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eHealth includes services and systems of healthcare and information technologies. A patient monitoring system is essential to have a medical professional be aware of the patient's condition. On the other hand, telecare medical information system (TMIS) makes a doctor able to make diagnoses and provide treatment advice to a patient via the Internet. How to ensure convenience and user privacy for eHealth at the same time is always an urgent issue. Because sensor networks make obtaining instantaneous information feasible, we first analyze related protocols and makes further discussions with proper modifications to ensure the patient monitoring system's security. Then we propose a biometrics-based mutual authentication scheme to ensure privacy and security for TMIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hegemonic masculinity has developed an appearance on Twitter that spreads to every layer of society and naturalizes digital hegemonic masculinity. In the present study examining the digital hegemonic masculinity towards male sports journalists using Twitter in Türkiye, the comments made by male users on the Twitter posts of 9 sports journalists were analyzed using the netnographic method and 5 sports journalists were interviewed to support the results. As a result of the study, it was determined that male sports journalists were exposed to the discourse of digital hegemonic masculinity on Twitter. Based on the findings of the study, it was found that male sports journalists were exposed to profanity/insult as well as physical and online threats on Twitter. Particularly the individuals who are classified as social hooligans (social media fan) and use Twitter with anonymous credentials act in an organized manner and strengthen the discourse of digital hegemonic masculinity and hegemonic discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authenticated key agreement (AKA) method used in the Internet of Things (IoT) provides identity authentication and agreed symmetric keys to encrypt large amounts of communication messages for devices and servers. With the rapid development of quantum computers and quantum algorithms, classical cryptographic algorithms become vulnerable to attacks by adversaries, leading to significant risks in IoT communication systems. Numerous lattice-based authentication key agreement (AKA) schemes have emerged to fortify communication systems against quantum attacks. However, due to the large size of the lattice cryptography public key, an excessive number of communication rounds can cause significant time delays. Meanwhile, many current lattice-based AKA schemes rely on weak security models like BR, CK, and ROR. These models can only capture partial adversary attacks. To this end, we propose a lower communication rounds lattice-based anonymous authenticated key agreement (LA-AKA) protocol under the seCK model. This protocol aims to achieve lower communication rounds under the robust security model, ensuring heightened security and efficiency within IoT communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the high demands of data communication, the broadcasting system streams the data daily. This service not only sends out the message to the correct participant but also respects the security of the identity user. In addition, when delivered, all the information must be protected for the party who employs the broadcasting service. Currently, Attribute-Based Broadcast Encryption (ABBE) is useful to apply for the broadcasting service. (ABBE) is a combination of Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) and Broadcast Encryption (BE), which allows a broadcaster (or encrypter) to broadcast an encrypted message, including a predefined user set and specified access policy to install the authorization mechanism. It is desirable to hide all the information when producing in the ciphertext, which has not been considered in the previous works of ABBE. Motivated by the above issue, we devise a solution to achieve anonymity for the ABBE scheme, which not only hides the access structures but also anonymizes the user's identity. In this work, we propose two schemes as Anonymous Key Policy (AKP)-ABBE and Anonymous Ciphertext Policy (ACP)-ABBE with supporting multiple access structures by using OR / AND gates. Specifically, we present the generic constructions of AKP/ACP-ABBE on the building block of the Inner Product Encryption (IPE ), which enables the hidden user's identity and complex OR / AND -Gate access structure. We show that our proposed schemes are secured under the standard models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to discuss the topic of using anonymous and fake names instead of real names, hiding the identities of internet users, and the adverse effects of disguise. This research is a case study type. The research subjects are King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) Saudi Arabia students, with 80 students in semester 222 represented by the academic year 2023. Data collection techniques using surveys, observations, and documentation. The results: using anonymous and fake names can affect numerous aspects of a person's lifestyle, such as religious, social, ethical, and even safety. Hiding an identity allows a person to do what they could not in their real name, such as showing bad morals, spying on others, weakening family bonds, violating security, and promoting terrorism. It also discusses the treatment of this trend, whether related to the anonymous person or others who suffer consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opportunities are often conceptualized as 'openings' in a social movement's external environment which can reduce the cost of collective action, while threat is a force which increases the cost of inaction. These concepts were originally formulated to describe the political contexts of traditional offline movements, therefore how are they perceived and framed by activists in the digital environment of data? This study utilizes qualitative thematic coding to examine the collective action frames in four years of archival texts from 2009 to 2012 of two highly adept data activist mobilizations: The Digital Rights movement and the Anonymous hacktivist collective. Analyses show that frames of opportunity appear with far less frequency than threat. For both cases, volatile opportunity frames regarding their online actions are very rare, especially in the Anonymous texts. It concludes by suggesting that highly leveraging the affordances of digital technology and data may lead to political opportunities losing some of their perceived salience as a mobilizing force, while cultural factors around data activism may simultaneously result in an increased perception of threats. This study shows the importance of understanding how data mediate contemporary collective action and calls for further development and synthesis of the structural and cultural aspects of both opportunity and threat in social movement theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epistolary periodicals associated with English coffee house culture have often been associated with Jürgen Habermas' model for the rise of the 'bourgeois public sphere'. Habermas proposed this ultimately gave rise to the free articulation of public opinion and the emergence of democratic values. Written at a time of socio‐political upheaval, John Dunton's serial publications relied upon anonymous authorship, particularly his most famous periodical, the Athenian Mercury (1691–97), which pioneered the question‐and‐answer format and gave rise to many imitations. In the present era, we are witnessing democracy imperilled by the proliferation of AI‐driven 'fake news'. This paper proposes that the origins of this phenomenon may be found in epistolary periodicals which normalized giving and receiving offence in print. The pernicious quality of anonymous print, free from personal accountability or consequences, embedded from its inception a fatal flaw in the project of constituting a democratic public sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAn anonymous survey was given to n = 73 students in an asynchronous online statistical literacy course at a mid-sized Hispanic Serving Institution. Informed by teaching experience, literature on lexical ambiguity, and everyday usage of statistics words and phrases, the first author designed the survey to yield insight into how students view phrases such as “average person,” “random person,” and “outlier person,” and to explore possible connections or patterns with such phrases. Findings suggest that students view phrases such as “random person” in a way much further from standard usage than they do phrases such as “anonymous person.” Considerations such as diversity, agency, and variable identification are identified as possibly affecting usage and meriting further investigation. Recommendations for teaching and future research are provided. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

An anonymous survey was given to n = 73 students in an asynchronous online statistical literacy course at a mid-sized Hispanic Serving Institution. Informed by teaching experience, literature on lexical ambiguity, and everyday usage of statistics words and phrases, the first author designed the survey to yield insight into how students view phrases such as "average person," "random person," and "outlier person," and to explore possible connections or patterns with such phrases. Findings suggest that students view phrases such as "random person" in a way much further from standard usage than they do phrases such as "anonymous person." Considerations such as diversity, agency, and variable identification are identified as possibly affecting usage and meriting further investigation. Recommendations for teaching and future research are provided. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools are an essential setting for mental health supports and services for students. To support student well-being, schools engage in universal mental health screening to identify students in need of support and to provide surveillance data for district-wide or state-wide policy changes. Mental health data have been collected via anonymous and self-identified response formats depending on the purpose of the screening (i.e., surveillance and screening, respectively). However, most surveys do not provide psychometric evidence for use in both types of response formats. The current study examined whether responses to the Social Emotional Health Survey–Secondary (SEHS-S), a school mental health survey, are comparable when administered using anonymous versus self-identified response formats. The study participants were from one high school and completed the SEHS-S using self-identified ( n = 1,700) and anonymous ( n = 1,667) formats. Full measurement invariance was found across the two response formats. Both substantial and minimal latent mean differences were detected. Implications for the use and interpretation of the SEHS-S for schoolwide mental health are discussed.

Abstract Objective Prevention of high-risk behaviors has always been considered; According to the researches, a person’s religious attitudes and beliefs and intelligence quotient are associated with the prevention of high-risk behaviors such as drug addiction, and religiosity and spirituality also reduce drug addiction; Therefore, this study was conducted to compare religious beliefs, intelligence and spiritual health in two methods of education-based treatment and methadone in people with addiction. Results A comparative study was performed among 184 people on all drug users admitted to these wards that treated with methadone and participants of meetings of anonymous drug users. Four questionnaires were used to collect information. Mean, and standard deviation were used to describe the demographic characteristics of participants. Chi-square and fisher tests were used to compare demographic information in the two groups. The present study was performed following acquisition of the code of ethics (IR.BUMS.REC.1395.156) from Research Ethics Committee of Birjand University of Medical Sciences.

An essential part of a nation's political life cycle is election. Any e-voting program must guarantee the privacy, authenticity, and integrity of citizens' votes and personal information. We suggest a reliable electronic voting system built on machine learning and blockchain concepts to allay these worries. However, there are a few issues with this electronic voting technology. It can be compromised by using a mobile application or website to complete the voting paper. The suggested blockchainbased electronic voting method provides confidence, transparency, and treasury while guarding against network intrusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lorî, cureyeke anonîm a edebîyata kurdî ya gelêrî ye. Dema ku zarok tên şîrdayin, xewandin, aşkirin an jî ji bo girîyê zarokan bê rawestin ji alîyê dayikan ve tên vegotin. Ne tenê dayik, ji alîyê pîrik, dapîr, metik, xwişk, xaltîk, jinbir, jinap û hwd. ve jî tên vegotin. Li deverên kurdan yên ji hev cuda ev cureya edebî weke lorî, lorîn, lorik tê binavkirin. Dikare bê gotin ku, di binavkirina vê cureyê de lihevkirineke civakî heye. Di vê xebatê de pênase û taybetmendîyên lorîyan tê niqaşkirin. Ji nav taybetîyên lorîyan ya herî berbiçav, nedîyarbûna vebêjerê wan ê ewil û xwerûbûna zimanê wan e. Ji ber ku mixatabê esasî yê vê cureyê bebek û zarok in, bi hesta dayiktîyê tên hilberandin û îcrakirin. Ji alîyê teşeyî ve rêgezên teqez ji bo hemû lorîyan ne derbasdar e; lewra tê tesbîtkirin ku ji alîyê teşeyê vê lorîyên tekûz jî hene û yên netekûz jî hene. Têkilîyên lorîyan bi cureyên anonîm yên wekî qewlêrk, zûgotinok, zêmar û hwd. re jî hene ku, ev têkilî di hinan de şêweyî, di hinan de jî naverokî ye. Lorî bi melodîyeke taybet tên îcrakirin û ji bo perwerdehîya zarokan weke amûrekê jî tê pejirandin. Mijarên lorîyan gelekî curbicur e; bi zarokan re têkildar çi hebe dikare bibe mijarên lorîyan. Piştî ku pênase û taybetmendîyên lorîyan bi vî awayî ve hat lêkolan, hin nûve di beşa encamê de hatin parvekirin: Divê lorîyên kurmancî ji alîyê şêweyê ve weke lorîyên tekûz û yên netekûz bên senifandin. Ji ber ku lorî, ji alîyê jinan ve, li gorî hest û ramanên jinane tên hilberandin. Divê lorî weke cureyeke “edebîyata jinan” jî bê pejirandin. Berhemên ewqas balkêş in ku hem di welidînê de û hem jî di mirînê de tên îcrakirin. Gelek zêmar hene ku li ser mirîyan wek lorîyan tên vegotin. Derbarê lorîyan de xebatên akademîk her çiqas gihaştibe astekê jî, hêj pêdivî bi xebatên teorîk re hene.

Much of the research on Anonymous has studied the group from an ethnographic perspective or focused on social media posts to learn what is most important for the movement. There have been only few attempts to analyze how hacktivists are choosing suitable targets for cyberattacks with protest objectives. The present study attempts to provide insight into their shared values by looking at interactions among Anonymous members on public chatrooms during the four months of the Quebec student demonstrations known as the 2012 Printemps Érable protests. A thematic analysis was performed to categorize the important themes. The results show that the core values of Anonymous’s group is congruent to that of Anonymous’s social media accounts, emphasizing freedom of expression, often linked to freedom of speech and freedom of information as integral to the target selection process. Also, participants in the chatroom proposed traditionally suitable targets (i.e., the government, the police, political parties) and seems to agree upon which targets should be rejected such as traditional news media, deemed important to diffuse its message and provide information about its operations.

The fuzzy vault is an innovative way to share secret keys, combining traditional cryptography with biometrics and biometric template protection. This method forms the basis for the reliable operation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) through anonymizing drone operators and safely using their data and onboard information. However, due to the inherent instability of biometrics, traditional fuzzy vault schemes face challenges, such as reduced recognition rates with increased chaff points, impractical runtimes due to high-order polynomial reconstruction, and susceptibility to correlation attacks. This paper proposes an efficient fuzzy vault scheme to address these challenges. We generate two secret keys based on biometrics: the first key is produced from the operator's unique features like the face and iris, using a confidence interval; the second key, used to construct a polynomial, is based on what the operator remembers. These dual-key fuzzy vaults enable the stable generation of genuine points during encoding, easy extraction during decoding, and effective operator authentication while maintaining anonymity. Our experimental results demonstrate improved security and secret acquisition accuracy using the AR face database. These results are achieved regardless of increased false vaults, enabling real-time polynomial reconstruction and resilience against correlation attacks. Importantly, our enhanced fuzzy vault scheme allows the application of this secure, real-time authentication process, safeguarding the anonymity of drone operators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is an unmet need for optimizing hepatic allograft allocation from nondirected living liver donors (ND-LLD). Materials and method: Using OPTN living donor liver transplant (LDLT) data (1/1/ 2000-12/31/2019), we identified 6328 LDLTs (4621 right, 644 left, 1063 left-lateral grafts). Random forest survival models were constructed to predict 10-year graft survival for each of the 3 graft types. Results: Donor-to-recipient body surface area ratio was an important predictor in all 3 models. Other predictors in all 3 models were: malignant diagnosis, medical location at LDLT (inpatient/ICU), and moderate ascites. Biliary atresia was important in left and left-lateral graft models. Re-transplant was important in right graft models. C-index for 10-year graft survival predictions for the 3 models were: 0.70 (left-lateral); 0.63 (left); 0.61 (right). Similar C-indices were found for 1-, 3-, and 5-year graft survivals. Comparison of model predictions to actual 10-year graft survivals demonstrated that the predicted upper quartile survival group in each model had significantly better actual 10-year graft survival compared to the lower quartiles (p<0.005). Conclusion: When applied in clinical context, our models assist with the identification and stratification of potential recipients for hepatic grafts from ND-LLD based on predicted graft survivals, while accounting for complex donor-recipient interactions. These analyses highlight the unmet need for granular data collection and machine learning modeling to identify potential recipients who have the best predicted transplant outcomes with ND-LLD grafts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract With the increased number of smart devices in IoT and cloud, communication messages are exchanged extensively throughout the network. This requires secure data transfer between the user and the IoT node, and it entails appropriate mutual authentication and a key establishment mechanism. In this paper, a secure authentication and key agreement mechanism for cloud-based IoT based on elliptic curve cryptography, which provides complete anonymity, has been developed and proposed. The proposed mechanism satisfies multiple security attributes, including confidentiality, the anonymity of the user, anonymity of the IoT node, mutual authentication, secret key establishment, integrity, key privacy, non-repudiation, forward secrecy, and availability. Moreover, security analysis has revealed that the proposed mechanism is safe from replay, user impersonation, gateway impersonation, denial of service, man-in-the-middle, lost/stolen device, de-synchronization, known-key, parallel session, gateway bypassing, and offline password guessing attacks. Formal security analysis of the proposed protocol using BAN logic and ROR model has been carried out to ensure the security of the authentication process and the secrecy of the established key respectively. Comparative analysis of the security functionalities has established that the proposed mechanism provides the highest security in comparison to the other related schemes. The proposed mechanism has also removed the requirement of using a secure communication channel for the registration of an IoT node with the gateway. Though, the proposed mechanism consumes more computational and communication overhead, but in view of trade-off between security functions and performance, the proposed protocol outperforms the other existing IoT authentication protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Prevention of high-risk behaviors has always been considered; According to the researches, a person's religious attitudes and beliefs and intelligence quotient are associated with the prevention of high-risk behaviors such as drug addiction, and religiosity and spirituality also reduce drug addiction; Therefore, this study was conducted to compare religious beliefs, intelligence and spiritual health in two methods of education-based treatment and methadone in people with addiction. Results: A comparative study was performed among 184 people on all drug users admitted to these wards that treated with methadone and participants of meetings of anonymous drug users. Four questionnaires were used to collect information. Mean, and standard deviation were used to describe the demographic characteristics of participants. Chi-square and fisher tests were used to compare demographic information in the two groups. The present study was performed following acquisition of the code of ethics (IR.BUMS.REC.1395.156) from Research Ethics Committee of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Elenchos: Rivista di Studi sul Pensiero Antico is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Cloud storage has the advantages of high efficiency and scalability.Users can save local storage cost and share data with others through cloud storage technology.However, when data is uploaded to cloud servers, its owner also loses the physical control, and hence there needs a corresponding mechanism to ensure the integrity of data stored in the cloud.The Provable Data Possession (PDP) mechanism allows users or a Third-Party Auditor (TPA) appointed by the user to verify data integrity.In practice, data is usually maintained by multiple users.Users may reveal their identities while making an integrity verification request in traditional auditing processes.Anonymous cloud auditing ensures anonymity of users against the TPA during auditing.Currently, in identity-based systems, anonymous cloud auditing schemes usually resort to identity-based ring signature or group signature schemes.As a result, the size of a tag is related to the number of users, which makes it not compact and causes high storage cost.In order to solve this issue, a general construction of identity-based anonymous cloud auditing scheme was proposed.With a signature scheme and an anonymous cloud auditing scheme, a concrete identity-based anonymous cloud auditing scheme based on the general construction was proposed.It combined theBLS signature and an anonymous cloud auditing scheme with compact tags.The main advantage of this solution is that the tags are compact, which can significantly reduce storage cost and improve storage efficiency.Furthermore, the uncheatability and anonymity of the scheme are proved.

Consider a set of k identical asynchronous mobile agents located in an anonymous ring of n nodes. The classical Gather (or Rendezvous) problem requires all agents to meet at the same node, not a priori decided, within a finite amount of time. This problem has been studied assuming that the network is safe for the agents. In this paper, we consider the presence in the ring of a stationary process located at a node that disables any incoming agent without leaving any trace. Such a dangerous node is known in the literature as a black hole, and the determination of its location has been extensively investigated. The presence of the black hole makes it deterministically unfeasible for all agents to gather. So, the research concern is to determine how many agents can gather and under what conditions. In this paper we establish a complete characterization of the conditions under which the problem can be solved. In particular, we determine the maximum number of agents that can be guaranteed to gather in the same location depending on whether k or n is unknown (at least one must be known). These results are tight: in each case, gathering with one more agent is deterministically unfeasible. All our possibility proofs are constructive: we provide mobile agent algorithms that allow the agents to gather within a predefined distance under the specified conditions. The analysis of the time costs of these algorithms show that they are optimal. Our gathering algorithm for the case of unknown k is also a solution for the black hole location problem. Interestingly, its bounded time complexity is Θ (n) ; this is a significant improvement over the existing O (n log n) bounded time complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a literature/newspaper inquiry, this research seeks to answer the question: How to offer a synthetic elementary definition of Vernacular Photography that includes commonalities in concepts by specialized authors, galleries, and museums interested in this iconographic genre? Twenty-five definitions of Vernacular Photography were analyzed to answer this question, choosing 13 from the last ten years that were issued by prestigious academics interested in this genre, such as Geoffrey Batchen and Clément Chéroux, or institutions with Vernacular Photography collections, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York or the Swann Galleries. Studying these definitions has allowed us to find convergent and divergent elements to propose an integrating defining concept. The conclusions section highlights the challenges of finding a synthetic elementary definition of Vernacular Photography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fog computing architecture, a fog is a node closer to clients and responsible for responding to users' requests as well as forwarding messages to clouds. In some medical applications such as the remote healthcare, a sensor of patients will first send encrypted data of sensed information to a nearby fog such that the fog acting as a re-encryption proxy could generate a re-encrypted ciphertext designated for requested data users in the cloud. Specifically, a data user can request access to cloud ciphertexts by sending a query to the fog node that will forward this query to the corresponding data owner who preserves the right to grant or deny the permission to access his/her data. When the access request is granted, the fog node will obtain a unique re-encryption key for carrying out the re-encryption process. Although some previous concepts have been proposed to fulfill these application requirements, they either have known security flaws or incur higher computational complexity. In this work, we present an identity-based proxy re-encryption scheme on the basis of the fog computing architecture. Our identity-based mechanism uses public channels for key distribution and avoids the troublesome problem of key escrow. We also formally prove that the proposed protocol is secure in the IND-PrID-CPA notion. Furthermore, we show that our work exhibits better performance in terms of computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mukaddime Journal is the property of Mukaddime Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ObjectiveThere is an unmet need for optimizing hepatic allograft allocation from nondirected living liver donors (ND-LLD).Materials and methodUsing OPTN living donor liver transplant (LDLT) data (1/1/2000-12/31/2019), we identified 6328 LDLTs (4621 right, 644 left, 1063 left-lateral grafts). Random forest survival models were constructed to predict 10-year graft survival for each of the 3 graft types.ResultsDonor-to-recipient body surface area ratio was an important predictor in all 3 models. Other predictors in all 3 models were: malignant diagnosis, medical location at LDLT (inpatient/ICU), and moderate ascites. Biliary atresia was important in left and left-lateral graft models. Re-transplant was important in right graft models. C-index for 10-year graft survival predictions for the 3 models were: 0.70 (left-lateral); 0.63 (left); 0.61 (right). Similar C-indices were found for 1-, 3-, and 5-year graft survivals. Comparison of model predictions to actual 10-year graft survivals demonstrated that the predicted upper quartile survival group in each model had significantly better actual 10-year graft survival compared to the lower quartiles (p

Messaging services are usually provided within social network platforms and allow these platforms to collect additional information about users, such as what time, for how long, with whom, and where a user communicates. This information allows the identification of users and is available to the messaging service provider even when communication is encrypted end-to-end. Thus, a gap still exists for alternative messaging services that enable anonymous and confidential communication and that are independent of a specific online service. Online services can still be used to support this messaging service, but in a way that enables users to communicate anonymously and without the knowledge and scrutiny of the online services. In this paper, we propose messaging using steganography and online services to support anonymous and confidential communication. In the proposed messaging service, only the sender and the receiver are aware of the existence of the exchanged data, even if the online services used or other third parties have access to the exchanged secret data containers. This work reviews the viability of using existing online services to support the proposed messaging service. Moreover, a proof-of-concept of the proposed message service is implemented and tested using two online services acting as proxies in the exchange of encrypted information disguised within images and links to those images. The obtained results confirm the viability of such a messaging service.

Given a boolean predicate Π on labeled networks (e.g., proper coloring, leader election, etc.), a self-stabilizing algorithm for Π is a distributed algorithm that can start from any initial configuration of the network (i.e., every node has an arbitrary value assigned to each of its variables), and eventually converge to a configuration satisfying Π. It is known that leader election does not have a deterministic self-stabilizing algorithm using a constant-size register at each node, i.e., for some networks, some of their nodes must have registers whose sizes grow with the size n of the networks. On the other hand, it is also known that leader election can be solved by a deterministic self-stabilizing algorithm using registers of O(log log n) bits per node in any n-node bounded-degree network. We show that this latter space complexity is optimal. Specifically, we prove that every deterministic self-stabilizing algorithm solving leader election must use (log log n)-bit per node registers in some n-node networks. In addition, we show that our lower bounds go beyond leader election, and apply to all problems that cannot be solved by anonymous algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplemental Digital Content is Available in the Text. Individuals unaware of their HIV seropositive status continue to represent a key "driver" of the HIV epidemic. Strategies to improve initiation into the HIV treatment cascade, including among young men, are required. This study assesses the acceptability of three HIV testing options among young cisgender men living in Vancouver, British Columbia. Using a modified grounded theory approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 45 young cisgender men ages 18–30 years to identify the factors influencing the acceptability of diverse HIV testing approaches. Participants ascribed value to non-nominal testing as a means of providing a secure pathway to HIV-related care for those who test positive while also safeguarding privacy. Anonymous HIV testing was problematized by participants as potentially creating difficulty in accessing ongoing HIV-related care. Most participants preferred non-nominal testing. Nevertheless, based on principles of equity, we argue that anonymous access to one's serostatus should be available, especially within a criminalized context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hacktivism is a social phenomena which evokes different social assessments. The definitions of a term differ in many respects. This theoretical model of hacktivism has not yet been implemented into an empirical strategy for sociological research. The paper describes the the main initiatives taken by Anonymous collective during the 2014 conflict in Ukraine, which is considered by many researchers to be the first stage of preparation for the war triggered by Russia in 2022. Author analyses the collective's activity in 2022, after the war started, in order to identify similarities and differences in the creation of information messages about the situation. The comparative analysis covers information published in Anonymous' tweets and selected online news services. She asks the question about the possible consequences of Anonymous actions in the open cyber field for the social moods around the world. To what extent these media messages and their construction have reflected the social perception and/or social attitudes towards Russia's aggression? The theoretic explorations were embedded mainly on two methods: criticism of writing and the analytical and comparative one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the article covers the degree of study, classification of Uzbek nicknames according to their professional character, features of nomination-motivation, genderological features, linguistic analysis, features of formation and formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly sensitive information about people's social life and daily activities flows in smart home networks. As such, if attackers can manage to capture or even eavesdrop on this information, the privacy of the users can be compromised. The consequences can be far-reaching, such as knowing the status of home occupancy that can then facilitate burglary. To address these challenges, approaches such as data aggregation and signcryption have been utilized. Elliptic curve cryptography, bilinear pairing, asymmetric key cryptosystem, blockchain, and exponential operations are among the most popular techniques deployed to design these security solutions. However, the computational, storage and communication complexities exhibited by the majority of these techniques are too high. This renders these techniques unsuitable for smart home components such as smart switches and sensors. Some of these schemes have centralized architectures, which present some single points of failure. In this paper, symmetric key authentication procedures are presented for smart home networks. The proposed protocol leverages on cryptographic primitives such as one-way hashing and bitwise exclusive-Or operations. The results indicate that this scheme incurs the lowest communication, storage, and computation costs compared to other related state-of-the-art techniques. Empirically, our protocol reduces the communication and computation complexities by 16.7% and 57.7%, respectively. In addition, it provides backward key secrecy, robust mutual authentication, anonymity, forward key secrecy, and unlinkability. Moreover, it can effectively prevent attacks such as impersonation, session hijacking, denial of service, packet replays, man-in-the-middle, and message eavesdropping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the last decade, businesses and industries have been facing difficulties in tracking their products. During the supply chain process, the attackers add their counterfeit products into the market along with legitimate products. With the increase in the number of counterfeits entering the open market, it is hard to discover the source of the counterfeit product. Most of the existing anti-counterfeit solutions are centralized. However, current solutions lack in anti-counterfeiting, decentralization, auditing, transparency, traceability, and tag cloning. To mitigate these issues, we proposed a Blockchain-based Anonymous Anti-Counterfeit (BA2C) supply chain framework that exploits Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and blockchain technologies. The proposed model streamlined all the transactions through Ethereum, a blockchain-based platform with the support of Proof of Authority (PoA) consensus. Furthermore, the confidentiality of transactions is gained by incorporating zk-SNARKS on the Ethereum blockchain. In this work, the proposed model was tested in terms of transaction cost, latency, and throughput. Further, it was compared with the existing system and was found to perform better transactions in the supply chain management in terms of lower cost and higher scalability. This work concluded that the proposed model was more appropriate to evaluate the critical issues of the supply chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If the "I" of new materialism is, in Bennett's words, "Absorbent... continually ingressed, ensnared, and informed by an outside," what happens to that absorbent "I" when faces are hidden behind masks, as Denzin writes: anonymous, "hiding the truth of our presence," fearful of the Trickster, Covid-19, lurking everywhere? What sense can we make of the entanglement of masks/virus/humans? What are we, what have we become, what are we becoming behind our masks? We seek to protect ourselves and others from the virulent airborne particles and lose our humanity, and we leave our bare faces hanging out, and embrace the "outside." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Network & Information Security is the property of Beijing Xintong Media Co., Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)