Verification of Neural Networks Local Differential Classification Privacy

Neural networks are susceptible to privacy attacks. To date, no verifier can reason about the privacy of individuals participating in the training set. We propose a new privacy property, called local differential classification privacy (LDCP), extending local robustness to a differential privacy setting suitable for black-box classifiers. Given a neighborhood of inputs, a classifier is LDCP if it classifies all inputs the same regardless of whether it is trained with the full dataset or whether any single entry is omitted. A naive algorithm is highly impractical because it involves training a very large number of networks and verifying local robustness of the given neighborhood separately for every network. We propose Sphynx, an algorithm that computes an abstraction of all networks, with a high probability, from a small set of networks, and verifies LDCP directly on the abstract network. The challenge is twofold: network parameters do not adhere to a known distribution probability, making it difficult to predict an abstraction, and predicting too large abstraction harms the verification. Our key idea is to transform the parameters into a distribution given by KDE, allowing to keep the over-approximation error small. To verify LDCP, we extend a MILP verifier to analyze an abstract network. Experimental results show that by training only 7% of the networks, Sphynx predicts an abstract network obtaining 93% verification accuracy and reducing the analysis time by $1.7\cdot10^4$x

Degree of Arab School Principals’ Use of Benchmarking and Continual Improvement Process and their relationship with Quality of Education within the Green Line درجة استخدام مديري المدارس العربية داخل الخط الأخضر للمقارنات المرجعية ومنهجية التحسين المدرسي المستمر وارتباطهما بجودة التعليم

Abstract: The aim of the study was to identify the degree of use of Arab school principals within the Green Line of benchmarking and continual improvement process and their link to the quality of education. To achieve the aims of the study the descriptive, correlational methodology was used. The sample of the study consisted of (350) individuals, including (150) School Principals and (200) Subject Concentrators. They were chosen by the random stratified method from the northern region inside the Green Line. Questionnaires were used as data collection tools. The results showed that the degree of the use of Arab school principals within the Green Line of benchmarking and the Continual Improvement Process from the viewpoint of the participants obtained a high degree, while the quality of education in Arab schools came with a medium degree, and the results revealed a positive statistically significant relationship between the degree of use Principals of Arab schools of benchmarks and the continuous school improvement and the quality of education. ملخص: هدفت الدراسة للكشف عن درجة استخدام مديري المدارس العربية داخل الخط الأخضر للمقارنات المرجعية ومنهجية التحسين المدرسي المستمر وارتباطهما بجودة التعليم. ولتحقيق أهداف الدراسة استخدم المنهج الوصفي الارتباطي. وتكونت عينة الدراسة من (350) فرداً منهم (150) مديراً و(200) موظف (مركزو المواد), اختيروا بالطريقة الطبقية العشوائية من مناطق الشمال داخل الخط الأخضر. واستخدمت الاستبانات كأدوات لجمع البيانات. وأظهرت النتائج أن درجة استخدام مديري المدارس العربية داخل الخط الأخضر للمقارنات المرجعية ومنهجية التحسين المدرسي المستمر من وجهة نظر أفراد عينة الدراسة حصلتا على درجة مرتفعة, أما جودة التعليم في المدارس العربية فقد جاءت بدرجة متوسطة, وكشفت النتائج عن وجود علاقة ارتباطية موجبة دالة إحصائياً بين درجة استخدام مديري المدارس العربية للمقارنات المرجعية ومنهجية التحسين المدرسي المستمر وبين جودة التعليم. وأوصت الدراسة بضرورة تبني وزارة التربية والتعليم وضع خطة استراتيجية تضمن المحافظة على كفاءة استخدام مديري المدارس العربية للمقارنات المرجعية ومنهجية التحسين المدرسي المستمر, وتعزيز معايير ضمان جودة التعليم في المدارس

A critical three-way junction is conserved in budding yeast and vertebrate telomerase RNAs

The telomerase ribonucleoprotein copies a short template within its integral RNA moiety onto eukaryotic chromosome ends, compensating for incomplete replication and degradation. Non-template regions of telomerase RNA (TER) are also crucial for telomerase function, yet they are highly divergent in sequence among species and their roles are largely unclear. Using both phylogenetic and mutational analyses, we predicted secondary structures for TERs from Kluyveromyces budding yeast species. A comparison of these secondary structure models with the published model for the Saccharomyces cerevisiae TER reveals a common arrangement into three long arms, a templating domain in the center and several conserved elements in the same positions within the structure. One of them, a three-way junction element, is highly conserved in budding yeast TERs. This element also shows sequence and structure similarity to the critical CR4-CR5 activating domain of vertebrate TERs. Mutational analysis in Kluyveromyces lactis confirmed that this element, and in particular the residues conserved across yeast and vertebrates, is critical for telomerase action both in vivo and in vitro. These findings demonstrate that despite the extreme divergence of TER sequences from different organisms, they do share conserved elements, which presumably carry out common roles in telomerase function

Investigating the role of the Est3 protein in yeast telomere replication

The Est3 subunit of yeast telomerase, which adopts a predicted OB-fold, is essential for telomere replication. To assess the possible contributions that Est3 might make to enzyme catalysis, we compared telomerase activity from wild type and est3-Δ strains of Saccharomyces castellii, which revealed that loss of the Est3 subunit results in a 2- to 3-fold decline in nucleotide addition. This effect was not primer-specific, based on assessment of a panel of primers that spanned the template of the S. castellii telomerase RNA. Furthermore, using nuclear magnetic resonance chemical shift perturbation, no chemical shift change was observed at any site in the protein upon addition of single-stranded DNA, arguing against a role for Est3 in recognition of telomeric substrates by telomerase. Addition of exogenous Est3 protein, including mutant Est3 proteins that are severely impaired for telomere replication in vivo, fully restored activity in est3-Δ telomerase reactions. Thus, Est3 performs an in vivo regulatory function in telomere replication, which is distinct from any potential contribution that Est3 might make to telomerase activity

A critical assessment of Palestinian higher education : current status and future prospects

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

The 5′ Arm of Kluyveromyces lactis Telomerase RNA Is Critical for Telomerase Function▿ †

Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein reverse transcriptase that copies a short template within its integral telomerase RNA moiety (TER) onto eukaryotic chromosome ends, thus compensating for incomplete replication and degradation. The highly divergent yeast TER is structured in three long arms, with a catalytic core at its center. A binding site for the protein Ku80 is conserved within the 5′ arm of TER in Saccharomyces but not in Kluyveromyces budding yeast species. Consistently, KU80 deletion in Kluyveromyces lactis does not affect telomere length, while it causes telomere shortening in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We found elements in the 5′ arm of K. lactis TER that are crucial for telomerase activity and stability. However, we found no indication of the association of Ku80 with this arm. Although the overexpression of Ku80 rescues a particular mutation in K. lactis TER1 that phenocopies a telomerase null mutation, this effect is indirect, caused by the repression of the recombination pathway competing for telomere maintenance. Interestingly, the overexpression of Est3, an essential telomerase protein whose function is still unknown, suppresses the phenotypes of mutations in this arm. These results indicate that the 5′ arm of K. lactis TER has critical roles in telomerase function, which may be linked to the function of Est3

Accelerated hydrolysis method to estimate the amino acid content of wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) flour using microwave irradiation

The technique of microwave-assisted acid hydrolysis was applied to wholegrain wheat (Triticum durum Desf. cv. Balcali 2000) flour in order to speed the preparation of samples for analysis. The resultant hydrolysates were chromatographed and quantified in an automated amino acid analyzer. The effect of different hydrolysis temperatures, times and sample weights was examined using flour dispersed in 6 N HCl. Within the range of values tested, the highest amino acid recoveries were generally obtained by setting the hydrolysis parameters to 150 degrees C, 3 h and 200 mg sample weight. These conditions struck an optimal balance between liberating amino acid residues from the wheat matrix and limiting their subsequent degradation or transformation. Compared to the traditional 24 h reflux method, the hydrolysates were prepared in dramatically less time, yet afforded comparable ninhydrin color yields. Under optimal hydrolysis conditions, the total amino acid recovery corresponded to at least 85.1% of the total protein content, indicating the efficient extraction of amino acids from the flour matrix. The findings suggest that this microwave-assisted method can be used to rapidly profile the amino acids of numerous wheat grain samples, and can be extended to the grain analysis of other cereal crops