bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adoption of Active Surveillance for Very Low-Risk Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in the United States: A National Survey
Authors: Pitt Susan C , Yang Nan , Saucke Megan C , Marka Nicholas , Hanlon Bret , Long Kristin L , McDow Alexandria D , Brito J P , Roman Benjamin R
Published: December 2020

Context

Active surveillance (AS) of thyroid cancer with serial ultrasounds is a newer management option in the United States.

Objective

This work aimed to understand factors associated with the adoption of AS.

Methods

We surveyed endocrinologists and surgeons in the American Medical Association Masterfile. To estimate adoption, respondents recommended treatment for 2 hypothetical cases appropriate for AS. Established models of guideline implementation guided questionnaire development. Outcome measures included adoption of AS (nonadopters vs adopters, who respectively did not recommend or recommended AS at least once; and partial vs full adopters, who respectively recommended AS for one or both cases).

Results

The 464 respondents (33.3% response) demographically represented specialties that treat thyroid cancer. Nonadopters (45.7%) were significantly (P < .001) less likely than adopters to practice in academic settings, see more than 25 thyroid cancer patients/year, be aware of AS, use applicable guidelines (P = .04), know how to determine whether a patient is appropriate for AS, have resources to perform AS, or be motivated to use AS. Nonadopters were also significantly more likely to be anxious or have reservations about AS, be concerned about poor outcomes, or believe AS places a psychological burden on patients. Among adopters, partial and full adopters were similar except partial adopters were less likely to discuss AS with patients (P = .03) and more likely to be anxious (P = .04), have reservations (P = .03), and have concerns about the psychological burden (P = .009) of AS. Few respondents (3.2%) believed patients were aware of AS.

Conclusion

Widespread adoption of AS will require increased patient and physician awareness, interest, and evaluation of outcomes.
Control of the Anterior Pituitary Cell Lineage Regulator POU1F1 by the Stem Cell Determinant Musashi
Authors: Allensworth-James Melody , Banik Jewel , Odle Angela , Hardy Linda , Lagasse Alex , Moreira Ana Rita Silva , Bird Jordan , Thomas Christian L , Avaritt Nathan , Kharas Michael G , Lengner Christopher J , Byrum Stephanie D , MacNicol Melanie C , Childs Gwen V , MacNicol Angus M
Published: December 2020

The adipokine leptin regulates energy homeostasis through ubiquitously expressed leptin receptors. Leptin has a number of major signaling targets in the brain, including cells of the anterior pituitary (AP). We have previously reported that mice lacking leptin receptors in AP somatotropes display growth hormone (GH) deficiency, metabolic dysfunction, and adult-onset obesity. Among other targets, leptin signaling promotes increased levels of the pituitary transcription factor POU1F1, which in turn regulates the specification of somatotrope, lactotrope, and thyrotrope cell lineages within the AP. Leptin’s mechanism of action on somatotropes is sex dependent, with females demonstrating posttranscriptional control of Pou1f1 messenger RNA (mRNA) translation. Here, we report that the stem cell marker and mRNA translational control protein, Musashi1, exerts repression of the Pou1f1 mRNA. In female somatotropes, Msi1 mRNA and protein levels are increased in the mouse model that lacks leptin signaling (Gh-CRE Lepr-null), coincident with lack of POU1f1 protein, despite normal levels of Pou1f1 mRNA. Single-cell RNA sequencing of pituitary cells from control female animals indicates that both Msi1 and Pou1f1 mRNAs are expressed in Gh-expressing somatotropes, and immunocytochemistry confirms that Musashi1 protein is present in the somatotrope cell population. We demonstrate that Musashi interacts directly with the Pou1f1 mRNA 3′ untranslated region and exerts translational repression of a Pou1f1 mRNA translation reporter in a leptin-sensitive manner. Musashi immunoprecipitation from whole pituitary reveals coassociated Pou1f1 mRNA. These findings suggest a mechanism in which leptin stimulation is required to reverse Musashi-mediated Pou1f1 mRNA translational control to coordinate AP somatotrope function with metabolic status.
Modal Spelled Pitch Class, La-Minor Solfège, and Schubert’s Third Relations
Authors: Lam Nathan L.
Published: December 2020

This article develops the notion of modal spelled pitch class by combining Julian Hook’s theory of spelled heptachords and Steven Rings’s heard scale degree. Modal spelled pitch class takes the form of an ordered triple that includes the key signature, the generic pitch classes (letter names without accidentals) of the tonic, and the note in question. From there one can infer other information, such as scale degree, mode, and la-minor solfège. In the construction of modal spelled pitch class, la-minor solfège is of equal importance to do-minor solfège, and subsequent analyses contrast the perspectives of both types of movable-do solfège users. This argument aligns with recent reevaluations of Jacques Handschin’s tone character (Clampitt and Noll 2011; Noll 2016b) and suggests a path of reconciliation in the ongoing solfège debate. Close readings of Franz Schubert’s Impromptu in E♭ major, D. 899, and Piano Sonata in B♭ major, D. 960, demonstrate the analytic potential of modal spelled pitch class and the eight types of coordinated transpositions. While previous transformational theories have shed light on third relations in Schubert’s harmony (Cohn 1999), modal spelled pitch class transpositions show the scales and melodies that prolong third-related harmonies also participate in their own third relations.
Introduction
Authors: Siddiqi Anooradha Iyer
Published: December 2020

Drawing from histories of art and architecture, urbanism and planning, landscape, infrastructure, and media, this themed section is premised upon framing architecture beyond the terms of aesthetics or technology toward its agency as a form of knowledge. In this introduction and the articles that follow, architecture acts as an analytic with which to formulate understanding and meaning. Through modern histories and perspectives from the South Asian subcontinent, conceptualizing “South Asia” and “architecture” broadly and inclusively, the articles turn alternately to design and structure, aesthetics and affect, and the human and nonhuman in order to redefine the primary source. From the writings of a Sri Lankan architect, a capitol for a future Bangladesh, the princely state landscapes of a German-Indian planner, films of roads in Bhutan and Kashmir, gardens in Lahore, and towers in Karachi, this collection unsettles borders, writing across South Asian nations and contested territories together to name architectures operating in archival registers. Through habitations and speculations, it reimagines pasts and futures, recasting the architectural beyond instrument, as concept.
The “Little Traditions” of Black Worldmaking
Authors: Shilliam Robbie
Published: December 2020

Shilliam approaches Adom Getachew's book Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination as an intervention into political theory. The book provides three provocations to that field. Getachew helps recast the sources and materials by which political theory interrogates the prospect of global justice. Getachew's intervention is field-shaping and especially helpful to those who pursue political theory in the field of international relations (IR). In this article, Shilliam wants to orient Getachew's argument in a direction that she herself implicitly tacks toward. The question: to what degree should the conventional conceptual frameworks of political theory carry the weight of Getachew's challenge? Shilliam addresses this question by looking at a “little tradition” of worldmaking: Ethiopianism. He presents the challenge provided by Ethiopianism as an analytical one: its worldmaking requires no analytical or ethical scaling up.
On Inexactitude in Decolonization
Authors: Davari Arash
Published: December 2020

This essay extends themes in Adom Getachew's Worldmaking after Empire: The Rise and Fall of Self-Determination (2019) by introducing Iran as a mediating element in Cold War worldmaking. It recovers the story of Pahlavi Iran's diplomatic efforts during the Sixth Special of the United Nation General Assembly, which resulted in the declaration of the New International Economic Order. Getachew's book provides a framework to interpret these diplomatic efforts with greater precision. The same framework explains the Islamic Republic's internationalist policies in the 1980s. Worldmaking after Empire is less equipped, however, to explain the popular revolution separating different modes of Iranian statecraft between the 1970s and 1980s. This observation reveals the limits of the book's methodological approach—namely, its overemphasis on elites and its overinvestment in exactitude. These limits invite a revised approach to writing histories of anticolonial worldmaking. An alternate approach focuses on statecraft (exactitude) and popular politics (inexactitude) at once, echoing the simultaneous affi rmation of nation building and worldmaking in Getachew's theory of decolonization.
Lower-limb muscle function is influenced by changing mechanical demands in cycling
Authors: Lai Adrian K. M. , Dick Taylor J. M. , Brown Nicholas A. T. , Biewener Andrew A. , Wakeling James M.
Published: December 2020

Although cycling is often considered a seemingly simple, reciprocal task, muscles must adapt their function to satisfy changes in mechanical demands induced by higher crank torques and faster pedalling cadences. We examined if muscle function was sensitive to these changes in mechanical demands across a wide range of pedalling conditions. We collected experimental data of cycling where crank torque and pedalling cadence were independently varied from 13-44 Nm and 60-140 RPM. These data were used in conjunction with musculoskeletal simulations and a recently developed functional index-based approach to characterise the role of the human lower-limb muscles. We found that in muscles that generate most of the mechanical power and work during cycling, greater crank torque induced shifts towards greater muscle activation, greater positive muscle-tendon unit (MTU) work and a more motor-like function, particularly in the limb extensors. Conversely, with faster pedalling cadence, the same muscles exhibited a phase advance in muscle activity prior to crank top dead centre, which led to greater negative MTU power and work and shifted the muscles to contract with more spring-like behaviour. Our results illustrate the capacity for muscles to adapt their function to satisfy the mechanical demands of the task, even during highly constrained reciprocal tasks such as cycling. Understanding how muscles shift their contractile performance under varied mechanical and environmental demands may inform decisions on how to optimise pedalling performance and to design targeted cycling rehabilitation therapies for muscle-specific injuries or deficits.
Acclimation of intestinal morphology and function in djungarian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) related to seasonal and acute energy balance
Authors: Piscitiello Emiliana , Herwig Annika , Haugg Elena , Schröder Bernd , Breves Gerhard , Steinlechner Stephan , Diedrich Victoria
Published: December 2020

Small mammals exhibit seasonal changes in intestinal morphology and function via increased intestine size and resorptive surface and/or nutrient transport capacity to increase energy yield from food during winter. This study investigated whether seasonal or acute acclimation to anticipated or actual energetic challenges in Djungarian hamsters also resulted in higher nutrient resorption capacities due to changes in small intestine histology and physiology. The hamsters show numerous seasonal energy saving adjustments in response to short photoperiod. As spontaneous daily torpor represents one of these adjustments related to food quality and quantity, it was hypothesized that the hamsters’ variable torpor expression patterns are influenced by their individual nutrient uptake capacity. Hamsters under short photoperiod showed longer small intestines and higher mucosal electrogenic transport capacities for glucose relative to body mass. Similar observations were made in hamsters under long photoperiod and food restriction. However, this acute energetic challenge caused a stronger increase of glucose transport capacity. Apart from that, neither fasting-induced torpor in food-restricted hamsters nor spontaneous daily torpor in short photoperiod-exposed hamsters clearly correlated with mucosal glucose transport capacity.

Both seasonally anticipated and acute energetic challenges caused adjustments in the hamsters’ small intestine. Short photoperiod appeared to induce an integration of these and other acclimation processes in relation to body mass to achieve a long-term adjustment of energy balance. Food restriction seemed to result in a more flexible, short-term strategy of maximizing energy uptake possibly via mucosal glucose transport and reducing energy consumption via torpor expression as emergency response.
Turbulence, Firm Decentralization, and Growth in Bad Times
Authors: Aghion Philippe , Bloom Nicholas , Lucking Brian , Sadun Raffaella , Van Reenen John
Published: December 2020

What is the optimal form of firm organization during “bad times”? The greater turbulence following macro shocks may benefit decentralized firms because the value of local information increases (the “localist” view). On the other hand, the need to make tough decisions may favor centralized firms (the “centralist” view). Using two large micro datasets on decentralization in firms in ten OECD countries (WMS) and US establishments (MOPS administrative data), we find that firms that delegated more power from the central headquarters to local plant managers prior to the Great Recession outperformed their centralized counterparts in sectors that were hardest hit by the subsequent crisis (as measured by export growth and product durability). Results based on measures of turbulence based on product churn and stock market volatility provide further support to the localist view. This conclusion is robust to alternative explanations such as managerial fears of bankruptcy and changing coordination costs. Although decentralization will be suboptimal in many environments, it does appear to be beneficial for the average firm during bad times. (JEL D22, G12, G32, G34, L23)
A Dose of Managed Care: Controlling Drug Spending in Medicaid
Authors: Dranove David , Ody Christopher , Starc Amanda
Published: December 2020

We study the effect of privatizing Medicaid drug benefits on drug prices and utilization. Drug spending would decrease by 21.3 percent if private insurers administered all drug benefits. One-third of the decrease is driven by private insurers’ ability to negotiate prices with pharmacies. The remaining two-thirds is driven by the greater use of lower cost drugs, such as generics, and is only realized in states that give private insurers the flexibility to design drug benefits. Privatization does not reduce prescriptions per enrollee and spending cuts are smaller for drugs that lower medical spending. (JEL G22, H51, I11, I13, I18, I38, L65)
Circulating SNORD57 rather than piR-54265 is a promising biomarker for colorectal cancer: common pitfalls in the study of somatic piRNAs in cancer
Authors: Tosar Juan Pablo , García-Silva María Rosa , Cayota Alfonso
Published: December 2020

There is increasing interest among cancer researchers in the study of Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs), a group of small RNAs important for maintaining genome stability in the germline. Aberrant expression of piRNAs in cancer could imply an involvement of these regulatory RNAs in neoplastic transformation. On top of that, it could enable early cancer diagnosis based on RNA analysis in liquid biopsies, as piRNAs are not expected to widely circulate in the bloodstream of healthy individuals. Indeed, it has recently been shown that serum piR-54265 allows for excellent discrimination between colorectal cancer patients and healthy controls. However, we have also shown that most somatic piRNAs reported to date in mammals are actually fragments of other noncoding RNAs. Herein, we show that reports positioning piR-54265 as a noninvasive biomarker for colorectal cancer were actually measuring variations in the levels of a full-length (72 nt) small nucleolar RNA in serum. This should place a cautionary note for future research in somatic and cancer-specific piRNAs. We deeply encourage this line of research but discuss proper ways to identify somatic piRNAs without the interference of erroneous entries contained in piRNA databases. We also introduce the concept of miscellaneous-piRNAs (m-piRNAs) to distinguish between canonical piRNAs and other small RNAs circumstantially associated with PIWI proteins in somatic cells.
Identification of m6A residues at single-nucleotide resolution using eCLIP and an accessible custom analysis pipeline
Authors: Roberts Justin T. , Porman Allison M. , Johnson Aaron M.
Published: December 2020

Methylation at the N6 position of adenosine (m6A) is one of the most abundant RNA modifications found in eukaryotes; however, accurate detection of specific m6A nucleotides within transcripts has been historically challenging due to m6A and unmodified adenosine having virtually indistinguishable chemical properties. While previous strategies such as methyl-RNA immunoprecipitation and sequencing (MeRIP-seq) have relied on m6A-specific antibodies to isolate RNA fragments containing the modification, these methods do not allow for precise identification of individual m6A residues. More recently, modified cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP)-based approaches that rely on inducing specific mutations during reverse transcription via UV cross-linking of the anti-m6A antibody to methylated RNA have been used to overcome this limitation. However, the most utilized version of this approach, miCLIP, can be technically challenging to use for achieving high-complexity libraries. Here we present an improved methodology that yields high library complexity and allows for the straightforward identification of individual m6A residues with reliable confidence metrics. Based on enhanced CLIP (eCLIP), our m6A-eCLIP (meCLIP) approach couples the improvements of eCLIP with the inclusion of an input sample and an easy-to-use computational pipeline to allow for precise calling of m6A sites at true single-nucleotide resolution. As the effort to accurately identify m6As in an efficient and straightforward way intensifies, this method is a valuable tool for investigators interested in unraveling the m6A epitranscriptome.
Experimental Study of Component-Differentially-Challenged XOR PUFs as Security Primitives for Internet-of-Things
Authors:   Department of Computer Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA, Mursi Khalid T. , Zhuang Yu
Published: December 2020

Security is critically important for Internet-of-Things, but existing cryptographic protocols are not lightweight enough for resource-constrained IoT devices. Implementable with simplistic circuits and operable with shallow power, physical unclonable functions (PUFs) leverage small but unavoidable physical variations of the circuit to produce unique responses for individual PUF instances, rendering themselves good candidates as security primitives for IoT devices. Component-differentially-challenged XOR PUFs (CDC XPUFs) are among the PUFs which were shown to be highly secure to machine learning modeling attacks. However, no study of implementation and experimentation has been carried out. In this paper, we report our implementations of CDC XPUFs on FPGAs and experimental studies of the essential properties of CDC XPUFs.
Integrating Smartphone Network Architecture and Data Security Techniques to Mitigate Sharp Practices in Non-Profit Organizations
Authors:   Centre for Collaborative Digital Networks, Dept. of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science, University of Johannesburg, Auckland Park, South Africa, Nkuna Matimu Caswell , Esenogho Ebenezer , Heymann Reolyn
Published: December 2020

Contemporary research is geared towards integrating multidisciplinary domains and targeted to developing robust solutions. This implies that single-discipline solutions most times do not give the desired results. This study intends to apply this concept statement in mitigating the hydra-headed challenge facing the world today called sharp-practice (corruption) which some believe that it is worse than the current severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The sharp practice is a major challenge in the world today and a threat to the development of any country. Sharp practices range from higher offices of the state institutions to the small offices located in remote and rural local areas. Non-profit Organizations (NPOs) are also affected by sharp practices as the office-bearers of these institutions are constantly misappropriating donors’ funds meant for these facilities for their selfish interests. State and private donors offer a large portion of their resources to NPOs to improve the standard of living of needy people in remote and rural areas. However, most NPOs sited in rural areas do not have systems that can be used to monitor and capture the management of resources. In this paper, we attempt to solve this challenge by proposing the integrating Smartphone Network Architecture (SMA) and Data Security Techniques (DST) to mitigate sharp practices in NPOs. In our approach, a smartphone-mobile app algorithm was developed using JavaScript. The app uses the Least Significant Bits (LSB) method to secretly embed a Date Stamp on a PNG image whenever an event is captured by a secret camera at the NPO’s center. The results showed that the LSB method is the most suitable technique to embed a small-scale secret data on the pixels of a PNG image file. The LSB technique does not require the original cover image for decoding the secret data hidden in the image over the network. From the study, these techniques have shown to improve accountability and alleviate corrupt practices in NPOs.
The Experimental Study of Performance Impairment of Big Data Processing in Dynamic and Opportunistic Environments
Authors:   School of Engineering & Technology, Central Queensland University, Australia, Li Wei , Guo William W.
Published: December 2020

In contrast to HPC clusters, when big data is processing in a distributed, particularly dynamic and opportunistic environment, the overall performance must be impaired and even bottlenecked by the dynamics of overlay and the opportunism of computing nodes. The dynamics and opportunism are caused by churn and unreliability of a generic distributed environment, and they cannot be ignored or avoided. Understanding impact factors, their impact strength and the relevance between these impacts is the foundation of potential optimization. This paper derives the research background, methodology and results by reasoning the necessity of distributed environments for big data processing, scrutinizing the dynamics and opportunism of distributed environments, classifying impact factors, proposing evaluation metrics and carrying out a series of intensive experiments. The result analysis of this paper provides important insights to the impact strength of the factors and the relevance of impact across the factors. The production of the results aims at paving a way to future optimization or avoidance of potential bottlenecks for big data processing in distributed environments.
WSDSBL Method for Wideband Channel Estimation in Millimeter-Wave MIMO Systems with Lens Antenna Array
Authors:   College of Information and Communication Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, China, Dong Jicheng , Zhang Wei , Yang Bowen , Sang Xihong
Published: December 2020

In millimeter wave (mmWave) communication systems, Channel State Information(CSI) is extremely essential for beamforming. The traditional Successive Support Detection (SSD) algorithm can achieve high wideband channel estimation accuracy, but it only used least square (LS) algorithm to recover the detected channel part, the estimation accuracy is low under low SNR regions. To tackle this problem, in this paper, inspired by the classic Support Detection (SD) channel estimation scheme in narrowband, we propose an efficient Wideband Support Detection Sparse Bayesian Learning (WSDSBL) channel estimation scheme. For every subcarrier, we first detect the support of the wideband beamspace channel of the subcarrier, then we use the Sparse Bayesian Learning (SBL) scheme to recover it. Simulation results show that the proposed WSDSBL channel estimation algorithm is better than conventional wideband channel estimation schemes in MSE performance and achievable sum-rate performance, especially in low SNR regions.
Long Short Term Memory Network-based Interference Recognition for Industrial Internet of Things
Authors:   School of Engineering and Technology, ICT Department, Telecommunications, Asian Institute of Technology, Pathum Thani, Thailand, Promsuk Natthanan , Taparugssanagorn Attaphongse
Published: December 2020

Nowadays, the rapid growth of wireless Internet of things (IoT) devices is one of the significant factors leading smart systems in various sectors, such as healthcare, education, and agriculture. This is, of course, not limited to the industrial sector, where the IoT concept is applied for real time monitoring and control of devices instead of human beings. Co-channel interferences occurs when two or more devices are using the same channel. It causes unnecessary contention as the devices will be forced to defer transmissions until the medium is clear causing a loss of throughput. Adjacent channel interference is even more serious and occurs when the devices are on overlapping channels causing corrupted data, which makes indispensable retransmissions. The more devices are added to an environment, the higher the likelihood of interference problem is. Due to a huge number of IoT devices, the interference issue becomes very serious. In this paper, a long short-term memory network-based interference recognition (LSTM-IR) is proposed. This method is integrated into the industrial IoT (IIoT) network in factory environments to mitigate the effect of interferences. The comparative results are done among three interference suppression techniques (IST) including the traditional minimum mean square error (MMSE) approach, the multi-layer perceptron (MLP), and the proposed LSTM-IR. Since the type of transmitting and receiving data is usually a sequencing data type. Therefore, the proposed method with the input data from a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm provides better performances because it is based on an LSTM which is suitable for the sequences of data. The number of the devices in the factory is obviously the key factor because the smaller number of active devices causes less interferences.
Analytical Modeling of Radio Network Performance for 5G (Non-Standalone) and It’s Network Connectivity
Authors:   Department of Electronic Engineering, Howard College, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban - 4041, South Africa., Udoh Sylvester J. , Srivastava Viranjay M.
Published: December 2020

The traffic demand and prediction for the next decade would be mostly affiliated with the Internet of Things (IoT). Various challenges with mobile communication industry will be faced as the demand in high capacity, multi mobile devices (users) connected to the network, uplink power consumption on User Equipment (UE), and its effect on the life span of mobile phone. The major features of 5G as per user experience on the network are Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), Internet of Things (IoT), sustaining high rate Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), and connection density Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC). This research work focuses on Non-Standalone (NSA) 5G New Radio (NR) early deployment on eMBB for achieving the required throughput. The 5G performance requirement is higher than 4G, which includes the capacity to support user experience downlink throughput with target value of 1 Gbps, millisecond-level of end-to-end latency, and high connection density of 1 million per square kilometer. Optimization is a vast topic, and this paper discusses the problems faced by users latching on 5G NSA network on the downlink and 4G Network on the uplink and suggests its solution.
An Optimal Energy Efficiency of a Two-tier Network in Control-Data Separation Architecture
Authors:   Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield S1 4ET, United Kingdom, Baidowi Zaid Mujaiyid Putra Bin Ahmad , Chu Xiaoli
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we propose to maximize the Energy Efficiency (EE) of a two-tier network by jointly optimizing the number of active small cell base stations (SBSs) and the user-cell association. We apply the concept of signaling and data separation where a macro cell base station (MBS) provides full coverage while the SBSs provide high data transmission. First, we model the spatial distributions of the SBSs and mobile users following two independent Poisson Point Processes (PPP) and derive the expressions for the Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR), user cell associations, power consumption and energy efficiency of the Heterogeneous Network (HetNet). Then, we formulate the EE maximization problem and solve it by proposing the Switching off Decision and User Association (SODUA) algorithm. The algorithm associates a mobile user to an SBS that offers the highest SIR and calculates the load of each SBS. The algorithm, then, decides to switch off the SBSs that have fewer mobile users than a threshold value, where the mobile users will be offloaded to a nearby SBS that offers the highest SIR. Finally, we calculate the EE of the HetNet. We compare the EE achieved by the proposed algorithm (i.e. after offloading) and that "without offloading". The results show that the proposed algorithm improves the EE of the HetNet and that the EE cannot be further improved by switching off more SBSs than a certain number.
Effects of Varying LTE Link Budget Parameters on MAPL and Cell Range
Authors:   Directorate General of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education, Iraq, Al-Hilfi Haider Mohammed Turki , Daghal Asaad S.
Published: December 2020

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) planning is considered as one of the most important processes in the process of establishment mobile network. The planning process includes coverage planning and capacity planning. There are many parameters, which affect the network coverage planning, such as neighbor cell load, frequency range, bandwidth, e.t.c. By tuning these parameters, the network will provide the best performance from the view of coverage and capacity requirements. In this paper, the effect of changing different parameters on the maximum allowable path loss (MAPL) and cell range is presented. The results show that the cell limit increases when the network operates on 700 MHz range and on 20 MHz BW. Furthermore, it is shown that the load of neighbor eNB has a large effect on MAPL. Finally, it shows that there is a large difference between the cell limit in different clutter type.
Link Discovery Attacks in Software-Defined Networks: Topology Poisoning and Impact Analysis
Authors:   Department of Computer Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA, Baidya Sonali Sen , Hewett Rattikorn
Published: December 2020

Software Defined Networking (SDN) has become a popular technology that offers advantages of programmable and flexible network management over the legacy practice. The centralized SDN controller is an important enabler of these benefits. One of the most crucial tasks of the SDN controller is link discovery as it provides topology of the network essential for the controller to direct or create rule forwarding and routing mechanisms. Much research on SDN security has been studied but only recently that security of OpenFlow link discovery protocols and topology poisoning have been addressed. Existing work includes link fabrication attacks via compromised hosts and defense systems with authentication. This paper discusses SDN link discovery process and its vulnerability to link discovery attacks including new attacks via compromised switches. We present a simple but effective defense mechanism using active ports that can detect both host-based and switch-based link discovery attacks. Finally, the paper presents an analytical and empirical analysis of the impacts of topology attacks on routing. The paper discusses attack details, proposed methods and results of these analyses.
A Countermeasure against Smart Jamming Attacks on LTE Synchronization Signals
Authors:   Wireless Communication Research Laboratory (WCRL), Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul and 34469, Turkey, Eygi Mert , Kurt Gunes Karabulut
Published: December 2020

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is one of the most frequently used wireless communication technology. As every wireless network, LTE is vulnerable to physical layer (PHY) jamming attacks due to the broadcast nature of channels. Since the jammer attacks are getting smarter and energy efficient, they can target a specific region or physical channel instead of entire band. Targeting the physical LTE downlink Synchronization Signals (SS) could be the most dangerous objective. In this paper, we investigate LTE PHY jamming attack against only primary and secondary synchronization signals. Jammer detection is performed by using Neyman-Pearson theorem. Then, a countermeasure method is proposed. Simulation results show that the proposed countermeasure can achieve lower pollution and better correct cell id performances during smart jamming attack against SS.
LTE-V2X System Performance Based on Urban-Low Speed Environment
Authors:   Centre of Advanced Electronic and Communication Engineering (PAKET), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 UKM Bangi Selangor, Malaysia, Burhan Bara B. , Ismail Mahamod , Altahrawi Mohammed A. , Alrubaee Saif H.
Published: December 2020

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) is an important field of study nowadays. VANETs attracts attention of vehicles communication researcher due to its potential to improve vehicle road safety, enhance traffic and travel efficiency, and provide convenience and comfort for passengers and drivers. Due to the fact that modern life, especially when travelling in vehicles, is in need for high throughput, this paper investigates the Block Error Rate (BLER) and throughput performance of vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) communication between LTE node and vehicles in urban-low environment using two different stochastic channel model used urban-low areas because urban-low speed areas is the common road situation for a large number of users require connection with LTE node. Vehicle-to-Infrastructure - Urban (V2I-U) is used in urban areas and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure – Urban Small intersection (V2I-US) channel model, used as a reference model, has the largest maximum excess delay near to the 3GPP Extended Vehicular A (EVA) channel model. The performed simulation is done at low speed, 40 km/h in 10 MHz bandwidth for the 2.6 GHz carrier frequency. Results show that V2I-U meets the highest value in the throughput that reaches 20 Mbps as those obtained from the EVA one without huge effect on the BLER. This result can be attributed to the fact of using Line-of-Sight (LoS) which leads to less dispersion of the frequency and less doppler frequency shift.
Effect of Polarization on the Performance of Adaptive Antenna Arrays
Authors:   Australian College of Kuwait, Kuwait, Ka’bi Amin H. Al
Published: December 2020

The polarized electromagnetic waves impinging on adaptive antenna arrays have significant impact on their performance. In this paper we investigate the effect of polarized desired and undesired signals on the performance of electronically steered beam adaptive antenna arrays in terms of their output SINR’s (Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratios). To achieve this goal, we compare the performances of adaptive antenna arrays composed of single dipole antenna elements with those composed of cross-dipole antenna elements to illustrate the effect of polarized signals on their performance. Based on the experimental and simulation results, it will be shown that the adaptive antenna arrays using cross-dipole antennas provide better performance compared to those using single-dipoles, in presence of randomly polarized signals. However, if the desired signal polarization is well known, single-dipole antenna arrays exhibit better performance.
Measuring the Effectiveness of a Radio-Identification System
Authors:   Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, 01061, Ukraine, Bichkov Oleksi S. , Nakonechnyi Volodymyr S. , Lukova-Chuiko Nataliia V. , Zhebka Viktoriia V. , Panayotova Galina S. , Dimitrov Dimitar A.
Published: December 2020

Conducted measurements of qualitative informative features for object recognition determined the most effective methods for measuring them. For this purpose, it is proposed to use the method of digital spectral analysis “thermal noise”, which will provide a significant increase in resolution and measurement accuracy of object characteristics. Experimental studies have shown that to increase the likelihood of correct identification of objects by existing radio-technical identification systems, it is necessary to measure the highly informative characteristics of objects - their radar long-range portraits. Measurement of such portraits is proposed to carry out through the use of broadband and especially ultra-wideband signals, with high stability of the complex frequency characteristics of the receiving and transmitting paths of radar stations. In particular, the proposed structure of the construction of an experimental measuring complex and the principle of its operation for measuring radar distance portraits of identification objects.
Decreasing Traffic Congestion in VANETs Using an Improved Hybrid Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm
Authors:   Dept. Computer Systems Engineering of Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa, Khoza Elias , Tu Chunling , Owolawi Pius A.
Published: December 2020

Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) is a definitive form of mobile ad-hoc network (MANET), which delivers data communication in a vehicular environment, using wireless transmission. Its fundamental goal is to increase the service quality of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), such as road safety, logistics, and environmental kindliness, as well as information interchange. Smart cities are encountering problematic traffic congestion, particularly in developing countries. This paper presents an Improved Hybrid Ant Colony Optimization (IHACO) algorithm for decreasing congestion in smart cities. The objective of the proposed scheme is to choose a best routing path during rush hours by providing an optimal path. The scheme also introduces the IHACO algorithm to improve QoS for ITS. This algorithm (IHACO) differs from other algorithms, such as particle swarm optimization (PSO), in terms of pheromone update processes, which makes it more efficient. Also, the ant colony hybrid routing protocol (ACOHRP) protocol is introduced to improve the service quality of intelligent traffic systems (ITS). It delivers superlative efficiency through a better origination of packet delivery ratio, throughput, and end-to-end delay. Simulation-based testing is performed using Matlab simulation. It was found that traffic congestion time decreased gradually when using IHACO, unlike with other algorithms. The computed results demonstrated that the IHACO algorithm offers improved performance in terms of reliability, period, distance, and throughput, compared with different algorithms presented in this paper.
LTE Capacity Estimation with Changing Different Planning Parameters
Authors:   Directorate General of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education, Iraq, Al-Hilfi Haider Mohammed Turki , Abbas Muthanna Jaafar
Published: December 2020

Capacity improvement is the essential advantages in 4th generation mobile systems which called Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The maximum data transmission rate of LTE cell is 100 Mb/s in downlink direction and 50Mb/s in uplink, and this rate can be enhanced with deploying different techniques like MIMO, carrier aggregation, and many others. Because of that 4G-LTE mobile network is considered pure packet switching, there are many parameters which affect the maximum cell capacity. This study will evaluate the result of changing many parameters on the maximum mobile cell capacity. The aim is to extract the best values of the different parameters to maximize LTE mobile cell capacity.
Analysis of Pulse Modulation in LC Based Typical Indoor Environment
Authors:   Dept. Electronic Engineering, Korea Polytechnic University, 237 Sangidaehak-ro, Siheung-si, 15073, Korea, Kim Jeong Gon , Yu Ho Kyung
Published: December 2020

The 4th industrial revolution is affecting to medical and other industry. Recently, secure and reliable communication are required in medical or factory data transmission since ISM band is used and it occurs a lot of EMI Problems in existing RF communication. We use LC (Light Communication) to solve this problem in typical wireless environment. We use LED on the ceiling as the transmitter and PD in mobile device as the receiver for that. In this paper, we consider single carrier modulation for the connection between server and patients. We can also extend to Multi carrier Modulation such as DCO-OFDM for the high rate support. Based on the CIR model of the hospital or factory environment, the simulation is performed using OOK, 4-PAM, and 8-PAM to obtain link level performance. BER and the throughput are analyzed and compared in order to evaluate the potential use of VLC to the hospital ward or factory wirelss. It is shown that OOK can be applied to more secure cases and 8PAM can be better in considering the tradeoff between BER and throughput when the same transmitting power is used for that.
La religión civil en la teoría de Baruch Spinoza.
Authors: Wagner Moll Alberto
Published: December 2020

El siguiente trabajo busca sacar a la luz cuál es la noción de religión que vertebra la obra de Spinoza, para así encontrar su función dentro de la sociedad y en relación con el Estado. Para ello se analiza pormenorizadamente el Tratado teológico-político, desde el análisis histórico de la Biblia hasta su interpretación de la relación entre Estado y religión, y se usan otros textos como soporte, principalmente la Ética.
Viaje místico hacia lo Uno. Estudio comparativo sobre sufismo y romanticismo a través de las obras de Ibn Arabi y Novalis.
Authors: Martín Navarro Alejandro
Published: December 2020

El presente artículo constituye un estudio comparativo de la obra de Ibn Arabi y de Novalis como paradigmas del sufismo y del romanticismo, respectivamente. Desde el punto de vista de la historia de las ideas, ambos sistemas hunden sus raíces en el esoterismo místico de raigambre neoplatónica; desde el punto de vista comparativo, ambos recogen las ideas y problemas fundamentales de dicha tradición: afirmación metafísica de lo Uno, vía no racional de conocimiento y representación del viaje místico, preeminencia del lenguaje poético, centralidad ontológica y cognoscitiva del amor, recuperación de lo escatológico.
O metodzie badawczej zapożyczonej z psychologii, czyli jak zaprojektować i przeprowadzić badanie za pomocą metody protokołów retrospektywnych w tłumaczeniu symultanicznym
Authors: Gumul Ewa
Published: December 2020

The Method of Retrospective Protocols in Translation and Interpreting Studies

The aim of the article is to discuss the stages of research conducted adopting the method of retrospective protocols in simultaneous interpreting research. The discussion is based on the author’s own research. The presentation begins with possible research designs usually involving triangulation with other methods. The author also discusses the problem of participants selection, instructions and training provided before the task, the choice of cuing stimuli, and finally transcription and coding conventions.
‘We're in it together’
Authors: Hart Karen
Published: December 2020

Emily Francis is an early years leader at Lessness Heath Primary School in Belvedere, Kent. Karen Hart finds out about her outstanding practice and how her setting achieved an award for the quality of its ‘dedicated’ early years learning environment.
On a forest path
Authors: Rawstrone Annette
Published: December 2020

Along with the many benefits gained from being outdoors, forest school promotes children's holistic development with the aim of nurturing resilient, independent and creative learners. Annette Rawstrone describes its learning possibilities.
For the chop
Authors: Hart Karen
Published: December 2020

Karen Hart kicks off a series linking cooking to language skills and other areas of development. These activities unleash children's creativity while giving them the confidence to experiment with new vocabulary.
Más allá del currículum. ¿Qué papel juegan las actividades no curriculares sobre el engagement del alumnado?
Authors: Valls Casas Ona , Palou Arnau , Merino Pareja Rafael
Published: December 2020

INTRODUCCIÓN. El presente artículo analiza el papel que juegan las actividades no curriculares en el engagement escolar de jóvenes con distintos perfiles sociodemográficos teniendo en cuenta el papel de los centros escolares. MÉTODO. Se ha utilizado un modelo de análisis lineal jerárquico para medir las diferencias entre centros, controlando las características individuales del alumnado a partir de los datos de una encuesta realizada a 2056 estudiantes que cursaban 4º de ESO en 27 centros de la ciudad de (anonimizado). En el análisis se examinan cuatro modelos: primero se introducen las variables sociodemográficas, posteriormente las actividades no curriculares que realizan los y las jóvenes tanto dentro como fuera del centro, a continuación, se incluyen variables de centro y, finalmente, se introduce en el nivel de centro la variable del nivel de participación en actividades no curriculares dentro del centro. RESULTADOS. Los resultados muestran como las actividades no curriculares actúan como mediadoras del nivel formativo familiar a la hora de explicar el engagement emocional y cognitivo -no el de conducta-, y el sexo y el origen se mantienen como influyentes. Finalmente, el nivel de participación que hay dentro de los centros aparece como significativa únicamente para el engagement de conducta, mediando el efecto de la complejidad y la comprensividad del centro. DISCUSIÓN. A partir de los resultados obtenidos es posible profundizar en el debate sobre la importancia de las actividades no curriculares para el engagement escolar de los y las jóvenes, además del papel que tienen los centros a la hora de promover la vinculación escolar de su alumnado.