Access Scheme Research Articles

On performance analysis of non-orthogonal multiple access downlink for cellular-connected unmanned aerial vehicle relaying assisted vehicle-to-everything system

This paper presents the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) relays’ assisted vehicle-to-everything (V2X) network to implement the internet of things (IoT) systems with improvement in the coverage area. Such a network benefits from many advantages of the non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) scheme. We have implemented a decode-and-forward (DF) scheme for these UAVs. Then, we characterize the channels as Nakagami-m fading to evaluate the performance of the system. We derive closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP), ergodic capacity (EC), and throughput. The results show that the performance of the system depends on the transmitted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at the base station and the heights of the UAV relays. Target rate and power allocation factors are two main parameters that can be adjusted to achieve better performance. The results also compare to the system without UAV and OMA technique that shows the advantages of deploying UAV-assisted NOMA. Therefore, the design of NOMA for UAV relay-assisted V2X systems provides sufficient demand. The simulation results verified the effectiveness of the proposed UAV network and the precision of the theoretical analysis.

A Slotted Pilot-Based Unsourced Random Access Scheme With a Multiple-Antenna Receiver

A Slotted Pilot-Based Unsourced Random Access Scheme With a Multiple-Antenna Receiver

Opponent-Awareness-Based Anti-Intelligent Jamming Channel Access Scheme: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Perspective

Opponent-Awareness-Based Anti-Intelligent Jamming Channel Access Scheme: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Perspective

A review of AI-driven pedagogical strategies for equitable access to science education

Access to quality science education is essential for equitable development and advancement in society. However, disparities in access to science education persist, particularly among marginalized and underserved populations. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers innovative solutions to address these disparities by enhancing pedagogical strategies that promote equitable access to science education. This review examines AI-driven pedagogical strategies aimed at improving equitable access to science education. The review explores how AI technologies, such as machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision, can be leveraged to personalize learning experiences, provide real-time feedback, and enhance engagement among students from diverse backgrounds.AI-driven personalized learning platforms can adapt to individual learning styles and pace, ensuring that each student receives tailored instruction. These platforms can also provide additional support to students facing learning challenges, thus promoting inclusivity and equity in science education. Furthermore, AI-driven assessment tools can provide educators with insights into student performance and comprehension, enabling them to identify areas for improvement and provide targeted interventions. Additionally, AI can facilitate collaborative learning environments, allowing students to work together irrespective of their physical location, thus breaking down geographical barriers to access. However, the implementation of AI-driven pedagogical strategies raises ethical considerations, such as data privacy and algorithmic bias, which must be carefully addressed to ensure equitable access to science education for all students. In conclusion, AI-driven pedagogical strategies have the potential to revolutionize science education by enhancing personalized learning, providing real-time feedback, and fostering inclusive learning environments. However, careful consideration must be given to the ethical implications of AI implementation to ensure that these technologies are used responsibly and equitably.

Ultralong MRTADF and Room‐Temperature Phosphorescence Enabled Color‐Tunable and High‐Temperature Dual‐Mode Organic Afterglow from Indolo[3,2‐b]carbazole

AbstractOrganic afterglow can be generated from persistent thermally activated delayed fluorescence (pTADF) or organic ultralong room temperature phosphorescence (OURTP), but the pTADF plus OURTP type organic afterglow is challenging to achieve, especially for the color‐tunable and high‐temperature ones. Herein, an accessible strategy toward such dual‐mode afterglow is presented by doping the indolo[3,2‐b]carbazole (ICZ‐p1) into polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA). The resulting films exhibit photo‐activated afterglow with two persistent emission peaks of ca. 435 and 497 nm. Impressively, their longest lifetimes respectively reach to 2.28 and 2.47 s at 298 K, along with 0.32 and 0.42 s at 360 K, enabling the afterglow at room and high temperature. Experimental and theoretical results reveal that the photo‐activated afterglow is associated with the elimination of molecular O2 inside film and composed by the pTADF with multi‐resonance (MR) effect and OURTP. By altering the temperature from 77 to 358 K, the color‐tunable afterglows of green and blue are harvested at such temperature ranges. Benefiting from the multi‐resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MRTADF) characteristics, this emitter can release narrow‐band electroluminescence. Consequently, the results obtained here may offer important references for chasing MRTADF plus OURTP‐type dual‐mode organic afterglow showing color‐tunable and high‐temperature features.

Digital Marketing Development Strategy of Cocoa Products

Purpose: In the context of the issue regarding the implementation of digital marketing strategies for cocoa businesses in West Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, there is a need for an analysis to develop effective solutions. This research aims to analyze the appropriate digital marketing strategies for cocoa product businesses to access a broader market, including the international market. Method: This research employed a qualitative exploratory approach, gathering data through in-depth interviews with relevant stakeholders, data collection, data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. We adopted the Miles and Huberman model, which is commonly utilized in the data analysis process for qualitative research. Result and Conclusion: The research findings reveal three primary approaches to developing digital marketing strategies for international market access: (1) Enhancing the readiness of business actors in formulating strategies through digital platforms, such as utilizing websites and social media; (2) Aligning the appropriate international marketing mix, including innovation and creativity in presenting products; (3) Designing a digital marketing framework that aligns with web-based Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Research Implications: These findings enhance cocoa product business operators' understanding of what is required to implement digital marketing strategies and appropriate international marketing mix in the global market. Originality/value: This study introduces a novel, more intricate model compared to previous research. It emphasizes the necessity of reassessing the international marketing mix within the current landscape of digital transformation. Additionally, it addresses a research gap by focusing on antecedents preceding the adoption of digital marketing, while also exploring the post-adoption experiences of digital marketing, a facet that has received limited attention in prior studies.

DFQF Market Access Schemes Offered by the QUAD Countries to Least Developed Countries’ Products and the Volatility of the Utilization Rate of these Schemes

Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been keen in supporting the integration of the least developed countries (LDCs) into the global trading system. A major Decision adopted by WTO Trade Ministers in favor of LDCs was the one concerning the Duty-Free-Quota-Free (DFQF) market access for products originating in LDCs. This paper investigates whether the DFQF market access schemes offered by the Quadrilateral (i.e., Canada, the European Union, Japan and the United States) to LDCs have helped reduce the volatility of the utilization rates of these generous preferences. To perform the analysis, we compare LDCs’ performance in terms of the volatility of the utilization rate of the DFQF market access schemes with countries that would have been included in the LDC category but were not. These countries did not enjoy the benefits of the DFQF schemes, as their products received less generous preferential treatment than LDCs’ products. The comparison of the performance of LDCs with this set of countries was made over the period 2014-2019 versus the period 2004–2013. Results have revealed that the DFQF market access initiative has genuinely been instrumental in reducing the volatility of the utilization rate of these generous preferences schemes by LDCs. Moreover, countries with higher utilization rates of GSP programs experience a larger negative effect of the DFQF schemes on the volatility of the utilization of GSP programs than countries with lower utilization rates of these programs. The policy implications of the analysis are discussed.

Toward Post-Hartree-Fock Accuracy for Protein-Ligand Affinities Using the Molecules-in-Molecules Fragmentation-Based Method.

The complexity and size of large molecular systems, such as protein-ligand complexes, pose computational challenges for accurate post-Hartree-Fock calculations. This study delivers a thorough benchmarking of the Molecules-in-Molecules (MIM) method, presenting a clear and accessible strategy for layer/theory selections in post-Hartree-Fock computations on substantial molecular systems, notably protein-ligand complexes. An approach is articulated, enabling augmented computational efficiency by strategically canceling out common subsystem energy terms between complexes and proteins within the supermolecular equation. Employing DLPNO-based post-Hartree-Fock methods in conjunction with the three-layer MIM method (MIM3), this study demonstrates the achievement of protein-ligand binding energies with remarkable accuracy (errors <1 kcal mol-1), while significantly reducing computational costs. Furthermore, noteworthy correlations between theoretically computed interaction energies and their experimental equivalents were observed, with R2 values of approximately 0.90 and 0.78 for CDK2 and BZT-ITK sets, respectively, thus validating the efficacy of the MIM method in calculating binding energies. By highlighting the crucial role of diffuse or small Pople-style basis sets in the middle layer for reducing energy errors, this work provides valuable insights and practical methodologies for interaction energy computations in large molecular complexes and opens avenues for their application across a diverse range of molecular systems.

Parent Education in Bangladeshi Families with Young Children of Diverse Abilities: Implementation of the Learning Through Play Calendar

ABSTRACT Despite increasing demands, the uptake of parenting education programs in developing countries is limited. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a Learning Through Play (LTP) informed, illustration-based parent educational training program designed for low-literacy populations in Bangladesh to promote early childhood development. A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving parents of typically developing children and children with special needs aged 0–6 years. Results showed significant enhancements in parenting knowledge, skills, and attitudes in both groups, with larger effects on knowledge and attitudes among parents of special needs children. The findings underscore the potential of LTP Calendar-based educational training programs as cost-effective, culturally sensitive, and accessible strategies for enhancing positive parenting practices and child development outcomes in economically disadvantaged settings. Future research should focus on cultural sensitivity evaluation, sample size expansion, and long-term impact assessment to further validate and extend these findings.

SDTA: Secure Decentralized Trading Alliance for Electronic Medical Data

Abstract Massive medical data are indispensable for training diagnostic models to provide high-quality health monitoring services. The methods for sharing data in existing works involve securely and essentially copying data but often overlook the integration and efficiency of data storage, exchange and application. In this paper, we propose a Secure Decentralized Trading Alliance (SDTA) to encompass the entire process holistically. With monetary incentives, we formulate a chain-net structure for recording data digests and authentic transactions, thereby transforming data sharing into data trading without duplicating data storage. Data privacy is promised by encryption. To manage and employ encrypted medical data, users can update and search their encrypted data using an index and keywords, subsequently retrieving data within the SDTA framework. It is realized by a novel dynamic searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) with an $l$-level access strategy, which confines users to data pertinent solely to them, thus circumventing unnecessary data leakage. We scrutinize the storage efficiency and prove the fairness and security of SDTA. Finally, we generate datasets of varying sizes, where the time required to search for a single keyword is approximately 0.04 s with 1 000 000 (keyword, identifier) pairs, showing it quite acceptable.

A Long-Acting Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Implant Promotes the Drainage of Macromolecules by Brain-Related Lymphatic System in Treating Aged Alzheimer's Disease.

Numerous evidence has demonstrated that the brain is not an immune-privileged organ but possesses a whole set of lymphatic transport system, which facilitates the drainage of harmful waste from brains to maintain cerebral homeostasis. However, as individuals age, the shrinkage and dysfunction of meningeal and deep cervical lymphatic networks lead to reduced waste outflow and elevated neurotoxic molecules deposition, further inducing aging-associated cognitive decline, which act as one of the pathological mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease. Consequently, recovering the function of meningeal and deep cervical lymph node (dCLNs) networks (as an important part of the brain waste removal system (BWRS)) of aged brains might be a feasible strategy. Herein we showed that the drug brain-entering efficiency was highly related to administration routes (oral, subcutaneous, or dCLN delivery). Besides, by injecting a long-acting lyotropic liquid crystalline implant encapsulating cilostazol (an FDA-approved selective PDE-3 inhibitor) and donepezil hydrochloride (a commonly used symptomatic relief agent to inhibit acetylcholinesterase for Alzheimer's disease) near the deep cervical lymph nodes of aged mice (about 20 months), an increase of lymphatic vessel coverage in the nodes and meninges was observed, along with accelerated drainage of macromolecules from brains. Compared with daily oral delivery of cilostazol and donepezil hydrochloride, a single administered dual drugs-loaded long-acting implants releasing for more than one month not only elevated drug concentrations in brains, improved the clearing efficiency of brain macromolecules, reduced Aβ accumulation, enhanced cognitive functions of the aged mice, but improved patient compliance as well, which provided a clinically accessible therapeutic strategy toward aged Alzheimer's diseases.

Lowering Barriers to Health Risk Assessments in Promoting Personalized Health Management.

This study investigates the feasibility of accurately predicting adverse health events without relying on costly data acquisition methods, such as laboratory tests, in the era of shifting healthcare paradigms towards community-based health promotion and personalized preventive healthcare through individual health risk assessments (HRAs). We assessed the incremental predictive value of four categories of predictor variables-demographic, lifestyle and family history, personal health device, and laboratory data-organized by data acquisition costs in the prediction of the risks of mortality and five chronic diseases. Machine learning methodologies were employed to develop risk prediction models, assess their predictive performance, and determine feature importance. Using data from the National Sample Cohort of the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), which includes eligibility, medical check-up, healthcare utilization, and mortality data from 2002 to 2019, our study involved 425,148 NHIS members who underwent medical check-ups between 2009 and 2012. Models using demographic, lifestyle, family history, and personal health device data, with or without laboratory data, showed comparable performance. A feature importance analysis in models excluding laboratory data highlighted modifiable lifestyle factors, which are a superior set of variables for developing health guidelines. Our findings support the practicality of precise HRAs using demographic, lifestyle, family history, and personal health device data. This approach addresses HRA barriers, particularly for healthy individuals, by eliminating the need for costly and inconvenient laboratory data collection, advancing accessible preventive health management strategies.

Entrepreneur background, resources access and market strategy:

A better understanding of the entrepreneur’s behavior should consider multiple theoretical perspectives. In this respect, studies capable of integrate different perspectives under a holistic framework are welcome. Gathering constructs under three perspectives, entrepreneurial-based view, resource-based view and market-based view, this article presents a holistic view about how the entrepreneur background influences the firm' strategy in a traditional industry. This article adopts a holistic perspective of the entrepreneurship investigating the importance of the entrepreneurs' background in their strategic decisions, showing important insights. Through the qualitative approach there were performed eleven comparative case studies with agricultural entrepreneurs of the artisanal cachaça industry in a mining region, which production started in the XVI century and is intimately related to the historical origin of Brazil. In the majority, entrepreneurs have access to key production and market resources through family ties. This situation directly influences the product value attributes, the consumer segments focused, and the size of product lines. There is also a relation between the entrepreneurs' motivation and segmentation strategy and between their formal education and cognitive style. This article should guide the elaboration of entrepreneurial training programs, whereas the firm's strategy can be designed considering the entrepreneur background.

Service accessibility strategy for aircraft maintenance routing with interorganizational collaborations on outsourcing maintenance

Airline companies are increasingly outsourcing their fleets’ heavy maintenance to independent maintenance service providers. This paper investigates the aircraft maintenance routing problem (AMRP) under the Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) outsourcing mode. Considering interorganizational maintenance implementation, an airline company’s accessibility to maintenance service is affected by the varying maintenance capabilities of the maintenance service provider, which depends on heterogenous maintenance resource availability (e.g., the accommodation capacity of maintenance hangars and the availability of maintenance technicians and aviation spare parts). To enhance the airline’s service accessibility to maintenance service, we propose an efficient maintenance planning strategy with a collaborative mechanism based on service information sharing and service capability evaluation from the airline’s perspective. Afterward, a time-complexity reduction approach is presented to enhance the discrete-time-stamp-indexed mathematical model formulation. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed approach were evaluated through various problem scenarios, based on the operational data from a regional airline. Managerial implications regarding maintenance strategy and the accuracy of maintenance capability evaluation are also discussed.

Securely sharing outsourced IoT data: A secure access and privacy preserving keyword search scheme

The rapid progress in the field of IoT and its wide-ranging applications emphasize the criticality of robust security measures for effectively sharing, storing, and managing sensitive data generated by IoT devices. Regulations such as the Consumer Data Rights (CDR) highlight the need for the seamless sharing of sensitive data with authorized third parties while ensuring confidentiality and privacy. To enable such secure sharing, a data storage and sharing scheme should fulfill the following core requirements: (a) support multi-client data sharing settings, allowing IoT data owners to authorize multiple clients; (b) a dynamic storage environment permitting IoT owners to add or remove files with minimal privacy leak; (c) decentralized storage for distributing data across servers or Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) for greater security; and (d) efficient privilege revocation mechanism which incurs less computation and communication overhead. To address these requirements, we have proposed a novel keyword search scheme using computationally lightweight cryptographic primitives. Our scheme empowers IoT data owners to securely share, store and manage encrypted data in the CSPs, providing better security and privacy. We have provided formal security proof for our scheme as well as validated its efficiency via extensive experiments on the Docker platform. On a database of 12 million keyword/document pairs (with 105 documents and 103 keywords), our scheme took about 18 ms to return all matched documents.

Queering Cisgender LGB+ Women’s Sexual Health Scripts

ABSTRACT The invisibility of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB+) women in sexual health research is of particular concern when it comes to understanding and supporting their sexual health practices. We conducted a qualitative secondary analysis of sexual health decision-making interviews among 22 LGB+ cisgender women who ranged in age from 20 to 26 (M = 23.1 years, SD = 1.8 years). Participants were mostly bisexual (n = 9), White (n = 13), and all reported at least some college education. Results showed that LGB+ women both reify and push against heteronormativity in their sexual partnerships. By queering definitions of “sex” beyond heterosexual intercourse, leaning into trust as a foundation of new sexual partnerships, and promoting accessible and realistic hygienic strategies for STI prevention, LGB+ women queer, or reimagine, new sexual scripts. These results highlight the need for relationship and sexual health scholars to direct focus toward the promotion of holistic sexual and relationship education and research which reflects LGB+ women’s various sexual desires, goals and needs. Understanding LGB+ women’s sexual scripts and health outcomes will ensure that this population continues to be validated and supported by clinicians, researchers, and educators.

Needs Analysis Study of Blended Learning Model to Improve Communication for Students with Hearing Impairment

This study aims to analyze the need to develop a blended learning model that can enhance and facilitate students with hearing impairment communication in learning. Because of their barriers, students with hearing loss have challenges in developing communication skills. So educational institutes must implement a learning model that accommodates their demand. This research covered a needs analysis to identify the problems and challenges faced by deaf students in communication and analyze their perspectives and expectations of appropriate learning models. The study involved five students with hearing barriers enrolled in college. Data was collected through qualitative and quantitative approaches. According to research, a blended learning model must be established that considers the demands of deaf students for them to adapt communication in their learning.&#x0D; Highlights:&#x0D; &#x0D; Blended learning: Integration of online and traditional teaching methods caters to diverse learning needs.&#x0D; Hearing impairment: Understanding unique challenges faced by students with hearing loss is crucial for effective education.&#x0D; Communication skills: Developing accessible communication strategies enhances learning outcomes for deaf students.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Blended Learning, Communication Skill, Hearing Impairment&#x0D;

Community resource facilitation use by ethnic minority groups with traumatic brain injury in the Midwestern United States

ABSTRACT Objective This study surveyed the use of community-based resource facilitation (RF) services by ethnic minority survivors of traumatic brain injury (TBI) living in the Midwestern United States. Method Past records of RF use by survivors of TBI were reviewed. Demographics and patterns of RF use across 3 ethnic groups were documented. Reported barriers to community integration related to ethnic identity were identified using Chi-square test of independence. Results Ethnic minority survivors were less likely to use RF services than white survivors. Caucasian women and men utilized RF services at similar rates, whereas more African American men and Latina women used RF services. Caucasians received information about RF from a greater variety of sources than ethnic minority survivors. Ethnic identity was significantly associated with greater reported needs for TBI awareness. Conclusions A pattern of differential RF use by survivors from ethnic minority groups was noted, suggesting potential socio-cultural influences on help-seeking behavior after TBI. These factors should be considered to develop more accessible and equitable strategies of RF service referral and support. Future investigations of cultural perspectives of TBI and injury-related services may improve understanding of the likelihood and necessity of community-based RF service use by diverse populations.

Sonographer wellbeing in Australia: Perceptions of job demands and resources in clinical working environments

AbstractIntroductionThe concept that job characteristics can have a profound impact on employee wellbeing has been well documented. This manuscript aims to highlight the job demands and resources experienced by Australian sonographers, and those resources perceived to be the most effective at improving workplace wellbeing.MethodsUtilising the Job Demands‐Resources Model, a national survey was issued to Australian sonographers in both public and private clinical working environments. The quantitative and qualitative data collected were analysed using non‐parametric tests of association as well as inductive coding of themes.ResultsSixty‐nine participants responded to the survey with 27 participants (39%) reporting moderate levels of job satisfaction. Workplace demands of unrealistic workloads, time pressures, and inadequate scheduled breaks were reported as the most frequently experienced demand by 67 participants (97%). Twenty‐four participants (35%) reported no access to any form of resource or strategy for improving wellbeing in the workplace and a further nine indicated they utilised entirely self‐driven resources. Workload reduction strategies were perceived to be the most consistently effective yet were the least accessible strategy for sonographers. Other strategies including psychology sessions, physical therapies, and injury prevention were perceived to be more accessible, yet minimally effective.ConclusionNew legislation in the management of psychosocial hazards at work is likely to generate positive changes. Further research establishing an acceptable workload for sonographers, introducing job crafting, and improving sonographer recognition would prove to be the most fruitful.

Non-femoral focused transaxillary access in TAVI: GARY data analysis and future trends.

In patients not suitable for transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), several access strategies can be chosen. To evaluate the use and patient outcomes of transaxillary (TAx), transapical (TA), and transaortic (TAo) as alternative access for TAVI in Germany; to further evaluate surgical cutdown vs. percutaneous TAx access. All patients entered the German Aortic Valve Registry (GARY) between 2011 and 2019 who underwent non-transfemoral TAVI were included in this analysis. Patients with TA, TAo, or TAx TAVI were compared using a weighted propensity score model. Furthermore, a subgroup analysis was performed for TAx regarding the percutaneous or surgical cutdown approach. Overall, 9686 patients received a non-transfemoral access. A total of 8918 patients (92.1%) underwent TA, 398 (4.1%) TAo, and 370 (3.8%) TAx approaches. Within the TAx subgroup, 141 patients (38.1%) received subclavian cutdown, while 200 (54.1%) underwent a percutaneous approach. The TA patients had a significantly lower 30-day survival than TAx patients (TA 90.92% vs. TAx 95.59%, p = 0.006; TAo 92.22% vs. TAx 95.59%, p = 0.102). Comparing percutaneous and cutdown TAx approaches, no significant differences were seen. However, more vascular complications occurred (TA 1.8%, TAo 2.4%, TAx 12.2%; p < .001), and the hospital length of stay was shorter (TA 12.9days, TAo 14.1days, TAx 12days; p < .001) after TAx access. It may be reasonable to consider TAx access first in patients not suitable for TF-TAVI, because the 30-day survival was higher compared with TA access and the 1-year survival was higher compared with TAo access. It remains important for the heart teams to offer alternative access modalities for patients not amenable to the standard TF-TAVI approaches.