ENHANCING MODEL SECURITY: LEVERAGING USER-GENERATED IDS AS EMBEDDED WATERMARKS IN MACHINE LEARNING MODELS

The potential theft or unauthorized use of machine learning models developed by a company can lead to significant financial losses and damage to the company\u27s intellectual property. While existing methods of protecting machine learning models such as encryption or access controls can be circumvented by skilled attacker, techniques presented herein involve the integration of embedded watermarks into machine learning models. Such techniques involving the integration of embedded watermarks may not only uniquely identify a model but may also include a unique user identification/identity that can make it possible to track usage of the model and detect any unauthorized use of the model. Thus, if a model is leaked, redistributed, or misused, the watermark for the model makes it possible to identify a source of the leak/misuse, allowing for better traceability and accountability

An observation of spin-valve effects in a semiconductor field effect transistor: a novel spintronic device

We present the first spintronic semiconductor field effect transistor. The injector and collector contacts of this device were made from magnetic permalloy thin films with different coercive fields so that they could be magnetized either parallel or antiparallel to each other in different applied magnetic fields. The conducting medium was a two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) formed in an AlSb/InAs quantum well. Data from this device suggest that its resistance is controlled by two different types of spin-valve effect: the first occurring at the ferromagnet-2DEG interfaces; and the second occuring in direct propagation between contacts.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Wave Packet Echoes in the Motion of Trapped Atoms

We experimentally demonstrate and systematically study the stimulated revival (echo) of motional wave packet oscillations. For this purpose, we prepare wave packets in an optical lattice by non-adiabatically shifting the potential and stimulate their reoccurence by a second shift after a variable time delay. This technique, analogous to spin echoes, enables one even in the presence of strong dephasing to determine the coherence time of the wave packets. We find that for strongly bound atoms it is comparable to the cooling time and much longer than the inverse of the photon scattering rate

Synchronization of Hamiltonian motion and dissipative effects in optical lattices: Evidence for a stochastic resonance

We theoretically study the influence of the noise strength on the excitation of the Brillouin propagation modes in a dissipative optical lattice. We show that the excitation has a resonant behavior for a specific amount of noise corresponding to the precise synchronization of the Hamiltonian motion on the optical potential surfaces and the dissipative effects associated with optical pumping in the lattice. This corresponds to the phenomenon of stochastic resonance. Our results are obtained by numerical simulations and correspond to the analysis of microscopic quantities (atomic spatial distributions) as well as macroscopic quantities (enhancement of spatial diffusion and pump-probe spectra). We also present a simple analytical model in excellent agreement with the simulations

Quantum jumps induced by the center-of-mass motion of a trapped atom

We theoretically study the occurrence of quantum jumps in the resonance fluorescence of a trapped atom. Here, the atom is laser cooled in a configuration of level such that the occurrence of a quantum jump is associated to a change of the vibrational center-of-mass motion by one phonon. The statistics of the occurrence of the dark fluorescence period is studied as a function of the physical parameters and the corresponding features in the spectrum of resonance fluorescence are identified. We discuss the information which can be extracted on the atomic motion from the observation of a quantum jump in the considered setup

Antenatal glucocorticoid treatment induces adaptations in adult midbrain dopamine neurons, which underpin sexually dimorphic behavioral resilience

We demonstrated previously that antenatal glucocorticoid treatment (AGT, gestational days 16-19) altered the size and organization of the adult rat midbrain dopaminergic (DA) populations. Here we investigated the consequences of these AGT-induced cytoarchitectural disturbances on indices of DA function in adult rats. We show that in adulthood, enrichment of striatal DA fiber density paralleled AGT-induced increases in the numbers of midbrain DA neurons, which retained normal basal electrophysiological properties. This was co-incident with changes in (i) striatal D2-type receptor levels (increased, both sexes); (ii) D1-type receptor levels (males decreased; females increased); (iii) DA transporter levels (males increased; females decreased) in striatal regions; and (iv) amphetamine-induced mesolimbic DA release (males increased; females decreased). However, despite these profound, sexually dimorphic changes in markers of DA neurotransmission, in-utero glucocorticoid overexposure had a modest or no effect on a range of conditioned and unconditioned appetitive behaviors known to depend on mesolimbic DA activity. These findings provide empirical evidence for enduring AGT-induced adaptive mechanisms within the midbrain DA circuitry, which preserve some, but not all, functions, thereby casting further light on the vulnerability of these systems to environmental perturbations. Furthermore, they demonstrate these effects are achieved by different, often opponent, adaptive mechanisms in males and females, with translational implications for sex biases commonly found in midbrain DA-associated disorders

Sex-specific disruption of murine midbrain astrocytic and dopaminergic developmental trajectories following antenatal GC treatment

The mammalian midbrain dopaminergic systems arising in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA) are critical for coping behaviours and are implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders where early life challenges comprise significant risk factors. Here, we aimed to advance our hypothesis that glucocorticoids (GCs), recognised key players in neurobiological programming, target development within these systems, with a novel focus on the astrocytic population. Mice received antenatal GC treatment (AGT) by including the synthetic GC, dexamethasone, in the mothers' drinking water on gestational days 16-19; controls received normal drinking water. Analyses of regional shapes and volumes of the adult SNc and VTA demonstrated that AGT induced long-term, dose-dependent, structural changes that were accompanied by profound effects on astrocytes (doubling/tripling of numbers and/or density). Additionally, AGT induced long-term changes in the population size and distribution of SNc/VTA dopaminergic neurons, confirming and extending our previous observations made in rats. Furthermore, glial/neuronal structural remodelling was sexually dimorphic and depended on the AGT dose and sub-region of the SNc/VTA. Investigations within the neonatal brain revealed that these long-term organisational effects of AGT depend, at least in part, on targeting perinatal processes that determine astrocyte density and programmed cell death in dopaminergic neurons. Collectively, our characterisation of enduring, AGT-induced, sex-specific cytoarchitectural disturbances suggests novel mechanistic links for the strong association between early environmental challenge (inappropriate exposure to excess GCs) and vulnerability to developing aberrant behaviours in later life, with translational implications for dopamine-associated disorders (such as schizophrenia, ADHD, autism, depression), which typically show a sex bia

Detection and elimination of cellular bottlenecks in protein-producing yeasts

Yeasts are efficient cell factories and are commonly used for the production of recombinant proteins for biopharmaceutical and industrial purposes. For such products high levels of correctly folded proteins are needed, which sometimes requires improvement and engineering of the expression system. The article summarizes major breakthroughs that led to the efficient use of yeasts as production platforms and reviews bottlenecks occurring during protein production. Special focus is given to the metabolic impact of protein production. Furthermore, strategies that were shown to enhance secretion of recombinant proteins in different yeast species are presented