A secure search protocol for lightweight and low-cost RFID systems

In radio frequency identification (RFID) systems, search protocols are used to find a specific item in a large number of tagged products. These protocols should be secure against RFID attacks such as traceability, impersonation, DoS and eavesdropping. Sundaresan et al. (IEEE Trans Dependable Secure Comput, 2015) presented a server-less search protocol based on 128-bits PRNG function and claimed that their method can address all vulnerabilities of previous protocols. In this paper, we prove that Sundaresan et al.’s protocol is vulnerable to traceability attack with the high probability. In addition, we present an improved protocol to solve the proposed problem and analyze its security level informally and formally based on AVISPA tool and BAN logic.     

Electromagnetic Scattering From Multilayer Rough Surfaces With Arbitrary Dielectric Profiles for Remote Sensing of Subsurface Soil Moisture

Radar remote sensing of soil moisture content at low frequencies requires an accurate scattering model of realistic soils, which often involves multilayer rough surfaces and dielectric profiles. In this paper, a hybrid analytical/numerical solution to two-dimensional scattering from multilayer rough surfaces separated by arbitrary dielectric profiles based on the extended boundary condition method (EBCM) and scattering matrix technique is presented. The reflection and transmission matrices of rough interfaces are constructed using EBCM. The dielectric profiles are modeled as stacks of piecewise homogeneous dielectric thin layers, whose scattering matrices are computed by recursively cascading reflection and transmission matrices of individual dielectric interfaces. The interactions between the rough interfaces and stratified dielectric profiles are taken into account by applying the generalized scattering matrix technique. The scattering coefficients are obtained by combining the powers computed from the resulting Floquet modes of the overall system. The bistatic scattering coefficients are validated against existing analytical and numerical solutions. Field-collected soil moisture data are then used for numerical simulations to investigate the penetration capability at different frequencies and to address the potential of low-frequency radar systems in estimating deep soil moisture. In particular, soil moisture profiles during dry ground, wet ground, and wet subsurface layer conditions are examined. The results show that both backscattering coefficients and copolarized phase difference at low frequencies are sensitive to the roughness of subsurface interfaces and deep soil moisture. Also, much larger depth sensitivity can be achieved using copolarized phase difference than scattering coefficients     

Radiative transfer model for microwave bistatic scattering from forest canopies

A bistatic forest scattering model is developed to simulate scattering coefficients from forest canopies. The model is based on the Michigan Microwave Canopy Scattering (MIMICS) model (hence called Bi-MIMICS) and uses radiative transfer theory, where the first-order fully polarimetric transformation matrix is used. Bistatic radar systems offer advantages over monostatic radar systems because of the additional information provided by the diversity of the geometry. By simulating the forest canopy scattering from multiple viewpoints, we can better understand how the forest scatterers' shape, orientation, density, and permittivity affect the canopy scattering. Bi-MIMICS is parametrized using selected forest stands with different canopy compositions and structure. The simulation results show that bistatic scattering is more sensitive to forest biomass changes than backscattering. Analyzing scattering contributions from different parts of the canopy gives us a better understanding of the microwave's interaction with the tree components. The ground effects can also be studied. Knowledge of the canopy's bistatic scattering behavior combined with additional synthetic aperture radar measurements can be used to improve forest parameter retrievals. The simulation results of the model provide the required information for the design of future bistatic radar systems for forest sensing applications.     

Two-dimensional random projection

As an alternative to adaptive nonlinear schemes for dimensionality reduction, linear random projection has recently proved to be a reliable means for high-dimensional data processing. Widespread application of conventional random projection in the context of image analysis is, however, mainly impeded by excessive computational and memory requirements. In this paper, a two-dimensional random projection scheme is considered as a remedy to this problem, and the associated key notion of concentration of measure is closely studied. It is then applied in the contexts of image classification and sparse image reconstruction. Finally, theoretical results are validated within a comprehensive set of experiments with synthetic and real images.     

Antioxidant Activity of Loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) Fruit Peel and Pulp Extracts in Stabilization of Soybean Oil During Storage Conditions

The antioxidation activities of Eriobotrya japonica (Lindl.) fruit peel and pulp extracts were determined using DPPH, β-carotene, and Rancimat methods. Results showed that ethanol-water extract of peel and ethanol extract of pulp had the highest antioxidant activity. Protective effects of extracts in stabilization of soybean oil were tested and compared to tert-butyl hydroquinone by measuring peroxide values, free fatty acids, thiobarbituric acid, oxidative stability, and conjugated dienes and trienes values during storage (65 days at 25°C). Results showed that the ethanol-water extract of peel at 400 ppm exhibited stronger antioxidant activity, but the highest effect was observed in tert-butyl hydroquinone.     

Curcumin and Liver Disease: from Chemistry to Medicine

Curcumin, the natural yellow‐colored active principle, also called turmeric yellow, extracted from the perennial herb Curcuma longa L., has potent biological and pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, antifungal, antibacterial, anti‐ischemic, antitumor, and anticancer actions. The molecular mechanism of the hepatoprotective action of curcumin is due to its antioxidant properties and inhibitory activity against nuclear factor (NF)‐κB that regulates different proinflammatory and profibrotic cytokines. Overall, scientific reports demonstrate that curcumin has high therapeutic ability for treating hepatic disorders. Here is a systematic discussion of the hepatoprotective activity of curcumin and its possible mechanisms of actions.     

Stochastic Security-constrained Unit Commitment Considering Electric Vehicles,Energy Storage Systems,and Flexible Loads with Renewable Energy Resources

In this paper, a new formulation for modeling the problem of stochastic security-constrained unit commitment along with optimal charging and discharging of large-scale electric vehicles, energy storage systems, and flexible loads with renewable energy resources is presented. The uncertainty of renewable energy resources is considered as a scenario-based model. In this paper, a multi-objective function which considers the reduction of operation cost, no-load and startup/shutdown costs, unserved load cost, load shifting, carbon emission, optimal charging and discharging of energy storage systems, and power curtailment of renewable energy resources is considered. The proposed formulation is a mixed-integer linear programming（MILP） model, of which the optimal global solution is guaranteed by commercial solvers. To validate the proposed formulation, several cases and networks are considered for analysis, and the results demonstrate the efficiency.