A Mechanism for Securing IoT-enabled Applications at the Fog Layer

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging paradigm branded by heterogeneous technologies composed of smart ubiquitous objects that are seamlessly connected to the Internet. These objects are deployed as Low power and Lossy Networks (LLN) to provide innovative services in various application domains, such as smart cities, smart health, smart communities. The LLN is a form of a network where the interconnected devices are highly resource-constrained (i.e., power, memory, and processing) and characterized by high loss rates, low data rates and instability in the communication links. Additionally, IoT devices produce a massive amount of confidential and security-sensitive data. Various cryptographic-based techniques exist that can effectively cope with security attacks, but are not suitable for IoT as they incur high consumption of resources (i.e., memory, storage and processing). One way to address this problem is by offloading the additional security-related operations to a more resourceful entity such as a fog-based node. Generally, fog computing enables security and analysis of latency-sensitive data directly at the network’s edge. This paper proposes a novel Fog Security Service (FSS) to provide end-to-end security at fog layer for IoT devices, using two well-established cryptographic schemes, identity-based encryption and identity-based signature. The FSS provides security services, such as authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. The proposed architecture is implemented and evaluated in OPNET simulator using a single network topology with different traffic loads. The FSS performed better when compared with the APaaS and the legacy method

ВПЛИВ ГЛОБАЛЬНИХ РИЗИКІВ НА СВІТОВЕ ТОРГОВЕЛЬНО-ЕКОНОМІЧНЕ СЕРЕДОВИЩЕ

It is noted that the unprecedented dynamic globalization of trade and economic relations and the fourth industrial revolution cardinally transform the global distribution system of the world economy, accompanied by the growing impact of global challenges and risks, the failure to take into account the effects of which permanently reduces the efficiency of economic functioning and international trade. For developing countries affected by geopolitical challenges, the development of partnerships with countries that are recognized as global leaders in the world economy is essential in terms of national interests and the promotion of state sovereignty.The purpose of this paper is to characterize the impact of global risks on the formation and implementation of trade and economic policies of countries based on the methodological approaches of leading international economic institutions and organizations. Major global risks have identified rising / falling prices for assets, oil or gas, changes in the structure of trade and economic cooperation, terrorism, separatism, climate change, unemployment, income inequality, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyberattacks, etc.The following methods of scientific research were used to achieve the goal and to solve the tasks of the article: systematic structural analysis of economic processes and phenomena, method of quantitative and qualitative comparisons, tabular method of calculating the degree of influence.The scientific novelty of the results is to study the processes of formation and implementation of trade and economic policies of countries under the influence of exogenous factors on them. The influence of exogenous factors is characterized not only according to the sectoral classification (economic, geopolitical, technological, social and natural), but also taking into account the degree of influence of the factor (global challenges and global risks) on the environment.It is substantiated that in the conditions of globalization of the world economy, the threats receive a corresponding more serious nature. Therefore, government agencies need to develop new effective tools for their minimization in order to prevent negative effects and to implement more productive trade and economic cooperation with partner countries.Отмечено, что беспрецедентная динамическая глобализация торгово-экономических отношений и четвертая промышленная революция кардинально трансформируют систему распределения мировой экономики сопровождается ростом влияния глобальных вызовов и рисков, неучет действия которых сплошь снижает эффективность функционирования экономик и ведения международной торговли. Для развивающихся стран, подвергающихся воздействию геополитических вызовов, необходимым с точки зрения реализации национальных интересов и отстаивания государственного суверенитета, становится развитие партнерства со странами, которые являются признанными лидерами мировой экономики.Обосновано, что в условиях глобализации мировой экономики угрозы получают соответствующий более серьезный характер. Поэтому правительственным структурам необходимо разработать новые эффективные инструменты их минимизации для предотвращения негативных последствий и реализации более плодотворного торгово-экономического сотрудничества со странами-партнерами.Означено, що безпрецедентна динамічна глобалізація торговельно-економічних відносин та четверта промислова революція кардинально трансформують систему розподілу світової економіки, що супроводжується зростанням впливу глобальних викликів та ризиків, неврахування дії яких суцільно знижує ефективність функціонування економік та ведення міжнародної торгівлі. Для країн, що розвиваються, які зазнають впливу геополітичних викликів, необхідним, з точки зору реалізації національних інтересів та відстоювання державного суверенітету, стає розвиток партнерства з країнами, які є визнаними глобальними лідерами світової економіки.Метою наукової статті є характеристика впливу глобальних ризиків на формування та реалізацію торговельно-економічних політик країн на основі методичних підходів провідних міжнародних економічних інститутів та організацій. Магістральними глобальними ризиками визначено зростання/падіння цін на активи, нафту чи газ, зміни структури торговельно-економічного співробітництва, тероризм, сепаратизм, кліматичні зміни, безробіття, нерівність у доходах, поширення зброї масового знищення, кібератаки тощо.Для досягнення мети і розв’язання завдань статті були використані наступні методи наукового дослідження: системно-структурний аналіз економічних процесів та явищ, метод кількісного та якісного порівнянь, табличний метод розрахунку ступеня впливу.Наукова новизна одержаних результатів полягає у дослідженні процесів формування та реалізації торговельно-економічних політик країн в умовах впливу на них екзогенних факторів. Вплив екзогенних факторів охарактеризований не тільки відповідно до секторальної класифікації (економічні, геополітичні, технологічні, соціальні та природні), а й з урахуванням ступеня впливу фактору (глобальні виклики та глобальні ризики) на середовище.Обґрунтовано, що в умовах глобалізації світової економіки загрози отримують відповідний більш серйозний характер. Тому урядовим структурам необхідно розробити нові ефективні інструменти їх мінімізації задля запобігання негативних наслідків та реалізації більш плідного торговельно-економічного співробітництва з країнами-партнерами

Costs analysis of a population level rabies control programme in Tamil Nadu, India

The study aimed to determine costs to the state government of implementing different interventions for controlling rabies among the entire human and animal populations of Tamil Nadu. This built upon an earlier assessment of Tamil Nadu’s efforts to control rabies. Anti-rabies vaccines were made available at all health facilities. Costs were estimated for five different combinations of animal and human interventions using an activity-based costing approach from the provider perspective. Disease and population data were sourced from the state surveillance data, human census and livestock census. Program costs were extrapolated from official documents. All capital costs were depreciated to estimate annualized costs. All costs were inflated to 2012 Rupees. Sensitivity analysis was conducted across all major cost centres to assess their relative impact on program costs. It was found that the annual costs of providing Anti-rabies vaccine alone and in combination with Immunoglobulins was \$0.7 million (Rs 36 million) and \$2.2 million (Rs 119 million), respectively. For animal sector interventions, the annualised costs of rolling out surgical sterilisation-immunization, injectable immunization and oral immunizations were estimated to be \$ 44 million (Rs 2,350 million), \$23 million (Rs 1,230 million) and \$ 11 million (Rs 590 million), respectively. Dog bite incidence, health systems coverage and cost of rabies biologicals were found to be important drivers of costs for human interventions. For the animal sector interventions, the size of dog catching team, dog population and vaccine costs were found to be driving the costs. Rabies control in Tamil Nadu seems a costly proposition the way it is currently structured. Policy makers in Tamil Nadu and other similar settings should consider the long-term financial sustainability before embarking upon a state or nation-wide rabies control programme

Maternal mortality: a tertiary care hospital experience in Upper Egypt

Background: Maternal mortality is one of the major challenges which face the developing countries throughout the world. The aim of the study is to assess the causes of maternal mortality at Women Health Hospital, Assiut University, Egypt, and to identify the avoidable ones.Methods: Data were collected from records of patients who presented to and/or delivered at Women Health Hospital between 2009 and 2014. Only cases of maternal mortality were included in this study. In our study, we found 213 maternal deaths at our hospital between 2009 and 2014.Results: The maternal mortality ratio decreased progressively from 2009 to 2014 (228 and 89 per 100000 live birth respectively). Moreover, we found that the indirect causes of maternal mortality accounted for 24.9 % of all mortalities. As regards the direct causes of maternal mortality, preeclampsia remained the primary cause and represented 27.7 % of the avoidable causes. The second most frequent cause of direct maternal mortality was postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), which represented 26.8 %.Conclusions: Preeclampsia and PPH, as well as their complications are the leading causes of death in one of the biggest tertiary care university hospitals in Egypt. However, there are other important avoidable predisposing factors that should be dealt with including lack of patient education, delayed transfer from other hospitals, and substandard practice

Thermal emission spectroscopy of the middle atmosphere

The general objective of this research is to obtain, via remote sensing, simultaneous measurements of the vertical distributions of stratospheric temperature, ozone, and trace constituents that participate in the catalytic destruction of ozone (NO(sub y): NO, NO2, NO3, HNO3, ClONO2, N2O5, HNO4; Cl(sub x): HOCl), and the source gases for the catalytic cycles (H2O, CH4, N2O, CF2Cl2, CFCl3, CCl4, CH3Cl, CHF2Cl, etc.). Data are collected during a complete diurnal cycle in order to test our present understanding of ozone chemistry and its associate catalytic cycles. The instrumentation employed is an emission-mode, balloon-borne, liquid-nitrogen-cooled Michelson interferometer-spectrometer (SIRIS), covering the mid-infrared range with a spectral resolution of 0.020 cm(exp -1). Cryogenic cooling combined with the use of extrinsic silicon photoconductor detectors allows the detection of weak emission features of stratospheric gaseous species. Vertical distributions of these species are inferred from scans of the thermal emission of the limb in a sequence of elevation angles. The fourth SIRIS balloon flight was carried out from Palestine, Texas on September 15-16, 1986 with 9 hours of nighttime data (40 km). High quality data with spectral resolution 0.022 cm(exp -1), were obtained for numerous limb sequences. Fifteen stratospheric species have been identified to date from this flight: five species from the NO(sub y) family (HNO3, NO2, NO, ClONO2, N2O5), plus CO2, O3, H2O, N2O, CH4, CCl3F, CCl2F2, CHF2Cl, CF4, and CCl4. The nighttime values of N2O5, ClONO2, and total odd nitrogen have been measured for the first time, and compared to model results. Analysis of the diurnal variation of N2O5 within the 1984 and 1986 data sets, and of the 1984 ClONO2 measurements, were presented in the literature. The demonstrated ability of SIRIS to measure all the major NO(sub y) species, and therefore to determine the partitioning of the nitrogen family over a continuous diurnal cycle, is a powerful tool in the verification and improvement of photochemical modeling

Synthesis, Antibacterial Evaluation and molecular docking of 2, 4, 5-Tri- imidazole Derivatives

In this study trisubstituted imidazole was synthesized in high yields via a components reaction of aromatic aldehydes, benzil, and ammonium acetate catalyzed by glacial acetic acid employing microwaves irradiation and comparing it to conventional methods, using a basic synthetic process and a simple purification method.  Microwave irradiation is an easy, clean, rapid, effective, and inexpensive method for synthesizing organic compounds that has become known as a tool for green chemistry. By using this method, chemical reactions can be sped up from hours to minutes. All of the prepared compounds were investigated using a variety of spectroscopic methods, including FT-IR, 1HNMR, 13C NMR, and C.H.N. Their (in vitro) antibacterial activities on three bacterial species (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Escherichia coli) were evaluated. The disk test diffusion method was used to evaluate the new imidazole derivatives as a potential antibacterial activity. Among the compounds tested compounds 4b and 4c showed the highest antibacterial activities at a concentration of 200μg/mL and 300μg/mL respectively. The newly synthesized four compounds were evaluated in silico by docking studies to recognize their biological activities and they produced positive docking scores and acceptable binding interactions in molecular docking tests on the target Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Bacillus subtilis as receptors (PDB ID: 6xji, 6ul7 and 7asa) respectively.  The molecular docking results showed that 4b with Staphylococcus aureus, compound 4c with Escherichia coli, and compound 4c with Bacillus subtilis are well and have the lowest binding energies in the active site areas of all targets. The current findings show that the recently synthesized compounds have promising inhibitory efficacy and can be used as antibacterial

Precise predictions for Dirac neutrino mixing

The neutrino mixing parameters are thoroughly studied using renormalization-group evolution of Dirac neutrinos with recently proposed parametrization of the neutrino mixing angles referred to as 'high-scale mixing relations.' The correlations among all neutrino mixing and CP violating observables are investigated. The predictions for the neutrino mixing angle θ23 are precise, and could be easily tested by ongoing and future experiments. We observe that the high-scale mixing unification hypothesis is incompatible with Dirac neutrinos due to updated experimental data

Sterile neutrino dark matter in B−LB-L extension of the standard model and galactic 511 keV line

Sterile right-handed neutrinos can be naturally embedded in a low scale gauged $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the standard model. We show that, within a low reheating scenario, such a neutrino is an interesting candidate for dark matter. We emphasize that if the neutrino mass is of order of MeV, then it accounts for the measured dark matter relic density and also accommodates the observed flux of 511 keV photons from the galactic bulge.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, references added, final version appeared in JCA

Fundamental investigation into tool wear and surface quality in high-speed machining of Ti6Al4V alloy

This paper reports a fundamental investigation consisting of systematic trials into the response of Ti6Al4V alloy to high-speed machining using carbide inserts. It is a useful extension to work previously published, and aims at assessing the impact of the process parameters, depth of cut, cutting speed and feed rate in addition to cutting length, and their interrelations, on observed crater and flank wear and roughness of the machined surface. The results showed that abrasion was the most important flank wear mechanism at high speed. It also showed that increased cutting length accelerated crater wear more than exhibited flank wear and had considerable effect on surface roughness. In particular, crater wear increased by over 150% (on average), and flank wear increased by 40% (on average) when increasing cutting length from 40 to 120 mm. However, cutting the same length increased surface roughness by 50%, which helps explain how progression of tool wear leads to deteriorated surface quality. ANOVA was used to perform statistical analyses of the measured data and revealed that cutting length and depth of cut had the greatest effect on both crater and flank wear of the cutting tool. These results confirm that high-speed machining of Ti6Al4V alloy is a reliable process, with cutting speed identified as having a relatively small influence on the tool wear and resultant roughness of the machined surface relative to other parameters