bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ferry Node Identification Model for the Security of Mobile Ad Hoc Network
Authors: Wang Zhifei , Xu Gang , Zhang Na , Qi Zhihan , Wei Fengqi , He Liqiang
Published: January 2021

An opportunistic network is a special type of wireless mobile ad hoc network that does not require any infrastructure, does not have stable links between nodes, and relies on node encounters to complete data forwarding. The unbalanced energy consumption of ferry nodes in an opportunistic network leads to a sharp decline in network performance. Therefore, identifying the ferry node group plays an important role in improving the performance of the opportunistic network and extending its life. Existing research studies have been unable to accurately identify ferry node clusters in opportunistic networks. In order to solve this problem, the concepts of k-core and structural holes have been combined, and a new evaluation indicator, namely, ferry importance rank, has been proposed in this study for analyzing the dynamic importance of nodes in a network. Based on this, a ferry cluster identification model has been designed for accurately identifying the ferry node clusters. The results of the simulations conducted for verifying the performance of the proposed model show that the accuracy of the model to identify the ferry node clusters is 100%.
Effects of Haima Duobian Pill in a Rat Model of Kidney Yang Deficiency Syndrome
Authors: Zeng Yijia , Li Tingna , Zhang Xiaorui , Ren Yuanyuan , Huang Qinwan , Wang Jin , Yuan Li , Geng Funeng
Published: January 2021

Objective. Modern research shows that Haima Duobian pill (HDP) can relieve the kidney yang deficiency syndrome (KYDS), but the mechanism is still unclear. The aim of this work was to study the effects of HDP in a rat model of KYDS. Materials and Methods. The network pharmacology methods were used to predict the therapeutic effects of Haima Duobian pill. Adenine was used to establish the rat model of kidney yang deficiency syndrome. The general physical signs of rats were observed after different doses of Haima Duobian pill (HDP) were given. Serum cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone (T), estradiol (E2), and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) levels were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits. Then, the histopathologic changes and sperm activity were detected. Results. HDP could improve the general signs of kidney yang deficiency syndrome rats. After the rats were treated with HDP, the expression of cGMP and E2 was significantly inhibited and the expression of cAMP and T was significantly increased. The pathological damage of testis, epididymis, and seminal vesicle was alleviated, and the sperm activity was improved. Conclusion. For adenine-induced kidney yang deficiency syndrome in rats, HDP had a significant therapeutic effect.
Correlation between Serum Bone Turnover Markers and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate in Chinese Patients with Diabetes
Authors: Zhu Xuming , Zhou Ying , Hong Shanchao , Xue Yifeng , Cui Yubao
Published: January 2021

Objective. Diabetes is a growing global public health concern with many significant disease complications. Multiple studies show that bone turnover markers (BTMs) are decreased in diabetes patients, indicating impaired bone metabolism in diabetes patients. A recent study also showed that in diabetes patients, BTMs are correlated with urine albumin to creatinine ratio, an indicator of nephropathy. However, whether BTMs are correlated with estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) in diabetes remains unknown. This retrospective study accessed correlations between serum BTMs and eGFR in Chinese patients with diabetes and compare levels of BTMs and eGFR between diabetic patients and healthy individuals. Methods. This study analyzed data from 221 diabetic patients (include type1 and type 2 diabetes) and 155 healthy individuals. Serum BTM levels and eGFR were compared between diabetic patients and healthy individuals. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess correlations between BTMs and eGFR. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for gender and age was performed to measure odd ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) of BTMs on diabetes. Results. Patients with diabetes had significant lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels (

15.07
±
6.20
 
ng
/
mL

) than healthy group (

17.89
±
6.41
 
ng
/
mL

) (

P
<
0.05

). For patients with diabetes, eGFR was negatively correlated with osteocalcin (OC) (

r
=
−
0.434

,

P
<
0.05

), procollagen type 1 intact N-terminal propeptide (P1NP) (

r
=
−
0.350

,

P
<
0.05

), and β-carboxy-terminal cross-linking telopeptide of type I collagen (β-CTX) (

r
=
−
0.179

,

P
<
0.05

) levels. For healthy people, eGFR was negatively correlated with 25(OH)D (

r
=
−
0.290

,

P
<
0.05

) levels. Multiple logistic regression analysis adjusted for age and gender (mean age of diabetes was 64.9 years and the percentage of female was 66.9%, mean age of healthy people was 48.4 years and the percentage of female was 37.4%) showed that 25(OH)D (

OR
=
0.909

,

95
%
CI
=
0.862
−
0.959

,

P
<
0.05

) was protective factors for diabetes. Conclusions. In the stage of diabetic nephropathy, bone turnover may accelerate. It is important to detect BTMs in the stage of diabetic nephropathy.
Associations between Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Polymorphisms and Different Types of Diabetic Retinopathy Susceptibility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Hu Liming , Gong Chunmei , Chen Xiaoping , Zhou Honghao , Yan Junxia , Hong Wenxu
Published: January 2021

Background. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene polymorphisms have been shown to be associated with the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR), but the results were inconsistent. The aim of this study was to systematically assess the associations between VEGF gene polymorphisms and different types of DR (nonproliferative DR and proliferative DR). Methods. Electronic databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, and WANFANG DATA were searched for articles on the associations between VEGF gene polymorphisms and different types of DR up to November 6, 2019. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated, and subgroup analyses were conducted by ethnicity. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the stability of the results. Publication bias was assessed by using the Egger regression asymmetry test and visualization of funnel plots. A systematic review was conducted for polymorphisms with a high degree of heterogeneity (I2>75%) or studied in only one study. Results. A total of 13 and 18 studies analyzed the associations between VEGF SNPs and nonproliferative DR (NPDR) as well as proliferative DR (PDR), respectively. There were significant associations between rs2010963 and NPDR in Asian (dominant model:OR=1.29,95%CI=1.04−1.60); and rs2010963 is associated with PDR in total population (dominant model:OR=1.20,95%CI=1.03−1.41), either Asian (recessive model:OR=1.57,95%CI=1.04−2.35) or Caucasian (recessive model:OR=1.83,95%CI=1.28−2.63). Rs833061 is associated with PDR in Asian (recessive model:OR=1.58,95%CI=1.11−2.26). Rs699947 is associated with NPDR in the total population (dominant model:OR=2.04,95%CI=1.30−3.21) and associated with PDR in Asian (dominant model:OR=1.72,95%CI=1.05−2.84). Conclusions. Rs2010963, rs833061, and rs699947 are associated with NPDR or PDR, which may be involved in the occurrence and development of DR.
An External Validation Study of the Oakland and Glasgow-Blatchford Scores for Predicting Adverse Outcomes of Acute Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding in an Asian Population
Authors: Quach Duc Trong , Vo Uyen Pham-Phuong , Nguyen Nguyet Thi-My , Le Ly Thi-Kim , Vo Minh-Cong Hong , Ho Phat Tan , Nguyen Tran Ngoc , Bo Phuong Kim , Nguyen Nam Hoai , Vu Khanh Truong , Van Dang Manh , Dinh Minh Cao , Nguyen Thai Quang , Van Nguyen Xung , Le Suong Thi-Ngoc , Tran Chi Pham
Published: January 2021

Aims. This study is aimed at (1) validating the performance of Oakland and Glasgow-Blatchford (GBS) scores and (2) comparing these scores with the SALGIB score in predicting adverse outcomes of acute lower gastrointestinal bleeding (ALGIB) in a Vietnamese population. Methods. A multicenter cohort study was conducted on ALGIB patients admitted to seven hospitals across Vietnam. The adverse outcomes of ALGIB consisted of blood transfusion; endoscopic, radiologic, or surgical interventions; severe bleeding; and in-hospital death. The Oakland and GBS scores were calculated, and their performance was compared with that of SALGIB, a locally developed prediction score for adverse outcomes of ALGIB in Vietnamese, based on the data at admission. The accuracy of these scores was measured using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and compared by the chi-squared test. Results. There were 414 patients with a median age of 60 (48–71). The rates of blood transfusion, hemostatic intervention, severe bleeding, and in-hospital death were 26.8%, 15.2%, 16.4, and 1.4%, respectively. The SALGIB score had comparable performance with the Oakland score (AUC: 0.81 and 0.81, respectively;

p
=
0.631

) and outperformed the GBS score (AUC: 0.81 and 0.76, respectively;

p
=
0.002

) for predicting the presence of any adverse outcomes of ALGIB. All of the three scores had acceptable and comparable performance for in-hospital death but poor performance for hemostatic intervention. The Oakland score had the best performance for predicting severe bleeding. Conclusions. The Oakland and SALGIB scores had excellent and comparable performance and outperformed the GBS score for predicting adverse outcomes of ALGIB in Vietnamese.
Newly Identified Members of FGFR1 Splice Variants Engage in Cross-talk with AXL/AKT Axis in Salivary Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma
Authors: Humtsoe Joseph O. , Kim Hyun-Su , Leonard Brandon , Ling Shizhang , Keam Bhumsuk , Marchionni Luigi , Afsari Bahman , Considine Michael , Favorov Alexander V. , Fertig Elana J. , Kang Hyunseok , Ha Patrick K.
Published: January 2021

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) is the second most common malignancy of the salivary gland. Although characterized as an indolent tumor, ACC often leads to incurable metastatic disease. Patients with ACC respond poorly to currently available therapeutic drugs and factors contributing to the limited response remain unknown. Determining the role of molecular alterations frequently occurring in ACC may clarify ACC tumorigenesis and advance the development of effective treatment strategies. Applying Splice Expression Variant Analysis and outlier statistics on RNA sequencing of primary ACC tumors and matched normal salivary gland tissues, we identified multiple alternative splicing events (ASE) of genes specific to ACC. In ACC cells and patient-derived xenografts, FGFR1 was a uniquely expressed ASE. Detailed PCR analysis identified three novel, truncated, intracellular domain-lacking FGFR1 variants (FGFR1v). Cloning and expression analysis suggest that the three FGFR1v are cell surface proteins, that expression of FGFR1v augmented pAKT activity, and that cells became more resistant to pharmacologic FGFR1 inhibitor. FGFR1v-induced AKT activation was associated with AXL function, and inhibition of AXL activity in FGFR1v knockdown cells led to enhanced cytotoxicity in ACC. Moreover, cell killing effect was increased by dual inhibition of AXL and FGFR1 in ACC cells. This study demonstrates that these previously undescribed FGFR1v cooperate with AXL and desensitize cells to FGFR1 inhibitor, which supports further investigation into combined FGFR1 and AXL inhibition as an effective ACC therapy.

This study identifies several FGFR1 variants that function through the AXL/AKT signaling pathway independent of FGF/FGFR1, desensitizing cells to FGFR1 inhibitor suggestive of a potential resistance mechanism in ACC.

Significance:

This study identifies several FGFR1 variants that function through the AXL/AKT signaling pathway independent of FGF/FGFR1, desensitizing cells to FGFR1 inhibitor, suggestive of a potential resistance mechanism in ACC.
A Spatial and Functional Interaction of a Heterotetramer Survivin–DNA-PKcs Complex in DNA Damage Response
Authors: Güllülü Ömer , Hehlgans Stephanie , Mayer Benjamin E. , Gößner Ines , Petraki Chrysi , Hoffmann Melanie , Dombrowsky Maximilian J. , Kunzmann Patrick , Hamacher Kay , Strebhardt Klaus , Fokas Emmanouil , Rödel Claus , Münch Christian , Rödel Franz
Published: January 2021

Substantial evidence has shown that overexpression of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) survivin in human tumors correlates significantly with treatment resistance and poor patient prognosis. Survivin serves as a radiation resistance factor that impacts the DNA damage response by interacting with DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PKcs). However, the complexity, molecular determinants, and functional consequences of this interrelationship remain largely unknown. By applying coimmunoprecipitation and flow cytometry-based Förster resonance energy transfer assays, we demonstrated a direct involvement of the survivin baculovirus IAP repeat domain in the regulation of radiation survival and DNA repair. This survivin-mediated activity required an interaction of residues S20 and W67 with the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) domain of DNA-PKcs. In silico molecular docking and dynamics simulation analyses, in vitro kinase assays, and large-scale mass spectrometry suggested a heterotetrameric survivin–DNA-PKcs complex that results in a conformational change within the DNA-PKcs PI3K domain. Overexpression of survivin resulted in enhanced PI3K enzymatic activity and detection of differentially abundant phosphopeptides and proteins implicated in the DNA damage response. The survivin–DNA-PKcs interaction altered the S/T-hydrophobic motif substrate specificity of DNA-PKcs with a predominant usage of S/T-P phosphorylation sites and an increase of DNA-PKcs substrates including Foxo3. These data demonstrate that survivin differentially regulates DNA-PKcs-dependent radiation survival and DNA double-strand break repair via formation of a survivin–DNA-PKcs heterotetrameric complex.

Significance:

These findings provide insight into survivin-mediated regulation of DNA-PKcs kinase and broaden our knowledge of the impact of survivin in modulating the cellular radiation response.

See related commentary by Iliakis, p. 2270
Topical Treatment of Psoriasis Vulgaris: The Swiss Treatment Pathway
Authors: Maul Julia-Tatjana , Anzengruber Florian , Conrad Curdin , Cozzio Antonio , Häusermann Peter , Jalili Ahmad , Kolios Antonios G.A. , Laffitte Emmanuel , Lapointe Anne-Karine , Mainetti Carlo , Schlapbach Christoph , Trüeb Ralph , Yawalkar Nikhil , Dippel Michaela , Navarini Alexander A.
Published: January 2021

Topical treatment is crucial for the successful management of plaque psoriasis. Topicals are used either as a stand-alone therapy for mild psoriasis or else in combination with UV or systemic treatment for moderate-to-severe disease. For the choice of a suitable topical treatment, the formulation matters and not just the active substances. This expert opinion paper was developed via a non-structured consensus process by Swiss dermatologists in hospitals and private practices to illustrate the current treatment options to general practitioners and dermatologists in Switzerland. Defining treatment goals together with the patient is crucial and increases treatment adherence. Patients’ personal preferences and pre-existing experiences should be considered and their satisfaction with treatment and outcome regularly assessed. During the induction phase of “classical” mild-to-moderate psoriasis, the fixed combination of topical calcipotriol (Cal) 50 μg/g and betamethasone dipropionate (BD) 0.5 mg/g once daily is frequently used for 4–8 weeks. During the maintenance phase, a twice weekly (proactive) management has proved to reduce the risk of relapse. Of the fixed combinations, Cal/BD aerosol foam is the most effective formulation. However, the individual choice of formulation should be based on a patient’s preference and the location of the psoriatic plaques. Tailored recommendations are given for the topical management of specific areas (scalp, facial, intertriginous/genital, or palmoplantar lesions), certain symptoms (hyperkeratotic or hyperinflammatory forms) as well as during pregnancy or a period of breastfeeding. As concomitant basic therapy, several emollients are recommended. If topical treatment alone does not appear to be sufficient, the regimen should be escalated according to the Swiss S1-guideline for the systemic treatment of psoriasis.
A multilayer perceptron artificial neural network approach for improving the accuracy of intrusion detection systems
Authors: Jassam Mohammed Abdulrahman , Hameed Arif Muhanad , Adil Ali Ali
Published: January 2021

Massive information has been transmitted through complicated network connections around the world. Thus, providing a protected information system has fully consideration of many private and governmental institutes to prevent the attackers. The attackers block the users to access a particular network service by sending a large amount of fake traffics. Therefore, this article demonstrates two-classification models for accurate intrusion detection system (IDS). The first model develops the artificial neural network (ANN) of multilayer perceptron (MLP) with one hidden layer (MLP1) based on distributed denial of service (DDoS). The MLP1 has 38 input nodes, 11 hidden nodes, and 5 output nodes. The training of the MLP1 model is implemented with NSL-KDD dataset that has 38 features and five types of requests. The MLP1 achieves detection accuracy of 95.6%. The second model MLP2 has two hidden layers. The improved MLP2 model with the same setup achieves an accuracy of 2.2% higher than the MLP1 model. The study shows that the MLP2 model provides high classification accuracy of different request types.
Machine learning for plant disease detection: an investigative comparison between support vector machine and deep learning
Authors: Abdu Aliyu Muhammad , Mokji Musa Mohd Muhammad , Sheikh Usman Ullah Ullah
Published: January 2021

Image-based plant disease detection is among the essential activities in precision agriculture for observing incidence and measuring the severity of variability in crops. 70% to 80% of the variabilities are attributed to diseases caused by pathogens, and 60% to 70% appear on the leaves in comparison to the stem and fruits. This work provides a comparative analysis through the model implementation of the two renowned machine learning models, the support vector machine (SVM) and deep learning (DL), for plant disease detection using leaf image data. Until recently, most of these image processing techniques had been, and some still are, exploiting what some considered as "shallow" machine learning architectures. The DL network is fast becoming the benchmark for research in the field of image recognition and pattern analysis. Regardless, there is a lack of studies concerning its application in plant leaves disease detection. Thus, both models have been implemented in this research on a large plant leaf disease image dataset using standard settings and in consideration of the three crucial factors of architecture, computational power, and amount of training data to compare the duos. Results obtained indicated scenarios by which each model best performs in this context, and within a particular domain of factors suggests improvements and which model would be more preferred. It is also envisaged that this research would provide meaningful insight into the critical current and future role of machine learning in food security
An application of machine learning on corporate tax avoidance detection model
Authors: Abdul Rahman Rahayu , Masrom Suraya , Omar Normah , Zakaria Maheran
Published: January 2021

Corporate tax avoidance reduces government revenues which could limit country development plans. Thus, the main objectives of this study is to establish a rigorous and effective model to detect corporate tax avoidance to assist government to prevent such practice. This paper presents the fundamental knowledge on the design and implementation of machine learning model based on five selected algorithms tested on the real dataset of 3,365 Malaysian companies listed on bursa Malaysia from 2005 to 2015. The performance of each machine learning algorithms on the tested dataset has been observed based on two approaches of training. The accuracy score for each algorithm is better with the cross-validation training approach. Additionationally, with the cross-validation training approach, the performances of each machine learning algorithm were tested on different group of features selection namely industry, governance, year and firm characteristics. The findings indicated that the machine learning models present better reliability with industry, governance and firm characteristics features rather than single year determinant mainly with the Random Forest and Logistic Regression algorithms.
Development of an IoT-based and cloud-based disease prediction and diagnosis system for healthcare using machine learning algorithms
Authors: Abdali-Mohammadi Fardin , N. Meqdad Maytham , Kadry Seifedine
Published: January 2021

Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the practice of designing and modeling objects connected to the Internet through computer networks. In the past few years, IoT-based health care programs have provided multidimensional features and services in real time. These programs provide hospitalization for millions of people to receive regular health updates for a healthier life. Induction of IoT devices in the healthcare environment have revitalized multiple features of these applications. In this paper, a disease diagnosis system is designed based on the Internet of Things. In this system, first, the patient's courtesy signals are recorded by wearable sensors. These signals are then transmitted to a server in the network environment. This article also presents a new hybrid decision making approach for diagnosis. In this method, a feature set of patient signals is initially created. Then these features go unnoticed on the basis of a learning model. A diagnosis is then performed using a neural fuzzy model. In order to evaluate this system, a specific diagnosis of a specific disease, such as a diagnosis of a patient's normal and unnatural pulse, or the diagnosis of diabetic problems, will be simulated.
Smart hand gestures recognition using K-NN based algorithm for video annotation purposes
Authors: Alksasbeh Malek Zakarya , AL-Omari Ahmad H , Alqaralleh Bassam A. Y. , Abukhalil Tamer , Abukarki Anas , Alshalabi Ibrahim Alkore , Alkaseasbeh Amal
Published: January 2021

Sign languages are the most basic and natural form of languages which were used even before the evolution of spoken languages. These sign languages were developed using various sign "gestures" that are made using hand palm. Such gestures are called "hand gestures". Hand gestures are being widely used as an international assistive communication method for deaf people and many life aspects such as sports, traffic control and religious acts. However, the meanings of hand gestures vary among different civilization cultures. Therefore, because of the importance of understanding the meanings of hand gestures, this study presents a procedure whichcan translate such gestures into an annotated explanation. The proposed system implements image and video processing which are recently conceived as one of the most important technologies. The system initially, analyzes a classroom video as an input, and then extracts the vocabulary of twenty gestures. Various methods have been applied sequentially, namely: motion detection, RGB to HSV conversion, and noise removing using labeling algorithms. The extraction of hand parameters is determined by a K-NN algorithm to eventually determine the hand gesture and, hence showing their meanings. To estimate the performance of the proposed method, an experiment using a hand gesture database is performed. The results showed that the suggested method has an average recognition rate of 97%. 
Conventional doped silica/fluoride glass fibers for low loss and minimum dispersion effects
Authors: M. Alatwi Aadel , Zaki Rashed Ahmed Nabih
Published: January 2021

This paper has clarified the conventional silica doped (SiGeO2) and aluminum fluoride (AlF3) fibers for low loss and minimum dispersion effects for upgrading fiber-optic communication systems. The total dispersion with the total losses are modeled for both fibers. Fiber bandwidth and the power received are estimated based on different dopant ratios. The spectral and thermal effects are applied on both fibers. The study assured the negative effects of increasing ambient temperatures and the positive effects of increasing dopant ratios on the performance of the fibers. 
Significant features for steganography techniques using deoxyribonucleic acid: a review
Authors: Asaad Zebari Nichirvan , Asaad Zebari Dilovan , Qader Zeebaree Diyar , Najeeb Saeed Jwan
Published: January 2021

Information security and confidentiality are the prime concern of any type of communication. Rapidly evolution of technology recently, leads to increase the intruder’s ability and a main challenge to information security. Therefore, utilizing the non-traditional basics for information security is required, such as DNA which is focused as a new aspect to achieve better security. In this paper, a survey of more recent DNA based on data hiding algorithms are covered. With particular emphasis of different parameters several data hiding algorithms based on DNA has been reviewed. To present a more secure an efficient data hiding algorithms based on DNA for future works, this willbe helpful. 
Fractional order PID controller tuned by bat algorithm for robot trajectory control
Authors: A. Faraj Mohammad , Mohammed Abbood Abdulsalam
Published: January 2021

This paper deals with implementing the tuning process of the gains of fractional order proportional-integral-derivative (FOPID) controller designed for trajectory tracking control for two-link robotic manipulators by using a Bat algorithm. Two objective functions with weight values assigned has been utilized for achieving the minimization operation of errors in joint positions and torque outputs values of robotic manipulators. To show the effectiveness of using a Bat algorithm in tuning FOPID parameters, a comparison has been made with particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO). The validity of the proposed controllers has been examined in case of presence of disturbance and friction. The results of simulations have clearly explained the efficiency of FOPID controller tuned by Bat algorithm as compared with FOPID controller tuned by PSO algorithm. 
Investigation on the PAPR performance of odd-bit QAM constellations for DFT spread OFDM systems
Authors: M. Sana Ahmed , T. Saeed Amer , Kh. Yaseen Yaseen
Published: January 2021

Adaptive quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is a crucial scheme that enables the modern communication systems to overcome the adverse effects of channel fluctuations and maintain an acceptable spectral efficiency. In order to enhance adaptive modulation even further, adoption of odd-bit QAM constellations alongside even constellations had been suggested to improve the transmission efficiency of adaptive QAM modulation. Hence, odd-bit QAM had been extensively studied, analyzed, and tested by many researchers for various patterns, sizes, and communication systems in terms of bit error rate (BER) and peak to average power ratio (PAPR). However, the PAPR performance of odd-bit QAM constellation with single carrier transmission systems adopted in the uplink of the 4G long term evolution (LTE) standards caught almost no research interest. In this paper, the PAPR performance of both cross and rectangular odd-bit QAM constellations are investigated for DFT-S-OFDM systems. Complementary cumulative distribution functions (CCDFs) and probability density functions (PDFs) curves for PAPR are also obtained. Finally, an equation for PAPR PDF is empirically derived for odd-bit cross QAM based DFT-S-OFDM. The results show that cross odd-bit QAM outperforms the rectangular odd-bit QAM in terms of PAPR by 1.02 dB for 8-QAM and 1.3 dB for 32-QAM. This proves that cross odd-bit QAM is a better choice in terms of PAPR for DFT-S-OFDM systems. 
Dialogue state tracking accuracy improvement by distinguishing slot-value pairs and dialogue behaviour
Authors: H. Alhussayni Khaldoon , Zamyatin Alexander , Alshamery S. Eman
Published: January 2021

Dialog state tracking (DST) plays a critical role in cycle life of a task-oriented dialogue system. DST represents the goals of the consumer at each step by dialogue and describes such objectives as a conceptual structure comprising slot-value pairs and dialogue actions that specifically improve the performance and effectiveness of dialogue systems. DST faces several challenges: diversity of linguistics, dynamic social context and the dissemination of the state of dialogue over candidate values both in slot values and in dialogue acts determined in ontology. In many turns during the dialogue, users indirectly refer to the previous utterances, and that produce a challenge to distinguishing and use of related dialogue history, Recent methods used and popular for that are ineffective. In this paper, we propose a dialogue historical context self-Attention framework for DST that recognizes relevant historical context by including previous user utterance beside current user utterances and previous system actions where specific slot-value piers variations and uses that together with weighted system utterance to outperform existing models by recognizing the related context and the relevance of a system utterance. For the evaluation of the proposed model the WoZ dataset was used. The implementation was attempted with the prior user utterance as a dialogue encoder and second by the additional score combined with all the candidate slot-value pairs in the context of previous user utterances and current utterances. The proposed model obtained 0.8 per cent better results than all state-of-the-art methods in the combined precision of the target, but this is not the turnaround challenge for the submission.
Classification techniques’ performance evaluation for facial expression recognition
Authors: Mahmood Mayyadah R. , Abdulrazaq Maiwan B. , Zeebaree Subhi R. M. , Ibrahim Abbas Kh. , Zebari Rizgar Ramadhan , Dino Hivi Ismat
Published: January 2021

Facial exprestion recognition as a recently developed method in computer vision is founded upon the idea of analazing the facial changes in which are witnessed due to emotional impacts on an individual. This paper provides a performance evaluation of a set of supervised classifiers used for facial expression recognition based on minimum features selected by chi-square. These features are the most iconic and influential ones that have tangible value for result dermination. The highest ranked six features are applied on six classifiers including multi-layer preceptron, support vector machine, decision tree, random forest, radial baised function, and k-nearest neioughbor to figure out the most accurate one when the minum number of features are utilized. This is done via analyzing and appraising the classifiers’ performance. CK+ is used as the research’s dataset. Random forest with the total accuracy ratio of 94.23 % is illustrated as the most accurate classifier amongst the rest. 
A secure cloud service deployment framework for DevOps
Authors: Ravinder Rao , Sucharita V.
Published: January 2021

The advancements in cloud computing and leveraging the benefits from cloud computing to the service providers have increased the deployment of traditional applications to the cloud. The applications once deployed on the cloud, due to various reasons, need migration from development infrastructure to operational infrastructure, one operational instance to other operational instances due to load balancing and the cycle continues due to the use of DevOps as development strategies for cloud computing applications. Advocates of hybrid and public clouds observe cloud computing makes it possible for organizations to avert or minimize upfront IT infrastructure expenses.  Proponents also assert that cloud computing systems permit businesses to receive their software up and running faster, using improved manageability and less maintenance, so it empowers IT teams to rapidly adapt tools to meet the varying and unpredictable requirements. DevOps is a lot of practices that mechanizes the procedures between programming improvement and IT groups, all together that they can fabricate, test, and discharge programming quicker and even more dependably. The idea of DevOps is established on building a culture of a joint effort between groups that generally worked in relative siloes. The guaranteed advantages incorporate expanded trust, quicker programming discharges, capacity to explain basic issues rapidly and better oversee impromptu work. Thus, this work identifies the need for providing multiple security protocols during the complete life cycle of cloud application development and deployment. This work proposes a novel framework for automatic selection and deployment of the security protocols during cloud service deployments. The framework identifies the need for security aspects and selects the appropriate security algorithms for virtual machines. The proposed framework demonstrates nearly 80% improvement over the security policy deployment time. 
High speed pulse generators with electro-optic modulators based on different bit sequence for the digital fiber optic communication links
Authors: M. A. Eid Mahmoud , S. Seliem Ashraf , Zaki Rashed Ahmed Nabih , A. Mohammed Abd El-Naser , Ali Mohamed Yassin , S. Abaza Shaimaa
Published: January 2021

The paper outlines the simulation of various pulse generators for the enhancement of optical fiber access transmission networks within flow rate of 10 Gbps and transmission range of 100 km. The pulse generators are gaussian, hyperbolic secant, triangle, sine, raised cosine in the transmission stage. Proposed pulse generators are mixed with both electro-absorption modulator (EAM) and mach-zehnder modulator (MZM) for efficient transmission. We have compared the max.  the quality factor with using proposed pulse generators against nonreturn to zero (NRZ) return to zero (RZ) pulse generators in the previous research works for different bit sequences. The signal power amplitude is tested for both optical fiber and PIN photodetector optical time-domain visualizer and RF spectrum analyzer by using in the optimum cases for different bit sequence. It is observed that proposed pulse generators/EAM have presented an efficient increase in Q-factor value compared with proposed pulse generators/MZM for different bit sequences.
Semiótica discursiva e a Teoria das Assinaturas: convergências epistemológicas
Authors: Schneider Carla Andreia , Batistote Maria Luceli Faria
Published: January 2021

Nossa proposta de estudo consiste na reflexão epistemológica dedutível relacional entre a semiótica discursiva e a Teoria das Assinaturas exposta por Agamben (Signatura rerum: sobre o método, 2019), mais precisamente as relações possíveis de convergência entre a assinatura e a construção de sentido dos signos e no discurso que se revela pela linguagem. O processo de assinalação, dessa forma, envolve a inscrição de valores que se alinham com a epistemologia de Greimas. Na análise da isotopia, utilizando a análise definicional de Greimas, a assinatura se apresenta na definição lexicográfica, enquanto lexema catalisador; na definição discursiva, se mostra na reiteração de semas que corroboram a permanência de um mesmo sentido; e, por último, na definição oblíqua, que trata da seleção cultural, as escolhas culturais realizadas pelo enunciador nas suas relações com a sociedade e a história, reiteram ou procuram ressemantizá-la com modulações das intensidades de ausência e presença de valores eufóricos ou disfóricos, que não evitam a co-presença da assinatura. O corpus utilizado para o estudo compõe-se de narrativas jornalísticas que circularam na mídia em Mato Grosso do Sul, no mês de agosto de 2019, e outros enunciados em suportes diferentes de períodos anteriores, nos quais foram empregadas as mesmas figuras.
The PBY Catalina’s Offensive Utility and Its Transformation into Black Cats and MAD Cats
Authors: Cecil Patrick
Published: January 2021

By the Second World War the US Navy had slated the pby Catalina to function as its long-range patrol seaplane and considered it for a bombing role. The first months of the war, however, revealed the pby to be too antiquated and slow to be a viable offensive weapon and thus minimized its utility. Relegated to conducting patrols and rescue operations, pby crews looked to the aircraft itself and experimented with technical and operational changes in reaction to fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific and the U-boat threat in the Atlantic. With the blessing of Navy’s command structure, crews made physical adjustments, added the latest technologies, incorporated supporting armaments, and designed new operational methods on an ad hoc basis for their respective circumstances and opponent. This experimentation and innovation resulted in the enhancement of the pby’s offensive utility as an attack weapon, and its transformation into the Black Cats and mad Cats.
Taxonomic notes on Vaccinium glaucophyllum (Ericaceae): supplementary description of floral morphology and sectional reassignment (Ericaceae)

Authors: YE XUE-HE , TONG YI-HUA , YANG CHENG-HUA , DAI XIAO-YONG , XIA NIAN-HE , ZHOU HOU-GAO
Published: January 2021

The floral morphological description of Vaccinium glaucophyllum is supplemented based on newly collected flowering material. This species is reassigned to V. section Calcicolus based on its evergreen habit, dimorphic perennating buds, racemose inflorescences with large caducous bracts and pseudo-10-loculed ovary with 2–5 seeds. The information on its type, distribution and conservation status together with color photos is also provided.
Two new species of Caulobothrium (Cestoda: “Tetraphyllidea”) from the duckbill eagle ray, Aetomylaeus bovinus (Myliobatiformes: Myliobatidae), off Senegal with new insights on morphological features of the genus
Authors: CAIRA JANINE N. , JENSEN KIRSTEN
Published: January 2021

Two new species of the cestode genus Caulobothrium, collected from the duckbill eagle ray, Aetomylaeus bovinus, off Senegal, are described. Although postulated as sister taxa in an earlier molecular phylogenetic analysis, Caulobothrium multispelaeum n. sp. and Caulobothrium katzi n. sp., respectively, are among the smallest and largest members of the genus. The smaller species is unique among its congeners in possessing unusual medial longitudinal grooves along the dorsal and ventral surfaces of its strobila that develop into a tandem series of elliptical apertures on the posterior proglottids. The inner surfaces of these apertures stained positively with McManus’ periodic acid Schiff in a manner similar to that seen in members of the distantly related lecanicephalidean genus Elicilacunosus. The larger species differs from its congeners in size, number of proglottids, and arrangement of bothridial loculi. Both new species were found to possess a small apical sucker on the anterior margin of each of their bothridia. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and frontal sections of a bothridium of Caulobothrium tetrascaphium suggests that this species also bears an apical sucker. Examination of the hologenophore of the species provisionally referred to as Caulobothrium n. sp. 5 in the earlier molecular analysis indicates it is conspecific with the recently described Caulobothrium pedunculatum, which was also determined to possess bothridial apical suckers. This leads us to suspect that this feature may be found to occur in all members of the genus. SEM of specimens of Caulobothrium for the first time indicates their bothridial surfaces are covered with filitriches of various sizes but lack spinitriches; spinitriches were seen only on the cephalic peduncle of C. katzi n. sp. The geographic distribution and host associations of Caulobothrium are expanded to include data now available for all species. The diagnosis of the genus is revised to include all of this information.
A new species of the genus Lucasioides Kwon, 1993 (Isopoda, Oniscidea, Agnaridae) from Siberia, Russia
Authors: GONGALSKY KONSTANTIN B. , NEFEDIEV PAVEL S. , TURBANOV ILYA S.
Published: January 2021

A new species of the family Agnaridae, Lucasioides altaicus sp. nov., is described from the Altai Mountains, southwestern Siberia, based both on morphological characters and molecular data. This species is the first record of Lucasioides from Russia, whose location is the northernmost habitat of terrestrial isopods in indigenous habitats presently known to Eurasia. The diagnostic characters of the new species and a preliminary phylogenetic analysis within Agnaridae are provided.
Photodynamic Therapy in Combination with Sorafenib for Enhanced Immunotherapy of Lung Cancer
Authors: Guo Tianxing , Lin Weiwei , Chen Wenshu , Huang Yanyun , Zhu Lihuan , Pan Xiaojie
Published: January 2021

The emerging of cancer immunotherapy is a great progress in cancer therapy. However, accumulating evidences have shown that tumor microenvironment (TME) exerted strong inhibition effects on cancer immunotherapy. In order to solve this issue, a cell membrane vehicle (CMV) was developed
and employed to encapsulate both chlorins e6 (Ce6) and sorafenib (Sfn). The obtained drug delivery system (DDS, CMV/C-S was expected to enhance the immune response in cancer therapy by remodeling the TME. The results showed that CMV/C-S was highly stable under physiological environment with
responsive drug release upon laser irradiations and high tumor targetability, which all contributed to promising anticancer performance in vitro / in vivo. Especially, the photodynamic nature of Ce6 could exert significant immunogenic cell death (ICD) to trigger immune response.
At the same time, with the TME regulation effects of Sfn, the outcome of cancer immunotherapy was significantly enhanced as compare to mono-therapies. The study offers a novel approach for effective cancer immunotherapy.
Microstructure and Piezoelectric Properties of 0.97(Na, K, Li)(Nb, Sb, Ta)O3-0.03(Bi, Na, Sr)ZrO3 Ceramics Doped with Boron Oxide for Piezoelectric Actuator
Authors: Yoo Ju-Hyun , Jeong Yeong-Ho
Published: January 2021

In this study, with the motivation of developing low temperature sintered Pb-free ceramics for use in piezoelectric actuators, 0.97(Na0.52K0.443Li0.037)(Nb0.923Sb0.04Ta0.037)O3 − 0.03 (Bi0.5Na0.5)0.9
(Sr)0.1ZrO3 ceramics were manufactured and their piezoelectric properties analyzed. All specimens doped with boron oxide showed a typical pure perovskite structure. The ceramics with x = 0.1 composition showed a co-existence of R-T phases. When boron oxide is doped
at 0.1 wt%, excellent physical properties of d33 = 270 pC/N εr = 1386, kp = 0.416, and Qm = 130 were obtained making the ceramic ideal for use in piezoelectric actuators.
Quantized Convolutional Neural Network Implementation on a Parallel-Connected Memristor Crossbar Array for Edge AI Platforms
Authors: Lee Jaeheum , Eshraghian Jason K. , Kim Sungjin , Eshraghian Kamran , Cho Kyoungrok
Published: January 2021

There are many challenges in the hardware implementation of a neural network using nanoscale memristor crossbar arrays where the use of analog cells is concerned. Multi-state or analog cells introduce more stringent noise margins, which are difficult to adhere to in light of variability.
We propose a potential solution using a 1-bit memristor that stores binary values “0” or “1” with their memristive states, denoted as a high-resistance state (HRS) and a low-resistance state (LRS). In addition, we propose a new architecture consisting of 4-parallel
1-bit memristors at each crosspoint on the array. The four 1-bit memristors connected in parallel represent 5 decimal values according to the number of activated memristors. This is then mapped to a synaptic weight, which corresponds to the state of an artificial neuron in a neural network.
We implement a convolutional neural network (CNN) model on a framework (tensorflow) using an equivalent quantized weight mapping model that demonstrates learning results almost identical to a high-precision CNN model. This radix-5 CNN is mapped to hardware on the proposed parallel-connected
memristor crossbar array. Also, we propose a method for negative weight representation on a memristor crossbar array. Then, we verify the CNN hardware on an edge-AI (e-AI) platform, developed on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). In this e-AI platform, we represent five weights per crosspoint
using CLB logics. We test the learning results of the CNN hardware using an e-AI platform with a dataset consisting of 4×4 images in three classes. We verify the functionality of our radix-5 CNN implementation showing comparable classification accuracy to high-precision use cases, with
reduction of the area of the memristor crossbar array by half, all verified on a FPGA. Implementing the CNN model on the FPGA board can contribute to the practical use of edge-AI.
Flexible Carbon Nanotube/Polydimethylsiloxane Composite for the De-Icing of Airplane Wings
Authors: Ha Ji-Hwan , Hong Soon-Kook , Kim Dong-Young , Park Sung-Hoon
Published: January 2021

In the aviation industry, the process of de-icing is critical for stable flying because of the occurrence of airplane icing. To solve the icing problem, an electrical heating system is applied for airplane de-icing. Among the materials used in the electrical heating system, carbon-nanotube
polymer composites are appropriate for an ice-prevention system owing to their rapid heating properties and flexibility. In this study, we fabricated a flexible carbon-nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite with a high content of carbon nanotube (20 wt%) for airplane de-icing. The high-load
carbon nanotube composite was fabricated using a three-roll milling method, resulting in uniform dispersion of carbon nanotubes in the polymer matrix. The carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composites exhibited uniform and stable heating performance (from room temperature to 100 °C for
25 s without thermal aggregation). In addition, the carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite is suitable for application to the curved surface of airfoils. For the de-icing experiments, a small airplane wing consisting of carbon nanotube/polydimethylsiloxane composite as a heating unit
was fabricated with a scale ratio of 15:1. We conducted electrical heating and de-icing experiments using the developed airplane-wing system for actual anti-icing/de-icing applications.