Multilevel Threshold Secret and Function Sharing based on the Chinese Remainder Theorem

A recent work of Harn and Fuyou presents the first multilevel (disjunctive) threshold secret sharing scheme based on the Chinese Remainder Theorem. In this work, we first show that the proposed method is not secure and also fails to work with a certain natural setting of the threshold values on compartments. We then propose a secure scheme that works for all threshold settings. In this scheme, we employ a refined version of Asmuth-Bloom secret sharing with a special and generic Asmuth-Bloom sequence called the {\it anchor sequence}. Based on this idea, we also propose the first multilevel conjunctive threshold secret sharing scheme based on the Chinese Remainder Theorem. Lastly, we discuss how the proposed schemes can be used for multilevel threshold function sharing by employing it in a threshold RSA cryptosystem as an example

Hermione Granger as Young Girl Sleuth in the Harry Potter Series

Reappearing in the long tradition of girl sleuths such as Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew, Hermione Granger interrupts the centrality of the male-fantasy-adventure in the Harry Potter series. Throughout the novels, Hermione asserts her own subjecthood and participates in a shared agency to change from a scared girl into a woman battling for justice. Clearly, the Harry Potter series can affect readers differently. Some may perceive the comparisons to the Nancy Drew role of Era Three when Hermione uses her wits to detect clues, solve mysteries, and uncover suspects and their motives. Although others may stereotype Hermione as the conventional female helpmate, still others may find that her take-charge personality affirms that her role is equal to Harry’s. Unlike Nancy Drew, however, Hermione engages in social activism, thus subverting the wizarding world’s dominant values and matching feminism’s more humanistic aims. In the end, Hermione’s adventures can offer young girl readers a newer role model to address the typical adolescent tasks of seeking independent action, learning when to conform (or not), working cooperatively with others, using knowledge for real purposes, and of contributing to the larger community to better others’ circumstances. Using cultural and feminist criticism, this investigation concludes that readers can approve of Hermione’s disruption of the male fantasy adventure genre and admire her maturation into a keener adult role model who thinks clearly, lives justly, and works for others beyond the world of fantasy

Karl F. Jorda: An Anthology Remembering the Remarkable Life of an IP Icon and Beloved Professor

[Excerpt] “In May 2016 I was sad to hear that Professor Karl Jorda had passed away. For twenty-five years, Karl had been my professor, while earning my LL.M. (IP) degree, as well as Faculty colleague, ardent supporter of the Library, and friend. For almost two decades, he made annual donations from his grand personal library. These materials, on the spectrum from continuing education practice monographs to exotic treatises on IP in foreign languages, helped add to the unique holdings of the IP Library. Upon retiring, he donated over a dozen cabinets of his papers, many are the foundation of the web collection of his works. The law school community was swift in expressing the loss; “Karl was a titan in the world of intellectual property law,” said Jordan Budd, Interim Dean at UNH Law. “He was also sincere and kind-hearted, and a tremendous mentor to our students and faculty. He left an immensely positive imprint on UNH Law. Everyone here is lucky to have called him a colleague and a friend.

Architect genes of the brain : a look at brain evolution through genoarchitecture

The brain of modern humans is the result of the evolution of a building plan (Bauplan) that began its design 500 hundred millions years ago. The process began in basal chordates (sea animals that were living immersed in the sand) and gave rise to the first building plan of the central nervous system; this was progressively modified and shared by all vertebrates. Behind the story are gene networks, key actors in the process to give identity to the different brain regions. This evolutionary scenario provides the basis for studies that seek to understand what is «conserved» and what is «new» between different vertebrates, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved in this process. This article explores the role of genoarchitectonic studies in this human scientific endeavor

Author and reader in Instructions for use

Instructions for use should not be seen as merely instrumental-they should also persuade the reader to read the text and to act accordingly. Moreover, they should establish a positive image of the product and the manufacturer. In this paper, a collection of instructions for use is used to identify strategies that technical writers apply to fulfill these `rhetorical' demands; especially strategies that involve the author-reader relationship. The analysis shows that the implied author's role is not only that of a neutral instructor, but also that of a teacher or a salesman. The reader is not only addressed as a technical `operator', but also as a `user' who applies the product in a `real-life task'. The analysis also shows that technical writers sometimes use subtle politeness strategies to compensate for `face threatening acts' (FTAs). However, all of these rhetorical strategies seem to be applied very unsystematically and often clumsily. The conclusion is that technical writers may be aware of rhetorical demands for their documents, but that the instrumental function still is paramount in their eye

The Nondeterministic Waiting Time Algorithm: A Review

We present briefly the Nondeterministic Waiting Time algorithm. Our technique for the simulation of biochemical reaction networks has the ability to mimic the Gillespie Algorithm for some networks and solutions to ordinary differential equations for other networks, depending on the rules of the system, the kinetic rates and numbers of molecules. We provide a full description of the algorithm as well as specifics on its implementation. Some results for two well-known models are reported. We have used the algorithm to explore Fas-mediated apoptosis models in cancerous and HIV-1 infected T cells

Heartbreak hotel: a convergence in cardiac regeneration

In February 2016, the Company of Biologists hosted an intimate gathering of leading international researchers at the forefront of experimental cardiovascular regeneration, with its emphasis on ‘Transdifferentiation and Tissue Plasticity in Cardiovascular Rejuvenation’. As I review here, participants at the workshop revealed how understanding cardiac growth and lineage decisions at their most fundamental level has transformed the strategies in hand that presently energize the prospects for human heart repair