Steganalysis of neural networks based on parameter statistical bias

Many pretrained deep learning models have been released to help engineers and researchers develop deep learning-based systems or conduct research with minimall effort. Previous work has shown that at secret message can be embedded in neural network parameters without compromising the accuracy of the model. Malicious developers can, therefore, hide malware or other baneful information in pretrained models, causing harm to society. Hence, reliable detection of these vicious pretrained models is urgently needed. We analyze existing approaches for hiding messages and find that they will ineluctably cause biases in the parameter statistics. Therefore, we propose steganalysis methods for steganography on neural network parameters that extract statistics from benign and malicious models and build classifiers based on the extracted statistics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study on neural network steganalysis. The experimental results reveal that our proposed algorithm can effectively detect a model with an embedded message. Notably, our detection methods are still valid in cases where the payload of the stego model is low.     

基于动态博弈的补贴模式对机场群航线网络结构的影响研究

为探讨不同补贴模式对机场群航线网络结构的影响，本文构建了关于机场、航空公司和乘客之间的动态博弈模型，通过逆向归纳法得到了纳什均衡条件. 研究结果发现：（1）不同的补贴模式对多机场航线网络结构产生重要影响，低补贴模式促使机场群倾向于形成点对点航线网络结构，反之，在高补贴模式下机场群易于形成枢纽辐射航线网络； （2）在较低的空铁联运总运营成本环境下，补贴竞争使得航空公司倾向于选择系统内的大型机场作为枢纽机场；反之，如果空铁联运总运营成本相对较高，补贴竞争使得航空公司倾向于选择小机场作为枢纽节点； （3）随航班固定成本和空铁联运总运营成本的增大，大型机场作为枢纽节点的概率逐渐减少，而小机场被选为枢纽节点的概率将逐渐增大. 随着机场群内大型机场腹地服务人口比例的增大，航空公司选择点对点航线网络的概率在减小. 研究结论能够为民航管理部门科学制定和应用航线补贴政策提供决策依据.     

Moving beyond Volatility Index (VIX): HARnessing the term structure of implied volatility

This paper considers how information from the implied volatility (IV) term structure can be harnessed to improve stock return volatility forecasting within the state-of-the-art HAR model. Factors are extracted from the IV term structure and included as exogenous variables in the HAR framework. We found that including slope and curvature factors leads to significant forecast improvements over the HAR benchmark at a range of forecast horizons, compared with the standard HAR model and HAR model with VIX as IV information set.     

Molecular function of the novel α7β2 nicotinic receptor

The α7 nicotinic receptor is a promising drug target for neurological and inflammatory disorders. Although it is the homomeric member of the family, a novel α7β2 heteromeric receptor has been discovered. To decipher the functional contribution of the β2 subunit, we generated heteromeric receptors with fixed stoichiometry by two different approaches comprising concatenated and unlinked subunits. Receptors containing up to three β2 subunits are functional. As the number of β2 subunits increases in the pentameric arrangement, the durations of channel openings and activation episodes increase progressively probably due to decreased desensitization. The prolonged activation episodes conform the kinetic signature of α7β2 and may have an impact on neuronal excitability. For activation of α7β2 receptors, an α7/α7 binding-site interface is required, thus indicating that the three β2 subunits are located consecutively in the pentameric arrangement. α7-positive allosteric modulators (PAMs) are emerging as novel therapeutic drugs. The presence of β2 in the pentamer affects neither type II PAM potentiation nor activation by an allosteric agonist whereas it impairs type I PAM potentiation. This first single-channel study provides fundamental basis required to decipher the role and function of the novel α7β2 receptor and opens doors to develop selective therapeutic drugs.     

Macropinocytosis,mTORC1 and cellular growth control

The growth and proliferation of metazoan cells are driven by cellular nutrient status and by extracellular growth factors. Growth factor receptors on cell surfaces initiate biochemical signals that increase anabolic metabolism and macropinocytosis, an actin-dependent endocytic process in which relatively large volumes of extracellular solutes and nutrients are internalized and delivered efficiently into lysosomes. Macropinocytosis is prominent in many kinds of cancer cells, and supports the growth of cells transformed by oncogenic K-Ras. Growth factor receptor signaling and the overall metabolic status of the cell are coordinated in the cytoplasm by the mechanistic target-of-rapamycin complex-1 (mTORC1), which positively regulates protein synthesis and negatively regulates molecular salvage pathways such as autophagy. mTORC1 is activated by two distinct Ras-related small GTPases, Rag and Rheb, which associate with lysosomal membranes inside the cell. Rag recruits mTORC1 to the lysosomal surface where Rheb directly binds to and activates mTORC1. Rag is activated by both lysosomal luminal and cytosolic amino acids; Rheb activation requires phosphoinositide 3-kinase, Akt, and the tuberous sclerosis complex-1/2. Signals for activation of Rag and Rheb converge at the lysosomal membrane, and several lines of evidence support the idea that growth factor-dependent endocytosis facilitates amino acid transfer into the lysosome leading to the activation of Rag. This review summarizes evidence that growth factor-stimulated macropinocytosis is essential for amino acid-dependent activation of mTORC1, and that increased solute accumulation by macropinocytosis in transformed cells supports unchecked cell growth.     

A Method to Visualize the Skeleton Industrial Structure with Input-Output Analysis and Its Application in China,Japan and USA

The paper established a double filtering method (DFM) to visualize the skeleton industrial structure (SIS) of one economy and find its evolution rule. Different with the previous researches, this method is from a new view of industrial conjunctions combined by leading sectors to depict the industrial structure. It was proved that the leading sector selected by DFM must be key sector selected by Hirschman-Rasmussen method. Applied DFM to input-output tables of China, Japan and USA and MFA to Japan and USA, the results analysis showed that DFM could overtake the two main shortcomings of minimum flow analysis (MFA), scratch SIS of each economy with its own characteristics, visualize the general evolution rules of the industrial structure with crisscrossed conjunctions among leading sectors.     

The Documentary Real: Thinking Documentary Aesthetics

In this article we consider the growing interest in recent years in the use of documentary strategies in the wold of contemporary art, film and performing arts and explore some of the central epistemological assumptions underpinning the persistent idea that the documentary should be equated with ‘non-fiction’. Following Stella Bruzzi we argue that if documentary theory maintains objectivity as the primary measure of value, it will inevitably and continuously arrive at the conclusion that the documentary genre is fundamentally flawed. Instead, we propose to move beyond the ‘realist epistemology’ of documentary theory and focus on the ‘documentary real’, i.e. the specific performativity of the reality constructed in and by the documentary genre. In the last paragraphs, we introduce the various articles that address the “documentary real” in this special issue.