The Dynamics in the Soft Numbers Coordinate System

"Soft Logic" extends the number 0 from a single point to a continuous line, which we term "The zero axis". One of the modern science challenges is finding a bridge between the real world outside the observer and the observer's inner world. In “Soft Logic” we suggested a constructive model of bridging the two worlds by defining, on the base of the zero axis, a new kind of numbers, which we called ‘Soft Numbers’. Inspired by the investigation and visualization of fractals by Mandelbrot, within the investigation of the dynamics of some special function of a complex variable on the complex plane, we investigate in this paper the dynamics of soft functions on the plane strip with a special coordinate system. The recursive process that creates this soft dynamics allows us to discover new dynamics sets in a plane

Device Tracking via Linux's New TCP Source Port Selection Algorithm (Extended Version)

We describe a tracking technique for Linux devices, exploiting a new TCP source port generation mechanism recently introduced to the Linux kernel. This mechanism is based on an algorithm, standardized in RFC 6056, for boosting security by better randomizing port selection. Our technique detects collisions in a hash function used in the said algorithm, based on sampling TCP source ports generated in an attacker-prescribed manner. These hash collisions depend solely on a per-device key, and thus the set of collisions forms a device ID that allows tracking devices across browsers, browser privacy modes, containers, and IPv4/IPv6 networks (including some VPNs). It can distinguish among devices with identical hardware and software, and lasts until the device restarts. We implemented this technique and then tested it using tracking servers in two different locations and with Linux devices on various networks. We also tested it on an Android device that we patched to introduce the new port selection algorithm. The tracking technique works in real-life conditions, and we report detailed findings about it, including its dwell time, scalability, and success rate in different network types. We worked with the Linux kernel team to mitigate the exploit, resulting in a security patch introduced in May 2022 to the Linux kernel, and we provide recommendations for better securing the port selection algorithm in the paper.Comment: This is an extended version of a paper with the same name that will be presented in the 32nd Usenix Security Symposium (USENIX 2023). UPDATE (2022-10-08): We revised some bibliography entries and clarified some aspects of the mathematical analysi

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation add-on for the treatment of auditory hallucinations: a double-blind study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>About 25% of schizophrenia patients with auditory hallucinations are refractory to pharmacotherapy and electroconvulsive therapy. We conducted a deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) pilot study in order to evaluate the potential clinical benefit of repeated left temporoparietal cortex stimulation in these patients. The results were encouraging, but a sham-controlled study was needed to rule out a placebo effect.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 18 schizophrenic patients with refractory auditory hallucinations were recruited, from Beer Yaakov MHC and other hospitals outpatient populations. Patients received 10 daily treatment sessions with low-frequency (1 Hz for 10 min) deep TMS applied over the left temporoparietal cortex, using the H1 coil at the intensity of 110% of the motor threshold. Procedure was either real or sham according to patient randomization. Patients were evaluated via the Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale, Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms-Negative Symptoms, Clinical Global Impressions, and Quality of Life Questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In all, 10 patients completed the treatment (10 TMS sessions). Auditory hallucination scores of both groups improved; however, there was no statistical difference in any of the scales between the active and the sham treated groups.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Low-frequency deep TMS to the left temporoparietal cortex using the protocol mentioned above has no statistically significant effect on auditory hallucinations or the other clinical scales measured in schizophrenic patients.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><b>Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: </b><a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00564096">NCT00564096</a>.</p

On the dynamical generation of the Maxwell term and scale invariance

Gauge theories with no Maxwell term are investigated in various setups. The dynamical generation of the Maxwell term is correlated to the scale invariance properties of the system. This is discussed mainly in the cases where the gauge coupling carries dimensions. The term is generated when the theory contains a scale explicitly, when it is asymptotically free and in particular also when the scale invariance is spontaneously broken. The terms are not generated when the scale invariance is maintained. Examples studied include the large $N$ limit of the $CP^{N-1}$ model in $(2+\epsilon)$ dimensions, a 3D gauged $\phi^6$ vector model and its supersymmetric extension. In the latter case the generation of the Maxwell term at a fixed point is explored. The phase structure of the $d=3$ case is investigated in the presence of a Chern-Simons term as well. In the supersymmetric $\phi^6$ model the emergence of the Maxwell term is accompanied by the dynamical generation of the Chern-Simons term and its multiplet and dynamical breaking of the parity symmetry. In some of the phases long range forces emerge which may result in logarithmic confinement. These include a dilaton exchange which plays a role also in the case when the theory has no gauge symmetry. Gauged Lagrangian realizations of the 2D coset models do not lead to emergent Maxwell terms. We discuss a case where the gauge symmetry is anomalous.Comment: 38 pages, 4 figures; v2 slightly improved, typos fixed, references added, published versio

Vegetation history and climatic fluctuations on a transect along the Dead Sea west shore and impact on past societies over the last 3500 years.

This study represents the vegetation history of the last 3500 years and conducts an analysis of the climatic fluctuations on a 75 km long transect on the western Dead Sea shore. Palynological and sedimentological data are available from six cores near Mount Sedom, Ein Boqueq, and Ein Gedi and from outcrops near Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha. The comparison of the pollen data with the lake levels shows synchronous trends. During the Middle Bronze Age, Iron Age and Hellenistic to Byzantine Period the high lake level of the Dead Sea signals an increase in precipitation. Contemporaneously, values of cultivated plants indicate an increase in agriculture. Lake level is low during the Late Bronze Age, within the Iron Age and at the end of the Byzantine period, indicating dry periods when all pds show a decrease of cultivated plants. Forest regeneration led by drought-resistant pines is observed in all pollen diagrams (pds) following the agricultural decline in the Byzantine period and, in the pds near Ein Boqeq, Ze'elim and Ein Feshkha, during the late Iron Age. The modern vegetation gradient is reflected in the palaeo-records: a stronger expansion of Mediterranean vegetation and cultivated plants in the northern sites is recognisable

Theory of Small xx Deep Inelastic Scattering NLO Evaluations, and low Q2Q^2 Analysis

We calculate structure functions at small $x$ both under the assumption of a hard singularity (a power behaviour $x^{-\lambda}, \lambda$ positive, for $x\rightarrow 0$) or that of a soft-Pomeron dominated behaviour, also called double scaling limit, for the singlet component. A full next to leading order (NLO) analysis is carried for the functions $F_2, F_{\rm Glue}$ and the longitudinal one $F_L$ in $ep$ scattering, and for $x F_3$ in neutrino scattering. The results of the calculations are compared with data (HERA) in the range $x\leq 0.032, 10 gev^2\leq Q^2\leq 1 500 gev^2$. We get reasonable fits, with a chi-squared/d.o.f.$\sim 2$, for both assumptions, but none of them gives a fully satisfactory description. The results improve substantially if combining a soft and a hard component; in this case it is even possible to extend the analysis, phenomenologically, to small values of $Q^2$, $0.31 gev^2\leq Q^2\leq 8.5 gev^2$, and in the $x$ range 6\times10^{-6}\lsim x \lsim 0.04, with the same hard plus soft Pomeron hypothesis by assuming a saturating expression for the strong coupling, $\tilde{\alpha}_s(Q^2)=4\pi/\beta_0\log[(Q^2+\Lambda_{eff}^2)/\Lambda_{eff}^2]$ The description for low $Q^2$ implies self-consistent values for the parameters in the exponents of $x$. One gets, for the Regge intercepts, $\alpha_{\rho}(0)=0.48$ and $\alpha_P(0)=1.470$ [$\lambda=0.470$], in uncanny agreement with other determinations of these parameters, in particular the results of the large $Q^2$ fits. The fit to is so good that we may look (at large $Q^2$) for signals of a "triple Pomeron" vertex; some evidence is found.Comment: Tex file plus .ps figures. This paper includes the results from FTUAM 96-39 [hep-ph/9610380] and FTUAM 96-44 [hep-ph/9612469

Experimental Aspects of Synthesis

We discuss the problem of experimentally evaluating linear-time temporal logic (LTL) synthesis tools for reactive systems. We first survey previous such work for the currently publicly available synthesis tools, and then draw conclusions by deriving useful schemes for future such evaluations. In particular, we explain why previous tools have incompatible scopes and semantics and provide a framework that reduces the impact of this problem for future experimental comparisons of such tools. Furthermore, we discuss which difficulties the complex workflows that begin to appear in modern synthesis tools induce on experimental evaluations and give answers to the question how convincing such evaluations can still be performed in such a setting.Comment: In Proceedings iWIGP 2011, arXiv:1102.374

Genetically Blocking the Zebrafish Pineal Clock Affects Circadian Behavior

The master circadian clock in fish has been considered to reside in the pineal gland. This dogma is challenged, however, by the finding that most zebrafish tissues contain molecular clocks that are directly reset by light. To further examine the role of the pineal gland oscillator in the zebrafish circadian system, we generated a transgenic line in which the molecular clock is selectively blocked in the melatonin-producing cells of the pineal gland by a dominant-negative strategy. As a result, clock-controlled rhythms of melatonin production in the adult pineal gland were disrupted. Moreover, transcriptome analysis revealed that the circadian expression pattern of the majority of clock-controlled genes in the adult pineal gland is abolished. Importantly, circadian rhythms of behavior in zebrafish larvae were affected: rhythms of place preference under constant darkness were eliminated, and rhythms of locomotor activity under constant dark and constant dim light conditions were markedly attenuated. On the other hand, global peripheral molecular oscillators, as measured in whole larvae, were unaffected in this model. In conclusion, characterization of this novel transgenic model provides evidence that the molecular clock in the melatonin-producing cells of the pineal gland plays a key role, possibly as part of a multiple pacemaker system, in modulating circadian rhythms of behavior

Ruxolitinib for Glucocorticoid-Refractory Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease

BACKGROUND: Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major limitation of allogeneic stem-cell transplantation; not all patients have a response to standard glucocorticoid treatment. In a phase 2 trial, ruxolitinib, a selective Janus kinase (JAK1 and JAK2) inhibitor, showed potential efficacy in patients with glucocorticoid-refractory acute GVHD. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial comparing the efficacy and safety of oral ruxolitinib (10 mg twice daily) with the investigator's choice of therapy from a list of nine commonly used options (control) in patients 12 years of age or older who had glucocorticoid-refractory acute GVHD after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation. The primary end point was overall response (complete response or partial response) at day 28. The key secondary end point was durable overall response at day 56. RESULTS: A total of 309 patients underwent randomization; 154 patients were assigned to the ruxolitinib group and 155 to the control group. Overall response at day 28 was higher in the ruxolitinib group than in the control group (62% [96 patients] vs. 39% [61]; odds ratio, 2.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.65 to 4.22; P<0.001). Durable overall response at day 56 was higher in the ruxolitinib group than in the control group (40% [61 patients] vs. 22% [34]; odds ratio, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.43 to 3.94; P<0.001). The estimated cumulative incidence of loss of response at 6 months was 10% in the ruxolitinib group and 39% in the control group. The median failure-free survival was considerably longer with ruxolitinib than with control (5.0 months vs. 1.0 month; hazard ratio for relapse or progression of hematologic disease, non-relapse-related death, or addition of new systemic therapy for acute GVHD, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.60). The median overall survival was 11.1 months in the ruxolitinib group and 6.5 months in the control group (hazard ratio for death, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.15). The most common adverse events up to day 28 were thrombocytopenia (in 50 of 152 patients [33%] in the ruxolitinib group and 27 of 150 [18%] in the control group), anemia (in 46 [30%] and 42 [28%], respectively), and cytomegalovirus infection (in 39 [26%] and 31 [21%]). CONCLUSIONS: Ruxolitinib therapy led to significant improvements in efficacy outcomes, with a higher incidence of thrombocytopenia, the most frequent toxic effect, than that observed with control therapy