bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Proposing a New Approach to Generate the Differential Trajectory of the Differential Relays Using COMTRADE Files
Authors: Hosseini Seyed Amir , Nazari Ali Akbar , Taheri Behrooz , Razavi Farzad , Hashemi-Dezaki Hamed
Published: October 2022

The differential relay is subject to transient events such as inrush current, which may affect its correct operation. Therefore, evaluating the reliable and accurate operation of differential relays is important, which is only possible by mapping the relay’s differential trajectory on its setting curve. However, except for the SIGRA software, creating a differential trajectory only for Siemens relays, there is a gap in developing a method to extract this trajectory for other commercial differential relays. Hence, in this paper, a new method for generating the differential trajectory of the differential relay from their six input currents and mapping it on the relay setting curve is presented. The proposed method uses the differential relay COMTRADE files to access the relay input currents during an incident. The currents recorded in the COMTRADE files belong to the secondary sides of the current transformers (CTs). Accordingly, the impacts of the current transformers’ connections and the protected transformer’s connection type should be considered in the proposed study. The ability of the proposed method to generate the differential trajectory for different incidents that occurred on the power transformers is evaluated using simulation studies and also according to the experimental tests. The results illustrate the efficiency of the proposed method in generating the differential trajectory from the COMTRADE files. In addition, comparing the results of the proposed method with the results created in SIGRA software shows the higher accuracy of the proposed method in producing the differential trajectory of the differential relay.
Towards Active Evidence-Based Learning in Engineering Education: A Systematic Literature Review of PBL, PjBL, and CBL
Authors: Sukackė Vilma , Guerra Aida Olivia Pereira de Carvalho , Ellinger Dorothea , Carlos Vânia , Petronienė Saulė , Gaižiūnienė Lina , Blanch Silvia , Marbà-Tallada Anna , Brose Andrea
Published: October 2022

Implementing active learning methods in engineering education is becoming the new norm and is seen as a prerequisite to prepare future engineers not only for their professional life, but also to tackle global issues. Teachers at higher education institutions are expected and encouraged to introduce their students to active learning experiences, such as problem-, project-, and more recently, challenge-based learning. Teachers have to shift from more traditional teacher-centered education to becoming instructional designers of student-centered education. However, instructional designers (especially novice) often interpret and adapt even well-established methods, such as problem-based learning and project-based learning, such that the intended value thereof risks being weakened. When it comes to more recent educational settings or frameworks, such as challenge-based learning, the practices are not well established yet, so there might be even more experimentation with implementation, especially drawing inspiration from other active learning methods. By conducting a systematic literature analysis of research on problem-based learning, project-based learning, and challenge-based learning, the present paper aims to shed more light on the different steps of instructional design in implementing the three methods. Based on the analysis and synthesis of empirical findings, the paper explores the instructional design stages according to the ADDIE (analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation) model and provides recommendations for teacher practitioners.
Urban Spatial Structure and Water Ecological Footprint: Empirical Analysis of the Urban Agglomerations in China
Authors: Liu Yuxi , Gong Rizhao , Ye Wenzhong , Jin Changsheng , Tang Jianxin
Published: October 2022

Focusing on the water conservation of China’s urban agglomerations (UAs), panel data covering 92 cities in the top five agglomerations from 2006 to 2020 are used to study the relationship between the spatial structure of UAs and the water ecological footprint (WEF) of their cities. WEFs and spatial structures are measured by the ecological footprint models and the rank-size law, respectively. Furthermore, the effects of spatial structure on WEF are estimated through the fixed-effects (FE) model with instrumental variables (IVs). Results suggest that the concentricity of the spatial structure has a nonlinear impact on the WEF, in that as the spatial structure moves away from polycentricity, the WEF first declines and then rises. By reducing the WEF through concentrated development, cities with a large proportion of production WEF or a large population can enjoy more benefits. Therefore, promoting the balanced development of JJJ and PRD and enhancing the role of the growth pole in CY and YRMR can help the water conservation of most cities. Moreover, considering household water use and small-population cities in other water-saving policies can serve as a policy reference in the future.
Sustainability Assessment of Cultural Heritage in Shandong Province
Authors: Jiang Aihui , Cai Jun , Chen Fulong , Zhang Baolei , Wang Zhiwei , Xie Qiaoyun , Yu Sisi
Published: October 2022

Although the sustainability of cultural heritage plays important roles in the inheritance of humans’ civilization and history, assessments of such fields is still limited. In this paper, the spatiotemporal analysis method and coupling coordination model were applied to assess the sustainability of cultural heritage in Shandong Province. Results show that (1) the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units (“cultural units“ hereinafter) of Shandong Province have obvious convergence of spatiotemporal and city distribution; (2) although the tourism response degree of each city vary greatly, their tourism income exhibits positive correlation (i.e., correlation coefficient reaches 0.6639) with cultural units; (3) the coordination between cultural units, capital inputs, and tourism income in different cities is different, mainly shows three levels of well coordination (Jinan, Jining, Qingdao, Yantai, Weifang, and Zibo), general coordination (Zaozhuang, Weihai, Tai’an, Liaocheng, Heze, Linyi, and Rizhao), and poor coordination (Dezhou, Binzhou, and Dongying). These findings imply that the SDGs 11.4.1 is an effective indicator to promote the sustainable development of cultural heritage. However, there are still shortcomings at the city level, and the distribution of heritage and tourism response in the area should be considered in the future.
Standards of Teacher Digital Competence in Higher Education: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Basantes-Andrade Andrea , Casillas-Martín Sonia , Cabezas-González Marcos , Naranjo-Toro Miguel , Guerra-Reyes Frank
Published: October 2022

In a society marked by continuous technological changes in favor of education, digital competence is an unavoidable feature in the professional profile of the university teaching staff. This systematic literature review aims at answering the following questions: what basic standards are established by the literature for teacher training in digital competence to strengthen their work inside and outside the classroom? What models or frameworks do they use as references? What are university professors’ training needs? What contributions have been made in this line of study and what technologies are recommended for teacher training in digital competence? Based on the four phases of the PRISMA flowchart: identification, selection, eligibility, and inclusion, the articles indexed in the Web of Science, Scopus, and Scielo databases, both in English and Spanish, and published in 2015 until the end of May 2022, were analyzed. The initial search resulted in a total of 187 potentially useful articles, 26 of which met the inclusion and quality criteria. The authors of the selected papers concur in identifying the dimensions of competence and, subsequently, in establishing the standards, direction, and focus of training.
The Effects of Leadership Behaviors of Secondary School Administrators on Staff Job Satisfaction in TRNC
Authors: Sucuoğlu Esen , Uluğ Mustafa
Published: October 2022

Job satisfaction levels are important for people who spend most of their days at work. In the literature, there are studies on many factors that may affect the job satisfaction of employees. It is seen that the leadership behaviors of school principals affect teachers. This research aims to reveal the effects of school administrators’ leadership behaviors on teachers’ job satisfaction. A qualitative research technique was used in this study. Twenty-five secondary school teachers participated in this study. Research data were collected through a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researcher. The data were analyzed through the content analysis technique. The findings showed that the job satisfaction levels of the teachers were not sufficient, and the positive and negative leadership behaviors of the school principals affected the teacher job satisfaction.
Slow Fashion Is Positively Linked to Consumers’ Well-Being: Evidence from an Online Questionnaire Study in China
Authors: Liu An , Baines Emily , Ku Lisbeth
Published: October 2022

The environmental price of fashion has been heavily scrutinised in recent years. Slow fashion, with its emphasis on quality, design, sustainability, ethicality and local craft heritage, represents an alternative to the harmful environmental and social impact of fast fashion. Equally important, some initial evidence from qualitative research suggests that slow fashion could enhance consumers’ well-being. The present study aims to quantitatively evaluate the relationships that fast and slow fashion may have with different domains of well-being, utilising Seligmen’s influential PERMA model from positive psychology. In addition, it explores characteristics from slow fashion that may enhance garment lifetimes. An online questionnaire successfully surveyed 763 urban Chinese consumers. Results showed that consumption of slow fashion, in particular ‘customised/bespoke clothing’ that allows consumers to be actively involved in the creation process, positively predicted three well-being domains—engagement, meaning and achievement. Fast fashion, on the other hand, negatively predicted these domains. Classic/timeless design, ease of maintenance and ease of matching with other clothes emerged as the three most important characteristics that may encourage consumers’ long-term use of fashion items. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of promoting slow fashion to enhance sustainability.
Optimal Design of an Artificial Intelligence Controller for Solar-Battery Integrated UPQC in Three Phase Distribution Networks
Authors: Srilakshmi Koganti , Sujatha Canavoy Narahari , Balachandran Praveen Kumar , Mihet-Popa Lucian , Kumar Naluguru Udaya
Published: October 2022

In order to minimize losses in the distribution network, integrating non-conventional energy sources such as wind, tidal, solar, and so on, into the grid has been proposed in many papers as a viable solution. Using electronic power equipment to control nonlinear loads impacts the quality of power. The unified power quality conditioner (UPQC) is a FACTS device with back-to-back converters that are coupled together with a DC-link capacitor. Conventional training algorithms used by ANNs, such as the Back Propagation and Levenberg–Marquardt algorithms, can become trapped in local optima, which motivates the use of ANNs trained by evolutionary algorithms. This work presents a hybrid controller, based on the soccer league algorithm, and trained by an artificial neural network controller (S-ANNC), for use in the shunt active power filter. This work also presents a fuzzy logic controller for use in the series active power filter of the UPQC that is associated with the solar photovoltaic system and battery storage system. The synchronization of phases is created using a self-tuning filter (STF), in association with the unit vector generation method (UVGM), for the superior performance of UPQC during unbalanced/distorted supply voltage conditions; therefore, the necessity of the phase-locked-loop, low-pass filters, and high-pass filters are totally eliminated. The STF is used for separating harmonic and fundamental components, in addition to generating the synchronization phases of series and shunt filters. The prime objective of the suggested S-ANNC is to minimize mean square error in order to achieve a fast action that will retain the DC-link voltage’s constant value during load/irradiation variations, suppress current harmonics and power–factor enhancement, mitigate sagging/swelling/disturbances in the supply voltage, and provide appropriate compensation for unbalanced supply voltages. The performance analysis of S-ANNC, using five test cases for several combinations of loads/supply voltages, demonstrates the supremacy of the suggested S-ANNC. Comparative analysis was carried out using the GA, PSO, and GWO training methods, in addition to other methods that exist in the literature. The S-ANNC showed an extra-ordinary performance in terms of diminishing total harmonic distortion (THD); thus PF was improved and voltage distortions were reduced.
Retail Electricity Market Liberalization: An Overview of International Experience and Effects on the Chilean Regulated Tariff
Authors: Verdejo-Fredes Humberto , García-Muñoz Fernando , Tobar Francisco , Becker Cristhian , Olivares Mauricio , Zolezzi Juan , Guzmán Guillermo
Published: October 2022

The Chilean government is looking to liberalize the retail electricity market to increase competitiveness and reduce the price of electricity for residential and small/medium commercial customers. Under this context, the article aims to enrich the legislative debate by providing an overview of the international experience of the electricity market liberalization that started in the early 1990s and presents forecasting for the regulated Chilean price until 2034, considering the current tenders and the price stabilization mechanism. In addition, multiple simulations are developed to measure the market effect of retail liberalization on regulated customers. In this regard, the results suggest a significant regulated price increase from 2022 to 2032, produced mainly by the stabilization mechanism, which overshadows the low prices obtained in recent renewable generation supply tenders. However, if the retail market is liberalized, the simulation indicates that regulated customers could save between 15% and 20% on their electricity bills.
Research on the Collaborative Innovation Relationship of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Yangtze River Delta of China: A Complex Network Perspective
Authors: Xu Guiqiong , Dong Chen , Meng Lei
Published: October 2022

Artificial intelligence (AI), as a rapidly developing interdisciplinary field, is a key driver of future economic development. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is one of the most significant economic regions of China, which also has a leading role in the AI industry. In this study, based on the patent cooperation data of YRD in the past decade, we focus on studying the collaborative innovation relationship in the AI field of the YRD from the perspective of complex networks. In order to investigate the interprovincial, intra-city and inter-city collaborative innovation relationships, we construct the Yangtze River Delta AI collaborative innovation (YRD-AICI) network. Subsequently, to analyze the development status and collaborative innovation relationship of innovation bodies in the AI field of YRD, we construct the Yangtze River Delta AI patent cooperation (YRD-AIPC) network. Next, the basic characteristics and spatio-temporal evolution of these two networks are explored, and the research results are presented that: (1) Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, and Zhejiang Province have obvious leading advantages in the AI field of the YRD, and the development gap between cities is significant; (2) the pioneering innovation bodies in the AI industry of the YRD are identified using centrality measures, and their cooperative innovation relationship is revealed; (3) based on link prediction methods, future partnerships between cities and innovation bodies are predicted to provide the future development trend of the YRD. The results provide theoretical support for exploring the cooperation mechanism of collaborative innovation in the AI field of YRD and inspire future development planning.
Evaluation of a Long-Term Thermal Load on the Sealing Characteristics of Potential Sediments for a Deep Radioactive Waste Disposal
Authors: Clauer Norbert , Honty Miroslav , Frederickx Lander , Nussbaum Christophe
Published: October 2022

An in situ and a batch heating experiment were applied on the fine-grained sediments of the Opalinus Clay from Mont Terri (Switzerland) and the Boom Clay of Mol (Belgium), both being currently studied as potential host formations for deep nuclear waste disposal. The purpose was here to test the impact of a 100 °C temperature rise that is expected to be produced by nuclear waste in deep repositories. The experiment on the Opalinus Clay mimicked real conditions with 8-months operating heating devices stored in core drillings into the rock. The comparison of the major, trace, rare-earth elemental contents and of the whole-rock K-Ar data before and after heating shows only a few variations beyond analytical uncertainty. However, the necessary drillings for collecting control samples after the experiment added an unexpected uncertainty to the analyses due to the natural heterogeneity of the rock formation, even if very limited. To overcome this aspect, Boom Clay ground material was subjected to a batch experiment in sealed containers during several years. The drawback being here the fact that controls were limited with, however, similar reproducible results that also suggest limited elemental transfers from rock size into that of the <2 μm material, unless the whole rocks lost more elements than the fine fractions. The analyses generated by the two experiments point to identical conclusions: a visible degassing and dewatering of the minerals that did not induce a visible alteration/degradation of the host-rock safety characteristics after the short-term temperature increase.
Effect of Mooring Parameters on Dynamic Responses of a Semi-Submersible Floating Offshore Wind Turbine
Authors: Liu Baolong , Yu Jianxing
Published: October 2022

Based on a new semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine (FOWT), a coupling aero-hydro-flexible model was established to study its dynamic behaviors, as well as the corresponding mooring system, under complicated sea scenarios. The aerodynamic load, the wave load, the current load, and the mooring load were taken into consideration. To further investigate the influence of the mooring parameters on the floating system, the diameter and the total length of mooring lines, which are the most critical parameters in mooring line design, were chosen to be analyzed. Particularly, five diameters and seven lengths were adopted to establish the FOWT mooring system, and a time-domain simulation was carried out for each cases. Based on the numerical simulations, their influences on the mooring system stiffness and the dynamic responses of FOWT were studied. The results show that the diameter has little influence on the static shape of the mooring line. The mooring system stiffness can be effectively increased by reducing the length and increasing the diameter of mooring lines. Moreover, the surge motion of floating foundation can be effectively controlled by increasing the mooring line diameter and decreasing mooring line length under the rated sea scenario. From this aspect, the dynamic response features of the FOWTs could be improved.
Investigating the Influences of Smart Port Practices and Technology Employment on Port Sustainable Performance: The Egypt Case
Authors: Othman Alaa , El Gazzar Sara , Knez Matjaz
Published: October 2022

In this digital age, sustainable development and competitive advantage of port businesses rely on their capacity to adapt to changing business requirements. Although many previous studies develop a relation between smart port, technology, and sustainable performance, there is an urgent need to address such issues practically among ports, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this research aims at investigating to what extent the Egyptian ports could apply the smart practices and employ technology to achieve and improve sustainable port performance. The Egyptian ports have been selected to serve as an empirical study in this research, assessing their current performance and evaluating their level of readiness and adaptability to smart practices and technology employment. Interviews have been conducted with a group of 10 different stakeholders from government, private sectors, and experts in the field of port management. The interview results showed the main challenges and obstacles that might face the adaptation of technology and sustainable practices in Egyptian ports. This was followed by a focus group with experts in the field to discuss and conclude some procedures that can be adapted to facilitate the implementation of smart practices and technology employment in the Egyptian ports in order to improve their sustainable performance from different perspectives (economic, social, and environmental), deal with the obstacles facing adaptation, and suggest solutions The research adopted ‘content analysis’ for both phases. The research showed the great potential of technology employment to achieve sustainable performance in Egyptian ports while highlighting the main obstacles and challenges that might face the adaptation with suggestions and recommendations to those obstacles in order to adopt the digital transformation towards a sustainable smart port performance. Nevertheless, there are some limitations that could be an open issue to future researchers and practitioners who can benefit from those suggestions to employ technology and adapt sustainable procedures in ports, foster new practical research initiatives to adapt the smart port practices in different countries, and test their impact on port sustainable performance.
Numerical Simulation Study on Lining Damage of Shield Tunnel under Train Load
Authors: Wang Feifei , Shao Jinggan , Li Wenkai , Wang Longfei , Wang Yafei , Liu Honglin
Published: October 2022

Under the long-term dynamic load influence of trains, shield tunnel structures are damaged. With the increase in operating number, cumulative damage gradually increases. When cumulative damage increases to a certain value, the tunnel lining produces cracks and loses tensile strength, which leads to tunnel deformation, damage, etc. In serious cases, the tunnel ceases operation, causing traffic accidents and casualties. Based on the finite element software ABAQUS, this paper analyses the change rule of tunnel lining damage under long-term dynamic train load and explores the influence of tunnel buried depth on the change rule of tunnel lining damage. The excitation force function is used to generate a series of dynamic and static loads superimposed by sine functions to simulate the dynamic loads of trains. Load is applied above the tunnel by writing DLOAD subprogram. The results show that the damage of tunnel lining mainly occurs at the arch foot and the structural damage in other places can be neglected. Under the same loading condition, the greater the tunnel lining damage is. Under the same loading conditions, the tunnel lining damage increases with the increase in buried depth. According to the test results, the mathematical expressions of cumulative damage value versus loading times at the location prone to fatigue damage. It provides theoretical reference for safety evaluation and protection of tunnel structure under long-term train load.
Traffic Sign Detection Based on Lightweight Multiscale Feature Fusion Network
Authors: Lin Shan , Zhang Zicheng , Tao Jie , Zhang Fan , Fan Xing , Lu Qingchang
Published: October 2022

Traffic sign detection is a research hotspot in advanced assisted driving systems, given the complex background, light transformation, and scale changes of traffic sign targets, as well as the problems of slow result acquisition and low accuracy of existing detection methods. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes a traffic sign detection method based on a lightweight multiscale feature fusion network. Since a lightweight network model is simple and has fewer parameters, it can greatly improve the detection speed of a target. To learn more target features and improve the generalization ability of the model, a multiscale feature fusion method can be used to improve recognition accuracy during training. Firstly, MobileNetV3 was selected as the backbone network, a new spatial attention mechanism was introduced, and a spatial attention branch and a channel attention branch were constructed to obtain a mixed attention weight map. Secondly, a feature-interleaving module was constructed to convert the single-scale feature map of the specified layer into a multiscale feature fusion map to realize the combined encoding of high-level semantic information and low-level semantic information. Then, a feature extraction base network for lightweight multiscale feature fusion with an attention mechanism based on the above steps was constructed. Finally, a key-point detection network was constructed to output the location information, bias information, and category probability of the center points of traffic signs to achieve the detection and recognition of traffic signs. The model was trained, validated, and tested using TT100K datasets, and the detection accuracy of 36 common categories of traffic signs reached more than 85%, among which the detection accuracy of five categories exceeded 95%. The results showed that, compared with the traditional methods of Faster R-CNN, CornerNet, and CenterNet, traffic sign detection based on a lightweight multiscale feature fusion network had obvious advantages in the speed and accuracy of recognition, significantly improved the detection performance for small targets, and achieved a better real-time performance.
Strategies for China’s Historic Districts Regeneration in Responding to Public Health Emergencies
Authors: Gai Qiyu , Li Zijia , Hu Huifeng
Published: October 2022

Most of China’s historic districts are located in urban centers with excessive building density and possess rich historical, cultural, scientific and aesthetic value. However, historic districts lack infrastructure and specific plans for emergency response compared to modern residential areas in cities, creating a social inequity trap for the residents in both. In addition, as valuable material cultural heritage, the usual conservation of local culture and the ecological environment conflict with anti-epidemic requirements. This study proposes a system of strategies for responding to public health emergencies that can address the above issues. Through the methods of policy refinement and the application of the concept of normal and disaster time conversion, the strategic system was constructed, including five major aspects: emergency preparedness programs at the planning level, installation of modulized variable devices, environmentally friendly health protection, disaster prevention preparation at the spatial level, and plant configuration. It is beneficial to improve the disaster prevention system for special urban communities and provide a reference for emergency planning in the future regeneration process of historic districts.
A Combined Bioassay and Nanofractionation Approach to Investigate the Anticoagulant Toxins of Mamba and Cobra Venoms and Their Inhibition by Varespladib
Authors: Arrahman Arif , Kazandjian Taline D. , Still Kristina B. M. , Slagboom Julien , Somsen Govert W. , Vonk Freek J. , Casewell Nicholas R. , Kool Jeroen
Published: October 2022

Envenomation by elapid snakes primarily results in neurotoxic symptoms and, consequently, are the primary focus of therapeutic research concerning such venoms. However, mounting evidence suggests these venoms can additionally cause coagulopathic symptoms, as demonstrated by some Asian elapids and African spitting cobras. This study sought to investigate the coagulopathic potential of venoms from medically important elapids of the genera Naja (true cobras), Hemachatus (rinkhals), and Dendroaspis (mambas). Crude venoms were bioassayed for coagulant effects using a plasma coagulation assay before RPLC/MS was used to separate and identify venom toxins in parallel with a nanofractionation module. Subsequently, coagulation bioassays were performed on the nanofractionated toxins, along with in-solution tryptic digestion and proteomics analysis. These experiments were then repeated on both crude venoms and on the nanofractionated venom toxins with the addition of either the phospholipase A2 (PLA2) inhibitor varespladib or the snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP) inhibitor marimastat. Our results demonstrate that various African elapid venoms have an anticoagulant effect, and that this activity is significantly reduced for cobra venoms by the addition of varespladib, though this inhibitor had no effect against anticoagulation caused by mamba venoms. Marimastat showed limited capacity to reduce anticoagulation in elapids, affecting only N. haje and H. haemachatus venom at higher doses. Proteomic analysis of nanofractionated toxins revealed that the anticoagulant toxins in cobra venoms were both acidic and basic PLA2s, while the causative toxins in mamba venoms remain uncertain. This implies that while PLA2 inhibitors such as varespladib and metalloproteinase inhibitors such as marimastat are viable candidates for novel snakebite treatments, they are not likely to be effective against mamba envenomings.
Ionospheric TEC Forecasting over an Indian Low Latitude Location Using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) Deep Learning Network
Authors: Reddybattula Kanaka Durga , Nelapudi Likhita Sai , Moses Mefe , Devanaboyina Venkata Ratnam , Ali Masood Ashraf , Jamjareegulgarn Punyawi , Panda Sampad Kumar
Published: October 2022

The forecasting of ionospheric electron density has been of great interest to the research scientists and engineers’ community as it significantly influences satellite-based navigation, positioning, and communication applications under the influence of space weather. Hence, the present paper adopts a long short-term memory (LSTM) deep learning network model to forecast the ionospheric total electron content (TEC) by exploiting global positioning system (GPS) observables, at a low latitude Indian location in Bangalore (IISC; Geographic 13.03° N and 77.57° E), during the 24th solar cycle. The proposed model uses about eight years of GPS-TEC data (from 2009 to 2017) for training and validation, whereas the data for 2018 was used for independent testing and forecasting of TEC. Apart from the input TEC parameters, the model considers sequential data of solar and geophysical indices to realize the effects. The performance of the model is evaluated by comparing the forecasted TEC values with the observed and global empirical ionosphere model (international reference ionosphere; IRI-2016) through a set of validation metrics. The analysis of the results during the test period showed that LSTM output closely followed the observed GPS-TEC data with a relatively minimal root mean square error (RMSE) of 1.6149 and the highest correlation coefficient (CC) of 0.992, as compared to IRI-2016. Furthermore, the day-to-day performance of LSTM was validated during the year 2018, inferring that the proposed model outcomes are significantly better than IRI-2016 at the considered location. Implementation of the model at other latitudinal locations of the region is suggested for an efficient regional forecast of TEC across the Indian region. The present work complements efforts towards establishing an efficient regional forecasting system for indices of ionospheric delays and irregularities, which are responsible for degrading static, as well as dynamic, space-based navigation system performances.
Modeling of Solar Wind Disturbances Associated with Coronal Mass Ejections and Verification of the Forecast Results
Authors: Shugay Yulia , Kalegaev Vladimir , Kaportseva Ksenia , Slemzin Vladimir , Rodkin Denis , Eremeev Valeriy
Published: October 2022

Solar wind (SW) disturbances associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs) cause significant geomagnetic storms, which may lead to the malfunction or damage of sensitive on-ground and space-based critical infrastructure. CMEs are formed in the solar corona, and then propagate to the Earth through the heliosphere as Interplanetary CME (ICME) structures. We describe the main principles in development with the online, semi-empirical system known as the Space Monitoring Data Center (SMDC) of the Moscow State University, which forecasts arrival of ICMEs to Earth. The initial parameters of CMEs (speeds, startup times, location of the source) are determined using data from publicly available catalogs based on solar images from space telescopes and coronagraphs. After selecting the events directed to Earth, the expected arrival time and speed of ICMEs at the L1 point are defined using the Drag-Based model (DBM), which describes propagation of CMEs through the heliosphere under interaction with the modeled quasi-stationary SW. We present the test results of the ICME forecast in the falling phase of Cycle 24 obtained with the basic version of SMDC in comparison with results of other models, its optimization and estimations of the confidence intervals, and probabilities of a successful forecast.
Noether Theorem and Nilpotency Property of the (Anti-)BRST Charges in the BRST Formalism: A Brief Review
Authors: Rao Amit Kumar , Tripathi Ankur , Chauhan Bhupendra , Malik Rudra Prakash
Published: October 2022

In some of the physically interesting gauge systems, we show that the application of the Noether theorem does not lead to the deduction of the Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin (BRST) and anti-BRST charges that obey precisely the off-shell nilpotency property despite the fact that these charges are (i) derived by using the off-shell nilpotent (anti-)BRST symmetry transformations, (ii) found to be the generators of the above continuous symmetry transformations, and (iii) conserved with respect to the time-evolution due to the Euler–Lagrange equations of motion derived from the Lagrangians/Lagrangian densities (that describe the dynamics of these suitably chosen physical systems). We propose a systematic method for the derivation of the off-shell nilpotent (anti-)BRST charges from the corresponding non-nilpotent Noether (anti-)BRST charges. To corroborate the sanctity and preciseness of our proposal, we take into account the examples of (i) the one (0 + 1)-dimensional (1D) system of a massive spinning (i.e., SUSY) relativistic particle, (ii) the D-dimensional non-Abelian one-form gauge theory, and (iii) the Abelian two-form and the Stu¨ckelberg-modified version of the massive Abelian three-form gauge theories in any arbitrary D-dimension of spacetime. Our present endeavor is a brief review where some decisive proposals have been made and a few novel results have been obtained as far as the nilpotency property is concerned.
Vaidya and Generalized Vaidya Solutions by Gravitational Decoupling
Authors: Vertogradov Vitalii , Misyura Maxim
Published: October 2022

In this paper, we apply the gravitational decoupling method for dynamical systems in order to obtain a new type of solution that can describe a hairy dynamical black hole. We consider three cases of decoupling. The first one is the simplest and most well known when the mass function is the function only of space coordinate r. The second case is a Vaidya spacetime case when the mass function depends on time v. Finally, the third case represents the generalization of these two cases: the mass function is the function of both r and v. We also calculate the apparent horizon and singularity locations for all three cases.
Patients with Hematological Malignancies Treated with T-Cell or B-Cell Immunotherapy Remain at High Risk of Severe Forms of COVID-19 in the Omicron Era
Authors: Zerbit Jeremie , Detroit Marion , Meyer Antoine , Decroocq Justine , Deau-Fischer Benedicte , Deschamps Paul , Birsen Rudy , Mondesir Johanna , Franchi Patricia , Miekoutima Elsa , Guerin Corinne , Batista Rui , Bouscary Didier , Willems Lise , Vignon Marguerite
Published: October 2022

Background: Patients with hematological malignancies are at greater risk of severe COVID-19 and have been prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination. A significant proportion of them have an impaired vaccine response, both due to the underlying disease and to the treatments. Methods: We conducted a prospective observational study to identify the specific risks of the outpatient population with hematological diseases. Result: Between 22 December 2021 to 12 February 2022, we followed 338 patients of which 16.9% (n = 57) developed SARS-CoV-2 infection despite previous vaccination (94.7%). COVID-19 patients were more likely to have received immunotherapy (85.5% vs. 41%, p < 10−4), and particularly anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies (40% vs. 14.9%, p < 10−4) and Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) (7.3% vs. 0.7%, p < 10−2). There was no significant difference in demographic characteristics or hematological malignancies between COVID-19-positive and non-positive patients. Patients hospitalized for COVID-19 had more frequently received immunotherapy than patients with asymptomatic or benign forms (100% vs. 77.3%, p < 0.05). Hospitalized COVID-19 patients had a higher proportion of negative or weakly positive serologies than non-hospitalized patients (92.3% vs. 61%, p < 0.05). Patients who received tixagevimab/cilgavimab prophylaxis (n = 102) were less likely to be COVID-19-positive (4.9 vs. 22%, p < 0.05) without significant difference in hospitalization rates. Conclusion: In the immunocompromised population of patients with hematological malignancies, the underlying treatment of blood cancer by immunotherapy appears to be a risk factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection and for developing a severe form.
On the Need to Determine the Contribution of Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibodies as Potential Contributors to COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Efficacy
Authors: Focosi Daniele , Franchini Massimo , Casadevall Arturo
Published: October 2022

Historically the therapeutic potential of polyclonal passive immunotherapies in viral diseases has been related to antiviral neutralizing antibodies, but there is also considerable evidence that non-neutralizing antibodies can translate into clinical benefit as well. In the setting of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we review here in vitro and in vivo evidence supporting a contributing role for anti-nucleocapsid antibodies. Retrospective investigation of anti-nucleocapsid antibody levels in randomized clinical trials of COVID-19 convalescent plasma is warranted to better understand whether there is an association with efficacy or lack thereof.
A Case of a Small-Breed Dog with Diet-Related Dilated Cardiomyopathy Showing Marked Improvements in Cardiac Morphology and Function after Dietary Modification
Authors: Saito Takahiro , Suzuki Ryohei , Yuchi Yunosuke , Yasumura Yuyo , Teshima Takahiro , Matsumoto Hirotaka , Koyama Hidekazu
Published: October 2022

An 11-year-old intact female Papillion weighing 2.1 kg was referred to our institution with the main complaint of shallow, rapid breathing. At the first visit (day 0), although clinical signs improved due to the use of medication from the primary hospital, transthoracic radiography and echocardiography revealed left heart enlargement and left ventricular dysfunction. A clinical diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) was made and oral administration of pimobendan, temocapril, and taurine was initiated. However, on day 10, the respiratory status worsened and furosemide was prescribed. On day 54, no significant improvement in heart size was observed. Additionally, the diet that this patient received met the recommendation for diet-related DCM by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the patient’s diet was changed from a grain-free diet to a grain-containing diet. On day 1191, the patient’s respiratory status was stable and no clinical signs were observed. Transthoracic radiography and echocardiography revealed an improvement in left heart size. Additionally, improvements in the left and right ventricular myocardial strains were observed after changing the diet. We suggest that it may be necessary to suspect a dietary association with dilated cardiomyopathy, and a good prognosis might be expected by dietary modification, even in small-breed dogs.
Humeral Aneurysmal Bone Cyst in a Cat with Sequential Computed Tomographic Findings
Authors: Kim Kihoon , Kim Hyungjoon , Kim Hyosung , Lee Yeonhea , Kim Jaehwan , Do Sunhee , Kim Hwiyool
Published: October 2022

A 7-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat presented with a swollen right forelimb and mild lameness. On physical examination, the mass was palpable in the right humeral region, and the cat exhibited pain on palpation. Radiography revealed an expansile osteolytic lesion at the proximal end of the right humerus. Computed tomography (CT) revealed an expansile bony mass on the proximal end of the right humerus and a mild periosteal reaction around the acromion of the scapula. Amputation of the right forelimb, including the scapula and removal of the axillary lymph node, were strongly recommended to the owner, but were declined. Four months after the initial presentation, the cat presented with a dramatically swollen right forelimb and progressive lameness. CT was performed again. In addition to osteolytic changes in the mass, vascular development had occurred at the cranioproximal region. The right forelimb, including the scapula and ipsilateral lymph nodes, was removed. The cat died during the postoperative recovery period. Based on clinical, diagnostic imaging, and histological findings, the final diagnosis was aneurysmal bone cyst. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of an aneurysmal bone cyst in the humerus of a cat.
A Water Quality Prediction Model Based on Multi-Task Deep Learning: A Case Study of the Yellow River, China
Authors: Wu Xijuan , Zhang Qiang , Wen Fei , Qi Ying
Published: October 2022

Water quality prediction is a fundamental and necessary task for the prevention and management of water environment pollution. Due to the fluidity of water, different sections of the same river have similar trends in their water quality. The present water quality prediction methods cannot exploit the correlation between the water quality of each section to deeply capture information because they do not take into account how similar the water quality is between sections. In order to address this issue, this paper constructs a water quality prediction model based on multi-task deep learning, taking the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of the water environment of the Lanzhou portion of the Yellow River as the research object. The multiple sections of correlation are trained and learned in this model at the same time, and the water quality information of each section is shared while retaining their respective heterogeneity, and the hybrid model CNN-LSTM is used for better mining from local to full time series features of water quality information. In comparison to the current single-section water quality prediction, experiments have shown that the model’s mean absolute error (MSE) and root mean square error (RMSE) of the predicted value of the model are decreased by 13.2% and 15.5%, respectively, and that it performs better in terms of time stability and generalization.
A Review of Groundwater Contamination in West Bank, Palestine: Quality, Sources, Risks, and Management
Authors: Zohud Ashraf , Alam Lubna
Published: October 2022

The contamination and shortages of drinking water in the West Bank are among the most important challenges facing the Palestinian National Authority (PA) and the population residing in all sectors. In general, the contamination of water sources makes it difficult to obtain a sufficient quantity of drinking water of suitable quality, since contaminated water has a harmful effect on health, which profoundly impairs the quality of life. Despite knowledge of the adverse health effects of chemical and biological groundwater contamination, few studies have been conducted to suggest measures that can be taken to overcome the contamination and shortages of water. In our review, four levels of domains are used to evaluate the groundwater situation/condition in the West Bank, including (i) assessing the groundwater quality in the West Bank, (ii) identifying the sources of groundwater pollution, (iii) determining the degree of health risks associated with groundwater pollution, and (iv) determining the role of groundwater management in maintaining the quality and sustainability of these sources. To this end, the previous literature on groundwater status was reviewed for the past 27 years. In order to analyze the existing literature, a review matrix based on these four core domains was developed. Our findings revealed only 5 studies corresponding to the first nine years and 9 and 16 studies in the second and third periods, respectively. Furthermore, we found that only a few studies have examined the degree of health risk of groundwater in the West Bank. Although the government of Palestine has made access to safe drinking water a priority for its population, the PA struggles to provide sufficient and clean water to its residents, with a number suffering from water shortages, especially in dry seasons.
Environmental Assessment of Surface Seawater in Al-Uqair Coastline, Eastern Saudi Arabia
Authors: Al-Hashim Mansour H. , El-Sorogy Abdelbaset S. , Alshehri Fahad , Qaisi Saleh
Published: October 2022

The contamination of seawater with anthropogenic factors is a global challenge because of its negative impacts on marine environments and coastal societies. Therefore, assessing water contamination is crucial. The present work uses pollution indices and multivariate statistical analyses to document high-level heavy metal concentrations and identify potential polluters by analyzing 35 seawater samples collected from Al-Uqair coastline, Arabian Gulf, Saudi Arabia. The total content of heavy metals (HMs) (μg/L) ranged from 7109 to 7398 for Sr, 7.00–14.50 for Cr, 3.30–9.90 for Zn, 3.00–8.80 for Fe, 4.40–7.60 for As, 1.20–6.90 for Ni, 2.30–4.70 for V, 1.10–3.80 for Cu, 2.50–3.10 for Se, 0.31–1.43 for Al, 0.18–1.10 for Hg, 0.04–0.08 for Cd, 0.09–0.43 for Pb, and 0.02–0.10 for Sb. The recorded average concentrations of HMs were below the maximal admissible concentration of the World Health Organization (WHO). The heavy-metal pollution index (HPI) indicates that 14.29% of the water samples were below medium pollution, and 85.71% were below high pollution. All seawater samples were categorized under low contamination and good water on the basis of the degree of contamination (Cd) and water pollution index (PIj), respectively. Multivariate analysis indicates mixed anthropogenic and natural sources for the investigated metals, with increasing control of the anthropogenic factors for Cr, Zn, As, V, Ni, Se, Cu, Hg, Pb, Sb, and Cd; and the control of natural factors for Sr, Fe, and Al.