Monday, May 25, 2020

Glossary of Terms Regarding Evolution

Following are definitions of common terms referring to the Theory of Evolution that everyone should know and understand, though this is by no means a comprehensive list. Many of the terms are often misunderstood, which can lead to an inaccurate understanding of evolution. The links lead to more information on the topic: Adaptation: Changing to fit a niche or survive in an environment Anatomy: Study of the structures of organisms Artificial Selection: Characteristics selected by humans Biogeography: Study of how species are distributed across the Earth Biological Species: Individuals that can interbreed and produce viable offspring Catastrophism: Changes in species that happen because of quick and often violent natural phenomena Cladistics: Method of classifying species in groups based on ancestral relationships Cladogram: Diagram of how species are related Coevolution: One species changing in response to changes in another species that it interacts with, particularly predator/prey relationships Creationism: Belief that a higher power created all life Darwinism: Term commonly used as a synonym for evolution Descent With Modification: Passing down traits that might change over time Directional Selection: Type of natural selection in which an extreme characteristic is favored Disruptive Selection: Type of natural selection that favors both extremes and selects against the average characteristics Embryology: Study of the earliest stages of development of an organism Endosymbiotic Theory: Currently accepted theory as to how cells evolved Eukaryote: Organism made of cells that have membrane-bound organelles Evolution: Change in populations over time Fossil Record: All known traces of past life ever found Fundamental Niche: All available roles an individual can play in an ecosystem Genetics: Study of traits and how they are passed down from generation to generation Gradualism: Changes in species that happen over long periods of time Habitat: Area in which an organism lives Homologous Structures: Body parts on different species that are similar and most likely evolved from a common ancestor Hydrothermal Vents: Very hot areas in the ocean where primitive life might have begun Intelligent Design: Belief that a higher power created life and its changes Macroevolution: Changes in populations at the species level, including ancestral relationships Mass Extinction: Event in which large numbers of species died out completely Microevolution: Changes in species at a molecular or gene level Natural Selection: Characteristics that are favorable in an environment and are passed down while undesirable characteristics are bred out of the gene pool Niche: ​Role an individual plays in an ecosystem Organelle:Â  Subunit within a cell that has a specific function Panspermia Theory: Early theory proposing that life came to Earth on meteors from outer space Phylogeny: Study of relative connections between species Prokaryote: Organism made up of the simplest type of cell; has no membrane-bound organelles Primordial Soup: Nickname given to the theory that life started in the oceans from the synthesis of organic molecules Punctuated Equilibrium: Long periods of consistency of a species interrupted by changes that happen in quick bursts Realized Niche: Actual role an individual plays in an ecosystem Speciation: The creation of a new species, often from evolution of another species Stabilizing Selection: Type of natural selection that favors the average of the characteristics Taxonomy: ​Science of classifying and naming organisms Theory of Evolution: Scientific theory about the origins of life on Earth and how it has changed over time Vestigial Structures: Body parts that seem to no longer have a purpose in an organism

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Meaning and Uses of Decompilation

Simply speaking, decompilation is the inverse of compilation: translating an executable file into a higher level language. Suppose you lose your Delphi projects source and you only have the executable file: reverse engineering (decompilation) is useful if the original sources are not available. Hm, sources not available, does this mean that we can decompile other peoples Delphi projects? Well, yes and no... Is True Decompilation Possible? No, of course not. Fully automated decompilation is not possible - no decompiler could exactly reproduce the original source code. When a Delphi project is compiled and linked to produce a standalone executable file, most of the names used in the program are converted to addresses. This loss of names means that a decompiler would have to create unique names for all the constants, variables, functions, and procedures. Even if a certain degree of success is achieved, the generated source code lacks meaningful variable and function names.Obviously, source language syntax no longer exists in the executable. It would be very difficult for a decompiler to interpret the series of machine language instructions (ASM) that exist in an executable file and decide what the original source instruction was. Why and When to Use Decompilation Reverse engineering can be used for a several reasons, some of which are: Recovery of lost source codeMigration of applications to a new hardware platformDetermination of the existence of viruses or malicious code in the programError correction when the owner of the application is not available to make the correction.Recovery of someone elses source code (to determine an algorithm for example). Is This Legal? Reverse engineering is NOT cracking, although it is sometimes difficult to draw the fine line between those two. Computer programs are protected by copyright and trademark laws. Different countries have different exceptions to the copyright owners rights. The most common ones state that it is ok to decompile: for the purposes of interpretability where the interface specification has not been made available, for the purposes of error correction where the owner of the copyright is not available to make the correction, to determine parts of the program that are not protected by copyright. Of course you should be very careful / contact your lawyer if you are in doubt whether you are permitted to disassemble some programs exe file. Note: if you are looking for Delphi cracks, key generators or just serial numbers: you are on the wrong site. Please bear in mind that everything you find here is written/presented for exploration / educational purposes only. For the moment, Borland does not offer any product capable of decompiling an executable (.exe) file or the Delphi compiled unit (.dcu) back to the original source code (.pas). Delphi Compiled Unit (DCU) When a Delphi project is compiled or run a compiled unit (.pas) file is created. By default the compiled version of each unit is stored in a separate binary-format file with the same name as the unit file, but with the extension .DCU. For example unit1.dcu contains the code and data declared in the unit1.pas file. This means that if you have someones, for example, component compiled source all you have to do is to reverse it and get the code. Wrong. The DCU file format is undocumented (proprietary format) and may change from version to version. After the Compiler: Delphi Reverse Engineering If you would like to try to decompile a Delphi executable file, these are some of the things you should know: Delphi programs source files are usually stored in two file types: ASCII code files (.pas, .dpr), and resource files (.res, .rc, .dfm, .dcr). Dfm files contain the details (properties) of the objects contained in a form. When creating an exe, Delphi copies information in .dfm files into the finished .exe code file. Form files describe each component in your form, including the values of all persistent properties. Every time we change a forms position, a buttons caption or assign an event procedure to a component, Delphi writes those modifications in a DFM file (not the code of the event procedure - this is stored in the pas/dcu file). In order to get the dfm from the executable file we need to understand what type of resources are stored inside a Win32 executable. All programs compiled by Delphi have the following sections : CODE, DATA, BSS, .idata, tls, .rdata, .rsrc. The most important from decompiling point of view are the CODE and .rsrc sections. In the Adding functionality to a Delphi program article some interesting facts about Delphi executables format, class info and DFM resources are shown: how to reassign events to be handled by other event handlers defined in the same form. Even more: how to add your own event handler, adding the code to the executable, that will change the caption of a button. Among many types of resources that are stored in an exe file, the RT_RCDATA or the Application-defined resource (raw data) holds the information that were in the DFM file before the compilation. In order to extract the DFM data from an exe file we can call the EnumResourceNames API function... For more information on extracting DFM from an executable go see: Coding a Delphi DFM explorer article. The art of reverse engineering has traditionally been the land of technical wizards, familiar with assembly language and debuggers. Several Delphi decompilers have appeared that allow anybody, even with limited technical knowledge, to reverse engineer most Delphi executable files. If you are interested in reverse engineering Delphi programs I suggest you to take a look at the following few decompilers: IDR (Interactive Delphi Reconstructor) A decompiler of executable files (EXE) and dynamic libraries (DLL), written in Delphi and executed in Windows32 environment. Final project goal is development of the program capable to restore the most part of initial Delphi source codes from the compiled file but IDR, as well as others Delphi decompilers, cannot do it yet. Nevertheless, IDR is in a status considerably to facilitate such process. In comparison with other well known Delphi decompilers the result of IDR analysis has the greatest completeness and reliability. Revendepro Revendepro finds almost all structures (classes, types, procedures, etc) in the program, and generates the pascal representation, procedures will be written in assembler. Due to some limitation in assembler the generated output can not be recompiled. The source to this decompiler is freely available. Unfortunately this is the only one decompiler I was not able to use - it prompts with an exception when you try to decompile some Delphi executable file. EMS Source Rescuer EMS Source Rescuer is an easy-to-use wizard application which can help you to restore your lost source code. If you lose your Delphi or CBuilder project sources, but have an executable file, then this tool can rescue part of lost sources. Rescuer produces all project forms and data modules with all assigned properties and events. Produced event procedures dont have a body (it is not a decompiler), but have an address of code in executable file. In most cases Rescuer saves 50-90% of your time to project restoration. DeDe DeDe is a very fast program that can analyze executables compiled with Delphi. After decompilation DeDe gives you the following: All dfm files of the target. You will be able to open and edit them with Delphi.All published methods in well commented ASM code with references to strings, imported function calls, classes methods calls, components in the unit, Try-Except and Try-Finally blocks. By default DeDe retrieves only the published methods sources, but you may also process another procedure in a executable if you know the RVA offset using the Tools|Disassemble Proc menu.A lot of additional information.You can create a Delphi project folder with all dfm, pas, dpr files. Note: pas files contains the mentioned above well commented ASM code. They can not be recompiled!

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Common Mistakes in Writing - 1362 Words

Common Mistakes in Writing: Comma Splice In your writing, there are 3 major problems that we commonly have to address as teachers/instructors/professors/etc. I want you to take the time to read about these. While we don t expect this to fix your issues instantly, we are hoping that you ll aim to make less of these mistakes in the future (especially on your papers, where these errors WILL be counted off for). Comma Splice -- Commas are tricky because there are so many different ways you can use them, but one of the most common ways to use commas is to separate two main clauses that are connected by a coordinating conjunction. That just means that when you join two things that could be sentences on their own with a word such as†¦show more content†¦You ll notice that with run-on sentences and comma splices, the two are very similar issues and solved in the same manner. It s a good rule of thumb to remember them together. If you need any help, contact Dr. Wilson or myself. Common Mistakes in Writing: Sentence Fragments The last major error that we encounter in writing is the sentence fragment. These are a bit trickier to solve than the other two issues, but you should have no problem as long as you take your time with them. Sentence Fragment--A part of a sentence that is punctuated as a complete sentence. It may lack a subject, a predicate, or both, or it may be a dependent clause. It can be fixed in one of three ways: He quit his job. And cleared out his desk. (the second sentence is wrong) This deals with a missing subject or predicate. These are usually the result of faulty punctuation of a compound predicate. Either add the subject, or change the punctuation to incorporate the fragment into the preceding sentence: He quite his job. And he cleared out his desk. Or: He quit his job and cleared out his desk. A missing or incomplete predicate is often the result of using a verbal instead of a finite verb. Usually, the best remedy is addition of a helping verb: Sheila waiting to see you. Becomes: Sheila is waiting to see you. Although a dependent clause has a subject and a predicate, it cannot stand alone as a sentence because it begins with a relativeShow MoreRelated: Common Mistakes in Essay Writing and How to Avoid Them1929 Words   |  8 PagesThe dirty dozen: common mistakes in essay writing and how to avoid them Undergraduate research essays generally suffer from particular problems. This brief document highlights the most common problems and what can be done to avoid such problems. If your essays ends up being afflicted with any of these problems, we will put a number (with a circle around it) that pertains back to the listed problems in this document. 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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Economics and Quantitative Analysis Demand and Employment

Questions: 1.Explain why real GDP might be an unreliable indicator of the standard of living. 2.Why does unemployment arise and what makes some unemployment unavoidable? 3.Consider the following statement: When the average level of prices of goods and services rises, inflation rises? Do you agree or disagree? Explain. 4. What is the aggregate demand (AD) curve and why does it slope downwards? Explain. 5.What is the long run aggregate supply (LRAS) curve and why is it vertical? Why does the short run aggregate supply curve slope upwards? Answers: 1. In order to measure the standard of living, real GDP is mostly used however; due to several causes, it can be misleading. This is mostly because real GDP does not comprise household production, useful activities performed in and around the house by the house owner. This in turn creates key measurement problem as these tasks are considered as an important element of the work of the individual. The underground economy as well as the economic activity that is legal is omitted by Real GDP (Fleurbaey and Blanchet 2015). It also does not include the measurement of health and life expectancy of an individual. Environmental harm is also barred from real GDP. Leisure time of an individual is also not a part of real GDP. Leisure time are valued by everyone and as a result, an increase in the leisure time enhances economic welfare of an individual that in turn lowers the well-being of the nation. Thus, it can be concluded that an economy that grows at the expense of its environment, misleadingly appears to offer greater economic wellbeing as compared to a similar economy that expands somewhat more slowly but at less environmental cost (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2015). 2. Unemployment is mostly considered as an e economic reality and even a healthy economy has a certain level of unemployment. Unemployment arises mostly due to government regulation. According to labor laws, employers require to pay certain amount of wages and provide health insurance as well as other benefits when they hire a certain number of workers. This in turn adds to the cost of every worker and forces companies to hire fewer workers and terminate existing employees in order to make the remaining workforce more reasonably priced. Unemployment also arise due to increased competition between trades that leads to unemployment as trades looks for ways to reduce their costs in order to enlarge expansion or draw investors. Increased automation is also considered as a major historical reason of unemployment that leads to job loss in some industries. Increased automation is also referred to as increased technology that displaces employees. On the other hand, assistance programs by gov ernments that offers financial help to the unemployed workers are mostly considered as the root reason for unemployment. In other words, a noteworthy portion of unemployment statistics refers to individuals who register as part of the labor force in order to receive benefits. The most common cause for structural unemployment is technological change. In the long-run demand for workers is larger as compared to the temporary demand. As a result, the rate of unemployment is larger as compared to its natural rate (Levine 2013). Unemployment is unavoidable because there are always people who enter the workforce looking for a job at any point in time. On the other had there are some individuals who stops looking for a job if they are not able to find any. Unemployment is also unavoidable due to the existence of depressed employees (Holzmann, Gcs and Winckler 2012). 3. It is agreed that when the average level of prices of goods and services rises, inflation rises. Inflation is considered as the rate of increase in prices over a given time period. Inflation represents the overall expense of the appropriate set of commodities and services over a certain time period. The cost of living of an individual depends on the average level of prices of goods and services. Inflation is all about the general increase in the prices of goods and services. The major inflationary trigger is the fall in unemployment or the increase in economic movement. Inflation leads to speculative purchasing that leads to wastage. The average increase in price is mostly associated with inflation that is increases in paper money (Woodford 2012). 4. In macroeconomics, aggregate demand indicates the total demand for completed goods as well as services in an economy at a specified time. It denotes the amounts of commodities and services that will be purchased at all possible level of prices. It is also indicated as the demand for the gross domestic product of a country. It is also known as the effective demand however; at other times, this term is eminent (Gal 2013). The aggregate demand curve mostly slopes downwards due to three diverse effects, such as wealth effect of Pigou, interest rate effect of Keynes and exchange rate effect of Mundell-Fleming. Figure 1: aggregate demand curve slopes downwards (Source: Created by Author) According to the Pigou effect, a higher level of price indicates lower real wealth and as a result, lowers consumption spending. This in turn gives a lower amount of goods demanded in the aggregate. On the other hand, when prices fall an individual becomes wealthier, a circumstance that induces more customers spending. Therefore, a fall in the price level persuades customers to spend more, thus raising the aggregate demand. The Keynes effect on the other hand, states that a higher level of price implies lower real money supply and as a result, higher rates of interest results from fiscal market equilibrium. On the other hand, a low rate of interest raises the demand for investment as the cost of investment decreases with the rate of interest. The third cause that slopes the aggregate demand curve downwards is the exchange rate effect of Mundell-Fleming. Domestic investors mostly have a tendency to invest in foreign currency, if the domestic rate of interest is low as compared to inte rest rate available in foreign countries (Rao 2016). 5. The relationship between price level and output in the long-run is represented by the long-run aggregate supply. It differs from the short-run aggregate supply and is a presentation of potential output. Since LAS is considered as impending output, it is shifted by the factors that have an impact on impending output. These factors includes obtainable resources, capital, private enterprise as well as technological developments (Case, Fair and Oster 2012) Figure: LAS curve is vertical (Source: Created by Author) The LAS curve is vertical because, it indicates a potential output and when this takes place all prices, such as input prices, increases when an increase in price level takes place (Motyovszki 2013). Figure: SAS curve is upward sloping (Source: Created by Author) The graph shows that the SAS (short-run aggregate supply) curve is upward sloping as firms have a tendency to rise the level of price with the increase in demand and because in sale markets they are upward sloping curves. The two major theories that help to explain why the SAS curve is upward are the sticky-wage model and the sticky-price model (Bernanke, Antonovics and Frank 2015). References Bernanke, B., Antonovics, K. and Frank, R., 2015.Principles of macroeconomics. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Brynjolfsson, E. and McAfee, A., 2015. 5. Computing Bounty: GDP and Beyond1.Understanding the Growth Slowdown, p.87. Case, K.E., Fair, R.C. and Oster, S.M., 2012.Principles of economics. Prentice Hall,. Fleurbaey, M. and Blanchet, D., 2015. Book Review of Beyond GDP: Measuring Welfare and Assessing Sustainability. Gal, J., 2013. Notes for a new guide to Keynes (I): wages, aggregate demand, and employment.Journal of the European Economic Association,11(5), pp.973-1003. Holzmann, R., Gcs, J. and Winckler, G. eds., 2012.Output decline in Eastern Europe: unavoidable, external influence or homemade?(Vol. 34). Springer Science Business Media. Levine, L., 2013. The increase in unemployment since 2007: Is it cyclical or structural?.Current Politics and Economics of the United States, Canada and Mexico,15(3), p.345. Motyovszki, G.E.R.G.?., 2013. The Evolution of the Phillips Curve Concepts and Their Implications for Economic Policy. Rao, B.B. ed., 2016.Aggregate demand and supply: a critique of orthodox macroeconomic modelling. Springer. Woodford, M., 2012.Inflation targeting and financial stability(No. w17967). National Bureau of Economic Research.