Abstract

Univariate meteorological drought indices are inadequate to represent the complexity of hydrological conditions under the intensification of hydrological cycle due to climate change at catchment scale. In this study, Stand­ ardised Precipitation Actual Evapotranspiration Index (SPAEI) was proposed, which can combine both meteo­ rological and hydrological drought characteristics at catchment scale. The proposed new drought index considers the hydrologically calibrated AET to account for the water use in addition to meteorological effect. The proposed hydrometeorological drought index was potential in identifying meteorological and hydrological drought events accounting for the time-lag effects and comparable with Global Land Evaporation Amsterdam Model (GLEAM) remote sensing AET data-based drought index. The PET based drought index of SPEI, which is based on energy demand, has shown intensified drought characteristics compared to SPAEI, which is based on both energy de­ mand and available moisture supply and can be a promising variable in the drought estimation. The climate change projections of precipitation and temperatures downscaled using statistical downscaling model based on K-means clustering, Classification and Regression Trees and Support Vector Regression were used using three General Circulation Model outputs. Intensified drought characteristics under climate change has been predicted over Krishna River basin, India, in terms of increase of drought areal extent of about 25%-31%, with increase of drought frequency as 5 years per 20 years and durations as 4–5 months based on the proposed hydrometeoro­ logical drought index of SPAEI.

Abstract

It is known that beyond 2 ⊗ 2 and 2 ⊗ 3 dimensional quantum systems, Peres-Hordecki criterion is no longer sufficient as an entanglement detection criterion as there are entangled states with both positive and negative partial transpose (PPT and NPT). Further, it is also true that all PPT entangled states are bound entangled states. However, in the class of NPT states, there can exist bound entangled states as well as free entangled states. All free/useful/distillable entanglement is a part of the class of NPT entangled states. In this article, we ask the question that given an NPT entangled state in 3 ⊗ 3 dimensional system as a resource, how much entanglement can we broadcast so that resource still remains NPT. We have chosen 3 ⊗ 3 system as a first step to understand broadcasting of NPT states in higher dimensional systems. In particular, we find out the range of broadcasting of NPT entanglement for Two parameter Class of States (TPCS) and Isotropic States (IS). Interestingly, as a derivative of this process we are also able to locate the existence of absolute PPT states (ABPPT) in 3 ⊗ 3 dimensional system. Here we implement the strategy of broadcasting through approximate cloning operations.

Abstract

Large gains in the rate of cache-aided broadcast communication are obtained using coded caching, but to obtain this most existing centralized coded caching schemes require that the files at the server be divisible into a large number of parts (this number is called subpacketization). In fact, most schemes require the subpacketization to be growing asymptotically as exponential in some root of the number of users . On the other extreme, few schemes having subpacketization linear in are known; however they require large number of users to exist, or they offer only little gain in rate. In this work, we propose a new framework known astextit {caching line graphs} for centralized coded caching and utilize projective geometries over finite fields to construct two new coded caching schemes with low subpacketization and moderate rate gains. Both the schemes achieve the same asymptotic subpacketization, which is …

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate a constrained formulation of neural networks where the output is a convex function of the input. We show that the convexity constraints can be enforced on both fully connected and convolutional layers, making them applicable to most architectures. The convexity constraints include restricting the weights (for all but the first layer) to be non-negative and using a non-decreasing convex activation function. Albeit simple, these constraints have profound implications on the generalization abilities of the network. We draw three valuable insights: (a) Input Output Convex Networks (IOC-NN) self regularize and almost uproot the problem of overfitting; (b) Although heavily constrained, they come close to the performance of the base architectures; and (c) The ensemble of convex networks can match or outperform the non convex counterparts. We demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed idea using thorough experiments and ablation studies on MNIST, CIFAR10, and CIFAR100 datasets with three different neural network architectures. The code for this project is publicly available at: https://github.com/sarathsp1729/Convex-Networks.

Abstract

Liquefaction of soils during an earthquake motion results in complete loss of shear strength and stiffness leading to huge lateral ground movements and further failure of structures. Therefore, it is recommended to include liquefaction hazard assessment of soils in design procedure to avoid future damage of structures. There exists some concurrence between liquefaction assessment of free field sites and liquefaction of soils beneath foundations which is still a controversial issue. In the present study, a pile supported wharf has been considered from Vishakhapatnam port (Andhra Pradesh). Liquefaction hazard assessment has been carried out, and depending upon the factor of safety against liquefaction; the pile foundation system has been redesigned against liquefaction. The results from the present study indicate an optimized pile configuration compared to conventional design procedure. Factor of safeties achieved are high enough to avoid liquefaction-induced failures.

Abstract

resent Address Federal University of Piauí (UFPI)Campus Petrônio Portela - Bloco 8 Centro de Tecnologia, Ininga 64049-550 Teresina - PI, Brazil. Funding information: Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais, Grant/Award Number: Project No D0640; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Grant/Award Numbers: Grant N. 309335/2017-5, Grant No. 431726/2018-3; FCT/MCTES, Grant/Award Number: Project UIDB/EEA/50008/2020; Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Grant/Award Numbers: 309335/2017-5, 431726/2018-3; FAPEMIG/CEMIG, Grant/Award Number: D0640; TSDA Comunicações Company

Abstract

In recent years, security and data privacy in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have gained great thrust. Several anonymity-preserving user authentication and key establishment mechanisms for WSNs with single base station have been suggested in the literature. However, sometimes a single base station may be insufficient to maintain the proper quality of services or it may be a single point of failure in WSNs. Very recently Amin et al. suggested a multiple base stations based anonymous user authentication and key establishment approach for WSNs to address the aforementioned problem. In this paper, we first demonstrate that Amin et al.’s scheme has several security pitfalls. To address the security issues in Amin et al.’s scheme, we design a more secure and anonymous user authentication and key establishment mechanism for WSNs that is also based on multiple base stations concept. An exhaustive comparative study demonstrates that the proposed mechanism gives significantly better security and more functionality attributes with comparable commutation as well as computation overheads while those are compared with Amin et al’s. approach.

Abstract

With the rapid growth of wireless technology, Internet of Things (IoT) became very popular in both industrial as well as consumer product domains. While there is a lot of available platforms and technologies for IoT, the access control issue is often overlooked in the IoT security research. An effective access control depends on the proper user authentication mechanism. Thus, access control in this scenario is an emerging and challenging problem in the IoT environment. In this paper, we design an anonymous fine-grained user access control mechanism for IoT architecture. In the proposed scheme, the user authentication is performed by the smart device node based on the user attributes, which enables fine-grained access control over the authorized data. We utilize the widely accepted formal verification tool, called the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA), to formally prove the security of the proposed scheme. Additionally, we also provide a detailed informal security analysis of the scheme. Finally, we perform a simulation study using the broadly used NS3 network simulator to show the practical impact on the proposed scheme on various network parameters.

Abstract

‘Corruption’ can be defined as the exploitation of delegated authority for illegitimate profits. We consider the kind of corruption happening on several levels in the country in regards to infrastructure and public works. Corruption can be identified by studying the issue from both sides—the government and the public. We look at how ICT, with the help of citizens, can help in identifying misuse and corruption. Corruption is a big menace in India. Transparency and accountability are generally improved when we enable support and citizen involvement in addition to closer collaboration between government and citizens. We dont claim that our model is not as such a complete remedy to fight corruption, and it can also be misused by fraudulent officials. Practically, impact depends on the aptness of ICT for local circumstances and requirements and in utilising technology. There are several corruption-prone public services and citizens can be for effectively monitoring and mitigating corruption as citizens would generally like to participate in activities that would help in mitigating corruption at their provincial level.

Abstract

Let $overline{p}(n)$ denote the number of overpartions of $n$, and $c_{r}(n)$ be the number of representations of $n$ as a sum of $r$ squares where representations with different orders and different signs are counted as distinct. Then we prove that$$overline{p}(n)=sum_{r=0}^{n}(-1)^{n+r}, binom{n+1}{r+1}, c_{r}(n).