SIGHTED: A Framework for Semantic Integration of Heterogeneous Sensor Data on the Internet of Things

AbstractSensors are embedded nowadays in a growing number of everyday life objects. Smartphones, wearables, and sensor networks together play an important role in bridging the gap between physical and cyber worlds, a fundamental aspect of the Internet of Things vision. The ability to reuse sensor data integrated from multiple heterogeneous sources is a step towards building innovative applications and services. In this paper SIGHTED, a sensor data integration framework, is proposed exploiting semantic web technologies and linked data principles. It provides a layered structure as a guideline for integrating sensor data from various sources supporting accessibility and usability. DotThing, a demo platform, is implemented as an instantiation of SIGHTED framework and evaluated. Smartphones and sensor nodes are connected to DotThing showing the ability to query and reuse integrated sensor data from multiple sources to create more flexible horizontal applications. DotThing implementation also demonstrates the need for adding a semantic layer to existing IoT cloud-based platforms, like Xively, that generally lack such layer resulting in proprietary vertical solutions with limited data integration and discovery capabilities. DotThing makes use of vocabularies from existing ontologies on the linked data cloud providing a unified model to annotate data and link it to existing resources on the web

Influence of sonication and in vitro evaluation of nifedipine self‑nanoemulsifying drug delivery system

In order to develop a self-nanoemulsifying system, three components, olive oil, Tween 80, and Capmul, were used to construct a ternary phase diagram that helped to find the optimum formulation, which was loaded with nifedipine. The effect of sonication on drug loading was also evaluated. After that, measurement of the droplet size, size distribution, zeta potential, and scanning electron microscopy were conducted for evaluation and characterisation of the formulations. The phase diagram of four formulations showed nanosizes below 200 nm; however, only one was selected to be loaded with nifedipine. The selected formulation had the lowest droplet size of 98 nm and size distribution 0.192, and was composed of 48% Tween 80, 32% Capmul, and 20% olive oil. The nifedipine self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system (SNEDDS) showed a significant change in the particle size (97 nm) and size distribution (0.257) after sonication. Its zeta potential was -32.3 mV indicating good stability. The SEM photographs of nifedipine showed particles with spherical shape and smooth surface. Finally, a self-nanoemulsifying formulation containing nifedipine, loaded in olive oil, was successfully prepared by mixing the oil with various types of surfactants and co-surfactants. A significant nifedipine self-nanoemulsifying system was developed and significantly improved accordingly

How Does Forecasting Affect the Convergence of DRL Techniques in O-RAN Slicing?

The success of immersive applications such as virtual reality (VR) gaming and metaverse services depends on low latency and reliable connectivity. To provide seamless user experiences, the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture and 6G networks are expected to play a crucial role. RAN slicing, a critical component of the O-RAN paradigm, enables network resources to be allocated based on the needs of immersive services, creating multiple virtual networks on a single physical infrastructure. In the O-RAN literature, deep reinforcement learning (DRL) algorithms are commonly used to optimize resource allocation. However, the practical adoption of DRL in live deployments has been sluggish. This is primarily due to the slow convergence and performance instabilities suffered by the DRL agents both upon initial deployment and when there are significant changes in network conditions. In this paper, we investigate the impact of time series forecasting of traffic demands on the convergence of the DRL-based slicing agents. For that, we conduct an exhaustive experiment that supports multiple services including real VR gaming traffic. We then propose a novel forecasting-aided DRL approach and its respective O-RAN practical deployment workflow to enhance DRL convergence. Our approach shows up to 22.8%, 86.3%, and 300% improvements in the average initial reward value, convergence rate, and number of converged scenarios respectively, enhancing the generalizability of the DRL agents compared with the implemented baselines. The results also indicate that our approach is robust against forecasting errors and that forecasting models do not have to be ideal.Comment: This article has been accepted for presentation in IEEE GLOBECOM 202

Extensive Ethnic Variation and Linkage Disequilibrium at the FCGR2/3 Locus: Different Genetic Associations Revealed in Kawasaki Disease.

The human Fc-gamma receptors (FcγRs) link adaptive and innate immunity by binding immunoglobulin G (IgG). All human low-affinity FcγRs are encoded by the FCGR2/3 locus containing functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene copy number variants. This locus is notoriously difficult to genotype and high-throughput methods commonly used focus on only a few SNPs. We performed multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification for all relevant genetic variations at the FCGR2/3 locus in >4,000 individuals to define linkage disequilibrium (LD) and allele frequencies in different populations. Strong LD and extensive ethnic variation in allele frequencies was found across the locus. LD was strongest for the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype (rs759550223+rs76277413), which leads to expression of FcγRIIc. In Europeans, the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype showed strong LD with, among others, rs201218628 (FCGR2A-Q27W, r 2 = 0.63). LD between these two variants was weaker (r 2 = 0.17) in Africans, whereas the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype was nearly absent in Asians (minor allele frequency <0.005%). The FCGR2C-ORF haplotype and rs1801274 (FCGR2A-H131R) were in weak LD (r 2 = 0.08) in Europeans. We evaluated the importance of ethnic variation and LD in Kawasaki Disease (KD), an acute vasculitis in children with increased incidence in Asians. An association of rs1801274 with KD was previously shown in ethnically diverse genome-wide association studies. Now, we show in 1,028 European KD patients that the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype, although nearly absent in Asians, was more strongly associated with susceptibility to KD than rs1801274 in Europeans. Our data illustrate the importance of interpreting findings of association studies concerning the FCGR2/3 locus with knowledge of LD and ethnic variation

Extensive Ethnic Variation and Linkage Disequilibrium at the FCGR2/3 Locus: Different Genetic Associations Revealed in Kawasaki Disease

The human Fc-gamma receptors (FcγRs) link adaptive and innate immunity by binding immunoglobulin G (IgG). All human low-affinity FcγRs are encoded by the FCGR2/3 locus containing functional single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and gene copy number variants. This locus is notoriously difficult to genotype and high-throughput methods commonly used focus on only a few SNPs. We performed multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification for all relevant genetic variations at the FCGR2/3 locus in &gt;4,000 individuals to define linkage disequilibrium (LD) and allele frequencies in different populations. Strong LD and extensive ethnic variation in allele frequencies was found across the locus. LD was strongest for the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype (rs759550223+rs76277413), which leads to expression of FcγRIIc. In Europeans, the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype showed strong LD with, among others, rs201218628 (FCGR2A-Q27W, r2 = 0.63). LD between these two variants was weaker (r2 = 0.17) in Africans, whereas the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype was nearly absent in Asians (minor allele frequency &lt;0.005%). The FCGR2C-ORF haplotype and rs1801274 (FCGR2A-H131R) were in weak LD (r2 = 0.08) in Europeans. We evaluated the importance of ethnic variation and LD in Kawasaki Disease (KD), an acute vasculitis in children with increased incidence in Asians. An association of rs1801274 with KD was previously shown in ethnically diverse genome-wide association studies. Now, we show in 1,028 European KD patients that the FCGR2C-ORF haplotype, although nearly absent in Asians, was more strongly associated with susceptibility to KD than rs1801274 in Europeans. Our data illustrate the importance of interpreting findings of association studies concerning the FCGR2/3 locus with knowledge of LD and ethnic variation

The preparation and evaluation of self-nanoemulsifying systems containing swietenia oil and an examination of its anti-inflammatory effects

There is an increasing trend among pharmaceutical industries to use natural bioactive materials as medicinal agents and to use new technologies such as self-nanoemulsifying systems. The solubility and bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs can be enhanced by self-nanoemulsifying systems. Swietenia oil is frequently used because of its antimicrobial, antimutagenic, and anticancer bioactive medical properties. This study was conducted to develop self-nano­emulsifying systems for Swietenia oil that will enhance the anti-inflammatory activity of the oil. The self-emulsifying systems developed for Swietenia oil in this study were constructed using ternary phase diagrams and contained the nonionic surfactants Labrasol®, Tween 20, Capmul®, and Labrafil®. The effect of these surfactants on the formulation was examined. The mean droplet size of Swietenia oil as well as their distribution, appearance, viscosity, and spreading times were studied to find the optimum formula, which contained droplets that were less than 200 nm. The next step was to test the anti-inflammatory properties of the optimum formula using a carrageenan-induced rat paw edema test. The results from this test were compared to the oil solution. Different oil/surfactants mixtures had various emulsification properties that were related to the size of their droplets. Tween 20 is a good surfactant to use in self-emulsifying systems because it produces droplets of nano-size. Mixtures of Capmul/Labrasol at a ratio of 2:1 and Labrafil/Tween 20 at a ratio of 1:2 were able to produce self-nanoemulsifying formulations containing Swietenia oil concentrations that ranged from 20%–50%. Nanoemulsion occurred when the size of the droplets fell below 200 nm with low size distribution (<0.3) after being gently mixed with water. It was found that the hydrophilic/lipophilic balance value affected the ternary phase diagram behavior of Swietenia oil and surfactants. In addition, the anti-inflammatory properties of Swietenia oil were greater in the self-nanoemulsifying systems than in the oil solution

The preparation and evaluation of self-nanoemulsifying systems containing swietenia oil and an examination of its anti-inflammatory effects

There is an increasing trend among pharmaceutical industries to use natural bioactive materials as medicinal agents and to use new technologies such as self-nanoemulsifying systems. The solubility and bioavailability of poorly soluble drugs can be enhanced by self-nanoemulsifying systems. Swietenia oil is frequently used because of its antimicrobial, antimutagenic, and anticancer bioactive medical properties. This study was conducted to develop self-nano­emulsifying systems for Swietenia oil that will enhance the anti-inflammatory activity of the oil. The self-emulsifying systems developed for Swietenia oil in this study were constructed using ternary phase diagrams and contained the nonionic surfactants Labrasol®, Tween 20, Capmul®, and Labrafil®. The effect of these surfactants on the formulation was examined. The mean droplet size of Swietenia oil as well as their distribution, appearance, viscosity, and spreading times were studied to find the optimum formula, which contained droplets that were less than 200 nm. The next step was to test the anti-inflammatory properties of the optimum formula using a carrageenan-induced rat paw edema test. The results from this test were compared to the oil solution. Different oil/surfactants mixtures had various emulsification properties that were related to the size of their droplets. Tween 20 is a good surfactant to use in self-emulsifying systems because it produces droplets of nano-size. Mixtures of Capmul/Labrasol at a ratio of 2:1 and Labrafil/Tween 20 at a ratio of 1:2 were able to produce self-nanoemulsifying formulations containing Swietenia oil concentrations that ranged from 20%–50%. Nanoemulsion occurred when the size of the droplets fell below 200 nm with low size distribution (<0.3) after being gently mixed with water. It was found that the hydrophilic/lipophilic balance value affected the ternary phase diagram behavior of Swietenia oil and surfactants. In addition, the anti-inflammatory properties of Swietenia oil were greater in the self-nanoemulsifying systems than in the oil solution

Development and evaluation of nanoemulsion hydrogel

New methods of drug delivery can now be used to increase the effectiveness and safety of medication. Therefore, several new drug carrier systems have been developed such as nanoemulsions Nanoemulsion is submicron sized emulsion Typically in the range of 20-200 cm, Avocado oil is often used in herbal skin care. The aim of this study was to characterize nanoemulsion hydrogel prepared using avocado oil and sucrose ester stearate as surfactant. The nanoemulsion hydrogel were prepared by nanophase emulsification technique. These forrnulations were examined using zetasizer to determined the mean diameter of dispersed oil droplets, polydispersibility index (PD1) and zeta potential. Also the viscosity of the prepared nanoemulslon hydrogel were studied. The results reveled that nanoemulson prepared with 60% w/w oil, 24% w/w glycerol and 16%w/w surfactant showed droplets size below 200 nm with good polydispersibility index and zeta potential < -30 mV. The optimum formulation of nanoemulsion was prepared in the form of nanoemulsion hydrogel using cerbopols 934 and 940. The results of the viscometer for the nanoemulsion hydrogel showed that the storaqe modulus (G') which describes the elasticity of the component were greater than the loss modulus (G") values which reveals the viscosity of the component

Awareness of Libyan students and academic staff members of nanotechnology

At the present time, nanotechnology is involved in every aspect of scientific life and its applications are being integrated into the economy, industry, trade and medicine. The world will require a skilled work force of more than two million nanotechnologists by 2015. The rapid advance in all fields of nanotechnology has led to integrate nanotechnology courses in high schools, institutes and university curricula all over the world. However, nanotechnology has not as, yet been integrated within the Libyan curricula at any level. Thus, this study focuses and explores the awareness of the academic staff and students in Tripoli (Alfateh) University about nanotechnology and nanoscience. Moreover their readiness to integrate the basics and applications into Libyan education curricula. The results show that education level and work place have an effect on the knowledge of the participants on nanotechnology, where about 65% of PhD degree holders knew about nanotechnology and were keen to learn and integrate this technology in the education system. Around 40 % of the participants' information about Nanotechnology were gained from the internet while only 17% had obtained information from their own readings. The majority of the participants (60%) supported the idea of introducing nanotechnology studies to the curricula at pre-graduate stage. However, 29% believed that it should be integrated only in postgraduate studies, and only a few of the participants (11.3%) advised that a continuing education program would be the proper way to study nanotechnology. This study showed that relatively little awareness about nanotechnology is seen among Libyan staff members and students. However, the majority of the participants have realized the importance of the field of nanotechnology and its application, and were eager to learn more about this advanced technology. Based on the preliminary study regarding the opinion and readiness of participants of the current study, it is believed that the integration of nanotechnology and nanosciences in Libyan curricula at different levels of education is an inevitable step to meet the very rapid advances in the field of nanotechnology and its application

A Review on the Cosmeceutical and External Applications of Nigella sativa

It is estimated by the World Health Organization (WHO) that most of the world’s population depends on herbal medicine for their health care. Nigella sativa (N. sativa), also known as black-caraway and as “Kalonji,” is a well-known seed all over the world. It is one of the most common medicinal plants worldwide and contains many useful chemical constituents that we can find in its fixed oil, such as thymoquinone, thymohydroquinone, dithymoquinone, thymol, nigellicine, carvacrol, nigellimine, nigellicine, nigellidine, and alpha-hederin. Due to these numerous important ingredients it was found that it affects different areas of our body and has many pharmacological effects as antibacterial, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and wound healing effect and also for acne vulgaris, skin cancer, pigmentation, and many cosmeceutical applications. Based on the folklore usage of N. sativa seeds and oil, they are used in various systems of food and medicines. The aim of this article is to provide a detailed survey of the literature of cosmeceutical and external applications of N. sativa which is expected to stimulate further studies on this subject