bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Decoding the Role of Gender in the Relationship Between the Online Payment System and SME Performance: A Case Study Investigating an Emerging Economy—Bangladesh
Authors: Nahar Sharmin
Published: March 2022

This research examines the moderating role of gender on the adoption of online payment systems (OPS). It also explores the impact of using OPS on the performance of SMEs in an emerging economy, using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Resource-Based View (RBV). The results indicate that male SME owners (entrepreneurs) are more likely to focus on perceived usefulness, whereas female SME entrepreneurs are more likely to focus on perceived ease of use while adopting OPS, according to data obtained from 302 SMEs in Bangladesh through face-to-face surveys. The results also report that the use of OPS has a considerable positive effect on SMEs' performance. The study's findings will add to the scarce research on the impact of using OPS on business performance in the context of SMEs in emerging economies, in addition to enhancing the OPS adoption literature from a gendered lens.
Silencing, Urban Growth Machines, and the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago's South Side
Authors: Schwarze Tilman , Wilson David
Published: March 2022

Recent research on growth machines, in a prominent theme, has focused on how mobilized discourses promote urban redevelopment projects. Pushed to the margins, in this work, has been the issue of how alternative growth visions and voices are silenced or muffled. This article examines the notion of “silencing” in urban growth discourses. Silencing, it is argued, should not be understood as censorship but rather as attempts by growth machines to relativize the importance of critical and dissent voices in redevelopment projects. We believe that to understand how redevelopment projects operate and transform (urban) spaces, such rhetorical peripherialization is as important as pro-growth discourses. In developing this argument, the article focuses on the case study of the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on Chicago's Southeast Side. An OPC growth machine consisting of the Obama Foundation, the city mayor, the University of Chicago, and a coalition of local business and community organizations practices this simultaneity of offering their voice and undercutting alternative voices in adroit ways. Race, it is argued, is at the center of this systematic suppression. The OPC development provides an important example of how current redevelopment in cities across the global west currently proceeds.
Modeling Long-Term Photometric Data of Trans-Neptunian Objects and Centaurs
Authors: Fernández-Valenzuela Estela
Published: March 2022

Trans-Neptunian objects and Centaurs are small Solar System bodies that reside in the outer parts of the Solar System. These objects present photometric behaviors that are influenced due to a change in their aspect angle. Using absolute photometric measurements and rotational light-curves at different locations on their orbits allows to model their photometric behavior and obtain physical properties such as pole orientation, shape, density, and even detecting different peculiarities as departure from hydrostatic equilibrium or rings. This work presents how these models are performed to extract different physical properties. A summary of the objects for which their long-term photometric behavior has been modeled is also given.
2022 Tonga Volcanic Eruption Induced Global Propagation of Ionospheric Disturbances via Lamb Waves
Authors: Zhang Shun-Rong , Vierinen Juha , Aa Ercha , Goncharenko Larisa P. , Erickson Philip J. , Rideout William , Coster Anthea J. , Spicher Andres
Published: March 2022

The Tonga volcano eruption at 04:14:45 UT on 2022-01-15 released enormous amounts of energy into the atmosphere, triggering very significant geophysical variations not only in the immediate proximity of the epicenter but also globally across the whole atmosphere. This study provides a global picture of ionospheric disturbances over an extended period for at least 4 days. We find traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) radially outbound and inbound along entire Great-Circle loci at primary speeds of ∼300–350 m/s (depending on the propagation direction) and 500–1,000 km horizontal wavelength for front shocks, going around the globe for three times, passing six times over the continental US in 100 h since the eruption. TIDs following the shock fronts developed for ∼8 h with 10–30 min predominant periods in near- and far- fields. TID global propagation is consistent with the effect of Lamb waves which travel at the speed of sound. Although these oscillations are often confined to the troposphere, Lamb wave energy is known to leak into the thermosphere through channels such as atmospheric resonance at acoustic and gravity wave frequencies, carrying substantial wave amplitudes at high altitudes. Prevailing Lamb waves have been reported in the literature as atmospheric responses to the gigantic Krakatoa eruption in 1883 and other geohazards. This study provides substantial first evidence of their long-duration imprints up in the global ionosphere. This study was enabled by ionospheric measurements from 5,000+ world-wide Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ground receivers, demonstrating the broad implication of the ionosphere measurement as a sensitive detector for atmospheric waves and geophysical disturbances.
Marek's Disease Virus and Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Coinfection Enhances Viral Replication and Alters Cellular Protein Profiles
Authors: Du Xusheng , Zhou Defang , Zhou Jing , Xue Jingwen , Cheng Ziqiang
Published: March 2022

Coinfection with Marek's disease virus (MDV) and reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV) causes synergistic pathogenic effects and serious losses to the poultry industry. However, whether there is a synergism between the two viruses in viral replication and the roles of host factors in regulating MDV and REV coinfection remains elusive. In this study, we found that MDV and REV coinfection increased viral replication in coinfected cells as compared to a single infection in a limited period. Further, we explore the host cell responses to MDV and REV coinfection using tandem mass tag (TMT) peptide labeling coupled with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Compared with MDV/REV-infected cells, 38 proteins increased (fold change > 1.2) and 60 decreased (fold change < 0.83) their abundance in MDV and REV coinfected cells. Differentially accumulated proteins (DAPs) were involved in important biological processes involved in the immune system process, cell adhesion and migration, cellular processes, and multicellular organismal systems. STRING analysis found that IRF7, MX1, TIMP3, and AKT1 may be associated with MDV and REV synergistic replication in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs). Western blotting analysis showed that the selected DAPs were identical to the quantitative proteomics data. Taken together, we verified that MDV and REV can synergistically replicate in coinfected cells and revealed the host molecules involved in it. However, the synergistic pathogenesis of MDV and REV needs to be further studied.
The Quantitative Features Analysis of the Nonlinear Model of Crop Production by Hybrid Soft Computing Paradigm
Authors: Sulaiman Muhammad , Umar Muhammad , Nonlaopon Kamsing , Alshammari Fahad Sameer
Published: March 2022

In this study, we provide a discretized system of a continuous dynamical model for enhancing crop production in the presence of insecticides and insects. Crops are assumed to grow logistically but are limited by an insect population that entirely depends on agriculture. To protect crops from insects, farmers use insecticides, and their overmuch use is harmful to human health. We assumed that external efforts are proportional to the gap between actual production and carrying capacity to increase the field’s development potential. We use the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm (LMA) based on artificial neural networks (NNs) to investigate the approximate solutions for different insecticide spraying rates. “NDSolve” tool in Mathematica generated a data collection for supervised LMA. The NN-LMA approximation’s value is achieved by the training, validation, and testing reference data sets. Regression, error histograms, and complexity analysis help to validate the technique’s robustness and accuracy.
Genome-Wide Association Analyses Reveal Candidate Genes Controlling Harvest Index and Related Agronomic Traits in Brassica napus L.
Authors: Qin Mengfan , Song Jia , Guo Na , Zhang Miao , Zhu Yunlin , Huang Zhen , Xu Aixia
Published: March 2022

Harvest index (HI) is a complex and vital agronomic trait that is closely related to the economic benefits of rapeseed. In this study, we measured the HI and 13 HI-related agronomic traits of 104 core breeding lines of rapeseed during 3 years and sequenced the populations using the Bnapus50K array. The phenotypic analyses showed the complex connections among HI and other traits. A total of 212 significant SNPs related to the traits and 22 stable SNPs were identified. Four SNPs, A01_1783685 (PH and SYP), C06_26638717 (PH and NSS), C03_4731660 (MIL and MINS), and C09_36899682 (PH and BYP), were identified as potential pleiotropic loci. Compared to previous reports, 49 consensus loci were obtained that were related to PH, TSW, NSP, BAI, NSS, SL, BN, MINS, SYP, and BYP. Twelve stable SNPs were detected as promising novel loci related to BN (A05_19368584 and A05_19764389), SL (A06_23598999, A06_23608274, and C07_38735522), PH (C04_47349279, C04_47585236, and C09_36899680), MINS (C05_6251826), NSS (C06_22559430 and C06_22570315), and HI (C05_6554451). In addition, 39 putative genes were identified in the candidate intervals. This study provides novel insights into the genetic mechanisms of HI and HI-related traits, and lays a foundation for molecular marker development and casual gene cloning to improve the harvest index of rapeseed.
Comparative Analysis of Rice and Weeds and Their Nutrient Partitioning under Various Establishment Methods and Weed Management Practices in Temperate Environment
Authors: Nazir Aijaz , Bhat Mohammad Anwar , Bhat Tauseef Ahmad , Fayaz Suhail , Mir Mohammad Salim , Basu Umar , Ahanger Shafat Ahmad , Altaf Suhail , Jan Bisma , Lone Bilal Ahmad , Mushtaq Muntazir , El-Sharnouby Mohamed , Skalicky Milan , Brestic Marian , El Sabagh Ayman
Published: March 2022

A research trial was conducted at Agronomy Farm (SKUAST-K, Wadura, Jammu & Kashmir), during kharif 2017 and 2018 to evaluate nutrient removal in rice under various rice establishment methods and weed control measures. The study comprised of two factors: rice establishment techniques {Transplanting (TPR); Direct seeding (DSR) and System of rice intensification (SRI)} as main plot treatments and weed control measures {Butachlor @ 1500 g a.i ha−1 (B); Penoxsulam @ 22.5 g a.i ha−1 (P); Pyrazosulfuron ethyl + Pretilachlor @ 15 and 600 g a.i ha−1 (PP); Bensulfuron methyl + Pretilachlor @ 60 and 600 g a.i ha−1 (BP); 2 Conoweeding/Hand Weeding (CW/HW); Weed free (WF) and weedy check (WC)} as sub-plot treatments meant to evaluate the best establishment method and weed management practice for rice. Over DSR and transplanted rice, the SRI technique yielded a significant increase in dry biomass accumulation (17.04 and 17.20 t ha−1) and grain (7.92 and 8.17 t ha−1) and straw (9.60 and 10.17 t ha−1) yields. Penoxsulam herbicide significantly showed higher grain and straw yield of 8.19 and 8.28 t ha−1 and 10.13 and 10.44 t ha−1, respectively, than other weed management measures by comparing the means using critical difference. TPR excelled in reducing dry weed biomass more than other established methods. All herbicides considerably reduced dry weed biomass, but Penoxsulam herbicide showed the greatest reduction in dry weed biomass and proved superior against complex weed flora. Weeds showed maximum contribution towards total Biomass under DSR, among rice establishment techniques. In contrast, among different weed control measures, it was maximum in weedy check treatment (Untreated Control) and minimum in penoxsulam treatment. SRI significantly excelled in crop (grain and straw) nutrient uptake compared to the DSR and TPR method, although different crop establishment techniques non-significantly influenced nutrient concentrations. Furthermore, penoxsulam treatment demonstrated higher crop (grain and straw) nutrient uptake among the various weed management measures. However, available soil nutrients were observed among establishment techniques, highest in DSR and lowest in SRI. Moreover, direct-seeded rice excelled SRI and transplanted rice in weed nutrient uptake, and among the different herbicidal treatments, penoxsulam recorded the lowest uptake in weeds. Nutrient budgeting demonstrated that DSR showed the maximum percentage of nutrient removal by weeds, and the minimum ratio was in TPR. In contrast, the lowest rate of nutrients removed via weeds were seen in penoxsulam application under various weed management measures.
Misconceptions of Antibiotics as a Potential Explanation for Their Misuse. A Survey of the General Public in a Rural and Urban Community in Sri Lanka
Authors: Gunasekera Yasodhara Deepachandi , Kinnison Tierney , Kottawatta Sanda Arunika , Silva-Fletcher Ayona , Kalupahana Ruwani Sagarika
Published: March 2022

Reducing the growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through public understanding is a goal of the World Health Organization. It is especially important in countries where antibiotics are widely available for common ailments without prescription. This study assessed understanding of antibiotics and AMR alongside perception of antibiotic usage among the general public in two diverse Sri Lankan communities: ordinary urban and indigenous rural. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted, gaining 182 urban and 147 rural responses. The majority of urban respondents (69.2%) believed that they had very good or good knowledge about antibiotics compared to 40.1% of rural respondents. Belief about knowledge and actual knowledge (measured via a test question) were correlated (r = 0.49, p = 0.001) for rural respondents, but not for urban respondents. Several misconceptions about antibiotics were highlighted, including that Paracetamol, a painkiller, was thought to be an antibiotic by more than 50% of both urban and rural respondents. In addition, 18.5% of urban and 35.4% of rural participants would keep and re-use what they perceived as leftover antibiotics. It is urgent that we pay attention to educating the general public regarding the identified misconceptions of these powerful drugs and their appropriate use.
Comparative Analysis between Synthetic Vitamin E and Natural Antioxidant Sources from Tomato, Carrot and Coriander in Diets for Market-Sized Dicentrarchus labrax
Authors: Pereira Ricardo , Costa Mónica , Velasco Cristina , Cunha Luís M. , Lima Rui C. , Baião Luís F. , Batista Sónia , Marques Alexandra , Sá Tiago , Campos Débora A. , Pereira Miguel , Jesus Diva , Fernández-Boo Sergio , Costas Benjamin , Pintado Manuela , Valente Luisa M. P.
Published: March 2022

Synthetic vitamin E is commonly used in aquafeeds to prevent oxidative stress in fish and delay feed and flesh oxidation during storage, but consumers’ preferences tend towards natural antioxidant sources. The potential of vegetable antioxidants-rich coproducts, dried tomato (TO), carrot (CA) and coriander (CO) was compared to that of synthetic vitamin E included in diets at either a regular (CTRL; 100 mg kg−1) or reinforced dose (VITE; 500 mg kg−1). Natural antioxidants were added at 2% to the CTRL. Mixes were then extruded and dried, generating five experimental diets that were fed to European sea bass juveniles (114 g) over 12 weeks. Vitamin E and carotenoid content of extruded diets showed signs of degradation. The experimental diets had very limited effects on fish growth or body composition, immunomodulatory response, muscle and liver antioxidant potential, organoleptic properties or consumer acceptance. Altogether, experimental findings suggest that neither a heightened inclusion dose of 500 mg kg−1 of vitamin E, nor a 2% inclusion of natural antioxidants provided additional antioxidant protection, compared to fish fed diets including the regular dose of 100 mg kg−1 of vitamin E.
Assessment of Methodological Pipelines for the Determination of Isothiocyanates Derived from Natural Sources
Authors: Kyriakou Sotiris , Trafalis Dimitrios T. , Deligiorgi Maria V. , Franco Rodrigo , Pappa Aglaia , Panayiotidis Mihalis I.
Published: March 2022

Isothiocyanates are biologically active secondary metabolites liberated via enzymatic hydrolysis of their sulfur enriched precursors, glucosinolates, upon tissue plant disruption. The importance of this class of compounds lies in their capacity to induce anti-cancer, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and other bioactive properties. As such, their isolation from natural sources is of utmost importance. In this review article, an extensive examination of the various parameters (hydrolysis, extraction, and quantification) affecting the isolation of isothiocyanates from naturally-derived sources is presented. Overall, the effective isolation/extraction and quantification of isothiocyanate is strongly associated with their chemical and physicochemical properties, such as polarity-solubility as well as thermal and acidic stability. Furthermore, the successful activation of myrosinase appears to be a major factor affecting the conversion of glucosinolates into active isothiocyanates.
Assessing Car Seat Posture through Comfort and User Experience
Authors: Caballero-Bruno Irene , Töpfer Daniel , Wohllebe Thomas , Hernández-Castellano Pedro M.
Published: March 2022

The vehicular market is undergoing a profound transformation that includes a trend toward fully automated driving. When travelling in automated systems, the main task is no longer driving. Therefore, the interior design of automated vehicles requires a renovation to adapt to new use cases. With this motivation, the use case of sleeping while travelling was chosen for this user study, in which different seat configuration conditions were evaluated. The three preselected seat positions for this research included the upright, reclined and flat seat positions. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to examine the comfort of different seat angles in meeting the need to sleep in a moving vehicle. Since the physical experience of the occupants with a high-fidelity seat prototype is essential to evaluate the new interior concept of the vehicle of the future, in this study, the experimental participants were asked about their perception of comfort and overall user experience while travelling by car under close-to-real test conditions. Therefore, the primary objective of this evaluation was to explore different seat configurations and find the most suitable seat position for the use case of sleeping in a car while moving. Our findings suggest that users prefer reclining and flat seats in short-/medium- and long-term use cases, respectively.
Dynamical Pseudo-Random Number Generator Using Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Park Sungju , Kim Kyungmin , Kim Keunjin , Nam Choonsung
Published: March 2022

Pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) are based on the algorithm that generates a sequence of numbers arranged randomly. Recently, random numbers have been generated through a reinforcement learning mechanism. This method generates random numbers based on reinforcement learning characteristics that select the optimal behavior considering every possible status up to the point of episode closing to secure the randomness of such random numbers. The LSTM method is used for the long-term memory of previous patterns and selection of new patterns in consideration of such previous patterns. In addition, feature vectors extracted from the LSTM are accumulated, and their images are generated to overcome the limitation of LSTM long-term memory. From these generated images, features are extracted using CNN. This dynamical pseudo-random number generator secures the randomness of random numbers.
Impact of Unreliable Subcontracting on Production and Maintenance Planning Considering Quality Decline
Authors: Rivera-Gómez Héctor , Medina-Marin Joselito , Santana-Robles Francisca , Montaño-Arango Oscar , Barragán-Vite Irving , Cisneros-Flores Gabriel
Published: March 2022

Manufacturing systems face several disturbances during production, such as sudden failures, defects, and unreliable subcontractors that reduce their production capacity. Currently, subcontracting represents an efficient alternative to support production decisions. The novelty of the study was the development of a new integrated model that properly coordinates production, subcontracting, and maintenances strategies in the context of stochastic uncertainty, quality deterioration, and random subcontracting availability. Such a set of characteristics has not been addressed before in the literature. A simulation–optimization approach was proposed to address such a stochastic model. A numerical case study was performed as an illustration of the approach and a comprehensive sensitivity analysis was performed to analyze the impact of several costs. Furthermore, the effect of the availability of the subcontractor and the producer was analyzed. The main finding of the study showed that the integrated model led to significant economic cost savings compared to other approaches that address such policies in isolation. The results also indicated that quality deterioration had a strong impact on the subcontracting rate and that the proposed joint control policy adequately coordinated these three key functions. The level of subcontracting participation was directly defined by its availability and the subcontracting cost.
A New Methodological Approach for the Assessment of the 238U Content in Drinking Water
Authors: Caridi Francesco , Paladini Giuseppe , Venuti Valentina , Crupi Vincenza , Spoto Sebastiano Ettore , Marguccio Santina , D’Agostino Maurizio , Belvedere Alberto , Majolino Domenico
Published: March 2022

The radiological quality of drinking water is directly associated with the health of the population. Indeed, it is well known that the presence of radionuclides in drinking water constitutes a health risk for humans because the consumption of such water increases the likelihood of incurring cancer. For this reason, all the studies aimed at developing new methodologies for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the radioisotopic composition of drinking water are absolutely desired by the international scientific community, as well as by the institutes that deal with the protection of public health. In this paper, a new methodological approach was developed for the evaluation of the 238U content in drinking water. A sample coming from Paola, Calabria region, southern Italy, was taken as a case study. The assessment was performed by using High Purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometry, with the aim of quantifying the specific activity of the 234mPa radioisotope after a preconcentration procedure, and thus to assess the activity concentration of 238U, in the hypothesis of the secular radioactive equilibrium between it and its daughter. The obtained results were validated through the comparison with the 238U (µg/L) concentration as measured with Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS).
Design of a System for Verification of Automatic Guided Vehicle Routes Using Computer Emulation
Authors: Gregor Milan , Hodoň Róbert , Grznár Patrik , Mozol Štefan
Published: March 2022

A frequent change in the manufacturing program caused by a change in customer requirements requires a logistics system in the company that can respond flexibly to these changes. In order for business logistics to respond flexibly and optimally to the tasks created, a tool is needed to verify the functionality of the entire process. This article, at its core, deals with the use of emulation in a mixed environment of the real and virtual worlds as a tool for optimising automatic guided vehicle (AGV) routes. The main objective of the article is the design of a system that allows verification of AGV routes using computer emulation. The solution was created and programmed in the Tecnomatix Plant Simulation program, in cooperation with AGV logistics supply tractors, and tested on a logistic test circuit. The results show that the main area of application of such a solution is mainly in the area of the capacity utilisation of the AGVs that are used in internal logistics processes. This solution helps to cut down on the time it takes to design and optimise logistics operations as well as on the time it takes to test logistics systems at full capacity before commencing production.
Numerical Modeling of Flexible Net Panels under Steady Flow Using a Coupled Fluid–Structure Partitioned Scheme
Authors: Xu Lingyun , Qin Hongde , Li Peng , Xu Zhijing
Published: March 2022

Fluid–structure interactions of flexible net panels are complex and lack sufficient exploration. To examine the flow characteristics of flexible net panels with large deformation, we propose a partitioned coupling scheme in this paper. The coupled fluid–structure equations are solved separately under finite volume and finite element frameworks. The interface traction from the fluid solver is considered as a Neumann boundary condition for the solid domain, and the interface velocity is applied as a Dirichlet boundary condition for the fluid problem. Then, the forces can be transferred along the interface via Dirichlet-to-Neumann mapping. The results show that both the drag coefficient and the velocity reduction increase alongside the net solidity ratio (Sn), but they decrease as the Reynolds number/attack angle increases. A comparative study of drag coefficients is made between the present numerical simulations and the analytical predictions. This paper also examines the velocity distribution and vortex formation of flexible net panels. A single vortex forms in the shear layers and the wake when Sn = 0.16, and a pair of vortices mostly forms in the wake when Sn = 0.33. The vertical net twines predominantly affect the formation of the vortex behind the net, leading to delayed vortex shedding. The flow exhibits wake interactions due to the interference between the net twines in the high-solidity net panel. No such interference occurs in the low-solidity net panel, but the altered shear layers could cause severe velocity fluctuations in the near field.
Hydrodynamic Analysis of a Breakwater-Integrated Heaving-Buoy-Type Wave Energy Converter with an Optimal Artificial Damping Scheme
Authors: Jeong Ho-Jin , Kim Sung-Jae , Koo WeonCheol
Published: March 2022

A three-dimensional frequency-domain numerical wave tank (FR-NWT) based on the Rankine panel method was developed. An optimal artificial damping zone (ADZ) scheme was first applied to the FR-NWT to prevent reflection waves from the end walls. Parametric studies of ramp function shape with artificial damping coefficients and damping zone length were conducted to find a proper damping scheme for the frequency domain program. Applying both the Sommerfeld radiation condition and the ADZ scheme to the frequency domain program can reduce the length of the ADZ to less than one wavelength. The FR-NWT developed by the authors was used to calculate the hydrodynamic response of a hemispherical-heaving buoy wave energy converter (WEC) integrated with a seawall-type breakwater of infinite length. A linear power take-off system was used to calculate power generation of the WEC. The global motion of the WEC combined with the breakwater was up to 1.85 times greater than that of the WEC without the breakwater. Moreover, the capture width ratio of the WEC increased approximately 3.67 times more than that of the WEC without the breakwater.
BBRefinement: A Universal Scheme to Improve the Precision of Box Object Detectors
Authors: Hurtik Petr , Vajgl Marek , Hynar David
Published: March 2022

We present a conceptually simple yet powerful and general scheme for refining the predictions of bounding boxes produced by an arbitrary object detector. Our approach was trained separately on single objects extracted from ground truth labels. For inference, it can be coupled with an arbitrary object detector to improve its precision. The method, called BBRefinement, uses a mixture of data consisting of the image crop of an object and the object’s class and center. Because BBRefinement works in a restricted domain, it does not have to be concerned with multiscale detection, recognition of the object’s class, computing confidence, or multiple detections. Thus, the training is much more effective. It results in the ability to improve the performance of SOTA architectures by up to two mAP points on the COCO dataset in the benchmark. The refinement process is fast; it adds 50–80 ms overhead to a standard detector using RTX2080; therefore, it can run in real time on standard hardware. Finally, we show that BBRefinement can also be applied to COCO’s ground truth labels to create new, more precise labels. The link to the source code is provided in the contribution.
Temporal and Spatial Coupling Characteristics of Tourism and Urbanization with Mechanism of High-Quality Development in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China
Authors: Shen Weili , Huang Zhenfang , Yin Shanggang , Hsu Wei-Ling
Published: March 2022

The Chinese economy has entered the phase of high-quality development. Urbanization is an important driving factor in promoting the domestic economic cycle, while tourism is an emerging force in the development of urbanization. The convergence of these two factors will contribute to the high-quality development of regional economies. By constructing an evaluation index system of tourism development and urbanization level, 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration have been identified as the study area. The study has adopted the entropy method and the coupling coordination model to analyze the comprehensive development level of tourism and urbanization and the coupling coordination relationship between them from 2008 to 2018. The results show that the Yangtze River Delta presents a spatial pattern of orderly changes in the development of tourism, forming a spatial structure of “one pole and many centers”, with Shanghai as the core. In terms of spatial distribution, it generally presents the spatial trend characteristics of “high in the east and low in the west” in the east–west direction, and “protruding in the middle and lower at both ends” in the south–north direction. Coordination and interaction are steadily developing to a high level, with significant spatial dependence and spillover effects. Based on the research results, the study applies a new development vision to explore the coupling coordination high-quality development mechanism of tourism and urbanization in the Yangtze River Delta region; the corresponding policy recommendations are discussed.
An Adaptive Classification Model for Predicting Epileptic Seizures Using Cloud Computing Service Architecture
Authors: Fatlawi Hayder K. , Kiss Attila
Published: March 2022

Data science techniques have increasing importance in medical data analysis, including detecting and predicting the probability of contracting a disease. A large amount of medical data is generated close to the patients in the form of a stream, such as data from sensors and medical devices. The distribution of these kinds of data may change from time to time; adaptive Machine Learning (ML) consists of a continuous training process responding to the distribution’s change. Adaptive ML models require high computational resources, which can be provided by cloud computing. In this work, a classification model is proposed to utilize the advantages of cloud computing, edge computing, and adaptive ML. It aims to precisely and efficiently classify EEG signal data, thereby detecting the seizures of epileptic patients using Adaptive Random Forest (ARF). It includes a global adaptive classifier in the cloud master node and a local light classifier in each edge node. In this model, the delayed labels consider missing values, and the Model-based imputation method is used to handle them in the global classifier. Implementing the proposed model on a real huge dataset (CHB-MIT) showed an accurate performance. It has a 0.998 True Negative Rate, a 0.785 True Positive Rate, and a 0.0017 False Positive Rate, which overcomes much of the research in the state-of-the-art.
Reliability Analysis of Pyrotechnic Igniter for Hydrogen-Oxygen Rocket Engine with Low Temperature Combustion Instability Failure Mode
Authors: Niu Lei , Liu Yang , Wang Jingcheng , Tu Hongmao , Dong Haiping , Yan Nan
Published: March 2022

To evaluate the functional reliability of the pyrotechnic igniter in the failure mode of unstable combustion at low temperature, a reliability and reliability sensitivity analysis method based on the combination of an interior ballistic model and Kriging reliability method is proposed. Through the deterministic interior ballistic simulation, the failure mode of low temperature unstable combustion of the pyrotechnic igniter is examined, while the random variables are introduced to establish the ignition nonlinear implicit function of the pyrotechnic igniter. The ignition display function of the pyrotechnic igniter is established by the Kriging model, which avoids the repeated calculation of true limit state function values. This study provides an efficient approach to evaluate the ignition reliability of the pyrotechnic igniter and compared with the traditional Monte Carlo method to verify the accuracy of the results. Finally, reliability-based sensitivity indices are presented to quantify the significance of random parameters. It is shown that the influence of the uncertainties can be precisely described, and the diameter of the nozzle plays a dominant role in ignition reliability. Additionally, ignition experiments of nozzles with different diameters were performed to verify the result of sensitivity. This can further support the detailed design of the pyrotechnic igniter.
A Deep Fusion Matching Network Semantic Reasoning Model
Authors: Zheng Wenfeng , Zhou Yu , Liu Shan , Tian Jiawei , Yang Bo , Yin Lirong
Published: March 2022

As the vital technology of natural language understanding, sentence representation reasoning technology mainly focuses on sentence representation methods and reasoning models. Although the performance has been improved, there are still some problems, such as incomplete sentence semantic expression, lack of depth of reasoning model, and lack of interpretability of the reasoning process. Given the reasoning model’s lack of reasoning depth and interpretability, a deep fusion matching network is designed in this paper, which mainly includes a coding layer, matching layer, dependency convolution layer, information aggregation layer, and inference prediction layer. Based on a deep matching network, the matching layer is improved. Furthermore, the heuristic matching algorithm replaces the bidirectional long-short memory neural network to simplify the interactive fusion. As a result, it improves the reasoning depth and reduces the complexity of the model; the dependency convolution layer uses the tree-type convolution network to extract the sentence structure information along with the sentence dependency tree structure, which improves the interpretability of the reasoning process. Finally, the performance of the model is verified on several datasets. The results show that the reasoning effect of the model is better than that of the shallow reasoning model, and the accuracy rate on the SNLI test set reaches 89.0%. At the same time, the semantic correlation analysis results show that the dependency convolution layer is beneficial in improving the interpretability of the reasoning process.
Ozone Trends and the Ability of Models to Reproduce the 2020 Ozone Concentrations in the South Coast Air Basin in Southern California under the COVID-19 Restrictions
Authors: Parker Lynsey Karen , Johnson Jeremiah , Grant John , Vennam Pradeepa , Parikh Rajashi , Chien Chao-Jung , Morris Ralph
Published: March 2022

The current U.S. emission control requirements for on-road motor vehicles are driven by the ozone problem in the South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB) in southern California. Based on ozone modeling performed for Air Quality Management Plans (AQMPs), the SoCAB ozone attainment plan requires large (>80%) amounts of emission reductions in oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from current levels with more modest (~40%) controls on Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). The shelter in place orders in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an immediate reduction in emissions, but instead of ozone being reduced, in 2020 the SoCAB saw some of the highest observed ozone levels in decades. We used the abrupt emissions reductions from 2019 to 2020 caused by COVID-19 to conduct a dynamic model evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to evaluate whether the models used to develop ozone control plans can correctly simulate the ozone response to the emissions reductions. Ozone modeling was conducted for three scenarios: 2019 Base, 2020 business-as-usual (i.e., without COVID reductions), and 2020 COVID. We found that modeled ozone changes between 2019 and 2020 were generally consistent with the observed ozone changes. We determined that meteorology played the major role in the increases in ozone between 2019 and 2020; however, the reduction in NOX emissions also caused ozone increases in Los Angeles County and into western San Bernardino County, with more widespread ozone decreases further to the east.
Analysis of the Acoustic Transcranial Bone Conduction
Authors: Dufour-Fournier Catherine , Devèze Arnaud , Barbut Jonathan , Ogam Erick , Saliba Issam , Masson Catherine
Published: March 2022

Objectives: (1) To analyze the preferential pathways of sound transmission and sound waves travelling properties in the skull and (2) to identify the location(s) on the skull where bone conduction to the cochlea is optimal. Study design: Basic research Methods: Nine cadaveric heads were placed in an anechoic chamber and equipped with six Bone Anchored Hearing Aids (BAHA™) implants (Cochlear™, Sydney, NSW, Australia) and fifteen accelerometers. A laser velocimeter was used to measure cochlear response by placing a reflector on the round window. Different frequency sweeps were applied to each implant, and measurements were recorded simultaneously by the laser velocimeter and accelerometers. Results: Low-frequency sound waves mostly travel the frontal transmission pathways, and there is no clear predominant pattern for the high frequencies. The mean inter-aural time lag is 0.1 ms. Optimal sound transmission to the cochlea occurs between 1000 and 2500 Hz with a contralateral 5 to 10 dB attenuation. The implant location does not influence mean transmission to the cochlea. Conclusion: There is a pattern of transmission for low frequencies through a frontal pathway but none for high frequencies. We were also able to demonstrate that the localization of the BAHA™ implant on the skull had no significant impact on the sound transmission, either ipsi or contralaterally.
Morphometrics of the Spinal Cord and Surrounding Structures in Alligator mississippiensis
Authors: Greer Skye , Cramberg Michael J. , Young Bruce A.
Published: March 2022

Understanding the fluid dynamics of the cerebrospinal fluid requires a quantitative description of the spaces in which it flows, including the spinal cord and surrounding meninges. The morphometrics of the spinal cord and surrounding tissues were studied in specimens of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) ranging from hatchlings through adults. Within any size class of alligators (i.e., hatchlings), along the axial length there are significant differences in the size of the spinal cord, meninges, and vertebral canal; these differences can be used to define discrete cervical, thoracic, lumbar and caudal regions. When compared across the range of body sizes in Alligator, every structure in each spinal region had a distinctive growth rate; thus, the physical arrangements between the structures changed as the alligator grew. The combination of regional differentiation and differential growth rates was particularly apparent in the lumbar meninges where a unique form of lumbar cistern could be identified and shown to decrease in relative size as the alligator ages. This analysis of the spinal cord and surrounding tissues was undertaken to develop a data set that could be used for computational flow dynamics of the crocodilian cerebrospinal fluid, and also to assist in the analysis of fossil archosaurs.
Plg-RKT Expression in Human Breast Cancer Tissues
Authors: Miles Lindsey A. , Krajewski Stan , Baik Nagyung , Parmer Robert J. , Mueller Barbara M.
Published: March 2022

The plasminogen activation system regulates the activity of the serine protease, plasmin. The role of plasminogen receptors in cancer progression is being increasingly appreciated as key players in modulation of the tumor microenvironment. The interaction of plasminogen with cells to promote plasminogen activation requires the presence of proteins exposing C-terminal lysines on the cell surface. Plg-RKT is a structurally unique plasminogen receptor because it is an integral membrane protein that is synthesized with and binds plasminogen via a C-terminal lysine exposed on the cell surface. Here, we have investigated the expression of Plg-RKT in human breast tumors and human breast cancer cell lines. Breast cancer progression tissue microarrays were probed with anti-Plg-RKT mAB and we found that Plg-RKT is widely expressed in human breast tumors, that its expression is increased in tumors that have spread to draining lymph nodes and distant organs, and that Plg-RKT expression is most pronounced in hormone receptor (HR)-positive tumors. Plg-RKT was detected by Western blotting in human breast cancer cell lines. By flow cytometry, Plg-RKT cell surface expression was highest on the most aggressive tumor cell line. Future studies are warranted to address the functions of Plg-RKT in breast cancer.
α-Synuclein at the Presynaptic Axon Terminal as a Double-Edged Sword
Authors: Tan Li Yang , Tang Kwan Hou , Lim Lynette Yu You , Ong Jia Xin , Park Hyokeun , Jung Sangyong
Published: March 2022

α-synuclein (α-syn) is a presynaptic, lipid-binding protein strongly associated with the neuropathology observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD), dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). In normal physiology, α-syn plays a pivotal role in facilitating endocytosis and exocytosis. Interestingly, mutations and modifications of precise α-syn domains interfere with α-syn oligomerization and nucleation that negatively affect presynaptic vesicular dynamics, protein expressions, and mitochondrial profiles. Furthermore, the integration of the α-syn oligomers into the presynaptic membrane results in pore formations, ion influx, and excitotoxicity. Targeted therapies against specific domains of α-syn, including the use of small organic molecules, monoclonal antibodies, and synthetic peptides, are being screened and developed. However, the prospect of an effective α-syn targeted therapy is still plagued by low permeability across the blood–brain barrier (BBB), and poor entry into the presynaptic axon terminals. The present review proposes a modification of current strategies, which includes the use of novel encapsulation technology, such as lipid nanoparticles, to bypass the BBB and deliver such agents into the brain.
Kinetic Processes in Enzymatic Nanoreactors for In Vivo Detoxification
Authors: Shajhutdinova Zukhra , Pashirova Tatiana , Masson Patrick
Published: March 2022

Enzymatic nanoreactors are enzyme-encapsulated nanobodies that are capable of performing biosynthetic or catabolic reactions. For this paper, we focused on therapeutic enzyme nanoreactors for the neutralization of toxicants, paying special attention to the inactivation of organophosphorus compounds (OP). Therapeutic enzymes that are capable of detoxifying OPs are known as bioscavengers. The encapsulation of injectable bioscavengers by nanoparticles was first used to prevent fast clearance and the immune response to heterologous enzymes. The aim of enzyme nanoreactors is also to provide a high concentration of the reactive enzyme in stable nanocontainers. Under these conditions, the detoxification reaction takes place inside the compartment, where the enzyme concentration is much higher than in the toxicant diffusing across the nanoreactor membrane. Thus, the determination of the concentration of the encapsulated enzyme is an important issue in nanoreactor biotechnology. The implications of second-order reaction conditions, the nanoreactor’s permeability in terms of substrates, and the reaction products and their possible osmotic, viscosity, and crowding effects are also examined.
Microfluidic Determination of Distinct Membrane Transport Properties between Lung Adenocarcinoma Cells CL1-0 and CL1-5
Authors: Chen Chiu-Jen , Kao Min-Heng , Alvarado Noel A. S. , Ye Yong-Ming , Tseng Hsiu-Yang
Published: March 2022

The cell membrane permeability of a cell type to water (Lp) and cryoprotective agents (Ps), is the key factor that determines the optimal cooling and mass transportation during cryopreservation. The human lung adenocarcinoma cell line, CL1, has been widely used to study the invasive capabilities or drug resistance of lung cancer cells. Therefore, providing accurate databases of the mass transport properties of this specific cell line can be crucial for facilitating either flexible and optimal preservation, or supply. In this study, utilizing our previously proposed noncontact-based micro-vortex system, we focused on comparing the permeability phenomenon between CL1-0 and its more invasive subline, CL1-5, under several different ambient temperatures. Through the assay procedure, the cells of favor were virtually trapped in a hydrodynamic circulation to provide direct inspection using a high-speed camera, and the images were then processed to achieve the observation of a cell’s volume change with respect to time, and in turn, the permeability. Based on the noncontact nature of our system, we were able to manifest more accurate results than their contact-based counterparts, excluding errors involved in estimating the cell geometry. As the results in this experiment showed, the transport phenomena in the CL1-0 and CL1-5 cell lines are mainly composed of simple diffusion through the lipid bilayer, except for the case where CL1-5 were suspended in the cryoprotective agent (CPA) solution, which also demonstrated higher Ps values. The deviated behavior of CL1-5 might be a consequence of the altered expression of aquaporins and the coupling of a cryoprotective agent and water, and has given a vision on possible studies over these properties, and their potential relationship to invasiveness and metastatic stability of the CL1 cell line.