Polar Coding for Achieving the Capacity of Marginal Channels in Nonbinary-Input Setting

Achieving information-theoretic security using explicit coding scheme in which unlimited computational power for eavesdropper is assumed, is one of the main topics is security consideration. It is shown that polar codes are capacity achieving codes and have a low complexity in encoding and decoding. It has been proven that polar codes reach to secrecy capacity in the binary-input wiretap channels in symmetric settings for which the wiretapper's channel is degraded with respect to the main channel. The first task of this paper is to propose a coding scheme to achieve secrecy capacity in asymmetric nonbinary-input channels while keeping reliability and security conditions satisfied. Our assumption is that the wiretap channel is stochastically degraded with respect to the main channel and message distribution is unspecified. The main idea is to send information set over good channels for Bob and bad channels for Eve and send random symbols for channels that are good for both. In this scheme the frozen vector is defined over all possible choices using polar codes ensemble concept. We proved that there exists a frozen vector for which the coding scheme satisfies reliability and security conditions. It is further shown that uniform distribution of the message is the necessary condition for achieving secrecy capacity.Comment: Accepted to be published in "51th Conference on Information Sciences and Systems", Baltimore, Marylan

Effects of salicylic acid application on two almond cultivars under salinity stress

The effects of salinity stress on the physiological processes and biochemical compounds of plants were reported. Salicylic acid (SA), as one of the main phytohormones, is a signal molecule that alleviates the negative influences of salinity. This study was conducted to investigate the protective role of SA in improving the salinity tolerance of two almond cultivars. Two almond cultivars (\u27Tuono\u27 and \u27Sahand\u27) grafted on the GN (Garnem) rootstock were exposed to different levels of salinity stress (0, 2, 6 and 8 dS·m-1) and treated with SA (0, 1 and 2 mM). The results showed that salinity stress significantly reduced the plant height, Fv/Fm, protein and total phenolic content (TPC), whereas Na and Cl content in roots, proline content and antioxidant enzymes activities, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), guaiacol peroxidase (POD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), significantly increased in response to salinity stress. Rootstock and scion diameter, and also leaves number of selected shoots significantly increased at 2 and 6 dS·m-1 of salinity, and then significantly decreased at 8 dS·m-1 of salinity. Furthermore, it was found SA treatment significantly alleviated the negative effects of salinity by enhancing morphological characteristics, Fv/Fm, accumulation of Na and Cl in roots, proline content, protein and TPC and also by enhancing the SOD, CAT, APX, POD and GPX activities. Taken together, the results showed that \u27Sahand\u27 cultivar treated with SA had a better response to salinity stress compared with \u27Tuono\u27 cultivar. Therefore, the use of \u27Sahand\u27 cultivar and application of SA could be recommended as a practical tool under salinity conditions

The effect of protocol for disinfection of extracted teeth recommended by center for disease control (CDC) on microhardness of enamel and dentin

Background: According to the guideline of the United States center for disease control (CDC), the extracted teeth should be sterilized by autoclaving or storage in 10% formalin before using for educational or research purposes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of this protocol on microhardness of dentin and enamel. Material and Methods: Thirty extracted single-root teeth were used in this study. The crowns were resected, and the roots were longitudinally sectioned into two halves. The Vickers microhardness (VHN) of specimens was measured on polished canal dentin and buccal enamel surfaces. The crowns were randomly divided into three groups (n=10). Group 1 and 2 were sterilized using autoclave and formalin, respectively while group 3 (control) was stored in synthetic tissue fluid. The root halves were also randomly divided into 3 groups (n=20) which were treated as mentioned above for crown samples. Following sterilization, VHN of samples was measured again. ANOVA and paired samples t-tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Autoclaving caused a significant reduction in microhardness of dentin ( P <0.001, 12.04% decreases in VHN). However, there were no significant differences for before and after sterilization within other groups. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the CDC protocol is recommended in studies related to enamel microhardness. However, Autoclaving is not an appropriate sterilization method in studies related to dentin microhardness. In these studies, two-week immersion in 10% formalin is recommended

Fractal-Based Ensemble Classification System for Hyperspectral Images

According to the literature, the utilization of spatial features can significantly enhance the accuracy of hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. Fractal features are powerful measures of texture, representing the local complexity of an image. In HSI classification, textural features are typically extracted from dimensionally reduced data cubes, such as principal component analysis (PCA). However, the effectiveness of textures obtained from alternative feature extraction (FE) methods in improving classification accuracy has not been extensively investigated. This study introduces a new ensemble support vector machine classification system that combines spectral features derived from PCA, minimum noise fraction (MNF), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and fractal features derived from these FE methods. The final results on two HSI datasets, namely, Indian Pines (IP) and Pavia University (PU), demonstrate that the proposed classification method achieves approximately 95.75% and 99.36% accuracies, outperforming several other spatial–spectral HSI classification methods

Resource Allocation in Heterogeneous Small-Cell Networks with Interference Avoidance Admission

Abstract-In this paper, we consider a heterogenous small-cell network (HSCNet) with co-channel deployment and investigate the throughput performance of the proposed admission control algorithm based on a new received interference constraint at the small-cell base station (SCBS) nodes. In the considered co-channel heterogenous network, by utilizing the proposed admission algorithm based on the amount of received interference generated at the neighboring macro users, the new user is admitted at the small-cell network (SCNet) while ensuring that no harmful interference is caused to the adjacent macro users. For the proposed admission algorithm, we investigate the achievable effective capacity performance of the SCNet subject to maximizing the throughput performance of the SCNet. Finally, we sustain our theoretical analysis by numerical results

Investigation of Workers’ Sleep Quality in GoleGohar Mineral Industries Co., Sirjan

Sleeping is an important physiological process, wielding deep effect on the spiritual and physical health of individuals. The present study has been carried out to investigate workers’ sleep quality in GoleGohar Mineral Industries Co., Sirjan, Iran. This cross-sectional and descriptive-analytical study has been carried out in 2012. The statistical society included 345 workers in of psychological health of workers in Hematite and Pelletizing section in GoleGohar Mineral Industries Co., Sirjan. The sampling method was simple random selection. Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was applied in the study, with the Cronbach validity of 0.83.  Analysis of data was carried out under SPSS 19 software using descriptive and inferential statistics tests. Workers averaged 30.92±4.78 years of age and their working experience averaged 5.47±3.24 years. 82.9 percent of the workers responding to the questionnaire were satisfied with their jobs, and 17.1 percent were not satisfied. Body Mass Index (BMI) for workers averaged 24.5±3.51 Kg/m3.51 Kg/m2 46.9 percent of workers experienced satisfactory sleep and 53.1 percent of them experienced unsatisfactory sleep. The present study has reported workers’ sleep quality in a modest level. With high influence of sleep quality on individual performance and on their general health, and high incidence of workplace events, this aspect of workers’ health should be in the focus of policy-makers and relevant authorities in health sector

The Association of Dietary Patterns With Dietary Inflammatory Index, Systemic Inflammation, and Insulin Resistance, in Apparently Healthy Individuals With Obesity

Infammation is considered a key mechanism leading to obesity. Dietary patterns and certain food items infuence infammation. Few studies have investigated the contribution of major dietary patterns to biological measures of infammation. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the associations of diferent dietary patterns with dietary infammatory index (DII), systemic infammation, and insulin resistance (IR) in the apparently healthy obese. In this cross-sectional study, 151 abdominally obese subjects were recruited from the Northwest of Iran. Dietary intake, demographic data, anthropometric indices, and physical activity (PA) was assessed. DII scores were calculated based on a validated 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Three dietary patterns were identifed, using principal component analysis. Basal blood samples were collected to determine biochemical parameters. Linear regression test with adjusted beta estimates was applied for data analysis. Three dietary patterns were extracted as Healthy, Western, and Traditional. Body mass index (BMI) (p\u3c 0.01) and fat mass (p\u3c 0.001) were directly associated with the Western dietary pattern. Conversely, serum lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LBP) (b= − 0.1, p\u3c 0.04) was negatively associated with Healthy dietary pattern, after controlling for confounders. The Traditional pattern was found to be inversely related to DII (b= − 0.3, p\u3c 0.001). The association was also reveresed between Traditional pattern and IR (Odds Ratio: 0.3 (95% Confdence Interval 0.1–0.9)). The results suggested that the Western dietary pattern was related to higher BMI and fat mass. In addition, the Healthy pattern was associated with decreased levels of LBP. Adherence to the Traditional dietary pattern was inversely related to DII as well as IR

Global injury morbidity and mortality from 1990 to 2017: Results from the global burden of disease study 2017

Background Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. methods We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Findings In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). Interpretation Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care