A dynamic data encryption method based on addressing the data importance on the internet of things

The rapid growth of internet of things (IoT) in multiple areas brings research challenges closely linked to the nature of IoT technology. Therefore, there has been a need to secure the collected data from IoT sensors in an efficient and dynamic way taking into consideration the nature of collected data due to its importance. So, in this paper, a dynamic algorithm has been developed to distinguish the importance of data collected and apply the suitable security approach for each type of data collected. This was done by using hybrid system that combines block cipher and stream cipher systems. After data classification using machine learning classifiers the less important data are encrypted using stream cipher (SC) that use rivest cipher 4 algorithm, and more important data encrypted using block cipher (BC) that use advanced encryption standard algorithm. By applying a performance evaluation using simulation, the proposed method guarantees that it encrypts the data with less central processing unit (CPU) time with improvement in the security over the data by using the proposed hybrid system.

Access to COVID-19 Vaccination during the Pandemic in the Informal Settlements of Rome

With the advent of vaccines, the world has a chance to see a real end to the COVID-19 pandemic. To make this possible, however, it is necessary that all groups of people are considered. Contexts of informal settlements and populations such as the homeless and migrants are often forgotten by vaccination campaigns. In this study, carried out as a result of a collaboration with MEDU, a non-profit association aimed at bringing healthcare to vulnerable populations, we provide important data related to the vaccination campaign carried out in the informal settlements of Rome. The objectives of this work are to (1) evaluate vaccination coverage in these contexts, (2) assess the gap with the vaccination coverage of the Italian population and try to hypothesize the causes, and (3) provide recommendations for how humanitarian associations can respond to reduce this gap. We observed important differences in vaccination coverage depending on the type of settlement. The percentage of vaccinated people in these contexts at the beginning of October range between 14.4% and 55.5%, underlining an important gap with the vaccination rate of Italy’s population, which is close to 80%. The data also show that particular attention must be paid to the transiting and irregular people as they are more at risk for a lack of access to vaccination. With this study, in which we provide recommendations that integrate MEDU’s fieldwork experience with the advice of the Framework report, we hope we can help those who work in similar contexts, to carry out a fair and effective vaccination campaign.

Seed Dormancy Class and Ecophysiological Features of Veronicastrum sibiricum (L.) Pennell (Scrophulariaceae) Native to the Korea Peninsula

Veronicastrum sibiricum is a perennial species distributed in Korea, Japan, Manchuria, China, and Siberia. This study aimed to determine the requirements for germination and dormancy break of V. sibiricum seeds and to classify the kind of seed dormancy. Additionally, its class of dormancy was compared with other Veronicastrum and Veronica species. V. sibiricum seeds were permeable to water and had a mature embryo during seed dispersal. In field conditions, germination was prevented by physiological dormancy, which was, however, relieved by March of the next year, allowing the start of germination when suitable environmental conditions occurred. In laboratory experiments, the seeds treated with 0, 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks of cold stratification (4 °C) germinated to 0, 79, 75, 72, and 66%, respectively. After the GA3 treatment (2.887 mM), ≥90% of the seeds germinated during the four incubation weeks at 20/10 °C. Thus, 2.887 mM GA3 and at least two weeks at 4 °C were effective in breaking physiological dormancy and initiating germination. Therefore, the V. sibiricum seeds showed non-deep physiological dormancy (PD). Previous research, which determined seed dormancy classes, revealed that Veronica taxa have PD, morphological (MD), or morphophysiological seed dormancy (MPD). The differences in the seed dormancy classes in the Veronicastrum-Veronica clade suggested that seed dormancy traits had diverged. The results provide important data for the evolutionary ecological studies of seed dormancy and seed-based mass propagation of V. sibiricum.

Influence of Longitudinal Fin Tubes Arrangement in LNG Ambient Air Vaporizers on the Wind Load

The article presents the results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis of the wind action on liquefied natural gas (LNG) ambient air vaporizers (AAVs). A study concerning AAV with a 6 × 6 tubes array is presented to demonstrate how the distribution of longitudinal finned tubes and wind direction affect the average load and wind pressure acting on the vaporizer structure. The main goal of the study is to estimate the wind load on the structure and wind pressure on individual tubes depending on the pitch of the tubes arrangement. The above parameters are crucial for the strength analysis of the vaporizer structure. The derived analysis results provide important data on the variation of pressure on individual tubes, wind velocity inside AVV structure and indicate a significant increase in the average wind load acting on the structure for a wind direction of 45 degrees compared to a perpendicular direction.

On the Road to Individualization of Vaccination: the Significance of Age and Sex

Relevance. The high variability of protection against vaccine-controlled infections, including COVID-19, is one of the actual problem of infectology. Aim. Based on the results of scientific publications and reports, the role of age and sex factors, their interactions and the main mechanisms in the immune response to vaccines, in the improvement of vaccines and vaccination regimens, has been analyzed. Conclusion. It has been shown that vaccine prophylaxis has always developed in the direction of individualization, going through the stages of defining target groups and developing immunization schemes for various groups. The important data obtained in recent decades on the importance of genetic and external factors, in particular, age and sex, in the variability of response to vaccines are analyzed. Analysis of the role of such factors has also been performed for coronavirus vaccines. The necessity and possibilities of next steps that can provide optimal responses of different people to vaccination were discussed.

Detecting Abnormalities in Heart Sounds

Heart sounds are important data that reflect the state of the heart. It is possible to prevent larger problems that may occur with early diagnosis of abnormalities in heart sounds. Therefore, in this study, the detection of abnormalities in heart sounds has been studied. In order to detect abnormalities in heart sounds, the heartbeat-sounds data set obtained free of charge from the kaggle.com website was examined. Mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) were used in the selection of the characteristics of the sounds. Parameters such as the number of filters to be applied for MFCCs, the number of attributes to be extracted are examined separately with different values. The classification performance of heart sounds with feature matrices extracted in different parameters of MFCCs with K-nearest neighbor algorithm was investigated. The classification performance of different feature extractions was compared and the best case was tried to be determined. Two different records that make up the data set were examined separately as normal and abnormal. Then, the new data set obtained by combining the two records was examined as normal and abnormal.

Speech Scrambling based on Particle Swarm Optimisation

Securing any communication system where important data may be transmitted through the channel is a very crucial issue. One of the good solutions in providing security for the speech is to use speech scrambling techniques. The chaotic system used in security has properties that make it a good choice for scrambling speech signal and the optimisation algorithm can provide a perfect performance when used to enhance the hybrid of more than one method. In this paper, we suggest a system that uses an optimisation method, namely, particle swarm optimisation. The evaluation measures prove that the output of the optimisation method has better performance among the methods used in the comparison, including chaotic maps and hybrid chaotic maps.

Neutralising antibody activity against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, in an elderly cohort vaccinated with BNT162b2

SARS-CoV-2 variants threaten the effectiveness of tools we have developed to mitigate against serious COVID-19. This is especially true in clinically vulnerable sections of society including the elderly. Using sera from BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccinated individuals aged between 70 and 89 (vaccinated with two doses 3-weeks apart) we examined the neutralising antibody (nAb) response to wildtype SARS-CoV-2. Between 3 and 20-weeks post 2nd dose, nAb titres dropped 4.9-fold to a median titre of 21.3 (ND80) with 21.6% of individuals having no detectable nAbs at the later time point. Experiments examining the neutralisation of twenty-one different SARS-CoV-2 variant spike proteins confirmed a significant potential for antigenic escape, especially for the Omicron (BA.1), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2), Theta (P.3), C.1.2 and B.1.638 variants. Interestingly, however, the recently-emerged sub-lineage AY.4.2 was more efficiently neutralised than parental Delta pseudotypes. Combining pseudotype neutralisation with specific receptor binding domain (RBD) ELISAs we confirmed that changes to position 484 in the spike RBD were predominantly responsible for SARS-CoV-2 nAb escape, although the effect of spike mutations is both combinatorial and additive. Lastly, using sera from the same individuals boosted with a 3rd dose of BNT162b2 we showed that high overall levels of neutralising antibody titre can provide significant levels of cross-protection against Omicron. These data provide evidence that SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies wane over time and that antigenically variable SARS-CoV-2 variants are circulating, highlighting the importance of ongoing surveillance and booster programmes. Furthermore, they provide important data to inform risk assessment of new SARS-CoV-2 variants, such as Omicron, as they emerge.

Effect of biotherapy T. cruzi 7x in several therapeutic schemes on experimental infection by Trypanosoma cruzi

Background: Biotherapy is used against infectious diseases treatment and prophylaxis and has been investigated by many researchers [1,2]. Aim: Assess the effect of biotherapy 7x T. cruzi on several treatment schemes, upon experimental infection by T. cruzi. Methodology: A blind, controlled and randomized by drawing experiment was performed. Male Swiss mice, four weeks old were utilized. Groups evaluated: IC – Infection Control (treated with water – 9 animals); TBBA7x3days – Treated with biotherapy 7x 3 days before and 3 days after infection (5 animals); TBB7x3days – Treated with 7x biotherapy 3 days before infection (5 animals); TBBAI7x3days – Treated with 7x biotherapy 3 days before infection and after infection indefinitely (6 animals). Animals were inoculated intraperitoneally with 1400 blood trypomastigotes Y strain. Biotherapy: prepared according to Farmacopéia Homeopática Brasileira [3]. Treatment plan: offered ad libitum, in the water (10µL/mL). Parasitological parameters: parasitemia was assessed according Brener’s technique. [4]. Clinical parameters: body hair aspect, edema, movement, diarrhea, body weight, temperature, food and water intake. Ethics: Registration 030/2008 UEM Ethics Committee for Experiments in Animals. Statistical analysis: was performed using the tests Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney testes, significance 5%. Results: The best effect obtained was with the TBBA7x3days, both for clinical and parasitological parameters. It was expressed by lower parasitemia curve (p=0.04) and decrease of patent period tendency, of total parasitemia, of mortality and survival of the animals increase (Table 1). Evolution of parasitemia was distinct for the several treatment schemes. Survival of at least one mouse by treated groups is an extremely important data, since Y strain causes 100% mortality in Swiss mice. TBBAI7x3days group showed begger tendency in raising total parasitemia compared with IC. Although it might have occurred, this group presented 80% mortality rate compared with other groups. Animals from TBBA7x3days also showed better evolution of weight body, temperature, food (p=0.078-10%) and water intake, body hair aspect and edema development. Diarrhea and paralysis were only observed in IC group mice, highlighting the biotherapy use benefits. Conclusions: Best effect was obtained TBBA7x3days, both for clinical and parasitological parameters. It’s possible to speculate that in this regimen, biotherapy was able to modulate, more effectively, the host’s immune system, decreasing the number of parasites.

A Pitești-i Református Egyházközség első tíz évének demográfiai adatsorai a halálozási anyakönyvek tükrében

Demographic Data of the First Ten Years of Existence of the Pitești Reformed Church in the Light of the Official Death Registries. In the last three centuries, many Hungarians in Transylvania went to work and live in the southern part of the Carpathians. At first, they went just for seasonal work, but later they become permanent migrants. They founded new Reformed parishes and schools in the new locations. We have data on the population of Pitești from 1844, when Sándor Ürmösy described the ethnic and confessional composition of the town for the first time, and he mentions 1,500 Hungarians in Pitești. As result of the Reformed missionary work, the first Reformed churches were established in the most important towns of old Romania in the mid-19th century. The documents of those times reveal to us data on the demographic, confessional, and ethnic composition of the population. In this study, I attempted to find the most important data on the first ten years in the life of the Pitești Reformed community linked to its members’ age of death, cause of the death, and occupation. Keywords: mission, Pitești, Reformed Church, old Romania, official death registries