bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dynamic of Fluorescence Emissions at O2A and O2B Telluric Absorption Bands in Forested Areas with Seasonal APAR and GPP Variations
Authors: Kováč Daniel , Novotný Jan , Šigut Ladislav , Grace John , Urban Otmar
Published: December 2022

We measured dynamics of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence at telluric oxygen absorption bands O2A and O2B in evergreen spruce and deciduous beech forests. Seasonal variations in fluorescence emissions were compared with NDVI. Daily changes in fluorescence emissions were compared with canopy shadow fraction (αS) dynamics, which showed impact of branch and leaf positions on detected fluorescence signals based on comparison with canopy height model. Absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) was recognized as a large determinant of fluorescence changes within the O2A band (SIFA), with R2 > 0.68. Fluorescence within the O2B band was more directly linked to NDVI. Although, the seasonal dynamics of fluorescence within the O2B band (SIFB) were similar to SIFA in the spruce forest. In the beech forest, SIFB showed different seasonal dynamics as compared with SIFA. SIFA in the spruce forest showed a relationship to gross primary productivity (GPP), with R2 = 0.48, and a relationship of R2 = 0.37 was estimated for the SIFA-GPP connection in the beech forest. SIFB was better linked to seasonal GPP in the beech forest, but with a negative slope in the relationship with R2 = 0.61. We have shown that measurements of passive fluorescence signals at telluric oxygen absorption bands can contribute to understanding to photosynthesis processes in forest canopies.
A Study on the Effects of Lateral-Wedge Insoles on Plantar-Pressure Pattern for Medial Knee Osteoarthritis Using the Wearable Sensing Insole
Authors: Hsu Wei-Ching , Chou Li-Wei , Chiu Hsiao-Yen , Hsieh Chang-Wei , Hu Wen-Pin
Published: December 2022

Patients with knee osteoarthritis have a unique plantar-pressure pattern during walking, and lateral-wedge insoles are one of the treatment options. Participants were randomly assigned to either the lateral-wedge insole group or the ordinary insole group. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), and plantar-pressure test scores were evaluated at the baseline and at 20 weeks. Plantar pressure data were collected using a pressure insole with 89 sensing locations. In the ordinary insole group, the function and total WOMAC scores decreased significantly (function score, 24.8 (baseline) to 16.5 (week 20); total score, 34.9 (baseline) to 24.6 (week 20)). During walking, the transverse width of the center of pressure as a percentage of foot width (%Trans) significantly increased in the ordinary insole group (baseline, 6.3%; week 20, 14.8%). In addition, the values of partial foot pressure as a percentage of body weight (%PFP) on the forefoot (baseline, 30.3%; week 20, 39.2%) and heel (baseline, 28.1%; week 20, 16.9%) also increased significantly in the ordinary insole group. Significant group-by-time interaction effects were observed for partial foot pressure per body weight in the forefoot (p = 0.031) and heel (p = 0.024). In the ordinary insole group, the plantar pressure on the heel significantly decreased (p = 0.011) and that on the forefoot significantly increased (p = 0.023). In contrast, plantar pressure remained stable in all regions in the lateral-wedge insole group. Thus, lateral-wedge insoles may protect against plantar pressure deterioration in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
Resilience of Multi-Layer Communication Networks
Authors: Kuikka Vesa , Rantanen Heikki
Published: December 2022

Advances in the future communication technologies and capabilities of new services in heterogeneous network systems have increased the need for modelling and analysing various aspects of both the resilience of networked systems and usability from the user’s point of view. We extend the traditional network reliability theory to cover a wider scope of quality requirements and applications. The proposed method can be used to model the resilience of different structured networks, and the quality of information services. We use the term resilience to cover both the technical and quality-of-service aspects of user requirements. The modelling method is demonstrated with a use case of a multilayer communication network system. However, the method can be used to model any kind of technological network, such as wireless, sensor, and backbone networks.
Landslide Susceptibility Mapping by Fusing Convolutional Neural Networks and Vision Transformer
Authors: Bao Shuai , Liu Jiping , Wang Liang , Konečný Milan , Che Xianghong , Xu Shenghua , Li Pengpeng
Published: December 2022

Landslide susceptibility mapping (LSM) is an important decision basis for regional landslide hazard risk management, territorial spatial planning and landslide decision making. The current convolutional neural network (CNN)-based landslide susceptibility mapping models do not adequately take into account the spatial nature of texture features, and vision transformer (ViT)-based LSM models have high requirements for the amount of training data. In this study, we overcome the shortcomings of CNN and ViT by fusing these two deep learning models (bottleneck transformer network (BoTNet) and convolutional vision transformer network (ConViT)), and the fused model was used to predict the probability of landslide occurrence. First, we integrated historical landslide data and landslide evaluation factors and analysed whether there was covariance in the landslide evaluation factors. Then, the testing accuracy and generalisation ability of the CNN, ViT, BoTNet and ConViT models were compared and analysed. Finally, four landslide susceptibility mapping models were used to predict the probability of landslide occurrence in Pingwu County, Sichuan Province, China. Among them, BoTNet and ConViT had the highest accuracy, both at 87.78%, an improvement of 1.11% compared to a single model, while ConViT had the highest F1-socre at 87.64%, an improvement of 1.28% compared to a single model. The results indicate that the fusion model of CNN and ViT has better LSM performance than the single model. Meanwhile, the evaluation results of this study can be used as one of the basic tools for landslide hazard risk quantification and disaster prevention in Pingwu County.
PET/ZnO@MXene-Based Flexible Fabrics with Dual Piezoelectric Functions of Compression and Tension
Authors: Chen Yanlu , Pu Xinxin , Xu Xinyu , Shi Menghan , Li Hui-Jun , Wang Ding
Published: December 2022

The traditional self-supported piezoelectric thin films prepared by filtration methods are limited in practical applications due to their poor tensile properties. The strategy of using flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fabric as the flexible substrate is beneficial to enhancing the flexibility and stretchability of the flexible device, thus extending the applications of pressure sensors. In this work, a novel wearable pressure sensor is prepared, of which uniform and dense ZnO nanoarray-coated PET fabrics are covered by a two-dimensional MXene nanosheet. The ternary structure incorporates the advantages of the three components including the superior piezoelectric properties of ZnO nanorod arrays, the excellent flexibility of the PET substrate, and the outstanding conductivity of MXene, resulting in a novel wearable sensor with excellent pressure-sensitive properties. The PET/ZnO@MXene pressure sensor exhibits excellent sensing performance (S = 53.22 kPa−1), fast response/recovery speeds (150 ms and 100 ms), and superior flexural stability (over 30 cycles at 5% strain). The composite fabric also shows high sensitivity in both motion monitoring and physiological signal detection (e.g., device bending, elbow bending, finger bending, wrist pulse peaks, and sound signal discrimination). These findings provide insight into composite fabric-based pressure-sensitive materials, demonstrating the great significance and promising prospects in the field of flexible pressure sensing.
Privacy-Preserving Task Offloading Strategies in MEC
Authors: Yu Haijian , Liu Jing , Hu Chunjie , Zhu Ziqi
Published: December 2022

In mobile edge computing (MEC), mobile devices can choose to offload their tasks to edge servers for execution, thereby effectively reducing the completion time of tasks and energy consumption of mobile devices. However, most of the data transfer brought by offloading relies on wireless communication technology, making the private information of mobile devices vulnerable to eavesdropping and monitoring. Privacy leakage, especially the location and association privacies, can pose a significant risk to users of mobile devices. Therefore, protecting the privacy of mobile devices during task offloading is important and cannot be ignored. This paper considers both location privacy and association privacy of mobile devices during task offloading in MEC and targets to reduce the leakage of location and association privacy while minimizing the average completion time of tasks. To achieve these goals, we design a privacy-preserving task offloading scheme to protect location privacy and association privacy. The scheme is mainly divided into two parts. First, we adopt a proxy forwarding mechanism to protect the location privacy of mobile devices from being leaked. Second, we select the proxy server and edge server for each task that needs to be offloaded. In the proxy server selection policy, we make a choice based on the location information of proxy servers, to reduce the leakage risk of location privacy. In the edge server selection strategy, we consider the privacy conflict between tasks, the computing ability, and location of edge servers, to reduce the leakage risk of association privacy plus the average completion time of tasks as much as possible. Simulated experimental results demonstrate that our scheme is effective in protecting the location privacy and association privacy of mobile devices and reducing the average completion time of tasks compared with the-state-of-art techniques.
EMS: Efficient Monitoring System to Detect Non-Cooperative Nodes in IoT-Based Vehicular Delay Tolerant Networks (VDTNs)
Authors: Rehman Ghani Ur , Zubair Muhammad , Qasim Iqbal , Badshah Afzal , Mahmood Zafar , Aslam Muhammad , Jilani Syeda Fizah
Published: December 2022

Since several Internet of Things (IoT) applications have been widely deployed on unstable wireless networks, such as the Delay Tolerant Network (DTN), data communication efficiency in DTN remains a challenge for IoT applications. Vehicular Delay Tolerant Network (VDTN) has become one of DTN’s potential applications, in which the network experiences connectivity interruption due to the lack of an end-to-end relay route. VDTNs focus on node cooperation to achieve this goal. As a result, it is essential to ensure that almost all network nodes adopt the protocol to preserve network performance. This is a challenging task since nodes may diverge from the basic protocol to optimize their effectiveness. This article presents an Efficient Monitoring System (EMS) to detect and respond to just selfish nodes to minimize their entire network and data communication efficacy. The scheme is based on a network-wide cooperative sharing of node reputation. It is also necessary to increase overall network efficiency by tracking selfish nodes. The NS-2 simulator is used to run this experimental setup. Simulation results indicate that the proposed scheme performs better in terms of probability of package delivery, package delivery delay, energy consumption, and amount of packet drops. For 80% selfish nodes in the network, the packet delivery of EMS is 37% and 31% better than SOS and IPS. Similarly, the average delivery delay of EMS is 22% and 18% lower than SOS and IPS when 80% selfish nodes are incorporated in the network.
Xiroi II, an Evolved ASV Platform for Marine Multirobot Operations
Authors: Martorell-Torres Antoni , Guerrero-Font Eric , Guerrero-Sastre José , Oliver-Codina Gabriel
Published: December 2022

In this paper, we present the design, development and a practical use of an Autonomous Surface Vehicle (ASV) as a modular and flexible platform for a large variety of marine tasks including the coordination strategies with other marine robots. This work tackles the integration of an open-source Robot-Operating-System (ROS)-based control architecture that provides the ASV with a wide variety of navigation behaviors. These new ASV capabilities can be used to acquire useful data from the environment to survey, map, and characterize marine habitats. In addition, the ASV is used as a radio frequency relay point between an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and the ground station as well as to enhance the Acoustic Communication Link (ACL) with the AUV. In order to improve the quality of the ACL, a new Marine Multirobot System (MMRS) coordination strategy has been developed that aims to keep both vehicles close to each other. The entire system has been successfully designed, implemented, and tested in real marine environment robotic tasks. The experimental tests show satisfactory results both in ROS-based navigation architecture and the MMRS coordination strategy resulting in a significant improvement of the quality of the ACL.
CFD Model of a Mechanical Oscillator Flowmeter
Authors: Szudarek Maciej , Turkowski Mateusz , Piechna Adam
Published: December 2022

Most of the studies on mechanical oscillator flowmeters were conducted in the ‘80s and ‘90s when computational fluid dynamics (CFD) was not a viable scientific tool in flow metrology. Still, many topics related to the application of mechanical oscillator flowmeters require further investigation. In the article, a numerical model of a mechanical oscillator flowmeter is developed with the commercial software ANSYS Fluent. The model is validated against experimental data obtained at a water calibration stand. The influence of the selected turbulence model, dynamic mesh method, as well as grid and time step size is studied. The model’s qualitative behavior is correct, allowing investigation into the flowmeter operation in detail. It can provide a base for the improvement of the flowmeter’s performance. Relative differences in the frequency of oscillations did not exceed 4% for a DN50 flowmeter in the flow rate range (2–40) m3/h.
The Need for Cybersecurity in Industrial Revolution and Smart Cities
Authors: Clim Antonio , Toma Andrei , Zota Răzvan Daniel , Constantinescu Radu
Published: December 2022

Cities have grown in development and sophistication throughout human history. Smart cities are the current incarnation of this process, with increased complexity and social importance. This complexity has come to involve significant digital components and has thus come to raise the associated cybersecurity concerns. Major security relevant events can cascade into the connected systems making up a smart city, causing significant disruption of function and economic damage. The present paper aims to survey the landscape of scientific publication related to cybersecurity-related issues in relation to smart cities. Relevant papers were selected based on the number of citations and the quality of the publishing journal as a proxy indicator for scientific relevance. Cybersecurity will be shown to be reflected in the selected literature as an extremely relevant concern in the operation of smart cities. Generally, cybersecurity is implemented in actual cities through the concerted application of both mature existing technologies and emerging new approaches.
Sensor-Based Human Activity and Behavior Research: Where Advanced Sensing and Recognition Technologies Meet
Authors: Liu Hui , Gamboa Hugo , Schultz Tanja
Published: December 2022

Human activity recognition (HAR) and human behavior recognition (HBR) have been playing increasingly important roles in the digital age [...]
Active Learning Methodology for Expert-Assisted Anomaly Detection in Mobile Communications
Authors: Trujillo José Antonio , de-la-Bandera Isabel , Burgueño Jesús , Palacios David , Baena Eduardo , Barco Raquel
Published: December 2022

Due to the great complexity, heterogeneity, and variety of services, anomaly detection is becoming an increasingly important challenge in the operation of new generations of mobile communications. In many cases, the underlying relationships between the multiplicity of parameters and factors that can cause anomalous behavior are only determined by human expert knowledge. On the other hand, although automatic algorithms have a great capacity to process multiple sources of information, they are not always able to correctly signal such abnormalities. In this sense, this paper proposes the integration of both components in a framework based on Active Learning that enables enhanced performance in anomaly detection tasks. A series of tests have been conducted using an online anomaly detection algorithm comparing the proposed solution with a method based on the algorithm output alone. The obtained results demonstrate that a hybrid anomaly detection model that automates part of the process and includes the knowledge of an expert following the described methodology yields increased performance.
Vehicular Platoon Communication: Architecture, Security Threats and Open Challenges
Authors: Taylor Sean Joe , Ahmad Farhan , Nguyen Hoang Nga , Shaikh Siraj Ahmed
Published: December 2022

The emerging technology that is vehicular platooning is an exciting technology. It promises to save space on congested roadways, improve safety and utilise less fuel for transporting goods, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The technology has already been shown to be vulnerable to attack and exploitation by attackers. Attackers have several attack surfaces available for exploitation to achieve their goals (either personal or financial). The goal of this paper and its contribution to the area of research is to present the attacks and defence mechanisms for vehicular platoons and put risks of existing identified attacks forwards. Here the variety of attacks that have been identified in the literature are presented and how they compromise the wireless communications of vehicle platoons. As part of this, a risk assessment is presented to assess the risk factor of the attacks. Finally, this paper presents the range of defence and countermeasures to vehicle platooning attacks and how they protect the safe operations of vehicular platoons.
Cardiorespiratory, Metabolic, and Performance Changes from the Effects of Creatine and Caffeine Supplementations in Glucose—Electrolyte-Based Sports Drinks: A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study
Authors: Masodsai Kunanya , Sahaschot Thanachai , Chaunchaiyakul Rungchai
Published: December 2022

The purpose of this study is to investigate the additive effects of creatine and caffeine on changes in the cardiorespiratory system, metabolism, and performance of soccer players. Seventeen male soccer players randomly ingested three sports drinks comprising the following: glucose–electrolyte-based (Drink 1, control; D1), glucose–electrolyte-based drink + 5 g creatine (Drink 2; D2), and glucose–electrolyte-based drink + 5 g creatine + 35 mg caffeine (Drink 3; D3) during a 15 min recovery period after the modified Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST) on a standard outdoor soccer field. Then, a 20-m repeated intermittent sprinting activity was performed. The results showed no significant differences in cardiorespiratory and gas exchange variables. The non-significant levels of blood glucose concentrations among drinks with higher blood lactate concentrations were detected in parallel with increased heart rate during intermittent sprinting as a result of exercise intensities. Significantly longer sprinting time was found in D3 than D1 (p < 0.05), with no significant differences between D2 and D3. From this study, we conclude that the additive effect of caffeine–creatine supplements in a glucose–electrolyte drink during the 15 min recovery period enhances repeated 20-m high-intensity running in soccer players with no negative effect on cardiorespiratory functions.
A Semiparametric Tilt Optimality Model
Authors: Pathiravasan Chathurangi H. , Bhattacharya Bhaskar
Published: December 2022

Practitioners often face the situation of comparing any set of k distributions, which may follow neither normality nor equality of variances. We propose a semiparametric model to compare those distributions using an exponential tilt method. This extends the classical analysis of variance models when all distributions are unknown by relaxing its assumptions. The proposed model is optimal when one of the distributions is known. Large-sample estimates of the model parameters are derived, and the hypotheses for the equality of the distributions are tested for one-at-a-time and simultaneous comparison cases. Real data examples from NASA meteorology experiments and social credit card limits are analyzed to illustrate our approach. The proposed approach is shown to be preferable in a simulated power comparison with existing parametric and nonparametric methods.
Sustainability Messages in Residential Property Advertising
Authors: Brookfield Katherine , Dimond Charlotte , Williams Susannah G.
Published: December 2022

Companies and brands are increasingly addressing issues of sustainability in their marketing and advertising as they respond to consumers’ evolving interests and preferences. While studies have examined the presence of sustainability messages in advertising in general, and in a number of discrete industries, the use of these messages in residential property advertising is critically understudied. Some homebuyers, however, appear interested in these messages, as evidence suggests they ascribe value to certain sustainability claims and features. An analysis of the textual and visual content of 100 property adverts for city centre flats, listed for sale in two English cities in early 2022, afforded detailed insights into the positioning of sustainability in residential real estate advertising. Findings from this analysis indicate that explicit sustainability messages are rare. Property and locational features related to environmental sustainability are mentioned more frequently than those related to social sustainability. Features related to economic sustainability are discussed in adverts targeted at property investors. Sparse explicit discussion of sustainability in adverts might imply that there is little general concern for this issue, either amongst those selling property and/or amongst those buying property. An implication of this might be that pro-sustainability measures targeted at the housing sector may encounter a muted response from actors within the sector, potentially frustrating the implementation of those measures. For homebuyers who are interested in a property’s sustainability, the findings suggest that they are poorly served by current practices in property advertising. Estate agents and developers wishing to appeal to these sustainability-minded consumers might do well to incorporate greater commentary on a property’s sustainability features in their advertising materials.
Analysis of the Bidirectional Characteristic of Radiation of Flat and Rough Water–Air Interfaces Based on the Theory of Radiative Transfer
Authors: Yang Xiguang , Chen Jie , Yu Ying
Published: December 2022

The Lambertian property of objects is one of the basic hypotheses in remote sensing research. However, the spectral radiance of natural objects is always anisotropic. On the sea surface, a large amount of sea foam is generated at the water–air interface, induced by wind speed and breaking gravity waves. Additionally, the scattering characteristic at the water–air interface significantly influences the accuracy of ocean color remote sensing and its output. The bidirectionality of the water light field is one of the sources of errors in ocean color inversion. Therefore, the knowledge of the bidirectional reflectance distribution of water surfaces is of great significance in quantitative remote sensing or for the evaluation of measurement errors in surface optical parameters. To clarify the bidirectional reflectance distribution, we used the coupled ocean–atmosphere radiative transfer (COART) model to simulate the bidirectional radiance of water bodies and explored the anisotropy of radiance at the water–air interface. The results indicate that the downward and upward irradiance just below the water surface and the water-leaving radiance changed with the sun-viewing geometry. The downward and upward radiance just below the water surface decreased as the zenith angle of the incident light increased. This effect can be mitigated using a function of the viewing angle. Additionally, the viewing azimuth angle and rough sea surface had no significant effect on the downward and upward radiance. The water-leaving radiance had an obvious bidirectional reflectance characteristic. Additionally, a backward hotspot was found in the simulated results. Then, the transmission coefficient was calculated, and the bidirectional distribution characteristic was found for flat and rough sea surfaces. This study can be used as a reference to correct bidirectional errors and to guide the spectral measurements of water and its error control for rough sea surfaces.
Parks, Green Space, and Happiness: A Spatially Specific Sentiment Analysis Using Microblogs in Shanghai, China
Authors: Lai Siqi , Deal Brian
Published: December 2022

Green spaces, particularly urban parks, provide essential environmental, aesthetic, and recreational benefits to human health, well-being, and happiness. However, traditional forms of investigating people’s perceptions of urban parks, such as questionnaires and interviews, are often time- and resource-intensive and do not always yield results that are transferable across sites. In this study, spatially explicit geolocational information (Sina Weibo check-in data) was utilized to analyze expressions of happiness and well-being in urban parks in Shanghai, China. The results showed significant differences in reported happiness inside and outside urban parks in Shanghai over a 6-month period. Accessibility, naturalness factors, and the frequency of park visits were positively associated with happiness. There existed both commonalities and disparities in the results between residents and non-residents. These findings can provide decision makers and urban planners with a comprehensive and timely overview of urban park use so they can accurately identify park needs and improvements.
Multi-Objective Optimization Design of Geometric Parameters of Atrium in nZEB Based on Energy Consumption, Carbon Emission and Cost
Authors: Guan Zhenzhong , Xu Xiang , Xue Yibing , Wang Chongjie
Published: December 2022

Through the detailed design of the passive design of the geometric parameters of the atrium, it is beneficial to achieve the design goal of a nearly zero-energy building. In the architectural design stage, the geometric design parameters of the atrium are verified and evaluated with different objectives such as energy consumption, carbon emissions, and costs, and then the most appropriate solution according to different design requirements is selected, which can reduce energy consumption and save costs. This paper proposes a method to optimize the energy consumption of a building’s atrium. Taking Jinan City as an example, this paper conducted 1260 energy consumption simulations for buildings with different geometric parameters of the atrium, based on the investigation of the geometric scale and energy consumption of the multi-story office buildings with near-zero energy consumption in cold areas with atriums. The degree of influence of each parameter on building energy consumption was determined. Finally, the parameter selection combination with the best effect is proposed. The results show that the selected four parameters are significantly related to energy consumption, and a new atrium design parameter was found through the combined analysis of the parameters: the body shape coefficient of the atrium. It was found that the importance of atrium design parameters on building energy consumption is as follows: the body shape coefficient of the atrium, the height-span ratio of the atrium (DSR), the atrium building volume ratio (VR), the skylight area ratio (SR), the atrium width-to-depth ratio (FDR). Seven groups of optimal design parameters were obtained by analyzing the design decisions with energy consumption as the target. Taking carbon emission and cost as the targets, three groups of optimal design parameters were obtained according to the Pareto frontier solution set, such as DSR = 2, VR = 0.13, SR = 0.1, and FDR = 2.5. It provides some references and ideas for the optimization of the energy consumption of the atrium of multi-story nearly zero-energy office buildings in the cold regions of China.
A Dynamic Simulation Model for Understanding Sustainability of Machining Operation
Authors: Moran Tess , MacDonald Rod , Zhang Hao
Published: December 2022

The environmental impact of machining operations such as milling, drilling, and turning, is often treated as a conflicting interest when compared to other machining factors such as cost, quality, time, and process settings. It is more beneficial in the long-term for the manufacturer to adjust their practices to be more environmentally conscious. Currently, there are limited existing research showing the linkages between environmental impact of machining and other machining factors. The objective of this study is to create a systems model to examine the linkages of environmental impact with cutting conditions, cost, quality, and efficiency. The model aims to replicate the machining behaviors at the unit process level and generate the long-term implications of their techniques and impacts for engineering decision making. A case study was conducted on a CNC machining operation to create injection molds for climbing holds. The model simulates tool wear and replacement, cutting, energy, cost, and surface quality. The result of this study contributes to the manufacturing knowledge by creating a systems model to quantify and better understand the linkages and trade-offs between environmental impact and decisions surrounding machining operation parameters and technologies. The self-governing behavior of the dynamic model can also be used as a decision-making tool for smart machining control.
Zero-Shot Video Grounding for Automatic Video Understanding in Sustainable Smart Cities
Authors: Wang  Ping , Sun Li , Wang Liuan , Sun Jun
Published: December 2022

Automatic video understanding is a crucial piece of technology which promotes urban sustainability. Video grounding is a fundamental component of video understanding that has been evolving quickly in recent years, but its use is restricted due to the high labeling costs and typical performance limitations imposed by the pre-defined training dataset. In this paper, a novel atom-based zero-shot video grounding (AZVG) method is proposed to retrieve the segments in the video that correspond to a given input sentence. Although it is training-free, the performance of AZVG is competitive to the weakly supervised methods and better than unsupervised SOTA methods on the Charades-STA dataset. The method can support flexible queries as well as different video content. It can play an important role in a wider range of urban living applications.
Land Use Pattern Changes and the Driving Forces in the Shiyang River Basin from 2000 to 2018
Authors: Li Juan , Chunyu Xunzhou , Huang Feng
Published: December 2022

Thorough understanding of the evolution processes and drivers behind the formation of and changes in land use and land cover (LULC) is essential for maintaining the balance between humans and fragile nature in arid regions. This quantitative driving analysis provides in-depth insight into the driving mechanisms behind the formation of and changes in LULC through a case study of the Shiyang River Basin in Northwest China. Based on land use, meteorological, topographic, and socioeconomic data from 2000 to 2018 (2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2018), this study employed land use transfer matrices and the GeoDetector model to explore the evolution and driving forces behind the formation of and variations in the LULC patterns. The results demonstrated that anthropic factors mainly drove the spatial distributions of cropland and settlement. The spatial distributions of the forest, grassland, and bare land were determined by the mutual influence of natural and anthropic factors. The LULC patterns exhibited consequential variations throughout the study period. Through the occupation of the surrounding cropland and grassland, urbanization expanded rapidly. The ecological environment had been improved, but there were still considerable areas of degraded land, characterized by the grassland degradation downstream and the forest degradation upstream. Geographical differentiation was the primary driver for the transformation of bare land to grassland. The main driving forces behind urban expansion and forest loss were socioeconomic development and geographical differentiation. The degree of a certain LULC change varied among different levels of its driving factor. This research can provide scientific advice for administrators and policymakers to formulate scientific, rational, and targeted land use planning and policies in the future to achieve the sustainable development of endorheic river basins.
Leaching of Willemite Concentrate in Sulfuric Acid Solution at High Temperature
Authors: Xu Hongsheng , Qian Yanan , Zhou Quanfa , Wei Chang , Wang Qi , Zhao Wenjie , Zhu Binglong , Tong Fei , Ren Fang , Zhang Min , Xu Jingxu
Published: December 2022

The technical practicability of high temperature leaching process using willemite concentrate as the materials was developed in the study for extracting base metals. The factors affecting the leaching rates of zinc, iron, and silica from willemite concentrate were investigated, and optimized for maximum zinc extraction and minimum iron and silica dissolution to meet the needs of solution purification. Under the studied conditions (413 K, 0.81 mol/L sulfuric acid, duration 60 min, liquid to solid ratio (L/S) 10 mL/g, agitation speed 550 rpm, particle size of −250 + 300 mesh and 1.4 MPa pressure), up to 97% zinc was leached into lixivium together with approximate 5.72% SiO2 and 21.11% Fe. The performance of liquid-solid separation was also improved with decreasing silica dissolution under the experimental conditions used.
Introduction of Global Reporting Format: Summary of the First Winter Season in Poland
Authors: Bylica Arkadiusz , Pashkevich Anton
Published: December 2022

Over the years, Global Reporting Format (GRF) was the first major change in the approach to evaluate runway conditions. The greatest impulse for this new regulation were incidents and accidents related mainly to runway excursions that occurred because of unfavorable weather conditions, when not only aircraft and different airport facilities but also human health and lives suffered. To better understand these changes, their advantages and their disadvantages, as well as the challenges that arose, an expert survey was carried out with duty officers of Polish airports, who directly made an assessment of runway conditions. Beside strengths of the GRF approach, research results show its weaknesses and uncertainties, especially when using the Runway Condition Assessment Matrix. In addition, in the article are presented a brief GRF description together with comparison with the previous reporting system and a discussion about air accident statistics related to a runway excursion, as well as a description and discussion of one selected air incident that took place in Poland.
Key Processes for the Energy Use of Biomass in Rural Sectors of Latin America
Authors: Delgado-Plaza Emerita , Carrillo Artemio , Valdés Hugo , Odobez Norberto , Peralta-Jaramillo Juan , Jaramillo Daniela , Reinoso-Tigre José , Nuñez Victor , Garcia Juan , Reyes-Plascencia Carmina , Tancredi Nestor , Gallardo Franco , Merino Ivan , León Gabriel , Torres José , Garcia Carlos , Sosa-Tinoco Ian
Published: December 2022

An alternative to mitigate the consumption of fossil fuels is the use of biomass as an energy source. In this sense, the rural sector in Latin America has great potential due to its multiple biomass sources. For this reason, this study aims to analyze potential technologies related to the production of energy from biomass and its application in the Latin American rural sector. To achieve this, four key processes are analyzed. First is biomass conditioning through solar dryers. Next are the thermochemical processes that allow for their transformation into biofuels, for which the pyrolysis and the hydrothermal methods were selected due to the flexibility of the products obtained. Subsequently, cogeneration is studied to produce electrical and thermal energy from biomass or its derivatives. Finally, to close the CO2 cycle, a balance of CO2 fixation in a forest plantation is presented as an example of carbon accumulated in biomass. The literature systematic review allowed us to determine that the technologies mentioned in this work have different degrees of implementation in the Latin American rural sector. However, they have great potential to be applied on a large scale in the region, making it possible to adapt energy production to climate change and improve the life quality of its inhabitants.
From Subordinate Moqi to Work Engagement: The Role of Leader–Member Exchange in the Sustainability Context
Authors: Du Bin , He Bin , Zhang Luxiaohe , Luo Nan , Yu Xuan , Wang Ai
Published: December 2022

In search of sustainable strategies to improve employees’ work engagement without harming their long-term performance in the VUCA era, this study examines the impact path of subordinate moqi on employees’ work engagement based on leader–member exchange theory and organizational support theory. A total of 322 R&D staff from high-tech enterprises in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, and other cities participated in the study. The data analysis reveals that the leader–member exchange partially mediates between subordinate moqi and work engagement. Moreover, both supervisor’s organizational embodiment and perceived organizational support can positively moderate the impact of subordinate moqi on leader–member exchange. The empirical results enrich the intermediary mechanism between subordinate moqi and work engagement. Employees with subordinate moqi have better chances of meeting their supervisors’ implicit expectations, leading to a higher relationship quality with followers and increasing enthusiasm for work. The current study clarifies the theoretical and practical significance of subordinate moqi in establishing high-quality work relationships and sustainable development of organizations’ human resources.
A Comprehensive Sustainability Assessment of Battery Electric Vehicles, Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles, and Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles through a Comparative Circular Economy Assessment Approach
Authors: Ahmed Aser Alaa , Nazzal Mohammad A. , Darras Basil M. , Deiab Ibrahim M.
Published: December 2022

Transitioning to zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) is thought to substantially curb emissions, promoting sustainable development. However, the extent of the problem extends beyond tailpipe emissions. To facilitate decision-making and planning of future infrastructural developments, the economic, social, and technological factors of ZEVs should also be addressed. Therefore, this work implements the circular economy paradigm to identify the most suitable vehicle type that can accelerate sustainable development by calculating circularity scores for Internal Combustion Engine Vehicles (ICEVs) and two ZEVs, the Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles (FCEVs). The circularity assessment presents a novel assessment procedure that interrelates the environmental, economic, social, and technological implications of each vehicle type on the three implementation levels of the circular economy (i.e., The macro, meso, and micro levels). The results of our analysis suggest that not all ZEVs are considered sustainable alternatives to ICEVs. BEVs scored the highest relative circularity score of 36.8% followed by ICEVs and FCEVs scoring 32.9% and 30.3% respectively. The results obtained in this study signify the importance of conducting circular economy performance assessments as planning tools as this assessment methodology interrelate environmental, social, economic, and technological factors which are integral for future infrastructural and urban planning.
How Do Consumer Innovation Characteristics and Consumption Value Shape Users’ Willingness to Buy Innovative Car Safety Seats?
Authors: Jiang Li , Zhao Mei , Lin Hao , Yang Lvyu
Published: December 2022

The intelligent innovation of child safety seats has brought new impacts and challenges to the Chinese market. Researchers in the car seat industry have been focusing on industry regulations and the abuse of car seats, but there is a lack of consumer-centered research. This study is the first to combine two theories of consumer subject-specific innovation (DSI) and the theory of consumption value (TCV). This study explores how consumer innovations influence consumers’ purchase of innovative child safety seats through perceived value. The proposed research model was evaluated using a partial least squares structural equation model, and data analysis revealed that the model had good model fit, reliability, and validity. Consumer product innovation has a significantly better impact on willingness to buy than consumer information innovation. In this study, in the relationship between consumers of information innovation and purchase intention in the automobile seat industry, a new kind of parallel multi-mediating relationship between the social value, hedonic value, and novelty value of perceived products was proposed. The study’s results address the need for more consumer research in the intelligent seating industry, as well as how to give researchers and marketing firms solutions and suggestions based on facts.
Experimental and Simulation Research on the Energy-Saving Potential of a Sunspace—Taking an Apartment in Qingdao as an Example
Authors: Ma Qingsong , Xu Cui , Chen Xiaofei , Gao Weijun , Wei Xindong
Published: December 2022

This paper investigates the thermal performance and energy-saving potential of the sunspace of an old apartment building in Qingdao through experiments and software simulations. This study found that different modes of user behavior can have a substantial impact on the thermal performance of the studied sunspace in winter. The bedroom with a non-ventilated sunspace showed a higher average temperature than the bedroom without the sunspace. However, the bedroom with the sunspace had more heat loss than the bedroom without the sunspace when the sunspace was naturally ventilated, especially at night. In Delta temperature (DT)-controlled ventilation mode, the heating load of a bedroom can be reduced by 2.94 kWh/m2 compared with the non-ventilated mode. Simply optimizing the roof configuration of the sunspace can significantly improve the heat gain of the non-ventilated sunspace and reduce the energy consumption for heating by 26 kWh/m2. Compared with the unoptimized sunspace, the optimized ventilated sunspace can reduce the heating load of the bedroom by 38.82 kWh/m2. In addition, the overheating of the room in summer can be solved by opening the exterior windows of the sunspace for ventilation during the day and leaving the door of the sunspace open at night.
Towards the Sustainable Development of Young Children: Impact of After-School Tutoring on Chinese Preschoolers’ Social Behavior
Authors: Shi Jin , Yue Yaping , Zhao Weiping , Huang Qiaoqiao
Published: December 2022

This study aimed to examine whether participation in more types of after-school tutoring for 3- to 6-year-old preschool children is more beneficial to their social behavior. The study was based on survey data collected from 823 children aged between 3 and 6 years in Beijing City, the Guangdong Province and the Jiangxi province, China. Binary logistic regression and hierarchical multiple regression results revealed that: (1) gender, age, and family socioeconomic status were important factors that affected whether preschool children participated in after-school tutoring; (2) in terms of the types of after-school tutoring, participation in the arts and health-related activities was beneficial to the development of children’s social skills, participation in arts and science ameliorated children’s problem behavior, but participation in arts, science, and health-related activities simultaneously posed a negative impact on children’s problem behavior; (3) in terms of the breadth of participation, children’s social skills were weakly strengthened if the participation breadth is greater, but this, however, did not reduce problem behavior; (4) parental involvement and individual factors were important in determining children’s social behavior. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that parents should carefully consider the impact of after-school tutoring on preschool children’s social behavior and choose after-school tutoring appropriately.
Leisure Boating Environmental Footprint: A Study of Leisure Marinas in Palermo, Italy
Authors: Bruccoleri Manfredi , Cannova Pietro , Cruz-Pérez Noelia , Rodríguez-Martín Jesica , Ioras Florin , Santamarta Juan C.
Published: December 2022

Ports have played a significant role in the touristic development and further economic growth of Italy. It is the country with the highest number of berths among the nations in the Mediterranean Sea; over time, Italy has created ports with a range of functions. Therefore, it is of vital importance to evaluate the potential pollutants generated from these docks and propose ways to eliminate those problems. A survey that asked about the carbon footprint and the quality of the water in the water footprint calculation was created and distributed to the management of the marinas’ operations. After receiving the completed surveys, the data were analyzed and translated using emission factors into tons of CO2 equivalent. The amount of greenhouse gases generated by the investigated marinas was determined by calculating the carbon and water footprints of five representative Palermo marinas, and we aimed to better understand how these port-related operations affect the environment. To pinpoint the pollutant sources within the investigated marinas, an original P-Mapping/Pareto ratio approach was performed as supported by Pareto’s principle. The findings indicated that the primary operations of the marina sector are the main sources of pollution. However, a sizable portion of the emissions were also caused by pollution from supporting operations. Based on the study, the origins of CO2 and pollution in marina operations were clarified. The results obtained enable the authors to make recommendations that all recreational boating activities should be closely supervised in order to reduce CO2 emissions and their input in relation to environmental degradation.