Generic Group Research Articles

Efficient Fully Structure-Preserving Signatures and Shrinking Commitments

In structure-preserving signatures, public keys, messages, and signatures are all collections of source group elements of some bilinear groups. In this paper, we introduce fully structure-preserving signature schemes, with the additional requirement that even secret keys are group elements. This strong property allows efficient non-interactive proofs of knowledge of the secret key, which is useful in designing cryptographic protocols under simulation-based security where online extraction of the secret key is needed. We present efficient constructions under simple standard assumptions and pursue even more efficient constructions with the extra property of randomizability based on the generic bilinear group model. An essential building block for our efficient standard model construction is a shrinking structure-preserving trapdoor commitment scheme, which is by itself an important primitive and of independent interest as it appears to contradict a known impossibility result that structure-preserving commitments cannot be shrinking. We argue that a relaxed binding property lets us circumvent the impossibility while still retaining the usefulness of the primitive in important applications as mentioned above.

Practical Attribute-Based Multi-Keyword Search Scheme in Mobile Crowdsourcing

Cloud-based mobile crowdsourcing has been an attractive solution to provide data storage and share services for resource-limited mobile devices in a privacy-preserving manner, but how to enable mobile users to issue search queries and achieve fine-grained access control over ciphertexts simultaneously is still a big challenge for various circumstances. Although the ciphertext-policy attribute-based keyword search technology combining attribute-based encryption with searchable encryption has become a hot research topic, it just deals with equivalent attributes rather than more practical attribute comparisons, like “greater than” or “less than.” In this paper, we devise a practical cryptographic primitive called attribute-based multi-keyword search scheme to support comparable attributes through utilizing 0-encoding and 1-encoding. Formal security analysis proves that our scheme is selectively secure against chosen-keyword attack in generic bilinear group model and extensive experiments using real-world dataset demonstrate that our scheme can drastically decrease both computational and storage costs.

Original Versus Generic Direct Acting Antivirals in Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Patients: Real Life Data From Latvia

Background: Despite effective treatment available from 2016 in Latvia, there are restrictions - only patients with fibrosis (F, Metavir) stage 3 to 4 have access to reimbursed medicines. Some patients obtain generic drugs from India. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of original and generic direct acting antiviral medications in Latvian patients. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study of 179 chronic virologic hepatitis C patients. Data were obtained from patients’ medical records. Mean age 49.2 years (SD 10.2, range 24-71), 88 female patients (49%), 91 male patients (51%). Genotype 1b was detected in 157 patients (87.7%). Patients were divided into two groups - patients who received original direct acting antivirals ombitasvir, paritaprevir, ritonavir, dasabuvir + ribavirin (n=144, F3-4, Child-Pugh A) and those who received generic medicines from India (n=35, F0-2) sofosbuvir, ledipasvir (n=7) or sofosbuvir, daclatasvir + ribavirin (n=28). Undetectable viral load 12 weeks after cessation of therapy (sustained virologic response 12 or SVR12) was measured in all patients. Therapy course completed 142 patients from original medicines group and all patients from generics group. Results: In the original medicines group - sustained viralogic response was achieved in 142 patients who completed treatment course (100%), while in generic medicines group in 32 patients (91.4%). Conclusion: Study results show high efficacy of both regimens using original and generic medicines - sustained virologic response was achieved in more than 90% of patients, with slight superiority in original medicines group.

Merging Visible-Light Photocatalysis and Transition-Metal Catalysis in Three-Component Alkyl-Fluorination of Olefins with a Fluoride Ion.

The light-induced, Ru-catalyzed three-component alkyl-fluorination of olefins under mild reaction conditions is reported. This carbofluorination reaction features a wide substrate scope and good functional group tolerance. A key advantage of this photoredox reaction is the use of nucleophilic fluoride and generic alkyl groups. Late-stage functionalizations are achieved, and a copper-assisted oxidative quenching mechanism is proposed based on the mechanistic studies.

Leakage-Resilient Certificateless Signature Under Continual Leakage Model

In the past, the security notions of cryptography were modeled under the assumption that private (or secret) keys are completely hidden to adversaries. Nowadays, these security notions could be insufficient due to a new kind of threat, called “side-channel attacks”, by which an adversary obtains partial information of private (or secret) keys via employing specific properties resulting from physical implementations of cryptographic schemes. In order to resist such side-channel attacks, numerous leakage-resilient cryptographic schemes have been proposed. However, there is little work on studying leakage-resilient certificateless cryptographic schemes. In this article, we propose the first leakage-resilient certificateless signature (LR-CLS) scheme under the continual leakage model. In the generic bilinear group model, we demonstrate that our scheme possesses existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen-message attacks for both Type I and Type II adversaries. Finally, performance analysis is made to demonstrate that the proposed LR-CLS scheme is suitable for resource-constrained devices.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.47.2.17847

The sequencing of interventions with offenders: views of offender managers and supervisors

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the views and opinions of offender supervisors and offender managers regarding the sequencing of interventions for prisoners in England. More specifically, the research aims to gain an understanding of any barriers to implementing desired practice.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with ten participants located across four HM prisons in the West Midlands. Questions were designed to gather information and views regarding: current practice in the area of sequencing of interventions; opinions on the potential importance of coherent sequencing of interventions; views on how interventions should be sequenced; and what, if any, issues impacted upon coherent sequencing. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyse and report themes within the interviews.FindingsParticipants discussed current practice regarding the sequencing of interventions and made suggestions regarding tailoring the sequence of interventions to the individual offender. The issue of readiness to change was emphasised (i.e. engagement with interventions will increase where offenders are able to participate in an intervention when they feel ready to do so). In addition, participants commented that they felt there to be insufficient resources at their disposal which led to barriers to the coherent sequencing of interventions (e.g. waiting lists for treatment programmes).Practical implicationsSuggestions were made by participants regarding the coherent sequencing of interventions; for example, providing prisoners with experience of a generic group intervention prior to an offence-specific intervention, prioritising motivation to change and being responsive to the needs of individual offenders.Originality/valueThe study provides insight regarding the sequencing of interventions from the perspective of offender supervisors and offender managers who are involved in the planning of treatment programmes across the course of an offender’s sentence.

Compulsory traceable ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption against privilege abuse in fog computing

Due to the structure of fog systems, ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) is regarded as a promising technique to address certain security problems present in the fog. Unfortunately, in most traditional CP-ABE systems, a user can deliberately leak his attribute keys to others or use his private key to build a decryption device and provide a decryption service with little risk of being caught (untraceable). We refer to this behavior as privilege abuse. The privilege abuse problem will seriously hinder the adoption of CP-ABE. To address the problem, we propose a novel black-box traceable CP-ABE scheme that is much simpler than the existing white-box traceable schemes. A malicioususer who builds a decryption black-box can be tracked and exposed by our scheme. Due to its scalability and relatively high efficiency, the scheme could be practical for fog systems. Furthermore, we point out that, if the adversary can distinguish the tracing ciphertext from the normal ciphertext, he can frustrate tracking by outputting incorrect decryption results. Thus, the traceability must be compulsory, so as to ensure that the adversary cannot distinguish between the tracing ciphertext and the normal ciphertext. Therefore, we present a formal definition of compulsory traceability with a new security game, and our scheme is proved to be secure and compulsory traceable under the generic group model.

Stakeholder Specific Multi-Scale Spatial Representation of Urban Building-Stocks

Urban building-stocks use a significant amount of resources and energy. At the same time, they have a large potential for energy efficiency measures (EEM). To support decision-making and planning, spatial building-stock models are used to examine the current state and future development of urban building-stocks. While these models normally focus on specific cities, generic and broad stakeholder groups such as planners and policy makers are often targeted. Consequently, the visualization and communication of results are not tailored to these stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to explore the possibilities of mapping and representing energy use of urban building-stocks at different levels of aggregation and spatial distributions, to communicate with specific stakeholders involved in the urban development process. This paper uses a differentiated building-stock description based on building-specific data and measured energy use from energy performance certificates for multi-family buildings (MFB) in the city of Gothenburg. The building-stock description treats every building as unique, allowing results to be provided at any level of aggregation to suit the needs of the specific stakeholders involved. Calculated energy use of the existing stock is within 10% of the measured energy use. The potential for EEM in the existing stock is negated by the increased energy use due to new construction until 2035, using a development scenario based on current renovation rates and planned developments. Visualizations of the current energy use of the stock as well as the impact of renovation and new construction are provided, targeting specific local stakeholders.

Renormalons in a general Quantum Field Theory

We generalize the concept of Borel resummability and renormalons to a quantum field theory with an arbitrary number of fields and couplings, starting from the known notion based on the running coupling constants. An approach to identify the renormalons is provided by exploiting an analytic solution of the generic one-loop renormalization group equations in multi-field theories. Methods to evaluate the regions in coupling space where the theory is resummable are described. The generalization is then illustrated in a toy model with two coupled scalar fields, representing the simplest extension of the one-field analysis presented in the seminal works of the subject. Furthermore, possible links to realistic theories are briefly discussed.

Effect of physician notification regarding non-adherence to colorectal cancer screening on patient participation in fecal immunochemical test cancer screening : A randomized clinical trial

Introduction To determine whether providing general practitioners (GPs) a list of patients who are non-adherent to CRC screening enhances patient participation in fecal immunochemical testing (FIT). Methods A 3-group, cluster-randomized study was conducted from July 14, 2015, to July 14, 2016, on the west coast of France, with GPs in 801 practices participating and involving adult patients (50–74 years) who were at average risk of CRC and not up-to-date with CRC screening. The final follow-up date was July 14, 2016. The primary endpoint was patient participation in CRC screening one year after the intervention. Results General practitioners were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups : 496 received a list of patients who had not undergone CRC screening (patient-specific reminders group, 10,476 patients), 495 received a letter describing region-specific CRC screening adherence rates (generic reminders group, 10,606 patients), and 455 did not receive any reminders (usual care group, 10,147 patients). Among 1482 randomized GPs (mean age, 53.4 years ; 576 women [38.9 %]), 1446 participated ; of the 33,044 patients of these GPs (mean age, 59.7 years ; 17,949 women [54.3 %]), follow-up at one year was available for 31,229 (94.5 %). At one year, 24.8 % (95 % CI : 23.4 %–26.2 %) of patients in the specific reminders group, 21.7 % (95 % CI : 20.5 %–22.8 %) in the generic reminders group, and 20.6 % (95 % CI : 19.3 %–21.8 %) in the usual care group participated in the FIT screening. The between-group differences were 3.1 % (95 % CI : 1.3 %–5.0 %) for the patient-specific reminders group versus the generic reminders group, 4.2 % (95 % CI : 2.3 %–6.2 %) for the patient-specific reminders group versus the usual care group, and 1.1 % (95 % CI : −0.6 % to 2.8 %) for generic reminders group versus the usual care group. Conclusions Providing French GPs caring for adults at average risk of CRC with a list of their patients who were not up-to-date with their CRC screening resulted in a small but significant increase in patient participation in FIT screening at one year compared with patients who received usual care. Providing GPs with generic reminders about regional rates of CRC screening did not increase screening rates compared with usual care.

Linking entanglement and discrete anomaly

In 3d Chern-Simons theory, there is a discrete one-form symmetry, whose symmetry group is isomorphic to the center of the gauge group. We study the ‘t Hooft anomaly associated to this discrete one-form symmetry in theories with generic gauge groups, A, B, C, D-types. We propose to detect the discrete anomaly by computing the Hopf state entanglement in the subspace spanned by the symmetry generators and develop a systematical way based on the truncated modular S matrix. We check our proposal for many examples.

Do Fitness Apps Need Text Reminders? An Experiment Testing Goal-Setting Text Message Reminders to Promote Self-Monitoring

Fitness tracking apps have the potential to change unhealthy lifestyles, but users’ lack of compliance is an issue. The current intervention examined the effectiveness of using goal-setting theory-based text message reminders to promote tracking activities on fitness apps. We conducted a 2-week experiment with pre- and post-tests with young adults (n = 50). Participants were randomly assigned to two groups—a goal-setting text message reminder group and a generic text message reminder group. Participants were asked to use a fitness tracking app to log physical activity and diet for the duration of the study. Participants who received goal-setting reminders logged significantly more physical activities than those who only received generic reminders. Further, participants who received goal-setting reminders liked the messages and showed significantly increased self-efficacy, awareness of personal goals, motivation, and intention to use the app. The study shows that incorporating goal-setting theory-based text message reminders can be useful to boost user compliance with self-monitoring fitness apps by reinforcing users’ personal goals and enhancing cognitive factors associated with health behavior change.

Classification of the Relhania generic group (Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae) revisited using molecular phylogenetic analysis

Phylogenetic relationships within the Relhania generic group, a southern African lineage of 45 yellow-flowered daisy species, are examined using parsimony and Bayesian analysis of plastid DNA, nuclear DNA, and morphological characters. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis indicates that the species fall into two clades, one comprising the genera containing short-lived (annual / biennial) species, and the other exclusively perennial. Within the perennial clade, containing six genera, several well-supported and morphologically coherent clades are recovered. However, there is substantial generic non-monophyly and many relationships lack resolution, with several species being unplaced. Subdivision into multiple genera would require the recognition of up to twelve small or monospecific genera, and lack of resolution would render this solution potentially unstable. Instead, the six currently-recognised perennial genera Antithrixia, Comborhiza, Oreoleysera, Relhania and Rosenia are here synonymized under the oldest name, Oedera Linnaeus. An infrageneric taxonomy comprising eight sections is proposed for Oedera sensu amplo. This new, enlarged concept of Oedera is defined by the perennial life-history, by leaves with involute or flat margins, by pappus bristles (if present) that are never plumose, and by a base chromosome number of x = 7. Keys to the genera, an updated description of Oedera sensu amplo, and keys to the sections and species are provided. A total of 25 new combinations is made.

Entanglement on linked boundaries in Chern-Simons theory with generic gauge groups

We study the entanglement for a state on linked torus boundaries in 3d Chern-Simons theory with a generic gauge group and present the asymptotic bounds of Rényi entropy at two different limits: (i) large Chern-Simons coupling k, and (ii) large rank r of the gauge group. These results show that the Rényi entropies cannot diverge faster than ln k and ln r, respectively. We focus on torus links T (2, 2n) with topological linking number n. The Rényi entropy for these links shows a periodic structure in n and vanishes whenever n = 0 (mod p), where the integer p is a function of coupling k and rank r. We highlight that the refined Chern-Simons link invariants can remove such a periodic structure in n.

A case of mite-on-mammal ectoparasitism from Eocene Baltic amber (Acari: Prostigmata: Myobiidae and Mammalia: Erinaceomorpha)

Tetrapods are rarely recovered from fossil resins, such as amber, and fossils of parasites are even rarer. We describe the first pre-Quaternary co-occurrence of ectoparasitic mites with hairs of their mammalian hosts, preserved in life-like detail from a piece of Eocene (∼ 40 Ma) Baltic amber. The mites, representing the oldest fossils of the family Myobiidae (Acari: Prostigmata: Eleutherengona), are described as Protohylomysobia erinaceophilus Sidorchuk & Bochkov gen. et sp. nov. and belong to the generic group Amorphacarus. Recent members of this group parasitize small-sized insectivores – shrews, moles and gymnures (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae, Talpidae and Erinaceidae: Galericinae). The fossils indicate that the evolution of Myobiidae and their relationships with mammals were well underway by the Eocene. The hairs of the hosts are also described, and are morphologically compared with those of Recent mammals. This comparison suggests an early-derivative member from an array of mammalian groups, and provides clues to its habitus. Our data give a new perspective on a long discussion about the source of mammal hairs in Baltic amber. The combined mite, amber and hair evidence suggest a small, short- and fine-haired member of Amphilemuridae, sister family to hedgehogs, as a host for the mites and the source of at least some of the hairs preserved in Baltic amber.http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:FB65DC5F-360E-4594-8153-6A04E732BF37

Methodology of Classifying the Causes of Occupational Accidents Involving Construction Scaffolding Using Pareto-Lorenz Analysis

This article presents the developed methodology of classifying and evaluating the causes of accidents involving construction scaffolding. This methodology allows the causes of accidents to be identified, classified into generic groups, and also allows the importance of individual causes in their generic groups to be assessed. For the classification of causes, the Technical–Organizational–Human (TOH) method was used. Its assumption is the division of causes into technical (T), organizational (O), and human (H) ones. Pareto-Lorenz analysis and ABC classification were used to identify the most important causes. The developed methodology was used to analyze and assess the causes of accidents that involve construction scaffolding using the data of accidents that occurred in Poland as an example. The use of the proposed methodology in different countries will enable the results of the conducted studies and analysis to be compared, and conclusions that would be of a great importance in accident prevention to be drawn.

Efficient Leakage-Resilient Authenticated Key Agreement Protocol in the Continual Leakage eCK Model

Based on users’ permanent private keys and ephemeral secret keys (randomness secret values), authenticated key agreement (AKA) protocols are used to construct a common session key between two session parties while authenticating each other. Recently, the design of leakage-resilient AKA (LR-AKA) resisting side-channel attacks has received significant attention from researchers. By side-channel attacks, an adversary is allowed to obtain fractional leakage information of private (secret) keys during the computation rounds of LR-AKA protocols. However, most LR-AKA protocols have a restriction, namely, the overall fractional leakage information must be bounded. In this paper, we propose an efficient LR-AKA protocol with overall unbounded leakage property in the continual leakage extended Canetti-Krawczyk model. Security analysis is given to demonstrate that our LR-AKA protocol is provably secure in the generic bilinear group model. By comparisons, our protocol is better than the previously proposed LR-AKA protocols in terms of computation cost, security model, and leakage properties.

Efficient leakage-resilient blind and partially blind signatures

The techniques of the blind and partially blind signatures play an important role in numerous applications, most prominently in electronic voting and electronic cash. In this paper, we first present formal definitions of leakage-resilient blind and partially blind signatures. Subsequently, we propose an efficient leakage-resilient blind signature scheme and an efficient leakage-resilient partially blind signature scheme in the continual leakage model. The proposed leakage-resilient blind signature scheme is the first protocol which is secure even in a setting where the adversary may obtain leakage information on the signer's or user's internal state, including secret key and the randomness. However, in the only known leakage-resilient blind signature scheme which was proposed by Rückert, the adversary is given the leakage information only about the signer's secret key. The proposed partially blind signature scheme is the first leakage-resilient partially blind signature scheme. Also, we analyse their security and efficiency in the generic bilinear group model.

Efficient leakage-resilient blind and partially blind signatures

The techniques of the blind and partially blind signatures play an important role in numerous applications, most prominently in electronic voting and electronic cash. In this paper, we first present formal definitions of leakage-resilient blind and partially blind signatures. Subsequently, we propose an efficient leakage-resilient blind signature scheme and an efficient leakage-resilient partially blind signature scheme in the continual leakage model. The proposed leakage-resilient blind signature scheme is the first protocol which is secure even in a setting where the adversary may obtain leakage information on the signer's or user's internal state, including secret key and the randomness. However, in the only known leakage-resilient blind signature scheme which was proposed by Ruckert, the adversary is given the leakage information only about the signer's secret key. The proposed partially blind signature scheme is the first leakage-resilient partially blind signature scheme. Also, we analyse their security and efficiency in the generic bilinear group model.

The metal content of generic orthodontic brackets compared with proprietary brackets

Abstract Background With minimal manufacturer information, a variety of ‘generic’ orthodontic brackets are available online from overseas distributors. The present study investigated the metal composition of generic orthodontic brackets compared with two well-known ‘proprietary’ brands. Materials and methods Ranging in price from AU$2.99 to $65, five sets of different generic brackets were obtained directly from China via eBay (G1, G2…G5). Proprietary brackets were obtained from American Orthodontics (P1) and Rocky Mountain Orthodontics (P2). The 11, 12, 13 and 14 brackets from each set were liquefied in an acid solution and subjected to trace element analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) with respect to nickel, chromium, iron, copper, molybdenum, manganese, cadmium, mercury, arsenic and lead. Statistical analysis investigated the compositional consistency within and between each brand. Results The composition of P1 and P2 agreed with the manufacturer’s data. The generic groups typically had low molybdenum and higher copper content and approximated either 17-4 or AISI304 stainless steels or a combination of both. No relationship between brand and consistency of manufacture could be identified. The cheapest bracket contained lead. Conclusions Generic and proprietary brackets showed differences in their metal composition that may have biocompatibility implications.