Parallel crypto-devices for GF(p) elliptic curve multiplication resistant against side channel attacks

All elliptic curve cryptographic schemes are based on scalar multiplication of points, and hence its faster computation signifies faster operation. This paper proposes two different parallelization techniques to speedup the GF(p) elliptic curve multiplication in affine coordinates and the corresponding architectures. The proposed implementations are capable of resisting different side channel attacks based on time and power analysis. The 160, 192, 224 and 256 bits implementations of both the architectures have been synthesized and simulated for both FPGA and 0.13μ CMOS ASIC. The final designs have been prototyped on a Xilinx Virtex-4 xc4vlx200-12ff1513 FPGA board and performance analyzes carried out. The experimental result and performance comparison show better throughput of the proposed implementations as compared to existing reported architectures.     

Oxidation stability and compositional characteristics of oils from microwave roasted pumpkin seeds during thermal oxidation

The oxidative stability and compositional characteristics of the pumpkin seed oil (PSO) exposed to microwaves were studied during heating at 170°C. The oxidative indices such as free fatty acid (FFA), peroxide value (PV), p-anisidine value (p-AV), TOTOX, specific extinctions and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value of oils were significantly increased, and the increments were found to be significantly higher (P < 0.05) in unroasted seed oil as compared to roasted seed oil. The relative contents of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were decreased to 84.7%, and saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were increased to 119.5% in unroasted sample, after 9 h of heating. On the other hand, in 12 min roasted samples, the relative contents of PUFAs were decreased to 97.0%, and SFAs were increased to 102.6% after 9 h of heating. The triacylglycerol species LLL and OLL levels were decreased as a consequence of increased heating time, and the reduction tended to be significantly higher in unroasted samples as compared to roasted ones. The oxidation products formed were also investigated by FTIR. The present results indicated that microwave roasting of pumpkin seeds markedly enhanced the oxidative stability of the oils during heating.     

Functional Applications of Lignocellulolytic Enzymes in the Fruit and Vegetable Processing Industries

Cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin (carbohydrate), and lignin (noncarbohydrate) polymers are the main substrates of lignocellulose‐degrading enzymes. They are present in large amounts in the primary cell wall and dietary fibers of major fruits and vegetables. During processing of fruits and vegetables to the corresponding final food products, lignocellulosic substrates are hydrolyzed by different lignocellulolytic enzymes. Currently, lignocellulolytic enzymes such as cellulases, xylanases, pectinases, and laccases are extensively used during the processing of fruits and vegetables, in applications like texturizing and flavoring of products in the food industries. The present article provides an updated overview of functional applications of lignocellulolytic enzymes in the juice processing, oil extraction, and alcoholic beverage processing industries. Extensive use of lignocellulolytic enzymes in different food processing industries not only accelerates the production rates but also improves product quality. It is also possible to ensure the efficient use of fruits and vegetables globally by employing lignocellulolytic enzymes in the corresponding processing industries to convert them into food commodities, which will not only raise their economic value in the global market but also increase food availability, which will help mitigate nutritional problems worldwide.     

A unified presentation of some classes of meromorphically multivalent functions

The authors introduce and investigate various properties of a general class

U_k[p,a,β,A,B]

p, k ε N {1, 2, 3,…,}; 0 α < p; β 0

;

−1 A < B 1; 0 < B 1)

,which unifies and extends several (known or new) subclasses of meromorphically multivalent functions. The properties and characteristics of this general class, which are presented here, include growth and distortion theorems; they also involve Hadamard products (or convolution) of functions belonging to the class U_k[p,α,β,A,B].     

Technical appraisal of solar home systems in Bangladesh: A field investigation

Solar Home System (SHS) based rural electrification has experienced a considerable growth in Bangladesh since the start of the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Development Project (REREDP) in 2003. The initial target of 50,000 SHS installations in off-grid areas was achieved within 2.5 years, 3 years ahead of schedule. After achieving a revised target of 200,000 SHSs, ahead of schedule in early 2009, a new target of 1 million SHS installations by 2012 was set. The installation of about 0.5 million systems by March 2010 indicates that the current target may well be achieved before the deadline. The size of the SHS market and its impact on the regeneration of the rural economy make it necessary to investigate the quality and reliability of the installed SHSs, if the continued success of the initiative is to be maintained. This paper reports on the findings from a field-based technical appraisal of SHS installations in Bangladesh. Sixty geographically dispersed installation sites were visited. Physical characteristics of the SHSs and their system components were tested to ascertain compliance with and deviations from the approved specifications. Despite the overwhelming success of the REREDP project, the study revealed various shortcomings. Notable among these are: incompatible and sub-optimal component configurations, faulty installations and a lack of effective quality assurance mechanism. The findings are contextualized and the ways to address the identified shortcomings are discussed.     

An online resource allocation algorithm to minimize system interference for inband underlay D2D communications

This paper addresses the research question of total system interference minimization while maintaining a target system sum rate gain in an inband underlay device‐to‐device (D2D) communication. To the best of our knowledge, most of the state of the art research works exploit offline resource allocation algorithms to address the research problem. However, in Long‐Term Evolution (LTE) and beyond systems (4G, 5G, or 5G+), offline resource allocation algorithms do not comply with the fast scheduling requirements because of the high data rate demand. In this paper, we propose a bi‐phase online resource allocation algorithm to minimize the total system interference for inband underlay D2D communication. Our proposed algorithm assumes D2D pairs as a set of variable elements whereas takes the cellular user equipment (UEs) as a set of constant elements. The novelty of our proposed online resource allocation algorithm is that it incurs a minimum number of changes in radio resource assignment between two successive allocations among the cellular UEs and the D2D pairs. Graphical representation of the simulation results suggests that our proposed algorithm outperforms the existing offline algorithm considering number of changes in successive allocation for a certain percentage of sum rate gain maintaining the total system interference and total system sum rate very similar.     

Physico-mechanical and degradation properties of biodegradable photografted coir fiber with acrylic monomers

Coir fibers were modified with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), methyl methacrylate (MMA) and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (2-HEA) solutions under UV radiation. Monomer concentration and radiation dose were optimized in terms of grafting and tensile properties. It was found that 20 % HEMA at 20th UV pass, 30 % MMA at 15th UV pass and 25 % 2-HEA at 20th UV pass of radiation produced higher tensile properties over untreated sample. Urea of different concentrations (0.5–2 %) were incorporated into optimized solutions and 1 % urea showed the best properties of the fiber. Water uptake behavior and simulating weathering degradation properties were also performed.     

Life‐history traits of three Ambassid fishes (Chanda nama,Parambassis lala and Parambassis ranga) from the Mathabhanga River,southwestern Bangladesh

The present study provides the first indication of the life‐history traits, including, population structure, growth pattern, condition factor, form factor (a_3.0), size at first sexual maturity (L_m), natural mortality (M_W) and optimum catchable length (L_opt), of three Ambassid (Chanda nama, Parambassis lala and Parambassis ranga) fishes from the Mathabhanga River in southwest Bangladesh. A total of 370 individuals were occasionally collected from August 2017 to July 2018 with cast nets, gill nets, square lift nets, and conical‐ and box‐traps. The total length (TL) ranged from 2.4 to 7.5 cm for C. nama, 1.9–3.8 cm for P. lala and 1.8–6.5 cm for P. ranga. The length‐frequency distributions (LFDs) showed the 4.0–5.0 cm TL size group for C. nama and the 3.0–4.0 cm TL size group were numerically dominant for P. lala and P. ranga. The length–weight relationships (LWRs) indicated isometric growth for C. nama, and positive allometric growth for P. lala and P. ranga. All the LWR values were very significant (p < .001), with all r² values > .950. Based on the Spearman rank correlation test, body weight (BW) versus Fulton's‐condition factor (K_F) was extremely correlated (p < .001), indicating a better wellbeing for these species. The a_3.0 value was 0.0082, 0.0138 and 0.0104 for C. nama, P. lala and P. ranga, respectively. Based on the maximum length (L_max), the L_m was 4.4 cm TL for C. nama, 2.5 cm TL for P. lala, and 4.0 cm TL for P. ranga. Based on the asymptotic length (L_∞), the L_m was 4.88 cm TL for C. nama, 2.63 cm TL for P. lala, and 4.28 cm TL for P. ranga. The M_W value was 2.2, 3.3 and 2.7/year for C. nama, P. lala and P. ranga, respectively. The optimum catchable length (L_opt) was 5.36 cm TL for C. nama, 2.75 cm TL for P. lala and 4.65 cm TL for P. ranga. The findings of the present study should be very useful for effective and sustainable management of these fishes in the Mathabhanga River and the connecting ecosystems.     

Identification of sleep stages from heart rate variability using a soft-decision wavelet-based technique

This work is concerned with a new technique to find identification factors for the different sleep stages based on a soft-decision wavelet-based estimation of power-spectral density (PSD) contained in the main frequency bands of Heart Rate Variability (HRV).A wavelet-based PSD distribution of HRV in different sleep stages is implemented on an epoch basis. Four sleep stages (S1–S4), “REM sleep” (with “rapid eye movements”), and wakefulness are considered in this work. The data used, including electro-cardiograms and sleep stage monitoring hypnograms, are provided by the sleep laboratory of the department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of Christian-Albrechts University Kiel, Germany. The data, taken from 12 healthy people and containing enough epochs of the above 5 different sleep stages plus the wake state, is divided into almost equal sets for training and test.The results show that the PSD of the very-low-frequency (VLF) band and the low-frequency (LF) band are reduced as sleep stages vary from the wake state to REM sleep and further to light sleep (S1–S2) and deep sleep (S3–S4). The variation of the PSD in the high-frequency (HF) band is almost the opposite. The ratio of the VLF/HF PSD is found to be a good identification factor between the different sleep stages, showing better results than other, commonly used factors such as the LF/HF and VLF/LF PSD ratios.