Access Points Research Articles

Psychiatry and Family Medicine Residents' Likelihood of Prescribing HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis to Patients With Mental Illness and HIV Vulnerability.

People living with mental illness (PLMI) experience disproportionately high incidence of and vulnerability to HIV. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective and safe HIV prevention method, but data regarding prescription to PLMI are lacking. Psychiatrists may serve as important points of access for PrEP prescription for PLMI. We conducted a vignette-based study of residents in psychiatry and family medicine (FM) to assess likelihood of prescribing PrEP and assumptions about the fictional patient. Participants were randomized to one of five vignettes in which the patients' psychiatric diagnosis was varied (schizophrenia on long-acting injectable or oral antipsychotic, bipolar disorder, major depression) or a control vignette without a psychiatric diagnosis. A total of 439 residents participated. We found that high percentages of psychiatry (96.8%) and FM (97.4%) residents were aware of PrEP. High percentages of psychiatry (92.0%-98.1%) and FM (80.8%-100%) residents reported that PrEP was indicated for all patient conditions. Family medicine residents were more likely to prescribe PrEP to all experimental conditions than psychiatry residents. There was no difference in likelihood of prescribing to the control condition without a psychiatric diagnosis. The belief that PrEP prescription was out of scope of practice was greater among psychiatry residents. A majority of psychiatry residents responded that PrEP was indicated for an array of patients with psychiatric diagnoses. However, psychiatry residents were broadly less likely to prescribe PrEP to patients with these diagnoses. The high percentage of psychiatry residents who reported that PrEP was indicated for all patients suggests that additional training is needed to facilitate PrEP prescription by psychiatrists.

Downlink Learning-aided Precoding for Cell-Free networks Specially D esigned for beyond 5G Communication System

Objectives: With increase in number of access points in Cell-Free Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (CFMM) system, spatial complexity of calculating precoding vector increases with traditional precoding schemes. So, to reduce computational complexity, network cost, and run time, a new deep learning -aided precoder is specially designed for CFMM system. The performance of downlink (DL) Cell-Free Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (CFMM) system operating under Rayleigh fading channel model is analyze using new deep learning-based precoding scheme. Methods: We introduce new deep learning-aided precoder and an improved version of basic scalable pilot assignment algorithm which enhances system performance. We derive closed- form expression for average DL spectral efficiency (SE) for the proposed scheme, which is then compared with Minimum Mean Square Error Successive Interference Cancellation (MMSESIC), Regularized Zero Forcing (RZF), Least Square (LS) and Maximum Ratio (MR) combining techniques. We analyze the proposed scheme with perfect channel state information (CSI), instantaneous CSI, coherent transmission, non-coherent transmission, different pilot configuration. Findings: The spectral efficiency obtained with CFMM-MMSESIC and the proposed scheme is 3 bits/s/Hz, and 2.5bits/s/Hz respectively, which clearly indicates the difference of 20 % only. So, the proposed scheme gives near optimal results, and we can use simple linear combining techniques instead of complex non-linear combining techniques. Also, the proposed scheme with coherent data transmission gives performance curve, which is very close to MMSESIC scheme as desired. The performance of the proposed system is improved by reducing run time and computational complexity as compared to conventional linear precoding schemes. Novelty: The proposed precoder improves performance by reducing run time and computational complexity. Advanced pilot assignment algorithm enhances performance by reducing pilot contamination. Keywords: Cell-Free Massive Multiple Input Multiple Output, Pilot Contamination, Precoding, Minimum Mean Square Error Successive Interference Cancellation, Maximum Ratio, Regularized Zero Forcing (RZF), Least Square (LS)

Matters of Fidelity: School Provider Adherence and Competence in a Clustered Study of Adaptive Implementation Strategies

ABSTRACT Schools are a promising access point for youth with mental health concerns, but school-based mental health professionals (SPs) often need ongoing support to provide high-fidelity cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Adherence and competence, two critical elements of fidelity, were examined in a cluster-randomized implementation trial. We evaluated CBT adherence and then triangulated CBT adherence with end-of-study competence. We then evaluated the effects of two implementation supports, Coaching and (for slower-responding schools) Facilitation, on adherence and competence. By the end of the 43-week study period, 27.8% of SPs met adherence criteria. Adherent SPs scored higher on the competence measure, the CBT Competence Scale (t(116.2) = 3.71, p < .001). No significant difference in adherence was found among SPs at schools assigned to Coaching vs. not (Δ = 6.0%, p = .385), however SPs at schools randomized to Coaching scored significantly higher on two of the four competence subscales (Non-Behavioral and Behavioral skills). Among slower-responder schools, SPs at schools assigned to Facilitation were more likely to demonstrate adherence (Δ = 16.3%, p = .022), but there was no effect of Facilitation on competence. Approximately one quarter of SPs met adherence criteria in the trial; adequate delivery of exposure was a primary obstacle to reaching adherence. Facilitation may be especially suited to help SPs overcome barriers to delivery, whereas Coaching may be especially suited to help SPs improve CBT competence. Both are likely needed to build a mental health work force with the competence and ability to deliver EBPs in schools.

Abstract 2861: Rhabdomyosarcoma fusion-oncogene alters the chromatin landscape to initially drive a neural signature in vivo

Abstract Fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma is an aggressive pediatric cancer lacking curative therapies, and outcomes for children with this disease have not improved in decades. The chimeric transcription factor PAX3::FOXO1 is the most common and lethal driver of fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma, and it consists of the DNA binding domains of PAX3 fused to the transactivation domain of FOXO1. Despite its well-established essentiality for tumorigenesis, how PAX3::FOXO1 initially generates a tumorigenic cell state has been challenging to study due to the lack of in vivo models expressing the fusion-oncogene at accessible early developmental time points. Here, we developed a novel zebrafish mRNA injection model that ubiquitously expresses PAX3::FOXO1 during gastrulation representing all three germ layers. Using this high-throughput model, we used ChIP-seq to identify initial in vivo PAX3::FOXO1 binding sites and targets. PAX3::FOXO1 has pioneering activity, where it can utilize partial-motif recognition to bind to inaccessible chromatin and alter chromatin structure. With biochemical and 2D chromatin sequencing approaches in our model, we find evidence for in vivo PAX3::FOXO1 pioneering activity. PAX3::FOXO1 consists of two DNA binding domains, a paired and homeobox domain, and we demonstrate a new mode of pioneering activity driven by its homeobox domain given a strong enrichment of homeobox-related motifs at PAX3::FOXO1 binding sites. PAX3::FOXO1 activity in developing zebrafish embryos results in an arrested development phenotype and transcriptional signatures enriched for pathways such as an inhibition of segmentation and myogenic development. Critically, we find that PAX3::FOXO1 directly activates neural-related gene targets by increasing chromatin accessibility and re-distribution of the active histone mark H3K27Ac to these loci. These discoveries are particularly striking because rhabdomyosarcoma is traditionally associated with skeletal muscle characteristics. With our findings, we hypothesize neural gene activation is a critical mechanism for fusion-positive rhabdomyosarcoma tumor initiation and could be a critical pathway across various stages of rhabdomyosarcoma tumorigenesis. This hypothesis agrees with our previous discovery of a novel PAX3::FOXO1 cooperating neural transcription factor, HES3, which we find is directly activated by PAX3::FOXO1 in our mRNA injection model. Our long-term goal is to utilize this versatile model to functionally evaluate cooperation between PAX3::FOXO1 and both canonical rhabdomyosarcoma and neural transcription factors. Our approach will employ a cross-species comparative analysis across this injection model, our zebrafish tumor models, other model systems, and patient data. This work will identify conserved targets and mechanisms of PAX3::FOXO1 tumorigenesis that could become new therapeutic vulnerabilities. Citation Format: Jack Kucinski, Cenny Taslim, Alexi Tallan, Matthew Cannon, Katherine Silvius, Benjamin Stanton, Genevieve Kendall. Rhabdomyosarcoma fusion-oncogene alters the chromatin landscape to initially drive a neural signature in vivo [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 2861.

A region-wise indoor localization system based on unsupervised learning and ant colony optimization technique

WiFi-based indoor localization has gained widespread attention in the recent past with the ubiquitous deployment of WLAN. However, for sustainable performance, it is crucial to identify and maintain the important WiFi Access Points (APs). Interestingly, the localization capabilities of APs differ even within their area of coverage depending on the indoor ambience and building properties. Thus, the significance of an AP to the localization performance can be better assessed if the entire region is divided into optimal number of clusters/subregions. This type of problem is hardly investigated in the literature. Consequently, in this paper, the aforementioned challenges are addressed from the perspective of expert systems through applying machine learning and meta-heuristic techniques. Accordingly, our contribution is three-fold. First, we have designed a Region-wise Indoor Localization System (RwILS) in which a sub-regional division algorithm is proposed using DBSCAN approach. Second, a sub-region-wise important AP selection algorithm is designed based on Ant Colony Optimization technique. Third, a location estimation approach is proposed that first identifies the sub-region and then predicts the location point in that sub-region using supervised learning classifiers. A publicly available dataset, JUIndoorLoc is used for experimental evaluation. The localization accuracy of RwILS is improved to 95.68% while the state-of-the-art classifiers give 71% to 83% accuracy. RwILS also outperforms some recent works which further validates its effectiveness. Thus, this proposed technique can lead to an effective expert system in the domain of indoor localization.

Ongoing attachments with stuffed toys: conceptualizing childhood and teaching through transitional objects

ABSTRACT In this article, we highlight how adults remain emotionally involved with transitional objects, such as stuffed animals, carried over from their childhoods. Drawing on focus groups involving undergraduate students enrolled in teacher education and childhood studies programs, we found that the participants’ reflections of their stuffed animals opened onto layered meanings: 1) tactile experiences of materiality and sensation; 2) personal memories of innocence and paternal protection; and 3) conceptualizations of uncertainty and anxiety in adulthood. While we found that stuffed animals can be important access points to underrepresented feelings of vulnerability in adulthood, we also noted that these transitional objects can be used to entrench normative notions of teaching, development, and childhood. We suggest that transitional objects can be resources in fields devoted to the well-being and growth of children, especially as they help prospective teachers work through the ambivalences and defenses that accompany the work of education and care.

Wifi Pentesting Roadmap for Classic-Future Attacks and Defenses

The most advanced attack on the Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) network uses social engineering. The hacker makes portal captive and forces the victim for disconnecting to internet instead of entering the real password of the WIFI. In normal actions, asking WIFI password on the web interface is not the real process, but sometimes the victim is not experience enough on security and thinks that it is a technical problem. Also, the victim didn’t have internet connection due to the hard deauthentication and the select open access, which is not his WIFI network. The future generation of WIFI could be use a secure deauthentication. So, this article proposed how the actual attack will be processed, how is the secure deauthentication and how hacker could use this same attack with more secure network. Like conclusion, solutions to resolve this problem will be proposed. New hacking arsenal for replacing the deauthentication is the smart-jamming. With the secure deauthentication, reforging the packet for telling the victim to deauthenticate to the network will not be possible anymore. The smart-jamming select the frequency of the access point of the victim and jam only this specific frequency by sending a noise. In this scenario, the same effect of the first attack is still possible. For the best security of network, two solutions will be proposed: secure deauthentication and hopping frequency. A defensive proposition about secure deauthentication will be found in this article by using cryptographic key exchange like Diffie Hellman (DH), Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman (ECDH) and Super Isogenies Diffie Hellman (CSIDH).

Analysis of the efficiency of block frame transmission in IEEE 802.11 computer networks

In infrastructure schemes of WLANs wireless computer networks, which are based on the use of the DSF (distributed coordination function) function and the CSMA/CA mechanism, the station STA (STAtion) sends a frame if the transmission channel is released after waiting for the end of the DIFS (distributed interframe space) interval and operation of the slot selec-tion mechanism for transmission (backoff mechanism). In case of collisions or damage to the frame by interference, the AP cannot decode the frame and does not send it back to the ACS station. The sending station STA waits for the re-ceipt of a potential ASK before the expiration of the corresponding timeout, and in case of receipt, starts the backoff procedure before transmission. The duration of the slot used in the backoff process depends on the speed of the physical layer technology. To reduce overhead, a transmission mechanism using frame blocks was proposed. This mechanism assumes that a block of frames intended for one recipient can be sent without con-firming the fact of correct reception by the AP access point of each frame separately. In this case, the sender (STA) competes for access to the channel for the first frame of the block. If it wins the access competition, the transmission of the first frame begins, and after receiving the ACK acknowledgment for it and a short SIFS separation interval, the STA transmits a whole block of frames, which is accompanied by a BAR service frame. The mechanism of frames block transmission in wireless computer networks IEEE 802.11 DCF with infrastructure topology has been analyzed. In protected mode, the depend-encies of network throughput on data transmission rate and the number of frames in a block are determined. It is shown that the mechanism of block transmission significantly increases the network throughput, especially in the range of higher transmission rates. With a marked increase in the intensity of interference the transmission of blocks becomes more complicated. Already with BER=10^-6 and the frames number of the order of 10 and more, in some cases there is a need to retransmit distorted in a block frames, and at BER=10^-5 there are many re-transmissions, so the resulting network throughput becomes small.

DdPCR enables rapid detection of bloodstream infections in patients on home parenteral nutrition: A prospective cohort study

IntroductionChronic intestinal failure patients (CIF) require a central venous access device (CVAD) to administer parenteral nutrition. Most serious complication related to a CVAD is a central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI). The golden standard to diagnose a CLABSI are blood cultures, however, they may require 1–5 days before getting a result. Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) for the detection of pathogen 16S/28S rRNA is a novel culture-independent molecular technique that has been developed to enhance and expedite infection diagnostics within two and a half hours. In this study, we prospectively compared ddPCR with blood cultures to detect pathogens in whole blood. MethodsWe included adult CIF patients with a clinical suspicion of CLABSI in this prospective single-blinded clinical study. Blood cultures were routinely collected and subsequently two central samples from the CVAD and two peripheral samples from a peripheral venous access point. Primary outcome was the sensitivity and specificity of ddPCR. ResultsIn total, 75 patients with 126 suspected CLABSI episodes were included, with 80 blood samples from the CVAD and 114 from peripheral veins. The central ddPCR samples showed a sensitivity of 91% (95%CI 77–98), and specificity of 96% (95%CI 85–99). Peripheral ddPCR samples had a sensitivity of 63% (95%CI 46–77) and specificity of 99% (95%CI 93–100). ConclusionddPCR showed a high sensitivity and specificity relative to blood cultures and enables rapid pathogen detection and characterization. Clinical studies should explore if integrated ddPCR and blood culture outcomes enables a more rapid pathogen guided CLABSI treatment and enhancing patient outcomes.

Qualitative Analysis of Implementation Factors of an Embedded Caregiver Support Intervention into Adult Day Services.

Adult day services (ADS) are an important and often underutilized support resource for older adults. For persons living with dementia (PLWD), ADS is an optimal access point to not only receive therapeutic and rehabilitative activities, but as a vehicle for respite/relief for dementia caregivers. Yet, there is currently a lack of research on integrating caregiver interventions into home and community-based services such as ADS. This paper reports on qualitative findings from the Improving Outcomes for Family Caregivers of Older Adults with Complex Conditions: The Adult Day Plus (ADS Plus) Program Trial. Drawing from semi-structured interviews conducted with family caregivers and ADS site staff, we conducted a thematic analysis to examine the implementation process of ADS Plus. Themes address the relational nature of the intervention, learning, influence of the administrative infrastructure, and receptivity of ADS Plus. Our analysis determined that implementation of ADS Plus was feasible and accepted by site staff and dementia caregivers but also calls for additional evaluation of embedded caregiver support interventions across different contexts (e.g., staff size, limited technology environments) to further identify and test implementation mechanisms across settings.

Mobility aware blockage management of a multi-user multi-cell hybrid Li-Fi Wi-Fi system with freeform diversity receiver

In order to accommodate high data traffic, the co-deployment of heterogeneous networks like light fidelity (Li-Fi) and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) can offer supplementary small-cell layers of support and bring about a paradigm shift in achievable system throughput and quality of service. However, dense deployment of Li-Fi access points(APs) in an indoor arena often leads to co-channel-interference (CCI) that can be fruitfully diminished by adopting a customized optical front-end called freeform diversity receiver (FDR). With regard to multi-user association, this work judiciously imparts the motivation behind the adoption of FDR in a hybrid Li-Fi Wi-Fi network (HLWNet). Based on different mobility scenarios and blockage conditions the performance of the proposed HLWNet has been evaluated. A Li-Fi channel model with FDR and a rule-based resource allocation algorithm (RBRA) has been proposed for the purpose. Nevertheless, the network data quality of the multi-user system has been estimated in terms of packet loss, latency, and fairness index. Unlike the existing optimal resource allocation (ORA), the RBRA demonstrates superior network performance. Additionally, the execution time in the RBRA is reduced by a factor of 89 compared to the optimal resource allocation algorithm. Simulation results show a satisfactory fairness index of more than 0.85 and latency within 2.1 ms for a 10-user association inside an indoor environment of 25m2 floor area. In the absence of LOS blockage, the system throughput exhibits minimal variation, staying consistent for both methods with less than a 2% difference. However, significant improvement in average user throughput and effective system throughput has been observed compared to the existing studies. Despite line-of-sight (LOS) blockage, the proposed system with RBRA consistently maintains throughput within the range of 2.01 Gbps to 2.55 Gbps. The average user throughput, varying from 182 Mbps to 480 Mbps, is contingent upon the number of associated users, which ranges from 4 to 14.

Factors associated with hospitalization in a pediatric population of rural Tanzania: findings from a retrospective cohort study

BackgroundDespite pediatric acute illnesses being leading causes of death and disability among children, acute and critical care services are not universally available in low-middle income countries, such as Tanzania, even if in this country significant progress has been made in child survival, over the last 20 years. In these countries, the hospital emergency departments may represent the only or the main point of access to health-care services. Thus, the hospitalization rates may reflect both the health system organization and the patients’ health status. The purpose of the study is to describe the characteristics of clinical presentations to a pediatric Outpatient Department (OPD) in Tanzania and to identify the predictive factors for hospitalization.MethodsRetrospective cohort study based on 4,324 accesses in the OPD at Tosamaganga Voluntary Agency Hospital (Tanzania). Data were collected for all 2,810 children (aged 0–13) who accessed the OPD services, within the period 1 January − 30 September 2022. The association between the hospitalization (main outcome) and potential confounding covariates (demographic, socio-contextual and clinical factors) was evaluated using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models.ResultsFive hundred three (11.6%) of OPD accesses were hospitalized and 17 (0.4%) died during hospitalization. A higher (p < 0.001) risk of hospitalization was observed for children without health insurance (OR = 3.26), coming from more distant districts (OR = 2.83), not visited by a pediatric trained staff (OR = 3.58), and who accessed for the following conditions: burn/wound (OR = 70.63), cardiovascular (OR = 27.36), constitutional/malnutrition (OR = 62.71), fever (OR = 9.79), gastrointestinal (OR = 8.01), respiratory (OR = 12.86), ingestion/inhalation (OR = 17.00), injury (OR = 6.84).ConclusionsThe higher risk of hospitalization for children without health insurance, and living far from the district capital underline the necessity to promote the implementation of primary care, particularly in small villages, and the establishment of an efficient emergency call and transport system. The observation of lower hospitalization risk for children attended by a pediatric trained staff confirm the necessity of preventing admissions for conditions that could be managed in other health settings, if timely evaluated.

Locations and characteristics of pharmacy deserts in the United States: a geospatial study.

Pharmacies are important health care access points, but no national map currently exists of where pharmacy deserts are located. This cross-sectional study used pharmacy address data and Census Bureau surveys to define pharmacy deserts at the census tract level in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia. We also compared sociodemographic characteristics of pharmacy desert vs non-pharmacy desert communities. Nationally, 15.8 million (4.7%) of all people in the United States live in pharmacy deserts, spanning urban and rural settings in all 50 states. On average, communities that are pharmacy deserts have a higher proportion of people who have a high school education or less, have no health insurance, have low self-reported English ability, have an ambulatory disability, and identify as a racial or ethnic minority. While, on average, pharmacies are the most accessible health care setting in the United States, many people still do not have access to them. Further, the people living in pharmacy deserts are often marginalized groups who have historically faced structural barriers to health care. This study demonstrates a need to improve access to pharmacies and pharmacy services to advance health equity.

Prescription Opioid Diversion Sources Among African Americans: Implications for Overdose Prevention

Recent data show that African Americans (AAs) experienced a greater increase in overdose deaths involving prescription opioids relative to other racial/ethnic groups. One possible mechanism through which elevated risk for overdose is conferred to AAs could be due to greater exposure to contaminated counterfeit pills. Unfortunately, prescription opioid diversion is understudied among AAs and less is known regarding which sources AAs use to access pharmaceutical opioids. The objective of this study, therefore, was to identify and describe the most commonly used diversion sources for prescription opioids among AAs. Qualitative interview data are also presented to contextualize the most prevalent sources. This study used data from the Florida Minority Health Study, a mixed-methods project that included online surveys (n = 303) and qualitative in-depth interviews (n = 30) of AAs. Data collection was conducted from August 2021 to February 2022 throughout Southwest Florida. Analyses revealed that the most widely used sources for prescription opioids were dealers (33.0%) and friends/relatives (34.7%). Additionally, interview data indicated that dealers are the access point where larger volume acquisitions are made and high potency formulations are accessed. These findings suggest that AAs may utilize nonhealthcare related sources at higher rates than healthcare related sources to acquire prescription opioids. This is concerning because opioid pills acquired through nonhealthcare related sources are especially susceptible to fentanyl adulteration. These findings invite further study using nationally representative data to determine if AAs disproportionately use nonhealthcare related sources compared to persons from other racial/ethnic groups.

Tambov radio: from wired access points to Internet broadcasting

INTRODUCTION. The study focuses on regional radio, which is an important part of the modern information system due to the stable interest in radio on the Internet, ease of use, and accessible forms of informing the audience. Analysis of radio broadcasting formation in the Tambov region, identification of characteristic features of radio activity in different historical eras, assessment of the current state of development of electronic media is the goal of this study.MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study is used comparative historical analysis, a systematic method, the method of expert interviews, and analyzed extensive empirical audio material, articles in the media, and local history documents.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. The periodization of radio from the beginning of the Tambov region radioification to the development of Internet radio is presented, highlighting the key stages of the functioning of this media in the region. The experience of public and private radio broadcasting is generalized, the originality of the development of Tambov radio journalism is reflected, and the concept of viewing the media as an integral system, including structural elements and characteristic patterns is formed.CONCLUSION. The results of the study may be useful for further study of electronic media in the Tambov region in the context of the overall development of the modern media system of the region and the country as a whole.

Integrating Wearable Textiles Sensors and IoT for Continuous sEMG Monitoring.

Surface electromyography is a technique used to measure the electrical activity of muscles. sEMG can be used to assess muscle function in various settings, including clinical, academic/industrial research, and sports medicine. The aim of this study is to develop a wearable textile sensor for continuous sEMG monitoring. Here, we have developed an integrated biomedical monitoring system that records sEMG signals through a textile electrode embroidered within a smart sleeve bandage for telemetric assessment of muscle activities and fatigue. We have taken an "Internet of Things"-based approach to acquire the sEMG, using a Myoware sensor and transmit the signal wirelessly through a WiFi-enabled microcontroller unit (NodeMCU; ESP8266). Using a wireless router as an access point, the data transmitted from ESP8266 was received and routed to the webserver-cum-database (Xampp local server) installed on a mobile phone or PC for processing and visualization. The textile electrode integrated with IoT enabled us to measure sEMG, whose quality is similar to that of conventional methods. To verify the performance of our developed prototype, we compared the sEMG signal recorded from the biceps, triceps, and tibialis muscles, using both the smart textile electrode and the gelled electrode. The root mean square and average rectified values of the sEMG measured using our prototype for the three muscle types were within the range of 1.001 ± 0.091 mV to 1.025 ± 0.060 mV and 0.291 ± 0.00 mV to 0.65 ± 0.09 mV, respectively. Further, we also performed the principal component analysis for a total of 18 features (15 time domain and 3 frequency domain) for the same muscle position signals. On the basis on the hierarchical clustering analysis of the PCA's score, as well as the one-way MANOVA of the 18 features, we conclude that the differences observed in the data for the different muscle types as well as the electrode types are statistically insignificant.

Physical layer security analysis for RIS-aided NOMA systems with non-colluding eavesdroppers

Within the realm of sixth-generation (6G) wireless systems, there exist two primary imperatives: establishing massive connections and ensuring robust data transmission security. Therefore, this paper delves into the realm of physical layer security (PLS) within the context of a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) network coupled with the Internet of Things (IoTs), while addressing the challenge of non-concluding eavesdroppers. Specifically, the utilization of NOMA technology is anticipated to yield a substantial enhancement in spectrum efficiency for 6G and forthcoming wireless networks. Furthermore, this study investigates the security aspects through metrics such as the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and the average secrecy capacity (ASC), with the derivation of closed-form approximations for these metrics. Based on these mathematical expressions, we unveil the asymptotic Secrecy Outage Probability (SOP) to extract comprehensive insights into the RIS-assisted NOMA system’s behavior. Furthermore, we employ an algorithm based on the Golden Section to showcase the optimal SOP for a more in-depth analysis. Our findings highlight that the number of RIS metasurface components and the average signal-to-noise ratio at the access point are the primary factors driving improvements in system performance. Finally, we confirmed the correctness of our derived expressions by conducting a comparative analysis between Monte-Carlo simulations and analytical results.

Multi-round transmission and contention protocol in WLANs with multi-packet reception

Nowadays, there are many scenarios in Wi-Fi networks where many devices compete for network access via an Access Point to transmit their information. Thus, the ability to separate multiple packets sent simultaneously using advanced digital processing techniques in the physical layer, known as Multi-Packet Reception (MPR), has become crucial. As this feature may increase network throughput, medium access control (MAC) protocols that efficiently exploit the MPR capability have been investigated. This paper proposes a new MAC protocol that exploits the MPR capability in 802.11 RTS/CTS access mechanism networks. It is based on the use of multiple contention and transmission rounds. In this sense, the MPR MAC protocol schedules several transmission periods once the contention phase finishes. Multiple transmission rounds reduce the overhead and substantially increase throughput. The analytical expressions that support the proposed approach are derived and verified by simulation. The results show that the proposed MAC protocol can yield close to 94% of the ideal performance using only four transmission rounds, compared with 80% of the previous approaches in the literature.

Cortical incisions and transcortical approaches for intra-axial and intraventricular lesions: A scoping review.

Transcortical approaches, encompassing various surgical corridors, have been employed to treat an array of intraparenchymal or intraventricular brain pathologies, including tumors, vascular malformations, infections, intracerebral hematomas, and epileptic surgery. Designing cortical incisions relies on the lesion location and characteristics, knowledge of eloquent functional anatomy, and advanced imaging such as tractography. Despite their widespread use in neurosurgery, there is a noticeable lack of systematic studies examining their common lobe access points, associated complications, and prevalent pathologies. This scoping review assesses current evidence to guide the selection of transcortical approaches for treating a variety of intracranial pathologies. A scoping review was conducted using the PRISMA-ScR guidelines, searching PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science. Studies were included if ≥5 patients operated on using transcortical approaches, with reported data on clinical features, treatments, and outcomes. Data analysis and synthesis were performed. A total of 50 articles encompassing 2604 patients were included in the study. The most common primary pathology was brain tumors (60.6%), particularly gliomas (87.4%). The transcortical-transtemporal approach was the most frequently identified cortical approach (70.48%), and the temporal lobe was the most accessed brain lobe (55.68%). The postoperative course outcomes were reported as good (55.52%), poor (28.38%), and death (14.62%). Transcortical approaches are crucial techniques for managing a wide range of intracranial lesions, with the transcortical-transtemporal approach being the most common. According to the current literature, the selective choice of cortical incision and surgical corridor based on the lesion's pathology and anatomic-functional location correlates with acceptable functional outcomes.

Effect of annealing treatment of indium tin oxide thin films on film properties and transparent antenna properties

There is a growing demand for transparent thin film antennas to serve as access points for wireless communication that can be installed at any location without compromising visibility, while retaining the versatility of existing antennas. Although studies exist on indium tin oxide (ITO)-based transparent antennas, studies on the effect of thin-film process parameters on antenna properties are rare. In this study, we deposited ITO, which resonates at 3.3 GHz, using the facing target sputtering method with different thicknesses ranging from 400 to 2000 nm, from a typical thin film to a relatively thick film. ITO thin films deposited at room temperature were annealed in air at 200, 300, and 400 °C in an electric furnace. The optically transparent monopole antennas were fabricated using air-annealed ITO films. The effects of the annealing temperature on the film and antenna properties were investigated. A high radiation efficiency of 70.8 % was achieved while maintaining a transmittance of more than 70 % for a 2000 nm ITO film annealed at 400 °C. The results indicate that tailoring appropriate conductive film properties for desired transmittance is crucial to realize the expected antenna performance.