bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design of 70% PAE Class‐F 1.2–1.4 GHz 10 WGaNpower amplifierMMIC
Authors: Zhang Lu‐Chuan , Shi Long‐Xing
Published: February 2022

This letter presents a novel design of a Class‐F monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifier (PA) operating at L‐band with a power‐added‐efficiency (PAE) better than 70%. The MMIC PA is designed via load/source‐pull techniques to locate the optimal impedances at fundamental and harmonic frequencies on not only output but also input terminations. Moreover, rather than quarter wavelength stubs used in conventional designs, several parallel/series LC resonators are utilized to behave open/short at certain harmonics and to reform the drain waveform, yielding highly efficient performance of the PA MMIC. A prototype PA MMIC validating the proposed method is designed, fabricated and measured, which implemented on a 0.25 μm gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor technology. The measurement results of the PA under a drain voltage of 28 V at 1 ms pulse width with 30% duty cycle demonstrated a PAE better than 70% over 1.2–1.4 GHz with an output power greater than 40 dBm (10 W). The chip size is 2.5 mm × 3.5 mm (8.75 mm2).
In their own words: Topic analysis of the motivations and strategies of over 6,000 long‐term weight‐loss maintainers
Authors: Phelan Suzanne , Roake James , Alarcon Noemi , Ng Sarah M. , Glanz Hunter , Cardel Michelle I. , Foster Gary D.
Published: February 2022

Objective

This study aimed to identify major themes of a large cohort experiencing long‐term weight‐loss maintenance who answered open‐ended questions about weight‐loss triggers, current motivations, strategies, and experiences.

Methods

Machine learning and topic modeling were used to analyze responses to six open‐ended questions among 6,139 WW International, Inc., (formerly Weight Watchers) members with weight‐loss maintenance; inclusion criteria included ≥9.1‐kg loss with weight‐loss maintenance for ≥1 year.

Results

Participants (mean age = 53.6 years; 94.3% White; mean BMI = 27.8 kg/m2) had lost 24.5 kg and maintained the loss for 3.4 years. Descriptions of factors triggering weight loss coalesced into five topics: medical status, appearance, mobility, social prompts, and change needed. Factors currently motivating weight‐loss maintenance yielded two topics: looking back at experiences at higher weight and health/appearance concerns. Advice for others to succeed in weight‐loss maintenance coalesced on two recommendations: perseverance in the face of setbacks and consistency in tracking. Rewards for weight management included improved confidence, pain, mobility, fitness, body image, medical status, and affect. Two thematic negative consequences were clothing costs and sagging skin.

Conclusions

Future weight‐maintenance research should include more diverse populations and investigate weight‐loss maintenance as a journey with highs and lows, perseverance in the face of setbacks, sustained tracking, and making changes in medical status more salient during the weight‐maintenance journey.
Can Financial Incentives Help Disadvantaged Schools to Attract and Retain High‐Performing Teachers? Evidence from Chile
Authors: Elacqua Gregory , Hincapie Diana , Hincapie Isabel , Montalva Veronica
Published: February 2022

Extensive sorting of high‐performing teachers into the most advantaged schools contributes to the wide socioeconomic achievement gaps in many countries. The Chilean Pedagogical Excellence Assignment (AEP) pays bonuses to high‐performing teachers that are larger if they work at a disadvantaged school. Using a sharp regression discontinuity based on the program's eligibility rules, we estimate how the award affects where high‐performing teachers choose to work. The bonus, equivalent to 16 percent of an average annual salary, increased retention of high‐performing teachers in disadvantaged schools by 17 to 21 percentage points. In contrast, those teachers in more advantaged schools seem to use the award as a quality signal to stay or move to relatively high‐achieving schools. While the program accomplished its goal of retaining high‐performing teachers already working at disadvantaged schools, it did not achieve the objective of attracting better teachers from more advantaged schools.
Processing‐structure‐property relationship of multilayer graphene sheet thermosetting nanocomposites manufactured by calendering
Authors: Pérez Iván , Flores Samuel , Ortiz César , Rivero Miguel , Corona José Emilio , Oliva Andres Ivan , Avilés Francis
Published: February 2022

The dispersion state of multilayer graphene sheets in polymers has a strong impact on the properties of the nanocomposite, and is driven by the processing parameters of the dispersion method. Herein, multilayer graphene sheet/vinyl ester nanocomposites were manufactured using a three‐roll mill. The roller gaps and number of processing cycles were varied to study their effect on the dispersion state and their relationship with the effective electromechanical properties of the nanocomposites. It was found that reducing the roller gaps and increasing the number of processing cycles yields smaller (up to 7.4 μm in diameter) and more densely packed (up to ~1500 agglomerates/mm2) agglomerates. Nanocomposites manufactured with the three‐roll mill contain agglomerates up to 75% smaller and more densely packed than those manufactured with an ultrasonic tip. Electrical conductivity was higher for moderately‐sized, homogeneously distributed agglomerates (23 μm in diameter) with a high areal density (~920 agglomerates/mm2), while smaller agglomerates reduced electrical conductivity. Smaller agglomerates increased the mechanical properties but decreased the piezoresistive sensitivity. The agglomerate density proved to be a key factor governing the piezoresistive sensitivity, with a lower number of agglomerates per unit area promoting higher gauge factors.
Psychopathology in psychotic disorders: Congruency between self‐reported and observer‐rated measures highest for affective symptoms and lowest for negative symptoms
Authors: Stoilkovska Biljana Blazhevska , Bajraktarov Stojan , Novotni Ljubisha , Simoska Silvana Markovska , Milutinovic Milosh , Velichkovska Elizabet Miceva , Novotni Gabriela , Jovanovic Nikolina
Published: February 2022

Considering that both observer ratings and patient self‐reports on severity of psychopathological symptoms are being used in research and clinical settings, this paper aims to explore the degree of congruence between these two sources. Eighty‐two adult outpatients diagnosed with psychotic disorders rated their symptoms using the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Observers assessed patients’ functioning using the Brief Psychiatry Rating Scale (BPRS). Self‐ratings (overall BSI) were strongly correlated to observers’ evaluations (overall BPRS). Anxiety/depression symptoms dimension of the BPRS were significantly associated with all nine symptom dimensions of the BSI, while positive symptoms dimension and unusual and withdrawal behavior in the BPRS showed a significant relationship to seven symptom dimensions as measured with the BSI. Mania/activation in the BPRS was significantly and negatively related only to phobic anxiety in BSI. Eight symptom dimensions of the BSI (interpersonal sensitivity was an exception), as well as unusual and withdrawal behavior and positive symptoms in the BPRS were rated as more severe in unemployed study participants. Self‐rated paranoid ideation was higher in less educated participants. No sex or marital status differences were found in the BSI and BPRS dimensions. The obtained pattern of correlations implied that congruence was highest in regards to affective symptomatology, followed by positive symptoms, and lowest for disorganization and withdrawal behavior.
Research on structure and properties of MWCNT@PDA/polymer matrix composite films with enhanced energy storage performance
Authors: Yu Yating , Xu Hang , Wang Xiaoming , Guan Lizhu , Zhang Xiaorui , Wu Zijian , Weng Ling
Published: February 2022

MWCNT@PDA/PVDF‐TrFE and MWCNT@PDA/PVDF‐TrFE‐CTFE composite films with high dielectric constant, low dielectric loss and excellent energy storage density were prepared by solution casting method. The best component of composite film (2.0 wt% MWCNT@PDA/PVDF‐TrFE‐CTFE, named C) was selected as the middle layer of the sandwich structure, and the upper and lower layers were made up by pure PVDF‐TrFE film (named A) and pure PVDF‐TrFE‐CTFE films (named B). By testing and comparing the microstructure and performance of the single‐layer composite film and the sandwich structure composite film, the influence of the matrix and structure on the performance of the composite film was discussed. The results showed that the dispersion effect of the filler in the matrix became worse, the dielectric constant gradually increased, the dielectric loss of the composite film did not change significantly, and the energy storage density first increased and then decreased with the increasing of the filler content. At a frequency of 103 Hz, the dielectric constants of 2.0 wt% MWCNT@PDA/PVDF‐TrFE and 2.0 wt% MWCNT@PDA/PVDF‐TrFE‐CTFE composite films were 9.00 and 13.88, which were 1.9 and 2.9 times of pure films. When the electric field was 1100 kV/cm, the energy storage density of composite film BCB was 6.36 times of film C.
Alternating copolymerization of carbon monoxide and vinyl arenes using [N,N] bidentate palladium catalysts
Authors: Cheung Chi Shing , Shi Xinbo , Pei Lixia , Du Cheng , Gao Heng , Qiu Zonglin , Gao Haiyang
Published: February 2022

The alternating copolymers of carbon monoxide (CO) and vinyl arene monomers, namely aromatic polyketones, are a family of attractive engineering plastic. In the catalytic synthesis of this kind of polymeric materials, [N,N] bidentate palladium catalysts represent the most successful catalytic systems. In this review, we introduce the present status of polyketone synthesis, with a focus on the aromatic polyketones made from vinyl arene and CO. We also address the palladium‐catalyzed CO/vinyl arene alternating copolymerization mechanism. A variety of [N,N] bidentate palladium catalysts bearing 2,2′‐bipyridine, 1,10‐phenanthroline, α‐diimine, and pyridine‐imine ligands are surveyed for CO/vinyl arene copolymerization. The effects of vinyl arene monomer, counteranion, and solvent on copolymerization are also discussed. The copolymerization stereochemistry including chain end‐control and enantiomorphic site control mechanisms is introduced. This review aims to promote the design of [N,N] bidentate palladium catalysts for CO/vinyl arene copolymerization for the development of high‐performance aromatic polyketones.
Magnetic‐controllable Janus fibrous membranes with wind‐resistant floatability for airflow‐enhanced solar evaporation
Authors: Li Hao‐Nan , Liu Yu‐Wei , Hu Ye‐Qi , Zhu Cheng‐Ye , Huang Xiao‐Jun , Wu Jian , Greiner Andreas , Xu Zhi‐Kang
Published: February 2022

Interfacial solar evaporation has been widely regarded as a promising pathway to desalinate seawater without secondary pollution and additional carbon emission. However, one of the challenges rarely considered is the floating stability and remote controllability of the evaporator in the face of wind and waves at the seawater surface. Herein, we demonstrate magnetic Janus membranes (MJMs) with remotely magnetic controllability and wind‐resistant floatation for enhanced interfacial solar evaporation in airflow condition. These membranes are fabricated by sequential electrospinning of a hydrophobic Fe3O4‐embedded polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) layer and a hydrophilic polyacrylonitrile (PAN) layer. Due to the superparamagnetism of Fe3O4, our MJMs can be remotely manipulated by a magnet and can float in situ with the aid of a magnetic field, even facing the blast of airflow with a speed of 1.75 m/s. Moreover, the MJMs realize an enhanced vapor diffusion under airflow (v = 0.5 m/s) and show a water evaporation rate of 1.39 ± 0.06 kg∙m−2∙h−1 under one sun, which is 40.4% higher than that in windless condition. This work provides a promising material solution with magnetic design for the practical offshore application of Janus membranes in interfacial solar evaporation.
Patterns of care in the radiotherapeutic management of head and neck cancer of unknown primary origin: in search of a standard
Authors: Morse Ryan , Ganju Rohit G. , Chen Allen M.
Published: February 2022

Objective

To analyze patterns of care in radiotherapy field design for patients treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma of unknown primary origin in the modern era.

Methods

From January 2014 to April 2018, 33 patients were treated by intensity‐modulated radiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma metastatic to the cervical lymph nodes of unknown primary origin. A total of 17 patients (52%) were treated by primary radiation; 16 (48%) were treated after surgery. N‐classification was N1 (3 patients); N2a (8 patients); N2b (15 patients); N2c (2 patients); and N3 (5 patients).  Human papillomavirus status was positive in 19 (58%) and negative in 14 patients (42%). 

Results

A total of 15 patients (46%) were treated with classic comprehensive fields to the entirety of the pharyngeal mucosal axis and bilateral cervical necks. Seven patients (21%) received ipsilateral neck radiation only. The total mucosal axis was irradiated in 15 patients (46%). Among the entire population, the nasopharynx and larynx were intentionally omitted in 36% and 48%, respectively. None of the clinical parameters predicted for the use of less‐than‐comprehensive radiation fields (P > 0.05, for all).

Conclusion

Significant variation exists in the radiotherapeutic management of head and neck unknown primary cancer. Further research to better optimize standards is required.
An In Situ Synchrotron X‐Ray Diffraction Study on the Influence of Hydrogen on the Crystallization of Ge‐Rich Ge2Sb2Te5
Authors: Hans Philipp , Mocuta Cristian , Richard Marie-Ingrid , Benoit Daniel , Boivin Philippe , Le-Friec Yannick , Simola Roberto , Thomas Olivier
Published: February 2022

To passivate dangling bonds, metal–oxide–semiconductor field‐effect transistor devices are usually treated with hydrogen. Herein, the effects of such a treatment on the crystallization behavior on N‐doped, Ge‐rich phase‐change materials for memory applications are investigated using synchrotron X‐ray diffraction (XRD) in situ during heat treatment. Uniform thin films, and laterally confined, metallized ones (simulating devices of different complexity) of initially amorphous N‐doped GGST are investigated. The specimens are heated up to 450–500 °C at a rate of 2 °C/min. Some of the specimens are treated with H/D; the equivalent untreated specimen is investigated for each of them. Crystallization onsets are estimated by quantification of the crystallized quantity during material transformation from the XRD patterns. In thin films, the hydrogen treatment results in lowered crystallization temperatures of the emerging cubic, metastable phase. Its trigonal, thermodynamically stable polymorph always forms, but its crystallization temperature is unchanged. Patterned and metallized samples show less differences, are strongly textured, and no trigonal phase is observed. It is shown that certain questions might only be answered at large‐scale facilities where high energy photons are available at high flux, allowing data acquisition during the annealing process with a temperature resolution sufficient for a fine description of the sample transformation.
Peak structure with a quadrupole mass filter operated in the first stability region
Authors: Collings Bruce A.
Published: February 2022

Rationale

In the development of commercial quadrupole mass spectrometers, there is an interest in understanding the factors that affect the transmission and peak shape of ions passing through the mass filter. These include the ion collection effects of the ion optics that lead to the presence of a peak structure.

Methods

The peak structure can be observed by increasing the ion's axial kinetic energy and reducing the mass step size in a mass spectrum. The calculation of the maxima in the peak structure can be achieved by first obtaining the Mathieu characteristic parameter βy from the scan lines for each mass. The ion's secular frequency, ω0,y, along with the ion's transit time through the mass filter can then be used to calculate the location of the maxima in the peak structure.

Results

Experimentally, a peak structure has been observed for m/z 42, m/z 118 and m/z 622 in the Q1 scan mode of a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer. The peak structure has shown a dependency on the ion's axial kinetic energy, but, a mass independency with regard to the number of maxima is observed in the peak structure. In the Q3 scan mode, there is an absence of the peak structure due to the ion collection efficiency of the HED detection system.

Conclusions

Under the right conditions, the peak structure due to ion collection effects can be observed with a quadrupole mass filter operated in the Mathieu first stability region. The presence of the peak structure has been shown to depend upon the ion collection effects at the exit of the mass filter.
Understanding university student priorities for mental health and well‐being support: A mixed‐methods exploration using the person‐based approach
Authors: Remskar Masha , Atkinson Melissa J. , Marks Elizabeth , Ainsworth Ben
Published: February 2022

Poor student well‐being at UK universities is overstretching institutional support services, highlighting a need for effective new resources. Despite extensive literature on mental health and well‐being interventions, students' engagement with support remains unexplored. The study aimed to understand students' experience of engagement with well‐being support, identify their well‐being needs and form concrete recommendations for future intervention design and delivery. The Person‐Based Approach to intervention design was followed to centralise users' experience, in turn maximising acceptability and effectiveness of resources. An online survey (N = 52) was followed by three focus groups (N = 14). Survey data were analysed descriptively, and reflexive thematic analysis was performed on qualitative data. Mixed‐methods data integration produced four key student priorities for well‐being resources – ease of access, inclusive and preventative approach, sense of community and a safe space, and applying skills to real‐life contexts. Five actionable guiding principles for intervention design were produced through consultation with expert stakeholders. This work helps understand why and how students engage with support at university. The resulting recommendations can inform future intervention development, leading to more acceptable, engaging and effective student well‐being resources.
Investigation of Urinary Exosome Metabolic Patterns in Membranous Nephropathy by Titania‐Assisted Intact Exosome Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Chen Haolin , Zhang Ning , Wu Yonglei , Yang Chenjie , Xie Qionghong , Deng Chunhui , Sun Nianrong
Published: February 2022

Exosomes are regarded as the emerging potential targets for liquid biopsy and bioprocess study owing to their abundant inclusive cargos that carry significant disease information. In addition, metabolites have been promising biomarkers for diagnosis. However, little metabolic research on exosomes is carried out by now. Herein, the mix‐crystal titania‐assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (LDI‐MS) method is established, which features fast speed, high throughput, and efficiency, to directly extract urinary exosome metabolic patterns of healthy controls (HC) and membrane nephropathy (MN) patients. Besides, this method is also adopted to acquire the primitive urinary metabolic patterns from the same samples for comparison. By taking advantage of principal component analysis, unpaired parametric t‐test, and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis on the exosome metabolic patterns, 27 significant m/z signals are filtrated, which possess more prominent differentiation capacity toward HC and MN patients (AUC = 0.942), and hold greater potential in MN diagnosis, compared to primitive urine (AUC = 0.801). The work reveals the important clinical value of exosome metabolic analysis, and paves a way to exosome‐based diagnosis at metabolomic level toward large‐scale clinical use.
Effectively predicting cyber‐attacks through isolation forest learning‐based outlier detection
Authors: Ripan Rony Chowdhury , Islam Md. Moinul , Alqahtani Hamed , Sarker Iqbal H.
Published: February 2022

Due to the popularity of Internet of Things devices, the exponential progress of computer networks, and a plethora of associated applications, cybersecurity has recently attracted much attention in light of today'ssecurity problems. As a result, detecting various cyber‐attacks within a network and developing an effectivecyber‐attacks predictionmodel that plays a crucial part in today's defense has become increasingly critical. Modeling cyber‐attacks effectively, on the other hand, is challenging because modern security datasets hold a large number of dimensions of security features and may containoutliers. To accomplish this, we provide an approach for categorizing cyber‐attacks effectively through isolation forest learning‐based outlier detection. Additionally, we apply a variety of popularmachine learningapproaches to assess the performance of cyber‐attacks prediction models, including logistic regression, support vector machine, AdaBoost classifier, naive Bayes, and K‐nearest neighbor. We evaluated the efficacy of our approach by running tests on three network intrusion datasets (KDD Cup 99, CIC‐IDS2017, and UNSW‐NB15) and computing the precision, recall, and accuracy. Experiments demonstrate that eliminating outliers improves the prediction accuracy of cyber‐attacks for different classifiers. Additionally, we compare the isolation forest learning‐based outlier detection model to other well‐known outlier detection techniques, DBSCAN andk‐means, and measure the effectiveness of our model.
Clozapine and norclozapine monitoring in plasma following surfactant assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction
Authors: Albitar Orwa , Murugaiyah Vikneswaran , Ibrahim Baharudin , Ahamed Nuridah , Sheikh Ghadzi Siti Maisharah
Published: February 2022

Clozapine is the drug of choice for treatment‐resistant schizophrenia. However, it is characterized by inter‐ and intraindividual variability in plasma concentrations and complex metabolism requiring drug monitoring. A surfactant‐assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method followed by high‐performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet is proposed to determine clozapine and its primary active metabolite, norclozapine, in plasma using haloperidol (400 ng/mL) as an internal standard. The surfactant, cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (0.5 mmol/L), and 1‐octanol (extraction solvent) were rapidly injected into the diluted plasma to form a cloudy solution. After centrifugation, 50 μL of the organic phase was injected into high‐performance liquid chromatography for analysis. The procedure was optimized by controlling the extraction solvent type and volume, the surfactant type and concentration, pH, and ionic strength. Furthermore, its suitability was investigated using plasma samples obtained from two healthy volunteers following a 12.5 mg dose of clozapine. The analytical performance of the method was acceptable with a limit of quantification of 0.9 and 0.4 ng/mL for clozapine and norclozapine, respectively (r2 > 0.999) and a wide linear dynamic range 6.25–1600 ng/mL. The optimized method is simple, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically acceptable. It also requires a small amount of the sample.
Post‐thaw semen quality in young bull ejaculates before being accepted for commercial semen doses
Authors: Hurri Emma , Lima‐Verde Isabel , Johannisson Anders , Stålhammar Hans , Ntallaris Theodoros , Morrell Jane M.
Published: February 2022

Background

Genomic selection enables bulls with desirable characteristics to be identified at a young age, but sperm quality can be poor in the ejaculates of young bulls. Few studies have been done on post‐thaw sperm quality in bulls less than 10 months old. The objective of this study was to determine the age at which post‐thaw sperm quality was acceptable for artificial insemination.

Methods

Semen was collected by artificial vagina; samples containing 100–500 million spermatozoa/ml were frozen for this study. Post‐thaw analyses of membrane integrity (MI), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), chromatin integrity, morphology, production of reactive oxygen species and sperm kinematics were made.

Results

The age at which ejaculates exceeded the breeding company's thresholds of acceptance varied considerably among individuals, with 285 days being the earliest. Morphology (p < 0.003), MI (p = 0.0096), high MMP (p = 0.043) and superoxide production (p = 0.0084) increased between the first and last ejaculates but reached acceptable levels at different ages for individual bulls.

Conclusions

It was possible to obtain acceptable post‐thaw sperm quality from samples even though sperm concentration was lower than the breeding company's threshold. Therefore, it might be feasible to use ejaculates earlier than is currently considered possible, by modifying semen handling protocols.
Deep learning for drug repurposing: Methods, databases, and applications
Authors: Pan Xiaoqin , Lin Xuan , Cao Dongsheng , Zeng Xiangxiang , Yu Philip S. , He Lifang , Nussinov Ruth , Cheng Feixiong
Published: February 2022

Drug development is time‐consuming and expensive. Repurposing existing drugs for new therapies is an attractive solution that accelerates drug development at reduced experimental costs, specifically for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID‐19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). However, comprehensively obtaining and productively integrating available knowledge and big biomedical data to effectively advance deep learning models is still challenging for drug repurposing in other complex diseases. In this review, we introduce guidelines on how to utilize deep learning methodologies and tools for drug repurposing. We first summarized the commonly used bioinformatics and pharmacogenomics databases for drug repurposing. Next, we discuss recently developed sequence‐based and graph‐based representation approaches as well as state‐of‐the‐art deep learning‐based methods. Finally, we present applications of drug repurposing to fight the COVID‐19 pandemic and outline its future challenges.

This article is categorized under:

Data Science > Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning
Healthcare Privacy
Authors: Motti Vivian Genaro , Berkovsky Shlomo
Published: February 2022

As healthcare shifts towards the digital realm and healthcare delivery steers to patient-centric solutions, new privacy risks emerge. Such risks are acknowledged, but understanding and addressing them with privacy-enhanced technologies is practically challenging. This chapter describes privacy concerns and risks that emerge with the digitization of healthcare services, the availability of Internet-of-care-things, and the usage of online services for medical data. To ensure patients’ privacy, collaborative efforts from stakeholders are necessary. Patients, practitioners, and family members play an important role, along with medical organizations, including hospitals, insurance companies, and clinics. Privacy-preserving mechanisms go beyond the protection of patients’ data to the infrastructure of medical devices, networks, and systems. The data life cycle, from collection to disposal, must be considered when implementing privacy protections. Principles, policies, and regulations addressing privacy are limited and costly to implement, failing to cover novel technologies that collect and transmit medical data. In the USA, HIPAA is the de facto policy standard. Nevertheless, HIPAA disregards data collected by wearable sensors, fitness trackers, and smartwatches. It does not consider social media networks, mobile applications, and discussion forums where users share medical information. Lastly, genetic data available through online profiles rises privacy issues that are neither known nor regulated.
EU GDPR: Toward a Regulatory Initiative for Deploying a Private Digital Era
Authors: Diamantopoulou Vasiliki , Lambrinoudakis Costas , King Jennifer , Gritzalis Stefanos
Published: February 2022

Nowadays, people and enterprises put effort in protecting systems and applications that handle personal data and also in protecting digital footprints, and they realize that the concept of privacy protection is continuously evolving, depending on each environment. Admittedly, there is a plethora of digital products or services that necessitates the provision of personal data.

The GDPR came into effect to establish a more concrete framework for the protection of EU citizens’ personal data. The impact of this regulation goes beyond the boundaries of EU in two ways. Firstly, the GDPR acts as a facilitator of non-EU enterprises that wish to do business and interact with EU citizens. Secondly, the GDPR, due to its wide applicability and generality, can be used as a basis and inspiration for other countries to establish their own data protection regulations and legal frameworks.

This chapter consists of guidance for organizations to be able to reach compliance with the GDPR, regarding the protection of the personal information they process. Also, this chapter presents the impact that the GDPR has brought to the global landscape, because of its wide territorial scope and the expanded approach of the various definitions of data protection concepts being used.
Privacy Beyond the Individual Level
Authors: Suh Jennifer Jiyoung , Metzger Miriam J.
Published: February 2022

This chapter examines privacy as a multilevel concept. While current conceptualizations of privacy tend to focus on the individual level, technological advancements are makinggroup privacyincreasingly important to understand. This chapter offers a typology of both groups and group privacy to establish a framework for conceptualizing how privacy operates beyond the individual level. The chapter describes several contemporary practices that influence the privacy of multiple actors and considers the dynamics of multi-stakeholder privacy decision-making. Potential tensions that exist between the rights and preferences of individual group members or between individuals and the group as a whole are also examined. Finally, recommendations for tools and other mechanisms to support collaborative privacy management and group privacy protection are provided.
On the Path Toward Lifelong Learning: An Early Analysis of Taiwan’s 12-Year Basic Education Reform
Authors: Coudenys Blansefloer , Strohbach Gina , Tang Tammy , Udabe Rachel
Published: February 2022

Over the past two decades, Taiwan has sought to adopt a holistic approach to education. Reform has been directed towards guiding students to realize their individual potential and to contribute to increasing national competitiveness. In recent years, the extension of basic education from nine to twelve years serves to advance an increasingly equitable, high-performing education system, one which encourages students’ lifelong learning and their contributions to a dynamic and diverse society. This chapter assesses the preliminary implementation of Taiwan’s 12-Year Basic Education reform, which consists of the 2014 Senior High School Education Act, and the 12-Year Curriculum Guidelines implemented in 2019. We analyze government data sourced through the Ministry of Education and the National Statistics Bureau; interviews with teachers, school administrators, professors, and national education researchers; and an online survey disseminated among teachers around the country. Taiwan’s 12-Year Basic Education reform works to reimagine society’s definition of educational success and broaden opportunities for all students—by expanding and diversifying enrollment opportunities for senior high school, revising comprehensive curricular guidelines, supporting innovative pedagogies, and increasing school autonomy. Taiwan’s transition to twenty-first century learning within a traditionally high-stakes, exam-centric educational culture serves as an important case study for discussion within the global pursuit to redefine teaching and learning for the students of today and citizens of tomorrow.
Middle School Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Curriculum in the United States: Peers Lead Peers Through Change and Action
Authors: Cunnion Janna , Hua Feifei , McNicholl Maureen , Ospina Sandra
Published: February 2022

While the previous chapters of this book tackle reforms in existing, established national programs, this chapter is an emergent proposition to a change in policy at local school district levels in the United States. Change is dependent on and influenced by the educational ecosystem around the student which includes such stakeholders as parents, teachers, teacher preparation programs, community groups, curriculum and textbook developers, businesses, universities, local and federal agencies, and policy leaders. The criteria for what makes a climate change curriculum “effective” are difficult to name: first, because the subject itself is divisive, and second because humankind has not yet fully understood all there is to know about tackling climate change. Thus, in this chapter, a normative pro stance is taken in support of climate change education, as the need to implement climate change education in school echoes UNESCO's notion that climate education “is crucial to promote climate action. It helps people understand so they can address the impacts of the climate crisis, empowering them with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes needed to act as agents of change (Education for climate action, 2021). In Orange County, California—like many places in the United States—climate change is a politically charged and controversial topic. When 20 states adopted the well-regarded Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in 2014, it was hoped that schools across the country would improve climate change education. However, we found that adopting new science standards does not necessarily mean that teaching and learning about climate change has improved in general, and this is made more complex by the fact that each state determines its own education system, and little can be mandated at a national level. Many factors contribute to inadequate student learning about the causes, impact, and especially the strategies to mitigate climate change among Orange County middle school students. We aim for education leaders to understand these best practices and encourage them to apply these to their contexts. We offer a curriculum based on best practices, one that is peer-led and garners hope. We wish for students to see themselves as agents of change and leaders of the not-so-distant tomorrow who become inspired to mitigate, adapt, and reverse climate change.
Creating Brighter Futures: Building Climate Leaders in the United States Through a Community-Focused Curriculum
Authors: Bauman-Hill Kathryn , Dai Susan , Payne Arcadia
Published: February 2022

Throughout this volume, our co-authors focus on top-down education reforms. In this analysis, we take a different approach to education reform, instead focusing on the impact of translating a niche school-level curricular reform to expand to the systemic level. In this paper, we will argue for the need for an elementary climate change-focused curriculum and outline the components necessary to make such a program successful. We partnered with an independent school in the Washington, DC region to contextualize the process of building such a curriculum, with the additional benefit of the school being near political power. Nevertheless, the implications of our findings are applicable to a variety of contexts, including international ones. In our methodology, we examined best practices for creating a rigorous elementary curriculum that centers around climate change education and leadership development. We combined successful elements of climate change education programs, including participatory learning, interdisciplinary integration, and a focus on community-based learning. We utilized a logical framework to identify assumptions and risks, implementation steps, achievement indicators, and program evaluation tools, which helped us identify key considerations for scaling an elementary climate change curriculum.
Towards Securing Availability in 5G: Analyzing the Injection Attack Impact on Core Network
Authors: Raavi Manohar , Wuthier Simeon , Sarker Arijet , Kim Jinoh , Kim Jong-Hyun , Chang Sang-Yoon
Published: February 2022

5G technology for mobile networking involves control communications to set up the radio channels and the authentication and security credentials. The control communications preceding the authentication and subscription verification remain vulnerable against the communication injection threats. We study the injection threats on control communications in 5G New Radio standard in 3GPP. From our 5G client-based implementation and experimentation against real-world networking, we analyze and measure the threat impact against the 5G service provider infrastructure of the core network. To secure 5G networking, our paper discusses about future research directions for increasing the understanding of such vulnerability/threat and for building greater security and availability for 5G networking against such wireless injection threats.
Multiple hierarchies from a warped extra dimension
Authors: Lee Seung J. , Nakai Yuichiro , Suzuki Motoo
Published: February 2022

Abstract

Theories beyond the Standard Model often contain mass scales hierarchically different from the electroweak scale and the Planck scale. It has been shown that such hierarchical mass scales can be realized as typical energy scales of multiple 3-branes in a 5D warped spacetime. We present a mechanism for stabilizing the intervals between the multiple 3-branes in the warped extra dimension, by introducing a single 5D scalar field with brane-localized potentials. We discuss the radion stabilization by solving the Einstein equation and the scalar field equation of motion so that a backreaction effect on the geometry due to the presence of the scalar field is taken into account. Perturbations from the background configuration are then considered with proper identification of multiple radion degrees of freedom. By solving their equations of motion, we compute the mass spectrum of the radion-scalar field system and the radion couplings to brane-localized matter fields, which are found to be suppressed by typical energy scales and radion profiles at the branes. We also compute the mass spectrum of Kaluza-Klein gravitons and their profiles in the extra dimension. Some applications of the setup are briefly described. Our analysis provides a solid ground to build 5D warped extra dimension models with multiple 3-branes.
Direct metal laser sintering of Ti-6Al-4V parts with reused powder
Authors: Contaldi Vincenzo , Corrado Pasquale , Del Re Francesco , Di Martino Daniela , Di Petta Paolo , Palumbo Biagio , Scherillo Fabio , Squillace Antonino
Published: February 2022

Ti-6Al-4V alloy is characterised by having excellent mechanical properties and corrosion resistance combined with low specific weight and biocompatibility. This material is ideal for many high-performance engineering applications. It is increasingly used in additive manufacturing (AM) thanks to the possibility of producing very complex lightweight structures, often not achievable with conventional manufacturing techniques, as well as to easily customise products according to specific customer requirements. In powder bed fusion (PBF) processes, only a small percentage of the powder is actually melted and solidified to achieve the final part while most is left after the build. Since the surface morphology and chemistry, the shape and size distribution of the un-melted particles are inevitably modified during the process, and this may affect the resulting properties of the final products, many companies tend to use virgin powders for AM builds to keep compliance with manufacturing requirements and minimise risk. From both an economic and environmental point of view, it results crucial to develop recycling methods to reuse the metal powder as many times as possible while maintaining compliance with manufacturing standards. In this work, the effect of Ti-6Al-4V powder reuse on the evolution of powder characteristics and mechanical properties of final products additively manufactured is investigated through a systematic approach based on design of experiments.
Developments in high-resolution mass spectrometric analyses of new psychoactive substances
Authors: Klingberg Joshua , Keen Bethany , Cawley Adam , Pasin Daniel , Fu Shanlin
Published: February 2022

The proliferation of new psychoactive substances (NPS) has necessitated the development and improvement of current practices for the detection and identification of known NPS and newly emerging derivatives. High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) is quickly becoming the industry standard for these analyses due to its ability to be operated in data-independent acquisition (DIA) modes, allowing for the collection of large amounts of data and enabling retrospective data interrogation as new information becomes available. The increasing popularity of HRMS has also prompted the exploration of new ways to screen for NPS, including broad-spectrum wastewater analysis to identify usage trends in the community and metabolomic-based approaches to examine the effects of drugs of abuse on endogenous compounds. In this paper, the novel applications of HRMS techniques to the analysis of NPS is reviewed. In particular, the development of innovative data analysis and interpretation approaches is discussed, including the application of machine learning and molecular networking to toxicological analyses.
Activation of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1I to a 50 kDa stable core impairs its full toxicity to Ostrinia nubilalis
Authors: Khorramnejad Ayda , Bel Yolanda , Talaei-Hassanloui Reza , Escriche Baltasar
Published: February 2022

Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1I insecticidal proteins are structurally similar to other three-domain Cry proteins, although their size, activity spectrum, and expression at the stationary phase are unique among other members of the Cry1 family. The mode of action of Cry1 proteins is not completely understood but the existence of an activation step prior to specific binding is widely accepted. In this study, we attempted to characterize and determine the importance of the activation process in the mode of action of Cry1I, as Cry1Ia protoxin or its partially processed form showed significantly higher toxicity to Ostrinia nubilalis than the fully processed protein either activated with trypsin or with O. nubilalis midgut juice. Oligomerization studies showed that Cry1Ia protoxin, in solution, formed dimers spontaneously, and the incubation of Cry1Ia protoxin with O. nubilalis brush border membrane vesicles (BBMV) promoted the formation of dimers of the partially processed form. While no oligomerization of fully activated proteins after incubation with BBMV was detected. The results of the in vitro competition assays showed that both the Cry1Ia protoxin and the approx. 50 kDa activated proteins bind specifically to the O. nubilalis BBMV and compete for the same binding sites. Accordingly, the in vivo binding competition assays show a decrease in toxicity following the addition of an excess of 50 kDa activated protein. Consequently, as full activation of Cry1I protein diminishes its toxicity against lepidopterans, preventing or decelerating proteolysis might increase the efficacy of this protein in Bt-based products.

Key points

• Processing Cry1I to a 50 kDa stable core impairs its full toxicity to O. nubilalis

• Partially processed Cry1Ia protoxin retains the toxicity of protoxin vs O. nubilalis

• Protoxin and its final processed forms compete for the same functional binding sites
Age as a risk factor in vasculitis
Authors: Gloor Andrea D. , Berry Gerald J. , Goronzy Jorg J. , Weyand Cornelia M.
Published: February 2022

Two vasculitides, giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu arteritis (TAK), are recognized as autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases that manifest exclusively within the aorta and its large branches. In both entities, the age of the affected host is a critical risk factor. TAK manifests during the 2nd–4th decade of life, occurring while the immune system is at its height of performance. GCA is a disease of older individuals, with infrequent cases during the 6th decade and peak incidence during the 8th decade of life. In both vasculitides, macrophages and T cells infiltrate into the adventitia and media of affected vessels, induce granulomatous inflammation, cause vessel wall destruction, and reprogram vascular cells to drive adventitial and neointimal expansion. In GCA, abnormal immunity originates in an aged immune system and evolves within the aged vascular microenvironment. One hallmark of the aging immune system is the preferential loss of CD8+ T cell function. Accordingly, in GCA but not in TAK, CD8+ effector T cells play a negligible role and anti-inflammatory CD8+ T regulatory cells are selectively impaired. Here, we review current evidence of how the process of immunosenescence impacts the risk for GCA and how fundamental differences in the age of the immune system translate into differences in the granulomatous immunopathology of TAK versus GCA.
On the robustness of potential-based flow networks
Authors: Klimm Max , Pfetsch Marc E. , Raber Rico , Skutella Martin
Published: February 2022

Potential-based flows provide a simple yet realistic mathematical model of transport in many real-world infrastructure networks such as, e.g., gas or water networks, where the flow along each edge depends on the difference of the potentials at its end nodes. We call a network topology robust if the maximal node potential needed to satisfy a set of demands never increases when demands are decreased. This notion of robustness is motivated by infrastructure networks where users first make reservations for certain demands that may be larger than the actual flows sent later on. In these networks, node potentials correspond to physical quantities such as pressures or hydraulic heads and must be guaranteed to lie within a fixed range, even if the actual amounts are smaller than the previously reserved demands. Our main results are a precise characterization of robust network topologies for the case of point-to-point demands via forbidden node-labeled graph minors, as well as an efficient algorithm for testing robustness.