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Creators/Authors contains: "Morris, Robert"

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  1. Thrash, J Cameron (Ed.)
    ABSTRACT Here we provide the complete genome sequences of two chemoautotrophic isolates from theThioglobaceaefamily of marine gamma-proteobacteria. The genomes were obtained from pure cultures that were initially isolated from Effingham Inlet in 2013 and revived from freezer stocks for whole genome sequencing in 2023. 
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  2. Abstract We study monotone cellular automata (also known as ‐bootstrap percolation) in with random initial configurations. Confirming a conjecture of Balister, Bollobás, Przykucki and Smith, who proved the corresponding result in two dimensions, we show that the critical probability is non‐zero for all subcritical models. 
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  3. ABSTRACT Oxygen deficient zones (ODZs) are subsurface marine systems that harbour distinct microbial communities, including populations of the picocyanobacteriaProchlorococcusthat can form a secondary chlorophyll maximum (SCM), and low‐oxygen tolerant strains of the globally abundant heterotrophPelagibacter(SAR11). Yet, the small labile molecules (metabolites) responsible for maintaining these ODZ communities are unknown. Here, we compared the metabolome of an ODZ to that of an oxygenated site by quantifying 87 metabolites across depth profiles in the eastern tropical North Pacific ODZ and the oxygenated waters of the North Pacific Gyre. Metabolomes were largely consistent between anoxic and oxic water columns. However, the osmolyte glycine betaine (GBT) was enriched in the oxycline and SCM of the ETNP, comprising as much as 1.2% of particulate organic carbon. Transcriptomes revealed two active GBT production pathways, glycine methylation (SDMT/bsmB) expressed byProchlorococcusand choline oxidation (betB) expressed by Gammaproteobacteria. GBT consumption through demethylation involved diverse microbial taxa, with SAR11 contributing nearly half of the transcripts for the initial step of GBT demethylation (BHMT), which is predicted to convert GBT and homocysteine into dimethylglycine and methionine, a compound SAR11 cannot otherwise produce. Thus, GBT connects the metabolisms of the dominant phototroph and heterotroph in the oceans. 
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    Notary is a new hardware and software architecture for running isolated approval agents in the form factor of a USB stick with a small display and buttons. Approval agents allow factoring out critical security decisions, such as getting the user's approval to sign a Bitcoin transaction or to delete a backup, to a secure environment. The key challenge addressed by Notary is to securely switch between agents on the same device. Prior systems either avoid the problem by building single-function devices like a USB U2F key, or they provide weak isolation that is susceptible to kernel bugs, side channels, or Rowhammer-like attacks. Notary achieves strong isolation using reset-based switching, along with the use of physically separate systems-on-a-chip for agent code and for the kernel, and a machine-checked proof of both the hardware's register-transfer-level design and software, showing that reset-based switching leaks no state. Notary also provides a trustworthy I/O path between the agent code and the user, which prevents an adversary from tampering with the user's screen or buttons. We built a hardware/software prototype of Notary, using a combination of ARM and RISC-V processors. The prototype demonstrates that it is feasible to verify Notary's reset-based switching, and that Notary can support diverse agents, including cryptocurrencies and a transaction approval agent for traditional client-server applications such as websites. Measurements of reset-based switching show that it is fast enough for interactive use. We analyze security bugs in existing cryptocurrency hardware wallets, which aim to provide a similar form factor and feature set as Notary, and show that Notary's design avoids many bugs that affect them. 
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