692 research outputs found

    Privacy Preserving Internet Browsers: Forensic Analysis of Browzar

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    With the advance of technology, Criminal Justice agencies are being confronted with an increased need to investigate crimes perpetuated partially or entirely over the Internet. These types of crime are known as cybercrimes. In order to conceal illegal online activity, criminals often use private browsing features or browsers designed to provide total browsing privacy. The use of private browsing is a common challenge faced in for example child exploitation investigations, which usually originate on the Internet. Although private browsing features are not designed specifically for criminal activity, they have become a valuable tool for criminals looking to conceal their online activity. As such, Technological Crime units often focus their forensic analysis on thoroughly examining the web history on a computer. Private browsing features and browsers often require a more in-depth, post mortem analysis. This often requires the use of multiple tools, as well as different forensic approaches to uncover incriminating evidence. This evidence may be required in a court of law, where analysts are often challenged both on their findings and on the tools and approaches used to recover evidence. However, there are very few research on evaluating of private browsing in terms of privacy preserving as well as forensic acquisition and analysis of privacy preserving internet browsers. Therefore in this chapter, we firstly review the private mode of popular internet browsers. Next, we describe the forensic acquisition and analysis of Browzar, a privacy preserving internet browser and compare it with other popular internet browser

    Incidence and Mortality of Mucosal Disease in Iowa

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    Mucosal disease was first recognized in Iowa as an apparently new disease entity in cattle in January of 1951. The following inquiry is often made: Is the incidence of mucosal disease in cattle increasing in Iowa? It is difficult to determine accurately the incidence of any disease in farm animals

    Early infant feeding and adiposity risk: from infancy to adulthood

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    Introduction: Systematic reviews suggest that a longer duration of breast-feeding is associated with a reduction in the risk of later overweight and obesity. Most studies examining breast-feeding in relation to adiposity have not used longitudinal analysis. In our study, we aimed to examine early infant feeding and adiposity risk in a longitudinal cohort from birth to young adulthood using new as well as published data. Methods: Data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study in Perth, W.A., Australia, were used to examine associations between breast-feeding and measures of adiposity at 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 14, 17, and 20 years. Results: Breast-feeding was measured in a number of ways. Longer breast-feeding (in months) was associated with reductions in weight z-scores between birth and 1 year (β = -0.027; p \u3c 0.001) in the adjusted analysis. At 3 years, breast-feeding for \u3c4 months increased the odds of infants experiencing early rapid growth (OR 2.05; 95% CI 1.43-2.94; p \u3c 0.001). From 1 to 8 years, children breast-fed for ≤4 months compared to ≥12 months had a significantly greater probability of exceeding the 95th percentile of weight. The age at which breast-feeding was stopped and a milk other than breast milk was introduced (introduction of formula milk) played a significant role in the trajectory of the BMI from birth to 14 years; the 4-month cutoff point was consistently associated with a higher BMI trajectory. Introduction of a milk other than breast milk before 6 months compared to at 6 months or later was a risk factor for being overweight or obese at 20 years of age (OR 1.47; 95% CI 1.12-1.93; p = 0.005). Discussion: Breast-feeding until 6 months of age and beyond should be encouraged and is recommended for protection against increased adiposity in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Adverse long-term effects of early growth acceleration are fundamental in later overweight and obesity. Formula feeding stimulates a higher postnatal growth velocity, whereas breast-feeding promotes slower growth and a reduced likelihood of overweight and obesity. Biological mechanisms underlying the protective effect of breast-feeding against obesity are based on the unique composition and metabolic and physiological responses to human milk

    Questioning policy, youth participation and lifestyle sports

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    Young people have been identified as a key target group for whom participation in sport and physical activity could have important benefits to health and wellbeing and consequently have been the focus of several government policies to increase participation in the UK. Lifestyle sports represent one such strategy for encouraging and sustaining new engagements in sport and physical activity in youth groups, however, there is at present a lack of understanding of the use of these activities within policy contexts. This paper presents findings from a government initiative which sought to increase participation in sport for young people through provision of facilities for mountain biking in a forest in south-east England. Findings from qualitative research with 40 young people who participated in mountain biking at the case study location highlight the importance of non-traditional sports as a means to experience the natural environments through forms of consumption which are healthy, active and appeal to their identities. In addition, however, the paper raises questions over the accessibility of schemes for some individuals and social groups, and the ability to incorporate sports which are inherently participant-led into state-managed schemes. Lifestyle sports such as mountain biking involve distinct forms of participation which present a challenge for policy-makers who seek to create and maintain sustainable communities of youth participants

    A multicentre, randomised controlled trial of PDSAFE, a physiotherapist-delivered fall prevention programme for people with Parkinson’s

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    This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from BMJ Publishing Group via the DOI in this record.Objective: To estimate the effect of a physiotherapist-delivered fall-prevention programme for people with Parkinson’s (PwP). Methods: People at risk of falls with confirmed Parkinson’s were recruited to this multi-centre, pragmatic, investigator blind, individually randomised controlled trial with pre-specified sub-group analyses. 474 PwP (Hoehn and Yahr 1-4) were randomised: 238 allocated to a physiotherapy programme and 236 to control. All participants had routine care; the control group received a DVD about Parkinson’s and single advice session at trial completion. The intervention group (PDSAFE) had an individually tailored, progressive home-based fall-avoidance strategy training programme with balance and strengthening exercises. The primary outcome was risk of repeat-falling, collected by self-report monthly diaries, 0 to 6 months post-randomisation. Secondary outcomes included, Mini-BESTest for balance, chair stand test, Falls Efficacy, freezing of gait, health related quality of life (Euroqol EQ-5D), Geriatric Depression Scale, Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly and Parkinson’s disease Questionnaire, fractures and rate of near-falling. Results: Average age, 72 years and 266 (56%) were men. By 6 months 116 (55%) of the control group, and 125 (61.5%) of the intervention group reported repeat falls (controlled odds ratio 1.21, 95% confidence interval 0.74 to 1.98, P=0.447). Secondary sub-group analyses suggested a different response to the intervention between moderate and severe disease severity groups. Balance, falls efficacy and chair stand time improved with near-falls reduced in the intervention arm. Conclusion: PDSAFE did not reduce falling in this pragmatic trial of PwP. Other functional tasks improved and reduced fall rates were apparent among those with moderate disease.Department of HealthNational Institute for Health Research (NIHR

    The cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57(Kip2) is epigenetically regulated in carboplatin resistance and results in collateral sensitivity to the CDK inhibitor seliciclib in ovarian cancer

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    Carboplatin remains a first-line agent in the management of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Unfortunately, platinum-resistant disease ultimately occurs in most patients. Using a novel EOC cell line with acquired resistance to carboplatin: PEO1CarbR, genome-wide micro-array profiling identified the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p57(Kip2) as specifically downregulated in carboplatin resistance. Presently, we describe confirmation of these preliminary data with a variety of approaches

    The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns

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    Recent research suggests profound sex and sexual orientation differences in sexual response. These results, however, are based on measures of genital arousal, which have potential limitations such as volunteer bias and differential measures for the sexes. The present study introduces a measure less affected by these limitations. We assessed the pupil dilation of 325 men and women of various sexual orientations to male and female erotic stimuli. Results supported hypotheses. In general, self-reported sexual orientation corresponded with pupil dilation to men and women. Among men, substantial dilation to both sexes was most common in bisexual-identified men. In contrast, among women, substantial dilation to both sexes was most common in heterosexual-identified women. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed. Because the measure of pupil dilation is less invasive than previous measures of sexual response, it allows for studying diverse age and cultural populations, usually not included in sexuality research

    Generalization of predators and nonpredators by juvenile rainbow trout: learning what is and is not a threat

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    Learned recognition of novel predators allows prey to respond to ecologically relevant threats. Prey could minimize the costs associated with learning the identity of both predators and nonpredators by making educated guesses on the identity of a novel species based on their similarities with known predators and nonpredators, a process known as generalization. Here, we tested whether juvenile rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, have the ability to generalize information from a known predator (experiment 1) or a known harmless species (experiment 2) to closely related but novel species. In experiment 1, we taught juvenile trout to recognize a predatory pumpkinseed sunfish, Lepomis gibbosus, by pairing pumpkinseed odour with conspecific alarm cues or a distilled water control. We then tested the trout for a response to pumpkinseeds and to novel longear sunfish, Lepomis megalotis (same genus as pumpkinseed), rock bass, Ambloplites rupestris (same family as pumpkinseed) or yellow perch, Perca flavescens (different family). Trout showed strong learned recognition of pumpkinseed and longear sunfish odour and a weak learned response to rock bass odour but no recognition of yellow perch. In experiment 2, we used latent inhibition to teach juvenile trout that pumpkinseeds were harmless. During subsequent predator learning trials, trout did not learn to recognize pumpkinseed or longear sunfish odour as potential threats, but they did learn that rock bass and yellow perch were threatening. Taken together, these results demonstrate that juvenile rainbow trout can generalize learned recognition of both predator and nonpredator odours based on the phylogenetic relatedness of predators

    Strong negative self regulation of Prokaryotic transcription factors increases the intrinsic noise of protein expression

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    Background Many prokaryotic transcription factors repress their own transcription. It is often asserted that such regulation enables a cell to homeostatically maintain protein abundance. We explore the role of negative self regulation of transcription in regulating the variability of protein abundance using a variety of stochastic modeling techniques. Results We undertake a novel analysis of a classic model for negative self regulation. We demonstrate that, with standard approximations, protein variance relative to its mean should be independent of repressor strength in a physiological range. Consequently, in that range, the coefficient of variation would increase with repressor strength. However, stochastic computer simulations demonstrate that there is a greater increase in noise associated with strong repressors than predicted by theory. The discrepancies between the mathematical analysis and computer simulations arise because with strong repressors the approximation that leads to Michaelis-Menten-like hyperbolic repression terms ceases to be valid. Because we observe that strong negative feedback increases variability and so is unlikely to be a mechanism for noise control, we suggest instead that negative feedback is evolutionarily favoured because it allows the cell to minimize mRNA usage. To test this, we used in silico evolution to demonstrate that while negative feedback can achieve only a modest improvement in protein noise reduction compared with the unregulated system, it can achieve good improvement in protein response times and very substantial improvement in reducing mRNA levels. Conclusions Strong negative self regulation of transcription may not always be a mechanism for homeostatic control of protein abundance, but instead might be evolutionarily favoured as a mechanism to limit the use of mRNA. The use of hyperbolic terms derived from quasi-steady-state approximation should also be avoided in the analysis of stochastic models with strong repressors

    Growth rate and retention of learned predator cues by juvenile rainbow trout: faster-growing fish forget sooner

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    Under conditions of spatial and/or temporal variability in predation risk, prey organisms often rely on acquired predator recognition to balance the trade-offs between energy intake and risk avoidance. The question of ‘for how long’ should prey retain this learned information is poorly understood. Here, we test the hypothesis that the growth rate experienced by prey should influence the length of the ‘memory window’. In a series of laboratory experiments, we manipulated growth rate of juvenile rainbow trout and conditioned them to recognize a novel predator cue. We subsequently tested for learned recognition either 24 h or 8 days post-conditioning. Our results suggest that trout with high versus low growth rates did not differ in their response to learned predator cues when tested 24 h post-conditioning. However, trout on a high growth rate exhibited no response to the predator cues after 8 days (i.e. did not retain the recognition of the predator odour), whereas trout on a lower growth rate retained a strong recognition of the predator. Trout that differed in their growth rate only after conditioning did not differ in their patterns of retention, demonstrating growth rate after learning does not influence retention. Trout of different initial sizes fed a similar diet (percent body mass per day) showed no difference in retention of the predator cue. Together, these data suggest that growth rate at the time of conditioning determines the ‘memory window’ of trout. The implications for threat-sensitive predator avoidance models are described
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