Strengthening the Security of EPC C-1 G-2 RFID Standard

In this paper, we analyze the security of AZUMI protocol which is compliant with EPC-Class-1 Generation-2 standard and recently has been proposed by Peris et al. This protocol is an improvement to a protocol proposed by Chen and Deng which has been cryptanalysed by Peris et al. and Kapoor and Piramuthu. However, our security analysis clearly shows that the designers were not successful in their attempt to improve Chen and Deng protocol. More precisely, we present an efficient passive attack to disclose the tag and the reader secret parameters, due to PRNG and the length of the values. In addition, we present a simple tag impersonation attack against this protocol. The success probability of all attacks are almost “1” and the cost of given attacks are at most eavesdropping two sessions of protocol. However, the given secrets disclosure attack also requires $O(2^{16})$ off-line evaluations of a $PRNG$ function. To counteract such flaws, we improve the AZUMI protocol by applying some minor modifications so that it provides the claimed security properties.     

Role of turmeric in oxidative modulation in end‐stage renal disease patients

Oxidative stress is considered as a major player in uremia‐associated morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of turmeric on oxidative stress markers in HD patients. This study was a prospective and double‐blind randomized clinical trial. Fifty HD patients aged 18–60 years were recruited after fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Patients were randomly categorized into 2 groups: trial group received turmeric and control group received placebo for 8 weeks. Each patient in the trial group received turmeric, whereas the control group received starch for the same 8 weeks. Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), red blood cell (RBC) antioxidant enzyme activities as glutathione peroxidase (GPX), glutathione reductase (GR), and catalase (CAT), cholesterol, high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol, triglyceride, albumin, and hemoglobin were also measured before and after study. Although MDA level was reduced in both groups, the ratio of decrease was significantly higher in the turmeric group (0.2 vs. 0.1, P = 0.040). Three enzymes of GPX, GR, and CAT levels were increased in both groups; the ratio of increased was significantly higher in the turmeric group for the CAT enzyme (0.73 vs. 0.54; P = 0.02). Also, significant elevation of albumin level in the turmeric group compared with the control group was observed (P = 0.001). Regular ingestion of turmeric reduces plasma MDA and increases RBC CAT activity and plasma albumin levels in HD patients. Turmeric showed no adverse effects.     

Micelle mediated extraction and simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of vanadium(V) and molybdenum(VI) in plant foodstuff samples

A micelle-mediated extraction method for preconcentration of trace quantities of V(V) and Mo(VI) as a prior step to their simultaneous spectrophotometric determination has been developed. Bromopyrogallol red, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) (cationic surfactant) and KI were used as chelating, extraction and co-extraction agents, respectively.     

Hydrothermal synthesis and structural studies of a new coordination polymer of lanthanum(Ⅲ) with benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylic acid and 4,4''-bipyridine

A new lanthanum complex formulated as { (bpyH2)[La(btc)(H2O)4(NO3)]·2H2O }n (1) (btcH4=benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylic acid; bpy=4,4'-bipyridine) was hydrothermally synthesized. The complex was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and X-ray diffraction. X-ray crystal structural analysis revealed that the compound belonged to the monoclinic space group C2/c with cell parameters a= 1.42806(7) nm, b=1.10258(5) ran, c=-1.60333(8) nm and β=101.9400(10)°. The complex was polymeric with La<Ⅲ atoms linked by four O atoms from two carboxylate groups of one benzene-1,2,4,5-tetracarboxylate. The LaⅢ atom was ten coordinated in a distorted tetracapped trigonal prism. In the crystal structure, a wide range of noncovalent interactions consisting of hydrogen bonding (of the types of O-H…O, N-H…O and C-H…O) and ion pairing interactions connected the various components into a supramolecular structure.     

Properties of Nafion Under Uniaxial Loading at Different Temperatures: A Molecular Dynamics Study

Nafion membrane encounters many different thermal conditions and mechanical loadings because of its wide range of applications as a proton exchange membrane (PEM). Molecular dynamics simulation of hydrated Nafion at different temperatures is carried out to investigate the alteration of the physical properties of Nafion under uniaxial loading over a wide range of temperatures. According to the simulation results, increase of the temperature reduces the yield stress. The results also show that the polymer chains ordering increases the glass transition temperature and enhances the self-diffusion coefficient of water in hydrated Nafion. Comparisons show that the elastic modulus and viscosity coefficient obtained from the simulations at different temperatures are qualitatively in agreement with the measured values from experiments.     

Investigation of factors affecting on viscosity reduction of sludge from Iranian crude oil storage tanks

Crude oil is a kind of water/oil emulsion, which the oil phase consists of organic molecules with different molecular weights such as alkanes, paraffin, asphaltene, and resins. Due to the change in physicochemical conditions during the production, transportation, storage, and refining, heavier molecules can precipitate from crude oil. Thus, viscous sludge formed at the bottom of storage tanks can cause many problems including reduction of storage capacity of tank, oil contamination, corrosion, repair costs, environmental pollution, etc. The reduction of sludge viscosity can be achieved by reduction of its interfacial tension. In this study, different chemical and physical factors, influencing prepared emulsions (made of sludge, water and surfactant), such as surfactants, solvents, temperature, pressure, and mixing conditions were investigated. Results showed that non-ionic surfactants (like bitumen emulsifier), and solvents (such as mixed xylene, AW-400, and AW-402), injection of additives, applying pressure, and mixing operations had a positive effect on reduction of emulsion viscosity. All experiments were carried out with sludge obtained from crude oil storage tanks at Kharg Island, Iran.     

Measurement and modeling of solubility of H2S in aqueous diisopropanolamine solution

Modeling of solubility of acid gases in aqueous alkanolamine solutions is essential for design of an absorber for natural gas sweetening. In this work an apparatus similar to the device of Hayduk and Chen (1970), which was improved by Pahlavanzadeh and Motahhari (1997), for the measurement of gas solubility data by the synthetic method was used. The solubility of hydrogen sulfide in aqueous diisopropanolamine (DIPA) solution in mass concentration range of 30–40% for 101,325 Pa pressure and for temperature ranging from 313–343 K was reported. The obtained experimental solubility data of H₂S in aqueous solutions of DIPA was used to predict the different interaction parameters of modified UNIQUAC-NRF model for calculating the activity coefficients. For nonideality of species in liquid phase, the UNIQUAC-NRF equation with ion-pair approach was applied. For long range interaction, the Pitzer-Debye-Huckel term was used.     

A New Coded Cooperation Scheme for Wireless Communications and its Performance Analysis

We propose a new coded cooperation scheme for wireless communications to obtain transmit diversity in the scenarios that agents such as mobile handsets, sensor network nodes and etc., due to size, power or other constraints, cannot utilize multiple antennas. New scheme supports more than two cooperative users with a relatively low cooperation level. We evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme in a frequency nonselective slow fading channel. For two cooperative users, we provide the exact analytical analysis. However, for more than two users, as the analytical analysis is very complicated, our performance evaluation is based on computer simulations. Our numerical results show that each of the N cooperative users obtains a full diversity order of N at moderate to high signal to noise ratio regimes. In addition, the results indicate that the new coded cooperation scheme can achieve a noticeable gain over the non-cooperative scheme. Further, the simulation results confirm the analytical derivations derived for two cooperative users.

Inulin addition to yoghurt: Prebiotic activity,health effects and sensory properties

Health and technical aspects of inulin have led to its wide applications in the food industry. Yoghurt is a cultured food with beneficial nutritional value that has advantageous effects in combination with inulin, for example reduction in fat content, improving the functions of the intestinal system and technical and textural influences. In this review, the physicochemical and health properties of inulin are described and also its use as a functional ingredient in yoghurt production is investigated. Also, the ability of inulin to increase probiotic viability and its influence on texture and flavour quality of yoghurt are discussed.     

Investigation and Comparing the Effects of CNTs and Ag Nanoparticles Doping on YBCO Superconductor Properties

In this work, we investigate and compare doping effects of Ag nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on the properties of Y₁Ba₂Cu₃ O _7?δ (YBCO) high-temperature superconductor. The YBCO samples were prepared using sol-gel method and characterized by resistivity versus temperature (ρ–T), the electrical field versus current density (E–J), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis. The results show that the orthorhombic phase of superconductivity was formed for all the prepared samples. Also, we found that the crystalline size of the YBCO samples decreases from 62 to 33 nm by adding CNTs and Ag nanoparticles to the compound. The pinning energy, critical current density and critical temperature of the samples increase by adding CNTs and Ag nanoparticles to YBCO compound, but CNTs play a more effective role than Ag nanoparticles in this compound.