An Efficient 2-Party Private Function Evaluation Protocol Based on Half Gates

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Private function evaluation (PFE) is a special case of secure multi-party computation (MPC), where the function to be computed is known by only one party. PFE is useful in several real-life applications where an algorithm or a function itself needs to remain secret for reasons such as protecting intellectual property or security classification level. In this paper, we focus on improving 2-party PFE based on symmetric cryptographic primitives. In this respect, we look back at the seminal PFE framework presented by Mohassel and Sadeghian at Eurocrypt’13. We show how to adapt and utilize the well-known half gates garbling technique (Zahur et al., Eurocrypt’15) to their constant-round 2-party PFE scheme. Compared to their scheme, our resulting optimization significantly improves the efficiency of both the underlying Oblivious Evaluation of Extended Permutation (OEP) and secure 2-party computation (2PC) protocols, and yields a more than 40% reduction in overall communication cost (the computation time is also slightly decreased and the number of rounds remains unchanged)

Dipolar origin of the gas-liquid coexistence of the hard-core 1:1 electrolyte model

We present a systematic study of the effect of the ion pairing on the gas-liquid phase transition of hard-core 1:1 electrolyte models. We study a class of dipolar dimer models that depend on a parameter R_c, the maximum separation between the ions that compose the dimer. This parameter can vary from sigma_{+/-} that corresponds to the tightly tethered dipolar dimer model, to R_c --> infinity, that corresponds to the Stillinger-Lovett description of the free ion system. The coexistence curve and critical point parameters are obtained as a function of R_c by grand canonical Monte Carlo techniques. Our results show that this dependence is smooth but non-monotonic and converges asymptotically towards the free ion case for relatively small values of R_c. This fact allows us to describe the gas-liquid transition in the free ion model as a transition between two dimerized fluid phases. The role of the unpaired ions can be considered as a perturbation of this picture.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Risk profiles and one-year outcomes of patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation in India: Insights from the GARFIELD-AF Registry.

BACKGROUND: The Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) is an ongoing prospective noninterventional registry, which is providing important information on the baseline characteristics, treatment patterns, and 1-year outcomes in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). This report describes data from Indian patients recruited in this registry. METHODS AND RESULTS: A total of 52,014 patients with newly diagnosed AF were enrolled globally; of these, 1388 patients were recruited from 26 sites within India (2012-2016). In India, the mean age was 65.8 years at diagnosis of NVAF. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor for AF, present in 68.5% of patients from India and in 76.3% of patients globally (P < 0.001). Diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) were prevalent in 36.2% and 28.1% of patients as compared with global prevalence of 22.2% and 21.6%, respectively (P < 0.001 for both). Antiplatelet therapy was the most common antithrombotic treatment in India. With increasing stroke risk, however, patients were more likely to receive oral anticoagulant therapy [mainly vitamin K antagonist (VKA)], but average international normalized ratio (INR) was lower among Indian patients [median INR value 1.6 (interquartile range {IQR}: 1.3-2.3) versus 2.3 (IQR 1.8-2.8) (P < 0.001)]. Compared with other countries, patients from India had markedly higher rates of all-cause mortality [7.68 per 100 person-years (95% confidence interval 6.32-9.35) vs 4.34 (4.16-4.53), P < 0.0001], while rates of stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding were lower after 1 year of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Compared to previously published registries from India, the GARFIELD-AF registry describes clinical profiles and outcomes in Indian patients with AF of a different etiology. The registry data show that compared to the rest of the world, Indian AF patients are younger in age and have more diabetes and CAD. Patients with a higher stroke risk are more likely to receive anticoagulation therapy with VKA but are underdosed compared with the global average in the GARFIELD-AF. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION-URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01090362

k-strong privacy for radio frequency identification authentication protocols based on physically unclonable functions

open access articleThis paper examines Vaudenay’s privacy model, which is one of the first and most complete privacy models that featured the notion of different privacy classes. We enhance this model by introducing two new generic adversary classes, k-strong and k-forward adversaries where the adversary is allowed to corrupt a tag at most k times. Moreover, we introduce an extended privacy definition that also covers all privacy classes of Vaudenay’s model. In order to achieve highest privacy level, we study low cost primitives such as physically unclonable functions (PUFs). The common assumption of PUFs is that their physical structure is destroyed once tampered. This is an ideal assumption because the tamper resistance depends on the ability of the attacker and the quality of the PUF circuits. In this paper, we have weakened this assumption by introducing a new definition k-resistant PUFs. k-PUFs are tamper resistant against at most k attacks; that is, their physical structure remains still functional and correct until at most kth physical attack. Furthermore, we prove that strong privacy can be achieved without public-key cryptography using k PUF-based authentication. We finally prove that our extended proposal achieves both reader authentication and k-strong privac

Anti-bacterial activity of Ricinus communis L. against bacterial pathogens Escherichia coli and Klebsiella oxytoca as evaluated by Transmission electron microscopy

The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) microbes has become one of the major threat globally. Infectious diseases are the second leading cause of death, two-third of which are caused by Gram-negative bacteria. The increasing number of multidrug resistant (MDR) microbes is quite alarming and has raised the necessity of development of new antibacterial drugs. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella have been reported among the top most resistance-developing pathogens. Ricinus communis is an important medicinal plant reported to possess antimicrobial phytochemicals such as α-pinene. The hexane treated crude ethanolic extract of R. communis was evaluated against Gram-negative bacteria E. coli and Klebsiella oxytoca. The agar well diffusion assay was used to determine the antibacterial activity. In the present study, we have shown experimentally that leaf extract of R. communis can induce the deterioration of the inner and outer cell membranes of E. coli and K. oxytoca and decrease their viability at a concentration of 50 mg/ml. Transmission electron microscopic results revealed cell membrane damage, cellular disintegration and release of cytoplasmic content, leading to cell death. To our knowledge, this is the first study of the antibacterial activity of R. communis against E. coli and K. oxytoca by Transmission electron microscopy. The ultramicroscopic observations showed that the phytochemical present in the leaf extract of R. communis could penetrate the bacterial cell, causing rupture of cell membranes and hence confirm the cytotoxic and antimicrobial property of R. communis