Evaluation of stress intensity factor of multiple inclined cracks under biaxial loading

A finite rectangular plate of unit thickness with two inclined cracks (parallel and non parallel) under biaxial mixed mode condition are modelled using finite element method. The finite element method is used for determination of stress intensity factors by ANYSIS software. Effects of crack inclination angle on stress intensity factors for two parallel and non parallel cracks are investigated. The significant effects of different crack inclination parameters on stress intensity factors are seen for lower and upper crack in two inclined crack.The present method is validated by comparing the results from available experimental data obtained by photo elastic method in same condition

LAAP: Lightweight anonymous authentication protocol for D2D-Aided fog computing paradigm

Fog computing is a new paradigm that extends cloud computing and services to the edge of the network. Although it has several distinct characteristics, however, the conventional fog computing model does not support some of the imperative features such as D2D communications, which can be useful for several critical IoT applications and services. Besides, fog computing faces numerous new security and privacy challenges apart from those inherited from cloud computing, however, security issues in fog computing have not been addressed properly. In this article, first we introduce a new privacy-preserving security architecture for fog computing model with the cooperative D2D communication support, which can be useful for various IoT applications. Subsequently, based on the underlying foundation of our proposed security architecture we design three lightweight anonymous authentication protocols (LAAPs) to support three distinct circumstances in D2D-Aided fog computing. In this regard, we utilize the lightweight cryptographic primitives like one-way function and EXCLUSIVE-OR operations, which will cause limited computational overhead for the resource limited edge devices

Handwashing, sanitation and family planning practices are the strongest underlying determinants of child stunting in rural indigenous communities of Jharkhand and Odisha, Eastern India: a cross-sectional study

The World Health Organisation has called for global action to reduce child stunting by 40% by 2025. One third of the world's stunted children live in India, and children belonging to rural indigenous communities are the worst affected. We sought to identify the strongest determinants of stunting among indigenous children in rural Jharkhand and Odisha, India, to highlight key areas for intervention. We analysed data from 1227 children aged 6–23.99 months and their mothers, collected in 2010 from 18 clusters of villages with a high proportion of people from indigenous groups in three districts. We measured height and weight of mothers and children, and captured data on various basic, underlying and immediate determinants of undernutrition. We used Generalised Estimating Equations to identify individual determinants associated with children's height-for-age z-score (HAZ; p < 0.10); we included these in a multivariable model to identify the strongest HAZ determinants using backwards stepwise methods. In the adjusted model, the strongest protective factors for linear growth included cooking outdoors rather than indoors (HAZ +0.66), birth spacing ≥24 months (HAZ +0.40), and handwashing with a cleansing agent (HAZ +0.32). The strongest risk factors were later birth order (HAZ −0.38) and repeated diarrhoeal infection (HAZ −0.23). Our results suggest multiple risk factors for linear growth faltering in indigenous communities in Jharkhand and Odisha. Interventions that could improve children's growth include reducing exposure to indoor air pollution, increasing access to family planning, reducing diarrhoeal infections, improving handwashing practices, increasing access to income and strengthening health and sanitation infrastructure

Participatory women’s groups and counseling through home visits to improve child growth in rural eastern India: protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Childhood stunting (low height-for-age) is a marker of chronic undernutrition and predicts children’s subsequent physical and cognitive development. An estimated 52 million children in India are stunted. There is a broad consensus on determinants of child undernutrition and interventions to address it, but a lack of operational research testing strategies to increase the coverage of these interventions in high burden areas. Our study aims to assess the impact, costeffectiveness, and scalability of a community intervention involving a government-proposed community-based worker to improve growth in children under two

An efficient privacy-preserving authentication scheme for energy internet-based vehicle-to-grid communication

The energy Internet (EI) represents a new electric grid infrastructure that uses computing and communication to transform legacy power grids into systems that support open innovation. EI provides bidirectional communication for analysis and improvement of energy usage between service providers and customers. To ensure a secure, reliable, and efficient operation, the EI should be protected from cyber attacks. Thus, secure and efficient key establishment is an important issue for this Internet-based smart grid environment. In this paper, we propose an efficient privacy-preserving authentication scheme for EI-based vehicle-to-grid communication using lightweight cryptographic primitives such as one-way non-collision hash functions. In our proposed scheme, a customer can securely access services provided by the service provider using a symmetric key established between them. Detailed security and performance analysis of our proposed scheme are presented to show that it is resilient against many security attacks, cost effective in computation and communication, and provides an efficient solution for the EI

Lightweight and privacy-preserving two-factor authentication scheme for IoT devices

Device authentication is an essential security feature for Internet of Things (IoT). Many IoT devices are deployed in the open and public places, which makes them vulnerable to physical and cloning attacks. Therefore, any authentication protocol designed for IoT devices should be robust even in cases when an IoT device is captured by an adversary. Moreover, many of the IoT devices have limited storage and computational capabilities. Hence, it is desirable that the security solutions for IoT devices should be computationally efficient. To address all these requirements, in this paper, we present a lightweight and privacy-preserving two-factor authentication scheme for IoT devices, where physically uncloneable functions have been considered as one of the authentication factors. Security and performance analysis show that our proposed scheme is not only robust against several attacks, but also very efficient in terms of computational efficiently

PrivHome: Privacy-preserving authenticated communication in smart home environment

A smart home enables users to access devices such as lighting, HVAC, temperature sensors, and surveillance camera. It provides a more convenient and safe living environment for users. Security and privacy, however, is a key concern since information collected from these devices are normally communicated to the user through an open network (i. e. Internet) or system provided by the service provider. The service provider may store and have access to these information. Emerging smart home hubs such as Samsung SmartThings and Google Home are also capable of collecting and storing these information. Leakage and unauthorized access to the information can have serious consequences. For example, the mere timing of switching on/off of an HVAC unit may reveal the presence or absence of the home owner. Similarly, leakage or tampering of critical medical information collected from wearable body sensors can have serious consequences. Encrypting these information will address the issues, but it also reduces utility since queries is no longer straightforward. Therefore, we propose a privacy-preserving scheme, PrivHome. It supports authentication, secure data storage and query for smart home systems. PrivHome provides data confidentiality as well as entity and data authentication to prevent an outsider from learning or modifying the data communicated between the devices, service provider, gateway, and the user. It further provides privacy-preserving queries in such a way that the service provider, and the gateway does not learn content of the data. To the best of our knowledge, privacy-preserving queries for smart home systems has not been considered before. Under our scheme is a new, lightweight entity and key-exchange protocol, and an efficient searchable encryption protocol. Our scheme is practical as both protocols are based solely on symmetric cryptographic techniques. We demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness of our scheme based on experimental and simulation results, as well as comparisons to existing smart home security protocols

Effect of participatory women's groups facilitated by Accredited Social Health Activists on birth outcomes in rural eastern India: a cluster-randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: A quarter of the world's neonatal deaths and 15% of maternal deaths happen in India. Few community-based strategies to improve maternal and newborn health have been tested through the country's government-approved Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs). We aimed to test the effect of participatory women's groups facilitated by ASHAs on birth outcomes, including neonatal mortality. METHODS: In this cluster-randomised controlled trial of a community intervention to improve maternal and newborn health, we randomly assigned (1:1) geographical clusters in rural Jharkhand and Odisha, eastern India to intervention (participatory women's groups) or control (no women's groups). Study participants were women of reproductive age (15-49 years) who gave birth between Sept 1, 2009, and Dec 31, 2012. In the intervention group, ASHAs supported women's groups through a participatory learning and action meeting cycle. Groups discussed and prioritised maternal and newborn health problems, identified strategies to address them, implemented the strategies, and assessed their progress. We identified births, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths, and interviewed mothers 6 weeks after delivery. The primary outcome was neonatal mortality over a 2 year follow up. Analyses were by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN31567106. FINDINGS: Between September, 2009, and December, 2012, we randomly assigned 30 clusters (estimated population 156 519) to intervention (15 clusters, estimated population n=82 702) or control (15 clusters, n=73 817). During the follow-up period (Jan 1, 2011, to Dec 31, 2012), we identified 3700 births in the intervention group and 3519 in the control group. One intervention cluster was lost to follow up. The neonatal mortality rate during this period was 30 per 1000 livebirths in the intervention group and 44 per 1000 livebirths in the control group (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% CI 0·53-0·89). INTERPRETATION: ASHAs can successfully reduce neonatal mortality through participatory meetings with women's groups. This is a scalable community-based approach to improving neonatal survival in rural, underserved areas of India. FUNDING: Big Lottery Fund (UK)

Protocol for the economic evaluation of a community-based intervention to improve growth among children under two in rural India (CARING trial)

INTRODUCTION: Undernutrition affects ∼165 million children globally and contributes up to 45% of all child deaths. India has the highest proportion of global undernutrition-related morbidity and mortality. This protocol describes the planned economic evaluation of a community-based intervention to improve growth in children under 2 years of age in two rural districts of eastern India. The intervention is being evaluated through a cluster-randomised controlled trial (cRCT, the CARING trial). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis nested within a cRCT will be conducted from a societal perspective, measuring programme, provider, household and societal costs. Programme costs will be collected prospectively from project accounts using a standardised tool. These will be supplemented with time sheets and key informant interviews to inform the allocation of joint costs. Direct and indirect costs incurred by providers will be collected using key informant interviews and time use surveys. Direct and indirect household costs will be collected prospectively, using time use and consumption surveys. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) will be calculated for the primary outcome measure, that is, cases of stunting prevented, and other outcomes such as cases of wasting prevented, cases of infant mortality averted, life years saved and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted. Sensitivity analyses will be conducted to assess the robustness of results. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: There is a shortage of robust evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of strategies to improve early child growth. As this economic evaluation is nested within a large scale, cRCT, it will contribute to understanding the fiscal space for investment in early child growth, and the relative (in)efficiency of prioritising resources to this intervention over others to prevent stunting in this and other comparable contexts. The protocol has all necessary ethical approvals and the findings will be disseminated within academia and the wider policy sphere. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN51505201; pre-results

Are village health sanitation and nutrition committees fulfilling their roles for decentralised health planning and action? A mixed methods study from rural eastern India.

BACKGROUND: In India, Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) are participatory community health forums, but there is little information about their composition, functioning and effectiveness. Our study examined VHSNCs as enablers of participatory action for community health in two rural districts in two states of eastern India - West Singhbhum in Jharkhand and Kendujhar, in Odisha. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 169 VHSNCs and ten qualitative focus group discussions with purposively selected better and poorer performing committees, across the two states. We analysed the quantitative data using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data using a Framework approach. RESULTS: We found that VHSNCs comprised equitable representation from vulnerable groups when they were formed. More than 75 % members were women. Almost all members belonged to socially disadvantaged classes. Less than 1 % members had received any training. Supervision of committees by district or block officials was rare. Their work focused largely on strengthening village sanitation, conducting health awareness activities, and supporting medical treatment for ill or malnourished children and pregnant mothers. In reality, 62 % committees monitored community health workers, 6.5 % checked sub-centres and 2.4 % monitored drug availability with community health workers. Virtually none monitored data on malnutrition. Community health and nutrition workers acted as conveners and record keepers. Links with the community involved awareness generation and community monitoring of VHSNC activities. Key challenges included irregular meetings, members' limited understanding of their roles and responsibilities, restrictions on planning and fund utilisation, and weak linkages with the broader health system. CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that VHSNCs perform few of their specified functions for decentralized planning and action. If VHSNCs are to be instrumental in improving community health, sanitation and nutrition, they need education, mobilisation and monitoring for formal links with the wider health system