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Voluntary Carbon Markets: Bridging Climate Solutions Through Sustainable Finance
Voluntary carbon markets (VCMs) enable companies and individuals to offset their carbon footprint by acquiring carbon credits from programs that decrease or eliminate emissions, such as renewable energy or forest conservation activities. As climate change mitigation becomes more prominent on corporate and investor agendas, voluntary carbon markets provide a framework for channeling funding toward emissions-reduction operations. The threat of climate change necessitates immediate action, pushing sustainable finance to the forefront. Carbon offsetting appears as an intriguing but contentious option in this changing ecology. It enables entities to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by funding programs that reduce emissions elsewhere. However, worries about the integrity of some offsets remain, emphasizing the need for strong standards and verification systems. This includes aligning lending, insurance, and investment agendas with sustainability objectives such as the Paris Agreement. As the global economy undergoes structural transformations to meet climate targets, sustainable finance invests in VCM projects to direct funds towards programs that reduce carbon emissions, boost renewable energy use, and support sustainable practices. This linkage strengthens the financial sectors role in combating climate change while also promoting economic growth and resilience. Integrating VCMs into sustainable finance strategies improves transparency and accountability in carbon offsetting methods, ensuring that investments contribute to emissions reductions and environmental benefits. This conceptual study seeks to contribute to a thorough understanding of the collaboration between VCMs, sustainable finance, and climate action, emphasizing the significance of collective action in companies and individuals achieving environmental sustainability and minimizer by the effects of climate change. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025. -
Secure authentication frame work for cloud
The growing popularity of cloud based services is prompting organizations to consider shifting applications and data onto cloud. However, organizations dealing with highly sensitive information are apprehensive of moving its applications and data to public cloud owing to concern about security of its information. It is hence incumbent on service providers that only legitimate Users will access its services and resources in cloud. newlineVerifying authenticity of remote users is a necessary pre-requisite in a cloud environment before allowing access to secure resources/services/ applications. The simplest and most commonly used user authentication mechanism is password based authentication. However, Users tend to choose easy to remember password, and many a times use same password for multiple accounts, which makes it often the weakest link in security. Furthermore, service providers authenticating Users on the basis of password, stores password verification information in their databases and such authentication schemes with verification table are known to be vulnerable to various attacks. newlineFrom the perspective of authentication requirements, service providers in a cloud environment can be broadly categorized into two. Those service providers dealing with highly sensitive information and working in a regulated environment can be grouped into category one as in those offering services for sectors like health care, finance. These providers require a strong and secure authentication mechanism to authenticate its users, without any additional functionality. Similarly, there is a second category of service providers dealing with secure information but operate in a collaborative environment as providers providing their applications bundled through a web portal. To provide the Users with a seamless authentication experience, while accessing multiple services during a session, the second category of service providers prefer to have Single Sign-on functionality. -
Compressed Spatio Temporal Graph Neural Networks for Multivariate Time-Series Forecasting
Precise traffic flow forecasting is crucial for efficient transportation management and traffic congestion alleviation. Existing models typically fail to process the intricate spatial- temporal relationships in traffic data and thus incur compromised prediction performance. In this work, we introduce a Compressed Spatial-Temporal Enhanced Graph Neural Network (Comp-STEMGNN) to overcome these limitations. Our model combines 1D convolution-based temporal compression with graph neural networks to compress redundant time-series information without compromising vital patterns. Graph convolutional layers and temporal convolutional blocks extract the spatial and temporal relationships and facilitate efficient learning from enormous sensor networks. Experimental comparisons on benchmark traffic datasets show that Comp-STEMGNN outperforms existing approaches in forecasting accuracy while enjoying substantial computational complexity reduction. These findings identify its potential in real-time traffic forecasting and intelligent transportation systems. 2025 IEEE. -
Malayalam biopics: From books to films /
This article talks about the difficulties that emerge when considering biographical films that are focused around biographical or autobiographical works of writing utilizing careful investigations of three Malayalam films. The films are an adjustment from their individual books. -
Secure authentication framework for cloud
The growing popularity of cloud based services is prompting organizations to consider shifting applications and data onto cloud. However, organizations dealing with highly sensitive information are apprehensive of moving its applications & data to public cloud owing to concern about security of its information. It is hence incumbent on service providers that only legitimate Users will access its services and resources in cloud. Verifying authenticity of remote users is a necessary pre-requisite in a cloud environment before allowing access to secure resources/services/ applications. The simplest & most commonly used user authentication mechanism is password based authentication. However, Users tend to choose easy to remember password, and many a times use same password for multiple accounts, which makes it often the weakest link in security. Furthermore, service providers authenticating Users on the basis of password, stores password verification information in their databases and such authentication schemes with verification table are known to be vulnerable to various attacks. From the perspective of authentication requirements, service providers in a cloud environment can be broadly categorized into two. Those service providers dealing with highly sensitive information and working in a regulated environment can be grouped into category one ?? as in those offering services for sectors like health care, finance. These providers require a strong and secure authentication mechanism to authenticate its users, without any additional functionality. Similarly, there is a second category of service providers dealing with secure information but operate in a collaborative environment ?? as providers providing their applications bundled through a web portal. To provide the Users with a seamless authentication experience, while accessing multiple services during a session, the second category of service providers prefer to have Single Signon functionality. Two-factor authentication technology overcomes the limitations of password authentication and decreases the probability that the claimant is presenting false evidence of its identity to verifier. If different service providers set up their own two-factor authentication services, Users have to do registration and login process repeatedly. Also, Users accessing multiple cloud services may be required to hold multiple authentication tokens associated with various service providers. Authentication factors such as crypto-tokens and smart cards with cryptographic capabilities have been vastly used as a second authentication factor. However, Users are required to always carry these authentication tokens which make it cumbersome from practical usability perspective. Also its usage involves cost thus restricting its adoption to corporate environments. The authentication process can be made more user-convenient if the authentication factor chosen is such that it is commonly used by all types of Users. Leveraging the use of mobile phone as an authentication factor can help address issue of user convenience at no extra cost while improving the security of authentication schemes. Though, there has been an increasing focus on strengthening the authentication methods of cloud service users, there is no significant work that discusses an authentication scheme that can be adopted by the two categories of cloud Service Providers. Taking cognizance of aforesaid issues related to secured authentication in cloud environment, this research focused on designing secure Two-Factor authentication schemes that can be adopted by the two categories of service providers. This research carried out in different levels, proposes authentication architecture and protocols for the two categories of service providers. At the first level, research proposes Direct Authentication architecture for cloud Service Providers who prefer to authenticate its users by using a strong authentication mechanism and does not require Single Sign-On (SSO) functionality. For those Providers who prefer to provide its user with a SSO functionality the research proposes Brokered Authentication architecture. The next level of research focuses on proposing User Authentication Protocols for both Direct Authentication Service Providers (DASPs) and Brokered Authentication Service Providers (BASPs). The research proposes use of strong, Two-Factor Authentication Protocols without Verifier Table. The suggested protocols, provides Users with flexibility of using a Password and either a Crypto-token or a Mobile-token to authenticate with Service Providers. The proposed approach eliminates the requirement of the User to remember multiple identities to access multiple services and provides the benefit of a higher level of security on account of second authentication factor and non-maintenance of verifier table at server. Access to different services offered by multiple service providers using a single authentication token requires interoperability between providers. Also, the Service Providers will have to address the task of issuing the second authentication factor to Users. As a result, the research intends to propose the utilization of proposed two-factor authentication scheme within a specific environment which includes a trusted entity called an Identity Provider (IdP), with whom Users and Service Providers will be registered. The IdP is responsible for issuing and managing the second authentication factor. In brokered authentication, the IdP playing the role of an authentication broker also provides Single Sign-on functionality. The Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) is used by BASPs and the IdP to exchange authentication information about Users. A major objective of this research is to propose an authentication model that can be adopted by both categories of service providers. Hence, this research proposes an authentication framework for cloud which supports an integrated authentication architecture that provides the service providers with the flexibility to choose between direct and brokered authentication. The integrated two-factor authentication protocol, which does not require the server to maintain a verifier table, supported by the frame work allows users to do a single registration and access services of both direct & brokered authentication service providers using the same crypto-token/mobile-token. To verify claims about security strengths of the proposed authentication protocols, security analysis is done using theoretical intuition. The proposed protocols are found to offer desirable security features such as resistance to replay attack, stolen verifier attack, guessing attack, user impersonation attack etc. To verify the efficiency of the proposed protocols, the communication and computation costs are compared with similar schemes and it is seen that the costs are comparable. To validate the resistance of protocols to authentication attacks, they are analyzed using automated verification tool called ????Scyther??? and the protocol strength is verified by ???no attacks??? results. -
A proof of concept implementation of a mobile based authentication scheme without password table for cloud environment
Cloud computing is a fast growing technology offering a wide range of software and infrastructure services on a pay-per-use basis. Many small and medium businesses (SMB's) have adopted this utility based Computing Model as it contributes to reduced operational and capital expenditure. Though the resource sharing feature adopted by Cloud service providers (CSP's) enables the organizations to invest less on infrastructure, it also raises concerns about the security of data stored at CSP's premises. The fact that data is prone to get accessed by the insiders or by other customers sharing the storage space is a matter of concern. Regulating access to protected resources requires reliable and secure authentication mechanism, which assures that only authorized users are provided access to the services and resources offered by CSP. This paper proposes a strong two-factor authentication mechanism using password and mobile token. The proposed model provides Single Sign-on (SSO) functionality and does not require a password table. Besides introducing the authentication scheme, the proof of concept implementation is also provided. 2015 IEEE. -
A Single Sign on based secure remote user authentication scheme for Multi-Server Environments
A Multi-Server Architecture comprises of a server environment having many different servers which provides the user the flexibility of accessing resources from multiple Service Providing Servers using the same credential. The primary objective of a Multi Server Environment (MSE) is to provide services of different Service Providers (SPs) without repeating registration at each SP server, and to get a unique single credential for all the servers in MSE. However, the conventional MSEs, proposed by various researchers, proposes the individual authentication service by each SP on their respective server using the credential issued by the Registration Authority of MSE. The mechanism requires the user to access each SP by keying the same credentials for every SP separately. Single Sign On (SSO) is an authentication mechanism that enables a user to sign-on once and access the services of various SPs in the same session. SAML is generally used as a Single Sign-On protocol. This work analyzes the smart card based authentication scheme for Multi-Server Environment proposed by Li et al.'s and discuss various security attacks on the said scheme. The paper also proposes a Secure Dynamic-ID based scheme using smart cards or crypto cards which do not require a verifier table and implements Single Sign On feature using SAML protocol, thus allowing the user to enjoy all the features of an MSE along with SSO. 2014 IEEE. -
A mobile based remote user authentication scheme without verifier table for cloud based services
The emerging Cloud computing technology, offering computing resources as a service is gaining increasing attention of both the public and private sector. For the whole hearted adoption of Cloud, the service providers need to ensure that only valid users gain access to the services and data residing within the provider's premises. Ensuring secure access to sensitive resources within the Cloud requires a strong user authentication mechanism using multiple authentication factors. The mechanisms should also consider the increasing needs of Internet access through smart phones and other mobile devices and facilitate access through a variety of devices. Traditionally, a user needs to maintain separate user accounts for each Service Provider whose service he/she desires to use and this may cause inconvenience to users. Single Sign on (SSO) addresses this issue by permitting users to create one login credential and access multiple services hosted in different domains. In this scenario, a compromise of the single credential can result in account take over at many other sites. This points out to the requirement of strengthening the authentication mechanism by using more than one factor. This paper proposes a SSO based remote user authentication scheme for a Cloud environment. The proposed protocol uses password and mobile token and does not require the server to maintain a verifier table. The protocol is verified using automated security Protocol verification tool, Scyther and the results prove that the protocol provides protection against man-in-the-middle attack, replay attack and secrecy of the user's credentials. 2015 ACM. -
A Signature-Based Mutual Authentication Protocol for Remote Health Monitoring
Remote health monitoring can offer a lot of advantage to all the players in healthcare industry and it can contribute to reduced healthcare expenses. Wireless medical sensor networks capable of accumulating and transferring vital parameters of patients play a crucial role in remote health monitoring. Security and privacy are major concerns preventing the patients from adopting this technology with an open mind. This paper presents a signature-based authentication protocol for remote health monitoring. The work also discusses an authentication protocol for the mutual authentication of users and medical server. The protocol does not require the server to maintain a password table. The proposed algorithms are resistant to various attacks such as replay attack, stolen verifier attack, and privileged insider attack. The work includes the informal and formal security analysis of the proposed protocols. Scyther tool is used for formal security analysis and the results show that the protocol is resistant to various common and automated attacks. 2019, Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. -
A Survey of Traditional and Cloud Specific Security Issues
The emerging technology popularly referred to as Cloud computing offers dynamically scalable computing resources on a pay per use basis over the Internet. Companies avail hardware and software resources as service from the cloud service provider as opposed to obtaining physical assets. Cloud computing has the potential for significant cost reduction and increased operating efficiency in computing. To achieve these benefits, however, there are still some challenges to be solved. Security is one of the prime concerns in adopting Cloud computing, since the user's data has to be released from the protection sphere of the data owner to the premises of cloud service provider. As more Cloud based applications keep evolving, the associated security threats are also growing. In this paper an attempt has been made to identify and categorize the security threats applicable to Cloud environment. Threats are classified into Cloud specific security issues and traditional security attacks on various service delivery models of Cloud. The work also briefly discusses the virtualization and authentication related issues in Cloud and tries to consolidate the various security threats in a classified manner. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013. -
Key management solutions for database as a service: A selective survey
In todays scenario, efficient data processing is a fundamental and vital issue for almost every scientific, academic, or business organization. To tackle this issue, organizations end up installing and managing database systems to satisfy different processing needs. In case of adopting a traditional solution, the organization needs to purchase the necessary hardware, deploy database products, establish network connectivity, and hire professional people who run the system. But this solution is getting impractical and expensive as the database systems and problems become larger and complicated (El-Khoury et al., 2009). Again, traditional solution entails different costs from the perspective of the investments involved. These concerns are handled efficiently to a great extent by the fast developing technology that goes by the name, cloud computing.. 2014 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. -
A secure bio-hash-based multiparty mutual authentication protocol for remote health monitoring applications
Remote health monitoring can benefit a large number of stake holders in healthcare industry, and it has the potential to make healthcare facilities available to a large number of masses at a reduced cost. Wireless Body Area networks (WBAN) comprising of sensors, capable of capturing and transferring physiological parameters of patients, provide an efficient and cost-effective solution for remote health monitoring. Data security is one among the major concerns preventing the widespread adoption of this technology by patients and healthcare sector. This chapter on remote health monitoring, presents a biometric-based authentication protocol. The work also proposes a multiparty mutual authentication protocol for authenticating the entities, such as users, sensors, personal devices, and medical gateway, participating in a WBAN. In the proposed protocol, a verifier table is not required to store the password of users. Formal security analysis and verification of the discussed protocols are performed using Scyther tool, and the results reveal that the protocols are resistant to privileged-administrator resilience attack, man-in-the-middle attack, replay attack, and impersonation attack. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. -
Financial Market Forecasting using Macro-Economic Variables and RNN
Stock market forecasting is widely recognized as one of the most important and difficult business challenges in time series forecasting. This is mainly due to its noise. The use of RNN algorithms for funding has attracted interest from traders and scientists. The best technique for learning long-term memory sequences is to use long and short networks. Based on the literature, it is acknowledged that LSTM neural networks outperform all other models. Macroeconomics is a discipline of economics that studies the behavior of the economy as a whole. Macroeconomic factors are economic, natural, geopolitical, or other variables that influence the economy of a country. This study studies and test several macroeconomic variables and their significance on stock market forecasting. In macroeconomics, we have series that are updated once a month or even once a quarter, with data that is rarely more than a few hundred characters long. The amount of data given can sometimes be insufficient for algorithms to uncover hidden patterns and generate meaningful results. Depending on the prediction needs, we proposed a feasible LSTM design and training algorithm. According to the findings of this study, the inclusion of macroeconomic variable has a significant impact on stock price prediction. 2022 IEEE. -
RNA-seq DE genes on Glioblastoma using non linear SVM and pathway analysis of NOG and ASCL5
Differentially Expressed genes related to Glioblastoma Multiforme as an output of RNASeq studies were further studied to conclude new research insights. Glioma is a type of intracranial tumor (within the skull), which can grow rapidly in its malignant stages. Gene expression in Grade II, III and IV Gliomas is analysed using non linear SVM models. The enriched GO terms were identified GOrilla. Pathways related to NOG and ASCL5 gene were studied using Reactome. 2020, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. -
Integrated skills for parenting the adolescents (ISPA): An intervention to strengthen parent- adolescent relationship /
Review of Neuropsiquiatrica, Vol.76, Issue 4, pp.413-422, ISSN No: 1609-7394. -
Preparation for parenthood programme: Experiences form Southern India /
Internatinoal Review of Psychiatry, Vol.26, Issue 4, pp.423-429, ISSN No: 0954-0261. -
Distributed DoS Detection in IoT Networks Using Intelligent Machine Learning Algorithms
The threat of a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack on web-based services and applications is grave. It only takes a few minutes for one of these attacks to cripple these services, making them unavailable to anyone. The problem has further persisted with the widespread adoption of insecure Internet of Things (IoT) devices across the Internet. In addition, many currently used rule-based detection systems are weak points for attackers. We conducted a comparative analysis of ML algorithms to detect and classify DDoS attacks in this paper. These classifiers compare Nave Bayes with J48 and Random Forest with ZeroR ML as well as other machine learning algorithms. It was found that using the PCA method, the optimal number of features could be found. ML has been implemented with the help of the WEKA tool. 2021 IEEE. -
Efficient Scene Text Recognition in Noisy Environments Using Fusion-Based Adaptation and Triple-Level Confidence Modeling
Scene Text Recognition (STR) involves deciphering textual content embedded within complex, natural scene images, often following detection stages or integrated into end-to-end pipelines. Addressing the challenge of STR in noisy target domains, characterized by inter-domain and intra-domain noise, cluttered backgrounds, and irregular text shapes, this study proposes a robust and understandable framework titled Fusion-Based Adaptation for Scene Text Recognition (FASTR). The framework integrates a primary classifier with an epistemically aware auxiliary classifier to model uncertainty, supported by a novel Adaptive Scale Feature Module (ASFM) that enhances localisation through pixel-level mask prediction and multi-scale fusion. A Triple-Level Confidence (TLC) strategycategorized into high, medium, and low consistency thresholdsis introduced to enforce consistency loss and improve generalisation across domains. Additionally, a pseudo-labelling scheme refines the adaptation process through self-training under structured domain noise. FASTR is trained and evaluated on both synthetic (SynthText, MJSynth) and real-world (ICDAR 2013, SVT, and IIIT5K) datasets. It achieves a word recognition accuracy of 92.4% on IIIT5K, 89.7% on SVT, and 93.1% on ICDAR 2013, outperforming state-of-the-art baselines by an average margin of 2.8%. On cross-domain benchmarks with added noise, FASTR maintains high performance, achieving an average F1-score of 90.5%, with precision and recall values of 91.2% and 89.9%, respectively. Hyperparameters, training configurations, and evaluation metrics are transparently documented to ensure reproducibility. The findings demonstrate superior scale robustness, effective domain adaptation, and resilience to cluttered backgrounds, with explainability preserved through interpretable confidence maps and visual cues. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2025. -
