Digital image forgery (DIF) is a prevalent issue in the modern age, where malicious actors manipulate images for various purposes, including deception and misinformation. Detecting such forgeries is a critical task for maintaining the integrity of digital content. This thesis explores the use of Modified Error Level Analysis (ELA) in combination with a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), as well as, Feedforward Neural Network (FNN) model to detect digital image forgeries. Additionally, incorporation of Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) to this research provided insights into the process of decision-making by the models. The study trains and tests the models on the CASIA2 dataset, emphasizing both authentic and forged images. The CNN model is trained and evaluated, and Explainable AI (SHapley Additive exPlanation— SHAP) is incorporated to explain the model’s predictions. Similarly, the FNN model is trained and evaluated, and XAI (SHAP) is incorporated to explain the model’s predictions. The results obtained from the analysis reveals that the proposed approach using CNN model is most effective in detecting image forgeries and provides valuable explanations for decision interpretability.
Kidney fibrosis is an inevitable result of various chronic kidney diseases(CKDs)and significantly contributes to end-stage renal failure.Currently,there is no specific treatment available for renal fibrosis.ELA13(amino acid sequence:RRCMPLHSRVPFP)is a conserved region of ELABELA in all vertebrates;however,its biological activity has been very little studied.In the present study,we evaluated the therapeutic effect of ELA13 on transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)-treated NRK-52E cells and unilateral ureteral occlusion(UUO)mice.Our results demonstrated that ELA13 could improve renal function by reducing creatinine and urea nitrogen content in serum,and reduce the expression of fibrosis biomarkers confirmed by Masson staining,immunohistochemistry,real-time polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR),and western blot.Inflammation biomarkers were increased after UUO and decreased by administration of ELA13.Furthermore,we found that the levels of essential molecules in the mothers against decapentaplegic(Smad)and extracellular signal-regulated kinase(ERK)pathways were reduced by ELA13 treatment in vivo and in vitro.In conclusion,ELA13 protected against kidney fibrosis through inhibiting the Smad and ERK signaling pathways and could thus be a promising candidate for anti-renal fibrosis treatment.
