Remote Attestation on Function Execution

Singapore Management Universit

Model-Driven Remote Attestation: Attesting Remote System from Behavioral Aspect

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier 1, Singapore Management Universit

Pneumonia Incidence and Mortality in Mainland China: Systematic Review of Chinese and English Literature, 1985–2008

BACKGROUND: Pneumonia is a leading infectious disease killer worldwide, yet the burden in China is not well understood as much of the data is published in the non-English literature. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We systematically reviewed the Chinese- and English-language literature for studies with primary data on pneumonia incidence and mortality in mainland China. Between 1985 and 2008, 37 studies met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was highly variable. For children <5 years, incidence ranged from 0.06-0.27 episodes per person-year and mortality ranged from 184-1,223 deaths per 100,000 population. Overall incidence and mortality were stable or decreased over the study period and were higher in rural compared to urban areas. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Pneumonia continues to be a major public health challenge in young children in China, and estimates of pneumonia incidence and mortality vary widely. Reliable surveillance data and new prevention efforts may be needed to achieve and document additional declines, especially in areas with higher incidence and mortality such as rural settings

Comparative study of halo-vest reduction and skull traction reduction in the treatment of cervical fracture dislocation in patients with ankylosing spondylitis

BackgroundThis study aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of the halo-vest in the treatment of cervical fracture in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and kyphosis.MethodsFrom May 2017 to May 2021, 36 patients with cervical fractures with AS and thoracic kyphosis were included in this study. The patients with cervical spine fractures with AS underwent preoperative reduction by halo-vest or skull tractions. Instrumentation internal fixation and fusion surgery were then performed. The level of cervical fractures, the operative duration, blood loss, and treatment outcomes were investigated preoperatively and postoperatively.ResultsA total of 25 cases were included in the halo-vest group and 11 cases were included in the skull tractions group. The intraoperative blood loss and the surgery duration were significantly less in the halo-vest group than in the skull traction group. A comparison of American Spinal Injury Association scores at admission and final follow-up showed that the neurological function of patients improved in both groups. All patients had reached solid bony fusion during the follow-up.ConclusionThis study presented a unique approach to use halo-vest treatment fixation of unstable cervical fracture in patients with AS. The patient should also have early surgical stabilization with a halo-vest to correct spinal deformity and avoid worsening of neurological status

Grain Yield and Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Late-cropping Rice in Response to Delayed Application of Nitrogen and Altered Plant Spacing in South China

【Objective】In order to further enhance grain yield of rice and nitrogen (N) use efficiency (NUE), N fertilizer was reduced and topdressing was delayed, together with alteration in row and plant spacing and planting density.【Method】In two late seasons, comparison trials were conducted with 8 treatments, including zero applied N (T1), farmers' practice (T2, control), 3 moderately-delayed N topdressing (T3-T5) and 3 highly-delayed N topdressing (T5-T8). T3-T8 also had alteration in N application rate, planting density and row and plant spacing.【Result】In comparison to T2, the average grain yields under T3-T5 were increased by 29.7% and 15.9%, and those of T6-T8 were increased by 26.4% and 18.6% in two late seasons, respectively. In both late seasons, nitrogen uptake and plant growth under T3-T5 and T6-T8 were slower before panicle initiation and they were both increased or accelerated thereafter. Based on average results in two late seasons, leaf area indexes at heading stage were enhanced by 8.5% and 11.8% respectively under T3-T5 and T6-T8 compared with that under T2. Leaf nitrogen contents at heading stage were enhanced by 16.8% and 23.5%, respectively. The numbers of panicles per hectare were increased by 14.5% and 15.2%, panicle size remained unchanged or was increased by 12.5%, sink sizes were increased by 13.6% and 29.3%, seed setting rate was enhanced by 9.0% or remained the same, 1000-grain weight remained identical or was decreased by 9.0%, biomasses were increased by 14.8% and 15.5%, and harvest indexes were increased by 7.2% and 6.4%, respectively. The total amounts of N uptake were increased by 27.6% and 40.7%, N uptake efficiencies were increased by 85.9% and 124.2%, agronomical efficiencies were increased by 99.1% and 102.5%, and partial factor productivity was increased by 32.1% and 36.2%, respectively. Additional N input, dense planting and alteration in row and plant spacing had little effect on yield and NUE. Highly-delayed N topdressing could further expand sink size and improve NUE, but could not enhance grain yield anymore.【Conclusion】With reduced N input, both source and sink of rice were substantially enlarged, and the yield and NUE were dramatically increased under moderately-delayed and highly-delayed N topdressing

Remote Attestation on Program Execution

Remote attestation provides the basis for one platform to establish trusts on another. In this paper, we consider the problem of attesting the correctness of program executions. We propose to measure the target program and all the ob-jects it depends on, with an assumption that the Secure Kernel and the Trusted Platform Module provide a secure execution environment through process separation. The at-testation of the target program begins with a program anal-ysis on the source code or the binary code in order to find out the relevant executables and data objects. Whenever such a data object is accessed or a relevant executable is in-voked due to the execution of the target program, its state is measured for attestation. Our scheme not only testifies to a program’s execution, but also supports fine-granularity attestations and information flow checking

Facet joint orientation and sagittal spinopelvic alignment in patients with degenerative lumbar scoliosis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between lumbar spine facet joint orientation and tropism, sagittal spinopelvic alignment, and rotational deformity, identified by radiographic and computed tomography (CT) measurements, in degenerative lumbar scoliosis (DLS). Standing whole-spine sagittal radiographs and CT scans, including the pelvis, were performed and analyzed in 60 DLS patients (16 males, 44 females; mean age 65 years). Cobb angle, pelvic incidence (PI) and lumbar lordosis (LL) were measured on standing lumbar radiographs. Facet joint orientation on both sides at L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1 was determined from transverse-plane CT. Facet joint tropism was defined as a difference in symmetry of more than 10 degrees between the orientations of the facet joints. There were significant differences in the incidence of facet joint tropism between the two groups at L3/4, L4/5, and L5/S1 (P = 0.011, P = 0.043, and P = 0.004, respectively). LL was significantly smaller in type II DLS (P = 0.049). Facet joint orientation, pelvic incidence, and Cobb angle did not differ between groups. No significant correlation between LL and PI was observed in either group. This study provides a reliability analysis of rotational deformity in patients with DLS. In conclusion, we observed a significant relationship between facet joint tropism and rotational deformity in patients with DLS. Furthermore, the different types of DLS demonstrated significant differences in LL that may induce spinal symptoms

A validated finite element analysis of facet joint stress in degenerative lumbar scoliosis

<b>Objective</b>\ud \ud To develop modified finite element models to simulate <i>degenerative lumbar scoliosis</i> (DLS) based on the normal lumbar spine model and to investigate the facet joint force of the DLS.\ud \ud <b>Methods</b>\ud \ud A 3-dimensional finite element model of a normal lumbar spine was modified to simulate 3 different Cobb angles conditions (12.3°, 22.2°, and 31.8°). The stresses on the facet joint were calculated on both sides (right and left) of the each vertebra. Changes of stress and asymmetry in contact forces between facet joints in the development of DLS were quantitatively analyzed to better understand the development of DLS and the biomechanical forming mechanism.\ud \ud <b>Results</b>\ud \ud The results show that asymmetric responses of the facet joint forces exist in various postures and that such effect is amplified with larger curve. When the Cobb angle was smaller, the convex side of the facet joints suffered larger force. When the Cobb angle was larger than 20°, the concave side of the facet joints suffered larger force. In the axial-rotation cases, the facet joint compression is less often located on the ipsilateral side than the contralateral side at the same level.\ud \ud <b>Conclusions</b>\ud \ud With the asymmetric loading, facet joints compressive deformation appears on the concave side, and it decreases in the effect of the facet joints to limit the vertebral rotation and listhesis. Asymmetric loading on facet joint contact forces accelerates asymmetry in the lumbar spine

Analysis on Screening of Suitable Varieties for Rice Ratooning and Yield Components under Different Cutting Heights in North Guangdong

【Objective】Based on the evaluation of growth period and grain yield performance of ratooning rice under different cutting heights, suitable varieties were selected for ratooning rice production in North Guangdong.【Method】Thirty-four rice varieties (bred or approved in Guangdong Province) were selected for tests under mid- or low-stubble cutting heights. The growth period, grain yield and yield components under different cutting heights among the tested varieties were investigated.【Result】The main crop yield was 5 210.9-8 566.8 kg/hm2, and grain yield of Huangguanghuazhan 1 was the highest. The ratoon crop yield of low-stubble ratooning rice was 3 335.0-6 357.3 kg/hm2, 16.1% higher than that of mid-stubble ratooning rice (2 084.4-5 940.5 kg/hm2). Qingxiangyou 19 Xiang was the highest in ratoon crop yield under both cutting heights. According to cluster analysis, the ratoon crop yield and total annual grain yield under mid-stubble ratooning rice mode could be categorized to four major groups, namely, high-yield, mid-high-yield, medium-yield, and low-yield levels. Each group contained 4, 7, 18, and 5 varieties for ratoon crop yield and contained 1, 14, 14, and 5 varieties for total annual grain yield under mid-stubble ratooning rice mode. Under low-stubble cutting height, the ratoon crop yield was also categorized to four major groups with 2, 17, 14 and 5 varieties, while the total annual grain yield was divided into three major groups, containing 10, 21, and 3 varieties, respectively. In ratoon season of low-stubble ratooning rice, the growth period was prolonged by an average of 9.1 days, the number of spikelets per panicle was increased, and the effective panicles and seed setting rate were reduced compared with those in ratoon season of mid-stubble ratooning rice. Under mid-stubble cutting height, the ratooning rice regenerated from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th nodes from the top (D3, D4 and D5) contributed 4.7%, 33.3%, and 62.0% of the total grain yield per plant, respectively. Under low-stubble cutting height, the ratooning rice regenerated from D3, D4, and D5 contributed 0%, 11.9%, and 88.1% of the total yield per plant.【Conclusion】If assessed with the criteria of high- or mid-high-level ratoon crop yield and high-level total annual grain yield, 9 rice varieties, including Huangguangyouzhan, Huangguanghuazhan 1, Huangguangtaizhan, Wuyouyuehesimiao, Guang 8 Youjinzhan, Hengfengyou 387, Qingxiangyou 003, Qingxiangyou 132, and Qingxiangyou 19 Xiang are recommended for production of mid-stubble ratooning rice. Ten rice varieties, including Erguangyouzhan 3, Huangguangyouzhan, Huangguanghuazhan 1, Huangguangtaizhan, Yuehesimiao, Nanjingzhan, Yuetaiyouzhan, Wuyouyuehesimiao and Guang8youjinzhan are suitable for production of low-stubble ratooning rice. For mid-stubble ratooning rice, new tillers mainly regenerate from the 4th nodes from the top and other lower nodes below. For low-stubble ratooning rice, new tillers mainly regenerate from the 5th nodes and other lower nodes below