Leptospira infection in bats in Vietnam.

Bats from three provinces in Vietnam (Lai Chau, Son La, and Dong Thap) were examined for the presence of pathogenic Leptospira or specific antibodies using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and microscopic agglutination test (MAT). Tissue specimens from 298 bats belonging to 11 species were analyzed using a real-time PCR assay specific for leptospires of pathogenic species. Leptospiral DNA was identified in 40 bats from following species: Rousettus amplexicaudatus (5/9; 55.5 %), Rousettus leschenaultii (17/42; 40.4 %), Myotis hasseltii (8/25; 32 %), Taphozous longimanus (3/12; 25 %), and Eonycteris spelaea (7/32; 21.9 %). Based on secY phylogeny, sequences from M. hasseltii bore a strong resemblance to L. borgpetersenii. Sequences from other species revealed unique lineages: one of them resembled Leptospira sp., previously identified in Rousettus madagascariensis (Madagascar) and Rousettus aegyptiacus (South Africa); the second lineage showed close relation to L. kirshneri; and the third held an intermediary position between L. noguchii and L. interrogans. Through ELISA, anti-Leptospira antibodies were found in 83 of 306 bats, with the highest seroprevalence observed in R. leschenaultii (44/48; 91.6 %), R. amplexicaudatus (6/8; 75 %), and E. spelaea (19/25; 76 %). 66 of these ELISA-positive samples were tested using MAT; 41 of them were confirmed in MAT as positive. The predominant serogroups in our study were Tarassovi and Mini.

Security-Reliability Analysis of AF Full-Duplex Relay Networks Using Self-Energy Recycling and Deep Neural Networks.

This paper investigates the security-reliability of simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT)-assisted amplify-and-forward (AF) full-duplex (FD) relay networks. In practice, an AF-FD relay harvests energy from the source (S) using the power-splitting (PS) protocol. We propose an analysis of the related reliability and security by deriving closed-form formulas for outage probability (OP) and intercept probability (IP). The next contribution of this research is an asymptotic analysis of OP and IP, which was generated to obtain more insight into important system parameters. We validate the analytical formulas and analyze the impact on the key system parameters using Monte Carlo simulations. Finally, we propose a deep learning network (DNN) with minimal computation complexity and great accuracy for OP and IP predictions. The effects of the system's primary parameters on OP and IP are examined and described, along with the numerical data.

VPBR: An Automatic and Low-Cost Vision-Based Biophysical Properties Recognition Pipeline for Pumpkin.

Pumpkins are a nutritious and globally enjoyed fruit for their rich and earthy flavor. The biophysical properties of pumpkins play an important role in determining their yield. However, manual in-field techniques for monitoring these properties can be time-consuming and labor-intensive. To address this, this research introduces a novel approach that feeds high-resolution pumpkin images to train a mathematical model to automate the measurement of each pumpkin's biophysical properties. Color correction was performed on the dataset using a color-checker panel to minimize the impact of varying light conditions on the RGB images. A segmentation model was then trained to effectively recognize two fundamental components of each pumpkin: the fruit and vine. Real-life measurements of various biophysical properties, including fruit length, fruit width, stem length, stem width and fruit peel color, were computed and compared with manual measurements. The experimental results on 10 different pumpkin samples revealed that the framework obtained a small average mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 2.5% compared to the manual method, highlighting the potential of this approach as a faster and more efficient alternative to conventional techniques for monitoring the biophysical properties of pumpkins.

Toward explainable heat load patterns prediction for district heating.

Heat networks play a vital role in the energy sector by offering thermal energy to residents in certain countries. Effective management and optimization of heat networks require a deep understanding of users' heat usage patterns. Irregular patterns, such as peak usage periods, can exceed the design capacities of the system. However, previous work has mostly neglected the analysis of heat usage profiles or performed on a small scale. To close the gap, this study proposes a data-driven approach to analyze and predict heat load in a district heating network. The study uses data from over eight heating seasons of a cogeneration DH plant in Cheongju, Korea, to build analysis and forecast models using supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms, including support vector regression (SVR), boosting algorithms, and multilayer perceptron (MLP). The models take weather data, holiday information, and historical hourly heat load as input variables. The performance of these algorithms is compared using different training sample sizes of the dataset. The results show that boosting algorithms, particularly XGBoost, are more suitable ML algorithms with lower prediction errors than SVR and MLP. Finally, different explainable artificial intelligence approaches are applied to provide an in-depth interpretation of the trained model and the importance of input variables.

Performance Analysis of Multihop Full-Duplex NOMA Systems with Imperfect Interference Cancellation and Near-Field Path-Loss.

Outage probability (OP) and potential throughput (PT) of multihop full-duplex (FD) nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) systems are addressed in the present paper. More precisely, two metrics are derived in the closed-form expressions under the impact of both imperfect successive interference cancellation (SIC) and imperfect self-interference cancellation. Moreover, to model short transmission distance from the transmit and receive antennae at relays, the near-field path-loss is taken into consideration. Additionally, the impact of the total transmit power on the performance of these metrics is rigorously derived. Furthermore, the mathematical framework of the baseline systems is provided too. Computer-based simulations via the Monte Carlo method are given to verify the accuracy of the proposed framework, confirm our findings, and highlight the benefits of the proposed systems compared with the baseline one.

Daily and seasonal heat usage patterns analysis in heat networks.

Heat usage patterns, which are greatly affected by the users' behaviors, network performances, and control logic, are a crucial indicator of the effective and efficient management of district heating networks. The variations in the heat load can be daily or seasonal. The daily variations are primarily influenced by the customers' social behaviors, whereas the seasonal variations are mainly caused by the large temperature differences between the seasons over the year. Irregular heat load patterns can significantly raise costs due to pricey peak fuels and increased peak heat load capacities. The in-depth analyses of heat load profiles are regrettably quite rare and small-scale up until now. Therefore, this study offers a comprehensive investigation of a district heating network operation in order to exploit the major features of the heat usage patterns and discover the big factors that affect the heat load patterns. In addition, this study also provides detailed explanations of the features that can be considered the main drivers of the users' heat load demand. Finally, two primary daily heat usage patterns are extracted, which are exploited to efficiently train the prediction model.

Outage Analysis of the Power Splitting Based Underlay Cooperative Cognitive Radio Networks.

In the present paper, we investigate the performance of the simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) based cooperative cognitive radio networks (CCRNs). In particular, the outage probability is derived in the closed-form expressions under the opportunistic partial relay selection. Different from the conventional CRNs in which the transmit power of the secondary transmitters count merely on the aggregate interference measured on the primary networks, the transmit power of the SWIPT-enabled transmitters is also constrained by the harvested energy. As a result, the mathematical framework involves more correlated random variables and, thus, is of higher complexity. Monte Carlo simulations are given to corroborate the accuracy of the mathematical analysis and to shed light on the behavior of the OP with respect to several important parameters, e.g., the transmit power and the number of relays. Our findings illustrate that increasing the transmit power and/or the number of relays is beneficial for the outage probability.

A Study of Physical Layer Security in SWIPT-Based Decode-and-Forward Relay Networks with Dynamic Power Splitting.

In this paper, we study the physical layer security for simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT)-based half-duplex (HD) decode-and-forward relaying system. We consider a system model including one transmitter that tries to transmit information to one receiver under the help of multiple relay users and in the presence of one eavesdropper that attempts to overhear the confidential information. More specifically, to investigate the secrecy performance, we derive closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP) and secrecy outage probability for dynamic power splitting-based relaying (DPSBR) and static power splitting-based relaying (SPSBR) schemes. Moreover, the lower bound of secrecy outage probability is obtained when the source's transmit power goes to infinity. The Monte Carlo simulations are given to corroborate the correctness of our mathematical analysis. It is observed from simulation results that the proposed DPSBR scheme outperforms the SPSBR-based schemes in terms of OP and SOP under the impact of different parameters on system performance.

Performance Enhancement for Full-Duplex Relaying with Time-Switching-Based SWIPT in Wireless Sensors Networks.

Full-duplex (FD) with simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) in wireless ad hoc networks has received increased attention as a technology for improving spectrum and energy efficiency. This paper studies the outage performance for a SWIPT-based decode-and-forward (DF) FD relaying network consisting of a single-antenna source S, a two-antenna relay R, and a multi-antenna destination D. Specifically, we propose four protocols, namely static time-switching factor with selection combining (STSF-SC), static time-switching factor with maximal ratio combining (STSF-MRC), optimal dynamic time-switching factor with selection combining (ODTSF-SC), and optimal dynamic time-switching factor with maximal ratio combining (ODTSF-MRC) to fully investigate the outage performance of the proposed system. In particular, the optimal time-switching factor from the ODTSF-SC and ODTSF-MRC methods is designed to maximize the total received data at the destination. In this context, we derive exact closed-formed expressions for all schemes in terms of the outage probability (OP). Finally, the Monte Carlo simulations are conducted to corroborate the theoretical analysis's correctness and the proposed schemes' effectiveness.

Performance Analysis in the Decode-and-Forward Full-Duplex Relaying Network with SWIPT.

This paper investigates the decode-and-forward (DF) full-duplex (FD) cooperative relaying system with SWIPT. Specifically, the relay node can harvest energy from the source's RF signal, and then the harvested energy is used for transferring information to the destination. Besides, we consider both direct and two-hop relaying links to transmit data from the source to the destination. In the performance analysis, we derive the exact expressions for outage probability (OP) by applying the receiver's selection combining (SC) technique. Then, the Monte Carlo simulation is performed to verify the correctness of the mathematical analysis. Finally, the simulations show that the mathematic expressions match simulation results, which authenticates the mathematical analysis.

Exploiting Direct Link in Two-Way Half-Duplex Sensor Network over Block Rayleigh Fading Channel: Upper Bound Ergodic Capacity and Exact SER Analysis.

Relay communication, in which the relay forwards the signal received by a source to a destination, has a massive consideration in research, due to its ability to expand the coverage, increase the capacity, and reduce the power consumption. In this paper, we proposed and investigated energy harvesting (EH) based two-way half-duplex (TWHD) relaying sensors network using selection combining (SC) over block Rayleigh fading channel. In this model, we proposed the direct link between two sources for improving the system performance. For the system performance analysis, we investigated and derived the closed-form of the exact and upper bound Ergodic capacity (EC) and the exact form of the symbol error ratio (SER). By using the Monte Carlo simulation, the correctness of the research results is verified in the influence of the main system parameters. From the discussions, we can see that the analytical and simulation agree well with each other.

Secrecy Performance Enhancement for Underlay Cognitive Radio Networks Employing Cooperative Multi-Hop Transmission with and without Presence of Hardware Impairments.

In this paper, we consider a cooperative multi-hop secured transmission protocol to underlay cognitive radio networks. In the proposed protocol, a secondary source attempts to transmit its data to a secondary destination with the assistance of multiple secondary relays. In addition, there exists a secondary eavesdropper who tries to overhear the source data. Under a maximum interference level required by a primary user, the secondary source and relay nodes must adjust their transmit power. We first formulate effective signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) as well as secrecy capacity under the constraints of the maximum transmit power, the interference threshold and the hardware impairment level. Furthermore, when the hardware impairment level is relaxed, we derive exact and asymptotic expressions of end-to-end secrecy outage probability over Rayleigh fading channels by using the recursive method. The derived expressions were verified by simulations, in which the proposed scheme outperformed the conventional multi-hop direct transmission protocol.

Rateless Codes-Based Secure Communication Employing Transmit Antenna Selection and Harvest-To-Jam under Joint Effect of Interference and Hardware Impairments.

In this paper, we propose a rateless codes-based communication protocol to provide security for wireless systems. In the proposed protocol, a source uses the transmit antenna selection (TAS) technique to transmit Fountain-encoded packets to a destination in presence of an eavesdropper. Moreover, a cooperative jammer node harvests energy from radio frequency (RF) signals of the source and the interference sources to generate jamming noises on the eavesdropper. The data transmission terminates as soon as the destination can receive a sufficient number of the encoded packets for decoding the original data of the source. To obtain secure communication, the destination must receive sufficient encoded packets before the eavesdropper. The combination of the TAS and harvest-to-jam techniques obtains the security and efficient energy via reducing the number of the data transmission, increasing the quality of the data channel, decreasing the quality of the eavesdropping channel, and supporting the energy for the jammer. The main contribution of this paper is to derive exact closed-form expressions of outage probability (OP), probability of successful and secure communication (SS), intercept probability (IP) and average number of time slots used by the source over Rayleigh fading channel under the joint impact of co-channel interference and hardware impairments. Then, Monte Carlo simulations are presented to verify the theoretical results.

Hybrid TSR⁻PSR Alternate Energy Harvesting Relay Network over Rician Fading Channels: Outage Probability and SER Analysis.

In this research, we investigate a hybrid time-switching relay (TSR)⁻power-splitting relay (PSR) alternate energy harvesting (EH) relaying network over the Rician fading channels. For this purpose, the amplify-and-forward (AF) mode is considered for the alternative hybrid time TSR⁻PSR. The system model consists of one source, one destination and two alternative relays for signal transmission from the source to the destination. In the first step, the exact and asymptotic expressions of the outage probability and the symbol errors ratio (SER) are derived. Then, the influence of all system parameters on the system performance is investigated, and the Monte Carlo simulation verifies all results. Finally, the system performances of TSR⁻PSR, TSR, and PSR cases are compared in connection with all system parameters.

Energy Harvesting over Rician Fading Channel: A Performance Analysis for Half-Duplex Bidirectional Sensor Networks under Hardware Impairments.

In this paper, a rigorous analysis of the performance of time-switching energy harvesting strategy that is applied for a half-duplex bidirectional wireless sensor network with intermediate relay over a Rician fading channel is presented to provide the exact-form expressions of the outage probability, achievable throughput and the symbol-error-rate (SER) of the system under the hardware impairment condition. Using the proposed probabilistic models for wireless channels between mobile nodes as well as for the hardware noises, we derive the outage probability of the system, and then the throughput and SER can be obtained as a result. Both exact analysis and asymptotic analysis at high signal-power-to-noise-ratio regime are provided. Monte Carlo simulation is also conducted to verify the analysis. This work confirms the effectiveness of energy harvesting applied in wireless sensor networks over a Rician fading channel, and can provide an insightful understanding about the effect of various parameters on the system performance.

The adherence of Trichomonas vaginalis to host ectocervical cells is influenced by lactobacilli.

OBJECTIVES: Trichomoniasis is a common sexually transmitted disease, and adhesion of the pathogen Trichomonas vaginalis to the host vaginal cells is the first step in establishing infection. For this to happen, the pathogen has to overcome a natural protective barrier composed mostly of lactobacilli. The objective of this study was to understand the role of lactobacilli in the adhesion of T vaginalis to host cells. METHODS: Adhesion assays were carried out by incubating vaginal epithelial cells (VECs) with T vaginalis and lactobacilli together and compared with non-lactobacilli recipient controls. By varying incubation parameters and testing several microbial isolates, the number of pathogens that adhered to the VECs was determined by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Overall, but with few exceptions, lactobacilli caused inhibition of T vaginalis adhesion to a variable degree. Lactobacillus gasseri ATCC 9857 and CBI3 (ambiguous Lactobacillus plantarum or Lactobacillus pentosus) caused the highest level of parasite adhesion inhibition and enhancement, respectively. These isolates of Lactobacillus can profoundly alter the adhesive properties of low-adherent and high-adherent strains of T vaginalis in a dose-dependent manner. Additionally, the effects of lactobacilli on T vaginalis adhesion are strictly contact-dependent, and surface lipoglycans of T vaginalis are most likely not involved in this modulation of adhesion mediated by the bacteria. CONCLUSIONS: Lactobacilli can modulate adhesion of T vaginalis by significantly modifying the natural adhesive properties of various T vaginalis strains. This study highlights the importance of considering the role of the vaginal microbiota in the pathogenesis of trichomoniasis.