Key Matrix Research Articles

Advanced hill cipher algorithm for security image data with the involutory key matrix

The security of important and confidential data is a top priority. Therefore, it is necessary to secure appropriate data to ensure confidentiality. Secrecy of data security can be done by randomizing the data in order to make the data is difficult to understand by anyone. One of the data security techniques that can be used is Advanced Hill Cipher cryptography. The purpose of this research was to create an application or software used to secure an image’s data by applying the Advanced Hill Cipher algorithm. A classic cryptographic technique, which use a matrix as a key in the process of encrypting and decrypting data with the type of key used is the symmetric key type. The data used in this study was an image data, while the application development used the language of MATLAB Programming. The method used in this study was the Advanced Hill Cipher Cryptographic Algorithm. Basically the Advanced Hill Cipher Cryptography algorithm is much more like the Hill Cipher algorithm. However, on Advanced Hill Cipher, algorithms are developed using a key matrix that always has inverse; so that the disadvantages of the hill cipher algorithm are that the key matrix does not always have inverse resolved. In this research, the key matrix used is a 2x2 order involuntary matrix with integer elements. The output of this study is anapplication that can be used to encrypting and decryptinggrayscaleand color image data with key matrix that always have inverse.

Establishment of a New Model of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration With Pathological Characteristics.

A prospective study. Intervertebral disc degenerative disease is a common and frequently-occurring disease in adults and is the main cause of lower back pain. However, there is a lack of universal animal models to study disc degeneration. Forty-two male New Zealand white rabbits aged 12 months were used in this study. We established an endplate ischemic disc degeneration model though surgical ligation of rabbit lumbar vertebral body segment arteries. Two weeks after surgery, 6 experimental animals were randomly selected for follow-up tests. First, ischemia and lumbar disc degeneration were confirmed using imaging techniques. Then, immunohistochemical staining was performed to observe the growth of the annulus fibrosus. Finally, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and western blotting were used to detect mRNA expression and protein content of IL-1α, TNFα, collagen II, MMP-3, aggrecan, and PLA2 in the nucleus pulposus of the disc. Imaging examination confirmed the successful construction of a lumbar disc degeneration model. Histological analysis and biochemical analysis showed a damaged intervertebral disc structure, and collagen II and aggrecan, the key extracellular matrix components of intervertebral discs, were reduced in synthesis and content. The synthesis and expression of IL-1α, TNFα, PLA2, and MMP-3 related to disc catabolism and inflammatory response were enhanced. We successfully constructed a lumbar disc degeneration ischemia model, which provides a novel approach to study the pathological mechanisms involved in discogenic low back pain and to prevent and treat discogenic low back pain.

Wireless COVID-19 Telehealth: Leukocytes Encryption Guided by Amino Acid Matrix.

In this era of wireless COVID-19 telehealth, visiting hospital for regular follow-ups could invite coronavirus in someone’s body. Opting for proactive E-health services is the best thing. It helps the remote patients to share their confidential data through secured encryption. Telehealth services are emerging element in these proactive medical sciences. It helps the remote patients to share their confidential data through secured transmission. In this paper, amino acid guided matrix encoding scheme has been proposed. White blood cell count or Leukocute count is a dominant indicator of patients’ health condition, even amid COVID-19. An abnormal growth in leukocyte count is mainly caused due to an infection, cancer, or any other severe symptoms. It initiates internal haematological inflammations, cardiovascular diseases, Type II diabetes, etc. Therefore, tracking leukocyte count may for disease diagnosis and further treatments. The leukocyte count is generally done in different pathologies, and the data evaluation needs the expertise of a pathologist. In this paper, a technique involving security measures to transmit the result of the histological test with the help of cryptography has been proposed. The data to be transferred to the concerned physician for further diagnosis with the help of proposed way of encryption using amino acids, which ensures no data loss, no data modification, no data theft in the middle of transmission. The proposed encryption method using the amino acid codes has produced results showing satisfactory performances such as p-values found to be 7.215544e−04 and 8.48904e−03 for the key stream and cipher key matrix monobit test respectively, and 8.10245e−04 and 8.10245e−04 for the key stream and cipher key matrix frequency test respectively. It may be used as a transmission module in any wireless COVID-19 Telehealth Systems.

Considerations in the Methodology for the Technical-Environmental Viability of Sanitary Landfills in Rural Communities. Northern Case of the Province of Santa Elena, Ecuador

This research focuses on providing a solution to rural sectors' problems regarding solid waste management and final disposal. It considered the Sanitary Landfill (SL) technical-environmental viability for rural communities in the north of Santa Elena-Ecuador. The objective is to propose a methodology for evaluating a sanitary landfill's technical-environmental viability, considering a Key Factors Matrix (KFM) for the possibility of its application in rural communities. The proposed methodology is based on: i) identification of preliminary and field data for assessment of the sector through the KFM, and ii) determination of the technical-environmental viability of an SL according to the aspects considered. The KFM allowed the Ayangue commune to be chosen for the location of the SL under certain precautions. Given this sector's tourist influence, solid waste accumulates 40 tons per day from the ninth year on. Therefore, it is recommended to bear in mind a possible restructuring of the SL, from a semi-mechanized system to a fully mechanized one.

Exploiting 2D compressed sensing and information entropy for secure color image compression and encryption

Compared to 1D compressed sensing (CS), 2D CS is more efficient for compressing the plaintext image from two directions, but security level of current 2D CS-based ciphers is unsatisfactory. To solve this problem, this paper presents a novel color image compression and encryption algorithm by combining 2D CS, information entropy and chaos. Firstly, the color image is decomposed into red, green and blue components, then they are sparsely transformed by the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) to get three sparse matrices. Next, the obtained matrices are observed by two asymptotical deterministic random measurement matrices based on information entropy and counter (ADMMIC), which not only encrypts the plaintext image, but also compresses it in proportion to reduce the transmission bandwidth and storage space. Subsequently, the corresponding measurement value matrices are shuffled by a double random scrambling based on Arnold map and index vector (DRSAIV) to eliminate the correlation between adjacent pixels. Furthermore, the obtained permutated matrices are diffused by a simultaneous multiple random diffusion of inter–intra components (SMRDIC) to obtain the final cipher image, the plaintext pixel to be diffused, the key matrix involved in diffusion and the position of the obtained ciphertext pixel are all unpredictable, which makes statistical attack invalid. In addition, information entropy values of plaintext image are obtained to generate the initial values of the used chaotic systems, which greatly improve the ability to resist the known-plaintext and chosen-plaintext attacks. Simulation results and security analyses verify that this algorithm has good compression and high security.

Regulation of key extracellular matrix components in human osteoarthritis fibroblast-like synoviocytes by microrna-27b-3p via peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma/a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-8 signaling axis

Purpose: Synovial fibrosis, a hallmark pathological feature associated with osteoarthritis (OA), is characterized by excessive deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM). However, the exact mechanisms underlying the increased ECM production in the synovium are not well understood. We have previously shown that microRNA (miR)-27b-3p is increased in the synovial fluid of late-stage (Kellgren lawrence (KL) grade 3 & 4) compared to KL grade 1 & 2 radiographic knee OA patients. We also identified that miR-27b-3p was highly expressed in the OA synovial tissue compared to cartilage.

Key Matrix Remodeling Enzymes: Functions and Targeting in Cancer.

Simple SummaryProteolytic enzymes, such as matrix metalloproteinases, plasminogen activators and cathepsins, as well as non-proteolytic enzymatic partners, such as heparanase and hyaluron-idases, play key roles in the propagation and metastatic potential of cancer cells. This article aims to revisit the main functions of major matrix remodeling molecules and their effects in cancer meta-static potential. Moreover, the epigenetic regulation mechanisms of these molecules are discussed, in addition to recent advances in their pharmacological targeting. Finally, novel data from ongoing clinical trials on several cancer types are also provided. Overall, this review delves into the im-portance of matrix remodeling partners in cancer metastasis and explores their targeting as a promising therapeutic option for cancer management.Tissue functionality and integrity demand continuous changes in distribution of major components in the extracellular matrices (ECMs) under normal conditions aiming tissue homeostasis. Major matrix degrading proteolytic enzymes are matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), plasminogen activators, atypical proteases such as intracellular cathepsins and glycolytic enzymes including heparanase and hyaluronidases. Matrix proteases evoke epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and regulate ECM turnover under normal procedures as well as cancer cell phenotype, motility, invasion, autophagy, angiogenesis and exosome formation through vital signaling cascades. ECM remodeling is also achieved by glycolytic enzymes that are essential for cancer cell survival, proliferation and tumor progression. In this article, the types of major matrix remodeling enzymes, their effects in cancer initiation, propagation and progression as well as their pharmacological targeting and ongoing clinical trials are presented and critically discussed.

Cryptography using generalized Fibonacci matrices with Affine-Hill cipher

In this article, we have proposed a public key cryptography using Affine-Hill cipher with generalised Fibonacci matrix(called multinacci matrix). Also proposed a key establishment(exchange of key matrix of order λ×λ for encryption-decryption) scheme with the help of multinacci sequences under prime modulo. In this scheme, instead of exchanging key matrix, we need to exchange only pair of numbers (λ, k), which reduces the time complexity as well as space complexity and comes with a large key-space.

Abstract PO030: A novel integrin-targeted therapeutic agent for prostate cancer

Abstract Disintegrins are disulfide-rich peptides, many containing an Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) motif. They hold significant translational potential as anti-cancer agents based on their high-affinity/high-specificity interaction with tumor integrins and desirable pharmacological attributes. The integrin-binding activity of disintegrins depends on a mobile 11-amino acid loop displaying the RGD tripeptide motif or some other tripeptide motif. They bind only to the activated conformation of integrins on motile cancer cells and angiogenic endothelial cells. We designed a sequence-engineered RGD-disintegrin, vicrostatin (VCN), that can be produced at ~200mg/L from cell lysates of a bacterial recombinant system. VCN, a monomer (MW=7146), inhibits tumor cell adhesion and dissemination, and angiogenic endothelial cell invasion and tube formation. Integrins are cell surface adhesion receptors (containing a and b chains) operating at the interface between the extracellular matrix and cytoskeletal apparatus. A sub-group of integrins recognize the RGD sequence present in key extracellular matrix proteins involved in prostate cancer (PC) growth and dissemination. Integrins are involved in bi-directional signaling interactions that alter cellular functions. Among these interactions are those involved in PC growth, metastasis and angiogenesis. Integrin avb3 plays an important role in the development of bone metastases, supporting our belief that it, as well as other RGD-integrins, are important therapeutic targets in advanced PC. We examined the effect of treatment of a xenograft model of human PC using a liposomal formulation of VCN (LVCN). PC3 cells were implanted subcutaneously in 5-week old male nude mice. LVCN and VCN (100µg VCN equivalent per dose) administration was initiated IV when tumors became palpable (14 days). Tumor size was measured weekly by caliper in a blinded study. There was a 75% reduction in tumor growth in LVCN-treated animals compared to controls. VCN displayed little anti-tumor activity most likely due to its lack of availability to the PC cells. We also examined the anti-angiogenic activity of LVCN in this model using CD31/PECAM immunohistochemistry and observed a significant decrease in tumor-associated microvessel density. We then evaluated therapeutic efficacy of LVCN in treating bone metastases. CWR22rV1 PC cells were suspended in a solution of matrigel and injected into a drilled hole in the proximal left tibia of immunodeficient mice (100,000 cells/10µL). Following injection, the diameters of both tibias were measured by caliper twice weekly. Since CWR22rV1 cells are androgen dependent, animals received daily injections of testosterone. Tumors grew slowly initially, but at 20 days tumors were evident and treatment began. LVCN and VCN were administered twice weekly via IV injection (100µg per dose) for 5 weeks. LVCN displayed ~81% inhibition of tumor growth compared to VCN, PBS or empty liposomes. Our findings provide strong support for the effectiveness of LVCN as an inhibitor of PC growth and metastases. Citation Format: Francis S. Markland, Stephen Swenson, Radu Minea, Jacek Pinski. A novel integrin-targeted therapeutic agent for prostate cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Special Conference on the Evolving Tumor Microenvironment in Cancer Progression: Mechanisms and Emerging Therapeutic Opportunities; in association with the Tumor Microenvironment (TME) Working Group; 2021 Jan 11-12. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PO030.

Impact of irrigation practices on Gilgel Abay, Ribb and Gumara fisheries, Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, particularly in Tana Sub-Basin, irrigation development practice is increasing. However, this development ignored the fisheries; no, enough information about its effects. The sub-basin is rich in fisheries, including the 17 Labeobarbus species (the only remaining cyprinid species in the world). The fishery is also supporting over 6000 fishers. Hence, this study investigated the impact of irrigation practices on the Gilgel Abay, Ribb, and Gumara fisheries. Methods include fish sampling below and above the weirs, expert interviews, key informant interviews, secondary data, and impact significance matrix methods. The data collection time was from July 2019 to June 2020. The analysis of the data was qualitative and quantitative. The existing irrigation system affects fisheries by blocking upstream spawning migration routes (Gilgel Abay Weir and Ribb Dam, for sure catch below the Gilgel Abay Weir, significantly higher than above the weir, Shannon Index (H’), P < 0.001). Besides, according to local sources, after 2007, Gumara and Ribb Rivers became seasonal because of excessive water abstraction for irrigation, resulting in mass fish-killing and the failure of juvenile recruitment to the lake. In one instance, we recorded the deaths of over 930 adults and juveniles on the Gumara and the Ribb Rivers. Succeeding low water volume, even non-fishers collect fish from the pools; and during spawning time, fishers target spawning migratory species at the weirs where the catch is prime is also the other problem. Other threatening elements can also aggravate the impact. Hence, these impacts need to be ameliorated by practicing efficacious water use, catchment treatment, fishery management, fish ladder development, and factor alleviation can be solutions.

Evolving Up-regulation of Biliary Fibrosis-Related Extracellular Matrix Molecules After Successful Portoenterostomy.

Successful portoenterostomy (SPE) improves the short‐term outcome of patients with biliary atresia (BA) by relieving cholestasis and extending survival with native liver. Despite SPE, hepatic fibrosis progresses in most patients, leading to cirrhosis and a deterioration of liver function. The goal of this study was to characterize the effects of SPE on the BA liver transcriptome. We used messenger RNA sequencing to analyze global gene‐expression patterns in liver biopsies obtained at the time of portoenterostomy (n = 13) and 1 year after SPE (n = 8). Biopsies from pediatric (n = 2) and adult (n = 2) organ donors and other neonatal cholestatic conditions (n = 5) served as controls. SPE was accompanied by attenuation of inflammation and concomitant up‐regulation of key extracellular matrix (ECM) genes. Highly overexpressed genes promoting biliary fibrosis and bile duct integrity, such as integrin subunit beta 6 and previously unreported laminin subunit alpha 3, emerged as candidates to control liver fibrosis after SPE. At a cellular level, the relative abundance of activated hepatic stellate cells and liver macrophages decreased following SPE, whereas portal fibroblasts (PFs) and cholangiocytes persisted. Conclusion: The attenuation of inflammation following SPE coincides with emergence of an ECM molecular fingerprint, a set of profibrotic molecules mechanistically connected to biliary fibrosis. The persistence of activated PFs and cholangiocytes after SPE suggests a central role for these cell types in the progression of biliary fibrosis.

Monitoring the microbiome for food safety and quality using deep shotgun sequencing

In this work, we hypothesized that shifts in the food microbiome can be used as an indicator of unexpected contaminants or environmental changes. To test this hypothesis, we sequenced the total RNA of 31 high protein powder (HPP) samples of poultry meal pet food ingredients. We developed a microbiome analysis pipeline employing a key eukaryotic matrix filtering step that improved microbe detection specificity to >99.96% during in silico validation. The pipeline identified 119 microbial genera per HPP sample on average with 65 genera present in all samples. The most abundant of these were Bacteroides, Clostridium, Lactococcus, Aeromonas, and Citrobacter. We also observed shifts in the microbial community corresponding to ingredient composition differences. When comparing culture-based results for Salmonella with total RNA sequencing, we found that Salmonella growth did not correlate with multiple sequence analyses. We conclude that microbiome sequencing is useful to characterize complex food microbial communities, while additional work is required for predicting specific species’ viability from total RNA sequencing.

Examination on Security Performance Analysis Model of Internet of Things Assigned Based on Composite Security Key

Rapid development of Internet of Things technology makes the Internet interact and communicate with objects in the real world. The diversity of Internet of Things’ system architectures and the diversity of networks determine the complexity of their security issues. A key step in building an Internet of Things’ security system is to build a model and evaluate threats of security. First, this paper studies the distribution of key security about mobile ad hoc networks and analyzed the characteristics of the scene. To promote the certification of the key exchange strategy of both sides, it supports key exchange between the core node and multiple nodes for existing problems that management scheme of random key preallocation is limited by the storage space of the node through combination of key matrix elements which has less information to generate a large number of keys, and each sensor node only needs to store related parameters and key matrix. It saves the memory space of node greatly. The results of simulation show that the program has a strong security; it can fight against the common attacks of wireless sensor networks, such as node forgery attacks, message replay attacks, and denial of service attacks. At the same time, it is superior to traditional solutions in terms of network connectivity and nondestructibility, which can apply clustered wireless sensor network massively.

Secure and Fast Image Encryption Algorithm Using Hyper-Chaos-Based Key Generator and Vector Operation

To protect image data privacy, a secure and fast image encryption algorithm using hyper-chaos based key generator and vector operation is proposed. Firstly, we introduce a novel post-process method to create a key matrix for significantly reducing the iterations of the hyperchaotic system from $W\,\,\times \,\,H$ /4 to $2W$ for an image size of $W\,\,\times \,\,H$ . And within the post-process, a random selector driven by the piecewise linear chaotic map ensures the good randomness and unpredictability of the generated key matrix. Secondly, the vector operation is employed to accelerate the cipher block chaining based diffusion process, so the plain image can be parallel encrypted row by row and column by column with high efficiency. Thirdly, we utilize a Logistic map to quickly produce an initial vector for the vectorized diffusion process. Finally, the proposed algorithm is evaluated by some common security and performance tests. Experimental results show that the cipher image can pass all tests of NIST SP 800–22 with $P$ -values $\gg ~0.01$ , its correlation coefficient between pixels is close to 0, and the entropy is greater than 7.999. Combined with other results of security tests, we can safely conclude that the proposed image encryption algorithm provides adequate protection against statistical, brute-force, chosen-plaintext, and other common types of attacks. In addition, the time complexity is in the order of ${O}$ ( $W+H$ ) and the average encryption time of 512 $\times $ 512 images is only 0.023s. The results indicate that our algorithm with high security and fast speed can meet the requirements of real-time confidential transmission of massive image data.

An Image Encryption Scheme Based on IAVL Permutation Scheme and DNA Operations

In this paper, a novel image encryption algorithm based on a new permutation scheme and DNA operations are introduced. In our algorithm, SHA 256 and DNA hamming distance participate in the generation of the initial conditions of the 4D chaotic system, which can associate the encryption system with the original image. In the permutation process, based on the adjustment process of the IAVL (improved balanced binary tree), a new scrambling algorithm is constructed. Then the dynamic block coding rules are designed, in which different image blocks have different coding rules. In the diffusion process, a new diffusion algorithm with intra-block and inter-block is proposed to perform DNA operations on the intermediate encryption result and the key matrix. In the security analysis, the key space of the encryption system is 2 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">933</sup> and the information entropy is about 7.9973. In addition, the NPCR and UACI in the differential attack test are close to the ideal values of 99.6094% and 33.4653%. To further prove the security of the encryption algorithm, the Irregular deviation, Maximum deviation, Energy, Contrast, and Homogeneity tests are introduced into the analysis. Experimental results illustrate that the encryption scheme can against multiple illegal attacks like statistical, brute-force and differential attacks.

Compressed Sensing of 3D Marine Environment Monitoring Data Based on Spatiotemporal Correlation

In the compressed sensing process of three-dimensional marine environmental monitoring data(3D-MMD), the traditional one-dimensional preprocessing methods and direct three-dimensional methods exhibit insufficient performance. In this study, we propose a novel compressed sensing observation and reconstruction method for 3D-MMD based on spatiotemporal correlation. Firstly, by analyzing the characteristics of two-dimensional expansion matrix group of 3D-MMD, we found that the expanded data in longitude dimension is more relevant. Then, according to the circular distribution of global longitude, the two-dimensional matrix sets are overlapped and grouped. The first and last matrices in the group are designated as the key matrix, and the difference matrix of adjacent matrices is calculated. Finally, the sampling rate of the key matrix and the difference matrix is allocated reasonably to achieve efficient observation and reconstruction. Theoretical analysis and simulation results showed that the proposed algorithm can greatly reduce the number of observations and relieve the pressure of system acquisition and storage while ensuring the reconstruction performance.

Dynamic fractional chaotic biometric isomorphic elliptic curve for partial image encryption

In this paper, a Modular Fractional Chaotic Sine Map (MFC-SM) has been introduced to achieve high Lyapunov exponent values and completely chaotic behavior of the bifurcation diagram for high level security. The proposed MFC-SM is compared with the conventional non MFC-SM and it has an excellent chaotic analysis. In addition, the randomness test results indicate that the proposed MFC-SM shows better performance and satisfy all randomness tests. Due to the excellent chaotic properties and good randomization results for the proposed MFC-SM, it is used to be cooperated with the biometric digital identity to achieve dynamic chaotic biometric digital identity. Also, for real time image encryption, both Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT)partial image encryption and Isomorphic Elliptic Curve (IEC)key exchange are used. In addition, the biometric digital identity is extracted from the user fingerprint image as fingerprint minutia data incorporated with the proposed MFC-SM and hence, a new Dynamic Fractional Chaotic Biometric Digital IdentityIEC (DFC-BID-IEC) has been introduced. Dynamic Fractional Chaotic Key Generator (DFC-KG) is used to control the key schedule for all encryption and decryption processing. The encryption process consists of the confusion and diffusion steps. In the confusion step, the 2D Arnold Cat Map (ACM) is used with secret parameters taken from DFC-KG. Also, the diffusion step is based on the dynamic chaotic self-invertible secret key matrix which can be generated from the proposed MFC-SM. The IEC key exchange secret parameters are generated based on Elliptic Curve Diffie?Hellman(ECDH) key exchange and the isomorphism parametre. Statistical analysis, differential analysis and key sensitivity tests are performed to estimate the security strengths of the proposed DFC-BID-IEC system. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is robust against common signal processing attacks and provides a high security level and high speed for image encryption application.

Matrix Control of Periodontal Ligament Cell Activity Via Synthetic Hydrogel Scaffolds.

Rebuilding the tooth-supporting tissues (periodontium) destroyed by periodontitis remains a clinical challenge. Periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs), multipotent cells within the periodontal ligament (PDL), differentiate and form new PDL and mineralized tissues (cementum and bone) during native tissue repair in response to specific extracellular matrix (ECM) cues. Thus, harnessing ECM cues to control PDLC activity ex vivo, and ultimately, to design a PDLC delivery vehicle for tissue regeneration is an important goal. In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels were used as a synthetic PDL ECM to interrogate the roles of cell-matrix interactions and cell-mediated matrix remodeling in controlling PDLC activity. Results showed that PDLCs within matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-degradable hydrogels expressed key PDL matrix genes and showed a six to eightfold increase in alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity compared with PDLCs in nondegradable hydrogel controls. The increase in ALP activity, commonly considered an early marker of cementogenic/osteogenic differentiation, occurred independent of the presentation of the cell-binding ligand RGD or soluble media cues and remained elevated when inhibiting PDLC-matrix binding and intracellular tension. ALP activity was further increased in softer hydrogels regardless of degradability and was accompanied by an increase in PDLC volume. However, scaffolds that fostered PDLC ALP activity did not necessarily promote hydrogel ECM mineralization. Rather, matrix mineralization was greatest in stiffer, MMP-degradable hydrogels and required the presence of soluble media cues. These divergent outcomes illustrate the complexity of the PDLC response to ECM cues and the limitations of current scaffold materials. Nevertheless, key biomaterial design principles for controlling PDLC activity were identified for incorporation into scaffolds for periodontal tissue regeneration. Impact statement Engineered scaffolds are an attractive approach for delivering periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) to rebuild the tooth-supporting tissues. Replicating key extracellular matrix (ECM) cues within tissue engineered scaffolds may maximize PDLC potential. However, the identity of important ECM cues and how they can be harnessed to control PDLC activity is still unknown. In this study, matrix degradability, cell-matrix binding, and stiffness were varied using synthetic poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels for three-dimensional PDLC culture. PDLCs exhibited dramatic and divergent responses to these cues, supporting further investigation of ECM-replicating scaffolds for control of PDLC behavior and periodontal tissue regeneration.

A Novel Chaotic Block Image Encryption Algorithm Based on Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks

This paper proposes a novel chaotic block image encryption algorithm based on deep convolutional generative adversarial networks (DCGANs), quaternions, an improved Feistel network, and an overall scrambling and diffusion mechanism. First, a new hyperchaotic system is introduced and combined with DCGANs to generate a random sequence with better randomness and complexity as a key stream. This sequence is then combined with a quaternion and an improved Feistel network encryption of a colour plaintext image by utilizing the key block matrix to ultimately achieve overall scrambling and diffusion of the cipher image. Finally, the security of this algorithm is quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The simulation results show that the proposed hyperchaotic system has a large key space and good random characteristics and that the new algorithm yields adequate security and can resist brute-force attacks and chosen-plaintext attacks. Therefore, this approach provides a new way to achieve secure transmission and protection of image information.

Femtoscopy of the Origin of the Nucleon Mass

We study the prospects of using femtoscopic low-momentum correlation measurements at the Large Hadron Collider to access properties of the J/psi-nucleon interaction. The QCD multipole expansion in terms of the J/psi chromopolarizability relates the forward scattering amplitude to a key matrix element to the origin of the nucleon mass problem, the average chromoelectric gluon distribution in the nucleon. We use information on the J/psi-nucleon interaction provided by lattice QCD simulations and phenomenological models to compute J/psi-nucleon correlation functions. The computed correlation functions show clear sensitivity to the interaction, in particular to the J/psi chromopolarizability.