SuSy-EnGaD: Surveillance System Enhanced by Games of Drones

In this article, we propose SuSy-EnGaD, a surveillance system enhanced by games of drones. We propose three different approaches to optimise a swarm of UAVs for improving intruder detection, two of them featuring a multi-objective optimisation approach, while the third approach relates to the evolutionary game theory where three different strategies based on games are proposed. We test our system on four different case studies, analyse the results presented as Pareto fronts in terms of flying time and area coverage, and compare them with the single-objective optimisation results from games. Finally, an analysis of the UAVs trajectories is performed to help understand the results achieved.

Assessment of flood hazard in Owerri West, Imo State, Nigeria using Analytical Hierarchical Process and Index Based Approach

This study aimed at an assessment of flood hazard areas in Owerri Imo State, Nigeria using analytical hierarchical process and index-based approach. The study objectives were to: establish the geophysical factors that contribute to flooding in the study area; classify the established geophysical factors according to the level of flood risk; calculate the reliability index of the classified geophysical factors; determine the flood vulnerable areas using analytical hierarchical process and flood hazard index; and to produce a vulnerability index map defining the extent of flooding vulnerability in the study area. The methodology incorporated in this study involved acquisition of remotely sensed imageries of the study area, pre-processing, Image classification, modelling slope, watershed, Drainage Network, flow accumulation, Soil Classification, classification and standardization, pairwise comparism matrix, normalized weighted Matrix, consistency index check and flood hazard index modelling. The study results revealed that In Owerri West, high flood vulnerability occupied 1.54% with an area coverage of 817.78 hectares, moderate flood vulnerability occupied 28.37% with an area coverage of 15031.98 hectares, low flood vulnerability occupied 24.97% with an area coverage of 13228.25 hectares and no flood vulnerability occupied 1.67% with an area coverage of 882.17 hectares. From the results achieved and the experiences gathered, analytical hierarchy process and flood hazard index-based modelling approach is recommended as it is a robust and efficient tool for mapping flood vulnerability while incorporating robust factors that contribute to flood and having a consistency judgement which judges the reliability of the weights of the factors used during modelling.

Study of land suitability for rubber and cashew in the derived savanna zone of Edo State, Nigeria

This study attempted to assess the soil suitability in the derived savanna zone of Edo State, Nigeria for the cultivation of some tree crops. The research specifically aimed to evaluate soil suitability for cashew and rubber supported by suitability maps for both crops. In terms of land suitability evaluation, mapping units 1 and 2, with an area coverage of 27.4 ha of the entire research area (100 ha) were found to be marginally suitable (S3) for rubber cultivation but moderately suitable (S2) for cashew. Mapping unit 3, with area coverage of 38 ha was found to be currently not suitable (N1) for rubber but marginally suitable (S3) for cashew cultivation. Mapping unit 4 representing area coverage of 34.7 ha was found to be permanently not suitable (N2) for rubber cultivation but marginally suitable (S3) for cashew. Thus, technically, rubber can only be cultivated in that land at marginal level with an expected productivity of 27.4 ha (27.4 %). Cashew can be cultivated at moderate and marginal levels with an expected yield of 27.4 ha (27.4 %) and 72.6 ha (72.6 %), respectively, of the total land area. Thus, the preferred crop for the studied is cashew. It is recommended that for any significant investment in cultivation of this crop, the priority is the moderate levels with an expected productivity of 27.4 ha or 27.4 % of total land area.

COVID-19 vaccination among elderly population in a rural area: coverage and hesitancy study

COVID-19 vaccination was opened for senior citizens above 60 years on the 01 March 2021. By 25 June 2021, 2.29 crores senior citizens have received two doses and another 6.71 crores have received the first dose. A total of 9 crores citizens have been given two/one dose of vaccine out of the estimated 14.3 crores people above the age of 60 years. During this period two important roadblocks to the vaccination drive were vaccine hesitancy among certain segment of the population and vaccine coverage especially in the rural areas.

930 Fibroblast activation protein alpha expression in tumor stroma and its association with immuno-regulatory circuits across epithelial tumors

BackgroundCarcinoma associated fibroblasts (CAFs) play important roles in modulating tumor development and prognosis through biochemical and biomechanical signals, but also through their immuno-modulatory characteristics. Fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP), a serine protease with selectively high expression on CAFs, may be an ideal target for therapeutic intervention, including cancer immunotherapy. Therefore, a thorough understanding of FAP expression, but also immune cell composition and especially their interaction is key to optimally inform drug development and patient enrichment strategies.MethodsFormalin-fixed paraffin embedded tissue specimens comprising 253 primary tumors and 277 metastatic lesions were included in this study. Tumor sections were analyzed by digital immunohistochemistry (IHC) to assess tumor-stroma composition, FAP content and immune cell infiltration, complemented by transcriptomic analyses.ResultsAcross different types of epithelial tumors, FAP was detected by digital IHC in the tumor-associated stroma at a low to moderate proportion and with heterogeneous distribution patterns. Primary tumors in breast and lung cancer demonstrated a higher median FAP content (6.5% and 6.6% area coverage, respectively) compared to renal cell carcinoma (0.2% area coverage), which was confirmed on mRNA expression level. Median FAP levels were similar between primary and metastatic lesions in most tumor types except for renal cancer, for which FAP levels were significantly increased in metastasis lesions (3.3% area coverage). FAP content positively correlated with the density of FoxP3 positive regulatory T cells, but indication and tissue type specific differences were observed. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that both stroma-richness as well as higher FAP content were positively correlated with macrophage and dendritic cell gene signatures. However, while a higher stromal content was associated with signatures related to endothelial cells and preadipocytes, higher FAP content showed a stronger correlation with regulatory T cells. These findings are suggestive of a distinct biological role of FAP positive stroma in human tumors.ConclusionsFAP-targeted therapy is a promising strategy to optimize accumulation and action of anti-cancer drugs in the tumor microenvironment, potentially leading to more specific and effective therapies. Our study further elucidates the role of FAP by providing a comprehensive and granular landscape of FAP content in primary and metastatic tumor lesions derived from the same patient population and its association with immune cell composition. Future studies aim to elucidate the complex and dynamic interplay between malignant, stromal and immune cell populations in both temporal and spatial contexts and how that contributes to outcome in cancer immunotherapy.

An Area Coverage Scheme Based on Fuzzy Logic and Shuffled Frog-Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) in Heterogeneous Wireless Sensor Networks

Coverage is a fundamental issue in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). It plays a important role in network efficiency and performance. When sensor nodes are randomly scattered in the network environment, an ON/OFF scheduling mechanism can be designed for these nodes to ensure network coverage and increase the network lifetime. In this paper, we propose an appropriate and optimal area coverage method. The proposed area coverage scheme includes four phases: (1) Calculating the overlap between the sensing ranges of sensor nodes in the network. In this phase, we present a novel, distributed, and efficient method based on the digital matrix so that each sensor node can estimate the overlap between its sensing range and other neighboring nodes. (2) Designing a fuzzy scheduling mechanism. In this phase, an ON/OFF scheduling mechanism is designed using fuzzy logic. In this fuzzy system, if a sensor node has a high energy level, a low distance to the base station, and a low overlap between its sensing range and other neighboring nodes, then this node will be in the ON state for more time. (3) Predicting the node replacement time. In this phase, we seek to provide a suitable method to estimate the death time of sensor nodes and prevent possible holes in the network, and thus the data transmission process is not disturbed. (4) Reconstructing and covering the holes created in the network. In this phase, the goal is to find the best replacement strategy of mobile nodes to maximize the coverage rate and minimize the number of mobile sensor nodes used for covering the hole. For this purpose, we apply the shuffled frog-leaping algorithm (SFLA) and propose an appropriate multi-objective fitness function. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, we simulate it using NS2 simulator and compare our scheme with three methods, including CCM-RL, CCA, and PCLA. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme outperformed the other methods in terms of the average number of active sensor nodes, coverage rate, energy consumption, and network lifetime.