GPU Modeling of Ship Operations in Pack Ice

The paper explores the use of an event-mechanics approach to assess vessel performance in pack ice. The methodology is developed using massively parallel programming strategies on a GPU enabled workstation. A set of simulation domains, each containing hundreds of discrete and interacting ice floes is modeled. A simple vessel is modeled as it navigates through the domains. Each ship-ice collision is modeled, as is every ice-ice contact. Time histories of resistance, speed and position are presented along with the parametric sensitivities. The results are compared to published data from analytical, numerical and scale model tests. The work is part of a large research project at Memorial University called STePS2 (Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures)

Proximity Scheme for Instruction Caches in Tiled CMP Architectures

Recent research results show that there is a high degree of code sharing between cores in multi-core architectures. In this paper we propose a proximity scheme for the instruction caches, a scheme in which the shared code blocks among the neighbouring L2 caches in tiled multi-core architectures are exploited to reduce the average cache miss penalty and the on-chip network traffic. We evaluate the proposed proximity scheme for instruction caches using a full-system simulator running an n-core tiled CMP. The experimental results reveal a significant execution time improvement of up to 91.4% for microbenchmarks whose instruction footprint does not fit in the private L2 cache. For real applications from the PARSEC benchmarks suite, the proposed scheme results in speedups of up to 8%

Recovery of chronically lame dairy cows following treatment for claw horn lesions: a randomised controlled trial

A positively controlled, randomised controlled trial (RCT) was undertaken to test recovery of cows with claw horn lesions resulting in lameness of greater than two weeks duration. Cows on seven commercial farms were mobility scored fortnightly and selected by lameness severity and chronicity. Study cows all received a therapeutic trim then random allocation of: no further treatment (trim only (TRM)), plastic shoe (TS) or plastic shoe and NSAID (TSN). Recovery was assessed by mobility score at 42 (±4) days post treatment by an observer blind to treatment group. Multivariable analysis showed no significant effect of treatment with an almost identical, low response rate to treatment across all groups (Percentage non-lame at outcome: TRM – 15 per cent, TS – 15 per cent, TSN – 16 per cent). When compared with results of a similar RCT on acutely lame cows, where response rates to treatment were substantially higher, it can be concluded that any delay in treatment is likely to reduce the rate of recovery, suggesting early identification and treatment is key. Thirty-eight per cent of animals treated in this study were lame on the contralateral limb at outcome suggesting that both hindlimbs should be examined and a preventive or if necessary a therapeutic foot trim performed when lameness is identified particularly if the duration of lameness is unknown

Android Malware Detection Using Data Mining Techniques on Process Control Block Information

Because smartphones are increasingly becoming the mobile computing device of choice, we are experiencing an increase in the number and sophistication of mobile-computing-based malware attacks. A lot of these attacks target users' sensitive information, such as banking usernames, and passwords. A widespread type of malicious app encrypts user data locking their devices with passwords and asking money to decrypt it. Moreover, they can illegitimately collect browsing-related information or install other apps. Available malware detection techniques can be categorized as dynamic or static based on the type of features used in the analysis. Using process behavior (as in dynamic analysis) to detect malware is generally more reliable than examining application files only (as in static analysis). Nonetheless, dynamic analysis is more time and computationally intensive. Hence, real-time malware detection is considered a challenging task. The limitations of mobile devices, such as storage, computing capacity, and battery life, make the task even more challenging. In this research, we propose a dynamic malware detection approach that identifies malicious behavior using deep learning techniques on Process Control Block (PCB) information mined over the process execution time. Our mining approach is performed at the kernel level and synchronized with the process CPU utilization. It precisely tracks changes in PCB parameters over the execution time. It does not only represent the process behavior efficiently but also all threads created by that process. We then use the PCB sequence information to train a deep learning model to identify malicious behavior. We validated our approach using 2600 benign and 2500 malware-infested recent Android applications. Our mining approach successfully captured more than 99\% of context switches for the vast majority of tested applications. Furthermore, our detection model was able to identify malicious behavior at various points of the process execution time using 12 PCBs only with an F1-score of 95.8\%. To the best of our knowledge, no available dynamic malware detection technique has achieved such minimal detection time. We also introduce a closed dynamic malware analysis framework for application testing running on multiple Android phones concurrently

Entwirrung des Stadtwachstums in West-Amman: Navigation durch planerische Intentionen und zentrale Einflussfaktoren

Many developing cities have experienced rapid urban growth throughout its evolvement, which highlighted the need for a more detailed examination of its drivers and the ways in which this growth happened. In the case of Amman, the capital of Jordan, the significance and pace of growth was a cause of many debates due to its sudden rise and the dynamic forces influencing it. However, much of the growth reality in the city remains underexplored, which requires a thorough, localized understanding of the factors, and the interconnected roles shaping it, ranging across various actors from both formal and informal lenses. This research untangles the planning intentions and influential factors shaping the growth of Amman, investigating the different factors that overlaps and interacts, in order to steer urban growth, with a focus on the Western growth direction in particular. This study explores the dynamic interplay between both planning intentions and the factors influencing West Amman's growth, including the actors within it. To achieve this, the research employs a multi-scale, case within a case approach, combining a meso-level analysis of West Amman with a micro-level focus on the Al-Bashaer and Umm Al-Summaq localities within it. The research primarily employs qualitative methods to capture the overlapping formal planning agendas and influential factors that shaped Western growth at the meso level. It additionally traces how these factors shaped residents' lived realities in the two localities through a mixed-methods approach at the micro level. This approach allowed for the exploration of a range of growth factors and how they coexist and cooperate in directing growth through dual scales and multiple lenses. The findings highlight that, both planners' and policymakers' intentions and interventions, in addition to multiple other factors contribute to this Westward growth, including economic agendas and socio-demographics among others. The results further show that haphazard growth patterns emerged towards the West due to fragmentation in efforts and perceptions of growth among planners, economic interests, and local stakeholders. The results emphasize the need to address gaps in interaction and cooperation, to foster more coherent growth that accommodates the needs of conflicting stakeholders. Furthermore, by assembling this mosaic of influences and interactions across different levels, lenses, and directions within Amman; deeper insights into developing cities can be seen. Thus supporting planners, policymakers, urban researchers, and stakeholders in navigating these complexities through more localized approaches

Our stories, our lives: performed storytelling in Cairo

This thesis explores the work of two storytelling groups in Cairo through different conceptual frameworks. Affect, class politics, marginalization, art and the political are the main lenses through which I delve into the work of the groups in an attempt to understand a condition in which such groups exist and what it means to be part of a storytelling community in Cairo. Moreover, through my analysis I try to question the approaches of each group towards the issues they address, why and how they choose to tell certain stories. Moreover I question the method how the stories are told and whether they contributes into creating, emphasizing or reproducing certain discourses within the society while trying to change another. In order to understand how the stories come to life and eventually become a performance, I go behind the curtains to understand the processes of the making of those stories, and the capacity of those stories to affect others and potentially enable something, even if it was only on the level of change among the group members themselves, therefore I explore the transformations the storytellers went through, the revisiting and deconstruction of situations in their lives, in the process of writing/ performing, as well as in the construction of those groups. I argue that by revisiting affects possibilities and potentialities are created

The Zinc Induction of Heme Oxygenase-1 Gene Promoter In Mouse Hepa Cells

Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) catalyzes the initial and rate-limiting reaction in heme catabolism (yielding equimolar quantities of iron, carbon monoxide, and biliverdin), which is further metabolized to bilirubin by biliverdin reductase. HO-1, an important enzyme with antioxidant and cytoprotective properties, functions against oxidative stress generated in response to heme and to various stress stimuli, such as zinc. The cytoprotective function of HO-1 is dependent on both the activities of the reaction products and on the inducibility of the heme oxygenase gene (hmox-1), which is regulated primarily at the level of gene transcription by two distal enhancers, E1 and E2. Characterization of the enhancers led to the identification of multiple stress response elements (StREs) that are necessary and sufficient for hmox-1 gene regulation by almost all inducers tested. Studies from this laboratory identified Nrf-2 as a dominant regulator that mediates activation of hmox-1 via the StRE motifs by several inducers, including zinc. Accumulating evidence from work done in our lab suggested that Nrf-2 was partly regulated by subcellular compartmentalization in the cytoplasm and transported to the nucleus upon stimulation by stress agents to activate target genes like hmox-1. Investigation of the subcellular compartmentalization and cytoplasmic-nuclear transport of Nrf-2 in Hepa cells revealed that Nrf-2 is a highly labile protein that is rapidly and specifically degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, and that zinc stimulation results in Nrf2 stabilization. Furthermore, transactivation of E1 luciferase reporter activity was not completely abolished when all three StREs were mutated, suggesting that other transcription factors and cis-acting DNA elements may be involved in hmox-1 regulation. Examination of the hmox-1 sequence revealed other conserved regions within E1. My analysis of the conserved sequences (CS) led to identification of a functional heat shock element (HSE) in the 5’ end of E1that had no response to zinc. Findings suggest ERK1 plays an important role in inducer-dependent regulation of hmox-1 by zinc through its action (phosphorylation of Nrf-2 and cooperation between the StRE and Nrf-2 induce hmox-1). In conclusion, targeting Nrf-2-ERK1 individually or together allows for controlled regulation of hmox-1 expression and illuminates new avenues of research and strategies for therapeutic intervention and treatment in diseases involving oxidative stress and HO-1 expression