Virtual Box Research Articles

Virtualization Solutions Supporting Privacy and Data Protection in Online Activities

Abstract Nowadays, smart devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones allow transmitting the information everywhere, with high speed, over the World Wide Web. However, risks regarding data integrity, privacy and security when using the Internet, increased dramatically, as methods designed to exploit the system’s vulnerabilities are more and more sophisticated. Therefore the need for people working in professional environments to protect their private data when using unsecure connections, by employing advanced tools. There are multiple solutions, but we will focus on the use of virtualization software like VMware or Oracle Virtual Box, together with traditional privacy measures (use of proxies and VPN’s). Today’s smart devices store an important amount of data about their owners and, in most of the cases, people don’t even realize this. Installing and using protection means is often not enough. They have to be properly setup in order to ensure the desired level of security, or anonymity, when using the Internet, and require for the military personnel a good knowledge not only about cyber vulnerabilities and risks, but also technical capabilities and features of the employed security solutions. DISCLAIMER: This paper expresses the views, interpretations, and independent position of the authors. It should not be regarded as an official document, nor expressing formal opinions or policies, of NATO or the HUMINT Centre of Excellence (HCOE).

Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense mental health apps: A systematic literature review.

In the present systematic review, we summarize the feasibility, usability, efficacy, and effectiveness of mental health-related apps created by the Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Department of Defense (DoD). Twenty-two articles were identified, reporting on 8 of the 20 VA/DoD mental health self-management and treatment companion apps. Review inclusion criteria were studies that reported original data on the usability, acceptability, feasibility, efficacy, and effectiveness, or attitudes toward the app. We collected data from each article regarding type of study, sample size, participant population, follow-up period, measures/assessments, and summary of findings. The apps have been tested with patients seeking treatment, patients with elevated mental health symptoms, and clinicians. The strongest area of support for the apps is regarding evidence of their feasibility and acceptability. Research support for efficacy and effectiveness of the apps is scarce with exceptions for two apps (PTSD Coach, Virtual Hope Box). Until more evidence accumulates, clinicians should use their judgment and be careful not to overstate the potential benefits of the apps. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

The Importance of Guidance: Teaching Histology with an Interactive Virtual 3D Tool of the Renal Corpuscle

BackgroundHistology education classically relies on two‐dimensional (2D) sections where students are challenged to tacitly translate their 2D observations into a three‐dimensional (3D) understanding of complex structure‐functional relationships at the microscopic level. To overcome this cognitive hurdle, we previously generated a virtual 3D model of the renal corpuscle (RC) from serial histological sections and developed an interactive virtual 3D Histology learning tool (VHLT). The tool enables users to explore, listen, and read descriptions about a serially sectioned and digitally segmented RC. In addition, 2D serial ultramicrotome sections are superimposed over the 3D model and viewable in 3 orthogonal planes. This highly interactive interface allows users to freely rotate, zoom, and modify it by highlighting histological features, scroll through serial sections with or without the integrated model. Previously, the VHLT demonstrated improved student test results with low prior histology knowledge and those with low spatial ability. The current study explores how metacognitive guidance and learning preference affects student success. Specifically, we hypothesized students using the VHLT with guided instruction would perform better on post‐tests than unguided students using the VHLT and better than a control group using a traditional laboratory approach (2D Virtual Slide Box). All groups followed the same learning objectives. In addition, perceived student learning preference was considered in relation to the type of learning tool used. Participants (n62, 42F, 20M) in a large 3rd‐year introductory Histology course were categorized into learning preferences using the VARK model (visual, aural, read/write, kinesthetic, or multi‐modal) and completed a pre‐knowledge test of the histology of the RC. Using a VARK‐balanced allocation, learners were assigned to 2 experimental groups: guided instruction (GI), free exploration with the VHLT (UGI), and a control group (C). Average pre‐test histology scores across the 3 groups were 8.7±3.9, 7.4±2.8 and 7.8±2.7 for GI, UGI, and C groups respectively, with scores ranging from 3/30 to 15/30. During use of the assigned tools, investigator field notes and time on task were collected. The learning exercises took place in a laboratory environment where 3–10 students worked at computers. One week later, learners completed a post‐knowledge test that evaluated learning outcomes by comparing the change in test scores between pre‐ and post‐test. A questionnaire sampled learner preference with respect to their level of guidance and learning tool. Preliminary post‐knowledge test scores showed significant increases compared to pre‐test scores (14.8±3.7 for GI, and 13±5.4 for UGI, with scores ranging from 6/30 to 24/30). We predict that our data will reinforce the importance of metacognitive teaching approaches when using novel pedagogic tools. We also predict that guidance removes any potential differences that may appear in unguided uses where student learning preference may become a factor. This study will highlight how current and novel learning tools in histology education can be pedagogically potentiated through metacognitive adjustments in the organization of the undergraduate curriculum.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Statistical modelling and parametric optimization in document fragmentation

In recent days, most of the business enterprises and individuals are attracted towards cloud computing due to its cost efficiency and scalability. Though the cloud adoption is significant, its security has become nightmare due to its multi-tenancy property. Generally cloud service providers commit to ensure data reliability and security, but they may get depleted due to the rapid growth rate of cloud customers. To overcome the security issues and to protect the documents uploaded in cloud, cryptography is more used. Data security can further be improved with a technique called fragmentation which helps in outsourcing data partitions instead of entire document. The fragmentation becomes a difficult and time-consuming process when the size of document grows. In this paper, an efficient fragmentation process with virtualization is proposed. CPU cycles are efficiently used by the generation of VMs which reduce the time complexity of fragmentation process. The factors such as document size, processor capacity, storage capacity and number of VMs are taken into consideration to analyse their influence on the fragmentation time. Healthcare documents’ fragmentation process is conducted, and measured real-time values are analysed statistically. For experimentation purpose, a private cloud OpenStack on Oracle virtual box is used. Taguchi technique (L27 orthogonal array) is employed to find the optimum levels of the parameters on the fragmentation time, while analysis of variance is used to analyse the contribution of the parameters towards the performance of fragmentation process. Results reveal that the document size is the most dominant factor influencing the fragmentation time followed by processor speed. By parallelizing the fragmentation process with the help of multiple VMs, the time complexity of the process gets reduced.

Developing a novel haptic device for non-rigid computer graphic objects utilizing unmanned aerial vehicles

In this paper, we propose a novel haptic device consisting of a Parrot quadcopter AR Drone 2.0 that delivers force-feedback to users when they press on the surface of the drone in the vertical direction. This drone haptic device will free users from any cumbersome devices which were utilized in previous haptics systems and allow them to sense kinesthetic feedback coming from the drone which in turn renders computer graphic objects, for example, a virtual box. Specifically, this system performs damped harmonic oscillation force motion on users’ hands and fingers. The oscillation function is implemented on the drone whenever users nudge the drone down. Overall, we evaluated the system with ten subjects, and results show the effectiveness of using damping oscillation motion to provide force-feedback delivered from the drone.

Security and Cryptographic Challenges for Authentication Based on Biometrics Data

Authentication systems based on biometrics characteristics and data represents one of the most important trend in the evolution of the society, e.g., Smart City, Internet-of-Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Big Data. In the near future, biometrics systems will be everywhere in the society, such as government, education, smart cities, banks etc. Due to its uniqueness, characteristic, biometrics systems will become more and more vulnerable, privacy being one of the most important challenges. The classic cryptographic primitives are not sufficient to assure a strong level of secureness for privacy. The current paper has several objectives. The main objective consists in creating a framework based on cryptographic modules which can be applied in systems with biometric authentication methods. The technologies used in creating the framework are: C#, Java, C++, Python, and Haskell. The wide range of technologies for developing the algorithms give the readers the possibility and not only, to choose the proper modules for their own research or business direction. The cryptographic modules contain algorithms based on machine learning and modern cryptographic algorithms: AES (Advanced Encryption System), SHA-256, RC4, RC5, RC6, MARS, BLOWFISH, TWOFISH, THREEFISH, RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman), Elliptic Curve, and Diffie Hellman. As methods for implementing with success the cryptographic modules, we will propose a methodology which can be used as a how-to guide. The article will focus only on the first category, machine learning, and data clustering, algorithms with applicability in the cloud computing environment. For tests we have used a virtual machine (Virtual Box) with Apache Hadoop and a Biometric Analysis Tool. The weakness of the algorithms and methods implemented within the framework will be evaluated and presented in order for the reader to acknowledge the latest status of the security analysis and the vulnerabilities founded in the mentioned algorithms. Another important result of the authors consists in creating a scheme for biometric enrollment (in Results). The purpose of the scheme is to give a big overview on how to use it, step by step, in real life, and how to use the algorithms. In the end, as a conclusion, the current work paper gives a comprehensive background on the most important and challenging aspects on how to design and implement an authentication system based on biometrics characteristics.

Correlates of Mental Health Smartphone Application Use among Patients with Suicidal Ideation

Mental health applications (apps) can improve access to evidence-based, mental health strategies. This study evaluated predictors of use for the Virtual Hope Box (VHB), a smartphone app designed to enhance coping among high-risk mental health populations. We also explored the impact of usage on health outcomes. We analyzed data drawn from the treatment arm of a randomized clinical trial of the VHB (n = 58). Veterans at high risk of suicide used the app over 12 weeks and completed psychosocial assessments throughout the study. We received usage data from each participant’s smartphone. We then used negative binomial regression to evaluate demographic and clinical predictors of usage and generalized estimating equations to explore the longitudinal association between usage and psychosocial outcomes. The most commonly used subcomponents were designed to provide distractions and reminders of sources of meaning.Lower levels of usage were associated with younger and having a 2-year college degree or higher. Exploratory findings suggested a possible relationship between usage and protective factors. Certain subgroups had lower VHB usage. The findings suggest usage may be associated with changes in health outcomes. Future studies should recruit larger, more diverse samples to further explore relationships between usage and demographic predictors.

AGILE: an assembled genome mining pipeline.

A number of limiting factors mean that traditional genome annotation tools either fail or perform sub-optimally when trying to detect coding sequences in poor quality genome assemblies/genome reports. This means that potentially useful data is accessible only to those with specific skills and expertise in assembly and annotation. We present an Assembled-Genome mIning pipeLinE (AGILE) written in Perl that combines bioinformatics tools with a number of steps to overcome the limitations imposed by such assemblies when applied to highly fragmented genomes. Our methodology uses user-specified query genes from a closely related species to mine and annotate coding sequences that would traditionally be missed by standard annotation packages. Despite a focus on mammalian genomes, the generalized implementation means that it may be applied to any genome assembly, providing a means for non-specialists to gather gene sequences for downstream analyses. Source code and associated files are available at: https://github.com/batlabucd/GenomeMining and https://bitbucket.org/BatlabUCD/genomemining/src. Singularity and Virtual Box images available at https://figshare.com/s/a0004bf93dc43484b0c0. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Catalyst: The Metaphysics of Chemical Reactivity

Leroy (Lee) Cronin has been thinking about programming chemistry since he was 8 years old, when he got his first computer and chemistry set. He is now the Regius Professor of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He and his team are trying to make artificial life forms, find alien life, explore the digitization of chemistry, and construct chemical computers. S. Hessam M. Mehr is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow. He earned his PhD at the University of British Columbia (2017). His research focuses on probabilistic and information-theoretic methods in chemistry and the discovery of chemical novelty. Jaroslaw M. Granda is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Glasgow. He obtained his PhD at the Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2014). His research interests focus on the automation of organic synthesis and artificial-intelligence-driven systems for chemical discovery.

The Mediating Role of Coping Self-Efficacy in Hope Box Use and Suicidal Ideation Severity

In this study, we examined the indirect effect of the Virtual Hope Box (VHB) smartphone application on suicidal ideation, mediated through coping self-efficacy. A total of 117 veterans with suicidal ideation completed measures on coping self-efficacy and suicidal ideation at baseline and weeks 3, 6, and 12. Participants were randomly assigned to either the VHB or enhanced treatment as usual (eTAU) condition. Parallel process growth curve modeling (−0.20 [95% CI = −0.44, 0.00]) and auto-regressive modeling (−0.12 [95% CI = −0.35, −0.01]) revealed that a higher rate of change in coping self-efficacy in the VHB group was associated with a decrease in suicidal ideation severity, as compared to the eTAU group. Findings suggest that coping self-efficacy may be one mechanism by which the VHB operates to help reduce suicidal ideation. More broadly, the role of coping self-efficacy in reducing suicidal ideation is worthy of future study.

A Seca de 2013/2014 na Região Sudeste do Brasil

The claim that droughts in the Southeastern Brazil are being caused by deforestation in the Amazon has no scientific basis and does not survive an analysis of the available climate data. The severe drought that affected Southeastern in the years 2013 and 2014 - and caused social adversities due to the lack of water for human consumption particularly in large cities - is due to the natural climate variability and droughts have occurred in the past, even with greater intensity, notably in the 1930s and 1960s, when the deforestation of the Amazon was incipient. The atmospheric humidity for the Southeastern rainfall is not produced in the Amazon. It comes from the Tropical Atlantic, only passes over the Amazon and interacts with the forest. Using a virtual box inscribed from 0o to 12,5oS, 45oW and 75oW, the annual moisture flux divergence for the years 1999 to 2014 is calculated using the Reanalisys data set available at ESRL/PSD/NOAA. The results show that the years 2013 and 2014 presented the largest mean annual flow values exported towards Southeastern Brazil, 2014[3,45x10 8 kg/s] and 2013[3,08x10 8 kg/s] respectively, during the period of this study. Therefore, it is clear that the 2013-2014 severe drought was not caused by the lack of atmospheric moisture flow. In addition, the analyses of vertical velocity Omega and Outgoing Long Wave (OLR) data observed during the austral summer show the presence of a high pressure system over the Region that resulted in an abnormally atmospheric stability particularly in 2014. Though there is a strong solar heating during the summer season, this high pressure system caused the drought since it inhibited convection and development of thunderstorms as well as blocked the frontal system propagating from southern South America, that is a primary dynamic mechanism for most of the regional rainfall in the summer season. One concludes that the drought in the Southeast Region in the years 2013-2014 was not caused by a lack of atmospheric moisture, but the absence of a dynamic mechanism capable of converting into rainfall the moisture flux originating in the Tropical Atlantic.

The AFIP/ARP Atlases of Pathology Past, Present, and Future.

The AFIP (Armed Forces Institute of Pathology) Atlases (Fascicles) have been in continuous publication for nearly 75 years and have enjoyed a highly regarded reputation for their excellence. Throughout this time period, more than 130 volumes, encompassing the 1st to 4th series have been published. Since their inception in the 1940's, the Fascicles have evolved from loose-leafed atlases illustrated with black and white images, to hardbound monographs with full color images and expansion of scope, including relevant clinical information, cytopathology, and the most recent advances in immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostics. Each of the volumes undergoes a rigorous review process by the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, members of the Editorial Advisory Board, and external reviewers. The 5th series, under the editorial direction of Drs. Elizabeth Montgomery and Jason Hornick, is well underway and will include an Epub version and a virtual slide box, in addition to the hardbound book. The Atlases of Nontumor Pathology will also continue to be published. With the closure of the AFIP in 2011, the American Registry of Pathology (ARP) has assumed full responsibility for the publication of both the Tumor and Nontumor Fascicles.

“Virtual shear box” experiments of stress and slip cycling within a subduction interface mélange

What role does the progressive geometric evolution of subduction-related mélange shear zones play in the development of strain transients? We use a “virtual shear box” experiment, based on outcrop-scale observations from an ancient exhumed subduction interface – the Chrystalls Beach Complex (CBC), New Zealand – to constrain numerical models of slip processes within a meters-thick shear zone. The CBC is dominated by large, competent clasts surrounded by interconnected weak matrix. Under constant slip velocity boundary conditions, models of the CBC produce stress cycling behavior, accompanied by mixed brittle-viscous deformation. This occurs as a consequence of the reorganization of competent clasts, and the progressive development and breakdown of stress bridges as clasts mutually obstruct one another. Under constant shear stress boundary conditions, the models show periods of relative inactivity punctuated by aseismic episodic slip at rapid rates (meters per year). Such a process may contribute to the development of strain transients such as slow slip.

Learning to avoid spiders: fear predicts performance, not competence

ABSTRACTWe used an immersive virtual environment to examine avoidance learning in spider-fearful participants. In 3 experiments, participants were asked to repeatedly lift one of 3 virtual boxes, under which either a toy car or a spider appeared and then approached the participant. Participants were not told that the probability of encountering a spider differed across boxes. When the difference was large (Exps. 1 and 2), spider-fearfuls learned to avoid spiders by lifting the few-spiders-box more often and the many-spiders-box less often than non-fearful controls did. However, they hardly managed to do so when the probability differences were small (Exp. 3), and they did not escape from threat more quickly (Exp. 2). In contrast to the observed performance differences, spider-fearfuls and non-fearfuls showed equal competence, that is comparable post-experimental knowledge about the probability to encounter spiders under the 3 boxes. The limitations and implications of the present study are discussed.

Digital Circuit Learning System Based on Unity3D

As a new technology, virtual reality technology development has been the concern of researchers in different fields, and its application in the field of teaching has been the focus of people. On one hand, the virtual reality technology itself has unique charm and feature, which has attracted a large number of experts and scholars to explore its application in education. On the other hand, the teaching of compulsory courses in universities is faced with the shortage of teaching resources and the low enthusiasm of students. Especially in the experiment teaching process, circuit experiment plays an important role in understanding the theoretical knowledge, at the same time, let the student to independently explore unrestrictedly by time and resources as well as the important direction of future development. From this perspective, this article summarizes the development of virtual reality technology at home and abroad in today’s teaching system, with the help of unity3D and rhino, the simple teaching system is achieved. I take “Digital Circuit Technology” as the main body, and the whole design is also based on it. Through the simulation of the virtual classroom, virtual experiment box, typical chip and other structures, the learning system makes students to choose the experimental time and place freely. At the same time, students can strengthen the ability of innovation and logical thinking, start a vivid, strong interactive, efficient teaching mode. In unity3D, I achieved many interactive functions such as interface jump, output control with the development language C#.

Impact of Xen and Virtual Box Virtualization Environments on Timing Precision under Stressful Conditions

Sharing physical resources among virtual instances introduces time overhead in comparison with direct access to hardware. Such lag is not significant for most of the everyday tasks however it can influence much more in dealing with time-critical applications and especially in case of reliable network services. The purpose of this paper is to compare time overhead on timing operations such as time acquisition and sleep introduced by different virtualization environments: Xen, VMWare ESXi, QEMU. The current research focus to establish possibility of using such platforms in real-time applications with high resource utilization. In terms of present work, there are several load types to be used to simulate real conditions. Measurement performance includes different methods of time measurements and waiting operations. Considering results, the certain recommendations about timing mechanisms using different virtualization environment have been offered.

Performance benchmarking of hypervisors- A Case Study

Objectives: Benchmark the performance of the different hypervisors using standard benchmarking tools considering the different parameters like CPU, RAM, DISK Read-Write, Network Read-Write. We use different types of hypervisors and compare the performance of hypervisors how they behave differently for above mentioned parameters. Methods/ Statistical Analysis: Experiment setup consists of three hypervisors namely Virtual Box 6.0, VMware workstation as a hosted hypervisors and Xen as a Native or bare metal hypervisor. Open source hypervisor considered for the experiment. VMware Workstation 9.0, Virtual Box 5.0 as a hosted hypervisor and Citrix Xen as the native hypervisor were considered. Stress is used as the standard benchmarking tool and Glances tool helps to collect and monitor the traces. Findings: The virtualization is carried out by the software layer called as the Hypervisor or Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM). Hypervisor is widely used in cloud datacenters. Bench-mark is the measurement of best practice performance. Bench-marking is very essential term for the discovery of the best performance given by the particular system. Benchmarking can provides you the external references and the best practices on which to base your evaluations and to design your system pro-cesses which can be very useful in finding the gaps in the system to achieve the desired performance. The Bare metal Hypervisors have the direct access to the hardware resource rather than accessing resource via operating system as in hosted hypervisors. Performance analysis of desired work shows the keen differences in performance related to CPU, RAM, DISK Read-Write, and Network Read-Write performance. Results concludes that hosted hypervsors have good performance in N/W, Disk read and write because the architecturally bounded to operating system where interact with base OS while Xen as native hypervisor has a good CPU Performance because Virtual machine has direct access to hardware layer through Virtual machine manager. Improvements: We used single benchmark tool to test all parameters, it has potential to use different benchmarking tools specific to parameters like for Network Read-Write, AIO stress can be used. Further concentrates bench mark comparison of hypervisors and containers, where container adoption has increased in cloud data centers. Keywords: Benchmarking, Cloud, Glances, Hypervisors, VMware, Xen

Using simulators improves the practical skills in laparoscopy of urology residents without significant difference in acquiring skills between virtual reality simulators or box trainers

Using simulators improves the practical skills in laparoscopy of urology residents without significant difference in acquiring skills between virtual reality simulators or box trainers

Migration behaviour and escapement of European silver eels from a large lake and wetland system subject to water level management (Grand‐Lieu Lake, France): New insights from regulated acoustic telemetry data

AbstractCurrent knowledge about the downstream migration of sexually mature European eels (Anguilla anguilla) remains incomplete, particularly in still water habitats such as lakes and wetlands subject to water level management. However, for the management of this endangered species, it is important to understand migration dynamics, and contribution to the breeding stock. This study aimed to assess the parameters that trigger and guide the migration of silver eels in the largest floodplain lake and associated wetlands in France (the sluice regulated Grand‐Lieu Lake). A telemetry survey of 50 acoustic and PIT‐tagged female silver eels was performed during the 2015–2016 migration period. We deployed a novel telemetric approach, using receivers to delimit several restricted virtual boxes to determine the instantaneous location of individuals and to transform simple discrete telemetric data into presence/absence data. The low numbers leaving the lake centre are probably explained by the lack of orienting water flows or other environmental clues, but whilst the fate of 34% (17/50) of the tagged eels is unknown, 18% (9/50) were caught by commercial fishermen. Modelling showed that detections were not clearly associated with environmental factors typically involved in riverine migrations (e.g. current velocity, atmospheric pressure and temperature) but they were particularly associated with higher and increasing water levels and, for eels exiting the lake, a sharp increase when sluice gates were opened to an effective gap of >75 cm. It is concluded that management of water levels and sluice gate opening during the migration period might aid escapement of silver eels.

The Influence of Group Investigation and Virtual Box Learning Media to Students’ Activeness.

This research aims to know whether the implementation of Group Investigation learning model and Virtual Box learning media can increase students activeness and learning achievement on the subject of operating system class X Multimedia (MM) SMK N 6 Surakarta. This research used classroom action research with two cycles, each cycle consisted of planning, implementation, observation, and reflection of teaching and learning activities. The subject of this research is the students of class X MM1 SMK N 6 Surakarta which numbered 32 students. Data collection technique that used were interview, observation, documentation and test. Meanwhile analysis technique implemented through comparative analysis and descriptive qualitative. This class action research carried out from December 2015 until June 2016. The result of research shows that the implementation of Group Investigation learning model and Virtual Box learning media can increase students activeness and learning achievement on the operating system subject. This can be proved on the pre-cycle activities observation, the percentage of students activeness is 52,87%, after implementation of Group Investigation learning model and Virtual Box in the first cycle increased by 77,87%, then in the second cycle increased to 86,72%. While the result of students learning achievement also increased from the value of each cycle test. On pre-cycle the average learning achievement for cognitive domain 62,5%, affective 65,27%, and psychomotor 73,44%. The average of learning achievement increased for cognitive domain became 73,38%, affective 71,5%, and psychomotor 75% after the implementation of Group Investigation learning model and Virtual Box at the first cycle. At the second cycle increased for cognitive domain to 87,5%, affective 82,52%, and psychomotor 80,47%. Research conclusion that the implementation of Group Investigation learning model and Virtual Box learning media could increase the students activeness and learning achievement on the subject of operating system class X MM SMK N 6 Surakarta. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .