Backdoor Learning for NLP: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Future Research Directions

Although backdoor learning is an active research topic in the NLP domain, the literature lacks studies that systematically categorize and summarize backdoor attacks and defenses. To bridge the gap, we present a comprehensive and unifying study of backdoor learning for NLP by summarizing the literature in a systematic manner. We first present and motivate the importance of backdoor learning for building robust NLP systems. Next, we provide a thorough account of backdoor attack techniques, their applications, defenses against backdoor attacks, and various mitigation techniques to remove backdoor attacks. We then provide a detailed review and analysis of evaluation metrics, benchmark datasets, threat models, and challenges related to backdoor learning in NLP. Ultimately, our work aims to crystallize and contextualize the landscape of existing literature in backdoor learning for the text domain and motivate further research in the field. To this end, we identify troubling gaps in the literature and offer insights and ideas into open challenges and future research directions. Finally, we provide a GitHub repository with a list of backdoor learning papers that will be continuously updated at https://github.com/marwanomar1/Backdoor-Learning-for-NLP

Battlefield malware and the fight against cyber crime

Relatório apresentado à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para o cumprimento do programa de Pós-Doutoramento em Ciências da InformaçãoOur cyber space is quickly becoming over-whelmed with ever-evolving malware that breaches all security defenses, works viciously in the background without user awareness or interaction, and secretly leaks of confidential business data. One of the most pressing challenges faced by business organizations when they experience a cyber-attack is that, more often than not, those organizations do not have the knowledge nor readiness of how to analyze malware once it has been discovered on their production computer networks. The objective of this six months post-doctoral project is to present the fundamentals of malware reverse-engineering, the tools and techniques needed to properly analyze malicious programs to determine their characteristics which can prove extremely helpful when investigating data breaches. Those tools and techniques will provide insights to incident response teams and digital investigation professionals. In order to stop hackers in their tracks and beat cyber criminals in their own game, we need to equip cyber security professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to detect and respond to malware attacks. Learning and mastering the inner workings of malware will help in the fight against the ever-changing malware landscape.N/

Do Generative Large Language Models need billions of parameters?

This paper presents novel systems and methodologies for the development of efficient large language models (LLMs). It explores the trade-offs between model size, performance, and computational resources, with the aim of maximizing the efficiency of these AI systems. The research explores novel methods that allow different parts of the model to share parameters, reducing the total number of unique parameters required. This approach ensures that the model remains compact without sacrificing its ability to learn and represent complex language structures. This study provides valuable insights and tools for creating more efficient and effective LLMs, contributing to a more sustainable and accessible future for AI language modeling

A World of Cyber Attacks (A Survey)

The massive global network that connects billions of humans and millions of devices and allow them to communicate with each other is known as the internet. Over the last couple of decades, the internet has grown expeditiously and became easier to use and became a great educational tool. Now it can used as a weapon that can steal someone’s identity, expose someone’s financial information, or can destroy your networking devices. Even in the last decade, there have been more cyber attacks and threats destroying major companies by breaching the databases that have millions of personal information that can be sold online. Cyber-attacks can happen numerous ways and can happen when no one is looking. In this paper we survey several cyber-attacks that has been around and the current ones which will give the readers a quick overview of the finding of this survey. We also arrived at a conclusion that education in this field is very important for companies and individuals to stay safe

Neo-Ottoman Cool 2: Turkish Nation Branding and Arabic-Language Transnational Broadcasting

Ten years after the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power in Turkey in 2002, Turkish-Arab relations have dramatically improved. This rapprochement was largely based on Turkey’s engagement with Arab publics as part of a soft power–based policy conceived as neo-Ottomanism. Against the backdrop of the remarkable popularity of Turkish television dramas in the Arab world, this article focuses on Turkey’s transnational broadcasting and nation-branding efforts. Acknowledging the limits and challenges to soft power, it argues that the success of neo-Ottomanism has been based on the Turkish government’s use of multiple strategies of outreach through popular culture, rhetoric, and broadcasting to create a new Turkish nation brand of neo-Ottoman cool, articulated as at once more benign and more powerful. The conclusion discusses how the Arab uprisings have complicated Turkey’s charm offensive in the Arab world

Wireless Sensor Network Security: Approaches to Detecting and Avoiding Wormhole Attacks

This paper explores Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) and the related security issues and complications arising from a specific type of security breach, the wormhole attack. Wormhole attacks against WSNs are classified as passive, external laptop-class threats. Because malicious wormhole attacks are increasing, these attacks pose a serious security threat and increase the costs to maintain a Wireless Sensor Network. Research into preventing wormhole attacks yields two distinct model approach types: Administrator-Viewpoint models and User-Viewpoint models. While the modalities vary, the four Administrator-Viewpoint models reviewed were designed in the early 2000s and suggest defending against wormhole attacks through the use of expensive hardware, packet leashes, or topology visualization systems. On the other hand, the four proposed User-Viewpoint models have become the current theoretical models of choice.  While existing as simulation approaches to defend against wormhole attacks, the User-Viewpoint models use internally calculated routing algorithms to suggest routes to avoid or evade, not defend against, established wormhole routes. This paper confirms the efficacies of the User-Viewpoint models in the lab simulations are viewed as the most promising cost-effective, future security solutions to wormhole attacks

The Translation of Puns in Shakespeare’s Plays into Arabic

The term "pun" refers to a literary device that is described as a play on words. This term means using words in an amusing and tricky manner, to produce a pun. However, it is difficult to translate puns between English and Aabic because of their distinctively different linguistic systems, especially the phonology and morphology which are the basic skills in the use of puns. This study aims to study the influence of context in discovering the intended meaning of the pun and also to investigate the problems that translators may face when they translate puns from English into Arabic in some selected Shakespeares’ plays. Two main problems and interrelated issues are discussed: How puns are translated? And how they should or can be translated? It is obvious that, in some cases, the translator fails to convey the intended meaning of SL puns due to the fact that they involve more than one meaning (many shades of meaning). Thus, they lead to ambiguity and serious loss or a distortion of meaning. For analysis the data, three models are eclectically adopted, namely: Delabastita\u27s model of translation puns (1996), Kasper\u27s model of pragmatic transfer (PT) (1992), and Hatim and Mundy\u27s model of pun decomposition process (PDP) (2004) to determine the appropraite translation of puns

Turkish Rambo : Geopolitical Dramas as Narrative Counter-Hegemony

Arabs and Turks share a historically complicated relationship. After 400 years of Ottoman imperialism over Arab lands that lasted until after World War 1, Turkish leader Mustafa kemal Atatürk\u27s secularized Turkey and cut linguistic ties with Arab culture. Secularism, nationalism and NATO membership during the second half of the 20th century further distanced Turkey from Arab countries. This changed in 2001 with the rise of the Justice and Development Party (known by its Turkis acronym AKP). Incorporating electoral politics in a pro-business platform reflecting the AKP\u27s pious and entrepreneurial constituency in Anatolian cities, the AKP has consolidated power in electoral victories since 2002. In the past decade, Turkey\u27s forceful foreign policy, public criticism of Israeli actions, increased economic entanglement in the Arab world, and overall rising status, has been discussed via the trope of neo-Ottomanism. Despite Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan\u27s autocratic tendencies and his government\u27s worrisome imprisonment of numerous journalists and academics, the AKP appeared to be unshakable until popular demonstrations in Gezi park in Istanbul in 2013 put Erdoğan on the defensive

‎ Exploring artistic abilities and creativity perceptions for the enrolled architectural engineering students

Architecture is considered one of the most significant human arts aims creativity in design. Therefore, it requires certain artistic skills and certain knowledge and perception from students. Architects are expected to have graphical communication skills enable them to translate their thoughts and ideas to sketching, drawing, model making, coloring, and rendering. The staff of first stage noticed the inadequate level of knowledge and shortfall in students’ abilities throughout years of education. Therefore, this paper aims to explore artistic abilities and creativity perceptions for the enrolled architectural engineering students. The research focuses on the first-grade students in Architectural Engineering Departments of University of Mosul. Mixed approaches were adopted for data collection including two surveys and ten in-depth interviews with the students after one month from their enrollment in university. The survey includes 68 questions serve four main axes, particularly, explores personal characteristics and abilities, traces students’ knowledge, investigates students’ artistic abilities and creativity perceptions, and tackles the role of school in developing artistic abilities and creativity for students. Findings reveal lack of student’s experience in artistic skills including sketching, drawing, or coloring, basic knowing about international or local architecture. This low qualification refers to underestimate art subject and lack of basic knowledge of architecture gained during students’ secondary education