Privacy, Access Control, and Integrity for Large Graph Databases

Graph data are extensively utilized in social networks, collaboration networks, geo-social networks, and communication networks. Their growing usage in cyberspaces poses daunting security and privacy challenges. Data publication requires privacy-protection mechanisms to guard against information breaches. In addition, access control mechanisms can be used to allow controlled sharing of data. Provision of privacy-protection, access control, and data integrity for graph data require a holistic approach for data management and secure query processing. This thesis presents such an approach. In particular, the thesis addresses two notable challenges for graph databases, which are: i) how to ensure users\u27 privacy in published graph data under an access control policy enforcement, and ii) how to verify the integrity and query results of graph datasets. To address the first challenge, a privacy-protection framework under role-based access control (RBAC) policy constraints is proposed. The design of such a framework poses a trade-off problem, which is proved to be NP-complete. Novel heuristic solutions are provided to solve the constraint problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first scheme that studies the trade-off between RBAC policy constraints and privacy-protection for graph data. To address the second challenge, a cryptographic security model based on Hash Message Authentic Codes (HMACs) is proposed. The model ensures integrity and completeness verification of data and query results under both two-party and third-party data distribution environments. Unique solutions based on HMACs for integrity verification of graph data are developed and detailed security analysis is provided for the proposed schemes. Extensive experimental evaluations are conducted to illustrate the performance of proposed algorithms

Impact of Export on Economic growth of Pakistan

This research paper employed Augmented Dickey- Fuller to determine “impact of export on economic growth” while granger causality test which is statistically hypothesis test was used to determined the direction of causality between the selected variables under consideration whether selected time series is useful in forecasting. Correlation analysis was also deployed to determine the degree of relationship between the selected variables and the result shows that all the variables are highly correlated. The study uses time series data from 1992-2015, data obtained from the World Bank. The study reviles that export has an optimistic and significant impact on economic growth in Pakistan peroxide by GDP. Export was also found to be confidently and significantly impacting to economic growth in Pakistan proxied by GDP. Foreign reserve also has a optimistic and positive impact on economic growth of the country. Research result shows that the overall regression was statistically significant at both 99% and 95% level of confidence. The result of R2 (0.99) shows that the line of best fit was highly fitted. The result of the granger causality test shows that GDP granger causes Import & FDI. The research finds that, growth-export hypothesis is valid in Pakistan context. We therefore recommend among other things, that the government of Pakistan should take some necessary steps to restructure the Import sector so as to improve their contribution to the growth of Pakistani economy. The government should introduce more policies that will adequately boost the export sector of the Pakistan economy so that it will impact more meaningfully on economic growth of the Pakistan; other programs that encourages increase in foreign reserve should also be adopted in other to increase the growth of the economy in the country

Influence of single and multiple dry bands on critical flashover voltage of silicone rubber outdoor insulators: simulation and experimental study

Dry band formation on the surface of outdoor insulators is one of the main reasons leading to flashover and power outages. In this paper, a dynamic arc model is proposed for single and multiple dry bands configuration to predict the critical flashover voltage for silicone rubber outdoor insulators. An arc is modelled as a time dependent impedance consisting of a Resistor Inductor Capacitor (RLC) circuit. The effect of dry band location and existence of multiple dry bands on critical flashover voltage is investigated. To validate the proposed model, experiments were conducted in a climate chamber under controlled environmental conditions on rectangular silicone rubber sheets polluted using improved solid layer method based on IEC 60,507. Tests were conducted at different dry band configurations and pollution severity levels. A good correlation was found between experimental results and simulation results. This model can provide a good foundation for the development of mathematical models for station post insulators having multiple dry and clean bands and can be used in the design and selection of outdoor insulators for polluted conditions

Scarf Pin Inhalation in Young Girls: Atypical Type of Foreign Body Inhalation

Background: To study the causes and pattern of scarf pin inhalation in young girls Methods: In this descriptive study patients, with a history of scarf pin inhalation, were included. A detailed history of onset, duration and time between inhalation and presentation to hospital was taken. Comprehensive physical examination was carried out in all patients to recognize any cardio respiratory complications. The precise anatomical location and position of the pin was determined by chest x-ray. All the procedures were performed under general anaesthesia after proper preoperative assessment. Bronchoscope was introduced by classic technique under standard anaesthetic monitoring assisted ventilation. The scarf pin was visualized and retrieved by grasping forceps of appropriate length and design. Repeat rigid bronchoscopy was done, where required. Chest x-ray was repeated in all patients to see any complications. Patients were discharged in stable condition after 24 of surgery. Results: Total 33 female patients were included in study with history of pin inhalation. Mean age (years) in the study was 16.74+2 ranging in age from 12 to 30 years. The most frequent presenting complaints were cough and foreign body sensation in throat. Out of 33 cases, 12(36.36%) were in left main bronchus, 8 (24.24%) were in right main bronchus and 6 (18.18%) scarf pin were impacted in trachea. Conclusion: Scarf pin inhalation is a life threatening condition which is more common in muslim females due to hijab. Scarf pin inhalation in females can be prevented by increasing public awareness, prohibiting them from placing pin in their mout

Salvage of infected non-union of the tibia with an Ilizarov ring fixator.

Abstract PURPOSE: To review outcomes of 24 patients who underwent Ilizarov ring fixation for infected nonunion of the tibia. METHODS: Medical records of 21 men and 3 women aged 13 to 74 (mean, 38) years who underwent Ilizarov ring fixation for infectednon-union of the tibia were reviewed. The mean bone defect was 3.3 (range, 2-5) cm. The mean time from injury to presentation was 11.9 (range, 1-36) months. The mean number of previous surgeries was 2 (range, 0-14). A local flap was used in 2 patients and a free flap was used in one patient. Nine of the patients underwent Ilizarov ring fixation without soft tissue and bony resection, as inadequate stability was the reason for non-union. Patients were assessed using the Association for the Study and Application of the Method of Ilizarov criteria. RESULTS: Patients were followed up for a mean of 11 (range, 8-46) months. Functional outcome was excellent in 8 patients, good in 12, fair in 2, and failure in one, whereas bone union outcome was excellent in 6 patients, good in 14, fair in one, and poor in 2. The mean time to union was 8 (range, 3-31) months. The mean external fixation index was 4.2 (range, 1.5-15.7) cm/month. Complications encountered were pin tract infection (n=5), re-fracture (n=2), soft tissue impingement by Ilizarov rings (n=2), recurrence of wound infection (n=1), mal-union (n=1), and mortality (n=1). CONCLUSION: Ilizarov ring fixation is a viable option for infected non-union of the tibia. Adequate assessment of bone union is crucial before removal of fixator to prevent re-fracture

Pattern of Congenital Heart Diseases in Paediatric Age Group

Background: To determine the pattern of differenttypes of congenital heart diseases, in paediatric agegroup.Methods: In this observational cross sectionalstudy cases of congenital heart defects (CHD) wereincluded, through simple random samplingirrespective of age and gender. Every patient’s dataon echocardiographic report clearly indicating hisCHD type along with age and gender was recorded.Variables of study i.e. type of CHDs, age, and genderwith relative frequencies were presented separatelygraphically.Results: Out of 298 diagnosed patients of CHD 156were males and 142 were females. Isolatedventricular septal defect found to be the mostcommon anomaly (32.6%). In combination atrialseptal defect and ventricular defect were found to bemost common with 5.4% burden rate. Out of 298patients Acyanotic CHDs were 67.1% while CyanoticCHDs were found to be 32.9%.Conclusion: Acyanotic CHDs were found to bedominant over Cyanotic CHDs with relativepercentages of 67.1% and 32.9% respectivel

Seasonal influence, heat unit accumulation and heat use efficiency in relation to maize grain yield in Pakistan

Variations in ambient temperature affect crop yield by modifying the duration of phenological phases and physiologicalprocesses. An experimental study was carried out at the Maize and Millets Research Institute (MMRI),Yusafwala, Sahiwal, Pakistan, to determine the seasonal effects of temperature on indigenous and exotic maize(Zea mays L.) hybrids based on morphological, phenological, physiological and grain quality traits in four differentgrowing seasons: kharif 2016 and 2017, and spring 2017 and 2018. Seven indigenous and three exotic hybridswere sown in a randomized complete block design with a split plot arrangement, in three replications. Significantdifferences between hybrids and growing seasons were found for grain yield, related traits and temperature indices(cumulative heat units, photothermal index and heat use efficiency). Correlation analysis disclosed a significantpositive relationship between grain yield and net photosynthetic rate (0.854, P≤0.01), number of grains per ear(0.624, P≤0.01) and heat use efficiency (0.980, P≤0.01) in spring seasons. During kharif, net photosynthetic rate(0.675, P≤0.01) and heat use efficiency (0.996, P≤0.01) contributed significantly to grain yield, whereas number ofgrains per ear (−0.146, not significant) had no significant impact on grain yield. Cumulative heat units and heat useefficiency resulted the temperature indices with the greatest influence on grain yield, and should be consideredduring the selection of parents to develop high-yielding, climate-smart maize hybrids. Indigenous maize hybridsshowed higher yields and were more heat tolerant than exotic hybrids, and the spring sowing season appearedto be the most suitable for the cultivation of maize crops

Performance analysis of content discovery for ad-hoc tactile networks

Tactile Internet evolves communications to encompass sensory information such as smell and haptic sensations combining ultra-low latency with extremely high availability, reliability, and security. Tactile Internet is realized through underpinning technologies such as Multi-access Edge and Fog computing which facilitate decentralized infrastructures and machine to machine (M2M) communications. Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) form the foundation layer of such infrastructures, enabling direct communication between autonomous and decentralized devices such as sensors and vehicles. Among other applications, autonomous ad hoc vehicular networks (VANETs) and vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications require efficient content discovery and quality of data transfer. The mobility patterns of vehicles within this communication model could effect the quality of data exchanged between devices in a tactile network. Several mobility models exist describing mobility patterns of mobile users in MANETs. In this paper, we present a first performance study to evaluate the impact of different mobility models on content discovery techniques for tactile Internet comprising of fast-moving vehicles and devices. This study combines direct and derived mobility metrics evaluating impact on content discovery and content dissemination using NS-3. Our simulation results indicate that unstructured techniques may not scale well within a tactile network of fast moving vehicles while maintaining low latency and could suffer from performance degradation in a saturated environment. Furthermore, simulation results also demonstrate the resilience of the unstructured content discovery protocol in mobility scenarios with proactive routing and diverse behavior

Understanding perceptions and practices for designing an appropriate community-based kangaroo mother care implementation package: Qualitative exploratory study

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a common outcome of preterm birth, which increases the risk of an infant\u27s morbidity and mortality. Approximately 20 million infants are born with LBW globally per year. Since a significant number of births in Pakistan take place at home, it is important to focus on the use of kangaroo mother care (KMC), the practice of skin-to-skin contact, in communities to prevent neonatal mortality and morbidity.Objective: We employed a formative research approach to understand the context of communities and facilities with regard to neonatal care and KMC practice. The broader aims were to inform the design and delivery of culturally appropriate platforms to introduce KMC in communities, and develop effective recruitment and retention strategies of KMC in rural areas of the Dadu district in the Sindh province of Pakistan.Methods: We conducted focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key informant interviews with families of LBW babies, community members, health care providers, and hospital administrators to identify barriers, enablers, and a knowledge base for KMC interventions.Results: Newborn care practices in communities were found to be suboptimal. The community was generally unaware of the KMC intervention for the care of LBW babies. However, facility health care providers, the community, and family members were willing to provide KMC to improve outcomes. We found significant support from the community members and health care providers for KMC practices. Mothers were also ready to provide intermittent KMC. The administrative staff at the hospitals accepted the introduction of KMC practices for LBW babies.Conclusions: KMC as a method of treating LBW babies is widely accepted in the community. This formative research provides strategically valuable information that will be helpful for developing effective implementation strategies by identifying common community practices for LBW babies, along with identifying the barriers and enablers to KMC practice