bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Conceptual Model Depicting How Children Are Affected by Parental Cancer: A Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach
Authors: Alexander Elise S. , Halkett Georgia K. B. , Lawrence Blake J. , O’Connor Moira
Published: September 2023

Cancer patients’ children are vulnerable to psychosocial and behavioural issues. The mechanisms underlying how children are affected by their parent’s diagnosis are unknown, warranting further research. This study investigated how children are affected by their parent’s cancer diagnosis and provides a theoretical model conceptualising this experience. Informed by methods of grounded theory, embedded within a social constructivist framework, 38 informants (15 health professionals (HPs); 11 parents; 12 children (5 to 17 years)) were interviewed using a semi-structured format. Three themes were identified: (i) children were worried and distressed because they felt alone, (ii) parents were unable to tend to children’s needs because they were overwhelmed by practical factors, and (iii) HPs were not detecting children due to barriers that affected their visibility in clinical settings. The proposed Alexander’s Children’s Cancer Communication (ACCC) Model and clinical recommendations made can be used to guide the clinical practice and development of future intervention research.
Solving the Problem of Elasticity for a Layer with N Cylindrical Embedded Supports
Authors: Miroshnikov Vitaly , Savin Oleksandr , Sobol Vladimir , Nikichanov Vyacheslav
Published: September 2023

The main goal of deformable solid mechanics is to determine the stress–strain state of parts, structural elements, and their connections. The most accurate results of calculations of this state allow us to optimize design objects. However, not all models can be solved using exact methods. One such model is the problem of a layer with cylindrical embedded supports that are parallel to each other and the layer boundaries. In this work, the supports are represented by cylindrical cavities with zero displacements set on them. The layer is considered in Cartesian coordinates, and the cavities are in cylindrical coordinates. To solve the problem, the Lamé equation is used, where the basic solutions between different coordinate systems are linked using the generalized Fourier method. By satisfying the boundary conditions and linking different coordinate systems, a system of infinite linear algebraic equations is created. For numerical realization, the method of reduction is used to find the unknowns. The numerical analysis has shown that the boundary conditions are fulfilled with high accuracy, and the physical pattern of the stress distribution and the comparison with results of similar studies indicate the accuracy of the obtained results. The proposed method for calculating the stress–strain state can be applied to the calculation of structures whose model is a layer with cylindrical embedded supports. The numerical results of the work make it possible to predetermine the geometric parameters of the model to be designed.
MPC Controllers in SIIR Epidemic Models
Authors: Kosyanov Nikita , Gubar Elena , Taynitskiy Vladislav
Published: September 2023

Infectious diseases are one of the most important problems of the modern world, for example, the periodic outbreaks of coronavirus infections caused by COVID-19, influenza, and many other respiratory diseases have significantly affected the economics of many countries. Hence, it is therefore important to minimize the economic damage, which includes both loss of work and treatment costs, quarantine costs, etc. Recent studies have presented many different models describing the dynamics of virus spread, which help to analyze the epidemic outbreaks. In the current work we focus on finding solutions that are robust to noise and take into account the dynamics of future changes in the process. We extend previous results by using a nonlinear model-predictive-control (MPC) controller to find effective controls. MPC is a computational mathematical method used in dynamically controlled systems with observations to find effective controls.
AFB-GPSR: Adaptive Beaconing Strategy Based on Fuzzy Logic Scheme for Geographical Routing in a Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET)
Authors: Al-Essa Raneen I. , Al-Suhail Ghaida A.
Published: September 2023

In mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), geographical routing provides a robust and scalable solution for the randomly distributed and unrestricted movement of nodes. Each node broadcasts beacon packets periodically to exchange its position with neighboring nodes. However, reliable beacons can negatively affect routing performance in dynamic environments, particularly when there is a sudden and rapid change in the nodes’ mobility. Therefore, this paper suggests an improved Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing Protocol, namely AFB-GPSR, to reduce routing overhead and increase network reliability by maintaining correct route selection. To this end, an adaptive beaconing strategy based on a fuzzy logic scheme (AFB) is utilized to choose more optimal routes for data forwarding. Instead of constant periodic beaconing, the AFB strategy can dynamically adjust beacon interval time with the variation of three network parameters: node speed, one-hop neighbors’ density, and link quality of nodes. The routing evaluation of the proposed protocol is carried out using OMNeT++ simulation experiments. The results show that the AFB strategy within the GPSR protocol can effectively reduce the routing overhead and improve the packet-delivery ratio, throughput, average end-to-end delay, and normalized routing load as compared to traditional routing protocols (AODV and GPSR with fixed beaconing). An enhancement of the packet-delivery ratio of up to 14% is achieved, and the routing cost is reduced by 35%. Moreover, the AFB-GPSR protocol exhibits good performance versus the state-of-the-art protocols in MANET.
Sport and Recreation Undergraduate Students’ Perspectives on Disruption of Lifestyle, Active Lives, Learning, and Livelihood during Pandemic Times
Authors: Godber Kathleen Ann , Atkins Denise Robyn
Published: September 2023

This paper highlights curriculum and policy reforms and innovations in a Higher Education (HE) institution in response to undergraduate student perspectives about the phenomenon of the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the New Zealand government (2020–2022). The advent of the coronavirus pandemic precipitated unexpected and unprecedented changes in HE learning and in the pedagogy required for undergraduate students. Consequently, HE institutions have had to be agile, resulting in ‘emergency’ adaptations to curriculum practice and policy implementation. This paper discusses triggers for change, reactions to restrictions, strategic measures, and the emergence of a ‘new normal’ from an undergraduate student perspective. Local and global concerns about student participation in undergraduate study (in Sport and Recreation), sport, and physical activity during restricted periods prompted the researchers to investigate the challenges these young people faced. Student voice was collected through semi-structured interviews and focus groups, collected post lockdown periods. Research findings, elicited from lecturers using a collaborative auto-ethnographical method, along with interpretative analysis (hermeneutic phenomenology) of students’ perspectives about the four pillars of lifestyle, active lives, learning, and livelihood provide insights about the impact of unexpected curriculum and policy change for HE students in New Zealand. This research provides real-time data to inform recommendations on policy and practice in HE institutions, to enhance student wellbeing in times of crises, like the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Short and Practical Overview on Light-Sensing Proteins, Optogenetics, and Fluorescent Biomolecules inside Biomorphs Used as Optical Sensors
Authors: Galindo-García Ulises , Vanegas-Reza María , Arreguín-Espinosa Roberto , Pérez Karina Sandra , Pérez-Solis Ricardo , Mendoza María Eugenia , Cervantes-Quintero Karla Yadira , Islas Selene R. , Cuéllar-Cruz Mayra , Moreno Abel
Published: September 2023

In this contribution, we describe a brief overview of the role of different light-signaling proteins in different biochemical processes (mostly in plants) along the electromagnetic spectrum. We also revise, in terms of perspectives, the applications of all these proteins to optogenetics as a new emerging field of research. In the second part, we present some case studies: First, we used two fluorescent proteins showing an optical response in the green- and red-light wavelengths both isolated from marines’ organisms, which were incorporated as light sensors into the silico-carbonate of Ca, Ba, and Sr (usually called biomorphs). The second case study consisted in incorporating phototropins from a plant (Arabidopsis thaliana) into the synthesis of biomorphs. Finally, the last part analyses the influence of these three proteins on the shape and structure in the synthesis of silico-carbonates of calcium, barium, and strontium as optical sensors, in order to detect the location of these biomolecules inside these self-assembly crystalline materials called biomorphs.
Presence and Role of Associations of Cancer Patients and Volunteers in Specialist Breast Centres: An Italian National Survey of Breast Centres Associated with Senonetwork
Authors: D’Antona Rosanna , Deandrea Silvia , Sestini Elisabetta , Pau Loredana , Ferrè Francesca , Angiolini Catia , Bortul Marina , Bucchi Lauro , Caumo Francesca , Fortunato Lucio , Giordano Livia , Giordano Monica , Mantellini Paola , Martelli Irene , Melucci Giuseppe , Naldoni Carlo , Paci Eugenio , Saguatti Gianni , Tinterri Corrado , Vainieri Milena , Cataliotti Luigi
Published: September 2023

This article aims to present the results of a national, cross-sectional, voluntary, online survey on the presence and roles of associations of breast cancer patients and volunteers in Italian specialist breast centres. The survey was developed according to standard methods. The questionnaire was pre-tested by a random sample of three breast centres, loaded onto the SurveyMonkey platform, and piloted by one volunteer breast centre. The breast centre clinical leads were invited to participate via email. A link to the online instrument was provided. No financial incentives were offered. The results were reported using standard descriptive statistics. The response rate was 82/128 (65%). Members of associations were routinely present in 70% Italian breast centres. Breast centres most often reporting their presence were those certified by the European Society of Breast Cancer Specialists. Patient support (reception and information, listening, identification of needs, and psychological support) was the primary area where associations were reported to offer services. The magnitude of this phenomenon warrants a study to investigate the impact of the activities of associations on the quality of life of patients and on the cost–benefit ratio of the service, and the modes of their interactions with the nursing staff and the medical staff.
The Imitation Game: In Search for Brachycera in the Triassic
Authors: Lukashevich Elena D. , Mostovski Mike B.
Published: September 2023

The richest assemblage of the Triassic Diptera has been described from the famous Konservat-Lagerstätte Grès à Voltzia (Upper Buntsandstein) in the northern Vosges Mountains in France, dated as Early Anisian. A re-examination of the holotypes and additional material from the type locality allows for the establishment of Vogerhyphus gen. nov. and erection of the Vogerhyphinae subfam. nov. for Vymrhyphus blagoderovi Krzemiński and Krzemińska, 2003 and Vogerhyphus krzeminskorum sp. nov. (Protorhyphidae), and a new monotypic family Galliidae fam. nov. for Gallia alsatica Krzemiński and Krzemińska, 2003, originally described as Rhagionidae based on its wing venation. Galliidae fam. nov. is characterized by its closed cua cell and long moniliform antenna with 14-segmented flagellum and is hypothesized to belong to the stem-group Brachycera, along with the Late Triassic Prosechamyiidae. The process of brachycerization in the Diptera evolution is briefly discussed.
Genetic Diversity and Structure of Geodorum eulophioides, a Plant Species with Extremely Small Populations in China
Authors: Li Zhi , Ran Zhaohui , Zhang Yang , Xiao Xu , An Mingtai
Published: September 2023

Geodorum eulophioides is a unique and endangered species belonging to the Orchidaceae family in China. It has great potential as an ornamental horticultural plant. However, little is known about its genetic diversity and reasons for being endangered due to its narrow distribution and few populations in the wild. To effectively evaluate and conserve available resources, the genetic diversity and population structure of G. eulophioides were analyzed in this study. A total of 94 individuals from 10 natural populations were studied using site-specific amplified fragment sequencing (SLAF-seq). Based on the 76,340 SNPs detected by SLAF-seq, genetic diversity analysis was performed and markers associated with environmental variables were determined. The results showed that the level of genetic diversity in the 10 natural populations studied was low, with PIC values ranging from 0.1874 to 0.2156. FIS values ranged from −0.2376 to 0.2658, with excess and deficiency in heterozygotes. FST values ranged from 0.0482 to 0.3144, with genetic variation among populations. AMOVA results showed that the genetic variation among populations accounted for 21.35% of the total variation, and the remaining genetic variation among individuals within populations was 78.65%. The results of the population structure analysis showed that 94 individuals were classified into three major groups and two subgroups. Environmental association analysis using Bayenv2 and LFMM yielded thirty and eighteen putative adaptive loci, respectively, and five specific functional genes were annotated. In summary, this study provides further insight into the genetic structure of G. eulophioides and provides a reference for protection and restoration.
There and Back Again—The Igatu Hotspot Siliciclastic Caves: Expanding the Data for Subterranean Fauna in Brazil, Chapada Diamantina Region
Authors: Gallão Jonas Eduardo , Ribeiro Deyvison Bonfim , Gallo Jéssica Scaglione , Bichuette Maria Elina
Published: September 2023

The caves of Igatu, municipality of Andaraí, belonging to the region known as Chapada Diamantina represent a new hotspot of subterranean fauna. These caves are siliciclastic, which are sedimentary rocks where silica predominates, such as sandstones and (following metamorphism) quartzites, which makes them even more relevant from the point of view of subterranean diversity. For five caves, which we named Igatu Cave System (ICS), thirty-seven obligate cave species were found, of which thirty-five were troglobitic and two were stygobitic. The troglobitic taxa for ICS belong to three phyla, nine classes, 18 orders, and 32 families, representing a high phylogenetic diversity. Some taxa were, for the first time, reported as troglobitic in Brazil and even worldwide, such as Acari and scutigeromorphans (Chilopoda). We started the studies in 2009 and continue trough long-term monitoring projects. Some threats, severe in the past, such as “garimpo’’ (illegal small-scale artisanal mining) continue nowadays in an incipient way; however, the urban expansion due to the touristic appeal is also considered a threat. Our data ranked ICS as the Brazilian hotspot with the highest number of troglobitic/stygobitic species.
Morphology and Distribution of Antennal Sensilla on Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) Larvae and Adults
Authors: Wang Wenwen , He Pengyang , Liu Tongxian , Jing Xiangfeng , Zhang Shize
Published: September 2023

The invasive pest, Spodoptera frugiperda, commonly known as the fall armyworm (FAW), is a serious threat to food security in multiple countries worldwide. Insects’ antennal sensilla play a crucial role in perceiving plant odors and communication between male and female insects. This study aimed to examine the antennal morphology and sensilla variations on the antennae of FAW larvae and adults through scanning electron microscope analysis. The results revealed that third and fifth instar larval antennae possessed smell pores, sensilla pegs, and five types of antennal sensilla, namely sensilla trichodea, sensilla basiconica, sensilla chaetica, sensilla campaniform, and sensilla styloconicum, and the smell pores were first observed in Lepidoptera larvae. Furthermore, the size of sensilla in fifth instar larvae was significantly greater than those in third instar. On the adult antennae, there were smell pores and 12 types of sensilla identified: sensilla trichodea, sensilla basicaonica, sensilla auricillica, sensilla cavity, sensilla placodea, sensilla ligulate, Böhm’s bristles, sensilla chaetica, sensilla squamous, sensilla coeloconica, sensilla styloconicum, and sensilla uniporous peg. Notably, the sensilla cavity, sensilla placodea, sensilla ligulate, sensilla uniporous peg, and smell pores were first discovered in FAW adults. Compared with larvae, FAW adults have more types and amounts of sensilla. Additionally, we also discussed the possible functions of these antennal sensilla. This study provides valuable information for a comprehensive understanding of the type and function of antennal sensilla in FAW and assists in the development of novel pest control strategies, such as pest behavior control technology, for the prevention of this invasive pest.
Go with the Flow: Estimating Wind Using Uncrewed Aircraft
Authors: Compere Marc D. , Adkins Kevin A. , Muthu Krishnan Avinash
Published: September 2023

This paper presents a fundamentally different approach to wind estimation using Uncrewed Aircraft (UA) than the vast majority of existing methods. This method uses no on-board flow sensor and does not attempt to estimate thrust or drag forces. Using only GPS and orientation sensors, the strategy estimates wind vectors in an Earth-fixed frame during turning maneuvers. The method presented here is called the Wind-Arc method. The philosophy behind this method has been seen in practice, but this paper presents an alternative derivation with resulting performance evaluations in simulations and flight tests. The simulations verify the method provides perfect performance under ideal conditions using simulated GPS, heading angle, and satisfied assumptions. When applied to experimental flight test data, the method works and follows both the airspeed and wind speed trends, but improvements can still be made. Wind triangles are displayed at each instant in time along the flight path that illustrate the graphical nature of the approach and solution. Future work will include wind gust estimation and a Quality of Estimate (QoE) metric to determine what conditions provide good wind speed estimates while preserving the method’s generality and simplicity.
Integrated Surveying, from Laser Scanning to UAV Systems, for Detailed Documentation of Architectural and Archeological Heritage
Authors: Calisi Daniele , Botta Stefano , Cannata Alessandro
Published: September 2023

Nowadays, the study and digitization of historical, architectural, and archaeological heritage are extremely important, covering the creation of digital twins—virtual replicas of real spaces and environments. Such reconstructions can be achieved using technologies with passive or active light sensors: laser scanners as light emitters, or photogrammetry through the creation of photographic images. As for the latter case, a distinction must be made between terrestrial and aerial shots, increasingly facilitated by the spread of UAV systems. Point clouds are aligned using georeferenced points measured with a total station. To create a faithful virtual model of the subjects, dense point clouds from a laser scanner are used to generate meshes, which are textured in high resolution from aerial and terrestrial photographs. All techniques can be integrated with each other, as demonstrated through the experiences of two case studies, each serving different purposes. The first is a detailed survey conducted for CAD representation of certain areas of Rocca Farnese in Capodimonte. The second is an instrumental survey for the creation of a realistic digital twin, aimed at providing an immersive VR experience of the archaeological area of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome.
The Entropy of Entropy: Are We Talking about the Same Thing?
Authors: Nielsen Søren Nors , Müller Felix
Published: September 2023

In the last few decades, the number of published papers that include search terms such as thermodynamics, entropy, ecology, and ecosystems has grown rapidly. Recently, background research carried out during the development of a paper on “thermodynamics in ecology” revealed huge variation in the understanding of the meaning and the use of some of the central terms in this field—in particular, entropy. This variation seems to be based primarily on the differing educational and scientific backgrounds of the researchers responsible for contributions to this field. Secondly, some ecological subdisciplines also seem to be better suited and applicable to certain interpretations of the concept than others. The most well-known seems to be the use of the Boltzmann–Gibbs equation in the guise of the Shannon–Weaver/Wiener index when applied to the estimation of biodiversity in ecology. Thirdly, this tendency also revealed that the use of entropy-like functions could be diverted into an area of statistical and distributional analyses as opposed to real thermodynamic approaches, which explicitly aim to describe and account for the energy fluxes and dissipations in the systems. Fourthly, these different ways of usage contribute to an increased confusion in discussions about efficiency and possible telos in nature, whether at the developmental level of the organism, a population, or an entire ecosystem. All the papers, in general, suffer from a lack of clear definitions of the thermodynamic functions used, and we, therefore, recommend that future publications in this area endeavor to achieve a more precise use of language. Only by increasing such efforts it is possible to understand and resolve some of the significant and possibly misleading discussions in this area.
Continuous Monitoring of Entropy Production and Entropy Flow in Humans Exercising under Heat Stress
Authors: Brodeur Nicolas , Notley Sean R. , Kenny Glen P. , Longtin André , Seely Andrew J. E.
Published: September 2023

Complex living systems, such as the human organism, are characterized by their self-organized and dissipative behaviors, where irreversible processes continuously produce entropy internally and export it to the environment; however, a means by which to measure human entropy production and entropy flow over time is not well-studied. In this article, we leverage prior experimental data to introduce an experimental approach for the continuous measurement of external entropy flow (released to the environment) and internal entropy production (within the body), using direct and indirect calorimetry, respectively, for humans exercising under heat stress. Direct calorimetry, performed with a whole-body modified Snellen calorimeter, was used to measure the external heat dissipation from the change in temperature and relative humidity between the air outflow and inflow, from which was derived the rates of entropy flow of the body. Indirect calorimetry, which measures oxygen consumption and carbon dioxide production from inspired and expired gases, was used to monitor internal entropy production. A two-compartment entropy flow model was used to calculate the rates of internal entropy production and external entropy flow for 11 middle-aged men during a schedule of alternating exercise and resting bouts at a fixed metabolic heat production rate. We measured a resting internal entropy production rate of (0.18 ± 0.01) W/(K·m2) during heat stress only, which is in agreement with published measurements. This research introduces an approach for the real-time monitoring of entropy production and entropy flow in humans, and aims for an improved understanding of human health and illness based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics.
Numerical Study on Local Entropy Production Mechanism of a Contra-Rotating Fan
Authors: Jia Xingyu , Zhang Xi
Published: September 2023

Contra-rotating fans (CRFs) have garnered significant attention due to their higher power-to-weight ratio compared to traditional fans; however, limited focus has been given to the localization and development of local aerodynamic losses. Furthermore, there is a need for further research on the impact of load distribution along the radius on local entropy production. Therefore, this study aims to investigate a contra-rotating fan as the research subject. An optimal design for load distribution along the radius is achieved by constructing a surrogate model in combination with a genetic algorithm. The effectiveness of this design has been verified through experimentation using a specific test device. In this study, a local entropy production rate (EPR) model adapted to the shear stress transport-detached eddy simulation (SST-DES) technique is constructed to evaluate the loss distribution of the contra-rotating fan. This paper primarily focuses on comparing and analyzing the blade profile and overall performance of the CRFs before and after optimization. The EPR contribution of each interval along the radius is compared to the corresponding blade channel to identify the approximate range of high-EPR regions. Furthermore, an investigation is conducted to examine the distribution of EPR along the streamwise direction in these high-EPR regions. After that, by comparing the development of the flow structure near a stall before and after optimization, combined with the analysis of the EPR contours, the EPR mechanism of this CRF is revealed.
Conserving Semantic Unit Information and Simplifying Syntactic Constituents to Improve Implicit Discourse Relation Recognition
Authors: Fang Zhongyang , Cong Yue , Chai Yuhan , Gao Chengliang , Chen Ximing , Qiu Jing
Published: September 2023

Implicit discourse relation recognition (IDRR) has long been considered a challenging problem in shallow discourse parsing. The absence of connectives makes such relations implicit and requires much more effort to understand the semantics of the text. Thus, it is important to preserve the semantic completeness before any attempt to predict the discourse relation. However, word level embedding, widely used in existing works, may lead to a loss of semantics by splitting some phrases that should be treated as complete semantic units. In this article, we proposed three methods to segment a sentence into complete semantic units: a corpus-based method to serve as the baseline, a constituent parsing tree-based method, and a dependency parsing tree-based method to provide a more flexible and automatic way to divide the sentence. The segmented sentence will then be embedded at the level of semantic units so the embeddings could be fed into the IDRR networks and play the same role as word embeddings. We implemented our methods into one of the recent IDRR models to compare the performance with the original version using word level embeddings. Results show that proper embedding level better conserves the semantic information in the sentence and helps to enhance the performance of IDRR models.
Fundamental Relation for Gas of Interacting Particles in a Heat Flow
Authors: Hołyst Robert , Makuch Karol , Giżyński Konrad , Maciołek Anna , Żuk Paweł J.
Published: September 2023

There is a long-standing question of whether it is possible to extend the formalism of equilibrium thermodynamics to the case of nonequilibrium systems in steady-states. We have made such an extension for an ideal gas in a heat flow. Here, we investigated whether such a description exists for the system with interactions: the van der Waals gas in a heat flow. We introduced a steady-state fundamental relation and the parameters of state, each associated with a single way of changing energy. The first law of nonequilibrium thermodynamics follows from these parameters. The internal energy U for the nonequilibrium states has the same form as in equilibrium thermodynamics. For the van der Waals gas, U(S*,V,N,a*,b*) is a function of only five parameters of state (irrespective of the number of parameters characterizing the boundary conditions): the effective entropy S*, volume V, number of particles N, and rescaled van der Waals parameters a*, b*. The state parameters, a*, b*, together with S*, determine the net heat exchange with the environment. The net heat differential does not have an integrating factor. As in equilibrium thermodynamics, the steady-state fundamental equation also leads to the thermodynamic Maxwell relations for measurable steady-state properties.
Geospatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation Using AHP–GIS to Delineate Groundwater Potential Zones in Zakho Basin, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
Authors: Sulaiman Wassfi H. , Mustafa Yaseen T.
Published: September 2023

Groundwater availability in the Zakho Basin faces significant challenges due to political issues, border stream control, climate change, urbanization, land use changes, and poor administration, leading to declining groundwater quantity and quality. To address these issues, this study utilized the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and geospatial techniques to identify potential groundwater sites in Zakho. The study assigned weights normalized through the AHP eigenvector and created a final index using the weighted overlay method and specific criteria such as slope, flow accumulation, drainage density, lineament density, geology, well data, rainfall, and soil type. Validation through the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC = 0.849) and coefficient of determination (R2 = 0.81) demonstrated the model’s accuracy. The results showed that 17% of the area had the highest potential as a reliable groundwater source, 46% represented high-to-moderate potential zones, and 37% had low potential. Flat areas between rivers and high mountains displayed the greatest potential for groundwater development. Identifying these potential sites can aid farmers, regional planners, and local governments in making precise decisions about installing hand pumps and tube wells for a regular water supply. Additionally, the findings contribute to the development of a sustainable groundwater management plan, focusing on improving water usage and protecting water-related ecosystems in the region. Identification of the optimum influencing factors, arrangement of the factors in a hierarchy, and creation of a GWPI map will allow further planning for groundwater preservation and sustainability. This project can be conducted in other areas facing droughts.
The Relation between Flower Traits of Bitter Vetch Landraces and Potential Insect Pollinators’ Visitation
Authors: Fragkiadaki Vikentia , Lazaridi Efstathia , Suso María J. , Tsagkarakis Antonios , Ortiz-Sánchez F. Javier , Bebeli Penelope J.
Published: September 2023

Plant–pollinator interactions research can assist in the development of more ecologically friendly crop breeding methods, leading to enhanced global food security. In the present study, we have aimed to assess fifteen floral traits as insect attractancies of six bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd.) landraces, a neglected crop. Four traits related to seed yield were also measured. Abundance and foraging behavior of potential insect pollinators on bitter vetch flowers were recorded, and their species were identified. Differences among landraces regarding floral and yield traits were statistically significant in most cases. A total number of four insect species were recorded as positively visiting flowers and constituting potential pollinators of bitter vetch. At a landrace level, there was a positive correlation between potential insect pollinators’ foraging activity and the number of open flowers, especially for the landrace ERV65-Kastania, Korinthia (p ≤ 0.01). Floral tube length, as well as standard petal length, was also positively correlated in some cases with potential insect pollinator species abundance and their visitation frequency. A positive correlation was also recorded between seed yield-related traits, which varied among landraces, and potential insect pollinators’ foraging activity. The results showed that bitter vetch flowers can attract and receive positive visits from insects, despite their mainly self-pollination reproductive system. Bitter vetch flower traits, such as the number of open flowers, floral tube length, and standard petal length, could, therefore, be useful as breeding tools, aiming to develop varieties with insect pollinator-friendly traits that could lead to enhanced seed yield production and help to conserve wild insect species biodiversity in the context of sustainable agriculture.
An Empirical Study of Trade in Goods between China and Brazil: Analysis of Competitiveness and Complementarity
Authors: Zhao Shuhao , Chang Tianao , Ni Yumo , Zhou Ping
Published: September 2023

China and Brazil established the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” in 2012. Since the establishment of the partnership, China and Brazil have continued to deepen economic and trade cooperation, and cooperation in various fields has achieved remarkable results. China has long been consistent in maintaining its status as Brazil’s largest export destination and source of imports. The total volume of bilateral trade between China and Brazil has significantly increased, and the trade structure in goods is becoming increasingly diversified. The total volume of bilateral trade between China and Brazil has grown considerably, and the trade structure in goods has become increasingly diversified. On 20 April 2023, when Brazilian President Lula visited China, China and Brazil issued a joint statement on deepening the “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”, further deepening the cooperation in trade in goods has become a consensus. From the perspective of goods trade under the comprehensive strategic partnership, the article analyses the complementarities and competitiveness of goods trade between China and Brazil with the help of relevant formulas to form a complete and transparent study of the goods trade between the two countries.
Factors Influencing the Adoption of E-Government Services: A Study among University Students
Authors: Méndez-Rivera Carlos , Patiño-Toro Orfa , Valencia-Arias Alejandro , Arango-Botero Diana
Published: September 2023

The digitization of government services meets the expectations of the younger population, who are accustomed to widespread ICT use. It offers transparency, speed, efficiency, and trust, supported by international organizations. This research aims to identify the factors that influence the adoption of e-government services among university students affiliated with the District Mayor’s Office of Science, Technology, and Innovation in Medellín. The study involved surveying a sample of 403 students to examine their intention to adopt e-government services using structural equation modeling. The results highlight the significant impact of perceived usefulness on attitude towards use and, subsequently, on the intention to use e-government. Notably, subjective norm has the least influence on intent to use. The study also underscores the potential of mobile e-government as a promising option, considering the widespread access to smartphones in emerging economies. Cultural factors, usability, data privacy, lack of trust in governments, and entrenched mentalities emerge as barriers to e-government implementation. In conclusion, the findings shed light on the challenges posed by inadequate infrastructure, digital literacy gaps, resistance to change, and cultural factors that impede e-government adoption. Non-adoption would result in technological setbacks, negative indicators, and inefficiencies. Moreover, recognizing the pivotal role of university students in promoting e-government tools among their peers and relatives, this study emphasizes the importance of their involvement.
International Office Professionals: An Example of Street-Level Bureaucrats in Higher Education
Authors: Bulut-Sahin Betul
Published: September 2023

Internationalization has become an indispensable part of universities worldwide. Since the 1990s, various research has been conducted with those often seen as the main stakeholders of universities, namely administrators, academics, and students. However, the leading implementors of internationalization and especially mobility programs, international office professionals (IPs), are rarely considered by research. In this study, qualitative research was conducted through 36 semi-structured interviews with IPs in Poland and Turkey. The results revealed that IPs have several professional and institutional challenges. While the professional challenges include diversified responsibilities, incoming students’ problems, and communication difficulties with the young generation; institutional challenges are mainly associated with administrative issues like lack of participation in decision-making, temporarily appointed leaders, and lack of academic support. Additionally, in this study, IPs were referred to as street-level bureaucrats as the main contact with the beneficiaries of internationalization. The research revealed that IPs use a high level of discretion in practice. This paper presents examples of how to structure internationalization policies so that the IPs use their power of discretion in a positive way, contributing to policy implementation. Therefore, this paper aims to provide a roadmap for the practical implementation of internationalization and mobility programs in universities.
Exploring Biosignals for Quantitative Pain Assessment in Cancer Patients: A Proof of Concept
Authors: Cascella Marco , Vitale Vincenzo Norman , D’Antò Michela , Cuomo Arturo , Amato Francesco , Romano Maria , Ponsiglione Alfonso Maria
Published: September 2023

Perception and expression of pain in cancer patients are influenced by distress levels, tumor type and progression, and the underlying pathophysiology of pain. Relying on traditional pain assessment tools can present limitations due to the highly subjective and multifaceted nature of the symptoms. In this scenario, objective pain assessment is an open research challenge. This work introduces a framework for automatic pain assessment. The proposed method is based on a wearable biosignal platform to extract quantitative indicators of the patient pain experience, evaluated through a self-assessment report. Two preliminary case studies focused on the simultaneous acquisition of electrocardiography (ECG), electrodermal activity (EDA), and accelerometer signals are illustrated and discussed. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach, highlighting the potential of EDA in capturing skin conductance responses (SCR) related to pain events in chronic cancer pain. A weak correlation (R = 0.2) is found between SCR parameters and the standard deviation of the interbeat interval series (SDRR), selected as the Heart Rate Variability index. A statistically significant (p < 0.001) increase in both EDA signal and SDRR is detected in movement with respect to rest conditions (assessed by means of the accelerometer signals) in the case of motion-associated cancer pain, thus reflecting the relationship between motor dynamics, which trigger painful responses, and the subsequent activation of the autonomous nervous system. With the objective of integrating parameters obtained from biosignals to establish pain signatures within different clinical scenarios, the proposed framework proves to be a promising research approach to define pain signatures in different clinical contexts.
Enabling a Secure IoT Environment Using a Blockchain-Based Local-Global Consensus Manager
Authors: Alghamdi Saleh , Albeshri Aiiad , Alhusayni Ahmed
Published: September 2023

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network of interconnected devices that can communicate and share data over the Internet. The widespread adoption of smart devices within Internet of Things (IoT) networks poses considerable security challenges for their communication. To address these issues, blockchain technology, known for its decentralized and distributed nature, offers potential solutions within consensus-based authentication in IoT networks. This paper presents a novel approach called the local and global layer blockchain model, which aims to enhance security while simplifying implementation. The model leverages the concept of clustering to establish a local-global architecture, with cluster heads assuming responsibility for local authentication and authorization. Implementing a local private blockchain facilitates seamless communication between cluster heads and relevant base stations. This blockchain implementation enhances credibility assurance, strengthens security, and provides an effective network authentication mechanism. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms previously reported methods. The proposed model achieved an average coverage per node of 0.9, which is superior to baseline models. Additionally, the lightweight blockchain model proposed in this paper demonstrates superior capabilities in achieving balanced network latency and throughput compared to traditional global blockchain approaches.
A Fault Location Analysis of Optical Fiber Communication Links in High Altitude Areas
Authors: Xu Kehang , Yuan Chaowei
Published: September 2023

Breakage and damage of fiber optic cable fibers seriously affects the normal operation of fiber optic networks, and it is important to quickly and accurately determine the type and location of faults when they occur. Unlike the old traditional methods, the advantages of wavelet transform in singular signal detection and signal filtering are used to analyze the Optical Time Domain Reflectometer curve signal and the fault detection method of fiber communication links with no relay and a large span in a high altitude area is given, which realizes the accurate detection and location of optical fiber communication link fault events under strong noise. The proposed technology detects fiber optic faults in high-altitude environments, with an average measurement accuracy improvement of 9.8%. The maximum distance for detecting fiber optic line faults is up to 250 km, which increases the system power budget. In the simulation experiment results, the infrastructure nodes of the Wuhan FiberHome Laboratory successfully verified the superiority of this technology. The method has been directly applied to the on-site detection of ultra long optical fiber links in high-altitude areas, which has good financial significance and has certain reference significance for the future real-time detection of optical fiber cables.
Improving Remote Photoplethysmography Performance through Deep-Learning-Based Real-Time Skin Segmentation Network
Authors: Lee Kunyoung , Oh Jaemu , You Hojoon , Lee Eui Chul
Published: September 2023

In recent years, health-monitoring systems have become increasingly important in the medical and safety fields, including patient and driver monitoring. Remote photoplethysmography is an approach that captures blood flow changes due to cardiac activity by utilizing a camera to measure transmitted or reflected light through the skin, but it has limitations in its sensitivity to changes in illumination and motion. Moreover, remote photoplethysmography signals measured from nonskin regions are unreliable, leading to inaccurate remote photoplethysmography estimation. In this study, we propose Skin-SegNet, a network that minimizes noise factors and improves pulse signal quality through precise skin segmentation. Skin-SegNet separates skin pixels and nonskin pixels, as well as accessories such as glasses and hair, through training on facial structural elements and skin textures. Additionally, Skin-SegNet reduces model parameters using an information blocking decoder and spatial squeeze module, achieving a fast inference time of 15 ms on an Intel i9 CPU. For verification, we evaluated Skin-SegNet using the PURE dataset, which consists of heart rate measurements from various environments. When compared to other skin segmentation methods with similar inference speeds, Skin-SegNet demonstrated a mean absolute percentage error of 1.18%, showing an improvement of approximately 60% compared to the 4.48% error rate of the other methods. The result even exhibits better performance, with only 0.019 million parameters, in comparison to DeepLabV3+, which has 5.22 million model parameters. Consequently, Skin-SegNet is expected to be employed as an effective preprocessing technique for facilitating efficient remote photoplethysmography on low-spec computing devices.
Improving Monocular Depth Estimation with Learned Perceptual Image Patch Similarity-Based Image Reconstruction and Left–Right Difference Image Constraints
Authors: Park Hyeseung , Park Seungchul
Published: September 2023

This paper introduces a novel approach for self-supervised monocular depth estimation. The model is trained on stereo–image (left–right pair) data and incorporates carefully designed perceptual image quality assessment-based loss functions for image reconstruction and left–right image difference. The fidelity of the reconstructed images, obtained by warping the input images using the predicted disparity maps, significantly influences the accuracy of depth estimation in self-supervised monocular depth networks. The suggested LPIPS (Learned Perceptual Image Patch Similarity)-based evaluation of image reconstruction accurately emulates human perceptual mechanisms to quantify the quality of reconstructed images, serving as an image reconstruction loss. Consequently, it facilitates the gradual convergence of the reconstructed images toward a greater similarity with the target images during the training process. Stereo–image pair often exhibits slight discrepancies in brightness, contrast, color, and camera angle due to factors like lighting conditions and camera calibration inaccuracies. These factors limit the improvement of image reconstruction quality. To address this, the left–right difference image loss is introduced, aimed at aligning the disparities between the actual left–right image pair and the reconstructed left–right image pair. Due to the tendency of distant pixel values to approach zero in the difference images derived from the left and right source images of stereo pairs, this loss progressively steers the distant pixel values of the reconstructed difference images toward a convergence with zero. Hence, the use of this loss has demonstrated its efficacy in mitigating distortions in distant regions while enhancing overall performance. The primary objective of this study is to introduce and validate the effectiveness of LPIPS-based image reconstruction and left–right difference image losses in the context of monocular depth estimation. To this end, the proposed loss functions have been seamlessly integrated into a straightforward single-task stereo–image learning framework, incorporating simple hyperparameters. Notably, our approach achieves superior results compared to other state-of-the-art methods, even those adopting more intricate hybrid data and multi-task learning strategies.