Earticle

Herein, we present a secure multiplication method that uses secret sharing to solve the security problems presented by Watanabe et al. We implemented the characteristics of the exponent operation in which the product of two numbers with the same base (in this case, the primitive element) involves only the addition of their exponents. In contrast to typical secret sharing schemes, our proposed model requires two shares to be sent to each server simultaneously to achieve multiplication without increasing the number of servers required, thereby resulting in a lower cost of establishing a physical server. In addition, Shannon’s entropy function was used to describe the security of the proposed method. Finally, we evaluated our proposed method in terms of computational and communication costs.

Objective: To systematically review the effects of protein supplementation in older adults with sarcopenia.Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases until May 2023. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) randomized controlled trials with a quantitative study design; (2) studies with a study group of older adults with sarcopenia; (3) studies comparing muscle mass, muscle strength, and performance of older adults with sarcopenia after protein supplementation; and (4) studies published up to May 2023.Results: Six retrospective comparative studies, including 715 patients, met the inclusion criteria. The nutritional supplementation group exhibited significant improvement in appendicular skeletal muscle mass (standardized mean difference [SMD]=0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.24?0.58; p<0.001; I²=1%), while handgrip strength (SMD=0.37; 95% CI, -0.32?1.07; p=0.29; I²=94%) and Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) (SMD=0.35; 95% CI, -0.47?1.18; p=0.40; I²=94%) showed a tendency for improvement.Conclusion: Nutritional supplementation with protein increased appendicular muscle mass in older adults with sarcopenia and improved handgrip strength and SPPB scores.

This study aimed to assess the effects of embryonic developmental stage, quality grade, and fresh or frozen/thawed conditions on the pregnancy rate and sex ratio of live offspring in Hanwoo (Bos taurus coreanae) cows. The quality and developmental stage of in vivo-derived (IVD) transferred embryos were evaluated using the standard criteria of the International Embryo Technology Society. The recipient cows were synchronized using conventional (estradiol benzoate and progesterone) protocols before embryo transfer. Embryos were transferred to 297 cows, and pregnancy was monitored for 60?70 days after embryo transfer. The pregnancy rates of fresh and frozen/thawed embryos were 56.90% and 52.49%, respectively. Pregnancy rates varied according to embryo quality (56.18% for grade 1 vs. 36.67% for grade 2). Pregnancy rates also varied by developmental stage and cryopreservation (67.86% vs. 63.49% for stage 4-1, 64.00% vs. 54.72% for 5-1, and 50.00% vs. 47.83% for 6-1, in fresh embryos vs. frozen/thawed embryos, respectively). For stage 7-1, the pregnancy rates were 72.73% for fresh embryos and 20.00% for frozen/thawed embryos. In 66 fresh embryos, the sex ratio of live offspring was 5:5, whereas it was 4(female):6(male) for frozen/thawed embryos among the 95 frozen/thawed embryos. The miscarriage rate was approximately 3% higher for frozen/thawed embryos than for fresh embryos (18.1% for fresh vs. 21.1% for frozen). Seasonal fertility rates were 33.3% in spring, 55.67% in summer, 52.8% in autumn, 60.0% in winter. The following male-to-female ratios were observed in different seasons: 6.7:3.3 in spring, 4.0:6.0 in summer, 5.5:4.5 in autumn, and 3.3:6.7 in winter. The current data revealed no significant differences in pregnancy rates between fresh and frozen/thawed IVD embryos. However, there was a lower pregnancy rate with advanced-stage frozen/thawed embryos (stage 7-1). The current study provides comprehensive results for the better optimization of embryo transfer in Hanwoo cattle to obtain the desired fertility rate, pregnancy rate, and sex ratio of calves. These results provide important insights into the factors that influence the viability and success of IVD embryo transfer in Hanwoo cows and may have practical applications for improving breeding programs and reducing production costs.

Ovotransferrin (OTF), an egg protein known as transferrin family protein, possess strong antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. This is because OTF has two iron binding sites, so it has a strong metal chelating ability. The present study aimed to evaluate the improved immune- enhancing activities of OTF hydrolysates produced using bromelain, pancreatin, and papain. The effects of OTF hydrolysates on the production and secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators in RAW 264.7 macrophages were confirmed. The production of nitric oxide (NO) was evaluated using Griess reagent and the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) were evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). And the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α and interleukin [IL]-6) and the phagocytic activity of macrophages were evaluated using an ELISA assay and neutral red uptake assay, respectively. All OTF hydrolysates enhanced NO production by increasing iNOS mRNA expression. Treating RAW 264.7 macrophages with OTF hydrolysates increased the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the phagocytic activity. The production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines induced by OTF hydrolysates was inhibited by the addition of specific mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors. In conclusion, results indicated that all OTF hydrolysates activated RAW 264.7 macrophages by activating MAPK signaling pathway

DNA based steganography plays a vital role in the field of privacy and secure communication. Here, we propose a DNA properties-based mechanism to send data hidden inside a video file. Initially, the video file is converted into image frames. Random frames are then selected and data is hidden in these at random locations by using the Least Significant Bit substitution method. We analyze the proposed architecture in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio as well as mean squared error measured between the original and steganographic files averaged over all video frames. The results show minimal degradation of the steganographic video file.

Objective To evaluate the clinical features that could serve as predictive factors for improvement in gait speed after robotic treatment.Methods A total of 29 patients with motor incomplete spinal cord injury received 4-week robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) on the Lokomat (Hocoma AG, Volketswil, Switzerland) for 30 minutes, once a day, 5 times a week, for a total of 20 sessions. All subjects were evaluated for general characteristics, the 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), the Lower Extremity Motor Score (LEMS), the Functional Ambulatory Category (FAC), the Walking Index for Spinal Cord Injury version II (WISCI-II), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and the Spinal Cord Independence Measure version III (SCIM-III) every 0, and 4 weeks. After all the interventions, subjects were stratified using the 10MWT score at 4 weeks into improved group and non-improved group for statistical analysis.Results The improved group had younger age and shorter disease duration than the non-improved group. All subjects with the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale level C (AIS-C) tetraplegia belonged to the non-improved group, while most subjects with AIS-C paraplegia, AIS-D tetraplegia, and AIS-D paraplegia belonged to the improved group. The improved group showed greater baseline lower extremity strength, balance, and daily living function than the non-improved group.Conclusion Assessment of SCIM-III, BBS, and trunk control, in addition to LEMS, have potential for predicting the effects of robotic treatment in patients with motor incomplete spinal cord injury.

Objective To investigate improved dysphagia after the decannulation of a tracheostomy in patients with brain injuries.Methods The subjects of this study are patients with brain injuries who were admitted to the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine in Myongji Hospital and who underwent a decannulation between 2012 and 2014. A video fluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) was performed in order to investigate whether the patients’ dysphagia had improved. We measured the following 5 parameters: laryngeal elevation, pharyngeal transit time, post-swallow pharyngeal remnant, upper esophageal width, and semisolid aspiration. We analyzed the patients’ results from VFSS performed one month before and one month after decannulation. All VFSS images were recorded using a camcorder running at 30 frames per second. An AutoCAD 2D screen was used to measure laryngeal elevation, post-swallow pharyngeal remnant, and upper esophageal width.Results In this study, a number of dysphagia symptoms improved after decannulation. Laryngeal elevation, pharyngeal transit time, and semisolid aspiration showed no statistically significant differences (p>0.05), however after decannulation, the post-swallow pharyngeal remnant (pre 37.41%±24.80%, post 21.02%±11.75%; p<0.001) and upper esophageal width (pre 3.57±1.93 mm, post 4.53±2.05 mm; p<0.001) showed statistically significant differences.Conclusion When decannulation is performed on patients with brain injuries who do not require a ventilator and who are able to independently excrete sputum, improved esophageal dysphagia can be expected.

An occupational disease caused by prolonged inhalation of coal dust, pneumoconiosis can further develop into a more dangerous malady, such as bronchial disease, emphysema of the lungs, or pulmonary tuberculosis. Poor atmospheric working conditions in unhealthy coal mines can worsen the condition. Most coal mines currently use a simple water spray system to minimize coal dust and improve working conditions. This study performs a feasibility test on a more effective spray system using surfactants. Korea Coal Corporation provided coal dust samples for a scaled spraying model test. Chemical composition, physical shape, and particle size distribution of the sample dust were taken into consideration. A standard sink test was performed with four different surfactants at six different concentrations. Using the optimal surfactant chosen from the sink test, the overall collection efficiency of coal dust with the surfactant-added spray system increased by 11.23%, compared to the efficiency of the pure water spray. Also, the collection efficiency of fine dust (0.4 ㎛~2.1 ㎛) increased by approximately 40%. Spray systems using this kind of surfactant are judged to be effective in controlling fine dust below the geometric diameter of 3.5 ㎛, which is the size of the dust causing pneumoconiosis.

5G-based MANET has received a lot of attention recently. Its fundamental feature is that nodes are constantly subjected to high traffic loads, while QoS requirements are extremely stringent. When applied to 5G-based MANETs, existing routing protocols have shown drawbacks. In this paper, we propose an enhanced AODV protocol solution for 5G-based MANETs. Using reinforcement learning, each node updates a state information database of intermediate nodes along routes to destinations. This database is used by the routing algorithm to find guaranteed QoS routes. Our solution is highly efficient in terms of throughput, end-to-end delay, and SNR, according to the simulation results.

The large amplitude variations of OFDM signals generate in-band distortion and out-of-band radiation. In recent years, cubic metric (CM) has been verified as a more accurate metric to measure the amplitude variations. In this paper, the PTS technique is used to decrease the CM of OFDM signals. To overcome the search complexity of an exhaustive search based PTS technique, we introduce an improved backtracking search (IBS) optimization algorithm. Simulations are conducted to show the advantages of the proposed IBS based PTS approach compared with the conventional OFDM, and several state-of-the-art methods in terms of search complexity and CM reduction performance.

In today’s cloud computing environment, health-cloud preserve the person specific sensitive information for several purposes such as bio-medical research, health insurance companies, medical data analysis, etc. When any authorized person access these clouds, the released data should not compromise any individuals’ privacy and it remains useful as well. In the health-cloud system, the data must be released in such a way that any individuals’ identity cannot be revealed. The database management system alone cannot ensure any individual’s privacy. The Access Control (AC) models are also not able to protect the data from indirect access or multiple queries. To remove such issues inference control is one of the techniques which ensures the data confidentiality from indirect data access. In this paper, we have proposed a hybrid technique which includes two different inference control techniques, query set size restriction and k-anonymity to ensure individuals’ privacy. A query set size restriction is used to prevent the sensitive data from inference attacks, whereas k-anonymity is implemented to protect the data from linking attacks. Both these techniques reach a certain privacy level with satisfactory data utilization. We have also generated a rule set to increase the privacy of healthcare data.

In cloud computing systems the continuous increasing need for a variety of applications has made workload distribution and resource allocation more difficult. These difficulties lead to a high degree of imbalance and poor system performance. To address these issues, this study presented a high scalable Improved Multi-Objective Hybrid Load Balancing (IMH_LB) Algorithm. It combines the Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) algorithm with the velocity driven approach of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique. The suggested method has been developed to optimize cloud computing environments by improving resource utilization with high scalability. The quality-of-service (QoS) parameters are comparatively analyzed in CloudSim by benchmarking the proposed algorithm against standard (GWO and PSO) algorithms and state of the art (Hybrid GWO-PSO and Improved Hybrid Genetic Algorithm-GWO) algorithms. The experimental findings show the superiority of the proposed approach with average improvements of 72.16% in average response time, 67.27% in makespan, 5.18 times in throughput, in 7.51 times in average resource utilization and 78.51% in degree of imbalance over the standard (GWO and PSO) and state of the art (HGWO-PSO and IHGA-GWO) methods. The proposed algorithm achieves high scalability while stabilizing at an average utilization of 89 % at significantly high workloads.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary probiotic Lactiplantibacillus plantarum on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, immune responses, and intestinal health of weaned pigs. In a randomize complete block design (block: initial body weight), a total of 40 weaned pigs (initial body weight: 6.93 ± 0.27 kg) were assigned to 2 dietary treatments (1 pig/ pen; 10 replicates/treatment): 1) a basal weaner diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON) and 2) CON + 0.1% dietary probiotic L. plantarum (PRO). Pigs fed PRO had increased (p < 0.05) body weight, average daily gain, and gain to feed ratio during the overall period than those fed CON. Pigs in PRO had greater (p < 0.05) apparent ileal digestibility of crude protein than those in CON. However, there were no differences on apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and energy between dietary treatments. The PRO group decreased (p < 0.05) crypt depth in the duodenum compared with the CON group, but increased (p < 0.05) number of goblet cells in the ileum. Pigs fed PRO had lower (p < 0.05) serum cortisol on day 7 and number of white blood cells on day 21 than those fed CON, but higher (p < 0.05) serum interleukin-6 on day 21. The PRO group upregulated (p < 0.05) claudin-2, claudin-3, claudin-4, occludin, and mucin-1 genes expression in the ileum compared with the CON group. Pigs fed PRO had altered gut microbial composition by increasing (p < 0.05) the relative abundance of genera Enterococcus and Pediococcus in fecal microbiota on day 7, genera Lactobacillus and Streptococcus in fecal microbiota on day 21, and genera Streptococcus and Turicibacter in jejunal microbiota on day 35 compared with pigs fed CON. Our findings suggest that supplementation of probiotic L. plantarum in weaner diets can enhance the growth performance of weaned pigs via modified intestinal health by improving intestinal morphology, upregulating tight junction protein genes expression, and altering microbial communities. Furthermore, the dietary probiotic L. plantarum modulated systemic immune responses and local inflammatory cytokine genes expression in the ileum of weaned pigs.

This paper proposed a system that will guard infrastructures against incoming threats from drones by detecting it with the use of a radar device-based detection scheme. The database acquired, named Real Doppler RAD-DAR (Radar with Digital Array Receiver) is constructed by a Microwave and Radar Group. The radar used uses a Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) on an 8.75 GHz based frequency band with a BW of 500 MHz. The proposed Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), CNN-32DC is varied with different number of filters, combination layers, and number of feature extraction blocks, the preference that will give the most accurate result was selected and compared with different machine learning and classification learning algorithms gained an accuracy that exceeds other networks with less processing time.

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) technology has been actively studied with the recent advances in deep learning. As a result, the researchers are continuously improving performance and expanding the applications. However, recent literature reports that the performance of DRL is sensitive to the various design choices, e.g., the neural network initialization. Accordingly, it makes DRL hard to obtain a stable performance, which degrades reproducibility. Therefore, we propose a supervised pre-training method for both policy and value networks to improve stability. We pre-train the policy network to maximize the initial entropy and pre-train the value network to bias the distribution to a specific value. The experiments are conducted on tasks with discrete action space where it is hard to control the initial entropy. Through the experiments, the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of stability and performance is validated.

The objective of this study was to investigate effects of a low dietary dose of coated CuSO4 and ZnO on growth performance, frequency of diarrhea, nutrient digestibility, immune responses, and fecal microbiota of weaned pigs. In a randomized complete block design (block: initial body weight), a total of 96 weaned pigs [Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc; 7.29 ± 0.69 kg of average initial body weight (BW)] were allotted into four dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen, 6replicates/treatment): (1) a basal weaner diet based on corn and soybean meal (CON), (2) CON supplemented with 2,500 ppm standard ZnO (T1), (3) CON supplemented with 100 mg/kg dietary coated CuSO4 and 100 mg/kg dietary coated ZnO (T2), and (4) CON supplemented with 200 mg/kg dietary coated CuSO4 and 200 mg/kg dietary coated ZnO (T3). Dietary T2 and T3 increased (p < 0.05) the average daily gain for the first two weeks and the overall experimental period compared to that with CON. In addition, the groups supplemented with CuSO4 and Zno tended to have a decreased (p < 0.10) frequency of diarrhea. Pigs fed dietary T2 and/or T3 had lower (p < 0.10) the number of white blood cells on day 7 and hematocrit on day 14 compared to those fed CON. However, no difference was observed in the number of red blood cells among the dietary treatments. Regarding immune responses, dietary T2 decreased (p < 0.10) serum tumor necrosis factor-α level on day 7 and increased (p < 0.10) immunoglobulin G level on day 14 compared with CON. Moreover, pigs fed dietary T2 tended to have increase bacterial abundance of Limosilacatobacilus (p < 0.10) compared with those fed dietary T1. Dietary T3 had higher (p < 0.05) relative abundance of the genus Agathobacter compared to those fed CON and dietary T1 and decreased (p < 0.05) genus Terrisporobacter compared to those fed dietary T1. These results suggested the supplementation of dietary coated ZnO and CuSO4 enhanced growth performance and modulated immune responses associated with changes in the fecal microbiota composition.

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) is an advanced microwave sensor widely used in ocean monitoring, whose operation is not affected by light and weather. Ship targets in SAR images contain characteristically unclear contour information, a complex background, and display strong scattering. Ship detection algorithms based on convolutional neural networks achieved good results, albeit with many missed and false detections. To address this issue, we propose an improved scheme based on YOLOv5, that combines coordinate attention blocks and uses a bidirectional feature pyramid network for better feature fusion. Experimental results obtained with SAR images datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model when applied for ship detection in SAR images. Compared to the original YOLOv5, the detection accuracy of the proposed method was increased from 81.28% to 88.27%, and the mean average precision was increased from 92.57% to 95.02%, which showed significant performance improvement by the proposed method in terms of detection accuracy and speed.

This article describes a process of theory development in nursing care. The Interpersonal Caring theory empirically arose from a problematic nursing situation of caring for patients with long-term serious mental illness, to guide practical applications of interpersonal caring behaviors. The authors describe the phases of theory development with patient statements that illustrate how to conceptualize the phenomenon, and present theoretical and statistical analyses that validate the 10 domains of interpersonal caring: noticing, participating, sharing, active listening, companioning, complimenting, comforting, hoping, forgiving, and accepting.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop website-based learning contents to activate voluntary monitoring and reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) for clinical nurses and to verify their effectiveness. Method: Using a quasi-experimental control group pretest-posttest design with random allocation, a total of 60 nurses with more than 1 year of clinical experience were recruited from a university hospital in Seoul, Korea. A website was developed that provides learning contents including real cases and the latest drug-related knowledge, as well as video lectures. Knowledge on ADR monitoring, self-efficacy, ADR practice behavior, and medication performance ability were measured at 2 weeks after intervention. A small notebook for monitoring ADRs of nurses was given to the control group. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-squared test, and the independent t test using SPSS Statistics Software Version 21.0. Results: The scores of ADR monitoring knowledge, self-efficacy, and ADR monitoring practice in the experimental group significantly increased after the intervention compared with the control group (p < .05). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in medication performance ability related to ADR monitoring. Conclusion: To spread a safety culture in which voluntary ADR monitoring and reporting is activated, it is necessary for clinical nurses to share and communicate ADR-related information and real cases through an open website.