Blind Detection of Region Duplication Forgery Using Fractal Coding and Feature Matching

Digital image forgery detection is important because of its wide use in applications such as medical diagnosis, legal investigations, and entertainment. Copy–move forgery is one of the famous techniques, which is used in region duplication. Many of the existing copy–move detection algorithms cannot effectively blind detect duplicated regions that are made by powerful image manipulation software like Photoshop. In this study, a new method is proposed for blind detecting manipulations in digital images based on modified fractal coding and feature vector matching. The proposed method not only detects typical copy–move forgery, but also finds multiple copied forgery regions for images that are subjected to rotation, scaling, reflection, and a mixture of these postprocessing operations. The proposed method is robust against tampered images undergoing attacks such as Gaussian blurring, contrast scaling, and brightness adjustment. The experimental results demonstrated the validity and efficiency of the method.     

Age Estimation in Living Egyptians Using Signal Joint T‐cell Receptor Excision Circle Rearrangement

Age estimation is one of the challenges in forensic sciences. There are many techniques to estimate the age. Molecular biology approach is one of these techniques. Signal joint T‐cell receptor excision circles gene (sjTRECs), is one of this approach. We aimed to use sjTRECs as a suitable marker for age estimation among Egyptian population. TaqMan qPCR approach was used to quantify sjTREC levels in blood samples obtained from 153 healthy Egyptian individuals ranging from a few weeks to 70 years. Our results showed a significant negative correlation between sjTREC levels and age with p ≤ 0.05. Moreover, the individual's age can be determined through this formula Age = ?30.671+ (?5.998Y) (Y is dCtTBP ? sjTREC) with standard error ±7.35 years. Within the forensic context, sjTREC' levels can be used to estimate the Egyptian individual's age accurately.     

羊口疮病毒F1L基因的克隆及其B细胞表位预测

为了研究羊口疮病毒(ORFV)F1L基因,以该病毒基因组DNA为模板,应用聚合酶链式反应(PCR)扩增得到1011bp的F1L基因,将其插入pMD18-TEasy克隆载体,构建了F1L基因克隆重组质粒;再将该基因片段插入pGEX-6P-1表达载体,通过PCR、限制性内切酶双酶切和测序鉴定,得到F1L基因插入方向和读码框结构均正确的阳性质粒,表明,成功构建了羊口疮病毒F1L基因的重组表达载体。通过对F1L基因序列进行生物信息学分析,预测发现F1L蛋白亲水、无信号肽,B细胞表位主要位于第4～8位、第16～22位、第32～53位、第59～73位、第82～99位和第123～133位氨基酸。这将为建立ORFV诊断方法、制备单克隆抗体及合成肽疫苗奠定基础。     

安全焦虑、信号传递与中国对东南亚国家的战略安抚

对于崛起的中国而言,采取系统性战略安抚,树立自我克制的负责任大国形象有助于赢得周边国家信任。然而,在二十多年睦邻外交实践中,东南亚国家始终对崛起的中国的意图感到焦虑,这种担忧因地理邻近性与实力不对称而变得更加敏感。2008年以来,东南亚国家对中国"核心利益"话语、逐步增多的外交制裁以及多边倡议给予了较大关注。面对东南亚国家上升的安全忧虑,中国外交主动释放安抚信号增信释疑。与强制策略不同,安抚策略关注如何从正面激励换取他国的信任。立足于对现有文献的批判性整合,重新梳理善意信号的呈现形式(情感-物质)与成本来源(内生-外生)两大维度,可以从逻辑上生成四种睦邻安抚信号的表达路径:睦邻话语、相互依赖、无私援助与制度约束。面对中国的吸引与安抚,东南亚国家也会主动进行试探与甄别,以讨价还价、社会化、对冲试探和制度牵制四种方式,对中国释放的安抚信号进行评估。由于安抚信号的可信度评估具有主观性,东南亚国家对中国安抚信号存在不同理解,中国外交需换位思考并理解东南亚国家的试探心理。     

Study on the Problems and Countermeasures of Public Rental Housing Fraud: Based on Signal Transmission Model

The information asymmetry between the government and the housing security object would lead to adverse selection, opportunism and moral hazard during the rental process of public rental housing. Based on the review of China’s public rental housing policy implementation and effect, and combing the relevant literature about public rental housing fraud, we constructed the signal transfer model suitable for the explanation of the behavior of China’s public housing fraud, and focused on the explanatory variable of social service time. The theoretical analysis shows that social service time can be used as an explanatory variable to reveal the separation equilibrium and pooling equilibrium of various income groups under different social service times. Finally, we took the public rental housing community of Lanqiao Jingyuan in Hangzhou as an example to make a case analysis, the results confirmed the operability of the model, and indicated that social service time as the signal is helpful for the reaching the ideal state of equilibrium of different income groups.     

Biased Sanctions? Methodological Change in Economic Sanctions Reconsidered and Its Implications

We investigate the influence of case selection and (re)coding for two vintages of a key resource for research on economic sanctions: the Peterson Institute database reported in Hufbauer et al. (second edition in 1990 and third edition in 2007, often identified by their abbreviations HSE and HSEO). The Peterson Institute has not transparently reported about these changes. These changes make it more likely to find sanction success. A multivariate probit analysis establishes upward bias related to modest policy change, duration, and cost to target and downward bias for regime change, military impairment, companion policies, and cost to the sender.     

Degrees of difference: Do college credentials earned behind bars improve labor market outcomes?

It is widely held that providing postsecondary education programs to incarcerated individuals will improve postrelease labor market outcomes. Little research evidence exists, however, to support this view. To test the effect of postsecondary carceral education credentials on employer perceptions of hireability, the current study uses a factorial design to survey a sample of employers nationwide (N = 2,538). Employers were presented with résumés of fictional applicants applying to a job as a customer service representative at a large call center. The résumés randomized education credentials earned while incarcerated. Results indicate that employers were significantly more willing to interview applicants with postsecondary education credentials relative to applicants with only a General Educational Development (GED) diploma. Although Black applicants who had earned a sub-baccalaureate certificate saw improvements in hireability relative to GED holders, Black applicants who had earned a bachelor's degree did not. In contrast, White applicants benefited both from sub-baccalaureate certificates and bachelor's degrees. Results from a mediation analysis suggest that these credentials signal important information to employers about applicant attributes and that improved perceptions of applicant ability and likelihood to reoffend drive the overall effect. Implications for future research and policy are explored.     

信号检测论视角下法医精神病鉴定意见的评判

鉴定意见准确是高质量法医精神病鉴定的必然要求。然而,法医精神病鉴定是由鉴定人来实施的,在鉴定过程中,鉴定人需要进行一系列判断和识别,鉴定意见是鉴定人一系列识别和判断的结果。探讨法医精神病鉴定中鉴定人识别和判断活动的特征,并结合信号检测论所揭示的人进行识别和判断活动的心理学规律,探讨法医精神病鉴定意见准确性的影响因素,以及由信号检测论所揭示的规律对于正确认识法医精神病鉴定的准确性、提高法医精神病鉴定质量的指导价值和意义。     

纹面为美:美学哥德巴赫猜想题解之一

自由创造美的行为是建立在两大基本需求基础之上的,那就是“两种生产”,即生活资料的生产与人类自身的生产。在美和艺术起源探讨上,我们以往注意了解决人类生存的物质生产,而比较忽略危及人类生存的自身生产。在美的概念产生之前,人们对一切违反乱伦禁忌的行为,都视为“丑恶”。纹面符号最早成为婚姻集团和级别制度的标志。这种因禁忌带来的更大的诱惑力和意志力,极大地刺激了婚姻禁忌标志的制作和美的创造。在母系氏族社会内,女性优先获得这种创造美的自由。“美”就是一个由“人”和鱼蛙纹纹面符号“︽︽”组成的合体象形文。“美在健康、和谐、愉悦的婚姻关系”,这是从亘古到当今的人类一直不懈的追求,它能带给我们关于“以人为本”的许多美的启示。     

日本血吸虫信号转导蛋白Sjwnt10a基因的克隆及其在童虫和成虫中mRNA表达量的变化

利用RACE技术从19日龄的日本血吸虫童虫中扩增了1个Wnt家族基因,并对其进行了生物信息学分析。同源性分析表明,该基因为日本血吸虫新基因,完整开放阅读框(ORF)长1896 bp,编码631个氨基酸,理论分子质量为73.3 ku。该基因编码的氨基酸序列具有Wnt家族蛋白的典型特征,与人、鼠Wnt10a的氨基酸序列同源性均为26%,推测为血吸虫的Wnt10a基因,命名为Sjwnt10a(Gen BanK登录号DQ643829)。利用实时荧光定量PCR分析该基因在日本血吸虫不同发育阶段虫体中的表达情况,结果显示该基因在19日龄的日本血吸虫童虫中表达量最高,在14日龄童虫和44日龄雄虫中也有表达,但分别仅为19日龄童虫表达量的8.8%和5.0%,而在31日龄成虫和44日龄雌虫中没有检测到该基因。结果提示,童虫差异表达的Sjwnt10a基因可能对童虫的生长、发育至关重要。