Efficient secure comparison in the dishonest majority model

Secure comparison (SC) is an essential primitive in Secure Multiparty Computation (SMC) and a fundamental building block in Privacy-Preserving Data Analytics (PPDA). Although secure comparison has been studied since the introduction of SMC in the early 80s and many protocols have been proposed, there is still room for improvement, especially providing security against malicious adversaries who form the majority among the participating parties. It is not hard to develop an SC protocol secure against malicious majority based on the current state-of-the-art SPDZ framework. SPDZ is designed to work for arbitrary polynomially-bounded functionalities; it may not provide the most efficient SMC implementation for a specific task, such as SC. In this thesis, we propose a novel and efficient compiler specifically designed to convert most existing SC protocols with semi-honest security into the ones secure against the dishonest majority (malicious majority). We analyze the security of the proposed solutions using the real-ideal paradigm. Moreover, we provide computation and communication complexity analysis. Comparing to the current state-of-the-art SC protocols Rabbit and edaBits, our design offers significant performance gain. The empirical results show that the proposed solution is at least 5 and 10 times more efficient than Rabbit in run-time and communication cost respectively.Includes bibliographical references

Nonlinear analysis of RHA concrete beam using ANSYS

So rice husk can be used as supplemental cement material due to its pozzolanic effect. Rice husk as agricultural waste if used properly not only reduces environmental problems but also reduces carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere by reducing cement production. Current experimental work using ash of rice husk (RHA) being material of supplementation has shown good enhancement in the properties of the RC beams. This paper presents results obtained from the analytical model of the RHA concrete beams. The study included developing an analytical model using finite element method ANSYS R15.0 software. For validation the results, the analytical model was compared with the experimental work using similar properties. By using four point loading flexural test, ten simply supported RC beams were tested containing various rice husk ash percentages. Results showed that all RHA concrete beams of the analytical model failed by flexural similarly to the experimental work. The average of FEM to experimental ratio (for the ten models) for ultimate load was 91.173%, while for maximum deflection was 93.055 %. This indicates that the agreement between finite element results and experimental results are excellent. Also, the crack pattern, failure mode and the load-deflection curve from the analytical model related to the experimental works show good agreement

Prevalence of latent tuberculosis in students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (2014)

Background: The tuberculin test is one of the available tests to detect latent tuberculosis. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of latent tuberculosis in students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a total of 213 medical sciences students by census method in 2014. The tuberculin test was performed for all students. Induration of 10 mm or greater was considered as positive. Data were analyzed using Chi-square test, T-test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis. Findings: The prevalence of latent tuberculosis was 14.6%. The mean induration in students with history of exposure to tuberculosis was significantly different from students without history of exposure. The association of exposure to tuberculosis and positive tuberculin test was statistically significant. Age and body mass index were poorly correlated with the size of induration (r= 0.166 and 0.146, respectively). In the regression analysis, only contact with tuberculosis patients was independent predictor of positive tuberculin test. Conclusion: With regards to the results, it seems that the most important factor for positive tuberculin test is a history of contact with tuberculosis patients in medical sciences student. Increasing mean induration size with age may be due to increased contact with subjects infected with tuberculosis. Keywords: Latent Tuberculosis, Tuberculin Test, Medical Student

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus colonization in Iranian Health Care Workers: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) and especially methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains a major cause of healthcare-associated infections worldwide. Health care workers (HCWs) may act as reservoirs for transmission of MRSA to patients and other HCWs. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the prevalence of SA and MRSA colonization among HCWs in Iran. The used keywords for searching were: “Iran”, “S. aureus” and “MRSA” conducted in PubMed, and Google Scholar, and two national scientific databases and proceedings of recent national conferences. The studies related to SA or MRSA prevalence in Iran published from 1993 to 2018 were included for review. Meta-analysis was performed using the Open Meta (Analyst) software. Results showed that the prevalence of SA among HCWs was 26% (95% CI=19.4-32.6%). The ratios of MRSA/total isolated SA and MRSA/total HCWs were obtained 35.4% (95% CI=29.6-41.1%) and 7.6% (95% CI= 6.4-8.8%), respectively. Older studies showed a higher prevalence compared to recent studies. The prevalence of nasal MRSA carriage among Iranian HCWs was in a range between the rates reported in the U.S/European and African countries

The Effect of Fish Oil Fatty Acid Supplementation on Two-Step Tuberculin Skin Test: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

Background: A two-step tuberculin skin test (TST) should be performed if the subsequent TSTs are to be conducted at regular intervals, especially among health care professionals, and its interpretation of serial TST is particularly complex. Methods: In this randomized controlled clinical trial, the effect of fish oil fatty acid (FA) supplementation on two-step TST was investigated. The outcome was considered a change in 2 sequential TST induration sizes; 6mmor more were considered as a criterion to distinguish the increase in reaction size. The study protocol was approved in the ethic committee of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. In the present study, 213 healthy participants (medical and nursing students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2014) were randomly assigned into a normal diet (control) or fish oil supplementation (treatment) group. One gram of fish oil supplement was given to the treatment group daily for 5 consecutive days. Results: The mean secondary induration and the difference between the primary and secondary induration sizes were significantly higher in the fish oil users (P < 0.001). Noticeable increase in TST size in the treatment group was significantly higher than in the control (16.3% vs. 1.2%). Conclusions: Short-term supplementation with fish oil FAs seems to increase the accuracy of two-step TST. Keywords: Fish Oils, Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids, Dietary Supplements, Tuberculin Test, Clinical Tria

A Study of the Female Actants in the Selected Stories of Four Satirists of Children Literature Using Greimas's Model

In children's literature, humorous stories offer a way to discuss the role of women. Based on the actantial model of Greimas, four satirists of children's literature have explored the role of women (Moradi Kermani, Hasanzadeh, Akbarpour, and Hashemi). As a result, the characters appear in the narrative as six actants (the actant-subject, the actant-object of action, the actant-sender, the actant-receiver of information, the actant-supporter, and the actant-oppositionist of volition) and act accordingly. The main question is: "According to the actantial model, what role do women play in these stories?" The research results demonstrate that men have traditionally narrated the mentioned stories, and women do not have vital roles as actants-subjects in many of the selected stories. As another point to note, men are also involved in stories where women are the actant-subjects. Women are most commonly the actors-supporters in these stories. Further, the research results indicate that in humorous narratives of children's literature, women's actions are humiliated and rejected, and the humour of the story expands when compared with the male characters, especially their wives. The main character in some stories, such as Nish-o-Noush of Hassanzadeh, is a girl who occupies the position of actant-subject, and according to Greimas' definition of narration, she successfully completes all the stages

Exploring Subjectivity in Verbal Reports of Iranian EFL Learners in Institutional Discourse

The present study investigates Iranian EFL learners’ subjectivity in single-subject retrospective verbal reports that allow the examination of the changes in the cognitive, social and affective processes involved in L2 pragmatic production. To this end, eighteen EFL learners at three proficiency levels produced verbal reports after the administration of a written discourse completion task eliciting requests and apology in asymmetrical (status-unequal) relations in institutional discourse. Qualitative analyses of students’ responses indicate that sociocultural, socio-psychological and socio-affective aspects of the discourse situations influenced both their pragmalinguistic and sociolinguistic choices and negotiation of lexical and grammatical choices in planning the speech acts of requests and apologies. Apparently, the degree of sociocultural accommodation to the L2 pragmatic norms may be a matter of choice as of ability.

English as a lingua franca in Iran: An attitudinal investigation into the in-service teachers

The present research examined the Iranian in-service teachers’ attitudes towards some principles of English as a lingua franca (henceforth ELF), particularly intelligibility and acceptability of their accent, the authority of non-native speakers to own the English language, and the legitimacy of English used by them. What makes the present research markedly different from the other language attitude studies is the context of research, namely Iran, an under-explored country in the literature concerning ELF. To amass the data, the researchers employed mixed-method design, using a questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that many a participant maintained contradictory and ambivalent attitudes towards ELF-related issues. Whilst the participants appeared to be inclined to agree with the principles pertaining to ELF, they did not display uniform attitudes about ELF-related issues in an in-depth analysis of the results. In fact, there appeared to be an underlying tendency towards the norms of native speakers of English among the participants. The results of the study may have implications for teacher trainers and ELF researchers

Best Lag Window for Spectrum Estimation of Law Order MA Process

In this article, we investigate spectrum estimation of law order moving average (MA) process. The main tool is the lag window which is one of the important components of the consistent form to estimate spectral density function (SDF). We show, based on a computer simulation, that the Blackman window is the best lag window to estimate the SDF of MA1 and MA2 at the most values of parameters βi and series sizes n, except for a special case when β=−1 and n≥40 in MA1. In addition, the Hanning–Poisson window appears as the best to estimate the SDF of MA2 when β1=β2=−0.5 and n≥40

A Death Case Report in an Adult Woman With COVID-19 after Septoplasty

The mortality rate of Coronavirus Decease 2019 (COVID-19) is very high, but specific situations can increase the rate including severe hypoxemia, multiple organ injury, and thromboembolic events in various organs. Another factor is the stress caused after surgery that require general anesthesia. This study aims to report a case of death in an adult woman with COVID-19 infection who had underwent septoplasty and admitted to hospital after worsening of her general condition and treated when diagnosed with COVID- 19. One day after admission, she was intubated due to progressive respiratory failure and deceased following bradycardia and cardiac arrest. It seems that the elective surgery should be avoided in patients infected with COVID-19 and should be postponed until complete recovery. Moreover, the possibility of this infection should be considered in all candidates for surgery with subtle respiratory symptoms