Genetic Transformation in Citrus

Citrus is one of the world’s important fruit crops. Recently, citrus molecular genetics and biotechnology work have been accelerated in the world. Genetic transformation, a biotechnological tool, allows the release of improved cultivars with desirable characteristics in a shorter period of time and therefore may be useful in citrus breeding programs. Citrus transformation has now been achieved in a number of laboratories by various methods. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is used mainly in citrus transformation studies. Particle bombardment, electroporation, A. rhizogenes, and a new method called RNA interference are used in citrus transformation studies in addition to A. tumefaciens. In this review, we illustrate how different gene transformation methods can be employed in different citrus species

Evaluation of atrial electromechanical conduction delay in case of hemodynamically insignificant rheumatic heart disease: A tissue Doppler study

Background: Atrial electromechanical delay (AEMD) that reflects delayed conduction may show us the clinical reflection of pathological changes in the atria. The main objective of the present study is to investigate AEMD in patients who had previous rheumatic carditis but without hemodynamically significant valvular disease. Methods: A total of 40 patients, previously diagnosed as rheumatic carditis but without significant valvular stenosis/regurgitation and atrial enlargement; and 39 age- and-sex matched controls were enrolled for the present study. Parameters of AEMD (lateral mitral annulus electromechanical delay, septal mitral annulus electromechanical delay and lateral tricuspid annulus electromechanical delay) were measured with tissue Doppler echocardiography and left intra-atrial and inter-atrial conduction times were calculated accordingly. A 24h ambulatory Holter monitoring was used in both groups to detect atrial fibrillation episodes and quantify atrial extrasystoles. Results: Parameters of AEMD, including left intra-atrial and inter-atrial conduction times of subjects in the study group were longer compared to the control group (23.7 ± 7.0 vs. 18.3 ± 6.2). Conclusions: Increased AEMD is observed in patients with previous rheumatic carditis and no significant valvular stenosis/regurgitation and atrial enlargement, which may partly explain the increased incidence of atrial fibrillation observed in these patients

A Pipelined Camellia Architecture for Compact Hardware Implementation

In this paper, we present a compact and fast pipelined implementation of the block cipher Camellia for 128-bit data and 128-bit key lengths. The implementation is suitable for both Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) platforms, and is targeted for low area and low power applications. To obtain a compact design, pipelining principles are exploited and platform specific optimizations are made. The design requires only 321 slices with a throughput of 32.96 Mbps based on Xilinx Spartan-S XC3S50-5 chip and 4.31K gates with a throughput of 81 Mbps based on 0.13-mu m CMOS standard cell library

A Pipelined Camellia Architecture for Compact Hardware Implementation

Abstract—In this paper, we present a compact and fast pipelined implementation of the block cipher Camellia for 128-bit data and 128-bit key lengths. The implementation is suitable for both Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) platforms, and is targeted for low area and low power applications. To obtain a compact design, pipelining principles are exploited and platform specific optimizations are made. The design requires only 321 slices with a throughput of 32.96 Mbps based on Xilinx Spartan-S XC3S50-5 chip and 4.31K gates with a throughput of 81 Mbps based on 0.13-�m CMOS standard cell library. Keywords-Camellia; block cipher; FPGA; ASIC; efficient implementation; cryptography; cryptographic hardwar

A Survey on Authenticated Encryption -- ASIC Designer\u27s Perspective

Authenticated encryption (AE) has been a vital operation in cryptography due to its ability to provide confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity at the same time. Its use has soared in parallel with widespread use of the Internet and has led to several new schemes. There have been studies investigating software performance of various schemes. However, the same is yet to be done for hardware. We present a comprehensive survey of hardware (specifically ASIC) performance of the most commonly used AE schemes in the literature. These schemes include encrypt-then-MAC combination, block cipher based AE modes, and the recently-introduced permutation-based AE scheme. For completeness, we implemented each scheme with various standardized block ciphers and/or hash algorithms, and their lightweight versions. Our evaluation targets minimizing the time-area product while maximizing the throughput on an ASIC platform. We used 45nm NANGATE Open Cell Library for syntheses. We present area, speed, time-area product, throughput, and power figures for both standard and lightweight versions of each scheme. We also provide an unbiased discussion on the impact of the structure and complexity of each scheme on hardware implementation. Our results reveal 13-30% performance boost in permutation-based AE compared to conventional schemes and they can be used as a benchmark in the ongoing AE competition CAESAR

2011 Workshop on Lightweight Security & Privacy: Devices, Protocols, and Applications Towards an Ultra Lightweight Crypto Processor

Abstract—In this paper, a lightweight processor suitable for lightweight cryptographic applications is presented. The processor instruction set is based on the stack-based ZPU architecture. In addition, a simple generic plug-in interface is implemented in order to allow integration of application specific coprocessors to the main processor core. In the current version of the processor, a simple direct memory access engine and a serialized Klein cipher coprocessor are implemented and connected to the processor core. Through these engines, it is possible to implement various lightweight security and authentication schemes in a code and area effective way. A simple assembler code is written and tested on the processor in order to verify the functionality of the processor core and coprocessors. The code implements a Davies-Meyer coding scheme and uses the Klein block cipher as a hash function. The GCC toolset originally written for the 32-bit ZPU is being adapted to work with the 8-bit processor core. The designed processor is synthesized using VeriSilicon GSMC 0.13um lowpower process high-density standard cell library for a target operating frequency of 100 KHz, and the resultant gate count is 4.5K GE. Keywords-lightweight; cryptographic; ZPU; processor; Klein I

Characterization of Hazelnut, Pistachio, and Apricot Kernel Shell Particles and Analysis of Their Composite Properties

In this study, hazelnut, pistachio, and apricot kernel shells were ground size of 0–300 µm, 300–600 µm, and 600–850 µm. The cellulose, ash, humidity, and metal contents of these powder particles were chemically analyzed and structural properties were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) analysis. Their composites were fabricated by adding 0%, 10%, 20%, and 30% by weight of these powder particles to the polyester matrix material. The effect of chemical and structural properties of the powder particles on the physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of the composites was analyzed. The XRD analysis revealed that cellulose structure observed in powder particles. The peaks observed in their surface functional structures with FT-IR were mainly caused by cellulose and hemicellulose structures. These structures effected humidity and ash ratios. Nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen elements were seen in the structure. In addition, heavy metals such as Sn, Ca, K, Na, Mg, Fe, Ni, Mn, Cu, Zn, and Si were found. Powder particles added to the polyester material adversely affected the tensile strength of the matrix material. However, powder particles added to the matrix material at low rates had a positive effect on bending and compressive strength