Identifying organizations receiving personal data in Android Apps

Many studies have demonstrated that mobile applications are common means to collect massive amounts of personal data. This goes unnoticed by most users, who are also unaware that many different organizations are receiving this data, even from multiple apps in parallel. This paper assesses different techniques to identify the organizations that are receiving personal data flows in the Android ecosystem, namely the WHOIS service, SSL certificates inspection, and privacy policy textual analysis. Based on our findings, we propose a fully automated method that combines the most successful techniques, achieving a 94.73% precision score in identifying the recipient organization. We further demonstrate our method by evaluating 1,000 Android apps and exposing the corporations that collect the users' personal data.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Enhancing Web Applications Observability through Instrumented Automated Browsers

In software engineering, observability is the ability to determine the current state of a software system based on its external outputs or signals such as metrics, logs, or traces. Web engineers rely on the web browser console as the primary tool to monitor the client-side of web applications during end-to-end tests. However, this is a manual and time-consuming task due to the different browsers available. This paper presents BrowserWatcher, an open-source browser extension providing cross-browser capabilities to observe web applications and automatically gather browser console logs in different browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, or Edge). We have leveraged this extension to conduct an empirical study analyzing the browser console of the top-50 public websites manually and automatically. The results show that BrowserWatcher gathers all the well-known log categories such as console or error traces. It also reveals that each web browser additionally includes other types of logs, which differ among browsers, thus providing distinct pieces of information for the same website.This work was partially supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación-Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Spain (10.13039/501100011033) through the H2O Learn project under Grant PID2020-112584RB-C31, in part by the Madrid Regional Government through the e-Madrid-CM Project, Spain under Grant S2018/TCS-4307, and in part supported by the Comunidad de Madrid and Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain through the V-PRICIT Research Programme Apoyo a la realización de Proyectos de I+D para jóvenes investigadores UPM-CAM, under Grant APOYOJOVENES-QINIM8-72-PKGQ0J. Funding for Article Processing Charge (APC): Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Read & Publish Agreement CRUE-CSIC 2023)

Discrimination of aging wines with alternative oak products and micro-oxygenation by FTIR-ATR

The use of alternative oak wood products (AOP), such as chips, cubes and staves, among other, from different geographical origins is a common practice for wine aging, where the micro-oxygenation (MOX, adding small doses of oxygen constantly over time) is essential to obtain a final wine more stable in time and with similar characteristics of barrel-aged wine. The aim of this work was to identify if spectroscopic techniques allow to discriminate wines aged with alternative oak products (chips and staves) from different oak woods (American, French and Spanish) and a floating micro-oxygenation (20 µg·L−1) after 10 years of bottling and compared to those aged in barrels. The spectral information and analysis were performed in a FTIR-ATR, with 128 scans per spectrum at a spectral resolution of 8 cm-1 in the wavenumber range from 4,000 to 450 cm-1. Principal component analyses of spectral information were performed using the Unscrambler® X. The results indicate that with this technique it is possible to clearly separate the wines aged by the three systems (chips, staves and barrels) in the case of American oak. In the case of French oak, wines aged in chips were clearly differentiated from wines aged in staves with those aged in barrels between the two. It is also possible to clearly separate aged wines with different Spanish oak systems. The application of FTIR-ATR appears to be a powerful technique for discriminating the quality of wines aged by different AOPs and wood barrels from different geographical origins

Evaluación continuada automática de Fundamentos de Programación en C

En este trabajo se describe el uso de un sistema de evaluación automática como herramienta de apoyo para el aprendizaje y seguimiento continuado de los alumnos de la asignatura de Fundamentos de Programación del primer curso de las titulaciones de los grados de Ingeniería en Tecnologías Industriales y de Ingeniería Química impartidos en la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Industriales de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ETSII-UPM) desde el curso 2010-11. El sistema de evaluación se implementa mediante uno de los módulos de la plataforma AulaWeb desarrollada en la UPM. Se analizan además los resultados obtenidos considerando que las calificaciones obtenidas en los ejercicios programados pueden tenerse en cuenta en la calificación final de la asignatura como parte de la evaluación continuada durante el periodo académico de acuerdo con la metodología propuesta en el Proceso de Bolonia para los estudios universitarios

Inflammatory Markers in Uterine Lavage Fluids of Pregnant, Non-Pregnant, and Intrauterine Device Implanted Mares on Days 10 and 15 Post Ovulation

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are used in mares to suppress oestrous behaviour, but the underlying mechanism is yet to be elucidated. The presence of an embryo or an IUD prevents cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and, subsequently, prostaglandin (PG) release and luteolysis. However, inflammation may also be involved. Endometrial inflammatory markers in uterine lavage fluid were measured on Day 10 (EXP 1, n = 25) and Day 15 (EXP 2, n = 27) after ovulation in inseminated mares, non-pregnant or pregnant, and in mares in which a small plastic sphere had been inserted into the uterus 4 (EXP 1) or 3 days (EXP 2) after ovulation. Uterine lavage fluid samples were analysed for nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) (only EXP 1), prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), inhibin A and cytokines, and blood samples for progesterone and oestradiol. On Day 10, the concentration of PGF2α was lower (p < 0.05) in the IUD group than in pregnant mares. The concentration of the modulatory cytokine IL-10 was significantly higher in the IUD group in comparison to non-pregnant mares, and inhibin A was significantly higher in IUD mares than in the pregnant counterparts on Day 15. The results suggest that the presence of IUD causes endometrial inflammation which is at a resolution stage on Day 15

Inflammatory Markers in Uterine Lavage Fluids of Pregnant, Non-Pregnant, and Intrauterine Device Implanted Mares on Days 10 and 15 Post Ovulation

Intrauterine devices (IUDs) are used in mares to suppress oestrous behaviour, but the underlying mechanism is yet to be elucidated. The presence of an embryo or an IUD prevents cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and, subsequently, prostaglandin (PG) release and luteolysis. However, inflammation may also be involved. Endometrial inflammatory markers in uterine lavage fluid were measured on Day 10 (EXP 1, n = 25) and Day 15 (EXP 2, n = 27) after ovulation in inseminated mares, non-pregnant or pregnant, and in mares in which a small plastic sphere had been inserted into the uterus 4 (EXP 1) or 3 days (EXP 2) after ovulation. Uterine lavage fluid samples were analysed for nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) (only EXP 1), prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α), inhibin A and cytokines, and blood samples for progesterone and oestradiol. On Day 10, the concentration of PGF2α was lower (p < 0.05) in the IUD group than in pregnant mares. The concentration of the modulatory cytokine IL-10 was significantly higher in the IUD group in comparison to non-pregnant mares, and inhibin A was significantly higher in IUD mares than in the pregnant counterparts on Day 15. The results suggest that the presence of IUD causes endometrial inflammation which is at a resolution stage on Day 15

Electrical and structural degradation of GaN high electron mobility transistors under high-power and high-temperature Direct Current stress

We have stressed AlGaN/GaN HEMTs (High Electron Mobility Transistors) under high-power and high-temperature DC conditions that resulted in various levels of device degradation. Following electrical stress, we conducted a well-established three-step wet etching process to remove passivation, gate and ohmic contacts so that the device surface can be examined by SEM and AFM. We have found prominent pits and trenches that have formed under the gate edge on the drain side of the device. The width and depth of the pits under the gate edge correlate with the degree of drain current degradation. In addition, we also found visible erosion under the full extent of the gate. The depth of the eroded region averaged along the gate width under the gate correlated with channel resistance degradation. Both electrical and structural analysis results indicate that device degradation under high-power DC conditions is of a similar nature as in better understood high-voltage OFF-state conditions. The recognition of a unified degradation mechanism provides impetus to the development of a degradation model with lifetime predictive capabilities for a broad range of operating conditions spanning from OFF-state to ON-state.United States. Office of Naval Research.Design-for-Reliability Initiative for Future Technologies. Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative

Estudio de la formación de cristales por bacterias en medios tamponados

Se investiga la precipitación bacteriana de carbonato cálcico en el medio B-4 tamponado con tres sistemas bufer diferentes a los pH 7 Y 8, por 96 cepas bacterianas aisladas del suelo. A pH 8 se observa precipitación de C03Ca en todas las cepas ensayadas, mientras que el pH 7 solo ocurre excepcionalmente. Los tampones tris-hidroxmetil amino metano-HCl y clorhidrato de trietanol amina-OHNa se revelaron idóneos para estas experiencias, mientras que el tampón 5:5 dietil barbiturato sódico-HCl no resultó apropiado.Calcium carbonate precipitation by, 96 strains isolated from soil, was studied in B-4 buffered medium using three different systems at pH 7 and 8. CaC03 precipitation at pH 8 is observed in aH the strains investigated, whereas it occurs only exceptionally at pH 7. The tris-hydroximethyl amino methane-CIH and hydrochloride triethanol amine-NaOH were adequated for these experiments, but the 5:5 diethyl sodium barbiturate was not considered suitable

Influencia el pH en la formación del cristales de carbonato cálcico por bacterias del suelo

The effect of pH on the calcium carbonate precipitation (crystal formations) was studied with 96 strains isolated from the soil. Crystal formations in culture media were detected with initial pH between 5.5 to 9. These data show that the optimum pH to crystal formations may be well stablished&nbsp;during bacterial growth, and that is not necessary the previous alkalinization of the culture media to calcium carbonate precipitation.Se estudia la influencia del pH en la precipitación de carbonato cálcico por 96 cepas bacterianas aisladas del suelo. Se obtienen cristales en medios con pH iniciales comprendidos entre 5,5 y 9. No es necesaria la alcalinización previa de los medios, ya que el pH óptimo para la precipitación puede alcanzarse durante el desarrollo bacteriano