bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Resolution and Contrast Enhancement for Lensless Digital Holographic Microscopy and Its Application in Biomedicine
Authors: Chen Duofang , Wang Lin , Luo Xixin , Xie Hui , Chen Xueli
Published: May 2022

An important imaging technique in biomedicine, the conventional optical microscopy relies on relatively complicated and bulky lens and alignment mechanics. Based on the Gabor holography, the lensless digital holographic microscopy has the advantages of light weight and low cost. It has developed rapidly and received attention in many fields. However, the finite pixel size at the sensor plane limits the spatial resolution. In this study, we first review the principle of lensless digital holography, then go over some methods to improve image contrast and discuss the methods to enhance the image resolution of the lensless holographic image. Moreover, the applications of lensless digital holographic microscopy in biomedicine are reviewed. Finally, we look forward to the future development and prospect of lensless digital holographic technology.
Optical Properties of Black Carbon Aerosols with Different Coating Models
Authors: Tang Yanxia , Huang Yong , Zhu Keyong
Published: May 2022

Research on the optical properties of black carbon (BC) aerosols is highly important for investigating global climate change. A general inhomogeneous particle superposition model is developed. Inhomogeneous particles with arbitrary shapes can be constructed by this model. BC aerosols with core-shell, spherical, ellipsoid, and irregular coating models are established to explore the impact of coating shape on their optical properties. The optical properties are studied employing the discrete dipole approximation method (DDA). The influences of the morphology of BC aerosols, the coating volume fractions, and the shape of coatings on the optical properties are analyzed. The irregular coating shape causes a higher forward scattering intensity and a lower extinction cross-section. The forward scattering intensity of the core-shell model is lower than other models. The effect of the coating shape on forward scattering intensity becomes smaller as coating volume and fractal dimension increase. Consequently, assuming irregular coating as spherical coating models considered in most studies leads to inaccuracy in the optical properties of BC aerosols. It is necessary to comprehensively consider the effects of aerosol morphology and coating volume for investigating the optical properties of black carbon aerosols.
Plant Volatiles and Herbivore Induced Plant Volatiles from Chili Pepper Act as Attractant of the Aphid Parasitoid Aphelinus varipes (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae)
Authors: Ali Muhammad Yasir , Naseem Tayyaba , Zhang Jinping , Pan Mingzhen , Zhang Feng , Liu Tong-Xian
Published: May 2022

Plants have evolved a number of different chemical defenses, covering nearly all classes of (secondary) metabolites, that represent a major barrier to herbivory: some are constitutive; others are induced after attacks from herbivores (HIPVs) and may elicit the attraction of predators and parasitoids. Here, we studied how the female solitary endoparasitoid Aphelinus varipes responds to plant and host aphid volatiles in a series of experiments on five commercially important vegetables that were either healthy or infested with the aphid Myzus persicae: chili pepper, eggplant, crown daisy, Chinese cabbage and cabbage. The results for the olfactory responses of A. varipes showed that the presence of M. persicae increased the attraction of the endoparasitoid to the infested plants. In a second experiment, volatiles from highly attractive and repellent plants were obtained via headspace collection to investigate volatiles from healthy and aphid-damaged plants. The results for the differences in volatile profiles in response to aphid infestation in chili pepper cultivar were dominated by the volatile blends, including α-pinene, decanal and phthalic acid, while in cabbage they were dominated by isophorone. Moreover, when HIPVs with different concentrations were compared, α-pinene at a dose rate of 100 ng/μL attracted more parasitoids, and the comparison was useful to understand the mechanisms of plant secondary volatiles during aphid infestation and to provide new resources to control this insect pest. Overall our study shows how HIPVs can bolster tritrophic interactions by enhancing the attractiveness of parasitoids.
The Medicinal Halophyte Frankenia laevis L. (Sea Heath) Has In Vitro Antioxidant Activity, α-Glucosidase Inhibition, and Cytotoxicity towards Hepatocarcinoma Cells
Authors: Rodrigues Maria João , Jekő József , Cziáky Zoltán , Pereira Catarina G. , Custódio Luísa
Published: May 2022

This work explored the medicinal halophyte Frankenia laevis L. (sea heath) as a potential source of bioactive natural products. In this sense, methanol and dichloromethane extracts were prepared from aerial organs containing flowers, leaves and stems, and were profiled for their chemical composition using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC-ESI-MS/MS). The extracts were evaluated for their in vitro antioxidant capacity using five complementary methods: enzyme inhibitory effects on enzymes related with neurodegeneration (acetyl (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE)), Type 2 diabetes (α-glucosidase and α-amylase), hyperpigmentation/food oxidation (tyrosinase), and cytotoxicity towards human hepatocarcinoma (HepG2) cells. Fifty-one molecules were identified in the extracts, including several derivatives of phenolic acids, lignans and flavonoids, monoterpenes, and hydroxylated derivatives of linoleic acid. The methanol extract was effective in DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging (EC50 = 0.25 and 0.65 mg/mL, respectively), copper chelation (EC50 = 0.78 mg/mL), and iron reduction (EC50 = 0.51 mg/mL) activities, whereas the dichloromethane extract had high iron chelating ability (EC50 = 0.76 mg/mL). Both extracts showed the capacity to inhibit α-glucosidase, especially the dichloromethane (EC50 = 0.52 mg/mL). This extract also exerted a significant selective cytotoxicity towards HepG2 cells (EC50 = 52.1 μg/mL, SI > 1.9). In conclusion, extracts from the aerial parts of sea heath were shown to be a promising source of natural products for pharmaceutical and/or food additive applications due to their high antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and cytotoxic properties.
A Systematic Review on Cannabinoids for Neuropathic Pain Administered by Routes Other than Oral or Inhalation
Authors: Quintero Jose-Manuel , Pulido German , Giraldo Luis-Fernando , Leon Marta-Ximena , Diaz Luis-Eduardo , Bustos Rosa-Helena
Published: May 2022

The use of cannabis and cannabinoid products for the treatment of neuropathic pain is a growing area of research. This type of pain has a high prevalence, limited response to available therapies and high social and economic costs. Systemic cannabinoid-based therapies have shown some unwanted side effects. Alternative routes of administration in the treatment of neuropathic pain may provide better acceptance for the treatment of multiple pathologies associated with neuropathic pain. To examine the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of cannabinoids (individualized formulations, phytocannabinoids, and synthetics) administered by routes other than oral or inhalation compared to placebo and/or conventional medications in the management of neuropathic pain. This systematic review of the literature reveals a lack of clinical research investigating cannabis by routes other than oral and inhalation as a potential treatment for neuropathic pain and highlights the need for further investigation with well-designed clinical trials. There is a significant lack of evidence indicating that cannabinoids administered by routes other than oral or inhaled may be an effective alternative, with better tolerance and safety in the treatment of neuropathic pain. Higher quality, long-term, randomized controlled trials are needed to examine whether cannabinoids administered by routes other than inhalation and oral routes may have a role in the treatment of neuropathic pain.
The Effect of a Green Smoothie on Microhardness, Profile Roughness and Color Change of Dental Restorative Materials
Authors: Veček Nikolina Nika , Par Matej , Sever Eva Klarić , Miletić Ivana , Krmek Silvana Jukić
Published: May 2022

Acidic drinks are known to exert negative effects on the surface properties of dental restorative materials. However, the effect of increasingly popular green smoothie drinks has not been addressed so far. The present study investigated the effect of cyclic immersions (5 min daily over 30 days) in a green smoothie drink on the surface properties of contemporary dental restorative materials, including resin composites, an alkasite, and a glass hybrid. Vickers microhardness, profile roughness, and perceptible color change in the CIE L* a* b* color space were evaluated as clinically relevant properties of the material surface. After 30-day green smoothie immersion, microhardness values either decreased by 8–28% (for resin composites) or increased by up to 91% (for glass hybrid). The increase in profile roughness (Ra parameter) of smoothie-immersed specimens was 7–26 times higher compared to the control group. The perceptible color change (ΔE*) in the smoothie group was 3–8 times higher compared to the control group. Overall, this study demonstrated that daily exposure of dental restorations made from resin composites, alkasites, and glass hybrid materials to a green smoothie drink can significantly accelerate material degradation, which is reflected as surface softening, as well as higher roughness and higher perceptible color change.
Dendrobium officinale Enzyme Changing the Structure and Behaviors of Chitosan/γ-poly(glutamic acid) Hydrogel for Potential Skin Care
Authors: Wang Mengmeng , Zhang Erwei , Yu Chenrui , Liu Dandan , Zhao Shiguang , Xu Maodong , Zhao Xiaofeng , Yue Wenjin , Nie Guangjun
Published: May 2022

Hydrogels have been widespreadly used in various fields. But weak toughness has limited their further applications. In this study, Dendrobium officinale enzyme (DOE) was explored to improve chitosan/γ-poly(glutamic acid) (CS/γ-PGA) hydrogel in the structure and properties. The results indicated that DOE with various sizes of ingredients can make multiple noncovalent crosslinks with the skeleton network of CS/γ-PGA, significantly changing the self-assembly of CS/γ-PGA/DOE hydrogel to form regular protuberance nanostructures, which exhibits stronger toughness and better behaviors for skin care. Particularly, 4% DOE enhanced the toughness of CS/γ-PGA/DOE hydrogel, increasing it by 116%. Meanwhile, water absorption, antioxygenation, antibacterial behavior and air permeability were increased by 39%, 97%, 27% and 52%.
Confounding Effect of Wetting, Compaction, and Fouling in an Ultra-Low-Pressure Membrane Filtration: A Review
Authors: Hung Tok Sheng , Bilad Muhammad Roil , Shamsuddin Norazanita , Suhaimi Hazwani , Ismail Noor Maizura , Jaafar Juhana , Ismail Ahmad Fauzi
Published: May 2022

Ultra-low-pressure membrane (ULPM) filtration has emerged as a promising decentralized water and wastewater treatment method. It has been proven effective in long-term filtration under stable flux without requiring physical or chemical cleaning, despite operating at considerably lower flux. The use of ultra-low pressure, often simply by hydrostatic force (often called gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration), makes it fall into the uncharted territory of common pressure-driven membrane filtration. The applied polymeric membrane is sensitive to compaction, wetting, and fouling. This paper reviews recent studies on membrane compaction, wetting, and fouling. The scope of this review includes studies on those phenomena in the ULPM and how they affect the overall performance of the system. The performance of GDM systems for water and wastewater treatment is also evaluated. Finally, perspectives on the future research direction of ULPM filtration are also detailed.
Bearing Properties of CFRP Composite Laminates Containing Spread-Tow Thin-Plies
Authors: Alshahrani Hassan , Sebaey Tamer A.
Published: May 2022

With the development of spread-tow, thin-ply technology, ultra-thin composite laminates could be produced. Composite bolted joints are commonly used on aircraft’s load-bearing structures and are considered the main cause of stress concentration. The aim of this research is to investigate the bolted joint behavior of composite laminates that combine thin-plies and conventional thick-plies in a predetermined stacking sequence. The impact of thin-ply placement within the stack on bearing strength, including the onset of damages, is examined. The work involves mechanical tests and fractographic activities to understand the damage mechanisms of the plies and their interactions, and its reflections on the bearing load capacity of the joint for double-lap bolted joints. The results showed an improvement in the bearing strength of up to 19% by inserting the thin-plies inside the laminate. The visual examination of the specimens showed a bearing damage mode for all the tested specimens. The computed tomography scans showed damage mechanisms that mostly occurred with the normal plies, rather than breaking the thin-plies. For the specimens of traditional plies, delaminations were noticed at most of the interfaces. For the one with a block of thin-plies in the middle, all the delaminations were forced to the surface layers with an extra large size. Forspecimens with distributed thin-plies, a higher number of smaller delaminations was recognized.
Hydrophobic Modification of Wood Using Tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane
Authors: Tang Mingwei , Fang Xueren , Li Bowen , Xu Meng , Wang Haiyan , Cai Shuang
Published: May 2022

Hydrophobic surfaces have aroused considerable attention because of their extensive potential applications. In this work, we developed a facile strategy for fabricating hydrophobic and anti-fouling surfaces on wood substrates. The modification was accomplished simply by immerging wood into the tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4H) modifier solution for 5 min. The D4H modified wood was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer. The result shows that the D4H modified wood had good hydrophobicity, and the water contact angle of wood in the radial and cross sections reached 140.1° and 152°. In addition, the obtained hydrophobic wood surface also showed anti-fouling properties, UV resistance and could withstand the tape peel test and finger wiping.
Development and Characterization of Natural-Fiber-Based Composite Panels
Authors: Nair Swaroop Narayanan , Dasari Aravind
Published: May 2022

The emphasis on sustainability in materials related to the construction and transportation sectors has renewed interest in the usage of natural fibers. In this manuscript, a different perspective is taken in adopting oil palm fibers (OPF) to develop composite panels and understand their acoustic, mechanical, and water susceptibility (including warm water analysis) properties to provide an insight into the potential of these panels for further exploration. The binder for these composite panels is a water-based acrylic resin, and for reinforcement purposes, fly ash and other metal oxides are used. It is shown that the presence of fibers positively influences the acoustic absorption coefficient in the critical mid-frequency range of 1000–3000 Hz. Even the noise reduction coefficient values highlighting the octave band are higher by more than 50% in the presence of fibers as compared to traditional refractory boards. Quasistatic indentation and drop-weight tests have also highlighted the excellent performance of the composite panels developed in this work. Though the water immersion tests on composite panels and subsequent analysis showed relatively minor changes in their performance, the immersion of the panels in caustic warm water for 56 days has resulted in their severe degradation with a loss of more than 65% in flexural strength.
Synthesis and Enzymatic Degradation of Sustainable Levoglucosenone-Derived Copolyesters with Renewable Citronellol Side Chains
Authors: Fadlallah Sami , Carboué Quentin , Mouterde Louis M. M. , Kayishaer Aihemaiti , Werghi Yasmine , Peru Aurélien A. M. , Lopez Michel , Allais Florent
Published: May 2022

Recently, a renewable five-membered lactone containing citronellol (HBO-citro) was synthesized from levoglucosenone (LGO). A one-pot two-step pathway was then developed to produce a mixture of 5- and 6-membered Lactol-citro molecules (5ML and 6ML, respectively) from HBO-citro. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) of a mixture of 5ML and 6ML at varying temperatures showed that the chemical shifts of the hydroxyls, as well as the 5ML:6ML ratio, are temperature-dependent. Indeed, a high temperature, such as 65 °C, led to an up-field shielding of the hydroxyl protons as well as a drop in the 5ML:6ML ratio. The monomers 5ML and 6ML were then engaged in polycondensation reactions involving diacyl chlorides. Renewable copolyesters with low glass transition temperatures (as low as −67 °C) and cross-linked citronellol chains were prepared. The polymers were then hydrolyzed using a commercial lipase from Thermomyces lanuginosus (Lipopan® 50 BG). A higher degradation rate was found for the polymers prepared using Lactol-citro molecules, compared to those obtained by the polycondensation reactions of diacyl chlorides with Triol-citro—a monomer recently obtained by the selective reduction of HBO-citro.
Hybrid ELM and MARS-Based Prediction Model for Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundation
Authors: Kumar Manish , Kumar Vinay , Biswas Rahul , Samui Pijush , Kaloop Mosbeh R. , Alzara Majed , Yosri Ahmed M.
Published: May 2022

The nature of soil varies horizontally as well as vertically, owing to the process of the formation of soil. Thus, ensuring the safe design of geotechnical structures has been a major challenge. In shallow foundations, conducting field tests is expensive and time-consuming and often conducted on significantly scaled-down models. Empirical models, too, have been found to be the least reliable in the literature. The study proposes AI-based techniques to predict the bearing capacity of a shallow foundation, simulated using the datasets obtained in experiments conducted in different laboratories in the literature. The results of the ELM-EO and ELM-PSO hybrid models are compared with that of the ELM and MARS models. The performance of the models is analyzed and compared with each other using various performance parameters. The models are graded to each other using rank analysis and the visual interpretations are provided using error matrices and REC curves. ELM-EO is concluded to be the best performing model (R2 and RMSE equal to 0.995 and 0.01, respectively, in the testing phase), closely followed by ELM-PSO, MARS, and ELM. The performance of MARS is better than ELM (R2 equals 0.97 and 0.5, respectively, in the testing phase); however, hybridization greatly enhances the performance of the ELM and the hybrid models perform better than MARS. The paper concludes that AI-based models are robust and hybridization of regression models with optimization techniques should be encouraged in further research. Sensitivity analysis suggests that all the input parameters have a significant influence on the output, with friction angle being the highest.
Time-Jerk optimal Trajectory Planning of Industrial Robots Based on a Hybrid WOA-GA Algorithm
Authors: Wang Fang , Wu Zhijun , Bao Tingting
Published: May 2022

An optimal and smooth trajectory for industrial robots has a positive impact on reducing the execution time in an operation and the vibration in their joints. In this paper, a methodology for the time-optimal and jerk-continuous trajectory planning of industrial robots is proposed. The entire trajectory is interpolated in the joint space utilizing fifth-order B-splines and then optimized by a hybrid whale optimization algorithm and genetic algorithm (WOA-GA). Two objective functions, including the integral of the squared jerk along the entire trajectory and the total execution time, are minimized to obtain the optimal entire trajectory. A fifth-order B-spline interpolation technique enables the achievement of a jerk-continuous trajectory, while respecting the kinematic limits of jerk, acceleration and velocity. WOA-GA is utilized to solve the time-jerk optimal trajectory planning problem with nonlinear constraints. The proposed hybrid optimization algorithm yielded good results and achieved the time-jerk optimal trajectory better under kinematic constraints compared to the genetic algorithm, whale optimization algorithm, improved whale optimization algorithm with particle swarm optimization and adaptive cuckoo search algorithm. The numerical results show the competent performances of the proposed methodology to generate trajectories with high smooth curves and short total execution time.
Interval-Valued Pythagorean Fuzzy Similarity Measure-Based Complex Proportional Assessment Method for Waste-to-Energy Technology Selection
Authors: Mishra Arunodaya Raj , Pamučar Dragan , Hezam Ibrahim M. , Chakrabortty Ripon K. , Rani Pratibha , Božanić Darko , Ćirović Goran
Published: May 2022

This study introduces an integrated decision-making methodology to choose the best “waste-to-energy (WTE)” technology for “municipal solid waste (MSW)” treatment under the “interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy sets (IPFSs)”. In this line, first, a new similarity measure is developed for IPFSs. To show the utility of the developed similarity measure, a comparison is presented with some extant similarity measures. Next, a weighting procedure based on the presented similarity measures is proposed to obtain the criteria weight. Second, an integrated approach called the “interval-valued Pythagorean fuzzy-complex proportional assessment (IPF-COPRAS)” is introduced using the similarity measure, linear programming model and the “complex proportional assessment (COPRAS)” method. Furthermore, a case study of WTE technologies selection for MSW treatment is taken to illustrate the applicability and usefulness of the presented IPF-COPRAS method. The comparative study is made to show the strength and stability of the presented methodology. Based on the results, the most important criteria are “greenhouse gas (GHG)” emissions (P3), microbial inactivation efficacy (P7), air emissions avoidance (P9) and public acceptance (P10) with the weight/significance degrees of 0.200, 0.100, 0.100 and 0.100, respectively. The evaluation results show that the most appropriate WTE technology for MSW treatment is plasma arc gasification (H4) with a maximum utility degree of 0.717 followed by anaerobic digestion (H7) with a utility degree of 0.656 over various considered criteria, which will assist with reducing the amount of waste and GHG emissions and also minimize and maintain the costs of landfills.
GC–MS-Based Metabolites Profiling, In Vitro Antioxidant, Anticancer, and Antimicrobial Properties of Different Solvent Extracts from the Botanical Parts of Micromeria fruticosa (Lamiaceae)
Authors: Al-Nuri Mohammad , Abu-Reidah Ibrahim M. , Alhajeh Anwar A. , Omar Ghadeer , Adwan Ghaleb , Warad Ismail
Published: May 2022

The present study assessed the metabolites and bioactivities of Micromeria fruticosa plant parts extracted with various solvents (ethanol, n-hexane, and water) through the steeping extraction method. Thereafter, the extracts were analyzed using GC-MS. Moreover, the extracts were tested for their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities. The quali-quantitative analysis of Micromeria fruticosa crude extracts revealed the occurrence of 27 secondary metabolites. Some major bioactives identified were menthone, oleamide, pulegone, and menthol. Numerous antioxidant minerals, viz., Fe, Zn, and Mn, were present. The water extract of leaves exhibited the highest DPPH scavenging activity (89.73%), followed by the water extract of flowers (80.07%) at 100 μg/mL. The stems’ water extract demonstrated greater antimicrobial activity against all the bacteria species tested. The ethanolic leaf and aqueous stem extracts exhibited strong activity against C. albicans and E. coli. Flowers’ aqueous extract demonstrated the highest cytostatic effect on the colon cell line by reducing viability, followed by the leaves’ ethanol extract. The extraction solvents influenced the recovery of phytocompounds, and the highest pharmacological activities of the different extracts could be correlated to the presence of additional bioactives. Our results suggest that the Micromeria fruticosa plant is a favorable source of natural products with promising properties for potential nutraceutical and functional food applications.
Hydrogen Storage Behavior and Performance of Multiple Cold-Rolled MgH2/Nb2O5 Nanocomposite Powders
Authors: El-Eskandarany M. Sherif , Ali Naser , Al-Ajmi Fahad , Banyan Mohammad , Al-Duweesh Ahmed A.
Published: May 2022

The global interest in MgH2 is due to the natural availability of Mg and its capacity to retain hydrogen at a concentration of up to 7.60 wt.%. Despite its appealing characteristics and ease of production on an industrial scale at ambient temperature using the reactive ball milling (RBM) technique, MgH2 is a highly stable chemical with sluggish hydrogenation and dehydrogenation rates below 300 °C. Among the different methods used to improve the hydrogenation/dehydrogenation kinetic behavior of MgH2, mechanical treatment and/or catalysis are regarded to be the most effective methods. The purpose of this research was to explore the effectiveness of several cold rolling (CR) stages on the hydrogenation properties of recycled magnesium rods, as well as the effect of the resulting RBM on the final product. For this process, the as-received waste Mg-rods were firstly cold-rolled 200 times and then remilled under H2 atmosphere for 100 h. The as-RBM powders were then cold-rolled for 100 passes and then ball-milled with 10 and 15 wt.% Nb2O5 powders for 50 h. The results showed that when the materials were subjected to different types of defects (dislocations, stacking faults, and twining) generated by CR and RBM, their gas absorption/desorption kinetics were improved. This was indexed by their ability to achieve a long cycle lifetime at lower temperatures when compared with the as-received materials. The powders were further improved in terms of kinetics and decomposition temperature upon RBM with Nb2O5 for 50 h. The nanocomposite MgH2/10 wt.% and 15 wt.% Nb2O5 exhibit good hydrogen storage capabilities at a comparatively low temperature (225 °C) with a long cycle life that extended from 110 h to 170 h, without serious degradation in storage capacity and kinetics.
An Effective Temperature Control Method for Dividing-Wall Distillation Columns
Authors: Yuan Yang , Tao Xinyi , Huang Kejin , Chen Haisheng , Qian Xing
Published: May 2022

Temperature control is widely perceived to be superior to direct composition control for the control of dividing-wall distillation columns (DWDCs) due to its advantages in dynamic characteristics. However, because of the limited estimation accuracy to the controlled product purities, the former cannot eliminate the steady-state errors in the maintained product purities as completely as the latter. In order to reduce the steady-state deviations in the maintained product purities, an effective temperature control method is proposed in the current article by means of a kind of simple but effective product quality estimator (PQE). For the proposed PQE, temperatures of three stages located in the controlled column section (TI1, TI2, and TI3) are employed as inputs, and a linear sum of these three inputted stage temperatures (α × TI1 + β × TI2 + γ × TI3) is given as output. A genetic algorithm with an elitist preservation strategy is used to optimize the locations of the three stage temperatures and the values of α, β, and γ to ensure the estimation accuracy of the PQE. Concerning the controls of two DWDCs, i.e., one Petlyuk DWDC separating an ethanol/propanol/butanol ternary mixture and one Kaibel DWDC separating a methanol/ethanol/propanol/butanol quaternary mixture, the effectiveness of the PQE is assessed through comparing the performance of the temperature inferential control scheme using the PQE and the double temperature difference control scheme. According to the dynamic simulation results obtained, the former control scheme displays not only smaller steady-state deviations in the maintained product purities, but also better dynamic characteristics as compared with the latter control scheme. This result fully demonstrates that the proposed PQE can be a useful tool for the temperature inferential control of the DWDC.
Unveiling the Evolution of Madeira Wine Key Metabolites: A Three-Year Follow-Up Study
Authors: Pereira Vanda , Leça João M. , Freitas Ana I. , Pereira Ana C. , Pontes Marisela , Albuquerque Francisco , Marques José C.
Published: May 2022

Madeira wine (MW) encompasses an unusual oxidative ageing process that makes it distinctive. Several metabolites have been related to its quality and safety, such as 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), furfural, sotolon, and ethyl carbamate (EC). These compounds were quantified over a three-year period to assess their formation rate according to the ageing procedure used: canteiro vs. estufagem. Estufagem, which includes thermal processing of young MWs, promoted greater HMF, furfural, and sotolon accumulation, especially in sweet wines, in which sotolon contributed significantly to aroma (odour active values up to 17.5). Tinta Negra revealed a higher predisposition to form EC while Malvasia and Sercial were less prone to its formation. The formation of furfural, HMF, and EC strongly correlated with the ageing time. Sotolon had a strong correlation with the ageing time in canteiro (r = 0.79) and a moderate correlation in estufagem (r = 0.65). In both ageing procedures, sotolon, furfural, and HMF formation trends strongly correlated with each other (r = 0.74–0.90). In turn, EC also correlated with all furans (r = 0.51–0.85). Yellow tones (b*) correlated with these metabolites only when wines undergo estufagem. This study provides valuable insights to improve MW quality and safety management procedures.
From a Neglected to a Crowded Field—The Academic Study of Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Kane Ousmane Oumar
Published: May 2022

An estimated five hundred million Muslims—close to a third of the global Muslim population and half of the African population—live on the African continent [...]
“Not as the Gentiles”: Sexual Issues at the Interface between Judaism and Its Greco-Roman World
Authors: Loader William
Published: May 2022

Sexual issues played a significant role in Judaism’s engagement with its Greco-Roman world. This paper will examine that engagement from the Hellenistic Greco-Roman era to the end of the first century CE. In part, sexual issues were a key element of the demarcation between Jews and the wider community, alongside such matters as circumcision, food laws, the sabbath keeping, and idolatry. Jewish writers, such as Philo of Alexandria, made much of the alleged sexual profligacy of their Gentile contemporaries, not least in association with wild drunken parties, same-sex relations, and pederasty. Jews, including the emerging Christian movement, claimed the moral high ground. In part, however, matters of sexuality were also areas where intercultural influence was evident, such as in the shift in the Jewish tradition from polygyny to monogyny, but also in the way Jewish and Christian writers adapted the suspicion, and sometimes rejection, of the passions that were characteristic of some of the popular philosophies of their day, seeing each other as allies in their moral crusade.
Corporate Social Responsibility as an Alternative Approach to Financial Risk Management: Advantages for Sustainable Development
Authors: Yankovskaya Veronika V. , Mustafin Timur A. , Endovitsky Dmitry A. , Krivosheev Artem V.
Published: May 2022

Using the example of the COVID-19 global crisis (2020), we prove the low effectiveness of the existing approach to managing the financial risks of investments based on commercial investments. For this, we performed an applied quantitative study based on the statistics from the World Bank for 2020 and the Forbes Global 2000 ranking in 2021, using as an example 17 developing countries with lower-middle and upper-middle incomes from different regions of the world. As an alternative, we suggest a new approach for managing the financial risks of investments, which is based on corporate social responsibility. It implies the placement of long-term, large-scale investments in social and ecological innovations based on the mechanism of public-private partnership. We substantiated the high effectiveness and advantages of the new approach. The new approach to financial risk management amid a crisis was more effective (in comparison with the existing approach) for businesses (ensures higher return on investments, allows avoiding losses), the government (contributes more to economic growth, the probability of which achievement is higher), and for society (supports SDGs to a larger extent and contributes to sustainable development). This paper contributes to the development of the Theory of Investments (Neo-Keynesianism) and fills a gap in the literature, bridging the gap between the Theory of Investments and the Theory of Sustainable Development—outlining the perspectives of the simultaneous overcoming of economic crises and supporting sustainable development during the management of financial investment risks based on corporate social responsibility.
A Joint Denoising Learning Model for Weight Update Space–Time Diversity Method
Authors: Zhang Yu , Zhang Dan , Han Zhen , Jiang Peng
Published: May 2022

Space–time diversity (STD) has been widely applied in underwater acoustic (UWA) communication due to its exceptional anti-multipath performance. However, underwater noise can seriously affect the processing results of STD. The conventional filtering algorithms cannot deal with the nonlinear components of underwater noise and may not work well for complex-type signals. This study proposes an improved STD method with a joint noise-reduction learning model for the above issues. We construct a noise-reduction learning model dedicated to complex-type UWA signals in the first stage. Complex-type features based on UWA data are extracted for pre-processing data, and a conditional generative adversarial network (CGAN) is used as the backbone network for noise-reduction. Residual learning is used to accomplish noise cancellation and yield noise-reduction estimates. In the second stage, an STD structure based on a weight update strategy is constructed. The STD structure can further constrain the weights of the signals from the main path, enhance the reception of the main path, and suppress the multi-access interference (MAI) caused by the spread spectrum communication. Finally, combining the signals on each path can improve the communication quality of the system based on the principle of the maximum signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The simulation and experiments on a lake showed that the proposed method is more robust over the changing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and has a lower bit error rate (BER) than conventional methods.
Impact of the Dates of Input Image Pairs on Spatio-Temporal Fusion for Time Series with Different Temporal Variation Patterns
Authors: Shen Aojie , Bo Yanchen , Zhao Wenzhi , Zhang Yusha
Published: May 2022

Dense time series of remote sensing images with high spatio-temporal resolution are critical for monitoring land surface dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes. Spatio-temporal fusion is an effective solution to obtaining such time series images. Many spatio-temporal fusion methods have been developed for producing high spatial resolution images at frequent intervals by blending fine spatial images and coarse spatial resolution images. Previous studies have revealed that the accuracy of fused images depends not only on the fusion algorithm, but also on the input image pairs being used. However, the impact of input images dates on the fusion accuracy for time series with different temporal variation patterns remains unknown. In this paper, the impact of input image pairs on the fusion accuracy for monotonic linear change (MLC), monotonic non-linear change (MNLC), and non-monotonic change (NMC) time periods were evaluated, respectively, and the optimal selection strategies of input image dates for different situations were proposed. The 16-day composited NDVI time series (i.e., Collection 6 MODIS NDVI product) were used to present the temporal variation patterns of land surfaces in the study areas. To obtain sufficient observation dates to evaluate the impact of input image pairs on the spatio-temporal fusion accuracy, we utilized the Harmonized Landsat-8 Sentinel-2 (HLS) data. The ESTARFM was selected as the spatio-temporal fusion method for this study. The results show that the impact of input image date on the accuracy of spatio-temporal fusion varies with the temporal variation patterns of the time periods being fused. For the MLC period, the fusion accuracy at the prediction date (PD) is linearly correlated to the time interval between the change date (CD) of the input image and the PD, but the impact of the input image date on the fusion accuracy at the PD is not very significant. For the MNLC period, the fusion accuracy at the PD is non-linearly correlated to the time interval between the CD and the PD, the impact of the time interval between the CD and the PD on the fusion accuracy is more significant for the MNLC than for the MLC periods. Given the similar change of time intervals between the CD and the PD, the increments of R2 of fusion result for the MNLC is over ten times larger than those for the MLC. For the NMC period, a shorter time interval between the CD and the PD does not lead to higher fusion accuracies. On the contrary, it may lower the fusion accuracy. This study suggests that temporal variation patterns of the data must be taken into account when selecting optimal dates of input images in the fusion model.
Analysis of the Variability and Influencing Factors of Ice Thickness during the Ablation Period in Qinghai Lake Using the GPR Ice Monitoring System
Authors: Wei Qixin , Yao Xiaojun , Zhang Hongfang , Duan Hongyu , Jin Huian , Chen Jie , Cao Juan
Published: May 2022

As a reliable indicator of regional climate change, the growth and decline of lake ice thickness affect the regional intra–annual heat and energy balance. In this study, a ground-penetrating radar (GPR) ice monitoring system, located approximately 1.7 km west of Bird Island in Qinghai Lake, in the territory of Qinghai Province and located in northwest China, was designed to carry out continuous fixed–point observations of local ice thickness and meteorological elements from 7 to 24 March 2021. The characteristics of continuous daily changes in ice thickness during the ablation period of Qinghai Lake and their relationship with meteorological elements were analyzed. The results showed that the average daily ice thickness of Qinghai Lake increased and then decreased during the observation period, with an average ice thickness of 42.83 cm, an average daily ice thickness range of 39.35~46.15 cm, and a growth rate of 0.54 cm/day during 8–13 March 2021, with an ice melting rate of −0.61 cm/day during 14–24 March 2021. The daily ice thickness variations were divided into two phases, which were relatively stable before dawn and followed a decreasing, increasing, and then decreasing trend during 8–13 March 2021 and a decreasing, increasing (for several hours), and then decreasing trend during 14–24 March 2021. There was a significant positive correlation (R = 0.745, p < 0.01) between near-surface air temperature and ice surface temperature during the observation period, but a significant negative correlation (R = −0.93, p < 0.05) between the average daily ice thickness and cumulative temperature of the ice surface. Temperature was the dominant factor affecting lake ice thickness, as compared to near-surface air humidity, wind speed, and illuminance. However, a sudden increase in wind speed have also played an important role at certain periods. A large number of cracks appeared on the ice surface on 26 March 2021, which, combined with the forces of wind speed, wind direction, and temperature, contributed to the rapid melt of the lake ice. This study filled the gap in situ measurement data on the continuous ice thickness variability during the ablation period in Qinghai Lake. It provided scientific support for the further study of lake ice on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau (QTP).
Developing an Active Canopy Sensor-Based Integrated Precision Rice Management System for Improving Grain Yield and Quality, Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and Lodging Resistance
Authors: Lu Junjun , Wang Hongye , Miao Yuxin , Zhao Liqin , Zhao Guangming , Cao Qiang , Kusnierek Krzysztof
Published: May 2022

Active crop sensor-based precision nitrogen (N) management can significantly improve N use efficiency but generally does not increase crop yield. The objective of this research was to develop and evaluate an active canopy sensor-based precision rice management system in terms of grain yield and quality, N use efficiency, and lodging resistance as compared with farmer practice, regional optimum rice management system recommended by the extension service, and a chlorophyll meter-based precision rice management system. Two field experiments were conducted from 2011 to 2013 at Jiansanjiang Experiment Station of China Agricultural University in Heilongjiang, China, involving four rice management systems and two varieties (Kongyu 131 and Longjing 21). The results indicated that the canopy sensor-based precision rice management system significantly increased rice grain yield (by 9.4–13.5%) over the farmer practice while improving N use efficiency, grain quality, and lodging resistance. Compared with the already optimized regional optimum rice management system, in the cool weather year of 2011, the developed system decreased the N rate applied in Kongyu 131 by 12% and improved N use efficiency without inducing yield loss. In the warm weather year of 2013, the canopy sensor-based management system recommended an 8% higher N rate to be applied in Longjing 21 than the regional optimum rice management, which improved rice panicle number per unit area and eventually led to increased grain yield by over 10% and improved N use efficiency. More studies are needed to further test the developed active canopy sensor-based precision rice management system under more diverse on-farm conditions and further improve it using unmanned aerial vehicle or satellite remote sensing technologies for large-scale applications.
Assessment of Invasive and Weed Species by Hyperspectral Imagery in Agrocenoses Ecosystem
Authors: Dmitriev Pavel A. , Kozlovsky Boris L. , Kupriushkin Denis P. , Dmitrieva Anastasia A. , Rajput Vishnu D. , Chokheli Vasily A. , Tarik Ekaterina P. , Kapralova Olga A. , Tokhtar Valeriy K. , Minkina Tatiana M. , Varduni Tatiana V.
Published: May 2022

The present study aimed to investigate the possibility of using hyperspectral imaging data to identify the invasive and weed species in agrocenoses ecosystem. The most common weeds in grain agrocenoses, i.e., Ambrosia artemisiifolia L., Euphorbia seguieriana Neck., Atriplex tatarica L., Glycyrrhiza glabra L., Setaria pumila (Poir.) Roem. and Schult, served as objects. The population of weeds, especially Ambrosia artemisiifolia is invasive for the selected region of study. Therefore, the shooting of objects was carried out with a hyperspectral camera, Cubert UHD185, and the values of 100 spectral channels were obtained from hyperspectral images. The values of 80 vegetation indices (VIs) were calculated. The material was processed using mathematical statistics (analysis of variance, t-test) and search methods of data analysis (principal component analysis, decision tree, and random forest). Using statistical methods, the simultaneous use of several VIs differentiated between species more deliberately and precisely. The combination of VIs Derivative index (D1), Chlorophyll content index (Datt3), and Pigment specific normalized difference (PSND) can be used for weeds identification. Using the decision tree method, VIs established a good division of weeds into groups; (1) perennial rhizomatous weeds (Euphorbia seguieriana, and Glycyrrhiza glabra), and (2) annual weeds (A. artemisiifolia, A. tatarica, and S. pumila); These Vis are Chlorophyll index (CI), D1, and Datt3. Using the random forest method, the VIs that have the greatest impact on Mean Decrease Accuracy and Mean Decrease Gini are D1, Datt3, PSND, and Double Peak Index (DPI). The use of spectral channel values for the identification of plant species using the principal component analysis, decision tree, and random forest methods showed worse results than when using VIs. A great similarity of the results was obtained with the help of statistical and search methods of data analysis.
Performance Study of Landslide Detection Using Multi-Temporal SAR Images
Authors: Lin Yunung Nina , Chen Yi-Ching , Kuo Yu-Ting , Chao Wei-An
Published: May 2022

This study addresses one of the most commonly-asked questions in synthetic aperture radar (SAR)-based landslide detection: How the choice of datatypes affects the detection performance. In two examples, the 2018 Hokkaido landslides in Japan and the 2017 Putanpunas landslide in Taiwan, we utilize the Growing Split-Based Approach to obtain Bayesian probability maps for such a performance evaluation. Our result shows that the high-resolution, full-polarimetric data offers superior detection capability for landslides in forest areas, followed by single-polarimetric datasets of high spatial resolutions at various radar wavelengths. The medium-resolution single-polarimetric data have comparable performance if the landslide occupies a large area and occurs on bare surfaces, but the detection capability decays significantly for small landslides in forest areas. Our result also indicates that large local incidence angles may not necessarily hinder landslide detection, while areas of small local incidence angles may coincide with layover zones, making the data unusable for detection. The best area under curve value among all datatypes is 0.77, suggesting that the performance of SAR-based landslide detection is limited. The limitation may result from radar wave’s sensitivity to multiple physical factors, including changes in land cover types, local topography, surface roughness and soil moistures.
Research on Automatic Identification Method of Terraces on the Loess Plateau Based on Deep Transfer Learning
Authors: Yu Mingge , Rui Xiaoping , Xie Weiyi , Xu Xijie , Wei Wei
Published: May 2022

Rapid, accurate extraction of terraces from high-resolution images is of great significance for promoting the application of remote-sensing information in soil and water conservation planning and monitoring. To solve the problem of how deep learning requires a large number of labeled samples to achieve good accuracy, this article proposes an automatic identification method for terraces that can obtain high precision through small sample datasets. Firstly, a terrace identification source model adapted to multiple data sources is trained based on the WorldView-1 dataset. The model can be migrated to other types of images for terracing extraction as a pre-trained model. Secondly, to solve the small sample problem, a deep transfer learning method for accurate pixel-level extraction of high-resolution remote-sensing image terraces is proposed. Finally, to solve the problem of insufficient boundary information and splicing traces during prediction, a strategy of ignoring edges is proposed, and a prediction model is constructed to further improve the accuracy of terrace identification. In this paper, three regions outside the sample area are randomly selected, and the OA, F1 score, and MIoU averages reach 93.12%, 91.40%, and 89.90%, respectively. The experimental results show that this method, based on deep transfer learning, can accurately extract terraced field surfaces and segment terraced field boundaries.