How reliable is smartphone-based electronic contact tracing for COVID-19?

A look through the lens of neighbor discovery protocols reveals significant potential to improve electronic contact-tracing accuracy.

Therapeutic Gaming for Adolescent Anxiety

Anxiety disorders (AD) are the most prevalent of the mental health conditions and are associated with significant and long-lasting burden of disease both for affected individuals and healthcare systems designed to support them. Despite this, barriers to traditional interventions mean less than half of adolescents experiencing ADs seek-treatment, with less than 20% of treatment-seekers ultimately receiving a scientifically validated intervention. Therapeutic games show significant potential to help reduce AD in adolescents, with some concerns remaining over their abilities to engage users, particularly over time. The chapter presents two studies relating to the development of a new mobile gamified intervention for adolescents with AD. This includes a user-feedback study on currently available games for anxiety and depression, followed by a user-feedback, acceptability, and intention-to-use study of a development version of the new intervention.

Improve Neural Distinguishers of SIMON and SPECK

Deep learning has played an important role in many fields, which shows significant potential for cryptanalysis. Although these existing works opened a new direction of machine learning aided cryptanalysis, there is still a research gap that researchers are eager to fill. How to further improve neural distinguishers? In this paper, we propose a new algorithm and model to improve neural distinguishers in terms of accuracy and the number of rounds. First, we design an algorithm based on SAT to improve neural distinguishers. With the help of SAT/SMT solver, we obtain new effective neural distinguishers of SIMON using the input differences of high-probability differential characteristics. Second, we propose a new neural distinguisher model using multiple output differences. Inspired by the existing works and data augmentation in deep learning, we use the output differences to exploit more derived features and train neural distinguishers, by splicing output differences into a matrix as a sample. Based on the new model, we construct neural distinguishers of SIMON and SPECK with round and accuracy promotion. Utilizing our neural distinguishers, we can distinguish reduced-round SIMON or SPECK from pseudorandom permutation better.

RECEPTIONS OF THE MUSLIM WORLD ON THE PAGES OF “KIEVSKAYA STARINA”

The purpose of this article is to study the receptions of Islam and Muslim cultures in the Ukrainian public sphere of the late XIX – early XX centuries, using “Kievskaya starina” journal as an example. The content of the journal, specifically its thematic focus is analyzed. The materials related to the study of Islamic cultures are highlighted and analysis of their texts is conducted. The article by M. Drahomanov “Turkish anecdotes in Ukrainian folk literature” is studied. Author's attitude to the problem of studying oriental cultures by historiography of the late XIX century is covered. M. Drahomanov’s dissatisfaction with insufficient degree of studies on Muslim people by late XIX century scholars and his desire to make these studies relevant to academic community is established. The study pointed at author's awareness of significant intercultural ties between ethnic groups of Ukrainians, Turks and Tatars. The facts depicting M. Drahomanov’s emphasis on the importance of intercultural factor in the formation of folk art and the relations between his thoughts and conventional views of the late XIX – early XX century are presented. The analysis of the review of “The Notes of the Crimean Mountain Club” article on the relations between Zaporozhia and Crimea by L. Lvov is carried out. The presence of the ideas about close interconnection of the Ukrainian and Tatar history in Ukrainian public sphere of the late XIX century is established. Good evaluation of such ideas in the mentioned discourse is depicted. The article makes a statement that there is a significant potential for further study of the receptions of Islam in the Ukrainian public sphere of the late XIX – early XX century.

Architectural Significance of the Seokguram Buddhist Grotto in Gyeongju (Korea)

The purpose of this article is to disclose the hidden architectural proportions and true nature of the Korean national treasure in Seokguram Grotto, Gyeongju. The authors compare its features with those of other ancient hypogeal or ashlar constructions with the intention of rediscovering its relevant configuration and latent structural properties in order to demonstrate its uniqueness. The methods employed in the research belong initially to architectural design and composition to advance in the later stages to the nuances of stone masonry, lighting effects and especially cohesive construction. In this discussion and thorough analysis diverse philosophical and scientific subtleties are brought to the surface. The results demonstrate significant potential thanks to recent architectural developments, such as Tadao Ando’s Buddha Hill in Hokkaido (2017) and the authors’ own proposal for a Buddhist monument.

The Role of Place-Lore in Environmental Conflict Discourse: The Case of Paluküla Sacred Hill in Estonia

This article is a critical study of how local place-related narratives, i.e. place-lore, is integrated into environmental discussion and how it has significant potential to illustrate local and public, as well as vernacular and institutional, meanings concerned with the environment. Combining the frameworks of ecosemiotics, environmental communication studies, and place-lore research, the article explores how a new storytelling context, ideological selection, and the logic of conflict communication influence the re-contextualisation and interpretation of place-lore. The theory is applied to an empirical examination of public discussion of Paluküla sacred hill in Central Estonia. Tracking references to previous place-lore about Paluküla Hill in the media coverage of the conflict allows a demonstration of how the contextuality and referentiality towards an extra-narrative environment that are originally present in place-lore are often overlooked or ignored in conflict discourse. This, in turn, leads to socially and ecologically disconnected discussion.

EDITABLE THEMATIC DECOR IN THE DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL INTERIOR

The article studies the problem of editable thematic decor in the residential interior as a relevant social phenomenon that has historically contingent genesis and significant potential for development in the future. It has been found that the complex analysis of editable thematic interior decor as a modern public demand is insufficiently reflected in scientific sources. Under current conditions of globalization and social mobility, the number of people who want to periodically decorate their homes for holidays grows, although these actions are of ancient origin and ethno-cultural decor traditions are varied. The changes in public priorities concern the theme of the editable decor more than the desire to use it in houses. Most people should occasionally solve the problem of arranging festive decorative elements in the interior which often means a temporary malfunction of the residential space. The appearance of editable thematic interior decor was originally connected with sacral, magical functions, that’s why in the traditions of many cultures a common approach to arranging decorative elements has been created. The decor protects the main constructional elements of a house and the points of contact of the interior and exterior. In modern homes these are entrance and balcony doors, windows, a fireplace - they are frequently decorated even nowadays. It is possible to identify the places where the residents will arrange festive decorations in the future and make their tasks easier at the stage of an architectural project. In order to do this we need to identify special free places and spaces for the periodical arrangement of the decor by equipping them with the necessary infrastructure; to create an attachment system for the decor. This issue requires further study, in particular in the creation of a potential platform for cooperation in different scientific spheres

Architectural Significance of the Seokguram Buddhist Grotto in Gyeongju (Korea)

The purpose of this article is to disclose the architectural proportions and nature of the Korean national treasure in Seokguram Grotto, Gyeongju. The authors compare its features with those of other ancient hypogeal or ashlar constructions and intend to rediscover its relevant hidden configuration and latent structural properties to show its uniqueness. The methods employed in the research belong initially to architectural design and composition to advance at a later stage, into the nuances of stone masonry, lighting effects or cohesive construction. In this discussion and thorough analysis, different philosophical and scientific subtleties come afloat. The results demonstrate a significant potential capable to be applied in part to recent architectural developments like Tadao Ando’s Buddha Hill in Hokkaido (2017) and the authors’ own project for a Buddhist monument.

Reconciling Amenity and Intensification in New Zealand's Coastal Suburbs: An Island Bay Case Study

<p>With the global and national populations predicted to increase, the location of new residences provides a planning challenge. Intensification of existing areas has been identified as an alternative to urban sprawl (constant development at the edges of cities), but it has been suggested that opposition to intensification is greatest in desirable locations. As a result, this thesis examines how the tension between amenity and intensification can be overcome to allow for future growth in New Zealand’s coastal suburbs. A review of the existing research indicates a gap exists in the literature regarding the suburban coast, so a study of national and international coastal suburbs was conducted in order to develop an understanding of patterns and relationships within these areas. A survey of international suburbs examines the relationships between housing types and density, in order to identify the potential that different housing types offer to an intensification project. A design case study located in Wellington’s Island Bay applies and tests the findings of the previous chapters. The research finds that rather than an inherent tension existing between amenity and intensification, intensification has significant potential to increase amenity when planned at an urban scale, and that this may be best applied around a public waterfront. While the research presents a set of design guidelines to assist in the reconciliation of amenity and intensification, further research needs to be conducted into the mechanics of implementing such a scheme, especially with regard to its economic and community acceptance aspects.</p>

Reconciling Amenity and Intensification in New Zealand's Coastal Suburbs: An Island Bay Case Study

<p>With the global and national populations predicted to increase, the location of new residences provides a planning challenge. Intensification of existing areas has been identified as an alternative to urban sprawl (constant development at the edges of cities), but it has been suggested that opposition to intensification is greatest in desirable locations. As a result, this thesis examines how the tension between amenity and intensification can be overcome to allow for future growth in New Zealand’s coastal suburbs. A review of the existing research indicates a gap exists in the literature regarding the suburban coast, so a study of national and international coastal suburbs was conducted in order to develop an understanding of patterns and relationships within these areas. A survey of international suburbs examines the relationships between housing types and density, in order to identify the potential that different housing types offer to an intensification project. A design case study located in Wellington’s Island Bay applies and tests the findings of the previous chapters. The research finds that rather than an inherent tension existing between amenity and intensification, intensification has significant potential to increase amenity when planned at an urban scale, and that this may be best applied around a public waterfront. While the research presents a set of design guidelines to assist in the reconciliation of amenity and intensification, further research needs to be conducted into the mechanics of implementing such a scheme, especially with regard to its economic and community acceptance aspects.</p>