Robust Identity Perceptual Watermark Against Deepfake Face Swapping

Notwithstanding offering convenience and entertainment to society, Deepfake face swapping has caused critical privacy issues with the rapid development of deep generative models. Due to imperceptible artifacts in high-quality synthetic images, passive detection models against face swapping in recent years usually suffer performance damping regarding the generalizability issue. Therefore, several studies have been attempted to proactively protect the original images against malicious manipulations by inserting invisible signals in advance. However, the existing proactive defense approaches demonstrate unsatisfactory results with respect to visual quality, detection accuracy, and source tracing ability. In this study, we propose the first robust identity perceptual watermarking framework that concurrently performs detection and source tracing against Deepfake face swapping proactively. We assign identity semantics regarding the image contents to the watermarks and devise an unpredictable and unreversible chaotic encryption system to ensure watermark confidentiality. The watermarks are encoded and recovered by jointly training an encoder-decoder framework along with adversarial image manipulations. Extensive experiments demonstrate state-of-the-art performance against Deepfake face swapping under both cross-dataset and cross-manipulation settings.Comment: Submitted for revie

Structure and mechanism of a methyl transferase ribozyme

Known ribozymes in contemporary biology perform a limited range of chemical catalysis, but in vitro selection has generated species that catalyze a broader range of chemistry; yet, there have been few structural and mechanistic studies of selected ribozymes. A ribozyme has recently been selected that can catalyze a site-specific methyl transfer reaction. We have solved the crystal structure of this ribozyme at a resolution of 2.3 Å, showing how the RNA folds to generate a very specific binding site for the methyl donor substrate. The structure immediately suggests a catalytic mechanism involving a combination of proximity and orientation and nucleobase-mediated general acid catalysis. The mechanism is supported by the pH dependence of the rate of catalysis. A selected methyltransferase ribozyme can thus use a relatively sophisticated catalytic mechanism, broadening the range of known RNA-catalyzed chemistry. [Image: see text

On the issue of transparency and reproducibility in nanomedicine.

Following our call to join in the discussion over the suitability of implementing a reporting checklist for bio-nano papers, the community responds

Fireside Corrosion on Heat Exchanger Surfaces and Its Effect on the Performance of Gas-Fired Instantaneous Water Heaters

The heat exchanger in a gas instantaneous water heater is a thermal device used for heat transfer from the high-temperature flue gas to the low-temperature water. The fireside corrosion, due to the reaction of acidic condensate formed on the heat exchanger surfaces and its metallic material, is one of the major hazards for gas instantaneous water heaters. This paper focuses on identifying and quantifying the fireside corrosion on the surface of heat exchangers in gas-fired instantaneous water heaters. Durability tests lasting for 2000 cycles were undertaken for five gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, which were different in terms of the heat input and coating of heat exchangers. The corrosion deposits on the surface of the heat exchangers were surveyed by several methods. The results show that the corrosion deposit grew as the test duration increased. The fins of the heat exchanger with a lead coating had been corroded and copper was exposed. Cu4(OH)6SO4 was the main corrosion product of heat exchangers without a lead coating, whereas PbSO4 was the main corrosion product of heat exchangers with a lead coating. The experiments demonstrate that the corrosion rate decreased with the increase of the heat input. The experiments also show that the thermal efficiency of gas instantaneous water heaters decreased by 2.4% to 6% at the end of the test duration

Evaluation of excitation function for 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction

The excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction was evaluated and the thick target yield (TTY) of the therapeutic radioisotope 186Re was calculated. The available experimental data from the EXFOR library and literature were analyzed and corrected with the g-ray branching ratio, radioactive decay constant and standard cross sections. The excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction was recommended below 50 MeV on basis of the least-squares fit with polynomial and the theoretical calculation with TALYS code. The TTY was calculated using the recommended excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction

Research on Bending and Ballistic Performance of Three-Dimensional Ply-to-Ply Angle Interlock Kevlar/EP Armor Material

The three-dimensional (3D) shallow cross-bending composite material has many advantages in thickness and in-plane direction, such as high strength, high modulus, inter-layer shear strength, as well as large-area area bearing, energy absorption, etc., which has great application potential in the field of bulletproof armor. To prepare a protective material with both excellent bending performance and good ballistic performance, the effects of weft density and layering method on the bending performance and ballistic performance of three-dimensional ply-to-ply angle interlock (3DPPAI) Kevlar/EP armor materials were studied. The results showed that when the weft density of the material was 33 pieces/cm, its bending performance and ballistic resistance were the best. The 3DPPAI Kevlar/EP armor material prepared by orthogonal layup had more advantages in bending performance, and the unidirectional layup had better anti-ballistic performance. The research results will lay the foundation for structural optimization and engineering applications of such materials

Evaluation of excitation function for

The excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction was evaluated and the thick target yield (TTY) of the therapeutic radioisotope 186Re was calculated. The available experimental data from the EXFOR library and literature were analyzed and corrected with the g-ray branching ratio, radioactive decay constant and standard cross sections. The excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction was recommended below 50 MeV on basis of the least-squares fit with polynomial and the theoretical calculation with TALYS code. The TTY was calculated using the recommended excitation function of the 186W(d,2n)186Re reaction

A Review of Multimodal Medical Image Fusion Techniques

The medical image fusion is the process of coalescing multiple images from multiple imaging modalities to obtain a fused image with a large amount of information for increasing the clinical applicability of medical images. In this paper, we attempt to give an overview of multimodal medical image fusion methods, putting emphasis on the most recent advances in the domain based on (1) the current fusion methods, including based on deep learning, (2) imaging modalities of medical image fusion, and (3) performance analysis of medical image fusion on mainly data set. Finally, the conclusion of this paper is that the current multimodal medical image fusion research results are more significant and the development trend is on the rise but with many challenges in the research field

Study on Functional Zoning Method of National Park Based on MCDA: The Case of the Proposed “Ailaoshan-Wuliangshan” National Park

In a national park master plan, functional zoning plays a key role in developing differentiated zoning controls that achieve multiple park construction objectives. In this study, a geographical attribute code and basic zoning elements are developed for the proposed “Ailaoshan-Wuliangshan” National Park, followed by the development of spatial multi-criteria sets and weight sets to determine the suitability of the land. Next, we use a clustering algorithm and conflict unit prioritization to allocate space for multi-target units to get the preliminary zoning schemes, and then identify stable units and unstable units through sensitivity analysis. Ultimately, the functional zoning of the National Park was determined. According to the results, the proposed “Ailaoshan-Wuliangshan” National Park can be divided into nine types of 164 landscape units; the highest land suitability values of each zone showed the traits of differentiation and aggregation in spatial distribution; there are 97 stable units and 67 unstable units; approximately 62.83% and 37.17% of the total park area can be divided into core conservation area (primary sensitive area and secondary sensitive area) and general control area (ecological activity area and ecological control area). By implementing a comprehensive assessment and decision-making process, the defined functional zones are precise and simple to recognize on the ground, and they adhere to the area proportions needed by national standards. Furthermore, the functional zoning is clustered, which avoids the fragmentation of the zoning results causing difficulties in management, and serves as a point of reference for the functional zoning approaches used in other proposed national parks in China