An Experimental Investigation of Tuning QUIC-Based Publish-Subscribe Architectures in IoT

There has been growing interest in using the QUIC transport protocol for the Internet of Things (IoT). In lossy and high latency networks, QUIC outperforms TCP and TLS. Since IoT greatly differs from traditional networks in terms of architecture and resources, IoT specific parameter tuning has proven to be of significance. While RFC 9006 offers a guideline for tuning TCP within IoT, we have not found an equivalent for QUIC. This paper is the first of our knowledge to contribute empirically based insights towards tuning QUIC for IoT. We improved our pure HTTP/3 publish-subscribe architecture and rigorously benchmarked it against an alternative: MQTT-over-QUIC. To investigate the impact of transport-layer parameters, we ran both applications on Raspberry Pi Zero hardware. Eight metrics were collected while emulating different network conditions and message payloads. We enumerate the points we experimentally identified (notably, relating to authentication, MAX\_STREAM messages, and timers) and elaborate on how they can be tuned to improve resource consumption and performance. Our application offered lower latency than MQTT-over-QUIC with slightly higher resource consumption, making it preferable for reliable time-sensitive dissemination of information

STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATIONS: INDIA'S PURSUIT OF COUNTERFORCE TARGETING AND REGIONAL STABILITY

In the intricate web of South Asia's security dynamics, India and Pakistan's relationship holds the key to equilibrium. Geographical proximity demands swift responses, prompting India's strategic shift towards Counterforce targeting. Official declarations and military posturing attest to India's resolute commitment to recalibrate its deterrence doctrine. This study critically examines the origins of India's Counterforce targeting strategy, drawing from existing literature and employing theoretical frameworks, including posture optimization, escalation ladder, superiority-brinkmanship, mathematical game theory, rational choice theory, and nuclear deterrence. These models collectively contribute to understanding the implications of India's pursuit of nuclear superiority for coercive diplomacy with Pakistan. Beyond enriching the understanding of South Asia's security, this research unravels the interplay between evolving nuclear strategies, the fluid dynamics of deterrence, and nuanced geopolitical ambitions. By deciphering India's counterforce targeting approach, this study fosters a nuanced discourse on South Asian strategic stability, offering insight into the pivotal role of nuclear deterrence in shaping the region.   Bibliography Entry Ashraf, Mubeen and Syed Saif ul Haq. 2023. "Strategic Transformations: India's Pursuit of Counterforce Targeting and Regional Stability." Margalla Papers 27 (2): 14-26

An Early Benchmark of Quality of Experience Between HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 using Lighthouse

Google's QUIC (GQUIC) is an emerging transport protocol designed to reduce HTTP latency. Deployed across its platforms and positioned as an alternative to TCP+TLS, GQUIC is feature rich: offering reliable data transmission and secure communication. It addresses TCP+TLS's (i) Head of Line Blocking (HoLB), (ii) excessive round-trip times on connection establishment, and (iii) entrenchment. Efforts by the IETF are in progress to standardize the next generation of HTTP's (HTTP/3, or H3) delivery, with their own variant of QUIC. While performance benchmarks have been conducted between GQUIC and HTTP/2-over-TCP (H2), no such analysis to our knowledge has taken place between H2 and H3. In addition, past studies rely on Page Load Time as their main, if not only, metric. The purpose of this work is to benchmark the latest draft specification of H3 and dig further into a user's Quality of Experience (QoE) using Lighthouse: an open source (and metric diverse) auditing tool. Our findings show that, for one of H3's early implementations, H3 is mostly worse but achieves a higher average throughpu

EMPLOYING NATION BRANDING AND PUBLIC DIPLOMACY: STRATEGIES FOR PAKISTAN

In the 21st century, states use nation-branding techniques to safeguard their national interests. They employ public diplomacy strategies to maintain their international image. Through branding techniques and public diplomacy strategies, nations can build a positive image among the committee of nations. It is argued in this paper that the international image of Pakistan is required to be improved, and there is a need to shun the notion of negative characteristics associated with terrorism, religious extremism, Talibanization, and allegedly branding as a failed state. There is also a need to study the mindset for conducting various surveys about Pakistan’s image and its sponsors. The main argument of this research work is that Pakistan has all the variables required for nation branding and building positive public perception. To improve its international image, Pakistan has to adopt innovative nation-branding techniques and public diplomacy strategies.    Bibliography Entry Kayani, Saima Ashraf, and Muhammad Saif ur Rehman. 2022. "Employing Nation Branding and Public Diplomacy: Strategies for Pakistan." Margalla Papers 26 (1): 34-46

STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATIONS: INDIA'S PURSUIT OF COUNTERFORCE TARGETING AND REGIONAL STABILITY

In the intricate web of South Asia's security dynamics, India and Pakistan's relationship holds the key to equilibrium. Geographical proximity demands swift responses, prompting India's strategic shift towards Counterforce targeting. Official declarations and military posturing attest to India's resolute commitment to recalibrate its deterrence doctrine. This study critically examines the origins of India's Counterforce targeting strategy, drawing from existing literature and employing theoretical frameworks, including posture optimization, escalation ladder, superiority-brinkmanship, mathematical game theory, rational choice theory, and nuclear deterrence. These models collectively contribute to understanding the implications of India's pursuit of nuclear superiority for coercive diplomacy with Pakistan. Beyond enriching the understanding of South Asia's security, this research unravels the interplay between evolving nuclear strategies, the fluid dynamics of deterrence, and nuanced geopolitical ambitions. By deciphering India's counterforce targeting approach, this study fosters a nuanced discourse on South Asian strategic stability, offering insight into the pivotal role of nuclear deterrence in shaping the region.   Bibliography Entry Ashraf, Mubeen and Syed Saif ul Haq. 2023. "Strategic Transformations: India's Pursuit of Counterforce Targeting and Regional Stability." Margalla Papers 27 (2): 14-26

NDM-534: SENSITIVITY OF WIND INDUCED DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF A TRANSMISSION LINE TO VARIATIONS IN WIND SPEED

This paper studies the dynamic behavior of a multi-span transmission line system under synoptic wind considering various speeds to determine the range of wind speeds in which the system experiences resonance. A finite element numerical model was developed for the purpose of this study. This model is employed to assess the dynamic behavior of a self-supported lattice tower line under various wind speeds. Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF), defined as the ratio between the peak total response to the peak quasi-static response, is evaluated. It is found that conductors’ responses exhibit large DAF compared to the towers especially at low wind speeds (v ≤ 25 m/s). This results from the low natural frequency of the conductors (0.19 Hz) which is close to the wind load frequency while the natural frequency of the tower is equal to 2.36 Hz. In addition, the conductors’ aerodynamic damping decreases with the decrease of wind speed which leads to higher dynamic effect while the tower’s aerodynamic damping plays a minor role. The results of the dynamic analysis conducted in this study are also used to compare the gust response factors (GFT), defined as the ratio between peak total response to the mean response, to those obtained from the ASCE code (GFT-ASCE). It has been noticed that the gust response factors obtained from the ASCE code lead to conservative peak responses for both towers and conductors of the chosen line

Prevalence and Health Adverse Effects of Khat Chewing Among College Students in Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia

Khat chewing is a social habit which has stimulatory action due to its cathinone content, but its adverse effects on health are a source of growing concern. The aim of our study is to evaluate the prevalence and health adverse effects of khat chewing among students in Jazan region in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study sample included 195 students from Applied Medical Science College, who were randomly selected and were asked through questionnaire and with a signed consent. About 5 ml of venous blood was collected in plain vacutainer tubes from 38 khat chewers and 20 non khat chewers as normal control. Serum was used to determine alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin, total protein, urea, creatinine, uric acid, and albumin. The sample consisted of 134 males and 61 females, with age range 19-27 years, and their mean age was 21.1 year. 40% of students were from urban area, and 81.5% of them from Jazan region. Out of 195 students, only 38 (19.5%) were found to chew khat. Biochemical results revealed highly significant differences among chewers in ALT, ALP, uric acid, and urea (p<0.005) compared to nonchewers group. There is also a significant difference in the total protein level (<0.05), while no significant differences were noticed in other biochemical traits analyzed. We concluded that the prevalence of khat chewing among students is fairly high (19.5 %), and that adverse effects of khat chewing on health are very clear, so all efforts should be contributed to solve this problem by increasing awareness of all members of the society to khat chewing risk

Catalytical performance of heteroatom doped and undoped carbon-based materials

Developing cost-effective, eco-friendly, efficient, stable, and unique catalytic systems remains a crucial issue in catalysis. Due to their superior physicochemical and electrochemical properties, exceptional structural characteristics, environmental friendliness, economic productivity, minimal energy demand, and abundant supply, a significant amount of research has been devoted to the development of various doped carbon materials as efficient catalysts. In addition, carbon-based materials (CBMs) with specified doping have lately become significant members of the carbon group, showing promise for a broad range of uses (e.g., catalysis, environmental remediation, critical chemical production, and energy conversion and storage). This study will, therefore, pay attention to the function of heteroatom-based doped and undoped CBMs for catalytical applications and discuss the underlying chemistries of catalysis. According to the findings, doping CBMs may greatly improve their catalytic activity, and heteroatom-doped CBMs may be a promising option for further metal doping to attach them to an appropriate place. This paper also covers the potential applications of both doped and undoped CBMs in the future

Discovery of novel 1,2,4-triazole tethered β-hydroxy sulfides as bacterial tyrosinase inhibitors: synthesis and biophysical evaluation through in vitro and in silico approaches

In this study, a series of 1,2,4-triazole-tethered β-hydroxy sulfide scaffolds 11a–h was synthesized in good to remarkable yields (69–90%) through the thiolysis of oxiranes by the thiols in aqueous basic catalytic conditions. The synthesized 1,2,4-triazole-tethered β-hydroxy sulfides were screened against bacterial tyrosinase enzyme, and Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial cultures i.e., (S. aureus) Staphylococcus aureus & (E. coli) Escherichia coli. Among the synthesized derivatives, the molecules 11a (IC50 = 7.67 ± 1.00 μM), 11c (IC50 = 4.52 ± 0.09 μM), 11d (IC50 = 6.60 ± 1.25 μM), and 11f (IC50 = 5.93 ± 0.50 μM) displayed the better tyrosinase inhibitory activity in comparison to reference drugs ascorbic acid (IC50 = 11.5 ± 1.00 μM) and kojic acid (IC50 = 30.34 ± 0.75 μM). The molecule benzofuran-triazol-propan-2-ol 11c proved to be the most potent bacterial tyrosinase inhibitory agent with a minimum IC50 of 4.52 ± 0.09 μM, as compared to other synthesized counterparts and both standards (kojic acid and ascorbic acid). The compound diphenyl-triazol-propan-2-ol 11a and benzofuran-triazole-propan-2-ol 11c showed comparable anti-bacterial chemotherapeutic efficacy with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC = 2.0 ± 2.25 mg mL−1 and 2.5 ± 0.00 mg mL−1, respectively) against S. aureus bacterial strain in comparison with standard antibiotic penicillin (MIC = 2.2 ± 1.15 mg mL−1). Furthermore, among the synthesized derivatives, only compound 11c demonstrated better anti-bacterial activity (MIC = 10 ± 0.40 mg mL−1) against E. coli, which was slightly less than the standard antibiotic i.e., penicillin (MIC = 2.4 ± 1.00 mg mL−1). The compound 11c demonstrated a better binding score (−7.08 kcal mol−1) than ascorbic acid (−5.59 kcal mol−1) and kojic acid (−5.78 kcal mol−1). Molecular docking studies also validate the in vitro anti-tyrosinase assay results; therefore, the molecule 11c can be the lead bacterial tyrosinase inhibitor as well as the antibacterial agent against both types of bacterial strains after suitable structural modifications