An Effective Private Data storage and Retrieval System using Secret sharing scheme based on Secure Multi-party Computation

Privacy of the outsourced data is one of the major challenge.Insecurity of the network environment and untrustworthiness of the service providers are obstacles of making the database as a service.Collection and storage of personally identifiable information is a major privacy concern.On-line public databases and resources pose a significant risk to user privacy, since a malicious database owner may monitor user queries and infer useful information about the customer.The challenge in data privacy is to share data with third-party and at the same time securing the valuable information from unauthorized access and use by third party.A Private Information Retrieval(PIR) scheme allows a user to query database while hiding the identity of the data retrieved.The naive solution for confidentiality is to encrypt data before outsourcing.Query execution,key management and statistical inference are major challenges in this case.The proposed system suggests a mechanism for secure storage and retrieval of private data using the secret sharing technique.The idea is to develop a mechanism to store private information with a highly available storage provider which could be accessed from anywhere using queries while hiding the actual data values from the storage provider.The private information retrieval system is implemented using Secure Multi-party Computation(SMC) technique which is based on secret sharing. Multi-party Computation enable parties to compute some joint function over their private inputs.The query results are obtained by performing a secure computation on the shares owned by the different servers.Comment: Data Science & Engineering (ICDSE), 2014 International Conference, CUSA

ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Identification of Practical Pharmacology Skills Useful for Good Clinical Practice

Background: Awareness about animal ethics is increasing everywhere. This increased awareness coupled with strict regulations discouraging the use of animals for routine experiments have tied the hands of many pharmacologists. They are now forced to develop alternative experiments without using animals. At present, there is acute need to come out with more innovative and useful practical exercises for pharmacology practical sessions. In this background, the present study was undertaken to develop the much-needed alternative experiments. Aims and Objective: To identify new pharmacological practical skills useful for good clinical practice. Material and Methods: A pre-tested questionnaire was administered to 110 doctors of different categories like house surgeons, postgraduate students, assistant professors and professors who are working in a tertiary care hospital. They were asked to give their suggestions regarding new pharmacology practical skills useful for good clinical practice. Statistical analysis: Responses of the participants to the questions asked were tabulated and analyzed. Suggestions given by them were listed out and studied. Results: Use of emergency drugs, dosage calculation, drugs used in pregnancy, case discussions and prescription writing exercises received a lot of support from the participants. Research methodology, cost calculation, animal experiments and interpretation of data of animal experiments did not receive support from the participants. Suggestions given by the participants regarding useful pharmacological skills belonged to the areas like therapeutics, safe use of drugs, recent advances, analysis of information given by the medical representatives and analyzing articles in journals for knowing the efficacy of drugs. Conclusion: Exercises relevant to the clinical practice, as identified in this study, can be introduced as practical pharmacology exercises. Steps are to be taken to highlight the importance of research methodology and pharmaco-economics to the undergraduates

Macro Flora & Fauna of the Gulf of Mannar a checklist

The Gulf of Mannar (GoM) located along the south eastern tip of India falls in the Indo-Pacific realm and is one of the richest regions in the world from a marine biodiversity perspective. The region has a distinctive socio-economic and cultural profile shaped by its geography. It has an ancient maritime history and was famous for the production of pearls, an important item in trade with the Roman Empire as early as the first century AD. Rameshwaram along the GoM with its links to the legend Ramayana is an important pilgrim centre. The region has been and continues to be famous for its production of Indian sacred chanks. It has unique ecosystems mainly consisting of coral reefs, sea grass beds, salt marshes and mangroves which constitute important habitats for many species of commercially important finfishes and shellfishes. The GoM was established as a Biosphere Reserve (the first marine biosphere reserve in south and south east Asia) by 1989 by the Indian Government and the state of Tamil Nadu. A biosphere reserve is an area that is indented to secure the fundamental diversity of life in a region while continuing to advocate in economic growth. The overall objective of this Marine Biosphere Reserve is to conserve the Gulf of Mannar's globally significant assemblage of coastal and marine biodiversity and to integrate biodiversity conservation into coastal zone management plans. Thus, the GoM in addition to being a national priority also assumes global significance

Effect of Grain Boundary Character Distribution on the Impact Toughness of 410NiMo Weld Metal

Grain boundary character distributions in 410NiMo weld metal were studied in the as-welded, first-stage, and second-stage postweld heat treatment (PWHT) conditions, and these were correlated with the Charpy-V impact toughness values of the material. The high impact toughness values in the weld metal in the as-welded and first-stage PWHT conditions compared to that in the second-stage condition are attributed to the higher fraction of low-energy I pound boundaries. A higher volume fraction of retained austenite and coarser martensite after second-stage PWHT accompanied by the formation of the ideal cube component in the 2-hour heat-treated specimen led to a reduction in the toughness value. A subsequent increase in the PWHT duration at 873 K (600 A degrees C) enhanced the formation of {111}aOE (c) 112 >, which impedes the adverse effect of the cubic component, resulting in an increase in the impact toughness. In addition to this, grain refinement during 4-hour PWHT in the second stage also increased the toughness of the weld metal