bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Long sedentary time is associated with worsened cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Eastern Ethiopia
Authors: Motuma Aboma , Gobena Tesfaye , Roba Kedir Teji , Berhane Yemane , Worku Alemayehu
Published: December 2022

Sedentary time is associated with increased risks of detrimental health outcomes. Prolonged sedentary time associates with cardiometabolic risk factors and increased mortality regardless of physical activity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the associations of sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Eastern Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1200 participants. Data were collected using the World Health Organization STEPS survey instrument, and sedentary behavior questionnaire in hour per day. Sedentary time is the time spent for any duration (minutes per day or hours per day) by considering a local context. Study participants were asked how many minutes or hours they spent in sedentary time at work, their leisure time and in transportation. Finally, the total sedentary time was calculated by the sum of the individual spent in sedentary time at work, leisure, and transportation. Cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed with blood samples analysis and anthropometric measurements. The associations between sedentary time and cardiometabolic risk factors were examined using linear regression models. An adjusted coefficient (β) with the 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to report the results. p value < 0.05 was considered for statistical significance. The mean age of the study participants were (35 ± 9.4 years). Almost half of the study participants, 566 (48.6) were women and 598 (51.4%) were men. As the total sedentary time was increased by one unit, the body mass index increased by β = 0.61; (95% CI 0.49–0.71),waist circumference increased by β = 1.48; (95% CI 1.14–1.82), diastolic blood pressure increased by β = 0.87; (95% CI 0.56–1.18), systolic blood pressure increased by β = 0.95; (95% CI 0.45–1.48), triglycerides increased by β = 7.07; (95% CI 4.01–10.14), total cholesterol increased by β = 3.52; (95% CI 2.02–5.02), fasting plasma glucose increased by β = 4.15; (95% CI 5.31–4.98) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol increased by β = 2.14; (95% CI 0.96–3.33) with the effects of other variables maintain constant. These findings depict the need for strategies that policymakers should promote physical activity and encouraging the breaking up of prolonged sedentary time to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors among university employees in Ethiopia.
Factorial design-assisted reverse phase HPLC–UV approach for the concurrent estimation of cetirizine and azelastine in aqueous humor
Authors: Abd-AlGhafar Walaa Nabil , Aly Fatma Ahmed , Sheribah Zeinab Awad , Saad Samar
Published: December 2022

A new analytical quality by design-assisted HPLC–UV approach is presented, for the first time, for the concurrent determination of cetirizine (CTZ) and azelastine (AZE) in raw materials, commercial eye drops and aqueous humor. The two drugs are co-administered as eye drops in severe ocular allergies. A 23 full factorial design was adopted for the chromatographic optimization to ensure the best analytical performance and reliability, as well as to save time, effort and solvent consumption. The parameters, including pH, acetonitrile ratio, and flow rate, were selected as independent factors. The responses analyzed were resolution and tailing of peaks. The separation was achieved through isocratic elution on C8 column with mobile phase made up of acetonitrile: 0.3% triethylamine of pH 5 (60:40 v/v) at a flow rate of 1.2 mL min−1 and detection at 216 nm. The elution time was less than 6 min. The approach was fully validated in accordance with International Council for Harmonization (ICH) guidelines. Good linearity was achieved over the concentration ranges of 1.0–30 and 0.5–10 µg mL−1 with limits of detection of 0.310 and 0.158 µg mL−1 and limits of quantification of 0.940 and 0.479 µg mL−1 for CTZ and AZE, respectively, with correlation coefficients of 0.9998. The intra- and inter-day precisions were lower than 2%. The good sensitivity of the approach permits the analysis of CTZ and AZE in spiked aqueous humor with mean percentage recoveries of 100.93 ± 1.42 and 100.11 ± 1.55, respectively. The statistical comparison between results of the developed method and the comparison method revealed no differences, indicating the accuracy of the method.
Analysis of dead-core formation in catalytic reaction and diffusion processes with generalized diffusion flux
Authors: Skrzypacz Piotr , Kabduali Bek , Kadyrbek Alua , Szafert Sławomir , Andreev Vsevolod , Golman Boris
Published: December 2022

Dead-core and non-dead-core solutions to the nonlinear diffusion–reaction equation based on the generalized diffusion flux with gradient-dependent diffusivity and the power-law reaction kinetics in catalyst slabs are established. The formation of dead zones where the reactant concentration vanishes is characterized by the critical Thiele modulus that is derived as a function of reaction order and diffusion exponent in the generalized diffusion flux. The effects of reaction order and diffusion exponent on the reactant concentration distribution in the slab and dead-zone length are analyzed. It is particularly demonstrated that by contrast to the model based on the standard Fick’s diffusion, dead-core solutions exist in the case of first-order reactions. Also, the relationship between critical Thiele moduli for models based on the generalized and standard Fick’s diffusion fluxes is established.
Reconstructing spatial pattern of historical cropland in karst areas of Guizhou, Southwest China
Authors: Yang Liuying , Zhao Cuiwei , Jiao Shulin , Li Shuang , Wang Lei , Li Yinjiu
Published: December 2022

Karst regions are exceptionally responsive to global change with their harsh natural environment, fragile ecology, and acute human-land conflicts. The reconstruction of cropland spatial pattern in karst areas during the historical period is typical for studying human-land relations in karst areas and has important practical significance for climate study. The ecological environment changes at regional and global scales, primarily to provide essential data and a theoretical basis for studying the inverse evolution of rock desertification in karst areas. Guizhou province, a typical karst area, was selected as the research area in 1820. Based on the correction of historical population data and cropland data, a reconstruction model of cropland spatial pattern in karst areas during the historical period was constructed by selecting factors such as elevation, slope, soil types, organic matter content, climatic productivity potential, distance to river and distance from settlements to reconstruct the spatial pattern distribution of cropland in 1820 of Guizhou. The results show that the data on cropland recorded in Guizhou during the Qing dynasty is too low, mainly due to Yin-Ni and the policy of Tu-Di-Mian-Ke. In 1820, the total area of revised cropland in Guizhou was 1,851,792 hm2, with the highest proportion of 14.32% in Dading Fu and the lowest in Songtao Ting at 1.6%. Only 30% of the grid in Guizhou has a cropland distribution. It is mainly concentrated in the central part of Qianzhong District (Anshun and Guiyang Fu), the southern part of Qianbei District (Pingyue Fu and southern Zunyi Fu), the western part of Qiandongnan District, the central and eastern parts of the Qiandongbei District. The overall average reclamation rate of land in Guizhou is 10.93%, the highest reclamation intensity in Qianzhong District, with 8.5% of grids ≥ 50%, and the smallest in Qianxinan District, with only 1.65% of grids ≥ 50%. The analysis is validated by comparing the reconstruction model and the reconstruction results. It can be seen that the reconstruction model and research results of this paper can more objectively reflect the distribution of cropland in karst areas during the historical period, and the reconstruction model is suitable for karst areas with low productivity levels.
Genomic epidemiology of SARS- CoV-2 Omicron variants in the Republic of Korea
Authors: Lee Dong-Wook , Kim Jeong-Min , Park Ae Kyung , Kim Da-Won , Kim Ji-Yun , Lim Noori , Lee Hyeokjin , Kim Il-Hwan , Kim Jeong-Ah , Lee Chae young , Kwon Jung-Hoon , Kim Eun-Jin
Published: December 2022

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused a global pandemic since 2019. Variants of concern (VOCs) declared by the World Health Organization require continuous monitoring because of their possible changes in transmissibility, virulence, and antigenicity. The Omicron variant, a VOC, has become the dominant variant worldwide since November 2021. In the Republic of Korea (South Korea), the number of confirmed cases increased rapidly after the detection of Omicron VOC on November 24, 2021. In this study, we estimated the underlying epidemiological processes of Omicron VOC in South Korea using time-scaled phylodynamic analysis. Three distinct phylogenetic subgroups (Kor-O1, Kor-O2, and Kor-O3) were detected in South Korea. The Kor-O1 subgroup circulated in the Daegu region, whereas Kor-O2 and Kor-O3 circulated in Incheon and Jeollanam-do, respectively. The viral population size and case number of the Kor-O1 subgroup increased more rapidly than those of the other subgroups, indicating the rapid spread of the virus. The results indicated the multiple introductions of Omicron sub-lineages into South Korea and their subsequent co-circulation. The evolution and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 should be continuously monitored, and control strategies need to be improved to control the multiple variants.
Multiscale responses and recovery of soils to wildfire in a sagebrush steppe ecosystem
Authors: Lohse Kathleen A. , Pierson Derek , Patton Nicholas R. , Sanderman Jonathan , Huber David P. , Finney Bruce , Facer Jeremy , Meyers Jared , Seyfried Mark S.
Published: December 2022

Ecological theory predicts a pulse disturbance results in loss of soil organic carbon and short-term respiration losses that exceed recovery of productivity in many ecosystems. However, fundamental uncertainties remain in our understanding of ecosystem recovery where spatiotemporal variation in structure and function are not adequately represented in conceptual models. Here we show that wildfire in sagebrush shrublands results in multiscale responses that vary with ecosystem properties, landscape position, and their interactions. Consistent with ecological theory, soil pH increased and soil organic carbon (SOC) decreased following fire. In contrast, SOC responses were slope aspect and shrub-microsite dependent, with a larger proportional decrease under previous shrubs on north-facing aspects compared to south-facing ones. In addition, respiratory losses from burned aspects were not significantly different than losses from unburned aspects. We also documented the novel formation of soil inorganic carbon (SIC) with wildfire that differed significantly with aspect and microsite scale. Whereas pH and SIC recovered within 37 months post-fire, SOC stocks remained reduced, especially on north-facing aspects. Spatially, SIC formation was paired with reduced respiration losses, presumably lower partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2), and increased calcium availability, consistent with geochemical models of carbonate formation. Our findings highlight the formation of SIC after fire as a novel short-term sink of carbon in non-forested shrubland ecosystems. Resiliency in sagebrush shrublands may be more complex and integrated across ecosystem to landscape scales than predicted based on current theory.
Global deposition of potentially toxic metals via faecal material in seabird colonies
Authors: De La Peña-Lastra Saúl , Pérez-Alberti Augusto , Ferreira Tiago O. , Huerta-Díaz Miguel Ángel , Otero Xosé L.
Published: December 2022

Seabirds are known to play an important role in the geochemical cycling of macronutrients; however, their role in cycling elements of environmental interest has not been investigated. Guano is an important source of marine-derived nutrients and trace metals in seabird nesting areas, but most of the available information on this topic is derived from local studies. In the present study, we used a bioenergetic model to estimate the amounts of cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb) that are deposited via faecal material in seabird colonies worldwide. The findings showed that the seabirds excreted 39.3 Mg (Mg = metric ton or 1000 kg) of Cd, 35.7 Mg of Hg and 27.2 Mg of Pb annually. These amounts are of the same order of magnitude as those reported for other fluxes considered in the geochemical cycling of these elements (e.g. sea-salt spray, cement production, soil loss to oceans). Most of the deposition occurs in circumpolar zones in both hemispheres and, interestingly, high proportions of the metals in the excrements occur in geochemically labile forms, which can be easily leached into coastal waters and assimilated by marine organisms.
Sexual dysfunction is more common among men who have high sperm DNA fragmentation or teratozoopermia
Authors: Yu Xiaowei , Zhang XiaoYuan , Wang Qun
Published: December 2022

Men in couples that have experienced pregnancy loss have a higher risk of sexual dysfunction. Semen quality impairment is common in men of couples with pregnancy loss. The objective of this article is to evaluate the differences in the incidence of male sexual dysfunction in a cohort of pregnancy loss couples with different types of semen quality impairment. A cross-sectional analysis of 426 men who attended our outpatient clinic for couples’ pregnancy loss, those without genetic abnormalities were included in the final analysis covering June 2021 to October 2021. The patients were divided into 5 groups according to type of semen quality impairment: normozoospermia group (group normal; N = 161), high sperm DNA fragmentation group (group high-SDF; N = 87), isolated asthenozoospermia group (group iAstheno; N = 45), isolated teratozoopermia group (group iTerato; N = 44), and ≥ 2 abnormal sperm parameters group (group multiple; N = 89). All subjects underwent a complete physical inspection, including palpation of the male genitalia and semen analysis. Validated assessment tools for erectile dysfunction (the International Index of Erectile Function -IIEF-5) and anxiety (the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale- GAD-7) were also used. Men with high sperm DNA fragmentation and isolated teratozoopermia were associated with increased erectile dysfunction risk when compared with normozoospermic men, with an OR of 2.75 [1.49–5.09; p = 0.001] and 2.44 [1.22–5.31; p = 0.024], respectively. It is interesting to note that there was no difference in prevalence of erectile dysfunction between Group iAstheno and Group normal (20.0% vs. 18.0%; OR = 1.24 [0.52–2.97]; P = 0.625). More than half (50.6%) of the participants in Group high-SDF reported sexual intercourse less than once per week, much more than those in the normozoospermia group (23.2%, p < 0.05), followed by Group iTerato (44.4%) and Group multiple (46.1%). GAD-7 scores increased slightly but significantly among groups when compared with Group normal. Not surprisingly, GAD-7 scores remained higher in Group high-SDF. In males of pregnancy loss couples, men with high sperm DNA fragmentation and teratozoopermia suffer from a higher incidence of erectile dysfunction. This phenomenon is not significant in men with isolated asthenozoospermia. Proper counseling and treatment of impaired semen quality are warranted.
Prostate cancer malignancy detection and localization from mpMRI using auto-deep learning as one step closer to clinical utilization
Authors: Zong Weiwei , Carver Eric , Zhu Simeng , Schaff Eric , Chapman Daniel , Lee Joon , Bagher-Ebadian Hassan , Movsas Benjamin , Wen Winston , Alafif Tarik , Zong Xiangyun
Published: December 2022

Automatic diagnosis of malignant prostate cancer patients from mpMRI has been studied heavily in the past years. Model interpretation and domain drift have been the main road blocks for clinical utilization. As an extension from our previous work we trained on a public cohort with 201 patients and the cropped 2.5D slices of the prostate glands were used as the input, and the optimal model were searched in the model space using autoKeras. As an innovative move, peripheral zone (PZ) and central gland (CG) were trained and tested separately, the PZ detector and CG detector were demonstrated effective in highlighting the most suspicious slices out of a sequence, hopefully to greatly ease the workload for the physicians.
Risk of dementia according to the smoking habit change after ischemic stroke: a nationwide population-based cohort study
Authors: Cheon Dae Young , Han Kyung do , Oh Mi Sun , Yu Kyung-Ho , Lee Byung-Chul , Kim Chi-Hun , Kim Yerim , Lee Sang-Hwa , Kim Chulho , Lim Jae-Sung , Lee Minwoo
Published: December 2022

There is a paucity of research regarding the association between the risk of incident dementia and changes in smoking habits in the acute ischemic stroke population. We aimed to investigate the effects of smoking habit change on the risk of incident dementia in an ischemic stroke population using data from the Korean National Health Insurance Services Database. This nationwide population-based cohort study included 197,853 patients with ischemic stroke. The patients were divided into never smokers, former smokers, smoking quitters, sustained smokers, and new smokers, based on the 2-year change in smoking status between the two consecutive health examinations before and after the index stroke. The patients were followed up from the index date to 2018 to assess the development of dementia. Dementia was further categorized into Alzheimer’s, vascular, and other types of dementia according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision diagnosis. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the association between changes in smoking habits and the risk of dementia. After a median of 4.04 years of follow-up, 19,595 (9.9%) dementia cases were observed. Among them, 15,189 (7.7%) were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease dementia and 2719 (1.4%) were diagnosed with vascular dementia. After adjusting for covariates, including age, sex, alcohol intake habits, cigarette pack-year, regular physical activity, income, history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, and chronic kidney disease, new smokers, sustained smokers, and smoking quitters were significantly associated with a higher risk of all-cause dementia than never smokers (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.395, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.254–1.552; aHR 1.324, 95% CI 1.236–1.418; and aHR 1.170, 95% CI 1.074–1.275, respectively). Similar trends were observed for both Alzheimer’s dementia and vascular dementia, but the association between new smokers and vascular dementia was not significant. The impact of smoking habit change was more prominent in the 40–65-year-old group. New and sustained smokers had a substantially higher risk of incident dementia after ischemic stroke than never smokers. Smoking quitters also had an elevated risk of incident dementia, but the detrimental effects were lower than those in new and sustained smokers.
Universal scaling of extinction time in stochastic evolutionary dynamics
Authors: Huang Ching-I , Chen Chun-Chung , Lin Hsiu-Hau
Published: December 2022

Evolutionary dynamics is well captured by the replicator equations when the population is infinite and well-mixed. However, the extinction dynamics is modified with finite and structured populations. Experiments on the non-transitive ecosystem containing three populations of bacteria found that the ecological stability sensitively depends on the spatial structure of the populations. Based on the Reference–Gamble–Birth algorithm, we use agent-based Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the extinction dynamics in the rock-paper-scissors ecosystem with finite and structured populations. On the fully-connected network, the extinction time in stable and unstable regimes falls into two universal functions when plotted with the rescaled variables. On the two dimensional grid, the spatial structure changes the transition boundary between stable and unstable regimes but doesn’t change its extinction trend. The finding of universal scaling in extinction dynamics is unexpected, and may provide a powerful method to classify different evolutionary dynamics into universal classes.
Theoretical investigation of mechanism on nickel-catalyzed electrochemical cross-coupling of aryl bromides and arylamines
Authors: Wang Xin , Ma Yueyue , Ye Jinxing , Liu Zhen , Cheng Ruihua
Published: December 2022

The electrochemical cross-coupling of aryl bromides and arylamines catalyzed by nickel/bipyridine complexes was explored using density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The steric and electronic effects on the catalyst were further analyzed.
Emerging investigator series: microplastic-based leachate formation under UV irradiation: the extent, characteristics, and mechanisms
Authors: Collins Ashton , Ateia Mohamed , Bhagat Kartik , Ohno Tsutomu , Perreault François , Apul Onur
Published: December 2022

Aqueous microplastic were tested in terms of leachate formation and surface oxidation during UV irradiation. Surface properties (FTIR, RAMAN, XPS) and leachate characteristics (UV254, DOC, fluorescence spectroscopy) were analyzed concurrently.
The evaluation of sea cucumber (Acaudina leucoprocta) peptide on sex hormone regulation in normal and premature ovarian failure female mice
Authors: Luo Xianliang , Liu Wangxin , Zhao Minjie , Wang Jing , Gao Xinchang , Feng Fengqin
Published: December 2022

The effect of SCP on hormone regulation in normal and POF female mice was investigated. We found that SCP potentially acts as a hormone-like supplement for POF mice.
Design of supported organocatalysts from a biomass-derived difuran compound and catalytic assessment for lactose hydrolysis
Authors: Chang Hochan , Stamoulis Alexios G. , Huber George W. , Dumesic James A.
Published: December 2022

Application of a biomass-derived difunctional molecule to design and engineer organocatalysts for hydrolysis.
Systematic regulation of ligands realizes the transition of luminescence color cuprous iodide inorganic–organic hybrid materials from blue to green light
Authors: Shao Juan-Juan , Ni Jian-Ling , Chen Wei-Min , Liu Peng-Lai , Mensah Abraham , Chen Li-Zhuang , Wang Fang-Ming
Published: December 2022

Four AIO-structured cuprous iodide hybrids were synthesized, with modifying the tail atoms of ligand. They all show strong luminescence, stable and good solution processability. They can be applied as rare-earth element-free lighting phosphors.
Few-layered Ti3C2TXcoupled with Fe3O4nanoparticles assembled in a reduced graphene oxide hydrogel as advanced electrodes for high-energy supercapacitors
Authors: Xiao Yiyao , Zhang Bingxin , Liao Peng , Qiu Zenghui , Song Ningning , Xu Haijun
Published: December 2022

A high-performance symmetric supercapacitor device based on free-standing 3D porous Fe3O4@Ti3C2TX–rGO heterostructure hydrogel electrodes is built.
Dual crosslinked PMMA/BaTiO3 polymer nanocomposite dielectrics for flexible film capacitors
Authors: Zhang Yulei , Zhang Kun , Hou Xiaoya , Liu Lei , Zhang Jie
Published: December 2022

Core–shell nanocomposites have high energy density and low dielectric loss after dual crosslinking.
Electronic band structure of 1D π–d hybridized narrow-gap metal–organic polymers
Authors: Frezza Federico , Schiller Frederik , Cahlík Aleš , Ortega Jose Enrique , Barth Johannes V. , Arnau Andres , Blanco-Rey María , Jelínek Pavel , Corso Martina , Piquero-Zulaica Ignacio
Published: December 2022

On-surface synthesis of well-aligned, atom-thick metal–organic polymers and experimental determination of their near Fermi level dispersive and weakly dispersive bands induced by the efficient hybridization of atomic and molecular orbitals.
Amide cluster induced and hydrogen bonding regulated luminescence of linear aliphatic polyamide 1212 with a long alkane chain
Authors: Yan Xinjin , Wei Meng , Miao Xu , Qiao Xiaoguang , Zhang Xiaomeng , Fu Peng , Pang Xinchang , Liu Minying , Zhao Qingxiang , Chen Shuang , Cui Zhe
Published: December 2022

PA1212 exhibits blue fluorescence and persistent room-temperature green phosphorescence. Hydrogen-bond-constructed amide clusters play an important role in the emission. The order and extension of the hydrogen bonds regulate the luminescence process.
A multi-stimuli-responsive metallosupramolecular gel based on pillararene hierarchical assembly
Authors: Li Yong-Fu , Guan Wen-Li , Wang Chun-Yu , Wang Yan , Lin Qi , Yang Ying-Wei
Published: December 2022

A metallosupramolecular polymer network is constructed by hierarchical self-assembly of a double-armed pillar[5]arene, a ditopic guest, and zinc ions, where host-guest recognition and metal-ligand coordination interactions play a crucial role.
COF-based artificial probiotic for modulation of gut microbiota and immune microenvironment in inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Deng Qingqing , Zhang Lu , Liu Xuemeng , Kang Lihua , Yi Jiadai , Ren Jinsong , Qu Xiaogang
Published: December 2022

COF-based artificial probiotics, functioning like natural probiotics, markedly relieve IBD by modulating the gut microbiota, suppressing intestinal inflammation, protecting the intestinal epithelial cells, and regulating immunity.
Atomic-level orbital coupling in a tri-metal alloy site enables highly efficient reversible oxygen electrocatalysis
Authors: Li Ziyao , Chen Mengshan , Zhang Lei , Xing Rui , Hu Jinsong , Huang Xinhua , Zhou Chunhui , Zhou Yingtang , Wågberg Thomas , Hu Guangzhi
Published: December 2022

An atomic-level orbital coupling strategy was presented to effectively regulate the electronic structures of ultra-small tri-metal Fe–Co–Ni alloy nanoparticles to fabricate an efficient and robust bi-functional oxygen electrocatalyst.
A metal-free all-organic ammonium-ion battery with low-temperature applications
Authors: Kuchena Shelton Farai , Wang Ying
Published: December 2022

Metal-free batteries present a unique opportunity as sustainable energy storage devices. Herein, we present an all-organic metal-free NH4+ ion full battery that can operate at a low temperature of 0 °C.
Deep reinforcement learning‐based joint optimization of computation offloading and resource allocation in F‐RAN
Authors: Jo Sonnam , Kim Ung , Kim Jaehyon , Jong Chol , Pak Changsop
Published: December 2022

The fog radio access network (F‐RAN) has been regarded as a promising wireless access network architecture in the fifth generation (5G) and beyond systems to satisfy the increasing requirements for low‐latency and high‐throughput services by providing fog computing. However, because the cloud computing centre and fog computing‐enabled access points (F‐APs) in the F‐RAN have different computation and communication capabilities, it is crucial to make an efficient computation offloading and resource allocation strategy that can fully exploit the potential of the F‐RAN system. In this paper, the authors investigate a decentralized low‐complexity deep reinforcement learning (DRL)‐based framework for joint computation task offloading and resource allocation in the F‐RAN, which supports assistive computing‐enabled tasks offloading between F‐APs. Considering the constraints of task latency, wireless transmission rate, transmission power, and computational resource capacity, the authors formulate the system processing efficiency maximization problem by jointly optimizing offloading mode selection, channel allocation, power control, and computation resource allocation in the F‐RAN. To solve this non‐linear and non‐convex problem, the authors propose a federated DRL‐based computation offloading and resource allocation algorithm to improve the task processing efficiency and ensure privacy in the system, which can significantly reduce the computing complexity and signalling overhead of the training process compared with the centralized learning‐based method. Specifically, each local F‐AP agent consists of dueling deep Q‐network (DDQN) and deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) networks to appropriately deal with discrete and continuous valuable action spaces, respectively. Finally, the simulation results show that the proposed federated DRL algorithm can achieve significant performance improvements in terms of system processing efficiency and task latency compared with other benchmarks.
Resilience‐based output containment control of heterogeneous MAS against unbounded attacks
Authors: Sun Wei , Zhang Yi , Yang Yang , Zuo Shan
Published: December 2022

This paper studies the resilience‐based output containment control problem of heterogeneous multi‐agent systems in the presence of simultaneous false data injection attacks on both sensors and actuators injected on both cyber and physical layers. In real‐world security problems, malicious adversaries could inject false data injection attacks on both sensors and actuators simultaneously, even with unbounded injections, to maximize their damage to the multi‐agent systems. To address such a problem, a distributed observer is first designed for each follower to estimate the actual system states against unbounded sensor attacks. A resilience‐based control framework is then proposed using state estimation and adaptive control techniques to compensate for the bounded actuator attack signals adaptively. Lyapunov stability analysis shows that uniformly ultimately bounded convergence is achieved despite the simultaneously injected unbounded sensor attacks and bounded actuator attacks on both cyber and physical layers. That is, each follower's output trajectory converges to a small neighbourhood around the convex hull spanned by the leaders' output trajectories. The effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results is verified by case studies using numerical simulations.
A day‐ahead bidding strategy for battery swapping and charging system participating in the regulation market
Authors: Wang Ziqi , Hou Sizu , Li Baikui , Yu Zhuoxin
Published: December 2022

The battery swapping mode is a promising way for electric vehicles (EVs) to participate in power grid frequency regulation. However, the operation mechanism and the uncertainty management in the process still lack research. Aiming at this issue, this paper proposes a day‐ahead bidding strategy for the battery swapping and charging system (BSCS) providing regulation reserve capacity in the ancillary service market. Firstly, a new BSCS‐based regulation model is established. Then, an ambiguity set based on Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence is used to manage the uncertainty of regulation signals and battery swapping demands. Furthermore, a boundary expectation approach is proposed to turn the problem into robust optimization. Finally, after using the extreme scenario method (ESM) to generate extreme scenarios, a duality‐free column‐and‐constraint generation (C&CG) algorithm is employed to solve the problem. The case studies demonstrate that BSCS can provide economical and robust reserve capacity bidding plans in the day‐ahead market with the proposed strategy. At the same time, the BSCS‐based regulation service is simulated with the battery development trend in the future, and suggestions are given.
Simulation calculation of 3D electric field and natural flashover analysis of ice‐covered silicone rubber insulator
Authors: Dong Bingbing , Hu Yuyao , Yin Fanghui , Jiang Xingliang
Published: December 2022

The effects of uneven icing, number of icicles, inclination angle of icicle, ice pallets and arc ignition on the electric field are ignored for the two‐dimensional axisymmetric model of ice‐covered insulator. Therefore, a 3D simulation model was developed in this paper. The average electric field strength of air gap (Eav) and maximum field strength of icicle tip (Emax) were determined to characterize the influence of various factors on the electric field distortion degree. The results show that compared with the insulator without ice and with a dry ice, the supply voltage is almost entirely applied to all icicle air gaps for a wet ice‐covered insulator. Eav is independent of icicle diameter and icicle number but increases with the increment of icicle length and icicle inclination angle. Emax raises with the increase of icicle length, icicle number, icicle inclination angle and icicle diameter. As the source of electric field distortion, the ice pallets on the surface of the sheds rise the field strength of air gap. Based on the simulation analysis and natural icing test, the applied voltage is redistributed in the remaining air gaps when an arc occurs in the gap near the high‐voltage terminal, thereby causing the subsequent flashover.
Factors affecting voltage stability while integrating inverter based renewable energy sources into weak power grids
Authors: Saleem M. I. , Saha S. , Ang L. , Izhar U. , Roy T. K.
Published: December 2022

With the emergence of renewable energy sources (RESs), the power grid all over the world is going through a paradigm shift. The inverter based RESs are replacing the conventional rotating synchronous generators and this trend is expected to continue in coming years. Consequently, the grid strength is decreasing, which can pose significant challenges on the grid stability, especially during integration of IRESs. This paper presents a thorough analysis on the integration challenges of IRESs in weak grids. The paper also presents a comprehensive investigation on the impacts of factors, such as available fault level at the point of interconnection (POI), feeder length and grid nature on the POI voltage, and maximum allowable power injection by IRES. This is followed by maximum allowable IRES power injection sensitivity analysis to quantify the impacts of the aforementioned factors. The paper concludes with a thorough case study on the IEEE 39‐bus test system to numerically show the impact of diminishing grid strength on the integration of IRESs.
Temperature and electric field distribution of tri‐post insulator in DC‐GIL based on numerical multiphysics modelling
Authors: Li Xiaolong , Wan Mingde , Wang Wen , Geng Zhenxin , Lin Xin
Published: December 2022

The temperature distribution of the tri‐post insulator in a ±500 kV direct current gas‐insulated transmission lines (DC‐GIL) is investigated. The influence of thermal gradient on the electric field characteristics is investigated as well. A horizontally installed GIL model is applied in the simulation. The thermal and electric parameters of the insulator are measured and employed. The temperature results indicate that the gas shows a layered distribution pattern while the insulator shows a radial distribution pattern. The temperature of the upper post is higher. With increasing ambient temperature, the surface temperature increases linearly following the variation of ambient temperature. With increasing load current, the temperature near the conductor shows an obvious increase. With increasing gas pressure, the temperature decreases due to the promotion of convection. Besides, the electric field strength of the insulator surface increases if the surface temperature increases during the variation of operating conditions. And the peak of field strength moves towards the enclosure. After 10 h, the temperature reaches a quasi‐stationary state. Since the thermal gradient affects the distribution of gas density and electric field strength of the insulator, the investigation of temperature characteristics is necessary when evaluating the insulating performance of DC‐GIL with insulators.
Provable image encryption scheme via trapdoor permutation
Authors: Li Dongmei , Liu Haikuan
Published: December 2022

Nowadays, due to the advancement in networks, it has become easy to share multimedia information such as images, voice, and videos in real‐time. In the process of multimedia storage and transmission, it is crucial to ensure the security and privacy of multimedia data. The attendant issue is how to encrypt images or videos safely and efficiently. Here, a provable security model of image encryption is presented. Then, a new public image encryption scheme based on one‐way trapdoor permutation, with security in the presence of honest adversaries, is proposed. Furthermore, random reusable technology is adopted to improve efficiency and shorten ciphertext. Finally, the simulation results show the validity of the encryption scheme.
DTFA: Adversarial attack with discrete cosine transform noise and target features on deep neural networks
Authors: Yang Dong , Chen Wei , Wei Songjie
Published: December 2022

Image recognition on deep neural network is vulnerable to adversarial sample attacks. The adversarial attack accuracy is low when only limited queries on the target are allowed with the current black box environment. This paper proposes a target adversarial attack algorithm discrete cosine transform‐mean target feature attack (DTFA) based on the target features and a limited‐area sampling method. The algorithm first examines the original image and a target image to generate an initial adversarial example. Then the disturbance is sampled from the low‐frequency region intercepted by Gaussian noise after discrete cosine transform. The authors determine the size of the disturbance according to the difference between the adversarial example and the original image with consideration of the number of iterations and the position of the target feature region. The disturbance is applied on the initial adversarial example to generate the new adversarial example with the difference from the original image reduced. To evaluate the proposed algorithm, based on the common image classification model InceptionV3, and with identical queries accessing the same target model, the authors conduct experiments to compare the attack effectiveness of DTFA and the benchmark algorithms on the same image and target datasets. Experimental results show that the generated adversarial examples by the proposed algorithm are superior to 94% of those by the similar attack algorithms with less than 10,000 access queries on the target model.
A 100‐V trench power MOSFET with taper‐shielded gate and non‐uniform drift region doping profile
Authors: Deng Gaoqaing , Wang Jun , Tan Chen , Wu Yifan , Liang Shiwei , Ng Wai Tung
Published: December 2022

A 100‐V Taper‐Shielded trench Gate (TSG) power metal‐oxide‐semiconductor field‐effect transistor (MOSFET) with superior figure‐of‐merit (FOM) is proposed and investigated in this paper. The gate of the proposed TSG‐MOSFET has a tapered shape to reduce the gate‐to‐drain overlap capacitance (CGD) and the gate charge (QG). The vertical drift region doping profile of the proposed TSG‐MOSFET is enhanced in two ways. First is to use a multi‐step epitaxial growth to produce a non‐uniform doping profile. Second is to place a lightly doped n‐region at the trench bottom. The bulk electric field in the blocking state can be more evenly distributed, allowing a shorter drift region and lower specific ON‐resistance (RON,sp). Both technology computer‐aided design (TCAD) simulations and experiments were performed to evaluate the proposed device. The proposed device exhibits an improved RON,sp of 27 mΩ·mm2 with a breakdown voltage (BV) of 105 V. The third quadrant performance and the reverse recovery characteristics are also greatly improved. During reverse conduction, the amount of the excessive carriers stored in the drift region is reduced due to the shortened drift region and optimized drift region doping profile. The reverse recovery charge (Qrr) is decreased from 70 to 49 nC. When compared to its state‐of‐the‐art counterparts, the measured [RON × QG] FOM and the Qrr showed a reduction of 23% and 28%, respectively.
A modified controller scheme for frequency stability enhancement of hybrid two‐area power grid with renewable energy sources
Authors: Ahmed Mohamed , Khamies Mohamed , Hassan Mohamed H. , Domínguez‐García José Luis , Kamel Salah
Published: December 2022

This paper proposes a modified optimal control strategy for enhancing the frequency stability of a power grid. The considered grid includes different generation sources and renewable energy distributed in two interconnected areas. This strategy is based on applying a modified control configuration based on two‐degree of freedom for an improved tilt‐integral‐derivative controller entitled () for load frequency control (LFC). This study considers the effect of the automatic voltage regulator (AVR) and its effect on the frequency stability. The modified 2DOF‐T controller is based on utilizing the merits of the two degree of freedom (2‐DOF) structure, and applying the fractional order. Also, an improved gradient‐based optimizer (GBO) is proposed to optimally adjust the gains of the developed control technique. For robust design of the proposed control strategy, the system constraints are considered besides the high renewable power penetration. The effectiveness of the proposed controller in LFC has been confirmed by comparing its efficiency with other control strategies' efficiency in previous studies such as modified TID (ITnD), and FO‐PID () controllers. Furthermore, in cases of high renewable penetration, the AVR with LFC is superior to conventional LFC in terms of decreasing the value of fluctuations while maintaining voltage and frequency stability.
Android malware detection via efficient application programming interface call sequences extraction and machine learning classifiers
Authors: Wang Tanjie , Xu Yueshen , Zhao Xinkui , Jiang Zhiping , Li Rui
Published: December 2022

Malware detection is an important task for the ecosystem of mobile applications (APPs), especially for the Android ecosystem, and is vital to guarantee the user experience of Android APPs. There have been some exiting methods trying to solve the problem of malware detection, but the methods suffer from several defects, such as high time complexity and mediocre accuracy, which seriously decrease the practicability of existing methods. To solve these problems, in this study, we propose a novel Android malware detection framework, where we contribute an efficient Application Programming Interface (API) call sequences extraction algorithm and an investigation of different types of classifiers. In API call sequences extraction, we propose an algorithm for transforming the function call graph from a multigraph into a directed simple graph, which successfully avoids the unnecessary repetitive path searching. We also propose a pruning search, which further reduces the number of paths to be searched. Our algorithm greatly reduces the time complexity. We generate the transition matrix as classification features and investigate three types of machine learning classifiers to complete the malware detection task. The experiments are performed on real‐world Android Packages (APKs), and the results demonstrate that our method significantly reduces the running time and produces high detection accuracy.
Comparison of Gingival Recession of Mandibular Incisors of Class III Patients Immediately after Compensatory or Surgical Orthodontic Treatment
Authors: Saab Fábio Jorge , de Freitas Daniel Salvatore , Cotrin Paula , Oliveira Renata Cristina , Valarelli Fabricio Pinelli , de Oliveira Ricardo Cesar Gobbi , Salmeron Samira , Pinzan Vercelino Célia Regina Maio , Freitas Karina Maria Salvatore
Published: December 2022

Objective This study aimed to compare gingival recession in mandibular anterior teeth in patients with Class III malocclusion, immediately after compensatory or surgical orthodontic treatment.

Materials and Methods The sample consisted of 40 patients with Class III malocclusion, divided into two groups: Group 1 (compensatory), 20 patients treated with compensatory orthodontics, with a mean initial age of 20.26 years (standard deviation [SD] . = 7.44), mean final age of 23.07 years (SD = 7.32), and mean treatment time of 2.81 years (SD =0.84). Group 2 (surgical), who undergone orthodontic–surgical treatment, with a mean initial age of 23.08 years (SD =5.48), mean final age of 25.43 years (SD =5.12), and mean treatment time of 2.35 years (SD =1.56). Intraoral photographs taken before and after removal of the fixed orthodontic appliance were used to measure the gingival recession, from the cervical of the mandibular incisors from the most cervical point of the gingival margin to the cementoenamel junction. In the initial and final cephalograms, the position of the mandibular incisors was measured. The intergroup comparison was performed using the independent t-test.

Results The results showed that there was no statistically significant difference in the gingival recession at the beginning, at the end, and of changes with treatment between the compensatory and surgical groups.

Conclusion It was concluded that the compensatory and surgical orthodontic treatments for Class III malocclusion showed similar results regarding the gingival recession of the mandibular incisors.
Recent Research Advances in Small-Molecule Pan-PIM Inhibitors
Authors: Xu Lei , Meng Yu-Cheng , Guo Peng , Li Ming , Shao Lei , Huang Jun-Hai
Published: December 2022

PIM kinase is consequently emerging as a promising target for cancer therapeutics and immunomodulation. PIM kinases are overexpressed in a variety of hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and their inhibition has become a strong therapeutic interest. Currently, some pan-PIM kinase inhibitors are being developed under different phases of clinical trials. Based on the different scaffold structures, they can be classified into various subclasses. The X-ray structure of the kinase complex outlines the rationale of hit compound confirmation in the early stage. Structure–activity relationships allow us to rationally explore chemical space and further optimize multiple physicochemical and biological properties. This review focuses on the discovery and development of small-molecule pan-PIM kinase inhibitors in the current research, and hopes to provide guidance for future exploration of the inhibitors.
Highlights on Drug and Ion Release and Recharge Capacity of Antimicrobial Removable Prostheses
Authors: Abualsaud Reem , Gad Mohammed M.
Published: December 2022

This article aimed to review the ion and drug release, recharge abilities, and antimicrobial properties of drug/ion-releasing removable prostheses, and to assess their capability in preventing and inhibiting denture stomatitis as well preventing caries and reversing carious lesions. Data was collected from published scientific papers listed in PubMed database from January 1975 to December 2021. English full-text articles, involving clinical or in vitro studies, focusing on removable prostheses and are concerned with drug/ion release and rechargeability as a way to prevent or inhibit denture stomatitis or dental caries were included. The relevant articles reported that ion- or drug-modified polymethylmethacrylate acts as a reservoir for these ions and drugs and is capable of releasing significant amounts with sustained release effect. Recharging of modified resin resulted in greater sustainability of ion and drug release, thus improving the long-term effects of protection against demineralization and reducing the adhesion of Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans. Modifications of removable prostheses with rechargeable ions and drugs enhance remineralization, hinder demineralization, and reduce microbial adhesion in difficult-to-access areas. Selection of denture base for clinical use will consider its ability to act as an ion/drug reservoir that is capable of release and recharge.