In response to the mandates in the MINER Act of 2006, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted refuge alternatives research that included characterizing the utility, practicality and survivability of refuge chambers and outby safe havens. NIOSH also prepared and delivered a report to Congress in late December 2007 that summarized the findings of the research, included recommendations concerning the design and performance specifications for refuge alternatives, and focused on specific information that could inform the regulatory process on refuge alternatives. This paper highlights NIOSHâs research and recommendations concerning refuge alternatives, survivability evaluations of refuge chambers and presents a brief review of the current deployment of refuge chambers in underground coal mines in the U.S. The research has lead to the conclusion that refuge alternatives have the potential for saving the lives of mine workers if they are part of a comprehensive escape and rescue plan and if appropriate training is provided. Introduction The U.S. coal mining industry experienced an increase in fatalities during 2006 when 37 miners perished in the nationâs underground coal mines. Nineteen miners perished in three disasters: 12 miners perished in a methane explosion at the International Coal Group, Sago Mine, two more miners died in a fire at the Aracoma Coal Co., Alma No. 1 Mine, while another methane explosion resulted in the loss of five more miners at the Kentucky Darby, LLC, Darby No. 1 Mine. This reversed the downward trend of fatalities that had taken place during the previous 21 years (Fig. 1). The causes of all the underground coal mine fatalities in 2005, 2006 and 2007 are listed in Table 1. Table 1 illustrates that fewer fatalities occurred in 2005 and 2007 than 2006 with the goal of zero fatalities as desirable. The Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act), PL 109-236, was passed in response to this increase in fatalities resulting from the three mine disasters that occurred in 2006 (United States, 2006). Section 13 of the Act â Research Concerning Refuge Alternatives, specifies NIOSHâs responsibilities with respect to refuge alternatives. Section 13, subsection (a) of the Act states that âThe National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) shall provide for the conduct of research, including field tests, concerning the utility, practicality, survivability and cost of various refuge alternatives in an underground coal mine environment, including commercially available portable refuge chambers.â Subsection (b)(1) then states that âNot later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health shall prepare and submit to the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of Representatives a report concerning the results of the research conducted under subsection (a), including any field tests.â This document summarizes NIOSHâs refuge alternatives research that was included in the report to the U.S. Congress. The concept of utilizing refuge chambers dates back as far as 1912 when the U.S. Bureau of Mines advocated the building of refuge chambers to fight mine fires (Rice, 1912) in the main sections of mines (Paul et al., 1923). In the late 1930s and early 1940s, some small refuge chambers had been established in some coal mines in the central states and these chambers saved lives (Harrington and Fene, 1941). In addition, the Harwick Coal and Coke Co. built a number of large refuge chambers in the Harwick Mine. These chambers were 23-m(75-ft-) long, 2.4m(8-ft-) high and 3.3-m(11-ft-) wide, cut out of the coal and connected to the surface by two boreholes to provide air, communications, food and water (Harrington and Fene, 1941). More recent research efforts were completed under contract for the U.S. Bureau of Mines starting around 1970 and extending into the mid-1980s. Five major contract efforts were completed between 1970 and 1983 that addressed mine rescue and survival, the design of explosion-proof bulkheads, post survival and rescue research needs, and guidelines for rescue chambers. As a result, one refuge chamber was constructed and is still located in NIOSHâs Bruceton Safety Research Coal Mine (Fig. 2). In general, these contract efforts did not point to any one specific component that would ensure survival during a mine disaster but stressed that survival is a collaboration of subsystems. The subsystems that make up the overall survival strategy include escape, rescue, communications, breathable air and barricading (refuge). NIOSHâs recent research on refuge alternatives was limited to underground coal mine applications. Historically, the use of refuge alternatives has been more prevalent in underground metal/nonmetal mines. The underlying differences between mining sectors are significant and practices in one sector cannot be generalized to the other. Even so, the findings from this research may be useful for metal/nonmetal application. The research efforts summarized in this document involved a number of activities. First, a literature search was performed to identify the findings from any past research on refuge alternatives and topics related to mine refuge and mine disasters, escape and mine rescue. Visits were made to mines, nationally and internationally, and meetings were held with mining experts from labor, industry and government in the U.S., Australia and South Africa to collect information on refuge alternatives, specific refuge regulations and to discuss contemporary issues associated with refuge alternatives. Several contract efforts were completed that examined existing U.S. and international practices, regulations and refuge products. However, these efforts revealed very little information related to coal mining refuge applications, while identifying several knowledge and technology gap areas. In response, a major research contract was awarded to address the gap areas, including guidance for locating and positioning refuge alternatives and establishing specifications for chambers and in-place shelters1. 1The gap areas were identified at the end of the international survey effort, which was performed during July through October 2006. The technical part of the contract to address these areas was completed at the end of October. The actual contract award, conducted in compliance with the Federal Acquisition Rules, was made in March 2007. Work on this contract will continue through 2009. The contractor was able to provide key inputs for the preparation of the report to Congress. Concurrently, NIOSH researchers examined nonminFIGURE 1 Underground coal mine fatalities 1987-2007 (Bauer Kohler, 2009.
Zero-knowledge proofs protocols are effective interactive methods to prove a node's identity without disclosing any additional information other than the veracity of the proof. They are implementable in several ways. In this thesis, I investigate the graph isomorphism based zero-knowledge proofs protocol. My experiments and analyses suggest that graph isomorphism can easily be solved for many types of graphs and hence is not an ideal solution for implementing ZKP.
Discussion Points1Cruz et al1Cruz C.O. Meshberg E.G. Shofer F.S. et al.Interrater reliability and accuracy of clinicians and trained research assistants performing prospective data collection in emergency department patients with potential acute coronary syndrome.Ann Emerg Med. 2009; 54: 1-7Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar contains 2 parts, a comparison of the values gathered by trained research assistants and physicians about historical information in chest pain patients and the comparison of these participants' recordings with a âcorrectâ value for each item.A. For each part, indicate whether the authors are studying reliability or validity and explain the difference between these concepts.B. What did the authors use as their criterion standard for the validity analysis?C. What are potential problems with their method of defining the criterion (gold) standard? Can you think of alternative approaches?D. The authors report crude agreement and interquartile range for their validity analysis. What part of a distribution is described by the interquartile range? List other statistics used to describe the validity of a measure and why they might be preferable to reporting crude agreement.2Tabled 1MD Recorded âYesâMD Recorded âNoâTotalRA recorded yes1176123RA recorded no18220Total1358143MD, Medical doctor; RA, research assistant. Open table in a new tab A. Calculate the crude percentage agreement for this table. What is the range of possible values for percentage agreement?B. Calculate Cohen's Îș for this table. What is the formula for Îș for raters making a binary assessment (eg, yes/no or true/false)? Discuss the purpose of Cohen's Îș, its range, and the interpretations of key values such as â1, 0, and 1.C. What other measures can be used to measure reliability for binary, categorical, and continuous data? 3Cruz et al quote the oft-cited Landis and Koch2Landis J.R. Koch G.C. 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Meshberg E.G. Shofer F.S. et al.Interrater reliability and accuracy of clinicians and trained research assistants performing prospective data collection in emergency department patients with potential acute coronary syndrome.Ann Emerg Med. 2009; 54: 1-7Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar contains 2 parts, a comparison of the values gathered by trained research assistants and physicians about historical information in chest pain patients and the comparison of these participants' recordings with a âcorrectâ value for each item.A. For each part, indicate whether the authors are studying reliability or validity and explain the difference between these concepts.B. What did the authors use as their criterion standard for the validity analysis?C. What are potential problems with their method of defining the criterion (gold) standard? Can you think of alternative approaches?D. The authors report crude agreement and interquartile range for their validity analysis. What part of a distribution is described by the interquartile range? List other statistics used to describe the validity of a measure and why they might be preferable to reporting crude agreement.2Tabled 1MD Recorded âYesâMD Recorded âNoâTotalRA recorded yes1176123RA recorded no18220Total1358143MD, Medical doctor; RA, research assistant. Open table in a new tab A. Calculate the crude percentage agreement for this table. What is the range of possible values for percentage agreement?B. Calculate Cohen's Îș for this table. What is the formula for Îș for raters making a binary assessment (eg, yes/no or true/false)? Discuss the purpose of Cohen's Îș, its range, and the interpretations of key values such as â1, 0, and 1.C. What other measures can be used to measure reliability for binary, categorical, and continuous data? 3Cruz et al quote the oft-cited Landis and Koch2Landis J.R. Koch G.C. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data.Biometrics. 1977; 33: 159-174Crossref PubMed Scopus (49675) Google Scholar article stating that a Îș of âless than 0.2 represents poor agreement; 0.21 to 0.40, fair agreement; 0.41 to 0.60, moderate agreement; 0.61 to 0.80, good agreement; and 0.81 to 1.00, excellent agreement.â Consider studies of the agreement of airline pilots deciding whether it is safe to land and psychologists deciding whether interviewees have type A or type B personalities. the studies the Îș the by Landis and Koch be 2 are in of a and to such as is a a or by a in the for and in the for are and the are to a for each that they percentage agreement is and Îș is of are and are that the is the for a the the this the percentage agreement and Îș for the the of the are and of the are by the of the are and of the are by the the are and of the are by the and of the are and of the are by the Discuss the of percentage agreement and Îș in these Consider the 2 and percentage agreement and Îș for is Îș the What this that the table the described and that that to 2 in the raters are that are and the raters are that be with with or in with each of Îș the in these 2 the of Îș, that such that and or are for the and percentage agreement and Îș for these is the measure for Consider the of the raters in the in this be reliability is might this be the percentage agreement Îș for the in of et The are to indicate the in the and 2 Open table in a new tab A. in the table are with the the pain it to the it to the it to the for these Can you explain why these have percentage agreement you is the the Can you the between the of the in the table and the to Îș percentage the problems with percentage agreement and Îș in these you think it be the in the of each table of reporting the percentage agreement or et al1Cruz C.O. Meshberg E.G. Shofer F.S. et al.Interrater reliability and accuracy of clinicians and trained research assistants performing prospective data collection in emergency department patients with potential acute coronary syndrome.Ann Emerg Med. 2009; 54: 1-7Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (13) Google Scholar contains 2 parts, a comparison of the values gathered by trained research assistants and physicians about historical information in chest pain patients and the comparison of these participants' recordings with a âcorrectâ value for each item.A. For each part, indicate whether the authors are studying reliability or validity and explain the difference between these concepts.B. What did the authors use as their criterion standard for the validity analysis?C. What are potential problems with their method of defining the criterion (gold) standard? Can you think of alternative approaches?D. The authors report crude agreement and interquartile range for their validity analysis. What part of a distribution is described by the interquartile range? List other statistics used to describe the validity of a measure and why they might be preferable to reporting crude agreement.2Tabled 1MD Recorded âYesâMD Recorded âNoâTotalRA recorded yes1176123RA recorded no18220Total1358143MD, Medical doctor; RA, research assistant. Open table in a new tab A. Calculate the crude percentage agreement for this table. What is the range of possible values for percentage agreement?B. Calculate Cohen's Îș for this table. What is the formula for Îș for raters making a binary assessment (eg, yes/no or true/false)? Discuss the purpose of Cohen's Îș, its range, and the interpretations of key values such as â1, 0, and 1.C. What other measures can be used to measure reliability for binary, categorical, and continuous data? 3Cruz et al quote the oft-cited Landis and Koch2Landis J.R. Koch G.C. The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data.Biometrics. 1977; 33: 159-174Crossref PubMed Scopus (49675) Google Scholar article stating that a Îș of âless than 0.2 represents poor agreement; 0.21 to 0.40, fair agreement; 0.41 to 0.60, moderate agreement; 0.61 to 0.80, good agreement; and 0.81 to 1.00, excellent agreement.â Consider studies of the agreement of airline pilots deciding whether it is safe to land and psychologists deciding whether interviewees have type A or type B personalities. the studies the Îș the by Landis and Koch be 2 are in of a and to such as is a a or by a in the for and in the for are and the are to a for each that they percentage agreement is and Îș is of are and are that the is the for a the the this the percentage agreement and Îș for the the of the are and of the are by the of the are and of the are by the the are and of the are by the and of the are and of the are by the Discuss the of percentage agreement and Îș in these Consider the 2 and percentage agreement and Îș for is Îș the What this that the table the described and that that to 2 in the raters are that are and the raters are that be with with or in with each of Îș the in these 2 the of Îș, that such that and or are for the and Calculate percentage agreement and Îș for these is the measure for Consider the of the raters in the in this be reliability is might this be the percentage agreement Îș for the in of et The are to indicate the in the and 2 Open table in a new tab A. in the table are with the the pain it to the it to the it to the for these Can you explain why these have percentage agreement you is the the Can you the between the of the in the table and the to Îș percentage the problems with percentage agreement and Îș in these you think it be the in the of each table of reporting the percentage agreement or et al contains 2 parts, a comparison of the values gathered by trained research assistants and physicians historical information in chest pain and the comparison of these participants' recordings with a âcorrectâ value for each For each part, indicate whether the authors are studying reliability or validity and explain the difference between these part is assessment of and the is assessment of The between reliability and validity is the that the in a that a a The reliability of a to the agreement the the or assessment of validity a observer a or the criterion standard is to be validity studies report the of the observer statistics such as and or reliability such as percentage agreement or What did the authors use as their criterion standard for the validity the and the research it is that their is they a research the of the 2 is What are potential problems with their method of defining the standard? Can you think of alternative a standard for this is For can be 2 the and is For a you have pain in the might that is a for in the is a might that is its the with is the criterion standard for this the the have or the the information The of is that have to the emergency have the of reporting part of a to their and the the a be or the other of the physicians the in a that to the or or in the a the the or are or whether they are to the and the patients be in or to the authors have to the in the research and each and the of to a in accuracy with The authors report crude agreement and interquartile range for their validity analysis. What part of a distribution is described by the interquartile range? List other statistics used to describe the validity of a measure and why they might be preferable to reporting crude interquartile range to the of a of is a that represents the the to the this is the and the the can be by the to the that a distribution the is used to these The is the the the and the the The is the difference between the and is a by than the range of a and it is data are in the of a the and are to and and the the or you the to the and you the or a to in the research and did the authors report the percentage agreement with the âcorrectâ by the criterion agreement is a for a reliability is the to describe this validity assessment of a observer with a criterion that are to a validity report statistics such as and or reliability such as percentage agreement or et al contains 2 parts, a comparison of the values gathered by trained research assistants and physicians historical information in chest pain and the comparison of these participants' recordings with a âcorrectâ value for each For each part, indicate whether the authors are studying reliability or validity and explain the difference between these The part is assessment of and the is assessment of The between reliability and validity is the that the in a that a a The reliability of a to the agreement the the or assessment of validity a observer a or the criterion standard is to be validity studies report the of the observer statistics such as and or reliability such as percentage agreement or What did the authors use as their criterion standard for the validity the and the research it is that their is they a research the of the 2 is What are potential problems with their method of defining the standard? 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âBad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not missâ Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803â1882) MRI contrast agents have been routinely used to enhance various structures, organs and lesions in the body for over 20 years now. There is strong evidence that these agents are highly efficacious, and routine clinical practice seems unthinkable without them. Almost all MR contrast agents are based on chelated heavy metals from the lanthanide group of elements, mainly gadolinium (Gd3+). Gadolinium is a rare earth metal that is known to be highly toxic in the free, unchelated form. However, when caged in a chelating molecule (from the Greek âÏηλαÎčâ, meaning âlobster clawâ), gadolinium chelates can be safely administered by means of intravenous injection because the kidneys rapidly excrete them. Since the late 1980s, many toxicological and pharmacokinetics studies have been conducted by the major contrast vendors with various gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCA). In all of these studies an extremely favorable safety profile was found. Therefore, the recent discovery of the association between administration of GBCA and nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) came as a surprise to almost everyone involved, although in retrospect maybe we should not have been so surprised. Perhaps after giving GBCA to over 200 million patients and rarely experiencing any adverse effects of any kind, we thought we could administer these drugs with impunity. On the other hand, would we not expect some adverse effects eventually to surface? We were injecting a heavy metal (albeit as a chelate), in ever larger doses, often multiple times, and often in patients with severely compromised renal excretion, knowing that these agents were primarily excreted by the kidneys. NSF is a rare, idiopathic systemic fibrosing disorder and is characterized clinically by pain, dermopathy, and joint contractures. NSF affects the skin, skeletal muscle, esophagus, lungs, heart, and kidneys. The first suggestion of the link between GBCA and NSF by Grobner et al. 3 years ago (1), sparked intense interest in this subject, illustrating just how important MR contrast media are today. It is now clear that NSF is a condition that almost exclusively affects patients with severely limited renal function. However, despite the deluge of publications on this subjectâas of October 9, 2009, there were over 438 publications available on PubMedâsurprisingly little is known about the exact pathogenesis of the disease, and who exactly is at risk for developing the disease. The discovery of NSF has been unfortunate for patients, and particularly patients with acute or chronic kidney disease (CKD) with severely impaired renal function. Worldwide, regulatory agencies have issued warnings on the use of GBCA in patients with severe CKD, which has led to a virtual cessation of use of contrast-enhanced MRI in this vulnerable patient group. Patients with CKD are a difficult population for the imaging community. MRI has always been and remains of high value in this patient group, because it is well known that administration of iodinated contrast agents is contraindicated, especially in the presence of residual renal function. Because of all the attention NSF has attracted, many clinicians are now ordering CT examinations instead of MRI. Many radiologists have experienced situations in their own practices where contrast-enhanced MRI examinations on their patients have been substituted with contrast-enhanced CT because of fear of NSF with GBCA-MRI only to have these patients go on to develop renal failure due to contrast induced nephropathy (CIN). While the desire to avoid NSF is understandable, care should be taken that contrast-enhanced MRI is not withheld in more patients than absolutely necessary. Paradoxically, the current FDA advice to only give GBCA to patients with estimated glomerular filtration rates (eGFR) greater than 60 mL/min/1.73 m2 may do more harm than good as there is no evidence of NSF occurring in patients with eGFR >30 mL/min/1.73 m2. The FDA guidelines can lead to patients in the eGFR 30â60 mL/min group being exposed to the high risk for negative effects from the administration of iodinated contrast agents, even though they have a negligible risk for development of NSF. Furthermore, whereas the FDA regards all GBCA as having an equal risk for inducing NSF, the FDA guidelines take no account of the chemical structure of the compound, and especially of the kinetic stability, which seems to be an important factor to consider. To date, no unequivocal NSF cases have been reported in patients who exclusively received macrocyclic agents with high kinetic stability, although some reports have suggested this possibility (2) . It is indeed highly likely that there is a relation between GBCA and NSF. The incidence of biopsy-confirmed NSF cases has dropped to nearly zero after the FDA warning and the institution of similar measures by the European Medicines Agency and similar regulatory bodies in other parts of the world. There have been no cases of NSF with onset after August 2008 reported by any of the GBCA vendors. Convincing proof is lacking that NSF can develop without administration of GBCA. NSF only occurs in patients with severe renal impairment (eGFR < 30). The few cases of NSF in cases with eGFR > 30 have been in situations of acute renal failure where the GFR was decreasing rapidly and did not accurately reflect renal excretory function (4, 5). Accumulating evidence suggests that GBCA with low kinetic stability confers a higher risk for NSF (4, 5). No unequivocal NSF cases have been reported after sole administration of GBCA with high kinetic stability. Higher cumulative doses of low kinetic stability GBCA confer a higher risk for NSF in patients with severely impaired renal function (6-8). Risk is relative, not absolute. Not only is the risk of NSF with GBCA-MRI small compared with the risk of CIN with iodinated CT, but also with risk of severe allergic reactions with iodine and allergic reactions with GBCA. The concern about NSF has masked our concerns for GBCA's other potential adverse effects. A survey of major American centers published in 1999 by Murphy et al indicated an incidence of severe allergic reactions to GBCA of approximately 20 cases per million doses administered (9). This is approximately 10-fold greater than the incidence of NSF. And what of the risk of making an incorrect diagnosis because the most appropriate imaging study was not done? Why do some patients with severely impaired renal function get NSF, whereas others, with similar degrees of impairment, do not? In fact, the vast majority of patients with severely impaired renal function do not get NSF, even when administered a high dose of low kinetic stability GBCA. This remains one of the most puzzling questions in the NSF saga. Which patients need to be screened for renal disease, and what is the safest and most cost-effective way to do this? Is a questionnaire sufficient? Or does every patient need to have their creatinine measured before a contrast-enhanced MRI examination can be performed? Or should laboratory screening only apply to certain subgroups of patients? Is the class of macrocyclic GBCA inert regardless of renal function, and can they be administered safely in patients with stage 4 and 5 CKD without causing NSF? At what level of renal function do the risks for NSF outweigh the risk for complications associated with administration of iodinated contrast agents? In other words: Is the newest generation of iodinated contrast agents safe or unsafe in patients with CKD? Can these agents be administered safely? In this special issue of the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, we present a series of review articles with the aim of summarizing the current knowledge about NSF in relation to administration of GBCA, and to answer some of the questions posed above. The issue begins with a summary of Dr. Jeff Weinreb's excellent keynote lecture as given at the 17th annual meeting of the ISMRM in May of this year (10). Subsequent articles cover a wide variety of related topics, ranging from a basic primer on gadolinium chemistry (11), the role of thermodynamic and kinetic parameters in gadolinium chelate stability (12), the biodistribution of GBCA, including gadolinium deposition (13), and biological effector mechanisms (14-16), to the clinical spectrum of NSF (17), to practical insights on measurement of renal function (18) as well as a review on how to remove gadolinium by dialysis (19). We present current guidelines for injection of GBCA as used in the United States, Canada, Europe (20) and Japan (21). Furthermore, risk factors for NSF are reviewed (22), and NSF is discussed in the context of renovascular (23) and liver disease (24). The issue of relative risk of NSF versus CIN is addressed in the excellent review by Martin and other experts on this topic (25). Finally, retrospective reviews of data from China (26) and the United States (27) confirm the safety of low-dose contrast-enhanced MRI, even in patients with renal impairment. It is our sincere hope that the material selected for this special issue will help with the further understanding of the relationship between the administration of GBCA and the development of NSF, and that the material in this issue will form the basis for further research and subsequent rational choices in patient management that ultimately lead to better clinical care for patients. We hope that by bringing together the most recent insights regarding the pathogenesis and strategies on how to avoid NSF in patients at high risk, contrast-enhanced MRI will again be used whenever indicated, except in that very small number of patients that are truly and significantly at risk. As Emerson eloquently stated: âBad times have a scientific value. These are occasions a good learner would not missâ. We extend our gratitude to Dr. Leon Partain, Editor-in-Chief, for his support for this project and his insightful suggestions, and to the dedicated and skilled editorial office staff Martha Tanner, Barbara Sammons, and Kerry King. Finally, we would like to thank the contributors, all of whom are highly regarded experts in the field, for their time and effort to create this special issue of the Journal.
My 90 years have witnessed a basic transformation in the understanding of disease in terms of molecules, largely through the application of new instruments and technologies. The ultimate distillation of what really works at this levelâthe quantitative measurements that generate clinical insight from specimens like bloodâis clinical chemistry. This field has fascinated me for a long time, partly because of my interest in inventing or improving analytical instruments, and partly as an anchor to real-world biology that is frequently missing in academic research. A second thread of interest to me is how successful research gets done, and how to know when a solitary inventor is needed and when it takes an army. Here I recount some personal experiences relevant to these interests, ranging across several fields and in organizations of widely varying scale, all ultimately linked to clinical chemistry and the human proteome. Interdisciplinary R&D has always fascinated me, and my introduction to it occurred in unusual times, during World War II. I was on active duty in the US Navy before Pearl Harbor as a Photographerâs Mate 2nd Class, and was discharged at the warâs end as a Lieutenant (jg) line officer, with zero instruction in between on how to be a naval officer. Despite (or because of) this fortuitous absence of formal tuition, I found that much of the fun and adventure in life lies in the cracks between disciplines, and that these cracks can be wider in large organizations (like a Navy in wartime) than smaller ones. Flying in blimps off the Carolina coast during the height of antisubmarine warfare, it occurred to me that maybe, lacking a bombsight, we couldnât actually sink a German submarine if we found it. After developing proper instrumentation, I found experimentally this was largely true, and a proper bombsight was developed. This was the start of a series of projects that put together all sorts of technologies, raised interesting questions, and whose results were usually translated into immediate action. Transferred to the Pacific and the submarine service, I worked as a movie photographer on a project to be called âThe Silent Service.â This was authorized by a personal letter from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which proved to be a magical passport to getting things done far from home. As I was shooting background footage of 2 submarines I had arranged to do the required postrefit maneuvers, a radioman came topside to say that Truman had announced use of the atomic bomb. This ended the war and with it my introduction to interdisciplinary work with effectively unlimited resources. Suddenly I found myself at Duke University immersed in the culture of Little Science. I was taught (by a future president of the National Academy of Sciences) that proteins and nucleic acids were too complex to ever be sequenced, that chromatography, while interesting, could never be quantitative, and that no one knew for certain where and how genetic information was stored. The general attitude was very different from the âwin at all costsâ approach adopted in warâit was painstaking and slow, but it was biology. I began to realize I had been contaminated by the notion of Big Science, but felt I should learn to be comfortable at both ends of the Big ScienceâLittle Science spectrum (1). This pendulum has swung back and forth for me several times, and is an invigorating oscillation. Returning to the Big end, I obtained an Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)1 postdoctoral fellowship in the Biology Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). My PhD thesis had concerned subcellular components isolated using very simple centrifuges, and my hope at Oak Ridge was to extend this work to proteins in different subcellular particles using some new type of centrifuges, yet to be conceived. ORNLâs unprecedented facilities, with staffs running into the tens of thousands, included almost all disciplines of science and engineering. Almost anything one could reasonably imagine was either available or could be designed and built quickly, even if it happened to involve nonstandard laboratory supplies like large titanium forgings. The saying, âWhy use lead when gold will do?â reflects a little of the flavor. Separation, either physical (as in the case of uranium isotopes) or chemical (as was the case for plutonium), and accurate analysis were the key technologies at most of the Manhattan Project facilities. My initial laboratories were in the same valley that housed more than a thousand giant Calutrons (preparative mass spectrometers) used to enrich kilograms of U-235. After World War II, this facility was used to go straight through the atomic table, isolating and characterizing all the stable isotopes. I wondered if the same sort of effort and philosophy could be adapted to the comfortable field of biology? Could one ever separate the components of living cells into a âparts listâ for man? If so, it should provide a powerful way to study and ultimately understand disease. As it happened, the major nuclear weapons laboratories needed new missions after the success of the Manhattan Project. I suggested one in the winter of 1959â60 entitled âThe Cell Fractionation Project,â an effort to separate and characterize all the molecules in cells, which much later became the Molecular Anatomy Program. It appealed to nearly everyone at ORNL except my fellow biologists, who did not like big projects (unless it was mouse genetics). We had thought about sequencing DNA but were assured by biochemists that, while RNA could in theory be sequenced, DNA simply could not be for purely chemical reasons (this was before the discovery of restriction enzymes or dideoxy sequencing). So the thinking focused on proteins. Protein fractionation had been advancing on multiple fronts during the preceding decades. In the 1930s and â40s, Svedberg had developed the analytical ultracentrifuge which showed, unexpectedly, that proteins had well-defined masses, and Tiselius, who once described to me how he had inadvertently left his gardening shoes on when he went to hand out Nobel Prizes, had developed electrophoresis by which plasma proteins could be classified into 4 discrete groups (albumin and the famous α, ÎČ, and Îł globulins). By the mid-1950s, Sober and Peterson had begun to fractionate proteins on cellulose columns, and Waldo Cohn, who had pioneered separating fission products on ion-exchange columns at Oak Ridge, began to work on nucleic acids, convincing Moore and Stein to use ion exchange in place of starch columns for amino acid analysis. Precipitation was explored in parallel by Gerhard Schwick at the Behring Institute in Germany. He isolated dozens of human plasma proteins, made antibodies to them, and distributed these worldwide. This approach with distributable reagents allowed specific protein assays to be performed on clinical samples, thus starting immunodiagnostics on the present road to broad coverage of the human proteome. While largely forgotten in the field of proteomics, this effort has survived through multiple commercial marriages with Hoechst, then Dade Behring, and finally Siemens Diagnostics. My own work really began with the invention of the zonal centrifuge (2) to fractionate subcellular particles. In this device, the volume limitation inherent in swinging bucket gradient separations was surmounted by using large, hollow, bowl-shaped (zonal) rotors. In these, gradients and samples were caused to flow through rotating seals into a rotor spinning at low speed and then accelerated to maximum speed to effect a separation based on either sedimentation rate or isopycnic banding density (or, in later designs, both). This was followed by deceleration to a low speed and recovery of the gradient as isolated fractions by displacement from either the center or the edge. I had designed and built a slow and crude proof-of-principle zonal rotor and then had arranged to have one built commercially, which was unfortunately unstable at high speed. Instability of a large rotor at 40 000 rpm, especially if it leads to catastrophic self-disassembly (a phrase we adopted from Los Alamos, which knew about such things) is undesirable. We needed real engineering expertise in rotating systems, an unusual discipline but one that was by chance very popular at Oak Ridge. Gas centrifugation for uranium enrichment had been tried and abandoned in 1943 because of its high cost. Subsequently it was discovered that a captured German Luftwaffe engineer named Guernot Zippe had designed for the Russians a remarkably simple centrifuge that used very little power and was surprisingly efficient. The need to catch up with this development accounted for the presence of an engineering staff working at top speed (in all meanings of the phrase) in Oak Ridge. The resulting urgency, money, and minimal administration helped as usual to eliminate the curse of delayed gratification, chief destroyer of creativity. We built (and sometimes blew up) a lot of centrifuges, and they became progressively better at separating biological materials. In the early â60s, Robert Huebner of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others found that many animal cancers were caused by viruses, especially if the viruses were given to newborns. Numerous groups were set up across the US to attempt to isolate cancer viruses, grow them in culture, test them in primates, and see if a cancer vaccine was possible. When these efforts failed to find culturable human cancer viruses, I suggested to Huebner that we try to isolate them by physical means, using density gradient centrifugation, instead of relying on growth in culture. If this were successful, then similar physical methods could be used for large-scale purification of virus for a vaccine. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was insistent that any killed virus vaccine should contain no (or at least very little) cancer cell DNA to be sure that the vaccine itself did not cause cancer. To make a pure virus vaccine for large-scale human use by physical means would require a liquid centrifuge of a size never before built. Testing these systems required large quantities of virus, and neither Sabin nor Salk, who were very cooperative, had poliovirus in the quantities we needed (milligrams rather than infectious doses). Initially we settled on seawater obtained from the Woods Hole laboratory and discovered to our surprise that the ocean has about the same viral load as a viremic humanâs blood (3). For more realistic development, though, we obtained a batch of human viral vaccine that did not meet FDA standards and thus could not be sold. To avoid risk of viral contamination to ORNLâs enormous mouse genetics facility, we relocated the centrifuge development program to the most distant site available on the Oak Ridge reservation, which was, fortunately, right next to the giant Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, locus of the gas centrifuge project. Our âlabâ was a mothballed power plant, whose Manhattan Project pedigree was visible on the wall as a framed single-page purchase order for âOne coal-fired steam-driven electrical generating plant, 237 megawatt.â It had railroad tracks coming in one end of the 100-yard long main floor and a 30-ton overhead crane for moving large equipment, among other conveniences. We needed a general theory on which to base our search for viruses in tissue homogenates. To see the possibilities of such a separation, I plotted the sedimentation coefficient S against the banding density Ï for viruses and for the major subcellular particles and discovered that viruses generally are found in the middle of this plot in an otherwise thinly populated area away from nuclei, mitochondria, proteins, etc. (4). This plot was key to the whole project, and it suggested that we combine sequentially rate and banding techniques into one 2-dimensional (2D) SâÏ separation. This theoretical plot was converted into a real one in which bacteriophage were recovered from rat liver and other tissue homogenates (5), perhaps the first integrated high-resolution 2D separation in biology. As it became clear that no cancer viruses were being found around which to design a vaccine purification system, I decided that we should work on an existing vaccine that required better purification. We would thus be ready if a human cancer virus was actually found. At that time, egg-grown influenza vaccines contained appreciable amounts of egg proteins, resulting in many deaths from anaphylactic shock each year and the requirement that they be given under close medical supervision. We approached Eli Lilly about designing a centrifugal system specifically to purify influenza vaccine. Their batch size was 100 L, and the purification run had to be completed in an 8-h day. Knowing these parameters and both the sedimentation coefficient and banding density of influenza, it was possible to design a rotor system that used continuous flow to band the virus from 100-L batches in a narrow gradient that could be recovered at the end of a run. The result was the K-II continuous-sample-flow-with-banding ultracentrifuge (6). Use of this centrifuge essentially eliminated vaccination deaths from anaphylactic shock and allowed vaccination in supermarkets under minimal supervision. Almost 40 years later, it is still in use around the world with minimal modifications for vaccine manufacture, and we have recently proposed its use to isolate the viral load from 100-L batches of pooled diagnostic serum discarded in clinical reference laboratories each week (7). The viral DNA and RNA, concentrated and free of host nucleic acids, could then be shotgun-sequenced to screen for new viruses, while providing a running index of the known viruses âgoing around.â separations of cell components many To specific across these we used from clinical chemistry. I once to had most of the that be some other way to clinical chemistry. He that this was not possible. I thought about this a It was my introduction to clinical and clinical chemistry. The was to a system for between samples and reagents in parallel rather than It out that centrifugal is an way to and liquid while at the of a rotor spinning a provide measurements that very accurate The rate was in that we needed to a like the to it. these in the early was given ORNLâs but we that a a caused no The resulting was named the Energy centrifugal It was a commercial success for and and in many it did to the and it still be the system for very accurate The the rotor of an early centrifugal system At right is a of the system used to and measurements from at the of the spinning in during one of the Despite the success of zonal and the centrifugal the National that human cancer was to viral with interest in me to to the University of I was to be in by my who had completed a PhD at the University of under Nobel and done a with had famous on 2D electrophoresis and had the we set up a laboratory and a research to the most we ever had worked out a which was, of a In a system and the major plasma proteins by with the whole of Behring The of plasma proteins, called was many and Protein on were clear We found the 2D of plasma proteins to be and to an but it was more to a than a clinical 2D plasma and serum from the same The and the and on with This was in of plasma proteins, The plasma and genetic 2nd It became clear that to 2D we needed once the of a National and this with an to the biology at For several we worked in during the week and at on designing together what we called the system for and running large of 2D in parallel Our initial analysis system was an designed to 2 by between them, a used by to the This was by an and large for these we explored the protein called of human as as rat liver and many other We were to host the first 2 major on 2D first at and the second at the both as of (in and The results at these 2D are in some surprisingly similar to the of with the of protein using mass perhaps was before DNA we felt that of all the human proteins by cell fractionation and 2D electrophoresis was the way to in biology the effect that the had in chemistry. This was as the Protein at providing a for and ultimately what is systems biology. an effort would require large and so, with several we suggested of a Protein the general we had in Oak Ridge, to and this who was the of the US at the time, was in research with on and on in his in the on these a Protein was and in a was out the and size of a on the human and a new of much to and more to the the National Laboratory it that study of proteins was to a in the that time, the in biology to the Big Science approach of the National We left in and set up Biology to 2D and protein index and the the years a with in protein and finally a successful initial in the year an 2D electrophoresis system running 100 we explored in rat the of and to the of human a approach we had developed at Oak Ridge we the first columns that the plasma proteins used as the of the system columns with fractionation the of 2D from the most plasma proteins to more than The of mass for protein allowed finally to all the or we had in of and analysis quantitative of in specific protein this I to a in centrifugal systems, developing a large-scale centrifugal for and a centrifuge for viruses from clinical samples, banding them or them in to a plasma This has to and concentrated viruses from serum in about 2 in quantities that the of thus the way and sequencing of human viral it is a little for my own the broad of a approach to understanding the human and it for has recently begun to To start the of a human has the means to the proteins, and perhaps most that are really about of them rather than the 100 000 we were once to the and to on a protein of each this like a to at a or several large-scale are with an effort to the of all the proteins. because is really this is being done at Big Science like the at (in a large The resulting should provide a for understanding and thus the of cell and In and are of a project antibodies to each human and then to see where these proteins are in and success in this a broad for major clinical in will be the to be protein real with clinical to be into A new of mass for is that can ultimately in terms of and while and this it possible to specific assays for proteins starting from a and project to quantitative, and specific assays for all human proteins a of assays in the present protein and even into the clinical laboratory mass is for better of and It to me that this of project, up basic clinical research and clinical chemistry at the same time, is even more than the human and for a of Big Science thinking in the protein If all this to it will a in clinical it at the of biological and at the of clinical would be Atomic Energy Oak Ridge National US Food and Drug Energy Protein Biology initial and they have to the of this and have the to the and of or analysis and of or the for and of the of of any of of The organizations no in the design of of and of or or of I in to the of I have not and I my many and for at Oak Ridge, and through the especially of which extend through his
The similarity of E-cash and E-lottery was taken into account to have designed a secure E-cash-lottery scheme by using zero-knowledge proof and blind signature on the basis of applications of the traditional lottery. This E-cash-lottery is characterized with anonymity, double stake resisting, forgery resisting, traceableness and off-line. For lottery players, banks, and lottery delivery to infer the identity of the winners by E-lottery is as difficult as for them to solve discrete logarithm. For lottery players to forge the E-cash or the E-cash-lottery is as difficult as for them to attack the RSA public key signature system. If there exists any repeated spending by using this E-cash- lottery, the bank can certainly determine the identity of the spender. Compared with the traditional lottery, the anonymity and privacy of the E-cash-lottery were preferable.
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES: OVERVIEW The Strength & Conditioning profession has come to a defining moment. The profession involves the combined competencies of sport/exercise science, administration, management, teaching and coaching. Its practitioners must also comply with various laws and regulations while responding to instances of potential injury, and related claims and suits. This creates remarkable challenges, and requires substantial experience, expertise and other resources to effectively address them, especially in multi-sport (e.g., collegiate and scholastic) settings. Ample resources are available in some of these settings. In many others, however, they are not. Budgets, equipment, facilities and staff are often limited (or lacking altogether), with a resulting mismatch between the participants' demand for safe and effective programs and services, and the institution's provision of them. It is important for Strength & Conditioning practitioners and their employers to understand that this standard of care is a shared duty; the institution and individual are thus jointly responsible for fulfilling it. Collectively, these issues are the driving forces behind this project. The purpose of the NSCA Strength & Conditioning Professional Standards & Guidelines project is to help identify areas of risk exposure, increase safety and decrease the likelihood of injuries that might lead to claims, and ultimately improve the standard of care being offered. This document is intended to be neither rigid nor static. On the contrary, the need for discretion and insight is a fundamental theme throughout; and the information presented here will be revised periodically as the profession continues to evolve. It is hoped that Strength & Conditioning practitioners and the institutions employing them will mutually benefit from applying this information, and in turn significantly enhance the quality of services and programs provided to their participants. NOTICE This document is intended to provide relevant practice parameters for Strength & Conditioning professionals to utilize when carrying out their responsibilities in providing services to athletes or other participants. The standards and guidelines presented here are based on published scientific studies, pertinent statements from other associations, analysis of claims, and a consensus of expert views. However, this information is not a substitute for individualized judgment or independent professional advice. Neither the NSCA nor the contributors to this project assume any duty owed to third parties by those reading, interpreting or implementing this information. When rendering services to third parties, these standards and guidelines cannot be adopted for use with all participants without exercising independent judgment and decision-making based on the Strength & Conditioning professional's individual training, education and experience. Furthermore, Strength & Conditioning practitioners must stay abreast of new developments in the profession so that these standards and guidelines may evolve to meet particular service needs. Neither the NSCA nor the contributors to this project, by reason of authorship or publication of this document, shall be deemed to be engaged in practice of any branch of professional discipline (e.g., medicine, physical therapy, law). Strength & Conditioning practitioners utilizing this information are encouraged to seek and obtain such advice, if needed or desired, from licensed professionals. INTRODUCTION SCOPE OF PRACTICE The responsibilities and professional scope of practice for Strength & Conditioning professionals can be subdivided into two domains (58): âScientific Foundationsâ and âPractical/Appliedâ. Each of these involves corresponding activities, responsibilities and knowledge requirements (refer to Appendices A & B): Scientific Foundations Exercise Sciences (Anatomy, Exercise Physiology, Biomechanics, etc) Nutrition Practical/Applied Program Design Exercise Technique Organization & Administration Testing & Evaluation DUTIES & CONCEPTS Strength & Conditioning practitioners have duties to provide an appropriate level of supervision and instruction in order to meet a reasonable standard of care, and to provide and maintain a safe environment for the participants under their supervision. These duties also involve informing users of risks inherent in and related to their activities, and preventing unreasonable risk or harm resulting from ânegligent instruction or supervisionâ(28,29,36). Greenwood & Greenwood (Chapter 21 [pp. 543-568] of Essentials Of Strength Training & Conditioning (7)) summarize the following key liability concepts for the Strength & Conditioning professional: Assumption of risk: voluntarily participation in activity with knowledge of the inherent risk(s). Athletic activities, including Strength & Conditioning, involve certain risks. Participants must be informed of the risks of activity, and required to sign a statement to that effect. Responsibility, duty or obligation: Strength & Conditioning professionals have a duty to the participants they serve to take reasonable steps to prevent injury, and to act prudently when an injury occurs (12). Standard of care: what a prudent and reasonable person would do under similar circumstances. A Strength & Conditioning professional is expected to act according to his/her education, and (e.g., and to act as a reasonable and prudent person would under similar circumstances. must for a Strength & Conditioning professional to be for of and a Strength & Conditioning professional is if is to have a duty to and to have to act with the appropriate standard of care, injury or to Standards Guidelines It is important to between and has a required that a duty or for standard of care that the standard statements in this document utilize the The standards in this document may ultimately be as a standard of care to be into the of Strength & Conditioning programs and a and to enhance the quality of services provided that the statements in this document utilize the Guidelines are not intended to be standards of practice or to to duties of care, in certain they in and services the publication of this document not to a of the standard of care to be in a particular is that the standards may be Standards of of duty or standard of care can be in various of is from standards of practice published by professional and standards of practice can be to help a person in carrying out his/her duties they are as being of these issues in have that of such professional standards a of adopted and published standards of practice can liability with and serve as a for those comply with them. can also be as a those do not comply with them, liability risks with The key in this to be the of standards of practice in the provision of if his/her is to be with will be to of providing his/her is not to be with however, may be for the to of duty by to such can lead to a of OF STANDARDS In to standards for published by professional such as the are also standards for published by independent such as the & or These are standards of care can be to a professional by his/her with of expected In to the standards and guidelines from professional such as the OF and in this document, the following have also published standards of & OF Exercise Standards & OF Strength Training by and to Administration of physical & Standards & Standards for Athletic OF Standards of Professional AND relevant to the Strength & Conditioning profession have published by the (e.g., to Exercise and The also the a and that from to provide information on injuries with certain or of this has to as will be in the & Standard of STANDARDS OF PRACTICE is a that as as decrease the and of injuries and claims It may not be to all risk of injury and liability in Strength & Conditioning however, can be effectively by implementing risk The Strength & Conditioning is ultimately responsible for risk management, all practitioners be in the various of the a from & for applying standards of practice to the risk and standards of as as all so many standards of practice are published by various is for the Strength & Conditioning professional to be of all of them, and are appropriate when implementing the risk In of the or standards in a be risk standards of practice and all This involves responsibilities duties that staff would out in particular The be and without may not the practitioners need in particular and of those or the are they be in the staff and the risk of the risk involves staff to that the will be with and standards of and The and be in with the of new as as all practice a particular (e.g., It is also important to to staff is to out such duties the risk the standards of practice are not and need to be periodically to The risk be as as of or injury to and what be to prevent a similar in the STRENGTH & CONDITIONING Strength & Conditioning and is the NSCA Professional Standards & Guidelines has areas of potential liability exposure, as It is important to that they are instruction and supervision is with as as and in any can others, and in turn the risk of liability Furthermore, the Strength & Conditioning and his/her the corresponding duties and these liability standards and guidelines for Strength & Conditioning practitioners have are presented in the of this These standards and guidelines are intended to serve as an and for professional The for is & A physical is for all participants to in a Strength & Conditioning by a licensed This a and by guidelines from the & as as a relevant physical of an of as is also The Strength & Conditioning professional not need a of the must a statement of to Participants are from an injury or or have must also be required to of to or to a Strength & Conditioning are standards for nor are for care professionals such However, a Evaluation of OF OF and OF has published a including on a and physical for and a to and use for the and OF have published statements on for those in can be as institutions have an and to a and physical and that and athletes are not to risks. for such especially in is by and an that is not to risk in be by a care with the training, and to a physical obtain a and A licensed is an or may be under certain in care are to In the however, a be to expertise in A and and and physical to identify (or risk to or is the available and to of participants. is an and be for all participants. a and physical be participation in be in collegiate a and physical be by a the and be two are and an and be to physical and is required (e.g., to or in be to participants by risk for and the if participants can be for on the of individual When a is or and between staff and the or care is Furthermore, participants be the of a and as as the potential risks without them. and must be in order to and participants utilizing Strength & Conditioning facilities and A is the Strength & Conditioning and have a from a in or of the the âScientific Foundationsâ in the Strength & Conditioning or in a relevant (e.g., that the Program has to institutions of that meet such and also to identify an for the Strength & Conditioning practitioners an to knowledge and in the areas their of In on of programs in and so if the is to an in an in or will that 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We designed a concept of high resolution and quantitative SPECT for imaging a selected small region-of-interest (ROI) of human brain. This system is aimed at achieving high resolution less than 1 mm and being applied for imaging neurons and evaluating drug delivery system. Pinhole or cone-beam collimators are useful for high-resolution imaging of small ROI. However, when the ROI is smaller than the object, the projection data are truncated by radioisotope outside ROI. In the reconstructed image, the truncation causes the artifact and the overestimation of voxel value, which deceases quantitative accuracy of physiological functions. We are introducing the new truncation compensated 3D-OSEM (TC-3DOSEM) reconstruction method. The truncated data can be successfully reconstructed within ROI by fulfilling the condition that ROI contains a priori knowledge. In addition to small field-of-view (FOV) detector, we are introducing the parallel-hole collimator attached large FOV detector covering the entire brain, to acquire the non-truncated data and provide the priori knowledge in small ROI, even if the resolution of the detector is low. For imaging with high resolution, we are using LaBr3(Ce) scintillator with optically coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tube (H8500, Hamamatsu, Japan) as the detector. And also, for proof of our concept, we performed preliminary experiment using pinhole SPECT and brain phantom. The reconstruction ROI contained the region outside the brain, that is, zero count as the priori knowledge. The truncated data were reconstructed by TC-3DOSEM. The reconstructed image without artifact and overestimation was obtained with high resolution. This preliminary experiment suggested feasibility of high resolution and quantitative SPECT for imaging a selected small ROI of human brain.
This paper proposes a new electronic voting (e-voting) scheme that fulfills all the security requirements of e-voting. The key mechanism is the one that uses confirmation numbers involved in individual votes to make votes verifiable while disabling all entities including voters themselves to know the linkages between voters and their votes. Unlike complicated zero knowledge proof involved in many e-voting schemes, the confirmation numbers attain the verifiability requirement in a much more simple and intuitive way, then the scheme becomes scalable and practical.
This paper proposes a new undeniable signature scheme which uses one-way function and partition-selection method to proof its zero-knowledge respectively. The main idea is to protect the signer of a document against the document being digitally distributed without knowledge of signer. And we show that our scheme is so effective that message exchange only needs much fewer times during the confirmation protocol and disavowal protocol respectively. which is very useful for poor network environment keeping the communication times with both sides as few as possible. And our scheme allows verifier to verify that the signature is valid, while the signer doesn't know the original message and the signature, to preserve the privacy of the verifier.
Endre Bangerter, Stephan Krenn, AhmadâReza Sadeghi, Thomas Schneider · 5 authors
Abstract. Zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge (ZK-PoK) play an important role in many cryptographic applications. Direct anonymous attestation (DAA) and the identity mixer anonymous authentication system are first real world applications using ZK-PoK as building blocks. But although being used for many years now, design and implementation of sound ZK-PoK remains challenging. In fact, there are security flaws in various protocols found in literatur. Especially for non-experts in the field it is often hard to design ZK-PoK, since a unified and easy to use theoretical framework on ZK-PoK is missing. With this paper we overcome important challenges and facilitate the design and implementation of efficient and sound ZK-PoK in practice. First, Camenisch et al. have presented at EUROCRYPT 2009 a first unified and modular theoretical framework for ZK-PoK. This is compelling, but makes use of a rather inefficient 6-move protocol. We extend and improve their framework in terms of efficiency and show how to realize it using efficient 3-move ÎŁ-protocols. Second, we perform an exact security and efficiency analysis for our new protocol and various protocols found in the literature. The analysis yields novel- and perhaps surprising- results and insights. It reveals for instance that using a 2048 bit RSA modulus, as specified in the DAA standard, only guarantees an upper bound on the success probability of a malicious prover between 1/2 4 and 1/2 24. Also, based on that analysis we show how to select the most efficient protocol to realize a given proof goal. Finally, we also provide low-level support to a designer by presenting a compiler realizing our framework and optimization techniques, allowing easy implementation of efficient and sound protocols.
Identification protocols have a very important role in the world of electronic communication. In an identification protocol, the prover (user) proves to the verifier (center) that it is truly the authorized user who is communicating with the center. In one round of batch identification scheme a user with several secret keys (identities) can prove itself to the verifier instead of several proofs. In this paper, the first Weil pairing will be introduced. In addition, we propose a new batch zero-knowledge identification scheme based on the Weil pairing hereafter considered the security analysis of our proposed scheme.
A secure web-based watermarking scheme is proposed to allow the publisher or information provider to mark their copyrighted materials and identify an illegal distributor through the World Wide Web (WWW). In our proposed scheme, multi-watermark techniques and double encryption method is applied to make the scheme available in e-transaction and secure against collusion attacks even if the third party is not trusted. And the basic idea of zero knowledge proof is also used to make verification of an illegal distributor without the disclosure of any watermark information. Furthermore, a multiparty transaction scenario is also introduced by using our scheme in this paper. The analysis results indicate that our design goals are successfully achieved and some improvements are made over previously proposed schemes.
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Federica Paci, Elisa Bertino, Sam Kerr, Anna Squicciarini · 5 authors
Abstract â Users increasingly use their mobile devices to communicate, to conduct business transaction and access resources and services. In such a scenario, digital iden-tity management (DIM) technology is fundamental in cus-tomizing user experience, protecting privacy, underpinning accountability in business transactions, and in complying with regulatory controls. Users identity consists of data, referred to as identity attributes, that encode relevant-security properties of the clients. However, identity attributes can be target of several attacks: the loss or theft of mobile devices results in a exposure of identity attributes; identity attributes that are send over WI-FI or 3G networks can be easily inter-cepted; identity attributes can also be captured via Bluetooth connections without the userâs consent; and mobile viruses, worms and Trojan horses can access the identity attributes stored on mobile devices if this information is not protected by passwords or PIN numbers. Therefore, assuring privacy and security of identity attributes, as well as of any sensitive information stored on mobile devices is crucial. In this paper we address such problems by proposing an approach to manage user identity attributes by assuring their privacy-preserving usage. The approach is based on the concept of privacy preserving multi-factor authentication achieved by a new cryptographic primitive which uses aggregate signatures on commitments that are then used for aggregate zero-knowledge proof of knowledge (ZKPK) protocols. We present the implementation of such approach on Nokia NFC cellular phones and report performance evaluation results. Index Terms â digital identity management, identity at-tributes, privacy, mobile devices I.
In this article, we introduce a ProverâVerifier model for analysing the computational complexity of a class of constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) termed boolean binary constraint satisfaction problems (BBCSPs). BBCSPs represent an extremely general class of CSPs and find applications in a wide variety of domains including constraint programming, puzzle solving and program testing. The constraints in a BBCSP permit the combination of multiple theories as opposed to traditional constraint systems in which all constraints belong to the same theory. We establish that each instance of a BBCSP admits a coin-flipping Turing machine that halts in time polynomial in the size of the input. Furthermore, the algorithm is oblivious in that it never sees more than one constraint at a time. The prover, P, in the ProverâVerifier model is endowed with very limited powers. In particular, it has no memory and it can only pose restricted queries to the verifier. The verifier, on the other hand, is both omniscient in that it is cognisant of all the problem details and insincere in that it does not have to decide a priori on the intended proof. However, the verifier must stay consistent in its responses, i.e. it cannot rule out a certain possibility in one response to a query from the prover and then rule in the same possibility in response to a subsequent query. We note that the combination of the resources required by the prover and the type of certificate demanded of the verifier, determine the resources required by an algorithm. Inasmuch as our provers will be memoryless and our verifiers will be asked for extremely simple certificates, our work establishes the existence of a simple, randomised algorithm for BBCSPs. Our model itself serves as a basis for the design of zero-knowledge machine learning algorithms in that the prover ends up learning the proof desired by the verifier. Likewise, our work finds applications in the domain of certifying algorithm design, wherein the goal is to provide a proof of correctness of the algorithm on the input instance by providing an easily checkable certificate.
Self configuring VLSI technology architectures offer a new environment for creating novel security functions. Two such functions for physical security architectures are proposed to be generated autonomously as unknown/secret internal functions. A cell-based FPGA technology architecture is deployed for generating two classes of self-constructed one-way physical secret functions, one representing a hash function and the other a ciphering function. The Hash function is a non-invertible mapping, where the cipher function should be invertible. The two sample architectures of the functions are inspired from the programmable cell structure of the selected FPGA technology. As the functions are internally created, their mapping structures can be kept completely secret and even unknown to anybody. Such units could be efficiently deployed for a novel physical security even when nothing is known about their exact architecture and mapping functions. Several new attractive application scenarios are demonstrated including a type of zero-knowledge proof of identity and clone-resistant physical units as well as secured dependency functions. It is also shown that such security mechanisms can be kept operational for some useful applications even if the secret-unknown functions are allowed to evolve and develop additional time-dependent and individual properties. Such security functions became recently possible after self-configuring VLSI architectures are available as a part of real microelectronic systems. Keywords-Identification; secret unknown hardware functions; clone-resitant units; secret-unknown physicalcipher, secret unknown hash-functions. 1.
2 source records
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
We use an idea of linear representations of the symmetric group to reduce the number of communication rounds in the verification protocol, proposed in Crypto 2005 by Peng et al., of a shuffling. We assume Paillier encryption scheme with which we can apply some known zero-knowledge proofs following the same line of approaches of Peng et al. Incidence matrices of 1-subsets and 2-subsets of a finite set is intensively used for the implementation, and the idea of <TEX>$\lambda$</TEX>-designs is employed for the improvement of the computational complexity.
Halpern, Moses and Tuttle presented a definition of interactive proofs using a notion they called practical knowledge, but left open the question of finding an epistemic formula that completely characterizes zero knowledge; that is, a formula that holds iff a proof is zero knowledge. We present such a formula, and show that it does characterize zero knowledge. Moreover, we show that variants of the formula characterize variants of zero knowledge such as concurrent zero knowledge [Dwork, Naor, and Sahai 2004] and proofs of knowledge [Feige, Fiat, and Shamir 1987; Tompa and Woll 1987].
In the wired world of coded connections, zeros and ones exert a daunting pictorial presence. From glamour glossies to public relations wars, from selling sex to the promises of noble sciences, to art as million-dollar kitsch, digital images endlessly spiral, circumnavigating the global sphere. As âsigns in actionâ, what compelling narratives do they distinctly embed? Yet in media-driven societies engaged in and dependent on symbolic pictorialisations, how do these representations operate as part of a mutating cultural imaginary? One may consider the concept of the cultural imaginary as an over-arching term sinuously deïŹned as âthose vast networks interlinking discursive themes, images, motifs and narrative forms that are publicly available within a given culture at any one time, and articulate its psychic and social dimensionsâ (Dawson 1994: 48). For cultural historian Graham Dawson âcultural imaginaries furnish public forms which both organise knowledge of the social world and give shape to fantasies within the apparently âinternalâ domain of psychic lifeâ (Dawson 1994: 48). In addition, these symbol sets can be termed critical ïŹctions and may be located somewhere between illusion, proof and cognitive projection. Constituting a semblance of a âcollective data-baseâ, the cultural imaginary traverses contested territories associated with either veriïŹable axioms or fanciful story telling. These visualising models, employed by artists, scientists, designers, corporate advertisers, journalists and/or politicians, clarify, mislead, aggrandise, stimulate or document. In short, they are representations embedded in social structures, policy decisions and commercial ventures. As aesthetic devices they perform their semiotic function of activating thought and emotion through their powers of communication and circumscribed belief (Anker 2004). Visual representations and their attendant sign systems, however, are not necessarily self-evident and in some cases seeing is, in fact, not believing. Hoaxes, illusions, sleights of hand, all part of image manipulation, are constituent elements of visualityâs deceptive regime. In other circumstances, visual interpretation is compounded by complex degrees of connoisseurship associated with astute visual understanding, explicitly due to an imageâs power to evoke audience response. Furthermore, the study of these symbolic entities requires an analysis and contextualisation historically anchored in the cultural imagination. Pictorial devices, composed of formal aesthetic elements such as line, colour, light, space, scale and texture are functionally âperformativeâ ingredients in picture-narration. In the interactive media arts these elements can be reconïŹgured in real-time thereby amplifying potential modes of visualisation, illustration and simulation. Each style of representation carries within its aesthetic domain a distinctive yet culturally grounded set of values. Empirically situated in a network of discovery, scientiïŹc images and their related research data, are currently being integrated into an aesthetic realm. A basic reading of scientiïŹc images in their historical contexts renders it evident that these visual tropes are products of scripted visual communication systems and networks of ïŹuctuating and competing discourses. These visual knowledge-producing vehicles emerge out of an amalgam of semiotic, technological and stylistic variations nuanced by their co-evolving actuality. Highly sophisticated visualisation tools and techniques have become an integral part of the early twenty-ïŹrst century scientiïŹc laboratories and their cultural milieu. State-ofthe-art images are created through the use of Photoshop ïŹlters, multidirectional lighting eïŹects, re-calibrated colour contrasting and post-production editing. Perhaps more than any other contemporary technical device, digital images have become a lingua franca of communicating systems, and these extend to digital mammograms and in-utero foetal sonograms. Added to this mix of technological developments around imaging is the connective transport provided via the World Wide Web, through which images traverse silicon networks at astonishing speed, thus aïŹecting our consciousness and ethical bearing. In the early twenty-ïŹrst century, scientiïŹc images, like popular culture icons, are increasingly entering the public realm. This migratory manifestation of the visual has, for scholar W.J.T. Mitchell, created a âsocial ïŹeldâ of images, which underscores the âpictorial turn across disciplinesâ (Mitchell 2005: 76-89). As artists engage with scientiïŹc iconography within their aesthetic practices, scientists employ visual images to illustrate material processes and to improve evidential comprehension. While visual artâs expressive modes often rely on historically deterministic visual connections, picturing in scientiïŹc practice is more explicitly causal or mechanistically bounded. In short, coded images, in full-colour regalia, have become part of new media installations, art and fashion magazines, Hollywood ïŹlms and special eïŹects, as well as extensively servicing the corporate culture of contemporary science and the laboratory sciences themselves. Developments in âpicture scienceâ are also attracting scholars to cross-disciplinary intersections. For example, the interdisciplinary research group investigating The World as Image at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities studies âvisual representations of world concepts and the analysis of scientiïŹc representations and modelsâ (see www/bbaw.de). Images, within this context are looked at as vehicles of historically produced world views encompassing variegated disciplines such as: art history, social history, astronomy, cartography, philosophy, et al. The scholars in this group examine the limitations and functions of visual artefacts in terms of what they both express and deny about a given culture. For example, in the seventeenth century, a revision of the number of continents required that a world map be reconïŹgured to account for the European âdiscoveryâ of additional land mass. This change in the number of landmasses had deep religious consequences since it posed the necessity for a reinterpretation of the relationship of âkingsâ to âcontinentsâ. What this kind of research tells us is that, within symbolic world making, there are contingent psychological, philosophical and even cosmological assumptions requiring articulation.1
The WS-BPEL specification focuses on business processes the activities of which are assumed to be interactions with Web services. However, WS-BPEL processes go beyond the orchestration of activities exposed as Web services. There are cases in which people must be considered as additional participants to the execution of a process. The inclusion of humans, in turn, requires solutions to support the specification and enforcement of authorizations to users for the execution of human activities while enforcing authorization constraints. In this paper, we extend RBAC-WS-BPEL, a role-based authorization framework for WS-BPEL processes with an identity attribute-based role provisioning approach that preserves the privacy of the users who claim the execution of human activities. Such approach is based on the notion of identity records and role provisioning policies, and uses Pedersen commitments, aggregated zero knowledge proof of knowledge, and Oblivious Commitment-Based Envelope protocols to achieve privacy of user identity information.
Michael Backes, Martin P. Grochulla, CÄtÄlin HriĆŁcu, Matteo Maffei
One of the important challenges when designing and analyzing cryptographic protocols is the enforcement of security properties in the presence of compromised participants. This paper presents a general technique for strengthening cryptographic protocols in order to satisfy authorization policies despite participant compromise. The central idea is to automatically transform the original cryptographic protocols by adding non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs.Each participant proves that the messages sent to the other participants are generated in accordance to the protocol.The zero-knowledge proofs are forwarded to ensure the correct behavior of all participants involved in the protocol, without revealing any secret data.We use an enhanced type system for zero-knowledge to verify that the transformed protocols conform to their authorization policy even if some participants are compromised.Finally, we developed a tool that automatically generates ML implementations of protocols based on zero-knowledge proofs.The protocol transformation, the verification, and the generation of protocol implementations are fully automated.