bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Open‐Mouthed Hollow Carbons: Systematic Studies as Cobalt‐ and Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction
Authors: Zhao Yingji , Nara Hiroki , Jiang Dong , Asahi Toru , Osman Sameh M. , Kim Jeonghun , Tang Jing , Yamauchi Yusuke
Published: July 2023

Although hollow carbon structures have been extensively studied in recent years, their interior surfaces are not fully utilized due to the lack of fluent porous channels in the closed shell walls. This study presents a tailored design of open‐mouthed particles hollow cobalt/nitrogen‐doped carbon with mesoporous shells (OMH‐Co/NC), which exhibits sufficient accessibility and electroactivity on both the inner and outer surfaces. By leveraging the self‐conglobation effect of metal sulfate in methanol, a raspberry‐structured Zn/Co‐ZIF (R‐Zn/Co‐ZIF) precursor is obtained, which is further carbonized to fabricate the OMH‐Co/NC. In‐depth electrochemical investigations demonstrate that the introduction of open pores can enhance mass transfer and improve the utilization of the inner active sites. Benefiting from its unique structure, the resulting OMH‐Co/NC exhibits exceptional electrocatalytic oxygen reduction performance, achieving a half‐wave potential of 0.865 V and demonstrating excellent durability.
Rheology Engineering for Dry‐Spinning Robust N‐Doped MXene Sediment Fibers toward Efficient Charge Storage
Authors: Xia Zhongming , Dai Henghan , Chang Jin , Yang Jia , Wang Huifang , Wang Yurong , Hui Zengyu , Wang Rui , Sun Gengzhi
Published: July 2023

MXene nanosheets are believed to be an ideal candidate for fabricating fiber supercapacitors (FSCs) due to their metallic conductivity and superior volumetric capacitance, while challenges remain in continuously collecting bare MXene fibers (MFs) via the commonly used wet‐spinning technique due to the intercalation of water molecules and a weak interaction between Ti3C2TX nanosheets in aqueous coagulation bath that ultimately leads to a loosely packed structure. To address this issue, for the first time, a dry‐spinning strategy is proposed by engineering the rheological behavior of Ti3C2TX sediment and extruding the highly viscose stock directly through a spinneret followed by a solvent evaperation induced solidification. The dry‐spun Ti3C2TX fibers show an optimal conductivity of 2295 S cm−1, a tensile strength of 64 MPa and a specific capacitance of 948 F cm−3. Nitrogen (N) doping further improves the capacitance of MFs to 1302 F cm−3 without compromising their mechanical and electrical properties. Moreover, the FSC based on N‐doped MFs exhibits a high volumetric capacitance of 293 F cm−3, good stability over 10 000 cycles, excellent flexibility upon bending‐unbending, superior energy/power densities and anti‐self‐discharging property. The excellent electrochemical and mechanical properties endow the dry‐spun MFs great potential for future applications in wearable electronics.
Growing Impact of Intramolecular Click Chemistry in Organic Synthesis
Authors: Jaiswal Manoj K. , Tiwari Vinod K
Published: July 2023

Click Chemistry, a modular, rapid, and one of the most reliable tool for the regioselective 1,2,3‐triazole forming [3+2] reaction of organic azide and terimal alkyne is widely explored in various emerging domains of research ranging from chemical biology to catalysis and medicinal chemistry to material science. This regioselective reaction from a diverse range of azido‐alkyne scaffolds has been well performed in both intermolecular as well as intramolecular fashions. In comparison to the intermolecular metal (Cu/Ru/Ni) variant of ‘Click Chemistry’, the intramolecular click tool is little addressed. The intramolecular click chemistry is exemplified as a mordern tool of cyclization which involves metal‐catalyzed (CuAAC/RuAAC) cyclization, organo‐catalyzed cyclization, and thermal‐induced topochemical reaction. Thus, we report herein the recent approaches on intramolecular azide‐alkyne cycloaddition ‘Click Chemistry‘ with their wide‐spread emerging applications in the developement of a diverse range of molecules including fused‐heterocycles, well‐defined peptidomemics, and macrocyclic architectures of various notable features.
BSL‐4 laboratories, combatting conspiracies, and using a culture‐centered approach to improve risk and crisis communication in a One Health framework
Authors: Rascon Natasha , Johnson Malynnda , Myers Nathan
Published: July 2023

The COVID‐19 pandemic continues to pose a global zoonotic disease threat, highlighting the importance of developing strategies to combat new viruses and variants stemming from climate change and animal populations. A multidisciplinary approach is needed to address dis/misinformation surrounding such research. Collaborations across disciplines aid in actual responses to public health emergency events as well, easing the transition to a new equilibrium and impacting planning for future events. Russian disinformation regarding the joint work of Americans and Ukrainians as part of the Biological Threat Reduction Program is evidence of the need to educate the public about the real risks and benefits of zoonotic disease research. As seen in the recently released National Biodefense Strategy, political leaders in the United States are becoming more explicit about embracing a One Health framework for biodefense and public health emergency preparedness. This has significant benefits in terms of policy making by helping to dispel dis/misinformation, build trust in disease surveillance data, and give frontline workers such as those in the agricultural sector a voice in the conversation with which to share their expertise. A communication complex perspective applied through a culture‐centered approach to a One Health model aims to improve risk and crisis communication. This unique strategy will help government leaders as well as those in relevant sectors to speak to the unique questions and concerns of a particular population. Among other things, this helps to avoid an ineffective “cookie‐cutter” approach messaging. In this manuscript, we argue that coconstructing a cultural understanding of human, animal, and environmental health practices within a unique culture will lead to a specialized risk and crisis communication plan accepted by local communities.
Raman spectroscopy and its plasmon‐enhanced counterparts: A toolbox to probe protein dynamics and aggregation
Authors: Dhillon Ashish Kumar , Sharma Arti , Yadav Vikas , Singh Ruchi , Ahuja Tripti , Barman Sanmitra , Siddhanta Soumik
Published: July 2023

Protein unfolding and aggregation are often correlated with numerous diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and other debilitating neurological disorders. Such adverse events consist of a plethora of competing mechanisms, particularly interactions that control the stability and cooperativity of the process. However, it remains challenging to probe the molecular mechanism of protein dynamics such as aggregation, and monitor them in real‐time under physiological conditions. Recently, Raman spectroscopy and its plasmon‐enhanced counterparts, such as surface‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and tip‐enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS), have emerged as sensitive analytical tools that have the potential to perform molecular studies of functional groups and are showing significant promise in probing events related to protein aggregation. We summarize the fundamental working principles of Raman, SERS, and TERS as nondestructive, easy‐to‐perform, and fast tools for probing protein dynamics and aggregation. Finally, we highlight the utility of these techniques for the analysis of vibrational spectra of aggregation of proteins from various sources such as tissues, pathogens, food, biopharmaceuticals, and lastly, biological fouling to retrieve precise chemical information, which can be potentially translated to practical applications and point‐of‐care (PoC) devices.

This article is categorized under:

Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies

Diagnostic Tools > Diagnostic Nanodevices

Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology
AIoT 101: What, Why, How, Who
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

AIoT combines two of the most important technology paradigms of the 2020s: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). To best understand AIoT from all relevant perspectives, we will start by looking at the why, what, who and how perspectives, inspired by the work of Simon Sinek [1] as well as the St. Gallen IoT Lab [2] (Fig. 1.1):While Simon Sinek suggests to Start with Why, we will first look at the what to provide some context, before discussing why you should consider it.
Scalability
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

The ultimate goal of the business strategy is to ensure that the business can be scaled up to the level that matches the business objectives. This is usually a step-by-step process, involving exploration, acquiring early adopters, and then continuously growing the business. Which of the methods that have worked for successfully scaling purely digital businesses can be adopted by AIoT-enabled businesses? What are the pitfalls of scaling up a digital/physical business? (Fig. 11.1).
Product/Solution Design
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

What is the next step after agreeing on the first iteration of the business model and securing funding for execution? With the traditional waterfall approach, the answer is relatively clear: documentation of requirements with a high level of detail and accuracy, serving as the stable foundation for planning, design and execution. However, in the software world, we have learned that getting stable, long-term requirements is often difficult. Consequently, traditional requirements management often has a bad name in the agile community. Instead, agile best practices focus on the backlog as the central means of managing requirements and work items. The goal is to capture the high-level, long-term vision on a more abstract level (e.g., via so-called epics and themes) and then provide a detailed and precise work definition only for the next upcoming sprint (via the sprint backlog – created for each sprint; typical sprint duration is 3–4 weeks). In this way, the agile approach ensures that no waste is created by investing in detailed, long-term requirements that are likely to change over time anyway (Fig. 13.1).
Co-Creation and Sourcing Intro
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

AIoT-enabling a product or solution usually requires quite a number of different technical components, infrastructures and resources. Very few companies will be able to source all of this completely internally, so naturally sourcing plays an important role in most AIoT initiatives. Furthermore, there is often an opportunity to partner with other companies, e.g., because of complementary market access, brands, or product components and capabilities. Going from traditional customer/supplier relationships towards a partnership can have many benefits but obviously many risks as well. In many cases, one will see both in the context of an AIoT initiative, e.g., traditional sourcing for commodity components and resources, and a more partner/co-creation oriented approach in other areas. This chapter will first look at co-creation in the context of AIoT before discussing the more traditional sourcing approach.
Rollout and Go-to-Market
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

How to introduce our smart, connected products and solutions to their customers, be they external or internal, B2B or B2C? For solutions, this usually involves a dedicated rollout process, while for products the Go-to-Market is important (Fig. 15.1).
Agile AIoT
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

Being able to address the complexity and volatility of AIoT product/solution development in an agile way is a key success factor. This chapter first takes a look at some of the key challenges to achieve this, then discusses the Agile V-Model as a way to get there, followed by a discussion of the agile AIoT organization.
Drone-Based Facade Inspection (TUEV SUED)
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

This case study describes a drone-based system for automated building façade inspection that utilizes AIoT for drone management and image-analytics. The system was developed by the Real Estate & Infrastructure Division of TÜV SÜD (Fig. 32.1).
Internet of Things 101
Authors: Slama Dirk
Published: July 2023

This chapter provides an Internet of Things 101, including a brief overview, a discussion of IoT Sensors and Actuators, IoT Architecture, IoT Protocol Layers, and IoT Connectivity (Fig. 5.1).
Brazil
Authors: Rezende Fernando , Cialdini Alexandre , Motta Bernardo
Published: July 2023

The article provides an overview of Brazilian fiscal federalism, covering some of its basic aspects (and flaws) with regard to the structure of government and the distribution of resources and responsibilities between the three levels of government, the intergovernmental transfer system and the interaction between some aspects of Brazilian fiscal federalism and macroeconomic management. In the last section, we examine some of the challenges that must be faced to reach a broad understanding of the proposals for a new model of fiscal federalism, addressing issues such as the high degree of institutional rigidity and intra-federative conflicts that paralyze the reform of the Brazilian fiscal federalism. Instead of making a specific proposal at once, we suggest acting with caution and working toward establishing a federative dialogue, as a joint approach, with the participation of States and Municipalities, could facilitate the achievement of collective institutional action to overcome obstacles to approve a constitutional reform.
Digital Technologies, Data Commons and Rights in Africa: The Case of DigitalTransport4Africa
Authors: Klopp Jacqueline M. , Beshir Agraw Ali , Dusabe Esthelyne
Published: July 2023

With the rapid expansion of digital technologies and data, new opportunities are emerging for public policy at different scales and across sectors. At the same time, new challenges around the governance of data and technology require attention and action. This chapter reviews some of the implications of the rise of digital technologies and data for policy and governance. It also highlights some of the emerging principles and frameworks, including the Digital Principles for Development and the International Open Data Charter, which were created to help ensure that new digital tools and data create public benefits. Next, we discuss the challenges and opportunities of the digital era in relation to the urban transport sector in African cities. Finally, we present the case of DigitalTransport4Africa, a collaborative effort to create a “digital commons” and community to ensure that digital development in this sector is guided by ethical frameworks and harnessed in the public interest. We conclude by drawing some final lessons for policy in a digital age.
Utilizing Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to Analyze Response Patterns in Categorical Data
Authors: Brandenburger Martina , Schwichow Martin
Published: July 2023

Models based on Rasch’s (1960) measurement theory build quantitative, continuous latent variables based on persons’ categorical responses. In contrast, within latent class analysis (LCA), persons are represented by qualitative, categorical latent variables. LCA can be used to identify patterns within categorical responses. In this chapter, we present the general idea of the LCA, including conventions for interpreting results, compare the LCA with Rasch analysis and combine the LCA’s results with a unidimensional Rasch model. Our presentation is based on a concrete empirical example that investigates experimental design errors and includes the used data set and R scripts as supplemental materials.
Introduction
Authors: Holzer Lorenz , Marmet Philip , Fingerle Mathias , Wiegmann Andreas , Neumann Matthias , Schmidt Volker
Published: July 2023

Tortuosity is a major source of transport resistance from microstructure. The scientific debates on tortuosity and associated microstructure effects are often affected by misunderstandings and misconceptions. The sources of these misunderstandings are briefly described in the introduction chapter. Futhermore, the introduction also gives a short overview of the main book chapters, which are dealing with theory, empirical data, methodologies and quantitative microstructure-property relationships.
Tortuosity-Porosity Relationships: Review of Empirical Data from Literature
Authors: Holzer Lorenz , Marmet Philip , Fingerle Mathias , Wiegmann Andreas , Neumann Matthias , Schmidt Volker
Published: July 2023

It is generally assumed that transport resistance in porous media, which can also be expressed as tortuosity, correlates somehow with the pore volume fraction. Hence, mathematical expressions such as the Bruggeman relation (i.e., τ2 = ε−1/2) are often used to describe tortuosity (τ)—porosity (ε) relationships in porous materials. In this chapter, the validity of such mathematical expressions is critically evaluated based on empirical data from literature. More than 2200 datapoints (i.e., τ – ε couples) are collected from 69 studies on porous media transport. When the empirical data is analysed separately for different material types (e.g., for battery electrodes, SOFC electrodes, sandstones, packed spheres etc.), the resulting τ versus ε—plots do not show clear trend lines, that could be expressed with a mathematical expression. Instead, the datapoints for different materials show strongly scattered distributions in rather ill-defined ‘characteristic’ fields. Overall, those characteristic fields are strongly overlapping, which means that the τ – ε characteristics of different materials cannot be separated clearly. When the empirical data is analysed for different tortuosity types, a much more consistent pattern becomes apparent. Hence, the observed τ − ε pattern indicates that the measured tortuosity values strongly depend on the involved type of tortuosity. A relative order of measured tortuosity values then becomes apparent. For example, the values observed for direct geometric and mixed tortuosities are concentrated in a relatively narrow band close to the Bruggeman trend line, with values that are typically < 2. In contrast, indirect tortuosities show higher values, and they scatter over a much larger range. Based on the analysis of empirical data, a detailed pattern with a very consistent relative order among the different tortuosity types can be established. The main conclusion from this chapter is thus that the tortuosity value that is measured for a specific material, is much more dependent on the type of tortuosity than it is dependent on the material and its microstructure. The empirical data also illustrates that tortuosity is not strictly bound to porosity. As the pore volume decreases, the more scattering of tortuosity values can be observed. Consequently, any mathematical expression that aims to provide a generalized description of τ − ε relationships in porous media must be questioned. A short section is thus provided with a discussion of the limitations of such mathematical expressions for τ − ε relationships. This discussion also includes a description of the rare and special cases, for which the use of such mathematical expressions can be justified.
Image Based Methodologies, Workflows, and Calculation Approaches for Tortuosity
Authors: Holzer Lorenz , Marmet Philip , Fingerle Mathias , Wiegmann Andreas , Neumann Matthias , Schmidt Volker
Published: July 2023

In this chapter, modern methodologies for characterization of tortuosity are thoroughly reviewed. Thereby, 3D microstructure data is considered as the most relevant basis for characterization of all three tortuosity categories, i.e., direct geometric, indirect physics-based and mixed tortuosities. The workflows for tortuosity characterization consists of the following methodological steps, which are discussed in great detail: (a) 3D imaging (X-ray tomography, FIB-SEM tomography and serial sectioning, Electron tomography and atom probe tomography), (b) qualitative image processing (3D reconstruction, filtering, segmentation) and (c) quantitative image processing (e.g., morphological analysis for determination of direct geometric tortuosity). (d) Numerical simulations are used for the estimation of effective transport properties and associated indirect physics-based tortuosities. Mixed tortuosities are determined by geometrical analysis of flow fields from numerical transport simulation. (e) Microstructure simulation by means of stochastic geometry or discrete element modeling enables the efficient creation of numerous virtual 3D microstructure models, which can be used for parametric studies of micro–macro relationships (e.g., in context with digital materials design or with digital rock physics). For each of these methodologies, the underlying principles as well as the current trends in technical evolution and associated applications are reviewed. In addition, a list with 75 software packages is presented, and the corresponding options for image processing, numerical simulation and stochastic modeling are discussed. Overall, the information provided in this chapter shall help the reader to find suitable methodologies and tools that are necessary for efficient and reliable characterization of specific tortuosity types.
Sotenäs Marine Recycling Centre in Sweden: A Case Study Related to Waste Fishing Gear
Authors: Charter Martin , Whitehead Paul
Published: July 2023

The chapter is a case study on the development of a Sweden’s first recycling centre focussed on waste fishing gear and other marine plastics based in Sotenäs. Key to the development of the centre has been a longer-term vision and commitment from the local municipality and the fishermen’s association. Working with partners across Sweden and locally, the centre has also developed an innovation testbed that is developing new test for polymers from waste fishing gear and aims launch new circular products. The chapter provides favourable learning for any organisation that will be tasked with establishing recycling infrastructure in relation to extend producer responsibility (EPR) requirements for fishing gear that will come into force across the European Union in 2025.
A Conceptual Framework for Assessing and Managing Abandoned, Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear
Authors: Tippett Arron Wilde
Published: July 2023

Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a complex problem that causes negative ecological, economic and social impacts. In order to understand cause-and-effect chains spanning socio-economic and ecological systems and identify and assess potential improvement measures, a holistic approach is necessary. In this chapter, we introduce a framework for assessing ALDFG and aquaculture gear from commercial fishing and fish farming activities in Norway. The proposed framework integrates the Drivers, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses (DPSIR) framework with ecosystem accounting, to assess impacts and improvement measures more holistically and explicitly. The framework includes indicators for each aspect, derived from international and national frameworks and data sets. Drivers and pressures are related to existing data sets on fishing and aquaculture production and ALDFGs, whereas the ecosystem accounting framework is used as a lens for developing the state and impact aspects of the model. A leverage points view of circular economy solutions to the problem of ALDFG is taken for the Responses aspect of the model.
Engaging Volunteers as Experts in Data-Driven Research Projects and a Circular Economy: The Case of PlastOPol
Authors: Hellevik Christina Carrozzo , Deshpande Paritosh C.
Published: July 2023

Beached plastic litter is a global concern and is also an important source of data for research to improve our understanding of the extent and the main sources of the problem. Digital tools can help both in making the data registration process easier for citizen scientists and in processing the information and displaying it visually to decision makers. However, we argue that it is also vital to include the local ecological knowledge of both volunteers and semi-professional beach-cleaners. In this chapter, we summarise the main challenges in modelling plastic behaviour in the seas together with some of the best tools available to date. We then highlight how volunteers can contribute to testing and refining the tools. We exemplify this point through the case of the PlastOPol project and derive implications for mitigation and prevention measures.
Post-quantum Cryptography
Authors: Gasser Linus
Published: July 2023

Post-quantum Cryptography discusses the need for a new generation of cryptography to protect against future quantum computers. The underlying mathematical concept is a one-way function that makes it easy to encrypt but challenging to decrypt without a secret. However, future quantum computers will likely be able to reverse many of these one-way functions that are widely used and allow the calculation of the secret needed to decrypt the data. Four algorithms believed safe against quantum computing were published in July 2022. Switching to quantum-safe algorithms is critical for data that must remain secret for years. For all other data, ensuring that systems are at least crypto-agile (migration path exists) or already support hybrid algorithms is crucial.
Identity-Based Cryptography
Authors: Tellenbach Bernhard
Published: July 2023

Identity-based encryption systems are characterized by the fact that the public key is easy to remember, and the step of linking the public key to a specific identity is omitted; the identity (e.g., an e-mail address) is the public key. Applications of Identity-based encryption are still relatively rare, although there are now various standards for Identity-based encryption procedures and their application. Properties such as needing a trusted third party to generate the private keys might hinder its adoption. There are initial solutions to optimize away or mitigate such negative features for many applications, but they are not yet well-tested and still subject to research. However, for application areas where a trusted third party for private key escrow is acceptable, for example, in government and enterprise applications or public safety and mission-critical applications, Identity-based encryption can be an exciting technology that simplifies key management and handling.
Multi-Party Threshold Cryptography
Authors: Cachin Christian
Published: July 2023

In a threshold cryptosystem, the private key is typically distributed among parties that constitute the system using cryptographically secure secret sharing. Particular focus must be placed on generating the private key held jointly by the parties. Up to F of the parties might be faulty and leak their key shares, but F + 1 must cooperate in executing a cryptographic operation. Standards for threshold cryptography and the corresponding open-source implementations are expected to emerge because of the multi-year efforts driven by governmental or private-sector standardization agencies. For building secure distributed systems that can survive a partial corruption of their components, multi-party threshold cryptography plays an important role.
Digital Signature
Authors: Lin Weyde
Published: July 2023

A digital signature uses cryptographic hashing functions and asymmetric cryptography to sign data. It also provides origin authentication, data integrity, and signer non-repudiation. The main idea is to generate a hash of the data using a cryptographic hashing function and then encrypt it by the signing party using its private key. As part of the verification process, the verifying party generates the hash of the data using the same cryptographic hashing function. With the increasing digitalization of business processes and other processes, the ability to apply and verify digital signatures will become increasingly important.
Secure Multi-Party Computation
Authors: Merino Louis-Henri , Cabrero-Holgueras José
Published: July 2023

Secure multi-party computation enables a group of parties to compute a function while jointly keeping their private inputs secret. The term “secure” indicates the latter property where the private inputs used for computation are kept secret from all other parties. A significant benefit of using secure multi-party computation is that many constructed protocols are information-theoretically secure, avoiding many problems using cryptographic hardness assumptions. Some notable use cases are secure auctions, privacy-preserving network security monitoring, spam filtering on encrypted emails, and secure machine learning. Secure multi-party computation can be used to secure and enable privacy-preserving applications from privacy-preserving network security to secure machine learning.
Hardware Acceleration
Authors: Mahmoud Dina
Published: July 2023

With Moore’s law and Dennard’s scaling no longer fueling the improvement in computing performance, new avenues for increasing performance are needed. Hardware acceleration is one avenue where many researchers and industrial parties are working and investing. Accelerators can allow for high levels of parallelism not supported by general-purpose central processing units. These high levels of parallelism are particularly well-suited for many modern applications. Therefore, research on the use of hardware acceleration is expected to continue in the near future. However, various parties should consider a variety of aspects when deciding whether to invest in hardware acceleration by making their own accelerators or by buying them from a third party. This factsheet presents an analysis of hardware acceleration and the trends until 2025. It also discusses the aspects and how specific considerations are more important for some actors.
Secure Operating System
Authors: Romá Llorenç , Tellenbach Bernard
Published: July 2023

The operating system is the backbone of every modern computer system, managing the system’s resources and executing applications. Therefore, it is essential to improve operating system security to ensure data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. When discussing secure operating systems, we generally refer to security-focused operating systems and security-evaluated operating systems. In critical environments, such as governments and military systems, that typically have higher security restrictions, security-evaluated operating systems are a convenient option used in other countries, ensuring those systems fulfill a set of security requirements. In addition, a trend toward more hardware security components, especially for separating cryptographic functions and implementing critical operations, has emerged. Although using secure operating systems is not a definitive solution to protect against all the dangers of current cyberspace, it is clear that it can reduce the impact of individual vulnerable applications or modules being exploited on the whole system.
Electronic Voting
Authors: Merino Louis-Henri
Published: July 2023

Remote electronic voting, where eligible voters can cast votes from anywhere in the world on their device, promises to increase voter turnout, improve accessibility, and reduce costs. However, building a secure online voting system is difficult, involving four essential requirements: integrity, privacy, coercion-resistance, and availability. Moreover, successfully deploying a secure online voting system would require close collaboration among the public and private sectors and academia. The military and intelligence agencies could play an important role in supporting the e-voting operator against cyberattacks meant to deteriorate public trust in the voting outcome.
Differential Privacy
Authors: Mulder Valentin , Humbert Mathias
Published: July 2023

Differential privacy is a technology that allows sharing of information about a dataset while protecting individual privacy by adding noise to the results. It will have the following effect: if the arbitrary single substitution in the database is small enough, then the query result cannot be used to infer much about any single individual. In the cases of counting, summation, or average queries over a large, single table of data, Differential privacy is ready to be used effectively. One key drawback of differential privacy is that it often trades data accuracy for privacy. Differential privacy could be a great tool to help the government and large companies better comply with the demand for data privacy.
WEB3
Authors: Gasser Linus
Published: July 2023

Web3 is the next generation of the internet, often referred to as the decentralized or blockchain web. It aims to address the shortcomings of the current centralized web, such as privacy concerns and lack of control over personal data, by leveraging decentralized technologies like blockchain and peer-to-peer networks. The technology for Web 3.0 revolves around the possibility of each internet user managing their Pods. Pods are like secure personal web servers for one’s data. Furthermore, Web3 promises more power to the users and the removal of intermediaries between the users and the services. This can bring more privacy and better remuneration for the service providers on the internet.
5G
Authors: Lin Weyde
Published: July 2023

5G is the 5th generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks designed to address the increasing need for higher capacity and throughput in mobile devices, driven by new applications, use cases, and lower latency requirements. The number of mobile devices connected to a cellular network is constantly increasing. Simultaneously they require higher capacity and throughput, partly driven by new devices or applications, new use cases with increased download speed requirements, and lower latency requirements. Securing 5G networks is crucial for the success of its adoption, especially for its business users. Therefore, its standard was designed to address the previous network standard’s security shortcomings directly. Furthermore, in network evolution and the 5G rollout, the increased virtualization of network elements is a growing trend.
Secure Smartphone
Authors: Donon Yann , Künzler Fabien , Jasinski Pawel , Piening Carl , Savary Arnaud
Published: July 2023

Secure smartphones highlight the privacy and data safety issues in off-the-shelf smartphones and the need for secure smartphones to address these concerns. The hardening of smartphones, a process intended to eliminate means of attack by patching vulnerabilities and turning off nonessential services, is, therefore, key to making them more secure. Unfortunately, as the mobile smartphone ecosystem grows, security threats and data breaches have increased dramatically. Furthermore, the continuing concentration of consumer data in the hands of a few, with the acquisition of WhatsApp by Facebook in 2015 as a prominent example, has raised serious concerns regarding the use and commercialization of such data. While it is unrealistic to proactively protect ourselves from all the threats they may imply, more secure smartphone options will become available.
Key Management
Authors: Krähenbühl Cyrill , Perrig Adrian
Published: July 2023

Key management describes how cryptographic keys are created, securely stored, distributed to the respective key holders, and used in accordance with protocol specifications. It is thus a cornerstone of most cryptographic systems and must be handled with care. Advances in hardware security modules used in key storage and high-end and low-cost random number generator used in key generation show a promising future for secure and affordable key management. However, future challenges, such as quantum resilience, have to be overcome by new key management systems. For the military, existing experience in handling cryptographic keys could help develop a key management system, and the reputation of Switzerland could help promote key management systems developed in Switzerland.
A Novel Steerable Catheter Controlled with a Biohybrid Actuator: A Feasibility Study
Authors: Salvatori Carlotta , Trucco Diego , Niosi Ignazio , Ricotti Leonardo , Vannozzi Lorenzo
Published: July 2023

Targeted therapies allow increasing the efficacy of treatments for several diseases, including cancer. The release of drugs or chemicals directly in the site of interest will be beneficial for maximizing the therapy and minimize side effects.

Here, we report the concept and a preliminary analysis of an innovative intravascular steerable catheter guided by an on-board biohybrid actuator, aiming to release drugs into deep and tortuous regions within the cardiovascular systems. The catheter performance has been estimated through analytical and numerical analyses, varying catheter diameter, wall thickness, and actuator force. Results show how larger catheter deflections can be obtained with a smaller outer diameter and decreasing wall thickness. Besides, improved outcomes can be achieved by applying the biohybrid actuator distant from the catheter tip extremity and maximizing the magnitude of the applied forces. Despite the need to further improve the performance of this concept (e.g., by decreasing material stiffness), these preliminary results show great promise in view of future experimentation of such kind of actuation to drive microcatheters through the cardiovascular network.
Einleitung
Authors: Kowalski Philipp
Published: July 2023

Aus § 69 Abs. 3 S. 1 AktG und § 15 Abs. 1 GmbHG ergibt sich explizit die Vererblichkeit der jeweiligen Kapitalgesellschaftsanteile. Die systematische Stellung der §§ 1922 ff., 2032 ff. BGB zeigt, dass das deutsche Privatrecht als Leitbild des Erben eine einzelne Person vor Augen hat. Verstirbt nun ein Kapitalgesellschafter und existiert nicht ein einzelner Erbe, sondern eine Erbenmehrzahl, so ist das Recht mit der Aufgabe konfrontiert, die Erbengemeinschaft mit der Rolle des Gesellschafters in Einklang zu bringen.
Die Schranken der Rechtsausübung
Authors: Kowalski Philipp
Published: July 2023

Da nun feststeht, welches Regelungskonzept der mitgliedschaftlichen Rechtsausübung von der Erbengemeinschaft (gegebenenfalls über einen gemeinschaftlichen Vertreter oder einen Testamentsvollstrecker) hin zur Gesellschaft zugrunde liegt, kann auf die Schranken der Rechtsausübung eingegangen werden.
Hypocoercivity and Reaction-Diffusion Limit for a Nonlinear Generation-Recombination Model
Authors: Favre Gianluca , Pirner Marlies , Schmeiser Christian
Published: July 2023

A reaction-kinetic model for a two-species gas mixture undergoing pair generation and recombination reactions is considered on a flat torus. For dominant scattering with a non-moving constant-temperature background the macroscopic limit to a reaction-diffusion system is carried out. Exponential decay to equilibrium is proven for the kinetic model by hypocoercivity estimates. This seems to be the first rigorous derivation of a nonlinear reaction-diffusion system from a kinetic model as well as the first hypocoercivity result for a nonlinear kinetic problem without smallness assumptions. The analysis profits from uniform bounds of the solution in terms of the equilibrium velocity distribution.
Arrhythmias in Critically Ill Surgical and Non‐surgical Patients: A National Propensity‐Matched Study
Authors: An Selena J. , Davis Dylane , Peiffer Sarah , Gallaher Jared , Tignanelli Christopher J. , Charles Anthony
Published: July 2023

Background

Arrhythmias are common in critically ill patients, though the impact of arrhythmias on surgical patients is not well delineated. We aimed to characterize mortality following arrhythmias in critically ill patients.

Methods

We performed a propensity‐matched retrospective analysis of intensive care unit (ICU) patients from 2007 to 2017 in the Cerner Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation database. We compared outcomes between patients with and without arrhythmias and those with and without surgical indications for ICU admission. We also modeled predictors of arrhythmias in surgical patients.

Results

467,951 patients were included; 97,958 (20.9%) were surgical patients. Arrhythmias occurred in 1.4% of the study cohorts. Predictors of arrhythmias in surgical patients included a history of cardiovascular disease (odds ratio [OR] 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI95] 1.11–1.63), respiratory failure (OR 1.48, CI95 1.12–1.96), pneumonia (OR 3.17, CI95 1.98–5.10), higher bicarbonate level (OR 1.03, CI95 1.01–1.05), lower albumin level (OR 0.79, CI95 0.68–0.91), and vasopressor requirement (OR 27.2, CI95 22.0–33.7). After propensity matching, surgical patients with arrhythmias had a 42% mortality risk reduction compared to non‐surgical patients (risk ratio [RR] 0.58, CI 95 0.43–0.79). Predicted probabilities of mortality for surgical patients were lower at all ages.

Conclusions

Surgical patients with arrhythmias are at lower risk of mortality than non‐surgical patients. In this propensity‐matched analysis, predictors of arrhythmias in critically ill surgical patients included a history of cardiovascular disease, respiratory complications, increased bicarbonate levels, decreased albumin levels, and vasopressor requirement. These findings highlight the differential effect of arrhythmias on different cohorts of critically ill populations.
RDFtex in-depth: knowledge exchange between LATEX-based research publications and Scientific Knowledge Graphs
Authors: Martin Leon , Henrich Andreas
Published: July 2023

For populating Scientific Knowledge Graphs (SciKGs), research publications pose a central information source. However, typical forms of research publications like traditional papers do not provide means of integrating contributions into SciKGs. Furthermore, they do not support making direct use of the rich information SciKGs provide. To tackle this, the present paper proposes RDFtex, a framework enabling (1) the import of contributions represented in SciKGs to facilitate the preparation of "Equation missing"-based research publications and (2) the export of original contributions from papers to facilitate their integration into SciKGs. The framework’s functionality is demonstrated using the present paper itself since it was prepared with our proof-of-concept implementation of RDFtex. The runtime of the implementation’s preprocessor was evaluated based on three "Equation missing" projects with different numbers of imports and exports. A small user study ($$N=10$$

N
=
10

) was conducted to obtain initial user feedback. The concept and the process of preparing a "Equation missing"-based research publication using RDFtex are discussed thoroughly. RDFtex’s import functionality takes considerably more time than its export functionality. Nevertheless, the entire preprocessing takes only a fraction of the time required to compile the PDF. The users were able to solve all predefined tasks but preferred the import functionality over the export functionality because of its general simplicity. RDFtex is a promising approach to facilitate the move toward knowledge graph augmented research since it only introduces minor differences compared to the preparation of traditional "Equation missing"-based publications while narrowing the gap between papers and SciKGs.
Hierarchical multi-scale parametric optimization of deep neural networks
Authors: Zhang Sushen , Vassiliadis Vassilios S. , Dorneanu Bogdan , Arellano-Garcia Harvey
Published: July 2023

Traditionally, sensitivity analysis has been utilized to determine the importance of input variables to a deep neural network (DNN). However, the quantification of sensitivity for each neuron in a network presents a significant challenge. In this article, a selective method for calculating neuron sensitivity in layers of neurons concerning network output is proposed. This approach incorporates scaling factors that facilitate the evaluation and comparison of neuron importance. Additionally, a hierarchical multi-scale optimization framework is proposed, where layers with high-importance neurons are selectively optimized. Unlike the traditional backpropagation method that optimizes the whole network at once, this alternative approach focuses on optimizing the more important layers. This paper provides fundamental theoretical analysis and motivating case study results for the proposed neural network treatment. The framework is shown to be effective in network optimization when applied to simulated and UCI Machine Learning Repository datasets. This alternative training generates local minima close to or even better than those obtained with the backpropagation method, utilizing the same starting points for comparative purposes within a multi-start optimization procedure. Moreover, the proposed approach is observed to be more efficient for large-scale DNNs. These results validate the proposed algorithmic framework as a rigorous and robust new optimization methodology for training (fitting) neural networks to input/output data series of any given system.

Graphical Abstract
Evaluation of potential aging biomarkers in healthy individuals: telomerase, AGEs, GDF11/15, sirtuin 1, NAD+, NLRP3, DNA/RNA damage, and klotho
Authors: Borsky Pavel , Holmannova Drahomira , Andrys Ctirad , Kremlacek Jan , Fiala Zdenek , Parova Helena , Rehacek Vit , Svadlakova Tereza , Byma Svatopluk , Kucera Otto , Borska Lenka
Published: July 2023

Aging is a natural process of gradual decrease in physical and mental capacity. Biological age (accumulation of changes and damage) and chronological age (years lived) may differ. Biological age reflects the risk of various types of disease and death from any cause. We selected potential biomarkers of aging - telomerase, AGEs, GDF11 and 15 (growth differentiation factor 11/15), sirtuin 1, NAD+ (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide), inflammasome NLRP3, DNA/RNA damage, and klotho to investigate changes in their levels depending on age and sex. We included 169 healthy volunteers and divided them into groups according to age (under 35; 35–50; over 50) and sex (male, female; male and female under 35; 35–50, over 50). Markers were analyzed using commercial ELISA kits. We found differences in values depending on age and gender. GDF15 increased with age (under 30 and 35–50 p < 0.002; 35–50 and over 50; p < 0.001; under 35 and over 50; p < 0.001) as well as GDF11 (35–50 and over 50; p < 0.03; under 35 and over 50; p < 0.02), AGEs (under 30 and 35–50; p < 0.005), NLRP3 (under 35 over 50; p < 0.03), sirtuin 1 (35–50 and over 50; p < 0.0001; under 35 and over 50; p < 0.004). AGEs and GDF11 differed between males and females. Correlations were identified between individual markers, markers and age, and markers and sex. Markers that reflect the progression of biological aging vary with age (GDF15, GDF11, AGEs, NLRP3, sirtuin) and sex (AGEs, GDF11). Their levels could be used in clinical practice, determining biological age, risk of age-related diseases and death of all-causes, and initiating or contraindicating a therapy in the elderly based on the patient’s health status.