Identification Protocol Research Articles

An Application of p-Fibonacci Error-Correcting Codes to Cryptography

In addition to their usefulness in proving one’s identity electronically, identification protocols based on zero-knowledge proofs allow designing secure cryptographic signature schemes by means of the Fiat–Shamir transform or other similar constructs. This approach has been followed by many cryptographers during the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) standardization process for quantum-resistant signature schemes. NIST candidates include solutions in different settings, such as lattices and multivariate and multiparty computation. While error-correcting codes may also be used, they do not provide very practical parameters, with a few exceptions. In this manuscript, we explored the possibility of using the error-correcting codes proposed by Stakhov in 2006 to design an identification protocol based on zero-knowledge proofs. We showed that this type of code offers a valid alternative in the error-correcting code setting to build such protocols and, consequently, quantum-resistant signature schemes.

Detecting child trafficking within the child welfare system: recommendations and best practices for screening and identification protocols in the United States

Detecting child trafficking within the child welfare system: recommendations and best practices for screening and identification protocols in the United States

Real-time automated identification of algal bloom species for fisheries management in subtropical coastal waters

Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) pose significant challenges to fisheries management and food and water security. The onset of a HAB is notoriously difficult to predict. Traditional methods of algal species identification under a microscope are also laborious and time consuming. A real-time system for identification and concentration measurement of algal bloom species has been developed at a marine fish culture zone (FCZ) in the subtropical coastal waters of Hong Kong. The system is based on analysis of high frequency algal cell images obtained from an underwater Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) deployed on the fish farm. An explainable supervised machine learning technique has been successfuly developed. The algal species classifier is trained by presenting a wide range of extracted image features to a random forest algorithm. An optimized set of 25 features is identified by a recursive feature elimination technique. The random forest (RF) classifier can identify 15 target HAB classes with an overall out-of-bag accuracy of 94.2%, with individual F1 score ranging from 0.8 to 1.0. The classifier performs equally well as a Convolution Neural Network (CNN) developed using transfer learning techniques. Based on the classifier, an automated real-time species identification and cell counting protocol has been developed, with a response time of 10 min after data collection. This work represents the first successful attempt of continuous algal species monitoring by IFCB and artificial intelligence (AI) – based detection of HAB in subtropical coastal waters.

Acute kidney injury after lung transplantation: a narrative review

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a commonly recognized complication after lung transplantation (LT) and is related to increased mortality and morbidity. With the improvement of survival after LT and the increasing number of lung transplant recipients, the detrimental impact of current management on renal function has become increasingly apparent. Multifarious risk factors in the perioperative setting contribute to the development of AKI, including the preoperative status and complications of the recipient, complex perioperative problems especially hemodynamic fluctuation, and exposure to nephrotoxic agents, mainly calcineurin inhibitors (CNIs) and antimicrobial drugs. Identification and minimization of the effects of these risk factors can relieve AKI severity and incidence in high-risk patients. Close monitoring of urine output and serum creatinine (sCr) levels and of specific biomarkers may promote early recognition of AKI and rapid nephrology intervention to improve outcomes. This review summarizes advances in the epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, biological markers of AKI, and further recommends appropriate treatment strategies for the long-term management of AKI related manifestations in lung transplant recipients. Future work will need to focus on developing more accurate measures of renal function and identifying patients before the occurrence of early renal damage. Combining renal protection strategies with the use of new biomarkers to develop early kidney risk identification and protection protocols is a promising idea that requires further investigation.

Research on feature selection algorithm of unknown wireless protocol based on mutual information

Aiming at the problem of unknown wireless protocol identification methods that focus on the application layer, but the wireless network application layer data is difficult to capture, and the existing method research stays at the signal level and the identification effect is poor, this paper proposes an identification method for feature selection of wireless protocol data from the data link layer. This paper extracts the protocol features of the data frame set by improving the AC algorithm and the association rule algorithm, using mutual information theory, and combining the definition of information correlation and redundancy with the normalization idea, further screening and verification of frame features are carried out to achieve effective extraction of protocol features, effectively improve the accuracy of feature sets, and thereby improve the efficiency and accuracy of protocol recognition.

The Peruvian Amazon forestry dataset: A leaf image classification corpus

Forest census allows getting precise data for logging planning and elaboration of the forest management plan. Species identification blunders carry inadequate forest management plans and high risks inside forest concessions. Hence, an identification protocol prevents the exploitation of non-commercial or endangered timber species. The current Peruvian legislation allows the incorporation of non-technical experts, called “materos”, during the identification. Materos use common names given by the folklore and traditions of their communities instead of formal ones, which generally lead to misclassifications. In the real world, logging companies hire materos instead of botanists due to cost/time limitations. Given such a motivation, we explore an end-to-end software solution to automatize the species identification. This paper introduces the Peruvian Amazon Forestry Dataset, which includes 59,441 leaves samples from ten of the most profitable and endangered timber-tree species. The proposal contemplates a background removal algorithm to feed a pre-trained CNN by the ImageNet dataset. We evaluate the quantitative (accuracy metric) and qualitative (visual interpretation) impacts of each stage by ablation experiments. The results show a 96.64% training accuracy and 96.52% testing accuracy on the VGG-19 model. Furthermore, the visual interpretation of the model evidences that leaf venations have the highest correlation in the plant recognition task.

Kocuria spp. in Foods: Biotechnological Uses and Risks for Food Safety

Background and objective: Bacteria of the Genus Kocuria are found in several environments and their isolation from foods has recently increased due to more precise identification protocols using molecular and instrumental techniques. This review describes biotechnological properties and food-linked aspects of these bacteria, which are closely associated with clinical cases. Results and conclusion: Kocuria spp. are capable of production of various enzymes, being potentially used in environmental treatment processes and clinics and production of antimicrobial substances. Furthermore, these bacteria show desirable enzymatic activities in foods such as production of catalases and proteases. Beneficial interactions with other microorganisms have been reported on increased production of enzymes and volatile compounds in foods. However, there are concerns about the bacteria, including their biofilm production, which generates technological and safety problems. The bacterial resistance to antimicrobials is another concern since isolates of this genus are often resistant or multi-resistant to antimicrobials, which increases the risk of gene transfer to pathogens of foods.

Validity and Utility of the Test of Creative Thinking Drawing Production for Dutch Adolescents

We examined the divergent validity and utility of the Test for Creative Thinking–Drawing Production (TCT-DP) in an identification protocol for high-ability students that included measures of intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, creativity, and academic achievement. Data were collected from seventh-grade students across 6 years ( n = 710). Small significant correlations between the different measures indicated that the TCT-DP did measure a construct separate from intelligence, school motivation, inquisitiveness, and academic achievement. Furthermore, creativity did not significantly affect academic achievement when controlling for intelligence, school motivation, and inquisitiveness. We did not find support for threshold theory. Finally, we concluded that the TCT-DP provides useful additional information on creativity for high-ability identification in which measures of intelligence, school motivation, and inquisitiveness are already included. Thus, this study’s findings provide evidence for the utility and divergent validity of the TCT-DP when used with a Dutch population.

Optimization and validation of a cost-effective protocol for biosurveillance of invasive alien species.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding has revolutionized biodiversity monitoring and invasive pest biosurveillance programs. The introduction of insect pests considered invasive alien species (IAS) into a non‐native range poses a threat to native plant health. The early detection of IAS can allow for prompt actions by regulating authorities, thereby mitigating their impacts. In the present study, we optimized and validated a fast and cost‐effective eDNA metabarcoding protocol for biosurveillance of IAS and characterization of insect and microorganism diversity. Forty‐eight traps were placed, following the CFIA's annual forest insect trapping survey, at four locations in southern Ontario that are high risk for forest IAS. We collected insects and eDNA samples using Lindgren funnel traps that contained a saturated salt (NaCl) solution in the collection jar. Using cytochrome c oxidase I (COI) as a molecular marker, a modified Illumina protocol effectively identified 2,535 Barcode Index Numbers (BINs). BINs were distributed among 57 Orders and 304 Families, with the vast majority being arthropods. Two IAS (Agrilus planipennis and Lymantria dispar) are regulated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) as plant health pests, are known to occur in the study area, and were identified through eDNA in collected traps. Similarly, using 16S ribosomal RNA and nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS), five bacterial and three fungal genera, which contain species of regulatory concern across several Canadian jurisdictions, were recovered from all sampling locations. Our study results reaffirm the effectiveness and importance of integrating eDNA metabarcoding as part of identification protocols in biosurveillance programs.

User trustworthiness in online social networks: A systematic review

The growing popularity of social networks and their easy acceptance of new users have the unintended consequence of fostering an environment where anonymous users can act in malicious ways. Although these platforms have many incentives to prevent such occurrences, they have not been able to cope with the sheer volume of information that must be processed. Moreover, the tendency of attackers to rapidly change strategies in response to defensive measures also poses a challenge. Hence, research on issues related to user trustworthiness on social networks is gaining traction, with many interesting studies conducted in recent years. In this work, we aim to review the present state of this field and present an analysis of the studies published between 2012 and 2020 that attempt to address this problem using various methodologies. Some of the solutions discussed in the literature can be described as bot identification protocols, while others focus on anti-spam protection, recognition of fake news, or rating the truthfulness of user-generated content. Many of these solutions offer tangible benefits in various respects, however none of them are able to provide comprehensive all-around protection against all possible types of attacks. Monitoring this scientific field is thus a key task, and this review will hopefully lead to a better understanding of the concept of online user trustworthiness by highlighting recent works that deal with this issue.

Vulnerabilidade e fatores de risco associados para Covid-19 em idosos institucionalizados

Objetivo: Identificar a associação de fatores de risco para COVID-19 com a vulnerabilidade em pessoas idosas residentes em instituições de longa permanência. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, exploratório, com abordagem quantitativa, realizado em oito Instituições de Longa Permanência para Idosos (ILPI) na região metropolitana de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Foram incluídos idosos com idade igual ou superior a 60 anos, que estivessem presentes na instituição durante a coleta das informações. Na obtenção dos dados foi utilizado o protocolo de identificação do idoso vulnerável inserido na Caderneta de Saúde da Pessoa Idosa. Para análise utilizou-se o software SPSS versão 21.0 e aplicados testes Qui-quadrado de Pearson e Razão de Chance. Resultados: Verificou-se que houve associação do número de itens de vulnerabilidade (até 3 itens) nos idosos que apresentaram até 3 fatores de risco para COVID-19 (p=0,008), com razão de chance de 2,2. Conclusão: A predominância de fatores de risco para COVID-19 indica maior vulnerabilidade à evolução da forma grave da COVID-19, associada ao maior risco de mortalidade, o que evidencia necessidade do monitoramento da saúde dos idosos.

A secure and efficient group signature scheme based on multivariate public key cryptography

Group signatures are significant primitive for anonymity, which allow group members to sign messages while hiding in the group, however, the signers remain accountable. Most of the existing schemes on group signature are relying on traditional cryptographic primitives, whereas rapid advancements in quantum computing suggest an originating threat to usual cryptographic primitives. This makes the necessity of quantum computer resistant cryptographic primitives. Multivariate public key cryptography (MPKC) is one of the promising options that may withstand quantum attacks. Its constructions are potential candidates for post-quantum (PQ) cryptography as they are very fast and require only modest computational resources. There are many existing secure and practical multivariate digital signatures. However, there is a deficiency of more advanced multivariate group signature scheme. The existing multivariate group signature has weaknesses in terms of security and efficiency. This paper introduces a new multivariate group signature scheme employing a 5-pass identification protocol and multivariate signature scheme as its building blocks. The proposed signature scheme possesses unforgeability, user’s anonymity, unlinkability, exculpability and traceability property. Unlike most of the existing post-quantum group signatures, the sizes of the signatures and the public parameters are not dependent on the number of group users in our construction. It depends only on the security parameters. In particular, our construction is the first MPKC based group signature, where signature size and public parameter size are independent of the number of group users.

Validation of Swab Sampling and SYBR Green-Based Real-Time PCR for the Diagnosis of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in French Guiana.

Recent studies have highlighted the interest in noninvasive sampling procedures coupled with real-time PCR methods for the detection of Leishmania species in South America. In French Guiana, the sampling method still relied on skin biopsies. Noninvasive protocols should be tested on a large annual cohort to improve routine laboratory diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Therefore, we evaluated the performance of a new Leishmania detection and species identification protocol involving cotton swabs and SYBR green-based real-time PCR of the Hsp70 gene, coupled with Sanger sequencing. Between May 2017 and May 2018, 145 patients with ulcerated lesions compatible with cutaneous leishmaniasis were included in the study at the Cayenne Hospital and its remote health centers. Each patient underwent scrapings for a smear, skin biopsies for parasite culture and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) (RNA polymerase II), and sampling with a cotton swab for SYBR green-based PCR. The most accurate diagnostic test was the SYBR green-based PCR on swab samples, showing 98% sensitivity. The mean PCR cycle threshold (CT ) was 24.4 (minimum CT , 17; maximum CT , 36) and was <35 in 97.6% of samples. All samples positive by SYBR green-based real-time PCR were successfully identified at the species level by DNA sequencing. This new method should be considered for routine diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis in South America and especially for remote areas, since noninvasive collection tools are easier to use and require fewer precautions for transportation.

Implementing a Rapid, Two-Step Delirium Screening Protocol in Acute Care: Barriers and Facilitators.

An effective and efficient protocol for delirium identification is needed to improve health outcomes for older adults and reduce healthcare costs. This study describes the barriers and facilitators related to the implementation of the ultra-brief confusion assessment method (UB-CAM), a rapid two-step delirium identification protocol (ultra-brief screen, followed by CAM in positives), field tested with hospitalized older adults (70+). A qualitative descriptive design using observational data collection and brief semi-structured interviews. An urban academic medical center and a community teaching hospital. Participants included 50 physician hospitalists, 189 registered nurses, and 83 nursing assistants (NAs). Field researchers guided by a modified multi-level implementation framework, collected observational data as participants administered the UB-CAM (n = 767). Thematic analysis was conducted on five observational categories: structural, organizational, patient, clinician, and innovation. Field notes and brief semi-structured interviews (n = 231) with clinicians, explored the utility, acceptability, and feasibility of the protocol, and supplemented the observations. The UB-CAM was generally positively received by all three clinician types. Six themes describe barriers and/or facilitators to implementing the UB-CAM: (1) physical setting and milieu; (2) practice environment; (3) integrating into role; (4) adaptive techniques; (5) patient responses; and (6) systematic assessment. The composition and interaction of the six themes determined if the theme was expressed as a barrier or facilitator, affirming the importance of context when implementing system-level delirium screening. This is one of the first studies to test a two-step process for delirium identification, and to involve NAs in screening, and the findings demonstrate overall support from clinicians for delirium identification, and describe the need for a multifaceted, contextualized, and systemic approach to implementation and evaluation of delirium screening.

Juvenile Peripheral Ossifying Fibroma – A rare case report and review

Peripheral ossifying fibroma, first reported by Shepard in 1844 as alveolar exostosis, is a non-neoplastic reactive lesion arising as a focal exophytic mass exclusively on the gingiva originating from the interdental area and shows no bone involvement in most cases. The lesion shows propensity for maxilla and incisor-cuspid region with female predilection. The etiological factors include local factors causing gingival irritation like calculus, plaque, ill fitting dentures or orthodontic appliances; and hormonal influence, initiate exhuberant connective tissue response. The lesion shows high recurrence potential , necessitating proper identification, treatment and effective long-term recall protocol. This case report presents a relatively rare case of juvenile peripheral ossifying fibroma in relation to mandibular central &amp; lateral incisors in an adolescent female child followed for upto 1 year&#x0D; after surgical excision&#x0D;

Morbidity and Complications of Diabetes Mellitus in Children and Adolescents in Ghana: Protocol for a Longitudinal Study.

BackgroundDiabetes is associated with premature morbidity and mortality from its many complications. There are limited data on the chronic complications of diabetes in children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa.ObjectiveThe study aims to determine the (1) burden and related factors of chronic systemic complications of diabetes, including diabetic and nondiabetic ocular conditions in children and adolescents, and (2) quality of life (QoL) of participants compared to healthy controls. This manuscript describes the study methodology.MethodsDemographic information, medical history, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory characteristics were collected, and the participants were screened for microvascular and macrovascular complications as well as nondiabetic ocular disease. QoL questionnaires were administered to participants, their caregivers, and controls. Participants were followed up annually up to 3 years to determine the natural history of and trends in these conditions. SPSS Version 25.0 will be used for data analysis. Continuous and categorical data will be presented as mean (SD) and as percentages (%), respectively. t tests and analysis of variance will be used to compare means, and chi-square tests will be used to compare categorical data. Correlation, regression, and logistic regression analyses will be employed to establish linear associations and causal associations as appropriate. Relative risk and odds ratios will be used to estimate risk. QoL outcomes in Ghanaian children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus compared with caregivers and healthy controls will be assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life inventory. Significance will be set at α=.05.ResultsInstitutional approval from the Ethical and Protocol Review Committee of the University of Ghana Medical School was received on August 22, 2014 (Protocol Identification Number: MS-Et/M.12-P4.5/2013-2014). Funding for the project was received from the University of Ghana Research Fund (#UGRF/9/LMG-013/2015-2016) in March 2016. Patient recruitment, clinical examination, and data collection commenced in August 2016 and was completed in September 2019. A total of 58 children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus have been recruited. Blood samples were stored at –80 °C for analysis, which was completed at the end of July 2020. Data analysis is ongoing and will be completed by the end of December 2020. Investigators plan to submit the results for publication by the end of February 2021.ConclusionsThe prevalence, natural history, trends in diabetic complications and nondiabetic ocular disease, and QoL will be provided. Our data may inform policies and interventions to improve care given to children and adolescents with diabetes.International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)DERR1-10.2196/21440

"Звичайні вбивці": колективний портрет "травниківців" ( за матеріалами літерних справ по Янівському табору смерті)

The article studies the issues of the collective image of SS Wachmans, who graduated from a special school in Trawnik and were involved in letter cases related to the Janiwska/Janowska Death Camp in Lviv. What was the contingent of cadets of the Trawniki camp, how did former Red Army prisoners of war get there, who were they by nationality and social origin, how old were they, did they voluntarily become guards of death camps, were there members of Ukrainian nationalist organizations among them? These and other issues are considered in the context of the tragic events that took place on a small piece of land near Lviv during 1941 - 1943. The main sources for analysis are interrogation records, intelligence reports and identification protocols, which are contained in dozens of volumes of letter cases № 9 and № 638. In addition, the article uses analytical materials of the investigation, for example, background information on crimes committed in Lviv during the Nazi occupation and the personalities of criminals, the history of the Janiwska/Janowska Death Camp, etc. Particular attention is paid to the issues of "motivation" of Red Army prisoners of war and the procedure for their transfer to German service, the study of methods of psychological pressure on them in order to turn them into obedient weapons of murder. The biographical data of the "Trawniki men" clearly show that the experience of their pre-war life in the Bolshevik system of terror, shocking military experiences, captivity and the incredibly high mortality rate of prisoners of war in the winter of 1941-1942, psychological and physical pressure from the Nazis, virtually eliminated any moral warnings the SS Wachmans, who, fully aware of the criminality of their actions, in most cases until the last day of the Third Reich, continued to obey the orders of the Nazis, and after the war to hide their involvement in the SS security forces. The classic mechanism of self-justification for former graduates of the SS preparatory camp in Trawnik was the thesis about the "compulsion" of their actions under the pressure of circumstances, the threat of death.

Optimization of Micropropagation and Genetic Transformation Protocols for Paulownia elongata : A Short Rotation Fast Growing Bioenergy Tree.

Various steps of micropropagation include selection of suitable explant, establishment of adventitious shoot induction cultures, proliferation, rooting, and acclimatization of the resulting plantlets. A systematic protocol is provided for the micropropagation and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of a fast growing, multipurpose tree, Paulownia elongata. Our studies show that optimum shoot induction is on half leaf with petiole explant on MS medium supplemented with 25μM thidiazuron and 10μM indole-3 acetic acid. Micropropagation protocols provided here are applicable to explants collected from the primed in vitro raised seedlings on MS medium containing 2.5μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) or actively growing shoots collected from greenhouse or field growing plants. We also discuss a possible role of "Python" script guided protocol optimization for higher and consistent multiplication of shoots that can be very helpful for scaled up production in commercial settings. To facilitate future plant improvement and gene editing possibilities, an A. tumefaciens based genetic transformation protocol and molecular identification of transgenic plants using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Reverse Transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) techniques have also been optimized.

Time-efficient Tag Identification in Blocker-assisted RFID Systems

In RFID systems, the privacy problem has attracted increasing attention as the tags have extremely limited on-chip resources and may blindly respond to unauthorized readers. One widely used solution is to deploy one or more blocker tags to collide the RF signal sent from protected tags all the time. We in this paper investigate tag identification in privacy-sensitive RFID systems when we have the authorized reader(s). The tag identification under the blocker environment becomes more challenging since the protected tags and blocker tags will always respond concurrently, leading to unreconciled collisions. Therefore, we propose three tag identification protocols IIP, SIP and SUIP, which meet three application requirements: privacy, accuracy, and efficiency. IIP iteratively deactivates blocking tags as well as labeling genuine tags, and finally identifies tags by avoiding all the unreconciled collisions. SIP further avoids the slot waste by carrying out a filter to separate genuine tags from others in advance. Furthermore, SUIP separates the incremental unknown tags from others by using a filter with improved performance and proposes a collision reconciliation technique to accelerate the identification process. Simulation results demonstrate that our protocols are able to guarantee any identification accuracy in a privacy-protected way.

Rejecting Test Surveillance in Higher Education

The rise of remote proctoring software during the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates the dangers of surveillance-enabled pedagogy built on the belief that students can’t be trusted. These services, which deploy a range of identification protocols, computer and internet access limitations, and human or automated observation of students as they take tests remotely, are marketed as necessary to prevent cheating. But the success of these services in their stated goal is ill- supported at best and discredited at worst, particularly given their highly over- inclusive criteria for “suspicious” behavior. Meanwhile, the harms they inflict on students are clear: severe anxiety among test-takers, concerning data collection and use practices, and discriminatory flagging of students of color and students with disabilities have provoked widespread outcry from students, professors, privacy advocates, policymakers, and sometimes universities themselves. To make matters worse, the privacy and civil rights laws most relevant to the use of these services are generally inadequate to protect students from the harms they inflict.Colleges and universities routinely face difficult decisions that require reconciling conflicting interests, but whether to use remote proctoring software isn’t one of them. Remote proctoring software is not pedagogically beneficial, institutionally necessary, or remotely unavoidable, and its use further entrenches inequities in higher education that schools should be devoted to rooting out. Colleges and universities should abandon remote proctoring software, and apply the lessons from this failed experiment to their other existing or potential future uses of surveillance technologies and automated decision-making systems that threaten students’ privacy, access to important life opportunities, and intellectual freedom.