Lightweight wireless network authentication scheme for constrained oracle sensors

x, 212 leaves : ill. (some col.) ; 29 cmIncludes abstract and appendices.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-147).With the significant increase in the dependence of contextual data from constrained IoT, the blockchain has been proposed as a possible solution to address growing concerns from organizations. To address this, the Lightweight Blockchain Authentication for Constrained Sensors (LBACS) scheme was proposed and evaluated using quantitative and qualitative methods. LBACS was designed with constrained Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) in mind and independent of a blockchain implementation. It asserts the authentication and provenance of constrained IoT on the blockchain utilizing a multi-signature approach facilitated by symmetric and asymmetric methods and sufficient considerations for key and certificate registry management. The metrics, threat assessment and comparison to existing WSN authentication schemes conducted asserted the pragmatic use of LBACS to provide authentication, blockchain provenance, integrity, auditable, revocation, weak backward and forward secrecy and universal forgeability. The research has several implications for the ubiquitous use of IoT and growing interest in the blockchain

Perceptions of general health and root canal treatment in New Zealand general dental practice

There are common risk factors between general health and oral health. General dental practitioners (GDPs) are seeing increasing numbers of patients presenting with multiple complex medical conditions. In parallel to managing more medically compromised patients, GDPs must provide holistic and technically challenging root canal treatment (RCT) for teeth that are heavily restored. There is little evidence surrounding the health status and preferences of patients undergoing RCT, and the confidence of GDPs in managing them. This mixed method research engaged both dentists and their patients in a translational approach within a practice-based research network (PBRN). The goals of this study were to examine the self-perceived confidence and competence of New Zealand (NZ) GDPs managing patients for RCT presenting with a range of medical conditions; and their engagement in continuing professional development (CPD) related to endodontics. It also considered the dental experiences and self-perceived general health status of patients requiring RCT. This study had three parts: A Pilot study, a PBRN survey of GDPs and patients, and Focus Group interviews of GDPs. Quantitative data from the surveys were entered directly into IBM SPSS Statistics Software, and following descriptive analysis, bivariate analysis was used to quantify differences in proportions using Pearson’s Chi square test. Qualitative data was analysed thematically. Focus Group interviews were transcribed verbatim and transferred to NVivo 12 for detailed analysis. The Pilot study validated the reliability of the survey for use in a larger group. The PBRN survey was implemented in a range of general practices throughout NZ and provided self-reported demographic and health data from patients, as well as perceptions of their oral health and wellbeing. A positive patient experience of RCT was mostly influenced by clear, empathetic communication, and a professional approach by the practitioner. GDP confidence in providing RCT was strongly related to procedural and patient-related factors rather than specific medical conditions such as those readily controlled with medications including cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes mellitus. The development of CPD related to medical conditions and pharmacology in dentistry was perceived as important. With the help of both dentists and patients, this study has provided new knowledge, and improves our understanding of patients’ medical status when they present for RCT and how equipped our workforce is to manage endodontic patients. Together this information can inform development of CPD activities and assist NZ GDPs managing patients requiring RCT

How Blue Can You Get? B.B. King, Planetary Humanism and the Blues behind Bars

This article honours the memory of blues musician B.B. King, who died on 14 May 2015, through focusing on his performances in prisons. The article situates his concerts inside Cook County jail and Sing Sing within the wider political crisis during the 1970s surrounding issues of race and class in the American prison system. It suggests the historical resonance of these events can be interpreted through using Paul Gilroy’s notion of planetary humanism. The tone of B.B. King’s guitar carries both the historical trace of African American experience while at the same time voicing a humanistic sensibility beyond the brutalities of racism and incarceration

Negotiating identities: ethnicity and social relations in a young offenders' institution

This article explores the situated nature of male prisoner identities in the late modern British context, using the contrasting theoretical frames of Sykes's (1958) indigenous model and Jacobs' (1979) importation model of prisoner subcultures and social relations. Drawing on eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in an ethnically, religiously and nationally diverse young offenders institution, consideration is given to how prisoners manage and negotiate difference, exploring the contours of racialization and racism which can operate in ambiguous and contradictory ways. Sociological understandings of identity, ethnicity, racialization and racism are used to inform a more empirically grounded theoretical criminology

Macrophage Activation and Polarization: Nomenclature and Experimental Guidelines

Description of macrophage activation is currently contentious and confusing. Like the biblical Tower of Babel, macrophage activation encompasses a panoply of descriptors used in different ways. The lack of consensus on how to define macrophage activation in experiments in vitro and in vivo impedes progress in multiple ways, including the fact that many researchers still consider there to be only two types of activated macrophages, often termed M1 and M2. Here, we describe a set of standards encompassing three principles—the source of macrophages, definition of the activators, and a consensus collection of markers to describe macrophage activation—with the goal of unifying experimental standards for diverse experimental scenarios. Collectively, we propose a common framework for macrophage-activation nomenclature

Affective interaction with a virtual character through an fNIRS brain-computer interface

Affective brain-computer interfaces (BCI) harness Neuroscience knowledge to develop affective interaction from first principles. In this article, we explore affective engagement with a virtual agent through Neurofeedback (NF). We report an experiment where subjects engage with a virtual agent by expressing positive attitudes towards her under a NF paradigm. We use for affective input the asymmetric activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DL-PFC), which has been previously found to be related to the high-level affective-motivational dimension of approach/avoidance. The magnitude of left-asymmetric DL-PFC activity, measured using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and treated as a proxy for approach, is mapped onto a control mechanism for the virtual agent’s facial expressions, in which action units (AUs) are activated through a neural network. We carried out an experiment with 18 subjects, which demonstrated that subjects are able to successfully engage with the virtual agent by controlling their mental disposition through NF, and that they perceived the agent’s responses as realistic and consistent with their projected mental disposition. This interaction paradigm is particularly relevant in the case of affective BCI as it facilitates the volitional activation of specific areas normally not under conscious control. Overall, our contribution reconciles a model of affect derived from brain metabolic data with an ecologically valid, yet computationally controllable, virtual affective communication environment

Effect of functional feeds on fatty acid and eicosanoid metabolism in liver and head kidney of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) with experimentally induced Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation

Heart and Skeletal Muscle Inflammation (HSMI) is an emerging viral disease caused by a novel Atlantic salmon reovirus (ASRV) affecting farmed fish. Primary symptoms associated with HSMI include myocardial and skeletal muscle necrosis indicating a severe inflammatory process. Recently, we applied the concept of clinical nutrition to moderate the long-term inflammatory process associated with HSMI in salmon subjected to experimental ASRV challenge. The use of functional feeds with lower lipid (hence energy) content reduced the inflammatory response to ASRV infection and the severity of associated heart lesions. The aim of the present study was to elucidate possible mechanisms underpinning the observed effects of the functional feeds, focussing on eicosanoid and fatty acid metabolism in liver and head kidney. Here we show that liver was also a site for histopathological lesions in HSMI showing steatosis reflecting impaired lipid metabolism. This study is also the first to evaluate the expression of a suite of key genes involved in pathways relating diet and membrane phospholipid fatty acid compositions, and the inflammatory response after ASRV infection. The expression of hepatic Δ6 and Δ5 desaturases was higher in fish fed the functional feeds, potentially increasing their capacity for endogenous production and availability of anti-inflammatory EPA. Effects on mobilization of lipids and changes in the LC-PUFA composition of membrane phospholipids, along with significant changes in the expression of the genes related to eicosanoid pathways, showed the important role of the head kidney in inflammatory diseases caused by viral infections. The results from the present study suggest that clinical nutrition through functional feeding could be an effective complementary therapy for emerging salmon viral diseases associated with long-term inflammation

Culture, geography, and the arts of government

This paper endeavors to prise open the theoretical closure of the conceptualization of culture in contemporary human geography. Foucault's later work on government provides the basis for a useable definition of culture as an object of analysis which avoids problems inherent in abstract, generalizing and expansive notions of culture. The emergence of this Foucauldian approach in cultural studies is discussed, and the distinctive conceptualization of the relations between culture and power that it implies are elaborated. This re-conceptualization informs a critical project of tracking the institutional formation of the cultural and the deployment of distinctively cultural forms of regulation into the fabric of modern social life. It is argued that the culture-and-government approach needs to be supplemented by a more sustained consideration of the spatiality and scale of power-relations. It is also suggested that this approach might through into new perspective the dynamics behind geography's own cultural turn

More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas

Global declines in insects have sparked wide interest among scientists, politicians, and the general public. Loss of insect diversity and abundance is expected to provoke cascading effects on food webs and to jeopardize ecosystem services. Our understanding of the extent and underlying causes of this decline is based on the abundance of single species or taxonomic groups only, rather than changes in insect biomass which is more relevant for ecological functioning. Here, we used a standardized protocol to measure total insect biomass using Malaise traps, deployed over 27 years in 63 nature protection areas in Germany (96 unique location-year combinations) to infer on the status and trend of local entomofauna. Our analysis estimates a seasonal decline of 76%, and mid-summer decline of 82% in flying insect biomass over the 27 years of study. We show that this decline is apparent regardless of habitat type, while changes in weather, land use, and habitat characteristics cannot explain this overall decline. This yet unrecognized loss of insect biomass must be taken into account in evaluating declines in abundance of species depending on insects as a food source, and ecosystem functioning in the European landscape