Autonomous large language model (LLM) based systems have recently shown promising results across a range of cybersecurity tasks. However, there is no systematic study on their effectiveness in autonomously reproducing Linux kernel vulnerabilities with concrete proofs-of-concept (PoCs). Owing to the size, complexity, and low-level nature of the Linux kernel, such tasks are widely regarded as particularly challenging for current LLM-based approaches. In this paper, we present the first large-scale study of LLM-based Linux kernel vulnerability reproduction. For this purpose, we develop K-Repro, an LLM-based agentic system equipped with controlled code-browsing, virtual machine management, interaction, and debugging capabilities. Using kernel security patches as input, K-Repro automates end-to-end bug reproduction of N-day vulnerabilities in the Linux kernel. On a dataset of 100 real-world exploitable Linux kernel vulnerabilities collected from KernelCTF, our results show that K-Repro can generate PoCs that reproduce over 50\% of the cases with practical time and monetary cost. Beyond aggregate success rates, we perform an extensive study of effectiveness, efficiency, stability, and impact factors to explain when agentic reproduction succeeds, where it fails, and which components drive performance. These findings provide actionable guidance for building more reliable autonomous security agents and for assessing real-world N-day risk from both offensive and defensive perspectives.
A basic reproduction number, $R_0$, is a concept encountered frequently in the study of ecological and epidemiological models. It is routinely used to determine the stability of an extinction or a disease-free fixed point or steady state. It is well-known that for linear models described by non-negative matrices, the spectral radius of the matrix is always contained in an interval with endpoints $1$ and $R_0$. Here we extend these results to more general cone-preserving bounded linear operators acting on Banach spaces.
Tarannum Shaila Zaman, Macharla Hemanth Kishan, Lutfun Nahar Lota
Reproducing concurrency bugs is a complex task due to their unpredictable behavior. Researchers, regardless of gender, are contributing to automating this complex task to aid software developers. While some studies have investigated gender roles in the broader software industry, limited research exists on gender representation specifically among researchers working in concurrent bug reproduction. To address this gap, in this paper, we present a literature review to assess the gender ratio in this field. We also explore potential variations in technique selection and bug-type focus across genders. Our findings indicate that female researchers are underrepresented compared to their male counterparts in this area, with a current male-to-female author ratio of 29:6. Through this study, we emphasize the importance of fostering gender equity in software engineering research, ensuring a diversity of perspectives in the development of automated bug reproduction tools.
Abstract Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major global health issue, affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Chronic HBV infection is associated with various systemic health complications, including liver disease with its impact on reproductive health in male fertility. Methods This study investigated the impact of HBV on sperm quality in a cohort of 1566 male infertile patients undergoing assisted reproductive treatment from 2021 to 2024. Patients aged 23 to 40 years (mean age 34.2 ± 3.62 years) were categorized into HBV-positive (783 cases) and HBV-negative (783 cases) groups based on serological tests for hepatitis B surface antigen (Hbs Ag). Results HBV-positive and HBV-negative groups exhibited significantly lower progressive motility (41.3% vs. 43.0%; P = 0.006), sperm concentration (53.6 vs. 59.8 × 106/mL; P = 0.009), and normal morphology (4.5% vs. 5.0%; P < 0.001), with reduced viability (P = 0.027). No differences were observed in semen volume (P = 0.807) or DNA fragmentation index (P = 0.970). Conclusion HBV infection is associated with impaired sperm motility, concentration, and morphology in infertile men.
Divya Nimma, Okram Ricky Devi, Bibek Laishram
et al.
Global warming is a phenomenon whereby the planet's exposure to the sun's radiation worsens from the high emission of gasses believed to trap heat within the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the leading greenhouse gas majorly responsible for global warming and other related issues and is a danger to global society. This one has a particular role in portraying the key importance of the shifting climate that invariably influences water supply and agricultural production. Global warming presents complex challenges to aquatic organisms and stocks and other natural aquatic life resources. This study examines how freshwater and marine species are affected by climate change in aquatic habitats. Aquatic species' metabolism, growth, reproduction, and dispersal are all impacted by rising temperatures and altered water chemistry brought on by increased greenhouse gas emissions, especially CO2. The goal is to pinpoint the ecosystems and vulnerable species that are most impacted by these changes and suggest flexible management techniques. The suggested remedies center on creating sustainable conservation strategies that lessen the effects of climate change on aquatic biodiversity and increase these ecosystems' resilience. The socio-economic interdependencies between water and climate change impact agricultural and water resources, and the pressures exerted on water bodies and water supply landscapes. Another area is related to alterations in the physical and chemical properties of the water, such as the temperature, which is a well-known effect of climate change: 'This causes abnormalities in the metabolism and physiology of aquatic species.' These alterations flow through the chain and regime of growth, reproduction, feeding habits and distribution, migration, and mass of fish and other creatures in the water system. However, the long-term effect of climate variation and climate change on freshwater ecosystems requires much scientific investigation to address challenges in aquatic ecosystem conservation and sustainability. This being the case, adaptive management solutions that address the interrelated impacts of climate change have to be applied and implemented to reduce vulnerability in aquatic ecosystems worldwide.
This paper explores the digital modeling and robotic reproduction of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) massage techniques. We adopt an adaptive admittance control algorithm to optimize force and position control, ensuring safety and comfort. The paper analyzes key TCM techniques from kinematic and dynamic perspectives, and designs robotic systems to reproduce these massage techniques. The results demonstrate that the robot successfully mimics the characteristics of TCM massage, providing a foundation for integrating traditional therapy with modern robotics and expanding assistive therapy applications.
The importance of the information in the direct sound to human perception of spatial sound sources is an ongoing research topic. The classification between direct sound and diffuse or reverberant sound forms the basis of numerous studies in the field of spatial audio. In particular, parametric spatial audio representation methods use this classification and employ signal processing in order to enhance the audio quality at reproduction. However, current literature does not provide information concerning the impact of ideal direct sound representation on externalization, in the context of Ambisonics. This paper aims to assess the importance of the spatial information in the direct sound in the externalization of a sound field when using binaural reproduction. This is done in the spherical harmonics (SH) domain, where an ideal direct sound representation within an otherwise Ambisonics signal is simulated, and its perceived externalization is evaluated in a formal listening test. This investigation leads to the conclusion that externalization of a first order Ambisonics signal may be significantly improved by enhancing the direct sound component, up to a level similar to a third order Ambisonics signal.
<i>wetA</i>, one of the conidiation center regulatory genes in many filamentous fungi, plays an important role in promoting asexual spores (conidia) maturation. Our recent research has found that knocking out or overexpressing <i>MrwetA</i> (a homolog of <i>wetA</i>) in <i>Monascus ruber</i> M7 does not affect the development of its asexual spores like other fungi, but both repress the development of its sexual spores (ascospores). However, the mechanism remains unclear. In this study, the function of <i>MrwetA</i> on sexual reproduction and secondary metabolism in <i>M. ruber</i> M7 was confirmed by a complementary experiment. Moreover, the regulatory roles of <i>MrwetA</i> in modulating the expression of genes involved in sexual reproduction, meiosis, and biosynthesis of <i>Monascus</i> pigment and citrinin were analyzed based on the transcriptional data. These results not only contribute to clarifying the regulation of the reproduction and secondary metabolism of <i>Monascus</i> spp., but also to enriching the regulation molecular mechanism of reproduction in filamentous fungi.
Tatik Hernawati, Suherni Susilowati, Tri Wahyu Suprayogi
et al.
One of the many efforts to increase the quality of livestock genetics is through artificial insemination (AI). Other than increasing it, AI can be conducted to preserve semen. A successful AI is determined by seminal quality, therefore, a method to preserve semen for a longer storage time is needed. The method used is adding an extender that fulfills prerequisites for a semen extender such as coconut water combined with egg yolk citrate extender. Coconut water is rich in carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, and antioxidants while egg yolk contains lecithin. This study aims to find out the Pote buck spermatozoa quality stored in coconut water and egg yolk extender. This study uses three groups of treatments (T0: 0.1 ml semen + 0.9 ml egg yolk citrate, T1: 0.1 ml semen + 0.9 ml coconut water, and T2: 0.1 ml semen + egg yolk citrate (20%) + coconut water). All three of these are stored at 5oC and evaluated every day until day 5 of their motility, viability, intact plasma membrane, abnormality, and MDA level. Data analysis used is ANOVA and a further test called BNT is conducted if a significant difference is determined. No significant difference was found between T0 and T1 (p>0.05). The highest progressive motility, viability, and intact plasma membrane (%) among the three groups of treatments happened to be from T2. Meanwhile, a low percentage of spermatozoa abnormality and MDA level were also found in T2 with its extender being coconut water combined with egg yolk citrate. To conclude, the best extender for storing Pote buck semen is stored at 5oC is coconut water combined with egg yolk citrate extender.
Jhia J. Teh, Dominic J. Pascoe, Safiya Hafeji
et al.
Abstract Background Effective pain control is crucial to optimise the success of medical procedures. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology could offer an effective non-invasive, non-pharmacological option to distract patients and reduce their experience of pain. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology in reducing patient’s pain perception during various medical procedures by conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, CINAHL, and SIGLE until December 2022 for all randomised clinical trials (RCT) evaluating any type of VR in patients undergoing any medical procedure. We conducted a random effect meta-analysis summarising standardised mean differences (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We evaluated heterogeneity using I 2 and explored it using subgroup and meta-regression analyses. Results In total, we included 92 RCTs (n = 7133 participants). There was a significant reduction in pain scores with VR across all medical procedures (n = 83, SMD − 0.78, 95% CI − 1.00 to − 0.57, I 2 = 93%, p = < 0.01). Subgroup analysis showed varied reduction in pain scores across trial designs [crossover (n = 13, SMD − 0.86, 95% CI − 1.23 to − 0.49, I 2 = 72%, p = < 0.01) vs parallel RCTs (n = 70, SMD − 0.77, 95% CI − 1.01 to − 0.52, I 2 = 90%, p = < 0.01)]; participant age groups [paediatric (n = 43, SMD − 0.91, 95% CI − 1.26 to − 0.56, I 2 = 87%, p = < 0.01) vs adults (n = 40, SMD − 0.66, 95% CI − 0.94 to − 0.39, I 2 = 89%, p = < 0.01)] or procedures [venepuncture (n = 32, SMD − 0.99, 95% CI − 1.52 to − 0.46, I 2 = 90%, p = < 0.01) vs childbirth (n = 7, SMD − 0.99, 95% CI − 1.59 to − 0.38, I 2 = 88%, p = < 0.01) vs minimally invasive medical procedures (n = 25, SMD − 0.51, 95% CI − 0.79 to − 0.23, I 2 = 85%, p = < 0.01) vs dressing changes in burn patients (n = 19, SMD − 0.8, 95% CI − 1.16 to − 0.45, I 2 = 87%, p = < 0.01)]. We explored heterogeneity using meta-regression which showed no significant impact of different covariates including crossover trials (p = 0.53), minimally invasive procedures (p = 0.37), and among paediatric participants (p = 0.27). Cumulative meta-analysis showed no change in overall effect estimates with the additional RCTs since 2018. Conclusions Immersive VR technology offers effective pain control across various medical procedures, albeit statistical heterogeneity. Further research is needed to inform the safe adoption of this technology across different medical disciplines.
The Competition on Software Verification (SV-COMP) is a large computational experiment benchmarking many different software verification tools on a vast collection of C and Java benchmarks. Such experimental research should be reproducible by researchers independent from the team that performed the original experiments. In this reproduction report, we present our recent attempt at reproducing SV-COMP 2023: We chose a meaningful subset of the competition and re-ran it on the competition organiser's infrastructure, using the scripts and tools provided in the competition's archived artifacts. We see minor differences in tool scores that appear explainable by the interaction of small runtime fluctuations with the competition's scoring rules, and successfully reproduce the overall ranking within our chosen subset. Overall, we consider SV-COMP 2023 to be reproducible.
Several methods exist for teaching robots, with one of the most prominent being Learning from Demonstration (LfD). Many LfD representations can be formulated as constrained optimization problems. We propose a novel convex formulation of the LfD problem represented as elastic maps, which models reproductions as a series of connected springs. Relying on the properties of strong duality and perturbation analysis of the constrained optimization problem, we create a confidence metric. Our method allows the demonstrated skill to be reproduced with varying confidence level yielding different levels of smoothness and flexibility. Our confidence-based method provides reproductions of the skill that perform better for a given set of constraints. By analyzing the constraints, our method can also remove unnecessary constraints. We validate our approach using several simulated and real-world experiments using a Jaco2 7DOF manipulator arm.
Raja Marjieh, Ilia Sucholutsky, Thomas A. Langlois
et al.
Diffusion models are a class of generative models that learn to synthesize samples by inverting a diffusion process that gradually maps data into noise. While these models have enjoyed great success recently, a full theoretical understanding of their observed properties is still lacking, in particular, their weak sensitivity to the choice of noise family and the role of adequate scheduling of noise levels for good synthesis. By identifying a correspondence between diffusion models and a well-known paradigm in cognitive science known as serial reproduction, whereby human agents iteratively observe and reproduce stimuli from memory, we show how the aforementioned properties of diffusion models can be explained as a natural consequence of this correspondence. We then complement our theoretical analysis with simulations that exhibit these key features. Our work highlights how classic paradigms in cognitive science can shed light on state-of-the-art machine learning problems.
For birth-and-death processes, we show that every initial distribution is reproduced from the first hitting time distribution. The reproduction is done by applying to the distribution function a differential operator defined through the eigenfunction of the generator. Using the spectral theory for generalized second-order differential operators, we study asymmetric random walks.
Highlights 1. Circ-CSNK1G1 is upregulated in TNBC. 2. Circ-CSNK1G1 knockdown inhibits the proliferation, migration, invasion and glycolysis energy metabolism of TNBC cells. 3. Circ-CSNK1G1 knockdown inhibits tumor formation in vivo. 4. Circ-CSNK1G1 promotes TNBC development by regulating the miR-28-5p/LDHA pathway.
Zenon Zduńczyk, Dariusz Mikulski, Jan Jankowski
et al.
This study investigated the effects of dietary replacement of soybean meal (SBM) with graded levels of pea seeds (PS) on the gastrointestinal function of turkeys. Seeds of 2 pea varieties, a colored-flowered variety and a white-flowered variety (CFP and WFP, respectively) were fed to 56-d-old birds for 8 wk. A total of 539 female Hybrid turkeys were allocated to 7 groups, each group consisted of 7 pens with 11 birds per pen. The experiment had a 2-factorial design, with 3 dietary inclusion levels of PS (100, 200 and 300 g/kg) and 2 pea varieties (CFP and WFP). The control group (diets without PS) was compared with CFP and WFP treatments by simple contrast analysis. In comparison with CFP seeds, WFP seeds contained 7-fold less tannins (0.67 vs. 4.66 g/kg) and less non-starch polysaccharides (NSP, 117.8 vs. 132.7 g/kg), but more trypsin inhibitors (1.34 vs. 0.98 g/kg) and starch (489 vs. 455 g/kg). A rise in the PS content of diets from 100 to 200 and 300 g/kg increased the weight of the small intestine (P = 0.031) and the dry matter (DM) content of intestinal digesta (P = 0.001), but it had no effect on the pH of digesta. Only the highest PS content differentiated the concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the small intestinal digesta (WFP > CFP, P = 0.008), whereas PS did not cause any changes in the morphological parameters of the small intestinal mucosa. The dietary inclusion of PS had no influence on the levels of acetate, butyrate, putrefactive SCFAs or total SCFAs in the cecal contents. Apart from increasing the activities of β-glucosidase (P = 0.017) and β-galactosidase (P = 0.025), pea varieties did not affect the activities of the analyzed cecal microbial enzymes. However, CFP seeds decreased the DM content (P = 0.041) and increased the pH of cecal digesta, compared with WFP seeds (P = 0.013). The results of this study, pointing to a few differences in the functional parameters of the small intestine and cecum, indicate that tannins are not a factor differentiating the suitability of CFP and WFP seeds in the nutrition of finisher turkeys. The inclusion of PS at 200 and 300 g/kg of the diet reduces the content of SBM and wheat in turkey diets, which has a positive effect on gastrointestinal function.
Mahbod Ebrahimi, Firoozeh Akbari Asbagh, Fatemeh Davari Tanha
et al.
Abstract Background: The common causes of infertility in women with endometriosis are folliculogenesis alternation, steroidogenesis and fertilization impairment, oocyte and embryo quality reduction, and implantation defect. Objective: To compare in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle success rates of women with endometriosis who were treated with letrozole + gonadotropin (LA) vs. placebo + gonadotropin (PA). Materials and Methods: This double-blind, randomized clinical trial study was conducted with 94 infertile women with endometriosis (47 in the LA group and 47 in the PA group) who were candidates for IVF, from April-June 2021. For all participants, the long agonist protocol was applied. In both groups, gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist was prescribed in the mid-luteal stage and from the third day of the cycle, and gonadotropin was started and its doses were regulated based on the patient's age, serum anti-Mullerian hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone. From the third day of the menstrual cycle, 5 mg of letrozole daily for 5 days was prescribed for the LA group, while the placebo was prescribed for the PA group on the identical days and duration. After embryo transfer, biochemical and clinical pregnancy were measured in the 2 groups. Results: The gonadotropin dosage (p < 0.01) and estradiol level (p = 0.02) on the human chorionic gonadotropin administration day were significantly lower in the LA group compared with in the PA group. Fetus transfer was done for 32 women. No significant differences were detected between the study groups regarding biochemical or clinical pregnancy (p = 0.72 for both). Conclusion: Letrozole as a co-treatment drug in the IVF cycle of women with endometriosis can significantly reduce the gonadotropin dosage and estradiol level with the same pregnancy rates.
Soyfood isoflavones and soyasaponins are effective compounds in terms of their health-promoting properties. Their chemical structure plays an important role in their antioxidative activity. Thus, six isoflavones and four soyasaponins that are targeted in soyfood were evaluated for their peroxyl radical scavenging capacities by the hydrophilic-oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H-ORAC) method. The antioxidant capacity of non-fermented and fermented soyfoods was also determined by the same method. The results revealed that isoflavones showed higher peroxyl radical scavenging capacities than soyasaponin, with their activities found to depend on their chemical structure. The aglycone isoflavones promoted higher H-ORAC values than glycoside and malonyl glycoside isoflavones, respectively. On the other hand, DDMP saponin promoted a higher H-ORAC value than its derived compound, group B saponin, and the aglycone soyasaponin. In the case of soyfoods, fermented soyfoods had higher antioxidative capacity that the non-fermented ones, especially the long-term fermented products. Soybean-koji miso presented the highest H-ORAC value, followed by natto, soy sauce, and tempeh. Moreover, lightness ( L* ) of miso and soy sauce showed a negative correlation with H-ORAC value probably due to browning substances which might derive from the amino-carbonyl reaction. Considering the high antioxidant capacity of fermented soyfoods, it might relate to aglycone isoflavones which promote strong radical scavenging capacity. Thus, fermented soyfoods, especially miso and natto, could be considered as health-promoting foods.