Odor-Based Molecular Communications: State-of-the-Art, Vision, Challenges, and Frontier Directions

Humankind mimics the processes and strategies that nature has perfected and uses them as a model to address its problems. That has recently found a new direction, i.e., a novel communication technology called molecular communication (MC), using molecules to encode, transmit, and receive information. Despite extensive research, an innate MC method with plenty of natural instances, i.e., olfactory or odor communication, has not yet been studied with the tools of information and communication technologies (ICT). Existing studies focus on digitizing this sense and developing actuators without inspecting the principles of odor-based information coding and MC, which significantly limits its application potential. Hence, there is a need to focus cross-disciplinary research efforts to reveal the fundamentals of this unconventional communication modality from an ICT perspective. The ways of natural odor MC in nature need to be anatomized and engineered for end-to-end communication among humans and human-made things to enable several multi-sense augmented reality technologies reinforced with olfactory senses for novel applications and solutions in the Internet of Everything (IoE). This paper introduces the concept of odor-based molecular communication (OMC) and provides a comprehensive examination of olfactory systems. It explores odor communication in nature, including aspects of odor information, channels, reception, spatial perception, and cognitive functions. Additionally, a comprehensive comparison of various communication systems sets the foundation for further investigation. By highlighting the unique characteristics, advantages, and potential applications of OMC through this comparative analysis, the paper lays the groundwork for exploring the modeling of an end-to-end OMC channel, considering the design of OMC transmitters and receivers, and developing innovative OMC techniques

On the Impact of Treatment Restrictions for the Indigent Suffering from a Chronic Disease: The Case of Compassionate Dialysis

We analyze a congested healthcare delivery setting due to emergency treatment of a chronic disease on a regular basis. A prominent example of the problem of interest is congestion in the emergency room (ER) at a publicly-funded safety net hospital due to recurrent arrivals of uninsured end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients needing dialysis (a.k.a., compassionate dialysis). Unfortunately, this is the only treatment option for un-/under-funded patients (e.g., undocumented immigrants) with ESRD, and it is available only when the patient\u27s clinical condition is deemed as life-threatening after a mandatory protocol including an initial screening assessment in the ER as dictated and communicated by hospital administration and county policy. After the screening assessment, the so-called treatment restrictions are in place and a certain percentage of patients are sent back home{ER, thus, serves as a screening stage. The intention here is to control system-load, and, hence, overcrowding, via restricting service (i.e. dialysis) for recurrent arrivals due to the chronic nature of the underlying disease. In order to develop a deeper understanding of potential unintended consequences, we model the problem setting as a stylized queueing network with recurrent arrivals and restricted service subject to the mandatory screening assessment in the ER. We obtain analytical expressions of fundamental quantitative metrics related to network characteristics along with more sophisticated performance measures. The performance measures of interest include both traditional and new problem-specific metrics, such as those that are indicative of deterioration in patient welfare due to rejections and treatment delays. We identify cases where treatment restrictions alone may alleviate or lead to severe congestion and treatment delays, thereby impacting both the system operation and patient welfare. The fundamental insight we offer is centered around the finding that the impact of mandatory protocol on network characteristics as well as traditional and problem-specific performance measures is nontrivial and counterintuitive. However, impact is analytically and/or numerically quantifiable via our approach. Overall, our quantitative results demonstrate that the thinking behind the mandatory protocol is potentially naïve. This is because the approach does not necessarily serve its intended purpose of controlling system-load and overcrowding

Poly(L-lactide) initiated by silver N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: synthesis, characterization and properties

WOS: 000325774400016Poly(l-lactide) (PLLA) was successfully synthesized by ring-opening polymerization (ROP) in bulk using silver N-heterocyclic carbene (Ag-NHC) complex. The effect of reaction time, temperature and monomer/initiator ratio on polymerization process were determined. The optimum conditions were found as 130 A degrees C, 4 h and M/I molar ratio of about 100. The polymers were characterized by FTIR, H-1-NMR, GPC and TG. High-molecular-weight PLLA (M (w) = 3.78 x 10(4), M (n) = 1.91 x 10(4), PDI = 1.97) was synthesized by the ROP of l-lactide (LLA) with bis-(N-methyl N'-dodecylimidazole) silver(I) di-bromo argentate (1a) in bulk. The effect of different N-substituted ligand groups on the polymerization was studied. The antimicrobial activity of the synthesized polymers were investigated by using minimum inhibitory concentration test against gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). It was observed that the synthesized polymers displayed moderate antimicrobial activity.research foundation of Ege University-TurkeyEge University [2009 FEN035]This work was supported by the research foundation of Ege University-Turkey (No: 2009 FEN035). We thank Prof. Dr. Ates for determining antimicrobial activity of materials in microbiology laboratory. We also thank Dr. Kunduracioglu, Ege University-Turkey, for providing Ag-NHC samples

Awareness Of Hepatitis B Virus Reactivation Among Physicians Administering Immunosuppressive Treatment And Related Clinical Practices

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the awareness and knowledge levels of all physicians administering immunosuppressive treatment concerning hepatitis B virus (HBV) reactivation, and draw attention to the importance of the subject through evaluation. Methods: The study was carried out by infectious diseases and clinical microbiology specialists in 37 health centers, and it was performed in Turkey between January and March 2017. All specialists providing a written consent and working in the departments of Medical Oncology, Hematology, Dermatology and Venereology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Rheumatology of each study center were included in the study. Results: A total of 430 physicians participated in the study. Their mean age was 39.87 +/- 7.42 years, and 47.9% of them were males. During their career, 39.3% of these physicians had encountered patients developing HBV reactivation while receiving immunosuppressive treatment. The rate of encountering patients who died due to HBV reactivation was 6.5%. 97% of physicians who participated, considered the risk of HBV reactivation to be important. 70.2% of physicians stated that guidelines related to HBV reactivation and antiviral treatment for these patients were discussed in the congresses they participated, regarding their specialties. The rate of performing hepatitis screening among physicians whose patients developed HBV reactivation was statistically significantly higher than those physicians who had no patients with HBV reactivation (p<0.05). Physicians who used the guidelines related to HBV reactivation in their specialties performed screening for the HBV infection much more often than physicians who did not use the guidelines (p=0.002). Conclusions: According to the results obtained in our study, the rates of conducting screening and awareness of HBV reactivation among physicians administering immunosuppressive treatment were higher compared with similar studies; however, their awareness that HBV DNA and anti-HBc should be utilized much more frequently among the serological tests they use for screening of HBV infection, should be increased.WoSScopu