Cooperating broadcast and cellular conditional access system for digital television

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The lack of interoperability between Pay‐TV service providers and a horizontally integrated business transaction model have compromised the competition in the Pay‐TV market. In addition, the lack of interactivity with customers has resulted in high churn rate and improper security measures have contributed into considerable business loss. These issues are the main cause of high operational costs and subscription fees in the Pay‐TV systems. This paper presents a novel end‐to‐end system architecture for Pay‐TV systems cooperating mobile and broadcasting technologies. It provides a cost‐effective, scalable, dynamic and secure access control mechanism supporting converged services and new business opportunities in Pay‐TV systems. It enhances interactivity, security and potentially reduces customer attrition and operational cost. In this platform, service providers can effectively interact with their customers, personalise their services and adopt appropriate security measures. It breaks up the rigid relationship between a viewer and set‐top box as imposed by traditional conditional access systems, thus, a viewer can fully enjoy his entitlements via an arbitrary set‐top box. Having thoroughly considered state‐of‐the‐art technologies currently being used across the world, the thesis highlights novel use cases and presents the full design and implementation aspects of the system. The design section is enriched by providing possible security structures supported thereby. A business collaboration structure is proposed, followed by a reference model for implementing the system. Finally, the security architectures are analysed to propose the best architecture on the basis of security, complexity and set‐top box production cost criteria

Heterogeneity in the Preferences of Potential Users of Automated Transit Network (ATN)

Many cities in Iran, including the metropolis of Shiraz, are increasingly car-oriented, resulting in traffic congestion and related issues. Considering the current conditions of Iran, an automated transit network (ATN) can be one of the available solutions to this problem. ATN is an advanced type of public transit consisting of automated vehicles moving passengers on a network of dedicated guideways. As a combination of public, personal, and private transport, ATNs may decrease the use of cars and address related problems. In order to design effective policies aimed at achieving the benefits of ATN, it is necessary to have a better understanding of how people accept an ATN system, especially car users. This research aims at advancing future research on the effects of ATNs on travel behavior through identifying the characteristics of users who are likely to accept ATN services, by examining the heterogeneity in the preferences of these people. To achieve this goal, a stated choice survey was conducted and analyzed using multinomial logit (MNL) and mixed logit (ML) models. The results showed that the parameters of trip purpose, owning a hybrid car, and the level of education affect the preferences toward the ATN system. Additionally, from the comparison of the results of the MNL and ML models, it was found that despite the greater ability of the ML model in estimating possible heterogeneities, likely the MNL model can also help to record some heterogeneities more realistically. In the end, the methodological limitations of the study were also acknowledged. Despite the potential hypothesis bias and the status quo bias, the results captured the directionality and relative importance of the attributes of interest

Highly ordered CuSbS2 nanotube arrays: Controlled synthesis and electrochemical properties

Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge the post-doctoral funding of Aalto University and the provision of facilities and technical support by Aalto University at OtaNano - Nanomicroscopy Center (Aalto-NMC). Publisher Copyright: © 2021CuSbS2 nanotubes (NTs) were prepared via a hot-injection method using an anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template, and a mixture of oleylamine (OLA) and dichlorobenzene (DB) as solvent. Structural characterization of the powder indicated formation of high purity well-aligned CuSbS2 NTs with an average diameter of 200 nm and an average wall thickness of 40 nm. Optical and electrochemical characterizations indicated that the obtained CuSbS2 NTs exhibit p-type conductivity with a suitable band gap (1.53 eV), as well as valence band (VB), and conduction band (CB) positions, comparable to conventional materials utilized in solar cell.Peer reviewe

Contaminated osteochondral plugs: effect of different sterilizing solutions: an experimental study in the rabbit

 Abstract Background: To determine the efficacy of different antiseptic solutions (Control group (I), Antibiotic solution (II), Chlorhexidine 0.4% (III), and povidone – iodine 10% (IV)) in sterilizing contaminated osteochondral plugs. Methods: Under sterile conditions, the femoral head and condyles of 20 rabbits were removed and cut into equal osteochondral pieces. A total of 200 osteochondral specimens were obtained. All 200 specimens were dropped on the operating room floor for fifteen seconds and assigned to one of four experimental groups. Group I samples were cultured after washing with normal saline solution (Control group). In other three groups, prior to culturing process, samples were placed in an antibiotic solution after washing with normal saline (Neomycin & Polymyxin) (group II), Chlorhexidine 0.4% (group III), and povidone – iodine 10% (group IV), respectively. Results: In group I, 25 of 50 specimens had positive cultures. Of 50 specimens of group II, III and IV, no positive cultures were found after 10 days. Conclusion: all three agents including antibiotic solution, povidone-iodine 10% and chlorhexidine 0.4% seem effective in sterilizing the contaminated osteochondral samples. According to the literature, povidone-iodine has no negative effect on the cartilage metabolism and seems to be a proper choice of decontaminating solution for osteochondral plugs.To the best of the authors' knowledge, such a study on the contaminated osteochondral specimen has not been previously reported in the literature.

Ultra-long silver nanowires prepared via hydrothermal synthesis enable efficient transparent heaters

| openaire: EC/H2020/949648/EU//ModelCom | openaire: EC/H2020/101031327/EU//WEARSENSNANOUltra-long silver nanowires (AgNWs) with an aspect ratio of >2000 were prepared by the hydrothermal synthesis method. The influence of reaction time (4-32 h), reaction temperature (150-180 °C), polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) molecular weight (10 000-1 300 000 g mol−1), PVP concentration (50-125 mM), glucose concentration (5.6-22.4 mM) and CuCl2 concentration (2-20 μM) on the AgNW length was investigated systematically. The optimum conditions provided nanowires with an average diameter of 207 nm, an average length of 234 μm and a maximum length of 397 μm. Finally, a AgNW electrode was prepared on a glass substrate and used in transparent heater application. The transparent heater enabled outstanding heat-generating properties, reaching >200 °C within 70 s with an applied voltage of 5 V. Our results demonstrate how increasing the aspect ratio of ultra-long AgNWs is beneficial for both optical and electronic applications in terms of increased transmission and a more efficient Joule effect in the heater application. In addition, our results show that AgNWs with different lengths can be simply obtained by tuning synthesis parameters.Peer reviewe

Silver Nanowire-based Capacitive Type Pressure and Strain Sensors for Human Motion Monitoring

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Ram K. Gupta.High-performance flexible and stretchable sensors, especially pressure and strain sensors, have shown promising approaches for human motion detection. Besides being skin-friendly and biocompatible, the required features for such types of sensors are being lightweight, flexible, and stretchable. Based on the working mechanism, these sensors could be categorized as capacitive, piezoresistive, and piezoelectric. Among these, capacitive type pressure and strain sensors have received great attention, owing to their simple structure, uncomplicated sensing mechanism, and low cost. Ordinarily, the capacitive sensor consists of two parallel-plate electrodes with a dielectric interlayer sandwiched in between. 1D metallic nanomaterials, such as silver nanowires, have demonstrated great potential as metallic electrodes in the mentioned sensors because of their low-cost, facile synthesis, tunable length/diameter, and solution-processable properties. Therefore, in this chapter, we review the recent advances in the fabrication of capacitive type pressure and strain sensors with silver nanowires. The methodologies and materials for obtaining such devices and the highlights of pressure and strain sensor features are also elaborated. Finally, the feasibility and the prospects of the field are discussed.Peer reviewe

Analysis of Serum Prostate-Specific Antigen Levels in Men Aged 40 Years and Older in Yasuj, Iran

Introduction: Serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is still the simplest marker for early diagnosis and follow-up of prostate cancer. Because racial differences in PSA levels have been found, we performed this study to determine the reference level of serum PSA for men in Yasuj, in southwest Iran.Materials and Methods: Men aged 40 years and older who had been referred to any of the Yasuj hospitals for a blood cell count for any reason were randomly selected. Those with a history of prostate cancer, prostatitis, urinary tract infection, bladder outlet obstruction, or transurethral procedures were excluded. Blood samples were taken, and PSA levels were measured. Results: Prostate-specific antigen levels in the 95th percentile were 1.35 ng/mL, 1.85 ng/mL, 3.2 ng/mL, and 4.4 ng/mL for men aged 40 to 49, 50 to 59, 60 to 69, and older than 69 years, respectively. Mean serum PSA levels were 0.7 ng/mL, 0.9 ng/mL, 1.6 ng/mL, and 2.2 ng/mL, respectively. Conclusion: A comparison of our results with those from studies in the United States and Japan shows that the reference PSA level in our society is significantly lower than that for white and black Western men, and slightly lower than that for Japanese men. Although we examined men with no history of prostate cancer, cancer was not ruled out by diagnostic test; hence, our results may be overestimated. Further investigations in Iran are warranted. </p