Securing Health Sensing Using Integrated Circuit Metric

Convergence of technologies from several domains of computing and healthcare have aided in the creation of devices that can help health professionals in monitoring their patients remotely. An increase in networked healthcare devices has resulted in incidents related to data theft, medical identity theft and insurance fraud. In this paper, we discuss the design and implementation of a secure lightweight wearable health sensing system. The proposed system is based on an emerging security technology called Integrated Circuit Metric (ICMetric) that extracts the inherent features of a device to generate a unique device identification. In this paper, we provide details of how the physical characteristics of a health sensor can be used for the generation of hardware “fingerprints”. The obtained fingerprints are used to deliver security services like authentication, confidentiality, secure admission and symmetric key generation. The generated symmetric key is used to securely communicate the health records and data of the patient. Based on experimental results and the security analysis of the proposed scheme, it is apparent that the proposed system enables high levels of security for health monitoring in resource optimized manner

SP-AMC scheme for visual data transmisson over wireless fading channel

In this paper, an efficient superposition coding with adaptive modulation and coding (SP-AMC) system, for the optimal system performance, is proposed. The proposed SP-AMC system switches its modulation and coding scheme (MCS) adaptively in order to select the suitable modulation order and coding rate that are best match with the instantaneous channel condition. Hence, better performances in both data rate and error probability can be attained. Moreover, the source data is divided into a number of different priority layers with different importance. The bit streams of these layers are then encoded and modulated individually with different unequal error protection (UEP) levels against channel corruption. The highest UEP level is assigned to the highest priority layer which has the highest effect on the reception quality, and vice versa. The modulated bit streams of all layers are then superimposed together and transmitted over Rayleigh fading channel. At the receiver side, a multi-stage decoding (MSD) receiver is used to reconstruct the source data by applying the ordered successive interference cancellation (O-SIC) technique, which demodulates the layers according to the order of their priorities

Centralized scheduling, routing tree in WiMAX mesh networks

In the last few years, demand for high speed internet access service has increased greatly so the IEEE 802.16 working group on broadband wireless access (BWA) is developing the worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) standard for wireless metropolitan area networks (MANs) which aims to provide broadband wireless last mile access, easy deployment, and high speed data rate for large spanning area. This paper propose an efficient routing and collision free centralized scheduling (CS) algorithms using single channel single transceiver system in WiMAX mesh network, which introduces the cross layer concept between the network layer and media access controller (MAC) layer. The proposed approach has improved the system performance in the aspects of scheduling length, channel utilization ratio (CUR), and the throughput of the system

Adaptive real time wireless data transmission using superposition coding with feedback of channel state information

High quality data transmission services are an important issue for broadband wireless access (BWA) systems. This paper deals with the design issues of a real-time wireless data transmission which provides unequal error protection (UEP) over an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. Traditionally, transmission is made from a one bit stream at one level of power (for example, pulse amplitude modulation (PAM)) but using different techniques to exploit the available bandwidth. Using superposition coding, the real time data bit stream can be divided into two bit streams. The first bit stream represents the region of high priority (HP) while the second represents low priority (LP) region. These two bit streams are modulated separately, and superimposed together with two different levels of power to achieve the UEP at the receiver side. Feedback of the channel state information (CSI) is used by adaptive channel in the physical layer such that the current available bandwidth is used efficiently. In this proposed scheme, the same design metrics, namely time, bandwidth and power are used to increase the transmission efficiency. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with the traditional, 2-PAM and 4-PAM schemes. Unlike the traditional schemes, the results show that our scheme provides a higher data rate at an acceptable bit error rate (BER) when the channel is in good condition. When channel quality is degraded, a reduced data rate is applied in contrast with the traditional schemes. As compared with the traditional 4-PAM scheme, the proposed scheme gives a good error performance for the HP bit stream with 0.2 dB gain increase at BER of 10-5, and exhibited a 4 dB gain when the channel condition is bad

Secukinumab in active rheumatoid arthritis after anti-TNFα therapy : a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled phase 3 study

Introduction: 'REASSURE' (NCT01377012), a phase 3 study, evaluated the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had an inadequate response to, or intolerance of, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNF-inhibitors). Methods: A total of 637 patients were randomized (1: 1: 1) to receive intravenous secukinumab 10 mg/kg (baseline, weeks 2 and 4) followed by subcutaneous secukinumab 150 mg or 75 mg every 4 weeks (starting from week 8) or placebo at the same dosing schedule. The primary endpoint was the American College of Rheumatology 20% improvement criteria (ACR20) at week 24. Other predefined hierarchical endpoints included Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index, van der Heijde modified total Sharp score (vdH-mTSS) at week 24, and major clinical response (MCR; continuous 6 month period of ACR70 response) at 1 year. Results: The primary efficacy endpoint was met with both secukinumab dose groups: ACR20 response rate at week 24 was 35.2% for both secukinumab dose groups (P = 0.0009) vs 19.6% for placebo. The improvements in secondary endpoints were greater in the secukinumab dose groups vs placebo but did not meet statistical significance. The overall safety profile was similar across all treatment groups. Conclusion: Secukinumab demonstrated efficacy in reducing disease activity over placebo as measured by ACR20 in patients with active RA who had an inadequate response to TNF-inhibitors. Secukinumab demonstrated a safety profile similar to other biologics currently approved for RA

High reliability of real-time visual data transmission using superposition coding with receiver diversity

Supporting visual data applications in the real-time communication systems are among the most challenging issues over the next generation wireless communication systems. This challenge is further magnified by the fact that the quality of reception is highly sensitive to transmission delay, data losses and bit error rate (BER) in such applications. In this paper, we proposed Superposition Coding with Receiver Diversity (SPC-RD) scheme, which employs unequal error protection (UEP) to improve the error performance, maximize the received signal to noise ratio (SNR) and optimize the reliability of the transmission system. In the transmitter side, the visual data is divided into a number of different priority layers based on their effects on the reception quality. These layers are modulated individually where the highest priority layer is modulated with the highest UEP level against error-prone channels, and vice versa. These modulated signals are then superimposed together and transmitted via wireless Single-Input Multiple-Output (SIMO) Rayleigh fading channel. In the receiver side, three different diversity combining approaches; selection combining (SC), equal gain combining (EGC) and maximal ratio combining (MRC) are considered. The combined signal is then passed through a multiuser demodulator so-called the ordered successive interference cancellation (O-SIC) demodulator to reconstruct and separate the data layers. This demodulation technique is evaluated and compared with the traditionally maximum likelihood joint detection (MLJD) technique. Extensive simulations have been carried out to validate the various assertions. Under the assumption of equal transmission power, the simulation results illustrate that the proposed SPC-RD scheme provides a SNR gain of 14.5 dB over the Rayleigh fading channel at the diversity order of three for the acceptable BER level of 10−3 when BPSK scheme is exploited compared to the traditional equal error protection system. In addition, the proposed scheme with O-SIC demodulation technique achieves almost similar performance compared to MLJD technique but using less computational complexity

Secukinumab in active rheumatoid arthritis after anti-TNFα therapy : a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled phase 3 study

Introduction: 'REASSURE' (NCT01377012), a phase 3 study, evaluated the efficacy and safety of secukinumab in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who had an inadequate response to, or intolerance of, tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNF-inhibitors). Methods: A total of 637 patients were randomized (1: 1: 1) to receive intravenous secukinumab 10 mg/kg (baseline, weeks 2 and 4) followed by subcutaneous secukinumab 150 mg or 75 mg every 4 weeks (starting from week 8) or placebo at the same dosing schedule. The primary endpoint was the American College of Rheumatology 20% improvement criteria (ACR20) at week 24. Other predefined hierarchical endpoints included Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index, van der Heijde modified total Sharp score (vdH-mTSS) at week 24, and major clinical response (MCR; continuous 6 month period of ACR70 response) at 1 year. Results: The primary efficacy endpoint was met with both secukinumab dose groups: ACR20 response rate at week 24 was 35.2% for both secukinumab dose groups (P = 0.0009) vs 19.6% for placebo. The improvements in secondary endpoints were greater in the secukinumab dose groups vs placebo but did not meet statistical significance. The overall safety profile was similar across all treatment groups. Conclusion: Secukinumab demonstrated efficacy in reducing disease activity over placebo as measured by ACR20 in patients with active RA who had an inadequate response to TNF-inhibitors. Secukinumab demonstrated a safety profile similar to other biologics currently approved for RA

On the security of consumer wearable devices in the Internet of Things

Miniaturization of computer hardware and the demand for network capable devices has resulted in the emergence of a new class of technology called wearable computing. Wearable devices have many purposes like lifestyle support, health monitoring, fitness monitoring, entertainment, industrial uses, and gaming. Wearable devices are hurriedly being marketed in an attempt to capture an emerging market. Owing to this, some devices do not adequately address the need for security. To enable virtualization and connectivity wearable devices sense and transmit data, therefore it is essential that the device, its data and the user are protected. In this paper the use of novel Integrated Circuit Metric (ICMetric) technology for the provision of security in wearable devices has been suggested. ICMetric technology uses the features of a device to generate an identification which is then used for the provision of cryptographic services. This paper explores how a device ICMetric can be generated by using the accelerometer and gyroscope sensor. Since wearable devices often operate in a group setting the work also focuses on generating a group identification which is then used to deliver services like authentication, confidentiality, secure admission and symmetric key generation. Experiment and simulation results prove that the scheme offers high levels of security without compromising on resource demands

Mechanical and durability analysis of fly ash based geopolymer with various compositions for rigid pavement applications

Ordinary Portland cement (OPC) is a conventional material used to construct rigid pave�ment that emits large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2 ) during its manufacturing process, which is bad for the environment. It is also claimed that OPC is susceptible to acid attack, which increases the maintenance cost of rigid pavement. Therefore, a fly ash based geopolymer is proposed as a material for rigid pavement application as it releases lesser amounts of CO2 during the synthesis process and has higher acid resistance compared to OPC. This current study optimizes the formulation to produce fly ash based geopolymer with the highest compressive strength. In addition, the durability of fly ash based geopolymer concrete and OPC concrete in an acidic environment is also determined and compared. The results show that the optimum value of sodium hydroxide concentration, the ratio of sodium silicate to sodium hydroxide, and the ratio of solid-to-liquid for fly ash based geopolymer are 10 M, 2.0, and 2.5, respectively, with a maximum compressive strength of 47 MPa. The results also highlight that the durability of fly ash based geopolymer is higher than that of OPC concrete, indicating that fly ash based geopolymer is a better material for rigid pavement applications, with a percentage of compressive strength loss of 7.38% to 21.94% for OPC concrete. This current study contributes to the field of knowledge by providing a reference for future development of fly ash based geopolymer for rigid pavement applications

Long-term efficacy and safety of secukinumab 150 mg in ankylosing spondylitis : 5-year results from the phase III MEASURE 1 extension study

Objective: This study aimed to report end-of-study results on efficacy and safety of secukinumab 150 mg through 5 years in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS; MEASURE 1 extension trial (NCT01863732)). Methods: After the 2-year core trial, 274 patients receiving subcutaneous secukinumab 150 or 75 mg (following intravenous loading or initial placebo treatment to 16/24 weeks) every 4 weeks were invited to enter the 3-year extension study. Dose escalation from 75 to 150 mg (approved dose) was allowed at or after week 156 based on the judgement of the treating physician. Assessments at week 260 (5 years) included Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society (ASAS) 20/40 and other efficacy outcomes. Data are presented as observed. Safety assessment included all patients who received >= 1 dose of study treatment. Results: Of the 274 patients who entered the extension study, 84% (230/274) completed 5 years of treatment. ASAS20/40 responses were 78.6/65.2%, Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) 50 response was 63.4% and mean (+/- SD) BASDAI total score was 2.6 +/- 1.76 with secukinumab 150 mg at 5 years. Improvements in efficacy outcomes were sustained through 5 years. A total of 82 patients on secukinumab 75 mg (56.2%) had their dose escalated to 150 mg after week 168; ASAS40, ASAS-PR, ASAS 5/6 and BASDAI50 responses were improved in patients whose dose was escalated from secukinumab 75 to 150 mg. Secukinumab was well tolerated with a safety profile consistent over the course of the study. Conclusions: Secukinumab 150 mg provided sustained efficacy across multiple domains of AS with a favourable and consistent safety profile through 5-year treatment. Over 50% of patients required dose escalation from 75 to 150 mg and efficacy improved in these patients