A Federated Learning Framework with Blockchain-Based Auditable Participant Selection

Federated learning is an important distributed model training technique in Internet of Things(IoT),in which participant selection is a key component that plays a role in improving training efficiency and model accuracy.This module enables a central server to select a subset of participants to performmodel training based on data and device information.By doing so,selected participants are rewarded and actively perform model training,while participants that are detrimental to training efficiency and model accuracy are excluded.However,in practice,participants may suspect that the central server may have miscalculated and thus not made the selection honestly.This lack of trustworthiness problem,which can demotivate participants,has received little attention.Another problem that has received little attention is the leakage of participants’private information during the selection process.We will therefore propose a federated learning framework with auditable participant selection.It supports smart contracts in selecting a set of suitable participants based on their training loss without compromising the privacy.Considering the possibility of malicious campaigning and impersonation of participants,the framework employs commitment schemes and zero-knowledge proofs to counteract these malicious behaviors.Finally,we analyze the security of the framework and conduct a series of experiments to demonstrate that the framework can effectively improve the efficiency of federated learning.

In the Middle of Global Governance Indonesia is actively participating in global governance reform through the MIKTA middle power grouping

In March 2023,Indonesia took over the chairmanship of MIKTA from Turkiye,marking the second time Indonesia has served as the rotating chair of a global governance mechanism,following the Bali G20 Summit in 2022.

Problems and Countermeasures to Improve Clinical Trial Participants’Compensation Rights in China

Objective To discuss the problems existing in the compensation of Chinese clinical trial participants and propose some suggestions for improving their rights.Methods The literature related to the participants’right to compensation at home and abroad was searched to study the inadequacy of the compensation right for clinical trial participants in China from four aspects:insurance system,principle of attribution,legal relationship and compensation regulations.Then,some suggestions to improve the participants’right to compensation were proposed.Results and Conclusion China lacks clear legal norms for participants’right to compensation.There are problems such as unclear insurance rules and compensation rules,unclear contractual relationships between parties to clinical trials,and no laws and regulations to rely on for attribution and compensation.China should issue regulatory guidelines related to the right to compensation of participants in clinical trials,so that all parties in clinical trials can have rules to follow if there is the occurrence of injury,which can better protect the rights and interests of the participants.

Rural Tourism Format Network Mode Based on Community Participation:A Case Study of Jindatian Village of Zhejiang Province

Because of the existing problems, features and demands in China ’s rural tourism development, sustainability in modern rural tourism necessitates the own ca-pability of rural vil ages and the active participation of community residents. The structure of rural community with the impact of rural tourism is analyzed, and the coupling relation between rural tourism development mode and rural community is discussed. With the integration of rural tourism resource and community capability, network of rural tourism formats is organized starting with the possibility and ways of participation of community＆#39;s vil agers, and formats of public resource type, plat-form investment type, smal and micro enterprises type, and general investment type are constructed to realize the positive cycle of rural community factors and tourism development. A case study of Jindatian Vil age demonstrates the feasibility of rural tourism network mode based on community development, which can depend on community＇s capability to realize the sustainable rural tourism, the protection and heritance of rural culture, and the regeneration of rural economy.

How Do the Participant Relations Affect Adjacency Pairs?

This paper will briefly discuss the issue of how different participant relations affect adjacency pairs in conversation analysis.In terms of the affects or influence on adjacency pairs,this article only places its focus on the ways how the first pair part (FPP) and second pair part (SPP) in conversation are relevant to each other.As for the final result,the data back up such conclusions:in conversation between acquaintance /friends,family members,and as such,the relevance are built up either directly or indirectly.However,in conversation between strangers,this relevance seems to be constructed only directly.

基于WinForm窗体的光谱扫描系统设计

目前,国内市场上广泛使用的紫外–可见分光光度计、紫外–荧光分光光度计大部分不具备自动波长扫描功能,只能人工操作和读数,因此使用受到了极大的限制。本文设计了一款基于Visual C#WinForm窗体的光谱仪软件,通过串口接收紫外–可见分光光度计、紫外–荧光分光光度计等光谱仪器的检测数据,并在电脑端对数据进行处理后,可以自动计算出吸光度、透光率、荧光强度等光谱参数,直观地显示波长扫描光谱图。

A Decision Model for Selecting Participants in Supply Chain

In order to satisfy the rapid changing requirements of customers, enterprises must cooperate with each other to form supply chain. The first and the most important stage in the forming of supply chain is the selection of participants. The article proposes a two staged decision model to select partners. The first stage is the inter company comparison in each business process to select high efficiency candidate based on inside variables. The next stage is to analyse the combination of different candidates in order to select the most perfect partners according to a goal programming model.

Practical Quantum Private Query with Classical Participants

Quantum key distribution(QKD)-based quantum private query(QPQ) is a practical application of QKD, which relaxes the security condition of perfectly concealing a private query to a cheating-sensitive strategy. We propose a QPQ protocol based on the delegated QKD scheme(DQKD-based QPQ), in which two almost ‘classical' clients(data user and database owner) can establish a 1-out-of-N oblivious key with the help of a cloud server with full quantum ability. Concretely, the two classical participants in the DQKD-based QPQ only need to access the quantum channel and reorder qubits, and the costly quantum operations, quantum state preparation and measurement are outsourced to a full quantum server in the cloud without leaking participants' privacy. The proposed protocol not only provides a cloud-based framework of QKD-based QPQ, but also obtains better security by a real-time security check, which can protect the security of the database and user against all potential attacks even if the quantum server is assumed to be a powerfully untrusted adversary.

Association between Free Triiodothyronine Levels and Peripheral Arterial Disease in Euthyroid Participants

This current cross-sectional study investigates the relationship between thyroid hormones and peripheral artery disease （PAD） among euthyroid Chinese population aged 40 years and above. Serum free triiodothyronine （FT3）, free thyroxin （FT4）, thyroid-stimulating hormone （TSH）, and thyroid antibodies were measured.

The Asymmetric Response of Older Male Labour Force Participation Rates to Pension Reform and Labour Market Variables

Increasing the labour force participation rates of older workers is a fundamental component of most OECD （Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development） countries＇ response to the fiscal pressures associated with ageing populations. Both pension reform and employment policies are key elements to achieving such increases in participation and reversing the early retirement trends of recent decades. Econometric modeling results from a panel of 12 OECD countries indicate that labour market variables have a greater influence than social security pension value or the standard age of retirement on the labour force participation rates of males aged 55-64 years. Further results from modeling the potential asymmetric response of participation rates to unemployment rates indicate that a decrease in unemployment rates has a greater impact upon increasing the labour force participation rates of older workers compared to the effect of an increase on unemployment rates has on discouraging participation. We found mixed results for the asymmetric response of participation to an increase or decrease in pension value. Findings thus emphasize the importance of labour market oriented policies to reduce unemployment rates in the developed economies in coming years to address ageing population concerns.

Two NGO-Run Youth-Centers in Multicultural, Socially Deprived Suburbs in Sweden—Who Are the Participants?

Objective: Leisure-time is an important part of young people’s lives. One way to reduce social differences in health is to improve adolescents’ living conditions, for example by enhancing the quality of after-school activities. Multicultural, socially deprived suburbs have less youth participation in organized leisure-time activities. This study explores who the participants are at two NGO-run youth-centers in multicultural, socially deprived suburbs in Sweden and whether socio-demographic, health-related, and leisure-time factors affect the targeted participation. Methods: The study can be seen as an explanatory mixed-methods study where qualitative data help explain initial quantitative results. The included data are a survey with youth (n = 207), seven individual interviews with staff, and six focus-groups interviews with young people at two youth-centers in two different cities. Results and Conclusions: The participants in the youth-centers are Swedish born youths having foreign-born parents who live with both parents, often in crowded apartments with many siblings. Moreover they feel healthy, enjoy school and have good contact with their parents. It seems that strategies for recruiting youths to youth-centers have a large impact on who participates. One way to succeed in having a more equal gender and ethnicity distribution is to offer youth activities that are a natural step forward from children’s activities. The youth-centers’ proximity is also of importance for participation, in these types of neighborhoods.

Research on Public Participation and Information Publicity in Strategic Environmental Assessment

It has been generally recognized that strategic environmental assessment integrates environment and development into decision-making and becomes an important decision-making tool for implementing sustainable development. This paper firstly introduces the relationships of SEA, public participation(PP)and information publicity(IP),then discusses the key parts in enforcing the effective process of PP: They are the methods for how to make sufficient information open (What), when to implement PP (When), who will determinate the public (Who), and how to make the models of PP (How). Six cases are compared and analyzed. At last, ways to improve the effectiveness of PP in China is also presented.

Charged Multiplicity Density and Number of Participant Nucleons in Relativistic Nuclear Collisions

The energy and centrality dependencies of charged particle pseudorapidity density in relativistic nuclear collisions were studied using a hadron and string cascade model, JPCIAE. Both the relativistic experimental data and the PHOBOS and PHENIX Au+Au data at RHIC energy could be fairly reproduced within the framework of JPCIAE model and without retuning the model parameters. The predictions for collisions at the LHC energy were also given. We computed the participant nucleon distributions using different methods. It was found that the number of participant nucleons is not a well defined variable both experimentally and theoretically. Thus it may be inappropriate to use the charged particle pseudorapidity density per participant pair as a function of the number of participant nucleons for distinguishing various theoretical models.

Safety at Work of Participants in the Railway Transport of Dangerous Goods

The transport of dangerous goods always represents a potential risk to life,human health,property,and environmental protection.For this reason and in order to preserve the lives and health of the participants in the transport process,adequate protection measures must be taken before,during,and after the transport of dangerous goods.Since the railway itself is a recipient of dangerous goods that are essential for its own operation,and is also a carrier of large quantities of various dangerous goods,these measures are of paramount importance.This paper examines,from a point of view of the protection of lives and health of the participants in the transport process and the safe transport of dangerous goods,the conditions of shipment and transport of dangerous goods,the obligations of the participants,and the essential ways for their proper handling.Proper application of safety at work prevents impromptu and indolent attitude in transporting dangerous goods,thus contributing to protection of people lives and health.Finally,this paper includes preventive measures and basic principles for implementation of safety at work in the transport of dangerous goods.

Analysis of the Differences in Expenditure Levels of Participants at the 2014 Asian Basketball League in Ho Chi Minh City

Research focuses on studying the economic impacts of 2014 Asian Basketball League in Ho Chi Minh City （hereinaiter referred as ABL 2014） with respect to direct expenditure of all types of participants, including organizers, coaches/athletes, journalists/communicators, audiences, etc. Research was implemented with 920 subjects, including 48 members of the organizing committee, 56 coaches/athletes, 800 audiences and 16 members of journal and media teams.

Projecting Wintertime Newly Formed Arctic Sea Ice through Weighting CMIP6 Model Performance and Independence

Precipitous Arctic sea-ice decline and the corresponding increase in Arctic open-water areas in summer months give more space for sea-ice growth in the subsequent cold seasons. Compared to the decline of the entire Arctic multiyear sea ice,changes in newly formed sea ice indicate more thermodynamic and dynamic information on Arctic atmosphere–ocean–ice interaction and northern mid–high latitude atmospheric teleconnections. Here, we use a large multimodel ensemble from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP6) to investigate future changes in wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice. The commonly used model-democracy approach that gives equal weight to each model essentially assumes that all models are independent and equally plausible, which contradicts with the fact that there are large interdependencies in the ensemble and discrepancies in models' performances in reproducing observations. Therefore, instead of using the arithmetic mean of well-performing models or all available models for projections like in previous studies, we employ a newly developed model weighting scheme that weights all models in the ensemble with consideration of their performance and independence to provide more reliable projections. Model democracy leads to evident bias and large intermodel spread in CMIP6 projections of newly formed Arctic sea ice. However, we show that both the bias and the intermodel spread can be effectively reduced by the weighting scheme. Projections from the weighted models indicate that wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice is likely to increase dramatically until the middle of this century regardless of the emissions scenario.Thereafter, it may decrease(or remain stable) if the Arctic warming crosses a threshold(or is extensively constrained).

The Dilemmas of Using Covert and Overt Participant Observation in Qualitative Research: Effects and Strategies

Participant observation is often applied in qualitative research to help researchers obtain the overall,useful data,which will lead researchers to gain the knowledge that the academia tries to.However,different levels of participant observation,mainly the covert and overt participant observation,have aroused heated discussions among scholars.Field researchers are faced with many problems when doing research,such as whether they should be a covert participant observer or an overt one;what the research will get when they are in different roles and etc.In order to solve those problems,this article tries to provide some effective methods to field researchers,especially to the new ones.This article mainly talks about two types of participant observation:covert and overt participant observation;tries to explore the issues caused by them and the strategies to help researchers deal with such issues.Finally,in qualitative research,when faced with different fieldworks,researchers should adapt themselves to choosing participant roles flexibly and appropriately.

Research on the Construction of a Fully-participatory Extracurricular Learning Platform with Multiple Linkage Effects

In the existing research at home and abroad,the construction of extracurricular learning platform is still only focused on solving the problems of curriculum learning itself.At the same time,there are no cases of multiple linkage effects,including integrating alumni resources,promoting the construction of alumni association,promoting students'internship and employment,strengthening ties with enterprises and so on.On the basis of the original function of the alumni management system,this paper expands the sections and adds the main body of students to enrich the functions of the platform.This paper constructs a fully-participatory extracurricular learning platform with multiple linkage effect,which provides a reference for other majors inside and outside the school to establish extracurricular learning platform.

Athletic Participation and Academic Achievement of High School Students: A Longitudinal Study of Athletic and Non-Athletic Participants

The majority of extant research studies have established that high school students’athletic participation is positively associated with several educational outcomes,including academic performance.However,the effect of long-term athletic participation on academic performance remains unclear.Using a longitudinal data of 220 students from a high school in eastern Massachusetts of the United States,this study has revealed that athletic participants in this school started with a statistically significant higher GPA than non-participants in the first year of study,and have continued to be higher in the following two years,lag behind significantly,however,in academic achievement growth from their nonparticipation counterparts.The results of the study call for thoughtful decision-making regarding sports programs and athletic policies,proper guidance and adequate support for athletes and an optimal sport-academic culture in American high schools.

Operationalizing Cultural Autonomy in International Law as a Form of Effective Participation in Decision-Making

According to most commentators,cultural autonomy is not a right recognized by positive international law.This article argues that the core elements of cultural autonomy can be derived from the right to effective participation guaranteed by Article 15 of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities(FCNM).The existing standards developed by the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention are rather vague,and fail to regulate several issues important for effective participation.This is not determined by the wording of the Convention,but by the Committee’s choice to provide states with a very wide margin of appreciation.To fill in the gaps in the Committee’s jurisprudence,the article examines the case study of a recently adopted law on support for minority cultures in Slovakia.By using a qualitative-substantive approach,it specifies the content of cultural autonomy by defining its purpose,as well as the conditions under which it can be achieved.Applying the Committee’s general criteria to the specific problems raised by the Slovak law,the article establishes the core positive law requirements vis-à-vis the right to cultural autonomy.In closing,the article argues that the Committee should adopt detailed standards,similar to those proposed in the text,in order to enforce the right to effective participation in practice.Operationalizing effective participation leads in substance to the enforcement of the right to cultural autonomy,which is a developed form of the former.