Blockchain Papers

Véronique Cortier, Pierrick Gaudry, Quentin Yang

International audience

Toru Nakanishi, Yoshino Hiromi, Tomoki Murakami, Guru-Vamsi Policharla

To prove the graph relations such as the connectivity and the isolation for a certified graph, the system of graph signature and proofs have been proposed. In this system, an issuer generates a signature certifying the topology of an undirected graph, and issues a prover the signature. The prover can prove the knowledge of the signature and the graph in the zero-knowledge, i.e., the signature and the signed graph are hidden. In addition, the prover can prove relations on the certified graph such as the connectivity and isolation between two vertexes. In the previous system, using integer commitments on RSA modulus, the graph relations are proved. However, the RSA modulus needs a longer size of each element. Furthermore, the proof size and the verification cost depend on the total numbers of vertexes and edges. In this paper, we propose a graph signature and proof system, where these are computed on bilinear groups without the RSA modulus. Moreover, using a bilinear map accumulator, the prover can prove the connectivity and isolation on a graph, where the proof size and verification cost become independent from the total numbers of vertexes and edges.

Claudia Pop, Claudia Antal, Tudor Cioara, Ionuț Anghel · 5 authors

Nowadays, the adoption of demand response programs is still lagging due to the prosumers' lack of awareness, fear of losing control and privacy of energy data, etc. Programs decentralization, by adopting promising technologies such as blockchain, may bring significant advantages in terms of transparency, openness, improved control, and increased active participation of prosumers. Nevertheless, even though in general the transparency of the public blockchain is a desirable feature in the energy domain, the prosumer energy data is sensitive and rather private, thus, a privacy-preserving solution is required. In this paper, we present a decentralized implementation of demand response programs on top of the public blockchain which deals with the privacy of the prosumer's energy data using zero-knowledge proofs and validates on the blockchain the prosumer's activity inside the program using smart contracts. Prosumer energy data is kept private, while on the blockchain it is stored a zero-knowledge proof that is generated by the prosumer itself allowing the implementation of functions to validate potential deviations from the request and settle prosumer's activity. The solution evaluation results are promising in terms of ensuring the privacy of prosumer energy data stored in the public blockchain and detecting potential data inconsistencies.

J Dharani, K Sundarakantham, Kunwar Singh, S. Mercy Shalinie

Blockchain technology has gained its attention from its application in bitcoin which circumvented the problem of double spending that existed in the prior digital currencies, through validation. Particularly permissioned blockchain framework became popular with organizations forming consortium that allowed only authorized entities to participate in the network. Hyperledger Fabric, a popular distributed ledger technology hosted by Linux Foundation has remarkable features because of the fact that it is open source. It stands out from other frameworks as it focuses on the privacy-preserving requirements of the enterprises. Apart from only allowing authenticated organizations to participate in the network it implements channels that allows a subset of organizations to communicate concealing the existence of such a channel to other members. Optionally fabric also provides anonymity and unlinkability of the participating clients through a cryptographic protocol suite called Idemix that operates based on zero-knowledge proofs. Fabric follows the execute-order-validate transaction flow as opposed to order-execute flow that had certain limitations in other platforms. For executing the transactions submitted by the clients, fabric has designated endorsing peers which holds the smart contract - programmable business logic. Endorsing peers or endorsers execute the transactions and attach their signatures to the results for validation purpose. But revealing the endorser identities may be a problem when there is conflict of interest among the enterprises. Hence to have an unbiased flow of work it is important to conceal the endorser identity. According to [1] anonymization of endorsing peers is still a open problem in fabric community. We propose a solution to this problem which uses linkable threshold ring signatures that conceals the identity of endorsers. Ring signatures are known for preserving the privacy of the signer in a group. Threshold ring signature allows t-out-of-n signers to collaborate on the signing procedure. Employing threshold ring signature implicitly addresses one more problem stated in [10] where the verifiers need to manually count the valid ring signature that increases the verification time. This process of separately verifying each of the signatures and checking if the number of signatures is more than the threshold value is replaced by having just one threshold signature collaboratively signed by the required endorsers.

Srinath Setty, Jonathan Lee

We introduce Xiphos and Kopis, new transparent zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge (zkSNARKs) for R1CS. They do not require a trusted setup, and their security relies on the standard SXDH problem. They achieve non-interactivity in the random oracle model using the Fiat-Shamir transform. Unlike prior transparent zkSNARKs, which support either a fast prover, short proofs, or quick verification, our work is the first to simultaneously achieve all three properties (both asymptotically and concretely) and in addition an inexpensive setup phase, thereby providing the first quadruple-efficient transparent zkSNARKs (Quarks). Under both schemes, for an R1CS instance of size n and security parameter $\lambda$, the prover incurs $Oλ(n)>O_{\lambda}(n)$ costs to produce a proof of size $Oλ(n)>O_{\lambda}(\log{n})$. In Xiphos, verification time is $Oλ(n)>O_{\lambda}(\log{n})$, and in Kopis it is $Oλ(n)>O_{\lambda}(\sqrt{n})$. In terms of concrete efficiency, compared to prior state-of-the-art transparent zkSNARKs, Xiphos offers the fastest verification; its proof sizes are competitive with those of SuperSonic [EUROCRYPT 2020], a prior transparent SNARK with the shortest proofs in the literature. Xiphos’s prover is fast: its prover is $\approx3.85×>\times$ of Spartan [CRYPTO 2020], a prior transparent zkSNARK with the fastest prover in the literature, and is $250> 376\times$ faster than SuperSonic. Kopis, at the cost of increased verification time (which is still concretely faster than SuperSonic), shortens Xiphos’s proof sizes further, thereby producing proofs shorter than SuperSonic. Xiphos and Kopis incur $10>10$–$10,000×>10,000\times$ lower preprocessing costs for the verifier in the setup phase depending on the baseline. Finally, a byproduct of Kopis is Lakonia, a NIZK for R1CS with $Oλ(n)>O_{\lambda}(\log{n})$-sized proofs, which provides an alternative to Bulletproofs [S&P 2018] with over an order of magnitude faster proving and verification times.

Huayi Qi, Zhiguo Wan, Zhangshuang Guan, Xiuzhen Cheng

Compared with traditional insurance schemes, usage-based insurance (UBI) for vehicles is more economic and accurate for drivers since its insurance premium calculation depends on how vehicles are driven. However, UBI requires sensitive driving data to determine insurance premiums, and this could result in serious privacy breach for drivers. Meanwhile, existing UBI solutions rely on a centralized entity (i.e., the insurance company) to manage insurances. In this article, we design a decentralized and privacy-preserving UBI scheme, called DUBI, based on the blockchain technology and zero-knowledge proof. In our scheme, a smart contract running over the blockchain serves as a “decentralized” insurance company, while drivers continuously upload their committed driving data to the blockchain. Periodically, the driver submits accumulated driving statistics with a zero-knowledge proof to the smart contract, which verifies the proof and calculates the insurance premium from the submitted statistics. We formulate an ideal functionality for DUBI under the universal composability framework, and then provide a formal security proof for DUBI. Furthermore, we give in-depth analysis and performance evaluation for DUBI with an implementation based on Ethereum. It shows that DUBI is highly efficient in processing UBI insurances in both storage and computation: DUBI is about seven times more efficient than existing schemes in storage, and proof generation and verification take only 7 and 30 ms, respectively.

Kyosuke Yamashita, Mehdi Tibouchi, Masayuki Abe

After the work of Impagliazzo and Rudich (STOC, 1989), the black box framework has become one of the main research domain of cryptography. However black box techniques say nothing about non-black box techniques such as making use of zero-knowledge proofs. Brakerski et al. introduced a new black box framework named augmented black box framework, in which they gave a zero-knowledge proof oracle in addition to a base primitive oracle (TCC, 2011). They showed a construction of a non-interactive zero knowledge proof system based on a witness indistinguishable proof system oracle. They presented augmented black box construction of chosen ciphertext secure public key encryption scheme based on chosen plaintext secure public key encryption scheme and augmented black box separation between one-way function and key agreement. In this paper we simplify the work of Brakerski et al. by introducing a proof system oracle without witness indistinguishability, named coin-free proof system oracle, that aims to give the same construction and separation results of previous work. As a result, the augmented black box framework becomes easier to handle. Since our oracle is not witness indistinguishable, our result encompasses the result of previous work.

Abdelrahaman Aly, Tomer Ashur, Eli Ben‐Sasson, Siemen Dhooghe · 5 authors

While traditional symmetric algorithms like AES and SHA-3 are optimized for efficient hardware and software implementations, a range of emerging applications using advanced cryptographic protocols such as multi-party computation and zero knowledge proofs require optimization with respect to a different metric: arithmetic complexity. In this paper we study the design of secure cryptographic algorithms optimized to minimize this metric. We begin by identifying the differences in the design space between such arithmetization-oriented ciphers and traditional ones, with particular emphasis on the available tools, efficiency metrics, and relevant cryptanalysis. This discussion highlights a crucial point—the considerations for designing arithmetization-oriented ciphers are oftentimes different from the considerations arising in the design of software- and hardware-oriented ciphers. The natural next step is to identify sound principles to securely navigate this new terrain, and to materialize these principles into concrete designs. To this end, we present the Marvellous design strategy which provides a generic way to easily instantiate secure and efficient algorithms for this emerging domain. We then show two examples for families following this approach. These families — Vision and Rescue — are benchmarked with respect to three use cases: the ZK-STARK proof system, proof systems based on Rank-One Constraint Satisfaction (R1CS), and Multi-Party Computation (MPC). These benchmarks show that our algorithms achieve a highly compact algebraic description, and thus benefit the advanced cryptographic protocols that employ them.

Marie-Laure Zollinger

Elections are the foundations of democracy. To uphold democratic principles, researchers have proposed systems that ensure the integrity of elections. It is a highly interdisciplinary field, as it can be studied from a technical, legal or societal points of view. While lawyers give a legal framework to the voting procedures, security researchers translate these rules into technical properties that operational voting systems must satisfy, notably privacy and verifiability. If Privacy aims to protect vote-secrecy and provide coercion-resistance to the protocol, Verifiability allows voters to check that their vote has been taken into account in the general outcome, contributing to the assurance of the integrity of the elections. To satisfy both properties in a voting system, we rely on cryptographic primitives such as encryption, signatures, commitments schemes, or zero-knowledge proofs, etc. Many protocols, paper-based or electronic-based, have been designed to satisfy these properties. Although the security of some protocols, and their limits, have been analysed from a technical perspective, the usability has often been shown to have very low rates of effectiveness. The necessary cryptographic interactions have already shown to be one contributor to this problem, but the design of the interface could also contribute by misleading voters. As elections typically rarely happen, voters must be able to understand the system they use quickly and mostly without training, which brings the user experience at the forefront of the designed protocols. In this thesis, the first contribution is to redefine privacy and verifiability in the context of tracker-based verifiable schemes. These schemes, using a so-called tracking number for individual verification, need additional user steps that must be considered in the security evaluation. These security definitions are applied to the boardroom voting protocol F2FV used by the CNRS, and the e-voting protocol Selene, both use a tracker-based procedure for individual verifiability. We provide proofs of security in the symbolic model using the Tamarin prover. The second contribution is an implementation of the Selene protocol as a mobile and a web application, tested in several user studies. The goal is to evaluate the usability and the overall user experience of the verifiability features, as well as their understanding of the system through the evaluation of mental models. The third contribution concerns the evaluation of the voters' understanding of the coercion mitigation mechanism provided by Selene, through a unique study design using game theory for the evaluation of voters. Finally, the fourth contribution is about the design of a new voting scheme, Electryo, that is based on the Selene verification mechanisms but provides a user experience close to the standard paper-based voting protocols.

Riccardo Bonazzi, Francesco Cimmino, Jean-Luc Beuchat, Fanny Vérolet

In this paper, we describe an ongoing project to assess the liquidity risk of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in a network. In doing so we try to mimic the tracing applications that have been done to Covid-19. We built a simple artefact under the shape of a method called LUC (Liquidity for Unstructured Collaborations) to (1) collect data that has been encrypted by using multiple keys, (2) store the data in a shared ledger and (3) extract the required information concerning the credit risk of each user while respecting the conditions for the zero-knowledge proof. We see this solution as well-adapted for firms performing unstructured collaboration and we see our service as complementary concerning a trusted company, in the same way, the Covid-19 tracing application collects weak signals and then send patients to doctors for official testing.

Suthee Ruangwises, Toshiya Itoh

Ripple Effect is a logic puzzle where the player has to fill numbers into empty cells in a rectangular grid. The grid is divided into rooms, and each room must contain consecutive integers starting from 1 to its size. Also, if two cells in the same row or column contain the same number $x$, there must be a space of at least $x$ cells separating the two cells. In this paper, we develop a physical zero-knowledge proof for the Ripple Effect puzzle using a deck of cards, which allows a prover to convince a verifier that he/she knows a solution without revealing it. In particular, given a secret number $x$ and a list of numbers, our protocol can physically verify that $x$ does not appear among the first $x$ numbers in the list without revealing $x$ or any number in the list.

Iñigo Querejeta-Azurmendi, David Arroyo, Jorge López Hernández-Ardieta, Luis Hernández Encinas

This paper proposes NetVote, an internet voting protocol where usability and ease in deployment are a priority. We introduce the notion of strict coercion resistance, to distinguish between vote-buying and coercion resistance. We propose a protocol with ballot secrecy, practical everlasting privacy, verifiability and strict coercion resistance in the re-voting setting. Coercion is mitigated via a random dummy vote padding strategy to hide voting patterns and make re-voting deniable. This allows us to build a filtering phase with linear complexity, based on zero knowledge proofs to ensure correctness while maintaining privacy of the process. Voting tokens are formed by anonymous credentials and pseudorandom identifiers, achieving practical everlasting privacy, where even if dealing with a future computationally unbounded adversary, vote intention is still hidden. It is not assumed for voters to own cryptographic keys prior to the election, nor store cryptographic material during the election. This property allows voters not only to vote multiple times, but also from different devices each time, granting the voter a vote-from-anywhere experience. This paper builds on top of the paper published in CISIS’19. In this version, we modify the filtering. Moreover, we formally define the padding technique, which allows us to perform the linear filtering scheme. Similarly we provide more details on the protocol itself and include a section of the security analysis, where we include the formal definitions of strict coercion resistance and a game based definition of practical everlasting privacy. Finally, we prove that NetVote satisfies them all.

Ching Lam, Michelle Helena van Velthoven, Edward Meinert

BACKGROUND: Advanced therapies, including cell and gene therapies, have shown therapeutic promise in curing life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma. However, these therapies can be complicated and expensive to deliver due to their sensitivity to environment; troublesome tissue, cell, or genetic material sourcing; and complicated regulatory requirements. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to create a novel connected supply chain logistics and manufacturing management platform based on blockchain, with cell and gene therapy as a use case. Objectives are to define the requirements and perform feasibility evaluations on the use of blockchain for standardized manufacturing and establishment of a chain of custody for the needle-to-needle delivery of autologous cell and gene therapies. A way of lowering overall regulatory compliance costs for running a network of facilities operating similar or parallel processes will be evaluated by lowering the monitoring costs through publishing zero-knowledge proofs and product release by exception. METHODS: The study will use blockchain technologies to digitally connect and integrate supply chain with manufacturing to address the security, scheduling, and communication issues between advanced therapy treatment centers and manufacturing facilities in order to realize a transparent, secure, automated, and cost-effective solution to the delivery of these life-saving therapies. An agile software development methodology will be used to develop, implement, and evaluate the system. The system will adhere to the EU and US good manufacturing practices and regulatory requirements. RESULTS: This is a proposed study protocol, and upon acceptance, grant funding will be pursued for its execution in 2021. CONCLUSIONS: The successful implementation of the integrated blockchain solution to supply chain and manufacturing of advanced therapies can push the industry standards toward a safer and more secure therapy delivery process. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/17005.

Xiaohui Yang, Wenjie Li

No abstract is available for this record.

Stavros Kassaras, Λέανδρος Μαγλαράς

How someone can get health insurance without sharing his health infor-mation? How you can get a loan without disclosing your credit score? There is a method to certify certain attributes of various data, either this is health metrics or finance information, without revealing the data itself or any other kind of personal data. This method is known as “zero-knowledge proofs”. Zero-Knowledge techniques are mathematical methods used to verify things without sharing or revealing underlying data. Zero-Knowledge protocols have vast applications from simple identity schemes and blockchains to de-fense research programs and nuclear arms control. In this article we present the basic principles behind ZKP technology, possible applications and the threats and vulnerabilities that it is subject to and we review proposed securi-ty solutions.

Shatha J. Mohammed, Sadiq A. Mehdi

<span>Text password has long been a dominant approach to user authentication used by a huge quantity of Internet services. Web applications are now widely used for the implementation of a range of significant services. The securing of such applications has thus become a significant process. Currently the frequent use of passwords and the need for them make them more vulnerable to theft or guesswork. In the proposed research, the researcher designed an algorithm that has the ability to perform registration or to access web applications safely. The researcher designed an algorithm in the proposed research, which has the ability to securely perform registration or access web applications. The proposed idea based on the notion of Zero-knowledge proof. A complex generation of random number initiated by proposed novel 6D-Hyper chaotic system. The bottom line is that both parties (web application, user), have a secret number. These two numbers used to do the process of registration without requiring a password. Results from the research showed the importance of the proposed method by which the keys were managed and distributed in a safe and effective way.</span>

Gill Allwood

In November 2019 the European Parliament (2019/2930(RSP)) declared a climate and environmental emergency, calling for urgent and concrete action. The year 2019 was Europe's hottest year on record (Copernicus Climate Change Service, 2019), and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018, p. v) reported that ‘emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities, the root cause of global warming, continue to increase, year after year’. Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg inspired and led a worldwide school strike movement, and mass protests dominated by young women took place around the world (Wahlström et al., 2019). The European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2019 (2019/2582(RSP)) ‘welcomes the fact that people across Europe, in particular younger generations, are becoming increasingly active in demonstrating for climate justice’. At the institutional level 2019 was a year of renewal, with the European Parliament elections in May, the adoption of a new Council strategy in June and the appointment of a new Commission in December. Climate change was a priority for all these institutional actors. The Council strategy 2019–24, for example, insists on the urgent need to build a ‘climate-neutral, green, fair and social Europe’. The new President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced her intention to see Europe become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Climate change arrived on the EU agenda in the 1980s, emerging out of environmental policy, which was already established as an area that required transnational action. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s the climate ambition of the EU exceeded its ability to agree on, and implement, effective actions (Dupont and Oberthür, 2015). When the USA withdrew from the Kyoto protocol in 2001 the EU took on a global leadership role and has continued to construct an identity as a global actor around the issue of climate change (Jordan et al., 2010). This had economic motivations (to avoid being undercut by exporters with lower environmental standards) but was also part of the post-Maastricht efforts to increase the EU's global actorness. The past decade has seen climate change gain prominence and take centre stage. In 2009 the landmark climate and energy framework (COM(2014)15 final) introduced targets for greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and renewable energy. Within the European Commission climate action gained its own Directorate General, DG CLIMA. This was an important part of the process of institutionalizing climate change. The issue of climate change continued to rise up the EU and the global agenda, and there was a strong dynamic between the two. The Lisbon Treaty (2007) gave the EU competence to conclude international environmental agreements. The EU, along with its member states, is a party to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and plays a key role in trying to reach agreement on global targets (Biedenkopf and Dupont, 2013; Oberthür and Groen, 2018). It is in this context that the EU emerged as an influential player in the 2015 Paris Agreement, the first climate agreement to be universal and legally binding. International targets and monitoring and reporting have acted as an impetus for action on the part of the EU and many, although not all, its member states (Dupont, 2019). The European Green Deal (2019), drafted against the background of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2018) report on the predicted impact of a global temperature rise of 1.5°C, further highlights the way that the issue of climate change has become part of the institutional fabric of the EU. Reinforcing the EU's commitments under the Paris agreement, as well as the UN's 2030 Agenda, with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2015), it provides a framework in which the EU can try to assert leadership and mould its own efforts towards a sustainability that ‘leaves no-one behind’. The Council's conclusions on climate diplomacy of 18 February 2019 describe 2019 as the year of pushing further convergence between the SDGs and the climate agenda. The initial focus of EU climate policy was climate change mitigation. This refers to strategies for reducing climate change, largely through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Key policy frameworks are the Climate and energy package and the Environmental Action Programme, which provides an overarching framework for all environmental and climate policy. The European Green Deal (COM(2019)640 final), proposed by the new Commission in 2019, sets out a strategy to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while sustaining economic growth, and promises to enshrine this in legislation, with the first climate laws due to be proposed in 2020. Since 2013, internal EU climate policy has also included an adaptation strategy, in recognition of the fact that climate change is having an impact within the EU, as well as, more obviously, elsewhere. While climate change mitigation is more readily framed as an issue to be dealt with at the EU level, adaptation to the effects of climate change appeared, until recently, to require local responses or to be of concern only in the countries that are most severely hit by the impact of climate change, and are concentrated in the global south. The floods and heat waves of the early 2000s raised awareness of the impact of climate change within the EU and of its cross-border nature (Rayner and Jordan, 2010), prompting the adoption of an EU adaptation strategy (COM(2013)216). Member states are encouraged to produce national adaptation strategies, setting out, for example, how they will climate-proof their transport, energy and agriculture sectors, and protect their populations from flooding, droughts and heat waves. Adaptation has a longer history as part of EU external relations. The visible impact of climate change in developing countries, and the use of development aid for adaptation purposes, mean that climate change has been prominent in EU development policy. A Commission communication in 2003 (COM(2003)85 final) declared that climate change was a problem for development, as well as an environmental problem. Since the Lisbon treaty (2007), however, climate change has been substantially reframed on the external agenda, replacing a development frame with one much more closely related to migration and security (Youngs, 2014). Development policy is expected to align with the Union's strategic priorities, set out in the Global Strategy (2016), which is the overarching statement of EU foreign policy and that frames climate change as a security threat and a root cause of migration (Global Strategy, 2016, p. 27). This article will focus on two aspects of recent EU climate policy. The first is not new, but is important. It is the recognition that climate change, like other cross-cutting issues, cannot be addressed in isolation. It is inextricably connected to key areas of EU activity, including energy, transport and agriculture. Climate objectives need to be integrated into all areas of policymaking. This is referred to as climate mainstreaming and has been embraced by EU policymakers as a desirable practice. It has obvious parallels with gender mainstreaming, but, as this article shows, is itself gender blind, and this is problematic. The second aspect of recent EU climate policy on which this article focuses is new. It is the growing presence of statements about the need for a ‘just transition’ to a climate-neutral economy, one which ‘puts people first’ and ensures that ‘no-one is left behind’. I argue that embedding a gender lens in these two aspects of EU climate policy makes a valuable contribution to efforts to create a sustainable and just future. On the surface, it may seem that climate change affects everyone equally. As British Conservative MEP and member of the European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Marina Yannakoudakis, said, ‘The climate is the same for males and females, so far as I know. When it rains we all get wet’ (BBC News, 2012). However, gender, development and environment scholars have produced a large volume of literature demonstrating that climate change is, indeed, gendered. The early contributions to this literature argued that structural inequalities in the global political economy and within societies increase women's vulnerability to the impact of climate change (Agrawala and Crick, 2009; Alston, 2013; Brody et al., 2008; Skinner, 2011). They argued that climate change has a particularly detrimental effect on the poorest countries and, within them, on the poorest parts of the population. As women constitute a large proportion of the poorest in society, they will be amongst the hardest hit and the least well positioned socially, legally and economically, to respond (Morrow, 2017). There is evidence to support the argument that women's vulnerability to the effects of climate change is increased in relation to men's by their relative disadvantage in terms of access to resources, land ownership, education and caring responsibilities (Dankelman, 2010). However, there is also a crucial insistence in the literature that women cannot be perceived as helpless victims of climate change (MacGregor, 2017). A second strand of the early gender and climate change literature emphasized women's agency and specific skills and knowledge which, it was argued, made them potentially useful actors in climate change adaptation. As food producers, for example, they were well placed to adapt agricultural techniques to changing environmental conditions. It was also argued that, as energy users in the home, they could play a role in climate change mitigation by adopting new forms of cooking stoves, for example. The gendered impact of climate change and women's role as climate actors are not confined to the global south, and researchers have demonstrated these links in rich industrialized countries, including EU member states (Tschakert and Machado, p. They have that there are gendered in the of climate change, including transport and energy They have gendered in vulnerability to the effects of climate as heat waves and and they have gendered in towards climate change and towards the need to mitigation and adaptation on and gender is to between women and and between and of women and not to between of and which can be by and women and Gender inequalities with other structural inequalities including and and Gender is one of of that have an impact on the of and as a of and makes it of in its with other structural lens has been by scholars to important contributions to of the impact of climate change and responses to it et al., and and Machado, 2012). can and in relation to climate change. women as victims of climate change, an that social on as gender, and place the vulnerability and of and example, on and the EU and 2013; and that there are gendered in energy and but that gender is not the only more women are not a and there are within the global and the global south. and p. for example, argue that, climate most have in with women across Europe with their at the Commission and this to their climate impact as well as climate to which inequalities in and p. and have out that women's presence in climate is and have for this to be and Development 2018). There is evidence that women in climate a example, and that emissions are lower in countries women have political support the argument that women be included in climate they knowledge and which to policy However, not all agree that there is a between the presence of women in climate and policy In a and that a mass of women policymakers not in climate policy. that, in the most European countries, gender in and in towards climate were and from climate policy were largely of the of gender and how to them in relation to climate of the gender of the climate policy is made p. This is not to that women and not be in all of but this be on of and policy change. This is part of a much on the to which women in a to gendered et al., 2012). In climate change is as a of the gender inequalities that in all that gender inequalities or international to to the gender p. This not mean at It which women which a need to and gender inequalities in relation to climate change that can women more to its impact that this vulnerability is or the same for all a gender lens to climate change to and how gender This is a first to gender in relation to climate change. There is a and recognition in EU that objectives cannot be by them as but that they need to be into all and at all of Gender mainstreaming and environmental policy are two of this and are This that gender and environmental objectives be or into all areas of EU including they are not In the of gender for example, this foreign and agriculture or also that the cross-cutting issue or be at all of the from of the issue and problem to monitoring and for climate mainstreaming are increasingly in EU policy (Dupont, There is an of literature on gender mainstreaming, and much of it focuses on mainstreaming has to its 2013; and et al., to the between gender mainstreaming as a with and gender mainstreaming as an policy and and p. and In its gender mainstreaming is as a policy into and that in this of gender mainstreaming the it in and gender in particular its of and inequalities 2010). it refers to of and and is for at women or is an to The of a set of and along with for their and for the of their and the that gender mainstreaming has become a of et al., 2016, The in has its in of gender and was proposed as a way of policy to gender of gender as a policy gender mainstreaming a to gender in all policy including perceived to be gender It to gender at all of so that be with the of gender already within them, action being they had already been or of gender mainstreaming and other forms of policy including climate mainstreaming, have to their et al., 2018). and (2007) of climate change mainstreaming, for example, that were not for and on There are Commission of the Council of and the the European Parliament and the The European and in particular its on the development and gender have been increasingly active in the mainstreaming of these all European Parliament but the Parliament can be out of forms of dominated by and this to most of the Union's climate change and it for as environmental to on up by economic as and agriculture. and der institutional on economic as the to mainstreaming climate change. mainstreaming this cross-cutting issue is seen as the and the of and the energy is policy or for will these and to mainstreaming may particularly in of economic is embraced in EU policy and has to a of new from climate change to migration and There are also for these cross-cutting to be in and not just EU policy increasingly use the to describe the between two or more policy areas 2013; et al., and and Climate change is placed in a of including climate security and climate The Council conclusions on climate diplomacy of February to further the between climate change and security in political development and action and While this statement is an important recognition that policy are and cannot be addressed in from it about how gender can be other cross-cutting only are climate change, migration and other cross-cutting to be but so be the between This about the of of issues, of them are priority It also a context in which the mainstreaming of gender more 2019). The literature on policy and policy that policy a that as a strategic and focus on the and not on the and The literature that, commitments by EU gender mainstreaming is from key policy areas and is as and 2011). the literature on and policy environmental policy and gender mainstreaming, we that institutional and the more actors can that mainstreaming or policy in their between the to policy economic or As policymakers increasingly to cross-cutting and to policy we need a way to and how they a gender lens to EU climate policy that much of it gender The European Green Deal (COM(2019)640 final) makes of it states that the SDGs will be at the of the EU's the climate and energy framework (COM(2014)15 final) makes of A for final) makes of the Environmental Action makes one of women as a This is the fact that gender mainstreaming is a treaty that a framework for EU gender policy and gender mainstreaming is set out in the Gender Strategy final) and a framework for gender into all external action is set out in the Gender Action and that the EU is to the SDGs and to the Gender Action are a to the impact of proposed actions and are a key of the EU's gender mainstreaming The impact the social and environmental of the proposed are addressed under social to the on social impact the have to be the have a impact on women and the between women and 2017). However, impact are not out, and they are gender is example, the impact the Environmental Action not a to gender, the (2018) the Commission communication for or the impact final) the climate and energy framework of gender awareness in relation to climate change in of EU policy, but they The Gender Strategy has a on climate change that out of the in which climate change is gendered and states that, the gender can have a key role in the of these but it about how this will be refers to climate in relation to women's in climate However, the by women to in and on climate and environmental is the one least included in the to the European Commission by the EU member and the European external action EU to frame gender as between and the of these two the as well as them, and the of other structural inequalities with There are institutional in which a more gender The Gender Strategy makes from a focus on between women and It states that the Gender Strategy will to achieve Europe women and and in all their are The Commission will gender mainstreaming by including a gender in all of policy in all EU policy internal and The Strategy will be as a cross-cutting there is about how this will be the recognition of is an important from gender with a The only EU that has to the relation between gender and climate change is the European which has produced a of and focus on women and adaptation in the global but gender of climate and responses example, the European Parliament resolution of on a report by the Green states that will not be climate gender This is a of the nature of gender and climate It the but with them the insistence that a sustainable inequalities to be addressed in The resolution not for the presence of women in climate but for the at all of of and gender objectives in action and other for gender and for the of gender at all of climate change The European Parliament for a resolution on the European Green Deal by on of the the of gender actions and in the European Green Deal and the European Commission to gender mainstreaming and climate and environmental action at all on the Commission to on the made by President von der Leyen to gender in all policy and on the made by to a on gender and climate and to gender and climate into all aspects of European development It also on the European Commission to gender impact and specific for gender in climate actions and of the European Green The that was by the European Parliament as its resolution of on the European Green Deal of this but the need for a gender on actions and in the Green including gender mainstreaming and The also included the from the on the Commission in its efforts to the EU as of international climate and to a concrete action to on the commitments of the Gender Action at to gender in the and to a EU gender and climate change with resources, to and climate action in the EU and and der argument that gender is it the EU. In there is evidence of gender mainstreaming of EU climate change policy. Climate change is framed as a and or as one that is with foreign and security strategic frames not obvious links to which could a gendered p. The European efforts to gender into climate change an important contribution to policy but climate has largely within the of the which a to climate change only on the a or Swedish is to important to the mainstreaming of gender climate policy is that climate change is as a cross-cutting issue in itself and is in a of with strategic priorities, as migration and This to the of gender from climate policy. The gender mainstreaming and policy literature that this on the of gender the process of gender mainstreaming, and that the of gender and climate are EU have the of a ‘just transition’ which ‘leaves no-one behind’. The European Green Deal states that the to a climate-neutral be just and It people The of a just from with in and environmental to a to the just in the Paris Agreement, which of a just of the and the of and in with The European Parliament resolution on a climate and environmental states that be by strong social and to a fair and to a just not about this however, and in EU climate policy the refers to for example, between areas that produce and that with the of no-one the of a just is being by actors and by the European Parliament to build an to the of a sustainable future. This a change from the to climate action which on and to one that also of the social of climate change and of climate action. EU policy for climate change to be all EU The European Parliament resolution of 14 March 2019 the need to climate ambition into all EU including The Council conclusions of 2019 the nature of Europe's climate and environmental and need to actions for the that is just and is environment and climate aspects into the of the EU's and This growing for climate mainstreaming to the increase in to cross-cutting issues, and policy and in EU policy is at the of the which the important between policy and 2030 states that gender is a for sustainable The SDGs have an overarching to the mainstreaming of a gender in the of the However, at the same the SDGs gender and climate change EU on this with the on on gender The for the of climate change and gender has not been can a gender to the of EU climate The effects of climate change are not the same for inequalities the impact of climate change and the ability to respond to introduced to climate change or to adapt to it also have effects on to their gender, ability and other structural There are gender in the of climate change, in towards and in access to climate of gender mainstreaming have the between and They have how gender it the and have argued that a to gender is more In a gender are to the of the agenda et al., gender and more cannot be left until after the is It is not an or an but to a sustainable for all and EU climate policy is from an focus on towards a recognition that climate change affects and that people are part of the However, and into the of climate change and proposed responses to it is a to gender and efforts to climate change continue to in being integrated into Gender is not integrated into all aspects of and at all it is on or in and in et p. to as a of set of of in and around gender mainstreaming The Council conclusions on climate diplomacy describe 2019 as the year of pushing further convergence between the SDGs and climate A of these two a contribution to a but this strong political will and effective policy

Haiping Huang, Peng Zhu, Fu Xiao, Xiang Sun · 5 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Robert Williams, Dr. Olivia Chen

: With the increasing digitization of financial transactions, ensuring privacy and security has become a critical challenge. Traditional cryptographic techniques such as RSA and AES provide strong security guarantees but do not always protect user privacy. Privacy-preserving cryptographic solutions, including zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and secure multi-party computation, offer enhanced privacy for financial transactions while maintaining security and efficiency. This paper explores modern cryptographic techniques that preserve financial privacy, their advantages, implementation challenges, and future research directions

Rozali Toyib, Yulia Darnita

Keamanan data sangat penting dilakukan dalam menjaga kerahasiaan informasi itu sendiri, terutama bila informasi tersebut hanya boleh diketahui pihak yang tertentu saja. Pengiriman data atau informasi tanpa dilakukan pengamanan akan beresiko terhadap penyadapan. Sehingga informasi yang ada di dalamnya dapat mudah diketahui oleh pihak-pihak yang tidak berhak, dan hal seperti itu sangat merugikan.Hingga saat ini, kriptografi merupakan salah satu solusi untuk menjamin keamanan dari suatu informasi. Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) merupakan protokol kriptografi yang dapat digunakan seseorang untuk membuktikan kepemilikan seseorang (prover) akan suatu informasi rahasia kepada orang lain (verifier), tanpa perlu mengungkapkan informasi tersebut atau memberikan cara bagi orang lain untuk mengetahui rahasia tersebut. Hasil pengujian adalah Zero Knowledge Proof membagi satu aliran data menjadi blok-blok kecil Masing-masing blok ini dienkripsi secara terpisah. Dalam implementasi tanpa bukti pengetahuan, kunci untuk mengenkripsi hanya akan berada pada pengguna, dan dengan itu, ia akan dapat mengenkripsi dan mendekripsi informas, Algoritma zero knowledge proof adalah metode yang unik dimana pengguna dapat membuktikan kepada pengguna lain bahwa dia tahu informasi tambahan.
 Kata Kunci: Keamanan ,data,penyadapan ,Zero-Knowledge proof

Cheng Huang

Owing to the advancement of wireless communication technologies, drivers can rely on smart connected vehicles to communicate with each other, roadside units, pedestrians, and remote service providers to enjoy a large amount of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services, including navigation, parking, ride hailing, and car sharing. These V2X services provide different functions for bettering travel experiences, which have a bunch of benefits. In the real world, even without smart connected vehicles, drivers as users can utilize their smartphones and mobile applications to access V2X services and connect their smartphones to vehicles through some interfaces, e.g., IOS Carplay and Android Auto. In this way, they can still enjoy V2X services through modern car infotainment systems installed on vehicles.
\n
\nMost of the V2X services are data-centric and data-intensive, i.e., users have to upload personal data to a remote service provider, and the service provider can continuously collect a user's data and offer personalized services. However, the data acquired from users may include users' sensitive information, which may expose user privacy and cause serious consequences. To protect user privacy, a basic privacy-preserving mechanism, i.e, anonymization, can be applied in V2X services. Nevertheless, a big obstacle arises as well: user anonymization may affect V2X services' availability. As users become anonymous, users may behave selfishly and maliciously to break the functions of a V2X service without being detected and the service may become unavailable. In short, there exist a conflict between privacy and availability, which is caused by different requirements of users and service providers. In this thesis, we have identified three major conflicts between privacy and availability for V2X services: privacy vs. linkability, privacy vs. accountability, privacy vs. reliability, and then have proposed and designed three privacy-preserving mechanisms to resolve these conflicts.
\n
\nFirstly, the thesis investigates the conflict between privacy and linkability in an automated valet parking (AVP) service, where users can reserve a parking slot for their vehicles such that vehicles can achieve automated valet parking. As an optional privacy-preserving measure, users can choose to anonymize their identities when booking a parking slot for their vehicles. In this way, although user privacy is protected by anonymization, malicious users can repeatedly send parking reservation requests to a parking service provider to make the system unavailable (i.e., "Double-Reservation Attack"). Aiming at this conflict, a security model is given in the thesis to clearly define necessary privacy requirements and potential attacks in an AVP system, and then a privacy-preserving reservation scheme has been proposed based on BBS+ signature and zero-knowledge proof. In the proposed scheme, users can keep anonymous since users only utilize a one-time unlinkable token generated from his/her anonymous credential to achieve parking reservations. In the meantime, by utilizing proxy re-signature, the scheme can also guarantee that one user can only have one token at a time to resist against "Double-Reservation Attack".
\n
\nSecondly, the thesis investigates the conflict between privacy and accountability in a car sharing service, where users can conveniently rent a shared car without human intervention. One basic demand for car sharing service is to check the user's identity to determine his/her validity and enable the user to be accountable if he/she did improper behavior. If the service provider allows users to hide their identities and achieve anonymization to protect user privacy, naturally the car sharing service is unavailable. Aiming at this conflict, a decentralized, privacy-preserving, and accountable car sharing architecture has been proposed in the thesis, where multiple dynamic validation servers are employed to build decentralized trust for users. Under this architecture, the thesis proposes a privacy-preserving identity management scheme to assist in managing users' identities in a dynamic manner based on a verifiable secret sharing/redistribution technique, i.e. the validation servers who manage users' identities are dynamically changed with the time advancing. Moreover, the scheme enables a majority of dynamic validation servers to recover the misbehaving users' identities and guarantees that honest users' identities are confidential to achieve privacy preservation and accountability at the same time.
\n
\nThirdly, the thesis investigates the conflict between privacy and reliability in a road condition monitoring service, where users can report road conditions to a monitoring service provider to help construct a live map based on crowdsourcing. Usually, a reputation-based mechanism is applied in the service to measure a user's reliability. However, this mechanism cannot be easily integrated with a privacy-preserving mechanism based on user anonymization. When users are anonymous, they can upload arbitrary reports to destroy the service quality and make the service unavailable. Aiming at this conflict, a privacy-preserving crowdsourcing-based road condition monitoring scheme has been proposed in the thesis. By leveraging homomorphic commitments and PS signature, the scheme supports anonymous user reputation management without the assistance of any third-party authority. Furthermore, the thesis proposes several zero-knowledge proof protocols to ensure that a user can keep anonymous and unlinkable but a monitoring service provider can still judge the reliability of this user's report through his/her reputation score.
\n
\nTo sum up, with more attention being paid to privacy issues, how to protect user privacy for V2X services becomes more significant. The thesis proposes three effective privacy-preserving mechanisms for V2X services, which resolve the conflict between privacy and availability and can be conveniently integrated into current V2X applications since no trusted third party authority is required. The proposed approaches should be valuable for achieving practical privacy preservation in V2X services.

Lucas Hure-Maclaurin

Technological advancements in blockchain solutions have allowed for the development of applications that were not previously viable. Many of those applications will require querying potentially vast amounts of transaction data. With a potential transaction throughput orders of magnitude higher than was possible until recently, such applications would benefit from delegating those queries to third party services with the computing power and infrastructures allowing the quick return of accurate results. The problem, however, with delegating queries, is that it creates a need for trust in a third party that blockchain technology was explicitly designed to eliminate. Such a third party query service should then be able to provide proof of the authenticity of the results it returns to its users. In this project, we build an API that provides fast and scalable random access to transaction data on the Algorand blockchain and allows queries according to a number of transaction parameters. A mathematical proof based on the principle of Zero-Knowledge Proof allows the user of the API to verify the authenticity and completeness of the queried transaction data. This work is based on the vChain framework described in the paper "vChain: Enabling Verifiable Boolean Range Queries over Blockchain Databases" by Cheng Xu, Ce Zhang, and Jianliang Xu.

Smita Chaudhari, Gandharba Swain, Pragnyaban Mishra

In most practical cloud computing applications such as e-voting, auctions, health, and financial applications or cloud services in common, to prove the exactness of outsourced data is one of the major needs today. Most of the time, third party auditing is employed for this task. This auditing work is controlled by assigning the secret inputs to an entity trusted third party, or worker, who is liable for performing computations and hand over the result of the computation to the cloud users or clients. To verify the integrity of computations using traditional cryptographic techniques, the time required to generate and validate the proof is a major computation issue. This paper proposes an improved public auditing technique for multi-party computation to check the integrity of outsourced data using a cryptographic solution. Many researchers have given auditing protocols that generate and verify proof using a cryptographic solution. Most of these scheme uses Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Proof (NIZK) which are basically built on bilinear map technology. The verification time using these existing technique is computationally expensive which affect the performance of the auditing system. We propose an efficient protocol that verifies the result correctness using modern cryptographic technique Indistinguishability Obfuscation. The proposed system works in two phases, (i) auction and (ii) audit. During the auction phase, multiple clients share their encrypted bid value to the worker. The worker generates auction result and proof using Pedersen Commitment Scheme. The audit phase starts only after the completion of the auction phase which results in reduced verification time. During the Audit phase, clients can verify the integrity of results using NIZK with the IO technique. The results for reduced verification time in auction system have been presented. It is found that the performance of the proposed system has improved compared to the pertinent NIZK Proof technique. In our setting, we assumed that a worker is one of the trusted entity. By this notion, our protocol also guarantees privacy to the clients during the audit phase.

Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon

Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is a common finding in preterm infants. Some PDAs will close spontaneously but those that remain open can be associated with significant morbidities and mortality.1-4 The current standard of care to treat a hemodynamically significant PDA (hsPDA) is to use either intravenous (IV) ibuprofen or IV indomethacin. These medicines have a nonselective mechanism of COX inhibition which can lead to side effects.5-7 To avoid this, researchers have explored using acetaminophen, which has COX-2 selectivity.8, 9 Recent studies using enteral acetaminophen for PDA closure have suggested that it is safe and effective.5, 6, 10, 11 The diagnosis of a hsPDA is confirmed by echocardiogram which evaluates size of the PDA and stress on the heart. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels produced in the ventricles of the heart rise in response to stretch from volume overload and have been used in previous studies to help determine the efficacy of ibuprofen treatment for a hsPDA.12-14 Studies evaluating the efficacy of enteral acetaminophen for PDA closure have not reported BNP levels. The efficacy of intravenous acetaminophen for closure of a hsPDA is unknown. We developed a proof of concept study to assess whether IV acetaminophen can be effective at closing a hsPDA using echocardiogram and BNP data as outcome measures. Infants 23 0/7 weeks through 29 6/7 weeks at birth with a hsPDA diagnosed by echocardiogram within the first 2 weeks of life were recruited in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Bernard and Millie Duker Children's Hospital at Albany Medical Center in Albany, NY. Written parental consent was obtain prior to randomization. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board and registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03008876). Five infants were randomized to each treatment group (10 infants total). The IV ibuprofen group received three doses: a loading dose of 10 mg/kg/dose on the first day followed by 5 mg/kg/dose on the second and third day. The IV acetaminophen group received 12 doses: 15 mg/kg/dose administered every 6 hours (total 3 days). Infants with any of the following were excluded: sepsis and/or meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis, intestinal perforation, major congenital heart disease, major congenital malformations or disorders, fetal hydrops, pulmonary hypertension, grade 3 or 4 intraventricular hemorrhage, evidence of acute renal injury, thrombocytopenia, prior treatment with a prostaglandin, or of their aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels were twice the upper limits of normal. The primary outcome was PDA closure. Echocardiograms were performed for initial diagnosis and then 1 day after study drug completion. The ductus was graded as large, moderate, small, or closed, taking into consideration the LA: Ao ratio, the ductal diameter, and the doppler flow pattern through the PDA. The secondary outcome was BNP level. BNP levels were obtained before and after treatment on the same day that the echocardiogram was performed and were not known to the medical team. Serum chemistries, complete blood count (CBC), AST/ALT, and bilirubin levels were performed before, during, and after the study drug was administered. If values were abnormal, the attending neonatologist could halt the medication administration. Group sizes were too small for statistical analysis of change in PDA size. BNP levels were analyzed using both a repeated measures ANOVA and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. Nineteen infants were eligible from January 2017 through May 2019. Ten infants were ultimately randomized after informed consent was obtained: five received IV acetaminophen and five received IV ibuprofen (Figure 1). Demographic characteristics were similar in each group (Table 1). PDA closure was observed in two of the five infants in the IV acetaminophen group vs zero of five infants in the IV ibuprofen group. An additional infant in the IV acetaminophen group had a PDA that became smaller post study drug and then received two additional courses of IV ibuprofen. After the third course, the PDA was still present; however, it was closed on the echocardiogram prior to discharge. Of the remaining two infants in the IV acetaminophen group, one received two additional courses without improvement and underwent a PDA ligation, and the other infant did not undergo any additional treatment and the ductus was closed on a later echocardiogram (see Table 2). In the IV ibuprofen group, two of the five infants were noted to have smaller PDAs after the initial course. However, all five infants received additional courses of medication. Three infants had two additional courses of treatment (two of those received one course each of IV acetaminophen and IV ibuprofen and the third infant received two courses of IV ibuprofen), one infant had three additional courses (two IV ibuprofen, one IV acetaminophen), and the last infant had one additional course (IV ibuprofen) (see Table 2). Five infants in the ibuprofen group and two in the acetaminophen group, required subsequent pharmacologic therapy. The hsPDA closure rate at discharge (not including those that underwent PDA ligation), for infants in the IV acetaminophen group was higher compared to the IV ibuprofen group. A repeated measures ANOVA analysis on BNP levels showed a significant decrease in BNP levels pre and post-treatment, regardless of the study group (P = .01). There was a greater decrease in median BNP level after treatment in the IV acetaminophen group as compared to the IV ibuprofen group (P = .07 vs P = .17, respectively) (Figure 2). Creatinine, AST/ALT, and fractionated bilirubin levels were all found to be within normal limits before, during, and after the study drug course in both groups. There were no cases of NEC or GI bleeding. In this study the efficacy of acetaminophen in closing a PDA was evaluated. IV acetaminophen was used in our study, in comparison to many of the previous studies which used an enteral form, as we theorized a preterm infant's immature digestive system may alter enteral absorption and lead to lower serum concentrations and possible decreased efficacy in closing a PDA. Our results suggest that IV acetaminophen can successfully close a hsPDA. It was interesting to note that we saw no hsPDA closures from IV ibuprofen. The mean start day of treatment in this study was greater than previous studies which may explain lack of closure seen here as those infants who were treated earlier may have had a hsPDA that would have closed on its own. Since many are now using a watchful waiting approach to PDA management, the results in this study may be more reflective of the current outcomes with medical management.15 There was a decrease in cardiac stress (as measured by BNP level) in both groups, although greater in the acetaminophen group. To our knowledge, this is the first study to include BNP levels to assess the efficacy of acetaminophen on PDA closure. This study suggests that IV acetaminophen can be used as an alternative medication to close a hsPDA without adverse effects. The major limitation to this study was its small sample size and large scale studies are needed but will be challenging due to the current watchful waiting trend leading to decreased numbers of infants being treated. In addition to a larger number of patients, it would useful to address the optimal dose and duration of IV acetaminophen for PDA closure as well as the long-term safety and potential effects on neurodevelopment. Bin-Nun et al16 reported that a serum acetaminophen concentration > 20 mg/L was 100% sensitive and specific for ductal closure in their small cohort of preterm infants. However, McPherson et al17 found no correlation between serum concentration and ductal size post-treatment. The authors want to express their appreciation to James Cummings, MD, MA, and Joaquim Pinheiro, MD, MPH, for their help in preparing this manuscript. This work was funded by grants from The Gerber Foundation and Quidel, Inc. The funders did not have a role in the study design or implementation, running of the samples, analysis of the data, or writing of this manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Conceptualization: Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon Formal Analysis: Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon Funding Acquisition: Kate A. Tauber Investigation: Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon Methodology: Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon Project Administration: Kate A. Tauber Supervision: Kate A. Tauber Visualization: Kate A. Tauber Writing – original draft preparation: Kate A. Tauber Writing – review and editing: Kate A. Tauber, Ronnelle King, Michael Colon All authors have read and approved the final version of this manuscript. Kate A. Tauber had full access to all of the data in the study and takes complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Kate A. Tauber affirms that this manuscript is an honest, accurate, and transparent account of the study being reported; that no important aspects of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the study as planned have been explained. Deidentified data from this study will be shared following publication with those individuals who have approval from an institutional review board (IRB) from their institution and approval from the IRB at our institution. Persons requesting data will need to sign a data access agreement. If interested in obtaining the data from this study please contact tauberk@amc.edu.