Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Generic Dynamic Responding Mechanism and Secure Authentication Protocol for Strong PUFs

As a lightweight hardware security primitive, physical unclonable functions (PUFs) can provide reliable identity authentication for devices of Internet of Things (IoTs) with limited resources. However, the delay-based PUF structures in authentication protocols have static responding behaviors, which make them vulnerable to modeling attacks. To address this issue, many complex PUF designs have been designed to increase the nonlinearity of their models. However, most of them can still be broken by modeling-based machine learning (ML) attacks. In this article, a dynamic responding mechanism for PUF designs to generate dynamic responses is proposed. Different from the concept of logically reconfigurable PUFs, the proposed mechanism does not rely on external inputs to provide reconfiguration signals. And different from the conventional PUF authentication protocols that use large-size linear feedback shift register (LFSR) to extend the master challenge, the proposed scheme uses internally generated dynamic signals to obfuscate the master challenge to generate multiple subchallenges. These subchallenges are then input to the underlying strong PUF to generate multibit dynamic responses. It can prevent an attacker from obtaining valid challenge-response pairs (CRPs) for the underlying PUF. A security authentication protocol is also proposed, the special authentication bit-string design can resist both conventional ML attacks and the latest covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategies (CMA-ES) variant.
Misleading Meta-Analyses during COVID-19 Pandemic: Examples of Methodological Biases in Evidence Synthesis

Not all evidence is equal. Evidence-based public health and medicine emanate from the principle that there is a hierarchy of evidence, with systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SRMAs) being at the top, as the highest level of evidence. Despite this, it is common in literature to find SRMAs with methodological issues that can distort the results and can thus have serious public health or clinical implications. During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the importance of evidence and the way in which evidence was produced was stress tested and revealed a wide array of methodological biases that might have led to misleading conclusions and recommendations. We provide a critical examination of methodological biases in selected SRMAs on COVID-19, which have been widely used to guide or justify some pharmaceutical and nonpharmaceutical interventions with high public health and clinical significance, such as mask wearing, asymptomatic transmission, and ivermectin. Through these selected examples, we highlight the need to address biases related to the methodological quality and relevance of study designs and effect size computations and considerations for critical appraisal of available data in the evidence synthesis process for better quality evidence. Such considerations help researchers and decision makers avoid misleading conclusions, while encouraging the provision of the best policy recommendations for individual and public health.
Safe Routes to Monmouth Elementary School

The present study is an assessment of the built environment--defined by C.H. Williams (2007) as physical or manmade features such as sidewalks, street lights, traffic, and parks that impact physical activity--of the Monmouth Elementary School walk zone and a discussion of its influence on physical activity levels. This study aims to address the following questions: (1) how walkable is the walk zone of Monmouth Elementary School and (2) what areas are most and least suited for walking? Sidewalks, crosswalks, and street lights were assessed using reliable portions of a validated walkability survey through Safe Routes to School (Appendix 1). In the entire walk zone of Monmouth Elementary School, 56.2 percent of sidewalk is continuous, 30.2 percent is discontinuous, and 13.6 percent is absent. Furthermore, there are 75 total crosswalks. Regarding lighting quality, above average lighting accounts for 16 percent of the streets, average lighting accounts for 81.9 percent, and below average accounts for 2.1 percent. The areas with the highest percentages of continuous sidewalk as well as the best lighting are the Western Oregon University campus and the business district on Main Street. The least walkable area is immediately around Monmouth Elementary School.
Direct reading thinking activity and students’ reading comprehension: An experimental research

The aim of this research is to find out the role of DRTA and Reading Attitude in improving students’ reading comprehension. Quasi-experimental design was used to establish the effect of method and attitude on students’ reading comprehension. Four classes of management were selected ,and assigned as experimental and control group, The experimental group were taught using DRTA and control classes were taught using regular method. ANOVA was used to examine the influence of the main effects and interaction effects of method and attitude on students’ reading comprehension. The result indicated that there was a significant difference effect between DRTA and Regular Method on students’ reading comprehension. DRTA was more effective in improving reading comprehension. There was, however, no significant difference in students' reading comprehension based on their attitude. This study also found a significant difference effect on students' reading comprehension based on the interaction between method and attitude. DRTA method was to be effective in students with low attitude, while the high attitude was more prone to conventional method.
Cerebral small vessel disease mediates the association between homocysteine and cognitive function

Objective To investigate the relations of serum total homocysteine (tHcy) with cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and cognitive function and evaluate whether CSVD mediates the effect of serum tHcy on cognitive function. Methods A total of 1,033 consecutive eligible participants who received serum tHcy, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and neuropsychological assessment were included in this retrospective study. White matter hyperintensity, lacune, cerebral microbleed, and enlarged perivascular space were evaluated based on brain MRI. We used multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, multivariate ordinal logistic regression analysis, and mediation analyses to assess the relations of serum tHcy with CSVD and cognitive function. Results Serum tHcy levels were higher in patients with cognitive impairment than those with no cognitive impairment. Logistic regression analyses showed elevated serum tHcy was associated with cognitive impairment [odds ratio (OR): 10.475; 95% confidence interval (CI): 4.522 to 24.264; p < 0.001] and a higher CSVD burden score (OR: 17.151; 95% CI: 8.785 to 33.921; p < 0.001) after adjusting potential confounders. Compared with the lowest tHcy quartile, the multivariable-adjusted OR of the highest quartile was 4.851 (95% CI: 3.152 to 7.466; p for the trend < 0.001) for cognitive impairment, 3.862 (95% CI: 2.467 to 6.047; p for the trend < 0.001) for a severe CSVD burden score. Mediation analyses showed significant moderating effects (9.3–23.6%) by different imaging markers of CSVD on the association between higher serum tHcy levels and cognitive impairment. Conclusion Elevated serum tHcy is associated with cognitive impairment and the development of CSVD. A proportion of the association between elevated serum tHcy and cognitive impairment may be attributed to the presence of different imaging markers of CSVD, especially the severe CSVD burden score.
Distributed Operation Management of Battery Swapping-Charging Systems

Battery swapping-charging system (BSCS) is a promising solution to provide better battery swapping service to electric vehicles. To achieve the optimal operation of BSCSs, a closed-loop supply chain-based BSCS model is proposed to realize the combined operation of battery charging stations and battery swapping stations (BSSs) while the quality of battery swapping service at BSSs is ensured with a network calculus-based service model. The battery logistics within the BSCS is modeled based on a time-space network (TSN) technique. The charging and the logistics of depleted batteries and well-charged batteries are optimally managed to maximize the revenue of the BSCS. The optimization problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming model with various TSN and operation constraints. Random-permuted alternating direction method of multipliers is applied as a heuristic to solve the problem in a distributed way. Simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed model and the heuristic solution with small optimality losses and less computation time.
WHEY AS A SOURCE OF PEPTIDES WITH HIGH ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY : USE OF PANCREATIN AND ASPERGILLUS SOJAE PROTEASE

The use of enzymes in the hydrolytic process can release bioactive peptides from food proteins. A pancreatin and an Aspergillus sojae proteases were used in this study to obtain whey peptides with high antioxidant activity (AnAc), at enzyme:substrate (E:S) ratios of 0.5:100, 1:100, 2:100, 3:100, 4:100 and 8:100. The DPPH (2-difenyl-1-picrylhydrazil), deoxyribose and pyrogaloll methods were used to evaluate the AnAc. The highest AnAc values were reached at an E:S ratio of 8:100 by using pancreatin (60.67%) and A. sojae protease (59.70%). The possibility of using a low E:S ratio for reducing the costs for scaling-up the process was observed for the Aspergillus sojae protease with the deoxyribose and pyrogallol methods since the highest AnAc values were obtained with an E:S ratio of 2:100 (P3: 58.77% and 47.18%, respectively).
A Mobile App to Learn About Cultural and Historical Associations in a Closed Loop with Humanities Experts

The Horizon 2020 project CrossCult aims to highlight historical and cultural associations between different characters, locations, events, venues, or artworks, to develop new strategies with which to promote intercultural and cross-border aspects of history and heritage. This paper presents a pilot app that provides graph-based visualizations of those associations, arranged by Humanities experts in relation to several reflective topics, and glued together by narratives that may present the same facts from diverse points of view. After querying a knowledge base that brings together several Linked Data resources, the associations are curated by the experts using a dedicated tool, to ensure that only meaningful associations appear on the mobile app. In turn, the app users can contribute new associations in the form of written text, which the experts can turn into new concepts and properties in the knowledge base. Here, we present the design of the mobile app and the experts’ tool, together with the results of early experiments aimed at assessing the instructional value of the proposal.
Intelligent Wind Turbine Generator With Tandem Rotors Applicable to Offshore Wind Farm

The authors have proposed the superior wind turbine generator, which is composed of the tandem wind rotors and the double rotational armature type generator without the conventional stator. It was verified experimentally at the previous two ISOPE conferences that the output of this new type is higher than the conventional wind turbine and is kept constant in the rated operating mode without using the brake and/or the pitch control mechanisms. Continuously, in this paper, the double rotational armature type doubly fed induction generator was prepared and its characteristics were clarified. Besides, the effects of the front blade profile and the wind rotor arrangements on the turbine performances were discussed experimentally in accompany with the flow conditions.
Signal integrity analysis on a microstrip ultra-wideband coupled-line coupler

ABSTRACT In this paper, a compact, single-section, Ultra-wideband (UWB) coupled-line coupler designed using concentric loop in the signal plane and defect in the ground plane is presented. Bandwidth enhancement is achieved with low coupling at the X-band satellite downlink range to improve the signal strength for defence applications. Return loss greater than 15 dB and isolation greater than 20 dB is achieved over the entire UWB band. The prototype is fabricated and tested to validate the simulation results. Further to detect the quality of the output signal, signal integrity analysis is performed and metrics such as error vector magnitude (EVM), magnitude and phase error, eye pattern, constellation plots and signal to noise ratio are presented for the proposed UWB coupled-line coupler.
Human and Bacterial Toll-Interleukin Receptor Domains Exhibit Distinct Dynamic Features and Functions

Toll-interleukin receptor (TIR) domains have emerged as critical players involved in innate immune signaling in humans but are also expressed as potential virulence factors within multiple pathogenic bacteria. However, there has been a shortage of structural studies aimed at elucidating atomic resolution details with respect to their interactions, potentially owing to their dynamic nature. Here, we used a combination of biophysical and biochemical studies to reveal the dynamic behavior and functional interactions of a panel of both bacterial TIR-containing proteins and mammalian receptor TIR domains. Regarding dynamics, all three bacterial TIR domains studied here exhibited an inherent exchange that led to severe resonance line-broadening, revealing their intrinsic dynamic nature on the intermediate NMR timescale. In contrast, the three mammalian TIR domains studied here exhibited a range in terms of their dynamic exchange that spans multiple timescales. Functionally, only the bacterial TIR domains were catalytic towards the cleavage of NAD+, despite the conservation of the catalytic nucleophile on human TIR domains. Our development of NMR-based catalytic assays allowed us to further identify differences in product formation for gram-positive versus gram-negative bacterial TIR domains. Differences in oligomeric interactions were also revealed, whereby bacterial TIR domains self-associated solely through their attached coil-coil domains, in contrast to the mammalian TIR domains that formed homodimers and heterodimers through reactive cysteines. Finally, we provide the first atomic-resolution studies of a bacterial coil-coil domain and provide the first atomic model of the TIR domain from a human anti-inflammatory IL-1R8 protein that undergoes a slow inherent exchange.
Do Acute Bouts of Resistance Training Influence the Psychometric Status and Affective State of Prepubertal Weightlifters?

Resistance training (RT) can represent a challenging and stressful endeavour for those who participate in it. We aimed to investigate the acute effect of four types of RT exercise [i.e., Concentric (CONC), Isometric (ISOM), Dynamic (DYN) and Eccentric (ECC)] on psychological parameters (feeling scale: FS) and perceived internal load (RPE) in young elite weightlifters. The RT protocols were differentiated according to the contractile characteristics of the involved muscles and comprised: (i) CONC: 3 sets of 3 hurdle jumps; (ii) ECC: 3 sets of drop jumps; (iii) ISOM: 3 sets of 3-second maximal isometric back squat; (iv) DYN: 3 sets of 3 repetitions of 10 RM maximal back squats. Thereafter, participants were reported scores for RPE and FS. The execution of different types of RT exercises did not induce changes in FS. On the contrary, differences in RPE were observed with the CONC protocol being the least acutely strenuous, followed by the ECC and DYN methods. Of all four types used in this study, ISOM seemed to induce the highest RPE score , though these remained relatively low across the 10-point scale. Coaches can manipulate training activities based on the condition of the athlete and the potential physical strain that is associated with each exercise type. Key words: Plyometrics, strenghtening, psychometric status, affective prevalence
Optical characterization of the Tulancingo-I radio telescope and site: the potential for K-band operation

Vintage 30-m class telecommunications antennas built in the 1960s and 1970s have been converted into radio telescopes in recent years, with especially notable conversions in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Ghana, and most recently in Mexico. These antennas were designed and built for operation at C-Band, but in some cases the surface conditions are sufficiently good that observations at Ku-Band and possibly at K-Band may prove feasible. As described in [1] an antenna conversion project is underway for the Tulancingo-I telecommunications antenna, located in Tulancingo de Bravo in the Mexican state of Hidalgo. Although the antenna was in active use for several decades, it has been replaced by other communications technologies and has not been used since early in the new millennium. The antenna uses near-field, shaped Cassegrain optics, consisting of a shaped parabolic primary reflector and a shaped hyperbolic sub-reflector. The primary reflector is 32 meters in diameter with a nominal focal length of 9.6 meters. A tertiary reflector redirects the beam along the elevation axis, following the Nasmyth configuration. This paper describes our work to determine the feasibility of using the antenna reflector optics in the 18 – 24 GHz range of the K-Band. Both photogrammetry and laser tracker measurements were used to determine the geometrical relationship between the primary, sub-reflector, and tertiary surfaces. We use these results, reported in [4], along with computer simulations, to explore the potential of the Tulancingo-I antenna for KBand observing.
Adaptive Backstepping Control with Online Parameter Estimator for a Plug-and-Play Parallel Converter System in a Power Switcher

This study aims to address the inherent uncertainty in plug loads and load extraction, distributed generation, and the inevitable circulating current in a parallel structure. Therefore, in this paper, an adaptive backstepping control scheme with an online parameter estimator (OPE) for a plug-and-play parallel converter system in a four-port power switcher is proposed. The adaptive backstepping control method was designed in the dq0 coordinate system to suppress the circulating current in the zero-component; the circulating current can be suppressed by using an embedded algorithm and omitting the extra controller. An adaptive update law was designed to weaken the influence of the arbitrary plug and extraction operations in the DC and AC buses to realize the plug-and-play function. The transient tracking performance is governed by the limitation of maximum total errors in the voltage and current. As a result, the settling times of the voltage, current, and power decreased. Additionally, to further improve the system robustness, an online inductance and resistance estimator was established using an optimal algorithm that solves the weighted least squares problem. In the estimator, there are no additional voltage and current sensors needed, and the mean squared error (MSE) of the estimation can be minimized. Simulation studies on a two-converter parallel system with a plug-and-play function were conducted using MATLAB/SIMULINK (R2018b, MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA) to verify the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive backstepping control strategy. The results show that this strategy improves system performance over that of a system with unbalanced parameters among a parallel structure with AC and DC system disturbances caused by arbitrary plug and extraction operations.
Research on 6-DOF robot inverse kinematics based on blended optimization algorithm of ELM- SSA-SCA

To enhance the resolution timeliness and accuracy of inverse kinematics of industrial robots, a robot inverse kinematics method based on ELM-SSA-SCA was proposed. The positive kinematic model of the mechanical arm with Six Degrees of Freedom was established using D-H method, and ELM (extreme learning machine) with fast training speed was used to predict the initial resolution of robot inverse kinematics. The blended optimization method of SSA (Sparrow Search Algorithm) and SCA (Sine Cosine Algorithm) was applied to optimize the obtained initial inverse solution. The position under the optimum fitness was used as the output, so as to obtain the optimum solution of inverse kinematics. It is shown from the experimental results that the algorithm based on SSA-SCA-ELM achieved inverse solutions with faster convergence rate, higher precision and better timeliness compared to the solution method based on PSA-BP neural network.
Weight Loss Management and Lifestyle Changes during COVID-19 Lockdown: A Matched Italian Cohort Study

During the COVID-19 lockdown, lifestyle deterioration had a negative impact on weight, and yet no study has focused on patients already undergoing dietary therapy. We performed a cohort study among adults to evaluate the effect of lockdown on weight loss programs, and we investigated changes in eating habits and chronotype. We matched confined cases with non-confined cases among individuals who followed the same diet in 2017–2019. At baseline, all patients underwent a clinical examination and completed questionnaires on lifestyle. At follow-up, patients of the confined group were interviewed by a web call, and questionnaires were re-evaluated. We recruited 61 patients. The confined sample was mainly composed of middle-aged (52 (43,58) years) females (46 (75%)) with overweight (27 (44%)) or obesity (24 (39%)) and a moderate physical activity level (48 (81%)). Body weight at follow-up was significantly higher (1.1 (95% CI: 0.14, 2.1) kg) in the confined group adjusting for all matching variables. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and eating behavior generally improved. Concerning chronotype, patients differentiated from Neither-types to Evening- and Morning-types. A well-monitored dietary therapy maintains weight loss during lockdown. Improvement in eating habits was observed; however, a shift of the circadian typology occurred.
Dynamics of the Gut Microbiome and Transcriptome in Korea Native Ricefish (Oryzias latipes) during Chronic Antibiotic Exposure

Antibiotics have been widely used to inhibit microbial growth and to control bacterial infection; however, they can trigger an imbalance in the gut flora of the host and dysregulate the host gene regulatory system when discharged into the aquatic environment. We investigated the effects of chronic exposure to a low concentration of erythromycin and ampicillin, focusing on gut microbiome and global gene expression profiles from Korea native ricefish (Oryzias latipes). The proportion of Proteobacteria (especially the opportunistic pathogen Aeromonas veronii) was significantly increased in the ricefish under the chronic exposure to erythromycin and ampicillin, whereas that of other bacterial phyla (i.e., Fusobacteria) decreased. In addition, the expression of genes involved in immune responses such as chemokines and immunocyte chemotaxis was significantly influenced in ricefish in the aquatic environment with antibiotics present. These results show that the internal microbial flora and the host gene expression are susceptible even at a low concentration of chronic antibiotics in the environment, supporting the importance of the appropriate use of antibiotic dose to maintain the sustainable and healthy aquaculture industry and water ecosystem.
Two-scale thermal science for modern life: Making the impossible possible

Everything should be made as simple as possible? , as said by Albert Einstein, and thermal science is the best candidate to make a complex problem simple. This article introduces that the virus prevention is simple, only a cup of hot water is enough. Beyond its towering contribution to everyday life, thermal science is also an avid helper in each research frontier of science and technology, nothing is impossible. The new emerging two-scale thermal science is also elucidated.