DSTC: DNS-based Strict TLS Configurations

Most TLS clients such as modern web browsers enforce coarse-grained TLS security configurations. They support legacy versions of the protocol that have known design weaknesses, and weak ciphersuites that provide fewer security guarantees (e.g. non Forward-Secrecy), mainly to provide backward compatibility. This opens doors to downgrade attacks, as is the case of the POODLE attack [18], which exploits the client's silent fallback to downgrade the protocol version to exploit the legacy version's flaws. To achieve a better balance between security and backward compatibility, we propose a DNS-based mechanism that enables TLS servers to advertise their support for the latest version of the protocol and strong ciphersuites (that provide Forward-Secrecy and Authenticated-Encryption simultaneously). This enables clients to consider prior knowledge about the servers' TLS configurations to enforce a fine-grained TLS configurations policy. That is, the client enforces strict TLS configurations for connections going to the advertising servers, while enforcing default configurations for the rest of the connections. We implement and evaluate the proposed mechanism and show that it is feasible, and incurs minimal overhead. Furthermore, we conduct a TLS scan for the top 10,000 most visited websites globally, and show that most of the websites can benefit from our mechanism

A prospective study of simultaneous myomectomy with cesarean section at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Simultaneous surgical removal of a previously diagnosed myoma during cesarean section is preferred these days to reduce multiple operative procedures. The aim of present study was to determine the safety, cost effectiveness and complications of myomectomy at the time of cesarean delivery and its related peri-operative morbidity. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in total 50 pregnant cases during the period of 6 months. The analysis focused on age and gender, the number, size and location of fibroids, the need for hysterectomy and blood transfusion. Results: The mean age of patient was 28.2 years. Out of the 50 patients, 66% were primiparous and only 17% were multiparous. 56% patients underwent caesarean section for indications like primigravida head floating, IUGR, oligohydroaminos. 48% patients had myoma size 2-4 cm. Most of the myomas were located anteriorly (64%). The most common type of leiyomyoma found was subserosal (31%) and 17% with intramural fibroid. Only one patient required post operative blood transfusion whereas none of the patients underwent hysterectomy. Conclusions: Cesarean myomectomy is a safe and effective procedure and it is a feasible undertaking in experienced hands

A rare case scenario of didelphic uterus with ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma: an unusual clinical finding

Uterine didelphys in women is uncommon. The improper development of the Mullerian ducts during the intrauterine period leads to congenital abnormalities of the female genital system. Mullerian duct canalization or improper fusion leads to a didelphic uterus. About 60% of ovarian neoplasms are epithelial in origin, and the surface epithelium is typically most affected. This case report describes the management of a patient who had previously undergone two caesarean sections for a rare gynecological case of didelphic uterus with unilateral serous cystadenocarcinoma of the ovary

Infoveillance of Mucormycosis in India: A Google™ Trends Based Study

India reported highest incidence of Mucormycosis in the past and during the second wave of COVID-19. Google Trends is a potential tool for infoveillance of infectious disease like Mucormycosis. Relative Search Volume (RSV) for term Mucormycosis (+ Black fungus), diabetes, steroid, oxygen, D-dimer (+ferritin) had been extracted from Google Trends for three months (March to May 2021) and state-wise prevalence for Mucormycosis released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was used for the analysis. India reported highest RSV for Mucormycosis among the top five countries with COVID-19 cases. RSV peak for oxygen preceded the Mucormycosis spike. Correlation between state-wise prevalence of Mucormycosis and their corresponding RSV was not significant. While a positive correlation was observed between Mucormycosis, diabetes and steroid, it was not statistically significant. Infoveillance using Google trends can serve as a proxy marker for the public health needs and priorities much before actual field surveys

Resonator to Laser Cavity Decoupling Interface for Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser

In the present work, the conventional chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) source has been technologically upgraded and successfully tested after implementation of decoupling interface between laser cavity and resonator. In the technique, anti-reflection coated fused silica windows mounted in suitable mechanical assemblies are placed between resonator mirrors and laser cavity in such a way that the generated laser beam is out coupled through the resonator during the laser operation. The implemented decoupling assemblies isolate the caustic environment produced in low pressure laser cavity from that of resonator mirrors. Thus requirement of using isolation valves and cavity limbs between laser cavity and resonator as in conventional COIL source is eliminated. Such decoupling mechanism therefore effectively reduces the number of associated components as well as overall length of the laser source which in turn further reduces the overall weight of the laser making it suitable for use onto a mobile platform. Moreover the technique provides accrued benefits in terms of reduction in readiness time and checking of optical alignment of the laser source at will in practical operation scenarios

Private and Efficient Meta-Learning with Low Rank and Sparse Decomposition

Meta-learning is critical for a variety of practical ML systems -- like personalized recommendations systems -- that are required to generalize to new tasks despite a small number of task-specific training points. Existing meta-learning techniques use two complementary approaches of either learning a low-dimensional representation of points for all tasks, or task-specific fine-tuning of a global model trained using all the tasks. In this work, we propose a novel meta-learning framework that combines both the techniques to enable handling of a large number of data-starved tasks. Our framework models network weights as a sum of low-rank and sparse matrices. This allows us to capture information from multiple domains together in the low-rank part while still allowing task specific personalization using the sparse part. We instantiate and study the framework in the linear setting, where the problem reduces to that of estimating the sum of a rank-$r$ and a $k$-column sparse matrix using a small number of linear measurements. We propose an alternating minimization method with hard thresholding -- AMHT-LRS -- to learn the low-rank and sparse part effectively and efficiently. For the realizable, Gaussian data setting, we show that AMHT-LRS indeed solves the problem efficiently with nearly optimal samples. We extend AMHT-LRS to ensure that it preserves privacy of each individual user in the dataset, while still ensuring strong generalization with nearly optimal number of samples. Finally, on multiple datasets, we demonstrate that the framework allows personalized models to obtain superior performance in the data-scarce regime.Comment: 97 pages, 3 figure

Dimensions Selection Criteria of Stair shaped Slot for Obtaining the Wideband Response of CPDRA

The analysis of a circularly polarised (CP) dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) with the aperture coupled feeding technique is presented in this paper. Until now, the random techniques have been developed for obtaining the CP response in DRA. It is glaringly required to develop a fixed mathematical criterion for the selection of dimensions of the antenna structure. The criterion for selection of the stair-shaped slot dimensions, which is utilised for obtaining the CP response, is defined in this paper. The ranges of slot length ratios are investigated so that a wide CP bandwidth can be obtained. The antenna offers the 10-dB impedance of 58.62% (4.1 GHz - 7.5 GHz) and 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 40.86 per cent (4.26GHz - 6.385 GHz)

Expanding the CRISPR Toolbox in Zebrafish for Studying Development and Disease

The study of model organisms has revolutionized our understanding of the mechanisms underlying normal development, adult homeostasis, and human disease. Much of what we know about gene function in model organisms (and its application to humans) has come from gene knockouts: the ability to show analogous phenotypes upon gene inactivation in animal models. The zebrafish (Danio rerio) has become a popular model organism for many reasons, including the fact that it is amenable to various forms of genetic manipulation. The RNA-guided CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeted mutagenesis approaches have provided powerful tools to manipulate the genome toward developing new disease models and understanding the pathophysiology of human diseases. CRISPR-based approaches are being used for the generation of both knockout and knock-in alleles, and also for applications including transcriptional modulation, epigenome editing, live imaging of the genome, and lineage tracing. Currently, substantial effort is being made to improve the specificity of Cas9, and to expand the target coverage of the Cas9 enzymes. Novel types of naturally occurring CRISPR systems [Cas12a (Cpf1); engineered variants of Cas9, such as xCas9 and SpCas9-NG], are being studied and applied to genome editing. Since the majority of pathogenic mutations are single point mutations, development of base editors to convert C:G to T:A or A:T to G:C has further strengthened the CRISPR toolbox. In this review, we provide an overview of the increasing number of novel CRISPR-based tools and approaches, including lineage tracing and base editing