Design and Implementation of Lightweight Certificateless Secure Communication Scheme on Industrial NFV-Based IPv6 Virtual Networks

With the fast growth of the Industrial Internet of Everything (IIoE), computing and telecommunication industries all over the world are moving rapidly towards the IPv6 address architecture, which supports virtualization architectures such as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). NFV provides networking services like routing, security, storage, etc., through software-based virtual machines. As a result, NFV reduces equipment costs. Due to the increase in applications on Industrial Internet of Things (IoT)-based networks, security threats have also increased. The communication links between people and people or from one machine to another machine are insecure. Usually, critical data are exchanged over the IoE, so authentication and confidentiality are significant concerns. Asymmetric key cryptosystems increase computation and communication overheads. This paper proposes a lightweight and certificateless end-to-end secure communication scheme to provide security services against replay attacks, man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks, and impersonation attacks with low computation and communication overheads. The system is implemented on Linux-based Lubuntu 20.04 virtual machines using Java programming connected to NFV-based large-scale hybrid IPv4-IPv6 virtual networks. Finally, we compare the performance of our proposed security scheme with existing schemes based on the computation and communication costs. In addition, we measure and analyze the performance of our proposed secure communication scheme over NFV-based virtualized networks with regard to several parameters like end-to-end delay and packet loss. The results of our comparison with existing security schemes show that our proposed security scheme reduces the computation cost by 38.87% and the communication cost by 26.08%

Physics of fractional imaging in biomedicine

Medical imaging is a rapidly evolving sub-field of biomedical engineering as it considers novel approaches to visualizing biological tissues with the general goal of improving health. Medical imaging research provides improved diagnostic tools in clinical settings and thereby assists in the development of drugs and other therapies. Data acquisition and diagnostic interpretation with minimum error are important technical aspects of medical imaging. The image quality and resolution are critical in visualization of the internal aspects of patient’s body. Although a number of user-friendly resources are available for processing image features, such as enhancement, colour manipulation and compression, the development and refinement of new processing methods is still a worthwhile endeavour. In this article we aim to highlight the role of fractional calculus in imaging with the aid of a variety of practical examples

Cancer drug therapy and stochastic modelling of “nano-motors”

Controlled inhibition of kinesin motor proteins is highly desired in the field of oncology. Among other interventions, the selective Eg5 competitive and allosteric inhibitors is the most successful targeted chemotherapeutic regime/options, inducing cancer cell apoptosis and tumor regression with improved safety profile. Though promising, this approach is under clinical trials, for the discovery of efficient and least harmful Eg5 inhibitors. The aim of present research is to bridge the computational modelling approach with drug design and therapy of cancer cells. Thus a computational model, interfaced with the clinical data of “Eg5 dynamics” and “inhibitors” via special functions is presented in this article. Comparisons are made for the drug efficacy and the threshold values are predicted through numerical simulations

A review on hyperthermia via nanoparticle-mediated therapy

Hyperthermia treatment, generated by magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is promising since it is tumour-focused, minimally invasive and uniform. The most unique feature of magnetic nanoparticles is their reaction to and manipulation by a magnetic force which is responsible for enabling their potential as heating mediators for cancer therapy. With magnetic nanoparticle hyperthermia, a tumour is preferentially loaded with systemically administered nanoparticles with high-absorption cross section for transduction of an extrinsic energy source to heat. To maximize the energy deposited in the tumour while limiting the exposure in healthy tissues, the heating is achieved by exposing the region of tissue containing magnetic nanoparticles to an alternating magnetic field. The magnetic nanoparticles dissipate heat from relaxation losses thereby heating localized tissue above normal physiological ranges. Besides thermal efficiency, the biocompatibility of magnetite nanoparticles assists in their deployment as efficient drug carriers for targeted therapeutic regimes. In the present article we provide a state-of-the-art review focused on progress in nanoparticle induced hyperthermia treatments which have several potential advantages over both global and local hyperthermia treatments achieved without nanoparticles. Green bio-nanotechnology has attracted substantial attention and has demonstrable abilities to improve cancer therapy. Furthermore we have listed the challenges associated with this treatment along with future opportunities in this field which it is envisaged will be of interest to biomedical engineers, bio-materials scientists, medical researchers and pharmacological research groups

Role of key players in paradigm shifts of prostate cancer bone metastasis

Prostate cancer is one of the most common human cancers and bone metastasis is a frequent finding in the natural history of several types of cancers. The molecular mechanisms that makes prostate cancer metastasize to bone have recently been identified, and provide new molecular targets for drug development, several biochemical by-products that provide insight into the tumorbone interaction, with potential to enhance the clinical management of patients with bone metastases, have been reported during the past decade, however, its anticipated risk, diagnosis and response to therapy are still challenging to assess in clinical practice. In this article, we will discuss these challenges with an emphasis on the communication pathways between each cell type involved and the roles of Wnts, sclerostin, RANKL, PTHrP and macrophages

Production Research in China

(First paragraph) China is the world’s largest emerging economy. In recent years, China has moved to an increasingly market-oriented economy that opens to international trade and investment. At the same time, the popularity of China as a manufacturing base, assembling goods for sale worldwide is growing. In addition to global manufacturers who have built their own plants in China, many manufacturing companies are outsourcing production to Chinese subcontractors and branding the products with their own logos. In today’s China, production research is becoming more and more important; advanced production research becomes an important enabler to make its manufacturing industry competitive. Although China has different financial, legal, and physical infrastructure, production researchers in China have successfully proven that production research can help to manage global manufacturing competition

Ulnar dimelia variant: a case report

We report a case of ulnar dimelia, commonly called mirror hand, in a 2-month-old female child who had restriction of elbow flexion and forearm rotation. There was no facial or other internal organ malformation. Radiographs revealed seven triphalangeal digits with double ulnae (one following the other) and absent radius. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first report of this mirror hand deformity in which fingers are symmetrical while duplicated ulnae are not

Floods and flood management and its socio-economic impact on Pakistan: A review of the empirical literature

Flood is one of the most damaging natural disasters as the recent floods have shown their serious impact on Pakistan. Flood control and regulation policies are essential to reduce the risks of economic downturn, a threat to human existence, and to sustain the ecology. The severity of flood catastrophe activities represents a constant and severe issue in the world. Floods are rising year by year in severity and duration, causing negative impacts on the social and economic conditions of the nation concerned. While the frequency of floods cannot be avoided, their adverse impacts can be considerably reduced by adopting careful planning and efficient training. This paper reviews the socioeconomic impact of floods, and the existing condition of flood control policies outlines the flood protection problems and discusses opportunities for successful and efficient flood control in Pakistan. The paper also intends to propose several suggestions for efficient and sustainable flood control in Pakistan

Pharmacokinetics of Caffeic Acid from Methanol Seed Extract of Syzygium cumini L in Rats

Purpose: To describe caffeic acid-based pharmacokinetics of methanol extract of seed of Syzygium cumini L. in rats.Methods: A dose of the extract (500 mg, equivalent to 37.135 mg caffeic acid) was administered orally to 6 male Wister rats, weighing 200 ± 10 g. Blood samples (0.5 mL), collected from the tail vein at 0, 15, 30, 60, 120, 240 and 720 min, were processed and analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography and detected with florescent light detector (FLD).Results: Following the administration of the extract, caffeic acid achieved maximum plasma concentration (5.96 ± 0.49 μg/mL) in 1.0 h which was also the time to achieve maximum concentration (Tmax). Mean resident time (MRT) and half-life (t1/2) were 4.092 ± 0.94 h and 0.14 ± 0.01 h, respectively.Conclusion: The results indicate that absorption of caffeic acid from the oral route is fast, but lower amounts are absorbed. The method developed for the extraction of caffeic acid from the plasma and HPLC determination may be useful in establishing phyto-bioequivalence between Syzygium cumini seed products.Keywords: Caffeic acid, Pharmacokinetics, Syzygium cumini, Phytobioequivalence, Absorptio