Practical Provably Secure Multi-node Communication

We present a practical and provably-secure multimode communication scheme in the presence of a passive eavesdropper. The scheme is based on a random scheduling approach that hides the identity of the transmitter from the eavesdropper. This random scheduling leads to ambiguity at the eavesdropper with regard to the origin of the transmitted frame. We present the details of the technique and analyze it to quantify the secrecy-fairness-overhead trade-off. Implementation of the scheme over Crossbow Telosb motes, equipped with CC2420 radio chips, shows that the scheme can achieve significant secrecy gain with vanishing outage probability. In addition, it has significant overhead advantage over direct extensions to two-nodes schemes. The technique also has the advantage of allowing inactive nodes to leverage sleep mode to further save energy.Comment: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computing, Networking and Communications (ICNC 2014

CIFAR-10: KNN-based Ensemble of Classifiers

In this paper, we study the performance of different classifiers on the CIFAR-10 dataset, and build an ensemble of classifiers to reach a better performance. We show that, on CIFAR-10, K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), on some classes, are mutually exclusive, thus yield in higher accuracy when combined. We reduce KNN overfitting using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and ensemble it with a CNN to increase its accuracy. Our approach improves our best CNN model from 93.33% to 94.03%

Trans-Sense: Real Time Transportation Schedule Estimation Using Smart Phones

Developing countries suffer from traffic congestion, poorly planned road/rail networks, and lack of access to public transportation facilities. This context results in an increase in fuel consumption, pollution level, monetary losses, massive delays, and less productivity. On the other hand, it has a negative impact on the commuters feelings and moods. Availability of real-time transit information - by providing public transportation vehicles locations using GPS devices - helps in estimating a passenger's waiting time and addressing the above issues. However, such solution is expensive for developing countries. This paper aims at designing and implementing a crowd-sourced mobile phones-based solution to estimate the expected waiting time of a passenger in public transit systems, the prediction of the remaining time to get on/off a vehicle, and to construct a real time public transit schedule. Trans-Sense has been evaluated using real data collected for over 800 hours, on a daily basis, by different Android phones, and using different light rail transit lines at different time spans. The results show that Trans-Sense can achieve an average recall and precision of 95.35% and 90.1%, respectively, in discriminating lightrail stations. Moreover, the empirical distributions governing the different time delays affecting a passenger's total trip time enable predicting the right time of arrival of a passenger to her destination with an accuracy of 91.81%.In addition, the system estimates the stations dimensions with an accuracy of 95.71%.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures

Experimental assessment of the interface electronic system for PVDF-based piezoelectric tactile sensors

Tactile sensors are widely employed to enable the sense of touch for applications such as robotics and prosthetics. In addition to the selection of an appropriate sensing material, the performance of the tactile sensing system is conditioned by its interface electronic system. On the other hand, due to the need to embed the tactile sensing system into a prosthetic device, strict requirements such as small size and low power consumption are imposed on the system design. This paper presents the experimental assessment and characterization of an interface electronic system for piezoelectric tactile sensors for prosthetic applications. The interface electronic is proposed as part of a wearable system intended to be integrated into an upper limb prosthetic device. The system is based on a low power arm-microcontroller and a DDC232 device. Electrical and electromechanical setups have been implemented to assess the response of the interface electronic with PVDF-based piezoelectric sensors. The results of electrical and electromechanical tests validate the correct functionality of the proposed system

Adenosine A2A Receptor Blockade Prevents Rotenone-Induced Motor Impairment in a Rat Model of Parkinsonism

Pharmacological studies implicate the blockade of adenosine receptorsas an effective strategy for reducing Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms. The objective of this study is to elucidate the possible protective effects of ZM241385 and 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine, two selective A2A and A1 receptor antagonists, on a rotenone rat model of PD. Rats were split into four groups: vehicle control (1 ml/kg/48 h), rotenone (1.5 mg/kg/48 h, s.c.), ZM241385 (3.3 mg/kg/day, i.p) and 8-cyclopentyl-1, 3-dipropylxanthine (5 mg/kg/day, i.p). After that, animals were subjected to behavioral (stride length and grid walking) and biochemical (measuring concentration of dopamine levels using high performance liquid chromatography, HPLC). In the rotenone group, rats displayed a reduced motor activity and disturbed movement coordination in the behavioral tests and a decreased dopamine concentration as foundby HPLC. The effect of rotenone was partially prevented in the ZM241385 group, but not with 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine administration. The administration of ZM241385 improved motor function and movement coordination (partial increase of stride length and partial decrease in the number of foot slips) and an increase in dopamine concentration in the rotenone-injected rats. However, the 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine and rotenone groups were not significantly different. These results indicate that selective A2A receptor blockade by ZM241385, but not A1 receptor blockadeby 8-cyclopentyl-1,3-dipropylxanthine, may treat PD motor symptoms. This reinforces the potential use of A2A receptor antagonists as a treatment strategy for PD patients

Correlation of polycystic ovary syndrome and recurrent miscarriage

Background: Numerous studies have investigated the association between polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and recurrent miscarriage (RM). Increased rates of PCOS have been reported for women with RM. However, the actual prevalence is controversially discussed by the scientific community and remains unclear, since a wide range of rates from 8–82% can be found in the literature. Objective: To assess the relation between polycystic ovary syndrome and recurrent miscarriage and to evaluate the prevalence of polycystic ovarian syndrome within the recurrent miscarriage population. Patients and method: It is a cross sectional conducted at the infertility clinic in the outpatient department of University Hospital from March 2019 to March 2020. Patient sample was 47 participant. Hormonal profile FSH, LH, TSH, TSH, assessment of glycemic status and insulin resistance and ultrasonography for diagnosis of polycystic ovaries were done to every patients. Result: There was high statistically significant relation between the PCO and total number of follicles, number of follicles ≥ 18 mm and endometrial thickness. There was high statistically significant relation between the PCO and testosterone hormones and statistically significant relation between the PCO and FSH and LH. There was no statistically significant relation between the PCO and insulin resistance. Conclusion: In this study we concluded that the prevalence of PCOS seems slightly increased in women with recurrent miscarriage, PCOS on the other hand showed a rather high prevalence compared to the general population

Hepatitis-c virus infection and exposure to blood and body fluids among nurses and paramedical personnel at the Alexandria University Hospitals, Egypt

Background: Worldwide, prevalence of anti-HCV positivity in health care workers (HCWs) ranges from 0% to 9.7%. The current study was conducted to calculate prevalence of HCV infection, frequency and characteristics of blood and body fluid (BBF) exposure among HCW at the Alexandria University Hospitals.Methods: Hospital-based cross-sectional approach was adopted. At the Hospitals, 62.2% of available nurses and paramedical personnel voluntarily participated (n = 499), and were interviewed, screened for HCV antibodies. Quantitative estimation of HCV-RNA was done to seropositive cases.Results: Prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies and HCV infection was 8.6%, and 4.4% respectively. The frequency of BBF exposures was 66.7%. Blood/blood products were mainly involved (92.1%). More than half of exposed HCWs reported not wearing personal protective devices. Anatomical site of exposure was mainly right hand palm (36.2%). Regarding needle-stick injuries, two thirds of injured HCWs were the original user of sharp item which was contaminated in 79.7% of injuries. In 70.2% of injuries, disposable syringes were involved and occurred during item disposal. About 61% of injuries were superficial.Conclusion: Prevalence of HCV infection among HCWs is similar to that among general population in the country. Nurses and housekeepers are frequently exposed to BBF. Adherence to infection control measures according to the National Guidelines is crucial to reduce HCV transmission.Keywords: Hepatitis C, Infection, Needlestick injuries, Nurses, Paramedical personne