Security threats in network coding-enabled mobile small cells

The recent explosive growth of mobile data traffic, the continuously growing demand for higher data rates, and the steadily increasing pressure for higher mobility have led to the fifth-generation mobile networks. To this end, network-coding (NC)-enabled mobile small cells are considered as a promising 5G technology to cover the urban landscape by being set up on-demand at any place, and at any time on any device. In particular, this emerging paradigm has the potential to provide significant benefits to mobile networks as it can decrease packet transmission in wireless multicast, provide network capacity improvement, and achieve robustness to packet losses with low energy consumption. However, despite these significant advantages, NC-enabled mobile small cells are vulnerable to various types of attacks due to the inherent vulnerabilities of NC. Therefore, in this paper, we provide a categorization of potential security attacks in NC-enabled mobile small cells. Particularly, our focus is on the identification and categorization of the main potential security attacks on a scenario architecture of the ongoing EU funded H2020-MSCA project “SECRET” being focused on secure network coding-enabled mobile small cells

Quantifying uncertainty in the measurement of arsenic in suspended particulate matter by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with hydride generator

Arsenic is the toxic element, which creates several problems in human being specially when inhaled through air. So the accurate and precise measurement of arsenic in suspended particulate matter (SPM) is of prime importance as it gives information about the level of toxicity in the environment, and preventive measures could be taken in the effective areas. Quality assurance is equally important in the measurement of arsenic in SPM samples before making any decision. The quality and reliability of the data of such volatile elements depends upon the measurement of uncertainty of each step involved from sampling to analysis. The analytical results quantifying uncertainty gives a measure of the confidence level of the concerned laboratory. So the main objective of this study was to determine arsenic content in SPM samples with uncertainty budget and to find out various potential sources of uncertainty, which affects the results. Keeping these facts, we have selected seven diverse sites of Delhi (National Capital of India) for quantification of arsenic content in SPM samples with uncertainty budget following sampling by HVS to analysis by Atomic Absorption Spectrometer-Hydride Generator (AAS-HG). In the measurement of arsenic in SPM samples so many steps are involved from sampling to final result and we have considered various potential sources of uncertainties. The calculation of uncertainty is based on ISO/IEC17025: 2005 document and EURACHEM guideline. It has been found that the final results mostly depend on the uncertainty in measurement mainly due to repeatability, final volume prepared for analysis, weighing balance and sampling by HVS. After the analysis of data of seven diverse sites of Delhi, it has been concluded that during the period from 31st Jan. 2008 to 7th Feb. 2008 the arsenic concentration varies from 1.44 ± 0.25 to 5.58 ± 0.55 ng/m3 with 95% confidence level (k = 2)

Harmful and beneficial aspects of Parthenium hysterophorus: an update

Parthenium hysterophorus is a noxious weed in America, Asia, Africa and Australia. This weed is considered to be a cause of allergic respiratory problems, contact dermatitis, mutagenicity in human and livestock. Crop production is drastically reduced owing to its allelopathy. Also aggressive dominance of this weed threatens biodiversity. Eradication of P. hysterophorus by burning, chemical herbicides, eucalyptus oil and biological control by leaf-feeding beetle, stem-galling moth, stem-boring weevil and fungi have been carried out with variable degrees of success. Recently many innovative uses of this hitherto notorious plant have been discovered. Parthenium hysterophorus confers many health benefits, viz remedy for skin inflammation, rheumatic pain, diarrhoea, urinary tract infections, dysentery, malaria and neuralgia. Its prospect as nano-medicine is being carried out with some preliminary success so far. Removal of heavy metals and dye from the environment, eradication of aquatic weeds, use as substrate for commercial enzyme production, additives in cattle manure for biogas production, as biopesticide, as green manure and compost are to name a few of some other potentials. The active compounds responsible for hazardous properties have been summarized. The aim of this review article is to explore the problem P. hysterophorus poses as a weed, the effective control measures that can be implemented as well as to unravel the latent beneficial prospects of this weed

Selective Pressure to Increase Charge in Immunodominant Epitopes of the H3 Hemagglutinin Influenza Protein

The evolutionary speed and the consequent immune escape of H3N2 influenza A virus make it an interesting evolutionary system. Charged amino acid residues are often significant contributors to the free energy of binding for protein–protein interactions, including antibody–antigen binding and ligand–receptor binding. We used Markov chain theory and maximum likelihood estimation to model the evolution of the number of charged amino acids on the dominant epitope in the hemagglutinin protein of circulating H3N2 virus strains. The number of charged amino acids increased in the dominant epitope B of the H3N2 virus since introduction in humans in 1968. When epitope A became dominant in 1989, the number of charged amino acids increased in epitope A and decreased in epitope B. Interestingly, the number of charged residues in the dominant epitope of the dominant circulating strain is never fewer than that in the vaccine strain. We propose these results indicate selective pressure for charged amino acids that increase the affinity of the virus epitope for water and decrease the affinity for host antibodies. The standard PAM model of generic protein evolution is unable to capture these trends. The reduced alphabet Markov model (RAMM) model we introduce captures the increased selective pressure for charged amino acids in the dominant epitope of hemagglutinin of H3N2 influenza (R2 > 0.98 between 1968 and 1988). The RAMM model calibrated to historical H3N2 influenza virus evolution in humans fit well to the H3N2/Wyoming virus evolution data from Guinea pig animal model studies

CyclinPred: A SVM-Based Method for Predicting Cyclin Protein Sequences

Functional annotation of protein sequences with low similarity to well characterized protein sequences is a major challenge of computational biology in the post genomic era. The cyclin protein family is once such important family of proteins which consists of sequences with low sequence similarity making discovery of novel cyclins and establishing orthologous relationships amongst the cyclins, a difficult task. The currently identified cyclin motifs and cyclin associated domains do not represent all of the identified and characterized cyclin sequences. We describe a Support Vector Machine (SVM) based classifier, CyclinPred, which can predict cyclin sequences with high efficiency. The SVM classifier was trained with features of selected cyclin and non cyclin protein sequences. The training features of the protein sequences include amino acid composition, dipeptide composition, secondary structure composition and PSI-BLAST generated Position Specific Scoring Matrix (PSSM) profiles. Results obtained from Leave-One-Out cross validation or jackknife test, self consistency and holdout tests prove that the SVM classifier trained with features of PSSM profile was more accurate than the classifiers based on either of the other features alone or hybrids of these features. A cyclin prediction server- CyclinPred has been setup based on SVM model trained with PSSM profiles. CyclinPred prediction results prove that the method may be used as a cyclin prediction tool, complementing conventional cyclin prediction methods

Limits on WWZ and WW\gamma couplings from p\bar{p}\to e\nu jj X events at \sqrt{s} = 1.8 TeV

We present limits on anomalous WWZ and WW-gamma couplings from a search for WW and WZ production in p-bar p collisions at sqrt(s)=1.8 TeV. We use p-bar p -> e-nu jjX events recorded with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider during the 1992-1995 run. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 96.0+-5.1 pb^(-1). Assuming identical WWZ and WW-gamma coupling parameters, the 95% CL limits on the CP-conserving couplings are -0.33<lambda<0.36 (Delta-kappa=0) and -0.43<Delta-kappa<0.59 (lambda=0), for a form factor scale Lambda = 2.0 TeV. Limits based on other assumptions are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Varespladib and cardiovascular events in patients with an acute coronary syndrome: the VISTA-16 randomized clinical trial

IMPORTANCE: Secretory phospholipase A2(sPLA2) generates bioactive phospholipid products implicated in atherosclerosis. The sPLA2inhibitor varespladib has favorable effects on lipid and inflammatory markers; however, its effect on cardiovascular outcomes is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of sPLA2inhibition with varespladib on cardiovascular outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A double-blind, randomized, multicenter trial at 362 academic and community hospitals in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India, and North America of 5145 patients randomized within 96 hours of presentation of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to either varespladib (n = 2572) or placebo (n = 2573) with enrollment between June 1, 2010, and March 7, 2012 (study termination on March 9, 2012). INTERVENTIONS: Participants were randomized to receive varespladib (500 mg) or placebo daily for 16 weeks, in addition to atorvastatin and other established therapies. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary efficacy measurewas a composite of cardiovascular mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI), nonfatal stroke, or unstable angina with evidence of ischemia requiring hospitalization at 16 weeks. Six-month survival status was also evaluated. RESULTS: At a prespecified interim analysis, including 212 primary end point events, the independent data and safety monitoring board recommended termination of the trial for futility and possible harm. The primary end point occurred in 136 patients (6.1%) treated with varespladib compared with 109 patients (5.1%) treated with placebo (hazard ratio [HR], 1.25; 95%CI, 0.97-1.61; log-rank P = .08). Varespladib was associated with a greater risk of MI (78 [3.4%] vs 47 [2.2%]; HR, 1.66; 95%CI, 1.16-2.39; log-rank P = .005). The composite secondary end point of cardiovascular mortality, MI, and stroke was observed in 107 patients (4.6%) in the varespladib group and 79 patients (3.8%) in the placebo group (HR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.02-1.82; P = .04). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In patients with recent ACS, varespladib did not reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular events and significantly increased the risk of MI. The sPLA2inhibition with varespladib may be harmful and is not a useful strategy to reduce adverse cardiovascular outcomes after ACS. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01130246. Copyright 2014 American Medical Association. All rights reserved

Search for New Physics in e mu X Data at D0 Using Sleuth: A Quasi-Model-Independent Search Strategy for New Physics

We present a quasi-model-independent search for the physics responsible for electroweak symmetry breaking. We define final states to be studied, and construct a rule that identifies a set of relevant variables for any particular final state. A new algorithm ("Sleuth") searches for regions of excess in those variables and quantifies the significance of any detected excess. After demonstrating the sensitivity of the method, we apply it to the semi-inclusive channel e mu X collected in 108 pb^-1 of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV at the D0 experiment during 1992-1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron. We find no evidence of new high p_T physics in this sample.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to Physical Review