Ecosystem based Disaster Risk Reduction approaches (EbDRR) as a prerequisite for inclusive urban transformation of Nagpur City, India

Nagpur city is among the fastest growing agglomerations of Central India. The city is considered to be a forerunner in sustainable development amist the rapid urbanization occurring in India. Though, selected under the “smart city” project launched by the Indian government, the city faces many urban challenges ineffectively addressed by the current development plan. Haphazard and rapid infrastructural development without any comprehensive plan is leading to urban sprawl that compromises urban green infrastructure across the city. It excludes utilizing benefits of nature and ecosystem services to complement and reduce urban stress. This has led to wetland reductions, reduced water infiltration affecting the water table and causing water shortage, flash floods, significant loss of vegetation cover and biodiversity across the city and increased heat island effects. These issues along with current approach that discounts the importance of ecosystems-based approach has put forward many challenges and a question with regard to sustaining “green image of the city”. To reduce risk against uncertainties, it is imperative to understand human-environment connections that involves diverse values and ecosystem services provided by the natural environment of the cities. Present study is a review of major issues raised due to un-planned development and addresses the feasibility and appropriateness of using the EbDRR approach. Environmental engineering based approaches having potential to transform Nagpur City into to a “smart city” can set an example for other Indian cities to follow. This article facilitates understanding and practical applications of ecosystem based approaches and practices to counter negative impact of urbanization

Securing IoT devices:A novel approach using blockchain and quantum cryptography

This paper delves into the crucial challenge of safeguarding data sensitivity and preventing security breaches, which can result in substantial losses, including significant financial costs and potential loss of lives. Notably, the United States faces the highest financial burden, with data breaches costing approximately USD 5.09 million. With the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, enormous volumes of data are collected from diverse sources. However, the inherent limitations in computational power and memory of IoT devices render them susceptible targets for malicious attacks. This study focuses on fortifying the security of multimedia data, encompassing audio, video, and images, obtained from IoT devices. Cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain and quantum cryptography are explored as promising avenues to bolster multimedia security and preserve privacy. Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) emerges as an alternative to classical encryption and key distribution methods, offering heightened data security. Simultaneously, blockchain leverages hash functions to augment the overall security posture. By harnessing the principles of quantum mechanics, QKD facilitates secure key exchange between involved parties for data encryption and decryption. Additionally, the paper introduces innovative methodologies to enhance the security, privacy, and anonymity of IoT devices.</p

An Intelligent and Fast Chaotic Encryption Using Digital Logic Circuits for Ad-Hoc and Ubiquitous Computing

Delays added by the encryption process represent an overhead for smart computing devices in ad-hoc and ubiquitous computing intelligent systems. Digital Logic Circuits are faster than other computing techniques, so these can be used for fast encryption to minimize processing delays. Chaotic Encryption is more attack-resilient than other encryption techniques. One of the most attractive properties of cryptography is known as an avalanche effect, in which two different keys produce distinct cipher text for the same information. Important properties of chaotic systems are sensitivity to initial conditions and nonlinearity, which makes two similar keys that generate different cipher text a source of confusion. In this paper a novel fast and secure Chaotic Map-based encryption technique using 2’s Compliment (CET-2C) has been proposed, which uses a logistic map which implies that a negligible difference in parameters of the map generates different cipher text. Cryptanalysis of the proposed algorithm shows the strength and security of algorithm and keys. Performance of the proposed algorithm has been analyzed in terms of running time, throughput and power consumption. It is to be shown in comparison graphs that the proposed algorithm gave better results compare to different algorithms like AES and some others

Applied Cryptography Using Chaos Function for Fast Digital Logic-Based Systems in Ubiquitous Computing

Recently, chaotic dynamics-based data encryption techniques for wired and wireless networks have become a topic of active research in computer science and network security such as robotic systems, encryption, and communication. The main aim of deploying a chaos-based cryptosystem is to provide encryption with several advantages over traditional encryption algorithms such as high security, speed, and reasonable computational overheads and computational power requirements. These challenges have motivated researchers to explore novel chaos-based data encryption techniques with digital logics dealing with hiding information for fast secure communication networks. This work provides an overview of how traditional data encryption techniques are revised and improved to achieve good performance in a secure communication network environment. A comprehensive survey of existing chaos-based data encryption techniques and their application areas are presented. The comparative tables can be used as a guideline to select an encryption technique suitable for the application at hand. Based on the limitations of the existing techniques, an adaptive chaos based data encryption framework of secure communication for future research is propose

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Not AvailableOne hundred and sixty accessions representing global germplasm of guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.), an important apomictic (aposporous) fodder crop, were subjected to study on reproductive diversity in apomictic seed development utilizing ovule clearing and Flow cytometric seed screen (FCSS). Single seed FCSS of selected 14 tetraploid and five hexaploid lines demonstrated uncoupling between the three apomixis components, viz. apomeiosis, parthenogenesis and functional endosperm development, in natural as well as experimental populations, though it differed across ploidy levels and genotypes. Reconstruction of reproductive pathways yielded a total of eight different pathways of seed development, arising by uncoupling/recombination between apomixis components. Amongst these, two pathways involving modification's in embryo-sac (ES) (presence of two polar nuclei in aposporous ES that fuse prior to fertilization) and fertilization process (fusion of only one polar nucleus in a sexual ES) have been reported for the First time. Some of the combinations, such as MI (haploids arising from parthenogenetic development of reduced egg cell),were found viable only in hexaploid background. Germplasm lines with higher expression of individual components were also identified. These components (including autonomous endosperm development) were also experimentally partitioned in hexaploid progenies (derived from a tetraploid parent viz. accession IG 04-164) that showed segregation in their reproductive capacities, and are reported for the first time. Occurrence of several apomixis recombinants (phenotypic) in guinea grass lines suggested their hybrid origin, favors a multigene model for apomixis, with their penetrance affected by modifiers and epigenetic mechanisms, in contrast to earlier reports of single locus control. Implications of partitioning components on apomixis research are discussed.Not Availabl