MEC-Based Jamming-Aided Anti-Eavesdropping with Deep Reinforcement Learning for WBANs

Wireless body area network (WBAN) suffers secure challenges, especially the eavesdropping attack, due to constraint resources. In this article, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) and mobile edge computing (MEC) technology are adopted to formulate a DRL-MEC-based jamming-aided anti-eavesdropping (DMEC-JAE) scheme to resist the eavesdropping attack without considering the channel state information. In this scheme, a MEC sensor is chosen to send artificial jamming signals to improve the secrecy rate of the system. Power control technique is utilized to optimize the transmission power of both the source sensor and the MEC sensor to save energy. The remaining energy of the MEC sensor is concerned to ensure routine data transmission and jamming signal transmission. Additionally, the DMEC-JAE scheme integrates with transfer learning for a higher learning rate. The performance bounds of the scheme concerning the secrecy rate, energy consumption, and the utility are evaluated. Simulation results show that the DMEC-JAE scheme can approach the performance bounds with high learning speed, which outperforms the benchmark schemes.

Strategic Environmental Assessment of Land Transportation: An Application of DEA with Undesirable Output Approach

The efficiency of land transportation contributes significantly to determining a country’s economic and environmental sustainability. The examination of land transportation efficiency encompasses performance and environmental efficiency to improve system performance and citizen satisfaction. Evaluating the efficiency of land transportation is a vital process to improve operation efficiency, decrease investment costs, save energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and enhance environmental protection. There are many methods for measuring transportation efficiency, but few papers have used the input and output data to evaluate the ecological efficiency of land transportation. This research focuses on evaluating the environmental efficiency for land transportation by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method with undesirable output to handle unwanted data. By using this, the paper aims to measure the performance of land transportation in 25 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in the period of 2015–2019, considered as 25 decision-making units (DMUs) in the model. For identifying the ranking of DMUs, four inputs (infrastructure investment and maintenance, length of transport routes, labor force, and energy consumption) are considered. At the same time, the outputs consist of freight transport and passenger transport as desirable outputs and carbon dioxide emission (CO2) as an undesirable output. The proposed model effectively determines the environment-efficient DMUs in a very time-efficient manner. Managerial implications of the study provide further insight into the investigated measures and offer recommendations for improving the environmental efficiency of land transportation in OECD countries.

Mechanical work accounts for most of the energetic cost in human running

The metabolic cost of human running is not well explained, in part because the amount of work performed actively by muscles is largely unknown. Series elastic tissues such as tendon can save energy by performing work passively, but there are few direct measurements of the active versus passive contributions to work in running. There are, however, indirect biomechanical measures that can help estimate the relative contributions to overall metabolic cost. We developed a simple cost estimate for muscle work in humans running (N = 8) at moderate speeds (2.2–4.6 m/s) based on measured joint mechanics and passive dissipation from soft tissue deformations. We found that even if 50% of the work observed at the lower extremity joints is performed passively, active muscle work still accounts for 76% of the net energetic cost. Up to 24% of this cost compensates for the energy lost in soft tissue deformations. The estimated cost of active work may be adjusted based on assumptions of multi-articular energy transfer, elasticity, and muscle efficiency, but even conservative assumptions yield active work costs of at least 60%. Passive elasticity can reduce the active work of running, but muscle work still explains most of the overall energetic cost.

Comparative Proteome Analysis of the Penultimate Internodes of Barley Genotypes Differing in Stem Reserve Remobilization Under Drought Stress

Barley yield relies more on stem reserves under stress conditions at the grain filling stage. At terminal drought stresses, the remobilization of reserved assimilates from stem to seed contributes a major role in yield. To understand the molecular mechanism of stem reserve utilization during drought stress, a comparative proteome and physiological analyses were performed on the penultimate internodes of three genotypes of barley Yousef (tolerant), Morocco (susceptible), and PBYT17 (semi-tolerant) under drought stress at 21 and 28 days after anthesis (DAA). Under water stress and well-watered conditions Yousef showed significantly higher RWC, grain yield, and stem reserve remobilization capacity than susceptible and semi-tolerant genotypes. The proteome analysis led to the identification of 1580 differentially abundant proteins (DAPs), of which 759 and 821 proteins were differentially expressed at 21 and 28 DAA, respectively. Tolerant genotype in response to drought stress increased the abundance of several plant cell wall polysaccharide degradation proteins and protein kinases associated with posttranslational-associated, which might accelerate remobilization process for seed biomass formation compared to susceptible one under drought stress. However, the susceptible genotype increased the abundance of proteins involved in RNA metabolism and transcriptional changes to save energy sources for the growth and survival during drought stress. These findings suggest that barley might response to water stress by efficiently remobilize assimilates from stem to grain through specific remobilization processes.

Microwave Irradiated Synthesis of Pyrimidine Containing, Thiazolidin-4-ones: Antimicrobial, Anti-tuberculosis, Antimalarial, and Anti-protozoa evaluation

Aim: This study aims to synthesize thiazolidine-4-one compounds with a pyrimidine nucleus and evaluate against different species of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and the malaria parasite. Background: Microwave irradiation was the best method for synthesizing the thiazolidin-4-one ring system. It took only 15 minutes for synthesizing thiazolidin-4-one while the conventional method required 12 hours. The rapid reaction was the main concern of this research. Objective: Pyrimidine and Thiazolidin-4-one nucleus have broad-spectrum biological activity and when it is introduced with other hetero atoms containing moiety, many types of biological activities have been found; antimicrobial, anti-tuberculosis, anti-protozoa, antimalarial are the main activities. The activity of these compounds inspired us to do extra research on Thiazolidin-4-one fused pyrimidines with different functional groups. The aim of this is to synthesize a combination of these two ring systems in less time by using a microwave irradiation method and to evaluate new compounds for different bioactivity. Method: 2-(4-Chlorophenyl)-3-(4-(substituted phenyl)-6-(substituted aryl) pyrimidin-2-yl) thiazolidin-4-ones (6A-J) were synthesized by microwave irradiation to save energy and time. The structure of all newly synthesized motifs was characterized by spectral analysis (1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR, spectroscopy) and screened for antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes, antifungal activity against Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus clavatus, anti-tuberculosis activity against M. tuberculosis H37RV, antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum and anti-protozoa activity against L. mexicana and T. cruzi. Result: Because of microwave irradiation synthesis, time period is very less for preparing the new compound. Biological response given by compounds 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E, 6G, 6H, and 6J was found excellent. Conclusion: Good yield with purity of the newly synthesized thiazolidine-4-one compounds obtained in less time by using microwave irradiation. The biological response of some of the compounds of this series was found excellent

Algorithmic Study on Position and Movement Method of Badminton Doubles

The algorithms used by schedulers depend on the complexity of the schedule and constraints for each problem. The position and movement of badminton players in badminton doubles competition is one of the key factors to improve the athletes’ transition efficiency of offense and defense and the rate of winning matches and to save energy consumption. From the perspective of basic theory, the author conducts research on the position and movement of badminton doubles. Based on the numerical analysis method, the optimal model of standing position and direction composed of 7 nonlinear equations is established. In addition, the final of 10 matches of the super series of the world badminton federation in 2019 was selected as the sample of speed parameters. With the help of MATLAB mathematical analysis software, the numerical model established by the least square method was adopted to optimize the specific standing position and walking model. Ultimately, the optimal solution has been obtained, which can be represented on a plane graph. The optimal position of the attack station should be the blocking area (saddle-shaped area) and the hanging area (circular arc area in the middle). The optimal defensive positioning should be left defensive positioning area (left front triangle area) and right defensive positioning area (right front triangle area), which is consistent with our current experience and research results. The research results use mathematical tools to calculate the accurate optimal position in doubles matches, which has guiding significance to the choice of athletes’ position and walking position in actual combat and can also be used as a reference for training, providing a certain theoretical basis for the standing and walking of badminton doubles confrontation. The data collection and operation methods in this study can provide better calculation materials for artificial intelligence optimization and fuzzy operation of motion displacement, which is of great significance in the field of motion, simulation, and the call of parametric functions.

Design and Experimental Analysis of Charge Recovery for Piezoelectric Fan

The piezoelectric (PE) fan is widely adopted in the field of microelectronics cooling due to its advantages of high reliability and good heat dissipation characteristics. However, PE fans driven by conventional circuits suffer from plenty of energy loss. To save energy, we propose an inductor-based charge recovery method and apply it to the driving circuit for the PE fan. Two inductor-based driving circuits, a single inductor-based driving (SID) circuit and a double inductor-based driving (DID) circuit are compared. The SID circuit has a simple structure and a slightly higher energy-saving rate, while the DID circuit introduces no additional oscillations and is more stable. The experimental results show that when the supply voltage changes, both circuits have a relatively stable energy-saving rate, which is about 30% for the SID circuit and 28% for the DID circuit. Moreover, the proposed circuits enjoy the same driving capacity as the conventional circuit, and the driven fan has the same cooling performance.

First Step towards the Upscaling of the Production of Washing Fines - Hemp Composite. Study of Multiphysical Properties

This study investigates the feasibility of scaling-up to industrial scale the production of washing fines – hemp composite. In previous studies (Mazhoud, 2017), (Mazhoud et al., 2017), such composites were developed with a high control of formulation. The washing mud were fully dried, and then milled. The washing fine – hemp composites were prepared from stabilized washing fine and hemp. This study aims to reduce the mud conditioning process in order to save energy and time. In a first time, the methodology for the conditioning of washing mud is detailed. Composite are then prepared considering unstabilized matrix and stabilized matrix with three stabilizer to fine mass ratios (5, 10 and 20 %). The apparent density increases with stabilizer to fine mass ratios according a degree two polynomial law. The mechanical compressive strength increases linearly with apparent density and the performance allows the studied composites to be used as wall formulation regarding the French national rules for hemp concrete. The thermal conductivity values range from 0.107 to 0.123 W/(m.K) at (23°C; 50%RH) reached from production point, this corresponds to a mass water content about 6%. Like for mechanical compressive strength, the thermal conductivity is mainly induced by apparent density. These thermal conductivity values make studied composite suitable for use as distributed insulation or thermal corrector. On hygric point of view, the Moisture Buffer Values classify all formulations as excellent hygric regulators. Finally, this paper shows the feasibility of scaling-up and that multi-physical properties of produced composites make them suitable for use in building envelop. The HSC-10 formulation seems to be the most promising regarding MBV results and considering that it would be possible to reduce thermal conductivity by acting on implementation in order to reduce apparent density.