Lightweight Encryption Based Security Package for Wireless Body Area Network

As the demand of individual health monitoring rose, Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) are becoming highly distinctive within health applications. Nowadays, WBAN is much easier to access then what it used to be. However, due to WBAN’s limitation, properly sophisticated security protocols do not exist. As WBAN devices deal with sensitive data and could be used as a threat to the owner of the data or their family, securing individual devices is highly important. Despite the importance in securing data, existing WBAN security methods are focused on providing light weight security methods. This led to most security methods for WBAN providing partial security protocols, which left many possibilities in compromising the system. This paper proposes full security protocol designed for wireless body area networks consisting of light weight data encryption, authentication, and re-keying methods. Encryption and authentication use a modified version of RSA Encryption called PSRSA, developed to be used within small systems such as WBAN. Authentication is performed by using encryption message authentication code (E-MAC) using PSRSA. Rekeying is performed with a method called tokening method. The experiment result and security analysis showed that the proposed approach is as light as the leading WBAN authentication method, ECC authentication, while preventing more attacks and providing smaller communication size which fulfills the highest NIST Authentication Assurance Level (AAL)

Quantifying Effects of Perturbation Intensity on Slip Outcome in Young Adults

Motorized treadmills have been widely used to examine the reactive balance control of the human body after an external perturbation, like slips or trips, and develop perturbation-based interventions for preventing falls. The treadmill-induced perturbation profile depends on the belt’s duration, velocity, acceleration, and displacement. The intensity of the perturbation is affected by these interrelated factors. There is a lack of consensus regarding how to choose the perturbation intensity. One prerequisite condition to bridge this knowledge gap is to examine how the perturbation intensity affects its outcome. The purpose of this study was to quantify how the slip intensity, characterized by the belt’s peak velocity (low intensity: 0.9 m/s; medium intensity: 1.2 m/s, or high intensity: 1.8 m/s), affects the slip outcome (fall or recovery) in young adults while the slip distance is controlled. Specifically, it was hypothesized that, in comparison with a low intensity, a high slip intensity would lead to 1) a greater risk of a slip-fall and 2) a shorter recovery step latency, longer slip distance, and larger hip descent after the slip onset. Thirty-one healthy young adults aged 18 to 45 years were enrolled and randomly assigned into three groups with different peak slip speeds: low (0.9 m/s), medium (1.2 m/s), and high (1.8 m/s). After the warmup, participants stepped on the ActiveStep treadmill. Following five standing trials without slips, all subjects experienced an unexpected slip perturbation induced by the treadmill with the assigned peak slip velocity. The slip displacement was the same for all groups at 0.36 m. A motion capture system collected participants’ full-body kinematics. The slip outcome (a binary variable: fall or recovery) was determined by the hip descent after the slip onset. The faller rate was the primary outcome variable. The secondary outcome measures included the continuous measurements of the hip descent, dynamic stability, and slip distance at the instant of recovery foot liftoff, and the latency of the recovery step. The outcome measures were compared among groups using χ2 or one-way analysis of variance followed by appropriate post-hoc tests to test the hypotheses. The results overall support the hypotheses. Specifically, individuals in the high-intensity group fell significantly more than the other two groups. Additionally, they were less stable with a longer slip distance at liftoff than their peers in the lower intensity groups. This study could guide the selection of slip profiles for future studies that use perturbation as a test platform or interventional paradigm

BlahBlahBot: Facilitating Conversation between Strangers using a Chatbot with ML-infused Personalized Topic Suggestion

It is a prevalent behavior of having a chat with strangers in online settings where people can easily gather. Yet, people often find it difficult to initiate and maintain conversation due to the lack of information about strangers. Hence, we aimed to facilitate conversation between the strangers with the use of machine learning (ML) algorithms and present BlahBlahBot, an ML-infused chatbot that moderates conversation between strangers with personalized topics. Based on social media posts, BlahBlahBot supports the conversation by suggesting topics that are likely to be of mutual interest between users. A user study with three groups (control, random topic chatbot, and BlahBlahBot; N=18) found the feasibility of BlahBlahBot in increasing both conversation quality and closeness to the partner, along with the factors that led to such increases from the user interview. Overall, our preliminary results imply that an ML-infused conversational agent can be effective for augmenting a dyadic conversation

TPU as Cryptographic Accelerator

Polynomials defined on specific rings are heavily involved in various cryptographic schemes, and the corresponding operations are usually the computation bottleneck of the whole scheme. We propose to utilize TPU, an emerging hardware designed for AI applications, to speed up polynomial operations and convert TPU to a cryptographic accelerator. We also conduct preliminary evaluation and discuss the limitations of current work and future plan

Accident risk identification and its impact analyses for strategic construction safety management

The study presented in this paper reviewed 9,358 accidents which occurred in the U.S. construction industry between 2002 and 2011, in order to understand the relationships between the risk factors and injury severity (e.g. fatalities, hospitalized injuries, or non-hospitalized injuries) and to develop a strategic prevention plan to reduce the likelihood of fatalities where an accident is unavoidable. The study specifically aims to: (1) verify the relationships among risk factors, accident types, and injury severity; (2) determine significant risk factors associated with each accident type that are highly correlated to injury severity; and (3) analyse the impact of the identified key factors on accident and fatality occurrence. The analysis results explained that safety managers’ roles are critical to reducing human-related risks – particularly misjudgement of hazardous situations – through safety training and education, appropriate use of safety devices and proper safety inspection. However, for environment-related factors, the dominant risk factors were different depending on the different accident types. The outcomes of this study will assist safety managers to understand the nature of construction accidents and plan for strategic risk mitigation by prioritizing high frequency risk factors to effectively control accident occurrence and manage the likelihood of fatal injuries on construction sites

Effects of NaOH Activation on Adsorptive Removal of Herbicides by Biochars Prepared from Ground Coffee Residues

In this study, the adsorption of herbicides using ground coffee residue biochars without (GCRB) and with NaOH activation (GCRB-N) was compared to provide deeper insights into their adsorption behaviors and mechanisms. The physicochemical characteristics of GCRB and GCRB-N were analyzed using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction and the effects of pH, temperature, ionic strength, and humic acids on the adsorption of herbicides were identified. Moreover, the adsorption kinetics and isotherms were studied. The specific surface area and total pore volume of GCRB-N (405.33 m(2)/g and 0.293 cm(3)/g) were greater than those of GCRB (3.83 m(2)/g and 0.014 cm(3)/g). The GCBR-N could more effectively remove the herbicides (Q(e,exp) of Alachlor = 122.71 mu mol/g, Q(e,exp) of Diuron = 166.42 mu mol/g, and Q(e,exp) of Simazine = 99.16 mu mol/g) than GCRB (Q(e,exp) of Alachlor = 11.74 mu mol/g, Q(e,exp) of Diuron = 9.95 mu mol/g, and Q(e,exp) of Simazine = 6.53 mu mol/g). These results suggested that chemical activation with NaOH might be a promising option to make the GCRB more practical and effective for removing herbicides in the aqueous solutions

Childhood adversity and late-life depression: moderated mediation model of stress and social support

BackgroundAs life expectancy increases, understanding the mechanism for late-life depression and finding a crucial moderator becomes more important for mental health in older adults. Childhood adversity increases the risk of clinical depression even in old age. Based on the stress sensitivity theory and stress-buffering effects, stress would be a significant mediator, while social support can be a key moderator in the mediation pathways. However, few studies have tested this moderated mediation model with a sample of older adults. This study aims to reveal the association between childhood adversity and late-life depression in older adults, taking into consideration the effects of stress and social support.MethodsThis study used several path models to analyze the data from 622 elderly participants who were never diagnosed with clinical depression.ResultsWe found that childhood adversity increases the odds ratio of depression by approximately 20% in older adults. Path model with mediation demonstrates that stress fully mediates the pathway from childhood adversity to late-life depression. Path model with moderated mediation also illustrates that social support significantly weakens the association between childhood adversity and perceived stress.ConclusionThis study provides empirical evidence to reveal a more detailed mechanism for late-life depression. Specifically, this study identifies one crucial risk factor and one protective factor, stress and social support, respectively. This brings insight into prevention of late-life depression among those who have experienced childhood adversity

Optochemical Manipulation of Cellular Signaling in Live Cell

Increasing evidence has shown that investigation method for the signaling pathway using the average bulk cell measurements like western blot confuse understanding mechanisMaster and information emerging from cell-to-cell variability. Here, we use easy and generalizable technology, ERK-KTR to confirm single cell ki-nase activity based on fluorescence imaging approaches. This technology converts phosphorylation into a nu-cleocytoplasmic shuttling event and enable measurements of dynamic, responses, signaling pathway in single cells. Moreover, we can apply other target signaling protein to it by converting protein sequence, so investi-gate diverse signaling pathway. Using nitric oxide (NO) delivery system, we measured dynamics of ERK sig-naling pathway that controls cell proliferation. Focus on endogenous and exogenous NO delivery, we applied the NO from different spatial regions and showed the first direct evidence that endogenous and exogenous NO result in different dynamics for ERK activation in single cell level analysis. Therefore, our approach will be broadly useful as a new complementary tool for investigating signaling pathways.|본 논문은 다양한 일산화 질소가 세포외적의 신호조절 인산화효소 (ERK)의 활성에 대해서 어떤 영향을 미치는지에 대해 연구하였다. 최근에 웨스턴 블랏과 같은 대규모의 세포에서 평균적인 신호전달 체계를 측정하는 조사 방법들은 세포와 세포 사이의 가변성으로부터 나오는 정보와 메커니즘을 이해하는 것이 어렵다는 증거들이 나오고 있다. 본 논문에서 우리는 형광 이미지에 대한 접근으로 하나의 세포에서의 인산화효소 활성화를 확인하기위해 쉽고 널리 이용될 수 있는 인산화효소 이동 리포터 (KTR) 기술을 사용하였다. 이러한 기술은 인산화 작용을 핵에서 세포질로의 이동으로 변환하여서 하나의 세포에서의 신호전달 체계의 반응과 역동성을 측정할 수 있게 한다. 나아가, 이 기술은 다양한 신호전달 체계를 조사하기 위해서 목표 단백질의 서열로 바꿈으로써 다른 목표하는 신호전달 단백질에도 적용할 수 있다. 본 논문에서 우리는 일산화 질소 전달 체계를 이용하여서 세포 증식을 조절하는 세포외적의 신호조절 인산화효소 (ERK) 신호 전달체계의 역동성을 측정하였다. 세포 내적, 외적으로의 일산화 질소 전달에 집중하여서, 우리는 일산화질소를 공간적 차이를 두고 세포에 적용하였고 하나의 세포 단위의 분석으로 일산화질소의 내적, 외적으로의 전달이 세포 외적의 신호조절 인산화효소의 활성화에 대해 다른 역동성을 가지고 있다는 직접적 증거를 보았다. 그러므로, 우리는 이러한 접근이 신호전달 체계를 연구하기위한 새로운 상호보완적 도구로 널리 이용될 수 있다고 생각한다.prohibitionⅠ. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The complexity of signaling pathway and analyzing technologies 1 1.2 ERK signaling and biochemical study of nitric oxide pathway 2 Ⅱ. MATERIALS & EXPERIMENTAL METHODS 2.1 Materials 5 2.2 Experimental Methods 7 Ⅲ. RESULTS 3.1 ERK kinase translocation reporter mechanism and a cell line generation 11 3.2 Intracellular delivery of nitric oxides into ERK-KTR 16 Ⅳ. CONCLUSION & FUTURE WORKS 4.1 Conclusion 26 4.2 Future works 27MASTERdCollectio

시공간적으로 조절된 기체신호전달물질 자극에 따른 세포신호의 실시간 관찰

Gasotransmitter (기체신호전달물질), kinase translocation reporter (효소 이동 리포터), ERK signaling (ERK 신호), ROS (활성산소종), RNS (활성질소종)NOverview 1 Ⅰ. Imaging of Cellular Damage of ROS from Photocatalysis 5 1. Introduction 5 2. Materials and Methods 6 3. Result and Discussions 11 4. Conclusion 28 Ⅱ. Imaging of Signaling Dynamics in Live cell using Kinase Translocation Reporter 29 1. Introduction 29 2. Materials and Methods 31 3. Result and Discussions 36 4. Conclusion 50 Ⅲ. Real-time imaging of cell signaling in response to different ROS stimulation frequency 51 1. Introduction 51 2. Materials and Methods 53 3. Result and Discussions 55 4. Conclusion 70 Abbreviation. 71 Reference. 72DoctordCollectio