Internet of Underwater Things (IoUTs) has been proposed to autonomously monitor and collect data from aquatic environments. In these networks, the acoustic channel is currently considered as the most viable technology for underwater wireless communication among the nodes. By using acoustic modems, underwater sensor nodes are able to autonomously and collaboratively sense the area of interest and report collected data to a monitoring center through multi-hop underwater wireless communication. However, underwater wireless communication through acoustic channels is daunting, due to the limited bandwidth, multipath propagation, shadowing zones, high and variable delay, noisy environment and high energy cost. These characteristics impair data collection and shorten the IoUT lifetime. In this paper, we propose a novel power controlbased opportunistic (PCR) routing protocol for IoUTs. The proposed protocol considers the neighborhood density, link quality, distance, packet advancement, and energy waste to select the suitable transmission power level at each sensor node. Accordingly, each neighboring node eligible to continue forwarding the data packet is considered as a next-hop forwarder node if its inclusion in the next-hop nodes candidate set does not increase the energy waste in the considered hop. Numerical results showed that the proposed protocol improves data delivery rate while maintaining the energy cost at levels comparable to the related work.

Introduction

Oceans cover more than 2/3 of Earth’s surface and they play a fundamental role to support life on our planet. Oceans have absorbed more than 1/4 of carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by humans since 1800 and 2/3 of the heating produced by human activities since 1995 [1]. Moreover, they are one of the main sources of food and mineral resources and they serve as a transportation medium for people and goods. Despite all benefits, it is estimated that no more than 5% of the oceans’ volume has been seen by human eyes [2]. The critical challenge, therefore, is how we can change this worrying reality. Overall, ship missions for ocean monitoring are expensive and might jeopardize humans life, due to extreme weather conditions, for instance. Hence, there is a growing demand for the development of aquatic monitoring technologies that can autonomously collect data from oceans and events beneath them. In this regard, Internet of Underwater Things (IoUTs) [3], as an evolution of underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) [4, 5], emerges as a cost-effective solution for increasing maritime awareness through the large-scale and real-time monitoring of aquatic environments. IoUTs will be composed of intelligent sensor nodes (floats) that will collaboratively sense the area and events of interest and them report collected data to a cloud computing system [6]. To do so, the underwater sensor nodes will be equipped with acoustic modems that will enable underwater wireless communication among them.

1- Introduction

2- Materials and methods

3- Results

4- Discussion

5- Conclusion

References

Abstract

Introduction: Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) are defined as short lengths of 2–7 base pairs spreading through human genome which due to their highly diverse individually distribution are widely applied for identity detection and other forensic medicine purposes. Burdening considerable costs by the conventional methods such as capillary electrophoresis, we aimed to compare concomitant usage of multiplex PCR and denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) as cheap, fast, highly accurate, and more accessible methods, with capillary electrophoresis (CE) to evaluate their potential for early screening of STRs. Materials and methods: The present study randomly included 20 blood samples from the subjects referred to forensic medicine of Semnan, Iran. According to the size and allele frequency, we selected 8 major STR loci including CSF1PO, VWA, D18S51, TPOX, Amelogenin, FGA, SE33, and Penta D. A quad-STR multiplex PCR was performed for each locus and the PCR products were then analyzed using DHPLC machine and compared with the basic genetic properties obtained by capillary electrophoresis. Results: By optimizing the PCR and DHPLC conditions, our findings suggest this strategy as an effective method for STR detection. The genotypes were determined using size of loci which led to comparable results with capillary electrophoresis confirming an insignificant variation in the detection of TOPX, Amelogenin, CSF1PO, and D18S5 (p = 0.331), but discrepant results for FGA and VWA loci (p = 0.002). Conclusion: Our study proposed DHPLC method as an effective screening method to characterize TOPX, Amelogenin, CSF1PO, and D18S51 as frequently used STR loci during identity detection in forensic medicine.

Introduction

For decades, DNA sequence analysis for forensic purposes has been widely used for analyzing the criminal cases in which the identity of suspected individuals are under query. This necessitates, therefore, designing and optimizing robust methodologies capable to accurately recognize the particular loci in genomic DNA of individuals with unique population distribution.1 In this regard, several lines of studies have reported the Short Tandem Repeats (STRs) as small segments of 2–7 or more base pairs in length scattering through the human genomic regions. Due to their higher mutation rate than the other regions of DNA resulting in high genetic diversity among the individuals, several STR loci have been growingly applied in forensic medicine for the identity detection purposes.2 These segments possess a high level of polymorphisms which are simply detected using PCR method.3 Moreover, the short length of these sequences (up to 200bp) provides this possibility to be evaluated using tiny amounts of basal DNA material even from the very low quality samples. These characteristics, thus, has turned them as sensitive and accurate platform in the identity detection.4 Since the STR typing offers a cost-effective and non-intensive strategy for genetic diversification of the individuals, it has engrossed a substantial consideration.1 According to the recent advances in promoting conventional methodologies, as well as building novel techniques, it requires comparative analysis of various techniques which are basically used as routine experimentation or those under evaluation.

Pathologic complete remission after neoadjuvant chemotherapy has a role in guiding the management of breast cancer. The present meta-analysis examined the accuracy of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CEMRI) and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in detecting the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and compared CE-MRI with ultrasonography, mammography, and positron emission tomography/ computed tomography (PET/CT). Medical subject heading terms and related keywords were searched to generate a compilation of eligible studies. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic odds ratio, area under summary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), and Youden index (Q* index) were used to estimate the diagnostic efficacy of CE-MRI, DW-MRI, ultrasonography, mammography, and PET/CT. A total of 54 studies of CE-MRI and 8 studies of DW-MRI were included. The overall AUC and the Q* index values for CE-MRI and DW-MRI were 0.88 and 0.94 and 0.80 and 0.85, respectively. According to the summary receiver operating characteristic curves, CE-MRI resulted in a higher AUC value and Q* index compared with ultrasonography and mammography but had values similar to those of DW-MRI and PET/CT. CE-MRI accurately assessed pathologic complete remission in specificity, and PET/CT and DW-MRI accurately assessed pathologic complete remission in sensitivity. The present meta-analysis indicates that CE-MRI has high specificity and DW-MRI has high sensitivity in predicting pathologic complete remission after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. CE-MRI is more accurate than ultrasonography or mammography. Additionally, PET/CT is valuable for predicting pathologic complete remission. CE-MRI, combined with PET/CT or DW-MRI, might allow for a more precise assessment of pathologic complete remission.

Introduction

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), also called termed or primary chemotherapy, was first described in patients with locally advanced breast cancer in 1978.1 It plays a well-established role in the management of breast cancer.2 One of the advantages of NAC is to downstage the primary tumor and increase the likelihood of successful breast-conserving surgery, avoiding mastectomy.3 Published clinical trials have shown that breast cancer patients with pathologic complete remission (pCR) after NAC have a significantly better prognosis than those without pCR.4-9 The accurate assessment of the response to NAC before surgery is crucial in breast cancer management. If pCR cases could be distinguished perfectly from non-pCR cases, additional surgical management would be avoided. Ultrasonography, mammography, and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) have been widely applied to evaluate and predict the pathologic response in patients with breast cancer who received NAC. However, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has not been widely used.10-12 CE-MRI has been proposed to be valuable in predicting the responsiveness of breast cancer after NAC.13 Also, diffusionweighted MRI (DW-MRI) has been considered a potential tool to predict the response to chemotherapy.14,15 Therefore, we focused on the performance of MRI (including CE-MRI and DW-MRI) in predicting for pCR after NAC. Despite the value of CE-MRI in detecting the response to NAC, the routine use of CE-MRI remains controversial because of the cost, lengthy imaging time, use of contrast injection, and relatively low sensitivity in detecting pCR.16 Skaane et al17 reported that ultrasonography and mammography were the primary tools for evaluating the response to NAC; however, the accuracy was limited. Most published studies have evaluated MRI and other imaging techniques in isolation, not in the same cohort.