bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Full-Scale Experimental and Field Investigations into Expansion Mechanism of Foamed Polyurethane and its Lifting Behaviors for Repair and Maintenance of Railway Slab Track Systems
Authors: Huang Zhichao , Su Qian , Liu Ting , Huang Junjie , Wang Xun , Kaewunruen Sakdirat
Published: February 2024

Excessive settlement of the subgrade seriously reduces the service quality of slab tracks and threatens trains’ running safety. While the utilization of foamed polyurethane is recognized as an effective solution, previous research on its expansion mechanism and its impact on track lifting requires further refinement. Accordingly, a series of full-scale tests, including expansion force tests on foamed polyurethane with diverse qualities and lifting tests of polyurethane grouting with varied qualities on the track structure, have been conducted. The expansion development process of foamed polyurethane is meticulously elucidated, and key expansion parameters are analyzed. Simultaneously, this research explores the lifting behavior of foamed polyurethane grouting under the slab tracks, yielding new insights into essential lifting parameters for track formation repair and maintenance. Based on the experimental data, this study proposes new empirical formulas to comprehensively describe both the expansion mechanism of foam polyurethane and its lifting behavior under the slab tracks. The outcomes of this research offer a new breakthrough for the design of lifting mechanism for maintaining slab track structures through the utilization of foam polyurethane slurry grouting, such as determining the optimal grouting quantity. In addition, these results are instrumental to the evaluation of lifting effects and service life, enhancing the circular economy of railway track systems.
Polyelectrolyte–Surfactant Complex Nanofibrous Membranes for Antibacterial Applications
Authors: Qiu Qiaohua , Wang Zhengkai , Lan Liying
Published: February 2024

Polyelectrolyte–surfactant complexes (PESCs) have garnered significant attention due to their extensive range of biological and industrial applications. Most present applications are predominantly used in liquid or emulsion states, which limits their efficacy in solid material-based applications. Herein, pre-hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (HPAN) and quaternary ammonium salts (QAS) are employed to produce PESC electrospun membranes via electrospinning. The formation process of PESCs in a solution is observed. The results show that the degree of PAN hydrolysis and the varying alkyl chain lengths of surfactants affect the rate of PESC formation. Moreover, PESCs/PCL hybrid electrospun membranes are fabricated, and their antibacterial activities against both Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) are investigated. The resulting electrospun membranes exhibit high bactericidal efficacy, which enables them to serve as candidates for future biomedical and filtration applications.
Temperature-Responsive Separation Membrane with High Antifouling Performance for Efficient Separation
Authors: Ji Tong , Ji Yuan , Meng Xiangli , Wang Qi
Published: February 2024

Temperature-responsive separation membranes can significantly change their permeability and separation properties in response to changes in their surrounding temperature, improving efficiency and reducing membrane costs. This study focuses on the modification of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes with amphiphilic temperature-responsive copolymer and inorganic nanoparticles. We prepared an amphiphilic temperature-responsive copolymer in which the hydrophilic poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm) was side-linked to a hydrophobic polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) skeleton. Subsequently, PVDF-g-PNIPAAm polymer and graphene oxide (GO) were blended with PVDF to prepare temperature-responsive separation membranes. The results showed that temperature-responsive polymers with different NIPAAm grafting ratios were successfully prepared by adjusting the material ratio of NIPAAm to PVDF. PVDF-g-PNIPAAm was blended with PVDF with different grafting ratios to obtain separate membranes with different temperature responses. GO and PVDF-g-PNIPAAm formed a relatively stable hydrogen bond network, which improved the internal structure and antifouling performance of the membrane without affecting the temperature response, thus extending the service life of the membrane.
Multiple Cold Abscesses of a Chest Wall with Ribs Destruction in a Hemodialysis Patient
Authors: Kuo Chih-Chun , Hsiao Po-Jen , Kuo Tai-You , Chiang Wen-Fang
Published: February 2024

Cold abscess of the chest wall is an uncommon disease that is mainly caused by tuberculous infection. Staphylococcal cold abscesses of the chest wall are extremely rare and usually clinically occult, frequently leading to a delay in diagnosis and consequently severe infectious complications. We report an 88-year-old woman with end-stage renal disease, who presented with an exit site infection of a cuffed tunneled dialysis catheter caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Despite the removal of the catheter and administration of antibiotics, she developed refractory MRSA bacteremia. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest revealed septic thrombophlebitis with metastatic cold abscesses of the chest wall and ribs destruction. Although CT-guided drainage and vancomycin therapy eliminated MRSA bacteremia, the chest wall abscesses did not resolve. Patients fitted with a central venous dialysis catheter are at risk of septic thrombophlebitis with metastatic cold abscesses of the chest wall that are resistant to antibiotic therapy. Early identification is based on serial blood cultures and prompt CT scans. Surgical management coupled with antibiotic therapy can eradicate the source of infection and improve patients’ outcomes.
Epidemiology and Screening of Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip in Europe: A Scoping Review
Authors: Laskaratou Emmanuela Dionysia , Eleftheriades Anna , Sperelakis Ioannis , Trygonis Nikolaos , Panagopoulos Periklis , Tosounidis Theodoros H. , Dimitriou Rozalia
Published: February 2024

Developmental hip dysplasia or developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) includes a wide range of deformities of the hip, such as congenital dysplasia, subluxation, and dislocation. It is usually identified through neonatal screening during the first 6–8 weeks of life. The incidence of DDH ranges from 1–7% in neonates among some populations, but this may vary among different ethnicities and countries. A consensus about the ideal age for screening has not been reached to date. The aim of this study is to summarize the existing data regarding the incidence of congenital hip dysplasia and screening tests among European countries. The authors conducted a systematic search in PubMed/Medline and Scopus and collected original studies published in English, French or German. The incidence of DDH presents fluctuations, not only among European countries, but also within the same country. There is no unanimity regarding the screening methods of DDH; in some countries, universal ultrasound is proposed as the basic screening method for neonates for DDH; in other countries screening is performed only in high-risk cases. More robust data are needed to conclude which screening approach is associated with improved long-term outcomes.
A Multi-Scale Graph Based on Spatio-Temporal-Radiometric Interaction for SAR Image Change Detection
Authors: Zhang Peijing , Jiang Jinbao , Kou Peng , Wang Shining , Wang Bin
Published: February 2024

Change detection (CD) in remote sensing imagery has found broad applications in ecosystem service assessment, disaster evaluation, urban planning, land utilization, etc. In this paper, we propose a novel graph model-based method for synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image CD. To mitigate the influence of speckle noise on SAR image CD, we opt for comparing the structures of multi-temporal images instead of the conventional approach of directly comparing pixel values, which is more robust to the speckle noise. Specifically, we first segment the multi-temporal images into square patches at multiple scales and construct multi-scale K-nearest neighbor (KNN) graphs for each image, and then develop an effective graph fusion strategy, facilitating the exploitation of multi-scale information within SAR images, which offers an enhanced representation of the complex relationships among features in the images. Second, we accomplish the interaction of spatio-temporal-radiometric information between graph models through graph mapping, which can efficiently uncover the connections between multi-temporal images, leading to a more precise extraction of changes between the images. Finally, we use the Markov random field (MRF) based segmentation method to obtain the binary change map. Through extensive experimentation on real datasets, we demonstrate the remarkable superiority of our methodologies by comparing with some current state-of-the-art methods.
Evaluating Different Deep Learning Approaches for Tree Health Classification Using High-Resolution Multispectral UAV Data in the Black Forest, Harz Region, and Göttinger Forest
Authors: Anwander Julia , Brandmeier Melanie , Paczkowski Sebastian , Neubert Tarek , Paczkowska Marta
Published: February 2024

We present an evaluation of different deep learning and machine learning approaches for tree health classification in the Black Forest, the Harz Mountains, and the Göttinger Forest on a unique, highly accurate tree-level dataset. The multispectral UAV data were collected from eight forest plots with diverse tree species, mostly conifers. As ground truth data (GTD), nearly 1500 tree polygons with related attribute information on the health status of the trees were used. This data were collected during extensive fieldwork using a mobile application and subsequent individual tree segmentation. Extensive preprocessing included normalization, NDVI calculations, data augmentation to deal with the underrepresented classes, and splitting the data into training, validation, and test sets. We conducted several experiments using a classical machine learning approach (random forests), as well as different convolutional neural networks (CNNs)—ResNet50, ResNet101, VGG16, and Inception-v3—on different datasets and classes to evaluate the potential of these algorithms for tree health classification. Our first experiment was a binary classifier of healthy and damaged trees, which did not consider the degree of damage or tree species. The best results of a 0.99 test accuracy and an F1 score of 0.99 were obtained with ResNet50 on four band composites using the red, green, blue, and infrared bands (RGBI images), while VGG16 had the worst performance, with an F1 score of only 0.78. In a second experiment, we also distinguished between coniferous and deciduous trees. The F1 scores ranged from 0.62 to 0.99, with the highest results obtained using ResNet101 on derived vegetation indices using the red edge band of the camera (NDVIre images). Finally, in a third experiment, we aimed at evaluating the degree of damage: healthy, slightly damaged, and medium or heavily damaged trees. Again, ResNet101 had the best performance, this time on RGBI images with a test accuracy of 0.98 and an average F1 score of 0.97. These results highlight the potential of CNNs to handle high-resolution multispectral UAV data for the early detection of damaged trees when good training data are available.
Exploiting Thin-Film Properties and Guided-Mode Resonance for Designing Ultrahigh-Figure-of-Merit Refractive Index Sensors
Authors: Cu Duy Thanh , Wu Hong-Wei , Chen Hung-Pin , Su Li-Chen , Kuo Chien-Cheng
Published: February 2024

Guided-mode resonance (GMR) gratings have emerged as a promising sensing technology, with a growing number of applications in diverse fields. This study aimed to identify the optimal design parameters of a simple-to-fabricate and high-performance one-dimensional GMR grating. The structural parameters of the GMR grating were optimized, and a high-refractive-index thin film was simulated on the grating surface, resulting in efficient confinement of the electric field energy within the waveguide. Numerical simulations demonstrated that the optimized GMR grating exhibited remarkable sensitivity (252 nm/RIU) and an extremely narrow full width at half maximum (2 × 10−4 nm), resulting in an ultra-high figure of merit (839,666) at an incident angle of 50°. This performance is several orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional GMR sensors. To broaden the scope of the study and to make it more relevant to practical applications, simulations were also conducted at incident angles of 60° and 70°. This holistic approach sought to develop a comprehensive understanding of the performance of the GMR-based sensor under diverse operational conditions.
A Survey on Heterogeneity Taxonomy, Security and Privacy Preservation in the Integration of IoT, Wireless Sensor Networks and Federated Learning
Authors: Mengistu Tesfahunegn Minwuyelet , Kim Taewoon , Lin Jenn-Wei
Published: February 2024

Federated learning (FL) is a machine learning (ML) technique that enables collaborative model training without sharing raw data, making it ideal for Internet of Things (IoT) applications where data are distributed across devices and privacy is a concern. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) play a crucial role in IoT systems by collecting data from the physical environment. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the integration of FL, IoT, and WSNs. It covers FL basics, strategies, and types and discusses the integration of FL, IoT, and WSNs in various domains. The paper addresses challenges related to heterogeneity in FL and summarizes state-of-the-art research in this area. It also explores security and privacy considerations and performance evaluation methodologies. The paper outlines the latest achievements and potential research directions in FL, IoT, and WSNs and emphasizes the significance of the surveyed topics within the context of current technological advancements.
Emission, Transport and Retention of Floating Marine Macro-Litter (Plastics): The Role of Baltic Harbor and Sailing Festivals
Authors: Schernewski Gerald , Escobar Sánchez Gabriela , Felsing Stefanie , Gatel Rebours Margaux , Haseler Mirco , Hauk Rahel , Lange Xaver , Piehl Sarah
Published: February 2024

Every year, harbor and sailing festivals attract close to 20 million visitors in the Baltic Sea region, but their consequences on marine litter pollution are still unknown. We combine field studies with model simulations and literature reviews to quantify the annual emissions of floating macro-litter and to assess its retention in estuaries and role in Baltic Sea pollution. Results focusing on Hanse Sail in Rostock and Kiel Week are extrapolated to the entire Baltic Sea region. After the Hanse Sail 2018, the harbor pollution amounted to about 950 floating macro-litter particles/km²; 85–90% were plastics. We calculated an emission between 0.24 and 3 particles per 1000 visitors, depending on the year and the waste management system. About 0.02% of all waste generated during a festival ends up in the harbor water. The Hanse Sails contributes less than 1% to the total annual macro-litter emissions in the Warnow estuary. Model simulations indicate that over 99% of the emitted litter is trapped in the estuary. Therefore, Hanse Sails are not relevant to Baltic Sea pollution. The extrapolated Baltic-Sea-wide annual emissions are between 4466 and (more likely) 55,830 macro-litter particles. The over-30 harbor and sailing festivals contribute an estimated <0.05% to the total annual macro-litter emissions in the Baltic Sea region.
Predicting Station-Level Peak Hour Ridership of Metro Considering the Peak Deviation Coefficient
Authors: Zhao Ying , Wei Jie , Li Haijun , Huang Yan
Published: February 2024

Subway station-level peak hour ridership (SPR) is a crucial input parameter for multiple applications, including the planning, design, construction, and operation of stations. However, traditional SPR estimation techniques may produce biased results. A unified peak hour factor (PHF) extracted from the line level is generally set for all attributed stations, which ignores the possible peak deviation that arises between the station and line and the wide variation of PHFs in practice. This study presents a comprehensive and refined estimation framework for SPR that accommodates the peak deviation context by introducing the peak deviation coefficient (PDC). Moreover, the estimation of the PDC and PHF variability is improved by constructing spatial regression based relationship models. The empirical results show that the proposed approach exhibits wider applicability and a higher prediction precision across all types of peak periods considered as compared to conventional methods (i.e., MAPE decreases of 0.115–0.351). The findings demonstrate the importance of the consideration of the peak deviation scenario and the spatial dependency in SPR estimation to achieve better decision making. Moreover, the underlying influencing mechanism of the PHF and PDC at distinct peak periods is further revealed using the spatial model. This provides critical theoretical references and policy implications to prudently deploy land-use resources to balance the travel demand between peak and off-peak periods and thus enhance the line operation efficiency.
Integration of HEC-RAS and HEC-HMS with GIS in Flood Modeling and Flood Hazard Mapping
Authors: Peker İsmail Bilal , Gülbaz Sezar , Demir Vahdettin , Orhan Osman , Beden Neslihan
Published: February 2024

Floods are among the most devastating disasters in terms of socio-economics and casualties. However, these natural disasters can be managed and their effects can be minimized by flood modeling performed before the occurrence of a flood. In this study, flood modeling was developed for the Göksu River Basin, Mersin, Türkiye. Flood hazard and risk maps were prepared by using GIS, HEC-RAS, and HEC-HMS. In hydraulic modeling, Manning’s n values were obtained from 2018 CORINE data, return period flow rates (Q25, Q50, Q100, Q500) were obtained from HEC-HMS, and the application was carried out on a 5 m resolution digital surface model. In the study area, the water depths could reach up to 10 m, and water speeds were approximately 0.7 m/s. Considering these values and the fact that the study area is an urban area, hazard maps were obtained according to the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) method. The results indicated that possible flood flow rates from Q25 to Q500, from 1191.7 m3/s to 1888.3 m3/s, were detected in the study area with HEC-HMS. Flooding also occurred under conditions of the Q25 flow rate (from 4288 km2 to 5767 km2), and the impacted areas were classified as extremely risky by the DEFRA method.
Building Child-Friendly Cities for Sustainable Child Development: Child-Friendly City Scale-Child Form
Authors: Sapsağlam Özkan , Eryılmaz Ali
Published: February 2024

Designing child-friendly cities is very important for sustainable human development. Child-friendly cities encourage children to grow up in a healthy, safe, and supportive environment. The concept of the “Child-Friendly City” emerged in 1996 at the United Nations Habitat II Conference in Istanbul. This movement promoted supporting children’s development, assuring compliance with their basic rights, and pursuing their subjective well-being through the qualities of the environments of cities. Developing measurement tools to determine the effects of the qualities of the city and its environment on children and what is expected from “Child-Friendly Cities” is crucial. The first aim of this study was to utilize exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to develop the Child-Friendly City Scale-Child Form and provisionally examine its factor structure during this process. The second aim was to examine the factor structure of the developed scale through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Participants were 527 middle school students who were divided into two groups for CFA and DFA, 204 in the first group and 323 in the second group. The results of both EFA and CFA supported the developed scale, which has eight dimensions. The Child-Friendly City Scale-Child Form was found to be valid and reliable through various tests. This study contributes to the literature by providing an empirically tested 8-dimension tool to measure children’s perceptions of the child-friendliness of their cities.
Municipal Solid Waste—Addressing Environmental Concerns
Authors: Teixeira Carlos Afonso , Guerra Mariana
Published: February 2024

The current global situation demands a comprehensive and efficient approach to waste management to mitigate environmental impacts [...]
Research on Efficiency of Permanent-Magnet Synchronous Motor Based on Adaptive Algorithm of Fuzzy Control
Authors: Sun Wangsheng , Si Haiqing , Qiu Jingxuan , Li Jiayi
Published: February 2024

In today’s world, energy is undoubtedly one of the most significant problems. As the global electricity consumption continues to increase, electric motors, which are widely used as power devices, account for an increasingly prominent proportion of the energy consumed. Motors now consume about 45% of the total electricity in the world (60% in China); therefore, improving motor efficiency has become an important way to achieve carbon emission reduction and sustainable development. The aim of this research was to devise a new strategy to reduce CO2 emissions other than by building green power factories, because even the building of green power factories produces a great deal of CO2 emissions, and improving motor efficiency to reduce CO2 emissions could contribute to sustainable development worldwide. However, the improvement of motor efficiency encounters challenges, such as nonlinearity and disturbances, which affect the motor performance and energy efficiency. To address this issue, this paper proposes a control algorithm for permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs) that is highly efficient and would be most widely used based on a fuzzy control adaptive forgetting factor. It aims to enhance the efficiency and accuracy of the online parameter estimation for the PMSM flux linkage, thereby achieving more precise and energy-efficient motor control. Firstly, the recursive least-squares parameter estimation algorithm is used to identify the parameters of the PMSM. This ensures that the parameter estimation values can be dynamically updated with data changes, adapting to the time-varying parameters. Secondly, the Padé approximation method is adopted, which is a method that does not depend on the motor hardware, to improve the accuracy of the linearized model of the motor. Finally, a control algorithm based on the fuzzy control adaptive forgetting factor algorithm is constructed on a physical experimental platform. A comparison of these results proves that the control technology under this algorithm provides a new energy-saving control strategy that can estimate the motor flux linkage parameters more accurately, help to reduce energy consumption, promote the use of clean energy, and achieve sustainable performance optimization.
Evolution of China’s Coastal Economy since the Belt and Road Initiative Based on Nighttime Light Imagery
Authors: Wang Xiaohan , Zhou Minqiang , Xia Yining , Zhang Junshen , Sun Jianting , Zhang Bin
Published: February 2024

The joint construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road proposed by China has brought major development opportunities for the development of countries and regions along the routes. Traditional GDP statistics based on administrative units cannot describe the spatial differences of GDP within administrative units, which has certain limitations in exploring regional economic development analysis and supporting economic development decision making. Based on NPP-VIIRS luminous remote sensing data, land use data, and statistical yearbook data, this paper analyzes the spatial–temporal evolution pattern of economic level in China’s coastal economic belt from 2012 to 2021 using the Moran index and standard deviation ellipse. An unbalanced distribution of economic development are found along China coastal area and the economic gravity center moved southwest since the Belt and Road Initiative. The results show thatthe Yangtze River Delta was extremely active , and the economic growth of the south was better than that of the north. The grided GDP map presents more details of regional economic development, and provides an opportunity for further mechanisms exploration of the development process.
Evaluation and Optimization of Sense of Security during the Day and Night in Campus Public Spaces Based on Physical Environment and Psychological Perception
Authors: Peng Yu-Ling , Li Yuan , Cheng Wei-Ying , Wang Ke
Published: February 2024

The safety of public spaces on university campuses directly affects the mental and physical well-being of both faculty and students, significantly contributing to the stability and growth of the institution. Therefore, evaluating and optimizing the sense of security in these public areas is paramount. This study adopts a human-centric approach and selects five physical environmental metrics to construct a comprehensive safety perception model encompassing both day and night, using the analytic hierarchy process. By leveraging evaluation outcomes, a maximum coverage location-allocation model constrained by a facility service radius is employed to optimize the layout of the public amenities on campus, supported by empirical research conducted at the Wuchang Campus of the Wuhan Institute of Technology. The results indicate that a notable decrease in public areas provides a low sense of security to users and that an increase in public areas provides users with a high sense of security. The results demonstrate a considerable enhancement in both the daytime and nighttime sense of security due to the implemented optimization measures. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the constituent elements shaping the sense of security in campus public spaces, offering concrete strategies for their evaluation and enhancement, thereby fostering a more scientifically grounded layout of campus public facilities and advancing the creation of a harmonious and secure campus environment.
Unveiling the Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Mental Rotation Abilities: A Comparative Analysis of Three-Dimensional vs. Two-Dimensional Tasks
Authors: Hromatko Ivana , Tadinac Meri
Published: February 2024

The activational effects of sex hormones on spatial ability have been well documented. It has been suggested that these effects might be related to hormonally induced changes in interhemispheric communication. In this EEG study, we opted to explore menstrual cycle-related changes in the efficacy of solving mental rotation tasks and laterality indices while participants were engaged with the tasks. We compared 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks, as they differ both psychometrically and in terms of lateralization. A group (n = 39) of healthy young women was tested twice, once during the mid-luteal (high estrogen and progesterone) and once during the early follicular (low levels of sex hormones) phase of menstrual cycle. The differences in power within the same frequency band on homologous sites of the left and right hemispheres were then calculated. Participants were faster, more accurate, and showed higher laterality scores when solving 3D mental rotation tasks in the early follicular phase compared to the mid-luteal phase. This indicates a higher lateralization of this specific spatial function when the levels of sex hormones are low. However, for 2D mental rotation tasks, participants showed neither shifts in efficacy nor in hemispheric laterality as a function of the menstrual cycle. This pattern of results provides further support for the notion that fluctuations in sex hormones affect laterality, and consequently, the expression of lateralized cognitive abilities.
Approximate N5LO Higgs Boson Decay Width Γ(H→γγ)
Authors: Luo Yu-Feng , Yan Jiang , Wu Zhi-Fei , Wu Xing-Gang
Published: February 2024

The precision and predictive power of perturbative QCD (pQCD) prediction depends on both a precise, convergent, fixed-order series and a reliable way of estimating the contributions of unknown higher-order (UHO) terms. It has been shown that by applying the principle of maximum conformality (PMC), which applies the renormalization group equation recursively to set the effective magnitude of αs of the process, the remaining conformal coefficients will be well matched with the corresponding αs at each order, leading to a scheme-and-scale invariant and more convergent perturbative series. The PMC series, being satisfied with the standard renormalization group invariance, has a rigorous foundation. Thus it not only can be widely applied to virtually all high-energy hadronic processes, but also can be a reliable platform for estimating UHO contributions. In this paper, by using the total decay width Γ(H→γγ) which has been calculated up to N4LO QCD corrections, we first derive its PMC series by using the PMC single-scale setting approach and then estimate its unknown N5LO contributions by using a Bayesian analysis. The newly suggested Bayesian-based approach estimates the magnitude of the UHO contributions based on an optimized analysis of the probability density distribution, and the predicted UHO contribution becomes more accurate when more loop terms have been known to tame the probability density function. Using the top-quark pole mass Mt = 172.69 GeV and the Higgs mass MH = 125.25 GeV as inputs, we obtain Γ(H→γγ)=9.56504keV, and the estimated N5LO contribution to the total decay width is ΔΓH=±1.65×10−4keV for the smallest credible interval of 95.5% degree of belief.
The Swedish Aeolothripidae and Melanthripidae (Thysanoptera) with a Redescription of Rhipidothrips niveipennis Reuter, 1899
Authors: Wahlberg Emma
Published: February 2024

This study explores the Swedish diversity of the thrips families Aeolothripidae and Melanthripidae. Currently, a total of 12 species in 2 genera of Aeolothripidae occur in Sweden, and 1 in Melanthripidae. The aims of this study include to provide an updated identification key with photographic material and an updated checklist of the country with provincial records. In this study both museum material and new material collected in understudied provinces are included, and a large number of molecular barcodes are produced. The results reveal 26 new provincial records in Sweden, predominantly in northern regions, and 11 provinces in total had new species records. New records of Rhipidothrips brunneus Williams 1913 warranted an examination of distinguishing characters compared to R. niveipennis Reuter, 1899. The original description of R. niveipennis is found to lack sufficient characters to delimit the species, and a redescription based on syntypes is presented.
An Optimum Load Forecasting Strategy (OLFS) for Smart Grids Based on Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Rabie Asmaa Hamdy , I. Saleh Ahmed , Elkhalik Said H. Abd , Takieldeen Ali E.
Published: February 2024

Recently, the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in many areas of life has allowed raising the efficiency of systems and converting them into smart ones, especially in the field of energy. Integrating AI with power systems allows electrical grids to be smart enough to predict the future load, which is known as Intelligent Load Forecasting (ILF). Hence, suitable decisions for power system planning and operation procedures can be taken accordingly. Moreover, ILF can play a vital role in electrical demand response, which guarantees a reliable transitioning of power systems. This paper introduces an Optimum Load Forecasting Strategy (OLFS) for predicting future load in smart electrical grids based on AI techniques. The proposed OLFS consists of two sequential phases, which are: Data Preprocessing Phase (DPP) and Load Forecasting Phase (LFP). In the former phase, an input electrical load dataset is prepared before the actual forecasting takes place through two essential tasks, namely feature selection and outlier rejection. Feature selection is carried out using Advanced Leopard Seal Optimization (ALSO) as a new nature-inspired optimization technique, while outlier rejection is accomplished through the Interquartile Range (IQR) as a measure of statistical dispersion. On the other hand, actual load forecasting takes place in LFP using a new predictor called the Weighted K-Nearest Neighbor (WKNN) algorithm. The proposed OLFS has been tested through extensive experiments. Results have shown that OLFS outperforms recent load forecasting techniques as it introduces the maximum prediction accuracy with the minimum root mean square error.
The Spatial Structure and Influencing Factors of the Tourism Economic Network in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration
Authors: Feng Xiao , Pan Chang , Xu Fengying
Published: February 2024

The optimization of a tourism economic network is critical in the promotion of the high-quality development of a regional tourism economy. In order to explore the spatial network structure of the tourism economy of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and its influencing factors, this study used a modified gravity model and social network analysis methods for evaluation and analysis. The results show the following: (1) the spatial network of the tourism economy in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration in 2016–2021 was characterized by significant non-equilibrium; however, that trend has weakened, and the tourism connections are now stronger in economically developed regions. (2) The density of the network structure was slightly strengthened. The structure of the tourism economy network shows an obvious core–periphery distribution pattern. The external radiation of the center city was enhanced, and the core area of the network expanded. (3) The concept of the “small world” is characterized by a significant evolution from five major associations to four major associations during the study period. (4) The quadratic assignment method (QAP) of regression analysis showed that tourism service reception capacity, tourism information flow, tourism resource endowments and transportation convenience make a significant contribution to the formation of the spatial network of inter-city tourism economic connections. The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the optimization of the tourism economic network of urban agglomerations and the scientific decision-making underpinning tourism economic cooperation.
Study of Chlorella sorokiniana Cultivation in an Airlift Tubular Photobioreactor Using Anaerobic Digestate Substrate
Authors: Psachoulia Paraskevi , Chatzidoukas Christos , Samaras Petros
Published: February 2024

Microalgae offer a promising solution for efficiently treating high-nitrogen wastewater and recovering valuable nutrients. To optimize microalgae growth and nutrient assimilation, case-dependent studies are essential to demonstrate the process’s potential. This study aimed to evaluate the treatment capacity of high-nitrogen anaerobic digestion effluent as a nutrient source for a C. sorokiniana microalgal culture in a tubular photobioreactor. The study had two primary objectives: to assess how the concentration and composition of the digestate influence microalgae growth, and to identify the preferred nitrogen forms assimilated by the microalgae during long-term, continuous operation. A 20 L tubular airlift bioreactor was constructed and used in batch mode; various digestate concentrations were examined with ammonia nitrogen levels reaching to 160 mg/L. These experiments revealed a biomass growth rate of up to 130 mg/L/d and an ammonia nitrogen assimilation rate ranging from 8.3 to 12.5 mg/L/d. The presence of phosphorous proved essential for microalgae growth, and the growth entered a stationary phase when the initial phosphorous was fully assimilated. A nitrogen-to-phosphorous (N/P) ratio of 10 supported efficient species growth. While ammonia was the preferred nitrogen form for microalgae, they could also utilize alternative forms such as organic and nitrate nitrogen, depending on the specific digestate properties. The results from the continuous photobioreactor operation confirmed the findings from the batch mode, especially regarding the initial nitrogen and phosphorous content. An important condition for nearly complete ammonia removal was the influent dilution rate, to balance the nitrogen assimilation rate. Moreover, treated effluent was employed as dilution medium, contributing to a more environmentally sustainable water management approach for the entire process, at no cost to the culture growth rate.
Characteristics of the assortment of nuts for direct consumption in Russian companies
Authors:   ROSBIOTECH, Krasavin A.S. , Goryacheva E.D. ,   ROSBIOTECH
Published: February 2024

The Russian Federation guarantees at the legislative level physical and economic accessibility of food products necessary for every citizen for an active and healthy lifestyle. Nuts as sources of proteins and vegetable oils are valuable food products. Companies are interested in increasing their competitiveness and are looking for better opportunities to expand their product range. The article provides an analysis of the assortment of nuts presented on the websites of leading Russian nut processing enterprises.
The role of the nurse leader in nursing personnel management processes
Authors:   FSBEI HE Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of Russia, Samara, Russia, Kropotova S. V. , Pyatikop V. M. ,   SBHI Samara Regional Clinical Oncology Center, Samara, Russia
Published: February 2024

All specialists whose professional activities involve communicating with people, in addition to a high level of knowledge and skills, must also have some special personalit y traits. Chief and senior nurses must be leaders. Target. Identification of obvious and hidden leaders among nurse managers and determination of their role in the processes of managing nursing personnel. Results. Information on the management activities of chief and senior nurses was analyzed; the main leadership characteristics of heads of nursing services, the essence of leadership style, leadership potential, and the ability to delegate authority were studied; the problems in the management activities of heads of nursing services were found; obvious and hidden leaders among nurse leaders were identified. Conclusion. It is the head of the organization, who is a leader by nature and by his/her actions and at the same time is able to effectively manage his/her subordinates, that achieves high results and achievements of the service s/he leads.
Features of registration of primary documentation for accounting purposes
Authors:   Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Education “Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation”, Moscow, Russia, Sotnikova L.V.
Published: February 2024

In accordance with the Program for the Development of federal accounting standards, a new Federal Accounting Standard 27/2021 “Documents and Document management in Accounting” was adopted back in 2021, but questions about its application in practice do not stop. Despite the fact that the draft of this standard was developed by the state regulator of accounting — the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, there is a need to link this document with other legal norms. The article uses examples to reveal the order, composition and procedure for processing primary documents in various situations and reveals the possibilities of rational but legitimate document management. During the research, such methods as analysis and synthesis, comparison, grouping, analogy, logical and systematic approaches were used. The research results obtained in this article can be applied in the practical work of modern organizations, in the educational process of higher educational institutions and in the development and reform of regulatory documents on accounting, reporting and auditing. The results presented in this paper will also be useful to a wide range of readers interested in modern problems of accounting, reporting and auditing at the domestic and international level.
Zooplankton of Pronskoye reservoir in August 2023
Authors:   Branch for Freshwater Fisheries of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), Russia, Moscow region, Rybnoye, Tyulin D.Yu. , Nikitenko A.I. ,   Branch for Freshwater Fisheries of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), Russia, Moscow region, Rybnoye, Goryachev D.V. ,   Branch for Freshwater Fisheries of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), Russia, Moscow region, Rybnoye, Zdrok A.V. ,   Branch for Freshwater Fisheries of the All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO), Russia, Moscow region, Rybnoye
Published: February 2024

The aim of this study was to investigate the zooplankton of Pronskoye Reservoir during the summer period of 2023. Sampling and processing of hydrobiological zooplankton samples were carried out using standard methods in August 2023 at six monitoring stations in Pronskoye Reservoir. A total of 15 zooplankton taxa were identified in the samples: 6 taxa of rotifers, 5 taxa of cladocerans, and 4 taxa of copepods. On average, the abundance and biomass of zooplankton (mean values across stations) in Pronskoye Reservoir in August 2023 were 928.1 thousand individuals/m3 and 3.4 g/m3, respectively. Rotifers dominated in terms of abundance (63,5%), while cladocerans dominated in terms of biomass (40,3%). Pronskoye Reservoir exhibited above-average productivity in terms of zooplankton, which is favorable from a fisheries perspective. The abundance and biomass of zooplankton for all major groups (rotifers, cladocerans, and copepods) were higher in the lower part of the reservoir, separated from the middle and upper parts by a narrow neck. The increase in the abundance of the rotifer species Brachionus angularis was particularly noticeable in the lower part of the reservoir. The lower part of the water body is classified as highly productive, while the middle and upper parts has above-average productivity. The lower part of the reservoir is characterized by lower temperatures and lower dissolved oxygen concentrations in the water. The lower part of Pronskoye Reservoir exhibits a more diverse species composition compared to the middle and upper parts. It is evident that abiotic factors, in one way or another, determine the differences in the abundance, biomass, and species composition of zooplankton between the lower and upper parts of Pronskoye Reservoir.
Safety of direct-acting oral anticoagulant (DOAC) prescribing: OpenSAFELY-TPP analysis of 20.5 million adults’ electronic health records
Authors: Homan Karen , Seeley Rachel , Fisher Louis , Khatri Sajida , Smith Katie , Jamieson Tony , Speed Victoria , Roberts Carol A , Mehrkar Amir , Bacon Sebastian , MacKenna Brian , Goldacre Ben
Published: February 2024

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic many patients were switched from warfarin to direct-acting oral anticoagulants (DOACs), which require the creatinine clearance (CrCl) calculated to ensure the correct dose is prescribed to avoid bleeding or reduced efficacy.

Aim

To identify the study population proportion prescribed a DOAC. Of these, the proportion with recorded: weight, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), creatinine, CrCl and atrial fibrillation (AF). To analyse the proportion of patients with recorded AF and CrCl prescribed a recommended DOAC dose.

Design & setting

A retrospective cohort study of 20.5 million adult NHS patients’ electronic health records (EHRs) in England in the OpenSAFELY-TPP platform (January 2018–February 2023).

Method

Patients on DOACs were analysed for age, sex, recorded weight, eGFR, creatinine, CrCl and AF. Prescribed DOAC doses in patients with recorded AF were compared with recommended doses for recorded CrCl and determined as either recommended, higher than recommended (overdose), or lower than recommended (underdose).

Results

In February 2023, weight, eGFR, creatinine, CrCl, and AF were recorded in 72.8%, 92.4%, 94.3%, 73.5%, and 73.9% of study population, respectively. Both AF and CrCl were recorded for 56.7% of patients. Of these, 86.2% received the recommended, and 13.8% non-recommended, DOAC doses.

Conclusion

CrCl is not recorded for a substantial number of patients on DOACs. We recommend that national organisations tasked with safety, collectively update guidance on the appropriate weight to use in the Cockcroft–Gault equation, clarify that CrCl is not equivalent to eGFR, and work with GP clinical system suppliers to standardise the calculation of CrCl in the EHR.
Adicción al internet y las redes sociales en estudiantes de primaria, secundaria y superior
Authors: Gutiérrez Beltrán Alfonso , Buiza Chuquitaype Luz Gloria
Published: February 2024

El acceso a internet y las redes sociales ha aumentado en las últimas décadas del ámbito educativo. El objetivo fue analizar los factores de riesgos y consecuencias de la adicción al internet y las redes sociales en estudiantes de primaria, secundaria y superior. La metodología utilizada fue realizar un estudio analítico, cualitativo y cuantitativo de investigaciones científicas realizadas en Latinoamérica y Perú entre los años 2017 al 2022, indexadas a las bases de datos EBSCO, Scopus, y Scielo, y en el buscador especializado Google académico seleccionando 38 artículos en 70 días, en dos idiomas. La revisión sistemática demuestra el uso excesivo del internet y las redes sociales en estudiantes de instituciones públicas, concluyendo que existe un número significativo de investigaciones sobre la adicción al internet y las redes sociales; además hallando resultados controversiales, datos que se deben considerar en futuras investigaciones para promover acciones preventivas ante estas adicciones.
O papel social e a contribuição das mães recicladoras no cenário da Educação Ambiental
Authors: Bellinaso Giselia Aparecida dos Reis , Smeha Luciane Najar
Published: February 2024

Objetiva-se compreender o papel e contribuição de mães recicladoras para a Educação Ambiental. A Educação Ambiental deve começar com as crianças, pois o público infantil é essencial para a formação de indivíduos responsáveis e conscientes do seu papel no mundo e desenvolvimento de valores. Trata-se de um estudo de revisão narrativa de literatura que é constituído por uma análise ampla, sem estabelecer uma metodologia rigorosa e replicável em nível de reprodução de dados e respostas quantitativas para questões específicas. A partir da metodologia, os resultados foram separados em dois temas: mães recicladoras e os desafios da maternidade e profissão do reciclador e Educação Ambiental. Conclui-se com este estudo a necessidade de efetivar ações de direito trabalhista, projetos sustentáveis que visem mostrar a atividade real do reciclador, fortalecimento da coleta seletiva correta e, principalmente, respeito com a imagem desses profissionais que tanto contribuem para a preservação do meio ambiente.