Elsevier, International Journal of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Volume 31, December 2020
Early and accurate anomaly detection in critical infrastructure (CI), such as water treatment plants and electric power grid, is necessary to avoid plant damage and service disruption. Several machine learning techniques have been employed for the design of an effective anomaly detector in such systems. However, threats such as from insiders and state actors, introduce challenges in the design of an effective anomaly detector. This work presents a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) based anomaly detector that uses an unsupervised approach to safeguard CI from the adverse impacts of cyber-attacks.
Elsevier, Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Volume 22, December 2020
The reported number of cases of Acanthamoeba amebic keratitis (AK) is continually increasing. Molecular diagnosis has become the first choice of ophthalmologists for identifying and confirming this clinically problematic diagnosis. However, in-house molecular diagnostic procedures are time-consuming and may not be compatible with the urgency of the situation. In this study, a previous in-house AK-PCR technique was adapted for use on BD MAX (Becton Dickinson, Heidelberg, Germany), a fully integrated, automated platform for molecular biology, for the rapid routine diagnosis of AK.
Reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 on water and sanitation is fundamentally important and conditional to the achievement of all the other SDGs. Nonetheless, achieving this goal by 2030 is challenging, especially in the Global South. Science lies at the root of sustainable development and is a key to new solutions for addressing SDG 6. However, SDG 6-related scientific outputs are often unknown, forming disconnections between academic world and practitioners implementing solutions.
Recent policy developments in Europe consider the importance of water ecosystems to human wellbeing and the detrimental effects that multiple pressures may have on them. Several directives and measures which culminated with the design and the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, have attempted to address the issue of sustainable water management while aligning with targets of economic development.
Background: With the rapid demographic shift towards an ageing society, it is a concerted effort to facilitate elderly's access to healthcare in order to maintain and improve their quality of life. In China, hospital care services dominate the healthcare market, which requires a better understanding of accessibility to hospitals in order to rationally allocate resources in spatial and land use planning. However, little attention has been paid to analysing the geographical accessibility to hospitals specific to the elderly population.
Elsevier, Intelligence-Based Medicine, Volume 3-4, December 2020
Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness in the working-age diabetic population in India and across the world. It may lead to permanent blindness if not detected in the early stages. The prevalence of DR among diabetics in India was 10% and 16.9% in 2014 and 2019, respectively. In 2019, the International Diabetes Federation estimated that Diabetic Mellitus will affect 101 million people in India in 2030; the largest number in any nation in the world.
Healthcare-associated infections cause a massive burden for the health care system and the patients. Although the standard sterilization protocol with saturated steam (>121°C and >205 kPa) is effective, generating high-temperature and high-pressure steam is challenging without reliable access to electricity or fuel. While abundant solar energy is readily available, utilizing sunlight to generate steam beyond 100°C requires costly and bulky optomechanical components. In this work, we developed a stationary solar thermal device capable of providing the required saturated steam.
Elsevier, Clinics in Chest Medicine, Volume 41, December 2020
Wildland firefighters work on wildfire incidents all over the United States and perform arduous work under extreme work conditions, including exposure to smoke. Wildland fire smoke is a mixture of hazardous air pollutants. For assessing wildland firefighter exposure to smoke, most studies measured carbon monoixde (CO) and particulate matter and reported changes in lung health by measured lung function, airway responsiveness, and respiratory symptoms across individual work shifts and single fire seasons.
Elsevier, One Earth, Volume 3, 18 December 2020
Earth's ecosystems, upon which all life depends, are in a severe state of degradation. The upcoming UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration aims to “prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean.” These Voices articulate why and what action is urgently needed.
Elsevier, Food Packaging and Shelf Life, Volume 26, December 2020
The recent sharp increase of sensitivity towards environmental issues arising from plastic packaging has boosted interest towards alternative sustainable packaging materials. This new trend promotes the industrial exploitation of knowledge on chitosan-based films. Chitosan has been extensively investigated and used due to its unique biological and functional properties. However, inherent drawbacks including low mechanical properties and high sensitivity to humidity represent major limitations to its industrial applications, including food packaging.
