A secure user authentication protocol for sensor network in data capturing

Sensor network is an important approach of data capturing. User authentication is a critical security issue for sensor networks because sensor nodes are deployed in an open and unattended environment, leaving them possible hostile attack. Some researchers proposed some user authentication protocols using one-way hash function or using biometric technology. Recently, Yel et al. and Wenbo et al. proposed a user authentication protocols using elliptic curves cryptography. However, there are some security weaknesses for these protocols. In the paper, we review several proposed user authentication protocols, with a detail review of the Wenbo et al.’s user authentication protocol and a cryptanalysis of this protocol that shows several security weaknesses. Furthermore, we propose a secure user authentication protocol using identity-based cryptography to overcome those weaknesses. Finally, we present the security analysis, a comparison of security, computation, and performance for the proposed protocols, which shows that this user authentication protocol is more secure and suitable for higher security WSNs

An Optimized Protocol for Comprehensive Evaluations of Salt Tolerance in Crop Germplasm Accessions: A Case Study of Tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i> L.)

The comprehensive evaluation of crop germplasm serves to scientifically and objectively assess the quality of different genetic accessions against certain standards. Here, we propose an optimized approach to enhance the result’s stability when assessing salt tolerance in crop germplasm. This protocol was applied to a case study involving 249 tomato genotypes, systematically refining the processes involved in constructing an evaluation index system, data preprocessing, statistical method selection, and weight calculation. The optimization process reduced the system variance of salt tolerance evaluation results and achieved an 85.42% concordance with a classical approach, across a tomato population covering 241 genotypes, suggesting the improved stability and high accuracy of the optimized protocol. Moreover, an 83.82% consistency rate between pre- and post-optimization results also suggested the high accuracy of the optimized protocol. The enhanced stability was further confirmed by a secondary validation on a subpopulation (covering 39 genotypes), which demonstrated a consistency rate of 83.87% between the two populations. The study identified 8.43% of the evaluated germplasm as salt-tolerant accessions, providing valuable parental materials for breeding programs. The findings underscore the potential of our protocol for the precise identification of stress-resistant germplasm, contributing to the development of stress-tolerant crop varieties