Secure Decentralized IoT Service Platform using Consortium Blockchain

Blockchain technology has gained increasing popularity in the research of Internet of Things (IoT) systems in the past decade. As a distributed and immutable ledger secured by strong cryptography algorithms, the blockchain brings a new perspective to secure IoT systems. Many studies have been devoted to integrating blockchain into IoT device management, access control, data integrity, security, and privacy. In comparison, the blockchain-facilitated IoT communication is much less studied. Nonetheless, we see the potential of blockchain in decentralizing and securing IoT communications. This paper proposes an innovative IoT service platform powered by consortium blockchain technology. The presented solution abstracts machine-to-machine (M2M) and human-to-machine (H2M) communications into services provided by IoT devices. Then, it materializes data exchange of the IoT network through smart contracts and blockchain transactions. Additionally, we introduce the auxiliary storage layer to the proposed platform to address various data storage requirements. Our proof-of-concept implementation is tested against various workloads and connection sizes under different block configurations to evaluate the platform's transaction throughput, latency, and hardware utilization. The experiment results demonstrate that our solution can maintain high performance under most testing scenarios and provide valuable insights on optimizing the blockchain configuration to achieve the best performance

Blockage of bone marrow kinase in chromosome X enhances ABC294640-induced growth inhibition and apoptosis of colorectal cancer cells

Purpose: To investigate the role of bone marrow kinase in chromosome X (BMX) in colorectal cancer (CRC) cell resistance to ABC294640 treatment.Methods: HCT-116R, LS174T and WiDr cells were transfected with either BMX-specific siRNA or scrambled siRNA, and then BMX mRNA and protein expressions were detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blotting, respectively. The cells were treated with ABC294640 and cell viability evaluated using cell counting and colony formation assays. Apoptosis wasdetermined by detecting caspase 3/7 activity. To evaluate tumor growth of  HCT-116R cells, a xenograft model was utilized to measure tumor size.Results: Pharmacological inhibition of sphingosine kinase type 2 (SK2) with ABC294640 significantly decreased cell viability (p < 0.001) when compared with control group. SK2 inhibition also remarkably induced apoptosis in HCT-116 CRC cells in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001). However, no significant effects were observed in HCT-116R, LS174T, or WiDr cells following ABC294640 treatment. BMX mRNA and protein expression increased in ABC294640-resistant cell lines. In addition, silencing BMX expression with siRNA potentiated  ABC294640-induced inhibition of tumor growth in CRC cells in vitro and in vivo.Conclusion: ABC294640-induced BMX upregulation impedes the antitumor effect of ABC294640 in CRC cells. Therefore, these results may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for CRC using a combination of ABC294640 treatment and BMX blockade.Keywords: ABC294640, Apoptosis, Bone marrow kinase in chromosome X, Cell viability, Colorectal cance

Asymptotic behavior of solutions for the thermoviscous acoustic systems

We study some asymptotic properties of solutions for the acoustic coupled systems in thermoviscous fluids which was proposed by [Karlsen-Bruus, \emph{Phys. Rev. E} (2015)]. Basing on the WKB analysis and the Fourier analysis, we derive optimal estimates and large time asymptotic profiles of the energy term via diagonalization procedure, and of the velocity potential via reduction methodology. We found that the wave effect has a dominant influence for lower dimensions comparing with thermal-viscous effects. Moreover, by employing suitable energy methods, we rigorously demonstrate global (in time) inviscid limits as the momentum diffusion coefficient vanishes, whose limit model can be regarded as the thermoelastic acoustic systems in isotropic solids. These results explain some influence of the momentum diffusion on asymptotic behavior of solutions

Controllable ingestion and release of guest components driven by interfacial molecular orientation of host liquid crystal droplets

Controllable construction and manipulation of artificial multi-compartmental structures are crucial in understanding and imitating smart molecular elements such as biological cells and on-demand delivery systems. Here, we report a liquid crystal droplet (LCD) based three-dimensional system for controllable and reversible ingestion and release of guest aqueous droplets (GADs). Induced by interfacial thermodynamic fluctuation and internal topological defect, microscale LCDs with perpendicular anchoring condition at the interface would spontaneously ingest external components from the surroundings and transform them as radially assembled tiny GADs inside LCDs. Landau–de Gennes free-energy model is applied to describe and explain the assembly dynamics and morphologies of these tiny GADs, which presents a good agreement with experimental observations. Furthermore, the release of these ingested GADs can be actively triggered by changing the anchoring conditions at the interface of LCDs. Since those ingestion and release processes are controllable and happen very gently at room temperature and neutral pH environment without extra energy input, these microscale LCDs are very prospective to provide a unique and viable route for constructing hierarchical 3D structures with tunable components and compartments

Investigating the shared genetic architecture between hypothyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis

BackgroundThere is still controversy regarding the relationship between hypothyroidism and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and there has been a dearth of studies on this association. The purpose of our study was to explore the shared genetic architecture between hypothyroidism and RA.MethodsUsing public genome-wide association studies summary statistics of hypothyroidism and RA, we explored shared genetics between hypothyroidism and RA using linkage disequilibrium score regression, ρ-HESS, Pleiotropic analysis under a composite null hypothesis (PLACO), colocalization analysis, Multi-Trait Analysis of GWAS (MTAG), and transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS), and investigated causal associations using Mendelian randomization (MR).ResultsWe found a positive genetic association between hypothyroidism and RA, particularly in local genomic regions. Mendelian randomization analysis suggested a potential causal association of hypothyroidism with RA. Incorporating gene expression data, we observed that the genetic associations between hypothyroidism and RA were enriched in various tissues, including the spleen, lung, small intestine, adipose visceral, and blood. A comprehensive approach integrating PLACO, Bayesian colocalization analysis, MTAG, and TWAS, we successfully identified TYK2, IL2RA, and IRF5 as shared risk genes for both hypothyroidism and RA.ConclusionsOur investigation unveiled a shared genetic architecture between these two diseases, providing novel insights into the underlying biological mechanisms and establishing a foundation for more effective interventions

Electronic Waste Disassembly with Industrial Waste Heat

Waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs) are resource-rich but hazardous, demanding innovative strategies for post-consumer collection, recycling, and mining for economically precious constituents. A novel technology for disassembling electronic components from WPCBs is proposed, using hot air to melt solders and to separate the components and base boards. An automatic heated-air disassembling equipment was designed to operate at a heating source temperature at a maximum of 260 °C and an inlet pressure of 0.5 MPa. A total of 13 individual WPCBs were subjected to disassembling tests at different preheat temperatures in increments of 20 °C between 80 and 160 °C, heating source temperatures ranging from 220 to 300 °C in increments of 20 °C, and incubation periods of 1, 2, 4, 6, or 8 min. For each experimental treatment, the disassembly efficiency was calculated as the ratio of electronic components released from the board to the total number of its original components. The optimal preheat temperature, heating source temperature, and incubation period to disassemble intact components were 120 °C, 260 °C, and 2 min, respectively. The disassembly rate of small surface mount components (side length ≤ 3 mm) was 40-50% lower than that of other surface mount components and pin through hole components. On the basis of these results, a reproducible and sustainable industrial ecological protocol using steam produced by industrial exhaust heat coupled to electronic-waste recycling is proposed, providing an efficient, promising, and green method for both electronic component recovery and industrial exhaust heat reutilization

Photocathode-assisted redox flow desalination

Desalination techniques, such as reverse osmosis, distillation, capacitive deionization, and battery desalination, require lots of electrical or thermal energy consumption. Herein, we propose a consumption-free electrochemical desalination method based on a light-driven photocathode with a Pt/CdS/Cu2ZnSnS4(CZTS)/Mo architecture. Modification of a CdS layer on CZTS can improve the desalination performance due to the formation of inner p–n junction between CdS and CZTS which enhances the separation of the photoexcited carriers without recombination. This photocathode-assisted electrodialysis desalination plays the dual functions of both energy conversion and ion removal with the blocking of ion exchange membranes. The [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− redox couples are recirculated between the anode and photo-cathode as the electrolyte while the salt streams are fed into the middle compartment. Under light illumination, this architecture produces photo-generated electrons to the redox couples with the conversion of [Fe(CN)6]3− to [Fe(CN)6]4− at the positive chamber, causing cation capture in the presence of an ion-exchange membrane. At the same time, [Fe(CN)6]4− is oxidized at the negative reservoir. The light-driven electrochemical reaction of electrolyte redox couples can result in a continuous desalination process. This work will be significant for consumption-free photoelectrochemical desalination research