In the past few years, various lightweight cryptographic algorithms have been proposed to balance the trade-offs between the requirements of resource constrained IoT devices and the need to securely transmit and protect data. However, it is critical to analyze and evaluate these algorithms to examine their capabilities. This paper provides a thorough investigation of the randomness of ciphertext obtained from Simeck, Kasumi, DES and AES. The design of our randomness analysis is based on five metrics implemented following the guidance of the NIST statistical test suite for cryptographic applications. This analysis also provides performance and power consumption evaluations for the selected cryptographic algorithms using different platforms and measures. Results from the evaluation reveal that lightweight algorithms have competitive randomness levels, lower processing time and lower power consumption when compared to conventional algorithms.

Software randomness analysis and evaluation of lightweight ciphers: the prospective for IoT security

The inexorable forward March of technology and the advent of smartphone applications offer effortless communication WhatsApp is one of the most common and widely accepted mobile applications for communication and collaboration We conduct this research to identify the influence of WhatsApp among the employees in an educational institution and to compare the means of communication used at workplace A web-based survey was conducted among employees at AlBuraimi University College, Oman The study revealed that respondents preferred WhatsApp for informal communication and email for formal communication Email was preferred for communication with students and academic works The results also showed that WhatsApp enables faster and easy communication, sharing ideas, chatting and suggested WhatsApp has a positive impact on them The results also shed light on some of the consequences of WhatsApp usage like privacy intervention, concentration reduction in work which may lead to delayed work completion Majority of respondents didn’t suggest WhatsApp in learning and teaching process The results affirmed the influence of WhatsApp in quick and effective communication Regardless of the advantages and acceptance of WhatsApp, the study also revealed the reluctance of respondents in using WhatsApp for formal communication, academic works and in learning process

The Impact of WhatsApp on Employees in Higher Education

With millions of people getting affected with COVID-19 pandemic caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), people living with post COVID-19 Symptoms (PCS) are expected to rise in the future{middle dot} The present study aimed at assessing PCS comprehensively and its associated factors among COVID-19 recovered adult population in north India. MethodsIn a tertiary health centre at Delhi, an online based cross-sectional study was conducted using a semi-structured questionnaire, developed by employing a nominal group technique, in aged 18 years and above who were SARS-CoV-2 positive during the month of January to April 2021. Socio-demographic, various potential risk factors, including pre-existing morbidities, vaccination status, and severity of acute COVID-19 illness, information on acute illness for management and a spectrum of PCS were collected between June 16 to July 28, 2021. Each participant was contacted telephonically before sending the survey link. PCS were presented as relative frequency; chi-square test, odds ratio, including adjusted, were calculated to rule out association between PCS and potential predictors. ResultsA total of 773 of 1801 COVID recovered participants responded to the link reaching a participation rate of 42{middle dot}9%, with a median age of 34 years (IQR 27 to 44). Male respondents were 56{middle dot}4%. Around 33{middle dot}2% of them had PCS at four or more weeks, affecting almost all body organ systems. The most prevalent PCS were fatigue (79{middle dot}3%), pain in the joins (33{middle dot}4%), muscle (29{middle dot}9%), hair loss (28{middle dot}0%), headache (27{middle dot}2%), breathlessness (25{middle dot}3%), sleep disturbance (25{middle dot}3%) and cough (24{middle dot}9%). The prevalence of PCS was reduced to 12{middle dot}8% at 12 weeks after positive test. Factor such as female gender, older age, oxygen supplementation during the acute illness, working in healthcare care facilities, the severity of acute illness, and pre-existing co-morbid were risk factors for PCS. Further, vaccination (second dose) reduced the odds of developing PCS by 45% compared to unvaccinated participants (aOR 0{middle dot}65; 95%CI 0{middle dot}45-0{middle dot}96). Finally, 8{middle dot}3% of participants rated their overall health status was either poor or very poor following COVID-19 illness. ConclusionsThe PCS involves almost all organ systems, regardless of the severity of acute COVID-19 illness. Two doses of vaccine help to reduce development of PCS. Research in ContextO_ST_ABSEvidence before this studyC_ST_ABSAlthough the evidence is mounting in prolonged COVID-19 symptoms among COVID-19 survivors, to date, the full range of such post-COVID-19 symptoms (PCS) is not yet fully understood. There is a lack of studies that assessed PCS comprehensively among persons who have recovered from the COVID-19illness. For example, limited data are available on psychosocial, behavioral, and oral manifestations related to PCS. Further, there is a paucity of studies that included a wide range of determinants of PCS and the association of vaccination with the development of PCS across the world. Our study is the first such study conducted among COVID-19 recovered persons who with a majority of them employed in a tertiary health care institute of north India. Added value of this studyOur study, for the first time, investigated a wide range of post-COVID-19 manifestations among COVID-19 recovered persons in organ-specific and psychosocial behavioral aspects, making this the largest categorization of PCS currently (in total 16). The study included telephonic calls to each eligible candidate which helped in ensuring the COVID-19 status at the time of the study. Since the participants either were employees in the hospital or their dependents that enhance the accuracy of reporting PCS. The most prevalent symptom was unspecific PCS (85.6%), e.g., fatigue, followed by musculoskeletal manifestations (49{middle dot}8%), Ear, Nose and Throat symptoms (47{middle dot}5%), neurological (47{middle dot}0%), cardio-respiratory (42{middle dot}4%, gastrointestinal (36{middle dot}2%), ocular symptoms (31{middle dot}9%), dermatological symptoms (31{middle dot}5%), and cardio-vascular (24{middle dot}5%) symptoms, and mental health symptoms (23{middle dot}7%). The rest of the organ specific symptoms were observed in less than 20% of the respondents. Older age, female gender, pre-existing co-morbid, oxygen supplementation during acute illness, the severity of illness, working in health care institutions were associated with PCS. Vaccination after the second dose was protective against PCS compared to non-vaccinated participants. Further, our study also reported a rating of the overall health status among COVID survivors, whereby around 8.3% of them reported being a poor or very poor health. Implications of all the available evidencePCS affects a multi-organ organ system, irrespective of the severity of acute-phase COVID-19 illness and hospitalization. Such persistent COVID-19 symptoms, compounded by its heterogeneity among COVID survivors can pose a substantial burden to the affected individuals and their families and additional challenges for healthcare delivery and public health service. The current study shows that one in three individuals experience persistent COVID-19 symptoms. Since the COVID pandemic is still ongoing across the world, therefore, the number of people experiencing PCS is likely to be increased substantially further. An integrated PCS care strategy, but not limited to organ-specific healthcare disciplines, others such as psychosocial support, including counseling and education, rehabilitation, community-based rehabilitation programs will be required for management. Prioritization of PCS care to elder and co-morbid patients should be recommended. Expediting the vaccination drive will be helpful to reduce the development of persistent COVID-19 symptoms. Research, collaborative and multidisciplinary, is required to understand the underlying pathophysiology mechanism for PCS.

Assessment of Post COVID-19 Health Problems and its Determinants in North India: A descriptive cross section study

With the advent of e-learning, advocates use the term interactivity instead of interaction among students, and between the teacher and the students. Many universities use Moodle for online teaching and learning. This paper explores the perceptions and experiences of students in three Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Mauritius. A mixed-methods approach was used, with an online survey questionnaire administered to 600 students and focus group discussions were conducted with 15 students from these institutions. It was found that 68.4% of respondents used WhatsApp compared to only 23.6% of them who used the e-learning platform, Moodle. There were no associations between the use or frequency of using WhatsApp or Facebook and the types of HEI to which the students belonged. Students preferred WhatsApp due to its facility for knowledge sharing and construction, its interactivity, its usability, respect for privacy and instant communication. From the findings, it is recommended that HEIs bring a shift in their approaches to teaching and learning from cognitivism to socio-constructivism, connectivism and heutagogy.

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Perceptions and experiences of students on the use of interactive online learning technologies in Mauritius

In this paper, we present a user study conducted on students of a local university in Pakistan and collected a corpus of Roman Urdu text messages. We were interested in forms and functions of Roman Urdu text messages. To this end, we collected a mobile phone usage dataset. The data consists of 116 users and 346, 455 text messages. Roman Urdu text, is the most widely adopted style of writing text messages in Pakistan. Our user study leads to interesting results, for instance, we were able to quantitatively show that a number of words are written using more than one spelling; most participants of our study were not comfortable in English and hence they write their text messages in Roman Urdu; and the choice of language adopted by the participants sometimes varies according to who the message is being sent. Moreover we found that many young students send text messages(SMS) of intimate nature.

Roman-txt: forms and functions of roman urdu texting

WhatsApp is a popular mobile application for providing instant messaging service in smartphones. It uses Internet services to communicate different type of text and multimedia messages between users or groups. Its users worldwide have crossed the figure of one billion in February 2016. The effect of WhatsApp on our lives, culture, and society keeps on increasing. It is also becoming popular tool for marketing in businesses and publicity in politics. This growth has also drawn the attention of researchers to understand the implications and effect of WhatsApp on its user’s social and personal life. We investigated the usage and effect of WhatsApp in the regions of Northern India. We performed an internet based survey using open-source Lime survey software and obtained responses. Total 460 responses had been received in which only 136 responses were considered for analysis those have completed all questions and having more than 18 years of age. The users in India made a slow shift from all social networking sites to WhatsApp in a quick span of time. This survey results show that there is a significant impact of WhatsApp on its users. Around 66% of WhatsApp users believe that WhatsApp has improved their relationship with friends. More than 63% of its users think it is not harmful for them. There are several other analyses presented in this paper based on age-groups and gender of WhatsApp users. This survey analysis may be useful for academicians and researchers for understanding the behavior of WhatsApp users and reflect the possibility of using WhatsApp in education, social services and governance.

Survey Analysis on the usage and Impact of Whatsapp Messenger

Security has become an important issue in the world of information technology. In recent years the people from all over the world rely on internet in order to transmit and share their information where they are mostly concerned on information security to protect it. For security purpose people uses symmetric or asymmetric cryptography. Cryptography is the study of mathematical technique or algorithms related to information security. But in the traditional cryptographic approach encryption and decryption both require complex arithmetic computation. Visual cryptography provides information security which uses simple algorithm for encryption and no algorithmic computation for decryption process. With Visual Cryptography technique encryption of image or text can be done with simple arithmetic and decryption can be done directly with human visual system. Rapid growth of digital media has made digital images easy to distribute, duplicate and made changes to it. This paper provides summary of emerging Visual Cryptography techniques for creating image secure shares and application areas where it can be applied.

Visual Cryptography for Image Secure Shares

Narrowing the gap between cutting-edge technology and its applications, as well as identifying the missing links for applying technology will be the ongoing challenge. The rudimentary scope, goals, and objectives of the community have not changed radically the challenges of technology, because the present juncture is superior than prior to. State-of-the-art new-fangled technology like ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System has undergone an approximately puzzling transformation, corresponding to the evolution of information technology. Within a generation, information technology has transformed the everyday tasks of the workforce-computer use has infiltrated almost ubiquitously. Interoperability operates two dimensions: organizational dimensions and time dimensions. Here & now interoperability across organization boundaries with its diverse communication devices is ultimately achieved through ERP system software. The ERP is one significant approach to accomplish more with less. It is an established move toward to creating tangible savings from greater speed, abridged processing, eliminating redundant effort procedures, and better accountability in programs and services. This paper addresses the important role for ensuring system interoperability in an ERP system centric coalition environment. The endeavor of this paper is to identify a problem and suggest a solution, recommend formulation of interoperability as a solution and thrash out implications. The paper makes an effort to recommend that interoperability is a real-valued element that applies to an ample range of relationships among ERP system processing entities. The paper also in brief documents the state-of-the-practice in information systems and technologies, as well as the developing role of information technology (IT). Thus the final motive of the paper is to present the key business issues concerning interoperability connection with ERP Systems standards with a sight to developing sustainable solutions beneficial to all the organizations.

Interoperability Maneuver the Enterprise's Dimensions with ERP System

Increase in population over last decade resulted in overcrowding in emergency care unit (ECU) departments in hospitals, which had a negative consequences on patients. Thus, it is necessary to find new methods that can prevent crowding and avoid bottleneck patient flow. The present paper makes an investigation on various tree-based data mining (DM) prediction models such as decision tree (DT) and boosting trees. Although the earlier studies were able to predict 80.06% hospital admissions accurately using DT, a modern technique light gradient boosting machines was proposed to increase the efficiency and speed compared to existing ones.

Naveen Kumar

Papers

Survey Analysis on the usage and Impact of Whatsapp Messenger

Visual Cryptography for Image Secure Shares

Interoperability Maneuver the Enterprise's Dimensions with ERP System

An Investigation on Managing Patient Flow at Hospital Emergency Care Unit Using Tree-Based Data Mining Techniques