Short Chain Fatty Acid Acetate Increases TNFα-Induced MCP-1 Production in Monocytic Cells via ACSL1/MAPK/NF-κB Axis

Short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) acetate, a byproduct of dietary fiber metabolism by gut bacteria, has multiple immunomodulatory functions. The anti-inflammatory role of acetate is well documented; however, its effect on monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) production is unknown. Similarly, the comparative effect of SCFA on MCP-1 expression in monocytes and macrophages remains unclear. We investigated whether acetate modulates TNFα-mediated MCP-1/CCL2 production in monocytes/macrophages and, if so, by which mechanism(s). Monocytic cells were exposed to acetate with/without TNFα for 24 h, and MCP-1 expression was measured. Monocytes treated with acetate in combination with TNFα resulted in significantly greater MCP-1 production compared to TNFα treatment alone, indicating a synergistic effect. On the contrary, treatment with acetate in combination with TNFα suppressed MCP-1 production in macrophages. The synergistic upregulation of MCP-1 was mediated through the activation of long-chain fatty acyl-CoA synthetase 1 (ACSL1). However, the inhibition of other bioactive lipid enzymes [carnitine palmitoyltransferase I (CPT I) or serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT)] did not affect this synergy. Moreover, MCP-1 expression was significantly reduced by the inhibition of p38 MAPK, ERK1/2, and NF-κB signaling. The inhibition of ACSL1 attenuated the acetate/TNFα-mediated phosphorylation of p38 MAPK, ERK1/2, and NF-κB. Increased NF-κB/AP-1 activity, resulting from acetate/TNFα co-stimulation, was decreased by ACSL1 inhibition. In conclusion, this study demonstrates the proinflammatory effects of acetate on TNF-α-mediated MCP-1 production via the ACSL1/MAPK/NF-κB axis in monocytic cells, while a paradoxical effect was observed in THP-1-derived macrophages.     

Efficiency Effect of Obstacle Margin on Line-of-Sight in Wireless Networks

Line-of-sight clarity and assurance are essential because they are considered the golden rule in wireless network planning, allowing the direct propagation path to connect the transmitter and receiver and retain the strength of the signal to be received. Despite the increasing literature on the line of sight with different scenarios, no comprehensive study focuses on the multiplicity of parameters and basic concepts that must be taken into account when studying such a topic as it affects the results and their accuracy. Therefore, this research aims to find limited values that ensure that the signal reaches the future efficiently and enhances the accuracy of these values’ results. We have designed MATLAB simulation and programming programs by Visual Basic .NET for a semi-realistic communication system. It includes all the basic parameters of this system, taking into account the environment's diversity and the characteristics of the obstacle between the transmitting station and the receiving station. Then we verified the correctness of the system's work. Moreover, we begin by analyzing and studying multiple and branching cases to achieve the goal. We get several values from the results, which are finite values, which are a useful reference for engineers and designers of wireless networks.     

Spectral properties of glass (15Ga<Subscript>2</Subscript>S<Subscript>3</Subscript> · 85GeS<Subscript>2</Subscript>) doped with erbium

For chalcogenide glasses in the system (1 – x)[0.15Ga₂S₃ · 0.85GeS₂] · xEr₂S₃, the absorption and luminescence spectra are investigated and the X-ray diffraction analysis is performed. A small shift in the position of the erbium absorption band with the increase of its content in the glass indicates the decrease of the effective charge on it, while the negligible changes in the angle position of the first sharp diffraction peak points to the constancy of the glass’s intermediate-order parameter. The possibility of describing the dependence of the intensity of erbium luminescence on its concentration using the earlier suggested equation has been discussed.     

Numerical simulation and analysis of a patented desalination and power co-generation cycle

A patented cycle for water desalination and power generation was evaluated with regard to thermal efficiency and water production. The inventor of the patent claimed that the patented cycle provides a thermal efficiency of 41 %, which is higher than current combined water and power generation steam plants. A simulation program was developed to evaluate the thermal efficiency and water productivity of this cycle. Simulation parameters were selected from data provided by the patent as well as data generally used in the design of combined power and desalination plants. Results of the simulation were compared with a simulation of the Jubail-II combined plant. The simulation proved that the patented cycle is far inferior to current dual-purpose MSF desalination plants in terms ofwater production. In addition, the patent was found to have a much lower efficiency than what was claimed by the inventor.     

An Optimized Algorithm for Resource Allocation for D2D in Heterogeneous Networks

With the emergence of 5G mobile multimedia services, end users’ demand for high-speed, low-latency mobile communication network access is increasing. Among them, the device-to-device (D2D) communication is one of the considerable technology. In D2D communication, the data does not need to be relayed and forwarded by the base station, but under the control of the base station, a direct local link is allowed between two adjacent mobile devices. This flexible communication mode reduces the processing bottlenecks and coverage blind spots of the base station, and can be widely used in dense user communication scenarios such as heterogeneous ultra-dense wireless networks. One of the important factors which affects the quality-of-service (QoS) of D2D communications is co-channel interference. In order to solve this problem of co-channel interference, this paper proposes a graph coloring based algorithm. The main idea is to utilize the weighted priority of spectrum resources and enables multiple D2D users to reuse the single cellular user resource. The proposed algorithm also provides simpler power control. The heterogeneous pattern of interference is determined using different types of interferences and UE and the priority of color is acquired. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm effectively reduced the co-channel interference, power consumption and improved the system throughput as compared with existing algorithms.     

Intelligent DoS Attack Detection with Congestion Control Technique for VANETs

Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) has become an integral part of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) in today's life. VANET is a network that can be heavily scaled up with a number of vehicles and road side units that keep fluctuating in real world. VANET is susceptible to security issues, particularly DoS attacks, owing to maximum unpredictability in location. So, effective identification and the classification of attacks have become the major requirements for secure data transmission in VANET. At the same time, congestion control is also one of the key research problems in VANET which aims at minimizing the time expended on roads and calculating travel time as well as waiting time at intersections, for a traveler. With this motivation, the current research paper presents an intelligent DoS attack detection with Congestion Control (IDoS-CC) technique for VANET. The presented IDoS-CC technique involves two-stage processes namely, Teaching and Learning Based Optimization (TLBO)-based Congestion Control (TLBO-CC) and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU)-based DoS detection (GRU-DoSD). The goal of IDoS-CC technique is to reduce the level of congestion and detect the attacks that exist in the network. TLBO algorithm is also involved in IDoS-CC technique for optimization of the routes taken by vehicles via traffic signals and to minimize the congestion on a particular route instantaneously so as to assure minimal fuel utilization. TLBO is applied to avoid congestion on roadways. Besides, GRU-DoSD model is employed as a classification model to effectively discriminate the compromised and genuine vehicles in the network. The outcomes from a series of simulation analyses highlight the supremacy of the proposed IDoS-CC technique as it reduced the congestion and successfully identified the DoS attacks in network.     

A Reliable NLP Scheme for English Text Watermarking Based on Contents Interrelationship

In this paper, a combined approach CAZWNLP (a combined approach of zero-watermarking and natural language processing) has been developed for the tampering detection of English text exchanged through the Internet. The third gram of alphanumeric of the Markov model has been used with text-watermarking technologies to improve the performance and accuracy of tampering detection issues which are limited by the existing works reviewed in the literature of this study. The third-grade level of the Markov model has been used in this method as natural language processing technology to analyze an English text and extract the textual characteristics of the given contexts. Moreover, the extracted features have been utilized as watermark information and then validated with the attacked English text to detect any suspected tampering occurred on it. The embedding mechanism of CAZWNLP method will be achieved logically without effects or modifying the original text document to embed a watermark key. CAZWNLP has been implemented using VS code IDE with PHP. The experimental and simulation results using standard datasets of varying lengths show that the proposed approach can obtain high robustness and better detection accuracy of tampering common random insertion, reorder, and deletion attacks, e.g., Comparison results with baseline approaches also show the advantages of the proposed approach.     

An Optimized Algorithm for CR-MIMO Wireless Networks

With the rapid development of wireless communication technology, the spectrum resources are increasingly strained which needs optimal solutions. Cognitive radio (CR) is one of the key technologies to solve this problem. Spectrum sensing not only includes the precise detection of the communication signal of the primary user (PU), but also the precise identification of its modulation type, which can then determine the a priori information such as the PU’ service category, so as to use this information to make the cognitive user (CU) aware to discover and use the idle spectrum more effectively, and improve the spectrum utilization. Spectrum sensing is the primary feature and core part of CR. Classical sensing algorithms includes energy detection, cyclostationary feature detection, matched filter detection, and so on. The energy detection algorithm has a simple structure and does not require prior knowledge of the PU transmitter signal, but it is easily affected by noise and the threshold is not easy to determine. The combination of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) with CR improves the spectral efficiency and multi-path fading utilization. To best utilize the PU spectrum while minimizing the overall transmit power, an iterative technique based on semidefinite programming (SDP) and minimum mean squared error (MMSE) is proposed. Also, this article proposed a new method for max-min fairness beamforming. When compared to existing algorithms, the simulation results show that the proposed algorithms perform better in terms of total transmitted power and signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR). Furthermore, the proposed algorithm effectively improved the system performance in terms of number of iterations, interference temperature threshold and balance SINR level which makes it superior over the conventional schemes.     

Technologically Advanced Reusable 3D Face Shield for Health Workers Confronting COVID19

The probability of medical staff to get affected from COVID19 is much higher due to their working environment which is more exposed to infectious diseases. So, as a preventive measure the body temperature monitoring of medical staff at regular intervals is highly recommended. Infrared temperature sensing guns have proved its effectiveness and therefore such devices are used to monitor the body temperature. These devices are either used on hands or forehead. As a result, there are many issues in monitoring the temperature of frontline healthcare professionals. Firstly, these healthcare professionals keep wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) kits during working hours and as a result it would be very difficult to monitor their body temperature. Secondly, these healthcare professionals also wear face shields and in such cases monitoring temperature by exposing forehead needs removal of face shield. Doing so after regular intervals is surely uncomfortable for healthcare professionals. To avoid such issues, this paper is disclosing a technologically advanced face shield equipped with sensors capable of monitoring body temperature instantly without the hassle of removing the face shield. This face shield is integrated with a built-in infrared temperature sensor. A total of 10 such face shields were printed and assembled within the university lab and then handed over to a group of ten members including faculty and students of nursing and health science department. This sequence was repeated four times and as a result 40 healthcare workers participated in the study. Thereafter, feedback analysis was conducted on questionnaire data and found a significant overall mean score of 4.59 out of 5 which indicates that the product is effective and worthy in every facet. Stress analysis is also performed in the simulated environment and found that the device can easily withstand the typically applied forces. The limitations of this product are difficulty in cleaning the product and comparatively high cost due to the deployment of electronic equipment.     

Video‐on‐Demand (VoD) deployment over hospitality networks

Video‐on‐Demand (VoD) deployment over existing IP networks has recently gained significant popularity. Typically, the deployment of VoD is done in an arbitrary manner, without utilizing a proper engineering approach. In this paper, we present an engineering approach to deploy VoD services over IP‐based hospitality networks, such as those networks seen in hotels and hospitals. In particular, our approach aims to determine the total number of VoD sessions that can be sustained by an existing hospitality network, while satisfying the QoS requirements of all network services, and at the same time leaving adequate capacity for future growth. We gauge the capacity of the hospitality network to sustain VoD services using both analysis and simulation. The capacity is gauged considering VoD quality of service requirements of throughput and delay constraints. Our analysis utilizes the principles of queuing theory, and our simulation is performed using OPNET simulation. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.