St. Cloud State University

With the rapid advancement of technology, smart home environments have become increasingly popular, offering convenience and automation to homeowners. However, as these smart homes become more interconnected and integrated into 5G networks, security concerns arise, especially with the potential for unauthorized access and control. To address these security challenges, this research proposes a novel Robot Operating System based Ethereum blockchain (ROS-EB) that is responsible for secure and private data storage. In this research we reduce high complexity. The registration contract is performed by a certificate authority, and the key is generated using the Enhanced Elliptic Curve Digital Signature (EECDS) algorithm which improves the secure and private communication between the users, IoT devices, and edge-gateway. To increase security, we perform secure authentication by creating an effective methodology based on the Touch Well before Use (TWU) method which protects against attacks. The Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) is used for role-based access control and judge contracts. To improve secure service providing, we perform the detection of malicious and vulnerable users using Improved Cuckoo Optimization and Support Vector Machine (ICO-SVM) and Gated Recurrent Unit and Residual Neural Network (GRU-ResNNet) algorithm in ROS-EB which reduces the vulnerability in the smart home. For improving QoS, we have provided sufficient security service in the smart home environment (i.e. adjusting temperature, turning on/off lights, adjusting watering system and mantrap) by using multi-contract. The performance metrics such as Communication delay, register contract, access contract, detection time, and Energy consumed were assessed.

Elastomers are traditionally considered materials with low tensile strength and minimal electrical conductivity. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are classified as fullerenes, or carbon-based materials forming a molecular mesh, that assume a cylindrical shape and display remarkable properties, such as high tensile strength and enhanced electrical conductivity as compared to other carbon allotropes. Elastomers doped with carbon nanotubes form CNT elastomers, which act as semi-conductors and can be formulated to exhibit many useful characteristics for the design of various sensors, such as strain gages. While CNT elastomers have been studied for more than 20 years, there are relatively few, if any, commercial sensor products utilizing this innovative technology. In this chapter, we survey selected portions of the CNT literature, explore the operation and characteristics of CNT elastomers, and consider some CNT elastomer requirements of potential interest for the design of sensors.

Introduction Intercultural sensitivity in health care improves health care quality due to effective communication, intervention, and increased satisfaction. The present study aimed to compare the intercultural sensitivity of undergraduate nursing students in two different countries and identify predisposing factors of intercultural sensitivity. Methods A predictive correlational study was conducted with 980 undergraduate nursing students at a university in Turkey and the United States. A questionnaire and the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale were used for data collection. Results Multiple linear regression revealed that the country in which nursing students were studying, and speaking a second language were found as significant predictors of intercultural sensitivity in the current study. The findings of the two-way variance analysis indicated that the interaction effect between nursing students in two schools and sociodemographic variables was not statistically significant ( p > .05). Discussion Nursing students from both universities presented a moderate level of intercultural sensitivity. This level is low compared with previous results reported in the literature. The study findings may help faculty administrators make new arrangements in the nursing curriculum and contribute to providing equal, and non-discriminatory health services to people. Intercultural education programs within the curriculum should be offered as independent courses and/or integrated within courses to develop culturally competent knowledge, awareness, and skills throughout undergraduate nursing education.

Male and female reproductive tracts develop from anterior intermediate mesoderm with similar differentiation processes. The anterior intermediate mesoderm develops into the mesonephros, and the Wolffian duct initiates by epithelialization in the mesonephros. The Müllerian duct invaginates from the coelomic epithelium of the cranial mesonephros for ductal formation and is then regionalized into proximal to caudal female reproductive tracts. In this study, we focused on the epithelialization of the Wolffian duct, initiation of the Müllerian duct, and the regionalization step of the Müllerian ducts as a continuous process. By using intermediate mesodermal cells from mouse pluripotent stem cells, we identified that inhibition of SMAD2/3 signaling might be involved in the differentiation into mesenchymal cells, after which mesonephric cells might be then epithelialized during differentiation of the Wolffian duct. Aggregation of coelomic epithelial cells might be related to initiation of the Müllerian duct. Transcriptomic analysis predicted that consensus sequences of SMAD3/4 were enriched among highly expressed genes in the proximal Müllerian duct. SMAD2/3 signaling to regulate differentiation of the Wolffian duct was continuously activated in the proximal Müllerian duct and was involved in proximal and oviductal regionalization. Therefore, SMAD2/3 signaling may be finely tuned to regulate differentiation from initiation to regionalization steps.

Introduction: Educational attainment, widely used in epidemiologic studies as a surrogate for socioeconomic status, is a predictor of cardiovascular health outcomes. Methods: A two-stage genome-wide meta-analysis of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), and triglyceride (TG) levels was performed while accounting for gene-educational attainment interactions in up to 226,315 individuals from five population groups. We considered two educational attainment variables: “Some College” (yes/no, for any education beyond high school) and “Graduated College” (yes/no, for completing a 4-year college degree). Genome-wide significant (p < 5 × 10⁻⁸) and suggestive (p < 1 × 10⁻⁶) variants were identified in Stage 1 (in up to 108,784 individuals) through genome-wide analysis, and those variants were followed up in Stage 2 studies (in up to 117,531 individuals). Results: In combined analysis of Stages 1 and 2, we identified 18 novel lipid loci (nine for LDL, seven for HDL, and two for TG) by two degree-of-freedom (2 DF) joint tests of main and interaction effects. Four loci showed significant interaction with educational attainment. Two loci were significant only in cross-population analyses. Several loci include genes with known or suggested roles in adipose (FOXP1, MBOAT4, SKP2, STIM1, STX4), brain (BRI3, FILIP1, FOXP1, LINC00290, LMTK2, MBOAT4, MYO6, SENP6, SRGAP3, STIM1, TMEM167A, TMEM30A), and liver (BRI3, FOXP1) biology, highlighting the potential importance of brain-adipose-liver communication in the regulation of lipid metabolism. An investigation of the potential druggability of genes in identified loci resulted in five gene targets shown to interact with drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including genes with roles in adipose and brain tissue. Discussion: Genome-wide interaction analysis of educational attainment identified novel lipid loci not previously detected by analyses limited to main genetic effects.

A long and varied history of claims about the nature of Latin American philosophy invariably features a normative claims concerning its shortcomings in virtues such as originality, authenticity, peculiarity, and internal or external recognition. As argued in this paper, what to make of such metaphilosophical skepticism depends on the semantics of the ambiguous term ‘Latin American philosophy.’ When interpreted as a distinctive branch of applied philosophy in the way I have proposed in some of my earlier works (2002, 2020), there are no good reasons for skepticism about this type of philosophy. By contrast, there are good reasons for skepticism when interpreted in the universalist way proposed, for example, by Venezuelan philosopher of science Carlos Ulises Moulines (2010). Since each of these interpretations captures what speakers might commonly mean by ‘Latin American philosophy,’ the question of what to make of the quality of the area of philosophy designated by this term is contingent on what we mean. In the course of arguing for this conclusion, this paper rules out some universalist as well distinctivist alternatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a dramatic shift to online learning for K-12 public schools, requiring school districts to address inequities that surfaced in the remote learning model. This paper includes the findings of the second study of a multi-year research project exploring the intersection of technology and educational inequities through the pandemic. As the pandemic waned, practitioners evaluated which practices developed during remote learning should be sustained. Five Minnesota technology directors participated in a focus group to discuss how inequities are being addressed in their schools post-pandemic. Technology directors explained that the pandemic was an opportunity to reimagine schools for the success of all students through an infrastructure that includes actions relative to three domains: effective instruction, school-home partnerships, and law and policy. Further research is recommended, such as broadening the geographical location of participants outside of Minnesota, expanding participants beyond the role of technology director (i.e., students, teachers, parents), and analyzing student enrollment in K-12 online schools through a longitudinal study.

Nowadays, every new product development process is bound to have certain risks. This study will analyze the identification and control risks in the Cardiac Rhythm Management & Neuromodulation (CRM&N) product development process of a medical device manu-facturing company in the United States and summarize and analyze the common risks dur-ing New Product Development Process (PDP). CRM&N system of medical industry prod-uct and service institutions, namely the CRM&N system used by medical devices, medical equipment, medical consumables, biotechnology and other medical products/services en-terprises. The medical industry is facing many problems in transportation and terminal sales. This study adopts the case analysis method, through the analysis of a new product development case of a company, the research results of this study are obtained: (1) Risk should be controlled at every step of a new product from the preparation before production to the end of production. Therefore, the company needs to establish a complete risk man-agement system to reduce the existence of some risks as far as possible. (2) Large sample size and heavy testing workload in the process of new product development led to in-creased costs. Therefore, companies need to use new statistical methods to analyze large sample data and reduce development costs. This study makes an in-depth analysis of the risks that may occur in the process of the company's new product development and draws some useful conclusions and strategies.

Observational studies showed that metabolic phenotypes were associated with the risk of developing breast cancer (BC). However, those results are inconsistent regarding the magnitude of the association, particularly by subtypes of breast cancer. Furthermore, the mechanisms of the association remain unclear. We performed two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses to evaluate the causal effect of metabolic risk factors on breast cancer in the European population. Assessed individually using MR, body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio [OR] 0.94, 95% Confidence interval [CI] 0.90–0.98, P = 0.007), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (OR 1.10, 95% CI 1.07–1.13, P = 6.10 × 10–11) and triglycerides (TG) (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.90–0.96, P = 1.58 × 10–6) were causally related to breast cancer risk. In multivariable MR, only HDL-C (OR 1.08; 95% CI 1.02–1.14; P = 0.02) retained a robust effect, suggesting that the genetic association between BMI, HDL-C and TG with breast cancer risk in univariable analysis was explained via HDL-C. These findings suggest a possible causal role of HDL-C in breast cancer etiology.

Assessing the ecological risk of contaminants in the field typically involves consideration of a complex mixture of compounds which may or may not be detected via instrumental analyses. Further, there are insufficient data to predict the potential biological effects of many detected compounds, leading to their being characterized as contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). Over the past several years, advances in chemistry, toxicology, and bioinformatics have resulted in a variety of concepts and tools that can enhance the pragmatic assessment of the ecological risk of CECs. This paper describes a 10+ year multiagency effort supported through the U.S. Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to assess the occurrence and implications of CECs in the North American Great Lakes. State-of-the-science methods and models were used to evaluate more than 700 sites in about 200 tributaries across Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron, Michigan and Superior, sometimes on multiple occasions. Studies featured measurement of up to 500 different target analytes in different environmental matrices, coupled with evaluation of biological effects in resident species, animals from in situ and laboratory exposures, and in vitro systems. Experimental taxa included birds, fish and a variety of invertebrates, and measured endpoints ranged from molecular to apical responses. Data were integrated and evaluated using a diversity of curated knowledgebases and models with the goal of producing actionable insights for risk assessors and managers charged with evaluating and mitigating the effects of CECs in the Great Lakes. This overview paper is based on research and data captured in about 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and reports, including about 30 appearing in a Virtual Issue comprised of highlighted papers published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry or Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.