bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tackling malnutrition: improving patient outcomes and reducing demand on healthcare services
Authors: Holdoway Anne
Published: July 2021

Malnutrition represents a significant health burden in the UK, affecting patient outcomes and costing health care services over £20 billion. Anne Holdoway discusses opportunities for early intervention and explains how healthcare managers can help to address this issue.
Management of lateral condyle fractures of the humerus in children
Authors: Kim Woo Jae , Park Chang , Evans Douglas , Sarraf Khaled
Published: July 2021

Lateral condyle fracture of the humerus is the second most common paediatric elbow fracture and is often missed, which can result in severe consequences including malunion, growth arrest and tardy ulnar nerve palsy. The difficulty in managing this fracture stems from a lack of awareness and the often subtle findings on radiographs. Patients can also present with quite vague symptoms; clinicians who do not have a high index of suspicion may not investigate beyond the initial clinical assessment and could miss vital cues. This article provides a guide to managing this common paediatric fracture, from initial presentation to definitive treatment, and discusses the complications that can ensue if managed incorrectly.
A comparative assessment on ant communities in three vegetation types located at Mfou Suburban locality of Yaoundé (Cameroon)
Authors: ZEPHIRIN TADU , STEPHANIE EDOA , YOUBI EDITH-BLANDINE MESSOP , JEAN-PIERRE GUIBAÏ , JUDICAËL FOMEKONG-LONTCHI , CHANTAL ALENE , CHAMPLAIN DJIETO-LORDON
Published: July 2021

Urban expansion in Cameroon and many other Congo basin countries, involves the destruction of natural habitat previously colonized by a rich and diversified invertebrate and vertebrate fauna. In order to understand the dynamic of transformation of natural landscape into urban area on ant communities, a study was conducted at Mfou, a suburban agglomeration of Yaoundé. We aimed to evaluate the variation in ant diversity and ant community structure in relation to the type of habitat. Ants were collected on the ground and trees in cocoa farms, secondary forests, and palm groves using visual catch, pitfall traps, quadrat, and baits. We recorded 144 species belonging to 39 genera and 6 subfamilies. Cocoa farms (S= 102; H’= 3.83; E=0.83) were richer and more diversified than secondary forests (S= 100; H’= 3.83; E=0.83) and palm groves (S= 70; H’= 3.61; E=0.85). Myrmicinae, Formicinae and Ponerinae were the richest subfamilies both at genus and species levels. Based on their frequency of occurrence, Myrmicaria opaciventris (18.6%), Crematogaster striatula (17.1%), Crematogaster gabonensis (14.9%) and Camponotus crawleyi Emery, 1920 (14.2%) species were numerically dominant. Strumigenys sp.1, Strumigenys sp.2, Strumigenys sp.3, and Strumigenys sp.4 species were found only in secondary forests, suggesting the relatively stability of this habitat despite anthropogenic disturbance. Camponotus brevicollis, Technomyrmex sp.2 and Tetramorium guineensis were the indicator species in cocoa farms. In the secondary forests, Camponotus wellmani, Hypoponera punctatissima and Pheidole pulchella were found as indicator species while in palm groves H. punctatissima was the only indicator species.
The Effect of Miana (Coleus Scutellariodes [L]) on Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Expression in Balb/C Mice Infected with Mycobacterium Tuberculosis
Authors: Marlina Rosa , Hatta Mochammad , Sridiana Eva , Djaharuddin Irawaty , Patellongi Ilhamjaya , Murtiani Farida
Published: July 2021

Tuberculosis (TB) is still a major global health problem. The increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance has posed a major threat towards the mission of TB eradication. Traditional medication has been a staple alternative and adjuvant to conventional treatment for Indonesians. Miana leaves (Coleus scutellariodes) is one such traditional medicine that has a potential role as immunoregulator, antiinflammation, and antimicrobial agent. Several studies have shown that Miana leaves extract can regulate TLR 4, the number of CD4 T cells, IFN-γ levels, and TNF-α.Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) mediates angiogenesis and vasodilatation to provide oxygenation and access for immune cells in hypoxic and inflamed site sue to infection focus. This study aims to study the effect of Miana leaves on VEGF expression. Balb/c mice were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis and were treated using Miana leaves extract, rifampicin, and rifampicin plus Miana. VEGF protein levels before infection, after infection, and after treatment were measured using ELISA. The results showed that there was a significant difference in VEGF level means between treatment groups. VEGF levels in rifampicin, Miana, and rifampicin plus Miana groups were significantly lower than placebo. VEGF level was significantly lower in rifampicin group compared to Miana group. VEGF level was significantly lower in rifampicin plus Miana group compared to Miana group. There was no significant difference of VEGF level between rifampicin and rifampicin plus Miana group. The results indicate that Maina leaves does have an effect on VEGF level in mice infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Influence of Systematic Football Training on Adolescent Functional Characteristics
Authors: Zavalishina Svetlana Yu. , Makurina Olga N. , Mal Galina S. , Tkacheva Elena S.
Published: July 2021

Surveyed 522 players in Moscow. It is estimated the influence of regular football football on sicatics of football players 12-14-year-old. An assessment of the body size of football players was carried out with regard to their chronological age using the average physical development of adolescent-athletes. It is found that the systematic training in football is longer than 1 year to increase among adolescent-football players of quantities that have a strong physique, as a result of a decline among them, having an average type of physique. Registration of the examined index Pirka-Bedusi, which makes it possible to evaluate the proportionality of the physique, showed that most of the football players of adolescence with experience of systematic sports for more than a year have proportional to the physique. The degree of development of the breathing opportunities of the chest of adolescent-football players at a regularly high level of power preparation is higher than their untranslated peers. The results obtained will assume that regular football activities provide in adolescents to increase physical ability to prolonged cyclic loads due to an increase in endurance.
Optimization of the Functional State of the Cardiovascular System in Women with A Complex of Dosage Physical Exertion
Authors: Zavalishina Svetlana Yu. , Vinichenko Maria A. , Makurina Olga N. , Mal Galina S.
Published: July 2021

In the second mature age, women increase the prevalence of arterial hypertension, often complicating hypertensive crises. This circumstance requires improving the recovery options for this category of patients. It seems very promising to be used for this in women with arterial hypertension regular physical exertion for the purpose of their overall recovery, reducing the level of blood pressure and the prevention of hypertensive crises. To easily be the effects of the hypertensive crisis, a complex of muscular loads was developed, the effectiveness of which was estimated in comparison with traditionally appointed patients in such patients of the recovery. Women were examined 36-55 years, who had over a month ago, hypertensive crisis. The women who have been rehabilitated under the author's scheme, have been rejected in the study, have shown a more pronounced improvement of the indicators registered in the study. The optimization of the function of the cardiovascular system turned out to be more pronounced than as a result of traditional recovery. The tested version of regular muscle training provides optimization of processes in the heart and vessels of women suffering from arterial hypertension, lowering the risk of repetition of their hypertensive crisis.
Protective Effects of Pterostilbene Against Cardiac Oxidative Stressand Dysfunctionin Nicotine-Induced Cardiac Injury Rat Model
Authors: Ghazali Ahmad Rohi , Mahindran Elancheleyen , Ramalingam Anand , Chee Liya , Zainalabidin Satirah
Published: July 2021

Prolonged nicotine exposureescalates the onset and development of cardiovascular diseasesin both active and passive smokers via cardiac injury. Pterostilbene, a resveratrol derivative, has been shown to exhibit high anti-inflammatory,antioxidant and antitumor properties. Nevertheless, its role as a cardioprotective agent in a nicotine-induced rat model is still scarce. Therefore, our study was aimed to investigatethe effects of co-administered pterostilbene against nicotine-induced cardiac injury rat model.Twenty-six male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allotted and treated with nicotine (0.6 mg/kg)orin-combination with pterostilbene (10 mg/kg) for 28 consecutive days. Non-invasive tail cuff blood pressure measurements were taken atday-0, day-14 and day-28. Rat hearts were harvested at study endpoint and thechanges in cardiac function parameters and oxidative stress markers were evaluated. The findings have shown that pterostilbene co-administration significantly (P<0.05) reduced the blood pressure and ameliorated nicotine-induced cardiac systolic dysfunction by improving the left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP). In addition, pterostilbene also significantly (P <0.05)attenuatedthe thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) level, indicative of protection against nicotine-induced cardiac oxidative stress. In summary, our findings suggest that pterostilbene has the potential to be developed as a natural alternative in protecting the cardiac injuryinduced by nicotine. However further studies are warranted to investigate its efficacy and the underlying mechanism in cardioprotection.
Molecular Docking Studies of ROS Agent from Quinone Family to Reductase Enzymes:Implication in Finding Anticancer Drug Candidate
Authors: Wiraswati Hesti L. , Warganegara Fida M. , Akhmaloka Akhmaloka , Martoprawiro Muhamad A.
Published: July 2021

Understanding the metabolism of cytotoxic compounds of quinone family is importance in cancer therapy because they have been successfully explored for their anti-tumor activity. Quinone which form radical semiquinone (by reductase enzymes) to generate Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) is associated to be anticancer drug candidate. However, molecular mechanism of those compounds to reductase enzymes has not yet clearly understood.This study aimed to understand molecular interaction of quinones to oxidoreductase enzymes such as cytochrome P450 reductase or ubiquinone reductase (NQO1), or apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) which is recently reported as NADH:quinone reductase. In silico approach was applied to find the best affinity of each compound to enzymes. Optimize ligands were employed using Marvin sketch program. Molecular interaction using autodockvina software was built to measure important residues for quinone reduction. Docking analysis showed that generally quinones prefer bound to cytochrome P450 reductase rather than NQO1 or AIF. The number of ring seems affect to the affinity, but not for its functional groups. Residues analysis confirmed that reduction of quinone is NAD(P)H: dependent. The result revealedthat all ligands have high possibility to compete with their redox coupleswhich is needed in its capacity as an anti-cancer drug.
Systematic Review of Efficacy and Safety of Silodosin in Medical Expulsive Therapy for the Management of Ureteral Stones – Based on Indian Evidences
Authors: Sadasivam Balakrishnan , Chenchula Santenna , Ray Avik
Published: July 2021

Introduction: Urolithiasis is quite a common disorder affecting around two million people in India every year. Minimally invasive therapies are effective treatment measures in most of the cases. However, a watchful waiting approach with pharmacotherapy promotes the expulsion of stones in a shorter time. We hereby review the efficacy and safety of silodosin, a selective α-1A adrenoceptor antagonist, in medical expulsive therapy for the management of urolithiasis based on the evidences in Indian population. Methods: Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) keywords which were used to systematically search electronic databases: PubMed/Medline, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar from their inception to February 2020 were “Silodosin”, “Ureteral calculi”, “Medical expulsive therapy”, “India”, “randomised controlled trials” and “prospective observational studies”. A total of 29 relevant studies could be found and were included in our analysis. Results: The primary outcomes considered were the stone expulsion rate (SER) and stone expulsion time (SET) along with pain episodes and safety outcomes like orthostatic hypotension and retrograde ejaculation. Eight studies with a total of 1064 patients were identified as evidences considering Indian population which compared silodosin with controls like tamsulosin or tadalafil. Conclusions: Silodosin is highly effective in Indian population for increasing stone expulsion for those with ureteral stones (distal ureteral stones with diameter ≥5 mm and ≤10 mm) with shorter expulsion times along with fewer episodes of pain. It is also effective in post-lithotripsy for accentuating clearance rate and curtailing time to passage of the stones.
Comparison Between the Efficacy of Saline, Alkalinised Lignocaine 2% and Alkalinised Lignocaine 4% in the Cuff of Endotracheal Tube to Reduce the Incidence of Cough and Sorethroat During Extubation
Authors: T Rakhi , R K Ranjan , Bhat Sonal , B V Sunil
Published: July 2021

Background: To compare the efficacy of saline, lignocaine 2% and Lignocaine 4% in the endotracheal tube cuff to decrease the incidence of post operative cough and sore throat. A unique, efficient and easy method designed to decrease cough and sore throat during emergence. Hence there was a need for the study. Methods: After approval from institutional Ethical Committee, Kasturba Medical college, Mangaluru and written informed consent from 120 patients of A.S.A class I & II, aged between 18-60 years posted for various surgeries were included. Randomization was done into three groups of 40 patients each. Group 1 – Normal saline, group 2 - 2% Lignocaine and group 3 - 4% Lignocaine. Postoperatively patients were assessed for incidence of cough and sore throat pain based on visual analogue scale (VAS) Results: 65% of patients in group 2 and 72% of patients in group 3 were extubated smoothly, whereas only 20% of patients in group 1 had smooth extubation, p<0.001. There was significant difference in sore throat pain and cough in group 2 and 3 when compared to group 1. Conclusion: The incidence of sore throat and cough was significantly reduced with Lignocaine in the endotracheal tube cuff when compared to saline. Lignocaine 4% was found to be far more better than 2% in reducing sore throat.
Performance Analysis of Different Restoration Techniques for Degraded 3D Cervical Spine Mri Image
Authors: Turk Neelam , Kamboj Sangeeta , Khera Sonam , Rajput Neha
Published: July 2021

In the proposed work, noise models such as Salt & Pepper, Gaussian and Poisson are considered in order to corrupt the image.Image restoration is still challenging task to recover an original image using a degradation and restoration model. In the paper, Gaussian, Average and Wiener linear image restoration techniques are used to recover the original MRI image. Median filter, Min and Max non-linear filters are also used to obtain uncorrupt image in the paper.Mean square error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Cross Correlation(CC) performance analysis criteria are used to compare different restoration technique so that better performance in a clinical diagnosis can be achieved. In the paper it can be found that wiener filter with 5 x 5 window for Gaussian, speckle and Poisson noise provides best performance in terms of MSE and PSNR. Also,median filter with 5 x 5 window gives better accuracy of results to restore 3D salt & pepper noised image in terms of MSE and CC.
Relationship Between Immunity Level and Quality of Life among Housewives Living with HIV (Cross-sectional Study in Central Borneo, Indonesia)
Authors: Nurhalina Nurhalina , Faradila Faradila
Published: July 2021

Background: In Central Kalimantan Province, housewives constitute the second largest group of people with HIV (+) (19.4%) after the private group. Most of them (61.4%) reported on the poor quality of life, especially in the domain of psychology due to frustration and poverty. In its management, the intervention program has not fully integrated the life quality of people with HIV toward the accepted treatment model because of the lack of information about the case. Therefore, the particular study aims to find out the relationship between quality of life and the level of immunity of housewives with HIV (+), which expect to have benefited the development of a program for managing ODHA in Central Kalimantan Province. Method: Cross-sectional study approach used in the research where the population is a housewife with HIV (+) who lives in Central Kalimantan Province. The purposive sampling technique used to select the sample with criteria of the subjects have a CD4 > 200 cell/µL and are excluded when experiencing psychiatric disorders and/or dying. There were 54 people as the sample. Data were analyzed bivariate using chi-square test and multivariate analysis with logistic regression. Result and conclusion :The results of statistical tests showed no significant relationship between quality of life and the level of immunity of participants in the physical domain (p = .2.071); psychological domain (p = 0.610); social domain (p = 0.595); environmental domain (p = 0.393); perception of health conditions (p = 0.317) and; perception of quality of life (p = 2.140).It needs further assessment toward the total number of CD4 before starting ART, treatment adherence, disease history and lifestyle of the participants. And, interventions can improve the quality of life and increase the immunity of participants
Enhanced Pharmacological Efficacy of Berberine Hydrochloride Loaded Lipid Based Pellets for the Treatment of Metabolic Diseases
Authors: Mishra Rakesh V. , N. Dhole Shashikant
Published: July 2021

Numerous researchers in past have reported the diversified therapeutic effects of Berberine hydrochloride (BERH) for the management of metabolic diseases, however due to poor systemic bioavailability these effects are dose dependant and desired effects were reported at high dose levels. The objective of present investigation is to evaluate and establish the enhancement in pharmacological efficacy of the designed BERH formulation at low oral dose level for the treatment of metabolic diseases constituting metabolic syndrome (MS). In the present investigation, BERH formulation in the dose level of (25 and 50mg/kg/day) was evaluated in cafeteria diet (CD) induced MS model in male Wistar rats for 42 days and compared with available marketed preparation in similar dose level using orlistat as reference drug. Among the studied dose level of BERH formulation the 25 mg/kg/day dose was adequate to produce significant reduction in calorie intake (P < 0.01), body weight, BMI, (P<0.001), organ weight viz. (stomach; P<0.05, liver; P<0.001, heart; P<0.01) and serum biochemical parameters (P<0.001). A significant improvement in lipid peroxidation (P<0.001), catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) contents (P<0.001) was observed. The histopathological examinations indicated amelioration of liver, heart and pancreas tissues. The current study indicated significant glucose-lowering, hypophagic, anti-obesity, anti-hyperlipidemic and cardio protective activity of the BERH formulation even in much low oral dose level compared to previously reported studies. The observed behavior is attributed due to the enhanced bioavailability of BERH formulation which could be effectively used for metabolic diseases treatment.
Clinicopathological Study of Subcutaneous Heminthicnodules : Unusual Sites and Diagnostic Dilemmas
Authors: Kumar Singh Varun , Bhattacharjee Koushiki , Jaiprakash Padmapriya
Published: July 2021

Introduction: Superficial palpable swellings with helmintic infection as an underlying etiology is usually an accidental finding in the surgically excised specimens. Somatic nematodes and cestodes are the commonly implicated organisms, and the zoonotic nematodes show an emerging trend. The present study aims to reappraise the histopathological findings of helminthic etiology in superficial swellings which were clinically suspected to be of neoplastic/non neoplastic nature. Materials and methods: Thirty six cases of palpable superficial nodules with infective etiology over a period of five years were reviewed. 19/36 were of helminthic etiology were included in the present study. Pertinent demographic and clinical data were retrieved from the medical archives. Results: Amongst the 19 cases, 8 were males and 11 females. Chest wall (4/19), and eyelids (3/19) were the most common sites involved. The size ranged from 0.8-15 cm in greatest dimension. Presence of histiocytes (13/19), granulomas (11/19), eosinophils (10/19), and giant cells (9/19) were the most consistent histological findings. 14 cases had discernible parasite morphology with diagnosis of filarial worms (7/19), Dirofilaria (3/19), cysticercosis (4/19), and hydatid cyst (1/19). Four cases had dead and calcified parasites with no discernible morphology. Conclusion: Granulomatous inflammation and tissue eosinophilia are strong indicators of a parasitic etiology. Subcutaneous and intramuscular filariasis, cysticercosis and hydatid cyst are well documented etoiologies whereas Dirofilariasis is an emerging zoonotic infection with worldwide case reports. Imaging techniques and fine needle aspiration can point towards the diagnosis; however in the absence of characteristic features, histopathology can be relied upon to diagnose a helminthicetiology.
Experimental CubeSat-based Network for Alert Messages Broadcasting
Authors: Fanfani Alessio , Morosi Simone , Ronga Luca Simone , Jayousi Sara , Del Re Enrico , Rossettini Luca
Published: July 2021

In this paper an end-to-end proof of concept of a low complexity CubeSatbased network architecture for alert dissemination is presented. The adoption of a CubeSat for alert messages broadcasting, of MAMES (Multiple Alert Message Encapsulation over Satellite) as alert messages transport protocol and of a satellite Portable SDR (Software Defined Radio) terminal as the receiver represent the key elements of the proposed architecture. The proposed system is described, highlighting the functioning of the whole “alert chain” from the generation to the reception of MAMES messages: particularly, the experimental activities carried out to prove the feasibility of the proposed alert network and the applicability of MAMES to LEO satellites are reported.
Quality Controlled Region-Based Partial Fingerprint Recognition
Authors: Zanganeh Omid , Komal Komal , Bhattacharjee Nandita , Albrecht David , Srinivasan Bala
Published: July 2021

The conventional method of fingerprint alignment using reference points does not work well for partial fingerprints due to the limited or non-availability of reference points. Moreover, matching of partial fingerprints using existing techniques is challenging as partial fingerprints lack enough distinguishing information. Even if fingerprints consists of sufficient information, the varying quality of different parts of fingerprint affects recognition process. In this paper, a new paradigm in the form of region-based approach that uses all available fingerprint ridge structure for aligning the fingerprints is proposed. Additionally, a new metric to compute individual local region similarity based on region’s quality, size and consistency of its neighbouring regions is proposed and used in deriving the global similarity for matching process. Although the proposed approach is computationally intensive, yet, the error rate is close to zero as the experimental results shows. The method is most suitable in applications where perfect identification is required such as forensic investigations.
Smartphone Dependence among Undergraduates in Taiwan
Authors: Miao Nae-Fang , Lin Cheng-Jin , Cheng Ching-Lien , Hsiao Yu-Ling , Chen I-Hui
Published: July 2021

Smartphones have become a new means of communication and a major method of obtaining information. Dependence on or the excessive use of smartphones may affect health in the long term. However, little attention has been focused on smartphone use and dependence among undergraduates. Therefore, this study investigated the smartphone use behavior of Taiwanese undergraduates and their dependence on smartphones. A cross-sectional study design with a structured questionnaire was used for undergraduates aged≥20 years from four universities. The results suggested that the majority of participants, particularly women, experienced physical discomfort caused by smartphone use. Moreover, the participants exhibited a moderate to high dependence on smartphones. Smartphone use and dependence were both affected by family economic status, monthly allowance, and major. The findings indicated that health care providers, educators, and parents can play critical roles in encouraging the healthy use of smartphones among undergraduates.
Comparative Investigation of ARP Poisoning Mitigation Techniques Using Standard Testbed for Wireless Networks
Authors: Kaur Goldendeep , Malhotra Jyoteesh
Published: July 2021

Due to the increasing demand of wireless networks, there is an increasing necessity for security as well. This is because unlike wired networks, wireless networks can be easily hacked form outside the building if proper security measures are not in place as wireless networks make use of radio waves and radio waves can leak outside of building at distances up to 300 feet or more. So everything we do on our network can be monitored by anyone who has wireless capabilities. This unauthorized access can be used as an essence by the hacker to launch various kinds of attacks like man-in-the-middle attacks, denial of service attacks, IP spoofing etc. As a result in addition to the firewalls, password protection techniques, virus detectors etc, additional levels of security is needed to secure the wireless networks. This paper focuses on comparing various techniques that are used to protect the users from these attacks by providing practical observations based on the network parameters time and scalability and also highlighted the best method in the end to combat the attacks at a superior level.
Factors Influencing the Continuance Use of Mobile Social Media:The Effect of Privacy Concerns
Authors: Ofori Kwame Simpe , Fianu Eli , Larbi-Siaw Otu , Gladjah Richard Eddie , Boateng Ezer Osei Yeboah
Published: July 2021

With over 800 million active Whatsapp users, Mobile Social Networks (MSNs) have become one of the most vital means of social interactions, such as forming relationships and sharing information, sharing personal experiences. The mass adoption of MSN raises concerns about privacy and the risk of losing one’s personal information due to personal data shared online. This paper sought to examine the role of Privacy Concerns in the continuance use of Mobile Social Media. The Effects of factors such as Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Risk and Perceived Enjoyments on Satisfaction and Continuance intention were also explored. Survey data was collected from 262 students in Ghana Technology University College and analysed using the Partial Least Square approach to Structural Equation Modelling with the use of SmartPLS software. Results from the analysis showed that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Risk and Perceived Enjoyment were significant predictors of Satisfaction. Satisfaction in turn was found to be a significant predictor of Continuance Intention. Satisfaction also mediated the paths between Perceived Risk, Privacy Concern and Continuance Intention. The results are discussed and practical implications drawn.
SMS-Based Mobile Botnet Detection Framework Using Intelligent Agents
Authors: Alzahrani Abdullah J. , Ghorbani Ali A.
Published: July 2021

Along with increasing security measures in Android platforms, the amount of Android malware that use remote exploits has grown significantly. Using mobile botnets, attackers concentrate on reliable attack vectors such as SMS messages. Short Message Service (SMS) has been increasingly targeted by a number of malicious applications (“apps”) that have the ability to abuse SMS features in order to send spam, to transfer command and control (C&C) instructions, to distribute malicious applications via URLs embedded in text messages, to send text messages to premium-rate numbers, and to exploit smartphones. In this paper, we propose an SMS-based botnet detection formwork that uses multi-agent technology based on observations of SMS and Android smartphone features. This formwork has the ability to detect SMS botnets and identify ways to block the attacks in order to prevent damage caused by botnet attacks. We developed an adaptive hybrid model of SMS botnet detectors by using a combination of signature-based and anomaly-based algorithms. These components utilize multi-agent technology to recognize malicious SMS and prevent users from opening these messages that infecting smartphones. This framework includes defence module that employed a more proactive approach that allows us to directly generate signatures and rules that can be used to protect Android smartphones from abuse by SMS botnets. The framework creates a user profile that is used to perform behavioural profiling analysis in order to identity malicious SMS and cut the C&C Channel.
Variety of Scalable Shuffling Countermeasures against Side Channel Attacks
Authors: Veshchikov Nikita , Medeiros Stephane Fernandes , Lerman Liran
Published: July 2021

IoT devices have very strong requirements on all the resources such as memory, randomness, energy and execution time. This paper proposes a number of scalable shuffling techniques as countermeasures against side channel analysis. Some extensions of an existing technique called Random Start Index (RSI) are suggested in this paper. Moreover, two new shuffling techniques Reverse Shuffle (RS) and Sweep Swap Shuffle (SSS) are described within their possible extensions. Extensions of RSI, RS and SSS might be implemented in a constrained environment with a small data and time overhead. Each of them might be implemented using different amount of randomness and thus, might be fine-tuned according to requirements and constraints of a cryptographic system such as time, memory, available number of random bits, etc. RSI, RS, SSS and their extensions are described using SubBytes operation of AES-128 block cipher as an example, but they might be used with different operations of AES as well as with other algorithms. This paper also analyses RSI, RS and SSS by comparing their properties such as number of total permutations that might be generated using a fixed number of random bits, data complexity, time overhead and evaluates their resistance against some known side-channel attacks such as correlation power analysis and template attack. Several of proposed shuffling schemes are implemented on a 8-bit microcontroller that uses them to shuffle the first and the last rounds of AES-128.
Biometric Authentication Using Mouse and Eye Movement Data
Authors: Rose Jamison , Liu Yudong , Awad Ahmed
Published: July 2021

Previous biometric systems have attempted to identify users solely by eye or mouse data. In this paper, we seek to find out if combining both kinds of data produces better results. In our system, mouse movement and eye movement data are gathered from each user simultaneously, a set of salient features are proposed, and a Neural Network classifier is trained on this data to uniquely identify users. After going through this process and investigating several Neural Network based classification models we conclude that combining the modalities results in a more accurate authentication decision and will become practical once the hardware is more widespread.
Machine Learning Approach for Detection of nonTor Traffic
Authors: Hodo Elike , Bellekens Xavier , Iorkyase Ephraim , Hamilton Andrew , Tachtatzis Christos , Atkinson Robert
Published: July 2021

Intrusion detection has attracted a considerable interest from researchers and industry. After many years of research the community still faces the problem of building reliable and efficient intrusion detection systems (IDS) capable of handling large quantities of data with changing patterns in real time situations. The Tor network is popular in providing privacy and security to end user by anonymizing the identity of internet users connecting through a series of tunnels and nodes. This work identifies two problems; classification of Tor traffic and nonTor traffic to expose the activities within Tor traffic that minimizes the protection of users in using the UNB-CIC Tor Network Traffic dataset and classification of the Tor traffic flow in the network. This paper proposes a hybrid classifier; Artificial Neural Network in conjunction with Correlation feature selection algorithm for dimensionality reduction and improved classification performance. The reliability and efficiency of the propose hybrid classifier is compared with Support Vector Machine and naïve Bayes classifiers in detecting nonTor traffic in UNB-CIC Tor Network Traffic dataset. Experimental results show the hybrid classifier, ANN-CFS proved a better classifier in detecting nonTor traffic and classifying the Tor traffic flow in UNB-CIC Tor Network Traffic dataset.
Rethinking the Use of Resource Hints in HTML5: Is Faster Always Better!?
Authors: Vlajic N. , Shi X. Y. , Roumani H. , Madani P.
Published: July 2021

To date, much of the development in Web-related technologies has been driven by the users’ quest for ever faster and more intuitive WWW. One of the most recent trends in this development is built around the idea that a user’s WWW experience can further be improved by predicting and/or preloading Web resources that are likely sought by the user, ahead of time. Resource hints is a set of features introduced in HTML5 and intended to support the idea of predictive preloading in the WWW. Inspite of the fact that resource hints were originally intended to enhance the online user experience, their introduction has unfortunately created a vulnerability that can be exploited to attack the user’s privacy, security and reputation, or to turn the user’s computer into a bot that can compromise the integrity of business analytics. In this article we outline six different scenarios (i.e., attacks) in which the resource hints could end up turning the browser into a dangerous tool that acts without the knowledge of and/or against its very own user. What makes these attacks particularly concerning is the fact that they are extremely easy to execute, and they do not require that any form of client-side malware be implanted on the user machine. While one of the attacks is (just) a new form of the well-known cross-site request forgery attacks, the other attacks have not been addressed much or at all in the research literature. Through this work, we ultimate hope to make the wider Internet community critically rethink the way the resource hints are implemented and used in today’sWWW.
Machine Learning for Analyzing Malware
Authors: Liu Zhenyan , Zeng Yifei , Yan Yida , Zhang Pengfei , Wang Yong
Published: July 2021

The Internet has become an indispensable part of people’s work and life, but it also provides favorable communication conditions for malwares. Therefore, malwares are endless and spread faster and become one of the main threats of current network security. Based on the malware analysis process, from the original feature extraction and feature selection to malware analysis, this paper introduces the machine learning algorithms such as classification, clustering and association analysis, and how to use these machine learning algorithms to effectively analyze the malware and its variants.
Analytic Study of Features for the Detection of Covert Timing Channels in NetworkTraffic
Authors: Vázquez Félix Iglesias , Annessi Robert , Zseby Tanja
Published: July 2021

Covert timing channels are security threats that have concerned the expert community from the beginnings of secure computer networks. In this paper we explore the nature of covert timing channels by studying the behavior of a selection of features used for their detection. Insights are obtained from experimental studies based on ten covert timing channels techniques published in the literature, which include popular and novel approaches. The study digs into the shapes of flows containing covert timing channels from a statistical perspective as well as using supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms. Our experiments reveal which features are recommended for building detection methods and draw meaningful representations to understand the problem space. Covert timing channels show high histogramdistance based outlierness, but insufficient to clearly discriminate them from normal traffic. On the other hand, traffic features do show dependencies that allow separating subspaces and facilitate the identification of covert timing channels. The conducted study shows the detection difficulties due to the high shape variability of normal traffic and suggests the implementation of semi-supervised techniques to develop accurate and reliable detectors.
An Approach for Building Security Resilience in AUTOSAR Based Safety Critical Systems
Authors: Nasser Ahmad MK , Ma Di , Muralidharan Priya
Published: July 2021

AUTOSAR, a worldwide development partnership among automotive parties to establish an open and standardized software architecture for electronic control units (ECUs), has seen great success in recent years by being widely adopted in deeply embedded automotive ECUs. Increasing the security resilience of AUTOSAR based systems is a crucial step in securing safety critical automotive systems. We study AUTOSAR safety mechanisms and demonstrate how they can be used as attack vectors to degrade the vehicle safety.We show the need to harmonize the fail-safe response with the secure state of the system. And we evaluate the overlap in the properties of safety mechanisms with security objectives to highlight methods for hardening automotive systems security.
Information Hiding Based on Histogram and Pixel Pattern
Authors: Barmawi Ari Moesriami , Pradeka Deden
Published: July 2021

Recently, information exchange using internet is increasing, such that information security is necessary for securing confidential information because it is possible to eavesdrop the information. There are several methods for securing the exchanged information such as was proposed by Rejani et al. Rejani’s method can be noiseless in low capacity but noisy in high capacity. In the case of high capacity, it will raise suspicion. This research proposed a method based on histogram and pixel pattern for keeping the stego image noiseless while still keeping the capacity high. Secret information can be embedded into the cover by evaluating the histogram and map the characters used in the secret message to the consecutive intensity in the cover image histogram. The map of the characters is sent to the recipient securely. Using the proposed method there is no pixel value changes during the embedding process. Based on the result of the experiments, it is shown that in noiseless condition, the proposed method has higher embedding capacity than Rejani’s especially when using cover image with sizes larger than 128 × 128. Thus, in noiseless condition the embedding capacity using the proposed method is higher than Rejani’s method in noiseless condition.
Patient-specific finite element model of the hip muscles and bones
Authors: Jolivet Erwan , Laredo Jean-Denis , Bonneau Dominique , Skalli Wafa
Published: July 2021

Hip fractures are largely considered as a major health-care problem. Several patientspecific finite element models of the isolated femur are proposed to evaluate fracture risk. However, because of their role in femur stress distribution, soft tissue covering the hip should also be considered. Such modeling is particularly complex and major difficulties are related to volumic muscle mesh generation, to specific muscles constitutive equations and numerous contacts within the structure. A method was based on deformation of a parameterized muscle mesh was proposed to get rapidly a patient-specific non distorted mesh. Based in this mesh, finite element model included bones and soft tissues, with surface contact elements between components. Hyperelastic constitutive equations, with hypothesis of incompressibility and isotropy were used to model soft tissue mechanical behavior. Preliminary simulation with quasistatic lateral compression was performed to verify the coherence of the model’s response.
Mixed finite element for modelling interfaces
Authors: Bouziane Salah , Bouzerd Hamoudi , Guenfoud Mohamed
Published: July 2021

A special finite element based on Reissner’s mixed variational principle has been presented to model interface between two materials. The present element is a 7-node two dimensional mixed finite element with 5 displacement nodes and 2 stress nodes. The mixed interface finite element ensures the continuity of stress and displacement vectors at the interface on the coherent part and the discontinuity of this one on the cracked part. This element has been formulated starting from a parent element in a natural plane with an aim of modelling different types of interfaces with various orientations. This work is essentially devoted to the formulation of the interface element and the study of convergence and validation of this element. Results obtained from the present mixed interface element have been shown to be in good agreement with the analytical solutions.
Mixed versus impulse-oriented domain decomposition method for granular dynamics
Authors: Iceta Damien , Dureisseix David , Alart Pierre
Published: July 2021

In this article, we are concerned with the numerical simulation of granular media, characterized as a large scale discrete system, involving non smooth interactions. For such problems, domain decomposition approaches are potential interesting alternative solvers. Herein, two robust and generic monoscale approaches are formulated and compared. The first numerical results reveal a non standard behavior in term of numerical scalability.
Correction force for releasing crack tip element with XFEM and only discontinuous enrichment
Authors: Menouillard Thomas , Belytschko Ted
Published: July 2021

This paper deals with numerical crack propagation and makes use of the extended finite element method in the case of explicit dynamics. The advantage of this method is the absence of remeshing. The use of XFEM with Heaviside functions only gives a binary description of the crack tip element: cut or not. Here, we modify the internal forces with a correction force in order to smoothly release the tip element while the virtual crack tip travels through an element. This avoids creating non physical stress waves and improves the accuracy of the evaluation of the stress intensity factors during propagation.
Etats limites plastiques en présence de l’écrouissage isotrope
Authors: Chaaba Ali , Bousshine Lahbib
Published: July 2021

Either in Structural Engineering or Metalworking processes by plastic deformation, the limit analysis is among the direct methods of the plastic collapse assessment. Basing on the kinematical approach in the sense of limit analysis and using finite elements method, the main objective of this work is to deal with large plastic deformations of von Mises’s materials taking into account isotropic hardening. In order to overcome difficulties caused by the non differentiability of plastic dissipation, we adopt a regularization method originally developed for compressible materials. In order to follow up the sequences of large deformations, we have used the sequential limit analysis procedure; it consists in the updating of material properties and geometrical configuration after each sequence.
Spongy bone deformation mechanisms
Authors: Chaari Fahmi , Halgrin Julien , Markiewicz Éric , Drazetic Pascal
Published: July 2021

In order to identify the spongy bone's mechanical behaviour, we performed compression tests on cylindrical samples. Experimental results show important dispersions and an unexpected inverse strain rate dependency at low range of loading velocities. The origin of the dispersions can be attributed to the combination of the architecture effect and the mechanical properties variation of the constitutive material. In order to understand the inverse strain rate sensitivity, we used a controlled constitutive material to build new equivalent samples with the spongy bone's architecture. These samples were subjected to compression tests. Numerical simulations of compression tests on the same architecture have been carried out with FE models built from μCt data. The obtained results are compared in term of final sample shape and the evolution of the compression force.
Automatic refinement and efficient solver for non linear dynamic structural problems
Authors: Biotteau Ewen , Gravouil Anthony , Lubrecht Antonius , Combescure Alain
Published: July 2021

This paper presents an adaptive strategy dedicated to non-linear transient dynamic problems. The spatial mesh is optimized to ensure the accuracy of the solution. Beginning from a coarse mesh, an error indicator is used to estimate the discretization error and new elements are created where the prescribed accuracy is not reached. A localized multigrid solver is used and the strategy is applied recursively until the local mesh size ensures that the discretization error is less than the prescribed accuracy. The spatial mesh is recreated at each time step.
Some aspects of probabilistic modeling, identification and propagation of uncertainties in computational mechanics
Authors: Soize Christian
Published: July 2021

In this paper, we present some aspects relative to the types of uncertainties, the variability of real systems, the types of probabilistic approaches and of the representations for the probabilistic models of uncertainties, the construction of the probabilistic models using the maximum entropy principle. We then present the nonparametric probabilistic approach of uncertainties for elliptic problems, for 3D continuous dynamical systems with geometrical nonlinearities induced by large displacements and for low- and mediumfrequency vibroacoustics of a complex system with experimental validations. Finally, a generalized probabilistic approach of uncertainties in computational dynamics using the random matrix theory and polynomial chaos decompositions is presented.
Toward “green” mechanical simulations in materials science
Authors: Ryckelynck David , Benziane Djamel Missoum , Musienko Andrey , Cailletaud Georges
Published: July 2021

Because of the developpement of materials science, there is a need to reduce the computational complexity of mechanical models. This paper aims to show that the Hyper Reduction method enables to reduce computational resources used for numerical simulations. Large mechanical models involving distributed nonlinearities require parallel computers to solve the governing equations related to these models. The proposed Hyper Reduction of such models provides reduced governing equations that enable simulations on a single-processor computer. This is achieved by using a reduced-basis and a selection of equilibrium equations of the detailed model. The use of a single processor during less time enables to save an amazing amount of the electrical energy during the numerical simulation.