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Structure-activity relationship studies of a 1,2,4-triazolo-[3,4-b]thiadiazine scaffold, identified in an HTS campaign for selective STAT3 pathway inhibitors, determined that a pyrazole group and specific aryl substitution on the thiadiazine were necessary for activity. Improvements in potency and metabolic stability were accomplished by the introduction of an α-methyl group on the thiadiazine. Optimized compounds exhibited anti-proliferative activity, reduction of phosphorylated STAT3 levels and effects on STAT3 target genes. These compounds represent a starting point for further drug discovery efforts targeting the STAT3 pathway.

Water is a key ingredient used in proofing of distilled spirits; however, its impact on the sensory perception of distilled spirits after proofing is scarcely reported. In this study, we diluted both aged and unaged spirits from high proof (>55%, alcohol by volume, ABV) down to 40% ABV and used a trained panel to determine if the choice of water type (spring water, distilled water, or limestone water) and proofing method (fast‐ vs. slow‐proofing) affected the perceived taste/mouthfeel characteristics of the final diluted spirits. Results showed that water type and proofing method did not have a significant effect on aged spirits. However, proofing method but not water type had a significant effect on the sensory perception of unaged spirits. Further characterization on the dynamic sensory profiles of fast‐ vs slow‐proofed unaged spirits showed that the slow‐proofed unaged spirits were characterized as sweeter at the beginning, with less burn throughout the entire evaluation period. Practical Application: To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of using A‐Not A test method to determine whether a perceived difference exists between two confusable high alcohol containing beverages. Our findings are of particularly relevance to producers of unaged spirits (i.e., vodkas), as it illustrates the importance of proofing strategies and how they can help to reduce the ethanol related burn sensation in unaged spirits when no other influential congeners are present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the popularity of image editing tools, the originality and information security of images are facing serious threats. The most common threat is splicing forgery that copies a part of the area from one donor image to the acceptor one. Some research works were proposed to protect the image originality, whereas they are still difficult to apply in practice. There are two main reasons: (a) very limited data for learning models; (b) huge attribute differences between the donor and acceptor images. We propose two novel tasks to conquer the above challenges: Synthetic Adversarial Networks (SANs) and Hybrid Dense U‐Net (HDU‐Net). SAN finds the most secluded position for inserting tampered areas in an image by learning the association between scenes and objects, and can enlarge the original small data set by more than 40 times. We call the data set SF‐Data generated by SAN. We combine the dense U‐Net that detects the differences of the essential attributes of image with four spaces containing more available feature information to propose HDU‐Net. Then, the synthetic data set SF‐Data are used to train HDU‐Net. We perform various attack experiments on several public data sets to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the safe portability of the device in sixth generation (6G) enabled network in box (NIB) and the mobility of locations, users equipped with the device can have a better experience in spatial crowdsourcing. The integration of NIB with 6G results in a decentralized spatial crowdsourcing in industrial automation, but threatens the security of tasks and answers and also leads to the leakage of sensing nodes’ locations. To address these problems, in this article, we propose a secure decentralized spatial crowdsourcing scheme for 6G-enabled NIB (DSC-NIB). Using DSC-NIB, the control station and sensing nodes can gather and transmit information on the blockchain using NIB, without depending on the third party. The control station shares encrypted location strategy parameters set to negotiate session keys and a group key with sensing nodes whose locations satisfy the location strategy, while ensuring the privacy of sensing nodes’ locations. For the security of tasks and answers, we leverage the Counter with CBC-MAC authenticated encryption mechanism to provide confidentiality and integrity. Furthermore, we analyze the security of the proposed DSC-NIB. Compared with existing approaches, the performance is evaluated and improved by 30--50%. To further optimize the performance, two optimized schemes without sacrificing security are presented and our results demonstrate that performance is improved greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Elder abuse (EA) is a critical social, health, and economic issue worldwide. To date, there is limited information on EA in certain similar culture‐specific subpopulations, especially in East Asia. This study aims to summarize EA incidence in East Asia through a systematic review and meta‐analysis and identify its variations and heterogeneity in the incidence estimates. Methods/Design: The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta‐Analyses protocol. Systematic review registration number PROSPERO CRD42020197131. A systematic literature search was performed to identify relevant articles published before July 5th, 2020, from six electronic databases. Two reviewers screened for relevance of the studies against eligible criteria and assessed the bias of the included studies independently. A random‐effect model was adopted to estimate the incidence of EA, followed by subgroup analyses and multi meta‐regression. Sensitivity and publication bias tests were performed to verify the robustness of the meta‐analysis by Stata version 15.1. Results: Twelve eligible studies were included in the meta‐analysis, which involved 79,395 subjects from 3 East Asian countries (China, Japan, and South Korea) ranging from 2004 to 2020. The overall incidence of EA was 78.33 per 1000 person‐year (95% CI: 39.12–156.87) with high between‐study variability (χ2 = 15,568, d.f. = 11, p<0.001; I2 = 99.9%). The sampling method, sample size, scope, instrument, data collection method, income classification, types of participants, and urbanity are all the sources of heterogeneity, which can explain nearly 100% of the variance between studies. Conclusions: The incidence of EA in this study is not as high as the global level. It may be furtherly underestimated in East Asia due to cultural norms. It is imperative to develop a culture‐tailored EA assessment instrument to evaluate potential victims. Future studies should also identify more effective educational programs to raise the public's awareness and promote recognition ability. Key points: It is essential to take cultural norms into account when comparing elder abuse incidence in different regionsThe pooled incidence of elder abuse in East Asia is 78.33 per 1000 person‐year (95% CI: 39.12–156.87) with high between‐study variability (χ2 = 15,568, d.f. = 11. p<0.001, I2 = 99.9)The methodologic (sampling method, sample size, scope, instrument, method of data collection), geographic (income classification) and demographic (participants type and urbanity) characteristics could explain nearly 100% heterogeneity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of Internet of Vehicles (IoV), vehicle-based spatial crowdsourcing (SC) applications have been proposed and widely applied to various fields. However, location privacy leakage is a serious issue in spatial crowdsourcing because workers who participate in a crowdsourcing task are required to upload their driving locations. In this paper, we propose a decentralized location privacy-preserving SC for IoV, which allows vehicle users to securely participate in SC with ensuring the task’s location policy privacy and providing multi-level privacy preservation for workers’ locations. Specifically, we introduce blockchain technology into SC, which can eliminate the control of vehicle user data by SC-server. We combine the additively homomorphic encryption and circle-based location verification to ensure the confidentiality of task’s location policy. To achieve multi-level privacy preservation for workers’ driving locations, we only reveal a grid where workers are located in. The size of the grid represents the level of privacy preservation. We leverage the order-preserving encryption and non-interactive zero-knowledge proof to prevent workers from illegally obtaining rewards by forging their driving locations. The security analysis results show that our framework can satisfy the above requirements. In addition, the experiment results demonstrate that our framework is efficient and feasible in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional covert communication that relies on a central node is vulnerable to detection and attack. Applying blockchain to covert communication can improve the channel's anti‐interference and antitampering. Whisper is the communication protocol of Ethereum, which mainly relies on payload to store information and padding to expand. These two fields can store a large amount of information, creating conditions for the realization of covert communication. In this paper, we propose a covert communication method based on the whisper protocol to covertly transfer information in the blockchain. To implement this method, we use payload to store the carrier information, matching it with the secret message. The generated index is recorded in the padding field. To improve the concealment of communication, we simulate the default filling rules of the protocol to maintain the message size. A new topic–key pair interaction method is also proposed to improve the security of the model. Moreover, the anti‐interference, antitampering and antidetection of the newly proposed model are verified through theoretical analysis and experiment. The experimental findings show that the amount of information in the proposed method is 4.7 times that of the traditional time‐based covert communication. The time consumption of information transmission is reduced to 52.25% under the same settings and even less in actual use. The cost of the new topic–key pair interaction is reduced by nearly 50% compared with the original method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a brief introduction to the project called Education Technology Capacity Building Plan for All Primary and Secondary Teachers now being implemented in China. Because information and communication technology skills training cannot match the demand of teachers' professional development, the Chinese Ministry of Education established the education technology standard for teachers and launched the project. This paper introduced the features of standard training and testing, and discusses the output and influence of the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the implementation of the Schools Modern Distance Education Project in Rural Areas from 2003 to 2007, in China, by the State Council, the Ministry of Education, National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance. Topics include an overview of the joint project, which is based on the need of national modernization construction, the development of rural education, and the facilitation of educational modernization through information and communication technology (ICT). Also discussed is the success of the project, such as the increased ICT competency in rural teachers, and the creation of the Basic Education Resource Center of the Ministry of Education.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a central part of the joint Food and Agricultural Organization/World Health Organizations Food Standards Program, adopts internationally recognized standards, guidelines, and code of practices that help ensure safety, quality, and fairness of food trade globally. Although Codex standards are not regulations per se, regulatory authorities around the world may benchmark against these standards or introduce them into regulations within their countries. Recently, the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) initiated a draft revision to the Codex standard for follow-up formula (FUF), a drink/product (with added nutrients) for young children, to include requirements for limiting or measuring the amount of sweet taste contributed by carbohydrates in a product. Stakeholders from multiple food and beverage manufacturers expressed concern about the subjectivity of sweetness and challenges with objective measurement for verifying regulatory compliance. It is a requirement that Codex standards include a reference to a suitable method of analysis for verifying compliance with the standard. In response, AOAC INTERNATIONAL formed the Ad Hoc Expert Panel on Sweetness in November 2020 to review human perception of sweet taste, assess the landscape of internationally recognized analytical and sensory methods for measuring sweet taste in food ingredients and products, deliver recommendations to Codex regarding verification of sweet taste requirements for FUF, and develop a scientific opinion on measuring sweet taste in food and beverage products beyond FUF. Findings showed an abundance of official analytical methods for determining quantities of carbohydrates and other sweet-tasting molecules in food products and beverages, but no analytical methods capable of determining sweet taste. Furthermore, sweet taste can be determined by standard sensory analysis methods. However, it is impossible to define a sensory intensity reference value for sweetness, making them unfit to verify regulatory compliance for the purpose of international food trade. Based on these findings and recommendations, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling agreed during its 41st session in May 2021 to inform CCNFSDU that there are no known validated methods to measure sweetness of carbohydrate sources; therefore, no way to determine compliance for such a requirement for FUF., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of AOAC INTERNATIONAL.)

We introduce a two-stream model to use reflexive eye movements for smart mobile device authentication. Our model is based on two pre-trained neural networks, iTracker and PredNet , targeting two independent tasks: (i) gaze tracking and (ii) future frame prediction. We design a procedure to randomly generate the visual stimulus on the screen of mobile device, and the frontal camera will simultaneously capture head motions of the user as one watches it. Then, iTracker calculates the gaze-coordinates error which is treated as a static feature . To solve the imprecise gaze-coordinates caused by the low resolution of the frontal camera, we further take advantage of PredNet to extract the dynamic features between consecutive frames. In order to resist traditional attacks (shoulder surfing and impersonation attacks) during the procedure of mobile device authentication, we innovatively combine static features and dynamic features to train a 2-class support vector machine (SVM) classifier. The experiment results show that the classifier achieves accuracy of 98.6% to authenticate the user identity of mobile devices.