High-Capacity Robust Image Steganography via Adversarial Network

( Beijing Chen ),( Jiaxin Wang ),( Yingyue Chen ),( Zilong Jin ),( Hiuk Jae Shim ),( Yun-qing Shi ) 한국인터넷정보학회 2020 KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Syst Vol.14 No.1

Steganography has been successfully employed in various applications, e.g., copyright control of materials, smart identity cards, video error correction during transmission, etc. Deep learning-based steganography models can hide information adaptively through network learning, and they draw much more attention. However, the capacity, security, and robustness of the existing deep learning-based steganography models are still not fully satisfactory. In this paper, three models for different cases, i.e., a basic model, a secure model, a secure and robust model, have been proposed for different cases. In the basic model, the functions of high-capacity secret information hiding and extraction have been realized through an encoding network and a decoding network respectively. The high-capacity steganography is implemented by hiding a secret image into a carrier image having the same resolution with the help of concat operations, InceptionBlock and convolutional layers. Moreover, the secret image is hidden into the channel B of carrier image only to resolve the problem of color distortion. In the secure model, to enhance the security of the basic model, a steganalysis network has been added into the basic model to form an adversarial network. In the secure and robust model, an attack network has been inserted into the secure model to improve its robustness further. The experimental results have demonstrated that the proposed secure model and the secure and robust model have an overall better performance than some existing high-capacity deep learning-based steganography models. The secure model performs best in invisibility and security. The secure and robust model is the most robust against some attacks.

Antifungal activity of Streptomyces albidoflavus L131 against the leaf mold pathogen Passalora fulva involves membrane leakage and oxidative damage

Chen, Chao,Wang, Yumei,Su, Chun,Zhao, Xinqing,Li, Ming,Meng, Xiaowei,Jin, Yingyu,Yang, Seung-Hwan,Ma, Yushu,Wei, Wei,Joo-Won, Suh 한국응용생명화학회 2015 Applied Biological Chemistry (Appl Biol Chem) Vol.58 No.1

Passalora fulva (or Fulvia fulva) is the causal microorganism of tomato leaf mold, the outbreak of which occurs worldwide in greenhouse especially when humidity is high. However, studies on antifungal agents of P. fulva are still very limited. In this study, a marine-derived Streptomyces albidoflavus strain L131 showing potent inhibitory activities against P. fulva was identified and characterized. The active antifungal components were obtained, and studies on the antifungal mechanisms of the crude extract showed that the antifungal metabolites of L131 caused damage of hyphae and spore development, as well as plasma membrane of P. fulva. In addition, accumulation of endogenous reactive oxygen species of the leaf pathogen was also observed after treatment by culture extracts of L131. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the studies of the antifungal mechanisms against P. fulva, which benefit further development of biocontrol agent against tomato leaf mold disease.

Robust Super-Repellent Anisotropic Silica Films by Emulsion-Based Sol–Gel Growth

Yingyu Zhou,Hongling Chen 성균관대학교(자연과학캠퍼스) 성균나노과학기술원 2018 NANO Vol.13 No.1

In this paper, anisotropic SiO2 with different morphologies were synthesized through an emulsion-based one-pot method by adding various silane coupling agents. Silane coupling agents affected the growth of silica nanostructures at the oil/water interfaces. Robust super-repellent film that showed great durability under different harsh conditions were obtained by bonding the self-assembled anisotropic silica nanostructures (ASN) film to substrate by the commercial acrylic adhesive. The ¯lm switched from superhydrophobic (157.1°) to superhydrophilic (0°) after being heat-treated at 500 ℃. Further, silane treatment with addition of acid reduced the time of modification. Meanwhile, silane grafting density was improved and superhydrophobicity of calcinated ASN films was regenerated.

Combined Application Effects of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Biochar on the Rhizosphere Fungal Community of Allium fistulosum L.

Ji Chunxiang,Li Yingyue,Xiao Qingchen,Li Zishan,Wang Boyan,Geng Xiaowan,Lin Keqing,Zhang Qing,Jin Yuan,Zhai Yuqian,Li Xiaoyu,Chen Jin 한국미생물·생명공학회 2023 Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol.33 No.8

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are widespread soil endophytic fungi, forming mutualistic relationships with the vast majority of land plants. Biochar (BC) has been reported to improve soil fertility and promote plant growth. However, limited studies are available concerning the combined effects of AMF and BC on soil community structure and plant growth. In this work, a pot experiment was designed to investigate the effects of AMF and BC on the rhizosphere microbial community of Allium fistulosum L. Using Illumina high-throughput sequencing, we showed that inoculation of AMF and BC had a significant impact on soil microbial community composition, diversity, and versatility. Increases were observed in both plant growth (the plant height by 8.6%, shoot fresh weight by 12.1%) and root morphological traits (average diameter by 20.5%). The phylogenetic tree also showed differences in the fungal community composition in A. fistulosum. In addition, Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed that 16 biomarkers were detected in the control (CK) and AMF treatment, while only 3 were detected in the AMF + BC treatment. Molecular ecological network analysis showed that the AMF + BC treatment group had a more complex network of fungal communities, as evidenced by higher average connectivity. The functional composition spectrum showed significant differences in the functional distribution of soil microbial communities among different fungal genera. The structural equation model (SEM) confirmed that AMF could improve the microbial multifunctionality by regulating the rhizosphere fungal diversity and soil properties. Our findings provide new information on the effects of AMF and biochar on plants and soil microbial communities.

Study on Temperature and Humidity Stability for Melt-blown Polylactide Electret Nonwovens

Jinjian Wang,Peng Wang,Yingyu Luo,Wei Huang,Renjian Qian,Jun Chen,Peng Chen 한국섬유공학회 2023 Fibers and polymers Vol.24 No.8

To investigate the temperature and humidity stability of melt-blown polylactide (PLA) electret nonwovens with different crystallinity, PLA nonwovens were annealed at 70 ℃ for different time followed by the corona charging process, and decay experiments were carried out under different temperature and humidity conditions. It was found that the crystallinity of the PLA nonwovens increased from 14.0 to 50.8%, with annealing time increased from 0 to 4 h. Initial surface potential and filtration efficiency of the PLA electret nonwovens increased with increasing crystallinity (from 14.0 to 50.8%), with the maximum increment of 18% in the initial surface potential. Moreover, the temperature and humidity stability of the PLA electret nonwovens was enhanced with increasing crystallinity. As for the temperature stability, when humidity was constant and temperature increased from 30 to 50 ℃, a slight drop in the retention rate of the filtration efficiency was observed (≤ 3%) for the PLA electret nonwovens. Regarding the humidity stability, when temperature was constant and humidity exceeded 50% RH, the retention rate of the filtration efficiency for the PLA electret nonwovens decreased significantly (≥ 6%).

Dynamic processes of hyporheic exchange and temperature distribution in the riparian zone in response to dam-induced water fluctuations

Dongsheng Liu,Jian Zhao,Xiaobing Chen,Yingyu Li,Shipan Weiyan,Mengmeng Feng 한국지질과학협의회 2018 Geosciences Journal Vol.22 No.3

We examined the dynamic processes of hyporheic exchange and temperature distribution in a riparian zone in response to low-temperature water fluctuations downstream of the Xin’an River Dam, China, using analytical and mainly hydrodynamic methods. For this purpose, we installed six HM21 piezometers (R, P1–P5) between the river water and the groundwater at an interval of approximately 2 m perpendicular to the flow path. We also installed 20 PT100 thermistors (T1–T20) along the transect at depths of 1.19 m to 3.58 m and monitored the temperatures of river and air. Water levels and temperatures were automatically logged every 5 min by the real-time system from November to December 2014 and sent to the remote platform through the remote terminal unit. Results revealed that the intensity and direction of the hyporheic exchange (Q) between the river water and the groundwater varied periodically (t = 1 d) with the water level of the river. In each cycle, the Q was in a counterclockwise loop curve with the water level of the river and with the non-uniform distribution along the transect perpendicular to the river, which showed that the farther the lateral exchange was away from the river, the lower its intensity and the more hysteretic the alteration of its direction. The daily exchange width and residence time had no necessary connection with the average river stage, but mainly depended on the amplitude of the fluctuating river stage and the duration of river infiltration and established a strong linear relationship with their product. The temperature distribution of the riparian aquifer was mainly affected by the surface radiation and river water infiltration. It was characterized as “cool on the surface and warm at the bottom” in the vertical direction and could be divided into low-, medium-, and high-temperature zones along the horizontal direction. The horizontal infiltration distance (L) increased by power functions with the increase in infiltration rate (v) and decrease in river temperature (T).

ER membrane protein complex subunit 6 (EMC6) is a novel tumor suppressor in gastric cancer

( Xiaokun Wang ),( Yan Xia ),( Chentong Xu ),( Xin Lin ),( Peng Xue ),( Shijie Zhu ),( Yun Bai ),( Yingyu Chen ) 생화학분자생물학회(구 한국생화학분자생물학회) 2017 BMB Reports Vol.50 No.8

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane protein complex subunit 6 (EMC6) is a novel human autophagy-related molecule. Here, using tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry, we report that EMC6 protein is lost or reduced in glandular cells of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, compared to normal stomach mucosa. Overexpression of EMC6 in gastric cancer cells inhibited cell growth, migration, invasion, and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at S-phase. Further investigation suggested that EMC6 overexpression in BGC823 human adenocarcinoma gastric cancer cells reduced tumorigenicity in a xenograft model, demonstrating that EMC6 has the characteristics of a tumor suppressor. This is the first study to show that EMC6 induces cell death in gastric cancer cells. The molecular mechanism of how EMC6 functions as a tumor suppressor needs to be further explored. [BMB Reports 2017; 50(8): 411-416]