Search Results (199)

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) over 5G New Radio (NR) massive machine-type communication (mMTC) networks require efficient and adaptive communication mechanisms to support reliable data delivery for large numbers of smart meters under dynamic traffic and channel conditions. In this work, we propose a framework in which each smart meter chooses, at runtime, whether to transmit directly to the base station (BS) or via a nearby Data Aggregation Point (DAP). The optimal choice is dynamic and depends on DAP buffer occupancy, periodic congestion, channel quality, and packet deadline pressure. Formulating this as a per-meter binary decision yields an action space of size $2^N$ for N meters, which is intractable for reinforcement learning (RL). We reformulate the problem as regional strategy composition: the RL agent selects one parameterized association strategy for each DAP region from a small library of interpretable rules, and a deterministic mapping expands the regional choice into per-meter modes. It reduces the policy action space from $2^N$ to $K^D$, where D is the number of DAPs and K the number of strategies, while preserving meter-level control granularity. We evaluate Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) and Deep Q-Network (DQN) controllers against eight meter-level baselines on a 5G NR-calibrated simulator with 1500 m, six DAPs, deadline-bounded delivery, stale channel-state information, and phase-offset congestion cycles. Across three traffic regimes and five random seeds, PPO improves packet delivery ratio (PDR) over the strongest heuristic by +0.63, +2.41, and +2.66 percentage points under baseline, high-load, and bursty-cycle conditions, respectively; all gains are statistically significant (paired t-test, $p<0.001$; Cohen’s d up to 5.12), and the advantage grows with traffic stress. The results show that learned regional composition of classical heuristics outperforms any single fixed heuristic precisely when no individual rule is globally optimal. Full article

Slow convergence remains a critical limitation hindering the practical deployment of consensus-based time synchronization protocols (CTSPs). Increasing algebraic connectivity is a key mechanism for improving the convergence speed of distributed algorithms. However, existing strategies inevitably introduce redundant packet communication, while forwarding stale timing information may degrade synchronization accuracy. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a high-order consensus time synchronization protocol (HCTSP). Unlike traditional CTSPs, HCTSP incorporates previous clock states from two-hop neighboring nodes to establish a virtual topology and further employs this information to enhance the estimation of logical clock parameters, thereby achieving fast estimation of clock parameters while effectively suppressing fluctuations in parameter estimation caused by a large initial synchronization error. Although the proposed method utilizes single-hop communication to relay information from non-adjacent nodes—an indirect transmission mechanism that inherently introduces additional communication overhead—we further develop an accumulator-based redundant information optimization scheme. Furthermore, the consensus algorithm integrates both an accumulator-based update mechanism and multi-hop historical memory, partially alleviating the impact of Gaussian communication delay jitter on clock correction. Theoretical proofs have verified the fast convergence of the proposed protocol. Extensive simulation experiments also demonstrate the superior efficiency of HCTSP in terms of convergence speed, communication overhead, and synchronization accuracy. Specifically, in random networks with 25 nodes, there is an approximately 50% reduction in single-round synchronization message length and a 66.67% decrease in total packet exchange volume compared to the virtual topology-based time synchronization protocol (VTSP). In the typical ring topology, where the convergence speed of the consensus algorithm is slow, HCTSP has a 59.33% increase in convergence speed compared to VTSP and a 75.29% increase compared to the gradient time synchronization protocol (GTSP). Full article

This study aimed to evaluate the technological, functional and nutritional effects of exopolysaccharide-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains, isolated from artisanal Tulum cheese as type II sourdough starters. The objective of this study was to improve bread quality, delay staling, and enhance bioactive properties, such as antioxidant capacity and estimated glycaemic index (eGI). Six LAB strains (Loigolactobacillus coryniformis, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum, Levilactobacillus brevis, Lacticaseibacillus paracasei, Lactobacillus helveticus, and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus) were individually used for sourdough fermentation. Bread samples were analyzed for pH, titratable acidity (TA), LAB counts, specific volume, colour, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity (DPPH and ABTS), starch digestibility, eGI, staling kinetics (Avrami model) and amylopectin retrogradation (DSC). Strain-dependent improvements in bread functionality were observed. L. brevis and L. coryniformis strains increased sourdough acidity to a greater extent, and resulting in lower pH values. Accordingly, bread produced with sourdough fermented by these strains exhibited higher specific volume than the control. Although higher ABTS radical scavenging activity and TPC were detected in sourdough bread compared to the control bread, no significant differences were observed among the breads in terms of total antioxidant activity measured by DPPH. L. rhamnosus significantly improved antioxidant activity and reduced the eGI. L. coryniformis, L. plantarum and L. brevis were the most effective at retarding staling, reducing the increase in hardness and limiting amylopectin retrogradation. This study is the first to demonstrate the functional potential of LAB strains from artisanal Tulum cheese as sourdough starters. These findings reveal the potential for developing clean-label bakery products with an extended shelf life and improved health-related functionality. Full article

The reformulation of cookies using alternative flours and structured lipid systems represents a promising strategy for improving their nutritional profile. The present study characterized the dough properties, baking behavior, compositional attributes, and 48-day storage physicochemical and textural stability of cookie formulations combining mesquite or wheat flour with varying proportions of shortening and monoglyceride-based oleogel. A multifaceted modeling and temporal analysis approach was employed to assess the impact of flour type, fat blend, and storage duration on critical physicochemical variables. The findings of the study indicated that the type of flour was the predominant factor influencing moisture retention, ash content, and the rate of bake loss. In contrast, the fat blend was found to regulate oil migration and dough mechanical parameters. Oleogel-rich systems demonstrated superior stability over time, as evidenced by a diminished color change and a decelerated textural hardening process in comparison to conventional shortening controls. Concurrently, these systems maintained water activity levels below the established microbiological safety thresholds. Sensory analysis demonstrated that oleogels effectively replicated the mouthfeel and acceptability of conventional fats, exhibiting comparable hardness and crunchiness to traditional formulations. However, mesquite flour-rich formulations exhibited higher bitterness and lower adhesiveness. These findings demonstrate that oleogel incorporation provides a viable strategy for mitigating textural staling and improving lipid profiles of cookies. Full article

Blockchain oracles bridge on-chain smart contracts and off-chain data sources, but encrypted off-chain data still raises two practical challenges: how to verify retrieval integrity without exposing sensitive values, and how to keep verification information fresh when the off-chain data set changes. Existing oracle and outsourced-database retrieval mechanisms often rely on plaintext verification, heavy cryptographic proofs, or static authentication structures, which limits their applicability to latency-sensitive IoT and decentralized finance scenarios. To address these issues, this paper proposes a retrieval integrity verification mechanism based on CKKS approximate homomorphic encryption and an authenticated index named CKKS-Auth Tree. The proposed mechanism verifies encrypted query results through homomorphically aggregated metadata, while smart contracts record versioned verification commitments to detect stale or replayed results after updates. The scope of the mechanism is the integrity, completeness, privacy, and freshness of data after commitment and upload; verifying the physical authenticity of the original data source is outside the core threat model. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme reduces authentication and verification overhead compared with existing retrieval verification methods while supporting encrypted metadata updates and on-chain synchronization. Full article

Storage duration critically shapes the characteristic sweet and mellow quality of ripened pu-erh tea (RPT), yet the underlying chemical mechanisms remain poorly understood. This study investigated the sensory and chemical evolution of a representative commercial RPT product across a nine-year storage gradient (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 years) by integrating Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA), chromaticity measurement, targeted quantification of 42 non-volatile components, and Headspace Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) volatilomics with multivariate statistical modeling. Prolonged storage drove systematic sensory maturation: the stale aroma gradually purified, and the taste profile transitioned significantly from heavy and mellow to sweet and mellow (p < 0.05), accompanied by a deepening infusion color with increased redness and yellowness indices. Targeted chemical profiling revealed significant decreases in total polyphenols and astringent esterified catechins, particularly epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) (p < 0.05), while theabrownins remained stable and soluble sugars peaked at intermediate storage stages. Pearson correlation analysis linked these chemical shifts to sensory perception, with enhanced sweetness, mouthfeel thickness strongly associated with reduced monomeric catechins and free amino acids (p < 0.001). Volatilomics combined with K-means clustering and relative odor activity value (ROAV) analysis revealed a dual mechanism of flavor refinement: progressive accumulation and increasing odor activity of aged aroma markers (1,2,3-trimethoxybenzene, β-ionone) coupled with systematic attenuation of pungent acids and grassy aldehydes. These findings, based on a single, standardized commercial product, elucidate the chemical-sensory foundation of the sweet and mellow profile in aged RPT and provide candidate markers and a transferable analytical framework for quality assessment of stored teas. Full article

Online multi-object tracking (MOT) aims to maintain consistent target identities across video frames, yet it remains vulnerable to identity switches under occlusion and appearance variation. Many existing trackers rely on single-prototype exponential moving average (EMA) memory, which is efficient but prone to contamination, over-smoothing, and staleness. To address this issue, we propose Hierarchical Multi-Prototype Appearance Memory (HMP), a plug-and-play module for online MOT. HMP separates stable long-term identity anchors from short-term transitional evidence through a multi-prototype long-term memory and a short first-in-first-out (FIFO) queue. A unified joint reliability score governs memory writing and maintenance, and a frozen two-stage association strategy first performs stable primary matching and then allows conservative short-term recovery only on residual cases. Experiments on MOT17 and MOT20 show that HMP improves identity continuity while preserving competitive overall tracking quality. Controlled ablations further support the effectiveness of the proposed memory representation, reliability control, and staged evidence usage under fixed upstream modules. Full article

Coffee has a complex aroma, over 1000 volatile compounds, and high lipid content. However, it is prone to volatile loss and lipid oxidation during storage. This makes packaging critical for quality preservation. This study evaluated monomaterial and multimaterial packaging for roasted Coffea arabica. Moisture, pH, and color were monitored. Volatile compounds were analyzed (GC–MS). Phenolics were determined (Folin–Ciocalteu). Antioxidant activity (ABTS, DPPH, and FRAP) was integrated into a relative antioxidant capacity index. Oxidative stability was assessed via acid value, peroxide, p-anisidine, total oxidation, and fatty acid profile (GC–MS) in oil extracted by supercritical fluid. Shelf-life was estimated from peroxide and p-anisidine values using kinetic models with the Arrhenius equation and nonlinear regression (Levenberg–Marquardt). Multimaterial packaging showed greater stability at 50 °C. pH remained slightly variable. Color changes were more pronounced in monomaterial packaging. Notably, freshness-related volatiles, such as 2,3-butanedione and 3-methylbutanal, decreased, while deterioration markers increased, like 1-methylpyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde and ethylpyrazine. Phenolics and antioxidant activity also declined, especially in monomaterial packaging. Monomaterial packaging showed lower oxidative stability and shorter shelf-life (179 and 63 days) than multimaterial packaging (466 and 79 days). However, monomaterial packaging remains promising due to its lower material requirements, recyclability, and lower environmental impact. Full article

Monocular metric depth estimation models increasingly incorporate camera intrinsics or learn camera-aware representations to recover physically meaningful scales. However, existing camera-aware studies have paid limited attention to a practical deployment gap: common crop, resize, and padding operations alter the image coordinate system, but inference pipelines may still pass stale camera intrinsics to the model. This image–intrinsics inconsistency produces a crop-resize-induced intrinsics mismatch, which can lead to systematic depth bias and degraded geometric consistency. We show that once preprocessing parameters are fixed, the effective intrinsics are determined by a parametric affine mapping, enabling resize-induced focal-length scaling errors and crop-induced principal-point shifts to be analyzed separately. We further distinguish this parameter-conditioned mismatch from broader calibration uncertainty caused by noisy intrinsics, noisy preprocessing metadata, or missing metadata. Based on this formulation, we introduce a controlled evaluation protocol and a lightweight Mismatch-Aware Camera Module (MACM) that combines preprocessing metadata with image-derived camera cues to condition intermediate depth features. In our ablation study, MACM with the proposed consistency loss reduces the mismatched Abs.Rel from 0.141 to 0.114 and narrows the robustness gap from 0.038 to 0.017, while preserving accuracy under matched preprocessing. These results indicate that treating the image and intrinsics as a coupled representation is essential for robust monocular metric depth estimation in practical preprocessing pipelines. Full article

This study investigated the effect of pre-cooking level of germinated highland barley pulp on the staling properties and digestibility of pre-packaged barbecued pork buns during refrigerated storage (0–9 days). The addition of barley pulp significantly delayed quality deterioration, resulting in a decreased specific volume (up to 20%) and an increased hardness (up to 71.76%) across all samples. Furthermore, it effectively inhibited the rise in starch short-range order, as evidenced by a decreased FTIR ratio of 1047/1022 cm⁻¹, and retarded the conformational transition between protein α-helix and β-sheet structures. When the gelatinization degree increased to 91.22%, rapidly digestible starch (RDS) decreased significantly while resistant starch (RS) increased. The sauce infiltration layer exhibited a higher maximum RS (23.23%) than the inner crumb (16.52%). The Glycemic Index (GI) was significantly reduced, with the lowest values observed in the BJ60 group (53.22 for the sauce infiltration layer and 60.37 for the inner crumb). α-Amylase inhibition was also enhanced with increasing gelatinization degrees. Significant correlations were found between starch structural parameters and digestibility. These results demonstrate that incorporating germinated highland barley pulp is a feasible strategy to simultaneously improve the shelf-life and nutritional quality of steamed buns. Full article

Mycoprotein production by Pleurotus salmoneostramineus was evaluated using the bread industry by-products wheat bran hydrolysate (WBH) and stale bread hydrolysate (SBH) as carbon sources, with mung bean protein hydrolysate (MBH) as a nitrogen source, within a circular bioeconomy framework. Enzymatic hydrolysis effectively converted these food industry waste streams into fermentable substrates with complementary nutritional profiles: SBH provided the highest total sugar content (57.53 g/L), while MBH contributed the highest total nitrogen (3.58 g/L) and essential amino acid content (215.05 mg/100 mL). Of 11 WBH:SBH ratio formulations evaluated under static cultivation, WB4 (WBH:SBH 70:30; C/N 27.32:1) was identified as the optimal carbon source formulation, producing the highest biomass (3.46 g/L) and protein content (23.19 g/100 g) after 14 days. Subsequent nitrogen source optimization under dynamic cultivation (200 rpm, 5 days) showed that MBH supplementation at 5 g/L produced the highest biomass (16.59 g/L), protein content (66.71 g/100 g), and absolute protein production (11.07 g/L). The amino acid profile of mycoprotein produced under optimized conditions met or exceeded the FAO/WHO-recommended essential amino acid requirements for older children, adolescents, and adults; the essential amino acid content (354.72 mg/g protein) was comparable to soy protein isolate and exceeded that of wheat gluten. Mycelial morphology shifted from filamentous networks under static conditions to fragmented clump structures under dynamic cultivation with MBH supplementation. These findings indicate the feasibility of producing nutritionally complete mycoprotein from food industry waste streams, with potential applications in plant-based food formulations. Full article

This paper will defend a Bayesian form of argument from consciousness, which claims that central features of human consciousness provide rational support for theism when evaluated within a probabilistic framework. It focuses on rational deliberation, intentional agency, and libertarian free will as essential elements of human conscious life, arguing that these phenomena pose significant explanatory challenges for a purely naturalistic view of reality. Drawing on Bayesian reasoning, particularly the approach developed by Richard Swinburne, the paper first addresses the legitimacy of treating features of human conscious life as evidence, and then maintains that such features confer confirmatory support on theism insofar as they are more probable given theism than given naturalism. The paper further addresses the brute fact objection to the argument from consciousness advanced by Stale Gundersen, which holds that consciousness may be a brute feature of reality requiring no further explanation. I examine Gundersen’s arguments for this brute fact objection, and find them wanting. I then defend a Presumption of Intelligibility, and discuss the proper criteria for deciding which facts are brute facts, and which are not. Within this framework, I further argue that the brute fact objection is rationally inferior to the argument from consciousness. Full article

Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.) is being increasingly used in gluten-free baking; however, the influence of cultivar-dependent functionality on gluten-free dough remains insufficiently characterized. This study systematically evaluated the impact of nine proso millet cultivars (Cope, Dawn, Sunrise, Earlybird, Huntsman, Minco, Panhandle, Plateau, and Rise) on dough rheology, bread quality, and texture stability in a gluten-free formulation. Dough viscoelasticity was characterized using small-amplitude oscillatory shear (G′, G″, tan δ) and creep–recovery (J_end, J_nr, J_r/J, strain recovery, and t₉₀). Breads were then evaluated for specific volume, crust and crumb color, and texture profile analysis (TPA) over 0, 2, and 5 days of storage. All doughs exhibited weak gel behavior (tan δ = 0.30–0.36) with G′ consistently exceeding G″. The waxy, low-amylose cultivar Plateau produced the stiffest dough (highest G′ and G″) and the lowest loaf specific volume (1.97 mL/g), whereas Rise and Earlybird yielded the greatest expansion (2.43–2.40 mL/g). Storage induced typical staling (increased firmness, decreased springiness, cohesiveness, and resilience) with cultivar-dependent retention of elastic attributes linked to rheological parameters. Overall, cultivar starch structure impacts dough viscoelasticity, loaf expansion, and texture evolution, highlighting cultivar selection as a practical route to improve gluten-free bread quality and shelf-life consistency. Full article

Mobility-aware digital twin (DT) migration is increasingly used in edge computing to sustain low-latency service as physical entities and service demand move across domains. However, stateful DT migration across administrative domains requires more than placement adaptation; it also requires target-side legitimacy verification, protected-state transfer, continuity-preserving traffic transition, and invalidation of stale source-side instances. This paper presents a secure cross-domain authentication and service continuity mechanism for mobility-aware DT migration in edge computing. The proposed design formulates migration as a six-phase ordered control procedure comprising migration triggering, target-side authorization, protected-state transfer, continuity-aware traffic transition, post-migration activation, and revocation-aware completion. Security analysis examines authorization soundness, migration-state confidentiality and integrity, transition safety, and post-migration uniqueness. Performance evaluation shows that the full mechanism introduces only a bounded increase in migration-related cost while reducing service interruption at 500 MB from approximately 1.79 s without continuity-aware transition control to 285 ms in the full mechanism. The results indicate that the proposed mechanism preserves the operational benefit of mobility-aware DT migration while strengthening migration authorization, state transfer protection, and service continuity under cross-domain relocation. Full article

In this study, bean starch films were developed and treated with dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) cold plasma (5 min (DBD5), 10 min (DBD10), and 15 min (DBD15)) and pulsed light (PL) radiation (4 J cm⁻² (PL4), 8 J cm⁻² (PL8), and 12 J cm⁻² (PL12)), and the effects of these treatments on the physical, barrier, mechanical, morphological, and structural properties were evaluated, as well as the practical application of the films in bread storage for 7 days. Both treatments significantly modified the film properties (p < 0.05). Film thickness decreased from 95 µm (control) to 87 µm (PL12), while solubility was reduced from 39.40% (control) to 25.32% (PL12), indicating improved water resistance. Reductions in water vapor permeability (WVP) were also observed, with a more pronounced effect for PL12 (approximately 55% reduction compared to the control). The contact angle increased from 58.30° (control) to 67.76° (PL12), indicating a moderate increase in surface hydrophobicity. The DBD cold plasma treatment increased tensile strength (up to 16.05 MPa in DBD15) and reduced elongation (44.72%), whereas PL, especially at PL8, increased flexibility (60.36%). Morphological analyses indicated increased surface roughness for DBD-treated films, while structural analyses suggested subtle changes in molecular organization rather than the formation of well-defined crystalline domains. During bread storage, the treated films, particularly PL12, were significantly more effective than the control in delaying bread staling (final firmness of 6.67 N vs. 11.82 N), reducing mass loss (5.66% vs. 12.66%), and maintaining higher water activity, thereby better preserving product quality. Overall, both treatments showed potential for tailoring film properties: DBD was more effective in enhancing mechanical strength, while PL promoted improvements in barrier properties and practical performance. Therefore, physical treatments, particularly PL, represent promising strategies to overcome intrinsic limitations of starch-based films and to develop packaging materials with potential applications in bakery product preservation. Full article