An Efficient Authentication Protocol for Smart Grid Communication Based on On-Chip-Error-Correcting Physical Unclonable Function

Security has become a main concern for the smart grid to move from research and development to industry. The concept of security has usually referred to resistance to threats by an active or passive attacker. However, since smart meters (SMs) are often placed in unprotected areas, physical security has become one of the important security goals in the smart grid. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) have been largely utilized for ensuring physical security in recent years, though their reliability has remained a major problem to be practically used in cryptographic applications. Although fuzzy extractors have been considered as a solution to solve the reliability problem of PUFs, they put a considerable computational cost to the resource-constrained SMs. To that end, we first propose an on-chip-error-correcting (OCEC) PUF that efficiently generates stable digits for the authentication process. Afterward, we introduce a lightweight authentication protocol between the SMs and neighborhood gateway (NG) based on the proposed PUF. The provable security analysis shows that not only the proposed protocol can stand secure in the Canetti-Krawczyk (CK) adversary model but also provides additional security features. Also, the performance evaluation demonstrates the significant improvement of the proposed scheme in comparison with the state-of-the-art

The Relationship between High Sensitive C-reaction Protein (hs-CRP) and Diastolic Heart Function in Diabetes Mellitus Type II

Among several inflammatory markers, high sensitive C-reaction protein (hs-CRP) is outstandingly observed in diabetic individuals. Serum hs-CRP is the main marker of inflammation whose levels independently predict the risk of cardiovascular events, and it has a prognostic value in heart patients. On the other hand, diabetes can lead to diastolic dysfunction of the heart. Diastolic dysfunction can cause symptoms of exertional dyspnea, which restricts the patient’s activity. It is likely to predict diastolic dysfunction by screening through hs-CRP. The present investigation was a case-control study that was carried out on 52 patient diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type II. After the demographic data were recorded, and following the collection of data on the patients’ history, physical examination, and para-clinical measures, individuals who had factors interfering with level of serum hs-CRP (kidney and liver diseases, inflammatory and infectious diseases, peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, connective tissue disease, malignant tumor, trauma, consumptionof statins, aspirin, ACEI, and fibrates) and diastolic dysfunction (ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathies, pericardial disease, arrhythmias and valvular disease) were crossed out of the study. Serum hs-CRP was measured by nephelometry method. According to the results of tissue Doppler echocardiography, these patients are divided into two groups: onewith diastolic dysfunction and the other without diastolic dysfunction. The serum hs-CRP levels of these patients were compared with each other. Among the participants, 30.8% were men and 69.2% were women, 36 individuals (69.2%) had diastolic dysfunction while 16 (30.8%) did not. There was a high level of correlation between the level of serumhs-CRP and diastolic dysfunction (p=0.02, t=2.36). The results of the present study indicated that there is a correlation between level of serum hs-CRP and diastolic dysfunction, such that the more the level of hs-CRP, the higher probability of diastolic dysfunction existence will be

Association of interleukin-4 polymorphisms with multiple sclerosis in southeastern Iranian patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Immune system related factors are important in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Interleukin 4 (IL-4) as a helper T cell (2TH) cytokine is involved in the regulation of immune responses. Hence, this study was designed to explore the association between MS and polymorphisms in the -590 region of IL-4. DESIGN AND SETTING: A descriptive study at Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsnajan from September 2009 to August 2010. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Blood samples were collected from 100 MS patients and 150 healthy controls on EDTA precoated tubes. DNA was extracted and analyzed for IL-4 polymorphisms using restricted fragment length polymorphism in patients and controls. Demographic data were also collected by a questionnaire that was designed specifically for this study. RESULTS: We observed a significant difference in the C/C, T/C, and T/T genotypes of the -590 region of IL-4 between patients with MS and healthy controls (P <.001). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that functional polymorphisms of IL-4 possibly play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of MS

The study of factors influencing on SMEs entrepreneurs' creative construction for export-import in Iran

This independent study, a survey research, aimed to study (1) the creative thinking method (2) the creative constructing influent factors and (3) the applying creative idea to business and the outcomes after applying SMEs entrepreneurs for export-import in Iran. The study result showed that the entrepreneurs had ideas which affected positive way on creative thinking, whereas they also had ideas which effected negative way too. In the factor that effected creatively, it revealed that the entrepreneurs, who had different gender, age, education level, and work position status, had statistically significant difference at 0.05 from others. From the factor analysis, it could reduce all factors to remain six main factors, including enriching outside- book knowledge, using an idea, practicing for seeking new knowledge, characteristic belonging to creative thinking theory, bravery for differentiating, and emotional esthetics. Besides, most of the entrepreneurs used creativity to apply for sale and marketing aspect, development and design aspect, and problem solving aspect. Therefore, the revenue, the product and service’s quality, and the product and service’s price were increased. Consequently, those made the incomes increased, too

A Hybrid Clustering and Classification Technique for Forecasting Short-Term Energy Consumption

Electrical energy distributor companies in Iran have to announce their energy demand at least three 3-day ahead of the market opening. Therefore, an accurate load estimation is highly crucial. This research invoked methodology based on CRISP data mining and used SVM, ANN, and CBA-ANN-SVM (a novel hybrid model of clustering with both widely used ANN and SVM) to predict short-term electrical energy demand of Bandarabbas. In previous studies, researchers introduced few effective parameters with no reasonable error about Bandarabbas power consumption. In this research we tried to recognize all efficient parameters and with the use of CBA-ANN-SVM model, the rate of error has been minimized. After consulting with experts in the field of power consumption and plotting daily power consumption for each week, this research showed that official holidays and weekends have impact on the power consumption. When the weather gets warmer, the consumption of electrical energy increases due to turning on electrical air conditioner. Also, con-sumption patterns in warm and cold months are different. Analyzing power consumption of the same month for different years had shown high similarity in power consumption patterns. Factors with high impact on power consumption were identified and statistical methods were utilized to prove their impacts. Using SVM, ANN and CBA-ANN-SVM, the model was built. Sine the proposed method (CBA-ANN-SVM) has low MAPE 5 1.474 (4 clusters) and MAPE 5 1.297 (3 clusters) in comparison with SVM (MAPE 5 2.015) and ANN (MAPE 5 1.790), this model was selected as the final model. The final model has the benefits from both models and the benefits of clustering. Clustering algorithm with discovering data structure, divides data into several clusters based on similarities and differences between them. Because data inside each cluster are more similar than entire data, modeling in each cluster will present better results. For future research, we suggest using fuzzy methods and genetic algorithm or a hybrid of both to forecast each cluster. It is also possible to use fuzzy methods or genetic algorithms or a hybrid of both without using clustering. It is issued that such models will produce better and more accurate results. This paper presents a hybrid approach to predict the electric energy usage of weather-sensitive loads. The presented methodutilizes the clustering paradigm along with ANN and SVMapproaches for accurate short-term prediction of electric energyusage, using weather data. Since the methodology beinginvoked in this research is based on CRISP data mining, datapreparation has received a gr eat deal of attention in thisresear ch. Once data pre-processing was done, the underlyingpattern of electric energy consumption was extracted by themeans of machine learning methods to precisely forecast short-term energy consumption. The proposed approach (CBA-ANN-SVM) was applied to real load data and resulting higher accu-racy comparing to the existing models. 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.1293

Analysis, Typology, and Chronology of Stuccos in the Palace of Kuh-e Khvājeh

Due to its strategic and unique location, Mount Oshida (Kuh-e Khvājeh) in the Sistān plain, has been alternatively used since a long time ago to this date. On the southern slope of this mountain, the ruins of a palace known as Qalʿa-ye Kāferān appear after the Muslims’ arrival and domination over the region. This castle was explored and excavated during the second and third decades of the twentieth century by scholars such as Stein and Herzfeld, and its decorations have been widely mentioned. However, its stuccos have not been analyzed in terms of their types, forms, and patterns up to this date. Hence, there are some disagreements about their construction date, as some scholars consider these architectural decorations to belong to the Parthian period while others connect them with the Sasanian period. In the present research, it has been attempted to study and evaluate the stuccos in the palace of Kuh-e Khvājeh in the framework of a typological comparison according to the archaeological evidence and historical documents, so that a clear understanding of the historical situation and construction date of these works can be obtained. The research method of the current study has been based upon documentary sources and archaeological evidence. Reviewing the previously performed studies and excavations, along with the comparison and typology of stuccos obtained from other sites, leads usto the conclusion that the stuccos found on this site belong to the Sasanian period in terms of shape, form and decoration

Epidemiological study of cholera in Qazvin city during summer of 2011

Cholera is an acute intestinal infection caused by consuming food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Two main epidemiological characteristic of disease is tendency for create of sudden outbreaks and the ability to causing a pandemic. The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiology of the disease. This survey is a descriptive cross-sectional study based on reports from the health centers and hospitals covered by city health centers. Rectal swab is obtained from all suspected cases. After reporting each positive case, health team was sent to the location and it completed the epidemiological form. Data were analyzed by version 16 of SPSS software. All reported patients were 44 cases. Epidemic lasted from 4 August to 18 September 2011. Ogawa was the predominant pathogenic serosubtype. 47.7% of all patients admitted to the hospital and 52.3% were treated as outpatients. Most of the patients were in age group &gt;60 years and there were no reports of disease in age group under 15 years.  2 of the 44 patients had mild symptoms of diarrhea, 13 patients had moderate and 29 cases had severe diarrhea. Not affection of age groups less than 15 years indicates epidemic patterns of disease in the city. Severity of symptoms is important in case finding; then, in disease surveillance system we should obtain rectal swab specimen from all cases of diarrhea with severe symptoms.

Zinc application mitigates copper toxicity by regulating cu uptake, activity of antioxidant enzymes, and improving physiological characteristics in summer squash

Zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu) are essential micronutrients for the plant’s growth, development, and metabolism, but in high concentrations, the elements disrupt normal metabolic processes. The present study investigated the effects of different concentrations (added to a Hogland-based solution) of zinc (control, 5, 10 mg L−1 ZnSO4) and copper (control, 0.1, 0.2 mg L−1 CuSO4) on the growth characteristics and biochemical indices of summer squash (Cucurbita pepo L.). Compared with control, a single application of Cu or Zn at both concentrations significantly declined fruit yield, growth traits, pigments content, and high content of these minerals and values of stress-related indices. Increased Cu concentration in the nutritional solutions reduced the activity of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and guaiacol peroxidase (GPX). Copper at high concentrations intensified ROS production, aggravated oxidative stresses, and decreased the plant yield and productivity. Nonetheless, combining Cu and Zn could alleviate stress intensity by boosting antioxidant enzymes, redox regulation, and a resultant diminishment in the content of H2O2, proline, malondialdehyde, and minerals. The obtained results corroborate that the co-application of zinc in Cu-contaminated areas can improve the plant’s economic yield and physiological parameters by hindering copper toxicity and enhancing the photosynthetic capacity.GAIN (AxenciaGalega de Innovación) | Ref. IN607A2019/0

Modeling hydrogen solubility in hydrocarbons using extreme gradient boosting and equations of state

Due to industrial development, designing and optimal operation of processes in chemical and petroleum processing plants require accurate estimation of the hydrogen solubility in various hydrocarbons. Equations of state (EOSs) are limited in accurately predicting hydrogen solubility, especially at high-pressure or/and high-temperature conditions, which may lead to energy waste and a potential safety hazard in plants. In this paper, five robust machine learning models including extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), adaptive boosting support vector regression (AdaBoost-SVR), gradient boosting with categorical features support (CatBoost), light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) optimized by Levenberg–Marquardt (LM) algorithm were implemented for estimating the hydrogen solubility in hydrocarbons. To this end, a databank including 919 experimental data points of hydrogen solubility in 26 various hydrocarbons was gathered from 48 different systems in a broad range of operating temperatures (213–623 K) and pressures (0.1–25.5 MPa). The hydrocarbons are from six different families including alkane, alkene, cycloalkane, aromatic, polycyclic aromatic, and terpene. The carbon number of hydrocarbons is ranging from 4 to 46 corresponding to a molecular weight range of 58.12–647.2 g/mol. Molecular weight, critical pressure, and critical temperature of solvents along with pressure and temperature operating conditions were selected as input parameters to the models. The XGBoost model best fits all the experimental solubility data with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.0007 and an average absolute percent relative error (AAPRE) of 1.81%. Also, the proposed models for estimating the solubility of hydrogen in hydrocarbons were compared with five EOSs including Soave–Redlich–Kwong (SRK), Peng–Robinson (PR), Redlich–Kwong (RK), Zudkevitch–Joffe (ZJ), and perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory (PC-SAFT). The XGBoost model introduced in this study is a promising model that can be applied as an efficient estimator for hydrogen solubility in various hydrocarbons and is capable of being utilized in the chemical and petroleum industries