Adversary Models for Mobile Device Authentication

Mobile device authentication has been a highly active research topic for over 10 years, with a vast range of methods proposed and analyzed. In related areas, such as secure channel protocols, remote authentication, or desktop user authentication, strong, systematic, and increasingly formal threat models have been established and are used to qualitatively compare different methods. However, the analysis of mobile device authentication is often based on weak adversary models, suggesting overly optimistic results on their respective security. In this article, we introduce a new classification of adversaries to better analyze and compare mobile device authentication methods. We apply this classification to a systematic literature survey. The survey shows that security is still an afterthought and that most proposed protocols lack a comprehensive security analysis. The proposed classification of adversaries provides a strong and practical adversary model that offers a comparable and transparent classification of security properties in mobile device authentication.

Understanding the Pathways toward Improved Efficiency in MXene-Assisted Perovskite Solar Cells

A large and rapidly expanding class of two-dimensional (2D) metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides called MXenes, with their interesting photovoltaic applications and tunable surface termination, has found a vast range...

Nanomedicine in Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A New Frontier in Targeted Cancer Treatment

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related death and is associated with a dismal median survival of 2–9 months. The fundamental limitations and ineffectiveness of current HCC treatments have led to the development of a vast range of nanotechnologies with the goal of improving the safety and efficacy of treatment for HCC. Although remarkable success has been achieved in nanomedicine research, there are unique considerations such as molecular heterogeneity and concomitant liver dysfunction that complicate the translation of nanotheranostics in HCC. This review highlights the progress, challenges, and targeting opportunities in HCC nanomedicine based on the growing literature in recent years.

Putting perception into action: Inverse optimal control for continuous psychophysics

Psychophysical methods are a cornerstone of psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience where they have been used to quantify behavior and its neural correlates for a vast range of mental phenomena. Their power derives from the combination of controlled experiments and rigorous analysis through signal detection theory. Unfortunately, they require many tedious trials and preferably highly trained participants. A recently developed approach, continuous psychophysics, promises to transform the field by abandoning the rigid trial structure involving binary responses and replacing it with continuous behavioral adjustments to dynamic stimuli. However, what has precluded wide adoption of this approach is that current analysis methods recover perceptual thresholds, which are one order of magnitude larger compared to equivalent traditional psychophysical experiments. Here we introduce a computational analysis framework for continuous psychophysics based on Bayesian inverse optimal control. We show via simulations and on previously published data that this not only recovers the perceptual thresholds but additionally estimates subjects' action variability, internal behavioral costs, and subjective beliefs about the experimental stimulus dynamics. Taken together, we provide further evidence for the importance of including acting uncertainties, subjective beliefs, and, crucially, the intrinsic costs of behavior, even in experiments seemingly only investigating perception.

Study of the Influence of Abiotic and Biotic Stress Factors on Horticultural Plants

In changing environmental conditions, horticulture plants are affected by a vast range of abiotic and biotic stresses which directly and indirectly influence plant condition [...]

Fonoholizm, smombie, nomofobia: współczesne pojęcia charakteryzujące nałogowe korzystanie ze smartfona przez współczesną młodzież

Smartphones offer a vast range of possibilities, keep people actively involved in building relationships with others. These devices have changed the way we consume various kinds of content, spend our free time, use the Internet, shop, or watch movies. Thanks to smartphones, new ways of communication and building relationships have emerged. They were supposed to serve mainly as facilitating communication but with time they started to create the surrounding reality. While the smartphone offers great opportunities to innovate, learn and stimulate creativity, there is evidence of negative consequences for the mental health of users. The article addresses the problem of problematic mobile phone use by young people. The danger of becoming dependent on a mobile phone was pointed out and the specificity of phonoholism as a new form of behavioral addiction was presented. First, the symptoms of excessive smartphone use will be presented along with dimensions and the reasons why people use them so often. Then, issues related to problematic mobile phone use will be presented, such as prevalence, questionnaire methods and consequences. Finally, the author discusses the risk factors of excessive use of smartphones.

Danube as a symbol of Europe. Perception of the river from varied geographical perspectives

The Danube is promoted as a pan-European river, what can be justified for instance by the vast range of its drainage basin, covering 19 countries on both sides of the historical border diving Eastern and Western Europe. Differentiation of imaginations of Danube course from the perspective of 7 European cities, based on research covering 1577 respondents, conducted between 2005–2007 and 2016–2018 has been presented in the paper. Maps presenting the generalized imagination of river course have been generated for each city. It has been proved that in spite of substantial political, economical and symbolical importance of this river for big part of Europe, the course of Danube remains unknown for inhabitants of its Western part, in parallel to more correct recognition of the river by students from Eastern Europe. It has been shown that the perception does not change despite the progressing integration processes.

Why blackseed can be the cure for all illnesses except death

The use of plants to prevent and treat illnesses has been known since time immemorial. Blackseed has been used in different civilizations around the world for centuries. The curative properties of blackseed were mentioned in the Bible and further elaborated on by Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) as “Hold on to the use of blackseed, as it has a remedy for every illness except death”. Extensive research conducted over the past century into the phytochemistry of blackseed has identified many active ingredients and confirmed its pharmacological action in the treatment of a vast range of illness conditions across the different systems of the body, including the prevention and treatment of cancer, and optimum functioning of the immune system. Furthermore, the Tibb philosophical principles highlight the ability of the body’s inherent self-healing capacity, known as Physis, and the intricate functioning of the human body, based on the temperamental and humoral theory. This paper emphasizes the importance of Physis, and its role in the maintenance and restoration of health with the regular intake of blackseed, highlighting why blackseed can be a cure for all illnesses except death. Keywords: Blackseed, phytochemistry, pharmacological action, Tibb philosophical principles.

Conceptualizing the Value of Aging: What is it Like to Be An Older Woman in the 21st Century?

The basis for this hermeneutic phenomenological research was to identify common themes in women 65 years of age and older and determine whether these women felt valued in ageing. The best description of this research becomes the study of the phenomena as real living or “entering the lifeworld “(Finlay, 2012). The research sought to increase the knowledge of how older women feel about their own ageing and the effect of society’s response to them. The participants covered a large age range of 66 to 93 years of age all of which experienced physical, emotional, and social changes involving age. The participants' response to these changes of ageing and society’s response to them ranged from very positive to very distressing. Twelve women were interviewed from a vast range of locations throughout the United States through zoom due to COVID 19. Their responses reflect four main categories: ageism, successful ageing, active engagement, and social support. The interviews focused on seven main questions: Tell me about being your age? Is there a time you can recall when you first felt older? Have you ever felt mistreated as an older adult? Have you ever felt you were discounted or ignored as being an older woman? Have you done anything to maintain your youth? Have you done anything to feel youthful? Have you ever felt dismissed related to your age? Utilizing seven questions and the conversation with these questions brought forth this study. This became a platform for these women to tell their stories.

Colossal magnetic fields in high refractive index materials at microwave frequencies

Resonant scattering of electromagnetic waves is a widely studied phenomenon with a vast range of applications that span completely different fields, from astronomy or meteorology to spectroscopy and optical circuitry. Despite being subject of intensive research for many decades, new fundamental aspects are still being uncovered, in connection with emerging areas, such as metamaterials and metasurfaces or quantum and topological optics, to mention some. In this work, we demonstrate yet one more novel phenomenon arising in the scattered near field of medium sized objects comprising high refractive index materials, which allows the generation of colossal local magnetic fields. In particular, we show that GHz radiation illuminating a high refractive index ceramic sphere creates instant magnetic near-fields comparable to those in neutron stars, opening up a new paradigm for creation of giant magnetic fields on the millimeter's scale.