Mayall:a framework for desktop JavaScript auditing and post-exploitation analysis

Writing desktop applications in JavaScript offers developers the opportunity to write cross-platform applications with cutting edge capabilities. However in doing so, they are potentially submitting their code to a number of unsanctioned modifications from malicious actors. Electron is one such JavaScript application framework which facilitates this multi-platform out-the-box paradigm and is based upon the Node.js JavaScript runtime --- an increasingly popular server-side technology. In bringing this technology to the client-side environment, previously unrealized risks are exposed to users due to the powerful system programming interface that Node.js exposes. In a concerted effort to highlight previously unexposed risks in these rapidly expanding frameworks, this paper presents the Mayall Framework, an extensible toolkit aimed at JavaScript security auditing and post-exploitation analysis. The paper also exposes fifteen highly popular Electron applications and demonstrates that two thirds of applications were found to be using known vulnerable elements with high CVSS scores. Moreover, this paper discloses a wide-reaching and overlooked vulnerability within the Electron Framework which is a direct byproduct of shipping the runtime unaltered with each application, allowing malicious actors to modify source code and inject covert malware inside verified and signed applications without restriction. Finally, a number of injection vectors are explored and appropriate remediations are proposed

Transportation Service Level Impact on Aircraft Availability

Purpose — Aircraft fail to meet mission capable rate goals due to a lack of supply of aircraft parts in inventory where the aircraft breaks. This triggers an order at the repair location. To maximize mission capable rate, the time from order to delivery needs to be minimized. The purpose of this research is to examine the case of three airfields for the order to delivery time of mission critical aircraft parts for a specific aircraft type. Design/methodology/approach — This research captured data from three information systems to assess the order fulfillment process. The data were analyzed to determine the performance in fiscal year 2020. Using the model of that performance, the cost of reducing transportation times using publicly available commercial cost estimates was assessed against the impact on aircraft availability. Findings — The results indicate that paying the costs for expedited shipping would have increased aircraft availability by 1.09 times the average annual aircraft flying hours for the three cases. The cost for the equivalent of an additional aircraft for the year was a third of the annual straight-line depreciation for that aircraft type. Research limitations/implications — This research assumed that the transportation time service levels publicly posted could be achieved. The weight of each mission critical part was not available, so the weight was selected from a probability distribution of mission critical part weights that was retrieved from prior research. This research provides options to enhance aircraft availability and identifies the associated costs. Practical implications — Adjusting the contract with transportation providers to reduce the transportation times of mission critical parts could have a large impact on aircraft availability at relatively little cost. Social implications — This research could enhance aircraft readiness in service of the common defense. Originality/value — This research provides an effective methodology for enhancing military readiness through contract adjustments with commercial partners. The value of this research is that it will serve to adjust the value proposition of mission critical parts inside the United States Transportation Command’s Next Generation Delivery Service contract

The role of the left intraparietal sulcus in the relationship between symbolic number processing and children\u27s arithmetic competence

The neural foundations of arithmetic learning are not well understood. While behavioral studies have revealed relationships between symbolic number processing and individual differences in children\u27s arithmetic performance, the neurocognitive mechanisms that bind symbolic number processing and arithmetic are unknown. The current fMRI study investigated the relationship between children\u27s brain activation during symbolic number comparison (Arabic digits) and individual differences in arithmetic fluency. A significant correlation was found between the numerical ratio effect on reaction times and accuracy and children\u27s arithmetic scores. Furthermore, children with a stronger neural ratio effect in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) during symbolic number processing exhibited higher arithmetic scores. Previous research has demonstrated that activation of the IPS during numerical magnitude processing increases over the course of development, and that the left IPS plays an important role in symbolic number processing. The present findings extend this knowledge to show that children with more mature response modulation of the IPS during symbolic number processing exhibit higher arithmetic competence. These results suggest that the left IPS is a key neural substrate for the relationship between the relative of precision of the representation of numerical magnitude and school-level arithmetic competence. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

The role of the left intraparietal sulcus in the relationship between symbolic number processing and children\u27s arithmetic competence

The neural foundations of arithmetic learning are not well understood. While behavioral studies have revealed relationships between symbolic number processing and individual differences in children\u27s arithmetic performance, the neurocognitive mechanisms that bind symbolic number processing and arithmetic are unknown. The current fMRI study investigated the relationship between children\u27s brain activation during symbolic number comparison (Arabic digits) and individual differences in arithmetic fluency. A significant correlation was found between the numerical ratio effect on reaction times and accuracy and children\u27s arithmetic scores. Furthermore, children with a stronger neural ratio effect in the left intraparietal sulcus (IPS) during symbolic number processing exhibited higher arithmetic scores. Previous research has demonstrated that activation of the IPS during numerical magnitude processing increases over the course of development, and that the left IPS plays an important role in symbolic number processing. The present findings extend this knowledge to show that children with more mature response modulation of the IPS during symbolic number processing exhibit higher arithmetic competence. These results suggest that the left IPS is a key neural substrate for the relationship between the relative of precision of the representation of numerical magnitude and school-level arithmetic competence. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Interfacing with the Night

In  this  paper,  the  authors  consider  the  interfaces  between academia and dance music. Dance music and club culture are, we argue, important to computer music and the live performance of electronic music, but there are many different difficulties encountered when trying to present electronic dance music within academic contexts. The authors draw upon their experiences as promoters, performers, researchers and audience members to discuss these difficulties and how and why we might negotiate them

Identifying Young Brown Dwarfs Using Gravity-Sensitive Spectral Features

We report the initial results of the Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey Gravity Project, to study gravity sensitive features as indicators of youth in brown dwarfs. Low-resolution (R~2000) J-band and optical (R~1000) observations using NIRSPEC and LRIS at the W.M. Keck Observatory reveal transitions of TiO, VO, K I, Na I, Cs I, Rb I, CaH, and FeH. By comparing these features in late-type giants and in old field dwarfs we show that they are sensitive to the gravity (g = GM/R^2) of the object. Using low-gravity spectral signatures as age indicators, we observed and analyzed J-band and optical spectra of two young brown dwarfs, G 196-3B (20-300 Myr) and KPNO Tau-4 (1-2 Myr), and two possible low mass brown dwarfs in the sigma Orionis cluster (3-7 Myr). We report the identification of the phi bands of TiO near 1.24 microns and the A-X band of VO near 1.18 microns together with extremely weak J-band lines of K I in KPNO-Tau4. This is the first detection of TiO and VO in the J-band in a sub-stellar mass object. The optical spectrum of KPNO-Tau4 exhibits weak K I and Na I lines, weak absorption by CaH, and strong VO bands, also signatures of a lower gravity atmosphere. G 196-3B shows absorption features in both wavelength regions like those of KPNO-Tau4 suggesting that its age and mass are at the lower end of published estimates. Whereas sigma Ori 51 appears to be consistent with a young sub-stellar object, sigma Ori 47 shows signatures of high gravity most closely resembling an old L1.5/L0, and can not be a member of the sigma Orionis cluster.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the January 10, 2004 issue of the Astrophysical Journa

Surface Gravities for 228 M, L, and T Dwarfs in the NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey

We combine 131 new medium-resolution (R~2000) J-band spectra of M, L, and T dwarfs from the Keck NIRSPEC Brown Dwarf Spectroscopic Survey (BDSS) with 97 previously published BDSS spectra to study surface-gravity-sensitive indices for 228 low-mass stars and brown dwarfs spanning spectral types M5-T9. Specifically, we use an established set of spectral indices to determine surface gravity classifications for all M6-L7 objects in our sample by measuring equivalent widths (EW) of the K I lines at 1.1692, 1.1778, 1.2529 um, and the 1.2 um FeHJ absorption index. Our results are consistent with previous surface gravity measurements, showing a distinct double peak - at ~L5 and T5 - in K I EW as a function of spectral type. We analyze K I EWs of 73 objects of known ages and find a linear trend between log(Age) and EW. From this relationship, we assign age ranges to the very low gravity, intermediate gravity, and field gravity designations for spectral types M6-L0. Interestingly, the ages probed by these designations remain broad, change with spectral type, and depend on the gravity sensitive index used. Gravity designations are useful indicators of the possibility of youth, but current datasets cannot be used to provide a precise age estimate.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, ApJ in pres

Discovery of a Very Young Field L Dwarf, 2MASS J01415823-4633574

While following up L dwarf candidates selected photometrically from the Two Micron All Sky Survey, we uncovered an unusual object designated 2MASS J01415823-4633574. Its optical spectrum exhibits very strong bands of vanadium oxide but abnormally weak absorptions by titanium oxide, potassium, and sodium. Morphologically such spectroscopic characteristics fall intermediate between old, field early-L dwarfs (log(g)~5) and very late M giants (log(g)~0), leading us to favor low gravity as the explanation for the unique spectral signatures of this L dwarf. Such a low gravity can be explained only if this L dwarf is much lower in mass than a typical old field L dwarf of similar temperature and is still contracting to its final radius. These conditions imply a very young age. Further evidence of youth is found in the near-infrared spectrum, including a triangular-shaped H-band continuum reminiscent of young brown dwarf candidates discovered in the Orion Nebula Cluster. Using the above information along with comparisons to brown dwarf atmospheric and interior models, our current best estimate is that this L dwarf has an age of 1-50 Myr and a mass of 6-25 M_Jupiter. The location of 2MASS 0141-4633 on the sky coupled with a distance estimate of ~35 pc and the above age estimate suggests that this object may be a brown dwarf member of either the 30-Myr-old Tucana/Horologium Association or the ~12-Myr-old beta Pic Moving Group.Comment: Accepted for publication in the 10 March 2006 issue (volume 639) of the Astrophysical Journa