Anomalous Entities Research Articles

Adversarial random graph neural network for anomaly detection

Anomaly detection is distinguishing unusual objects from normal patterns. It is a complex task due to unpredictable nature of anomalies, which can appear in many forms or they can be hidden by mimicking normal behaviors in a graph structure. Such diversity makes this Deep learning approaches can solve these problems by extracting complex patterns from networks. However, addressing different forms of anomalous instances is essential for successfully implementing these approaches, as different anomaly types require further analysis. Additionally, it is challenging to interpret anomalies beforehand without focusing on every aspect of anomalies. Our objective is to propose an architecture capable of handling all types of anomalous entities by tackling challenges across various domains. In this paper, we introduce ARNAD, a novel framework that integrates three deep models to identify anomalies in graphs: graph neural network, autoencoder, and adversarial autoencoder. ARNAD approaches graph anomaly detection by utilizing the features of the deep parts, and four key elements stand out: (1) the autoencoder learns the overall graph structure and identifies highly deviated ones, (2) the graph neural network exploits graph structure to detect anomalies among the communities, (3) a fixed-size randomized neighborhood that prevents overfitting while reducing complexity (4) the adversarial autoencoder improves the robustness of the framework and discriminates anomalies. To detect anomalies, four receptive components assign risk scores to objects in the attributed network. We evaluated the framework with three synthetic datasets that simulate different behaviors of anomalies and six widely used real attributed networks. Our experimental results show that ARNAD performs competitively with other state-of-the-art models in detecting anomalous entities while minimizing false positives, demonstrating ARNAD's effectiveness in detecting graph anomalies.

Phenomenology of AI-Generated "Entity Encounter" Narratives

Objective: We used the ChatGPT-3.5 artificial intelligence (AI)-based language program to compare twelve types of mystical, supernatural, or otherwise anomalous entity encounter narratives constructed from material in the publicly available corpus of information, and compared their details to the phenomenology of spontaneous accounts via the Survey of Strange Events (SSE) and the grounded theory of Haunted People Syndrome (HP-S). Methods: Structured content analysis by two independent and masked raters explored whether the composite AI-narratives would: (a) cover each encounter type, (b) map to the SSE’s Rasch hierarchy of anomalous perceptions, (c) show an average SSE score, and (d) reference the five recognition patterns of HP-S. Results: We found moderate evidence of a core encounter phenomenon underlying the AI-narratives. Every encounter type was represented by an AI-generated description that readily mapped to the SSE, albeit their contents showed only fair believability and low but generally positive correlations with each other. The narratives also corresponded to below-average SSE scores and referenced at least one HP-S recognition pattern. Conclusions: Prototypical depictions of entity encounter experiences based on popular source material certainly approximate, yet not fully match, the phenomenology of their real-life counterparts. We discuss the implications of these outcomes for future studies.

“The Twilight Zone”: Congressionally Chartered Organizations

Governments worldwide have established a variety of corporations, instrumentalities, quasi-official agencies, quangos, and other “hybrid” entities. This paper explores congressionally chartered organizations (CCOs) in the United States. First, it seeks to explain why CCOs exist and why Congress establishes them. Next, it reviews the cases of some specific organizations to illustrate the complexities of these anomalous entities. It concludes with a discussion of how CCO publications are treated in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP) and how laws that promote public access may not be applicable to CCOs.

Optimized Generative Adversarial Networks for Adversarial Sample Generation

Detecting the anomalous entity in real-time network traffic is a popular area of research in recent times. Very few researches have focused on creating malware that fools the intrusion detection system and this paper focuses on this topic. We are using Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks (DCGAN) to trick the malware classifier to believe it is a normal entity. In this work, a new dataset is created to fool the Artificial Intelligence (AI) based malware detectors, and it consists of different types of attacks such as Denial of Service (DoS), scan 11, scan 44, botnet, spam, User Datagram Portal (UDP) scan, and ssh scan. The discriminator used in the DCGAN discriminates two different attack classes (anomaly and synthetic) and one normal class. The model collapse, instability, and vanishing gradient issues associated with the DCGAN are overcome using the proposed hybrid Aquila optimizer-based Mine blast harmony search algorithm (AO-MBHS). This algorithm helps the generator to create realistic malware samples to be undetected by the discriminator. The performance of the proposed methodology is evaluated using different performance metrics such as training time, detection rate, F-Score, loss function, Accuracy, False alarm rate, etc. The superiority of the hybrid AO-MBHS based DCGAN model is noticed when the detection rate is changed to 0 after the retraining method to make the defensive technique hard to be noticed by the malware detection system. The support vector machines (SVM) is used as the malicious traffic detection application and its True positive rate (TPR) goes from 80% to 0% after retraining the proposed model which shows the efficiency of the proposed model in hiding the samples.

Disorders of Secondary Neurulation: Suggestion of a New Classification According to Pathoembryogenesis.

Recently, advanced knowledge on secondary neurulation and its application to the clinical experience have led to the deeper insight into the pathoembryogenesis of secondary neurulation with new classifications of the caudal spinal dysraphic entities. Here, we summarize the dynamic changes in the concepts of disordered secondary neurulation over the last two decades. In addition, we suggest our new pathoembryogenetic explanations for a few entities based on the literature and the data from our previous animal research. Disordered secondary neurulation at each phase may cause various corresponding lesions, such as (1) failed junction with the primary neural tube (junctional neural tube defect and segmental spinal dysgenesis), (2) dysgenesis or duplication of the caudal cell mass associated with disturbed activity of caudal mesenchymal tissue (caudal agenesis and caudal duplication syndrome), (3) abnormal continuity of medullary cord to the surrounding layers, namely, failed ingression of the primitive streak to the caudal cell mass (myelomeningocele), focal limited dorsal neurocutaneous nondisjunction (limited dorsal myeloschisis and congenital dermal sinus), and neuro-mesenchymal adhesion (lumbosacral lipomatous malformation), and (4) regression failure spectrum of the medullary cord (thickened filum and filar cyst, retained medullary cord and low-lying conus, terminal myelocele, and terminal myelocystocele). It seems that almost every anomalous entity of the primary neural tube may occur in the area of secondary neurulation. Furthermore, the close association of the caudal cell mass with the activity of caudal mesenchymal tissue involves a wider range of surrounding structures in secondary neurulation than in primary neurulation. Although the majority of the data are from animals and many theories are still conjectural, these changing concepts of normal and disordered secondary neurulation will provoke further advancements in our management strategies as well as in the pathoembryogenetic understanding of anomalous lesions in this area.

A novel framework for detection of motion and appearance-based Anomaly using ensemble learning and LSTMs

The variable time-dependent densities in crowd motion and several occlusions in real scenarios make the task of spotting anomalies very laborious. Also, an anomalous entity can be perceived to be non-anomalous from a different angle of perception. The proposed methodology introduces a novel framework for crowd anomaly detection at a patch level by integrating a thread of bi-directional LSTM for motion-based Anomaly and a thread of ensemble learning which uses pre-trained CONV-nets to learn appearance-based anomalies. A novel post-processing step to address the underlying false predictions using a threshold comparator system is also introduced. The proposed methodology is tested on the benchmark datasets, namely UCSD PED-1, PED-2, and UMN dataset, and it performs comparably with the other existing methods in the literature.

Disorders of Secondary Neurulation : Mainly Focused on Pathoembryogenesis.

Recent advancements in basic research on the process of secondary neurulation and increased clinical experience with caudal spinal anomalies with associated abnormalities in the surrounding and distal structures shed light on further understanding of the pathoembryogenesis of the lesions and led to the new classification of these dysraphic entities. We summarized the changing concepts of lesions developed from the disordered secondary neurulation shown during the last decade. In addition, we suggested our new pathoembryogenetic explanations for a few entities based on the literature and the data from our previous animal research. Disordered secondary neurulation at each phase of development may cause corresponding lesions, such as failed junction with the primary neural tube (junctional neural tube defect and segmental spinal dysgenesis), dysgenesis or duplication of the caudal cell mass associated with disturbed activity of caudal mesenchymal tissue (caudal agenesis and caudal duplication syndrome), failed ingression of the primitive streak to the caudal cell mass (myelomeningocele), focal limited dorsal neuro-cutaneous nondisjunction (limited dorsal myeloschisis and congenital dermal sinus), neuro-mesenchymal adhesion (lumbosacral lipomatous malformation), and regression failure spectrum of the medullary cord (thickened filum and filar cyst, low-lying conus, retained medullary cord, terminal myelocele and terminal myelocystocele). It seems that almost every anomalous entity of the primary neural tube may occur in the area of secondary neurulation. Furthermore, the close association with the activity of caudal mesenchymal tissue in secondary neurulation involves a wider range of surrounding structures than in primary neurulation. Although the majority of the data are from animals, not from humans and many theories are still conjectural, these changing concepts of normal and disordered secondary neurulation will provoke further advancements in our management strategies as well as in the pathoembryogenetic understanding of anomalous lesions in this area.

QANet: Tensor Decomposition Approach for Query-Based Anomaly Detection in Heterogeneous Information Networks

Complex networks have now become integral parts of modern information infrastructures. This paper proposes a user-centric method for detecting anomalies in heterogeneous information networks, in which nodes and/or edges might be from different types. In the proposed anomaly detection method, users interact directly with the system and anomalous entities can be detected through queries. Our approach is based on tensor decomposition and clustering methods. We also propose a network generation model to construct synthetic heterogeneous information network to test the performance of the proposed method. The proposed anomaly detection method is compared with state-of-the-art methods in both synthetic and real-world networks. Experimental results show that the proposed tensor-based method considerably outperforms the existing anomaly detection methods.

Anomalous entities detection and localization in pedestrian flows

Abstract We propose a novel Gaussian kernel based integration model (GKIM) for anomalous entities detection and localization in pedestrian flows. The GKIM integrates spatio-temporal features for efficient and robust motion representation to capture the distinctive and meaningful information about the anomalous entities. We next propose a block based detection framework by training a recurrent conditional random field (R-CRF) using the GKIM features. The trained R-CRF model is then used to detect and localize the anomalous entities during the online testing stage. We conduct comprehensive experiments on three benchmark datasets and compare the performance of the proposed method with the state-of-the-art anomalous entities detection methods. Our experiments show that the proposed GKIM outperforms the compared methods in terms of equal error rate (EER) and detection rate (DR) in both frame-level and pixel-level comparisons. The frame-level analysis detects the presence of an anomalous entity in a frame regardless of its location. The pixel-level analysis localizes the anomalous entity in term of its pixels.

Graph-based exploration of non-graph datasets

Graphs or networks provide a powerful abstraction to view and analyze relationships among different entities present in a dataset. However, much of the data of interest to analysts and data scientists resides in non-graph forms such as relational databases, JSON, XML, CSV and text. The effort and skill required in identifying and extracting the relevant graph representation from data is often the prohibitive and limits a wider adoption of graph-based analysis of non-graph data. In this paper, we demonstrate our system calledGraphViewer, for accelerated graph-based exploration and analysis. It automatically discovers relevant graphs implicit within a given non-graph dataset using a set of novel rule-based and data-driven techniques, and optimizes their extraction and storage. It computes several node and graph level metrics and detects anomalous entities in data. Finally, it summarizes the results to support interpretation by a human analyst. While the system automates the computationally intensive aspects of the process, it is engineered to leverage human domain expertise and instincts to fine tune the data exploration process.

Monuments and monumentality: the cosmological model of the world of megaliths

Neolithic monuments are physical and conceptual expressions of ideas about the nature of the world inhabited by early north European farmers. This contribution explores the complex symbolism encoded in megalithic architecture, and the socio-ritual interactions within which megaliths offered venues for public gatherings in which individuals participated singly or as members of larger groups. By bringing communities together – be it in thanksgiving, worship or pilgrimage – megaliths bridged the gap between the immediate, quotidian and local realities of life and the anomalous entities of the multi-dimensional universe in which past, present and future were given tangible permanence.

The Rise and Demise of a Collection of Human Fetuses at Mount Holyoke College

When I found myself at the center of a controversy over the disposition of an old collection of human fetal specimens at Mount Holyoke College, I was motivated to explore the historical transformation that turned embryo collecting for research and pedagogical purposes from a noble to a disparaged practice, and dead fetuses from prized anatomical specimens to ugly, anomalous entities. Using Linda Layne's analysis of the literal and symbolic erasure of dead fetuses from American cultural discourse, this article examines the shifting circumstances that once encouraged the collection of fetal specimens but that now mandate their disappearance. Using Mount Holyoke as a case study, it describes the scientific logic and specific social exchange networks that led to the acquisition of hundreds of fetal specimens in the first half of the 20th century. It also examines the factors--including changes in biology education, concerns about handling hazardous fixatives, and especially the prominence of beautified and lifelike fetal images consistent with the so-called "culture of life"--that prompt the dissolution and demise of human embryo and fetal collections.

Alkaline Magmatism Versus Collision Tectonics in the Eastern Ghats Belt, India: Constraints from Structural Studies in the Koraput Complex

Linear domains of deformed alkaline rocks and carbonatites have recently been identified as representing sites of ancient suture zones. In peninsular India, the western margin of the Proterozoic Eastern Ghats Belt (EGB) is characterized by a series of alkaline plutons that are aligned close to the contact with the Archaean Craton. Most of the complexes were deformed and metamorphosed during a subsequent orogenic event. Unlike other plutons in the belt, the alkaline complex at Koraput reportedly escaped deformation and granulite facies metamorphism forming an anomalous entity within the zone. Multiply-deformed country rocks hosting this complex underwent syn-D 1CR granulite facies metamorphism followed by D 2CR thrusting, with pervasive shearing along a NE-SW trending foliation. A second granulite facies event followed localized D 3CR shearing. Within the Koraput Complex, strain partitioning was responsible for preserving igneous textures in the gabbroic core, but aligned magmatic amphibole needles and plagioclase laths occasionally define a S 1AC fabric. Along the margins, S 1AC is rotated parallel to a NE-trending, east-dipping S 2AC fabric in the gabbro, fringing syenodiorite and nepheline syenite bands. Locally, D 3AC shearing follows D 2AC deformation; S 2AC and S 3AC parallel S 2CR and S 3CR in the country rocks. High-grade metamorphism represented by recrystallization of amphibole and plagioclase, and breakdown of amphibole and biotite to garnet, pyroxene and K-feldspar in the complex follows D 3AC. Unlike earlier reports, therefore, the Koraput body is also deformed and metamorphosed. The aligned alkaline complexes in the EGB probably represent deformed alkaline rocks and carbonatites formed by rifting related to an earlier episode of continental break-up that were deformed during subsequent juxtaposition of the EGB with the Archaean Craton. This supports the contention that the western margin of the EGB and its contact with the Archaean Craton is a suture zone related to the Indo-Antarctica collision event.

Patterns of Collusion in the U.S. Crop Insurance Program: An Empirical Analysis

This article analyzes anomalous patterns of agent, adjuster, and producer claim outcomes and determines the most likely pattern of collusion that is suggestive of fraud, waste, and abuse in the federal crop insurance program. Log–linear analysis of Poisson-distributed counts of anomalous entities is used to examine potential patterns of collusion. The most likely pattern of collusion present in the crop insurance program is where agents, adjusters, and producers nonrecursively interact with each other to coordinate their behavior. However, if a priori an intermediary is known to initiate and coordinate the collusion, a pattern where the producer acts as the intermediary is the most likely pattern of collusion evidenced in the data. These results have important implications for insurance program design and compliance.

The Acquisition of Sovereignty by Quasi-States: The Case of the Order of Malta

The Sovereign Military Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, also known as the Order of Malta, the Order of St John of Jerusalem, or simply the Hospitallers, is a unique international confraternity. It is the only organization currently recognized, albeit by a minority of states, as quasi-sovereign. In view of the claims which have been made from time to time by other orders of chivalry - or even pretended orders - to such status, it is worthwhile looking more closely at the claims made by or on behalf of the Order of Malta. In so doing we may help to locate the origin and nature of this so-called sovereignty, and answer the question of which orders of chivalry are likewise 'sovereign', or, indeed, whether the Order of Malta itself is truly sovereign. The article begins with a brief look at the concepts of sovereignty and statehood as traditionally understood. A survey is then made of the origins of what might be called anomalous entities - bodies which have some status at international law, but which are not traditional states. The special position of the Holy See is covered. The case of the Order of Malta is then examined in its historical context, and the basis for its claimed sovereignty assessed. The position of branches of the Order, and of other ancient religious orders is looked at. The lessons from the example of the Order of Malta for the relationship of territory and statehood are evaluated.

Vandals at the Garden's Gates? Political Reaction to the Maritime Union Proposal on Prince Edward Island

The concept of Maritime union--that is, political amalgamation of the provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island--has, in recent years, again appeared on the Canadian political agenda. As in the past, two main forces drive it: First, there remains the looming threat of Quebec secession, which might result in the dismemberment of the country, leaving its easternmost provinces isolated and adrift. Second, there is the fiscal crisis that now informs politics in Canada, and which has caused great concern in region so dependent on Ottawa. Many are the voices in the rest of that now insist that the Maritime provinces unite, even if only as cost-saving device. Their endorsement of Maritime union is part of wider agenda that has gained currency in the 1990s: the downsizing of government and public-sector bureaucracies in the quest for efficiency and economies of scale. Proponents of amalgamation claim that larger units would facilitate regional economic planning, save administrative costs by eliminating the duplication that comes with competing layers of government, streamline and combine departments, provide less costly delivery of services, and lessen competition for jobs and investment. Amalgamation, they contend, will help solve the dilemma faced by every level of government in the 1990s: how provide decent public services with ever-shrinking budgets while avoiding an increase in taxes. The Globe and Mail, Canada's National Newspaper, has extolled the virtues of political and economic union and warned Maritimers that patience with keeping the region afloat is running short; Canadians can no longer afford support impoverished provinces, no matter what the historical and romantic reasons for their existence. Having distinct law-making bodies alone costs one-third of billion dollars year; and what of the more than forty overlapping public-sector institutions? The costs of provincehood, concluded the paper, are themselves an impediment growth.(1) David Yager, Calgary Herald columnist, has called surely the most over-governed country in the world and cited PEI in particular as a microcosm of structural bureaucratic overlap that diverts billions of dollars from the creation of real private sector jobs government for government's sake.... Without federal transfers and subsidies from wealthier regions, it's likely none of the smaller provinces would exist at all. Taxpayers wouldn't stand for it. is now faced with the consequences of its profligate spending over the past decades, and the only solution, he suggests, is to get rid of smaller provinces entirely by merging them into larger and more cost-effective units. (2) Gordon Gibson, former leader of the British Columbia Liberal party, and now journalist and author affiliated with the Fraser Institute, has advocated the wringing out of such inefficiencies in the political system as small provinces, whose politicians and bureaucracies duplicate services. (3) And University of Toronto historian Michael Bliss, who owns summer home on the island, in his more gentle and humorous Toronto Star columns, has pondered aloud whether such an anomalous entity as PEI will survive, especially now that the Confederation Bridge links it the mainland. Derided by some as little more than cute little theme park, he wrote, PEI might end up as three counties of New Brunswick. He even questioned the viability of its only university. (4) These are few of the many examples of this type of discourse, one which can nowadays be found in books, newspapers, and on television throughout Canada. Little wonder that former premier Joe Ghiz in 1992 brooded about the possibility that, in its increasing lack of concern for the special economic, political, and social needs of small societies, Canada may not be able in the future accommodate Prince Edward Island as separate and viable entity. …

At Law: Ethics Committees: From Ethical Comfort to Ethical Cover

Fifteen years ago, my first column was entitled re Quinlan: Legal Comfort for Doctors. [1] The subtitle referred to New Jersey Supreme Court's suggestion that instead of bringing cases like Quinlan to court, families and physicians should rely on a hospital committee. The court based this recommendation on suggestion of a Texas pediatrician, Karen Teel, that a committee composed of physicians, social workers, attorneys and theologians could help to diffuse professional responsbility for decision.... I was unenthusiastic about New Jersey solution, nothing that the idea seems to be that all feel more (ethically?) 'comfortable' with decisions thus arrived at for which no one individual is seen as responsible and for which no individual can be held legally accountable. Although Quinlan case has been touchtone for legal and ethical discussions of right to refuse medical treatment for past fifteen years, no other court has delegated immunity-granting authority to an committee. On other hand, strategy of using to provide for physicians and others worried about either legal liability or public reaction has prospered. committees have grown from an anomalous entity to provide ethical comfort to a few, to an almost standard entity to provide ethical cover for many. Without threat of legal liability and community disapproval (which could lead to new laws), would probably not have developed at all. Law and are distinct, although related, activities. The law is mandatory, setting standards that can only be breached at risk of civil or criminal liability. Ethics is aspirational, setting forth universal goals that we should try to meet, but suffer no temporal penalty for falling short of. Ethicists often criticize law as too blunt, as scaring people unnecessarily, as interfering, and as counterproductive. All of these criticisms are sometimes fair. Nonetheless, over past two decades greatest force propelling bioethics in U.S. has been law. The History of Committees In 1960s some states required that hospital review approved any abortion before it could be legally performed. And when kidney dialysis began, and there was a shortage of dialysis machines, some hospitals set up to decide which of competing candidates would receive dialysis. Roe v. Wade and its companion case v. Botton ended abortion committees, and both public reaction and End-Stage Renal Disease Act ended dialysis patient selection committees. Although there have been periodic attempts to use similar committees to make decisions for individual patients (for example, psychosurgery committees), prospective decisionmaking by committee for individual patients has never held wide support either in medical community or public. Infant Care Review or Doe were established in many neonatal ICUs across country as a direct response to Reagan Administration's Baby regulations. Under threat of intrusive federal investigations, American Academy of Pediatrics and others recommended an alternative: hospital-based that would be available to review contested decisions to withdraw treatment from handicapped newborns. Many of these have survived, even though federal Baby regulations did not. Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) The most longstanding ethics - type committee is Institutional Review Board, or IRB. This committee was created by law, and specific federal regulations govern its conduct. In 1960s, when such were rare, they were usually designated as human studies committees, or human subjects committees. In 1970s their name was changed to institutional committees--and this has always seemed just right, because primary function of committee has become to protect institution, and its membership is almost exclusively made up of researchers (not potentials subjects) from particular institution. …

Two Linanthoid Genera

In 1940 the writer published a Provisional Key to the Polemoniaceae,1 recognizing 18 genera divided among 4 tribes, with brief statements of the diagnostic characters and species content of each genus. For estimating the number of species included, the chief source of information was Brand's treatment of Polemoniaceae in Engler's Pflanzenreich IV. 250. Critical examination indicating, however, that his work was not uniformly well done, it was decided to review the genera one by one, and to try to straighten out various taxonomic tangles. Even though there would be no opportunity to prepare complete revisions, bringing together of the scattered literature and interpretation of entities in accordance with their descriptions and types seemed worth while. The treatments published thus far cover Polemonium, Polemoniella, Collomia, and Gymnosteris.2 In the present article two genera belonging to the Linanthus .subdivision of the Gilia tribe are similarly covered. Taxonomists who are perturbed by the existence of occasional anomalous entities, which seem to bridge such gaps as are used in diagnostic keys, lump the groups concerned with the typical Giias into a sort of super-genus bearing the latter name; but it is more convenient to maintain them as distinct.