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Adaptations in primary wing moult of southern African Viduidae and their hosts (Estrildidae)

- Bonnevie, Bo T, Oschadleus, Hans-Dieter

Authors: Bonnevie, Bo T , Oschadleus, Hans-Dieter
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/447691 , vital:74667 , https://doi.org/10.2989/00306525.2012.691910
Description: Primary wing moult patterns in southern African brood-parasitic viduines were compared with those of their estrildid hosts. We searched for similarities in the timing and duration of moult within these closely related species potentially arising from their linked breeding biology and geographical distributions. Contrasting patterns were found between summer and winter rainfall regions, suggesting that climate dominates over phylogenetic effects on moult. Within the summer rainfall region different patterns of moult also emerged, and these generally supported the colonisation hypothesis of the host–brood parasite system. Moult estimates are provided for these taxa for which, until now, data have been mostly descriptive.
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Date Issued: 2012

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An Analysis and Implementation of Methods for High Speed Lexical Classification of Malicious URLs

- Egan, Shaun P, Irwin, Barry V W

Authors: Egan, Shaun P , Irwin, Barry V W
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429757 , vital:72637 , https://digifors.cs.up.ac.za/issa/2012/Proceedings/Research/58_ResearchInProgress.pdf
Description: Several authors have put forward methods of using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to classify URLs as malicious or benign by using lexical features of those URLs. These methods have been compared to other methods of classification, such as blacklisting and spam filtering, and have been found to be as accurate. Early attempts proved to be as highly accurate. Fully featured classifications use lexical features as well as lookups to classify URLs and include (but are not limited to) blacklists, spam filters and reputation services. These classifiers are based on the Online Perceptron Model, using a single neuron as a linear combiner and used lexical features that rely on the presence (or lack thereof) of words belonging to a bag-of-words. Several obfuscation resistant features are also used to increase the positive classification rate of these perceptrons. Examples of these include URL length, number of directory traversals and length of arguments passed to the file within the URL. In this paper we describe how we implement the online perceptron model and methods that we used to try to increase the accuracy of this model through the use of hidden layers and training cost validation. We discuss our results in relation to those of other papers, as well as other analysis performed on the training data and the neural networks themselves to best understand why they are so effective. Also described will be the proposed model for developing these Neural Networks, how to implement them in the real world through the use of browser extensions, proxy plugins and spam filters for mail servers, and our current implementation. Finally, work that is still in progress will be described. This work includes other methods of increasing accuracy through the use of modern training techniques and testing in a real world environment.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Building a Graphical Fuzzing Framework

- Zeisberger, Sascha, Irwin, Barry V W

Authors: Zeisberger, Sascha , Irwin, Barry V W
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429772 , vital:72638 , https://digifors.cs.up.ac.za/issa/2012/Proceedings/Research/59_ResearchInProgress.pdf
Description: Fuzz testing is a robustness testing technique that sends malformed data to an application’s input. This is to test an application’s behaviour when presented with input beyond its specification. The main difference between traditional testing techniques and fuzz testing is that in most traditional techniques an application is tested according to a specification and rated on how well the application conforms to that specification. Fuzz testing tests beyond the scope of a specification by intelligently generating values that may be interpreted by an application in an unintended manner. The use of fuzz testing has been more prevalent in academic and security communities despite showing success in production environments. To measure the effectiveness of fuzz testing, an experiment was conducted where several publicly available applications were fuzzed. In some instances, fuzz testing was able to force an application into an invalid state and it was concluded that fuzz testing is a relevant testing technique that could assist in developing more robust applications. This success prompted a further investigation into fuzz testing in order to compile a list of requirements that makes an effective fuzzer. The aforementioned investigation assisted in the design of a fuzz testing framework, the goal of which is to make the process more accessible to users outside of an academic and security environment. Design methodologies and justifications of said framework are discussed, focusing on the graphical user interface components as this aspect of the framework is used to increase the usability of the framework.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Computer-aided identification of coelacanths, latimeria chalumnae, using scale patterns

- Thornycroft, Rosanne E, Booth, Anthony J

Authors: Thornycroft, Rosanne E , Booth, Anthony J
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/124013 , vital:35526 , https://doi.10.1080/17451000.2011.628679
Description: Despite coelacanths, Latimeria chalumnae, being listed as either endangered by CITES or critically endangered by the IUCN, their population size within South Africa is unknown and still needs to be estimated. Their conservation status unfortunately excludes the use of conventional tagging to mark individual animals for a possible mark-recapture experiment. This study shows that because coelacanths have a unique spot patterning it is possible to quickly and accurately identify specific individuals photographically using computer-aided identification software. Without any manual intervention by an operator, the software accurately identified between 56 and 92% of the individuals. Indentification success increased to 100% if the operator could also manually select from other potential matching photographs. It was also shown that fish exhibiting a yaw angle not exceeding 60˚ could be accurately identified in photographs, although the percentage of fish correctly identified without operator-intervention decreased rapidly with increasing yaw angle. Computer-aided identification should therefore facilitate future coelacanth research as it is both efficient and accurate while also reducing potential stress on the animals observed.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Effects of altered estuarine submerged macrophyte bed cover on the omnivorous Cape stumpnose Rhabdosargus holubi

- Sheppard, Jill N, Whitfield, Alan K, Cowley, Paul D, Hill, Jaclyn M

Authors: Sheppard, Jill N , Whitfield, Alan K , Cowley, Paul D , Hill, Jaclyn M
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/444676 , vital:74259 , https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2011.03197.x
Description: The ecological importance of submerged macrophyte beds to fishes within estuaries was investigated through the example of the ubiquitous Cape stumpnose Rhabdosargus holubi, an omnivorous, vegetation and estuary‐dependent species, using stable‐isotope techniques and long‐term abundance (catch‐per‐unit‐effort) data from the East Kleinemonde Estuary, South Africa. Outputs from a Bayesian mixing model using δ13C and δ15N signatures indicated that the submerged macrophytes Ruppia cirrhosa and Potamogeton pectinatus were not a primary source of nutrition for R. holubi, confirming previous work that revealed that macrophytes are consumed but not digested. Long‐term seine netting data showed reduced abundance of R. holubi during a prolonged period of macrophyte senescence, suggesting that submerged macrophyte habitats provide shelter that reduces mortality (predation risk) and a food‐rich foraging area.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Metabolism of free-living and particle-associated prokaryotes Consequences for carbon flux around a Southern Ocean archipelago

- Schapira, Mathilde, McQuaid, Christopher D, Froneman, P William

Authors: Schapira, Mathilde , McQuaid, Christopher D , Froneman, P William
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480906 , vital:78492 , https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmarsys.2011.08.009
Description: The sub-Antarctic Prince Edward archipelago lies in the path of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, giving the islands a distinct upstream/downstream axis. Here we examined the possibility of an Island Mass Effect on the prokaryotic community, comparing prokaryotic metabolism in the upstream, inter-island and downstream regions of the islands. Abundance and flow cytometric community structure, heterotrophic production (PHP) and respiration rates (R-ETS) were investigated separately for the particle-associated (PA) and free-living (FL) prokaryote communities.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Remote fingerprinting and multisensor data fusion

- Hunter, Samuel O, Stalmans, Etienne, Irwin, Barry V W, Richter, John

Authors: Hunter, Samuel O , Stalmans, Etienne , Irwin, Barry V W , Richter, John
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/429813 , vital:72641 , 10.1109/ISSA.2012.6320449
Description: Network fingerprinting is the technique by which a device or service is enumerated in order to determine the hardware, software or application characteristics of a targeted attribute. Although fingerprinting can be achieved by a variety of means, the most common technique is the extraction of characteristics from an entity and the correlation thereof against known signatures for verification. In this paper we identify multiple host-defining metrics and propose a process of unique host tracking through the use of two novel fingerprinting techniques. We then illustrate the application of host fingerprinting and tracking for increasing situational awareness of potentially malicious hosts. In order to achieve this we provide an outline of an adapted multisensor data fusion model with the goal of increasing situational awareness through observation of unsolicited network traffic.
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Date Issued: 2012

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SADSAWU - International workers day

- SADSAWU

Authors: SADSAWU
Date: June 2012
Subjects: SADSAWU
Language: English
Type: text
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/117975 , vital:34581
Description: A year has gone by, after the adoption of International Labour Organisation's (ILO) Convention 189 for Domestic Workers. We have worked so hard for nearly four years, to ensure that our work is recognised as decent work! On 16th June 2011 we made history when Convention 189 was adopted. In this year gone by, only one government has signed the ratification of Convention 189. We set ourselves a goal: We want at least 12 governments to sign, one each month as part of the international 12 to 12 Campaign with the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) and International Domestic Workers' Network (IDWN). South Africa shcAild be the second government to sign and ratify 189, meaning it becomes labour law, as South Africa was the most supportive and vocal government leading the campaign for Convention 189 at the International Labour Conference.
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Date Issued: June 2012

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Service discovery using open sound control

- Eales, Andrew, Foss, Richard

Authors: Eales, Andrew , Foss, Richard
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/426890 , vital:72398 , https://www.aes.org/e-lib/online/browse.cfm?elib=16432
Description: The Open Sound Control (OSC) control protocol does not have service discovery capabilities. The approach to adding service discovery to OSC proposed in this paper uses the OSC address space to represent services within the context of a logical device model. This model allows services to be represented in a context-sensitive manner by relating parameters representing services to the logical organization of a device. Implementation of service discovery is done using standard OSC messages and requires that the OSC address space be designed to support these messages. This paper illustrates how these enhancements to OSC allow a device to advertise its services. Controller applications can then explore the device‚Äôs address space to discover services and retrieve the services required by the application. The Open Sound Control (OSC) control protocol does not have service discovery capabilities. The approach to adding service discovery to OSC proposed in this paper uses the OSC address space to represent services within the context of a logical device model. This model allows services to be represented in a context-sensitive manner by relating parameters representing services to the logical organization of a device. Implementation of service discovery is done using standard OSC messages and requires that the OSC address space be designed to support these messages. This paper illustrates how these enhancements to OSC allow a device to advertise its services. Controller applications can then explore the device‚Äôs address space to discover services and retrieve the services required by the application.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Social recruiting: a next generation social engineering attack

- Schoeman, A H B, Irwin, Barry V W

Authors: Schoeman, A H B , Irwin, Barry V W
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/428600 , vital:72523 , https://www.jstor.org/stable/26486876
Description: Social engineering attacks initially experienced success due to the lack of understanding of the attack vector and resultant lack of remedial actions. Due to an increase in media coverage corporate bodies have begun to defend their interests from this vector. This has resulted in a new generation of social engineering attacks that have adapted to the industry response. These new forms of attack take into account the increased likelihood that they will be detected; rendering traditional defences against social engineering attacks moot. This paper highlights these attacks and will explain why traditional defences fail to address them as well as suggest new methods of incident response.
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Date Issued: 2012

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STAT3 interacts directly with Hsp90:

- Prinsloo, Earl, Kramer, Adam H, Edkins, Adrienne L, Blatch, Gregory L

Authors: Prinsloo, Earl , Kramer, Adam H , Edkins, Adrienne L , Blatch, Gregory L
Date: 2012
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/165142 , vital:41212 , DOI: 10.1002/iub.607
Description: Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) functionally modulates signal transduction. The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) mediates interleukin‐6 family cytokine signaling. Aberrant activation and mutation of STAT3 is associated with oncogenesis and immune disorders, respectively. Hsp90 and STAT3 have previously been shown to colocalize and coimmunoprecipitate in common complexes.
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Date Issued: 2012

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