Primary User Emulation Attacks: A Detection Technique Based on Kalman Filter

Cognitive radio technology addresses the problem of spectrum scarcity by allowing secondary users to use the vacant spectrum bands without causing interference to the primary users. However, several attacks could disturb the normal functioning of the cognitive radio network. Primary user emulation attacks are one of the most severe attacks in which a malicious user emulates the primary user signal characteristics to either prevent other legitimate secondary users from accessing the idle channels or causing harmful interference to the primary users. There are several proposed approaches to detect the primary user emulation attackers. However, most of these techniques assume that the primary user location is fixed, which does not make them valid when the primary user is mobile. In this paper, we propose a new approach based on the Kalman filter framework for detecting the primary user emulation attacks with a non-stationary primary user. Several experiments have been conducted and the advantages of the proposed approach are demonstrated through the simulation results.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figure

Deep Learning-Based Intrusion Detection System for Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Smart grid is an alternative solution of the conventional power grid which harnesses the power of the information technology to save the energy and meet today's environment requirements. Due to the inherent vulnerabilities in the information technology, the smart grid is exposed to a wide variety of threats that could be translated into cyber-attacks. In this paper, we develop a deep learning-based intrusion detection system to defend against cyber-attacks in the advanced metering infrastructure network. The proposed machine learning approach is trained and tested extensively on an empirical industrial dataset which is composed of several attack categories including the scanning, buffer overflow, and denial of service attacks. Then, an experimental comparison in terms of detection accuracy is conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach with Naive Bayes, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest. The obtained results suggest that the proposed approaches produce optimal results comparing to the other algorithms. Finally, we propose a network architecture to deploy the proposed anomaly-based intrusion detection system across the Advanced Metering Infrastructure network. In addition, we propose a network security architecture composed of two types of Intrusion detection system types, Host and Network-based, deployed across the Advanced Metering Infrastructure network to inspect the traffic and detect the malicious one at all the levels.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures. 2019 NISS19: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Networking, Information Systems & Securit

Estimates of Initial Coefficients in Some Subclasses of Bi-Univalent Functions

In the present paper, we investigate the issue of coefficient estimates in subclasses of bi-univalent  functions, where an estimate for the second Hankel determinant in the subclass  , which is defined  by  Murugusundaramoorthy  (2013),  was obtained.  Also, an estimate for coefficient  in  the subclass  ,  which  is defined by Frasin (2014), was found. Moreover, estimates for both coefficient  and the second Hankel determinant in the subclass were obtained.

Sociotechnical Imaginaries: A Possible Contribution to Science Education

This is a conceptual paper that highlights notions of sociotechnical imaginaries (STIs; Jasanoff, 2015) from fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS) that seem relevant to science education aimed at preparing critical and active citizens (Bencze, 2017). We extend our discussion to fields of future studies in science education to argue that a needed direction is not merely to get students to imagine desired (often personalized) futures (especially given social and environmental harms), but to interrogate how products of science and technology seem to delimit kinds of futures we ought to desire. That is, technoscientific futures are not just out there, but are already present, actively fashioning current practices and values. Drawing from STS literature, we demonstrate how STIs are enacted through two current technoscientific products: self-tracking devices and algorithms. We argue that such technoscience products have an active role in constructing certain kinds of individuals/publics (e.g., quantified citizens, calculated publics). Roles of material technologies in normalizing moral and political visions and future orientations need to be explicitly addressed in re-centering nature of technology as inseparable from nature of science (Roth, 2001). Notions of STIs further offer more nuanced approaches to discuss power at the interface of the public/private within STS Education (Pedretti & Nazir, 2011). Finally, notions of STIs may present us with new ways for (re-)encountering affect in science education (Alsop, 2016), as feelings of hope and anxieties contour (how we come to re-envision) imaginaries grounded in technoscientific worlds

Frequency and Predictors of Opioid Use in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Seronegative Spondyloarthropathy Patients

Background: Pain is one of the most challenging symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthropathies (SpAs), and pain relief is one of the top priorities for improving health-related quality of life. When medication therapy does not significantly reduce pain, chronic opioid consumption becomes more prominent in such patients. This study aimed to evaluate the state of opioid use in RA and SpA patients.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 316 patients with RA and spondyloarthropathies (SpAs) from January to March 2014. The convenience sampling method was used to select the participants, and by obtaining verbal consent, everyone was given 15 minutes to complete a checklist independently. Demographic and opioid use data were evaluated in terms of opioid use and its predictors. In this regard, univariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to evaluate the predictors of opioid consumption in patients. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 21 and the significance level was set at P<0.05.Findings: About 9.5% of all participants, including 8.8% of RA and 22.6% of SpA cases, were opioid abusers. In the first step of the analysis, it was observed that opioid abuse was significantly higher in men, married participants, urban residents, patients with no biological therapy, and patients with a negative family history of addiction. The most prevalent ways of drug abuse were smoking and ingestion. The results of univariate logistic regression analysis revealed SpA and other factors significantly increase the chance of opioid abuse. Furthermore, multivariate logistic regression analysis showed male gender (OR=10.4) and negative family history of addiction (OR=3.19) significantly affected addiction in RA and SpA patients with a 95% confidence interval.Conclusion: Lack of suitable responsiveness to medication therapy to relieve pain, inconsistent pain evaluation, and shame of asking direct questions about addiction in RA and SpA patients may lead to opioid consumption in some cases. Seronegative SpA may make patients more prone to addiction. However, in this study, male gender and no family history of addiction were related to opioid abuse

Impact of psychological problems in chemical warfare survivors with severe ophthalmologic complication, a cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Sulfur mustard (SM) has been used as a chemical warfare agent since the early twentieth century. Despite the large number of studies that have investigated SM induced ocular injuries, few of those studies have also focused on the psychological health status of victims. This study has evaluated the most prominent influences on the psychological health status of patients with severe SM induced ocular injuries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This descriptive study was conducted on 149 Iranian war veterans with severe SM induced eye injuries. The psychological health status of all patients was assessed using the Iranian standardized Symptom Check List 90-Revised (SCL90-R) questionnaire. The results of patients' Global Severity Index (GSI) were compared with the optimal cut-off point of 0.4 that has previously been calculated for GSI in Iranian community. The Mann-Whitney U test, T tests and effect sizes (using Cohen's d) were employed as statistical methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean age of patients was 44.86 (SD = 8.7) and mean duration of disease was 21.58 (SD = 1.20) years. Rate of exposure was once in 99 (66.4%) cases. The mean GSI (1.46) of the study group was higher compared to standardized cut off point (0.4) of the Iranian community. The results of this study showed that the mean of total GSI score was higher in participants with lower educational levels (effect size = 0.507), unemployment (effect size = 0.464) and having more than 3 children (effect size = 0.62). Among the participants, 87 (58.4%) cases had a positive psychological history for hospitalization or receiving outpatient cares previously and 62 (41.6%) cases had a negative psychological history. In addition, the mean of GSI in participants with negative psychological history was lower than those with positive psychological history (Mean Change Difference = -0.621 with SD = 0.120). There was a significant difference between positive and negative psychological history with respect to GSI (P < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study showed that severe ophthalmologic complications in chemical survivors are accompanied with destructive effects on psychological health status. Appropriate management may improve psychological health status in these patients.</p

Optimization of Discharge Plasma Reactor for Dry Reforming of Methane using Response Surface Methodology

This research provides a study of the dry reforming of methane (DRM), which converts two main greenhouses gases (CO2 and CH4) to synthesis gas (H2 and CO) by a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) plasma reactor at atmospheric pressure. The Box-Behnken Design (BBD) method based on the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was applied to determine the optimum experimental conditions on the plasma stability and the synthesis gas production. The synergistic effects of input power (P), CO2/CH4 ratio (R), and flow rate (FR) on the CO2, CH4 conversions, H2, CO yields, and the syngas ratio of H2 to CO were studied. With the desirability value of 0.97, the optimum values of 10.05 W (P), 1.03 (R), and 1.58 L.min−1 FR were identified with CO2 conversion of 48.56% and CH4 conversion of 86.67%; H2 and CO yields of 45.87% and 39.43% respectively; and syngas ratio of H2 to CO of 0.88. The study shows that both P and FR have a major significant effect on the reactant conversions and syngas ratio, followed by R. Meanwhile, the value of R has a significant impact on the H2, CO yields followed P and FR. In contrast, the synergistic effects between P-R, P-FR, and R-FR had a weak significant on the CO2 and CH4 conversions, H2 and CO yields, and H2 to CO ratio respectively. The quadratic term coefficients of P, R, and FR had a remarkable effect on all responses. Thus, the synergistic effect of the most important parameters improves the process efficiency. Copyright © 2023 by Authors, Published by BCREC Group. This is an open access article under the CC BY-SA License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Impact of psychological problems in chemical warfare survivors with severe ophthalmologic complication, a cross sectional study

Abstract Background: Sulfur mustard (SM) has been used as a chemical warfare agent since the early twentieth century. Despite the large number of studies that have investigated SM induced ocular injuries, few of those studies have also focused on the psychological health status of victims. This study has evaluated the most prominent influences on the psychological health status of patients with severe SM induced ocular injuries. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted on 149 Iranian war veterans with severe SM induced eye injuries. The psychological health status of all patients was assessed using the Iranian standardized Symptom Check List 90-Revised (SCL90-R) questionnaire. The results of patients&apos; Global Severity Index (GSI) were compared with the optimal cut-off point of 0.4 that has previously been calculated for GSI in Iranian community. The Mann-Whitney U test, T tests and effect sizes (using Cohen&apos;s d) were employed as statistical methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of patients was 44.86 (SD = 8.7) and mean duration of disease was 21.58 (SD = 1.20) years. Rate of exposure was once in 99 (66.4%) cases. The mean GSI (1.46) of the study group was higher compared to standardized cut off point (0.4) of the Iranian community. The results of this study showed that the mean of total GSI score was higher in participants with lower educational levels (effect size = 0.507), unemployment (effect size = 0.464) and having more than 3 children (effect size = 0.62). Among the participants, 87 (58.4%) cases had a positive psychological history for hospitalization or receiving outpatient cares previously and 62 (41.6%) cases had a negative psychological history. In addition, the mean of GSI in participants with negative psychological history was lower than those with positive psychological history (Mean Change Difference = -0.621 with SD = 0.120). There was a significant difference between positive and negative psychological history with respect to GSI (P &lt; 0.001)

Assessment of the competence in electrocardiographic interpretation among Arabic resident doctors at the emergency medicine and internal medicine departments: A multi-center online cross-sectional study

BackgroundThis study aims to assess the electrocardiographic interpretation abilities of resident doctors at internal medicine and emergency medicine departments in eight Arabic countries.MethodsAn online cross-sectional study was conducted between October 7, 2022 and October 21, 2022 in eight Arabic countries. The questionnaire consisted of two main sections: the first section included sociodemographic information, while the second section contained 12 clinical case questions of the most severe cardiac abnormalities with their electrocardiography (ECG) recordings.ResultsOut of 2,509 responses, 630 were eligible for the data analysis. More than half of the participants were males (52.4%). Internal medicine residents were (n = 530, 84.1%), whereas emergency medicine residents were (n = 100, 15.9%). Almost participants were in their first or second years of residency (79.8%). Only 36.2% of the inquired resident doctors had attended an ECG course. Most participants, 85.6%, recognized the ECG wave order correctly, and 50.5% of the participants scored above 7.5/10 on the ECG interpretation scale. The proportions of participants who were properly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, third-degree heart block, and atrial tachycardia were 71.1, 76.7, and 56.6%, respectively. No statistically significant difference was defined between the internal and emergency medicine residents regarding their knowledge of ECG interpretation (p value = 0.42). However, there was a significant correlation between ECG interpretation and medical residency year (p value &lt; 0.001); the fourth-year resident doctors had the highest scores (mean = 9.24, SD = 1.6). As well, participants in the third and second years of postgraduate medical residency have a probability of adequate knowledge of ECG interpretation more than participants in the first year of residency (OR = 2.1, p value = 0.001) and (OR = 1.88, p value = 0.002), respectively.ConclusionAccording to our research findings, resident doctors in departments of internal medicine and emergency medicine in Arabic nations have adequate ECG interpretation abilities; nevertheless, additional development is required to avoid misconceptions about critical cardiac conditions

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London