On the Design of a Secure Proxy Signature-based Handover Authentication Scheme for LTEWireless Networks

Designing a secure and efficient handover authentication scheme has always been a concern of cellular networks especially in 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless networks. What makes their handover so complex, is the presence of different types of base stations namely eNodeB (eNB) and Home eNodeB (HeNB). In addition, they cannot directly communicate with each other. Recently, an efficient proxy signature-based handover authentication scheme has been suggested by Qui et al. Despite its better performance and security advantages than previous schemes, it suffers serious vulnerabilities, namely being prone to DoS attack , eNB impersonation attack and lack of perfect forward secrecy. In this paper, we propose an improved handover authentication scheme in LTE wireless networks that resists against such attacks. Further, we validate the security of the proposed scheme using Real-Or- Random (ROR) model and ProVerif analysis tool. The results confirm our security claims of the proposed scheme. In addition, the performance analysis shows that compared to other schemes, our proposed scheme is more efficient

Motivation-based Market Segmentation in Rural Tourism: the Case of Sámán, Iran

Market segmentation is a pivotal and under-investigated issue when evaluating decision-making processes and motivational factors shaping rural tourism. The present study has examined market segments of rural tourists in Iran based on their socio-demographic attributes, travel characteristics and preferred leisure activities, profiling rural tourists on the base of their motivational background. The survey results indicated that rural tourism in the study area is a heterogeneous market, whose development depends on general trends in Middle East tourism market. A comprehensive knowledge of rural tourism actors may help formulating appropriate marketing strategies for internal areas destined to tourism growth

Preliminary analysis of knee stress in Full Extension Landing

OBJECTIVE: This study provides an experimental and finite element analysis of knee-joint structure during extended-knee landing based on the extracted impact force, and it numerically identifies the contact pressure, stress distribution and possibility of bone-to-bone contact when a subject lands from a safe height. METHODS: The impact time and loads were measured via inverse dynamic analysis of free landing without knee flexion from three different heights (25, 50 and 75 cm), using five subjects with an average body mass index of 18.8. Three-dimensional data were developed from computed tomography scans and were reprocessed with modeling software before being imported and analyzed by finite element analysis software. The whole leg was considered to be a fixed middle-hinged structure, while impact loads were applied to the femur in an upward direction. RESULTS: Straight landing exerted an enormous amount of pressure on the knee joint as a result of the body's inability to utilize the lower extremity muscles, thereby maximizing the threat of injury when the load exceeds the height-safety threshold. CONCLUSIONS: The researchers conclude that extended-knee landing results in serious deformation of the meniscus and cartilage and increases the risk of bone-to-bone contact and serious knee injury when the load exceeds the threshold safety height. This risk is considerably greater than the risk of injury associated with walking downhill or flexion landing activities

Optimal sintering procedure to fabrication of functionally graded Hydroxyapatite-Titanium

Functionally graded metal-ceramic composite was fabricated by pressure-less sintering. The pure metallic component (Ti) and the pure ceramic component (HA) were located at the ends of a cylindrical specimen. Titanium and-Hydroxyapatite were utilized as a metallic and ceramic layer. The target sample thickness was 6 mm with radius cylindrical 20 mm. The sample was made from the cylindrical type of carbon die consisting of 5 layers. The composition of layers were 100%Titanium; 75 % Titanium +25% HA; 50% Titanium +50% HA; 25% Titanium+75% HA, and 100% Hydroxyapatite. The optimum thermal load mapping was obtained experimentally. The properties of all FGM products were characterized by shrinkage, optical-microscope, energy dispersive spectrometry (EDX) scanning electron microscope (SEM). The grade of the FGM material was proven by comparing amount of shrinkage after sintering. Result from optical micrograph, SEM and EDX indicated that the HA-Ti FGM could be produced successfully by using the optimal sintering procedure that was highlighted in this paper

Designated Verifier Threshold Proxy Signature Scheme without Random Oracles

In a $(t,n)$ designated verifier threshold proxy signature \, scheme, an original signer can delegate his/her signing power to $n$ proxy signers such that any $t$ or more out of $n$ proxy signers can sign messages on behalf of the original signer but $t-1$ or less of the proxy signers cannot generate a valid proxy signature. Of course, the signature is issued for a designated receiver and therefore only the designated receiver can validate the proxy signature. In this paper, we propose a new designated verifier threshold proxy signature scheme and also show that the proposed scheme has provable security in the standard model. The security of proposed scheme is based on the $GBDH$ assumption and the proposed scheme satisfies all the security requirements of threshold proxy signature schemes

Treatment of Osteopenic Menopause Women as a Public Health Problem with Nasal Calcitonin; an Original Study on Follow up Markers

Introduction: Various therapeutic options such as Calcitonin are suggested for patients with low bone density. However, the efficacy remains uncertain in all patients. C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTx) is the authentic bone marker which is recently used to assess the bone turnover. This study aimed at revealing the therapeutic effects of Calcitonin on osteopenic women via serum CTx and assessment of other biochemical markers. Methods: we conducted a before-after clinical trial on menopause women with low bone mineral density (bone mineral density score less than 1.5 SD of peak bone mass) attending Baqiyatallah hospital clinic. They received 200 IU Calcitonin nasal spray, calcium (1000 mg) and vitamin D (400 IU). Then the serum CTx and other laboratory parameters were compared after a 6 months treatment. The data was analyzed using SPSS ver.16, paired T-test and regression model. Results: The study population included 115 menopause women with the mean age of 58.75 ± 8.15 years. The CTx amount decreased significantly compared with that of the baseline level (3.203 ± 2.24 vs. 2.497 ± 1.657 Pmol/lit, P 0.05). Conclusion: Nasal spray of Calcitonin could be effective on the progression of osteoporosis by decreasing bone tissue turnover and improving the bone density. Further controlled-studies with a larger sample size and a longer duration of follow up are recommended

HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) versus adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL)

ObjectivesHuman T cell leukemia virus-1 (HTLV-1) infection may lead to one or both diseases including HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP) or adult T cell leukemia lymphoma (ATLL). The complete interactions of the virus with host cells in both diseases is yet to be determined. This study aims to construct an interaction network for distinct signaling pathways in these diseases based on finding differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between HAM/TSP and ATLL.ResultsWe identified 57 hub genes with higher criteria scores in the primary protein-protein interaction network (PPIN). The ontology-based enrichment analysis revealed following important terms: positive regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter, positive regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter involved in meiotic cell cycle and positive regulation of transcription from RNA polymerase II promoter by histone modification. The upregulated genes TNF, PIK3R1, HGF, NFKBIA, CTNNB1, ESR1, SMAD2, PPARG and downregulated genes VEGFA, TLR2, STAT3, TLR4, TP53, CHUK, SERPINE1, CREB1 and BRCA1 were commonly observed in all the three enriched terms in HAM/TSP vs. ATLL. The constructed interaction network was then visualized inside a mirrored map of signaling pathways for ATLL and HAM/TSP, so that the functions of hub genes were specified in both diseases.Peer reviewe

Thermal free vibration analysis of temperature-dependent functionally graded plates using second order shear deformation

This research has been conducted to approach second-order shear deformation theory (SSDT) to analysis vibration characteristics of Functionally Graded Plates (FGP’s). Material properties in FGP's were assumed to be temperature dependent and graded along the thickness using a simple power law distribution in term of the volume fractions of the constituents. FGP was subjected to a linear and nonlinear temperature rise. The energy method was chosen to derive the equilibrium equations. The solution was based on the Fourier series that satisfy the simply supported boundary condition (Navier's method). Numerical results indicated the effect of material composition, plate geometry, and temperature fields on the vibration characteristics and mode shapes. The results revealed that, the temperature field and volume fraction distribution had significant effect on the vibration of FGPs. It was observed the second order theory was very close to the other shear deformation theorem as reported in the literature

The Role of Eye Gaze in Security and Privacy Applications: Survey and Future HCI Research Directions

For the past 20 years, researchers have investigated the use of eye tracking in security applications. We present a holistic view on gaze-based security applications. In particular, we canvassed the literature and classify the utility of gaze in security applications into a) authentication, b) privacy protection, and c) gaze monitoring during security critical tasks. This allows us to chart several research directions, most importantly 1) conducting field studies of implicit and explicit gaze-based authentication due to recent advances in eye tracking, 2) research on gaze-based privacy protection and gaze monitoring in security critical tasks which are under-investigated yet very promising areas, and 3) understanding the privacy implications of pervasive eye tracking. We discuss the most promising opportunities and most pressing challenges of eye tracking for security that will shape research in gaze-based security applications for the next decade