A preliminary molecular typing by PCR assays of Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile isolates from dogs

Clostridium perfringens and C. difficile have been associated with acute and chronic large and small bowel diarrhoea, and acute haemorrhagic diarrhoeal syndrome in dogs. The objective of this study was to investigate by toxin gene pro- file and PCR-ribotyping the molecular characteristics of 14 C. perfringens and 10 C. difficile isolates from 95 canine faeces (n = 36, diarrhoeic and n = 59, non-diarrhoeic). Concerning C. perfringens, 13 strains (92.9%) were type A, of which 3 (23.1%) also possessed the beta 2 toxin (CPB2)-encoding gene. One isolate (7.1%) was type D and possessed CPB2 gene. On the whole, 4 of the 14 strains (28.6%) tested cpb2-positive. Six C. difficile isolates (60.0%) demon- strated tcdA+/tcdB+ and cdtA+/cdtB+ genotype and tested positive for, in vitro, toxin production by EIA. Eight distinct ribotypes were observed. In conclusion, the PCR assays may provide useful and reliable tools for C. perfringens and C. difficile molecular typing in routine veterinary diagnostics

Electronic Regulation of Data Sharing and Processing Using Smart Ledger Technologies for Supply-Chain Security

Traditional centralized data storage and processing solutions manifest limitations with regards to overall operational cost and the security and auditability of data. One of the biggest issues with existing solutions is the difficulty of keeping track of who has had access to the data and how the data may have changed over its lifetime; while providing a secure and easy-to-use mechanism to share the data between different users. The ability to electronically regulate data sharing within and across different organizational entities in the supply chain (SC) is an open issue that is only addressed partially by existing legal and regulatory compliance frameworks. In this article, we present Cydon, a decentralized data management platform that executes bespoke distributed applications utilizing a novel search and retrieve algorithm leveraging metadata attributes. Cydon utilizes a smart distributed ledger to offer an immutable audit trail and transaction history for all different levels of data access and modification within a SC and for all data flows within the environment. Results suggest that Cydon provides authorized and fast access to secure distributed data, avoids single points of failure by securely distributing encrypted data across different nodes while maintains an “always-on” chain of custody

Synthetic Data -- what, why and how?

This explainer document aims to provide an overview of the current state of the rapidly expanding work on synthetic data technologies, with a particular focus on privacy. The article is intended for a non-technical audience, though some formal definitions have been given to provide clarity to specialists. This article is intended to enable the reader to quickly become familiar with the notion of synthetic data, as well as understand some of the subtle intricacies that come with it. We do believe that synthetic data is a very useful tool, and our hope is that this report highlights that, while drawing attention to nuances that can easily be overlooked in its deployment.Comment: Commissioned by the Royal Society. 57 pages 2 figure

An Efficient Cross-Layer Authentication Scheme for Secure Communication in Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks

Intelligent transportation systems contribute to improved traffic safety by facilitating real-time communication between vehicles and infrastructures. In this context, message authentication is crucial to safeguard vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) from malicious attacks. The current state-of-the-art for authentication in VANETs relies on conventional cryptographic primitives, introducing significant computation and communication overheads. This paper presents a cross-layer authentication scheme for vehicular communication, incorporating the short-term reciprocal features of the wireless channel for re-authenticating the corresponding terminal, reducing the overall complexity and computation and communication overheads. The proposed scheme comprises four steps: S1. Upper-layer authentication is used to determine the legitimacy of the corresponding terminal at the first time slot; S2. Upon the verification result, a location-dependent shared key with a minimum number of mismatched bits is extracted between both terminals; S3. Using the extracted key and under binary hypothesis testing, a PHY challenge-response algorithm for multicarrier communication is proposed for re-authentication; S4. In the case of false detection, the key extraction step (S2) is re-executed after adapting the quantisation levels at different conditions of channel non-reciprocity based on the feedback from the re-authentication step (S3). Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme even at small signal-to-noise ratios. In addition, the immunity of the proposed scheme is proved against active and passive attacks, including signatures' unforgeability against adaptive chosen message attacks in the random oracle model. Finally, a comprehensive comparison in terms of computation and communication overheads demonstrates the superiority of the proposed scheme over its best rivals

Adaptive and Optimum Secret Key Establishment for Secure Vehicular Communications

In intelligent transportation systems (ITS), communications between vehicles, i.e. vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications are of greatest importance to facilitate autonomous driving. The current state-of-the-art for secure data exchange in V2V communications relies on public-key cryptography (PKC) consuming significant computational and energy resources for the encryption/decryption process and large bandwidth for the key distribution. To overcome these limitations, physical-layer security (PLS) has emerged as a lightweight solution by exploiting the physical characteristics of the V2V communication channel to generate symmetric cryptographic keys. Currently, key-generation algorithms are designed via empirical parameter settings, without resulting in optimum key-generation performance. In this paper, we devise a key-generation algorithm for PLS in V2V communications by introducing a novel channel response quantisation method that results in optimum performance via analytical parameter settings. Contrary to the current state-of-the-art, the channel responses incorporate all V2V channel attributes that contribute to temporal variability, such as three dimensional (3D) scattering and scatterers' mobility. An extra functionality, namely, Perturbe-Observe (PO), is further incorporated that enables the algorithm to adapt to the inherent non-reciprocity of the V2V channel responses at the legitimate entities. Optimum performance is evidenced via maximisation of the key bit generation rate (BGR) and key entropy (H) and minimisation of the key bit mismatch rate (BMR). A new metric is further introduced, the so-called secret-bit generation rate (SBGR), as the ratio of the number of bits which are successfully used to compose keys to the total amount of channel samples. SBGR unifies BGR and BMR and is thus maximised by the proposed algorithmic process

Distributed Ledger Technologies in Supply Chain Security Management: A Comprehensive Survey

Supply chains (SC) present performance bottlenecks that contribute to a high level of costs, infiltration of product quality, and impact productivity. Examples of such inhibitors include the bullwhip effect, new product lines, high inventory, and restrictive data flows. These bottlenecks can force manufacturers to source more raw materials and increase production significantly. Also, restrictive data flow in a complex global SC network generally slows down the movement of goods and services. The use of distributed ledger technologies (DLT) in SC management (SCM) demonstrates the potentials to reduce these bottlenecks through transparency, decentralization, and optimizations in data management. These technologies promise to enhance the trustworthiness of entities within the SC, ensure the accuracy of data-driven operations, and enable existing SCM processes to migrate from a linear to a fully circular economy. This article presents a comprehensive review of 111 articles published in the public domain in the use and efficacy of DLT in SC. It acts as a roadmap for current and future researchers who focus on SC security management to better understand the integration of digital technologies such as DLT. We clustered these articles using standard descriptors linked to trustworthiness, namely, immutability, transparency, traceability, and integrity

Distributed Ledger Technologies in Supply Chain Security Management: A Comprehensive Survey

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by IEEE in IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, available online at: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9366288 The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published versionSupply-chains (SC) present performance bottlenecks that contribute to a high level of costs, infltration of product quality, and impact productivity. Examples of such inhibitors include the bullwhip effect, new product lines, high inventory, and restrictive data fows. These bottlenecks can force manufacturers to source more raw materials and increase production signifcantly. Also, restrictive data fow in a complex global SC network generally slows down the movement of goods and services. The use of Distributed LedgerTechnologies (DLT) in supply chain management (SCM) demonstrates the potentials to to reduce these bottlenecks through transparency, decentralization, and optimizations in data management. These technologies promise to enhance the trustworthiness of entities within the supply chain, ensure the accuracy of data-driven operations, and enable existing SCM processes to migrate from a linear to a fully circular economy. This paper presents a comprehensive review of 111 articles published in the public domain in the use and effcacyofDLTin SC.It acts asaroadmapfor current and futureresearchers whofocus onSC Security Management to better understand the integration of digital technologies such as DLT. We clustered these articles using standard descriptors linked to trustworthiness, namely, immutability, transparency, traceability, and integrity

Blockchain and IoMT against physical abuse: bullying in schools as a case study

© 2020 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/jsan10010001By law, schools are required to protect the well-being of students against problems such as on-campus bullying and physical abuse. In the UK, a report by the Office for Education (OfE) showed 17% of young people had been bullied during 2017–2018. This problem continues to prevail with consequences including depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and eating disorders. Additionally, recent evidence suggests this type of victimisation could intensify existing health complications. This study investigates the opportunities provided by Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) data towards next-generation safeguarding. A new model is developed based on blockchain technology to enable real-time intervention triggered by IoMT data that can be used to detect stressful events, e.g., when bullying takes place. The model utilises private permissioned blockchain to manage IoMT data to achieve quicker and better decision-making while revolutionising aspects related to compliance, double-entry, confidentiality, and privacy. The feasibility of the model and the interaction between the sensors and the blockchain was simulated. To facilitate a close approximation of an actual IoMT environment, we clustered and decomposed existing medical sensors to their attributes, including their function, for a variety of scenarios. Then, we demonstrated the performance and capabilities of the emulator under different loads of sensor-generated data. We argue to the suitability of this emulator for schools and medical centres to conduct feasibility studies to address sensor data with disruptive data processing and management technologies.This research was funded by Innovate UK, grant number 133891.Published onlin

Preliminary molecular analysis of Clostridium difficile isolates from healthy horses in northern Italy

Clostridium difficile, associated with a wide spectrum of diseases in humans, as well as in several animal species, is an important cause of colitis in adult horses and foals. The aim of this study was to investigate by toxin gene profile and PCR-ribotyping the molecular characteristics of 14 C. difficile strains isolated from 42 faeces of healthy horses. Both toxin genes, tcdA and tcdB, were present in only 1 isolate (7.1%). Six isolates (42.9%) demonstrated tcdA-. /tcdB+ genotype, and seven isolates (50.0%) were tcdA-/. tcdB-. All strains were binary toxin genes negative (cdtA-/. cdtB-). The PCR-positive strains, except for the tcdA+/. tcdB+ isolate, tested negative for, in vitro, A and/or B toxins production by EIA. Eleven distinct ribotypes were observed.In conclusion, C. difficile can be present in the normal intestinal flora of healthy adult horses, in addition to foals. These animals could therefore play an important role as potential reservoirs of toxigenic strains

An efficient cross-layer authentication scheme for secure communication in vehicular ad-hoc networks

No abstract available