White-Box Cryptography and SPN ciphers. LRC method.

The method of concealing a linear relationship between elements of a finite field (LRC method) is described. An LRC method based approach to the secure white-box implementations creating problem is considered. SPN cipher characteristics to create its secure White-Box implementation are revealed

An approach for designing fast public key encryption systems using white-box cryptography techniques

We present an approach for designing fast public key encryption cryptosystems using random primitives and error permutation. An encryption speed of such systems allows to use them for “on-the-fly” public key encryption and makes them useful for real-time communications. A small error size allows to use this approach for designing digital signature scheme

The birth of a myth about the amount of victims of the late 1920s - early 1950s political terror during perestroika

Статтю присвячено актуалізації наприкінці 1980 ­ на початку 1990­х рр. проблеми кількості жертв масових політичних репресій. У роботі встановлено, що аналіз зазначеної проблеми надає багатий матеріал для розуміння того, як історичні міфи впливають на суспільну свідомість та структуру соціального буття.Методологія даного дослідження ґрунтується на загальнонаукових принципах (історичності, об’єктивності, науковості) та історико­наукових методах (історико­генетичний, історико­типологічний, історико­порівняльний, хронологічний). Після детального історіографічного аналізу встановлено, що у витоків формування міфа про десятки мільйонів засуджених за сумнозвісною 58­ю статтею стоїть перебудовна публіцистика. Дані про кількість репресованих наприкінці 1980 ­ на початку 1990­х рр. набули парадигмального значення. Історичні сюжети були важливим фактором розмежування політичних сил, висновки відносно величини  втрат СРСР у роки «Великого терору» в засобах масової інформації стали одним з основних аргументів у спорах між «демократами» і «консерваторами». Незважаючи на те, що на початку 1990­х рр. з’явилися фахові історичні дослідження, в яких на основі архівних джерел було встановлено кількість репресованих у 3,8 мільйона чоловік, в широких верствах суспільства укорінилося уявлення про десятки мільйонів заарештованих за політичними мотивами.Статтю присвячено актуалізації наприкінці 1980 ­ на початку 1990­х рр. проблеми кількості жертв масових політичних репресій. У роботі встановлено, що аналіз зазначеної проблеми надає багатий матеріал для розуміння того, як історичні міфи впливають на суспільну свідомість та структуру соціального буття.Методологія даного дослідження ґрунтується на загальнонаукових принципах (історичності, об’єктивності, науковості) та історико­наукових методах (історико­генетичний, історико­типологічний, історико­порівняльний, хронологічний). Після детального історіографічного аналізу встановлено, що у витоків формування міфа про десятки мільйонів засуджених за сумнозвісною 58­ю статтею стоїть перебудовна публіцистика. Дані про кількість репресованих наприкінці 1980 ­ на початку 1990­х рр. набули парадигмального значення. Історичні сюжети були важливим фактором розмежування політичних сил, висновки відносно величини  втрат СРСР у роки «Великого терору» в засобах масової інформації стали одним з основних аргументів у спорах між «демократами» і «консерваторами». Незважаючи на те, що на початку 1990­х рр. з’явилися фахові історичні дослідження, в яких на основі архівних джерел було встановлено кількість репресованих у 3,8 мільйона чоловік, в широких верствах суспільства укорінилося уявлення про десятки мільйонів заарештованих за політичними мотивами.The article is devoted to updating the late 1980s ­ early 1990s, the problem of mass casualties of political repression. The paper found that the analysis of this problem provides a wealth of material for understanding how historical myths affect the structure of social consciousness and social existence.The methodology of this study is based on general principles (historicity, objectivity, scientific) historical and scientific methods (historical­genetic, historical, typological, historical, comparative, chronological). After a detailed historiographical analysis revealed that the origins of the formation of the myth of tens of millions of people convicted for notorious 58th item is the adjustment journalism. Data on the number of victims of repression in the late 1980s ­ early 1990s became paradigmatic significance. Historical themes were an important factor in the separation of political forces, the findings with respect to the magnitude of losses in the USSR during the “Great Terror” in the media has become one of the main arguments in disputes between “Democrats” and “conservative.” Despite the fact that in the early 1990s there were professional historical research, which based on archival sources was established number of repressed 3.8 million people in broad sectors of society take root idea of tens of millions of those arrested for political reasons

RC4OK. An improvement of the RC4 stream cipher

In this paper we present an improved version of the classical RC4 stream cipher. The improvements allow to build lightweight high-performance cryptographically strong random number generator suitable for use in IoT and as a corresponding component of operating systems. The criterion for high performance is both a high speed of generating a stream of random numbers and low overhead costs for adding entropy from physical events to the state of the generator

RNA-seq highlights parallel and contrasting patterns in the evolution of the nuclear genome of fully mycoheterotrophic plants

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: While photosynthesis is the most notable trait of plants, several lineages of plants (so-called full heterotrophs) have adapted to obtain organic compounds from other sources. The switch to heterotrophy leads to profound changes at the morphological, physiological and genomic levels. Results: Here, we characterize the transcriptomes of three species representing two lineages of mycoheterotrophic plants: orchids (Epipogium aphyllum and Epipogium roseum) and Ericaceae (Hypopitys monotropa). Comparative analysis is used to highlight the parallelism between distantly related fully heterotrophic plants. In both lineages, we observed genome-wide elimination of nuclear genes that encode proteins related to photosynthesis, while systems associated with protein import to plastids as well as plastid transcription and translation remain active. Genes encoding components of plastid ribosomes that have been lost from the plastid genomes have not been transferred to the nuclear genomes; instead, some of the encoded proteins have been substituted by homologs. The nuclear genes of both Epipogium species accumulated nucleotide substitutions twice as rapidly as their photosynthetic relatives; in contrast, no increase in the substitution rate was observed in H. monotropa. Conclusions: Full heterotrophy leads to profound changes in nuclear gene content. The observed increase in the rate of nucleotide substitutions is lineage specific, rather than a universal phenomenon among non-photosynthetic plants

Blood rheology during normal pregnancy

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Comparative analysis of plastid genomes of non-photosynthetic Ericaceae and their photosynthetic relatives

Although plastid genomes of flowering plants are typically highly conserved regarding their size, gene content and order, there are some exceptions. Ericaceae, a large and diverse family of flowering plants, warrants special attention within the context of plastid genome evolution because it includes both non-photosynthetic and photosynthetic species with rearranged plastomes and putative losses of "essential" genes. We characterized plastid genomes of three species of Ericaceae, non-photosynthetic Monotropa uniflora and Hypopitys monotropa and photosynthetic Pyrola rotundifolia, using high-throughput sequencing. As expected for non-photosynthetic plants, M. uniflora and H. monotropa have small plastid genomes (46 kb and 35 kb, respectively) lacking genes related to photosynthesis, whereas P. rotundifolia has a larger genome (169 kb) with a gene set similar to other photosynthetic plants. The examined genomes contain an unusually high number of repeats and translocations. Comparative analysis of the expanded set of Ericaceae plastomes suggests that the genes clpP and accD that are present in the plastid genomes of almost all plants have not been lost in this family (as was previously thought) but rather persist in these genomes in unusual forms. Also we found a new gene in P. rotundifolia that emerged as a result of duplication of rps4 gene

Exploring the limits for reduction of plastid genomes: A case study of the mycoheterotrophic orchids Epipogium aphyllum and Epipogium roseum

© The Author(s) 2015. The question on the patterns and limits of reduction of plastid genomes in nonphotosynthetic plants and the reasons of their conservation is one of the intriguing topics in plant genome evolution. Here, we report sequencing and analysis of plastid genome in nonphotosynthetic orchids Epipogium aphyllum and Epipogium roseum, which, with sizes of 31 and 19 kbp, respectively, represent the smallest plastid genomes characterized by now. Besides drastic reduction, which is expected, we found several unusual features of these "minimal" plastomes: Multiple rearrangements, highly biased nucleotide composition, and unprecedentedly high substitution rate. Only 27 and 29 genes remained intact in the plastomes of E. aphyllum and E. roseum-those encoding ribosomal components, transfer RNAs, and three additional housekeeping genes (infA, clpP, and accD). We found no signs of relaxed selection acting on these genes. We hypothesize that the main reason for retention of plastid genomes in Epipogium is the necessity to translate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) of accD and/or clpP proteins which are essential for cell metabolism. However, these genes are absent in plastomes of several plant species; their absence is compensated by the presence of a functional copy arisen by gene transfer from plastid to the nuclear genome. This suggests that there is no single set of plastid-encoded essential genes, but rather different sets for different species and that the retention of a gene in the plastome depends on the interaction between the nucleus and plastids

Comparative analysis of plastid genomes in the non-photosynthetic genus Thismia reveals ongoing gene set reduction

Heterotrophic plants provide intriguing examples of reductive evolution. This is especially evident in the reduction of their plastid genomes, which can potentially proceed toward complete genome loss. Several milestones at the beginning of this path of degradation have been described; however, little is known about the latest stages of plastome reduction. Here we analyze a diversity of plastid genomes in a set of closely related non-photosynthetic plants. We demonstrate how a gradual loss of genes shapes the miniaturized plastomes of these plants. The subject of our study, the genus Thismia, represents the mycoheterotrophic monocot family Thismiaceae, a group that may have experienced a very ancient (60–80 mya) transition to heterotrophy. In all 18 species examined, the plastome is reduced to 14–18 kb and is highly AT-biased. The most complete observed gene set includes accD, seven ribosomal protein genes, three rRNA, and two tRNA genes. Different clades of Thismia have undergone further gene loss (complete absence or pseudogenization) compared to this set: in particular, we report two independent losses of rps2 and rps18

Proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of <i>Cutibacterium acnes</i> biofilms and planktonic cultures in presence of epinephrine

Transcriptomic and proteomic analysis were performed on 72 h biofilms of the acneic strain Cutibacterium acnes and planktonic cultures in the presence of epinephrine. Epinephrine predominantly downregulated genes associated with various transporter proteins. No correlation was found between proteomic and transcriptomic profiles. In control samples, the expression of 51 proteins differed between planktonic cultures and biofilms. Addition of 5 nM epinephrine reduced this number, and in the presence of 5 µM epinephrine, the difference in proteomic profiles between planktonic cultures and biofilms disappeared. According to the proteomic profiling, epinephrine itself was more effective in the case of C. acnes biofilms and potentially affected the tricarboxylic acid cycle (as well as alpha-ketoglutarate decarboxylase Kgd), biotin synthesis, cell division, and transport of different compounds in C. acnes cells. These findings are consistent with recent research on Micrococcus luteus, suggesting that the effects of epinephrine on actinobacteria may be universal