inhibition of neurite outgrowth by DZ and DZO. Astrocytes increased neuronal glutathione (GSH) in neurons, to levels comparable to those of GSH ethyl ester. Astrocytes depleted of GSH by l-buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoximine no longer conferred protection against DZ- and DZO-induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth. The findings indicate that DZ and DZO inhibit neurite outgrowth in hippocampal neurons by mechanisms involving oxidative stress, and that these effects can be modulated by astrocytes and astrocyte-derived GSH. Oxidative stress from other chemical exposures, as well as genetic abnormalities that result in deficiencies in GSH synthesis and regulation, may render individuals more susceptible to these developmental neurotoxic effects of OPs. © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

Ethanol Induces Cholesterol Efflux and Up-regulates ATP-binding Cassette Cholesterol Transporters in Fetal Astrocytes

Cholesterol plays an important role during brain development, since it is involved in glial cell proliferation, neuronal survival and differentiation, and synaptogenesis. Astrocytes produce large amounts of brain cholesterol and produce and release lipoproteins containing apoE that can extract cholesterol from CNS cells for elimination. We hypothesized that some of the deleterious effects of ethanol in the developing brain may be due to the disruption of cholesterol homeostasis in astrocytes. This study investigates the effect of ethanol on cholesterol efflux mediated by ATP-binding cassette (ABC) cholesterol transporters. In fetal rat astrocytes in culture, ethanol caused a concentration-dependent increase in cholesterol efflux and increased the levels of ABCA1 starting at 25 mm. Similar effects of ethanol on cholesterol efflux and ABCA1 were also observed in fetal human astrocytes. In addition, ABCA1 levels were increased in the brains of 7-day-old pups treated for 3 days with 2, 4, or 6 g/kg ethanol. Ethanol also increased apoE release from fetal rat astrocytes, and conditioned medium prepared from ethanol-treated astrocytes extracted more cholesterol than conditioned medium from untreated cells. In addition, ethanol increased the levels of another cholesterol transporter, ABCG1. Ethanol did not affect cholesterol synthesis and reduced the levels of intracellular cholesterol in rat astrocytes. Retinoic acid, which induces teratogenic effects similarly to ethanol, also caused up-regulation of ABCA1 and ABCG1

Sustainable technology in developed countries: waste municipal management

As more studies were conducted and global events unfold, a greater emphasis is being placed on the importance of preserving the Earth's natural resources and cycles before we face a catastrophic climate crisis. Thus, developed countries are constantly adapting their policies and legislation to promote green development for the sake of sustainable development, which benefits both the environment and the socioeconomic segment. As populations grow and living standards improve, more waste is generated. Appropriate municipal waste management is necessary to avoid harm to the environment, wildlife, and human health. Sustainable municipal solid waste management is even included in the United Nations' (UN) Sustainable Development Goals, which aim to improve the world's environment and economy. The European Union (EU) member states' waste management systems can be considered exemplary. In some countries, landfills have been prohibited, promoting the use of more sustainable technologies such as organic waste incineration, recycling, and composting. However, a divide exists between member countries, with some lagging behind in terms of waste management strategies. Thus, this paper examined the current state of municipal waste in EU member states, followed by a review of the various disposal technologies implemented. The difficulties and environmental concerns that must be overcome are discussed, as are the recommendations and possible future directions

Impact of climate change on meteorological, hydrological and agricultural droughts in the Lower Mekong River Basin: a case study of the Srepok Basin, Vietnam

peer reviewedThe objective of this study is to assess future changes in meteorological, hydrology and agricultural droughts under the impact of changing climate in the Srepok River Basin, a subbasin of LMB, using three drought indices; standardized precipitation index (SPI), standardized runoff index (SRI) and standardized soil moisture index (SSWI). The well-calibrated Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is used as a simulation tool to estimate the features of meteorological, hydrological and agricultural droughts. The climate data for the 2016–2040 period is obtained from four different regional climate models; HadGEM3-RA, SNU-MM5, RegCM4 and YSU-RSM, which are downscaled from the HadGEM2-AO GCM. The results show that the severity, duration and frequency of droughts are predicted to increase in the near future for this region. Moreover, the meteorological drought is less sensitive to climate change than the hydrological and agricultural droughts; however, it has a stronger correlation with the hydrological and agricultural droughts as the accumulation period is increased. These findings may be useful for water resources management and future planning for mitigation and adaptation to the climate change impact in the Srepok River Basin

SIP-MBA: A secure IoT platform with brokerless and micro-service architecture

The Internet of Things is one of the most interesting technology trends today. Devices in the IoT network are often geared towards mobility and compact in size, thus having a rather weak hardware configuration. There are many light weight protocols, tailor-made suitable for limited processing power and low energy consumption, of which MQTT is the typical one. The current MQTT protocol supports three types of quality-of-service (QoS) and the user has to trade-off the security of the packet transmission by transmission rate, bandwidth and energy consumption. The MQTT protocol, however, does not support packet storage mechanisms which means that when the receiver is interrupted, the packet cannot be retrieved. In this paper, we present a broker-less SIP-MBA Platform, designed for micro-service and using gRPC protocol to transmit and receive messages. This design optimizes the transmission rate, power consumption and transmission bandwidth, while still meeting reliability when communicating. Besides, we implement users and things management mechanisms with the aim of improving security issues. Finally, we present the test results by implementing a collect data service via gRPC protocol and comparing it with streaming data by using the MQTT protocol.Web of Science12759358

IoHT-MBA: An Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) platform based on microservice and brokerless architecture

Internet of Thing (IoT), currently, is one of the technology trends that are most interested. IoT can be divided into five main areas including: Health-care, Environmental, Smart city, Commercial and Industrial. The IoHT-MBA Platform is considered the backbone of every IoT architecture, so the optimal design of the IoHT-MBA Platform is essential issue, which should be carefully considered in the different aspects. Although, IoT is applied in multiple domains, however, there are still three main features that are challenge to improve: i) data collection, ii) users, devices management, and iii) remote device control. Today's medical IoT systems, often too focused on the big data or access control aspects of participants, but not focused on collecting data accurately, quickly, and efficiently; power redundancy and system expansion. This is very important for the medical sector - which always prioritizes the availability of data for therapeutic purposes over other aspects. In this paper, we introduce the IoHT Platform for Healthcare environment which is designed by microservice and brokerless architecture, focusing strongly on the three aforementioned characteristics. In addition, our IoHT Platform considers the five other issues including (1) the limited processing capacity of the devices, (2) energy saving for the device, (3) speed and accurate of the data collection, (4) security mechanisms and (5) scalability of the system. Also, in order for the IoHT Platform to be suitable for the field of health monitoring, we also add realtime alerts for the medical team. In the evaluation section, moreover, we describe the evaluation to prove the effectiveness of the proposed IoHT Platform (i.e. the proof-of-concept) in the performance, non-error, and non affected by geographical distance. Finally, a complete code solution is publicized on the authors' GitHub repository to engage further reproducibility and improvement.Web of Science12760159

The challenge of unprecedented floods and droughts in risk management

Risk management has reduced vulnerability to floods and droughts globally1,2, yet their impacts are still increasing3. An improved understanding of the causes of changing impacts is therefore needed, but has been hampered by a lack of empirical data4,5. On the basis of a global dataset of 45 pairs of events that occurred within the same area, we show that risk management generally reduces the impacts of floods and droughts but faces difficulties in reducing the impacts of unprecedented events of a magnitude not previously experienced. If the second event was much more hazardous than the first, its impact was almost always higher. This is because management was not designed to deal with such extreme events: for example, they exceeded the design levels of levees and reservoirs. In two success stories, the impact of the second, more hazardous, event was lower, as a result of improved risk management governance and high investment in integrated management. The observed difficulty of managing unprecedented events is alarming, given that more extreme hydrological events are projected owing to climate change3

Higher docosahexaenoic acid levels lower the protective impact of eicosapentaenoic acid on long-term major cardiovascular events

IntroductionLong-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (OM3 PUFA) are commonly used for cardiovascular disease prevention. High-dose eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is reported to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE); however, a combined EPA and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation has not been proven to do so. This study aimed to evaluate the potential interaction between EPA and DHA levels on long-term MACE.MethodsWe studied a cohort of 987 randomly selected subjects enrolled in the INSPIRE biobank registry who underwent coronary angiography. We used rapid throughput liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry to quantify the EPA and DHA plasma levels and examined their impact unadjusted, adjusted for one another, and fully adjusted for comorbidities, EPA + DHA, and the EPA/DHA ratio on long-term (10-year) MACE (all-cause death, myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure hospitalization).ResultsThe average subject age was 61.5 ± 12.2 years, 57% were male, 41% were obese, 42% had severe coronary artery disease (CAD), and 311 (31.5%) had a MACE. The 10-year MACE unadjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the highest (fourth) vs. lowest (first) quartile (Q) of EPA was HR = 0.48 (95% CI: 0.35, 0.67). The adjustment for DHA changed the HR to 0.30 (CI: 0.19, 0.49), and an additional adjustment for baseline differences changed the HR to 0.36 (CI: 0.22, 0.58). Conversely, unadjusted DHA did not significantly predict MACE, but adjustment for EPA resulted in a 1.81-fold higher risk of MACE (CI: 1.14, 2.90) for Q4 vs. Q1. However, after the adjustment for baseline differences, the risk of MACE was not significant for DHA (HR = 1.37; CI: 0.85, 2.20). An EPA/DHA ratio ≥1 resulted in a lower rate of 10-year MACE outcomes (27% vs. 37%, adjusted p-value = 0.013).ConclusionsHigher levels of EPA, but not DHA, are associated with a lower risk of MACE. When combined with EPA, higher DHA blunts the benefit of EPA and is associated with a higher risk of MACE in the presence of low EPA. These findings can help explain the discrepant results of EPA-only and EPA/DHA mixed clinical supplementation trials

Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts

As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about the processes, interactions and feedbacks in complex human-water systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e., two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed, and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises: 1) detailed review style reports about the events and key processes between the two events of a pair; 2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterise management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability and impacts of all events; 3) a table of the indicators-of-change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators-of-change and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses e.g. focused on causal links between risk management, changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability and flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration and validation of socio-hydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al. 2023, link for review: https://dataservices.gfz-potsdam.de/panmetaworks/review/923c14519deb04f83815ce108b48dd2581d57b90ce069bec9c948361028b8c85/).</p