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Central African Republic: Supporting the reconstruction of the national statistical system to help with better data for decision-making – Central…

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

WASHINGTON, July 28, 2022 - To enable the strengthening of the capacity of the statistical system to produce and manage data and enhance living conditions measurement in the Central African Republic, the World Bank today approved a $3 million additional financing in grant for the Data for Decision Making Project.

The Central African Republic (CAR) is one of the world's poorest and most fragile countries. In 2019, per capita gross domestic product (GDP) averaged 468 dollarsmuch lower than the average of 1,130 dollars in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. The extreme poverty rate remained high at 71.4 percent in 2020. The 2012 politico-military crisis left the National Statistical System (NSS), which was reasonably developed before the crisis, in poor conditions. The looting of the offices of the Central African Institute for Statistics and Economic and Social Research (Institut Centrafricain des Statistiques et des Etudes Economiques et Sociales, ICASEES) caused the loss of much of the country's statistical data records. Additionally, this looting resulted in the loss of much of the statistical infrastructure as well as the physical records documents.

The original project has allowed to recover the data dispersed during the 2012 crisis and to archive them on a digital platform and store them on remote cloud servers to avoid future losses. In addition, the capacity of ICASEES staff was increased. Some of the databases outdated for decision-making have been updated including the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the agricultural survey, Communal Monographies Survey and Living Conditions Survey.

This additional financing will allow to update the National Accounts and the census cartography, and to improve ICASEES physical infrastructure, said Guido Rurangwa, World Bank Country Manager for the Central African Republic. Updating the census cartography is animportant step toward the implementation of the population census, he added.

Financed by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) this additional financing will cover two components of the Data for Decision Making Project: (i) statistical recovery, rehabilitation, professionalization and modernization of ICASEES; and (ii) data collection, production and dissemination.

PRESS RELEASE NO: 2023/005/AFW

Contacts

Bangui:Boris Ngouagouni,(00236) 7513 5080,pngouagouni@worldbank.org

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Central African Republic: Supporting the reconstruction of the national statistical system to help with better data for decision-making - Central...

E-CORE RECOGNIZED BY ATLASSIAN AS SPECIALIZED PARTNER FOR ALL THREE CLOUD, AGILE AT SCALE, AND ITSM CATEGORIES – Yahoo Finance

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

Distinction Validates E-Core's Rigorous Training, Industry-Leading Specializations andHigh Customer Satisfaction

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- e-Core, one of the technology industry's most trusted partners for helping customers around the globe unlock the value of tech investments, was recognized today by Atlassian for becoming an Atlassian Specialized Partner to achieve cloud, agile at scale, and ITSM certifications.

Whether companies are navigating extremely complex migrations from on premise to the cloud, expanding to enterprise agility or managing end to end delivery of workplace technology from laptops to servers to apps, customers can now depend on e-Core to help them succeed and accelerate growth. Achieving these specializations isn't a designation easily won it takes ongoing expertise and dedication in a competitive field spanning some of the most accomplished tech brands around the globe.

Atlassian is one of the world's most prestigious software companies. Based in Australia with major operations in San Francisco and the U.K., the company is sought after by leading software developers and project managers. In the third quarter of 2022 alone, Atlassian reported serving 234,575 customers in over 190 countries, with 10 million monthly active users.

Launched in May 2021, the Atlassian Specialization Program provides a clear distinction to companies such as e-Core who have completed rigorous training and demonstrated a consistent track record of delivering high-quality services and customer satisfaction.

"When we first partnered with Atlassian more than 14 years ago, we wanted to help companies overcome immense technology integration challenges, break silos and grow faster than they ever thought possible," said Marco Roman, Head of North American Field Operations at e-Core. "Achieving Atlassian Specialized Partner certification in three areas that are key to the future of the technology industry is testament to our deep knowledge and commitment to innovation that we tap every day to fuel our customers' growth."

Story continues

For more information on e-Core's Atlassian Specialization Programs certifications in cloud, agile at scale, and ITSM, visit: https://www.e-core.com/na-en/blog-post/atlassian-specialized-badges/

About e-CoreLet our experience be the core of our partnership with you. For more than 22 years, e-Core has been a trusted technology partner for customers around the globe, helping them to unlock the value of technology investments. Leverage e-Core's expertise to improve processes, expand your software team, or build custom solutions on your behalf. Transform your business, scale for growth, and continuously improve your competitive advantage.

Contact:Michael JohnstonCo-Communications(617) 549-0639mjohnston@cocommunications.com

Cision

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/e-core-recognized-by-atlassian-as-specialized-partner-for-all-three-cloud-agile-at-scale-and-itsm-categories-301595632.html

SOURCE e-Core

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E-CORE RECOGNIZED BY ATLASSIAN AS SPECIALIZED PARTNER FOR ALL THREE CLOUD, AGILE AT SCALE, AND ITSM CATEGORIES - Yahoo Finance

Examining New DawDropper Banking Dropper and DaaS on the Dark Web – Trend Micro

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

SHA-256

Package name

Release date

Detection name

C&C server

Payload address

Payload family

022a01566d6033f6d90ab182c4e69f80a3851565aaaa386c8fa1a9435cb55c91

com.caduta.aisevsk

05/01/2021

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRX

call-recorder-66f03-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/uliaknazeva888/qs/raw/main/1.apk

Octo

e1598249d86925b6648284fda00e02eb41fdcc75559f10c80acd182fd1f0e23a

com.vpntool.androidweb

11/07/2021

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

rooster-945d8-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/butcher65/test/raw/main/golgofan.apk

Hydra

8fef8831cbc864ffe16e281b0e4af8e3999518c15677866ac80ffb9495959637

com.j2ca.callrecorder

11/11/2021

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

call-recorder-ad77f-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/butcher65/test/raw/main/gala.apk

Octo

05b3e4071f62763b3925fca9db383aeaad6183c690eecbbf532b080dfa6a5a08

com.codeword.docscann

11/21/2021

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

doc-scanner-cff1d-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/lotterevich/lott/raw/main/maina.apk

TeaBot

f4611b75113d31e344a7d37c011db37edaa436b7d84ca4dfd77a468bdeff0271

com.virtualapps.universalsaver

12/09/2021

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

universalsaverpro-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/uliaknazeva888/qs/raw/main/1.apk

Octo

a1298cc00605c79679f72b22d5c9c8e5c8557218458d6a6bd152b2c2514810eb

com.techmediapro.photoediting

01/04/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

eaglephotoeditor-2d4e5-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/butcher65/test/raw/main/lolipop.apk

Hydra

eb8299c16a311ac2412c55af16d1d3821ce7386c86ae6d431268a3285c8e81fb

com.chestudio.callrecorder

01/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

call-recorder-pro-371bc-default-rtdb.firebaseio.com

hxxps://github.com/sherrytho/test/raw/main/golgol.apk

Hydra

d5ac8e081298e3b14b41f2134dae68535bcf740841e75f91754d3d0c0814ed42

com.casualplay.leadbro

04/23/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

loader-acb47-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/briangreen7667/2705/raw/main/addon2.apk

Hydra

b4bd13770c3514596dd36854850a9507e5734374083a0e4299c697b6c9b9ec58

com.utilsmycrypto.mainer

05/04/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

crypto-utils-l-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/asFirstYouSaid/test/raw/main/110.apk

hxxps://github.com/asFirstYouSaid/test/raw/main/SecureChat%20(1).apk

Ermac

77f226769eb1a886606823d5b7832d92f678f0c2e1133f3bbee939b256c398aa

com.cleaner.fixgate

05/14/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRXA

fixcleaner-60e32-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio[.]com

hxxps://github.com/butcher65/test/raw/main/latte.apk

Hydra

5ee98b1051ccd0fa937f681889e52c59f33372ffa27afff024bb76d9b0446b8a

com.olivia.openpuremind

05/23/2022

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRX

crypto-sequence-default-rtdb[.]firebaseio.com

N/A

0ebcf3bce940daf4017c85700ffc72f6b3277caf7f144a69fbfd437d1343b4ab

com.myunique.sequencestore

2022/05/31

AndroidOS_DawDropper.HRX

coin-flow-a179b-default-rtdb.firebaseio.com

N/A

2113451a983916b8c7918c880191f7d264f242b815b044a6351c527f8aeac3c8

com.flowmysequto.yamer

05/2022

Excerpt from:
Examining New DawDropper Banking Dropper and DaaS on the Dark Web - Trend Micro

Raccoon Stealer v2: The Latest Generation of the Raccoon Family – Security Boulevard

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

Introduction

Raccoon is a malware family that has been sold as malware-as-a-service on underground forums since early 2019. In early July 2022, a new variant of this malware was released. The new variant, popularly known as Raccoon Stealer v2, is written in C unlike previous versions which were mainly written in C++.

The Raccoon Malware is a robust stealer that allows stealing of data such as passwords, cookies, and autofill data from browsers. Raccoon stealers also support theft from all cryptocurrency wallets.

In this blog, ThreatLabz will analyze Raccoon Stealer v2 in the exe format, and highlight key differences from its predecessors. The authors of the Raccoon Stealer malware have announced that other formats are available, including DLLs and embedded in other PE files.

Detailed Analysis

Raccoon v2 is an information stealing malware that was first seen on 2022-07-03. The malware is written in C and assembly.

Though we noticed a few new features in the newer variant as mentioned below, the data stealing mechanism is still the same as is seen in its predecessor:

Base64 + RC4 encryption scheme for all string literalsDynamic Loading Of WinAPI FunctionsDiscarded the dependence on Telegram API

We have noticed a significant change in the way list of command and control servers is obtained. The Raccoon Malware v1 was seen abusing the Telegram network to fetch the list of command and control servers, whereas the newer variant has abandoned the use of Telegram. Instead, they use a hardcoded IP address of a threat-actor-controlled server to fetch the list of command and control servers from where the next stage payload (mostly DLLs) is downloaded.

File Information

Malware Name: Raccoon Stealer v2Language: CFile Type: exeFile Size: 56832MD5: 0cfa58846e43dd67b6d9f29e97f6c53eSHA1: 19d9fbfd9b23d4bd435746a524443f1a962d42faSHA256: 022432f770bf0e7c5260100fcde2ec7c49f68716751fd7d8b9e113bf06167e03

Debug Information

The analyzed file has debug data intact. According to the Debug headers compilation date was Thursday, 26/05/2022 13:58:25 UTC as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Raccoon v2 Debug Headers

We have also seen a change in how Raccoon Stealer v2 hides its intentions by using a mechanism where API names are dynamically resolved rather than being loaded statically. The stealer uses LoadLibraryW and GetProcAddress to resolve each of the necessary functions (shown in Figure 2). The names of the DLLs and WinAPI functions are stored in the binary as clear text.

Figure 2: Raccoon v2 dynamic resolution

List Of Loaded DLLs

kernel32.dllShlwapi.dllOle32.dllWinInet.dllAdvapi32.dllUser32.dllCrypt32.dllShell32.dll

Raccoon v1 did not employ dynamic resolution for used functions, therefore packed samples were often observed in the wild to evade detection mechanisms. Conversely, Raccoon v2 is often delivered unpacked. Figure 3 shows the imported DLLs for raccoon v1.

Figure 3: Raccoon Stealer v1 imports (unpacked)

Once resolution of functions is done, the stealer will run its string decryption routine. The routine is simple. RC4 encrypted strings are stored in the sample with base64 encoding. The sample first decodes the base64 encoding and then decrypts the encrypted string with the key edinayarossiya. This routine is followed for all the strings in function string_decryption(). The 'string_decryption' routine is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Raccoon v2 String Decryption Routine

Previous versions of Raccoon Stealer did not encrypt string literals other than hard coded IP addresses. The Raccoon v2 variant overcomes this by encrypting all the plain text strings. Several of the plaintext strings of Raccoon v1 are shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Plaintext Strings In Raccoon v1

After manual decryption of the Raccoon v1 sample strings, the following (Figure 6 and Figure 7) strings were obtained in plaintext format.

Figure 6: Raccoon v2 Decrypted Strings

Figure 7: Raccoon v2 Decrypted Strings

The command and control IP addresses are saved in the malware and follow the same decryption routine but have a different key, 59c9737264c0b3209d9193b8ded6c127. The IP address contacted by the malware is hxxp://51(.)195(.)166(.)184/. The decryption routine is shown in Figure 8.

Figure 8: IP Address Decryption Raccoon v2

Decrypting Command and Control IP Address

The encrypted command and control IP Address can be easily decrypted by using public tools such CyberChef as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Raccoon v2 IP Address (via cyberchef utils)

This technique is common between both versions of the malware. Figure 10 shows the same routine employed in Raccoon v1.

Figure 10: Raccoon v1 setting up overhead before IP Address decryption

Once all the overhead of setting up the functions and decryption of the strings is done, the malware will perform some checks before contacting the command and control server to download malicious DLLs and exfiltrate information.

Overhead Before Exfiltration

Before executing the core of the malware, certain checks are made to understand the execution environment. This includes making sure the malware isn't already running on the machine. Further the malware also checks if it's running as NT Authority/System.

The malware gets a handle on mutex and checks if it matches a particular value or not. If it matches, the malware continues execution.

Value: 8724643052.

This technique is used to make sure only one instance of malware is running at one time. Figure 11 depicts the Mutex check and creation for Raccoon v2, while Figure 12 depicts the similar procedure used in Raccoon v1.

Figure 11: Raccoon v2 Mutex Check

Figure 12: Raccoon v1 Mutex Check

By retrieving the Process token and matching the text "S-1-5-18," as shown in Figure 13, the malware determines if it is or is not operating as the SYSTEM user.

Figure 13: Raccoon v2 Enumerating Process Token

If running as a SYSTEM user, the enumeration of all the running processes is done with the help of fun_CreateToolhelp32Snapshot. Otherwise, the malware moves forward without the enumeration. Figure 14 shows the 'enumerate_processes()' function being called while Figure 15 shows the malware iterating over the Processes.

Figure 14: Raccoon v2 Enumerate Process

Figure 15: Raccoon v2 Iterating Process Struct

Fingerprinting Host

Once the malware is aware of the environment in which it's running, it starts to fingerprint the host. This malware uses functions such as:

RegQueryValueExW for fetching machine IDGetUserNameW

Figure 16 depicts the malware retrieving the Machine ID from the registry key "SOFTWAREMicrosoftCryptography" via the RegQueryKeyExW and RegQueryValueExW functions. Figure 17 depicts malware using the GetUserNameW function to retrieve a username.

Figure 16: Raccoon v2 Fetching MachineID

Figure 17: Raccoon v2 Fetching Username

Figure 18: Raccoon v2: Username Buffer

After all this is done, the malware will enumerate information such as MACHINE ID and username and then send the data to the remote command and control server.

For this purpose, the malware creates a char string and starts appending these values to it. It starts by adding machine id and username. Figure 19 shows the built payload in buffer.

Figure 19: Raccoon v2: Fingerprinting Payload

Next, it generates and appends configId which is the rc4 encryption key.

machineId=|&configId=

Communications with Command and Control

Communication with command and control takes place over plain text http protocol. The previously decrypted IP address hxxp://51(.)195(.)166(.)184/ is used for command and control communication.

The malware contacts the list of previously decrypted command and control IP addresses (stored in local_3c). Since this malware only contains one command and control IP Address, the post request is only made to one as seen in Figure 20.

Figure 20: Raccoon v2: Command and Control communication

Command and Control URL

Figure 21: Raccoon v2 URL in buffer

Request Headers

Figure 22: Raccoon v2 Request Headers

Once the request has been made, the malware checks if the content body length is zero or not. If no content is received from command and control or the content body length is zero, the malware exits. This check is made because the exfiltration mechanism of the malware requires command and control to respond with a list IP Addresses to exfiltrate data to. In Figure 23, this condition can be seen along with the 'ExitProcess()' function call.

Figure 23: Raccoon v2 Verifying Response Content

Discarded the dependence on Telegram bot

The Raccoon v1 relied on the Telegram Bot API description page to fetch command and control IP addresses and establish connections. The recent malware variants (v2) from this family have started to hard-code IP addresses in the binary to achieve this task. Raccoon Malware v2 uses 5 hard coded IP addresses and iterates over them.

Data Exfiltration

The malware relies on response from command and control server to down the required DLLs and decides on the next course of action.

As of the writing of this blog the command and control IP has died, thus analysis of traffic towards the host is not possible. ThreatLabz has previously observed that the command and control server provides information on where to download additional payloads from and which IP Address to use for further communications.

Figure 24: Raccoon v2 pinging extracted IP Address

Grepped DLLs

Figure 25: Raccoon v2 DLLs that are downloaded

The malware uses a WINAPI call to SHGetFolderPathW to get a path to C:UsersAppData and appends Local to it and uses it as the path to store stolen information before sending it to the command and control.

Figure 26: Raccoon v2 Storage Path In Buffer

Indicators Of Compromise

IP contacted by the analyzed sample of Raccoon v2.

55(.)195(.)166(.)184

List Of Other IPs that act as an C2 for other samples can be found here.

Downloaded DLLs

nss3.dllsqlite3.dllGdiPlus.dllGdi32.dll

Path Used By the Malware

C:UsersAppDataLocal

Other samples observed in the wild of Raccoon v2.

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

Conclusion

Raccoon Stealer sold as Malware-as-a-Service has become popular over the past few years, and several incidents of this malware have been observed. The Authors of this malware are constantly adding new features to this family of malware. This is the second major release of the malware after the first release in 2019. This shows that the malware is likely to evolve and remain a constant threat to organizations.

Zscaler coverage

We have ensured coverage for the payloads seen in these attacks via advanced threat signatures as well as our advanced cloud sandbox.

Figure 27: Zscaler Sandbox Detection

Zscaler's multilayered cloud security platform detects indicators at various levels, as shown below:

Win32.PWS.Raccoon

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Blog Category Feed authored by Sarthak Misraa. Read the original post at: https://www.zscaler.com/blogs/security-research/raccoon-stealer-v2-latest-generation-raccoon-family

Read the original post:
Raccoon Stealer v2: The Latest Generation of the Raccoon Family - Security Boulevard

Are you worried about landing that first job out of college? Here’s a look at the ‘most employable’ degrees – CNBC

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

Getting a job after graduation isn't a given.

While the labor market is strong and college grads are still more employable and earn more than their high-school counterparts, the choice of major, and degree, goes a long way toward determining how hirable you will be.

A bachelor's degree in mathematics gives students the highest chances to secure a job right after graduation, followed by BAs in chemistry, history and music, according to a recent study by ProWritingAid, based on data from the U.S. Department of Education and college degree programs nationwide.

More from Personal Finance:Inflation is making college even more expensiveHow to know how much student debt you can affordSetting up a budget right out of college is easy

To be sure, employability is not the same as earning potential, the report noted.

"More often than not, graduates are faced with choosing between a safe degree that gives higher chances of getting a job straightaway or a degree that, if it results in employment, can earn them a good salary within a few years," a spokesperson for ProWritingAid said.

The study's findings included:

When it comes to best-paying majors, the top 10 areas of studyare all related to engineering with the exception of computer science, according to the New York Federal Reserve'srecent reportof salaries for college graduates.

Just out of college, computer science majors are likely to be the highest paid, earning $75,900 on average, followed by engineering graduates, the National Association of Colleges and Employers also found.

After adding in considerations such as job satisfaction and stress level, among other factors, then students who focused on computer science, business, engineering and health administration felt the most satisfied with their choice of concentration, according to a separate study byjobs marketplace ZipRecruiter.

It was the college students who majored in English, education, communications, biological sciences and law that said they regretted it the most, according to ZipRecruiter's survey of more than 5,000 college graduates.

Throughout the pandemic, more students questioned the value of a college degree and if a four-year program was worth it, considering the sky-high costs and student loan debt.

The College Transparency Act, which passed in theHouse, aims to make it easier for families to measure the return on investment and how it translates to job opportunities and salaries down the road.

The Senate versionof the bill is sponsored by Sens. Bill Cassidy R-La.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; Tim Scott, R-S.C.; and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

Meanwhile, many private groups, including The Princeton Review, have also come up with their own measures for ranking schools based on value, considering cost, includingtuition and room and board, as well as financial aid, academic offerings, career placement services, graduation rates, alumni salary and overall student debt.

Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

Are you worried about landing that first job out of college? Here's a look at the 'most employable' degrees - CNBC

Governor Hutchinson’s Weekly Address | My Year as Chairman of the National Governors Association – Governor Asa Hutchinson

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

For Immediate Release 07.29.2022 Governor Hutchinsons Weekly Address | My Year as Chairman of the National Governors Association

Governor Hutchinson'sweeklyradioaddresscan be found in MP3 format and downloadedHERE.

LITTLE ROCKTwo weeks ago, I passed the gavel to my successor as chair of the National Governors Association, and today Id like to talk about my year as leader of the NGA and the opportunity to work with other governors on some of our nations biggest challenges.

I accepted the gavel virtually in my office at the capitol a year ago during the NGAs annual summer meeting.

This year, we met in Maine, so I passed the gavel in person to the new chair, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

My term as chair offered the opportunity to show off Arkansas and our Computer Science Initiative, which I declared as my Chairmans Priority. By my final day as chair, 50 governors of states and territories, which was a record, had signed the computer science education compact.

By signing, governors were committing to establish plans to expand computer science in schools and to fund the expansion so that we can create new paths to success after high school.

At the NGA summer meeting, Patrick Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel, spoke about the value of our initiative. Mr. Gelsinger noted that modern life is becoming more digital, and everything digital runs on semiconductors. The manufacturing of semiconductors requires talent and money, which is why we must provide first-rate education for our young people.

He also discussed the federal CHIPS Act, which is the abbreviation for Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors for America. The CHIPS Act would provide about $50 billion in subsidies to support the manufacture of computer chips in the United States. Congress passed the bill, the goal of which is to decrease U.S. dependence on chips that are manufactured overseas. The CHIPS Act had bipartisan support from the governors.

On my first day as chair in July 2021, I reminded my fellow governors that states are laboratories of democracy. I challenged them to innovate, determine what works best, and to share what they have learned.

I suggested that we should lead with civil discourse, respect others in our debates, and rise above party differences to work together. Those words were as relevant today as they were a year ago.

As I reflect on my term as NGA chairman, I am grateful and amazed at the opportunities I have had to serve. I grew up on a farm. My dad was a farmer, and neither of my parents graduated from college. But they gave my siblings and me opportunities they never had. Because of their sacrifice, Ive had incredible opportunities in life.

In the public arena, I served as United States Attorney under Ronald Reagan and in the United States Congress. In the Bush administration, I served as administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration and undersecretary at Homeland Security. Ive prosecuted neo-Nazis and criminal organizations. I helped guide the nation after 9-11. I returned to Arkansas, and then eight years later, I ran for governor and won.

I shared with the governors that I have attempted to follow my parents example and to live by their faith and work ethic. My hope is that as governors, we will inspire our young people to participate in our democracy and to understand the importance of public service.

CONTACT:Press Shop (press@governor.arkansas.gov)

More here:

Governor Hutchinson's Weekly Address | My Year as Chairman of the National Governors Association - Governor Asa Hutchinson

Research Assistant, Computer Science job with NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE | 302794 – Times Higher Education

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

Job Description

The National University of Singapore invites applications for the position of Research Assistant in the Department of Computer Science, School of Computing (SoC).

The Research Assistant will be responsible for working closely with the Principal Investigator and lab members on one or more research projects. He/she should possess experience or interest in at least one of the area of Programming Languages, Software Engineering, and Security. This project aims to build a state-of-the-art debugger to support modern programs including concurrency and distributed system, and AI models.

Qualifications

Interested candidates can send your CV and transcript to Prof. Dong Jin Song (dcsdjs@nus.edu.sg) and Prof. Lin Yun (dcsliny@nus.edu.sg)

Covid-19 Message

At NUS, the health and safety of our staff and students are one of our utmost priorities, and COVID-vaccination supports our commitment to ensure the safety of our community and to make NUS as safe and welcoming as possible. Many of our roles require a significant amount of physical interactions with students/staff/public members. Even for job roles that may be performed remotely, there will be instances where on-campus presence is required.

Taking into consideration the health and well-being of our staff and students and to better protect everyone in the campus, applicants are strongly encouraged to have themselves fully COVID-19 vaccinated to secure successful employment with NUS.

More Information

Location: Kent Ridge CampusOrganization: School of ComputingDepartment : Department of Computer ScienceEmployee Referral Eligible: NoJob requisition ID : 16658

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Research Assistant, Computer Science job with NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE | 302794 - Times Higher Education

Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | Daily Bulletin – The Iron Warrior

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

Daniel Berry celebrates half a century as a professor of computer science

This article was originally published on the Cheriton School of Computer Science website.

Any computer scientist 70 or more years of age today knows almost every other computer scientist of those same ages, as few were in the discipline during its fledgling days. One such individual from that era is Daniel Berry, a professor in the Software Engineering group at the Cheriton School of Computer Science.

During his 50-year career as a computer science professor, he has studied, researched, and taught computer science across three countries and multiple institutions. Over those years Ive had the privilege of meeting many of the pioneers in computer science and working with some of them, Dan said.

Like many of his generation, his love of computers and programming began early. I started programming in 1965 during the summer between my junior and senior years in high school, he reflects. I wrote my first real-world application, a party date matching program, in 1966, during my senior year in high school. As an undergraduate at Rensselaer Polytechnic, I was programming to make some money, but I was firmly a math major. When I got to graduate school at Brown in 1969, I discovered that I had promoted myself to my level of incompetence in math. I saw that Applied Math had just started a Computer Science program. Figuring that I was still competent in that, I moved over to Computer Science. At some point during my graduate studies, Brown changed from giving a PhD in Applied Math with a concentration in Computer Science to a PhD in Computer Science. I was the first, or maybe the second, student at Brown to get a PhDinComputer Science.

Dan ended up earning a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in 1969, followed by a PhD in Computer Science from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island in 1974. He never bothered to get a Masters degree because he knew that he wanted to be a professor.

While writing up his doctorate, Dan joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1972. He was the first faculty member at UCLA with a degree in computer science. Other faculty members were mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and engineers who used computers in their original fields and got hooked.

Back in the seventies, when I started being a professor at UCLA, everyone taking CS classes was there because he or she loved computers and programming, he recalls. The students and faculty were real live computer geeks. Studentswantedprogramming assignments. They were not something to be avoided, because this was the only way you could get access to a computer. Computer science departments then typically had one, big computer. You couldnt just go up to it and start using it. You needed to have a reason, and a programming assignment was a good reason.

UCLA, of course, is also the birthplace of the Internet, and Dan arrived only three years after its launch in 1969.

Dan reminisced, UCLA is where the APRANET, what is now the Internet, was born. Len Kleinrock, a faculty member, was a key developer of the ARPANET, and Vint Cerf, an inventor of TCP/IP, was a student who had just graduated when I arrived at UCLA. Steve Crocker, Charlie Kline, and Jon Postel all those pioneers instrumental in creating the Internet were at UCLA at that time.

Experiencing history-making moments at UCLA must have been in the cards because it was during this time that the university also pulled off a series of seemingly impossible wins.

I enjoyed watching UCLA football at the Coliseum, Dan said. But the best, of course, was watching UCLA basketball, especially at that time. It was incredible. UCLAs head basketball coach, John Wooden, was the best coach for any college sport at any college across the USA. He led the Bruins to seven consecutive NCAA March Madness Championships. No coach since has ever done better than back-to-back victories. I was there for the last half of that winning streak.

After 15 years at UCLA, Dan joined the Computer Science Faculty at the Technion in Haifa, Israel.

I loved being at UCLA, but I joined the Technion as faculty because I wanted to live in Israel and because I felt I could make a bigger difference there than I could in the US. While at the Technion for 11 years, he worked half-time for four years at the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

CMUs School of CS wanted to start a Master of Software Engineering program, Dan said. I had already gone into the new field of Requirements Engineering at this point. The program was supposed to have a requirements engineering course. So, I joined the SEI group that was prototyping the MSE degree program for the School of CS, specifically to develop the requirements engineering course. The course we teach today follows the same basic syllabus I set up 50 per cent of what I teach in CS445 and SE463 today is based on that original course.

In 1998, Dan moved to Canada to join the University of Waterloo in what was then its Department of Computer Science.

Those who have worked with Dan know that his hearing impairment limits his perception to sounds below middle C, making spoken language for him all but impossible to understand by ear. He communicates face-to-face readily using a combination of the lower-pitch sounds he can hear coupled with lip reading to understand spoken English.

Almost everyone in Israel speaks English as a school-acquired second language so I could get by, but I could never learn to read lips in Hebrew despite much effort, he said. I enjoyed my time at the Technion, but because it was hard to communicate with people in Hebrew, I decided to move back to North America to a North-American-English-speaking place. But I also wanted to be within a nonstop flight to Israel so I could visit easily. And I wanted the place to be safe and affordable. That meant eastern Canada.

Since coming to Waterloo, Dans research has focused mainly on requirements engineering.

We have come to the realization that the lack of good requirements specifications for software that is, a complete description of what software youre developing is supposed to do is the main cause of software defects. My current research is trying to identify the nature of the requirements whose failure to be implemented causes software to fail. It turns out that most, about 70 per cent, of these missing requirements concern handling the inevitable exception conditions to requirements that are already implemented.

Interestingly, this often means that more than 90 per cent of the code is necessary to deal with the exceptions that happen less than 10 per cent of the time. The less frequent and more obscure an exception is, the more code is required to handle it.

Key moments in Daniel Berrys career.

The big problem is that too often in the name of agility and getting software launched before the competition, it is developed without spending the time to identify the exception conditions. Dan, his students, and colleagues try to identify the reasons that requirements engineering is not done in practice in industry, the consequences of that failure, and how to remedy it.

With regard to teaching, Dan says, Ive learned so much from my students at all levels. I try not to give a student a topic Im interested in. With such a topic, its very hard formenot to impose my ideas about how the topic should be pursued, and thats not good for the student. I very much prefer that the student come to meall excitedabout a topiche or shehas picked and teachmeall about it.

Waterloo Regional Police are investigating several suspicious person incidents in neighbourhoods near the University district that occurred over the first few weeks of July.

Global News reports that a man was spotted in a backyard on Hickory Street at 2:00 a.m. on July 1, and again in the area two days later. On July 13, a man was seen peeking through windows at a house on Hickory Street near Spruce Street.

For more detailed information visit the Region of Waterloo Police Services website.

Anyone with information or who may have witnessed unusual activity in the area is encouraged to contact police at519-570-9777or Crime Stoppers at1-800-222-8477.

The University of Waterloo Special Constable Service (UWSCS) would ask that all our community members remain vigilant when traveling alone and utilize personal safety strategies at all times, says a note from UWSCS. In the event you have any questions or concerns on this matter, the University of Waterloo Special Constable Service remain available 24/7 and can be reached via phone at (519) 888-4911 or email:uw-special-constable-service@uwaterloo.ca.

Please stay safe and look after each other.

A message from the Centre for Extended Learning.

The University of Waterloo has long been a leader in online learning in Canada and offers 26 fully online programs and more than 525 individual courses. We celebrate Waterloos expertise in this area with our Online Teaching Awards which recognize teaching and course design excellence in fully online undergraduate or graduate-level courses and programs. The Centre for Extended Learning (CEL) and the Office of the Associate Vice-President, Academic congratulate Josh Neufeld, Amanda Garcia and Burcu Karabinato the winners of the 2021 awards.

Josh Neufeld: Biology 240: Fundamentals of Microbiology

This award recognizes course instructors who exemplify a high standard of teaching in one or more of Waterloo's fully online courses.

Many students were enthusiastic in their praise:

...Professor Josh Neufeld truly deserves this award for his excellent formatting of the online course, his care and compassion for his students, and his outstanding enthusiasm and passion for microbiology that makes his course greatly enjoyed.

Math 237: Calculus 3 for Honours Mathematics created by Amanda Garcia and Burcu Karabina

This award recognizes exemplary courses that meet or exceed the Quality Guidelines for University of Waterloo Online Courses. Amanda and Burcu worked collaboratively with CEL in the design and development.

Math 237 was designed to be highly interactive and engaging, leveraging the online environment to allow more practice opportunities and hands-on exploration of concepts than would be possible in a classroom.

Nominations for this years awards, which include the Fall 2021, Winter 2022 and Spring 2022 academic terms are open until August 31, 2022.

Congratulations to Josh, Amanda and Burcu as well as all the other extraordinary instructors providing engaging, innovative, and academically rigorous online learning for our students.

A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST).

As an extension of the N: drive to OneDrive project and the move to SharePoint Online, IST will work with Academic Support Units (ASUs) to migrate content from the network file solution, R: drive (\filed), which uses the NetApp service, to SharePoint Online and/or Teams. Creation of new R: drives for ASUs will cease immediately.

In comparison tothe R:drive,SharePoint Online and/or Teams offers a more user-friendly and robust file storage solution, providing a greater amount of storage space and allowing users to access, share, and collaborate on files from anywhere on any device. VisittheMigratingR:drives to SharePoint and/or Teams Project pagefor more benefits.

In preparation for this change, IST will pilot the migration process, create a migration plan, and ensure the necessary documentation and supports are available. It is anticipated that users in Academic Support Units withIST-managed Windows machines will begin migrationsfromR:driveto SharePoint Online and/or Teams in the Fall 2022 term (migration schedule to be confirmed and communicated). IST will work with ASUs to determine the most appropriate migration path.

Participating faculties ready to begin R: drive to SharePoint Online and/or Teams migrations cancontact ISTfor assistance.

Additional resources

Questions or concerns about this work can be submitted to Andrew McAlorum (amcalorum@uwaterloo.ca), Director, Client Services, IST.

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Wednesday, July 27, 2022 | Daily Bulletin - The Iron Warrior

Dillard Joins Grow with Googles HBCU Career Readiness Program – Biz New Orleans

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

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NEW ORLEANS (press release) Dillard University has announced its participation in the Grow with Google HBCU Career Readiness Program. The initiative helps Black college students at over 30 Historically Black Colleges and Universities prepare for the workforce through digital skills training and career workshops. Through a $3 million investment in the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, the program will train 100,000 Black college students by 2025.

One of the national priorities in the United States of America is to produce more graduates with technological skill sets, partnering with Google in the Grow with Google Career Readiness Initiative will ensure that our students develop the digital skills required for the 21st-century workforce, said Dennis Singur, Dillard computer science instructor.

TMCF connects HBCU students with scholarships, training and jobs as they navigate college and careers. Its long history of on-the-ground work ensures the Grow with Google HBCU Career Readiness Program is tailored to meet student needs.

A central part of the mission of TMCF is to prepare the next generation of workforce talent. Our partnership with Google enables this mission and ensures students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities are positioned to compete for meaningful careers, said Dr. Harry L. Williams, president and CEO of Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

Started in 2020, the Grow with Google HBCU Career Readiness Program provides HBCU career centers with funding and a semester-long in-person and online digital skills program. The program combines existing Grow with Google workshops with custom job seeker content for Black students, including design thinking, project management, and professional brand building. TMCF, which contributes to the programs design, works with HBCU career centers to onboard the program.

Grow with Google HBCU Career Readiness Program builds on Googles ongoing investments in HBCU students and commitment to creating pathways to tech. The company also recently announced a $6 million investment in the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and United Negro College Fund (UNCF), building on the momemtum of their $50 million grant to 10 HBCUs in 2021. Since 2013, the Google In Residence program has placed Google software engineers at HBCUs and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) as faculty. The company also hosts Tech Exchange, a virtual student exchange program that teaches HBCU and HSU students applied computer science course.

Every student should have the opportunity to learn digital skills for todays in-demand jobs, said Tia McLaurin, community engagement manager, Google. Were proud to work with the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to bring the Grow with Google Career Readiness Program to Dillard University to help more students prepare for the workforce and thrive as they start their careers.

For more information on Grow with Googles HBCU Career Readiness program, please visit this website.

Dillard Joins Grow with Googles HBCU Career Readiness Program - Biz New Orleans

Humanoid diving robot explores shipwrecks on the bottom of the ocean – CNN

July 30, 2022 | Author: admin

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A robot created at Stanford University in California is diving down to shipwrecks and sunken planes in a way that humans cant. Known as OceanOneK, the robot allows its operators to feel like theyre underwater explorers, too.

OceanOneK resembles a human diver from the front, with arms and hands and eyes that have 3D vision, capturing the underwater world in full color.

The back of the robot has computers and eight multidirectional thrusters that help it carefully maneuver the sites of fragile sunken ships.

When an operator at the oceans surface uses controls to direct OceanOneK, the robots haptic (touch-based) feedback system causes the person to feel the waters resistance as well as the contours of artifacts.

OceanOneKs realistic sight and touch capabilities are enough to make people feel like theyre diving down to the depths without the dangers or immense underwater pressure a human diver would experience.

Stanford University roboticist Oussama Khatib and his students teamed up with deep-sea archaeologists and began sending the robot on dives in September. The team just finished another underwater expedition in July.

So far, OceanOneK has explored a sunken Beechcraft Baron F-GDPV plane, Italian steamship Le Francesco Crispi, a second century Roman ship off Corsica, a World War II P-38 Lightning aircraft and a submarine called Le Prote.

The Crispi sits about 1,640 feet (500 meters) below the surface of the Mediterranean Sea.

You are moving very close to this amazing structure, and something incredible happens when you touch it: You actually feel it, said Khatib, the Weichai Professor in Stanfords School of Engineering and director of the Stanford Robotics Lab.

Id never experienced anything like that in my life. I can say Im the one who touched the Crispi at 500 (meters). And I did I touched it, I felt it.

OceanOneK could be just the beginning of a future where robots take on underwater exploration too dangerous for humans and help us see oceans in a completely new way.

The challenge in creating OceanOneK and its predecessor, OceanOne, was building a robot that could endure an underwater environment and the immense pressure at various depths, Khatib said.

OceanOne made its debut in 2016, exploring King Louis XIVs wrecked flagship La Lune, which sits 328 feet (100 meters) below the Mediterranean 20 miles (32 kilometers) off southern France. The 1664 shipwreck remained untouched by humans.

The robot recovered a vase about the size of a grapefruit, and Khatib felt the sensations in his hands when OceanOne touched the vase before placing it in a recovery basket.

The idea for OceanOne came from a desire to study coral reefs within the Red Sea at depths beyond the normal range for divers. The Stanford team wanted to create something that came as close to a human diver as possible, integrating artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and haptic feedback.

The robot is about 5 feet (1.5 meters) long, and its brain can register how carefully it must handle an object without breaking it like coral or sea-weathered artifacts. An operator can control the bot, but its outfitted with sensors and uploaded with algorithms so it can function autonomously and avoid collisions.

While OceanOne was designed to reach maximum depths of 656 feet (200 meters), researchers had a new goal: 1 kilometer (0.62 miles), hence the new name for OceanOneK.

The team changed the robots body by using special foam that includes glass microspheres to increase buoyancy and combat the pressures of 1,000 meters more than 100 times what humans experience at sea level.

The researchers upgraded the robots arms with an oil and spring mechanism that prevents compression as it descends to the ocean depths. OceanOneK also got two new types of hands and increased arm and head motion.

The project comes with challenges hes never seen in any other system, said Wesley Guo, a doctoral student at Stanfords School of Engineering. It requires a lot of out-of-the-box thinking to make those solutions work.

The team used Stanfords recreation pool to test out the robot and run through experiments, such as carrying a video camera on a boom and collecting objects. Then came the ultimate test for OceanOneK.

A Mediterranean tour that began in 2021 saw OceanOneK diving to these successive depths: 406 feet (124 meters) to the submarine, 1,095 feet (334 meters) to the Roman ship remains and ultimately 0.5 miles (852 meters) to prove it has the capability of diving to nearly 1 kilometer. But it wasnt without problems.

Guo and another Stanford doctoral student, Adrian Piedra, had to fix one of the robots disabled arms on the deck of their boat at night during a storm.

To me, the robot is eight years in the making, Piedra said. You have to understand how every single part of this robot is functioning what are all of the things that can go wrong, and things are always going wrong. So its always like a puzzle. Being able to dive deep into the ocean and exploring some wrecks that would have never been seen this close up is very rewarding.

During OceanOneKs deep dive in February, team members discovered the robot couldnt ascend when they stopped for a thruster check. Flotations on the communications and power line had collapsed, causing the line to pile on top of the robot.

They were able to pull in the slack, and OceanOneKs descent was a success. It dropped off a commemorative marker on the seabed that reads, A robots first touch of the deep seafloor/A vast new world for humans to explore.

Khatib, a professor of computer science, called the experience an incredible journey. This is the first time that a robot has been capable of going to such a depth, interacting with the environment, and permitting the human operator to feel that environment, he said.

In July, the team revisited the Roman ship and the Crispi. While the former has all but disappeared, its cargo remains scattered across the seafloor, Khatib said. At the site of the Roman ship, OceanOneK successfully collected ancient vases and oil lamps, which still bear their manufacturers name.

The robot carefully placed a boom camera inside the Crispis fractured hull to capture video of corals and rust formations while bacteria feast on the ships iron.

We go all the way to France for the expedition, and there, surrounded by a much larger team, coming from a wide array of backgrounds, you realize that the piece of this robot youve been working on at Stanford is actually part of something much bigger, Piedra said.

You get a sense of how important this is, how novel and significant the dive is going to be, and what this means for science overall.

The project born from an idea in 2014 has a long future of planned expeditions to lost underwater cities, coral reefs and deep wrecks. The innovations of OceanOneK also lay the groundwork for safer underwater engineering projects such as repairing boats, piers and pipelines.

One upcoming mission will explore a sunken steamboat in Lake Titicaca on the border of Peru and Bolivia.

But Khatib and his team have even bigger dreams for the project: space.

Khatib said the European Space Agency has expressed interest in the robot. A haptic device aboard the International Space Station would allow astronauts to interact with the robot.

They can interact with the robot deep in the water, Khatib said, and this would be amazing because this would simulate the task of doing this on a different planet or different moon.

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Humanoid diving robot explores shipwrecks on the bottom of the ocean - CNN

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