OPTIMIZATION OF TWO FISH ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM ON FPGA

The demand for efficient and secure ciphers has given rise to a new generation of block ciphers capable of providing increased protection at lower cost. Among these new algorithms is Twofish. Twofish is a promising 128-bit block which was one of the 5 finalists in the National Institute of Standards and Technology organized competition as the Advanced Encryption Standard. The aim of the competition was to find a suitable candidate to replace DES at the core of many encryption systems worldwide. Twofish can work with variable key lengths: 128, 192 or 256 bits. In this report, only a version of 128-bit key length was discussed. Twofish has 6 main building blocks; Feistel Networks, whitening, S-boxes, MDS Matrices, Pseudo Hadamard Transforms and Key Schedule. Twofish is a 16 round Feistel network with a bijective F function, which corresponds to 8 cycles. The whitening technique employed substantially increases the difficulty of keysearch attacks against the remainder of the cipher. Twofish uses 4 different, bijective, key-dependent, 8-by-8 bit Sboxes. Twofish uses a single 4 by 4 MDS matrix over GF (28).This is one of the 2 main diffusion elements of Two fish. There is also Reed-Solomon code with the MDS property used in the key schedule; this doesn't add diffusion to the cipher but does add diffusion to the key schedule.) Besides that, Twofish also uses a 32 bit Pseudo Hadamard Transform to mix the outputs from its 2 parallel 32-bit g functions. Finally, Twofish needs a lot of key material, and has complicated key schedule. To facilitate analysis, the key schedule uses the same primitives as the round function. Except for 2 additional rotations, each pair of expanded key words is constructed by applying the Twofish round function (with key-dependent). For this project, 2 different optimized designs were implemented. The first design (Design I) was implemented with minimum hardware resources usage, using a single F -Function (modified) and was optimized with reasonable latency, throughput and throughput per gate. As for the second design (Design 2) was implemented with reasonably minimum hardware resources using 4 units of F-Function(modified) of Design I, minimum hardware resources usage, very small latency, very high throughput and very high throughput per gate. Furthermore, both Design I and Design 2 were implemented with zero keying and function as encryptor/decryptor. Both Design I and Design 2 were written using VHDL, simulated using ALDEC, synthesized using XILINX Synthesizing Tools, implemented using XILINX ISE6.2i implementation tools and download onto the Spartan 2 FPGA board using BEDLOAD utility program. As a conclusion this Final Year Project is quite successful because all the objectives have been met successfull

Business Research in the VUCA World

The purpose of this issue is to invite articles on the VUCA theme (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity), relevant to various crises. For example, the COVID-19 health crisis across the globe has affected many occupations leaving a double folded impact. VUCA is an opportunity for a few business organizations to realize their worthiness and an opportunity to revive their strategies to sustain themselves. VUCA is also an opportunity for business leaders to examine their abilities and leadership skills. Unpredictable environments give rise to more opportunities. Leadership skills can be mastered in the VUCA environment, as managers get ready to restructure and rethink the way of conducting business. This issue has accepted six articles from various fields of studies, which include Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Human Resource Management, Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, and Services Marketing. All the articles underwent a sequence of the review process and then were finalized for publication. This issue is rich in new ideas and gives opportunities for readers to access new information. All the articles have also contributed to a larger social impact, contributing to various stakeholders

Impact of neoadjuvant therapy on the lymph node yield after surgery for rectal cancer.

INTRODUCTION : The number of lymph nodes harvested from the surgical specimen after total mesorectal excision (TME) is a key factor in the contemporary management of rectal cancer. In 1931, Ernest Miles identified the upward zone of lymphatic spread of rectal cancer along the superior haemorrhoidal vessels and the inferior mesenteric vein as being the most constant and therefore the most important route of rectal cancer spread. Subsequently, Grinnell2 and Dukes reported that both the number of lymph node metastases and their location affects the prognosis in patients with rectal cancer. The number of lymph nodes retrieved indirectly reflects the quality of both surgical and pathologic procedures. In 1990, the Working Party Report to the World Congress of Gastroenterology in Sydney suggested that a minimum of 12 lymph nodes should be recovered for colorectal cancer staging. This was adopted in 1999 by the American Joint Committee on Cancer. The examination of fewer than 12 LNs is considered a surrogate marker of inadequate surgery and/or pathologic examination and is a relative indication for adjuvant therapy. Removal of fewer lymph nodes is also associated with a poorer survival and higher rates of local recurrence. If the nodal status is not determined accurately, the prognosis may be difficult to determine and it may be incorrect. Many factors influence the number of lymph nodes retrieved. These factors may be related to the patient (sex, obesity), to the surgeon (specimen size and type of lymphadenectomy) to the tumour (size, stage, and localization) and to the pathologist (experience and technique used for harvesting the specimen). AIMS AND OBJECTIVES : 1. To evaluate the influence of neoadjuvant therapy on lymph nodal yield. 2. To evaluate the various factors influencing the lymph nodal yield after neoadjuvant therapy 3. To evaluate the impact of nodal yield following neoadjuvant therapy on survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS : A retrospective analysis of 331 patients who underwent curative resection for rectal cancer in the Department of Surgical Oncology, Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai between January 1, 1991, and December 31, 2005 was done. Basic demographics, tumour location, type of surgery and postoperative staging were retrospectively recorded. The rectum was defined as follows: low rectum (0 to 5 cm from the anal verge), mid rectum (5 to 10 cm), and high rectum (10 to 15 cm). 225 patients received NCRT during the study period. 106 patients underwent straight surgery. NCRT was administered in patients with clinical stage of cT3/cT4 or cN+ disease. Diagnosis was based on the findings clinical examination, endoscopy and computed tomographic scans. CONCLUSION : 1. Patients with rectal cancer undergoing NCRT had a reduced nodal yield after surgery. 2. The factors co‐related with nodal yield were age and type of neoadjuvant therapy. 3. The cut‐off of 12 nodes had no prognostic significance after NCRT. 4. Patients in whom no nodes were harvested had survival better than patients in whom nodes were harvested. 5. For node negative patients harvest of 6 nodes for early pT0 to pT2 tumours had prognostic significance

The Dimensions of Mystery Shopping Program (DMSP) - Checklist Construction

The purpose of this study is to develop a checklist (yardstick) which can be used widely across various industries employing mystery shoppers. This research paper focuses on the development of a checklist instrument after a detailed critical review of various theories, concepts and themes associated with mystery shopping. Mystery shopping is being used in many industries such as banking and insurance, Retail and marketing, Government department, entertainment etc., and hence a common yardstick has to be framed which could be used to measure the outcome of mystery shopping assignments. Thus, the research motivation is to construct a checklist for mystery shoppers to evaluate the mystery shopping field work. Selected research articles were taken to critically analyze the theme of mystery shopping. Rigorous efforts had been taken to understand the usage of mystery shopping in various industries to form a common pool of statements which forms the “The Dimensions of Mystery Shopping Program” (DMSP-checklist construction). To ensure the relevance of a common checklist which can be used across various industries, detailed explanation on how the variables had been selected has been explained. Qualitative software named Dedoose, which is now very popular in Social Science, has been used to find the most promising variables. The study concludes that measuring the customers shopping experience is more important for a mystery shopping filed work considering three important variables to be seen in checklist such as: product knowledge, service & customer experience

A Case Report: Mucinous Tubular and Spindle Cell Carcinoma of Kidney with Spindle Cell Predominance Mimicking Mesenchymal Tumour

Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma (MTSCC) of kidney is a rare variant of renal cell carcinoma which was first described in the 2004 World Health Organization classification of tumours of the kidney. Morphologically, MTSCC is composed of tubules merging with bland-appearing spindle cells in a myxoid/mucinous stroma. Diverse morphological patterns have been reported in MTSCC; however, a spindle cell predominant morphology mimicking a mesenchymal tumour is rare and only two cases have been reported so far. We report a case of MTSCC with spindle cell predominance in kidney which was a diagnostic challenge. Though MTSCC usually shows an indolent course, there have been cases showing aggressive behaviour even with bland morphology. Hence, a thorough histopathological evaluation with ancillary studies are required to differentiate spindle cell predominant MTSCC from its mimics. Our case was a 40-year-old female who was incidentally found to have a well-defined hypodense lesion measuring around 2 cm in the upper pole of the right kidney. Right partial nephrectomy was performed which showed a 2.7 × 2.5 × 2 cm well-defined grey tan tumour without necrosis or haemorrhage, limited to kidney. Histopathological examination showed sheets of bland-appearing spindle cells mimicking a mesenchymal tumour. The tumour was extensively sampled, revealing small foci of tubule formation and mucinous stroma. Tumour cells were positive for CK7, AMACR, and PAX8. A final diagnosis of MTSCC was made. Hereby, we discuss ways of differentiating MTSCC from other spindle cell tumours of the kidney

FPGA Implementation of Fingerprint Recognition System using Adaptive Threshold Technique

The real time fingerprint biometric system is implemented using FGPA. In this paper, we propose FPGA Implementation of Fingerprint Recognition System using Adaptive Threshold Technique with novel adaptive threshold for each person. The fingerprint images are considered from FVC2004 (DB3_A) and processed to resize fingerprint size to 256x256. The DWT is applied on fingerprint and considered only LL coefficients as features of fingerprint. The Adaptive Threshold value for each person is computed using Deviations between two successive samples of a person, Average Deviation, Standard Deviation and constant. The Adaptive Threshold for test image is computed using Deviations between test images and samples of database, Average Deviation, Standard Deviation and constant. If the Average Threshold of test image is less than Average Threshold of a person then it is considered as match else mismatched. It is observed that the success rate of identifying a person is high in the proposed method compared to existing techniques and also the device utilization in the proposed architecture is less compared to existing architecture

ETIOLOGICAL FACTORS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF LUNG CANCER IN NON-SMOKERS: AN OVERVIEW

Lung cancer is the most frequent malignant tumour with the highest mortality rate around the world, leading to greater than a million deaths annually. The number of deaths due to lung cancer is expected to increase to ten million deaths per year in 2030. The major risk factor for the development of lung cancer is cigarette smoking but relatively high rates of lung cancer occur among non-smoking women and 10-25% of lung cancer observed in never smokers. The lung cancer deaths occur in never smokers have been estimated to be the 7th leading cause of cancer mortality. This article mainly discusses the important etiological factors of lung cancer in never smokers such as the environmental factors, occupational exposure, history of lung disease, family history and genetic factors, unbalanced diet and high consumption of saturated fat, radiation exposure, socioeconomic status, and infections. Gender, obesity and metabolic syndrome, race and ethnicity and interstitial lung diseases also have effects on the development of lung cancer in never smokers

A Rare Site of Metachronous Metastases from Renal Cell Carcinoma

Secondary metastatic involvement of the testis is a rare occurrence, particularly in cases of metastasis from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We present a case of metachronous contralateral testicular metastasis from RCC in a 55-year-old man, occurring 2 years after radical nephrectomy. Following a thorough evaluation that ruled out systemic disease, the patient underwent a Chevassu procedure and right inguinal orchidectomy. Histopathological analysis confirmed metastatic involvement of the right testis by RCC. Metastasis to the testis from RCC is uncommon, with only a few cases reported in the literature. Isolated metachronous metastasis without systemic involvement is even rarer. This case highlights the importance of considering testicular metastasis in patients with a history of RCC, emphasizing the need for comprehensive evaluation and surgical resection when feasible, as it has been associated with prolonged survival

Impact of Emotional Intelligence and Motivation on Job Satisfaction among “Mystery Shoppers”

This research paper focuses on “Mystery Shopping”, making mystery shoppers the target respondents of this research study. While previous studies have taken into consideration the motivational aspect, this research extends the scope to consider EI and its mediation between motivation and job satisfaction. Simple percentage analysis has been used to analyse the demographic profile of the respondents as well as an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and corresponding CFA. The hypothesized eleven factors of CFA (4 factors for motivation, 5 factors for Emotional Intelligence and 2 factors for job satisfaction) model fits the sample data very well. The major rule of thumb RMSEA is .87, RMR is 0.30 and AGFI is .891 which has satisfied the CFA model fit criteria. It is found that job satisfaction is enhanced only through motivation directly rather than being mediated by EI. Thus the lacking aspects have to be considered by the mystery shoppers to enhance job satisfaction through a well-balanced emotional state