Employing Program Semantics for Malware Detection

In recent years, malware has emerged as a critical security threat. Additionally, malware authors continue to embed numerous anti–detection features to evade existing malware detection approaches. Against this advanced class of malicious programs, dynamic behavior–based malware detection approaches outperform the traditional signature–based approaches by neutralizing the effects of obfuscation and morphing techniques. The majority of dynamic behavior detectors rely on system–calls to model the infection and propagation dynamics of malware. However, these approaches do not account an important anti–detection feature of modern malware, i.e., system–call injection attack. This attack allows the malicious binaries to inject irrelevant and independent system–calls during the program execution thus modifying the execution sequences defeating the existing system–call based detection. To address this problem, we propose an evasion–proof solution that is not vulnerable to system–call injection attacks. Our proposed approach precisely characterizes the program semantics using Asymptotic Equipartition Property (AEP) mainly applied in information theoretic domain. The AEP allows us to extract the information–rich call sequences that are further quantified to detect the malicious binaries. Furthermore, the proposed detection model is less vulnerable to call–injection attacks as the discriminating components are not directly visible to malware authors. This particular characteristic of proposed approach hampers a malware author’s aim of defeating our approach. We run a thorough set of experiments to evaluate our solution and compare it with existing system-call based malware detection techniques. The results demonstrate that the proposed solution is effective in identifying real malware instances

Potential for reuse of effluent from fish-processing industries.

The most common problems in the fish processing industry relate to high water consumption and the generation of effluents with concentrated organic loads. Given that reuse can represent an alternative for sustainable development, this study sought to assess the potential for recycling effluents produced in a fish-processing plant. In order to do so, the final industrial effluent was analyzed using the American Public Health Association (APHA) standard effluent-analysis method (2005). In addition, the study assessed treatments which produce effluents meeting the requirements prescribed by different countries' regulations for reuse and recycling. The results found that effluents with smaller organic loads, such as those from health barriers and monoblock washing, can be treated in order to remove nutrients and solids so that they can be subsequently reused. For effluents produced by the washing and gutting cylinders, it is recommended that large fragments of solid waste be removed beforehand. Effluents can in this way attain a quality compatible with industrial reuse. This study further highlights the possibility of treating effluents so as comply with drinking water standards. This would potentially allow them to be used within the actual fish-processing procedure; in such a case, a revision of standards and measures for controlling use should be considered to prevent microbiological damage to products and risks to handlers and final consumers

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis secondary to infections:a tertiary care experience

Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis is an uncommon complication of various conditions. It is characterized by immune dysregulation and massive cytokine release causing multiorgan dysfunction. It is classified as primary and secondary to various etiologies like infections, malignancies and autoimmune disease. As it has high mortality, clinician awareness is important for early diagnosis and improved outcome. Aim of the study was to study the etiologies, clinical manifestations, complications and laboratory features in patients diagnosed with infection associated hemophagocytic syndrome (IAHS).Methods: We have done retrospective analysis of all cases diagnosed to have Infection Associated Hemophagocytic Syndrome (IAHS) between March 2012 to November 2015 in a 1000 bedded tertiary care hospital in south India.Results: Total five cases detected. Most of the cases are related to tropical infections (80%). All of them presented with fever, cytopenias and organomegaly. Ferritin and Triglycerides were elevated in all patients. Bone marrow hemophagocytosis was observed in 80% of cases. Diagnostic protocol of HLH 2004 was followed. Only 20% survival observed.Conclusions: IAHS is a rare fulminant complication associated with diagnostic and therapeutic challenges because of overlapping clinical features with sepsis. Increased physician awareness, early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions may improve survival

Discovery of GeV Emission from the Circinus galaxy with the Fermi-LAT

We report the discovery of gamma-ray emission from the Circinus galaxy using the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Circinus is a nearby (~4 Mpc) starburst with a heavily obscured Seyfert-type active nucleus, bipolar radio lobes perpendicular to the spiral disk, and kpc-scale jet-like structures. Our analysis of 0.1-100 GeV events collected during 4 years of LAT observations reveals a significant (~ 7.3 sigma) excess above the background. We find no indications of variability or spatial extension beyond the LAT point-spread function. A power-law model used to describe the 0.1-100 GeV gamma-ray spectrum yields a flux of (18.8+/-5.8)x10^{-9} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} and photon index 2.19+/-0.12, corresponding to an isotropic gamma-ray luminosity of 3 x 10^{40} erg s^{-1}. This observed gamma-ray luminosity exceeds the luminosity expected from cosmic-ray interactions in the interstellar medium and inverse Compton radiation from the radio lobes. Thus the origin of the GeV excess requires further investigation.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

DISYRE: Diffusion-Inspired SYnthetic REstoration for Unsupervised Anomaly Detection

Unsupervised Anomaly Detection (UAD) techniques aim to identify and localize anomalies without relying on annotations, only leveraging a model trained on a dataset known to be free of anomalies. Diffusion models learn to modify inputs x to increase the probability of it belonging to a desired distribution, i.e., they model the score function ∇x log p(x). Such a score function is potentially relevant for UAD, since ∇x log p(x) is itself a pixel-wise anomaly score. However, diffusion models are trained to invert a corruption process based on Gaussian noise and the learned score function is unlikely to generalize to medical anomalies. This work addresses the problem of how to learn a score function relevant for UAD and proposes DISYRE: Diffusion-Inspired SYnthetic REstoration. We retain the diffusion-like pipeline but replace the Gaussian noise corruption with a gradual, synthetic anomaly corruption so the learned score function generalizes to medical, naturally occurring anomalies. We evaluate DISYRE on three common Brain MRI UAD benchmarks and substantially outperform other methods in two out of the three tasks

Benchmarking the performance of a low-cost Magnetic Resonance Control System at multiple sites in the open MaRCoS community

Purpose: To describe the current properties and capabilities of an open-source hardware and software package that is being developed by many sites internationally with the aim of providing an inexpensive yet flexible platform for low-cost MRI. Methods: This paper describes three different setups from 50 to 360 mT in different settings, all of which used the MaRCoS console for acquiring data, and different types of software interfaces (custom-built GUI or PulSeq overlay) to acquire the data. Results: Images are presented from both phantoms and in vivo from healthy volunteers to demonstrate the image quality that can be obtained from the MaRCoS hardware/software interfaced to different low-field magnets. Conclusions: The results presented here show that a number of different sequences commonly used in the clinic can be programmed into an open-source system relatively quickly and easily, and can produce good quality images even at this early stage of development. Both the hardware and software will continue to develop, and it is an aim of this paper to encourage other groups to join this international consortium.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, comments welcom

Portable magnetic resonance imaging of patients indoors, outdoors and at home

Mobile medical imaging devices are invaluable for clinical diagnostic purposes both in and outside healthcare institutions. Among the various imaging modalities, only a few are readily portable. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the gold standard for numerous healthcare conditions, does not traditionally belong to this group. Recently, low-field MRI start-up companies have demonstrated the first decisive steps towards portability within medical facilities, but these are so far incompatible with more demanding use cases such as in remote and developing regions, sports facilities and events, medical and military camps, or home healthcare. Here we present in vivo images taken with a light, home-made, low-field extremity MRI scanner outside the controlled environment provided by medical facilities. To demonstrate the true portability of the system and benchmark its performance in various relevant scenarios, we have acquired images of a volunteer's knee in: i) an MRI physics laboratory; ii) an office room; iii) outside a campus building, connected to a nearby power outlet; iv) in open air, powered from a small fuel-based generator; and v) at the volunteer's home. All images have been acquired within clinically viable times, and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and tissue contrast suffice for 2D and 3D reconstructions with diagnostic value, with comparable overall image quality across all five situations. Furthermore, the volunteer carries a fixation metallic implant screwed to the femur, which leads to strong artifacts in standard clinical systems but appears sharp in our low-field acquisitions. Altogether, this work opens a path towards highly accessible MRI under circumstances previously unrealistic.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, comments welcom

Fostering Professional Ethical Competence During Teacher Training Practice

Professionals who have undergone their training at university should possess not only the knowledge-base necessary to practice in their chosen profession, but also the ethical principles that ensure responsible professional practice and the corresponding benefits for society. The research project addressed in the present article aimed to contribute to fostering ethical competence and commitment amongst future teachers. During the experience the participants had the opportunity to design tasks that stimulated reflection, critique and ethical awareness.Specialistai, įgiję universitetinį išsilavinimą, turi būti sukaupę ne tik žinių, kurios būtinos profesinėje veikloje, bet ir gebėti vadovautis etikos principais, kurie užtikrintų atsakingą ir visuomenės gerovei reikalingą profesinę veiklą. Tyrime, pristatomame šiame straipsnyje, analizuojamos būsimųjų mokytojų etinės kompetencijos plėtros ir atsidavimo darbui problemos. Tyrimo dalyviai turėjo galimybę kurti užduotis, kurios skatino refleksiją, kritiką ir etinį sąmoningumą.Les professionnels ayant reçu leur formation auprès des Universités disposeront, non seulement des connaissances de base nécessaires à l'exercice de leur métier, mais aussi les principes éthiques garantissant un exercice professionnel responsable portant bénéfice sur la société. Le projet de recherche présenté sous ce titre a comme objectif la contribution à la favorisation de la compétence éthique et de l'engagement parmi les futurs enseignants. Lors de cette expérience, les participants ont eu l'occasion d'élaborer des tâches favorisant la réflexion, la critique et la pensée critique.Профессионалы, получившие университетское образование, не только получают основные знания для работы по своей профессии, но и моральные принципы, которые обеспечивают ответственную профессиональную работу и соответствующую выгоду для общества. Целью исследовательского проекта,представленного под этим именем, является участие в стимуляции профессиональной этики и компромисса среди будущих преподавателей. Во время проведения эксперимента, участники получили возможность разработать задания, стимулирующие размышление, критику и критичиское сознание.Los profesionales que han recibido su formación en la Universidad, poseerán no solo el conocimiento base necesario para la práctica en su profesión, sino también los principios éticos que aseguran la práctica profesional responsable y el correspondiente beneficio para la sociedad. El proyecto de investigación presentado con este título tiene como objetivo contribuir a estimular la competencia ética y el compromiso entre los futuros docentes. Durante la experiencia, los participantes tuvieron la oportunidad de diseñar tareas que estimularan la reflexión, la crítica y la conciencia crítica