A novel design for humidifying an open-cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell using anode purge

The low performance of open-cathode proton-exchange-membrane fuel cells (OCPEMFCs) is attributed to the low-humidity ambient air supplied to the cathode using electric fans. To improve the OCPEMFC performance, this paper proposes a novel humidification method by collecting water purged from the anode and supplying it to the open cathode. The OCPEMFC performance is evaluated at various humidifier distances from the cathode inlet, and it is compared with that where no humidifier is used when the OCPEMFC operates under three different current levels of 1, 5, and 8 A. The results show that the novel design improves the stack power, and optimal performance is achieved at a humidifier distance of 2 cm. The energy efficiency achieves an improvement between 1.4% and 1.8% when a humidifier is used.     

A comparison of shear stress estimation methods for a single geobag on a rough bed

There are several methods for estimating bed shear stress in the literature, but comprehensive comparisons among them are limited and under specific conditions. This study compared these methods first on a bare smooth bed, and then for a single geobag on a rough bed in the interest of determining the stability of geobags used in riverbank protection structures. The geobag was filled with cement or sand and tested under different open channel flow conditions. The turbulent kinetic energy method appeared to best represent the local bed shear stress on the geobag when using the newly calibrated proportionality constants. The Reynolds stress method via extrapolation was relatively unaffected by changes to the geobags shape and measurement locations, suggesting this method inadequately represents the local bed shear stress. The Patel method and the universal law of the wall method failed to represent local bed shear stress in the rough bed cases due to instrument limitations and the breakdown of the law of the wall. This study highlights the impact of different methods on the bed shear stress estimation.     

Comparing open data benchmarks: Which metrics and methodologies determine countries’ positions in the ranking lists?

An understanding of the similar and divergent metrics and methodologies underlying open government data benchmarks can reduce the risks of the potential misinterpretation and misuse of benchmarking outcomes by policymakers, politicians, and researchers. Hence, this study aims to compare the metrics and methodologies used to measure, benchmark, and rank governments' progress in open government data initiatives. Using a critical meta-analysis approach, we compare nine benchmarks with reference to meta-data, meta-methods, and meta-theories. This study finds that both existing open government data benchmarks and academic open data progress models use a great variety of metrics and methodologies, although open data impact is not usually measured. While several benchmarks’ methods have changed over time, and variables measured have been adjusted, we did not identify a similar pattern for academic open data progress models. This study contributes to open data research in three ways: 1) it reveals the strengths and weaknesses of existing open government data benchmarks and academic open data progress models; 2) it reveals that the selected open data benchmarks employ relatively similar measures as the theoretical open data progress models; and 3) it provides an updated overview of the different approaches used to measure open government data initiatives’ progress. Finally, this study offers two practical contributions: 1) it provides the basis for combining the strengths of benchmarks to create more comprehensive approaches for measuring governments’ progress in open data initiatives; and 2) it explains why particular countries are ranked in a certain way. This information is essential for governments and researchers to identify and propose effective measures to improve their open data initiatives.     

论携号转网行为的私法规制

以电信用户入网协议为切入点,电信用户的携号转网行为应受到《合同法》《消费者权益保护法》等私法规范的保护与限制。该行为引起的格式条款解释、合同终止、违约责任、损失赔偿等问题,不能仅靠《电信条例》等公法规范来调整。应当积极引导广大消费者用户以私法领域相关规定为依据,转变争议解决思维,拓宽纠纷处理途径,合理选择维权手段,以保护自身合法民事权益,与行业监管部门共同推动电信行业有序发展。     

密文策略属性加密中的撤销控制方案

在云环境下使用数据共享功能时，由于云环境的复杂性，需要对数据进行安全保护和访问控制，这就要求使用加密机制。基于密文策略属性的加密（CP-ABE）是当前广泛使用的加密机制，它可以根据用户的属性来设置访问权限，任何具有合格访问权限的用户都可以访问数据。然而云是一个动态环境，有时可能只允许具有访问权限用户中的一部分用户访问数据，这就需要用户权限的撤销机制。然而，在CP-ABE中，访问权撤销或用户撤销是一个冗长且代价高昂的事件。所提出方案根据对CP-ABE流程的改进，在原密文中嵌入了可灵活控制的用户个人秘密，使得用户权限撤销时既不要求使用新访问策略的用户撤销数据，也不要求对数据进行重新加密，大幅减少撤销时的计算成本。与知名CP-ABE撤销方案对比，所提出方案的计算成本更低且具有良好的安全性。     

基于LBT-SA的LoRaWAN信道接入方法研究

标准LoRaWAN协议中定义的纯ALOHA信道接入方法在网络负载较大时会造成大量碰撞，使LoRa网络的可扩展性和可靠性受到极大挑战。为此提出了一种将先听后说与模拟退火相结合（Listen Before Talk combined with Simulated Annealing，LBT-SA）的LoRa信道接入方法。该方法通过在设备发送之前先监听信道，降低信道被同时接入的概率，并以成功传输所需退避时间为初始值，搜索更小的退避时间。仿真结果表明，LBT-SA和基于二元指数退避算法的先听后说（Listen Before Talk，LBT）方法在包成功传输率方面保持了高度的一致，并且LBT-SA在周期传输过程中逐渐减少了不必要的退避时间，从而减少了时延。在多达10 000个终端接入单个网关的场景中，该算法的平均退避时间至少降低了16.38%。     

Study and comparison of the unique selling propositions (USPs) of free-to-use multinational patent search systems

The article analyses and compares some free-to-use patent search services which are not managed by patent authorities but which may offer unique selling propositions (USPs) beyond the expected, standard, search functions. Those services selected for this study are Google Patents, Lens, Patent Inspiration, Free Patents Online, SureChEMBL and Octimine. For this comparative study a total set of 66 criteria were analysed for each of the six search services. Furthermore the USPs and perceived advantages and disadvantages were identified. The study concluded that some of these search services are better suited for general prior art searches or patent analysis while others are applicable for patent searches in specific fields like biotechnology or pharmaceuticals.     

Distributed allocation and dynamic reassignment of channels in UAV networks for wireless coverage

Providing wireless coverage to users using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) encounters two major challenges: deployment and channel allocation. To this end, solutions to both issues are proposed in this paper. An overloaded UAV attempts to acquire more channels by performing channel bonding/aggregation followed by requesting its chosen peers to move closer for load sharing. The proposed channel reallocation schemes minimize interference caused by channel reassignments, or change in network topology. The simulation results show that when employing these schemes, more data is served with reduced discontinuous service time and efficient usage of limited battery power.     

基于ATP-ABE的访问控制方案

对访问控制机制中存在的安全性和有效性的问题进行了研究，提出了基于访问树剪枝的属性加密ATP-ABE（Access Tree Pruning Attribute Based Encryption）的访问控制方案。当ATP-ABE算法需要访问它的树型结构访问策略时，通过剪枝处理访问树结构中包含用户ID属性节点的分支，提高了用户所有者DO（Data Owner）管理和控制属性的效率，更加有效地实现了数据共享。还为访问树结构设计了许可访问属性，使DO仍保留共享数据的关键属性，并且能够完全控制它们的共享数据。基于决策双线性密钥交换算法DBDH（Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman）假设分析了ATP-ABE方案的安全性，研究结果表明与两种经典ABE方案比较，ATP-ABE更加有效地减少了算法的系统设置、私钥生成、密文大小、用户属性撤销以及加解密过程中的计算开销，并给出了定量结论。     

Hemodialysis‐induced bradycardia, “a plumbing issue”: Resolved with catheter repositioning

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is reported as leading cause of death in patients on chronic hemodialysis. Arrhythmias are proposed to be a major predisposing factor for SCD. However, triggers for potentially lethal arrhythmias are not well understood. Here we describe a case of 72‐year‐old man on chronic hemodialysis via permanent Central venous catheter (CVC) who was admitted for evaluation after unwitnessed fall. Within 10 minutes of his first routine dialysis session in the hospital, he had cardiac‐arrest. He was successfully resuscitated within 3 minutes. The next day, fifteen minutes into the dialysis session, he had bradycardia with telemetry demonstrating long sinus pause and he lost consciousness. After few minutes of Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) he regained pulse and consciousness. Further review of the chest X‐ray revealed the tip of CVC to be directly touching the distal Superior Vena Cava (SVC) wall. We felt the catheter tip may have migrated after the fall and now is irritating the Sinoatrial node and triggering bradyarrhythmia. Next day, the CVC was exchanged, and the tip was placed higher up in superior vena‐cava. After repositioning, we started him on dialysis under intensive monitoring, and he tolerated well without any arrhythmia. Subsequent dialysis was uneventful. We describe a case of recurrent symptomatic intra‐dialytic bradycardia due to abnormal positioning of CVC that resolved after the repositioning of the catheter. This case in addition to similar case in nondialysis settlings provides additional insights into mechanisms of fatal arrhythmias in hemodialysis patient having CVC.