bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Role of Corporate Governance in Investment Efficiency and Financial Information Disclosure Risk in Companies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange
Authors: Kashani Samira Moghaddamzadeh , Mousavi Shiri Mahmoud
Published: December 2022

This study’s primary purpose is to investigate corporate governance’s role in investment efficiency and financial information disclosure risk in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. A multivariate linear regression model based on the panel data model was used to test the research hypotheses. The results of the survey of 140 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2015 to 2021 indicate that investment efficiency has increased by increasing the quality of corporate governance. In addition, research findings show that improving the quality of corporate governance reduces the risk of financial information disclosure. The life cycle and firm size were used to evaluate the robustness of the results obtained in this study. It was observed that improving corporate governance in companies in the stages of growth and maturity increases investment efficiency and reduces the financial information disclosure risk. In contrast, in companies that are in the decline stage, it reduces investment efficiency and increases the risk of financial information disclosure. In terms of firm size, it was also observed that, in small firms, as corporate governance increases, investment efficiency decreases, and the risk of financial information disclosure increases. However, investment efficiency and financial information disclosure reduce risk by improving large companies’ corporate governance.
Can I Trust My Phone to Replace My Wallet? The Determinants of E-Wallet Adoption in North Cyprus
Authors: Kınış Fatma , Tanova Cem
Published: December 2022

E-wallets and mobile payment systems provide fast, secure, and convenient payment in transactions services while minimizing the need for human interaction. However, the adoption of the technology has had varying levels of success. Using a sample of 300 respondents, the study randomly assigned participants into three conditions and provided different information on how they would be reimbursed by their bank in case of fraud. In the three conditions, this study analyzed how prior consumer knowledge about e-wallet technology along with perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust may be related to the attitudes on the use of e-wallets, which subsequently relates to the intentions to use this technology. The findings suggest that consumer knowledge about e-wallet technology relates to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust, which are known to influence attitude and behavioral intention to adopt and use new technologies such as the e-wallet. In addition, the results displayed that those respondents who were assured of immediate reimbursement in case of fraud may have higher intention to adopt e-wallets when compared to those who were informed of delayed reimbursement or those given no information. While the ANOVA results provided tentative support for the hypothesis that assurance of reimbursement will improve the intention to use e-wallet, the subsequent ANCOVA findings demonstrate that when prior consumer knowledge is taken into consideration and groups are compared with this factor in the equation, the group differences disappear.
TipScreener: A Framework for Mining Tips for Online Review Readers
Authors: Luo Hanyang , Song Wugang , Zhou Wanhua
Published: December 2022

User-generated content explodes in popularity daily on e-commerce platforms. It is crucial for platform manipulators to sort out online reviews with repeatedly expressed opinions and a large number of irrelevant topics in order to reduce the information processing burden on review readers. This study proposes a framework named TipScreener that generates a set of useful sentences that cover all of the information of features of a business. Called tips in this work, the sentences are selected from the reviews in their original, unaltered form. Firstly, we identify information tokens of the business. Second, we filter review sentences that contain no tokens and remove duplicates. We then use a convolutional neural network to filter uninformative sentences. Next, we find the tip set with the smallest cardinality that contains all off the tokens, taking opinion words into account. The sentences of the tip set contain a full range of information and have a very low repetition rate. Our work contributes to the work of online review organizing. Review operators of e-commerce platforms can adopt tips generated by TipScreener to facilitate decision makings of review readers. The convolutional neural network that classifies sentences into two classes also enriches deep learning studies on text classification.
The Impact of Government Behavior on the Development of Cross-Border E-Commerce B2B Export Trading Enterprises Based on Evolutionary Game in the Context of “Dual-Cycle” Policy
Authors: Qiu Yiwen , Chen Tinggui , Cai Jun , Yang Jianjun
Published: December 2022

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on China’s foreign trade. Therefore, the Chinese government has proposed a “dual cycle” policy to promote economic development. In 2021, China’s cross-border e-commerce B2B exports accounted for 60 percent. Therefore, this paper studies the impact of government actions on the development of cross-border e-commerce B2B export enterprises under the background of “dual cycle” policy. First, the policies related to the cross-border e-commerce industry in the “dual circulation” policy are screened, and the LDA topic model is used to classify them, i.e., sorting by topic intensity as “fiscal policy”, “tax policy”, “customs clearance policy”, “payment policy” and “talent policy”. After that, based on the analysis results of the LDA topic model, a theoretical basis for the impact of different policies on cross-border e-commerce B2B export companies is established; then an evolutionary game model between the government and cross-border e-commerce B2B export enterprises is constructed. This article also carried out experiments to verify our analysis. The simulation results show that: (1) The government’s appropriate increase in subsidies, tax incentives, infrastructure investment, talent introduction and cultivation, optimized payment system, and supervision can promote enterprises to participate in cross-border e-commerce B2B export trading; (2) excessive government supervision reduces enterprises’ enthusiasm to participate in cross-border e-commerce B2B export trading; (3) the government’s subsidies, tax incentives, and supervision strength have the greatest impact on whether enterprises participate in cross-border e-commerce B2B export trading, followed by the government’s investment in cross-border e-commerce infrastructure, the introduction and cultivation of cross-border e-commerce talents, and the improvement of the payment system. Finally, this paper puts forward relevant policy recommendations to promote the development of cross-border e-commerce B2B export enterprises.
Topographical Gradient Characteristics of Land-Use Changes in the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone of Northern China
Authors: Gong Qiaoqiao , Sun Piling , Liu Qingguo , Mo Junxiong
Published: December 2022

The agro-pastoral ecotone of northern China (AENC) is a significant ecological barrier, where the topographical features play basic roles in land-use change. In order to reveal the influence of topographical factors on land-use changes in the AENC, we used land-use transfer matrix, geo-information graphics, terrain niche, distribution index and geographical detector to explore the topographic gradient effect of land-use changes during 2000–2020 in the AENC based on remote-sensing image data from 2000, 2010, and 2020. The findings indicate that: (1) The total areas of land-use changes were 121,744 km2, accounting for 17.41% between 2000–2020. This was characterized by increasing amounts of land-use changes in the AENC. The changes in land-use were dominated by the conversions among farmland, forestland, and grassland, which were distributed widely in the mountainous regions of northern, western, and eastern margins. The expansion of construction land was derived mainly from farmland and grassland occurred in river valleys. (2) The pattern of land-use changes was divided into five types including stable type, prophase change, anaphase change, continuous change, and repeated change. Stable type accounted for 559,868.86 km2 and 80.09% of the total area. It was dominant in high altitude and complex terrain areas with terrain niches of more than 1.61. Prophase and anaphase changes accounted for 3.95% and 13.03%, respectively, which occupied to dominant positions in the 0.69–1.17 and 0.04–0.69, 1.17–1.61 terrain niches topographic gradient, respectively. Continuous and repeated changes occupied dominant positions in low altitude and flat complex areas with terrain niches of 0.04–1.17. (3) The topographic gradient effect of land-use changes in the AENC was influenced comprehensively by natural, geographical location, socioeconomic, and policy factors. Natural environmental factors and geographical location determined the topographic gradient pattern of land-use structure, while the direction of the topographical gradient pattern of land-use changes in the AENC is influenced by socioeconomic and policy factors. This research can provide a scientific reference for the development and protection of territorial space and optimal allocation of land resources in the AENC.
Land Suitability Analysis as a Tool for Evaluating Soil-Improving Cropping Systems
Authors: Bilas George , Karapetsas Nikolaos , Gobin Anne , Mesdanitis Konstantinos , Toth Gergely , Hermann Tamás , Wang Yaosheng , Luo Liangguo , Koutsos Thomas M. , Moshou Dimitrios , Alexandridis Thomas K.
Published: December 2022

Agricultural land use planning is based on the capacity of the soil to support different types of crops and is a prerequisite for better use of cultivated land. Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) is used to measure the level of suitability of growing a specific crop in the area and can also be used to evaluate future scenarios as a means for sustainable agriculture. LSA was employed to calculate current land suitability, as well as four scenarios of Soil-Improving Cropping Systems (SICS): (a) Conservation Tillage (CT), (b) Cover Crop (CC), (c) Crop Residue Management (CRM), and (d) Manure Application (MA). The scenarios of SICS were derived by increasing soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity values depending on the SICS hypothetically applied for a period of 100 years in the future. LSA was evaluated for maize in three sites: (a) Flanders (BE), (b) Somogy (HU), and (c) Hengshui (CH). LSA was performed using the Agricultural Land Use Evaluation System (ALUES) considering soil and climatic and topographic parameters. Weighing factors of input parameters were assigned using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results show that in Flanders, the highly suitable (S2) class covered 3.3% of the total area, and the best scenario for improving current LS was CRM, in which S2 expanded to 9.1%. In Somogy, the S2 class covered 18.3% of the total area, and the best scenarios for improving current land suitability were CT and CC, in both of which the S2 class expanded to 70.5% of the total area. In Hengshui, the S2 class covered 64.7% of the total area, and all SICS scenarios performed extremely well, converting almost all moderately suitable (S3) areas to S2. The main limiting factor that was recognized from a limiting factor analysis in all cases was the climatic conditions. This work proves that LSA can evaluate scenarios of management practices and recognize limiting factors. The proposed methodology is a novel approach that can provide land suitability maps to efficiently evaluate SICS scenarios by projecting soil characteristics and LSA in the future, thus facilitating management decisions of regional policy makers.
Impact of Social, Institutional and Environmental Factors on the Adoption of Sustainable Soil Management Practices: An Empirical Analysis from Bangladesh
Authors: Sharna Shaima Chowdhury , Anik Asif Reza , Rahman Sanzidur , Salam Md. Abdus
Published: December 2022

This paper explores the determinants of sustainable soil management (SSM) practices among Bangladeshi paddy farmers. Relevant information from 2681 paddy farmers was extracted from the nationally representative Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS 2018–2019) dataset. Four SSM practices were commonly practiced with 37.04% of the sampled farmers adopting at least one SSM practice. ‘Use of organic fertilizer’ was the most common practice, whereas the other three, viz. ‘zero-tillage’, ‘incorporate paddy residue’, and ‘legume cultivation’ were less practiced by the farmers. Econometric analysis revealed that differences in the farmers’ socio-economic conditions, environmental and institutional settings were the main drivers of the SMM practice decisions. Climatic factors were critical in shaping the farmers’ decision to adopt SSM practices. Education, access to information and extension services increased the adoption probability of SSM practices. Improved infrastructure and being located within the economically vulnerable areas (e.g., Feed the Future zone) influenced the farmers’ adoption decision, but the magnitude and direction varied depending on the individual circumstances. The farmers’ socio-economic conditions, e.g., assets and farm size, also had a notable influence on the adoption of SSM practices. Policy implications include strengthening extension services, incorporation of climatic information in education and dissemination of information on SSM practices, particularly to farmers living in vulnerable areas.
Language Attrition and Lived Experiences of Attrition among Greek Speakers in London
Authors: Lazaridou-Chatzigoga Dimitra , Karatsareas Petros
Published: December 2022

The purpose of this study was to investigate attrition effects in a group of L1-Greek–L2-English speakers and to explore their views on attrition and their feelings about their own use of both languages. The first part (n = 32) was a psycholinguistic study measuring semantic and formal verbal fluency which was part of a broader project. The second part (n = 14) was a sociolinguistic study of semi-structured interviews aiming to gain insights into participants’ lived experiences of attrition. In verbal fluency, monolinguals outperformed bilinguals in the number of correct responses in both semantic and formal fluency. The analysis of the interview transcripts suggested that attriters experience attrition negatively, as a loss of a competence they once had, with two types of negative experiences emerging more prominently: (a) the realisation that they have difficulties with lexical retrieval and (b) stigmatising and judgemental comments by (non)-attriters. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, this study on attriters can give us unique insights into their lived experience of attrition.
Emerging Trends of Nanotechnology and Genetic Engineering in Cyanobacteria to Optimize Production for Future Applications
Authors: Govindasamy Rajakumar , Gayathiri Ekambaram , Sankar Sathish , Venkidasamy Baskar , Prakash Palanisamy , Rekha Kaliaperumal , Savaner Varsha , Pari Abirami , Thirumalaivasan Natesan , Thiruvengadam Muthu
Published: December 2022

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize various fields of research and development. Multiple nanoparticles employed in a nanotechnology process are the magic elixir that provides unique features that are not present in the component’s natural form. In the framework of contemporary research, it is inappropriate to synthesize microparticles employing procedures that include noxious elements. For this reason, scientists are investigating safer ways to produce genetically improved Cyanobacteria, which has many novel features and acts as a potential candidate for nanoparticle synthesis. In recent decades, cyanobacteria have garnered significant interest due to their prospective nanotechnological uses. This review will outline the applications of genetically engineered cyanobacteria in the field of nanotechnology and discuss its challenges and future potential. The evolution of cyanobacterial strains by genetic engineering is subsequently outlined. Furthermore, the recombination approaches that may be used to increase the industrial potential of cyanobacteria are discussed. This review provides an overview of the research undertaken to increase the commercial avenues of cyanobacteria and attempts to explain prospective topics for future research.
Thyrotropin Levels in Patients with Coronavirus Disease 2019: Assessment during Hospitalization and in the Medium Term after Discharge
Authors: Al-Salameh Abdallah , Scherman Noémie , Adda Imane , André Juliette , Zerbib Yoann , Maizel Julien , Lalau Jean-Daniel , Brochot Etienne , Andrejak Claire , Desailloud Rachel
Published: December 2022

Background: The objectives of this study were (1) to compare TSH levels between inpatients with critical versus non-critical coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), and (2) to describe the status of TSH levels three months after hospitalization. Methods: We collected data on adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 at Amiens University Hospital. We compared TSH levels between inpatients with critical (intensive care unit admission and/or death) versus non-critical COVID-19. Thereafter, survivors were invited to return for a three-month post-discharge visit where thyroid function tests were performed, regardless of the availability of TSH measurement during hospitalization. Results: Among 448 inpatients with COVID-19, TSH assay data during hospitalization were available for 139 patients without prior thyroid disease. Patients with critical and non-critical forms of COVID-19 did not differ significantly with regard to the median (interquartile range) TSH level (0.96 (0.68–1.71) vs. 1.27 mIU/L (0.75–1.79), p = 0.40). Abnormal TSH level was encountered in 17 patients (12.2%); most of them had subclinical thyroid disease. TSH assay data at the three-month post-discharge visit were available for 151 patients without prior thyroid disease. Only seven of them (4.6%) had abnormal TSH levels. Median TSH level at the post-discharge visit was significantly higher than median TSH level during hospitalization. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that COVID-19 is associated with a transient suppression of TSH in a minority of patients regardless of the clinical form. The higher TSH levels three months after COVID-19 might suggest recovery from non-thyroidal illness syndrome.
The Life Cycle of the Xylophagous Beetle, Steraspis speciosa (Coleoptera, Buprestidae), Feeding on Acacia Trees in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Alanazi Naimah Asid , Ghorbel Mouna , Brini Faiçal , Mseddi Khalil
Published: December 2022

The xylophagous beetle, Steraspis speciosa, has infected Acacia forests in Saudi Arabia, causing significant damage and even leading to the death of several trees. In the Ha’il region, in the north of Saudi Arabia, an investigation of 13 study sites shows that the Acacia population is mainly composed of three species: A. gerrardii (90.3%), A. ehrenbergiana (7.5%), and A. raddiana (2.2%) and that 21.7% of this population was infected by S. speciosa. The age of the tree (young, adult, old) and environment habitat (Dam, Wadi, Plateau) effects, and insect life-cycle were studied in the protected Machar National Park. Infection in the park, estimated at 25.4%, mainly affects the oldest trees (20.1%) more than the youngest ones (2.3%), while the driest environments (Plateau, 38.8%) are more vulnerable to infection than humid habitats (Dam, 9.4%). The life cycle of S. speciosa lasts about two years, with four stages to complete metamorphosis: mating and eggs (≈3 months), larvae (≈16 months), pupae (≈3 months), and emergency and adults (≈3 months). The larvae stage with many metamorphic instars was the most harmful for tree and takes the longest. The female beetle lays its eggs on weak stem parts. Steraspis speciosa larvae feed on the stems of Acacia trees, and the instar larvae were gathered under the bark of infected stems, harming most of the phloem and a large portion of the xylem. When combined with a prolonged period of drought, S. speciosa causes the withering of numerous branches and, in extreme cases, kills the entire tree.
Effects of Pre-Pregnancy Overweight/Obesity on the Pattern of Association of Hypertension Susceptibility Genes with Preeclampsia
Authors: Abramova Maria , Churnosova Maria , Efremova Olesya , Aristova Inna , Reshetnikov Evgeny , Polonikov Alexey , Churnosov Mikhail , Ponomarenko Irina
Published: December 2022

The aim of this study was to explore the effects of pre-pregnancy overweight/obesity on the pattern of association of hypertension susceptibility genes with preeclampsia (PE). Ten single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the 10 genome-wide association studies (GWAS)-significant hypertension/blood pressure (BP) candidate genes were genotyped in 950 pregnant women divided into two cohorts according to their pre-pregnancy body mass index (preBMI): preBMI ≥ 25 (162 with PE and 159 control) and preBMI < 25 (290 with PE and 339 control). The PLINK software package was utilized to study the association (analyzed four genetic models using logistic regression). The functionality of PE-correlated loci was analyzed by performing an in silico database analysis. Two SNP hypertension/BP genes, rs805303 BAG6 (OR: 0.36–0.66) and rs167479 RGL3 (OR: 1.86), in subjects with preBMI ≥ 25 were associated with PE. No association between the studied SNPs and PE in the preBMI < 25 group was determined. Further analysis showed that two PE-associated SNPs are functional (have weighty eQTL, sQTL, regulatory, and missense values) and could be potentially implicated in PE development. In conclusion, this study was the first to discover the modifying influence of overweight/obesity on the pattern of association of GWAS-significant hypertension/BP susceptibility genes with PE: these genes are linked with PE in preBMI ≥ 25 pregnant women and are not PE-involved in the preBMI < 25 group.
Late Hypersensitivity Reactions to the BNT162b2 SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Are Linked to Delayed Skin Sensitization and Prior Exposure to Hyaluronic Acid
Authors: Maoz-Segal Ramit , Shavit Ronen , Kidon Mona Iancovici , Offengenden Irena , Machnes-Maayan Diti , Lifshitz-Tunitsky Yulia , Niznik Stanley , Agmon-Levin Nancy
Published: December 2022

Background: Late hypersensitivity reactions (HSRs) to the BNT162b2-vaccine have raised concerns regarding its safety, particularly as further immunizations are required. The yield of skin testing with the BNT162b2v is unclear, as well as the risk factors and outcomes of re-immunization after late HSRs. Objective: We studied a series of patients with late HSRs to BNT162b2v. Methods: Patients referred to the Sheba medical center from December 2020 to May 2021 with late HSRs to the first dose of BNT162b2 were included. HSRs were defined as late if they appeared or lasted >24 h after inoculation. We compared late HSRs to immediate HSRs that appeared within minutes–2 h after vaccination. Intradermal testing with PEG-containing medication and BNT162b2v was performed. Results: A total of 17 patients that presented with late HSRs (study group) were compared to 34 patients with immediate HSRs (control group). Delayed sensitivity to intradermal testing of the BNT162b2v was observed in 9/17 (53%) of the study group compared to 4/34 (12%) in the control group (p = 0.01). Former exposure to a dermal filler with hyaluronic acid was documented among 7/17 (41%) vs. 2/34 (6%) in the study and control groups, respectively, (p = 0.0038). All patients who presented with late HSRs were advised to receive subsequent doses of the BNT162b2v vaccine with or without concomitant medication, and all were re-immunized successfully. Conclusions: Late HSRs to BNT162b2v were linked with positive responses to intradermal testing with the vaccine and prior exposure to derma fillers with hyaluronic acid. This may elude to an immune mechanism triggered by former exposures. Although further studies are needed, late HSRs to the BNT162b2-vaccine did not prevent patients from receiving subsequent doses of the vaccines.
The Impact of Psoriasis and Atopic Dermatitis on Quality of Life: A Literature Research on Biomarkers
Authors: Balato Anna , Zink Alexander , Babino Graziella , Buononato Dario , Kiani Charlotte , Eyerich Kilian , Ziehfreund Stefanie , Scala Emanuele
Published: December 2022

Psoriasis (PSO) and Atopic dermatitis (AD) are common inflammatory skin diseases that affect people of all ages globally. They negatively impact the quality of life (QoL) of patients in health-related aspects such as physical, psychological and mental functioning. Here, we conducted a review of studies relating to candidate biomarkers and indicators associated with QoL impairment in PSO and AD. Data research was performed using PUBMED and SCOPUS databases from inception to September 2022. Most of the included studies reported genomic or proteomic biomarkers associated with disease activity and QoL outcomes. Sociodemographic, clinical and therapeutic factors have also been implicated in deterioration of life quality in these patients. The inclusion of clinical characteristics, QoL impairment and co-diagnosis should be considered in drug development programs, since processing biomarkers based on an increased number of features in addition to drug class and disease will intensify the value of the biomarker itself, thereby maximizing the future clinical utility as a stratification tool.
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of Eriocheir sinensis from Wild Habitats in Han River, Korea
Authors: An Hyung-Eun , Choi Tae-June , Kim Chang-Bae
Published: December 2022

Eriocheir sinensis is an euryhaline crab found from East Asia to Europe and North America. This species can live in freshwater and seawater due to the unique physiological characteristics of their life cycle, which allows them to adapt and inhabit different habitats in a wide range of environments. Despite the wealth of studies focusing on adaptation mechanism of E. sinensis to specific environmental factors, the adaptation mechanisms to wild habitats with coexisting environmental factors are not well understood. In this study, we conducted a transcriptome analysis to investigate gene expression differences related to habitat adaptation of E. sinensis from two wild habitats with different environmental factors in the Han River, Korea. A total of 138,261 unigenes were analyzed, of which 228 were analyzed as differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the two wild habitats. Among 228 DEGs, 110 DEGs were annotated against databases; most DEGs were involved in energy metabolism, immunity, and osmoregulation. Moreover, DEG enrichment analysis showed that upregulated genes were related to biosynthesis, metabolism, and immunity in an habitat representing relatively high salinity whereas downregulated genes were related to ion transport and hypoxia response in habitats with relatively low salinity and dissolved oxygen. The present findings can serve as foundation for future E. sinensis culture or conservation approaches in natural conditions.
Balticalcarus archibaldi Simutnik Gen. et sp. n. (Chalcidoidea, Encyrtidae) with the Unusually Small Mesotibial Spur from Baltic Amber
Authors: Simutnik Serguei A. , Perkovsky Evgeny E. , Vasilenko Dmitry V.
Published: December 2022

Balticalcarus archibaldi Simutnik, gen. et sp. n., is described and illustrated based on a female specimen from late Eocene Baltic amber. The new genus is characterized by the absence of a filum spinosum, a “boat”-shaped hypopygium enclosing the ovipositor, reaching far past the apex of the syntergum, the presence of a line of long setae along the entire costal cell of the hind wing, and a transverse line of thickened setae alongside the hyaline spur vein. Moreover, like most previously described Eocene Encyrtidae, the new taxon differs from the majority of the extant ones by a number of morphological features. The new fossil differs from most extant and all known fossil Encyrtidae by its unusually small, thin, smooth (without microsetae) mesotibial spur.
Microstructure and Performance of Fe50Mn30Cr10Ni10 High-Entropy Alloy Produced by High-Efficiency and Low-Cost Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing
Authors: Zhang Xibin , Tong Yonggang , Hu Yongle , Liang Xiubing , Chen Yongxiong , Wang Kaiming , Zhang Mingjun , Xu Jiaguo
Published: December 2022

High-entropy alloys exhibiting superior properties have great potential applications in various fields. The ability to achieve efficient and economical production of large size and complex structures of high-entropy alloy is of great significance to promoting its engineering application. Additive manufacturing is the key method to produce the complex component; however, the current trend in additive manufacturing of high-entropy alloys focuses on laser additive manufacturing, which is expensive and time-consuming. Herein, we developed a wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) method with high-efficiency and a low-cost Fe50Mn30Cr10Ni10 high-entropy alloy was successfully produced. The as-produced alloy was composed of face-centered cubic (FCC) phase with minor σ phase. Its microstructure mainly exhibited dendritic and cytosolic dendritic crystals. Mechanical strength of the additive manufactured alloy reached about 448 MPa with a high fracture elongation up to 80%. The additive manufactured alloy had good corrosion resistance with a protecting layer formed on the surface after corrosion testing, which was much better than 45 steel. Additionally, the frictional performance of the additive manufactured alloy was characterized against the grinding parts of steel and Al2O3 balls, and the corresponding friction mechanism was discussed.
Probing the Dynamic Progression of Erosion–Corrosion of X65 Pipeline Steel Using the Electrical Resistance Method in Conjunction with Galvanostatic Polarization
Authors: Liu Kongzhong , Jiang Wanheng , Chen Wanbin , Liu Liang , Xu Yunze , Huang Yi
Published: December 2022

The initiation of erosion and the coupled damage of erosion and corrosion on the surface of X65 pipeline steel with varying applied anodic currents were online monitored using the electrical resistance (ER) method. Results show that ER method in conjunction with anodic polarization was a highly effective approach for the investigation of the interaction effect between erosion and corrosion, which can be used to quickly and conveniently obtain the synchronously changed erosion and corrosion rates. The critical impact energy is a key parameter of sand particles to induce erosion damage on the steel surface, which can remove the flaky cementite at the edge of the pits. The threshold anodic current density that can cause a synergic effect between erosion and corrosion of X65 pipeline steel can be quantitatively fitted based on the erosion rates under varying anodic currents.
Boundary Lubricity of Vegetable-Oil-Derived Trimethylolpropane (TMP) Ester
Authors: Lee Chiew Tin , Lee Mei Bao , Chong William Woei Fong , Ng Jo-Han , Wong King Jye , Chong Cheng Tung
Published: December 2022

Vegetable-oil-based biolubricants are an excellent alternative to conventional lubricants. Instead of focusing on novel feedstocks, these biolubricants should be further elucidated based on their fatty acid composition, which influences their tribological properties. Therefore, the study utilises gene expression programming (GEP) to derive a boundary lubricity model for vegetable-oil-derived trimethylolpropane (TMP) esters, considering the fatty acid composition (saturation and monounsaturation levels), load and speed. Neat vegetable oil and blends from seven feedstocks are selected following a wide range of fatty acid profiles to synthesise TMP esters using a two-stage transesterification process. The TMP esters are spin-coated on wear discs that are subsequently rotated against a ball using a purpose-built tribometer. The frictional performance of the TMP esters with balanced saturation and monounsaturation levels of fatty acid are measured to improve it at higher speeds. The GEP model is statistically evaluated by adopting the friction data, a showing good generalisation and predictability capability. The model demonstrates that friction decreases with increasing saturation levels of the TMP ester. The GEP model for vegetable oil TMP esters allows for the tribological performance prediction of TMP esters following the fatty acid profile, providing a platform to optimise such biolubricant for desired applications.
3-Phenyl-10-(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)-9,10-dihydro-4H,8H-pyrano [2,3-f]chromene-4,8-dione
Authors: Lichitsky Boris V. , Komogortsev Andrey N. , Melekhina Valeriya G.
Published: December 2022

An efficient telescoped method for synthesis of 3-phenyl-10-(2,3,4-trimethoxyphenyl)-9,10-dihydro-4H,8H-pyrano[2,3-f]chromene-4,8-dione was elaborated. The presented protocol includes the one-pot multicomponent reaction of 7-hydroxy-3-phenyl-4H-chromen-4-one, 2,3,4-trimethoxybenzaldehyde and Meldrum’s acid. Advantages of this method are the application of readily available starting reagents, atom economy and easy procedure of preparation and purification of the target product. The structure of the synthesized polycyclic compound was proved by 1H, 13C-NMR, IR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (ESI-HRMS).
Bis(3,4-diphenyl)(2-methythienyl)cyclopentadienyl Terbium Chloride
Authors: Vinogradov Alexander A. , Komarov Pavel D. , Puntus Lada N. , Lyssenko Konstantin A. , Nifant’ev Ilya E. , Varaksina Evgenia A. , Taydakov Ilya V. , Roitershtein Dmitrii M.
Published: December 2022

A new terbium(III) complex with a (3,4-diphenyl)(2-methylthienyl)cyclopentadienyl ligand was synthesized. Single-crystal X-ray analysis revealed a binuclear biscyclopentadienyl complex with a [TbCl2K]2 core. Luminescence properties of the terbium complex were analyzed.
Sensor Distribution Optimization for Composite Impact Monitoring Based on AR Model and LPP
Authors: Li Peng , Tan Jianbin , Ding Ying , Huang Peiwei , Tang Gan , Zhan Jinqing
Published: December 2022

The aim of this article is to provide a sensor distribution optimization method for the effective impact monitoring of composite plates with fewer sensors. In this research, the number of sensors and the minimum difference between categories are used as objective functions I and II, respectively, where the minimum difference is the Euclidean distance between different influence categories. The dual objective functions are defined by means of finite element analysis, the autoregressive (AR) model, and locality−preserving projection (LPP). The sensor distribution is optimized based on Multi−Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO). Finally, an impact monitoring method is provided, and an experimental platform is built to verify the method. According to the optimization results, different grid sizes have a certain impact on the identification results, with the smaller the grid size, the smaller the minimum difference between categories. Within a given grid size, the minimum difference between categories increases with the increasing number of sensors. Experiments show that the higher the number of sensors, the higher the recognition rate of the system. Comparing the experimental results with the energy analysis of wavelet bands and PCA methods, it is found that the method used in this study has a higher recognition rate. This research provides an impact monitoring method based on sensor distribution optimization. And the effectiveness of the method is verified by experiments. It provides a useful reference and choice for the structure condition monitoring of composite material plates.
Testing of Cutting Tools on a Pneumatic Experimental Device and Evaluation of Cutting Edge Wear Using a Non-Contact 3D Method
Authors: Melicherčík Ján , Krilek Jozef , Kováč Ján , Kuvik Tomáš , Kučera Marián
Published: December 2022

This research is focused on the evaluation of cutting edge wear of the delimbing knife by contactless methods. Delimbing knives were tested in an experimental device constructed in our laboratory, which operates on the principle of a forest harvester head. The greatest wear of the cutting edge was manifested in knife no. 1 with a blade angle of ∢ 7°. The research was focused on the wear of delimbing knives made of DIN 58SiCr8/WNr material when changing the angular geometry of the tool and using a constant delimbing speed of 2.0 m.s−1 while delimbing spruce wood of various wood diameters. The Alicona Infinite Focus device, which functions as a non-contact 3D optical device, was used to determine the amount of wear on the cutting edge of the knife. The size of cutting edge wear significantly affects chipless cutting wood, which can be observed in an increase in the cutting force during the delimbing process. The use of harvester technology in forestry is a highly topical issue today. From this point of view, it is necessary to focus on increasing the efficiency and reducing the energy consumption of the machine, which economically benefits its delimbing operation.
Finite-Time Backstepping Control for Electro-Hydraulic Servo System via Extended State Observer with Perturbation Estimation Performance Improvement
Authors: Meng Fanliang , Yan Hao , Li Jiafeng , Liu Xu
Published: December 2022

The extended state observer (ESO) has been widely used in the state and perturbation estimation of the electro-hydraulic servo system. It was found that there was a controlled quantity in the transfer function between the perturbation estimation value and the disturbance. This indicates that the traditional linear ESO’s estimation of the disturbance is affected by the change in the control input. To solve this problem, a new structure ESO for a hydraulic system (LHYESO) was designed by introducing the hydraulic system’s load pressure and system model. The corresponding frequency domain analysis results show that it eliminates the control input in the transfer function and reduces the dependence of the high-frequency domain range of the perturbation estimation on the significant observer gain. To improve the estimation speed, a finite-time convergent ESO for hydraulic systems (FTHYESO) was proposed based on the structure of LHYESO, and it was proved that the observation error converged to a sufficiently small value during a finite time. Moreover, a finite-time backstepping controller has been designed by using the Lyapunov method to guarantee the rapidity and precise response of the hydraulic servo system. Finally, the experiment results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Control of Unstable Systems Using a 7 DoF Robotic Manipulator
Authors: Spacek Lubos , Vojtesek Jiri , Gazdos Frantisek
Published: December 2022

Robotic manipulators are widely used in industrial applications, and their rigidity and flexibility are very important factors during their deployment. However, their usage is not limited to repetitive point-to-point tasks and can be used for more real-time control of various processes. This paper uses a 7-degrees-of-freedom manipulator to control an unstable system (Ball and Plate) as a proof of concept. The Ball and Plate system is widely used for testing algorithms designed for unstable systems, and many recent works have dealt with robotic manipulators as a control motion system. Robots are not usually used to control unstable systems, but bipedal robots are an exception. This paper aims to design a controller capable of stabilizing an unstable system with solid robustness while keeping actuator action values as low as possible because these robots will be indented to work for a prolonged time. An algorithm for an LQ polynomial controller is described and designed, and the whole setup is tested for ball stabilization in the center. The results show that the designed controller stabilizes the ball even with large external and internal disturbances while keeping the controller effort as low as possible.
Microstructure, Critical Behavior and Magnetocaloric Properties of Melt-Spun Ni51.82Mn32.37In15.81
Authors: Dadda Karima , Alleg Safia , Souilah Saida , Daza Jason , Saurina Joan , Suñol Joan-Josep , Bessais Lotfi , Hlil El-Kebir
Published: December 2022

Heusler alloy with an atomic composition of Ni51.82Mn32.37In15.81 was prepared by melt spinning from arc-melted ingots. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and magnetic measurements were used to study the structural, microstructural and magnetic properties. The crystal structure consists of a mixture of B2 austenite (~50%) and 14M martensite (~50%). The alloy undergoes a second order magnetic transition at a Curie temperature of TcA=194.2 K. The hysteresis loop reveals the occurrence of exchange bias phenomenon at room temperature. The critical exponents β, γ and δ were estimated using modified Arrott plots, Kouvel–Fisher curves and critical isothermal analysis. The respective values are β=0.500±0.015, γ=1.282±0.055 and δ=3.003±0.002. The critical behaviour in ribbons is governed by the mean field model with a dominated long-range order of ferromagnetic interactions. The maximum entropy change, ∆SMmax, for an applied magnetic field of 5 T reaches an absolute value of 0.92 J/kg·K. The experimental results of entropy changes are in good agreement with those calculated using Landau theory.
Knowledge Graph Completion Algorithm Based on Probabilistic Fuzzy Information Aggregation and Natural Language Processing Technology
Authors: Zhang Canlin , Lu Kai
Published: December 2022

The knowledge graph was first used in the information search of the Internet as a way to improve the quality of the search because it contains a huge amount of structured knowledge data. In this paper, the knowledge map algorithm is studied through natural language processing technology and probabilistic fuzzy information aggregation, and the knowledge map completion algorithm is cognitive-fitted. NLP is natural language processing. Based on the experiments in this paper, it can be seen that, after combining the algorithm, the behavior data set of 1000 Amazon users was analyzed, and it can be found that the accuracy of the algorithm improves as the proportion of data in the experiment increases. Among them, the 10% dataset has a correct rate of 0.66; the 30% dataset has a final accuracy rate of 0.68; and the 50% dataset has a final accuracy rate of 0.70. The experimental results of this paper show that using probabilistic fuzzy information aggregation and natural language processing technology as a way to complete the knowledge graph can improve the accuracy of the operation. It plays an important role in the development of intelligent cognition and search engines.
Deep Large-Margin Rank Loss for Multi-Label Image Classification
Authors: Ma Zhongchen , Li Zongpeng , Zhan Yongzhao
Published: December 2022

The large-margin technique has served as the foundation of several successful theoretical and empirical results in multi-label image classification. However, most large-margin techniques are only suitable to shallow multi-label models with preset feature representations and a few large-margin techniques of neural networks only enforce margins at the output layer, which are not well suitable for deep networks. Based on the large-margin technique, a deep large-margin rank loss function suitable for any network structure is proposed, which is able to impose a margin on any chosen set of layers of a deep network, allows choosing any ℓp norm (p≥1) on the metric measuring the margin between labels and is applicable to any network architecture. Although the complete computation of deep large-margin rank loss function has the O(C2) time complexity, where C denotes the size of the label set, which would cause scalability issues when C is large, a negative sampling technique was proposed to make the loss function scale linearly to C. Experimental results on two large-scale datasets, VOC2007 and MS-COCO, show that the deep large-margin ranking function improves the robustness of the model in multi-label image classification tasks while enhancing the model’s anti-noise performance.
Optimal Operation Policies in a Cross-Regional Fresh Product Supply Chain with Regional Government Subsidy Heterogeneity to Blockchain-Driven Traceability
Authors: Cao Bing-Bing , Zhu Mei-Fei , Tian Quan
Published: December 2022

The quality of fresh products through cross-regional sales has been uncertain to consumers. To improve the quality of fresh products, some fresh product supply chains have implemented blockchain technology to provide traceable information for their products, and some regional governments have subsidized their local firms to incentivize them to implement blockchain-driven traceability systems. However, with regional government subsidy heterogeneity, cross-regional fresh product supply chain firms lack theoretical guidance on their operation decisions. Based on the research gap, we investigate optimal operation policies in a fresh product supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer located in different regions. The local governments may subsidize the manufacturer or the retailer located in their own regions, which construct four subsidy strategies (SS, SN, NS, and NN) along the supply chain. We find that the optimal operation policies under four subsidy strategies can be affected by the sensitivity to traceability level, cost-sharing rate of the manufacturer, rate of products left after corrosion, and subsidy rate to the manufacturer. Moreover, the government subsidy to the retailer is always beneficial to the retailer and the supply chain but does not affect the manufacturer’s operation policies and profits. The government subsidy to the manufacturer is always beneficial to the manufacturer but not always beneficial to the retailer and the supply chain. Hence the desired subsidy strategy for the manufacturer is SS and SN, and the one for the retailer and the supply chain is either NS or SS with different conditions.
Manifold Regularized Principal Component Analysis Method Using L2,p-Norm
Authors: Wan Minghua , Wang Xichen , Tan Hai , Yang Guowei
Published: December 2022

The main idea of principal component analysis (PCA) is to transform the problem of high-dimensional space into low-dimensional space, and obtain the output sample set after a series of operations on the samples. However, the accuracy of the traditional principal component analysis method in dimension reduction is not very high, and it is very sensitive to outliers. In order to improve the robustness of image recognition to noise and the importance of geometric information in a given data space, this paper proposes a new unsupervised feature extraction model based on l2,p-norm PCA and manifold learning method. To improve robustness, the model method adopts l2,p-norm to reconstruct the distance measure between the error and the original input data. When the image is occluded, the projection direction will not significantly deviate from the expected solution of the model, which can minimize the reconstruction error of the data and improve the recognition accuracy. To verify whether the algorithm proposed by the method is robust, the data sets used in this experiment include ORL database, Yale database, FERET database, and PolyU palmprint database. In the experiments of these four databases, the recognition rate of the proposed method is higher than that of other methods when p=0.5. Finally, the experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper is robust and effective.