bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New records of phytoseiid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) from Madeira Island
Authors: Kreiter Serge , Douin Martial , Tixier Marie Stephane
Published: July 2021

Madeira is the largest of the four islands constituting Madeira Archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located at 400 km from the Northern Canary Islands, at 500 km from Morocco and between 900 and 1000 km from South Portugal and Spain. So far, nineteen species of the mite family Phytoseiidae had been reported from this island. We report in this paper the results of a survey conducted in May 2019 in Madeira Island, in which 15 species have been found, six being new for the Island fauna.
Incommensurability and corporate social technologies: a critique of corporate compensations in Colombia's coal mining region of La Guajira
Authors: Gilbert Jacqueline Elyse , Gilbertson Tamra , Jakobsen Line
Published: July 2021

Extractive industries increasingly use compensation measures to silence opposition, divide communities and stop resistance. Cerrejón, Colombia's largest transnational coal mining corporation, has a long history of damaging Indigenous Wayúu, Afro-Colombian and local communities' health and livelihoods. In the northeastern Colombian region of La Guajira, local communities struggle against the social and environmental impacts of coal mining. This article, based on field research conducted between 2018-2019, concludes that corporate and state-backed consultation and compensation projects are incommensurable with the damage caused by the coal mining operations and are implemented as a corporate social technology that undermines community cohesion and reinforces a power imbalance, perpetuating and enabling the expansion of damaging coal mining practices in Colombia.
Evaluation of Thermal Insulation of the Gastronomic Refrigeration Furniture Prototype
Authors: Bernat Tomasz
Published: July 2021

An innovative method of insulation by injection to a cooling tank was investigated with consideration of a sustainable development need during production of thermo-insulation materials. An insulation material consisted of polyurethane foam. The manufacturer has chosen HFO gases for filling in the pores, since this is a product with a low environmental impact. HFO gases have a zero potential for destruction of the ozone layer and an extremely low global warming potential. Cooling tanks insulated with modern technologies of injection of polyurethane foam were investigated with regard to heat permission. They were also tested on account of occurrence of heat leakage bridges. The investigation covered also cooling furniture insulated with a conventional method of gluing ready-made polyurethane boards. The tests showed that a modern insulation technology influences reduction of the heat permission coefficient towards the presently applied technology. The investigated insulation of cooling furniture did not prove any heat leakage bridges. Therefore, it may be concluded that the technological process is correct. Cooling tanks manufactured in the present insulation technology did not show the occurrence of heat leakage bridges.
Hydrogen Production Analysis: Prospects for Ukraine
Authors: Kovalenko Nataliia , Hutsol Taras , Kovalenko Vitalii , Glowacki Szymon , Kokovikhin Sergii , Dubik Viktor , Mudragel Oleksander , Kuboń Maciej , Tomaszewska-Górecka Wioletta
Published: July 2021

Over the last few years, hydrogen energy has shifted from a little-studied field to the main one with which leading western countries associate the prospects of their national economies. The reasons are the unprecedented pace of development of hydrogen technologies. It turned out that they are able to provide significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, and thus bring closer the solution to the problem of global climate change. The first and foremost purpose of our investigation is to reveal that our country has ample opportunities to become the main supplier of hydrogen to the EU market, overtaking North Africa in the competition. Using the methods, authors studied the targets of the European funds towards development of energy production from biohydrogen, studied the potential for the implementation of hydrogen projects, possibilities of financing them and a potential ability of Ukraine to form internal and external markets for hydrogen energy. One of the main issues of Ukraine's possible participation in Europe's hydrogen energy program as a supplier and producer of renewable hydrogen is the possibility of its technically safe and cost-effective transportation to EU countries. As a conclusion to the authors’ research, the path of the hydrogen industry development in Ukraine will help to receive additional investments in the Ukrainian economy for creation of new capacities for "green" hydrogen production. In return, Europe will receive research and evolution of the bioenergy component of the economy, which will permit the safe transition of Europeans to an affordable, competitive, and stable energy system.
Phenotypic and molecular characterization of multidrug-resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Salmonella prevalent in raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets
Authors: Ogu Gideon Ikechechukwu , Akinnibosun Faith Iguodala , Imade Odaro Stanley
Published: July 2021

In Nigeria, there is still a scarcity of data on the recovery of multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella in chicken meat. Hence this study characterized the probable multidrug-resistant extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Salmonella prevalent in chilled raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets. Detection of Salmonella was performed by meat rinse centrifugation-plating technique. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were identified by phenotypic and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The confirmed Salmonella isolates were tested for multidrug resistance by the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion test. Detection and confirmation of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) phenotypes were performed by double disc synergy and combination disc tests. PCR and DNA sequencing of the ESBL-encoding genes (bla
SHV, bla
TEM, and bla
CTX-M) were also performed. The conserved and three-dimensional (3D) domains in ESBLs were respectively characterized by the reverse position-specific BLAST (RPS-BLAST) and Cn3D modeling tool. Of the 229 presumptive Salmonella isolates examined, 52 isolates were confirmed as Salmonella species, 46 isolates were multidrug-resistant and 41 isolates confirmed as multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella species. The main serotypes were Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium (35/52; 67.31%) and Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis (17/52; 32.69%). Overall, the prevalence of chilled raw chicken meat contaminated with Salmonella was estimated at 0.17 (40/240). This value of prevalence exceeded the limits (≤ 0.1) set by the Meat Industry Guide, United Kingdom. All CTX-M, TEM, and SHV beta-lactamases produced by the Salmonella isolates were confirmed by RPS-BLAST and Cn3D modeling tool as serine-based hydrolases that consisted of two 3D domains with unique ligands such as sodium ion, formic acid, and glycerol. This study showed that multidrug-resistant ESBL-producing Salmonella was widespread in raw chicken meat vended in Nigerian markets. Thus, there is a need for relevant regulatory agencies to enforce safety.
Impacts of tanneries wastewater on the vicinal flora of Sheikhupura and Kasur, Pakistan
Authors: Benjamin Sylvia E. , Nishat M. Asif
Published: July 2021

It is of paramount concern that some leather tanneries around the world are disposing waste in environment which are a cause of destruction of flora and fauna in vicinity. Especially chrome tanning poses a major threat due to the release of chromium in wastewater (WW). Hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) is a potential carcinogen and thus demands stern quality control measures. The present investigations focused on the quality of WW released from leather tanneries of two cities i.e., Sheihupura and Kasur, Pakistan, and its effect on the vicinal flora. Cr6+ and total chromium (Cr) in all the samples were determined through UV visible spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). Wastewater samples (WWS) were collected at head and at a distance of 50 – 200 m at specific intervals, at edge and inward towards middle of WW streams. WWS of both Sheihupura and Kasur tanneries showed comparable Cr6+ content at head but much higher total Cr (in parenthesis) in later i.e., 89.7 ppm (1440.57 ppm) and 94.9 ppm (3527.95 ppm). Cr6+ content declined inward stream and with the increasing distance down the stream falling exponentially in Sheikupura and steeply at Kasur. The soil samples (SS) at 3 m i.e., at edge of WW streams showed higher Cr6+ content for Sheikhupura than WWS i.e., 94.8 ppm (1041.8 ppm) falling with distance to 44.8 ppm at 150 m. It is less at Kasur i.e., 80.5 ppm (4465.9 ppm) falling sharply with distance at 150 m to 25.1 ppm. This showed buildup of Cr6+ ions in soil of Sheikupura with time. As the distance off stream on the ground increased, both Cr6+ and the total Cr declined and much more at Kasur site i.e., 23.8 ppm (880 ppm) and reached close to Sheikhupura 32.7 ppm (610 ppm) at 150 m. Plausibly, the Sheikhupura tannery is older and/or the soil in vicinal area is more porous. Plant vegetation examined in soil at edge only, show the uptake of both Cr6+ and total Cr. Roots and grass leaf at Sheikhupura and the potato leaf at Kasur showed the highest Cr6+ uptake of the total Cr i.e., 4.6% 3.5% and 6.4 %, respectively. The results show that tanneries WW has drastically affected soil and consequently the plants with Cr6+ ions and total Cr above the permissible levels of 0.1 ppm. To ratiocinate, these will finally incorporate in food chain ultimately damaging the fauna and henceforth calls for adoption of effective removal methodologies and greener routes for a sustainable environment.
Dual effect of the GHRL gene variant in the molecular pathogenesis of obesity
Authors: Becer E , Ergoren MC
Published: July 2021

Obesity is as a global health problem due to its interaction with complex chronic disorders such as cardiovascular disorders, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and cancer. Despite the fact that pathogenesis of obesity is not yet clearly understood, it is associated with a combination of psychological, environmental and various genetic factors. Here, employing a case-control design, we aimed to examine the effects of the GHRL c.152C>T (p.Arg51Gln) (rs34911341) and c.214G>T (p.Leu72Met) (rs696217) markers on susceptibility to obesity in a Turkish-Cypriot population, as well as to evaluate whether these markers affect biochemical parameters and show their putative functional consequences. This study involved 211 Turkish-Cypriot subjects (106 obese and 95 non obese). Genotyping for the GHRL gene polymorphisms was performed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis. Our results indicate that the GHRL Leu72Met polymorphism was found to be significantly higher in obese patients, with respect to genotypic (p = 0.0012) and allelic (p = 0.0005) frequencies. Strikingly, the rs696217 GT genotype (heterozygous) had significantly lower serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (p = 0.015) than GG (wild type) genotypes. Overall, Leu72Met susceptibility variant may be considered as risk and crucial marker for both obesity and cholesterol metabolism in the community of Turkish-Cypriots. Thus, the dual effect of the GHRL gene Leu72Met variant may be used for clinical diagnosis.
Association of NFKB1, NKX2-5, GATA4 and RANKL gene polymorphisms with sporadic congenital heart disease in Greek patients
Authors: Aidinidou L , Chatzikyriakidou A , Giannopoulos A , Karpa V , Tzimou I , Aidinidou E , Fidani L
Published: July 2021

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is a group of structural defects of the heart and the great vessels, and one of the leading causes of death among infants and young adults. Several gene variants are involved in diverse mechanisms of cardiac and vessel development and could thus be considered candidate mutated genes for a congenital heart defect or a specific variant could predispose a person to CHD. In the present study, variants in four such genes are investigated for the first time in a group of young Greek CHD patients: the NFKB1 gene polymorphism (–94ins/ delATTG), rs28362491, NKX2-5 gene polymorphism rs2277923, GATA4 gene polymorphism rs11785481 and RANKL gene polymorphism rs4531631. A total of 43 CHD patients and 100 healthy adults were included in the study. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PRC-RFLP) method was used to genotype the aforementioned polymorphisms of NFKB1, NKX2-5, GATA4 and RANKL. The association analysis identified that there was a protective association between CHD and the A allele of rs2277923 polymorphism (p = 0.004). The D allele of the rs28362491 polymorphism is also a likely risk factor for causing CHD (p = 0.006). The differences of the rs4531631 and rs11785481 variant contribution had no statistical significance between the groups (p >0.05). In conclusion, our results revealed that the rs28362491 and rs2277923 gene polymorphisms, but not the rs4531631 and rs11785481 polymorphisms, may contribute to CHD risk in a cohort of Greek CHD patients.
Investigation of Polyacrylic Acid Toxicity in Human Breast Cancer (MCF-7) and Mouse Fibroblast (L-929) Cell Lines
Authors: Ersoz Melike , Allahverdiyev Adil
Published: July 2021

In recent years, biopolymers have been widely used in various fields of medicine. Before using any polymer, its biocompatibility should be examined. Polyacrylic acid (PAA), a polyelectrolyte, is known to be used as an adjuvant effect in immunology, anti-thrombogenic effect in medical experiments, and as a carrier in drug delivery systems. Although there are studies on various conjugates and nanoparticles of PAA, studies on its toxicity alone are limited. Determination of toxicity in biopolymer studies is extremely important. Cultures of various cells are used for toxicity analyses. This study aimed to investigate the toxicity of PAA in human breast cancer (MCF-7) and mouse fibroblast (L-929) cell lines by various methods. Cell culture, 3-(4,5-dimethyltriazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), trypan blue and 4,6-diamidino 2 phenylindole (DAPI) methods were used in the study. The half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) value of PAA was 6.6 mg/ml in MCF 7 cells and 1.8 mg/ ml in L-929 cells. Apoptosis was observed in cells on the increasing PAA concentration with DAPI. With these results, the cytotoxic properties of PAA were determined in vitro. Accordingly, the biocompatibility of polymers to be used in modeling should be supported by in vitro and in vivo studies.
The 3M Concept: Biomedical Translational Imaging from Molecules to Mouse to Man
Authors: Máthé Domokos , Kiss Bálint , Pályi Bernadett , Kis Zoltán , Forgách László , Hegedűs Nikolett , Varga Zoltán , Szigeti Krisztián , Karlinger Kinga , Kellermayer Miklós S Z
Published: July 2021

Imaging keeps pervading biomedical sciences from the nanoscale to the bedside. Connecting the hierarchical levels of biomedicine with relevant imaging approaches, however, remains a challenge.

Here we present a concept, called “3M”, which can deliver a question, formulated at the bedside, across the wide-ranging hierarchical organization of the living organism, from the molecular level, through the small-animal scale, to whole-body human functional imaging. We present an example of nanoparticle development pipeline extending from atomic force microscopy to pre-clinical whole body imaging methods to highlight the essential features of the 3M concept, which integrates multi-scale resolution and quantification into a single logical process.

Using the nanoscale to human clinical whole body approach, we present the successful development, characterisation and application of Prussian Blue nanoparticles for a variety of imaging modalities, extending it to isotope payload quantification and shape-biodistribution relationships.

The translation of an idea from the bedside to the molecular level and back requires a set of novel combinatorial imaging methodologies interconnected into a logical pipeline. The proposed integrative molecules-to-mouse-to-man (3M) approach offers a promising, clinically oriented toolkit that lends the prospect of obtaining an ever-increasing amount of correlated information from as small a voxel of the human body as possible.
The Impulse of Force as an Effective Indicator of Exercise Capacity in Competitive Rowers and Canoeists
Authors: Domaszewska Katarzyna , Kryściak Jakub , Podgórski Tomasz , Nowak Alicja , Ogurkowska Małgorzata
Published: July 2021

The aim of the research was to present the importance of measuring the impulse of force in assessing exercise capacity in professional rowers and canoeists rather than conducting traditional physiological and biochemical analyses. A group of 20 athletes (12 rowers and 8 canoeists) underwent progressive intensity exercise tests in two testing sessions (before and after a training period). During the tests, maximal aerobic capacity, impulse of strength, metabolic indices, and markers of skeletal muscle damage were assessed. Total testosterone, free testosterone, cortisol, interleukin 1,6, and creatine kinase were evaluated in venous blood. The impulse of force at the ventilatory threshold and at the maximum load was correlated with free testosterone and a total testosterone/cortisol ratio during exercise (p ≤ 0.05) and was negatively correlated with cortisol concentration (p ≤ 0.05) in the first testing session (before training intervention). Values were positively correlated with concentration of total testosterone, free testosterone and total testosterone/cortisol, and free testosterone/cortisol ratios during exercise (p ≤ 0.05) in the second testing session (after training intervention). Biochemical indices of overtraining were correlated with maximum oxygen uptake in each session and with the impulse of force at the ventilatory threshold and the maximum load of exercise. Thus, there is an indirect relationship between maximal aerobic capacity and the impulse of force. The measurement of the impulse of force can become a simple and effective method for evaluating the overall exercise capacity of rowers because of its relationship with indices of the load and changes in hormonal indices of anabolic and catabolic processes during exercise. Therefore, it may constitute a replacement for the traditional laboratory measurement of VO2max in highly qualified rowers and canoeists.
Force analysis of the two-satellite planetary mechanism with elliptical gears
Authors: Prikhodko A. A.
Published: July 2021

Non-circular gears can be used in modern machines and mechanisms for the implementation of various types of motion and have high strength and compactness compared to linkage mechanisms. This article presents the force analysis of non-circular gear on the example of the planetary mechanism with elliptical gears, providing the rotationally reciprocating motion of the impeller of the stirred tank. Based on the calculation schemes of the links, kinetostatic balance equations for each link of the mechanism are compiled and solved. Reaction forces in kinematic pairs and balancing moment on the input shaft of the mechanism are found. The results can be used in the synthesis and analysis of various machines with the proposed kinematic scheme of the mechanism.
You May Also Like... Privacy: Recommendation Systems Meet PIR
Authors: Vadapalli Adithya , Bayatbabolghani Fattaneh , Henry Ryan
Published: July 2021

We describe the design, analysis, implementation, and evaluation of Pirsona, a digital content delivery system that realizes collaborative-filtering recommendations atop private information retrieval (PIR). This combination of seemingly antithetical primitives makes possible—for the first time—the construction of practically efficient e-commerce and digital media delivery systems that can provide personalized content recommendations based on their users’ historical consumption patterns while simultaneously keeping said consumption patterns private. In designing Pirsona, we have opted for the most performant primitives available (at the expense of rather strong non-collusion assumptions); namely, we use the recent computationally 1-private PIR protocol of Hafiz and Henry (PETS 2019.4) together with a carefully optimized 4PC Boolean matrix factorization.
Private Stream Aggregation with Labels in the Standard Model
Authors: Ernst Johannes , Koch Alexander
Published: July 2021

A private stream aggregation (PSA) scheme is a protocol of n clients and one aggregator. At every time step, the clients send an encrypted value to the (untrusted) aggregator, who is able to compute the sum of all client values, but cannot learn the values of individual clients. One possible application of PSA is privacy-preserving smart-metering, where a power supplier can learn the total power consumption, but not the consumption of individual households. We construct a simple PSA scheme that supports labels and which we prove to be secure in the standard model. Labels are useful to restrict the access of the aggregator, because it prevents the aggregator from combining ciphertexts with different labels (or from different time-steps) and thus avoids leaking information about values of individual clients. The scheme is based on key-homomorphic pseudorandom functions (PRFs) as the only primitive, supports a large message space, scales well for a large number of users and has small ciphertexts. We provide an implementation of the scheme with a lattice-based key-homomorphic PRF (secure in the ROM) and measure the performance of the implementation. Furthermore, we discuss practical issues such as how to avoid a trusted party during the setup and how to cope with clients joining or leaving the system.
Privacy Preference Signals: Past, Present and Future
Authors: Hils Maximilian , Woods Daniel W. , Böhme Rainer
Published: July 2021

Privacy preference signals are digital representations of how users want their personal data to be processed. Such signals must be adopted by both the sender (users) and intended recipients (data processors). Adoption represents a coordination problem that remains unsolved despite efforts dating back to the 1990s. Browsers implemented standards like the Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) and Do Not Track (DNT), but vendors profiting from personal data faced few incentives to receive and respect the expressed wishes of data subjects. In the wake of recent privacy laws, a coalition of AdTech firms published the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF), which defines an optin consent signal. This paper integrates post-GDPR developments into the wider history of privacy preference signals. Our main contribution is a high-frequency longitudinal study describing how TCF signal gained dominance as of February 2021. We explore which factors correlate with adoption at the website level. Both the number of third parties on a website and the presence of Google Ads are associated with higher adoption of TCF. Further, we show that vendors acted as early adopters of TCF 2.0 and provide two case-studies describing how Consent Management Providers shifted existing customers to TCF 2.0. We sketch ways forward for a pro-privacy signal.
SwapCT: Swap Confidential Transactions for Privacy-Preserving Multi-Token Exchanges
Authors: Engelmann Felix , Müller Lukas , Peter Andreas , Kargl Frank , Bösch Christoph
Published: July 2021

Decentralized token exchanges allow for secure trading of tokens without a trusted third party. However, decentralization is mostly achieved at the expense of transaction privacy. For a fair exchange, transactions must remain private to hide the participants and volumes while maintaining the possibility for noninteractive execution of trades. In this paper we present a swap confidential transaction system (SwapCT) which is related to ring confidential transactions (e.g. used in Monero) but supports multiple token types to trade among and enables secure, partial transactions for noninteractive swaps. We prove that SwapCT is secure in a strict, formal model and present its efficient performance in a prototype implementation with logarithmic signature sizes for large anonymity sets. For our construction we design an aggregatable signature scheme which might be of independent interest. Our SwapCT system thereby enables a secure and private exchange for tokens without a trusted third party.
Fortified Multi-Party Computation: Taking Advantage of Simple Secure Hardware Modules
Authors: Broadnax Brandon , Koch Alexander , Mechler Jeremias , Müller Tobias , Müller-Quade Jörn , Nagel Matthias
Published: July 2021

In practice, there are numerous settings where mutually distrusting parties need to perform distributed computations on their private inputs. For instance, participants in a first-price sealed-bid online auction do not want their bids to be disclosed. This problem can be addressed using secure multi-party computation (MPC), where parties can evaluate a publicly known function on their private inputs by executing a specific protocol that only reveals the correct output, but nothing else about the private inputs. Such distributed computations performed over the Internet are susceptible to remote hacks that may take place during the computation. As a consequence, sensitive data such as private bids may leak. All existing MPC protocols do not provide any protection against the consequences of such remote hacks. We present the first MPC protocols that protect the remotely hacked parties’ inputs and outputs from leaking. More specifically, unless the remote hack takes place before the party received its input or all parties are corrupted, a hacker is unable to learn the parties’ inputs and outputs, and is also unable to modify them. We achieve these strong (privacy) guarantees by utilizing the fact that in practice parties may not be susceptible to remote attacks at every point in time, but only while they are online, i.e. able to receive messages. To this end, we model communication via explicit channels. In particular, we introduce channels with an airgap switch (disconnect-able by the party in control of the switch), and unidirectional data diodes. These channels and their isolation properties, together with very few, similarly simple and plausibly remotely unhackable hardware modules serve as the main ingredient for attaining such strong security guarantees. In order to formalize these strong guarantees, we propose the UC with Fortified Security (UC#) framework, a variant of the Universal Composability (UC) framework.
Secure integer division with a private divisor
Authors: Veugen Thijs , Abspoel Mark
Published: July 2021

We consider secure integer division within a secret-sharing based secure multi-party computation framework, where the dividend is secret-shared, but the divisor is privately known to a single party. We mention various applications where this situation arises. We give a solution within the passive security model, and extend this to the active model, achieving a complexity linear in the input bit length. We benchmark both solutions using the well-known MP-SPDZ framework in a cloud environment. Our integer division protocol with a private divisor clearly outperforms the secret divisor solution, both in runtime and communication complexity.
Blocking Without Breaking: Identification and Mitigation of Non-Essential IoT Traffic
Authors: Mandalari Anna Maria , Dubois Daniel J. , Kolcun Roman , Paracha Muhammad Talha , Haddadi Hamed , Choffnes David
Published: July 2021

Despite the prevalence of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, there is little information about the purpose and risks of the Internet traffic these devices generate, and consumers have limited options for controlling those risks. A key open question is whether one can mitigate these risks by automatically blocking some of the Internet connections from IoT devices, without rendering the devices inoperable.

In this paper, we address this question by developing a rigorous methodology that relies on automated IoT-device experimentation to reveal which network connections (and the information they expose) are essential, and which are not. We further develop strategies to automatically classify network traffic destinations as either required (i.e., their traffic is essential for devices to work properly) or not, hence allowing firewall rules to block traffic sent to non-required destinations without breaking the functionality of the device. We find that indeed 16 among the 31 devices we tested have at least one blockable non-required destination, with the maximum number of blockable destinations for a device being 11. We further analyze the destination of network traffic and find that all third parties observed in our experiments are blockable, while first and support parties are neither uniformly required or non-required. Finally, we demonstrate the limitations of existing blocklists on IoT traffic, propose a set of guidelines for automatically limiting non-essential IoT traffic, and we develop a prototype system that implements these guidelines.
Residue-Free Computing
Authors: Arkema Logan , Sherr Micah
Published: July 2021

Computer applications often leave traces or residues that enable forensic examiners to gain a detailed understanding of the actions a user performed on a computer. Such digital breadcrumbs are left by a large variety of applications, potentially (and indeed likely) unbeknownst to their users. This paper presents the concept of residue-free computing in which a user can operate any existing application installed on their computer in a mode that prevents trace data from being recorded to disk, thus frustrating the forensic process and enabling more privacy-preserving computing. In essence, residue-free computing provides an “incognito mode” for any application. We introduce our implementation of residue-free computing, ResidueFree, and motivate ResidueFree by inventorying the potentially sensitive and privacy-invasive residue left by popular applications. We demonstrate that ResidueFree allows users to operate these applications without leaving trace data, while incurring modest performance overheads.
Differentially Private Naïve Bayes Classifier Using Smooth Sensitivity
Authors: Zafarani Farzad , Clifton Chris
Published: July 2021

There is increasing awareness of the need to protect individual privacy in the training data used to develop machine learning models. Differential Privacy is a strong concept of protecting individuals. Naïve Bayes is a popular machine learning algorithm, used as a baseline for many tasks. In this work, we have provided a differentially private Naïve Bayes classifier that adds noise proportional to the smooth sensitivity of its parameters. We compare our results to Vaidya, Shafiq, Basu, and Hong [1] which scales noise to the global sensitivity of the parameters. Our experimental results on real-world datasets show that smooth sensitivity significantly improves accuracy while still guaranteeing ɛ-differential privacy.
Gage MPC: Bypassing Residual Function Leakage for Non-Interactive MPC
Authors: Almashaqbeh Ghada , Benhamouda Fabrice , Han Seungwook , Jaroslawicz Daniel , Malkin Tal , Nicita Alex , Rabin Tal , Shah Abhishek , Tromer Eran
Published: July 2021

Existing models for non-interactive MPC cannot provide full privacy for inputs, because they inherently leak the residual function (i.e., the output of the function on the honest parties’ input together with all possible values of the adversarial inputs). For example, in any non-interactive sealed-bid auction, the last bidder can figure out what was the highest previous bid. We present a new MPC model which avoids this privacy leak. To achieve this, we utilize a blockchain in a novel way, incorporating smart contracts and arbitrary parties that can be incentivized to perform computation (“bounty hunters,” akin to miners). Security is maintained under a monetary assumption about the parties: an honest party can temporarily supply a recoverable collateral of value higher than the computational cost an adversary can expend. We thus construct non-interactive MPC protocols with strong security guarantees (full security, no residual leakage) in the short term. Over time, as the adversary can invest more and more computational resources, the security guarantee decays. Thus, our model, which we call Gage MPC, is suitable for secure computation with limited-time secrecy, such as auctions. A key ingredient in our protocols is a primitive we call “Gage Time Capsules” (GaTC): a time capsule that allows a party to commit to a value that others are able to reveal but only at a designated computational cost. A GaTC allows a party to commit to a value together with a monetary collateral. If the original party properly opens the GaTC, it can recover the collateral. Otherwise, the collateral is used to incentivize bounty hunters to open the GaTC. This primitive is used to ensure completion of Gage MPC protocols on the desired inputs. As a requisite tool (of independent interest), we present a generalization of garbled circuit that are more robust: they can tolerate exposure of extra input labels. This is in contrast to Yao’s garbled circuits, whose secrecy breaks down if even a single extra label is exposed. Finally, we present a proof-of-concept implementation of a special case of our construction, yielding an auction functionality over an Ethereum-like blockchain.
Privacy-Preserving Approximate k-Nearest-Neighbors Search that Hides Access, Query and Volume Patterns
Authors: Boldyreva Alexandra , Tang Tianxin
Published: July 2021

We study the problem of privacy-preserving approximate kNN search in an outsourced environment — the client sends the encrypted data to an untrusted server and later can perform secure approximate kNN search and updates. We design a security model and propose a generic construction based on locality-sensitive hashing, symmetric encryption, and an oblivious map. The construction provides very strong security guarantees, not only hiding the information about the data, but also the access, query, and volume patterns. We implement, evaluate efficiency, and compare the performance of two concrete schemes based on an oblivious AVL tree and an oblivious BSkiplist.
Efektivitas Peran Audit Internal Syariah: Studi Literatur Terbatas
Authors: Hakim Lukman
Published: July 2021

The Islamic financial Institutions (IFI) governance structure required an internal shariah auditors to assist the duties of Shariah Supervisory Board (SSB). Internal audit was a key player besides SSB, External auditors and the Audit and Governance Committees (AGC). This study was to examine the effectiveness of the role of internal shariah auditors. By adopting limited literature review of indexed international journals was used in this study. The result of the study based on limited literature data sources were the effevtiveness of internal shariah audit on internal audit organizations ini the Good Corporate Governance (GCG) structure, namely the structure, requirements and processes of internal shariah audit. In addition, internal and external factors also affected the effectiveness of internal shariah audit. The Role of the AGC affected the effectiveness of internal audit. Governance and internal audit of Shariah non compliant income were important parts of risk management in IFI
Determinan Nilai Perusahaan pada Perusahaan Manufaktur yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia
Authors: Julia Julia , Umar Haryono
Published: July 2021

This study aims to find out the factors that determine the value of the company. The research method used is quantitative method. The population of this research is a manufacturing company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2015-2018 with sampling techniques in the form of purposive sampling so that 14 companies were selected as final samples. The data analysis performed is multiple linear regression. The result of this research shows that profitability, age of company and capital structure has a positive effect on firm value while managerial ownership, independent board of commissioner, audit committee, firm size, dividend policy, company productivity and liquidity did not have influence on firm value
Pengaruh Financial Distress dan Ukuran Perusahaan Terhadap Manajemen Laba dengan Kepemilikan Manajerial sebagai Variabel Moderasi
Authors: Tsaqif Bahiy Muhammad , Agustiningsih Wulandari
Published: July 2021

Exploration of the effect of financial distress and company size on earnings management with managerial ownership as a moderation variable into the purpose of this study. The use of quantitative and causal methods is the basis of this study supported by the population in the form of a state-owned enterprise company listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2015-2019 and purposive sampling period as the basis for determining the sample. Multiple linear regression and moderated regression analysis are selected as data analysis techniques. Based on the results of statistical tests show that partially, financial distress and the size of the company have a significant negative effect on earnings management. Furthermore, Financial Distress moderated by managerial leadership has a significant negative effect on earnings management, as well as the size of the company moderated by managerial ownership has a significant positive effect on earnings management.
Determinan Profitabilitas Industri Perbankan yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia
Authors: Rahmayani Liza , Anggraini Dahlia Tri
Published: July 2021

This research aims to find out the determinants of profitability in banking companies. This research is quantitative with the population of banking companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2015-2019, and used purposive sampling techniques that obtained samples of 27 banking companies. Data analysis techniques in this research is descriptive statistical analysis and panel data regression. This study obtained the results that BI rate, inflation, and Non Performing Loan (NPL) simultaneously have a significant effect on profitability. While partially, BI rate and inflation have insignificant negative effect on profitability, and NPL has a significant negative effect on profitability.
DESAIN ULANG STRUKTUR DROP PANEL JOGJA APARTEMEN DIGANTIKAN DENGAN STRUKTUR BALOK MENGGUNAKAN SNI 2847:2013 DAN SNI 1726:2012
Authors: Harsoyo Yoga Aprianto , Wibowo Irwan Setyo
Published: July 2021

Perkembangan teknologi beton membuat ikut berkembangnya struktur beton bertulang. Salah satunya adalah struktur drop panel. Drop panel merupakan struktur pengganti balok yang diproyeksikan dibawah flat slab dengan penambahan ketebalan pada kepala kolomnya. Namun, peraturan-paraturan yang menjelaskan tentang struktur ini masih sedikit, sehingga SNI 2847 : 2013 dan SNI 1726 : 2012 memberi batasan pada struktur drop panel dan flat slab hanya dapat digunakan pada struktur rangka pemikul momen menengah dan digunakan pada wilayah gempa ringan atau sedang. Jogja Apartemen termasuk ke dalam struktur rangka pemikul momen khusus dan berada pada wilayah gempa tinggi. Oleh karena itu dilakukan penelitian dengan mendesain ulang struktur drop panel Jogja Apartemen digantikan dengan balok konvensional untuk mendapatkan tingkat keamanan struktur terhadap parameter-parameter beban gempa, persyaratan beton bertulang, perbandingan dimensi awal drop panel, balok, dan  flat slab dengan desain baru dan memperoleh perbandingan rasio volume beton bertulang. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan merubah perencanaan drop panel dan balok awal dengan balok baru tanpa drop panel yang dibantu dengan software analisis numerik ETABS. Dari hasil penelitian didapat bahwa desain denah balok baru tanpa drop panel dinyatakan aman terhadap parameter-parameter beban gempa berupa periode getar struktur dengan nilai arah x dan y di bawah batas maksimum sebesar 2,03 detik, base shear dimana V dinamik lebih besar dari 85 % V statik , perpindahan maksimum arah x dan y di bawah batas limit, stabilitas rasio pengaruh P-delta kurang dari nilai maksimum sebesar 0,091, faktor pembesaran torsi kurang dari 3, dan mengalami penurunan volume beton sebesar 16,27 % dengan rasio tulangan mengalami penurunan sebesar 12,62 %.
METODE BOWTIE UNTUK DAMPAK KECELAKAAN KERJA PADA PROYEK JALAN (STUDI KASUS PROYEK PEMBANGUNAN JALAN TOL SERPONG – BALARAJA SEKSI I A)
Authors: Maddeppungeng Andi , Asyiah Siti , Iqbal Muhammad
Published: July 2021

Untuk meningkatkan pertumbuhan ekonomi pengembangan infrastruktur merupakan hal dasar yang harus dipenuhi. Semakin tingginya angka pembangunan di Indonesia sejalan dengan meningkatnya angka kecelakaan kerja  Kementerian Ketenagakerjaan mencatat bahwa kasus kecelakaan kerja pada Tahun 2017 sebesar 123.041 kasus dan kasus ini terus meningkat setiap tahunnya yaitu 157.313 pada Tahun 2018 dan yang lebih mengkhawatirkannya lagi adalah 32% dari total kecelakaan tersebut berasal dari sektor industri konstruksi dan manufaktur. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengetahui kecelakaan apa saja yang mungkin terjadi di dalam proyek infrastruktur yaitu Jalan Tol Serpong – Balaraja dan melakukan sebuah analisa tentang penyebab, dampak, dan kontrol dari masing-masing penyebab dan dampak tersebut. Metode yang digunakan dalam analisa kecelakaan ini adalah Metode Bowtie, yang mana data analisa yang digunakan berasal dari hasil kuesioner yang telah dibagikan kepada staf pada divisi yang telah ditentukan sebelumnya. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah di dalam Proyek Jalan Tol Serpong – Balaraja Seksi I A terdapat beberapa potensi kecelakaan kerja yang mungkin terjadi selama pelaksanaan, potensi risiko tersebut terdiri atas 19 potensi risiko yang berkategori Low, 31 potensi risiko yang berada pada kategori Moderate, dan 1 risiko yang berkategori High yaitu balok girder jatuh dan menimpa pekerja (7b). Bagian akhir penelitian juga menunjukkan bahwa penyebab dari kecelakaan kerja terjadi akibat kesalahan operator/staff, terjadi akibat faktor alam/lingkungan, dan faktor mesin dan material. Adapun dampaknya adalah pekerja mengalami luka berat/kematian, alat berat mengalami kerusakan, kerugian akibat material yang rusak dan kerugian akibat waktu yang tertunda.
PEMANFAATAN LIMBAH KAYU GALAM BARITO KUALA SEBAGAI PENGGANTI AGREGAT KASAR PADA CAMPURAN BETON
Authors: Anggarini Elia , Muzaidi Irwandy
Published: July 2021

Kayu galam merupakan tumbuhan kayu asli rawa yang tumbuh pada hutan gambut dangkal, menjadi tumpuan hidup masyarakat di Barito Kuala, Kalimantan Selatan. Di wilayah Banjarmasin dan sekitarnya kayu galam digunakan sebagai perancah dalam pembangunan konstruksi bangunan beton sederhana. Namun setelah konstruksi selesai dikerjakan kayu galam bekas perancah tersebut tidak dipakai lagi. Pada penelitian ini, limbah kayu galam berupa potongan-potongan kayu dimanfaatkan untuk pengganti agregat kasar yang digunakan pada campuran beton. Di mana komposisi kayu galam sebagai pengganti agregat adalah 100%, 75%, 30% dan 15% dari jumlah agregat kasar pada komposisi beton mutu normal sesuai dengan peratuan yang terdapat di SNI 03-2834-2000. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui nilai kuat tekan beton yang menggunakan limbah kayu galam sebagai pengganti agregat kasar dimana penelitian penggunakan kayu galam sebagai pengganti agregat kasar belum pernah dilakukan sebelumnya. Benda uji pada penelitian ini adalah menggunakan silinder ukuran 15 cm x 30 cm dengan umur pemeraman adalah 14 hari dan 28 hari. Dari hasil pengujian kuat tekan hancur didapatkan hasil untuk komposisi 100% kayu galam pada umur 14 hari sebesar 4,53 Mpa dan pada umur 28 hari sebesar 5,66 Mpa. Sedangkan komposisi, 75% kayu galam + 25% kerikil pada umur 14 hari adalah 11,28 Mpa dan umur 28 hari adalah 16,97 Mpa. Pada komposisi 30% kayu galam + 70% kerikil pada umur 14 hari sebesar 13,01 Mpa dan pada umur 28 hari adalah 16,29 Mpa. Sedangkan untuk komposisi 15% kayu galam + 85% kerikil didapatkan nilai uji tekan pada umur 14 hari sebesar 15,63 Mpa dan pada umur 28 hari sebesar 18,27 Mpa.
ANALISIS PENERAPAN PROGRAM K3/5R DI PT X DENGAN PENDEKATAN STANDAR OHSAS 18001 DAN KEMUNGKINAN PENERAPAN PADA PENGERJAAN PROYEK KONSTRUKSI SELAMA VIRUS CORONA MEWABAH
Authors: Waluyo Prihadi
Published: July 2021

Gerakan 5R (Ringkas, Rapi, Resik, Rawat, Rajin) di PT X sangat berkaitan erat dengan K3 (Keselamatan dan Kesehatan Kerja) yang sesuai dengan standar OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series). Guna mengetahui sejauhmana pengaruhnya terhadap karyawan maka dilakukan analisis penerapan program K3/5R di PT X dengan pendekatan standar OHASAS 18001 dan statistik tes U Mann-Whitney serta pengaruhnya pada produktivitas karyawan, dan kemungkinan penerapan pada proyek konstruksi sesuai Instruksi Menteri PUPR No. 02/IN/M/2020 tentang Protokol Pencegahan Penyebaran COVID-19. Dari hasil analisis produktivitas kerja ternyata setelah penerapan 5R ada pengaruhnya, terlihat dari tes U Mann-Whitney dengan H0 ditolak dan H1 diterima. Dengan demikian pengaruh penerapan 5R cukup besar. Pada saat dimulainya Gerakan 5R terlihat bahwa produktivitas kerja karyawan naik cukup besar dari Rp. 5,93 juta/karyawan pada tahun ke 6 (Tahun pertama dimulai Gerakan 5) menjadi 10,98 pada tahun ke 7 (Tahun kedua Gerakan 5R) atau naik 85,2%. Demikian pula pada tahun ke 8 (Tahun ketiga Gerakan 5R)  produktivitas kerja menjadi 20,59 atau naik 87,5% dibandingkan dengan produktivitas kerja tahun ke 7 (Tahun kedua Gerakan 5R).
BACK ANALYSIS PARAMETER KONSOLIDASI PADA PEMBEBANAN VAKUM DENGAN PVD
Authors: Yohanson Ronald , Ilyas Tommy
Published: July 2021

Back Analysis parameter-parameter konsolidasi dilakukan pada proses penurunan tanah secara konsolidasi dengan pembebanan vakum pada metode perbaikan tanah dengan PVD pada jalan tol Palembang – Indralaya. Parameter konsolidasi yang dianalisis adalah koefisien konsolidasi, tekanan pra-konsolidasi, indeks kompresi dan kompresi, dan permeabilitas tanah horizontal. Evaluasi derajat konsolidasi pertama kali dilakukan untuk menilai kemajuan konsolidasi dengan menggunakan data lapangan penurunan tanah dan tekanan air pori. Perilaku penurunan tanah terhadap waktu hasil monitoring lapangan dapat dianalisis dengan menggunakan metode Asaoka tidak hanya untuk mengestimasi derajat konsolidasi dan penurunan tanah akhir, tetapi juga koefisien konsolidasi dan permeabilitas tanah. Karena tekanan air pori juga memainkan peran penting dalam konsolidasi vakum, menjadi hal yang penting untuk melakukan back analysis menggunakan perilaku tekanan air pori selama proses konsolidasi.