A Marketplace for Efficient and Secure Caching for IoT Applications in 5G Networks

As the communication industry is progressing towards fifth generation (5G) of cellular networks, the traffic it carries is also shifting from high data rate traffic from cellular users to a mixture of high data rate and low data rate traffic from Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Moreover, the need to efficiently access Internet data is also increasing across 5G networks. Caching contents at the network edge is considered as a promising approach to reduce the delivery time. In this paper, we propose a marketplace for providing a number of caching options for a broad range of applications. In addition, we propose a security scheme to secure the caching contents with a simultaneous potential of reducing the duplicate contents from the caching server by dividing a file into smaller chunks. We model different caching scenarios in NS-3 and present the performance evaluation of our proposal in terms of latency and throughput gains for various chunk sizes

Technologies and solutions for location-based services in smart cities: past, present, and future

Location-based services (LBS) in smart cities have drastically altered the way cities operate, giving a new dimension to the life of citizens. LBS rely on location of a device, where proximity estimation remains at its core. The applications of LBS range from social networking and marketing to vehicle-toeverything communications. In many of these applications, there is an increasing need and trend to learn the physical distance between nearby devices. This paper elaborates upon the current needs of proximity estimation in LBS and compares them against the available Localization and Proximity (LP) finding technologies (LP technologies in short). These technologies are compared for their accuracies and performance based on various different parameters, including latency, energy consumption, security, complexity, and throughput. Hereafter, a classification of these technologies, based on various different smart city applications, is presented. Finally, we discuss some emerging LP technologies that enable proximity estimation in LBS and present some future research areas

Security in wireless body area networks: from in-body to off-body communications

Wireless body area networks (WBANs) play a vital role in shaping today's healthcare systems. Given the critical nature of a WBAN in one's health to automatically monitor and diagnose health issues, security and privacy of these healthcare systems need a special attention. In this paper, we first propose a novel four-tier architecture of remote health monitoring system and then identify the security requirements and challenges at each tier. We provide a concise survey of the literature aimed at improving the security and privacy of WBANs and then present a comprehensive overview of the problem. In particular, we stress that the inclusion of in vivo nano-networks in a remote healthcare monitoring system is imperative for its completeness. To this end, we elaborate on security threats and concerns in nano-networks and medical implants as well as we emphasize on presenting a holistic framework of an overall ecosystem for WBANs, which is essential to ensure end-to-end security. Lastly, we discuss some limitations of current WBANs.Other InformationPublished in: IEEE AccessLicense: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/See article on publisher's website: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/access.2018.2873825</p

Building The Future: Applications Of Artificial Intelligence In Civil Engineering

Artificial intelligence (AI) gives classical civil engineering (CE) a new life and ways to innovate by giving it more complex mathematical frameworks and algorithms. The new AI methods can improve and update a lot of complicated, time-consuming and hard work in design, building&nbsp;and inspection. The&nbsp;physical machine learning can help solve many problems and find new laws in the field of CE by combining the data paradigm with physical principles.&nbsp; On the other hand, artificial intelligence based solutions may often help civil engineers to solve problems more quickly and easily. This paper talks about new theories and methods that have been developed for using artificial intelligence in civil engineering. The smart science and technology in CE greatly improve the current levels of digitalization, informatization, automation&nbsp;and intellectualization. This paper gives a systematic review and summary of the most recent advancements in AI in civil engineering (CE) for the entire life cycle of civil structures and infrastructure. These advancements include intelligent architectural design, intelligent structural health diagnosis&nbsp;and intelligent disaster prevention and reduction. A number of examples are given for intelligent architectural art shape design, structural topology optimization, computer vision-based structural damage recognition, correlation-pattern-based structural condition assessment, machine-learning-enhanced reliability analysis, vision-based earthquake disaster evaluation, and dense displacement monitoring of structures under wind and earthquake. The discourse concludes with an examination of the potential of sentient science and technology in the context of future CE

Career goals of trainee physicians in internal medicine

OBJECTIVE: To survey Internal Medicine trainees\u27 future career choices and factors influencing their decision-making. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, from November 2006 to January 2007. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A standard questionnaire was administered to the residents and Interns working in the Department of Internal Medicine of The Aga Khan University Hospital. The questionnaire covered demographic details, specialty choice, work-time distribution and factors influencing career choice. Descriptive statistics were applied. RESULTS: A total of 49 doctors participated with 57% females; and 43% males, having 33% interns and 67% residents. A minority (22%) opted for internal medicine, while 78% selected sub-specialties with cardiology (20%) being the most sought- after sub-specialty. Majority (69%) wanted to spend more time in clinical activities compared to administration (18%) or research (13%). Majority (92%) wanted to work in an academic setting. Availability of a structured training program (61%), ability to practice broad area of medicine (41%) and prestige of the specialty (41%) highly influenced their career choices. Forty one (82%) wanted to proceed abroad for further training and 80% wanted to eventually practice in Pakistan. CONCLUSION: Most of the interviewed under-training physicians wanted to pursue sub-specialty. Clinical work was more attractive compared to research. A structured training program was detrimental in affecting their choices. Majority wanted further training abroad but eventual settlement in Pakistan. The study results can help us create the basis for reforming the current training programs

Efficient blockchain-based group key distribution for secure authentication in VANETs

This paper proposes a group key distribution scheme using smart contract-based blockchain technology. The smart contract’s functions allow for securely distributing the group session key, following the initial legitimacy detection using public key infrastructure-based authentication. For message authentication, we propose a lightweight symmetric key cryptography-based group signature method, supporting the security and privacy requirements of vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs). Our discussion examined the scheme’s robustness against typical adversarial attacks. To evaluate the gas costs associated with smart contract’s functions, we implemented it on the Ethereum main network. Finally, comprehensive analyses of computation and communication costs demonstrate the scheme’s effectiveness

Development and Validation of Analytical Method for Losartan-Copper Complex Using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry

Purpose: To develop a new spectrophotometric method for the analysis of losartan potassium in pharmaceutical formulations by making its complex with copper.Method: A coloured complex based on UV/Vis spectroscopic method was developed for the determination of losartan potassium concentration in pharmaceutical formulations in the visible region. The colored complex of losartan was formed with cupric acetate (5:4). Analysis was carried out by the two methods - absorption ratio and calibration curve methods. The proposed method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision.Results: The λ maximum of the complex was recorded at 530 nm. Beer`s law was obeyed in the range of 10 - 50 μg/ml with a correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.9989. Mean analytical results from the calibration curve and absorption ratio methods were 99.42 and 99.16 % with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 0.97 and 0.82 %, respectively. Mean recovery was between 98.61 and 101.35 % and precision expressed as relative standard deviation (RSD) was 0.91 %.Conclusion: The proposed method is simple, easy to apply, low-cost, and requires relatively inexpensive instruments. Thus, it is a suitable alternative to currently used spectrophotometric methods for the determination of losartan in bulk and solid dosage forms.Keywords: Losartan, Copper complex, Spectrophotometry, Validatio

A digital twin (DT) approach to narrow-band Internet of things (NB-IoT) wireless communication optimization in an industrial scenario

The pervasive realization of virtual replication of physical entities termed Digital Twin (DT) has been utilized in this paper to optimize the wireless communication of the Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) in an industrial scenario. This optimization is exclusively achieved through DT approach. NB-IoT is a Low-Powered Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standardized by 3GPP and leverages Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. The Amplify-and-Forward (AF) optimization technique is used to improve the performance of some notably poor-performing terminals in the scenario. Bit-Error-Rate (BER) tests show the terminals’ overall performance before and after optimization. An improvement of 17% is achieved in BER. The signal quality of the channels is analyzed as well as the Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) is used to showcase the effective throughput performance of the NB-IoT terminals