Brief Announcement: On Secure m-Party Computation, Commuting Permutation Systems and Unassisted Non-Interactive MPC

A fundamental problem in the theory of secure multi-party computation (MPC) is to characterize functions with more than 2 parties which admit MPC protocols with information-theoretic security against passive corruption. This question has seen little progress since the work of Chor and Ishai (2001), which demonstrated difficulties in resolving it. In this work, we make significant progress towards resolving this question in the important case of aggregating functionalities, in which m parties P1,...,Pm hold inputs x1,...,xm and an aggregating party P0 must learn f(x1,...,xm). We give a necessary condition and a slightly stronger sufficient condition for f to admit a secure protocol. Both the conditions are stated in terms of an algebraic structure we introduce called Commuting Permutations Systems (CPS), which may be of independent combinatorial interest. When our sufficiency condition is met, we obtain a perfectly secure protocol with minimal interaction, that fits the model of Non-Interactive MPC or NIMPC (Beimel et al., 2014), but without the need for a trusted party to generate correlated randomness. We define Unassisted Non-Interactive MPC (UNIMPC) to capture this variant. We also present an NIMPC protocol for all functionalities, which is simpler and more efficient than the one given in the prior work

Development of ANN based Efficient Fruit Recognition Technique

Use of Image processing technique is increasing day by day in all fields and including the agriculture to classify fruits. Shape, color and texture are the image features which help in classification of fruits. This paper proposes an algorithm for fruits classification based on the shape, color and texture. For shape based classification of fruit area, perimeter, major axis length and minor axis length is calculated. Shape features are calculated by segmenting the object with the background using edge detection techniques. Mean and standard deviation is calculated for the color space like HSI, HSV which can be used for color base classification. Texture features is also calculated to enhance the classification process. Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) is used to calculate texture features. Artificial neural network is used for classification of fruits. Artificial neural network classifies the fruits by comparing shape, color and texture feature provided at the time of training. MATLAB/ SIMULINK software is used to obtain result. Results obtained are better over the previous techniques and gives the accuracy upto 96%

SILVER NANOPARTICLE BASED HYDROGELS OF TULSI EXTRACTS FOR TOPICAL DRUG DELIVERY

The present study aimed to formulate Silver Nanoparticle based Hydrogel of Tulsi (Ocimum Sanctum) extract for Topical delivery. The Silver nanoparticles were prepared using 1mM Silver Nitrate solution and Tulsi extract. Prepared nanoparticles were characterized for particle size and zeta potential. The optimized silver nanoparticles were incorporated into three different carbopol-940 solutions 3%, 5% and 10% carbopol-940 solution to produce Gel A, Gel B and Gel C respectively for improving convenience in superficial application. In vitro and vivo drug penetration studies of nanoparticles gels were determined using dialysis membrane. The particle size was found around 14nm to 28nm. The viscosity of the nanoparticle gels were found around 7500 centiPa.S to 7900 centiPa.S respectively. The poly dispersibility value was found very low indicating uniformity of droplet size of the formulations. The drug content in gels was found in between 97.2% to 98.26%. The drug release was found to be 71.33 % to 73.6% after 6 h. The results indicated that nanoparticle based Hydrogel C is a promising vehicle for Topical delivery of Tulsi Extract

Schizencephaly: a rare case with early diagnosis, management and review of literature

Schizencephaly or split brain is an uncommon congenital disorder of cerebral cortical development, belonging to the group of cell migration defects. It is characterized by the presence of a cleft in the brain extending from the surface of the piamater to the cerebral ventricles. A 21-year-old primigravida at 19+2 weeks of gestation was referred to our Outpatient department with a level-2 ultrasound done at 18+2 weeks suggestive of schizencephaly. First trimester genetic screening was not done. Quadruple testing was normal. After genetic consultation and poor prognostication by neonatologist, decision for medical termination of pregnancy was taken. Patient underwent medical termination with mifepristone -misoprostol regimen. A female abortus weighing 200 gm was delivered. Gross examination showed only facial malformation in the form of cleft lip and hypoplastic nose. Infantogram did not reveal any skeletal deformity. On fetal autopsy, findings were consistent with the diagnosis of schizencephaly (type 1). Schizencephaly is a rare disorder in prenatal medicine with grave prognosis. Majority of cases are either diagnosed at late gestation or present in the first decade of life. Hence with periodic surveillance during antenatal care and help of ultrasonography, such rare and serious congenital malformations can be diagnosed and managed at an early stage

Extracellular vesicles: Novel communicators in lung diseases

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.The lung is the organ with the highest vascular density in the human body. It is therefore perceivable that the endothelium of the lung contributes significantly to the circulation of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which include exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. In addition to the endothelium, EVs may arise from alveolar macrophages, fibroblasts and epithelial cells. Because EVs harbor cargo molecules, such as miRNA, mRNA, and proteins, these intercellular communicators provide important insight into the health and disease condition of donor cells and may serve as useful biomarkers of lung disease processes. This comprehensive review focuses on what is currently known about the role of EVs as markers and mediators of lung pathologies including COPD, pulmonary hypertension, asthma, lung cancer and ALI/ARDS. We also explore the role EVs can potentially serve as therapeutics for these lung diseases when released from healthy progenitor cells, such as mesenchymal stem cells.NiH R01DA042715NIH R01HL129875NIH P20 GM10363

Role of neostigmine and polyvalent antivenom in Indian common krait (Bungarus caeruleus) bite

SummaryBungarus caeruleus (Indian common krait) bite during monsoons is common in Northwest India. This study was undertaken to find the effectiveness of neostigmine and polyvalent antivenom in improving neuromuscular paralysis following bite. All the consecutive patients admitted between June 2007 and December 2008 with common krait bite, identified either from brought snake or circumstantial evidence were studied. Ten vials of polyvalent antivenom and three doses of 2.5mg neostigmine at 30min intervals after administration of 0.6mg of atropine were administered I.V. and patients were assessed for any improvement in neuroparalysis. Seventy-two patients were admitted during the study period. All the patients except two came from rural areas and were brought between June and September. Sixty-two patients were bitten during the day while clearing bricks, cutting grass or walking. The mean time interval between bite and arrival to hospital was 4.5h. None of the patients showed any improvement following treatment and all patients developed respiratory paralysis, requiring assisted ventilation. Seventy survived and two died. Neostigmine is ineffective in reversing or improving neuroparalytic features in patients with B. caeruleus bite even at higher dose than normally recommended

A Comprehensive Review of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Attacks and Neutralization Techniques

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) have revolutionized the aircraft industry in this decade. UAVs are now capable of carrying out remote sensing, remote monitoring, courier delivery, and a lot more. A lot of research is happening on making UAVs more robust using energy harvesting techniques to have a better battery lifetime, network performance and to secure against attackers. UAV networks are many times used for unmanned missions. There have been many attacks on civilian, military, and industrial targets that were carried out using remotely controlled or automated UAVs. This continued misuse has led to research in preventing unauthorized UAVs from causing damage to life and property. In this paper, we present a literature review of UAVs, UAV attacks, and their prevention using anti-UAV techniques. We first discuss the different types of UAVs, the regulatory laws for UAV activities, their use cases, recreational, and military UAV incidents. After understanding their operation, various techniques for monitoring and preventing UAV attacks are described along with case studies

Higher order antibunching in intermediate states

Since the introduction of binomial state as an intermediate state, different intermediate states have been proposed. Different nonclassical effects have also been reported in these intermediate states. But till now higher order antibunching or higher order subpoissonian photon statistics is predicted only in one type of intermediate state, namely shadowed negative binomial state. Recently we have shown the existence of higher order antibunching in some simple nonlinear optical processes to establish that higher order antibunching is not a rare phenomenon (J. Phys. B 39 (2006) 1137). To establish our earlier claim further, here we have shown that the higher order antibunching can be seen in different intermediate states, such as binomial state, reciprocal binomial state, hypergeometric state, generalized binomial state, negative binomial state and photon added coherent state. We have studied the possibility of observing the higher order subpoissonian photon statistics in different limits of intermediate states. The effect of different control parameters have also been studied in this connection and it has been shown that the depth of nonclassicality can be tuned by controlling various physical parameters.Comment: 12 Pages LaTeX 2e, 11 figure

HIV-Nef Protein Persists in the Lungs of Aviremic Patients with HIV and Induces Endothelial Cell Death

It remains a mystery why HIV-associated end-organ pathologies persist in the era of combined antiretroviral therapy (ART). One possible mechanism is the continued production of HIV-encoded proteins in latently HIV-infected T cells and macrophages. The proapoptotic protein HIV-Nef persists in the blood of ART-treated patients within extracellular vesicles (EVs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Here we demonstrate that HIV-Nef is present in cells and EVs isolated from BAL of patients on ART. We hypothesize that HIV-Nef persistence in the lung induces endothelial apoptosis leading to endothelial dysfunction and further pulmonary vascular pathologies. The presence of HIV-Nef in patients with HIV correlates with the surface expression of the proapoptotic endothelial-monocyte–activating polypeptide II (EMAPII), which was implicated in progression of pulmonary emphysema via mechanisms involving endothelial cell death. HIV-Nef protein induces EMAPII surface expression in human embryonic kidney 293T cells, T cells, and human and mouse lung endothelial cells. HIV-Nef packages itself into EVs and increases the amount of EVs secreted from Nef-expressing T cells and Nef-transfected human embryonic kidney 293T cells. EVs from BAL of HIV+ patients and Nef-transfected cells induce apoptosis in lung microvascular endothelial cells by upregulating EMAPII surface expression in a PAK2-dependent fashion. Transgenic expression of HIV-Nef in vascular endothelial–cadherin+ endothelial cells leads to lung rarefaction, characterized by reduced alveoli and overall increase in lung inspiratory capacity. These changes occur concomitantly with lung endothelial cell apoptosis. Together, these data suggest that HIV-Nef induces endothelial cell apoptosis via an EMAPII-dependent mechanism that is sufficient to cause pulmonary vascular pathologies even in the absence of inflammation