bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Experimental Investigation on Mechanics and Seepage Characteristics of Tectonic and Intact Coal Containing Gas
Authors: Zhang Chaolin , Wang Enyuan , Xu Jiang , Peng Shoujian
Published: October 2020

Coalbed methane is a double-edged sword with two attributes of energy and hazard in coal mines. Gas drainage is the most direct and effective measure for gas recovery and disaster prevention in coal mines, which is seriously affected by the mechanics and seepage characteristics of coal. In this work, we experimentally simulated the triaxial compression and gas depletion processes using both tectonic coal and intact coal. The mechanics and seepage characteristics of tectonic and intact coal under the coupling effect of stress and gas pressure were analyzed and compared. The results show that during the triaxial compression, the damage stress and peak stress of tectonic coal is only half that of intact coal, while their compaction stress or residual stress are almost the same. Meanwhile, the permeability recovery value after tectonic coal failure is very limited, even smaller than that of intact coal, although its primary permeability is much larger than that of intact coal. On the contrary, the permeability recovery value after intact coal failure is more than twice of its primary permeability. During the gas depletion, the rebound gas pressure of tectonic coal is smaller than that of intact coal, and the permeability of tectonic coal is one order of magnitude larger than that of intact coal before the gas pressure drops to 2 MPa. The broken of tectonic coal and the low permeability of intact coal may be the two principal reasons. Therefore, in the tectonic coal area, the gas extraction time at high gas pressure stage should be stabilized, while in the intact coal area, the gas extraction time at low gas pressure stage should be increased, and the coal permeability enhancement measures should be combined to achieve the goal of high and stable production of coalbed methane.
Parametrization Study of Electrospun Nanofiber Including LiCl Using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) for Water Treatment Application
Authors: Bae Jiyeol , Kim Hyuna , Park Saerom , Kim Kwang Soo , Choi Heechul
Published: October 2020

The influence of the electrospinning parameters on the diameter of the polyethersulfone (PES) nanofibers was demonstrated using response surface methodology. The electrospinning parameters studied were lithium chloride (LiCl) concentration, PES concentration, feed rate, and tip-to-collector distance. The average fiber diameter was correlated to these factors by using a second-order polynomial function at a 95% confidence level. The statistical analysis indicated that LiCl concentration, PES concentration, and feed rate had the significant connection with the fiber diameter, and LiCl concentration was the most important factor in determining the fiber diameter. When LiCl concentration increased, the fiber diameter decreased, because with more LiCl that is added, more applied voltage is needed to overcome the electrostatic attractions. The interactive effect between PES concentration and feed rate, the interactive effect between PES concentration and tip-to-collector distance, and the quadratic coefficients of LiCl concentration were also found to be significant. The adjusted determination coefficient (Radj2) of the model was calculated to be 0.9106. The water flux measurements showed that the decrease in the fiber diameter of the membrane caused the decrease in the initial pure water flux. The retention tests with 0.6 μm polystyrene (PS) suspension indicated that as the fiber diameter decreased, the pore sizes decreased and the particle removal efficiency increased.
Deep Convolutional Neural Networks Object Detector for Real-Time Waste Identification
Authors: Melinte Daniel Octavian , Travediu Ana-Maria , Dumitriu Dan N.
Published: October 2020

This paper presents an extensive research carried out for enhancing the performances of convolutional neural network (CNN) object detectors applied to municipal waste identification. In order to obtain an accurate and fast CNN architecture, several types of Single Shot Detectors (SSD) and Regional Proposal Networks (RPN) have been fine-tuned on the TrashNet database. The network with the best performances is executed on one autonomous robot system, which is able to collect detected waste from the ground based on the CNN feedback. For this type of application, a precise identification of municipal waste objects is very important. In order to develop a straightforward pipeline for waste detection, the paper focuses on boosting the performance of pre-trained CNN Object Detectors, in terms of precision, generalization, and detection speed, using different loss optimization methods, database augmentation, and asynchronous threading at inference time. The pipeline consists of data augmentation at the training time followed by CNN feature extraction and box predictor modules for localization and classification at different feature map sizes. The trained model is generated for inference afterwards. The experiments revealed better performances than all other Object Detectors trained on TrashNet or other garbage datasets with a precision of 97.63% accuracy for SSD and 95.76% accuracy for Faster R-CNN, respectively. In order to find the optimal higher and lower bounds of our learning rate where the network is actually learning, we trained our model for several epochs, updating the learning rate after each epoch, starting from 1 × 10−10 and decreasing it until reaching 1 × 10−1.
Signaling Mechanism of Transcriptional Bursting: A Technical Resolution-Independent Study
Authors: Wang Yaolai , Qi Jiaming , Shao Jie , Tang Xu-Qing
Published: October 2020

Gene transcription has been uncovered to occur in sporadic bursts. However, due to technical difficulties in differentiating individual transcription initiation events, it remains debated as to whether the burst size, frequency, or both are subject to modulation by transcriptional activators. Here, to bypass technical constraints, we addressed this issue by introducing two independent theoretical methods including analytical research based on the classic two-model and information entropy research based on the architecture of transcription apparatus. Both methods connect the signaling mechanism of transcriptional bursting to the characteristics of transcriptional uncertainty (i.e., the differences in transcriptional levels of the same genes that are equally activated). By comparing the theoretical predictions with abundant experimental data collected from published papers, the results exclusively support frequency modulation. To further validate this conclusion, we showed that the data that appeared to support size modulation essentially supported frequency modulation taking into account the existence of burst clusters. This work provides a unified scheme that reconciles the debate on burst signaling.
Coupling of the AQUATOX and EFDC Models for Ecological Impact Assessment of Chemical Spill Scenarios in the Jeonju River, Korea
Authors: Yeom Jaehoon , Kim Injeong , Kim Minjeong , Cho Kyunghwa , Kim Sang Don
Published: October 2020

In this study, an ecological impact was assessed for the short-term leak scenario through the AQUATOX-EFDC model, which combines the proven ecological model AQUATOX with the hydrodynamic model EFDC. A case study of the coupled AQUATOX-EFDC model was conducted for 30–30,000 kg toluene leak scenarios in the Jeonju River in South Korea. A 21-day scenario simulation was conducted, and the impact of the toluene spill accident was evaluated by comparing the biomass between the control simulation and the perturbed simulation. As a result of the simulation, it was found that in the scenario in which 3000 kg of toluene was leaked for a day, a substantial change was expected in the range of 0–640 m from the accident site. Additionally, for a 30,000 kg leak, a substantial change was expected in the range of 0–2300 m from the accident site, and the greatest damage was observed for the fish species group, the top predators. As a result, the AQUATOX-EFDC simulation showed a significant ecological impact, and the proposed model will be helpful to understand the ecological impact and establish the management strategy for the ecological risk of the chemical spill.
Expression of POU2F3 Transcription Factor Control Inflammation, Immunological Recruitment and Metastasis of Pancreatic Cancer in Mice
Authors: Bintz Jennifer , Abuelafia Analía Meilerman , Gerbe François , Baudoin Elodie , Auphan-Anezin Nathalie , Sidot Emmanuelle , Jay Philippe , Iovanna Juan
Published: October 2020

TUFT cells have been described as strong modulators of inflammatory cells in several tissues including pancreas. TUFT cells, also known as DCLK1+ cells, are dependent of the transcriptional factor POU2F3. Several works report DCLK1+ cells in early stages of PDAC development suggesting an important role of TUFT cells in PDAC development. Therefore, we developed a mice model (PDX1-Cre;KrasG12D;Ink4afl/fl), known as PKI model, deficient or not of POU2F3. In this animal model, deficiency of POU2F3 results in the absence of TUFT cells in PDAC as expected. Although, tumor development and growth are not significantly influenced, the development of liver metastasis was almost completely inhibited in POU2F3-deficient mice. Surprisingly, the absence of metastasis was associated with a higher expression of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition markers, but to a lower inflammatory microenvironment suggesting that inflammation influences metastasis production more than epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in this animal model. We can conclude that POU2F3 could be a new therapeutic target for control PDAC progression.
PPARα Agonist Oral Therapy in Diabetic Retinopathy
Authors: Tomita Yohei , Lee Deokho , Tsubota Kazuo , Kurihara Toshihide
Published: October 2020

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is an eye condition that develops after chronically poorly-managed diabetes, and is presently the main cause for blindness on a global scale. Current treatments for DR such as laser photocoagulation, topical injection of corticosteroids, intravitreal injection of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents and vitreoretinal surgery are only applicable at the late stages of DR and there are possibilities of significant adverse effects. Moreover, the forms of treatment available for DR are highly invasive to the eyes. Safer and more effective pharmacological treatments are required for DR treatment, in particular at an early stage. In this review, we cover recently investigated promising oral pharmacotherapies, the methods of which are safer, easier to use, patient-friendly and pain-free, in clinical studies. We especially focus on peroxisome proliferator-activator receptor alpha (PPARα) agonists in which experimental evidence suggests PPARα activation may be closely related to the attenuation of vascular damages, including lipid-induced toxicity, inflammation, an excess of free radical generation, endothelial dysfunction and angiogenesis. Furthermore, oral administration of selective peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha modulator (SPPARMα) agonists may induce hepatic fibroblast growth factor 21 expression, indirectly resulting in retinal protection in animal studies. Our review will enable more comprehensive approaches for understanding protective roles of PPARα for the prevention of DR development.
Synthesis of Bamboo-like Multiwall Carbon Nanotube–Poly(Acrylic Acid-co-Itaconic Acid)/NaOH Composite Hydrogel and its Potential Application for Electrochemical Detection of Cadmium(II)
Authors: Chazaro-Ruiz Luis F. , Olvera-Sosa Miguel , Vidal Gabriela , Rangel-Mendez J. Rene , Palestino Gabriela , Perez Fatima , Zhang Wei
Published: October 2020

A poly(acrylic acid-co-itaconic acid) (PAA-co-IA)/NaOH hydrogel containing bamboo-type multiwall carbon nanotubes (B-MWCNTs) doped with nitrogen (PAA-co-IA/NaOH/B-MWCNTs) was synthesized and characterized by SEM, absorption of water, point of zero charges, infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry. The possible use of the PAA-co-IA/NaOH/B-MWCNT hydrogel as an electrode modifier and pre-concentrator agent for Cd(II) sensing purposes was then evaluated using carbon paste electrodes via differential pulse voltammetry. The presence of the B-MWCNTs in the hydrogel matrix decreased its degree of swelling, stabilized the structure of the swollen gel, and favored the detection of 3 ppb Cd(II), which is comparable to the World Health Organization’s allowable maximum value in drinking water. A calibration curve was obtained in the concentration range of 2.67 × 10−8 to 6.23 × 10−7 M (i.e., 3 and 70 ppb) to determine a limit of detection (LOD) of 19.24 μgL−1 and a sensitivity of 0.15 μC ppb−1. Also, the Zn(II), Hg(II), Pb(II) and Cu(II) ions interfered moderately on the determination of Cd(II).
Chemopreventive Potential of Caryophyllane Sesquiterpenes: An Overview of Preliminary Evidence
Authors: Di Sotto Antonella , Mancinelli Romina , Gullì Marco , Eufemi Margherita , Mammola Caterina Loredana , Mazzanti Gabriela , Di Giacomo Silvia
Published: October 2020

Chemoprevention is referred to as a strategy to inhibit, suppress, or reverse tumor development and progression in healthy people along with high-risk subjects and oncologic patients through using pharmacological or natural substances. Numerous phytochemicals have been widely described in the literature to possess chemopreventive properties, although their clinical usefulness remains to be defined. Among them, caryophyllane sesquiterpenes are natural compounds widely occurring in nature kingdoms, especially in plants, fungi, and marine environments. Several structures, characterized by a common caryophyllane skeleton with further rearrangements, have been identified, but those isolated from plant essential oils, including β-caryophyllene, β-caryophyllene oxide, α-humulene, and isocaryophyllene, have attracted the greatest pharmacological attention. Emerging evidence has outlined a complex polypharmacological profile of caryophyllane sesquiterpenes characterized by blocking, suppressing, chemosensitizing, and cytoprotective properties, which suggests a possible usefulness of these natural substances in cancer chemoprevention for both preventive and adjuvant purposes. In the present review, the scientific knowledge about the chemopreventive properties of caryophyllane sesquiterpenes and the mechanisms involved have been collected and discussed; moreover, possible structure–activity relationships have been highlighted. Although further high-quality studies are required, the promising preclinical findings and the safe pharmacological profile encourage further studies to define a clinical usefulness of caryophyllane sesquiterpenes in primary, secondary, or tertiary chemoprevention.
Association of Planning Target Volume with Patient Outcome in Inoperable Stage III NSCLC Treated with Chemoradiotherapy: A Comprehensive Single-Center Analysis
Authors: Karin Monika , Taugner Julian , Käsmann Lukas , Eze Chukwuka , Roengvoraphoj Olarn , Tufman Amanda , Belka Claus , Manapov Farkhad
Published: October 2020

Inoperable stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) represents a highly heterogeneous patient cohort. Multimodal treatment approaches including radiotherapy have been the new standard of care, with promising outcomes. The planning target volume (PTV), including the primary tumor, involved lymph node stations and safety margins, can vary widely. In order to evaluate the impact of the PTV for overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS) and loco-regional control, we analyzed retrospective and prospective data of 122 consecutive patients with inoperable stage III NSCLC treated with CRT. The majority of patients (93%) received a total dose ≥ 60 Gy and 92% of all patients were treated with concurrent or sequential chemotherapy. Median follow-up for the entire cohort was 41.2 (range: 3.7–108.4) months; median overall survival (OS) reached 20.9 (95% CI: 14.5–27.3) months. PTVs from 500 to 800 ccm were evaluated for their association with survival in a univariate analysis. In a multivariate analysis including age, gender, total radiation dose and histology, PTV ≥ 700 ccm remained a significant prognosticator of OS (HR: 1.705, 95% CI: 1.071–2.714, p = 0.025). After propensity score matching (PSM) analysis with exact matching for Union internationale contre le cancer (UICC) TNM Classification (7th ed.)T- and N-stage, patients with PTV < 700 ccm reached a median PFS and OS of 11.6 (95% CI: 7.3–15.9) and 34.5 (95% CI: 25.6–43.4) months vs. 6.2 (95% CI: 3.1–9.3) (p = 0.057) and 12.7 (95% CI: 8.5–16.9) (p < 0.001) months in patients with PTV ≥ 700 ccm, respectively. Inoperable stage III NSCLC patients with PTV ≥ 700 ccm had significantly detrimental outcomes after conventionally fractionated CRT. PTV should be considered as a stratification factor in multimodal clinical trials for inoperable stage III NSCLC.
Glioma Stem-Like Cells Can Be Targeted in Boron Neutron Capture Therapy with Boronophenylalanine
Authors: Kondo Natsuko , Hikida Masaki , Nakada Mitsutoshi , Sakurai Yoshinori , Hirata Eishu , Takeno Satoshi , Suzuki Minoru
Published: October 2020

As glioma stem cells are chemo- and radio-resistant, they could be the origins of recurrent malignant glioma. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a tumor-selective particle radiation therapy. 10B(n,α)7Li capture reaction produces alpha particles whose short paths (5–9 µm) lead to selective killing of tumor cells. P-boronophenylalanine (BPA) is a chemical compound used in clinical trials for BNCT. Here, we used mass cytometry (Cytof) to investigate whether glioma stem-like cells (GSLCs) take up BPA or not. We used GSLCs, and cells differentiated from GSLCs (DCs) by fetal bovine serum. After exposure to BPA for 24 h at 25 ppm in 5% CO2 incubator, we immune-stained them with twenty stem cell markers, anti-Ki-67, anti-BPA and anti-CD98 (heterodimer that forms the large BPA transporter) antibodies and analyzed them with Cytof. The percentage of BPA+ or CD98+ cells with stem cell markers (Oct3/4, Nestin, SOX2, Musashi-1, PDGFRα, Notch2, Nanog, STAT3 and C-myc, among others) was 2–4 times larger among GSLCs than among DCs. Analyses of in vivo orthotopic tumor also indicated that 100% of SOX2+ or Nestin+ GSLCs were BPA+, whereas only 36.9% of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)+ DCs were BPA+. Therefore, GSLCs may take up BPA and could be targeted by BNCT.
Fc-Engineered Antibodies with Enhanced Fc-Effector Function for the Treatment of B-Cell Malignancies
Authors: van der Horst Hilma J. , Nijhof Inger S. , Mutis Tuna , Chamuleau Martine E. D.
Published: October 2020

Monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy has rapidly changed the field of cancer therapy. In 1997, the CD20-targeting mAb rituximab was the first mAb to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of cancer. Within two decades, dozens of mAbs entered the clinic for treatment of several hematological cancers and solid tumors, and numerous more are under clinical investigation. The success of mAbs as cancer therapeutics lies in their ability to induce various cytotoxic machineries against specific targets. These cytotoxic machineries include antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis (ADCP), and complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), which are all mediated via the fragment crystallizable (Fc) domain of mAbs. In this review article, we will outline the novel approaches of engineering these Fc domains of mAbs to enhance their Fc-effector function and thereby their anti-tumor potency, with specific focus to summarize their (pre-) clinical status for the treatment of B-cell malignancies, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL), and multiple myeloma (MM).
Healthy Donors Harbor Memory T Cell Responses to RAS Neo-Antigens
Authors: Holmström Morten Orebo , Andersen Mads Hald
Published: October 2020

The RAS mutations are the most frequently occurring somatic mutations in humans, and several studies have established that T cells from patients with RAS-mutant cancer recognize and kill RAS-mutant cells. Enhancing the T cell response via therapeutic cancer vaccination against mutant RAS results in a clinical benefit to patients; thus, T cells specific to RAS mutations are effective at battling cancer. As the theory of cancer immuno-editing indicates that healthy donors may clear malignantly transformed cells via immune-mediated killing, and since T cells have been shown to recognize RAS-mutant cancer cells, we investigated whether healthy donors harbor T-cell responses specific to mutant RAS. We identified strong and frequent responses against several epitopes derived from the RAS codon 12 and codon 13 mutations. Some healthy donors demonstrated a response to several mutant epitopes, and some, but not all, exhibited cross-reactivity to the wild-type RAS epitope. In addition, several T cell responses were identified against mutant RAS epitopes in healthy donors directly ex vivo. Clones against mutant RAS epitopes were established from healthy donors, and several of these clones did not cross-react with the wild-type epitope. Finally, CD45RO+ memory T cells from healthy donors demonstrated a strong response to several mutant RAS epitopes. Taken together, these data suggest that the immune system in healthy donors spontaneously clears malignantly transformed RAS-mutant cells, and the immune system consequently generates T-cell memory against the mutations.
Development of Facile and Simple Processes for the Heterogeneous Pd-Catalyzed Ligand-Free Continuous-Flow Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling
Authors: Yamada Tsuyoshi , Jiang Jing , Ito Naoya , Park Kwihwan , Masuda Hayato , Furugen Chikara , Ishida Moeka , Ōtori Seiya , Sajiki Hironao
Published: October 2020

The Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction is one of the most widely utilized C–C bond forming methods to create (hetero)biaryl scaffolds. The continuous-flow reaction using heterogeneous catalyst-packed cartridges is a practical and efficient synthetic method to replace batch-type reactions. A continuous-flow ligand-free Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of (hetero)aryl iodides, bromides, and chlorides with (hetero)aryl boronic acids was developed using cartridges packed with spherical resin (tertiary amine-based chelate resin: WA30)-supported palladium catalysts (7% Pd/WA30). The void space in the cartridge caused by the spherical catalyst structures enables the smooth flow of a homogeneously dissolved reaction solution that consists of a mixture of organic and aqueous solvents and is delivered by the use of a single syringe pump. Clogging or serious backpressure was not observed.
Improved NOx Reduction Using C3H8 and H2 with Ag/Al2O3 Catalysts Promoted with Pt and WOx
Authors: González Hernández Naomi N. , Contreras José Luis , Pinto Marcos , Zeifert Beatriz , Flores Moreno Jorge L. , Fuentes Gustavo A. , Hernández-Terán María E. , Vázquez Tamara , Salmones José , Jurado José M.
Published: October 2020

The addition of Pt (0.1 wt%Pt) to the 2 wt%Ag/Al2O3-WOx catalyst improved the C3H8– Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) of NO assisted by H2 and widened the range of the operation window. During H2–C3H8–SCR of NO, the bimetallic Pt–Ag catalyst showed two maxima in conversion: 80% (at 130 °C) and 91% (between 260 and 350 °C). This PtAg bimetallic catalyst showed that it could combine the catalytic properties of Pt at low temperature, with the properties of Ag/Al2O3 at high temperature. These PtAg catalysts were composed of Ag+, Agnδ+ clusters, and PtAg nanoparticles. The catalysts were characterized by Temperature Programmed Reduction (TPR), Ultraviolet Visible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)/ Energy Dispersed X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), x-ray Diffraction (XRD) and N2 physisorption. The PtAg bimetallic catalysts were able to chemisorb H2. The dispersion of Pt in the bimetallic catalysts was the largest for the catalyst with the lowest Pt/Ag atomic ratio. Through SEM, mainly spherical clusters smaller than 10 nm were observed in the PtAg catalyst. There were about 32% of particles with size equal or below 10 nm. The PtAg bimetallic catalysts produced NO2 in the intermediate temperature range as well as some N2O. The yield to N2O was proportional to the Pt/Ag atomic ratio and reached 8.5% N2O. WOx stabilizes Al2O3 at temperatures ≥650 °C, and also stabilizes Pt when it is reduced in H2 at high temperature (800 °C).
Single Cell ADNP Predictive of Human Muscle Disorders: Mouse Knockdown Results in Muscle Wasting
Authors: Kapitansky Oxana , Karmon Gidon , Sragovich Shlomo , Hadar Adva , Shahoha Meishar , Jaljuli Iman , Bikovski Lior , Giladi Eliezer , Palovics Robert , Iram Tal , Gozes Illana
Published: October 2020

Activity-dependent neuroprotective protein (ADNP) mutations are linked with cognitive dysfunctions characterizing the autistic-like ADNP syndrome patients, who also suffer from delayed motor maturation. We thus hypothesized that ADNP is deregulated in versatile myopathies and that local ADNP muscle deficiency results in myopathy, treatable by the ADNP fragment NAP. Here, single-cell transcriptomics identified ADNP as a major constituent of the developing human muscle. ADNP transcript concentrations further predicted multiple human muscle diseases, with concentrations negatively correlated with the ADNP target interacting protein, microtubule end protein 1 (EB1). Reverting back to modeling at the single-cell level of the male mouse transcriptome, Adnp mRNA concentrations age-dependently correlated with motor disease as well as with sexual maturation gene transcripts, while Adnp expressing limb muscle cells significantly decreased with aging. Mouse Adnp heterozygous deficiency exhibited muscle microtubule reduction and myosin light chain (Myl2) deregulation coupled with motor dysfunction. CRISPR knockdown of adult gastrocnemius muscle Adnp in a Cas9 mouse resulted in treadmill (male) and gait (female) dysfunctions that were specifically ameliorated by treatment with the ADNP snippet, microtubule interacting, Myl2—regulating, NAP (CP201). Taken together, our studies provide new hope for personalized diagnosis/therapeutics in versatile myopathies.
Statistical Mechanics of Discrete Multicomponent Fragmentation
Authors: Matsoukas Themis
Published: October 2020

We formulate the statistics of the discrete multicomponent fragmentation event using a methodology borrowed from statistical mechanics. We generate the ensemble of all feasible distributions that can be formed when a single integer multicomponent mass is broken into fixed number of fragments and calculate the combinatorial multiplicity of all distributions in the set. We define random fragmentation by the condition that the probability of distribution be proportional to its multiplicity, and obtain the partition function and the mean distribution in closed form. We then introduce a functional that biases the probability of distribution to produce in a systematic manner fragment distributions that deviate to any arbitrary degree from the random case. We corroborate the results of the theory by Monte Carlo simulation, and demonstrate examples in which components in sieve cuts of the fragment distribution undergo preferential mixing or segregation relative to the parent particle.
Synthesis of Pure Phase NaP2 Zeolite from the Gel of NaY by Conventional and Microwave-Assisted Hydrothermal Methods
Authors: Tayraukham Pimwipa , Jantarit Nawee , Osakoo Nattawut , Wittayakun Jatuporn
Published: October 2020

The gel of zeolite NaY has potential as a precursor of other zeolites. The particular interest in this work is to convert the gel of NaY to NaP2. We found that the pure phase NaP2 can be produced simply by the conventional hydrothermal (CH) method at 150 °C for 24 h. This NaP2 sample, named CH150, has an average particle size of 10.3 µm and an Si/Al ratio of 1.82. In the case of single crystallization via microwave-assisted hydrothermal (MH) method, various parameters were studied, including the crystallization temperature (90, 150, 175 °C) and time (15, 30, 45, 60 min). The samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. However, mixed phases of P1 and P2 or ANA were obtained from all samples. Another attempt was made by a double crystallization via MH method as followed: at 90 °C for 1 h, quickly cooled down to room temperature in the microwave chamber and aged for 23 h, and finally at 150 °C for 1 h. The sample, named MH90A150, has an average crystal size of 16.45 µm and an Si/Al ratio of 1.85. The high Al content of NaP2 in both samples (CH150 and MH90A150) could lead to interesting applications.
Correction: Biś, A., et al. Hausdorff Dimension and Topological Entropies of a Solenoid. Entropy 2020, 22, 506
Authors: Biś Andrzej , Namiecińska Agnieszka
Published: October 2020

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]
Salient Object Detection Techniques in Computer Vision—A Survey
Authors: Gupta Ashish Kumar , Seal Ayan , Prasad Mukesh , Khanna Pritee
Published: October 2020

Detection and localization of regions of images that attract immediate human visual attention is currently an intensive area of research in computer vision. The capability of automatic identification and segmentation of such salient image regions has immediate consequences for applications in the field of computer vision, computer graphics, and multimedia. A large number of salient object detection (SOD) methods have been devised to effectively mimic the capability of the human visual system to detect the salient regions in images. These methods can be broadly categorized into two categories based on their feature engineering mechanism: conventional or deep learning-based. In this survey, most of the influential advances in image-based SOD from both conventional as well as deep learning-based categories have been reviewed in detail. Relevant saliency modeling trends with key issues, core techniques, and the scope for future research work have been discussed in the context of difficulties often faced in salient object detection. Results are presented for various challenging cases for some large-scale public datasets. Different metrics considered for assessment of the performance of state-of-the-art salient object detection models are also covered. Some future directions for SOD are presented towards end.
Slicing the Core Network and Radio Access Network Domains through Intent-Based Networking for 5G Networks
Authors: Abbas Khizar , Afaq Muhammad , Ahmed Khan Talha , Rafiq Adeel , Song Wang-Cheol
Published: October 2020

The fifth-generation mobile network presents a wide range of services which have different requirements in terms of performance, bandwidth, reliability, and latency. The legacy networks are not capable to handle these diverse services with the same physical infrastructure. In this way, network virtualization presents a reliable solution named network slicing that supports service heterogeneity and provides differentiated resources to each service. Network slicing enables network operators to create multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure. In this research article, we have designed and implemented an intent-based network slicing system that can slice and manage the core network and radio access network (RAN) resources efficiently. It is an automated system, where users just need to provide higher-level network configurations in the form of intents/contracts for a network slice, and in return, our system deploys and configures the requested resources accordingly. Further, our system grants the automation of the network configurations process and reduces the manual effort. It has an intent-based networking (IBN) tool which can control, manage, and monitor the network slice resources properly. Moreover, a deep learning model, the generative adversarial neural network (GAN), has been used for the management of network resources. Several tests have been carried out with our system by creating three slices, which shows better performance in terms of bandwidth and latency.
A Full-Duplex LED-to-LED Visible Light Communication System
Authors: Jung Hyunwoo , Kim Sung-Man
Published: October 2020

We experimentally demonstrated full-duplex light-emitting diode (LED)-to-LED visible light communication (VLC) using LEDs as the transmitter and receiver. Firstly, we investigated the performance dependency on the wavelengths of the LED transmitter and receiver by measuring the rise time and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Through the investigation, we were able to choose the optimal LED color set for LED-to-LED VLC using Shannon’s channel capacity law. The bit error rate (BER) results of full-duplex and half-duplex LED-to-LED VLC systems with the optimal LED sets are shown to compare the performance. Furthermore, we discuss major distortions and signal losses in the full-duplex LED-to-LED VLC system.
Fault Tolerant Digital Data-Path Design via Control Feedback Loops
Authors: Boncalo Oana , Amaricai Alexandru , Lendek Zsófia
Published: October 2020

In this paper, we propose a novel fault tolerant methodology for digital pipelined data-paths called Control Feedback Loop Error Decimation (CFLED), that reduces the error magnitude at the outputs. The data-path is regarded from a control perspective as a process affected by perturbations or faults. Based on the corresponding dynamic model, we design feedback control loops with the goal of attenuating the effect of the faults on the output. The correction loops apply correction factors to selected data-path registers from blocks that have their execution rewinded. We apply the proposed methodology on the data-path of a controller designed for a 2-degree of freedom robot arm, and compare the cost and reliability to the generic triple modular redundancy. For Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology, the solution we propose uses 30% less slices with respect to Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR), while having a third less digital signal processing blocks. Simulation results show that our approach improves the reliability and error detection.
Systematic Review and Quantitative Comparison of Cyberattack Scenario Detection and Projection
Authors: Kovačević Ivan , Groš Stjepan , Slovenec Karlo
Published: October 2020

Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) automatically analyze event logs and network traffic in order to detect malicious activity and policy violations. Because IDSs have a large number of false positives and false negatives and the technical nature of their alerts requires a lot of manual analysis, the researchers proposed approaches that automate the analysis of alerts to detect large-scale attacks and predict the attacker’s next steps. Unfortunately, many such approaches use unique datasets and success metrics, making comparison difficult. This survey provides an overview of the state of the art in detecting and projecting cyberattack scenarios, with a focus on evaluation and the corresponding metrics. Representative papers are collected while using Google Scholar and Scopus searches. Mutually comparable success metrics are calculated and several comparison tables are provided. Our results show that commonly used metrics are saturated on popular datasets and cannot assess the practical usability of the approaches. In addition, approaches with knowledge bases require constant maintenance, while data mining and ML approaches depend on the quality of available datasets, which, at the time of writing, are not representative enough to provide general knowledge regarding attack scenarios, so more emphasis needs to be placed on researching the behavior of attackers.
Experimental Investigation and Mechanism Analysis on Rock Damage by High Voltage Spark Discharge in Water: Effect of Electrical Conductivity
Authors: Cai Zhixiang , Zhang Hui , Liu Kerou , Chen Yufei , Yu Qing
Published: October 2020

High voltage spark discharge (HVSD) could generate strong pressure waves that can be combined with a rotary drill bit to improve the penetration rate in unconventional oil and gas drilling. However, there has been little investigation of the effect of electrical conductivity on rock damage and the fragmentation mechanism caused by HVSD. Therefore, we conducted experiments to destroy cement mortar, a rock-like material, in water with five conductivity levels, from 0.5 mS/cm to 20 mS/cm. We measured the discharge parameters, such as breakdown voltage, breakdown delay time, and electrical energy loss, and investigated the damage mechanism from stress waves propagation using X-ray computed tomography. Our study then analyzed the influence of conductivity on the surface damage of the sample by the pore size distribution and the cumulative pore area, as well as studied the dependence of internal damage on conductivity by through-transmission ultrasonic inspection technique. The results indicated that the increase in electrical conductivity decreased the breakdown voltage and breakdown delay time and increased the energy loss, which led to a reduction in the magnitude of the pressure wave and, ultimately, reduced the sample damage. It is worth mentioning that the relationship between the sample damage and electrical conductivity is non-linear, showing a two-stage pattern. The findings suggest that stress waves induced by the pressure waves play a significant role in sample damage where pores and two types of tensile cracks are the main failure features. Compressive stresses close horizontal cracks inside the sample and propagate vertical cracks, forming the tensile cracks-I. Tensile stresses generated at the sample–water interface due to the reflection of stress waves produce the tensile cracks-II. Our study is the first to investigate the relationship between rock damage and electrical conductivity, providing insights to guide the design of drilling tools based on HVSD.
Assessment of Greenhouse Gases and Pollutant Emissions in the Road Freight Transport Sector: A Case Study for São Paulo State, Brazil
Authors: Gerber Machado Pedro , Rodrigues Teixeira Ana Carolina , Mendes de Almeida Collaço Flavia , Hawkes Adam , Mouette Dominique
Published: October 2020

This study analyzes the road freight sector of São Paulo state to identify the best options to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and local pollutants, such as particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and hydrocarbons. Additionally, the investment cost of each vehicle is also analyzed. Results show that electric options, including hybrid, battery, and hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicles represent the best options to reduce pollutants and greenhouse gases emissions concomitantly, but considerable barriers for their deployment are still in place. With little long-term planning on the state level, electrification of the transport system, in combination with increased renewable electricity generation, would require considerable financial support to achieve the desired emissions reductions without increasing energy insecurity.
Model Predictive Control for Virtual Synchronous Generator with Improved Vector Selection and Reconstructed Current
Authors: Jin Nan , Pan Chao , Li Yanyan , Hu Shiyang , Fang Jie
Published: October 2020

Due to the large-scale renewable energy connected to the power grid by power electronic converters, the inertia and stability of the power grid is declining. In order to improve the inertia and support the grid recovery, the three-phase converter works as a virtual synchronous generator (VSG) to respond to the frequency and voltage changes of the power grid. This paper proposes a model predictive control for the virtual synchronous generator (MPC-VSG) strategy, which can automatically control the converter output power with the grid frequency and voltage changes. Further consideration of fault-tolerant ability and reliability, the method based on improved voltage vector selection, and reconstructed current is used for MPC-VSG to ensure continuous operation for three-phase converters that have current-sensor faults, and improve the reconstruction precision. The proposed method can respond to the frequency and voltage changes of the power grid and has fault-tolerant ability, which is easy to realize without pulse width modulation (PWM) and a proportional-integral (PI) controller. The effectiveness of the proposed control strategy is verified by experiment.
Explicit Multipole Formula for the Local Thermal Resistance in an Energy Pile—The Line-Source Approximation
Authors: Claesson Johan , Javed Saqib
Published: October 2020

This paper presents a closed-form quite handy formula for the local thermal resistance Rb between the temperature of the bulk heat-carrier fluid in the pipes, equally spaced on a concentric circle inside a circular energy pile, and the mean temperature at the periphery of the pile. The so-called multipole method is used to calculate the temperature field. An important improvement of the multipole method is presented, where Cauchy’s mean value theorem of analytical functions is used. The formula for thermal resistance Rb0 for the zero-order approximation (J = 0), where only line heat sources at the pipes are used, is presented. The errors using zeroth-order approximation (J = 0) are shown to be quite small by comparisons with eight-order approximation (J = 8) with its accuracy of more than eight digits. The relative error for the local thermal resistance Rb0 for the zero-order approximation (J = 0) lies below 5% for a wide range of input parameter values. These ranges are judged to cover most practical cases of application. The smallest local thermal resistance Rbmin is, with some exceptions, obtained when the pipes lie directly in contact with the pile periphery. A neat formula for this minimum is presented.
Simple Structure of Soft Switching for Boost Converter
Authors: Yau Yeu-Torng , Hwu Kuo-Ing , Shieh Jenn-Jong
Published: October 2020

A soft switching boost converter, with a small number of components and constant frequency control, is proposed herein by using the quasi-resonance method and the zero-voltage-transition method, realizing (1) the zero-voltage switching during the switch-on transient of the main switch, (2) the zero-current switching during the switch-off transient of the main switch, (3) the zero-current switching during the switch-on transient of the auxiliary switch, and (4) the zero-current switching during the switch-off transient of the auxiliary switch. Accordingly, the corresponding efficiency can be improved. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed structure are validated by the field programmable gate array (FPGA).
How Pro-Environmental Legal Regulations Affect the Design Process and Management of Multi-Family Residential Buildings in Poland
Authors: Raczyński Miłosz , Rutkowski Radosław
Published: October 2020

This article addresses issues related to the quality of design and subsequent management of multi-family residential buildings in the context of their energy supply. The framework of the analysis carried out here are pro-environmental legal regulations currently in force in Poland. This article describes the impact of these regulations on the design process and the role of the designer. The requirements have been defined and the constraints have been identified. A number of factors directly related to the nature and parameters of the designed buildings and their location have been taken into consideration. On the basis of this study, the impact of legal regulations both on the method of energy supply in the buildings and on their later use and management have been presented. Positive and negative aspects of the analyzed regulations have been indicated and directions for their evaluation and optimization have been proposed. The research was carried out using real buildings, both completed and in the design phase. This article is based on the authors’ extensive experience in designing multi-family residential buildings in Poland.
Higher Education Learning How to Protect the Environment
Authors: Friman Hen , Matsliah Netser , Sitbon Yafa , Banner Ifaa , Einav Yulia
Published: October 2020

“Israeli Hope in Academia” is a program, designed by the president of the state of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. The program is based on the perception that Israeli society is changing, from having a clear majority and several minorities to a society comprised of four principal sectors that are roughly similar in size: secular Jews, religious Jews, Haredi (ultra-orthodox) Jews and Arabs. The program acts to encourage a more diverse and culturally competent higher education system that promotes partnership. One of the means to achieve that goal is to create meaningful educational interactions between people from academia and the younger generation of these sectors. Over the past year, students from various faculties in the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) took part in a course called “Green Ambassadors”, which corresponds with the “Israeli Hope” program. This course was considered an action learning course, which is a course that combines academic learning and social involvement that has an impact on the community. In order to illustrate the environmental topics and to achieve high participation levels of the pupils, the students created a mobile laboratory containing experiments and demonstrations in which the pupils took an active part. Thus, the course managed to make a significant impact on the community and achieve the goals set by the “Israeli Hope” program. This paper presents the “Israeli Hope” program, HIT and the “Green Ambassadors” course, as well as the methodology used to achieve the course’s goals. Finally, this paper will discuss the success levels of the course.
Integration Design and Operation Strategy of Multi-Energy Hybrid System Including Renewable Energies, Batteries and Hydrogen
Authors: Zhang Yi , Sun Hexu , Guo Yingjun
Published: October 2020

In some areas, the problem of wind and solar power curtailment is prominent. Hydrogen energy has the advantage of high storage density and a long storage time. Multi-energy hybrid systems including renewable energies, batteries and hydrogen are designed to solve this problem. In order to reduce the power loss of the converter, an AC-DC hybrid bus is proposed. A multi-energy experiment platform is established including a wind turbine, photovoltaic panels, a battery, an electrolyzer, a hydrogen storage tank, a fuel cell and a load. The working characteristics of each subsystem are tested and analyzed. The multi-energy operation strategy is based on state monitoring and designed to enhance hydrogen utilization, energy efficiency and reliability of the system. The hydrogen production is guaranteed preferentially and the load is reliably supplied. The system states are monitored, such as the state of charge (SOC) and the hydrogen storage level. The rated and ramp powers of the battery and fuel cell and the pressure limit of the hydrogen storage tank are set as safety constraints. Eight different operation scenarios comprehensively evaluate the system’s performance, and via physical experiments the proposed operation strategy of the multi-energy system is verified as effective and stable.