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Blockchain-enabled digital twin framework for secure authentication and enhanced usability in the intelligent transport systems
No full textIn modern smart cities, public transportation is essential for urban mobility, utilizing uniform ticketing systems across various routes. However, current transport infrastructure faces critical challenges, including cyberattack vulnerabilities, long processing times, high energy consumption, and operational costs. This paper proposes a blockchain-enabled digital twin framework for secure authentication and enhanced usability in intelligent transport systems within Oslo Smart City. The Digital Twin Blockchain Secure Access Control (DTBC-SAC) framework integrates advanced techniques for data collection, secure authentication,
blockchain-enabled security, and digital twin simulations. It aims to enhance public transport infrastructure by reducing processing time, energy consumption, and operational costs while ensuring robust cyber protection for passengers. Additionally, the framework optimizes edge cloud servers that support transport operations, surpassing existing infrastructure in efficiency and security. Simulation results show that DTBC-SAC effectively minimizes processing time, energy usage, and operational costs while mitigating cyber threats. These findings highlight its superior performance over current methods, positioning DTBC-SAC as a transformative solution for intelligent transport systems in smart cities
Examining highly skilled Vietnamese migrants’ return decision-making through their aspirations for 'the good life' in Vietnam
No full textResearch indicates that an increasing number of Vietnamese international students return to Vietnam after graduation, yet migrants’ return decision-making remains understudied. This article draws on eighty-six ethnographic interviews with highly skilled migrants in Vancouver and Paris who have considered or decided against returning to Vietnam, as well as with those who have already returned. Centering on migrants’ aspirations for the “good life” in Vietnam, the study takes a mobility studies approach, moving beyond traditional push–pull migration frameworks to offer a nuanced understanding of return decision-making. It considers not only economic motivations but also social and lifestyle factors, as well as agency and subjectivity shaped by intersecting personal circumstances and social markers such as class and gender
Investigating whether routinely collected biomarkers improve the prediction of hospital-acquired pressure injury occurrence : a retrospective cohort study
Get PDFBackground: Despite being largely preventable, hospital-acquired pressure injuries (HAPI) remain a significant challenge in healthcare, contributing to prolonged hospital stays, increased patient morbidity, and substantial healthcare costs. Commonly used risk assessment tools have limited predictive accuracy, and early detection of HAPIs often depends on subjective visual skin assessments. Emerging evidence suggests routinely collected biomarkers may offer an objective and reliable approach to predicting HAPI risk.
Objective: To explore how biomarkers improve HAPI prediction.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Acute NHS Trust in England, UK.
Participants: 10,504 adult patients admitted to acute medical wards for at least 24 hours in 2024.
Methods: We considered the first HAPI and first record of other variables per hospital episode, measured at or soon after admission. Population characteristics of those who developed a HAPI or not were compared, overall and stratified by categories of length of stay (<6 days, ≥6 days), Braden, Malnutrition Universal Screening Tool and Mobility scores. Using multivariable logistic regression, we assessed the predictive value of the risk scores, adjusted for age and gender, and adding single biomarkers. Predictive performance was evaluated by discrimination and calibration. Analyses were exploratory. We used Stata v16 and R v4.4.
Results: Median hospital stay for patients with HAPIs (n=293) was 18 days (interquartile range 12-31) compared with 5 days (2-11) for those without. Patients with HAPIs were older than those without (84 (77-89) vs 78 (66-86) years. Levels of urea, C-reactive protein, and prothrombin time were significantly higher and albumin, haemoglobin and red blood cell count were significantly lower in those who developed HAPIs. The incidence of HAPIs was higher in those with longer hospital stays and increased across the risk score categories. Adjusting for age and gender, a unit increase in the Braden score reduced the odds of developing a HAPI by 15%. The discrimination was adequate (AUC 0.72), but calibration was poor. Several individual biomarkers enhanced discrimination, but with miscalibration. Albumin was an independent predictor of HAPIs in all models. The model with mobility adjusted for age and gender had adequate discrimination (AUC 0.71) and was well calibrated. Compared to those fully mobile, there was a sevenfold increase in the odds of HAPIs in the immobile, and eightfold increase in those non-weight-bearing.
Conclusions: This study provides insight into the potential role of biomarkers in enhancing HAPI risk prediction. Further research should investigate how using objective biomarkers, combined with risk scores, improves the prediction of HAPIs
Characterisation of an unusual nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtype preferentially sensitive to biogenic amines
No full textNicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are best known for mediating the fast actions of acetylcholine. However, the spectrum of other neurotransmitters possibly acting on these receptors is not well understood. Here, we report that the α5 nAChR subunit of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, when expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes, has unusual pharmacological properties in that it has high sensitivity towards dopamine, tyramine and octopamine with EC50 values of 3.37 μM, 91.1 μM and 378 μM, respectively, whereas the EC50 for acetylcholine is 2.37 mM. The biogenic amines are also considerably more efficacious than acetylcholine in activating the receptor. Molecular dynamics simulations and expression of α5 mutants identify the lack of a proline doublet in loop E as playing a major role in determining dopamine efficacy. Together with phylogenetic analysis using homologous receptors from other species, this study enhances our understanding of how ligand-gated ion channels evolve functional diversity
Exploring the directions of artificial intelligence in good health and well-being (SDG3) using big data and LDA topic modeling
No full textArtificial Intelligence (AI) holds significant potential for advancing Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG3)—Good Health and Well-being—yet the field remains fragmented across numerous topics and disciplines. In this study, we apply Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to a final corpus of 60,010 Scopus abstracts after filtering, extracting k = 160 latent topics (selected via metric-based tuning; see Appendix A) and organizing them into a process-oriented, Health Technology Assessment–inspired framework that links Drivers, AI Infrastructure and Methods, Implementation, and Results. Key findings include dominant research streams in disease diagnostics (e.g., breast cancer, cardiovascular disease), personalized treatment, and automation, alongside the emergence of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Geographical mapping highlights Asia, North America, and Europe as research hubs, while underexplored areas such as AI in social media and student education are identified. We also introduce a quadrant-based trend analysis to distinguish “niche excellence” from “leading research areas” and chart short-versus medium-term dynamics. This methodological contribution not only offers a comprehensive “scientific map” of AI–SDG3 research but also provides a scalable blueprint for mapping AI's role across other SDGs and guiding future theory-driven and policy-relevant investigations
3',5'-Cyclic AMP in plants : an integrated view of homeostasis, effectors, and physiological functions
No full textCyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP) is a ubiquitous signaling molecule across kingdoms. Although cAMP was identified early in plants, its significance remained underappreciated. Recent discoveries revealed that nuclear auxin receptors (TIR1/AFBs) possess intrinsic adenylyl cyclase (AC) activity. Crucially, the cAMP produced can participate in transcriptional regulation semi-independently of canonical receptor function, transforming our understanding of cAMP's regulatory roles in plants. This review systematically synthesizes: i) Molecular basis of cAMP homeostasis; ii) identification and functions of downstream effectors; and iii) the role of cAMP in plant development, stress responses, and hormone interactions. We further highlight critical knowledge gaps, including the evolutionary rationale for moonlighting ACs, precise signal transduction mechanisms, and functions of non-canonical cyclic nucleotides (cNMPs). This review provides a conceptual framework for advancing plant cAMP research
Decoding ISO 19650 through process modelling for information management and stakeholder communication in BIM
Get PDFPoor information management is predominant in construction projects and tends to have a negative effect on project outcomes. The use of technology, in particular building information modelling (BIM), has been promoted to address information management issues. However, the adoption of BIM is fraught with challenges, such as a lack of standardisation and difficulties in effectively adopting standards such as ISO 19650. This research aims to deepen knowledge and improve the management of BIM standards, particularly in using ISO 19650 to collaboratively deliver construction projects by applying process modelling techniques. By employing a mixed-methods approach that combines document analysis and qualitative interviews, this study critically examines the principles and requirements of ISO 19650 and their practical implications. It focuses on how process modelling can clarify complex concepts and improve information management. The findings indicate that process modelling significantly aids in comprehending ISO 19650, making its intricate concepts more accessible to multidisciplinary teams, enhancing stakeholder communication, improving project execution efficiency, and reducing errors and rework. Furthermore, this research emphasises the need to distinguish ISO 19650-derived elements from those adapted from other sources to ensure transparency and integrity in project management practices. The main implications of this study are two-fold. From a research perspective, it contributes to the academic discourse by addressing a critical gap in the literature, which has largely focused on BIM technology implementation rather than the processes and workflows necessary for effective standard adoption. From a practical perspective, this study promotes transparency and integrity in project management practices, enabling organisations to adopt and adhere to standardised practices more effectively in collaborative environments
Impact behavior of sandwich panels with functionally graded polyurethane foam cores and composite face sheets: Experimental and numerical analysis
No full textIn many industries, such as aerospace, automotive, and marine, sandwich panels have a wide range of application fields because of their excellent energy absorption characteristics under conditions of extreme loadings. This paper aims to study the behavior of sandwich panels with glass/epoxy composite face sheets and a functionally graded (FG) polyurethane foam core subjected to high-velocity impact. FG foam cores with six different density layers in two different configurations were considered and compared to monolithic cores of equal weight with an identical density. A light gas gun test machine conducted the tests with a projectile with a semi-spherical nose at 147 m/s velocity. The results show that FG foam cores with decreasing density of layers (FG-D) resulted in higher energy absorption, and these cores could absorb 30.7 % more specific energy absorption than monolithic cores of equivalent weight. Numerical simulations have been performed using ABAQUS software, including two user-developed VUMAT subroutines: one for modeling polyurethane foam behavior and its failure mechanisms and another for revealing the behavior of composite face sheets. The experimental data are in excellent agreement with the simulation results obtained, hence validating the numerical approach very well. This research, therefore, underlines important potential in the FG foam core to enhance energy absorption in both lightweight and impact-resistant design, thus making the research highly relevant for advanced engineering applications