Recent years have witnessed the emerging trend of extensions in modern Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio Code (VSCode) that significantly enhance developer productivity. Especially, popular AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Tabnine provide conveniences like automated code completion and debugging. While these extensions offer numerous benefits, they may introduce privacy and security concerns to software developers. However, there is no existing work that systematically analyzes the security and privacy concerns, including the risks of data exposure in VSCode extensions. In this paper, we investigate on the security issues of cross-extension interactions in VSCode and shed light on the vulnerabilities caused by data exposure among different extensions. Our study uncovers high-impact security flaws that could allow adversaries to stealthily acquire or manipulate credential-related data (e.g., passwords, API keys, access tokens) from other extensions if not properly handled by extension vendors. To measure their prevalence, we design a novel automated risk detection framework that leverages program analysis and natural language processing techniques to automatically identify potential risks in VSCode extensions. By applying our tool to 27,261 real-world VSCode extensions, we discover that 8.5% of them (i.e., 2,325 extensions) are exposed to credential-related data leakage through various vectors, such as commands, user input, and configurations. Our study sheds light on the security challenges and flaws of the extension-in-IDE paradigm and provides suggestions and recommendations for improving the security of VSCode extensions and mitigating the risks of data exposure.

Neuroimaging data, particularly from techniques like MRI or PET, offer rich but complex information about brain structure and activity. To manage this complexity, latent representation models - such as Autoencoders, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), and Latent Diffusion Models (LDMs) - are increasingly applied. These models are designed to reduce high-dimensional neuroimaging data to lower-dimensional latent spaces, where key patterns and variations related to brain function can be identified. By modeling these latent spaces, researchers hope to gain insights into the biology and function of the brain, including how its structure changes with age or disease, or how it encodes sensory information, predicts and adapts to new inputs. This review discusses how these models are used for clinical applications, like disease diagnosis and progression monitoring, but also for exploring fundamental brain mechanisms such as active inference and predictive coding. These approaches provide a powerful tool for both understanding and simulating the brain's complex computational tasks, potentially advancing our knowledge of cognition, perception, and neural disorders.

Graph Mamba, a powerful graph embedding technique, has emerged as a cornerstone in various domains, including bioinformatics, social networks, and recommendation systems. This survey represents the first comprehensive study devoted to Graph Mamba, to address the critical gaps in understanding its applications, challenges, and future potential. We start by offering a detailed explanation of the original Graph Mamba architecture, highlighting its key components and underlying mechanisms. Subsequently, we explore the most recent modifications and enhancements proposed to improve its performance and applicability. To demonstrate the versatility of Graph Mamba, we examine its applications across diverse domains. A comparative analysis of Graph Mamba and its variants is conducted to shed light on their unique characteristics and potential use cases. Furthermore, we identify potential areas where Graph Mamba can be applied in the future, highlighting its potential to revolutionize data analysis in these fields. Finally, we address the current limitations and open research questions associated with Graph Mamba. By acknowledging these challenges, we aim to stimulate further research and development in this promising area. This survey serves as a valuable resource for both newcomers and experienced researchers seeking to understand and leverage the power of Graph Mamba.

ABSTRACT: Early detection of cancer is critical in improving treatment outcomes and increasing survival rates, particularly for common cancers such as lung, breast and prostate which collectively contribute to a significant global mortality burden. With advancements in imaging technologies and data processing, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have emerged as a powerful tool for analyzing and classifying medical images, enabling more precise cancer detection. This paper provides a comprehensive review of recent studies leveraging CNN models for detecting ten different types of cancer. Each study employs distinct CNN architectures to identify patterns associated with these cancers, utilizing diverse datasets. Key differences and strengths of these architectures are meticulously compared and analyzed, highlighting their efficacy in improving early detection. Beyond reviewing the performance and limitations of CNN-based cancer detection methods, this study explores the feasibility of integrating CNNs into clinical settings as an early detection tool, potentially complementing or replacing traditional methods. Despite significant progress, challenges remain, including data diversity, result interpretation, and ethical considerations. By identifying the best-performing CNN architectures and providing a comparative analysis, this study aims to contribute a comprehensive perspective on the application of CNNs in cancer detection and their role in advancing diagnostic capabilities in healthcare. I. INTRODUCTION Cancer is one of the most complex and deadly diseases of the present century, and due to its increasing prevalence, it has become a global crisis. This disease is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of cells, which can spread to other parts of the body, leading to disability and death. The exact causes of cancer are highly diverse and are a combination of genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors. 2 In this study, we focus on some of the most common types of cancer, including prostate cancer, blood cancers (leukemia and lymphoma), bladder cancer, skin cancer (melanoma and non-melanoma), colorectal cancer, liver cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, thyroid cancer, and lung cancer. These cancers are of particular significance due to their high prevalence and considerable impact on public health. Global data indicate that the cancer burden is increasing annually.

Reveal has been a weekly investigative podcast for nearly 10 years now, so we've produced hundreds of hours of investigative journalism over the years designed to inspire, inform, or infuriate you (and occasionally, all three at the same time). We've curated some of our favorite Reveal series and serials to take you through your holiday travel time--episodes that will resonate today and into 2025. You can find the link to each episode on your preferred podcast platform below. Mississippi Goddam (seven-part series): Billey Joe Johnson Jr. dreamed of graduating high school, going to college, and one day playing pro football. On a cold December morning in 2008, that future was shattered.

As graph data grows increasingly complicate, training graph neural networks (GNNs) on large-scale datasets presents significant challenges, including computational resource constraints, data redundancy, and transmission inefficiencies. While existing graph condensation techniques have shown promise in addressing these issues, they are predominantly designed for single-label datasets, where each node is associated with a single class label. However, many real-world applications, such as social network analysis and bioinformatics, involve multi-label graph datasets, where one node can have various related labels. To deal with this problem, we extends traditional graph condensation approaches to accommodate multi-label datasets by introducing modifications to synthetic dataset initialization and condensing optimization. Through experiments on eight real-world multi-label graph datasets, we prove the effectiveness of our method. In experiment, the GCond framework, combined with K-Center initialization and binary cross-entropy loss (BCELoss), achieves best performance in general. This benchmark for multi-label graph condensation not only enhances the scalability and efficiency of GNNs for multi-label graph data, but also offering substantial benefits for diverse real-world applications.

Disparate impact doctrine offers an important legal apparatus for targeting unfair data-driven algorithmic decisions. A recent body of work has focused on conceptualizing and operationalizing one particular construct from this doctrine -- the less discriminatory alternative, an alternative policy that reduces disparities while meeting the same business needs of a status quo or baseline policy. This paper puts forward four fundamental results, which each represent limits to searching for and using less discriminatory algorithms (LDAs). (1) Statistically, although LDAs are almost always identifiable in retrospect on fixed populations, making conclusions about how alternative classifiers perform on an unobserved distribution is more difficult. (2) Mathematically, a classifier can only exhibit certain combinations of accuracy and selection rate disparity between groups, given the size of each group and the base rate of the property or outcome of interest in each group. (3) Computationally, a search for a lower-disparity classifier at some baseline level of utility is NP-hard. (4) From a modeling and consumer welfare perspective, defining an LDA only in terms of business needs can lead to LDAs that leave consumers strictly worse off, including members of the disadvantaged group. These findings, which may seem on their face to give firms strong defenses against discrimination claims, only tell part of the story. For each of our negative results limiting what is attainable in this setting, we offer positive results demonstrating that there exist effective and low-cost strategies that are remarkably effective at identifying viable lower-disparity policies.

Uncertainty calibration, the process of aligning confidence with accuracy, is a hallmark of human intelligence. However, most machine learning models struggle to achieve this alignment, particularly when the training dataset is small relative to the network's capacity. Here, we demonstrate that uncertainty calibration can be effectively achieved through a pretraining method inspired by developmental neuroscience. Specifically, training with random noise before data training allows neural networks to calibrate their uncertainty, ensuring that confidence levels are aligned with actual accuracy. We show that randomly initialized, untrained networks tend to exhibit erroneously high confidence, but pretraining with random noise effectively calibrates these networks, bringing their confidence down to chance levels across input spaces. As a result, networks pretrained with random noise exhibit optimal calibration, with confidence closely aligned with accuracy throughout subsequent data training. These pre-calibrated networks also perform better at identifying "unknown data" by exhibiting lower confidence for out-of-distribution samples. Our findings provide a fundamental solution for uncertainty calibration in both in-distribution and out-of-distribution contexts.

Introduction. Generative Artificial Intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs), offers transformative potential for Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR). However, evaluating the quality, transparency, and rigor of LLM-assisted research lacks standardized guidance. This article introduces the ELEVATE AI LLMs framework and checklist, designed to support researchers and reviewers in assessing LLM use in HEOR. Methods. The ELEVATE AI LLMs framework was developed through a targeted review of existing guidelines and evaluation frameworks. The framework comprises ten evaluation domains, including model characteristics, accuracy, comprehensiveness, and fairness. The accompanying checklist operationalizes the framework. To validate the framework, we applied it to two published studies, demonstrating its usability across different HEOR tasks. Results. The ELEVATE AI LLMs framework provides a comprehensive structure for evaluating LLM-assisted research, while the checklist facilitates practical application. Validation of the framework and checklist on studies of systematic literature reviews and health economic modeling highlighted their ability to identify strengths and gaps in reporting. Limitations. While the ELEVATE AI LLMs framework provides robust guidance, its broader generalizability and applicability to diverse HEOR tasks require further empirical testing. Additionally, several metrics adapted from computer science need further validation in HEOR contexts. Conclusion. The ELEVATE AI LLMs framework and checklist fill a critical gap in HEOR by offering structured guidance for evaluating LLM-assisted research. By promoting transparency, accuracy, and reproducibility, they aim to standardize and improve the integration of LLMs into HEOR, ensuring their outputs meet the field's rigorous standards.

In the domain of second-language acquisition, predictive modeling serves as a pivotal tool for facilitating educators in implementing diversified teaching strategies, thereby garnering extensive research attention. Despite the prevalent focus on model accuracy in most existing studies, the exploration into model fairness remains substantially underexplored. Model fairness pertains to the equitable treatment of different groups by machine learning algorithms. It ensures that the model's predictions do not exhibit unintentional biases against certain groups based on attributes such as gender, ethnicity, age, or other potentially sensitive characteristics. In essence, a fair model should produce outcomes that are impartial and do not perpetuate existing prejudices, ensuring that no group is systematically disadvantaged. In this research, we evaluate the fairness of two predictive models based on second-language learning, utilizing three tracks from the Duolingo dataset: en_es (English learners who speak Spanish), es_en(Spanish learners who speak English), and fr_en(French learners who speak English). We measure (i) algorithmic fairness among different clients such as iOS, Android and Web and (ii) algorithmic fairness between developed countries and developing countries. Our findings indicate: 1) Deep learning exhibits a marked advantage over machine learning when applied to knowledge tracing based on second language acquisition, owing to its heightened accuracy and fairness.