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Wearing face masks has become a usual practice in acute infection events inducing the problem of misinterpreting the emotions of others. Empirical evidence about face masks mainly relies on adult data, neglecting, for example, school kids who firmly are dependent on effective nonverbal communication. Here we offer insights from a joint school–university project. Data indicate that emotional reading of 9 to 10 years old pupils ( N = 57) was similarly impaired as adults on an overall performance level, but that their selective performance on specific emotions was quite different. Kids showed extreme problems in reading the emotion disgust, strong effects on fear and sadness, and only mild effects on happiness, but also even better performances for emotional states anger and neutral when faces were masked. This project did gain not only relevant data about children’s perception but also made clear how fruitful seriously conducted school projects can be to encourage the interest and commitment for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-relevant topics.

To design and develop AI-based cybersecurity systems (e.g., intrusion detection system (IDS)), users can justifiably trust, one needs to evaluate the impact of trust using machine learning and deep learning technologies. To guide the design and implementation of trusted AI-based systems in IDS, this paper provides a comparison among machine learning and deep learning models to investigate the trust impact based on the accuracy of the trusted AI-based systems regarding the malicious data in IDs. The four machine learning techniques are decision tree (DT), K nearest neighbour (KNN), random forest (RF), and naïve Bayes (NB). The four deep learning techniques are LSTM (one and two layers) and GRU (one and two layers). Two datasets are used to classify the IDS attack type, including wireless sensor network detection system (WSN-DS) and KDD Cup network intrusion dataset. A detailed comparison of the eight techniques’ performance using all features and selected features is made by measuring the accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. Considering the findings related to the data, methodology, and expert accountability, interpretability for AI-based solutions also becomes demanded to enhance trust in the IDS.

Despite the growing popularity of machine learning models in the cyber-security applications (e.g., an intrusion detection system (IDS)), most of these models are perceived as a black-box. The eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) has become increasingly important to interpret the machine learning models to enhance trust management by allowing human experts to understand the underlying data evidence and causal reasoning. According to IDS, the critical role of trust management is to understand the impact of the malicious data to detect any intrusion in the system. The previous studies focused more on the accuracy of the various classification algorithms for trust in IDS. They do not often provide insights into their behavior and reasoning provided by the sophisticated algorithm. Therefore, in this paper, we have addressed XAI concept to enhance trust management by exploring the decision tree model in the area of IDS. We use simple decision tree algorithms that can be easily read and even resemble a human approach to decision-making by splitting the choice into many small subchoices for IDS. We experimented with this approach by extracting rules in a widely used KDD benchmark dataset. We also compared the accuracy of the decision tree approach with the other state-of-the-art algorithms.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial IoT (IIoT) have developed rapidly in the past few years, as both the Internet and “things” have evolved significantly. “Things” now range from simple Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices to smart wireless sensors, intelligent wireless sensors and actuators, robotic things, and autonomous vehicles operating in consumer, business, and industrial environments. The emergence of “intelligent things” (static or mobile) in collaborative autonomous fleets requires new architectures, connectivity paradigms, trustworthiness frameworks, and platforms for the integration of applications across different business and industrial domains. These new applications accelerate the development of autonomous system design paradigms and the proliferation of the Internet of Robotic Things (IoRT). In IoRT, collaborative robotic things can communicate with other things, learn autonomously, interact safely with the environment, humans and other things, and gain qualities like self-maintenance, self-awareness, self-healing, and fail-operational behavior. IoRT applications can make use of the individual, collaborative, and collective intelligence of robotic things, as well as information from the infrastructure and operating context to plan, implement and accomplish tasks under different environmental conditions and uncertainties. The continuous, real-time interaction with the environment makes perception, location, communication, cognition, computation, connectivity, propulsion, and integration of federated IoRT and digital platforms important components of new-generation IoRT applications. This paper reviews the taxonomy of the IoRT, emphasizing the IoRT intelligent connectivity, architectures, interoperability, and trustworthiness framework, and surveys the technologies that enable the application of the IoRT across different domains to perform missions more efficiently, productively, and completely. The aim is to provide a novel perspective on the IoRT that involves communication among robotic things and humans and highlights the convergence of several technologies and interactions between different taxonomies used in the literature.

Recently, many approaches have been proposed to manage sensor data using semantic web technologies for effective heterogeneous data integration. However, our empirical observations revealed that these solutions primarily focused on semantic relationships and unfortunately paid less attention to spatio−temporal correlations. Most semantic approaches do not have spatio−temporal support. Some of them have attempted to provide full spatio−temporal support, but have poor performance for complex spatio−temporal aggregate queries. In addition, while the volume of sensor data is rapidly growing, the challenge of querying and managing the massive volumes of data generated by sensing devices still remains unsolved. In this article, we introduce EAGLE, a spatio−temporal query engine for querying sensor data based on the linked data model. The ultimate goal of EAGLE is to provide an elastic and scalable system which allows fast searching and analysis with respect to the relationships of space, time and semantics in sensor data. We also extend SPARQL with a set of new query operators in order to support spatio−temporal computing in the linked sensor data context.

Trust has emerged as one of the key challenges for the Future Internet and as a key theme of European research. We are convinced that a transdisciplinary research agenda - that we define to as Trust as Result - shared by Sociology and Computer Science, is of paramount importance for devising sustainable Trust solutions for the (Future) Internet stakeholders. The scope of this paper is to present some elements we consider important for building such an agenda.

Simple Summary: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) represents a lethal stage of prostate cancer, characterized for its resistance to androgen deprivation therapy and variable survival outcomes. This study investigates how the composition of specific immune cells in the blood affects the prognosis of mCRPC patients who have not yet received chemotherapy. In looking at blood samples taken before treatment with the drug enzalutamide, we discovered significant correlations between lower levels of CD8 T cells and higher levels of monocytes, which were consistently linked to poorer survival rates. The prognostic value of blood CD8 T cells was independently validated in multivariate prognostic models and in an independent cohort of mCRPC patients. This study highlights the feasibility of blood immune-cell profiling in patients included in clinical trials and the association of blood CD8 T cells with the prognosis for mCRPC patients. The prognosis for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) varies, being influenced by blood-related factors such as transcriptional profiling and immune cell ratios. We aimed to address the contribution of distinct whole blood immune cell components to the prognosis of these patients. This study analyzed pre-treatment blood samples from 152 chemotherapy-naive mCRPC patients participating in a phase 2 clinical trial (NCT02288936) and a validation cohort. We used CIBERSORT-X to quantify 22 immune cell types and assessed their prognostic significance using Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analyses. Reduced CD8 T-cell proportions and elevated monocyte levels were substantially connected with a worse survival. High monocyte counts correlated with a median survival of 32.2 months versus 40.3 months for lower counts (HR: 1.96, 95% CI 1.11–3.45). Low CD8 T-cell levels were associated with a median survival of 31.8 months compared to 40.3 months for higher levels (HR: 1.97, 95% CI 1.11–3.5). These findings were consistent in both the trial and validation cohorts. Multivariate analysis further confirmed the independent prognostic value of CD8 T-cell counts. This study highlights the prognostic implications of specific blood immune cells, suggesting they could serve as biomarkers in mCRPC patient management and should be further explored in clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) bind and neutralize diverse HIV isolates and demonstrate protective effects in primate models and humans against specific isolates. To develop an effective HIV vaccine, it is widely believed that inducing these antibodies is crucial. However, the high somatic hypermutation in bnAbs and the limited affinity of HIV Env proteins for bnAb germline precursors suggest that extended antigen exposure is necessary for their production. Consequently, HIV vaccine research is exploring complex sequential vaccination strategies to guide the immune response through maturation stages. In this context, the exploration of the factors linked to the generation of these antibodies across diverse age groups becomes critical. In this study, we assessed the anti-HIV-1 neutralization potency and breadth in 108 aviremic adults and 109 aviremic children under 15 years of age who were receiving ART. We used a previously described minipanel of recombinant viruses and investigated the factors associated with neutralization in these individuals. We identified individuals in both groups who were capable of neutralizing viruses from three different subtypes, with greater cross-neutralization observed in the adult group (49.0% vs. 9.2%). In both groups, we observed an inverse association between neutralization breadth and the CD4+/CD8+ ratio, as well as a direct association with the time to ART initiation. However, we found no association with time post-infection, cumulative ART duration, or CD8+ cell levels. The present study demonstrates that children receiving antiretroviral therapy generate broadly neutralizing responses to HIV-1, albeit with lower magnitude compared to adults. We also observed that neutralization breadth is associated with CD4+/CD8+ levels and time to treatment initiation in both children and adults living with HIV-1. Our interpretation of these results is that a delay in ART initiation could have prolonged the antigenic stimulation associated with viral replication and thus facilitate the capacity to elicit long-lasting broadly neutralizing responses. These results corroborate prior findings that show that HIV-1-neutralizing responses can persist for years, even at low antigen levels, implying an HIV-1 vaccine may induce lasting neutralizing antibody response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abscission is the final stage of cytokinesis whereby the midbody, a thin intercellular bridge, is resolved to separate the daughter cells. Cytokinetic abscission is mediated by the endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT), a conserved membrane remodelling machinery. The midbody organiser CEP55 recruits early acting ESCRT factors such as ESCRT-I and ALIX (also known as PDCD6IP), which subsequently initiate the formation of ESCRT-III polymers that sever the midbody. We now identify UMAD1 as an ESCRT-I subunit that facilitates abscission. UMAD1 selectively associates with VPS37C and VPS37B, supporting the formation of cytokinesis-specific ESCRT-I assemblies. TSG101 recruits UMAD1 to the site of midbody abscission, to stabilise the CEP55–ESCRT-I interaction. We further demonstrate that the UMAD1–ESCRT-I interaction facilitates the final step of cytokinesis. Paradoxically, UMAD1 and ALIX co-depletion has synergistic effects on abscission, whereas ESCRT-III recruitment to the midbody is not inhibited. Importantly, we find that both UMAD1 and ALIX are required for the dynamic exchange of ESCRT-III subunits at the midbody. Therefore, UMAD1 reveals a key functional connection between ESCRT-I and ESCRT-III that is required for cytokinesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Click chemistry was extensively used to decorate synthetic multivalent scaffolds with glycans to mimic the cell surface glycocalyx and to develop applications in glycosciences. Conjugation methods such as oxime ligation, copper(I)-catalyzed alkyne–azide cycloaddition, thiol–ene coupling, squaramide coupling or Lansbury aspartylation proved particularly suitable to achieve this purpose. This review summarizes the synthetic strategies that can be used either in a stepwise manner or in an orthogonal one-pot approach, to conjugate multiple copies of identical or different glycans to cyclopeptide scaffolds (namely multivalent glycocyclopeptides) having different size, valency, geometry and molecular composition. The second part of this review will describe the potential of these structures to interact with various carbohydrate binding proteins or to stimulate immunity against tumor cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Juan Martin-Serrano [1]; Trinity Zang [1]; Paul D. Bieniasz (corresponding author) [1] An essential step in the life cycle of enveloped viruses is a budding process that occurs at [...]