17,831 research outputs found
Oblivion: Mitigating Privacy Leaks by Controlling the Discoverability of Online Information
Search engines are the prevalently used tools to collect information about
individuals on the Internet. Search results typically comprise a variety of
sources that contain personal information -- either intentionally released by
the person herself, or unintentionally leaked or published by third parties,
often with detrimental effects on the individual's privacy. To grant
individuals the ability to regain control over their disseminated personal
information, the European Court of Justice recently ruled that EU citizens have
a right to be forgotten in the sense that indexing systems, must offer them
technical means to request removal of links from search results that point to
sources violating their data protection rights. As of now, these technical
means consist of a web form that requires a user to manually identify all
relevant links upfront and to insert them into the web form, followed by a
manual evaluation by employees of the indexing system to assess if the request
is eligible and lawful.
We propose a universal framework Oblivion to support the automation of the
right to be forgotten in a scalable, provable and privacy-preserving manner.
First, Oblivion enables a user to automatically find and tag her disseminated
personal information using natural language processing and image recognition
techniques and file a request in a privacy-preserving manner. Second, Oblivion
provides indexing systems with an automated and provable eligibility mechanism,
asserting that the author of a request is indeed affected by an online
resource. The automated ligibility proof ensures censorship-resistance so that
only legitimately affected individuals can request the removal of corresponding
links from search results. We have conducted comprehensive evaluations, showing
that Oblivion is capable of handling 278 removal requests per second, and is
hence suitable for large-scale deployment
Standardization of NPK Requirement in Banana Cv. "Njalipoovan" (Musa AB Group) in Onattukara Soil of South Kerala
Banana cv. "Njalipoovan" (Musa AB group, Syn. Ney Poovan) is one of the popular varieties cultivated in the homesteads of Kerala. This variety has high export potential due to its edible and keeping quality. Eventhough fertilizer requirement was worked out for different varieties; no attempt has been made to standardize the nutrient requirement of banana cv. "Njalippovan", especially in the loamy sand soils of Onattukara. Field experiments were conducted for two years (1998-2000) at Onattukara Regional Agricultural Research Station, Kayamkulam to study the influence of three levels each of N (100, 200 and 300 g plant-1), P2O5 (100, 200 and 300 g plant-1) and K2O (200,400 and 600 g plant-1) with one absolute control (nopoko) on growth, yield, quality and economics of cultivation. Increasing the rate of application of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium improved the growth and yield. Total soluble solids (TSS), total sugars and reducing sugars increased with increasing levels of nitrogen and potassium. Fruit acidity decreased at higher rate of N and K2O. Applied phosphorus had no effect on quality of fruits. Application of N, P2O5 and K2O at 200:200:400 g plant-1 proved to be ideal for maintaining higher yield and benefit: cost ratio
Neuromorphic In-Memory Computing Framework using Memtransistor Cross-bar based Support Vector Machines
This paper presents a novel framework for designing support vector machines
(SVMs), which does not impose restriction on the SVM kernel to be
positive-definite and allows the user to define memory constraint in terms of
fixed template vectors. This makes the framework scalable and enables its
implementation for low-power, high-density and memory constrained embedded
application. An efficient hardware implementation of the same is also
discussed, which utilizes novel low power memtransistor based cross-bar
architecture, and is robust to device mismatch and randomness. We used
memtransistor measurement data, and showed that the designed SVMs can achieve
classification accuracy comparable to traditional SVMs on both synthetic and
real-world benchmark datasets. This framework would be beneficial for design of
SVM based wake-up systems for internet of things (IoTs) and edge devices where
memtransistors can be used to optimize system's energy-efficiency and perform
in-memory matrix-vector multiplication (MVM).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, MWSCAS 201
Factors Associated with Tuberculosis and Rifampicin-Resistant Tuberculosis amongst Symptomatic Patients in India: A Retrospective Analysis
Background Tuberculosis remains a major public health challenge for India. Various studies have documented different levels of TB and multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB among diverse groups of the population. In view of renewed targets set under the End TB strategy by 2035, there is an urgent need for TB diagnosis to be strengthened. Drawing on data from a recent, multisite study, we address key questions for TB diagnosis amongst symptomatics presenting for care: are there subgroups of patients that are more likely than others, to be positive for TB? In turn, amongst these positive cases, are there factors—apart from treatment history—that may be predictive for multi-drug resistance? Methods We used data from a multi-centric prospective demonstration study, conducted from March 2012 to December 2013 in 18 sub-district level TB programme units (TUs) in India and covering a population of 8.8 million. In place of standard diagnostic tests, upfront Xpert MTB/RIF testing was offered to all presumptive TB symptomatics. Here, using data from this study, we used logistic regression to identify association between risk factors and TB and Rifampicin-Resistant TB among symptomatics enrolled in the study. Results We find that male gender; history of TB treatment; and adult age compared with either children or the elderly are risk factors associated with high TB detection amongst symptomatics, across the TUs. While treatment history is found be a significant risk factor for rifampicin-resistant TB, elderly (65+ yrs) people have significantly lower risk than other age groups. However, pediatric TB cases have no less risk of rifampicin resistance as compared with adults (OR 1.23 (95% C.I. 0.85–1.76)). Similarly, risk of rifampicin resistance among both the genders was the same. These patterns applied across the study sites involved. Notably in Mumbai, amongst those patients with microbiological confirmation of TB, female patients showed a higher risk of having MDR-TB than male patients. Conclusion Our results cast fresh light on the characteristics of symptomatics presenting for care who are most likely to be microbiologically positive for TB, and for rifampicin resistance. The challenges posed by TB control are complex and multifactorial: evidence from diverse sources, including retrospective studies such as that addressed here, can be invaluable in informing future strategies to accelerate declines in TB burden
Ferromagnetism and the Effect of Free Charge Carriers on Electric Polarization in Y_2NiMnO_6 Double Perovskite
The double perovskite Y_2NiMnO_6 displays ferromagnetic transition at Tc = 81
K. The ferromagnetic order at low temperature is confirmed by the saturation
value of magnetization (M_s) and also, validated by the refined ordered
magnetic moment values extracted from neutron powder diffraction data at 10 K.
This way, the dominant Mn4+ and Ni2+ cationic ordering is confirmed. The
cation-ordered P 21/n nuclear structure is revealed by neutron powder
diffraction studies at 300 and 10 K. Analysis of frequency dependent dielectric
constant and equivalent circuit analysis of impedance data takes into account
the bulk contribution to total dielectric constant. This reveals an anomaly
which coincides with the ferromagnetic transition temperature (T_c).
Pyrocurrent measurements register a current flow with onset near Tc and a peak
at 57 K that shifts with temperature ramp rate. The extrinsic nature of the
observed pyrocurrent is established by employing a special protocol
measurement. It is realized that the origin is due to re-orientation of
electric dipoles created by the free charge carriers and not by spontaneous
electric polarization at variance with recently reported magnetism-driven
ferroelectricity in this materialComment: Published in Physical Review
Detection of Circulating Filarial Antigen
Affinity binding to specific solid phase antibody, immune complex binding to Raji
cells or PEG precipitation of immune complexes was used in conjunction with Western
blotting to detect circulating filarial antigen in filarial sera. A high molecular weight
antigen was present in free as well as complex form. PEG precipitation method
revealed specific filarial antigens in the low molecular weight region also
Changes in the measured image separation of the gravitational lens system, PKS 1830-211
We present eight epochs of 43 GHz, dual-polarisation VLBA observations of the
gravitational lens system PKS 1830-211, made over fourteen weeks. A bright,
compact ``core'' and a faint extended ``jet'' are clearly seen in maps of both
lensed images at all eight epochs.
The relative separation of the radio centroid of the cores (as measured on
the sky) changes by up to 87 micro arcsec between subsequent epochs.
A comparison with the previous 43 GHz VLBA observations (Garrett et al. 1997)
made 8 months earlier show even larger deviations in the separation of up to
201 micro arcsec. The measured changes are most likely produced by changes in
the brightness distribution of the background source, enhanced by the
magnification of the lens. A relative magnification matrix that is applicable
on the milliarcsecond scale has been determined by relating two vectors (the
``core-jet'' separations and the offsets of the polarised and total intensity
emission) in the two lensed images. The determinant of this matrix,
-1.13 +/-0.61, is in good agreement with the measured flux density ratio of
the two images. The matrix predicts that the 10 mas long jet, that is clearly
seen in previous 15 and 8.4 GHz VLBA observations (Garrett et al. 1997,
Guirado et al. 1999), should correspond to a 4 mas long jet trailing to the
south-east of the SW image. The clear non-detection of this trailing jet is a
strong evidence for sub-structure in the lens and may require more realistic
lens models to be invoked, e.g. Nair & Garrett (2000).Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
A multipole-Taylor expansion for the potential of gravitational lens MG J0414+0534
We employ a multipole-Taylor expansion to investigate how tightly the
gravitational potential of the quadruple-image lens MG J0414+0534 is
constrained by recent VLBI observations. These observations revealed that each
of the four images of the background radio source contains four distinct
components, thereby providing more numerous and more precise constraints on the
lens potential than were previously available. We expand the two-dimensional
lens potential using multipoles for the angular coordinate and a modified
Taylor series for the radial coordinate. After discussing the physical
significance of each term, we compute models of MG J0414+0534 using only VLBI
positions as constraints. The best-fit model has both interior and exterior
quadrupole moments as well as exterior m=3 and m=4 multipole moments. The
deflector centroid in the models matches the optical galaxy position, and the
quadrupoles are aligned with the optical isophotes. The radial distribution of
mass could not be well constrained. We discuss the implications of these models
for the deflector mass distribution and for the predicted time delays between
lensed components.Comment: 44 pages, 5 figures, 11 tables, accepted for publication in Ap
Carrier mobility and scattering lifetime in electric double-layer gated few-layer graphene
We fabricate electric double-layer field-effect transistor (EDL-FET) devices
on mechanically exfoliated few-layer graphene. We exploit the large capacitance
of a polymeric electrolyte to study the transport properties of three, four and
five-layer samples under a large induced surface charge density both above and
below the glass transition temperature of the polymer. We find that the carrier
mobility shows a strong asymmetry between the hole and electron doping regime.
We then employ ab-initio density functional theory (DFT) calculations to
determine the average scattering lifetime from the experimental data. We
explain its peculiar dependence on the carrier density in terms of the specific
properties of the electrolyte we used in our experiments.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum from the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of antimalarial treatment and molecular markers of Plasmodium falciparum resistance in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. METHODS: A total of 203 patients infected with P. falciparum were treated with quinine 3 days plus sulphadoxine/pyrimethamine (SP) combination therapy, and followed up during a 4-week period. Blood samples collected before treatment were genotyped for parasite mutations related to chloroquine (pfcrt and pfmdr1 genes) or SP resistance (dhfr and dhps). RESULTS: Of 186 patients who completed follow-up, 32 patients (17.2%) failed to clear parasitaemia or became positive again within 28 days after treatment. Recurring parasitaemia was related to age (chi(2) = 4.8, P < 0.05) and parasite rates on admission (t = 3.1, P < 0.01). PCR analysis showed that some of these cases were novel infections. The adjusted recrudescence rate was 12.9% (95% CI 8.1-17.7) overall, and 16.6% (95% CI 3.5-29.7), 15.5% (95% CI 8.3-22.7) and 6.9% (95% CI 0.4-13.4) in three age groups (<5 years, 5-14, > or =15). The majority of infections carried mutations associated with chloroquine resistance: 94% at pfcrt and 70% at pfmdr. Sp-resistant genotypes were also frequent: 99% and 73% of parasites carried two or more mutations at dhfr and dhps, respectively. The frequency of alleles at dhfr, dhps and pfmdr was similar in cases that were successfully treated and those that recrudesced. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical trial showed that quinine 3-days combined to SP is still relatively effective in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. However, if this regimen is continued to be widely used, further development of SP resistance and reduced quinine sensitivity are to be expected. The genotyping results suggest that neither chloroquine nor SP can be considered a reliable treatment for P. falciparum malaria any longer in this area of Bangladesh
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