Integrated Network Systems Research Articles

Superhydrophobic Triboelectric Structural Materials Enabled by Hierarchical Spatial Assembly

AbstractNon‐contact intelligent sensing technology is a key player in the data acquisition and environmental monitoring framework of the Internet of Everything, laying the groundwork for the realization of highly integrated intelligent network systems. However, environmental factors continue to be a major challenge in the process of real‐time monitoring and feedback of objects, constraining the stability and accuracy of the sensing signals. In this study, a hierarchical spatial assembly strategy is implemented to effectively integrate an intermediate energy storage layer with superhydrophobic surfaces (CA = 162 ± 2.5°), resulting in the development of a moisture‐resistant triboelectric structural materials with stable monitoring and tracking capabilities. The moisture‐resistant self‐powered sensor constructed from this triboelectric structural material operates effectively in extreme humidity conditions (99% RH) with a full‐scale output retention rate of 95.2%, and is capable of accurately sensing human activity from the distance of 3 m. Importantly, the sensor can also effectively detect vehicle states during operation and perform real‐time monitoring of the vehicle's surrounding environment. This study not only overcomes the long‐standing challenges of accuracy and stability in high humidity for sensors but also advances the development of sustainable, interconnected intelligent systems for the Internet of Everything in extreme environmental conditions.

An Approach to Enhancing Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder in the HEALing Communities Study.

The HEALing (Helping to End Addiction Long-term) Communities Study (HCS) aims to test the effectiveness of the Communities That HEAL intervention in decreasing opioid overdose deaths in 67 communities across four U.S. states. This intervention enlists a collaborative team of researchers, academic experts, and community coalitions to select and implement interventions from a menu of evidence-based practices, including medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD). The HCS's New York team developed an integrated network systems (INS) approach with a mapping tool to coach coalitions in the selection of strategies to enhance medication treatment. With the INS approach, community coalitions develop a map of service delivery venues in their local county to better engage people with medication treatment wherever this need arises. The map is structured around core services that can provide maintenance MOUD and satellite services, which include all settings where people with opioid use disorder are encountered and can be identified, possibly given medication, and referred to core programs for ongoing MOUD care. This article describes the rationale for the INS mapping tool, with a discussion framed by the consolidated framework for implementation research, and provides a case example of its application.

Myokines as mediators of exercise-induced cognitive changes in older adults: protocol for a comprehensive living systematic review and meta-analysis.

The world's population is aging, but life expectancy has risen more than healthy life expectancy (HALE). With respect to brain and cognition, the prevalence of neurodegenerative disorders increases with age, affecting health and quality of life, and imposing significant healthcare costs. Although the effects of physical exercise on cognition in advanced age have been widely explored, in-depth fundamental knowledge of the underlying mechanisms of the exercise-induced cognitive improvements is lacking. Recent research suggests that myokines, factors released into the blood circulation by contracting skeletal muscle, may play a role in mediating the beneficial effect of exercise on cognition. Our goal in this ongoing (living) review is to continuously map the rapidly accumulating knowledge on pathways between acute or chronic exercise-induced myokines and cognitive domains enhanced by exercise. Randomized controlled studies will be systematically collected at baseline and every 6 months for at least 5 years. Literature search will be performed online in PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, SportDiscus, LILACS, IBECS, CINAHL, SCOPUS, ICTRP, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Risk of bias will be assessed using the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (ROB 2). A random effects meta-analysis with mediation analysis using meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) will be performed. The primary research question is to what extent exercise-induced myokines serve as mediators of cognitive function. Secondarily, the pooled effect size of specific exercise characteristics (e.g., mode of exercise) or specific older adults' populations (e.g., cognitively impaired) on the relationship between exercise, myokines, and cognition will be assessed. The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023416996). Understanding the triad relationship between exercise, myokines and cognition will expand the knowledge on multiple integrated network systems communicating between skeletal muscles and other organs such as the brain, thus mediating the beneficial effects of exercise on health and performance. It may also have practical implications, e.g., if a certain myokine is found to be a mediator between exercise and cognition, the optimal exercise characteristics for inducing this myokine can be prescribed. The living review is expected to improve our state of knowledge and refine exercise regimes for enhancing cognitive functioning in diverse older adults' populations. Systematic review and meta-analysis protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) on the 24th of April 2023 (registration number CRD42023416996).

Training on the Development of Utilization of Digital Teaching Materials for Teachers to Improve Student Learning Outcomes

In the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, modern technology such as fibre technology and integrated network systems in all aspects of life has made humans very dependent on technology. The purpose of this research is to foster a culture of digital literacy in the school environment, increase teacher knowledge and skills in the field of developing and utilizing digital teaching materials, improve student learning performance and increase teacher knowledge and skills in terms of digital learning models and improve student's learning performance. The method used in this study is the observation method using the pre-experimental design method, one group type pretest-posttest (pretest test-posttest single group). Assistance was provided to 28 junior high school teachers in the South Tangerang area. During the training, participants were given four assignments: Team, Sway, Learning Design and Learning Videos. The study results show that as many as 71% of teachers have mastered the Teams and Sway applications from Microsoft, 60% can make lesson plans, and 53% can make learning videos. The pretest and post-test results showed that the average result was 36.6%, then after participating in the training, the average result was 44.4%. The results of the study show that training in the development and use of digital teaching materials has an effect on the skills and abilities of teachers, which is beneficial for improving student learning performance.

Toward Robust and Intelligent Drone Swarm: Challenges and Future Directions

The rapid development of Space-Air-Ground integrated network, IoT, and swarm-based robotic systems has promoted the transformation of traditional single drone toward drone swarm. Compared to the traditional single drone, drone swarm can collaboratively complete complex tasks with higher efficiency and lower cost, especially in harsh environments. Communication and networking techniques are essential to enabling collaborate information sharing, coordinating multiple drones, and achieving autonomous drone swarm. However, the traditional communication technologies on fixed networks or slowly moving networks cannot address the unique characteristics of drone swarm, such as high dynamic topology, intermittent links and capability constraints. Two kinds of networking techniques fit for different drone swarm tasks are investigated, and the performance indexes of several wireless technologies suitable for drone swarm are also analyzed. Considering that drone swarm would usually be deployed in dire circumstances and the network may get frequently partitioned, the robustness of drone swarm becomes crucial. Based on the Molloy-Reed criterion, a swarm intelligent robust solution for drone swarm is proposed by using the consensus method and grey prediction, which has advantages of small overhead and local information exchanging. The simulation results corroborate that the robustness to node failure of drone swarm can be effectively improved by the proposed method.

650-nm All-Polymer Thermo-Optic Waveguide Switch Arrays Based on Novel Organic–Inorganic Grafting PMMA Materials

All-polymer thermo-optic (TO) waveguide switch arrays at 650-nm wavelength based on novel organic-inorganic grafting poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) materials are successfully designed and fabricated. The thermal stability and optical properties of the sol-gel materials are studied. The TO coefficient of organic-inorganic grafting PMMA core material is obtained as -1.65×104 °C-1. The characteristic parameters of the embedded waveguide and arrayed electrode heaters are carefully designed and simulated. The propagation loss of a 4-μm wide straight waveguide is 0.85 dB cm-1. The M-Z interferometer TO switch on-off time is 600 μs. The extinction ratio is ~ 8.2 dB and the applied electric power as the switching power is ~ 22.6 mW. The device could have great potential in biomedical applications. The technique could be well suited for polymer optical fiber integrated network systems.

Development And Application of Risk Management System For Consumer Products In Compliance With Global Harmonization

Exposure to the wide variety of chemicals used for manufacturing consumer products commonly occurs daily and the consequences to health are beneficial. However, some of these products are hazardous and exert deleterious effects on humans and the ecosystem. To protect consumers from exposure to hazardous chemicals, appropriate risk management systems are needed. Developed countries such as the United States and Canada have developed their own risk management systems for regulating hazardous agents. However, the risk management systems prepared by developed countries may not be readily applicable to developing or underdeveloped countries because of certain economic, political, cultural, or social factors in each country. In general, a risk management framework includes evaluation components of risk assessment, risk confrontation, risk intervention, risk communication, and risk management, but these may differ in specifics. The European Commission (EC) requires a socioeconomic analysis for formulating restrictions suggested by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). The EC has an early warning system for safety management termed the Rapid Alert System (RAPEX). Korea, Australia, and Japan also developed integrated network systems for risk management of consumer products. Monitoring entails the collection of information and evaluation. The risk assessment process includes scientific evaluation of potential adverse health effects. Risk communication tasks are to (1) identify stakeholders, (2) develop stakeholder analysis, (3) assess stakeholder acceptability, (4) consult with stakeholders, (5) inform stakeholders about their options, (6) evaluate control options, and (7) monitor changing issues. The risk management process involves weighing policy options and selecting regulatory options. The decision-making step is related to the determination of governmental or voluntary actions. This review examines the critical points of risk management system in Korea to effectively control hazardous agents for human safety and compliance with global harmonization.

Feasibility Study of P2P-type System Architecture with 3D Medical Image Data Support for Medical Integrated Network Systems

Feasibility Study of P2P-type System Architecture with 3D Medical Image Data Support for Medical Integrated Network Systems

Integrated network systems and evolutionary developmental endocrinology

Endocrine system has been considered to be a linear one, but the 'real world endocrine system' is a complex system, which is difficult to investigate using conventional strategies, such as single nucleotide polymorphism, genome-wide analysis, or gene targeting in animals. Here we propose a new strategy to comprehend the endocrine system as a complex network system. We introduced several novel concepts, such as complex system, network analysis, systems biology and evolutionary medicine, into the comprehension of endocrine system as a whole complex network system. This system is considered to be a scale-free network with key molecules such as acetyl CoA, NAD or ATP as 'hubs'. This system is robust against simple mutations, but various complex diseases may attack hubs. The system is also 'fractals', since there exist similar network systems among cells, proteins, and transcription factors in the lower levels, and there are similar ones among disease and social network in the higher levels. We propose to call this model 'Integrated Network Systems and Evolutionary DEvelopmental ENdocrinology (INS-EDEN)'. This novel framework will facilitate us to develop a new approach for understanding and treatment of various complex diseases related to endocrinology, and identify a unified theory of complex diseases.

Process irregularity of cortisol and adrenocorticotropin secretion in men with major depressive disorder

Although evidence suggests that major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with hyperactivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, research on basal HPA axis hormone levels in MDD patients has been inconclusive. Definitive characterization of basal cortisol and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) secretion may be important for understanding the pathophysiology of this disorder. In recent years, a new approach to the analysis of basal hormone secretion has been developed involving the approximate entropy (ApEn) statistic, which represents the degree of disorderliness or serial irregularity in a time series of hormone levels. ApEn has been shown to reflect the degree of coordination in integrated network systems and has provided new insights into the pathophysiology of a number of endocrine conditions. In the study reported here, 15 medication-free men with MDD and 15 healthy control men were admitted to a General Clinical Research Center and had blood sampled for cortisol and ACTH determinations every hour over a 24-h period. The cortisol and ACTH time series were characterized with a cosinor analysis and with analysis of ApEn. Depressed patients and control subjects did not differ significantly on any parameter derived from the cosinor analysis or on several other standard indices of basal hormone secretion. However, the depressed men had significantly increased cortisol ApEn and significantly decreased ACTH ApEn compared with the healthy subjects. The ApEn findings suggest a loss of regulatory control over cortisol secretion, and possibly increased cortisol feedback on the pituitary in the depressed patients. Together, these results are most consistent with a primary abnormality of the adrenal gland and suggest that further investigation of adrenal gland physiology may be informative for the pathophysiology of depression.

Az európai regionális fejlődés és politika távlatai

The essay surveys the future of regional development, based on the experiences of regional development and policy in Europe in the 20th century.The first chapter analyses the cohesion and differentiation of the European space, summing up the long-term processes that contribute to the formation of the space and the possible directions of the development of trans-national regions. One of the conclusions drawn by the author is that the space-forming role of the globalisation will be the most influential in the beginning of the 21st century, which may result in a strong differentiation if the development policies of the less developed regions fait to react effectively enough to the new challenges. In the development strategies, the knowledge of the operation of the regional economy is especially important. The decrease of the limiting role of the state borders within the European integration, the institutionalised development of the European economic space and the Eastern enlargement of the European Union put the development perspectives of the cross-border regions into a new light. When increasing the competitiveness of the continent, besides the community, national and sub-national frameworks we also have to consider the European macro-regions as important strategic units, those large-capacity regions which are suited to meet the criteria of the economies of scale, the long-term development of the integrated network systems and the increase of the efficiency.The major political trend in the new century will be decentralisation. A basic interest of the nation states will be in the future to try to compensate the external pressure, coming from the globalisation and integration, by increasing their power over the economic policy, increasing the decisionmaking potential within the countries and enhancing the abilities of the regions to enforce their interests. The traditional development practice of the Keynesian economic policy can no longer be used successfully in the new paradigm, the regional policy of the state is replaced by the own policies of the regions. This change of paradigm, however, cannot occur automatically, the interests of the regions at different development levels in the institutionalisation of the regionalism vary to a significant extent, not to mention the differences in the decentralisation concepts of the governments in the Central-East European countries.The second part of the study deals with the challenges of the Hungarian regional policy. The main elements in the economic transformation, which influence the long-term trends of the economic growth and the evolution of the spatial structure, are the foliowing: desindustrialisation, tertiarisation, change of technology, decentralisation, European integration and sustainable development. Based on these expected effects, the author defines the current tasks of the Hungarian regional policy. He states that the future of the spatial structure of Hungary basically depends on the decentralisation strategy that Hungary will apply in the use of the new resources available after the EU accession. Regions will be necessary in Hungary, as the practice of regional development in Europe has clearly demonstrated that it is the sub-national levei with a population of 1.5-2 million inhabitants, administered by local governmental principles, i.e. the regions, which are best suited for economic development and the enforcement of the regional interests. Finally, the essay outlines the perspectives of the institutionalisation of region-building in Hungary.

A Study of Integrated Network Systems for the Transportation Industry

A Study of Integrated Network Systems for the Transportation Industry