A Fast and Scalable Authentication Scheme in IoT for Smart Living

Numerous resource-limited smart objects (SOs) such as sensors and actuators have been widely deployed in smart environments, opening new attack surfaces to intruders. The severe security flaw discourages the adoption of the Internet of things in smart living. In this paper, we leverage fog computing and microservice to push certificate authority (CA) functions to the proximity of data sources. Through which, we can minimize attack surfaces and authentication latency, and result in a fast and scalable scheme in authenticating a large volume of resource-limited devices. Then, we design lightweight protocols to implement the scheme, where both a high level of security and low computation workloads on SO (no bilinear pairing requirement on the client-side) is accomplished. Evaluations demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our scheme in handling authentication and registration for a large number of nodes, meanwhile protecting them against various threats to smart living. Finally, we showcase the success of computing intelligence movement towards data sources in handling complicated services.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables, to appear in FGC

Life-history dependent relationships between plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and body condition in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows

Abstract Background In temperate-breeding birds, individuals must adjust their physiological states from one life-history stage to another in response to changing conditions to maximize ecological fitness. Previous evidences have shown that body mass, size-corrected mass (SCM), and hematocrit (Hct) could be used as estimates of the energetic state of individuals to illustrate life-history trade-offs and individual quality in field physiology. Plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) plays critical roles in regulating the metabolism of energy but very limited information is known on its link with body mass or Hct. Methods We determined the changes of plasma ALP levels in both early breeding and wintering stages of male Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus), and examined the relationships between ALP and body mass, SCM, and Hct of the birds. Results Our study showed that (1) in male Eurasian Tree Sparrows, body mass did not vary with life-history stage but plasma ALP activity significantly increased in the wintering stage compared to the breeding stage; (2) ALP activity was not correlated with individual body mass but was positively correlated with individual SCM and Hct. Such positive correlations, however, only occurred in the wintering but not in the breeding stages. Conclusions Our results suggest that plasma ALP activities in free-living birds can be used as one of the indicators of body condition or nutritional status for analyzing individual variation in the wintering but not in the breeding stages. The life-history dependent relationships between plasma ALP activity and body condition may contribute to our better understanding of the trade-off between individual survival and reproduction in free-living animals

Risk Factors of Urrets-Zavalia Syndrome after Penetrating Keratoplasty

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the clinical features and risk factors of Urrets-Zavalia syndrome (UZS) after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). Methods: The medical records of 152 patients who underwent PKP at the Department of Ophthalmology, Tongji Hospital, between January 2014 and December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. UZS was diagnosed based on pre- and post-operative pupillary findings. The relationships among the primary disease, postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP), and the incidence of UZS were statistically analyzed. The pupillary changes during the follow-up period were studied. Results: Among the 152 included patients, 23 were diagnosed with UZS, with an incidence of 15.13%. The primary diseases of the UZS patients were keratoconus (eight cases, 34.78%), viral keratitis (six cases, 26.08%), leukoma (four cases, 17.39%), fungal corneal ulcer (two cases, 8.70%), corneal endothelial decompensation (two cases, 8.70%), and corneal degeneration (one case, 4.35%). The incidence of UZS in keratoconus patients was higher than that in patients with fungal corneal ulcer (42.11% versus 6.25%, p = 0.003); In addition, the transient postoperative high IOP was not significantly related to the incidence of UZS in keratoconus patients in our study (p = 0.319). Twenty-one patients with UZS were followed up for >6 months, seven of whom (33.33%) recovered spontaneously (within the range of 48 days to 1.5 years). Conclusion: In our study, the incidence of UZS after PKP was 15.13%, and 33.33% of these patients recovered spontaneously. UZS may be more likely to occur in patients with keratoconus. Postoperative transient high IOP may increase the incidence of UZS after PKP for keratoconus

A fast and scalable authentication scheme in IOT for smart living

Numerous resource-limited smart objects (SOs) such as sensors and actuators have been widely deployed in smart environments, opening new attack surfaces to intruders. The severe security flaw discourages the adoption of the Internet of things in smart living. In this paper, we leverage fog computing and microservice to push certificate authority (CA) functions to the proximity of data sources. Through which, we can minimize attack surfaces and authentication latency, and result in a fast and scalable scheme in authenticating a large volume of resource-limited devices. Then, we design lightweight protocols to implement the scheme, where both a high level of security and low computation workloads on SO (no bilinear pairing requirement on the client-side) is accomplished. Evaluations demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of our scheme in handling authentication and registration for a large number of nodes, meanwhile protecting them against various threats to smart living. Finally, we showcase the success of computing intelligence movement towards data sources in handling complicated services

Thickness Measurement of Endothelium-Descemet Membrane in Descemt Membrane Detachment Patients Using High-Definition Optical Coherence Tomography

Purpose: (1) To measure the corneal endothelium-Descemet membrane (EDM) layer thickness in Descemet membrane detachment (DMD) patients in vivo using high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT), and to investigate its correlation with age. (2) To explore whether the detachment time will affect the EDM thickness. (3) To explore whether the EDM thickness of cornea with DMD was different from that without DMD. Participants: Patients with DMD were divided into three groups. Group 1 included twenty-three patients whose Descemet membrane (DM) was partial or complete detached from the corneal stroma after various ocular surgeries. Group 2 included eight patients from group 1 who underwent twice HD-OCT examination on different days before the DM reattached to the stroma. Group 3 included nine patients from group 1 who had clear grayscale boundary between the DM and stroma in HD-OCT images after DM reattachment. Methods: All patients underwent HD-OCT and EDM thickness was measured using Image -Pro Plus 6.0. In Group 1, regression analyses were used to evaluate the correlation between EDM thickness and age, and the thickness difference between the ≤50-year-old group and the >50-year-old group was analyzed by independent sample t-test. In Group 2, paired samples t-test was used to check whether detachment time would affect EDM thickness. In Group 3, paired samples t-test was used to check whether the EDM thickness of cornea with DMD was different from that without DMD. p p 50-year-old group were 23.9 ± 3.2 and 29.2 ± 2.6 μm, and there was a significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.001). In Group 2, the first measurement of EDM thickness was 27.5 ± 4.0 μm, the second measurement was 27.6 ± 4.2 μm, the interval between the two measurements was 2.1 ± 1.6 days, and there was no significant difference between the two measurements (p = 0.328). In Group 3, the EDM thickness with DM detachment was 28.3 ± 3.5 μm, with DM reattachment was 23.4 ± 2.4 μm, there was a significant difference between the two measurements (p = 0.002). Conclusions: The EDM thickness in the state of DMD is thicker than its actual thickness in normal cornea, and EDM thickness of the >50-year-old group is much thicker than that of the ≤50-year-old group