The art of post-truth in quantum cryptography

L’établissement de clé quantique (abrégé QKD en anglais) permet à deux participants distants, Alice et Bob, d’établir une clé secrète commune (mais aléatoire) qui est connue uniquement de ces deux personnes (c’est-à-dire inconnue d’Ève et de tout autre tiers parti). La clé secrète partagée est inconditionnellement privée et peut être plus tard utilisée, par Alice et Bob, pour transmettre des messages en toute confidentialité, par exemple sous la forme d’un masque jetable. Le protocole d’établissement de clé quantique garantit la confidentialité inconditionnelle du message en présence d’un adversaire (Ève) limité uniquement par les lois de la mécanique quantique, et qui ne peut agir sur l’information que se partagent Alice et Bob que lors de son transit à travers des canaux classiques et quantiques. Mais que se passe-t-il lorsque Ève a le pouvoir supplémentaire de contraindre Alice et/ou Bob à révéler toute information, jusqu’alors gardée secrète, générée lors de l’exécution (réussie) du protocole d’établissement de clé quantique (éventuellement suite à la transmission entre Alice et Bob d’un ou plusieurs messages chiffrés classique à l’aide de cette clé), de manière à ce qu’Ève puisse reproduire l’entièreté du protocole et retrouver la clé (et donc aussi le message qu’elle a chiffré) ? Alice et Bob peuvent-ils nier la création de la clé de manière plausible en révélant des informations mensongères pour qu’Ève aboutisse sur une fausse clé ? Les protocoles d’établissement de clé quantiques peuvent-ils tels quels garantir la possibilité du doute raisonnable ? Dans cette thèse, c’est sur cette énigme que nous nous penchons. Dans le reste de ce document, nous empruntons le point de vue de la théorie de l’information pour analyser la possibilité du doute raisonnable lors de l’application de protocoles d’établissement de clé quantiques. Nous formalisons rigoureusement différents types et degrés de doute raisonnable en fonction de quel participant est contraint de révéler la clé, de ce que l’adversaire peut demander, de la taille de l’ensemble de fausses clés qu’Alice et Bob peuvent prétendre établir, de quand les parties doivent décider de la ou des clés fictives, de quelle est la tolérance d’Ève aux événements moins probables, et du recours ou non à des hypothèses de calcul. Nous définissons ensuite rigoureusement une classe générale de protocoles d’établissement de clé quantiques, basée sur un canal quantique presque parfait, et prouvons que tout protocole d’établissement de clé quantique appartenant à cette classe satisfait la définition la plus générale de doute raisonnable : à savoir, le doute raisonnable universel. Nous en fournissons quelques exemples. Ensuite, nous proposons un protocole hybride selon lequel tout protocole QKD peut être au plus existentiellement déniable. De plus, nous définissons une vaste classe de protocoles d’établissement de clé quantiques, que nous appelons préparation et mesure, et prouvons l’impossibilité d’instiller lors de ceux-ci tout degré de doute raisonnable. Ensuite, nous proposons une variante du protocole, que nous appelons préparation et mesure floues qui offre un certain niveau de doute raisonnable lorsque Ève est juste. Par la suite, nous proposons un protocole hybride en vertu duquel tout protocole d’établissement de clé quantique ne peut offrir au mieux que l’option de doute raisonnable existentiel. Finalement, nous proposons une variante du protocole, que nous appelons mono-déniable qui est seulement Alice déniable ou Bob déniable (mais pas les deux).Quantum Key Establishment (QKD) enables two distant parties Alice and Bob to establish a common random secret key known only to the two of them (i.e., unknown to Eve and anyone else). The common secret key is information-theoretically secure. Later, Alice and Bob may use this key to transmit messages securely, for example as a one-time pad. The QKD protocol guarantees the confidentiality of the key from an information-theoretic perspective against an adversary Eve who is only limited by the laws of quantum theory and can act only on the signals as they pass through the classical and quantum channels. But what if Eve has the extra power to coerce Alice and/or Bob after the successful execution of the QKD protocol forcing either both or only one of them to reveal all their private information (possibly also after one or several (classical) ciphertexts encrypted with that key have been transmitted between Alice and Bob) then Eve could go through the protocol and obtain the key (hence also the message)? Can Alice and Bob deny establishment of the key plausibly by revealing fake private information and hence also a fake key? Do QKD protocols guarantee deniability for free in this case? In this Thesis, we investigate this conundrum. In the rest of this document, we take an information-theoretic perspective on deniability in quantum key establishment protocols. We rigorously formalize different levels and flavours of deniability depending on which party is coerced, what the adversary may ask, what is the size of the fake set that surreptitious parties can pretend to be established, when the parties should decide on the fake key(s), and what is the coercer’s tolerance to less likely events and possibly also computational assumptions. We then rigorously define a general class of QKD protocols, based on an almost-perfect quantum channel, and prove that any QKD protocol that belongs to this class satisfies the most general flavour of deniability, i.e.,universal deniability. Moreover, we define a broad class of QKD protocols, which we call prepare-and-measure, and prove that these protocols are not deniable in any level or flavour. Moreover, we define a class of QKD protocols, which we refer to as fuzzy prepare-andmeasure, that provides a certain level of deniability conditioned on Eve being fair. Furthermore, we propose a hybrid protocol under which any QKD protocol can be at most existentially deniable. Finally, we define a class of QKD protocols, which we refer to as mono-deniable, which is either Alice or Bob (but not both) deniable

Resource allocation within the National AIDS Control Program of Pakistan: a qualitative assessment of decision maker\u27s opinions

Background: Limited resources, whether public or private, demand prioritisation among competing needs to maximise productivity. With a substantial increase in the number of reported HIV cases, little work has been done to understand how resources have been distributed and what factors may have influenced allocation within the newly introduced Enhanced National AIDS Control Program of Pakistan. The objective of this study was to identify perceptions of decision makers about the process of resource allocation within Pakistan\u27s Enhanced National AIDS Control Program. Methods: A qualitative study was undertaken and in-depth interviews of decision makers at provincial and federal levels responsible to allocate resources within the program were conducted. Results: HIV was not considered a priority issue by all study participants and external funding for the program was thought to have been accepted because of poor foreign currency reserves and donor agency influence rather than local need. Political influences from the federal government and donor agencies were thought to manipulate distribution of funds within the program. These influences were thought to occur despite the existence of a well-laid out procedure to determine allocation of public resources. Lack of collaboration among departments involved in decision making, a pervasive lack of technical expertise, paucity of information and an atmosphere of ad hoc decision making were thought to reduce resistance to external pressures. Conclusion: Development of a unified program vision through a consultative process and advocacy is necessary to understand goals to be achieved, to enhance program ownership and develop consensus about how money and effort should be directed. Enhancing public sector expertise in planning and budgeting is essential not just for the program, but also to reduce reliance on external agencies for technical support. Strengthening available databases for effective decision making is required to make financial allocations based on real, rather than perceived needs. With a large part of HIV program funding dedicated to public-private partnerships, it becomes imperative to develop public sector capacity to administer contracts, coordinate and monitor activities of the non-governmental sector

A Set of new kernel function for Support vector machines: An approach based on Chebyshev polynomials

Abstract-I

Real-time speaker identification for video conferencing

Automatic speaker identification in a videoconferencing environment will allow conference attendees to focus their attention on the conference rather than having to be engaged manually in identifying which channel is active and who may be the speaker within that channel. In this work we present a real-time, audio-coupled video based approach to address this problem, but focus more on the video analysis side. The system is driven by the need for detecting a talking human via the use of computer vision algorithms. The initial stage consists of a face detector which is subsequently followed by a lip-localization algorithm that segments the lip region. A novel approach for lip movement detection based on image registration and using the Coherent Point Drift (CPD) algorithm is proposed. Coherent Point Drift (CPD) is a technique for rigid and non-rigid registration of point sets. We provide experimental results to analyse the performance of the algorithm when used in monitoring real life videoconferencing data

Privacy and security challenges in smart and sustainable mobility

The current era of computing is witnessing a huge amount of data being generated with every passing moment. This massive data if nourished efectively can open new horizons for the computing world. The modern world is slowly but surely moving towards the automation age where every entity and object is being automated to perform desired tasks without the need of human interventions. This has made the lives of people more convenient and comfortable. Automation has taken over every single feld of computing and even beyond. Smart mobility is one such example of automation wherein the users get real time information about the trafc conditions as well as alternate route suggestions in case of trafic jams. Transportation is considered as the backbone of every business. The automated intelligent transportation system (ITS) has completely transformed the way how people, goods and services are transported and is quite important for achieving sustainability. This paper provides an overview of the existing ITS system, concept of smart mobility and existing vulnerabilities in these systems. Their security concerns and scenarios are also analyzed. Furthermore, in this paper the importance and need for securing these intelligent systems is highlighted and future trends in ITS is also suggested. Although ITS and smart mobility technology are already providing convenient transportation and navigational facilities, there is still a huge scope to improve these facilities for the end users. The suggested future trends if integrated in an efective manner can provide exemplary means to provide state-of-the-art navigational facilities and smart mobility in a true sense.5311-8814-F0ED | Sara Maria da Cruz Maia de Oliveira PaivaN/

Comparative analysis of N95 respirators fit testing with commercially available and in house reagent

Background: Due to COVID-19, thousands of healthcare workers have been affected and have lost their lives in the line of duty. For the protection of healthcare workers, WHO and CDC have made standard guidelines and requirements for PPE use. N95 masks are amongst the most readily used PPE by healthcare professionals and it is highly recommended by OSHA that every make and model of N95 should go through a fit test at least once in a year.Method: A total of 30 randomly selected healthcare professionals (who were a regular user of N95 respiratory masks) were subjected to assess in-house (saccharin sodium benzoate) reagent for use for standard qualitative fit testing in our hospital. Threshold testing with the in-house reagent at three different concentrations was performed prior to establish participants\u27 sensitivity to the reagent. After successful completion of threshold testing, fit test was performed on participants wearing an N95 mask.Results: All the participants included in the study passed the sensitivity testing with three concentrations of the reagents, while it was concluded that the concentration of the in-house reagent that was well suited for the sensitivity testing was a concentration of 1g/dl saccharin with 10g/dl sodium benzoate. For fit testing 12g/dl was found to be more appropriate.Discussion: Our study provided a low cost solution to ensure safety of healthcare workers who are regular users of N95 masks following guidelines implemented by OSHA and CDC.Conclusion: The in-house test solution prepared was found to be equally sensitive to its commercially available counterpart

Priorities for a Fair Recovery from COVID-19 in South Asia

This study identifies a set of priorities that South Asia must focus on to ensure a fair recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Undoubtedly, the socio-economic fallout from the pandemic has been considerably great. The pandemic has, however, also opened a window of opportunity for the world to ‘build back better’. A key pillar of this is the concept of ‘fair recovery’—a recovery, which will help put the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ‘back on track’, is equitable, and leaves no one behind. Developing countries and regions, such as South Asia, that have been plagued with deep-rooted structural inequities, poor social protection systems, lower fiscal space, and institutional capacity constraints, will face challenges in designing and implementing policies for a fair recovery

PKC-omerga and HIV-1 transcriptional regulator Tat co-exist at the LTR promoter in CD4⁺ T cells

PKCtheta is essential for the activation of CD4+ T cells. Upon TCR/CD28 stimulation, PKCtheta is phosphorylated and migrates to the immunological synapse, inducing the activation of cellular transcription factors such as NF-kB and kinases as ERK that are critical for HIV-1 replication. We previously demonstrated that PKCtheta is also necessary for HIV-1 replication but the precise mechanism is unknown. Efficient HIV-1 transcription and elongation is absolutely dependent on the synergy between NF-kB and the viral regulator Tat. Tat exerts its function by binding a RNA stem-loop structure proximal to the viral mRNA cap site termed TAR. Besides, due to its effect on cellular metabolic pathways, Tat causes profound changes in infected CD4+ T cells such as the activation of NF-kB and ERK. We hypothesized that the aberrant up-regulation of Tat-mediated activation of NF-kB and ERK occurred through PKCtheta signaling. In fact, Jurkat TetOff cells with stable and doxycycline-repressible expression of Tat (Jurkat-Tat) expressed high levels of mRNA for PKCtheta. In these cells, PKCtheta located at the plasma membrane was phosphorylated at T538 residue in undivided cells, in the absence of stimulation. Treatment with doxycycline inhibited PKCtheta phosphorylation in Jurkat-Tat, suggesting that Tat expression was directly related to the activation of PKCtheta. Both NF-kB and Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signaling pathway were significantly activated in Jurkat-Tat cells, and this correlated with high transactivation of HIV-1 LTR promoter. RNA interference for PKCtheta inhibited NF-kB and ERK activity, as well as LTR-mediated transactivation even in the presence of Tat. In addition to Tat-mediated activation of PKCtheta in the cytosol, we demonstrated by sequential ChIP that Tat and PKCtheta coexisted in the same complex bound at the HIV-1 LTR promoter, specifically at the region containing TAR loop. In conclusion, PKCtheta-Tat interaction seemed to be essential for HIV-1 replication in CD4+ T cells and could be used as a therapeutic target

New frontiers in translational research: Touchscreens, open science, and the mouse translational research accelerator platform

© 2020 International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd Many neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases and other brain disorders are accompanied by impairments in high-level cognitive functions including memory, attention, motivation, and decision-making. Despite several decades of extensive research, neuroscience is little closer to discovering new treatments. Key impediments include the absence of validated and robust cognitive assessment tools for facilitating translation from animal models to humans. In this review, we describe a state-of-the-art platform poised to overcome these impediments and improve the success of translational research, the Mouse Translational Research Accelerator Platform (MouseTRAP), which is centered on the touchscreen cognitive testing system for rodents. It integrates touchscreen-based tests of high-level cognitive assessment with state-of-the art neurotechnology to record and manipulate molecular and circuit level activity in vivo in animal models during human-relevant cognitive performance. The platform also is integrated with two Open Science platforms designed to facilitate knowledge and data-sharing practices within the rodent touchscreen community, touchscreencognition.org and mousebytes.ca. Touchscreencognition.org includes the Wall, showcasing touchscreen news and publications, the Forum, for community discussion, and Training, which includes courses, videos, SOPs, and symposia. To get started, interested researchers simply create user accounts. We describe the origins of the touchscreen testing system, the novel lines of research it has facilitated, and its increasingly widespread use in translational research, which is attributable in part to knowledge-sharing efforts over the past decade. We then identify the unique features of MouseTRAP that stand to potentially revolutionize translational research, and describe new initiatives to partner with similar platforms such as McGill\u27s M3 platform (m3platform.org)