title: Secure voting in the cloud using homomorphic encryption and mobile agents

authors: Will, Mark Antony

abstract: While governments are transitioning to the cloud to leverage efficiency, transparency and accessibility advantages, public opinion - the backbone of democracy - is being left behind. Statistics show that traditional paper voting is failing to reach the technological-savvy generation, with voter turnout decreasing every election for many first-world countries. Remote electronic voting is a possible solution facilitator to this problem, but it still faces several security, privacy and accountability concerns. This paper introduces a practical application of partially homomorphic encryption to help address these challenges. We describe a cloud-based mobile electronic voting scheme, evaluating its security against a list of requirements, and benchmarking performance on the cloud and mobile devices. In order to protect voter privacy, we propose moving away from a public bulletin board so that no individual cipher votes are saved, while still allowing vote verification. As the majority of the security threats faced by electronic voting are from the underlying system, we also introduce the novel concept of using a dedicated hardware server for homomorphic tallying and decryption.

text: Secure voting in the cloud using homomorphic encryption and mobile agents While governments are transitioning to the cloud to leverage efficiency, transparency and accessibility advantages, public opinion - the backbone of democracy - is being left behind. Statistics show that traditional paper voting is failing to reach the technological-savvy generation, with voter turnout decreasing every election for many first-world countries. Remote electronic voting is a possible solution facilitator to this problem, but it still faces several security, privacy and accountability concerns. This paper introduces a practical application of partially homomorphic encryption to help address these challenges. We describe a cloud-based mobile electronic voting scheme, evaluating its security against a list of requirements, and benchmarking performance on the cloud and mobile devices. In order to protect voter privacy, we propose moving away from a public bulletin board so that no individual cipher votes are saved, while still allowing vote verification. As the majority of the security threats faced by electronic voting are from the underlying system, we also introduce the novel concept of using a dedicated hardware server for homomorphic tallying and decryption.

year: 2015

title: Quality of cellulose and biostimulant extracts from Oedogonium calcareum cultivated during primary wastewater treatment

authors: Jayasooriya, Nethmie

subjects: Biomass utilization

abstract: A practical two-product cascading biorefinery was developed to extract a biostimulant and cellulose from the freshwater filamentous macroalga Oedogonium calcareum grown while treating primary wastewater. Biostimulant production provides a valuable extract with production of disinfected residual biomass for further product development. Both Escherichia coli and F-specific RNA bacteriophage, indicators of human pathogens contamination, were absent from the residual biomass. The chemical composition of the biostimulant was complex, consisting of growth-promoting substances, free amino acids, and minerals. The O. calcareum cellulose fractions yielded between 9.5% and 10.1% (w/w) with purities from 84% to 90% and closely resembled microcrystalline cellulose. Biostimulant extraction improved cellulose quality by increasing crystallinity from 59% to 62%. Biomass condition, drying process, and biostimulant production influenced the crystallinity index. This study demonstrates a two-step process of biostimulant and cellulose extraction from wastewater-grown Oedogonium, simultaneously disinfecting biomass and isolating high-quality cellulose as a sustainable alternative to conventional extraction methods.

text: Quality of cellulose and biostimulant extracts from Oedogonium calcareum cultivated during primary wastewater treatment A practical two-product cascading biorefinery was developed to extract a biostimulant and cellulose from the freshwater filamentous macroalga Oedogonium calcareum grown while treating primary wastewater. Biostimulant production provides a valuable extract with production of disinfected residual biomass for further product development. Both Escherichia coli and F-specific RNA bacteriophage, indicators of human pathogens contamination, were absent from the residual biomass. The chemical composition of the biostimulant was complex, consisting of growth-promoting substances, free amino acids, and minerals. The O. calcareum cellulose fractions yielded between 9.5% and 10.1% (w/w) with purities from 84% to 90% and closely resembled microcrystalline cellulose. Biostimulant extraction improved cellulose quality by increasing crystallinity from 59% to 62%. Biomass condition, drying process, and biostimulant production influenced the crystallinity index. This study demonstrates a two-step process of biostimulant and cellulose extraction from wastewater-grown Oedogonium, simultaneously disinfecting biomass and isolating high-quality cellulose as a sustainable alternative to conventional extraction methods.

year: 2024-07-01

title: Paradoxical mobilities: sharemilking with Te Raparahi Lands Trust (Wāotū)

authors: Hutcheson, Gail Yvonne

subjects: mobilities

abstract: Mobilities are important for capturing some of the combined movements of people, animals and objects in all of their complex relational dynamics. Sharemilking involves a cascade of mobilities: from the modest journies of the everyday to the upheaval of complete farm moves. Here we examine how sharemilkers are enabled and constrained in different ways by being mobile and landless, but also included are hopeful geographies. The sharemilker's mobile relationship to land, rather than ownership of it, works well with indigenous ideas of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) that is a central feature of multiply owned Māori land trust (Te Raparahi). Combining sharemilker mobility with te Raparahi, and importantly Ngāti Hūri historical and contemporary connections to Te Wāotū in South Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand, reveals paradoxical mobilities of place.

text: Paradoxical mobilities: sharemilking with Te Raparahi Lands Trust (Wāotū) Mobilities are important for capturing some of the combined movements of people, animals and objects in all of their complex relational dynamics. Sharemilking involves a cascade of mobilities: from the modest journies of the everyday to the upheaval of complete farm moves. Here we examine how sharemilkers are enabled and constrained in different ways by being mobile and landless, but also included are hopeful geographies. The sharemilker's mobile relationship to land, rather than ownership of it, works well with indigenous ideas of kaitiakitanga (guardianship) that is a central feature of multiply owned Māori land trust (Te Raparahi). Combining sharemilker mobility with te Raparahi, and importantly Ngāti Hūri historical and contemporary connections to Te Wāotū in South Waikato, Aotearoa New Zealand, reveals paradoxical mobilities of place.

year: 2017