bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design, construction, and testing of an accurate low-cost humidistat for laboratory-scale applications
Authors: Veldscholte Lars B. , Horst Rens J. , de Beer Sissi
Published: April 2021

Stable and precise control of humidity is imperative for a wide variety of experiments. However, commercially available humidistats (devices that maintain a constant humidity) are often prohibitively expensive. Here, we present a simple yet effective humidistat for laboratory-scale applications that can be easily and affordably (<€250) constructed based on an Arduino Uno as microcontroller, a set of proportional miniature solenoid valves, a gas washing bottle, and a humidity sensor. The microcontroller implements a PID controller that regulates the ratio of a dry and humid airflow. The design and implementation of the device, including a custom driver circuit for the solenoids, are described in detail, and the firmware is freely available online. Finally, we demonstrate its proper operation and performance through step response and long-term stability tests, which shows settling times of approx. 30 s and an attainable relative humidity range of 10–95%
A HYBRID REVIEW OF ISLAMIC PRICING LITERATURE
Authors: AL MAMUN MD. ABDULLAH , HASSAN M. KABIR , AZAD MD. ABUL KALAM , RASHID MAMUNUR
Published: April 2021

During the last decade, studies on Islamic pricing (IP) have received considerable attention from researchers and academicians. Given the growing popularity of IP, this study critically examines IP literature using a hybrid review — bibliometric analysis with content analysis. In addition to that the Islamic view of pricing based on the principles of Quran and Sunnah is also examined. The bibliometric results show that IP literature demonstrates a low productivity, low citations ratio, and high research collaboration. The content analysis identifies that the pricing methods, mechanisms, considerations and other industries except Islamic finance industry, are still under-researched. This study is of critical importance because it simultaneously shows the evolution of IP and explores new dimensions of it.
ECONOMIC POLICY UNCERTAINTY AND THE BITCOIN MARKET: AN INVESTIGATION IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC WITH TRANSFER ENTROPY
Authors: HUYNH TOAN LUU DUC , WANG MEI , VO VINH XUAN
Published: April 2021

This paper investigates the prediction power of economic policy uncertainty on Bitcoin trading (return, volume, and volatility) over the period from May 2013 to June 2019. We employ the Transfer Entropy model with the following two different regimes (i) stationary and (ii) nonstationary assumption. We construct different algorithm calculations for returns, volume and volatility to test how this proxy impacts. We find that the global Economic Policy Uncertainty negatively causes Bitcoin volumes and volatilities. Therefore, under uncertain regimes, investors are risk-averse to trade, which makes the market less volatile. Our findings confirm the existence of pessimistic risk premium, the theory of deteriorating liquidity and the widen bid-ask spread, which lead to a decline in trading volume under uncertainties in the Bitcoin market. By using different reliable data sources as well as expanding timeframe until May 2020 with COVID-19 pandemic, our results remain robust. Hence, the practical implications will be the useful tools for different parties in the Bitcoin market in the financial turbulence context.
Random crystal field effects on antiferromagnetic spin-1 Blume–Capel model
Authors: Albayrak Erhan
Published: April 2021

The outcome of the random crystal field effects on the antiferromagnetic spin-1 Blume–Capel model and external magnetic field are examined on the Bethe Lattice in terms of exact recursion relations. It is assumed that the crystal field is either turned on or off randomly with probability [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], respectively. The phase diagrams are constructed from the thermal analysis of the order parameters with the coordination number [Formula: see text] which corresponds to honeycomb lattice. It is explored that the system goes both second- and first-order phase transitions, along with the reentrant behavior and a few critical points. The reentrant behavior is stronger for lower values of [Formula: see text] and disappears as [Formula: see text] gets closer to 1.0. The first-order lines are observed to be either linked to the tricritical points or decomposed. The critical end points and double critical points are also observed.
The Dark Triad in Entrepreneurship Research — A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Kraus Sascha , Traunmüller Verena , Kailer Norbert , Tiberius Victor
Published: April 2021

The impact of traits in entrepreneurship has been subject to intense discussion. Apart from favorable traits fostering opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial orientation, venture performance, and other variables, a younger research stream also addresses the role of negative traits. Among them, the dark triad, comprising of narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, have gained specific attention. This systematic literature review aims to structure the field, identify current research themes, and provide a better understanding of prior research outcomes. Our results show that dark triad research addresses entrepreneurial activity, opportunity recognition, entrepreneurial orientation, entrepreneurial leadership, the and entrepreneurial motives. Among the dark triad traits, narcissism is stressed most in research so far. It relates to firm performance, risk, and leadership behavior, whereas Machiavellianism and psychopathy relate to opportunity recognition and exploitation. We also identify several research gaps, which can be addressed in future research.
Failure Criteria and Wind-Induced Vibration Analysis for an Offshore Platform Jacking System
Authors: Li Hong-Nan , Liu Hui-Juan , Fu Xing , Zhao Kuo , Yang Xiao-Long , Wen Zhi-Fei
Published: April 2021

Currently, the construction process of large offshore platforms worldwide involves building the topside and hull separately and then having them integrated. Jacking technology is emerging as a new integration method more suitable for offshore platform construction for its higher tonnage and larger scales compared with the lifting technology. Conventionally, an overlapped support tower (OST) is adopted to jack the topside to a predetermined height. However, with the OST’s increasing jacking height, the wind load effect becomes more significant, which in turn limits the OST height and applications. In this paper, failure criteria were developed for the OST based on the load types and structural characteristics of easy assembly and disassembly. Then a simplified method to simulate the OST was proposed. In addition, a finite element model (FEM) of the entire jacking system with the topside and OST (including 6 jacking towers, 8 strand cables and 23 bracing pipes) was established, and wind-induced vibration analysis was performed to ensure safety of the jacking system. The results show that the addition of the topside increases the torsional effect of the jacking system; the unfavorable wind angles are 0∘ and 15∘, which should be paid much attention during the jacking operation. The recommended wind-induced vibration coefficients for the OST and topside are 3.0 and 4.0, respectively. The proposed method and simulation results of this study provide a reference for the jacking and integration design of similar offshore platforms.
Modified Adaptive Negative Stiffness Device with Variable Negative Stiffness and Geometrically Nonlinear Damping for Seismic Protection of Structures
Authors: Li Huan , Li Jianchun , Yu Yang , Li Yancheng
Published: April 2021

Adaptive negative stiffness device is one of the promising seismic protection devices since it can generate seismic isolation effect through negative stiffness when it is mostly needed and achieve similar vibration mitigation as a semi-active control device. However, the adaptive negative stiffness device generally combined with linear viscous damping underpins the drawback of degrading the vibration isolation effect during the high-frequency region. In this paper, a modified adaptive negative stiffness device (MANSD) with the ability to provide both lateral negative stiffness and nonlinear damping by configuring linear springs and linear viscous dampers is proposed to address the above issue. The negative stiffness and nonlinear damping are realised through a linkage mechanism. The fundamentals and dynamic characteristics of a SDOF system with such a device are analyzed and formulated using the Harmonic Balance Method, with a special focus on the amplitude–frequency response and transmissibility of the system. The system with damping nonlinearity as a function of displacement and velocity has been proven to have attractive advantages over linear damping in reducing the transmissibility in the resonance region without increasing that in the high-frequency region. The effect of nonlinear damping on suppressing displacement and acceleration responses is numerically verified under different sinusoidal excitations and earthquakes with different intensities. Compared with linear damping, the MANSD with nonlinear damping could achieve additional reductions on displacement and acceleration under scaled earthquakes, especially intensive earthquakes.
Retailer’s Operational Decision Based on EOQ Model with Upstream Flexible Two-Part Trade Credit and Downstream Partial Trade Credit
Authors: Zhang Yi , Gao Jinwu
Published: April 2021

Flexible two-part trade credit is widely used in supply chain, however, there is scant research about inventory management engaged in flexible two-part trade credit strategy. This paper bridges this gap and studies a new two-level trade credit based on an EOQ model in which the supplier provides flexible two-part trade credit to the retailer and the retailer provides partial trade credit to its customer. We adopt a convex optimization method to obtain retailer’s optimal operational decision (i.e., the optimal ordering cycle, the optimal fraction of purchase cost that paid in advance, and the optimal credit period for its downstream customer). Moreover, we design a numerical algorithm to solve this model computationally. We find that: (1) the retailer is not sensitive to small cash discount provided by the supplier; (2) the length of credit period in flexible two-part trade credit strategy will affect the customer and retailer: the shorter one influences the retailer’s behavior, but not the customer’s; the longer one influences the customer’s behavior, but not the retailer’s; (3) the retailer can control its risk through partial trade credit.
Uncertain Statistics and COVID-19 Spread in China
Authors: Lio Waichon
Published: April 2021

Uncertain statistics is a set of mathematical techniques for collecting, analyzing and interpreting data by uncertainty theory. In this paper, the main topics of uncertain statistics, including estimation of uncertainty distribution, uncertain regression analysis, uncertain times series, uncertain differential equation and uncertain hypothesis test, are reviewed. Furthermore, by the application to the COVID-19 spread in China, the advantages of those techniques in uncertain statistics are sorted out.
Hydrothermal Synthesis of Ag/Bi2O2CO3 Nanoflakes Photocatalysts with Bismuth Nitrate and Silver Oxalate as Precursors for Organic Pollutants Degradation
Authors: Liang Ying , Zhu Ximiao , Feng Weihua , Cheng Cong , Fang Jianzhang , Fang Zhanqiang
Published: April 2021

Bi2O2CO3 is a UV-light-driven photocatalyst. Bi2O2CO3 nanoflakes modified with plasmonic Ag nanoparticles (Ag/Bi2O2CO3) were obtained by a hydrothermal method. In the synthetic process, Ag2C2O4 worked as the Ag source and C source for the simultaneous formation of Ag particles and CO[Formula: see text]. The optimum synthesis condition was found at [Formula: see text]C for 16[Formula: see text]h under alkaline condition. The binary heterostructure was then used for degrading 2, 4-Dichlorophenol (2, 4-DCP) and Rhodamine B in visible light, with an efficiency of nearly 80% for 2, 4-DCP and 100% for Rhodamine B after 4[Formula: see text]h and 2[Formula: see text]h reaction, respectively. The binary heterostructure exhibited improved photocatalytic activity compared to that of individual Ag and Bi2O2CO3 due to Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) effect of Ag. Meanwhile, after five recycling experiments, Ag/Bi2O2CO3 showed higher photocatalytic activity and lower performance degradation in comparison with the one prepared by photo-reduction of Ag[Formula: see text] on Bi2O2CO3 nanoflakes. This indicated the advantage of one-pot synthetic method. This work is expected to provide an efficient photocatalyst for organic pollutants degradation.
Covid-19 Thrives in Larger Cities, Not Denser Ones
Authors: Angel Shlomo , Blei Alejandro
Published: April 2021

The findings introduced in this longitudinal study of cumulative Covid-19 cases and deaths are based on reported data for 384 US Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) for 20 weeks, starting on March 6, 2020 and ending on July 23, 2020. We look at the variation in the 7-day averages of the cumulative numbers of reported cases and deaths in each city at the end of every week as a function of its total population, its ‘urbanized area,’ and its average population density (the ratio of its population and its urbanized area). We find that during the last 10 weeks, the numbers have tended to converge: (1) a city with double the population of a smaller one can be expected to have 17 percent more cases per capita and 28 percent more deaths per capita than the smaller city; (2) a city with double the urbanized area of a smaller one can be expected to have 19 percent more cases per capita and 38 percent more deaths per capita than the smaller city; and, finally, (3) a city with double the population density of a smaller one can be expected to have 4.1 percent fewer cases per capita and 7.4 percent fewer deaths per capita than the smaller city. Larger cities have more than their share of cases and deaths in part because the larger the city, the larger the number of possible interactions among its inhabitants. And it is this larger number, rather than the overall average proximity of people to each other — expressed by the average density in the city — that accounts for that larger share. In fact, when it pertains to Covid-19 cases and deaths, denser metropolitan areas appear to be better able to contain their numbers than more spread out ones.
Behind the Scenes: The Two-Weeks Stay of Beamline for Schools Winning Students at DESY
Authors: Arce-Larreta Enrique , Aretz Sarah , Baumgartner Tobias , da Cruz e Silva Cristóvão Beirão , Bonkowsky Charles Frederick , Bonkowsky Samuel Blaschke , Boselli Margherita , de Bruine Frederiek , de Goede Ilja , Joos Markus , Koster Isabelle , Lehrach Thomas , Loewe Philipp , Meinking Arianna , Muller August , Nguyen Thien Lam Ngoc , Estevez Silas Ruhrberg , Schütze Paul , Stadermann Kirsten , Weening Janiek
Published: April 2021

In a previous paper1 the BL4S science competition has been presented from the technical point of view. This paper focuses on the organizational aspects of the period that the winning teams spent at DESY to perform their experiments. Together with a description of the event, this paper provides the unique point of view of the participants.
Something Special
Authors: Smilga A. V.
Published: April 2021

A brief review of the history of special scientific high schools in Russia intertwined with personal recollections is presented.
Regeneration of Single-Crystal LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 Cathode Materials from Spent Power Lithium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Han Yingqian , You Yong , Hou Chen , Xiao Xiang , Xing Yiran , Zhao Yujuan
Published: April 2021

Efficient and environmentally-friendly methods are needed to recycle spent power lithium-ion batteries. In this research, a simple solid-state method without secondary pollution is used to directly recover the cathode material from spent power lithium-ion batteries. The recycled LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (S-LNCM) crystal cathode material was activated by high-energy ball-milling after pre-heating to remove C and F elements derived from the electrolyte. In situ high-temperature XRD was used to explore the crystal regeneration process of the recycled materials during sintering. The XRD refinement results and TEM images indicated that serious cation mixing was reduced, and phase transitions on the surface of the spent material restored its layered structure. XAFS spectra showed that the coordination structure of the regenerated materials was almost the same as that of a commercial material. The first discharge capacity of the regenerated materials (LNCM-950, 140 mAh g−1, 0.2 C) was much higher than that of the spent materials (10 mAh g−1, 0.2 C), and the cyclic stability (97%) was higher than that of the commercial material (91%) at 0.2 C after 50 cycles. These results show that simple solid-state method combined with high-energy ball-milling can be used to easily repair the crystal structure and electrochemical performance of spent LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 material.
Sustainable Electrochemical Micromachining Using Atomized Electrolyte Flushing
Authors: Patel Divyansh Singh , Sharma Vyom , Jain V. K. , Ramkumar J.
Published: April 2021

Electrochemical micromachining (ECMM) is a promising and economical process that can machine hard-to-machine metals with high material removal rate and good surface integrity. In this work, an attempt has been made to develop a novel atomized electrolyte flushing technique to enhance mass transport. An atomizer is employed for supplying pressurized micro-droplets of electrolyte on the workpiece surface which leads to the formation of a thin and mobile fluid film. This thin film of electrolyte, moving with a high velocity helps in overcoming the problems associated with jet flushing such as radial overcut, stray corrosion, and usage of a large volume of electrolyte for machining. Numerical simulations of atomized electrolyte-based ECMM are carried out by considering a thin electrolyte film in the interelectrode gap to predict the evolution of anode profile on SS304 workpiece. Experimental observations suggest that in comparison with jet electrolyte flushing, the average dimple diameter reduced by 13% and the average dimple depth increased by 52.3% in case of atomized electrolyte flushing at an applied potential of 6 V and electrolyte conductivity of 1.5 S m−1. It is concluded that the consumption of electrolyte decreases significantly and the localization of dissolution zone improves which ultimately enhances machining performance.
Review—Recent Material Advances and Their Mechanistic Approaches for Room Temperature Chemiresistive Gas Sensors
Authors: Reddy Bapathi Kumaar Swamy , Borse Pramod H.
Published: April 2021

Gas sensors have become an integral part of the industrial and domestic sector, due to the increased emissions from industries, automobiles, and thereby exposure of the harmful gases like CO, NO2, SO2, CO2, NH3 etc. Metal oxide-semiconducting (MOS) chemiresistive gas sensors are the most popular commercial gas sensors available in the market. However, they need high operational temperature for activation and deactivation, which is a serious concern for sensitive combustible environments, as well as in other applications where flexibility, low power consumption, and miniaturization are desirable. Hence, gas sensors those exhibit high sensitivity and selectivity to the target gases, at room temperature are the need-of-hour in the market. This review focuses on various strategies and approaches those being employed and the challenges ahead to realize such room temperature chemiresistive gas sensing; viz: (i) 1D-nanostructuring of various conventional metals and metal oxides; (ii) Nano +heterojunctions between metal oxide-metal oxides and noble metals; (iii) 2D-materials; (iv) Self-heating in nanowires; (v) Perovskites; (vi) Conducting polymers; (vii) defect engineering to produce free charge carriers, and (viii) alternative activation by light illumination. The mechanism behind the strategies implemented to achieve such room temperature gas sensing has been explicitly discussed. The review also introduces various types of gas sensors, their working principle, pros and cons, mechanism and parameters of chemiresistive gas sensors, and their typical construction. This article also discusses the electrode configurations used in the chemiresistive gas sensors.
Genetically increasing flux through β-oxidation in skeletal muscle increases mitochondrial reductive stress and glucose intolerance
Authors: Smith Cody D. , Lin Chien-Te , McMillin Shawna L. , Weyrauch Luke A. , Schmidt Cameron A. , Smith Cheryl A. , Kurland Irwin J. , Witczak Carol A. , Neufer P. Darrell
Published: April 2021

Prior work has suggested that mitochondrial dysfunction is an underlying cause of insulin resistance in muscle because it limits fatty acid oxidation and therefore leads to the accumulation of cytotoxic lipid intermediates. The implication has been that therapeutic strategies to accelerate β-oxidation will be protective. The current study provides evidence that genetically increasing flux through β-oxidation in muscle imposes reductive stress that is not beneficial but rather detrimental to metabolic regulation.
Importance of the route of insulin delivery to its control of glucose metabolism
Authors: Edgerton Dale S. , Moore Mary C. , Gregory Justin M. , Kraft Guillaume , Cherrington Alan D.
Published: April 2021

Pancreatic insulin secretion produces an insulin gradient at the liver compared with the rest of the body (approximately 3:1). This physiological distribution is lost when insulin is injected subcutaneously, causing impaired regulation of hepatic glucose production and whole body glucose uptake, as well as arterial hyperinsulinemia. Thus, the hepatoportal insulin gradient is essential to the normal control of glucose metabolism during both fasting and feeding. Insulin can regulate hepatic glucose production and uptake through multiple mechanisms, but its direct effects on the liver are dominant under physiological conditions. Given the complications associated with iatrogenic hyperinsulinemia in patients treated with insulin, insulin designed to preferentially target the liver may have therapeutic advantages.
Renal claudin-14 expression is not required for regulating Mg2+ balance in mice
Authors: Ferreira Patrícia G. , van Megen Wouter H. , Tan Rebecca , Lee Christy H. L. , Svenningsen Per , Alexander R. Todd , Dimke Henrik
Published: April 2021

Using transgenic models and in vitro assays, this study examined the effect of Mg2+ on regulating urinary excretion of Ca2+ and Mg2+ via activation of the Ca2+-sensing receptor-claudin 14 (CLDN14) pathway. The study suggests that CLDN14 is unlikely to play a significant role in the compensatory response to hypermagnesemia.
Multilabel CNN-Based Hybrid Learning Metric for Pedestrian Reidentification
Authors: Zhang Yinjun , Alturki Ryan , Alyamani Hasan J. , Ikram Mohammed Abdulaziz , Rehman Ateeq ur , Haleem Muhammad
Published: April 2021

Pedestrian reidentification has recently emerged as a hot topic that attains considerable attention since it can be applied to many potential applications in the surveillance system. However, high-accuracy pedestrian reidentification is a stimulating research problem because of variations in viewpoints, color, light, and other reasons. This work addresses the interferences and improves pedestrian reidentification accuracy by proposing two novel algorithms, pedestrian multilabel learning, and investigating hybrid learning metrics. First, unlike the existing models, we construct the identification framework using two subnetworks, namely, part detection subnetwork and feature extraction subnetwork, to obtain pedestrian attributes and low-level feature scores, respectively. Then, a hybrid learning metric that combines pedestrian attributes and low-level feature scores is proposed. Both low-level features and pedestrian attributes are utilized, thus enhancing the identification rate. Our simulation results on both datasets, i.e., CUHK03 and VIPeR, reveal that the identification rate is improved compared to the existing pedestrian reidentification methods.
Evaluation of Clinical Graded Treatment of Acute Nonsuppurative Otitis Media in Children with Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infection
Authors: Meng Wei , Huang Dong-Dong , Li Guang-Fei , Sun Zi-Hui , He Shuang-Ba
Published: April 2021

Objective. To treat children with acute nonsuppurative otitis media induced by acute upper respiratory tract infection of varying severity and evaluate its therapeutic effects. Materials and Methods. Patients from the emergency department with acute nonsuppurative otitis media were followed up between September 2015 and December 2018. A total of 420 patients were classified into grades I to III according to tympanic membrane intactness and systemic reactions and treated according to grading. Results. Grade I patients showed no significant difference in the recovery of acute symptoms whether antibiotics are used or not. Grade II patients, after 3 months of follow-up, showed no tympanic membrane perforation, and 9 cases of binaural B-type children did not improve but were cured by operation. In grade III patients, after treatment for 4 hours in the experimental group 3, the earache subsided, 1 case had tympanic membrane perforation, and the patients recovered after 2 weeks (64/92) and after 3 months (28/92) of drug treatment. After treatment for 4 h in the control group 3, the earache eased, and 3 patients developed tympanic membrane perforation and were treated for 3 months. 4 binaural B-type children did not improve but recovered after surgical treatment. Conclusion. Grade I patients could be closely followed up by clinical observation. For anti-inflammatory patients with grade II disease, treatment has therapeutic significance. For patients with grade III, some patients still have TMP, but the use of cephalosporin third-generation drugs plus an appropriate amount of hormone therapy is effective in reducing symptoms and tympanic local reactions.
Chloride Transport Performance of Basalt‐Polypropylene Fiber Reinforced Concrete under Drying‐Wetting Cycles
Authors: Su Li , Niu Ditao , Huang Daguan , Fu Qiang
Published: April 2021

This study investigated the chloride transport performance of basalt‐polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete (BPFRC) subjected to drying‐wetting cycles. The effects of the strength grade, basalt fiber (BF), polypropylene fiber (PF), and hybrid BF‐PF on the pore solution pH, chloride concentration distribution, chloride peak concentration (Cmax), and apparent chloride diffusion coefficient (Da) of the BPFRC were analyzed, and a multifactor model of Da was established. Moreover, the microstructures of BPFRC were studied to explore the effect of fibers on chloride transport performance of concrete in terms of theoretical pore volume, fiber‐matrix interface, fiber bonding properties, and corrosion morphology. The results showed that the chloride concentration of the BPFRC increased and the pore solution pH of the BPFRC decreased with the increase in the exposure time. The chloride concentration and Da of the BPFRC decreased with the increase in the strength grade. At a fiber volume content of 0.1%, the addition of BF and PF reduced the chloride concentration and Da of the BPFRC; at a fiber volume content of 0.2%, the addition of hybrid BF‐PF increased the chloride concentration and Da of the concrete. The chloride peak concentration appeared at the depth of 2 mm inside the concrete, and the change of the chloride peak concentration with exposure time followed the power function model. The theoretical pore volume of the BPFRC specimens decreased initially and then increased with the increase in the exposure time. FE‐SEM observed that the bonding property between BF and matrix was better than that of PF, which could effectively control the development of microcracks.
Event-Triggered-Based External Consensus Protocol of RBF-ARX-Model-Based Networked Multiagent Systems with Nonlinear Dynamics and Communication Delays
Authors: Lei Qi , Luo Ying
Published: April 2021

An event-triggered-based external consensus control protocol with delay compensation for networked multiagent systems (NMASs) with nonlinear dynamics and network-induced delays is discussed in this paper. An RBF-ARX modelling method is adopted to approximate a nonlinear system. By utilizing the RBF-ARX model, the locally linearized time series model can be obtained to describe the behaviour of agents with nonlinear characteristics. An event-triggered control protocol with communication delay compensation is proposed to reduce the effects of network-induced delays and the times of the agent’s control update and communication between others by applying the idea of a prediction strategy. The event-triggered mechanism for each agent only depends on the deviation between its own output and the delay-compensated output of neighboring agents. Then, a distributed event-triggered-based and delay-compensated external consensus control protocol is given. Under this proposed control protocol, both the consensus and stability of the system can be proved. Finally, a numerical simulation is performed to verify the availability of our results.
Lightweight Cryptographic Algorithms for Guessing Attack Protection in Complex Internet of Things Applications
Authors: Hasan Mohammad Kamrul , Shafiq Muhammad , Islam Shayla , Pandey Bishwajeet , Baker El-Ebiary Yousef A. , Nafi Nazmus Shaker , Ciro Rodriguez R. , Vargas Doris Esenarro
Published: April 2021

As the world keeps advancing, the need for automated interconnected devices has started to gain significance; to cater to the condition, a new concept Internet of Things (IoT) has been introduced that revolves around smart devicesʼ conception. These smart devices using IoT can communicate with each other through a network to attain particular objectives, i.e., automation and intelligent decision making. IoT has enabled the users to divide their household burden with machines as these complex machines look after the environment variables and control their behavior accordingly. As evident, these machines use sensors to collect vital information, which is then the complexity analyzed at a computational node that then smartly controls these devicesʼ operational behaviors. Deep learning‐based guessing attack protection algorithms have been enhancing IoT security; however, it still has a critical challenge for the complex industries’ IoT networks. One of the crucial aspects of such systems is the need to have a significant training time for processing a large dataset from the networkʼs previous flow of data. Traditional deep learning approaches include decision trees, logistic regression, and support vector machines. However, it is essential to note that this convenience comes with a price that involves security vulnerabilities as IoT networks are prone to be interfered with by hackers who can access the sensor/communication data and later utilize it for malicious purposes. This paper presents the experimental study of cryptographic algorithms to classify the types of encryption algorithms into the asymmetric and asymmetric encryption algorithm. It presents a deep analysis of AES, DES, 3DES, RSA, and Blowfish based on timing complexity, size, encryption, and decryption performances. It has been assessed in terms of the guessing attack in real‐time deep learning complex IoT applications. The assessment has been done using the simulation approach and it has been tested the speed of encryption and decryption of the selected encryption algorithms. For each encryption and decryption, the tests executed the same encryption using the same plaintext for five separate times, and the average time is compared. The key size used for each encryption algorithm is the maximum bytes the cipher can allow. To the comparison, the average time required to compute the algorithm by the three devices is used. For the experimental test, a set of plaintexts is used in the simulation—password‐sized text and paragraph‐sized text—that achieves target fair results compared to the existing algorithms in real‐time deep learning networks for IoT applications.
The Understanding of Deep Learning: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Mishra Ranjan Kumar , Reddy G. Y. Sandesh , Pathak Himanshu
Published: April 2021

Deep learning is a computer-based modeling approach, which is made up of many processing layers that are used to understand the representation of data with several levels of abstraction. This review paper presents the state of the art in deep learning to highlight the major challenges and contributions in computer vision. This work mainly gives an overview of the current understanding of deep learning and their approaches in solving traditional artificial intelligence problems. These computational models enhanced its application in object detection, visual object recognition, speech recognition, face recognition, vision for driverless cars, virtual assistants, and many other fields such as genomics and drug discovery. Finally, this paper also showcases the current developments and challenges in training deep neural network.
Design of Lingnan Cultural Gene Implantation Cultural and Creative Products Based on Virtual Reality Technology
Authors: Fang Jiansong , Deng Wei
Published: April 2021

With the development of virtual reality technology, people are increasingly aware that the combination of virtual reality technology and product design can enable companies to obtain stable profits and maintain long-term competitive advantages. And design evaluation plays a pivotal role in a large number of important decisions in product development. This article takes Lingnan culture and cultural products as an example, combining virtual reality technology with the design of Lingnan cultural and creative products, verifies the effectiveness and rationality of the virtual evaluation system of Lingnan cultural products through the evaluation of examples of Lingnan cultural products, and proposes amendments to the evaluation case. This paper constructs a product design evaluation system based on virtual reality technology and designs a theoretical model VR, which is the application of virtual reality technology in product design evaluation. The PDES system expounds the idea and method of constructing the system model. This paper studies the evaluation object, evaluation content, evaluation method, evaluation platform, and manifestation of evaluation results of the Lingnan cultural product virtual evaluation system and builds the framework of the Lingnan cultural product virtual evaluation system. This paper studies the product display method based on virtual reality technology and realizes the three-dimensional display of products on the Internet and the design of user interaction in virtual reality. In this paper, the two algorithms BRSK and SURF are used together, and the multiscale expression characteristics of BRISK in space and the rotation invariant characteristics of SURF are used. Experimental research shows that, compared with the pure BRISK algorithm, the rotation performance of the method in this paper can be seen through the experimental results in this paper to have better accuracy. The method in this paper ensures the accuracy and accuracy of matching as much as possible.
Research on Multiple Classification Based on Improved SVM Algorithm for Balanced Binary Decision Tree
Authors: Xie Wenhao , She Yanhong , Guo Qiao
Published: April 2021

Support vector machines (SVMs) are designed to solve the binary classification problems at the beginning, but in the real world, there are a lot of multiclassification cases. The multiclassification methods based on SVM are mainly divided into the direct methods and the indirect methods, in which the indirect methods, which consist of multiple binary classifiers integrated in accordance with certain rules to form the multiclassification model, are the most commonly used multiclassification methods at present. In this paper, an improved multiclassification algorithm based on the balanced binary decision tree is proposed, which is called the IBDT-SVM algorithm. In this algorithm, it considers not only the influence of “between-classes distance” and “class variance” in traditional measures of between-classes separability but also takes “between-classes variance” into consideration and proposes a new improved “between-classes separability measure.” Based on the new “between-classes separability measure,” it finds out the two classes with the largest between-classes separability measure and uses them as the positive and negative samples to train and learn the classifier. After that, according to the principle of the class-grouping-by-majority, the remaining classes are close to these two classes and merged into the positive samples and the negative samples to train SVM classifier again. For the samples with uneven distribution or sparse distribution, this method can avoid the error caused by the shortest canter distance classification method and overcome the “error accumulation” problem existing in traditional binary decision tree to the greatest extent so as to obtain a better classifier. According to the above algorithm, each layer node of the decision tree is traversed until the output classification result is a single-class label. The experimental results show that the IBDT-SVM algorithm proposed in this paper can achieve better classification accuracy and effectiveness for multiple classification problems.
Minimal Intervention in Dentistry: A Literature Review on Biodentine as a Bioactive Pulp Capping Material
Authors: Arandi Naji Ziad , Thabet Mohammad
Published: April 2021

Root canal treatment has been the treatment of choice for carious pulp exposures. In the perspective of minimally invasive dentistry and preventive endodontics, a direct pulp capping procedure with a reliable bioactive material may be considered an alternative approach provided that the pulp status is favorable. However, the treatment of pulp exposure by pulp capping is still a controversial issue with no clear literature available on this topic, leaving the concerned practitioner more confused than satisfied. Biodentine is a relatively new bioactive material explored for vital pulp therapy procedures. This article discusses its role in direct pulp capping procedures. A thorough literature search of the database was done using PubMed, Google Scholar, and Scopus using the keywords preventive endodontics, calcium silicate cement, direct pulp capping, Biodentine, and vital pulp therapy. Reference mining of the articles that were identified was used to locate other papers and enrich the findings. No limits were imposed on the year of publication, but only articles in English were considered. This paper is aimed at reviewing the current literature on Biodentine as a direct pulp capping material. The review will provide a better understanding of Biodentine’s properties and can aid in the decision‐making process for maintaining the vitality of exposed dental pulp with minimal intervention.
Some Generalized T-Spherical and Group-Generalized Fuzzy Geometric Aggregation Operators with Application in MADM Problems
Authors: Chen Yujuan , Munir Muhammad , Mahmood Tahir , Hussain Azmat , Zeng Shouzhen
Published: April 2021

In this article, the generalized parameter is involved in T-spherical fuzzy set (TSFS), and with the help of this generalized parameter, some generalized geometric aggregation operators for TSFSs are proposed. Then these operators are extended for group-generalized parameter. By using proposed operators, an algorithm is developed for the MADM problem. To check the validity of proposed operators, a numerical example is also investigated. In a comparative analysis, it is discussed that, under some conditions, the proposed work can be reduced to other fuzzy structures. An example is also solved in which it is shown that our proposed technique is superior to the existing technique.
An Attribute-Based Access Control Policy Retrieval Method Based on Binary Sequence
Authors: Pan Ruijie , Wang Gaocai , Wu Man
Published: April 2021

With the widespread application of new technologies, fine-grained authorization requires a large number of access control policies. However, the existing policy retrieval method applied to a large-scale policy environment has the problem of low retrieval efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposes an attribute access control policy retrieval method based on the binary sequence. This method uses binary identification and binary code to express access control requests and policies. When the policy is retrieved, the appropriate group is selected through the logical operation of the access control request and the policy binary identification. Within the group, the binary code of the access control request is matched with the binary code of all rules to find suitable rules, thereby reducing the number of matching attribute-value pairs in the rule and improving the efficiency of policy retrieval. Experimental results show that the policy retrieval method proposed in this paper has higher retrieval efficiency.
Node Value and Content Popularity‐Based Caching Strategy for Massive VANETs
Authors: Gu Jinyuan , Ji Yancheng , Duan Wei , Zhang Guoan
Published: April 2021

The high‐speed dynamic environment and massive information transmitted via wireless communications in the vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) pose a great challenge to privacy and security. To overcome this issue, use of the content‐centric networking (CCN) provides a potential and practical solution. In‐network caching is a main feature for future smart cities, in which the content is mainly placed in network nodes. Therefore, how to effectively select the cache locality and cache content is essential to improve the overall network performance, which is an inevitable trend. With these observations, this article proposes a caching strategy based on the node value and content popularity (NVCP) for the massive VANET scenario. In the proposed NVCP scheme, different from the traditional caching strategies, we evaluate the node value from three aspects: the connectivity, intermediary, and eigenvector centralities, synthetically, since the content with different types of popularity is placed in nodes with different values, resulting in the redundancy deterioration and diversity improvement for the content. The proposed caching strategy is evaluated by the stochastic network topology with multifactors, which provides different impacts on the system performance. Simulation results show that the NVCP outperforms the traditional cache strategies for 6G‐CCN in terms of the cache hit ratio, average hop count, and transmission latency. Moreover, placing the content in the neighbor nodes is also introduced to further improve the utilization of the cache space and achieve better cache performance.
A Semianalytical Two-Phase Imbibition Model in Dual-Porosity and Dual-Permeability Reservoirs
Authors: Li Mengmeng , Bi Gang , Zhan Jie , Dou Liangbin , Xu Hailong
Published: April 2021

The pressure transient behavior of water injection well has been extensively investigated under single-phase flow conditions. However, when water is injected into formation, there are saturation gradients within the water flooded area. Additionally, water imbibition is essentially important for oil displacement in dual-porosity and dual-permeability (DPDP) reservoirs. In this work, a novel semianalytical two-phase flow DPDP well test model considering both saturation gradient and water imbibition has been developed. The model was solved by the Laplace transform finite difference method. Type curves were generated, and flow regimes were identified by the model. The model features and effect of parameters were analyzed. Results show that water imbibition reduces the advancing speed of water drive front in the fracture system and slows down the water cut raising rate and the expansion speed of the two-phase zone in the fracture system. Therefore, the fluid exchange between the fracture and matrix systems becomes more sufficient and more oil will be recovered from the DPDP reservoir. The shape of pressure curves is similar for the single-phase and two-phase flow DPDP model, but the position of the proposed model is above the curves of the single-phase model. Shape factor mainly influences the interporosity period of the pressure derivatives. Water imbibition has a major effect on the whole system radial flow period of the curves. The findings of this study can help for better understanding of the oil/water two-phase flow pressure transient behavior in DPDP reservoirs considering saturation gradients and water imbibition.
Analysing the Impact of Scaling Out SaaS Software on Response Time
Authors: Dong Bo , Ying Shi , Wang Bingming , Cheng Guoli , Geng Jiangyi
Published: April 2021

When SaaS software suffers from the problem of response time degradation, scaling deployment resources that support the operation of software can improve the response time, but that also means an increase in the costs due to additional deployment resources. For the purpose of saving costs of deployment resources while improving response time, scaling out the SaaS software is an alternative approach. However, how scaling out software affects response time in the case of saving deployment resources is an important issue for effectively improving response time. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a method analysing the impact of scaling out software on response time. Specifically, we define the scaling-out operation of SaaS software and then leverage queueing theory to analyse the impact of the scaling-out operation on response time. According to the conclusions of impact analysis, we further derive an algorithm for improving response time based on scaling out software without using additional deployment resources. Finally, the effectiveness of the analysis’s conclusions and the proposed algorithm is validated by a practical case, which indicates that the conclusions of impact analysis obtained from this paper can play a guiding role in scaling out software and improving response time effectively while saving deployment resources.
The Combination of Zerumbone and 5‐FU: A Significant Therapeutic Strategy in Sensitizing Colorectal Cancer Cells to Treatment
Authors: Dehghan Razieh , Bahreini Fatemeh , Najafi Rezvan , Saidijam Massoud , Amini Razieh
Published: April 2021

Objectives. Chemotherapy is considered to be essential in the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), but drug resistance reduces its efficacy. Many patients with advanced CRC eventually show resistance to 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU) therapy. Synergistic and potentiating effects of combination therapy, using herbal and chemical drugs, can improve patients’ response. Zerumbone (ZER), which is derived from ginger, has been studied for its growth inhibitory function in various types of cancer. Methods. The cytotoxic effects of ZER and 5‐FU alone and their combination, on the SW48 and HCT‐116 cells, were examined, using the 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT). The mRNA and protein levels of β‐catenin, survivin, and vimentin were measured in treated CRC cells, using qRT‐PCR and western blot. Colony formation assay, scratch test, and flow cytometry were performed to detect the changes of proliferation, migration, and apoptosis. Key Findings. In HCT‐116‐ and SW48‐treated cells, the proliferation, the gene and protein expression levels of the markers, the migration, the colony formation, and the survival rates were all significantly reduced compared to the control groups, and the sharpest decline was observed in the 5‐FU+ZER treatment groups. Conclusions. Combination therapy has shown promising results in CRC cells, especially in drug‐resistant cells.