110830 research outputs found
Sort by
QSDA : Quality-Aware Secure Multi-Dimensional Data Aggregation with Location Privacy for HIoT
Full text linkData aggregation, as a data processing technique, facilitates accurate diagnosis in the Healthcare Internet of Things (HIoT) by integrating multi-source heterogeneous health data. However, achieving efficient and secure aggregation of multi-dimensional medical data remains challenging, particularly when simultaneously preserving location privacy and providing fair, quality-driven incentives. To address these issues, this paper proposes a Quality-Aware Secure Multi-Dimensional Data Aggregation scheme with Location Privacy for HIoT (QSDA). First, the scheme employs inner product encryption to support aggregation task matching without revealing users’ actual coordinates, and further integrates symmetric homomorphic encryption with super-increasing sequences to enable one-stop compressed aggregation of multi-dimensional data, thereby effectively supporting common statistical operations such as mean and variance. Second, it introduces a data quality incentive mechanism based on offset metrics, while leveraging blockchain auditing to ensure the traceability of the aggregation process and the verifiability of the aggregation results. Finally, security analysis and performance evaluation demonstrate the scheme’s effectiveness and efficiency
Plant diversity increases microbial resistance to drought and soil carbon accumulation
Full text linkPlant diversity is an important driver of many ecosystem functions, including decomposition and soil carbon (C) cycling. While it is well known that climate extremes can negatively impact ecosystem functions, it remains unclear how plant diversity affects soil microbial tolerance to drought and the consequences this has for soil C cycling. We tested how plant diversity influences soil microbial biomass, respiration and growth under both moist conditions and during a standardised experimental drought. This was done using soils from the Jena Experiment, a long‐term grassland biodiversity experiment, at two different depths (0–10 cm and 10–30 cm). We found that under moist conditions higher plant diversity increased respiration rates, while microbial growth rates were stable. This may be explained by more high‐quality below‐ground inputs, as we found evidence for microbial use of more recently plant‐derived C with increasing plant diversity. The use of organic matter containing high‐quality C but low nitrogen content might have exacerbated microbial nitrogen limitation, constraining microbial growth rates. As less microbially derived organic matter was used as a source of C, this resulted in a build‐up of microbial biomass that could contribute to greater soil C accumulation of microbial origin. We also found a positive effect of plant diversity on microbial growth resistance to drought with increasing plant diversity. This suggests that plant diversity may have promoted drought resistance via higher availability of high‐quality C that could support stress tolerance strategies. Synthesis. Our results highlight that higher plant diversity can enhance microbial growth resistance to drought and C accumulation of both microbial and plant origin, which can strengthen soil C sequestration in grasslands
Developing Learning Technology Professionals in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) : Insights from a Cross-Institutional Mentor Scholar Scheme
No full textDebates are taking place in the higher education literature regarding the changing roles of learning technology professionals and their contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). Whilst much literature discusses motivations and barriers for these professionals in engaging with SoTL, less attention has been directed towards how such engagement might be nurtured and developed. This paper analyses an intervention project designed as a cross-institutional mentoring scheme which aimed to foster SoTL habits and skills in learning technology professionals. The mentor scholar scheme encompassed a series of online group meetings and one-on-one advisor meetings, involving 22 scholars and 18 advisors over a 12-month period. Data was collected using a range of methods including questionnaires and interviews. Our analysis uses Cultural–Historical Activity Theory to grasp the dynamics of the mentor scholar scheme and derive insights into how learning technology professionals attempt to engage with SoTL in their practice. The scheme developed in ways unanticipated by our original design. Key contradictions in the activity were evident through persistent difficulties for learning technology professionals in identifying as a scholar, finding a place within a broader scholarly community, developing a loyalty to scholarship, and positioning it against longstanding professional priorities. Nonetheless, participants viewed the scheme as successful, and we put forward considerable experience of how to mediate and address these issues. The paper contributes new perspectives on catalysing scholarly identity among professional staff in higher education, highlighting the importance of a scholarly community, understanding scholarship as distinct from professionalism, and suggesting that mentoring must be a relational and adaptive process
The global extent of the grassland biome and implications for the terrestrial carbon sink
Full text linkLand cover data are commonly used to model the terrestrial carbon (C) sink, yet these data have wide margins of error that significantly alter estimates of global C storage. Here we demonstrate this data vulnerability in grasslands, which are critical to C cycling but whose estimated distribution has varied by >50 million km2 (3.5–42% of the Earth’s terrestrial surface). Comparing multiple high-resolution land cover products with expertly annotated grassland data from six continents, we show sources of mapping error and discuss C implications based on 2023 United Nations (UN) FAO estimates. Past misidentification arose from inconsistent definitions on grassland identity and classification flaws especially relating to woody plant cover. Correcting these errors adjusted grassland coverage to 22.8% of the terrestrial land base (30.1 million km2), elevating UN projections of soil C stocks to 155.02 Pg (0–30 cm depth). These findings underscore the challenges of biome mapping for ecosystem accounting and policy, when lacking field-validated remotely sensed data
Enhancing thermal properties and moisture resistance of eutectic molten salts via nanoencapsulation for medium-temperature thermal energy storage
Full text linkA nanoencapsulation strategy was developed to addresses the limitations of molten salts as phase change materials (PCMs), including leakage and high hygroscopicity, which hinder their practical application in thermal energy storage. An eutectic molten salt LiNO3-NaNO3-KCl (LNK) was first prepared via aqueous solution evaporation, followed by SiO2 nanoencapsulation using a sol-gel process with methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as co-precursors, resulting in nanoencapsulated LNK (NELNK). Characterization results revealed a phase change temperature of 174.7 °C, a supercooling degree of approximately 0 °C, a latent heat of 128.8 kJ/kg, and an encapsulation ratio of 66.2 %. NELNK also exhibited excellent thermal cycling stability, retaining 98.3 % of its energy storage efficiency after thermal cycles. Moisture absorption tests demonstrated significantly improved moisture resistance compared to the pristine LNK. This work successfully enhances the performance of LNK through modification of the SiO2 shell, offering a promising solution for medium-temperature thermal energy storage applications
Empirical and theoretical calculations of L-subshell Coster-Kronig transitions in atoms with 28 ≤ Z ≤ 98
Full text linkThis work presents a comprehensive analytical investigation of Coster–Kronig transition probabilities f 12 , f 13 , f 23 , F 1 , and F 123 for elements with atomic numbers 28 ≤ Z ≤ 98 . Experimental data from our previous studies were systematically compiled and employed to construct smooth empirical trends by polynomial interpolation so as to represent the variation of these transitions across the different elements. In parallel, new theoretical values were calculated for selected elements using the Multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock (MCDF) method, incorporating relativistic effects. When compared with available theoretical and experimental data the results show good agreement, especially for medium and heavy elements. These new results provide reliable reference data for modeling L-shell vacancy decay processes and support a range of applications in atomic physics, X-ray spectroscopy, and radiation interaction studies
A mixed-methods investigation of women’s health-friendly organisations as perceived by menopausal working women
Full text linkThe ecology of gestational growth in a wild cooperative mammal
Full text linkIn wild mammals, early postnatal growth strongly affects offspring survival and fitness, but little is known about the causes and consequences of variation in prenatal growth. We investigated whether gestational weight gains vary according to maternal traits and social and environmental conditions, and how prenatal growth affects the fates of the resulting offspring, using an exceptionally large sample of repeated pregnant body weight records from individually recognizable wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Pregnant meerkats' body weights remained stable during the first half of gestation and then increased linearly until they gave birth. Gestational weight gains were more rapid under favourable environmental conditions and when mothers were experimentally food‐supplemented, suggesting that nutrition strongly determines prenatal growth. While social conditions and reproductive competition shape postnatal growth in many social vertebrates (including meerkats), these factors had a limited effect on prenatal growth, and adjustment to gestation lengths were modest and unrelated to social factors. Pups that grew faster in utero were heavier when they emerged from the birth burrow yet this rapid growth was not associated with shortened leukocyte telomeres, and they were consequently more likely to survive to adulthood. Broadly, we identified pronounced variation in gestational weight gains, which is largely driven by food availability and strongly predicts offspring birth weights and survival. Our findings also highlight constraints in the flexibility of prenatal growth and gestation lengths in this species, which may limit adjustments in response to prevailing social conditions, and enhance selection for flexibility in postnatal growth
Stochastic modelling of burden of livestock diseases on domestic ruminants in Ethiopia
No full textThis study, carried out in 2022-2023, quantified the financial burden of disease in cattle, sheep and goats in Ethiopia for the year 2021 using the animal health loss envelope (AHLE) metric. The AHLE measures all cause disease burden, avoidable and non-avoidable, as the difference in the financial performance of a livestock production system (e.g., gross margin) comparing a scenario where animals are in an ideal state of health to the current situation. A stochastic dynamic population model (DPM) was employed to calculate the gross margin for an average farm and for the national herd under these current and ideal health scenarios. Data for parametrizing the DPM were derived from secondary sources and expert elicitation. The stochastic DPM was simulated for10,000 iterations and results are reported as means with 95% percentile intervals (PI). The annual AHLE per average farm was estimated at USD 1,209 (95%PI:392-2,470) in cattle, USD 158 (95%PI:66-292) in sheep and USD 416 (95%PI:136-847) in goats. At national level, the annual AHLE in ruminants was USD 18.39 billion with USD 15.42 billion (95% PI:12.70-18.57) in cattle, USD 1.04 billion (95% PI:0.84-1.30) in sheep, and USD 1.93 billion (95% PI:1.64 - 2.25) in goats. Morbidity losses constituted the largest component of the AHLE, exceeding 50% across all species, while animal health expenditure represented the smallest component, accounting for less than 2% of AHLE in all species. This high disease burden, with minimal contribution from animal health expenditure, indicates significant opportunity for improvement through investment in animal health
Expanding the analysis of accounting regulation : On the operationalization of disclosure regulation
No full textWe propose a more expansive analysis of accounting regulation, highlighting the significance of a regulatory network and the importance of examining the recursive processes involved in the transition from formal law to practice. Our analysis is grounded in the sociology of law and is exemplified by the case of a corporate disclosure regulation for Canada's extractive industry. The paper examines how the regulator, in concert with intermediary actors, works to clarify and influence the practice of law, what we refer to as operationalization. In providing a historically and socially contextualized analysis, the paper treats regulation as a dynamic process that includes multistakeholder working groups, legislative debates, regulatory procedures, and shifting meanings of compliance and enforcement. We examine operationalization as a distinct regulatory dynamic and explore its significance for an expanded understanding of accounting regulation