bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Shaping Pro-Environmental Attitudes through Higher Education—A Preliminary Study
Authors: Balcerak Alicja , Woźniak Jacek
Published: October 2022

Several authors argue that some types of academic education not focused on sustainability can also shape—at least some—competencies relevant to sustainability and turn students into more engaged individuals. The main goal of this article was to check this possibility based on the results of an e-questionnaire from 66 fresh graduates of a business-oriented university based in Poland. We found that respondents rated highly both the competencies that the university taught in the general sphere related to sustainable development and those important for their professional life and wanted further development of both groups of these competencies. Through regression analysis, we also found that the perceived development of SD competencies does not predict respondents’ ecological worldview. Of the studied predictors for ecological worldview, only female gender and mission- or socially-driven dream job remained in the regression model, accounting for approximately 18.6% of the variation in ecological worldview.
Assessing Public Perceptions on Coastal Access -Community Profile: A Case Study of Ngqushwa Local Municipality, South Africa
Authors: Mafumbu Luyanda , Zhou Leocadia , Kalumba Ahmed Mukalazi
Published: October 2022

Access to available marine resources and portions of the coastline is critical to the welfare and viability of coastal societies. Yet, the views of coastal communities do not always find expression in the policies and decision-making processes of many governments. This study aimed at assessing the community’s perceptions about the accessibility of the coastline in Ngqushwa local municipality (South Africa), to offer information critical in reshaping post-apartheid (after 1994) coastal policy, processes and sustainable well-being. The target audience of this study was the ordinary members of the community living in two coastal wards (11 and 12) of Ngqushwa local municipality (NLM). To contextualize the study, a literature review was conducted. Data were collected from key community members using a questionnaire survey. Document analysis and observation were used to validate the research findings. Certain variables of the results were correlated using a cross-tabulation technique. SPSS software was used for data analysis. In general, the results of the study show that although communities value the coast for recreational, spiritual and livelihood; however, there is dissatisfaction with the availability of services and accessibility to certain access points due to various factors. Three main factors identified as obstacles to coastal access were private properties, distance to the shoreline and financial constraints. The conclusions call for multiple interventions such as improving community involvement, addressing accessibility, capacity building and improvement of socio-economic aspects. The findings of this perception survey are crucial in adding to the growing empirical studies about perceptions and guiding associated policies and processes to include community views.
Optimized Stacking Ensemble Learning Model for Breast Cancer Detection and Classification Using Machine Learning
Authors: Kumar Mukesh , Singhal Saurabh , Shekhar Shashi , Sharma Bhisham , Srivastava Gautam
Published: October 2022

Breast cancer is the most frequently encountered medical hazard for women in their forties, affecting one in every eight women. It is the greatest cause of death worldwide, and early detection and diagnosis of the disease are extremely challenging. Breast cancer currently exceeds all other female cancers, including ovarian cancer. Researchers can use access to healthcare records to find previously unknown healthcare trends. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), breast cancer mortality rates can be lowered if the disease is detected early. The novelty of our work is to develop an optimized stacking ensemble learning (OSEL) model capable of early breast cancer prediction. A dataset from the University of California, Irvine repository was used, and comparisons to modern classifier models were undertaken. The implementation analyses reveal the unique approach’s efficacy and superiority when compared to existing contemporary categorization models (AdaBoostM1, gradient boosting, stochastic gradient boosting, CatBoost, and XGBoost). In every classification task, predictive models may be used to predict the class level, and the current research explores a range of predictive models. It is better to integrate multiple classification algorithms to generate a set of prediction models capable of predicting each class level with 91–99% accuracy. On the breast cancer Wisconsin dataset, the suggested OSEL model attained a maximum accuracy of 99.45%, much higher than any single classifier. Thus, the study helps healthcare professionals find breast cancer and prevent it from happening.
A Study on Identifying Priority Management Areas and Implementing Best Management Practice for Effective Management of Nonpoint Source Pollution in a Rural Watershed, Korea
Authors: Kim Jinsun , Choi Jiyeon , Park Minji , Min Joong-Hyuk , Lee Jong Mun , Lee Jimin , Na Eun Hye , Jang Heeseon
Published: October 2022

It is difficult to accurately identify and manage the paths of nonpoint source (NPS) pollution in rural watersheds because their discharge patterns vary depending on season, region, and agricultural characteristics. In this study, flow and water quality during rainfall events were monitored in Songya watershed, an impaired, rural area in South Korea. A method of identifying priority management areas was proposed through scientific objectification and quantification of key factors controlling NPS, such as land use, agricultural type, and load. For the load calculation, a watershed model was developed using Hydrological Simulation Program Fortran (HSPF). Three priority management areas—Mulhan Stream, Osan Stream, and the upstream area of Songya Stream—were selected. Using the developed model, constructed wetlands with the capacity of 1000 m3 were applied at the lower reach of each priority management subbasin and the impacts on NPS pollution reduction were tested. The simulated results showed that BOD and TP concentrations at the outlet of Songya watershed were lowered by 9.2% and 6.0%, respectively. It is expected that the method proposed in this study for identifying priority management areas and implementing best management practice in agricultural watersheds can be applied to similar areas which struggled with NPS pollution.
The Impact of Government Subsidies on Technological Innovation in Agribusiness: The Case for China
Authors: Wu Liping , Hu Kai , Lyulyov Oleksii , Pimonenko Tetyana , Hamid Ishfaq
Published: October 2022

With the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy and the promotion of agricultural and rural modernization, the subsidies enjoyed by agricultural enterprises in China are increasing. As a result, the effectiveness of government subsidies for the technological innovation of agricultural enterprises has attracted more and more attention. Based on the perspectives of the whole industry chain of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fisheries, and of processing, manufacturing, circulation, and service, this paper takes the listed agricultural companies from 2007 to 2019 as a research sample and empirically tests the effects and mechanisms of government subsidies on the technological innovation of agricultural enterprises. The study applies the fixed effect and intermediary effect models. The findings show that government subsidies potentially encourage agricultural enterprises to grow more successfully. Moreover, R&D expenditure is essential for enterprise technological innovation and leads to an intermediate impact. At the same time, government subsidies for the technological innovation of agricultural enterprises have a certain heterogeneity between different industries, state-owned enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises, and large enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, this study argues that the government should continue to raise subsidies. In addition, the subsidies should be “different from enterprise to enterprise”, and government subsidy funds should be better supervised to foster agricultural technological innovation properly.
Sustaining E-Learning Studies in Higher Education: An Examination of Scientific Productions in Scopus between 2019 and 2021
Authors: Gao Yanjun , Wong Su Luan , Khambari Mas Nida Md. , Noordin Nooreen bt , Geng Jingxin
Published: October 2022

The study aimed to gain a comprehensive picture of current e-learning development in higher education. In order to do this, research questions including distribution patterns, contributors in terms of journals, authors and countries, as well as theme development and evolution pattens of e-learning were proposed. To address the research questions, a bibliometric analysis was carried out by reviewing 877 peer-reviewed journal publications published from 2019 to 2021 in the Scopus database, with the help of Biblioshiny and VOSviewer software. The results indicated a fast annual growth in the number of publications from 2019 to 2021, with social science as the core subject area for e-learning development. Sustainability (Switzerland) and Education and Information Technologies were the most contributing journals, due to their high citation numbers and productivity. China, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia made the highest contributions to the e-learning field in terms of the publication numbers and citation indicators. “Acceptance factors”, “perceptions”, “mental health”, “teachers”, “university students”, and “e-learning management and organization” were interest topics discussed between 2019 and 2021. More empirical research was featured to address the issues of e-learning in 2019, and the research interests focused on motivation, administration, and pedagogical aspects. Meanwhile, from 2020–2021, it was observed that themes such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and information and communication technology in the e-learning field were booming. The study provided extensive insight into the existing publications of the e-learning landscape; accordingly, the results could be useful to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners in this field.
Evaluating Shear Strength of Light-Weight and Normal-Weight Concretes through Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Ebid Ahmed M. , Deifalla Ahmed Farouk , Mahdi Hisham A.
Published: October 2022

The strength of concrete elements under shear is a complex phenomenon, which is induced by several effective variables and governing mechanisms. Thus, each parameter’s importance depends on the values of the effective parameters and the governing mechanism. In addition, the new concrete types, including lightweight concrete and fibered concrete, add to the complexity, which is why machine learning (ML) techniques are ideal to simulate this behavior due to their ability to handle fuzzy, inaccurate, and even incomplete data. Thus, this study aims to predict the shear strength of both normal-weight and light-weight concrete beams using three well-known machine learning approaches, namely evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR), artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP). The methodology started with collecting a dataset of about 1700 shear test results and dividing it into training and testing subsets. Then, the three considered (ML) approaches were trained using the training subset to develop three predictive models. The prediction accuracy of each developed model was evaluated using the testing subset. Finally, the accuracies of the developed models were compared with the current international design codes (ACI, EC2 & JSCE) to evaluate the success of this research in terms of enhancing the prediction accuracy. The results showed that the prediction accuracies of the developed models were 68%, 83% & 76.5% for GP, ANN & EPR, respectively, and 56%, 40% & 62% for ACI, EC2 & JSCE, in that order. Hence, the results indicated that the accuracy of the worst (ML) model is better than those of design codes, and the ANN model is the most accurate one.
Wetland Functional Area Division Method: A Correlation Analysis of Water Quality and Landscape Structure
Authors: Liu Tianlong , Ji Xiang , Gong Yaxi
Published: October 2022

The purpose of this study is to provide a clearer idea for the optimization of wetland functional areas and a new method for the identification and analysis of wetland functional areas under the background of the latest Wetland Protection Law in China. This study selected Pan’an Lake Wetland, the first national wetland park built in coal mining subsidence land in China, as the research object. By constructing a “Water-water-landscape-function” (WLF) model, combined with landscape pattern index and Nemerov pollution index method (NPI), the differences in water quality and landscape structure of different functional areas were analyzed. Then, Pearson’s Correlation Analysis and Redundancy Analysis are combined to quantitatively analyze the correlation between water quality environment and landscape structure. Finally, Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) was introduced to help study the spatial difference in water quality in different functional areas. This study lasted for one year. Twelve water quality sampling points were set up, and 216 effective samples were collected monthly for one year. The results showed that: (1) the ratio of built-up land and cultivated land area had a high impact on water quality indicators in each water period, especially the increase in cultivated land patch density would increase the risk of TN and TP losing to surrounding water bodies; (2) the lakes and rivers in the wetland park have good ecological effects and should be widely used in various functional areas; (3) the degree of landscape fragmentation was negatively correlated with the overall water quality, while the degree of landscape agglomeration and landscape diversity were positively correlated with the overall water quality; (4) ecological corridors should be established between WCA and WRA, artificial corridors should be established between MEA and LEA, and ecological interception should be set between MEA and WRA; and (5) the “Water-quality-landscape-function” (WLF) model is an effective tool for the analysis and optimization of wetland functional areas, which provides a reference for the new round of wetland planning in China.
Influence Mechanism of Urban Staggered Shared Parking Policy on Behavioral Intentions of Users and Providers Based on Extended Planned Behavior Theory
Authors: Shan Ziyue , Zhou Chenjing , Song Xiafei , Liu Siyang
Published: October 2022

Shared parking has been widely accepted as an effective way to deal with the mismatch between parking demand and supply. Especially for adjacent construction areas with mixed residential and commercial land, staggered shared parking has broad application prospects. From the previous practice, the public welfare from the government, the commercial interests of parking enterprises, and the individual income of residents will be the key elements to promote a staggered parking policy in adjacent construction areas. However, the current research on shared parking mainly focused on the commercial factors to improve the operating efficiency and operating benefit for parking enterprises; there is a lack of research on the implementation process of staggered parking policies which will solve residential areas’ parking problem with the interests of residents as the core. Here, this paper focuses on exploring residents’ and businesses’ intention to participate in the process of a staggered shared parking policy, where businesses have certain location and condition qualifications. Firstly, this study used two extended theoretical models of planned behavior to explore the behavioral intentions of users and providers in this staggered shared parking event, respectively. Secondly, the research hypothesis was examined using a structural equation approach, and a questionnaire was designed to survey 323 residents and 282 enterprises in the core urban area of Beijing. Ultimately, the study indicated that, for residents, perceptual behavior control has the greatest impact on the perceived intention, while the perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness play a crucial influential role in the willingness to use staggered shared parking. For companies, attitude has the strongest impact on the perceived intention. Our findings reveal the intrinsic impact mechanism of the policies in the decision-making process, contributing to the precise policy implementation to alleviate the problem of difficult parking for residents, thus improving the city’s parking management.
On New Hamiltonian Structures of Two Integrable Couplings
Authors: Liu Yu , Liu Jin , Zhang Da-jun
Published: October 2022

In this paper, we present new Hamiltonian operators for the integrable couplings of the Ablowitz–Kaup–Newell–Segur hierarchy and the Kaup–Newell hierarchy. The corresponding Hamiltonians allow nontrivial degeneration. Multi-Hamiltonian structures are investigated. The involutive property is proven for the new and known Hamiltonians with respect to the two Poisson brackets defined by the new and known Hamiltonian operators.
The l1-Embeddability of Hypertrees and Unicyclic Hypergraphs
Authors: Wang Guangfu , Chen Lijun , Xiong Zhikun
Published: October 2022

A hypercube is a graph whose nodes can be labeled by binary vectors such that the distance between the binary addresses in the graph is the Hamming distance. Due to the symmetry of the hypercube, one usually considers the graph embedded in the hypercube proportionally in distance, meaning that the l1-graphs. In this paper, we determine the l1-embeddability of hypertrees and unicyclic hypergraphs.
Data-Driven Approach for Spellchecking and Autocorrection
Authors: Toleu Alymzhan , Tolegen Gulmira , Mussabayev Rustam , Krassovitskiy Alexander , Ualiyeva Irina
Published: October 2022

This article presents an approach for spellchecking and autocorrection using web data for morphologically complex languages (in the case of Kazakh language), which can be considered an end-to-end approach that does not require any manually annotated word–error pairs. A sizable web of noisy data is crawled and used as a base to infer the knowledge of misspellings with their correct forms. Using the extracted corpus, a sub-string error model with a context model for morphologically complex languages are trained separately, then these two models are integrated with a regularization parameter. A sub-string alignment model is applied to extract symmetric and non-symmetric patterns in two sequences of word–error pairs. The model calculates the probability for symmetric and non-symmetric patterns of a given misspelling and its candidates to obtain a suggestion list. Based on the proposed method, a Kazakh Spellchecking and Autocorrection system is developed, which we refer to as QazSpell. Several experiments are conducted to evaluate the proposed approach from different angles. The results show that the proposed approach achieves a good outcome when only using the error model, and the performance is boosted after integrating the context model. In addition, the developed system, QazSpell, outperforms the commercial analogs in terms of overall accuracy.
Accumulation, Source Identification, and Cancer Risk Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Different Jordanian Vegetables
Authors: Al-Nasir Farh , Hijazin Tahani J. , Al-Alawi Mutaz M. , Jiries Anwar , Al-Madanat Osama Y. , Mayyas Amal , A. Al-Dalain Saddam , Al-Dmour Rasha , Alahmad Abdalrahim , Batarseh Mufeed I.
Published: October 2022

The accumulation of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in plants is considered one of the most serious threats faced by mankind because of their persistence in the environment and their carcinogenic and teratogenic effect on human health. The concentrations of sixteen priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (16 PAHs) were determined in four types of edible vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, and cucumbers), irrigation water, and agriculture soil, where samples were collected from the Jordan Valley, Jordan. The mean total concentration of 16 PAHs (∑16PAHs) ranged from 10.649 to 21.774 µg kg−1 in vegetables, 28.72 µg kg−1 in soil, and 0.218 µg L−1 in the water samples. The tomato samples posed the highest ∑16PAH concentration level in the vegetables, whereas the zucchini samples had the lowest. Generally, the PAHs with a high molecular weight and four or more benzene rings prevailed among the studied samples. The diagnostic ratios and the principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that the PAH contamination sources in soil and vegetables mainly originated from a pyrogenic origin, traffic emission sources, and biomass combustion. The bioconcentration factors (BCF) for ∑16PAHs have been observed in the order of tomatoes > cucumbers and eggplants > zucchini. A potential cancer risk related to lifetime consumption was revealed based on calculating the incremental lifetime cancer risk of PAHs (ILCR). Therefore, sustainable agricultural practices and avoiding biomass combusting would greatly help in minimizing the potential health risk from dietary exposure to PAHs.
Machine Learning-Based Analyses of the Effects of Various Types of Air Pollutants on Hospital Visits by Asthma Patients
Authors: Lee Soyeon , Ku Hyeeun , Hyun Changwan , Lee Minhyeok
Published: October 2022

Asthma is a chronic respiratory disorder defined by airway inflammation, chest pains, wheezing, coughing, and difficulty breathing that affects an estimated 300 million individuals globally. Although various studies have shown an association between air pollution and asthma, few studies have used statistical and machine learning algorithms to investigate the effect of each individual air pollutant on asthma. The purpose of this research was to assess the association between air pollutants and the frequency of hospital visits by asthma patients using three analysis methods: linear correlation analyses were performed by Pearson correlation coefficients, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and random forest (RF) models were used for machine learning-based analyses to investigate the effect of air pollutants. This research studied asthma patients using the hospital visit database in Seoul, South Korea, collected between 2013 and 2017. The data set included outpatient hospital visits (n = 17,787,982), hospital admissions (n = 215,696), and emergency department visits (n = 85,482). The daily atmospheric environmental information from 2013 to 2017 at 25 locations in Seoul was evaluated. The three analysis models revealed that NO2 was the most significant pollutant on average in outpatient hospital visits by asthma patients. For example, NO2 had the greatest impact on outpatient hospital visits, resulting in a positive association (r=0.331). In hospital admissions of asthma patients, CO was the most significant pollutant on average. It was observed that CO exhibited the most positive association with hospital admissions (I = 3.329). Additionally, a significant time lag was found between both NO2 and CO and outpatient hospital visits and hospital admissions of asthma patients in the linear correlation analysis. In particular, NO2 and CO were shown to increase hospital admissions at lag 4 in the linear correlation analysis. This study provides evidence that PM2.5, PM10, NO2, CO, SO2, and O3 are associated with the frequency of hospital visits by asthma patients.
Assessing Pb-Cr Pollution Thresholds for Ecological Risk and Potential Health Risk in Selected Several Kinds of Rice
Authors: Cao Mengzhuo , Zhu Weijing , Hong Leidong , Wang Weiping , Yao Yanlai , Zhu Fengxiang , Hong Chunlai , He Shanying
Published: October 2022

The expected typical gley moist paddy soil was collected in Zhejiang Province, China, and conventional (XS 134 and JH 218) and varieties of hybrid (YY 538 and CY 84) rices were used for a pot experiment. The effects of exogenous heavy metals lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) on rice growth and the accumulation of heavy metals in the grains were studied. The results show that heavy metal concentrations in soil and rice grains have significant correlations, and Pb and Cr significantly (p < 0.05) inhibited the rice growth (plant height and panicle weight). The potential ecological hazard index (RI) of heavy metals in the soil was 4.88–6.76, which belongs to the grade of “slight ecological hazard”, and Pb provides a larger potential ecological hazard than Cr in the studied region. The thresholds for potential health risks and ecological risks for Pb and Cr were lower than the “Control Standards for Soil Pollution Risk of Agricultural Land (Trial)” (GB15618-2018, China). This work provides the basis for soil pollution control for Pb and Cr and the selection of rice cultivars from Pb and Cr accumulated soils.
Acute and Subacute Toxicity Studies of Erodium guttatum Extracts by Oral Administration in Rodents
Authors: Benrahou Kaoutar , Mrabti Hanae Naceiri , Assaggaf Hamza M. , Mortada Salma , Salhi Najoua , Rouas Lamiaa , El Bacha Rim , Dami Abdellah , Masrar Azlarab , Alshahrani Mohammed Merae , Awadh Ahmed Abdullah Al , Bouyahya Abdelhakim , Goh Khang Wen , Ming Long Chiau , Cherrah Yahia , Faouzi My El Abbes
Published: October 2022

The present study aimed to evaluate the acute and subacute toxicity profiles of Erodium guttatum extracts in mice using the methods described in the guidelines of the OECD. In the acute toxicity study, the LD50 value was greater than 2000 mg/kg. The subacute toxicity study of E. guttatum extracts showed no significant changes in body or organ weights. The administration of E. guttatum extracts to mice at a dose of 200 mg/kg led to an increase in white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin. Moreover, the aqueous extract of E. guttatum only decreased liver aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) levels at a dose of 200 mg/kg, and creatinine and urea levels did not show any significant alterations compared to the control group. Our results showed that the extracts of E. guttatum caused a slight increase in alanine aminotransferase (ALAT) and triglycerides. The histological study showed that mice treated with E. guttatum extracts experienced some histopathological changes in the liver, particularly with the methanolic extract, and slight changes in the kidneys and pancreas. Regarding the renal profile, no toxicity was observed. These results provide basic information on the toxicological profile of E. guttatum used in traditional medicine.
Adoptive Immunotherapy for Prophylaxis and Treatment of Cytomegalovirus Infection
Authors: Ouellette Christopher P.
Published: October 2022

Cytomegalovirus (CMV), a member of the Herpesviridae family, is frequent among hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) and solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients in absence of antiviral prophylaxis, and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in these vulnerable populations. Antivirals such ganciclovir, valganciclovir, and foscarnet are the backbone therapies, however drug toxicity and antiviral resistance may render these agents suboptimal in treatment. Newer therapies such as letermovir and maribavir have offered additional approaches for antiviral prophylaxis as well as treatment of drug resistant CMV infection, though may be limited by cost, drug intolerance, or toxicity. Adoptive immunotherapy, the transfer of viral specific T-cells (VSTs), offers a new approach in treatment of drug-resistant or refractory viral infections, with early clinical trials showing promise with respect to efficacy and safety. In this review, we will discuss some of the encouraging results and challenges of widespread adoption of VSTs in care of immunocompromised patients, with an emphasis on the clinical outcomes for treatment and prophylaxis of CMV infection among high-risk patient populations.
Immune Enhancement of Nanoparticle-Encapsulated Ginseng Stem-Leaf Saponins on Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus Vaccine in Mice
Authors: Su Fei , Xu Lihua , Xue Yin , Xu Wei , Li Junxing , Yu Bin , Ye Shiyi , Yuan Xiufang
Published: October 2022

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes severe enteric disease in pigs, particularly neonatal piglets. Current vaccines do not provide complete protection against PEDV. Ginseng stem-leaf saponins (GSLS), a promising oral adjuvant candidate, can improve intestinal immune responses in poultry and mice. However, its low stability limits further use. Poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA), a biocompatible and biodegradable nanoparticle, has been widely used in biomedicine for stable and targeted drug delivery. In this study, we developed GSLS-PLGA nanoparticles (GSLS-NPs) and evaluated the mucosal adjuvant efficacy in vitro and in vivo. GSLS-NPs significantly enhanced antigen internalization and pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion by DC2.4 cells. Mice orally administered GSLS-NPs before intramuscular inoculation generated CD11b+CD8α− and CD11b−CD103+ dendritic cells in the spleen and draining mesenteric lymph nodes, respectively, which are the types mainly responsible for antigen presentation. Additionally, enhanced neutralizing and non-neutralizing antibody responses and expanded activities of specific effector and memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were also observed in mice immunized with PEDV vaccines plus GSLS-NPs compared to mice receiving the vaccines alone. Furthermore, GSLS-NPs showed a good safety profile and presented great advantages over GSLS aqueous solution. Collectively, our results highlight the potential of GSLS-NPs as a mucosal adjuvant and provide an attractive vaccination strategy for combatting PEDV. Further study is required to evaluate the efficacy of this mucosal adjuvant in swine.
Institutional Factors Associated with Infection Prevention and Control Practices Globally during the Infectious Pandemics in Resource-Limited Settings
Authors: Abalkhail Adil , Alslamah Thamer
Published: October 2022

Healthcare-associated infections lead to considerable morbidity, a prolonged hospital stay, antibiotic resistance, long-term disability, mortality and increased healthcare costs. Based on the literature, some individual and socio-demographic factors including knowledge, age and length of service or work experience, gender and type of profession influence compliance with infection prevention and control procedures. In addition, organizational culture, which refers to the assumptions, values, and norms shared among colleagues, can influence an individual’s thinking and healthcare workers’ behavior, either positively or negatively. Infection control practices based on the perspective of patients, hospital management and healthcare workers may help develop a better understanding of the factors influencing compliance with infection prevention and control policies and guidelines.
Ni2+ and Cu2+ Biosorption by EPS-Producing Serratia plymuthica Strains and Potential Bio-Catalysis of the Organo–Metal Complexes
Authors: Zanetti Rocco , Zecchin Sarah , Colombo Milena , Borgonovo Gigliola , Mazzini Stefania , Scaglioni Leonardo , Facchetti Giorgio , Gandolfi Raffaella , Rimoldi Isabella , Cavalca Lucia
Published: October 2022

In this study, a biosorption system for nickel (Ni2+) and copper (Cu2+) removal by selected exopolymeric substance-producing bacterial strains was evaluated from the perspective of water remediation. A preliminary screening in a biofilm-based filtration system allowed the selection of two best-performing Serratia plymuthica strains for specific Ni2+ and Cu2+ removal from synthetic solutions, as well as the definition of the optimal growth conditions. Further tests were conducted in a planktonic cell system in order to evaluate: (i) the effect of contact time, (ii) the effect of initial metal concentration, and (iii) the effect of biomass dose. S. plymuthica strain SC3I(2) was able to remove 89.4% of Ni2+ from a 50 mg L−1 solution, and showed maximum biosorption capacity of 33.5 mg g−1, while S. plymuthica strain As3-5a(5) removed up to 91.5% of Cu2+ from a 200 mg L−1 solution, yielding maximum biosorption capacity of 80.5 mg g−1. Adsorption equilibria of both metals were reached within 30 min, most of the process occurring in the first 2–4 min. Only Ni2+ biosorption data were adequately described by Langmuir and Freundlich isothermal models, as Cu2+ was in part subjected to complexation on the exopolymeric substances. The capability of the exopolymeric substances to stably coordinate a transition metal as Cu2+ offers the possibility of the eco-friendly re-use of these new hybrid systems as catalysts for application in addition reaction of B2(pin)2 on α,β-unsaturated chalcones with good results. The systems formed by biomass and Ni2+ were instead evaluated in transfer hydrogenation of imines. The biosorption performances of both strains indicate that they have the potential to be exploited in bioremediation technologies and the obtained organo–metal complexes might be valorized for biocatalytic purposes.
Efficient Removal of Micropollutants by Novel Carbon Materials Using Nitrogen-Rich Bio-Based Metal-Organic Framework (MOFs) as Precursors
Authors: Meng Yazi , Li Xiang , Wang Bo
Published: October 2022

Eliminating pharmaceuticals with trace concentrations in water is crucial in water purification. Developing an effective adsorbent for removing micropollutants from water has aroused great research interest. In this study, the feasibility of nitrogen-rich bio-based metal–organic framework (MOF)-derived carbon as an effective material to eliminate micropollutants from the water environment is discussed. A mixed ligand approach has been applied to synthesize IISERP-MOF27 successfully via the solvothermal method. Adenine, which is non-toxic, easily obtained, and cheap, was introduced into the structure. The novel heterogeneous porous carbon was produced by pyrolyzation with an extremely high surface area (SBET = 980.5 m2/g), which is 12.8 times higher than that of pristine MOFs. Studies show that the highest surface area and abundant mesoporous structures (Vpore = 0.496 cm3/g) can be obtained when the MOFs are pyrolyzed at 900 °C. The saturated adsorption amount for sulfamethylthiazole (SMX) over MOF-derived carbon can reach 350.90 mg/g with a fast initial adsorption rate of 315.29 (mg/g·min). By adding the second linker adenine as the precursor, the adsorption performance for SMX was made extremely better than that of traditional active carbon (AC) and pyrolyzed ZIF-8(ZIF-8-C), one of the most classic Zn-MOFs. The adsorption capacity calculated by the Langmuir model (R2 = 0.99) for SMX over bio-C-900 was 4.6 and 13.3 times more than those of AC and ZIF-8-C, respectively. The removal percentage of six representative pharmaceuticals can be well correlated to the structural parameter log Kow of each pharmaceutical, indicating the hydrophobic interaction should be one of the major mechanisms for the adsorption in water. This study offers a strategy to develop novel carbon materials to remove pharmaceuticals.
Assessing Fisheries Policies of Bangladesh: Need for Consistency or Transformation?
Authors: Shamsuzzaman Md. Mostafa , Islam Mohammad Mahmudul , Begum Amany , Schneider Petra , Mozumder Mohammad Mojibul Hoque
Published: October 2022

With the aim to enhance production, alleviate poverty, meet animal protein demand, earn foreign currency and maintain ecological balance, the Bangladesh government has formulated the National Fisheries Policy 1998. Over the last two decades, this policy for safeguarding fisheries is still in practice but gets little attention by researchers and policy makers to assess its effectiveness. This study analyzes the fisheries policy frameworks and evaluates how policy changes affecting fisheries production with certain ecological balance. The paper describes elements in the historical process of the development of the national fisheries policy related to the issue of equal or restricted access to the fish resource. The findings suggest that changes in policy only could not offer solutions to prevent over exploitation and overcapitalization that presently exists in conventional open access fishery. In addition, key constraints underlying in between policies and in implementation of laws includes ignorance of conservation laws, overwhelmingly top-down decision-making, lack of appropriate policy goals, inadequate enforcement, outdated policy and bogus action strategy, lack of enforcement regulations against pollution, poor coordination and technical know-how of the personnel concerned. For achieving inclusive growth in the fisheries sector, the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the government stated the Vision 2021, fisheries policy reform is recommended with special emphasis on marine fisheries sub section formulation, socio-economic development of relevant communities, updating of existing governance, and strengthening institutional capacity to appropriately manage this potential sector. Moreover, the existing regulations should be amended accordingly with clearly defined reliable enforcement authority.
LiDAR-Only Ground Vehicle Navigation System in Park Environment
Authors: Wang Kezhi , Li Jianyu , Xu Meng , Chen Zonghai , Wang Jikai
Published: October 2022

In this paper, a novel and complete navigation system is proposed for mobile ground vehicles in a park environment. LiDAR map representation and maintenance, dynamic objects detection and removal, hierarchal path planning and model-free local planning are developed in the system. The system is formulated in three layers. In the global layer, given the global point cloud map of the environment, the traverse area is detected and its skeleton graph is extracted to represent the global topology of the environment. Then, in the middle layer, the global map is divided into several submaps and each submap is represented by a modified multi-layer grid map. In the local layer, considering the dynamics of the environment, according to the real-time LiDAR observation, a probabilistic distribution-based representation and its updating mechanism are proposed. Based on the hierarchal environment map representation, the path planning and local planning are performed in a hierarchal way. Considering the complexity of the motion model estimation, a model free local planner is used. Extensive experiments are conducted in the real environment and the source code will be made open for the robotics community.
INVESTIGATION OF THE LOSS OF THE HEADING AND VERTICAL STABILITY OF THE VEHICLE DURING THE ROAD TRANSPORT EXAMINATION
Authors:   Belgorod State Technological University, NOVIKOV I.A. , NOVIKOV A.N. ,   Orel State University, LAZAREV D.A. ,   Belgorod State Technological University, MAKHONIN V.L. ,   Orel State University
Published: October 2022

Investigation of road traffic accidents (hereinafter referred to as accidents) in the Russian Federation currently uses outdated and averaged models and techniques. Despite the recent years’ developments in the methodological literature, their implementation is local and is not applied to every particular case. The study of the final stage of the accident mechanism is not the exception, when the vehicle continued its movement after interacting with an obstacle in a state of complex movement. Therefore, the construction of a functional universal computational model of complex vehicle movement based on basic physical principles within the framework of road transport expertise is an urgent task.
ASSESSMENT OF THE TECHNICAL PARAMETERS OF VEHICLES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
Authors:   Orel State University, VASILYEVA V.V. , SHEVTSOVA A.G. ,   Belgorod State Technological University, NOVOPISNY E.A. ,   Belgorod State Technological University, LOKTIONOVA A.G. ,   Belgorod State Technological University
Published: October 2022

An analysis of the traffic flow at the intersections of the city of Belgorod was carried out, on the basis of which the main models of light vehicles most frequently encountered in the flow were established and their technical and design parameters were evaluated, which made it possible to establish the parameters of a calibrated vehicle necessary for performing calculations in the or-ganization of traffic, and as well as traffic control. The assessment made it possible to establish en-vironmental indicators to assess the effectiveness of established management methods for the stu-died traffic flow.
EVALUATION OF THE ADDITIVE CONTENT IN MOTOR OILS BY THE IR-FOURIER METHOD
Authors:   Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI), BORISOV B.S. , LAUSHKIN A.A. ,   Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI), KHAZIEV A.A. ,   Moscow Automobile and Road Construction State Technical University (MADI)
Published: October 2022

Described principle of motor oils analysis by IR-spectroscopy for determination of its chemical changes at exploitation process. Fresh and used engine oils are evaluated. The changes in the basic physicochemical properties are studied in addition to the study of the IR spectrum. To study the IR spectra, typical additives used in motor oils, their structural formulas were analyzed and the typical wave numbers at which the compounds of the additives considered are absorbed were determined. Differences in the wavelengths characteristic of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate were recorded and a conclusion was made about the reasons for the decrease in the content of this additive. The dependence between the intensity of absorption of infrared radiation at wave numbers characteristic of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate and a decrease in the total alkaline number was revealed.
MODEL OF TIME COSTS DEVELOPMENT THE MIXED LNG TRANSOPRTATION ALONG NORTHERN SEA ROUTE
Authors:   Don State Technical University, ALPATOV A.A. , ZYRYANOV V.V. ,   Don State Technical University
Published: October 2022

The article considers the relevance of transporting liquefied natural gas along the Northern Sea Route in the countries of the Asia-Pacific region by multimodal transportation using sea (gas carriers (accompanied by nuclear icebreakers, during a dangerous ice atmosphere) and land routes (land transport equipped with medium tanks for transporting LNG)), in particular, along the route of the Arctic seaport of Sabbeta (Russian Federation) – Yokohama LNG terminal (Japan). Based on the combination of logistic models of sea and land transportation of LNG, an algorithm for developing a model of mixed LNG cargo transportation (by sea and land modes of transport) is proposed. A modeling technique is proposed that provides for the integration of logistic models of sea and land transport within the framework of multimodal natural gas transportation.
STUDY OF TYPICAL EMERGENCY SITUATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS USING SIMULATION
Authors:   Kazan Federal University, YAKUPOVA G.A. , MAKAROVA I.V. ,   Kazan Federal University, BUYVOL P.A. ,   Kazan Federal University, ABASHEV A.M. ,   Kazan Federal University, MUKHAMETDINOV E.M. ,   Kazan Federal University
Published: October 2022

The article considers a method for studying typical emergency situations based on computer experiments on a simulation model of a road network section. It is shown that it is expedient to use microsimulation. Modeled typical emergency situations that occur at the T-junction. Estimates of changes in parameters (average time for a car to cross an intersection in all directions, average speed) are obtained when a critical situation of a given duration occurs. Based on the proposed method, a knowledge base for intelligent transport systems can be formed.
THE MAIN ITS FUNCTIONS DEFENITION FOR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT DURING CITY LARGE EVENTS
Authors:   Don State Technical University, BULATOVA O.U.
Published: October 2022

Mass events require additional functions and solutions from the existing urban transport network that would allow to solve the following issues: demand passenger transportation increasing, an in the volume of commercial transportation for service trips increasing, a large number of people unfamiliar with the city, etc. This article examines the experience of various countries in holding mass events, on the basis of which common elements of ITS used in organizing and conducting various types of mass events are highlighted.
APPLICATION OF METHODS FOR CALCULATING THE SPEED OF A VEHICLE BASED ON PHOTO AND VIDEO MATERIALS DURING THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AN ACCIDENT
Authors:   St. Petersburg state University of architecture and civil engineering, EVTYUKOV S.A. , VOROZHEIKIN I.V. ,   St. Petersburg state University of architecture and civil engineering
Published: October 2022

The application of various methods for calculating the vehicle speed from video recordings is considered. Examples of the application of one of the methods in practice are considered, and the obtained values are compared with the actual values of the vehicle speed, as well as with the calculated values of the vehicle speed obtained by other methods
DETERMINING THE CRITERIA FOR FEASIBILITY OF INTRODUCING BUS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM
Authors:   Saint Petersburg State University, MIKHNEVICH I.M. , POPOVA O.V. ,   Saint Petersburg State University
Published: October 2022

Public transport in many countries of the world today does not inspire much confidence among passengers. Bus transportation is too often unreliable, uncomfortable, and dangerous. In response, transport planners and government officials have sometimes turned to extremely costly passenger transport alternatives such as the subway. However, there is a trade-off between low service levels and high costs. Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) can provide high quality subway-like public transport services at a much lower cost than other options.
EVALUATION OF THE EFFICIENCY OF THE ANT COLONY METHOD FOR THE VRP PROBLEM
Authors:   Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University, MASLEEV A.I. , KULYAZIN A.D. ,   Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University, KARETNIKOVA M.P. ,   Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University, LIPENKOV A.V. ,   Nizhniy Novgorod State Technical University
Published: October 2022

The paper considers one of the meta-heuristic methods for the VRP problem - the ant colony aldorithm. Its variations are given. The algorithm of the method, its mathematical model and parameters are considered. The stage of algoritmiztion are considered in AnyLogic professional modeling environment.
SIMULATION OF THE OPERATION OF VIBRATION PROTECTION SYSTEMS IN VEHICLES WITH CONTROLLED DAMPING
Authors:   Orel State University, KOZYREV D.L. , PZDNYAKOVA V.A. ,   Orel State University
Published: October 2022

The article discusses approaches and methods for mathematical and information modeling of oscillatory processes that occur during the operation of vehicle vibration protection devices. A schematic diagram of a lever relaxation vibration protection system is proposed. The main operational advantages of the proposed scheme are indicated. Both the theoretical foundations of mathematical modeling and their application in modern computer modeling systems are outlined.
THE USE OF INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEMS TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT
Authors:   Belgorod State Technological University, NOVIKOV I.A. , KUSHCHENKO L.E. ,   Belgorod State Technological University, NOVOPISNY E.A. ,   Belgorod State Technological University, KAMBUR A.S. ,   Belgorod State Technological University
Published: October 2022

The use of ITS provides reliable data on the parameters of the traffic flow, which allows you to determine the optimal model, algorithm, traffic management scheme. The article presents a statistical indicator of the accident rate based on the Poisson distribution, and the Monte Carlo method is also used to find the distribution function. The probabilities of hypotheses of the oc-currence of an accident are based on the Bayes formula. Graphically, a comparison of the calcu-lated theoretical frequencies is presented on a logarithmic scale.