Watermark detection with zero-knowledge disclosure

Watermarking schemes embed information imperceptibly in digital objects and are proposed as primitives in various copyright protection applications, such as proofs of authorship, dispute resolving protocols or fingerprinting. In many applications, the presence of watermarks must be provable to any possibly dishonest party. Traditionally, watermark detection requires knowledge of sensitive information like the watermark or the embedding key. This is a major security risk, since this information is in most cases sufficient to remove the watermark and to defeat the goal of copyright protection. Zero-knowledge watermark detection is a promising approach to overcome security issues during the process of watermark detection: cryptographic techniques are used to prove that a watermark is detectable in certain data, without jeopardizing the watermark. This paper presents a formal definition of zero-knowledge watermark detection, discusses zero-knowledge watermark detection protocols and compares their properties.     

Chwa & Hakimi故障模型方程诊断的理论基础

针对基于对称比较的系统级故障模型———Chwa&Hakimi模型 ,建立起“方程诊断”的有关概念 ,把该模型等价地转换为一个方程 (或方程组 )。对于一类特殊的Chwa&Hakimi模型找到了求全体相容故障模式的具体算法 ,该算法为寻求一般情形下Chwa&Hakimi模型的全体相容故障模式奠定了理论基础和算法基础。     

The role of the carotenoids,lutein and zeaxanthin,in protecting against age-related macular degeneration: A review based on controversial evidence

Purpose  

A review of the role of the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin, and their function in altering the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD).     

Transduction of static pressure signal to expression of human granurocytes macrophage colony stimulating factor mRNA in Chinese hamster ovary cells

The expression level of human granurocytes macrophage colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) mRNA in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) DR1000L4N cells increased by 24% with pressurization. Treatment of cells with chelerythrine chloride (10 nM, 15 min), an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC), did not suppress the pressure-induced (0.9 MPa) expression of hGM-CSF mRNA, while it decreased the hGM-CSF gene expression level at normal pressure (0.1 MPa). Treatment with U0126 (20 microM, 60 min), a specific inhibitor of extracellular signal-related kinase (ERK1/2), decreased the expression level of hGM-CSF mRNA at 0.1 MPa to 80% of that without U0126 treatment. Similarly, treatment with U0126 decreased the pressure-induced (0.9 MPa) expression level of hGM-CSF mRNA to 79% of the control expression level at 0.1 MPa without treatment. The amount of intracellular phosphorylated ERK1/2 increased with pressurization (0.9 MPa). These results suggest that the pressure-induced expression of hGM-CSF mRNA in CHO DR1000L4N cells depends not on PKC but on the ERK1/2 signaling cascade.     

Oblivious Transfers and Privacy Amplification

Oblivious transfer (OT) is an important primitive in cryptography. In chosen one-out-of-two string OT, a sender offers two strings, one of which the other party, called the receiver, can choose to read, not learning any information about the other string. The sender on the other hand does not obtain any information about the receivers choice. We consider the problem of reducing this primitive to OT for single bits. Previous attempts to doing this were based on self-intersecting codes. We present a new technique for the same task, based on so-called privacy amplification. It is shown that our method has two important advantages over the previous approaches. First, it is more efficient in terms of the number of required realizations of bit OT, and second, the technique even allows for reducing string OT to (apparently) much weaker primitives. An example of such a primitive is universal OT, where the receiver can adaptively choose what type of information he wants to obtain about the two bits sent by the sender subject to the only constraint that some, possibly very small, uncertainty must remain about the pair of bits.     

Using matrix peaks to map topography: increased mass resolution and enhanced sensitivity in chemical imaging

It is well known in secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) that sample topography leads to decreased mass resolution. Specifically, the ion's time of flight is dependent on where it was generated. Here, using matrix-enhanced SIMS, it is demonstrated that, in addition to increasing the yield of intact pseudomolecular ions, the matrix allows the user to semiquantitatively record the topography of a sample. Through mapping the topography-related mass shifts of the matrix (which leads to decreased mass resolution), the analogous mass shifts of higher mass ions can be deconvoluted and higher resolution and greater sensitivity obtained. Furthermore, the semiquantitative topographical map obtained can be compared with any chemical images obtained, allowing the user to quickly ascertain whether local intensity maximums are due to topological features or represent genuine features of interest.     

A fluorescent carbazole derivative: high sensitivity for quadruplex DNA

We have synthesized a novel molecule, 3,6-bis(1-methyl-4-vinylpyridium)carbazole diiodide (BMVC), for recognizing specific quadruplex structures, particularly the quadruplex of human telomeric sequence d(T(2)AG(3))(4). The fluorescence intensity of the BMVC molecule increases from 1 to almost 2 orders of magnitude upon interacting with various DNAs. At a concentration of BMVC of 10 microM, fluorescence bands with different colors of BMVC in electrophoresis gels of various DNAs can be observed. The fluorescence of BMVC can be used to discriminate between duplex and quadruplex DNAs. At the low concentration of 0.1 microM BMVC in prestained gels, the fluorescence is observed in the presence of quadruplexes with anti-anti-anti-anti and anti-anti-syn-syn arrangements. However, no fluorescence band is detected upon interacting with duplexes and quadruplexes with anti-syn-anti-syn arrangement. Moreover, the sensitivity assays show that as little as 0.2 pmol of quadruplex of d(T(2)AG(3))(4) can be revealed by BMVC.     

Compound-specific carbon isotope analysis of volatile organic compounds in the low-microgram per liter range

Compound-specific carbon isotope analysis (CSIA) has become an important tool in biological, archeological, and geological studies as well as in forensics, food sciences, and organic chemistry. If sensitivity could be enhanced, CSIA would further have an improved potential for environmental applications such as, for example, in situ remediation studies to assess contaminated environments, identification of pollutant degradation pathways and kinetics, distinction between degradation/formation mechanisms, or, verification of contaminant sources. With this goal in mind, we have developed methods to determine delta13C values of commonly reported groundwater contaminants in low-microgram per liter concentrations. Several injection and preconcentration techniques were evaluated for this purpose, i.e., on-column injection, split/ splitless injection, solid-phase microextraction (SPME), and purge and trap (P&T) in combination with gas chromatography-isotope ratio mass spectrometry. The delta13C values of the target compounds were determined by liquid injections of the analytes dissolved in diethyl ether or, in the case of P&T and SPME, by extraction from water spiked with the analytes. P&T extraction was the most efficient preconcentration technique reaching method detection limits (MDLs) from 0.25 to 5.0 microg/L. These are the lowest MDLs reported so far for continuous-flow isotope ratio determinations, using a commercially available and fully automated system. Isotopic fractionation resulting from preconcentration and injection was investigated and quantified for the priority groundwater pollutants methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), chloroform, tetrachloromethane, chlorinated ethylenes, benzene, and toluene. The isotopic fractionations caused by the extraction techniques were small but highly reproducible and could therefore be corrected for. P&T was characterized by a higher reproducibility and smaller isotopic fractionations than SPME. Among the liquid injection techniques, cold on-column injection resulted in slightly better precision compared to split/splitless injection. However, the MDLs determined for liquid injections were 4-6 orders of magnitude higher (i.e., 9.5-2800 mg/L) than for P&T and SPME. Since both of the latter methods are solventless, a better chromatographic resolution was obtained than for the liquid injection techniques. The P&T and SPME methods described here are also applicable for CSIA of D/H ratios, which require 10-20 times higher analyte concentrations than 13C/12C analysis. Finally, the applicability of the described methods is demonstrated for pollutant concentrations of only 5-60 microg/L in environmental samples.