bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Glauber Model And Flow Analysis with Pb-Pb Collisions at

SNN=2.76 TeV
Authors: Hu Ceran , He Wentao , Lyu Chengze , Yang Kangjie , Yao Lily , Zhao Ruichong
Published: July 2022

This work presents data analysis on Pb-Pb collisions with

S

N
N

=
2.76
 
TeV

in centrality 40%-50%. Introduction and Monte-Carlo simulation results on the Glauber model are presented, which shed light on the initial geometric configuration of heavy ion collisions. Three-dimensional correlation function is plotted, and Fourier decomposition is carried out in order to obtain elliptic flow. Based on the assumption that non-flow effect is less prominent in long-range area, we separate it from the second Fourier decomposition of two-particle correlation function by making polynomial curve fitting.
Moderate Radio Flux Density of Single and Group III Bursts from AR2887 Active Region on 26th October 2021
Authors: Hamidi Z S , Chen Chen L. , Nurlisman Z. K.D.
Published: July 2022

The radio flux density is one of the most important parameters for predicting solar activity, such as solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections. Compared to other burst types, solar burst type III (SRBT III) occurs most frequently due to solar flare phenomena. In the meter and decimetre wavelength range, gyro synchrotrons dominate, as do localized disturbances in the plasma frequencies caused by SRBT III. In this paper, we examine the most recent solar event that took place on 26th October 2021 in this gradual phase of the 25th solar cycle and can be detected from our site. In order to compare our results to other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, we also used the data from the Solar Monitor and Space Weather Live website, where the data from NOAA and SDO/AIA were made publicly available. A wavelength of 10.7 cm corresponds to 101 solar flux units. Approximately 4.7 nT of interplanetary magnetic field exists and 1.7 nT in the northward direction. In the past 6 hours and 24 hours, flares of class C2 and M1 have been detected due to active region AR2887 generated by a 'beta-gamma' magnetic field.
Effects of CME-induced Geomagnetic Storm on Geomagnetic Induced Current at High and Middle Latitudes
Authors: Mohamad Ansor N , Hamidi Z S
Published: July 2022

Geomagnetic storm has been one of greatest events in space weather studies. Apart from the formation of aurora, geomagnetic induced current (GIC) is also induced during the storm when the storm intensity gets severe. Coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive eruption created by the Sun and is believed to be the driver of geomagnetic storm. This paper is aimed to examine the effects of CME-induced geomagnetic storm on geomagnetic induced current (GIC) at high and middle latitudes by studying four levels of storm: minor (Kp 5), moderate (Kp 6), strong (Kp 7) and severe (Kp 8). We applied qualitative analysis through descriptive approach to describe the relationship between the storm intensity and GIC activity. Since the exact value of GIC were inaccessible, we adopted horizontal component time derivative magnetic field (dH/dt) as the indicator for GIC activity. At the end of the study, we found that the GIC highly depends on the storm intensity, by which higher levels of storm triggers more actively induced current. Besides, high latitude ionosphere was showing strong reactions to the storm arrival compared to middle latitude ionosphere as the magnitudes of dH/dt recorded by Barrow station at high latitude fluctuated within wider and higher range.
A Survey of the Influence of Air Distribution on Indoor Environment and Building Energy Efficiency
Authors: Ma Longkai , Zeng Zhili
Published: July 2022

With society paying more and more attention to energy conservation, building energy conservation has become a problem that must be considered in the design phase. In addition, modern life makes people spend more time indoors every day. Reasonable indoor air distribution positively impacts a comfortable indoor thermal environment and reduces building energy consumption. This paper discusses the influence of air distribution on indoor thermal comfort and building energy saving. Reasonable air distribution in the air-conditioned room will create a comfortable indoor thermal environment, which is helpful for the physical and mental health of personnel and efficient work. Meanwhile, it can also effectively reduce the equipment's initial investment and operating energy consumption and realize building energy savings. The design of indoor air distribution cannot be a single, isolated project. A comprehensive analysis based on each station's environmental thermal comfort requirements in the work area must be carried out to reduce air-conditioning operation energy consumption and achieve building energy-saving goals. For existing buildings and large space buildings, the corresponding air distribution design scheme should be designed reasonably. This paper also suggests future research directions on indoor air distribution.
A New Risk-based Excavation Inspection Decision-making for Long-distance Pipelines
Authors: Lu Duhui , Cong Guangpei , Li Bing
Published: July 2022

With the number of long-distance pipelines increasing in China,the excavation inspection and maintenance is the most important means to avoid the leakage of pipeline. However, the current excavation and maintenance decision-making models are absent to make satisfying results based on the comprehensive data of pipeline. To address this problem, a new quantitative risk-based model is proposed to guide decision-making on excavation inspection and maintenance. Based on previous failure cases, the model includes data about the surrounding soils as well as about the pipeline’s protective layer, cathodic protection and thickness readings. Case of the proposed model on previous failure cases shows that the new model can correctly predict a rational excavation inspection and maintenance span for a long-distance pipeline during its whole service life.
Development of Particle-fluid Drag Model for Individual Wheat Straw Particle
Authors: Yang Yang , Zhu Hongguang
Published: July 2022

To deal with the sedimentation of wheat straw particles in the process of conveying and mixing, the drag model of the non-spherical particle is to be developed. In this work the settling velocity of sheared and the defibered particles are acquired by image analysis. The simulating settling velocity of particle is acquired by ANSYS Fluent. As a result, the KG-based drag models with shape factors of Π, AR, BR, and Φ are obtained respectively by fitting the relation between drag coefficient and particle Reynold for 24 sheared particles. The settling velocity of 24 particles are acquired by simulation. In addition, the six drag models are used to simulate settling velocity of 134 defibered particles. At last, the means value of relative error of velocity between the shear and the defibered particles are acquired, they are 20%, 23%, 19%, 59%, respectively, corresponding to the shape factors of Π, AR, BR and Ψ. Considering the pValue of curve fitting, the drag model with shape factor Π is best for simulating the wheat straw particles in particle-liquid flow.
Modelling of a Stilling Basins with Sloping Apron in IBER to Improve Efficiency in High-slope Rivers
Authors: Zabaleta Y , Espejo O K , Fernández J M , Santos S
Published: July 2022

This research shows the influence of stilling basin slopes on energy loss in rivers with a high gradient. This study takes as a case San Pedro water intake (Ayacucho, Peru). The main objective is to improve efficiency of stilling basins in rivers with high slope. Five dissipation pools of different slopes were modelled: 0%, 1.52%, 3.04%, 4.56% and 6.08% to propose the optimum pool among these, for the San Pedro intake. Results were validated by means of a Sensitivity Analysis, trough comparison with the results of previous investigation and results of modelling San Pedro river with HEC-RAS and IBER. It was obtained that the steeper the slope of the stilling basin, the higher the specific energy loss, the higher the output rate, the longer the stilling basin. It can be concluded that the 3.04% slope stilling basin is the most appropriate for the 6.08% slope river since the slope variation is not abrupt as in the case of the horizontal one, that is, 30% more energy loss with respect to the horizontal pool and velocity and Froude results similar to the modelling of the San Pedro river.
Influence of the P-delta Effect and Stiffness Irregularity on the Structural Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Buildings
Authors: Zavala D J , Torres C J , Moreno J D
Published: July 2022

In this research, the influence of the stiffness irregularity and the p-delta effect on the structural behavior of a reinforced concrete building is analyzed. The main objective is to determine the impact of the stiffness irregularity and the p-delta effect on the structural behavior in regular and irregular buildings. First, the linear dynamic analysis procedure is performed in order to determine the structural response in terms of drifts, shear force and moments per floor. Subsequently, we proceed with the nonlinear static analysis procedure to obtain the capacity curve of the structure. The post elastic stiffness and the overall ductility of the structure are determined from the capacity curve. Finally, a comparative analysis of the responses from the linear and nonlinear analysis is carried out to determine the percentage variation of the results. When analyzing the structures that consider the stiffness irregularity and the p-delta effect, variations of up to 16.50%, 11.00% and 14.00% have been obtained in drifts, shear force and moments per floor respectively, which are considerable values. When the p-delta effect is considered in structures with the presence of stiffness irregularity, there is a variation in stiffness of up to 59.85%. With this result it is explained that the p-delta effect produces a greater degradation of the overall stiffness of the structure.
Development of the spectrum transmittance measurement system for large-size optical elements of Cherenkov telescope
Authors: Geng Lisi , Hor Y.K. , Min Zhen , Wang Yudong , Yang Mingjie , Yang Jiaying , Zhang Shoushan , Zhang Yong
Published: July 2022

The Cherenkov and fluorescence telescopes are used to detect cosmic rays in many large-scale experiments. Certain large-size optical elements, such as quartz glasses with window and filters, are installed in front of cameras as the window to seal the cameras and minimize the impact of the night sky background light. The transmittance of those optical elements in Cherenkov and fluorescence telescopes is therefore vital for the measurement of the number of photons reaching the camera. The uniformity is an important parameter of transmittance at different wavelength over the whole window surface. It is difficult to ensure the uniformity of the window material when it is produced, especially for the size as large as 1 m2. The measurement of the uniformity of the transmittance of filters at different positions on the window, and over a large optical spectrum, is not a trivial task and therefore a dedicated system has been developed. The large-size filter transmittance measurement system can measure the spectrum range from 250 nm to 900 nm. A two dimensional motorized device is used to carry the system and the accuracy of the system is up to 0.01 mm. In addition, the measuring system can measure the transmittance at an incident angle ranging from 0° to 44°. The relative standard deviation can be reduced to less than 1% by alternately measuring with and without samples. The transmittance spectra of the neodymium glass standard sheets and quartz glass JGS2, of size 876 mm × 862 mm × 4 mm have been measured with this system and compared. The result of neodymium glass indicates that the system can measure the transmittance spectrum precisely, up to 1% uncertainty. The results of the JGS2 quartz glass demonstrate that our system is capable of measuring the optical parameters of very large sample with a precision at the level of 1% over a wide spectrum range.
Drastic reduction of nutrient loading to a reservoir alters its resistance to impacts of extreme climatic events
Authors: Munthali Elias , de Senerpont Domis Lisette N , Marcé Rafael
Published: July 2022

By perturbing ecosystems, extreme climatic events (ECEs) can impair ecosystems’ resistance and resilience to other pressures, leading to cascading effects on the continued provision of their ecosystem services. In aquatic ecology, most of the studies linking impacts of perturbations on ecosystems are based on controlled experiments and modeling, rather than real-world data. Using a 55 year dataset of hydrometeorological and reservoir water quality variables from the Ter catchment in Spain, we fill this gap by applying non-linear dynamics and extreme value theory concepts to test whether trophic state modulates reservoir ecosystem’s response to ECEs. We show that both Granger causality between hydrometeorological and water quality variables and effects of ECEs on reservoir water quality diminish after drastic reduction in nutrient loading, supporting our hypothesis that the ecosystem’s trophic state modulates its resistance to ECEs. Thus, by safeguarding reservoirs from nutrient pollution, water resources managers can ameliorate impacts of ECEs on ecosystem health.
Not all subsidies are equal: measuring preferences for electric vehicle financial incentives
Authors: Roberson Laura , Helveston John Paul
Published: July 2022

Financial incentives, such as purchase subsidies, have been found to increase plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption, but how these incentives are designed can impact their effectiveness as well as how equitably they are distributed. Using a national conjoint survey (N = 2170 respondents), we quantify how U.S. vehicle buyers value different features of PEV financial incentives. Participants overwhelmingly prefer immediate rebates, on average valuing them by $580, $1450, and $2630 more than sales tax exemptions, tax credits, or tax deductions, respectively. These effects are significantly larger for lower-income households, used vehicle buyers, and buyers with lower budgets. We estimate that on average $2 billion could have been saved if the federal subsidy available between 2011 and 2019 were delivered as an immediate rebate instead of a tax credit, or $1440 per PEV sold. Our results suggest that structuring incentives as immediate rebates would deliver a greater value to customers and would be more equitably distributed compared to the current tax credit scheme.
Salinity impacts on irrigation water-scarcity in food bowl regions of the US and Australia
Authors: Thorslund Josefin , Bierkens Marc F P , Scaini Anna , Sutanudjaja Edwin H , van Vliet Michelle T H
Published: July 2022

Irrigation water use and crop production may be severely limited by both water shortages and increased salinity levels. However, impacts of crop-specific salinity limitations on irrigation water scarcity are largely unknown. We develop a salinity-inclusive water scarcity framework for the irrigation sector, accounting for crop-specific irrigation water demands and salinity tolerance levels and apply it to 29 sub-basins within two food bowl regions; the Central Valley (CV) (California) and the Murray–Darling basin (MDB) (Australia). Our results show that severe water scarcity (levels >0.4) occurs in 23% and 66% of all instances (from >17 000 monthly crop-specific estimates) for the CV and MDB, respectively. The highest water scarcity levels for both regions occurred during their summer seasons. Including salinity and crop-specific salinity tolerance levels further increased water scarcity levels, compared to estimations based on water quantity only, particularly at local sub-basin scales. We further investigate the potential of alleviating water scarcity through diluting surface water with lower saline groundwater resources, at instances where crop salinity tolerance levels are exceeded (conjunctive water use). Results from the CV highlights that conjunctive water use can reduce severe water scarcity levels by up to 67% (from 946 monthly instances where surface water salinity tolerance levels were exceeded). However, groundwater dilution requirements frequently exceed renewable groundwater rates, posing additional risks for groundwater depletion in several sub-basins. By capturing the dynamics of both crops, salinity and conjunctive water use, our framework can support local-regional agricultural and water management impacts, on water scarcity levels.
Detecting temporal correlations in hopping dynamics in Lennard–Jones liquids
Authors: Sposini Vittoria , Chechkin Aleksei V , Sokolov Igor M , Roldán-Vargas Sándalo
Published: July 2022

Lennard–Jones mixtures represent one of the popular systems for the study of glass-forming liquids. Spatio/temporal heterogeneity and rare (activated) events are at the heart of the slow dynamics typical of these systems. Such slow dynamics is characterised by the development of a plateau in the mean-squared displacement (MSD) at intermediate times, accompanied by a non-Gaussianity in the displacement distribution identified by exponential tails. As pointed out by some recent works, the non-Gaussianity persists at times beyond the MSD plateau, leading to a Brownian yet non-Gaussian regime and thus highlighting once again the relevance of rare events in such systems. Single-particle motion of glass-forming liquids is usually interpreted as an alternation of rattling within the local cage and cage-escape motion and therefore can be described as a sequence of waiting times and jumps. In this work, by using a simple yet robust algorithm, we extract jumps and waiting times from single-particle trajectories obtained via molecular dynamics simulations. We investigate the presence of correlations between waiting times and find negative correlations, which becomes more and more pronounced when lowering the temperature.
Optimal route to quantum chaos in the Bose–Hubbard model
Authors: Pausch Lukas , Buchleitner Andreas , Carnio Edoardo G , Rodríguez Alberto
Published: July 2022

The dependence of the chaotic phase of the Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian on particle number N, system size L and particle density is investigated in terms of spectral and eigenstate features. We analyse the development of the chaotic phase as the limit of infinite Hilbert space dimension is approached along different directions, and show that the fastest route to chaos is the path at fixed density n ≲ 1. The limit N → ∞ at constant L leads to a slower convergence of the chaotic phase towards the random matrix theory benchmarks. In this case, from the distribution of the eigenstate generalized fractal dimensions, the chaotic phase becomes more distinguishable from random matrix theory for larger N, in a similar way as along trajectories at fixed density.
The observed total suspended solids (TSS) yield a year after forest harvesting in hill dipterocarp forest of Peninsular Malaysia
Authors: Siti Aisah S , Mohd Azahari F , Mohamad Fakhri I , Shahzerul Hisam K , Hafizi M J , Mohd Syamin Aizat M Y
Published: July 2022

The management of forested catchment areas has become important as water originates from upper catchment is the main source of raw water supply for the downstream users. The purpose of this study is to determine the total suspended solids (TSS) in the river system that are affected by conventional forest harvesting practices in Peninsular Malaysia. The study sites were located at Jengai Forest Reserve in Dungun, Terengganu. The commercial forest logging was implemented in the Compartment 44 and compartment 60 as control catchment. Kerak and Angka River catchments are in compartment 44 while, Jera River catchment is in compartment 60. Forest harvesting operation started in November 2016 and ended in October 2017 with tree cutting activities from May 2017 to September 2017. Observation of rainfall from June 2017 to December 2018 and observation of TSS for a one-year period after logging completed from November 2017 to October 2018. As shown by the Kerak River catchment, the TSS started to increase from November 2017 to January 2018 with TSS 5.8 times higher, followed by 15.4 times higher from February to April 2018 and 10 times higher from May to October 2018 compared to undisturbed catchment. These findings are important for forest managers to understand the effects of forest canopy opening to river water quality and as a guideline in the management of forest production for timbers in this country.
Analysis of riparian vegetation of a recreation site in Jeli, Kelantan
Authors: Amaludin N A , Mohd Zulkafli N N , Ahmad Zu S A , Zamri N A Z , Ab Majid N A , Daliman S , Muhamad Nor A N , Zakaria R
Published: July 2022

Lata Keding is recognised as one of the recreational areas in Jeli, Kelantan. It has the function to protect the riparian plant habitats but it is potentially threatened by anthropogenic activities. This study was aimed to determine riparian plant species diversity and estimate species abundance of riparian plant vegetation at Lata Keding, Jeli, Kelantan. The line transect method was used to collect vegetation data. The line transect was established about one km long and each plant species that exist within 3 m up to 5 m from the river bank were recorded. A total of 2389 individuals belonging to 36 families and 49 species were recorded in the study area. Species diversity with Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index (H’) with a value of 2.89, while Hmax was 3.99 and Evenness Index (EH) value was 0.72 for the study area. The most dominant families recorded with a high diversity of plant species were Family Melastomataceae (5 species), Asteraceae (5 species) and Fabaceae (3 species). A total of 529 individuals of Clidemia hirta from Family Melastomataceae was recorded as the most dominant species. Thirty-six species are classified as Not Evaluated (NE), six species classified as Least Concern (LC), four species as Near Threatened (NT), two species Vulnerable (VU) and one species listed as Critically Endangered (CR).
The remaining black jewels ecosystem in southern Peninsular Malaysia: Floristic composition of peat swamp forest in Muar, Johor
Authors: Hyrul Izwan M H , Ismail P , Siti Aisah S , Tariq Mubarak H
Published: July 2022

The Ayer Hitam North Forest Reserve (AHNFR) is located in the Muar district of Johor, Malaysia. The total area of AHNFR is stated as 3,797 hectares (ha), and this forest is unique as it has both inland forest and peat swamp forest. Peat swamp forest established on organic soils while the inland forest grows on mineral soils. AHNFR best described as the last remaining ‘black jewel’ ecosystem in the state of Johor as other peat swamp forests has perished. Five transect lines were established within the peat swamp forest areas. Each transect line has five plots where each plot is 0.04 ha in size. All trees with more than 10 cm in diameter at breast height were enumerated to determine the community structure and diversity of trees. 447 individuals tree were enumerated and result indicated that a total of 31 families with 70 species were found in the area assessed. The total tree density for peat swamp forest in AHNFR was estimated at 447 tree ha-1. The top five species with highest density were Syzygium cerinum (33 tree ha-1), Syzygium inophyllum (31 tree ha-1), Palaquium hexandrum (29 tree ha-1), Stemonurus secundiflorus (24 tree ha-1) and Koompassia malaccensis (21 tree ha-1). Total tree basal area at peat swamp forest area of AHNFR was 24.48 m2ha-1. Species with highest basal area was K. malaccensis (3.46 m2ha-1) while the least was Lithocarpus curtisii (0.01 m2ha-1).
Assessing intraspecific wood density variations of Syzgium sp. in tropical forest of Southwest Sabah
Authors: Joseph J , James D , Chai L T , Korom A , Wong W V C , Maripa R D , Phua M H
Published: July 2022

Wood density (WD) is a critical determinant of estimating forest above-ground biomass (AGB) and carbon stock. Thus, heterogeneity in WD on individuals within species trees needs to be scrutinized, and acquisition of fixed WD value is essential to estimate carbon stock with confidence. This study investigated intraspecific variation in WD of Syzgium sp., also known as “Jambu” or “Kelat”. It is the most occurring species in study areas, and is regarded as an economically important species. Firstly, one half-diameter drilling from bark-to-pith measurement was taken per tree using Rinntech Resistograph R650-ED at breast height. Meanwhile, 5.15 mm-diameter core was sampled at 1.30 m above-ground, with DeWalt DCF899HP2 20V impact wrench 950 Nm and Haglöf increment borer. WD was estimated for each core sample using a dimensional method. Drilling resistance (DR) profiles were processed using DECOM 2.38m1 Scientific (c), and several independent variables were extracted from the resistogram. All resistogram-derived variables were positively correlated with field WD (R: 0.2 – 0.70). In addition, variability on WD in Syzgium sp. population is predominantly explained by the Resistograph amplitude, expressed as mean raw scale of adjusted DR (DR
adj.RawSC) in a regression model. Given that intraspecific variation in WD is a crucial conjecture in forest AGB estimation, it is recommended to analyze with larger samples, and in-depth exploration on Resistograph-based variables is deemed to improve the accuracy of WD prediction models.
Food security and Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) implementation at the Forest Management Unit (FMU) level: A case study in Salarom Taka, Nabawan, Sabah
Authors: Atin V , Ibrahim A L , Lintangah W J
Published: July 2022

The forest managed under Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) could contribute to food security, especially for vulnerable communities living in the forest’s vicinity. This study was conducted to determine the local community’s perception of the SFM implementation and food security in Salarom Taka, Nabawan. The interrelation between forest and community’s food security was assessed based on the availability and utilisation of various food resources from four accessible areas: natural forest reserve, forest plantation, alienated land, and resources purchased from the market. The food resources are mainly available and accessible through purchasing, followed by alienated land, forest reserve and forest plantation. Forest contributions are significant, with most communities utilising forest resources for direct food consumption and using fuelwood for food processing. The community depends on the forest to intensify their agricultural production to sustain their food security. The community are less aware of the SFM implementation in their area, but agree with better access to clean water sources, health and education facilities, and more employment opportunities. The roles of forests are strengthened through SFM policy which ensures the forest is managed sustainably, enhancing economic and environmental values that could benefit current and future generations.
A systematic review on linking community livelihood in social forestry with food security
Authors: Yahya H , Mohd Amir H , Lintangah W , Mohd Hamdan D D , Mohd Fadzwi F , Thomas G J
Published: July 2022

Food security issues, particularly forest resources, have gained increasing worldwide attention over the past few years. Although studies have discussed various food security contributions, few have addressed the connection between community livelihood with food security, particularly in social forestry areas. Thus, the study aims to address the gap from an overview of community livelihood and food security in various Asian countries. The study retrieved approximately 142 articles from different databases and filtered 71, highlighting 30 case studies related to social forestry and food security, published between 2010 and 2021 cross schemes in Asia. The key indicators of community livelihood and food security mainly stated access to forest area, consumption of forest resources and non-timber forest products. The findings could improve future planning and management of social forestry and enhance food security for rural development and community livelihood. Ultimately, the study proposed a framework of forest-food security linkages, specifically for social forestry areas.
An integrated framework for assessing land-use/land-cover of Kelantan, Malaysia: Supervised and unsupervised classifications
Authors: Yeo L B , Wan Mohamad W S N , Hasan R , Othmani N I , Abdul Hamid N H , Ramlee N , Yeo O T S
Published: July 2022

The change of land-use/land-cover (LULC) is inexorable to cater to the needs of the people, from a natural land use dominance to the built-up areas’ dominance. Many geospatial studies have examined the LULC, yet the data used were not up-to-date. Hence, this paper proposes an integrated framework to assess the LULC by using the latest complimentary data of Landsat 8 from Earth Explorer-USGS, and subsequently processed in Geographic Information System application (ArcGIS 10.8) by executing two classification techniques: i) interactive supervised classification (ISC) and ii) Iso cluster unsupervised classification (ICUC). The study area is Kelantan, a state located in Peninsular Malaysia. Three hundred sampling points were randomly generated within the boundary of Kelantan to compare the classified map of 2021 with ground data using Google Earth Pro 7.3 and Google Street View. Results show that the ISC method presents an overall accuracy of 87.7% (K= 0.79, p≤0.001) compared to the ICUC method, with an accuracy rate of 67.7% (K= 0.47, p≤0.001). ISC method with the proposed integrated framework can be viable techniques to assess LULC and can be used to study the change of LULC periodically. Thus, it helps stakeholders make better decisions in resource planning and distribution, especially in Kelantan, where the natural resources are rich.
Sustainability assessment of mangrove forest as a tourist destination: A case study using GSTC Criteria in Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia
Authors: Hamimah T , Nurul Huda N , Uni Kamlun K , Rosmalina A R , Jennifer C K L
Published: July 2022

The mangrove forest has been one of the natural areas that provides the local communities with economics opportunities especially those involving tourism activities. However, over time it could face destruction if there is no measure taken to monitor the impacts. The objective of this study is to identify mangrove forest conservation efforts in Nanamun River, Kota Belud, Sabah, Malaysia as sustainable ecotourism destination and to propose sustainable conservation guidelines based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Criteria and Indicator (GSTC) guidelines. A total of 14 in-depth interviews were conducted with stakeholders which involved the local government authorities, community representatives and local tour operators, as the primary data for this study. Purposive sampling were deployed specifically snowball sampling technique to identify key persons that could provide relevant information. The data collecting instrument were based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Council Criteria and Indicator (GSTC) guidelines for destination management which comprised 4 main sections (criterias): A) Demonstrate effective sustainable management; B) Maximize economic benefits to the host community and minimize negative impacts; C) Maximize benefits to communities, visitors, and culture; minimize negative impacts; and D) Maximize benefits to the environment and minimize negative impacts. This study found that there are some efforts to conserve mangrove forest in the study area. Among the 4 criteria, section A (sustainable management) and B (economic benefits) were found to have most of the indicators for sustainability checked. However, some of the conservation efforts might still need to be formalized. Recommendations were made in accordance with the gaps found based on the GSTC guidelines used.
Physical and mechanical properties of Tectona grandis wood after oil heat treatment process
Authors: Wahab R , Kamarulzaman R , Razali S M , Sulaiman M S , Mokhtar N , Edin T , Razak M H
Published: July 2022

A study was carried out to investigate the effect of an oil heat treatment process on the physical and mechanical properties of the 10 and 15-year-old cultivated Tectona grandis wood. All the wood specimens typically possess the sapwood having lighter colour than the dark colour heartwood, and turning these woods into products at this stage results in uneven colour due to the combination of sapwood and heartwood. The situation was to decrease the aesthetic value of the product. Therefore, the oil heat-treatment process enhanced and improved the physical and mechanical properties of the wood in the long run. In designing this study, factors such as the wood height, wood portion, temperatures applied, and treatment duration are considered. The sapwood and heartwood of wood underwent the hot oil treatment process using oil palm crude oil at 160°C, 200°C, and 240°C for 2 hours., respectively. The physical and mechanical properties of the treated wood were determined following the ASTM standards. The relationship between the physical and mechanical properties and treatment variables was determined using the correlation analysis. The results showed that temp. is one of the main variables affecting the properties of treated wood.
The dissipative dynamic performances of dielectric elastomer actuator with viscoelastic effects
Authors: Li Jin , Zhang Yao , Nguyen TuanDung , Sun Lijie , Tran DanhQuang
Published: July 2022

With large deformability and high energy density, Dielectric elastomers (DEs) deserve interest in soft robotics. Many challenges remain in the real-world applications, for the dynamic performance of dielectric elastomer actuator and their energy efficiency are affected by the dissipation mechanisms in the actuators. Concerning the viscoelasticity of DEs, we present a modeling approach to describe the dissipation mechanism to predict how the dissipative process affects the dynamic behavior. The validity and generalization of the model have been extensively verified under various excitation voltages (different peak voltages, frequencies, pre-stretching, and signal waveforms). For harmonic voltages at different frequencies (0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1 Hz), the root mean square error is less than 5.99%. The phase difference was adopted to quantify the viscoelastic hysteresis dissipative behavior of DEs. The results show that the viscoelastic hysteresis is sensitive to frequency and waveform. In addition, we found that the viscoelastic hysteresis of the DEs under harmonic excitation can be improved by inserting a small amount of saw-tooth excitation loads. This finding is particularly useful for the actuation of soft actuators and soft robots, which use alternating loads as the dominant excitation signal. For future applications, this model presents a method to describe the dissipative behaviors in dynamic actuation quantitatively and paves the way to high-performance actuation control and manipulations for soft robots.
High-resolution x-ray monochromatic imaging for laser plasma diagnostics based on toroidal crystal
Authors: SI 司 Haoxuan 昊轩 , DONG 董 Jiaqin 佳钦 , FANG 方 Zhiheng 智恒 , JIANG 蒋 Li 励 , YI 伊 Shengzhen 圣振 , WANG 王 Zhanshan 占山
Published: July 2022

Monochromatic x-ray imaging is an essential method for plasma diagnostics related to density information. Large-field high-resolution monochromatic imaging of a He-like iron (Fe XXV) K
α
characteristic line (6.701 keV) for laser plasma diagnostics was achieved using a developed toroidal crystal x-ray imager. A high-index crystal orientation Ge 〈531〉 wafer with a Bragg angle of 75.37° and the toroidal substrate were selected to obtain sufficient diffraction efficiency and compensate for astigmatism under oblique incidence. A precise offline assembly method of the toroidal crystal imager based on energy substitution was proposed, and a spatial resolution of 3–7 μm was obtained by toroidal crystal imaging of a 600 line-pairs/inch Au grid within an object field of view larger than 1.0 mm. The toroidal crystal x-ray imager has been successfully tested via side-on backlight imaging experiments of the sinusoidal modulation target and a 1000 line-pairs/inch Au grid with a linewidth of 5 μm using an online alignment method based on dual positioning balls to indicate the target and backlighter. This paper describes the optical design, adjustment method, and experimental results of a toroidal crystal system in a laboratory and laser facility.
The First Biological Portrait of Stalk-Eyed Fruit Flies: Life History, Reproductive Biology and Host Use Patterns in Pelmatops spp. (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Authors: Huangfu Ning , Wang Yong , Zeng Yu , Chua Tock H , Zhu Chaodong , Chen Xiaolin
Published: July 2022

The stalk-eyed fruit flies, with their eyes borne at the ends of long stalks, are distinctly different from all other members of the family Tephritidae (Diptera). They resemble stalk-eyed flies (Diptera, Diopsidae) but they are much larger and their antennae are located in the middle of the head instead of on the eye stalks. The stalk-eyed fruit flies are represented by two genera (Pelmatops Enderlein and Pseudopelmatops Shiraki) mainly found in the Oriental tropics and subtropics, but their basic biology remains poorly documented. Here, we describe the life history, reproductive biology, and host use patterns of Pelmatops spp. (mainly P. ichneumoneus (Westwood)). These flies used two local brambles, Rubus setchuenensis and R. multibracteatus (Rosales, Rosaceae), as hosts, with females laying eggs below the epidermal tissue. The larvae bore into the stem, where they feed, eventually dropping to the ground to pupate in the soil. We describe the pupal morphology and eclosion, including the elongation of their eye stalks, feeding, mating, and agonistic behavior in adults. We observed mating between female P. ichneumoneus and male P. tangliangi and tentatively suggest that the two species could be conspecific. Our work presents the first detailed report on the biology of stalk-eyed fruit flies and it lays a significant foundation for future studies on the ecology and evolution of this group.
The effects of Formoterol in preventing adipogenesis and obesity are mediated by PPARγ/C/EBPα axis and AMPK/PGC-1α pathway
Authors: Zhang Xiaoli , Che Liqun , Shan Jie , Wang Yanbing , Jia Yuanyuan , Wu Hongjing
Published: July 2022

Recent work suggests that Formoterol could be involved in the metabolic regulation of adipose tissue. It's unknown whether Formoterol possesses an effect against adipogenesis. Here, we found that Formoterol prevented adipocyte differentiation by reducing lipid accumulation, evidenced by reduced Oil Red O staining, declined intracellular triglyceride level, and downregulation of adipogenic factors (PPAR-γ, C/EBPα, and Glut4) in differentiation medium (MDI) stimulated 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. The administration of Formoterol ameliorated obesity in high fat diet (HFD) fed mice, which was evidenced by decreased body weight and ratio of fat/body weight, reduced adipocyte size, and decreased visceral adipocyte tissue weight. Furthermore, the expression level of adipogenic factors in white adipocyte tissues of HFD-fed mice was greatly repressed by Formoterol. Lastly, thermogenic markers (p-AMPK/AMPK, PGC-1α, and UCP-1) were dramatically upregulated by Formoterol. Collectively, Formoterol prevented adipogenesis and obesity in obese mice by regulating the PPARγ/C/EBPα axis and the AMPK/PGC-1α pathway.
MobilityTransformR: an R package for effective mobility transformation of CE-MS data
Authors: Salzer Liesa , Witting Michael , Schmitt-Kopplin Philippe
Published: July 2022

We present MobilityTransformR, an R/Bioconductor package for the effective mobility scaling of capillary zone electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) data. It uses functionality from different R packages that are frequently used for data processing and analysis in MS-based metabolomics workflows, allowing the subsequent use of reproducible transformed CE-MS data in existing workflows.

Availability and implementation

MobilityTransformR is implemented in R (Version >= 4.2) and can be downloaded directly from the Bioconductor database (https://bioconductor.org/packages/MobilityTransformR) or GitHub (https://github.com/LiesaSalzer/MobilityTransformR).

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Random field modeling of multi-trait multi-locus association for detecting methylation quantitative trait loci
Authors: Lyu Chen , Huang Manyan , Liu Nianjun , Chen Zhongxue , Lupo Philip J , Tycko Benjamin , Witte John S , Hobbs Charlotte A , Li Ming
Published: July 2022

Motivation

CpG sites within the same genomic region often share similar methylation patterns and tend to be co-regulated by multiple genetic variants that may interact with one another.

Results

We propose a multi-trait methylation random field (multi-MRF) method to evaluate the joint association between a set of CpG sites and a set of genetic variants. The proposed method has several advantages. First, it is a multi-trait method that allows flexible correlation structures between neighboring CpG sites (e.g. distance-based correlation). Second, it is also a multi-locus method that integrates the effect of multiple common and rare genetic variants. Third, it models the methylation traits with a beta distribution to characterize their bimodal and interval properties. Through simulations, we demonstrated that the proposed method had improved power over some existing methods under various disease scenarios. We further illustrated the proposed method via an application to a study of congenital heart defects (CHDs) with 83 cardiac tissue samples. Our results suggested that gene BACE2, a methylation quantitative trait locus (QTL) candidate, colocalized with expression QTLs in artery tibial and harbored genetic variants with nominal significant associations in two genome-wide association studies of CHD.

Availability and implementation

https://github.com/chenlyu2656/Multi-MRF.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
ChromDMM: a Dirichlet-multinomial mixture model for clustering heterogeneous epigenetic data
Authors: Osmala Maria , Eraslan Gökçen , Lähdesmäki Harri
Published: July 2022

Motivation

Research on epigenetic modifications and other chromatin features at genomic regulatory elements elucidates essential biological mechanisms including the regulation of gene expression. Despite the growing number of epigenetic datasets, new tools are still needed to discover novel distinctive patterns of heterogeneous epigenetic signals at regulatory elements.

Results

We introduce ChromDMM, a product Dirichlet-multinomial mixture model for clustering genomic regions that are characterized by multiple chromatin features. ChromDMM extends the mixture model framework by profile shifting and flipping that can probabilistically account for inaccuracies in the position and strand-orientation of the genomic regions. Owing to hyper-parameter optimization, ChromDMM can also regularize the smoothness of the epigenetic profiles across the consecutive genomic regions. With simulated data, we demonstrate that ChromDMM clusters, shifts and strand-orients the profiles more accurately than previous methods. With ENCODE data, we show that the clustering of enhancer regions in the human genome reveals distinct patterns in several chromatin features. We further validate the enhancer clusters by their enrichment for transcriptional regulatory factor binding sites.

Availability and implementation

ChromDMM is implemented as an R package and is available at https://github.com/MariaOsmala/ChromDMM.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
From monocots to dicots: host shifts in Afrotropical derelomine weevils shed light on the evolution of non-obligatory brood pollination mutualism
Authors: Haran Julien , Procheş Şerban , Benoit Laure , Kergoat Gael J
Published: July 2022

Weevils from the tribe Derelomini (Curculionidae: Curculioninae) are specialized brood pollinators engaged in mutualistic relationships with several angiosperm lineages. In brood pollination systems, reproductive plant tissues are used for the development of insect larval stages, whereas adult insects pollinate their plant hosts as a reward. The evolutionary history of derelomines in relationship to their hosts is poorly understood and potentially contrasts with other brood pollination systems, wherein a pollinator lineage is usually associated with a single host plant family. In the case of Afrotropical Derelomini, host records indicate a diverse host repertoire consisting of several families of monocot and dicot plants. In this study, we investigate their phylogenetic relationships, timing of diversification and evolution of host use. Our results suggest that derelomine lineages started their diversification ~40 Mya. Reconstructions of host use evolution support an ancestral association with the monocotyledonous palm family (Arecaceae), followed by several shifts towards other plant families in Afrotropical lineages, especially to dicotyledonous plants from the family Ebenaceae (on the genus Euclea L.). Some level of phylogenetic conservatism of host use is recovered for the lineages associated with either palms or Euclea. Multiple instances of sympatric weevil assemblages on the same plant are also unravelled, corresponding to either single or independent colonization events. Overall, the diversity of hosts colonized and the frequency of sympatric assemblages highlighted in non-obligatory plant–derelomine brood pollination systems contrast with what is generally expected from plant–insect brood pollination systems.
Host interaction mechanisms in herbivorous insects – life cycles, host specialization and speciation
Authors: Jones Lachlan C , Rafter Michelle A , Walter Gimme H
Published: July 2022

Why are most herbivorous insects so specialized? How do generalists and specialists differ ecologically? And what sensory and cognitive processes determine which host species an insect recognizes and uses? We review sensory cues involved at different stages of interaction with host plants and outline a unified scheme of insect–host interaction mechanisms. Generalist species may be best understood as specialized organisms with a longer tail of secondary host species that they accept to a lessening extent. Secondary hosts have fewer attractive cues, and hence a lower probability of meeting the stimulation threshold required for egg laying. We then discuss the alternative theories of co-evolution and sequential evolution used to explain the diversification of insect herbivores. We conclude that ‘escape and radiate’ co-evolution rests on unrealistic assumptions and empirical evidence favours sequential evolution of plants and herbivores, and the unique life cycles of insect herbivores may sufficiently explain their extreme diversity within the animal kingdom. We also outline a new speciation-oriented hypothesis to explain why specialists are far more diverse than generalists. Generalists tend to have large, contiguous distributions and therefore lower speciation rates. Natural selection in novel environments may also result in narrowing of the host range more often than broadening, further increasing specialist diversity.