bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
3D Printed Mini-Floating-Polypill for Parkinson’s Disease: Combination of Levodopa, Benserazide, and Pramipexole in Various Dosing for Personalized Therapy
Authors: Windolf Hellen , Chamberlain Rebecca , Breitkreutz Jörg , Quodbach Julian
Published: April 2022

Therapy for Parkinson’s disease is quite challenging. Numerous drugs are available for symptomatic treatment, and levodopa (LD), in combination with a dopa decarboxylase inhibitor (e.g., benserazide (BZ)), has been the drug of choice for years. As the disease progresses, therapy must be supplemented with a dopamine agonist (e.g., pramipexole (PDM)). Side effects increase, as do the required dose and dosing intervals. For these specific requirements of drug therapy, the 3D printing method fused deposition modelling (FDM) was applied in this study for personalized therapy. Hot melt extrusion was utilized to produce two different compositions into filaments: PDM and polyvinyl alcohol for rapid drug release and a fixed combination of LD/BZ (4:1) in an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer matrix for prolonged drug release. Since LD is absorbed in the upper gastrointestinal tract, a formulation that floats in gastric fluid was desired to prolong API absorption. Using the FDM 3D printing process, different polypill geometries were printed from both filaments, with variable dosages. Dosage forms with 15–180 mg LD could be printed, showing similar release rates (f2 > 50). In addition, a mini drug delivery dosage form was printed that released 75% LD/BZ within 750 min and could be used as a gastric retentive drug delivery system due to the floating properties of the composition. The floating mini-polypill was designed to accommodate patients’ swallowing difficulties and to allow for individualized dosing with an API release over a longer period of time.
Genome-Wide Characterization of DGATs and Their Expression Diversity Analysis in Response to Abiotic Stresses in Brassica napus
Authors: Yin Xiangzhen , Guo Xupeng , Hu Lizong , Li Shuangshuang , Chen Yuhong , Wang Jingqiao , Wang Richard R.-C. , Fan Chengming , Hu Zanmin
Published: April 2022

Triacylglycerol (TAG) is the most important storage lipid for oil plant seeds. Diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) are a key group of rate-limiting enzymes in the pathway of TAG biosynthesis. In plants, there are three types of DGATs, namely, DGAT1, DGAT2 and DGAT3. Brassica napus, an allotetraploid plant, is one of the most important oil plants in the world. Previous studies of Brassica napus DGATs (BnaDGATs) have mainly focused on BnaDGAT1s. In this study, four DGAT1s, four DGAT2s and two DGAT3s were identified and cloned from B. napus ZS11. The analyses of sequence identity, chromosomal location and collinearity, phylogenetic tree, exon/intron gene structures, conserved domains and motifs, and transmembrane domain (TMD) revealed that BnaDGAT1, BnaDGAT2 and BnaDGAT3 were derived from three different ancestors and shared little similarity in gene and protein structures. Overexpressing BnaDGATs showed that only four BnaDGAT1s can restore TAG synthesis in yeast H1246 and promote the accumulation of fatty acids in yeast H1246 and INVSc1, suggesting that the three BnaDGAT subfamilies had greater differentiation in function. Transcriptional analysis showed that the expression levels of BnaDGAT1s, BnaDGAT2s and BnaDGAT3s were different during plant development and under different stresses. In addition, analysis of fatty acid contents in roots, stems and leaves under abiotic stresses revealed that P starvation can promote the accumulation of fatty acids, but no obvious relationship was shown between the accumulation of fatty acids with the expression of BnaDGATs under P starvation. This study provides an extensive evaluation of BnaDGATs and a useful foundation for dissecting the functions of BnaDGATs in biochemical and physiological processes.
Life-Cycle Cost Analysis of Long-Span CFRP Cable-Stayed Bridges
Authors: Liu Yue , Gu Mingyang , Liu Xiaogang , Tafsirojjaman T.
Published: April 2022

With the advantages of high strength, light weight, high corrosion and fatigue resistance, and low relaxation, carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is an excellent cable material for cable-stayed bridges. However, the relatively high unit price of CFRP compared to that of steel may hinder the large-scale application of CFRP stay cables. This paper presents the economic comparison between long-span cable-stayed bridges using CFRP cables and the corresponding steel cable-stayed bridges through life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA). Three CFRP cable-stayed bridges with a main span of 600 m, 1200 m, and 1800 m, respectively, along with their steel counterparts, were designed, and their life-cycle costs (LCCs) were calculated. The comparison of LCCs was not only between the CFRP and steel cable-stayed bridges with the same span, but also between the cable-stayed bridges with different spans. Furthermore, the different unit prices of CFRP cables and different replacement frequencies of steel cables were also investigated. The results show that the initial design and construction cost of the long-span CFRP cable-stayed bridge is higher than that of the corresponding steel cable-stayed bridge, although using CFRP cables can reduce the materials used, primarily due to the higher unit price of the CFRP cable. Despite the higher initial cost, the long-span CFRP cable-stayed bridge can still achieve lower LCC than the steel cable-stayed bridge, because it has significantly lower rehabilitation cost and user cost, as well as slightly lower vulnerability cost. Furthermore, with the increase in the main span and the decrease in the unit price of CFRP cables, the LCC advantage of the long-span CFRP cable-stayed bridge becomes more obvious.
Experiments and Finite Element Simulations of Composite Laminates Following Low Velocity On-Edge Impact Damage
Authors: Xu Wenjun , Liu Longquan , Xu Wu
Published: April 2022

Composites are widely used in aircraft structures that have free edges and are vulnerable to impact events during manufacturing and maintenance. On-edge impact may have a great contribution in terms of the compression strength loss of composites, but the influence remains unclear. This paper presents experiments and simulations of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) materials with on-edge impact and compression after edge impact (CAEI). On-edge impact damage was introduced to the composite laminates through the drop weight method with 4, 6, 8 and 10 J impact energies, respectively. A special guide-rail-type fixture was used in the compression tests in which strain–force and load–displacement relationships were obtained. A continuous-step finite element model was proposed to simulate impact and compression. Continuum shell elements and Hashin failure criteria were used to simulate in-ply damage, and interlaminar damage was modelled by cohesive elements. The model was validated by correlating the experimental and numerical results. The investigation results revealed the relationships of the damage size and residual strength with the different impact energies. The crack length and delaminated area grow with the increase in impact energy. The residual compressive strength follows a downward trend with increasing impact energy.
Application and Optimization of the Rheological Model for a Hydrophobically Associating Dendrimer Polymer
Authors: Zhu Shijie , Xue Xinsheng , Zhang Jian , Zhang Shilun , Liu Zhezhi
Published: April 2022

Polymer flooding is one of the most important enhancing oil recovery (EOR) technologies in the world. With the optimization of polymer synthesis, the performance of polymer solutions has been greatly improved, which can adapt to more complex oil and gas reservoirs. However, with the continuous improvement of the properties of polymer solutions, the elastic property of polymer solutions is significantly improved, and the rheological law has also changed. This series of changes affects the application of polymer flooding reservoir numerical simulation technology. Therefore, constructing an accurate description model and precise limitation conditions is particularly important. The rheological curve with a wide shear range (0.1~10,000 s−1) and the viscoelasticity of the two polymers (partially hydrolysed polyacrylamide (HPAM) and dendritic hydrophobic association polymer (DHAP)) were analyzed and tested by a rotating rheometer. The results showed that under the experimental conditions, the rheological curve of both polymers can be described by the Carreau rheological model. Meanwhile, the structural viscosity of the hydrophobically associating polymer solution (DHAP) greatly improved the elasticity of the solution and led to the change of elastic modulus. Considering the influence of elastic characteristics on the rheological curve, the relaxation time spectrum derived from small vibration experimental data was used to limit the characteristic relaxation time, that is, the value range of λ. It was observed that the experimental data were highly matched with the nonlinear regression fitting curve of the Carreau rheological model. Therefore, the relationship between different test parameters should be fully considered while studying the rheological constitutive equation of viscoelastic fluid, so as to optimize and improve the equation of it.
Electrospun SF/PLGA/ICG Composite Nanofibrous Membranes for Potential Wound Healing and Tumor Therapy
Authors: Zhou Jiale , Wang Hai , Wu Haiyan , Lan Dongwei , Peng Yan , Li Zhi , Dai Fangyin
Published: April 2022

Indocyanine green (ICG) is a near-infrared (NIR) organic reagent for clinical bioimaging and phototherapy. It is a suitable photosensitizer for photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT). In this study, various ICG-loaded nanofibrous membranes were prepared. The water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of SF/PLGA/20ICG was 3040.49 ± 157.11 g·m−2 day−1, which allowed the maintenance of a humid environment above the wound. The growth inhibition rates for S. aureus and E. coli were 91.53% and 87.95%, respectively. The nanofibrous membranes exhibited excellent antimicrobial performance. Cellular experiments showed that the nanofibrous membranes have good cytocompatibility and antitumor efficacy. SF/PLGA/20ICG showed good potential for application in wound healing and cancer therapy.
The Socio-Pedagogical Dynamics of Religious Knowledge in Religious Education: A Participatory Action-Research in Greek Secondary Schools on Understanding Diversity
Authors: Koukounaras Liagkis Marios
Published: April 2022

The study examines which type of religious knowledge acquired in Religious Education in Greek Secondary schools can initiate both personal and collective change in understanding and appreciation of different cultures. It is blended research using participatory action-research with ethnographic elements methodology. The research gathered qualitative and quantitative data through questionnaires, focus groups, journals, and the technique of the “Most Significant Change” from four resources/target groups (students, teachers, parents, researcher). It took place during the 2017–2018 school year in a High and an Upper Schools in which the researcher participated in the school communities as a teacher. Statistical analysis (SPSS), content analysis and thematic analysis of the data show that religious knowledge, developed in Education with the aim of religious literacy, as defined in the context of Greek/European context, can operate on a personal and collective level, in cultivation of respect and underacting of cultural diversity. This is achieved when the religious knowledge is understood as experience and is meaningful when applied to the concepts of understanding, reflection and action. The overall finding is that transformative dynamics of religious knowledge facilitate both minor and major changes in the mindset of young people. Concluding, in Religious Education without sacrificing the religious content of the subject, a high degree of cultural recognition and acceptance of religious diversity can be achieved, and to a certain extent enable a change in attitude towards immigrants and refugees, in other words the ‘other’ as well as in communication and acquaintance between team members, recognition of and a greater degree of acceptance of otherness, and the development of relationships which were non-existent before.
Assessment of Different Complementary-Relationship-Based Models for Estimating Actual Terrestrial Evapotranspiration in the Frozen Ground Regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Authors: Shang Chengpeng , Wu Tonghua , Ma Ning , Wang Jiemin , Li Xiangfei , Zhu Xiaofan , Wang Tianye , Hu Guojie , Li Ren , Yang Sizhong , Chen Jie , Yao Jimin , Yang Cheng
Published: April 2022

Actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is important since it is an important link to water, energy, and carbon cycles. Approximately 96% of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is underlain by frozen ground, however, the ground observations of ETa are particularly sparse–which is especially true in the permafrost regions–leading to great challenge for the accurate estimation of ETa. Due to the impacts of freeze-thaw cycles and permafrost degradation on the regional ET process, it is therefore urgent and important to find a reasonable approach for ETa estimation in the regions. The complementary relationship (CR) approach is a potential method since it needs only routine meteorological variables to estimate ETa. The CR approach, including the modified advection-aridity model by Kahler (K2006), polynomial generalized complementary function by Brutsaert (B2015) and its improved versions by Szilagyi (S2017) and Crago (C2018), and sigmoid generalized complementary function by Han (H2018) in the present study, were assessed against in situ measured ETa at four observation sites in the frozen ground regions. The results indicate that five CR-based models are generally capable of simulating variations in ETa, whether default and calibrated parameter values are employed during the warm season compared with those of the cold season. On a daily basis, the C2018 model performed better than other CR-based models, as indicated by the highest Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) and lowest root mean square error (RMSE) values at each site. On a monthly basis, no model uniformly performed best in a specific month. On an annual basis, CR-based models estimating ETa with biases ranging from −94.2 to 28.3 mm year−1, and the H2018 model overall performed best with the smallest bias within 15 mm year−1. Parameter sensitivity analysis demonstrated the relatively small influence of each parameter varying within regular fluctuation magnitude on the accuracy of the corresponding model.
Monitoring Light Pollution with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle: A Case Study Comparing RGB Images and Night Ground Brightness
Authors: Massetti Luciano , Paterni Marco , Merlino Silvia
Published: April 2022

There are several tools and methods to quantify light pollution due to direct or reflected light emitted towards the sky. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are still rarely used in light pollution studies. In this study, a digital camera and a sky quality meter mounted on a UAV have been used to study the relationship between indices computed on night images and night ground brightness (NGB) measured by an optical device pointed downward towards the ground. Both measurements were taken simultaneously during flights at an altitude of 70 and 100 m, and with varying exposure time. NGB correlated significantly both with the brightness index (−0.49 ÷ −0.56) and with red (−0.52 ÷ −0.58) and green band indices (−0.42 ÷ −0.58). A linear regression model based on the luminous intensity index was able to estimate observed NGB with an RMSE varying between 0.21 and 0.46 mpsas. Multispectral analysis applied to images taken at 70 m showed that increasing exposure time might cause a saturation of the colors of the image, especially in the red band, that worsens the correlation between image indices and NGB. Our study suggests that the combined use of low cost devices such as UAV and a sky quality meter can be used for assessing hotspot areas of light pollution originating from the surface.
Real-Time Precise DGNSS/INS Integrated Relative Positioning with High Output Rate and Low Broadcast Rate for Kinematic-to-Kinematic Applications
Authors: Li Qingsong , Dong Yi , Wang Dingjie , Wu Jie , Zhang Liang
Published: April 2022

High-output-rate relative positions are required for high-speed safety-critical kinematic-to-kinematic applications such as pre-crash sensing and shipboard landing. We propose a real-time, high-output-rate relative positioning method based on the integration of a real time kinematic (RTK) differential global navigation satellite systems (DGNSS) relative positioning algorithm, carrier-phase-based tightly coupled GNSS/Inertial navigation system (TC-GNSS/INS) integration algorithm and polynomial prediction algorithm for position increment. We focus on the rarely studied issue that data broadcast rates and sampling rates have effects on the integrated relative positioning accuracy under different motion states of a moving base. A vehicle-to-vehicle field test with a frequently turning base demonstrates the advantages of the proposed method, such as low bit rate of broadcast data, high output rate of position solutions and excellent real-time tolerance of latency. The results show that compared with the 10-Hz output of sole RTK DGNSS relative positioning, the proposed method can provide centimeter-level-accuracy relative positions at an output rate of 125 Hz with a sampling rate of 1 Hz, and the bit rate can be reduced by 83.12%. A UAV-to-boat field test with straight-line-motion moving base is then carried out to validate the applicability of the proposed system for aircraft applications. The results show that the broadcast rate of position increments of the moving base can be further reduced.
Determining the Influence of Long Term Urban Growth on Surface Urban Heat Islands Using Local Climate Zones and Intensity Analysis Techniques
Authors: Mushore Terence Darlington , Mutanga Onisimo , Odindi John
Published: April 2022

Urban growth, typified by conversion from natural to built-up impervious surfaces, is known to cause warming and associated adverse impacts. Local climate zones present a standardized technique for evaluating the implications of urban land use and surface changes on temperatures of the overlying atmosphere. In this study, long term changes in local climate zones of the Bulawayo metropolitan city were used to assess the influence of the city’s growth on its thermal characteristics. The zones were mapped using the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool (WUDAPT) procedure while Landsat data were used to determine temporal changes. Data were divided into 1990 to 2005 and 2005 to 2020 temporal splits and intensity analysis used to characterize transformation patterns at each interval. Results indicated that growth of the built local climate zones (LCZ) in Bulawayo was faster in the 1990 to 2005 interval than the 2005 to 2020. Transition level intensity analysis showed that growth of built local climate zones was more prevalent in areas with water, low plants and dense forest LCZ in both intervals. There was a westward growth of light weight low rise built LCZ category than eastern direction, which could be attributed to high land value in the latter. Low plants land cover type experienced a large expansion of light weight low rise buildings than the compact low rise, water, and open low-rise areas. The reduction of dense forest was mainly linked to active expansion of low plants in the 2005 to 2020 interval, symbolizing increased deforestation and vegetation clearance. In Bulawayo’s growth, areas where built-up LCZs invade vegetation and wetlands have increased anthropogenic warming (i.e., Surface Urban Heat Island intensities) in the city. This study demonstrates the value of LCZs in among others creating a global urban land use land cover database and assessing the influence of urban growth pattern on urban thermal characteristics.
Compression of Multibeam Echosounders Bathymetry and Water Column Data
Authors: Martí Aniol , Portell Jordi , Amblas David , de Cabrera Ferran , Vilà Marc , Riba Jaume , Mitchell Garrett
Published: April 2022

Over the past decade, Multibeam Echosounders (MBES) have become one of the most used techniques in sea exploration. Modern MBES are capable of acquiring both bathymetric information on the seafloor and the reflectivity of the seafloor and water column. Water column imaging MBES surveys acquire significant amounts of data with rates that can exceed several GB/h depending on the ping rate. These large file sizes obtained from recording the full water column backscatter make remote transmission difficult if not prohibitive with current technology and bandwidth limitations. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to decorrelate water column and bathymetry data, focusing on the KMALL format released by Kongsberg Maritime in 2019. The pre-processing stage is integrated into FAPEC, a data compressor originally designed for space missions. Here, we test the algorithm with three different datasets: two of them provided by Kongsberg Maritime and one dataset from the Gulf of Mexico provided by Fugro USA Marine. We show that FAPEC achieves good compression ratios at high speeds using the pre-processing stage proposed in this paper. We also show the advantages of FAPEC over other lossless compressors as well as the quality of the reconstructed water column image after lossy compression at different levels. Lastly, we test the performance of the pre-processing stage, without the constraint of an entropy encoder, by means of the histograms of the original samples and the prediction errors.
Automatic Forest DBH Measurement Based on Structure from Motion Photogrammetry
Authors: Gao Qiang , Kan Jiangming
Published: April 2022

Measuring diameter at breast height (DBH) is an essential but laborious task in the traditional forest inventory; it motivates people to develop alternative methods based on remote sensing technologies. In recent years, structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry has drawn researchers’ attention in forest surveying for its economy and high precision as the light detection and ranging (LiDAR) methods are always expensive. This study explores an automatic DBH measurement method based on SfM. Firstly, we proposed a new image acquisition technique that could reduce the number of images for the high accuracy of DBH measurement. Secondly, we developed an automatic DBH estimation pipeline based on sample consensus (RANSAC) and cylinder fitting with the Least Median of Squares with impressive DBH estimation speed and high accuracy comparable to methods based on LiDAR. For the application of SfM on forest survey, a graphical interface software Auto-DBH integrated with SfM reconstruction and automatic DBH estimation pipeline was developed. We sampled four plots with different species to verify the performance of the proposed method. The result showed that the accuracy of the first two plots, where trees’ stems were of good roundness, was high with a root mean squared error (RMSE) of 1.41 cm and 1.118 cm and a mean relative error of 4.78% and 5.70%, respectively. The third plot’s damaged trunks and low roundness stems reduced the accuracy with an RMSE of 3.16 cm and a mean relative error of 10.74%. The average automatic detection rate of the trees in the four plots was 91%. Our automatic DBH estimation procedure is relatively fast and on average takes only 2 s to estimate the DBH of a tree, which is much more rapid than direct physical measurements of tree trunk diameters. The result proves that Auto-DBH could reach high accuracy, close to terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) in plot scale forest DBH measurement. Our successful application of automatic DBH measurement indicates that SfM is promising in forest inventory.
A Ka-Band Wind Geophysical Model Function Using Doppler Scatterometer Measurements from the Air-Sea Interaction Tower Experiment
Authors: Polverari Federica , Wineteer Alexander , Rodríguez Ernesto , Perkovic-Martin Dragana , Siqueira Paul , Farrar J. Thomas , Adam Max , Closa Tarrés Marc , Edson James B.
Published: April 2022

Physical understanding and modeling of Ka-band ocean surface backscatter is challenging due to a lack of measurements. In the framework of the NASA Earth Ventures Suborbital-3 Submesoscale Ocean Dynamics Experiment (S-MODE) mission, a Ka-Band Ocean continuous wave Doppler Scatterometer (KaBODS) built by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) was installed on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Air-Sea Interaction Tower. Together with ASIT anemometers, a new data set of Ka-band ocean surface backscatter measurements along with surface wind/wave and weather parameters was collected. In this work, we present the KaBODS instrument and an empirical Ka-band wind Geophysical Model Function (GMF), the so-called ASIT GMF, based on the KaBODS data collected over a period of three months, from October 2019 to January 2020, for incidence angles ranging between 40° and 68°. The ASIT GMF results are compared with an existing Ka-band wind GMF developed from data collected during a tower experiment conducted over the Black Sea. The two GMFs show differences in terms of wind speed and wind direction sensitivity. However, they are consistent in the values of the standard deviation of the model residuals. This suggests an intrinsic geophysical variability characterizing the Ka-band surface backscatter. The observed variability does not significantly change when filtering out swell-dominated data, indicating that the long-wave induced backscatter modulation is not the primary source of the KaBODS backscatter variability. We observe evidence of wave breaking events, which increase the skewness of the backscatter distribution in linear space, consistent with previous studies. Interestingly, a better agreement is seen between the GMFs and the actual data at an incidence angle of 60° for both GMFs, and the statistical analysis of the model residuals shows a reduced backscatter variability at this incidence angle. This study shows that the ASIT data set is a valuable reference for studies of Ka-band backscatter. Further investigations are on-going to fully characterize the observed variability and its implication in the wind GMF development.
Effects of Chemical Priming on the Germination of the Ornamental Halophyte Lobularia maritima under NaCl Salinity
Authors: Zammali Iman , Dabbous Amira , Youssef Seria , Ben Hamed Karim
Published: April 2022

Lobularia maritima or sweet alyssum (Brassicaceae) is an annual littoral halophyte, naturally thriving on sandy beaches. In addition to its obvious interest as a naturally salt-tolerant plant, this species is mainly cultivated as an ornamental plant in many countries. Laboratory experiments were carried out to assess the effects of salinity on seed germination and on germination recovery from the effects of saline conditions after transfer to distilled water. Seed germination responses were determined at 0, 50, 100, 200 and 300 mM NaCl. Salt (NaCl) does not affect the germination of L. maritima if applied at a moderate dose of 50 mM. For higher concentrations of NaCl, there is a decrease in the germination rate at 100 and 200 mM NaCl or even a total inhibition of germination at 300 mM. Salt lowers or inhibits germination only through osmotic effects. To improve the germination of L. maritima under high salinity, seeds were pretreated with KNO3, thiourea, proline and salicylic acid. The germination of seeds is improved by KNO3 in the presence or absence of salt, while thiourea increases the final germination without affecting the germination rate. Salicylic acid amplifies the effect of salt, while proline delays germination without stopping it completely. These findings indicate that the application of KNO3 and thiourea may be used to improve seed germination of L. maritima, which is of great interest for cultivating this plant for landscaping purposes in saline soils.
Data-Driven Analytics Task Management Reasoning Mechanism in Edge Computing
Authors: Anagnostopoulos Christos , Aladwani Tahani , Alghamdi Ibrahim , Kolomvatsos Konstantinos
Published: April 2022

Internet of Things (IoT) applications have led to exploding contextual data for predictive analytics and exploration tasks. Consequently, computationally data-driven tasks at the network edge, such as machine learning models’ training and inference, have become more prevalent. Such tasks require data and resources to be executed at the network edge, while transferring data to Cloud servers negatively affects expected response times and quality of service (QoS). In this paper, we study certain computational offloading techniques in autonomous computing nodes (ANs) at the edge. ANs are distinguished by limited resources that are subject to a variety of constraints that can be violated when executing analytical tasks. In this context, we contribute a task-management mechanism based on approximate fuzzy inference over the popularity of tasks and the percentage of overlapping between the data required by a data-driven task and data available at each AN. Data-driven tasks’ popularity and data availability are fed into a novel two-stages Fuzzy Logic (FL) inference system that determines the probability of either executing tasks locally, offloading them to peer ANs or offloading to Cloud. We showcase that our mechanism efficiently derives such probability per each task, which consequently leads to efficient uncertainty management and optimal actions compared to benchmark models.
Differentiated Primary Healthcare in the Pataxó Indigenous Communities in Bahia, Brazil: Polyphonic Ethnography of Healthcare Practices from an Intercultural Perspective
Authors: Pedrana Leo , Trad Leny Alves Bomfim
Published: April 2022

A lack of culturally appropriate healthcare is a common problem for colonial nations, and this can explain the different patterns of health in indigenous populations worldwide. Our study is the first ethnography realized with the neglected Pataxó indigenous people from the south of the state of Bahia, Brazil, that analyzes the representations and practices of “differentiated” public healthcare. The polysemic conceptualization and polymorphism of the healthcare practices highlight some spontaneous intercultural competences, particularly those of the indigenous professionals, within the hegemony of non-indigenous health knowledge and the lack of awareness of intercultural healthcare. Intercultural training and empowerment still remain a priority.
The Effect of Production Structure Roundaboutness on the Innovation Capability of High-Tech Enterprises—The Mediating Role of Technology Absorption Path
Authors: Li Xiaodong , Huang Li , Ren Ai , Li Qi , Zeng Xuejin
Published: April 2022

From the perspective of production structure sustainability, this study investigates the source of innovation power of high-tech enterprises. It proposes that the roundaboutness of production structure is the sustainable driving force for improving innovation capability in high-tech enterprises, and enterprises can improve their innovation capability by absorbing technology from three paths. The proposed model was tested based on the survey data from 315 enterprises in 10 robotics industrial parks in the Yangtze River Delta region of China. The results show that the roundaboutness of production structure has a positive influence on the innovation capability of high-tech enterprises, which is mediated by technology absorption paths (i.e., independent development in high-tech enterprises, technology acquisition in high-tech enterprises and government policy compliance in high-tech enterprises). Meanwhile, the enterprise has different technology absorption path at different position in production structure. The findings have important enlightenment for enterprises to improve market competitiveness, production efficiency and technological innovation capability, and provides a practical basis for better ways of leveraging market and capital and more effective government processes in industrial innovation.
Multiscale Accessibility—A New Perspective of Space Structuration
Authors: Kaplan Nir , Omer Itzhak
Published: April 2022

Spatial accessibility is fundamentally related to the functional, economic and social performances of cities and geographical systems and, therefore, constitutes an essential aspect for spatial planning. Despite the significant progress made in accessibility research, little attention is given to the central role of accessibility in space organization and structuration. This study aimed to fill this gap. Based on an intensive literature review, our work shows the critical role of accessibility in space organization at different scales and sizes, starting from the basic concept of accessibility and its foundations in the classical locational theories and further to the methods and theories at the forefront of research. These processes also point to a unique contribution of multiscale accessibility in space structuration. Accordingly, we offer a conceptual framework to describe the multiscale process of space structuration with respect to local-urban, regional and national scales. We believe this framework may help in studying space and, more importantly, in understanding space. We hope this perspective forms an additional tier at the conceptual and methodological levels concerning accessibility and spatial organization and will encourage empirical studies in light of the suggested view.
Application of the Choquet Integral: A Case Study on a Personnel Selection Problem
Authors: Dumnić Slaviša , Mostarac Katarina , Ninović Milena , Jovanović Bojan , Buhmiler Sandra
Published: April 2022

Personnel selection plays a decisive role in human resource management since it determines the input quality of personnel. One approach, fuzzy decision-making methods, has become popular in decision making for personnel selection, considering those methods provide a wide range of tools for dealing with uncertainty. Choquet integral is an aggregation operator, frequently used to unite interrelated information. Choquet integral, with respect to fuzzy, allows consideration of the phenomenon of dependence between criteria. In this paper, personnel selection was performed using the Choquet integral, based on a fuzzy measure. The problem of the evaluation of employees is performed with respect to the personal characteristics of the employees, task performance, employee–employee relationship approaches, and effectiveness of communication.
Improvement in Durability and Service of Asphalt Pavements through Regionalization Methods: A Case Study in Baja California, Mexico
Authors: Cota José , Martínez-Lazcano Cynthia , Montoya-Alcaraz Marco , García Leonel , Mungaray-Moctezuma Alejandro , Sánchez-Atondo Alejandro
Published: April 2022

The objective of this research is to develop a pavement design procedure that allows calibrating the design variables of asphalt pavements using regionalized conditions, to obtain efficient pavement performance for developing countries with limited resources and data. This study analyzes the roads of the state of Baja California, Mexico; where type structures are determined and the performance grade of the binder used in the manufacture of asphalt concrete is regionalized according to the weather conditions altitude, traffic, and quality of the available materials. In a complementary way, the economic incidence of pavements during its service life is analyzed, projecting the analysis with different pavement structures and damage coefficients. The results show that this approach favors the asphalt pavements that comply with the projected in its service life, reducing maintenance interventions and costs.
Numerical Implementation of Three-Dimensional Nonlinear Strength Model of Soil and Its Application in Slope Stability Analysis
Authors: Kong Xiaoang , Cai Guoqing , Cheng Yongfeng , Zhao Chenggang
Published: April 2022

Based on previous research results and the three-dimensional strength characteristics of different soil types, a three-dimensional nonlinear strength model of soil considering tenso-shear (T-S) coupling strength and compressive-shear (C-S) strength is established. The proposed model can better describe the influences of intermediate principal stress and T-S coupling stress in soil. The secondary development of user material subroutine (UMAT) is conducted in ABAQUS. The UMAT procedure is programmed using an implicit backward Euler integral algorithm, and numerical experiments verify its accuracy. This procedure is then applied to the analysis of slope stability. Using the strength reduction method, the stability of the saturated slope and unsaturated slope are analyzed. The numerical results show that when the slope approaches instability, the T-S coupling plastic zone and T-S coupling failure surface develop downward from the top surface of the slope. The critical slip surface is a composite slip surface composed of a C-S slip surface and a T-S coupling failure surface. Compared with the M-C strength model, the three-dimensional nonlinear strength model can describe the failure mechanism of the slope more clearly and reasonably and can provide an accurate stability evaluation.
Spatiotemporal Changeability of the Load of the Urban Road Transport System under Permanent and Short-Term Legal and Administrative Retail Restrictions
Authors: Borowska-Stefańska Marta , Kowalski Michał , Kurzyk Paulina , Sahebgharani Alireza , Wiśniewski Szymon
Published: April 2022

In Poland, in 2018, the act on Sunday retail restrictions was introduced, changing citizen’s spatial mobility (altered patterns of transport behaviour related to shopping on a weekly scale). Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic (from 2020) on transport behaviour during this time has had an impact, since people were encouraged to stay at home and limit their mobility to an absolute minimum. As a result, the main aim of the article was to identify spatiotemporal changeability of the load of the urban road transport system under permanent and short-term legal and administrative retail restrictions and to determine its spatial and temporal nature on the example of Łódź (a big city in central Poland) during 2018–2021. For that purpose, the authors used three types of source data, i.e., official governmental normative data (acts, ordinances, etc.), informative data (official pandemic announcements issued during ministerial press conferences, governmental social media content, etc.), and objective empirical data (induction loops). The pandemic restrictions imposed on top of the existing permanent retail restrictions were shown to distinctly shape the weekly distribution of traffic. In weeks with non-trading Sundays, the percentage of vehicle traffic on weekdays was substantially higher than on weekends, which was particularly noticeable during the first year of the pandemic (2020). Long-term observations have also shown that people began to plan their weekends differently upon the initial implementation of Sunday retail restrictions.
Characteristics of Climate Concern—Attitudes and Personal Actions—A Case Study of Hungarian Settlements
Authors: Kiss Emőke , Balla Dániel , Kovács András Donát
Published: April 2022

This article discusses one of the most important social factors of climate protection: climate concern. Most research in this area focuses on North America and Western Europe or presents international comparative statistics. Our work is innovative because we have designated a lesser-known post-socialist region in East-Central Europe as a sample area, and we intend to conduct in-depth analyses at the municipal level. Our study describes the second largest city in Hungary, Debrecen, and its agglomeration. Based on a questionnaire survey in 2020 (N = 512), we examined opinion factors, and we have presented features consistent with or different from the findings in the relevant literature. In the statistical analysis, chi-square tests and binary logistic regressions were applied to reveal significant differences between the responses of different types of respondents. As response variables, we used the questions about general concerns regarding air pollution, knowledge about climate change, beliefs about tackling, perceived threat, behavioural responses, personal actions, and demography. We found that the concern about air pollution and a feeling of threat to respondents’ life was mainly affected by the degree of climate concern. We conclude that the knowledge of local communities on climate change has increased, and risk perception has improved. Still, there is no clear relationship between the level of concern and climate-conscious behaviour. The findings provide ideas for promoting local climate management and awareness-raising in the European Union or other countries.
Study of Spatiotemporal Changes and Driving Factors of Habitat Quality: A Case Study of the Agro-Pastoral Ecotone in Northern Shaanxi, China
Authors: Cui Guoyi , Zhang Yan , Shi Feihang , Jia Wenxia , Pan Bohua , Han Changkun , Liu Zhengze , Li Min , Zhou Haohao
Published: April 2022

Habitat quality is a key indicator for assessing the biodiversity-maintenance functions of ecosystem services. The issue of habitat quality changes in semi-arid and arid areas has been becoming serious, but there are few deep investigations of habitat quality in these regions, such as studies of the temporal and spatial changes of habitat quality and its driving forces. This study focuses on the agro-pastoral ecotone of northern Shaanxi with vulnerable biodiversity. By using the Fragstats software, the InVEST model, and the Geo-detector model, we analyzed land-use data collected from 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020, and we explored the landscape pattern index, the spatial and temporal variation of habitat quality, and the influence of its drivers. GDP, population density, precipitation, temperature, land use, NDVI, elevation, and slope were detected by Geo-detector. The research results show that: (1) Arable land and grassland were the dominant land types from 1990 to 2020, and there was significant mutual circulation between arable land and grassland. Forest area increased by 24%. Many other land-use types were transformed into construction land, and construction land increased by 727% compared with the base period. (2) Landscape heterogeneity increased in the study region, shown by the fractured structure of the overall landscape and by the aggravated human disturbance of the landscape. (3) Average habitat quality underwent a trend of oscillation. Regarding spatial distribution, habitat quality was higher in the east than in the west. (4) The influencing factors of habitat quality monitored by Geo-detectors show that the driving force of land use on habitat quality was the strongest, followed by precipitation and vegetation coverage. Elevation, slope, GDP, and population density had the least influence on habitat quality. The bi-factor interaction enhanced habitat quality to different levels. This study is critical to the conservation of biodiversity and to ecological civilization construction in arid and semi-arid regions.
Logistics Efficiency under Carbon Constraints Based on a Super SBM Model with Undesirable Output: Empirical Evidence from China’s Logistics Industry
Authors: Xin Yongrong , Zheng Kengcheng , Zhou Yujiao , Han Yangyang , Tadikamalla P. R. , Fan Qin
Published: April 2022

As world resources and environmental constraints have increased, environmental cost has become a concern that affects the sustainable development of the logistics industry in various countries. Carbon emissions are an important part of any environmental cost assessment. How to scientifically and rationally evaluate the green GDP impact and regional efficiency in the logistics industry, especially when under carbon emission constraints, is of great significance to the realization of green and sustainable development. This study evaluated the logistics efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2003 to 2016 by constructing a super SBM (Slack Based Model) model with undesirable output to explore provincial efficiency and its regional differences. The input–output ratio of the regional logistics industry was optimized through the calculation of the frontier slack variables. The research results showed that, first, it was more reasonable to adjust efficiency under carbon constraints, and it was consistent with the actual performance of the logistics industry. Second, technological progress and deeper capital investments promoted the development of the logistics industry, but technological barriers and low-scale efficiency between regions often limited technological efficiency. Therefore, decision-makers in the logistics industry should reconsider the challenges presented in each reason, encourage industrial technological innovation between regions, and especially promote energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies, so as to maintain the sustainable growth of the logistics industry.
Identifying Key Financial, Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG), Bond, and COVID-19 Factors Affecting Global Shipping Companies—A Hybrid Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making Method
Authors: Lin Arthur J. , Chang Hai-Yen , Hung Brian
Published: April 2022

The international shipping industry is the largest transportation system in the world. However, shipping stock prices were highly volatile during the 2020–2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to identify the causal relationships of the four dimensions (financial performance, bond financing, environmental, social, governance, and COVID-19) and 20 criteria affecting the sustainability of global shipping companies. The research scope includes a sample of nine listed international shipping companies accounting for 49% of the global market share with data collected from 2010 to 2020. Survey responses from 15 investment experts were also obtained. We applied a hybrid multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) method integrating the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), analytic network process, and modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno techniques to be the DANP-mV model to identify the causal relationships among the dimensions and criteria, providing ways of narrowing the performance gaps of shipping companies. The results indicate that financial performance is the main cause affecting COVID-19 and ESG practices. The ESG practices influence bond financing. The largest performance gaps across shipping companies include earnings per share (EPS), yield to maturity, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and timely delivery. The findings of this study suggest that shipping companies may focus on gross profit margin to improve EPS, term to maturity to enhance yield to maturity, social distancing policy to meet timely delivery, and the board size to enhance corporate social responsibility (CSR). The outcome of this study aids shipping companies in prioritizing their resources and investors in selecting shipping company stocks in response to COVID-19.