Online Deception and Situations Conducive to the Progression of Non-Payment Fraud

Adopting the criminal event perspective, we explore how online fraudsters make use of urgency cues in their interactions with potential victims throughout the progression of an online nonpayment fraud attempt. Integrating claims from the ‘Interpersonal-Deception Theory’ with situational explanations of crime, we investigate whether fraudsters’ presentations of verbal cues of urgency during the early stages of a criminal event are followed by a consistent presentation of verbal and non-verbal urgency cues. To answer this question, we posted a large number of ‘for-sale’ advertisements over a classified-ad website and interacted with online fraudsters and legitimate users who responded to our ads over email. Our findings highlight the relevance of the criminal event perspective in guiding research on targets and offenders in cyberspace

The development of a lifestyle modification mobile application, “Health for You” for overweight and obese breast cancer survivors in Korea

Purpose This study aimed to develop a lifestyle modification (LSM) mobile application based on the Android operating system for overweight and obese breast cancer survivors (BCS) in Korea and evaluate its usability. Methods The content analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation of the LSM intervention mobile application for overweight and obese BCS was conducted by identifying survivors’ needs, searching the literature, and reviewing existing mobile applications. The survey was conducted from June 1 to December 28, 2020 at Jeonju city, Korea. Results The mobile application for BCS included dietary and exercise information, weight logs, as well as distress and daily achievement check. It also included information and videos on the prevention of breast cancer recurrence and used a communication bulletin board. Expert and user usability evaluation of its content and functions confirmed that it was appropriate and satisfactory for overweight and obese BCS. Conclusion This LSM mobile application developed for overweight and obese BCS was found to be appropriate for use. It can be applied for further study of effectiveness on improving their health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, to ultimately improve quality of life

Influence of lifestyle, depression, and marital intimacy on quality of life in breast cancer survivors

Purpose This study investigated lifestyle, depression, marital intimacy, and quality of life (QoL) in breast cancer survivors, with the goal of identifying the impacts of these factors on QoL. Methods A sample of 146 breast cancer survivors was surveyed in this cross-sectional study. Data were collected from March 20 to May 30, 2019, using self-report structured questionnaires at a hospital located in Jeonju, Korea. Data were analyzed using the independent t-test, analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression analysis. Participants agreed to complete a face-to-face interview, including administration of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21-Depression Scale, Marital Intimacy Scale, and Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer tool. Results QoL was positively correlated with lifestyle (r=.49, p<.001) and marital intimacy (r=.45, p<.001) and negatively correlated with depression (r=–.72, p<.001). Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that depression (β=–0.63, p<.001), marital intimacy (β=0.19, p=.001), and lifestyle (β=0.13, p=.031) had significant effects on the QoL of breast cancer survivors, accounting for 63.3% of variance in related QoL. Conclusion This study provides insights into how breast cancer survivors’ QoL was influenced by depression, marital intimacy, and lifestyle. To improve the QoL of breast cancer survivors, healthcare providers should consider developing strategies to decrease depression, to increase marital intimacy, and to improve lifestyle

Roles of Inflammatory Biomarkers in Exhaled Breath Condensates in Respiratory Clinical Fields

Background Exhaled condensates contain inflammatory biomarkers; however, their roles in the clinical field have been under-investigated. Methods We prospectively enrolled subjects admitted to pulmonology clinics. We collected exhaled breath condensates (EBC) and analysed the levels of six and 12 biomarkers using conventional and multiplex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, respectively. Results Among the 123 subjects, healthy controls constituted the largest group (81 participants; 65.9%), followed by the preserved ratio impaired spirometry group (21 patients; 17.1%) and the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) group (21 patients; 17.1%). In COPD patients, platelet derived growth factor-AA exhibited strong positive correlations with COPD assessment test (ρ=0.5926, p=0.0423) and COPD-specific version of St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ-C) score (total, ρ=0.6725, p=0.0166; activity, ρ=0.7176, p=0.0086; and impacts, ρ=0.6151, p=0.0333). Granzyme B showed strong positive correlations with SGRQ-C score (symptoms, ρ=0.6078, p=0.0360; and impacts, ρ=0.6007, p=0.0389). Interleukin 6 exhibited a strong positive correlation with SGRQ-C score (activity, ρ=0.4671, p=0.0378). The absolute serum eosinophil and basophil counts showed positive correlations with pro-collagen I alpha 1 (ρ=0.6735, p=0.0164 and ρ=0.6295, p=0.0283, respectively). In healthy subjects, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity demonstrated significant correlation with CC chemokine ligand 3 (CCL3)/macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha (ρ=0.3897 and p=0.0068). FEV1 exhibited significant correlation with CCL11/eotaxin (ρ=0.4445 and p=0.0017). Conclusion Inflammatory biomarkers in EBC might be useful to predict quality of life concerning respiratory symptoms and serologic markers. Further studies are needed

The Characteristics of Seebeck Coefficient in Silicon Nanowires Manufactured by CMOS Compatible Process

Silicon nanowires are patterned down to 30 nm using complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatible process. The electrical conductivities of n-/p-leg nanowires are extracted with the variation of width. Using this structure, Seebeck coefficients are measured. The obtained maximum Seebeck coefficient values are 122 μV/K for p-leg and −94 μV/K for n-leg. The maximum attainable power factor is 0.74 mW/m K2 at room temperature

A fluorescence-based assay for measuring the redox potential of 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors.

The activities and side effects of 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO) inhibitors can be predicted by identifying their redox mechanisms. In this study, we developed a fluorescence-based method to measure the redox potential of 5-LO inhibitors and compared it to the conventional, absorbance-based method. After the pseudo-peroxidase reaction, the amount of remaining lipid peroxide was quantified using the H2DCFDA (2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate) fluorescence dye. Our method showed large signal windows and provided comparable redox potential values. Importantly, the redox mechanisms of known inhibitors were accurately measured with the fluorescence assay, whereas the conventional, absorbance-based method showed contradictory results. Our findings suggest that our developed method is a better alternative for classifying the redox potential of 5-LO inhibitors, and the fluorescence assay can be effectively used to study the mechanisms of action that are related to redox cycling

Rate-adaptive multimedia multicasting over IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs

International audienceMultimedia services are a major application forIEEE 802.11 WLANs but the current standard does not utilize any rate adaptation technique for multicasting. SARM (SNRbased auto rate for multicast) is a new rate adaptation mechanism for multicasting multimedia content in IEEE 802.11 WLAN environments. Since there is no RTS/CTS or MAC ACK frame in multicast packet transmissions, SARM uses an auxiliary signaling method to obtain the channel quality for each mobile node. By adapting a transmission rate based on the SNR of the node experiencing the worst air-channel, SARM achieves the best quality of service for the prevailing conditions. This reduces the proportion of wireless channel resources assigned to multicasting, allowing more bandwidth for unicast flows

Scambaiter: Understanding Targeted Nigerian Scams on Craigslist

Abstract—Advance fee fraud scams, also known as Nigerian scams have evolved from simple untargeted email messages to more sophisticated scams targeted at users of classifieds, dating and other websites. Even though such scams are observed frequently, the community’s understanding of targeted Nigerian scam is limited since the scammers operate “underground”. In this paper, we focus on fake payment scams targeting users on Craigslist. To better understand this type of scam and associated scammers, we built an automated data collection system. The system relied on what we term magnetic honeypot advertisements. These are advertisements that are designed to attract scammers but repel legitimate users – similar to how a magnet attracts one side of a magnet but repels the other. Using advertisements of this type, we offered goods for sale on Craigslist, gathered scam emails and interacted with scammers. We use this measurement platform to gather three months of data and perform an in-depth analysis. Our analysis provides us with a better understanding of scammers ’ action patterns, automation tools, scammers ’ email account usage and distribution of scammers ’ geolocation. From our analysis of this dataset, we find that around 10 groups of scammers were responsible for nearly half of the over 13,000 total scam attempts we received. These groups use shipping address and phone numbers in both Nigeria and the U.S. We also identify potential methods of deterring these targeted scams based on patterns in the scammer’s messages and usage of email accounts that might enable improved filter of their initial messages by content and email address. I