bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
What Affects the Livelihood Risk Coping Preferences of Smallholder Farmers? A Case Study from the Eastern Margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China
Authors: Ma Yanyan , Zhao Xueyan
Published: April 2022

As the smallest livelihood unit in rural areas, farmers often face multiple risks. Rational responses to livelihood risks not only prevent households from falling into poverty, but also improve the sustainability of family livelihoods. This is essential to the sustainable development of rural areas. This paper takes the region located in the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China as an example, using household survey data to analyze farmers’ livelihood risk coping strategies and their key factors through a binary logistic model. The results show that 92.80% of farmers face the shock of multiple livelihood risks. The main livelihood risks of farmers are family capacity building risk, health risk and social risk. When faced with multiple livelihood risks, farmers have the strongest preference to give priority to health risks, followed by family capacity building risks and social risks. Among them, farmers’ health risk coping preferences are stronger in farming areas than those in purely pastoral and farming-pastoral areas. There are differences in the factors for farmers’ preferences for coping with different livelihood risks. Human capital is a key factor for health risk coping preferences. Human capital and social capital are key factors for social risk coping preferences. Social capital is a key factor for family capacity building risk coping preferences. Finally, this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to provide reference for farmers rationally coping with livelihood risks.
Seed-Borne Probiotic Yeasts Foster Plant Growth and Elicit Health Protection in Black Gram (Vigna mungo L.)
Authors: Bright Jeberlin Prabina , Karunanadham Kumutha , Maheshwari Hemant S. , Karuppiah Eraivan Arutkani Aiyanathan , Thankappan Sugitha , Nataraj Rajinimala , Pandian Durga , Ameen Fuad , Poczai Peter , Sayyed Riyaz Z.
Published: April 2022

Black gram is one of the most indispensable components of the world food basket and the growth and health of the crop get influenced by biotic and abiotic factors. Beneficial phyto-microbes are one among them that influence the crop growth, more particularly the seed borne microbes are comparatively beneficial, that they pass from generation to generation and are associated with the plants from establishment to development. In the present study, twenty seed-borne yeasts were characterized and tested for growth promotion of black gram and their antagonism against black gram phytopathogens. Two yeasts, Pichia kudriavzevii POY5 and Issatchenkia terricola GRY4, produced indole acetic acid (IAA), siderophore, 1-amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid deaminase (ACCD), and plant defense enzymes. They solubilized phosphate and zinc and fixed atmospheric nitrogen. Inoculation of these two yeast isolates and Rhizobium BMBS1 improved the seed germination, physiological parameters and yield of black gram. Inoculation of Rhizoctonia solani-challenged plants with plant growth-promoting yeasts, resulted in the synthesis of defense-related enzymes such as peroxidases (POD), chitinases, catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidases (PPO). Thus, the seed-borne yeasts, Pichia kudriavzevii POY5 and Issatchenkia terricola GRY4, could be used as plant probiotics for black gram.
Risk Identification and Conflict Prediction from Videos Based on TTC-ML of a Multi-Lane Weaving Area
Authors: Xia Yulan , Qin Yaqin , Li Xiaobing , Xie Jiming
Published: April 2022

Crash risk identification and prediction are expected to play an important role in traffic accident prevention. However, most of the existing studies focus only on highways, not on multi-lane weaving areas. In this paper, a potential collision risk identification and conflict prediction model based on extending Time-to-Collision-Machine Learning (TTC-ML) for multi-lane weaving zone was proposed. The model can accurately learn various features, such as vehicle operation characteristics, risk and conflict distributions, and physical zoning characteristics in the weaving area. Specifically, TTC was used to capture the collision risk severity, and ML extracted vehicle trajectory features. After normalizing and dimensionality reduction of the vehicle trajectory dataset, Naive Bayes, Logistic Regression, and Gradient Boosting Decision Tree (GBDT) models were selected for traffic conflict prediction, and the experiments showed that the GBDT model outperforms two remaining models in terms of prediction accuracy, precision, false-positive rate (FPR) and Area Under Curve (AUC). The research findings of this paper help traffic management departments develop and optimize traffic control schemes, which can be applied to Intelligent Vehicle Infrastructure Cooperative Systems (IVICS) dynamic warning.
The Relative Role of Knowledge and Empathy in Predicting Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Behavior
Authors: Ienna Marina , Rofe Amelia , Gendi Monica , Douglas Heather E. , Kelly Michelle , Hayward Matthew W. , Callen Alex , Klop-Toker Kaya , Scanlon Robert J. , Howell Lachlan G. , Griffin Andrea S.
Published: April 2022

Planet Earth is undergoing unprecedented levels of environmental degradation and destruction at a global scale. Incentivizing people to adopt behaviors that are compatible with a sustainable future will help address the current ecological crisis. However, it is first necessary to understand the psychological drivers of pro-environmental behavior. Here, we examined whether greater levels of environmental knowledge and empathy predicted higher levels of pro-environmental behavior in an Australian population sample. We aimed to advance our understanding of the psychological variables that motivate people to act in pro-environmental ways, while also advancing the ongoing debate amongst conservation scientists regarding the relative importance of fostering empathy. Correlational analyses revealed that objective, verifiable knowledge was a strong predictor of pro-environmental attitudes and behavior. Empathy also correlated positively with pro-environmental attitudes and behavior, but with a dissociation with respect to its cognitive and affective components. Multivariate analyses revealed that knowledge was a stronger predictor of both pro-environmental attitudes and behavior after controlling for individual variation in cognitive and affective empathy. This finding casts doubt on the claim by compassionate conservationists that fostering empathy is the key to solving the current environmental conservation crisis. Future research should aim to extend the present findings by testing whether a more exhaustive test of participants’ environmental knowledge and other measures of empathy, including empathic competencies and the recently developed Emotional and Cognitive Scale of the Human–Nature Relationship (ECS-HNR), yield the same dominance of knowledge over empathy.
SNPD: Semi-Supervised Neural Process Dehazing Network with Asymmetry Pseudo Labels
Authors: Zhou Fan , Meng Xiaozhe , Feng Yuxin , Su Zhuo
Published: April 2022

Haze can cause a significant reduction in the contrast and brightness of images. CNN-based methods have achieved benign performance on synthetic data. However, they show weak generalization performance on real data because they are only trained on fully labeled data, ignoring the role of natural data in the network. That is, there exists distribution shift. In addition to using little real data for training image dehazing networks in the literature, few studies have designed losses to constrain the intermediate latent space and the output simultaneously. This paper presents a semi-supervised neural process dehazing network with asymmetry pseudo labels. First, we use labeled data to train a backbone network and save intermediate latent features and parameters. Then, in the latent space, the neural process maps the latent features of real data to the latent space of synthetic data to generate one pseudo label. One neural process loss is proposed here. For situations where the image may be darker after dehazing, another pseudo label is created, and one new loss is used to guide the dehazing result at the output end. We combine the two pseudo labels with designed losses to suppress the distribution shift and guide better dehazing results. Finally, the artificial and hazy natural images are tested experimentally to demonstrate the method’s effectiveness.
Flow Stress Description Characteristics of Some Constitutive Models at Wide Strain Rates and Temperatures
Authors: Shin Hyunho , Ju Yongwon , Choi Min , Ha Dong
Published: April 2022

The commonly employed mathematical functions in constitutive models, such as the strain hardening/softening model, strain-rate hardening factor, and temperature-softening factor, are reviewed, and their prediction characteristics are illustrated. The results may assist one (i) to better understand the behavior of the constitutive model that employs a given mathematical function; (ii) to find the reason for deficiencies, if any, of an existing constitutive model; (iii) to avoid employing an inappropriate mathematical function in future constitutive models. This study subsequently illustrates the flow stress description characteristics of twelve constitutive models at wide strain rates (from 10−6 to 106 s−1) and temperatures (from absolute to melting temperatures) using the material parameters presented in the original studies. The phenomenological models considered herein include the Johnson–Cook, Shin–Kim, Lin–Wagoner, Sung–Kim–Wagoner, Khan–Huang–Liang, and Rusinek–Klepaczko models. The physically based models considered are the Zerilli–Armstrong, Voyiadjis–Abed, Testa et al., Steinberg et al., Preston–Tonks–Wallace, and Follansbee–Kocks models. The illustrations of the behavior of the foregoing constitutive models may be informative in (i) selecting an appropriate constitutive model; (ii) understanding and interpreting simulation results obtained using a given constitutive model; (iii) finding a reference material to develop future constitutive models.
Diagnostic Performance of Preoperative Choline-PET/CT in Patients Undergoing Salvage Lymph Node Dissection for Recurrent Prostate Cancer: A Multicenter Experience
Authors: Nyk Łukasz , Kamecki Hubert , Krajewski Wojciech , Małkiewicz Bartosz , Szydełko Tomasz , Kubis Markiian , Słojewski Marcin , Kryst Piotr , Poletajew Sławomir , Malewski Wojciech
Published: April 2022

We aimed to retrospectively analyze consecutive prostate cancer patients diagnosed with biochemical or clinical recurrence after local treatment with curative intent, with no evidence of distant metastases, who underwent positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) with choline followed by salvage lymph node dissection (SLND) in three academic centers between 2013 and 2020. A total of 27 men were included in the analyses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and accuracy of choline-PET/CT in predicting pathology-proven lymph node involvement were 75%, 43%, 79%, 38% and 67% on per-patient and 70%, 86%, 80%, 78%, and 79% on per-site analyses, respectively, with the differences in specificity and NPV between per-patient and per-site analyses being statistically significant (p = 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). The study provides further insight into the role of preoperative choline-PET/CT in patients undergoing SLND for recurrent PC.
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Generation Z Employees’ Perception and Behavioral Intention toward Advanced Information Technologies in Hotels
Authors: Zhang Xinyan , Ouyang Shun , Tavitiyaman Pimtong
Published: April 2022

This study explores Generation Z hotel employees’ perception of and behavioral intention to use advanced information technologies (ITs) before and during COVID-19. The relationship between perception and intention moderated by COVID-19 is investigated. The technology acceptance model (TAM) and innovation diffusion theory (IDT) are integrated, and compatibility is added as an additional construct to conduct this longitudinal study. Data were collected in Hong Kong in April 2019 (pre-pandemic stage) and March 2021 (pandemic stage). Regression analysis, t-test, Cochran’s Q test, and correspondence analysis are applied. Follow-up in-person interviews are conducted to validate the results. The results reveal significant differences between the pre-pandemic and pandemic stages and the moderating effect of COVID-19 on the relationship between the perception of and behavioral intention to use advanced ITs. This study addresses the gap in hospitality research by integrating TAM and IDT to examine Generation Z hotel employees’ behavioral intention to use advanced ITs.
Fullerenol Quantum Dots-Based Highly Sensitive Fluorescence Aptasensor for Patulin in Apple Juice
Authors: Pang Hua , Li Hui , Zhang Wen , Mao Jin , Zhang Liangxiao , Zhang Zhaowei , Zhang Qi , Wang Du , Jiang Jun , Li Peiwu
Published: April 2022

A highly selective and sensitive aptasensor for detecting patulin (PAT) was constructed based on the fluorescence quenching of fullerenol quantum dots (FOQDs) towards carboxytetramethylrhodamine (TAMRA) through PET mechanism. The π-π stacking interaction between PAT aptamer and FOQDs closed the distance between TAMRA and FOQDs and the fluorescence of TAMRA was quenched with maximum quenching efficiency reaching 85%. There was no non-specific fluorescence quenching caused by FOQDs. In the presence of PAT, the PAT aptamer was inclined to bind with PAT and its conformation was changed. Resulting in the weak π-π stacking interaction between PAT aptamer and FOQDs. Therefore, the fluorescence of TAMRA recovered and was linearly correlated to the concentration of PAT in the range of 0.02–1 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.01 ng/mL. This PAT aptasensor also performed well in apple juice with linear dynamic range from 0.05–1 ng/mL. The homogeneous fluorescence aptasensor shows broad application prospect in the detection of various food pollutants.
Elimination of HCV in Russia: Barriers and Perspective
Authors: Isakov Vasily , Nikityuk Dmitry
Published: April 2022

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is highly prevalent in Russia, representing the largest pool of hepatitis C patients in Europe. Effective treatment regimens with direct-acting antivirals can achieve HCV cure in all patients; therefore, in 2016 the World Health Organization proposed eliminating hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030. However, only a small number of countries are on track to meet the WHO’s hepatitis C elimination targets by 2030 due to many barriers in healthcare systems. This review focuses on a discussion about the epidemiology of HCV in Russia, the economic burden of HCV-related diseases, and treatment access with particular reference to the barriers for the elimination of HCV.
Impact of Moderna mRNA-1273 Booster Vaccine on Fully Vaccinated High-Risk Chronic Dialysis Patients after Loss of Humoral Response
Authors: Patyna Sammy , Eckes Timon , Koch Benjamin F. , Sudowe Stephan , Oftring Anke , Kohmer Niko , Rabenau Holger F. , Ciesek Sandra , Avaniadi Despina , Steiner Rahel , Hauser Ingeborg A. , Pfeilschifter Josef M. , Betz Christoph
Published: April 2022

The long-term effect of protection by two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients receiving chronic intermittent hemodialysis (CIHD) is an urging question. We investigated the humoral and cellular immune response of 42 CIHD patients who had received two doses of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and again after a booster vaccine with mRNA-1273 six months later. We measured antibody levels and SARS-CoV-2-specific surrogate neutralizing antibodies (SNA). Functional T cell immune response to vaccination was assessed by quantifying interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and IL-2 secreting T cells specific for SARS-CoV-2 using an ELISpot assay. Our data reveal a moderate immune response after the second dose of vaccination, with significantly decreasing SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody levels and less than half of the study group showed neutralizing antibodies six months afterwards. Booster vaccines increased the humoral response dramatically and led to a response rate of 89.2% for antibody levels and a response rate of 94.6% for SNA. Measurement in a no response/low response (NR/LR) subgroup of our cohort, which differed from the whole group in age and rate of immunosuppressive drugs, indicated failure of a corresponding T cell response after the booster vaccine. We strongly argue in favor of a regular testing of surrogate neutralizing antibodies and consecutive booster vaccinations for CIHD patients to provide a stronger and persistent immunity.
Safety and Immunogenicity of COVID-19 BBIBP-CorV Vaccine in Children 3–12 Years Old
Authors: Greish Khaled , Alawadhi Abdulla , Jaradat Ahmed , Almarabheh Amer , AlMadhi Marwa , Jawad Jaleela , Alsaffar Basma , Alalawi Ejlal , Alsayyad Adel , Merza Afaf , Alalawi Batool , Qayed Donia , Humaidan Ahmed , Al Qahtani Manaf
Published: April 2022

Background and Objectives: In the current COVID-19 pandemic, children below the age of 12 could manifest COVID-19 symptoms and serve as a reservoir for the virus in the community. The present study was conducted to evaluate the reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of BBIBP-CorV, prior to involving this age group in the vaccination program in the kingdom of Bahrain. Subjects and Methods: The study included 582 children from 3 to 12 years old of Bahraini and non-Bahraini nationality, all of which contributed to the reactogenicity study. Of those, 401 contributed to the immunogenicity study. All children received 2 doses of BBIBP-CorV inactivated virus 3 weeks apart. To assess reactogenicity, children were followed up for 5 weeks to evaluate any vaccine-related adverse events (AE). To assess immunogenicity, blood was collected on day 0 and day 35 to assess antibody titer against S, N, and neutralizing antibody. Results: Of the 582 participants, (45.4%) were female, (54.61%) were male, with 49% in 9–12 age group. Of the 401 children contributing to the immunogenicity study, 274 (68.3%) had no prior exposure to COVID-19. The overall incidence of AE was 27.7%. No significant difference was found among different age groups. The most frequent AE was local (at the injection site) and occurred in 16% of children, followed by fever in 9.3%. No serious adverse events were reported. The Seroconversion rate was 100% among children with no prior exposure to COVID-19. Children with previous COVID-19 exposure had higher averages of anti-S (2379 U/mL compared to 409.1), anti-N (177.6 U/mL compared to 30.9) and neutralizing antibody (93.7 U/mL compared to 77.1) than children with no prior exposure at day 35. Conclusions: Two doses of COVID-19 BBIBP-CorV on the subjects aged between 3 to 12 has good safety and tolerance and can induce an effective immune response and neutralizing antibody titer.
The Importance of Vaccination in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Brief Update Regarding the Use of Vaccines
Authors: Machado Bruna Aparecida Souza , Hodel Katharine Valéria Saraiva , Fonseca Larissa Moraes dos Santos , Pires Vinícius Couto , Mascarenhas Luis Alberto Brêda , da Silva Andrade Leone Peter Correia , Moret Marcelo Albano , Badaró Roberto
Published: April 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the world to undertake the largest vaccination campaign in human history. In record time, unprecedented scientific and governmental efforts have resulted in the acquisition of immunizers utilizing different technologies (nucleotide acids, viral vectors, inactivated and protein-based vaccines). Currently, 33 vaccines have already been approved by regulatory agencies in different countries, and more than 10 billion doses have been administered worldwide. Despite the undeniable impact of vaccination on the control of the pandemic, the recurrent emergence of new variants of interest has raised new challenges. The recent viral mutations precede new outbreaks that rapidly spread at global proportions. In addition, reducing protective efficacy rates have been observed among the main authorized vaccines. Besides these issues, several other crucial issues for the appropriate combatting of the pandemic remain uncertain or under investigation. Particularly noteworthy issues include the use of vaccine-boosting strategies to increase protection; concerns related to the long-term safety of vaccines, child immunization reliability and uncommon adverse events; the persistence of the virus in society; and the transition from a pandemic to an endemic state. In this review, we describe the updated scenario regarding SARS-CoV-2 variants and COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, we outline current discussions covering COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy, and the future pandemic perspectives.
SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia with Venous Thrombosis, Pulmonary Embolism, and Adrenal Haemorrhage: A Case Report with Literature Review
Authors: Tews Hauke Christian , Driendl Sarah M. , Kandulski Melanie , Buechler Christa , Heiss Peter , Stöckert Petra , Heissner Klaus , Paulus Michael G. , Kunst Claudia , Müller Martina , Schmid Stephan
Published: April 2022

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) with venous thrombosis is a rare complication of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination with ChAdOx1 (AstraZeneca) and AD26.COV2.S (Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJ, USA) associated with high mortality. At present, there are no known differences in the pathophysiology or risk factors of VITT with the AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1) compared with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine (AD26.COV2.S). Herein, we present the case of a healthy 39-year-old patient with VITT after having received the vaccine Ad26.COV2.S. Ten days after vaccination, the patient developed a deep vein thrombosis and subsequent pulmonary embolism. A computed tomography scan of the abdomen showed adrenal gland bleeding and an adrenocorticotrophic hormone stimulation test diagnosed adrenal insufficiency. Therapy with intravenous immunoglobulin, argatroban and hydrocortisone was initiated immediately after diagnosis. The patient left the hospital 22 days after admission with the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency but otherwise in good health. To the best of our knowledge, five cases of VITT and adrenal bleeding have been described to date in the literature but the presented case was the first to occur after immunisation with the vaccine of Johnson & Johnson. In summary, VITT-associated adrenal dysfunction is a very rare complication of vaccination with an adenoviral vector-based COVID-19 vaccine.
Motion Planning for Autonomous Vehicles Based on Sequential Optimization
Authors: Diachuk Maksym , Easa Said M.
Published: April 2022

This study presents the development and analysis of a technique for planning the autonomous vehicle (AV) motion references using sequential optimization. The method determines the trajectory plan, speed and acceleration distributions, and other AV kinematic parameters. The approach combines the basics of the finite element method (FEM) and nonlinear optimization with nonlinear constraints. First, we briefly described the generalization of representing an arbitrary function by finite elements (FE) within a road segment. We chose a one-dimensional FE with two nodes and three degrees of freedom (DOF) in a node corresponding to the 5th-degree polynomial. Next, we presented a method for defining the motion trajectory. The following are considered: the formation of a restricted space for the AV’s allowable maneuvering, the motion trajectory geometry and its relation with vehicle steerability parameters, cost functions and their influences on the desirable trajectory’s nature, and the compliance of nonlinear restrictions of the node parameters with the motion area boundaries. In the second stage, we derived a technique for optimizing the AV’s speed and acceleration redistributions. The model considers possible combinations of objective functions, limiting the kinematic parameters by the tire slip critical speed, maximum speed level, maximum longitudinal acceleration, and critical lateral acceleration. In the simulation section, we compared several variants of trajectories and versions of distributing the longitudinal speed and acceleration curves. The advantages, drawbacks, and conclusions regarding the proposed technique are presented.
A Complex Competitive Exclusion Culture Reduces Campylobacter jejuni Colonization in Broiler Chickens at Slaughter Age In Vivo
Authors: Szott Vanessa , Reichelt Benjamin , Friese Anika , Roesler Uwe
Published: April 2022

Diminishing Campylobacter prevalence in poultry flocks has proven to be extremely challenging. To date, efficacious control measures to reduce Campylobacter prevalence are still missing. A potential approach to control Campylobacter in modern poultry productions is to occupy its niche in the mucosal layer by administering live intestinal microbiota from adult chickens to dayold-chicks (competitive exclusion (CE)). Therefore, this in vivo study investigates the efficacy of a complex CE culture to reduce Campylobacter (C.) jejuni colonization in broiler chickens. For this purpose, the complex CE culture was applied twice: once by spray application to day-old chicks immediately after hatching (on the 1st day of life) and subsequently by an additional application via drinking water on the 25th day of life. We observed a consistent and statistically significant reduction of C. jejuni counts in cloacal swabs throughout the entire fattening period. At the end of the trial after necropsy (at 33 days of age), C. jejuni cecal counts also showed a statistically significant decrease of 1 log10 MPN/g compared to the control group. Likewise, colon counts were reduced by 2.0 log10 MPN/g. These results suggest that CE cultures can be considered a practically relevant control strategy to reduce C. jejuni colonization in broiler chickens on poultry farms.
Monitoring Study in Honeybee Colonies Stressed by the Invasive Hornet Vespa velutina
Authors: Diéguez-Antón Ana , Rodríguez-Flores María , Escuredo Olga , Seijo María
Published: April 2022

Vespa velutina is an invasive species that is currently the main concern for beekeeping in some areas of northern Spain. The hornet hunts honeybees to feed its larvae, stressing and weakening the honeybee colonies. To avoid losses of honeybee colonies, it is essential to investigate the pressure that is exerted by the yellow-legged hornet on apiaries and its consequences. In the present study, hives were monitored in an apiary that was situated in a high-pressure area of V. velutina during the years 2020 and 2021. The monitoring of environmental conditions of the apiary, the internal conditions of the colonies, and a hunting camera were used to relate the presence of hornets in front of the hives to the weather conditions in the apiary and the consequences caused on the colonies. The relationships between weather conditions and the hornet’s activity showed two types of hornet behavior. In the months of July and August, the maximum number of hornets appeared in non-central hours of the day. Meanwhile, in the months of September and October, the highest pressure in the apiary occurred in the central hours of the day, coinciding with temperatures between 15 °C and 25 °C and a relative humidity that was higher than 60%. The honeybee colony with the highest thermoregulatory capacity was the strongest and it was the key factor for the colony survival even when the hornet pressure was high too. Therefore, strengthening the hives and improving beehive health status is essential to avoid colonies decline.
Preference at First Sight: Effects of Shape and Font Qualities on Evaluation of Object-Word Pairs
Authors: Cheung Olivia S. , Heyn Oliver , Trawiński Tobiasz
Published: April 2022

Subjective preferences for visual qualities of shapes and fonts have been separately reported. Such preferences are often similarly attributed to factors such as aesthetic impressions, attributed meaning from the visual properties, or processing fluency. Because shapes and fonts were rarely studied together, we investigated whether these qualities had a similar impact on preference judgment of object-word pairs. Each pair consisted of an abstract object with either preferred or disliked shape qualities and a pseudoword with either preferred or disliked font qualities. We found that only shape qualities, but not font qualities, influenced preference ratings of the object-word pairs, with higher preferences for pairs with preferred than disliked shapes. Moreover, eye movement results indicated that while participants fixated the word before the object, their prolonged fixation on the object when first attending to it might have contributed to the preference ratings. Nonetheless, other measures, including response times, total fixation numbers, and total dwell time, showed different patterns for shape and font qualities, revealing that participants attended more to objects with preferred than disliked shapes, and to words with disliked than preferred fonts. Taken together, these results suggest that shape and font qualities have differential influences on preferences and processing of objects and words.
Effect of Statistically Anisotropic Undrained Shear Strength on the Probability of Slope Failure
Authors: Yu Cheng , Li Yukun , Ge Weiya , Zhang Faming , Hou Xiaolan , Li Zinan , Dong Menglong
Published: April 2022

Due to large-scale geological deposition processes, slope structures are often stratified, which means that the spatial distribution of the parameters involved in slope reliability evaluation is statistically anisotropic. This paper studies the effect of the statistical anisotropy of undrained shear strength on the probability of slope failure (pf) based on the Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that for the horizontally layered slope, the larger the horizontal correlation scale of undrained shear strength (λx) is, the larger pf is, especially when λx is smaller than the slope length; for the vertically layered slope, the larger the vertical correlation scale (λy) is, the smaller pf is, especially when λy is smaller than the slope height. Additionally, the mechanism of the above results is discussed by analyzing the displacement distribution at different correlation scales. The findings indicate that in the reliability evaluation of undrained slopes in stratified structures, either underestimation of λx or overestimation of λy leads to an unconservative estimate of pf, resulting in an overestimation of the slope stability.
Compositional Changes and Co-Occurrence Patterns of Planktonic Bacteria and Microeukaryotes in a Subtropical Estuarine Ecosystem, the Pearl River Delta
Authors: Ma Kang , Ren Ze , Ma Jiaming , Chen Nannan , Liu Jingling
Published: April 2022

Planktonic microorganisms in aquatic ecosystems form complex assemblages of highly interactive taxa and play key roles in biogeochemical cycles. However, the microbial interactions within bacterial and microeukaryotic communities, and the mechanisms underpinning the responses of abundant and rare microbial taxa to environmental disturbances in the river estuary remain unknown. Here, 16S and 18S rRNA gene sequencing were used to investigate the compositional changes and the co-occurrence patterns of bacterial and microeukaryotic communities. The results showed that the rare taxa in the bacterial communities were more prevalent than those in the microeukaryotic communities and may influence the resilience and resistance of microorganisms to environmental variations in estuarine ecosystems. The environmental variations had strong effects on the microeukaryotic communities and their assembly mechanisms but not on the bacterial communities in our studied area. However, based on co-occurrence network analyses, the bacterial communities had stronger links and more complex interactions than microeukaryotic communities, suggesting that bacterial networks may help improve the buffering capacities of the estuarine ecosystem against environmental change. The keystone taxa of bacteria mainly belonged to rare subcommunities, which further illustrates that rare taxa may play fundamental roles in network persistence. Overall, these results provide insights into the microbial responses of aquatic ecosystems to environmental heterogeneity.
A Tailings Dam Long-Term Deformation Prediction Method Based on Empirical Mode Decomposition and LSTM Model Combined with Attention Mechanism
Authors: Zhu Yang , Gao Yijun , Wang Zhenhao , Cao Guansen , Wang Renjie , Lu Song , Li Wei , Nie Wen , Zhang Zhongrong
Published: April 2022

Tailings dams are constructed as storage dams for ore waste, serving as industrial waste piles and for drainage. The dam is negatively affected by rainfall, infiltration lines and its own gravity, which can cause its instability to gradually increase, leading to dam deformation. To predict the irregular changes of tailings dam deformation, empirical mode decomposition (EMD) is applied to the deformation data to obtain the trend and periodic components. The attention mechanism is used to assign different weights to the input variables to overcome the limitation that the long short-term memory (LSTM) model can only generate fixed-length vectors. The lagged autocorrelation coefficient is applied to each decomposed subregion to solve the lagging effect of external factors on dam deformation. Finally, the model is used to predict deformation in multiple directions to test the generalization ability. The proposed method can effectively mitigate the problems of gradient disappearance and gradient explosion. The applied results show that, compared with the control model EMD-LSTM, the evaluation indexes RMSE and MAE improve 23.66% and 27.90%, respectively. The method also has a high prediction accuracy in the remaining directions of the tailings dam, which has a wide practical application effect and provides a new idea for tailings dam deformation mechanism research.
Decision Making Model for Municipal Wastewater Conventional Secondary Treatment with Bayesian Networks
Authors: Medina Edgardo , Fonseca Carlos Roberto , Gallego-Alarcón Iván , Morales-Nápoles Oswaldo , Gómez-Albores Miguel Ángel , Esparza-Soto Mario , Mastachi-Loza Carlos Alberto , García-Pulido Daury
Published: April 2022

Technical, economic, regulatory, environmental, and social and political interests make the process of selecting an appropriate wastewater treatment technology complex. Although this problem has already been addressed from the dimensioning approach, our proposal in this research, a model of decision making for conventional secondary treatment of municipal wastewater through continuous-discrete, non-parametric Bayesian networks was developed. The most suitable network was structured in unit processes, independent of each other. Validation, with data in a mostly Mexican context, provided a positive predictive power of 83.5%, an excellent kappa (0.77 > 0.75), and the criterion line was surpassed with the location of the model in a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) graph, so the model can be implemented in this region. The final configuration of the Bayesian network allows the methodology to be easily extended to other types of treatments, wastewater, and to other regions.
Assessing the Hazards of Groundwater Logging in Tourism Aswan City, Egypt
Authors: Abd-Elaty Ismail , Negm Abdelazim , Hamdan Ali M. , Nour-Eldeen Ahmed S. , Zeleňáková Martina , Hossen Hickmat
Published: April 2022

This paper studies the groundwater logging problem in the Quaternary aquifer in Aswan city, Upper Egypt. Groundwater levels are already very high in Aswan city, but this has not been exploited, and it causes damage to the environment and infrastructure for roads, building, and templets. Rising groundwater leads to the deterioration and poor quality of agricultural lands. The main objective of this study is to assess and investigate the main reasons for the groundwater logging in the tourist city of Aswan using field investigation during different periods and gain a better understanding of the water dynamics in the study area. This study investigated the surface water levels in the High Dam Lake (HDL), the Kima Lake water levels, the recharge in the fish hatchery, the abstraction well rates in Kima and El-Shalal, and the leakage from the drinking water and wastewater network in Aswan city within the study area using field investigation. The results of this study show that the HDL is one of the most important sources feeding the aquifer in the study area, and it affects the rise and fall of the groundwater levels, but it is not the only factor that affects this problem. Moreover, the rise in the groundwater levels was due to the infiltration from the unlinking fish hatchery, the reduction in abstraction well rates from Kima Lake, the lack of abstraction from El shallal region, the increase in the leakage from drinking water pipelines, sewage networks and septic underground wastewater tanks; these factors are affecting groundwater logging in Aswan city. Potential groundwater level maps for the study area were generated using field data and ArcGIS technique for the years 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2020. Based on the results of the potential groundwater maps, the maximum and minimum difference for the groundwater levels in the study area between 2017 and 2012 reached 12.56 m and 0.83 m, respectively; also, between 2018 and 2017, the levels were 4.34 m and 0.25 m, respectively. Moreover, between 2020 and 2018, they were 8 m and 0.38 m, respectively.
Infrastructure Asset Management: Historic and Future Perspective for Tools, Risk Assessment, and Digitalization for Competence Building
Authors: Ugarelli Rita , Sægrov Sveinung
Published: April 2022

This article aims at analyzing the historic development of infrastructure asset management (IAM) resulting from the increase of challenges over time. Furthermore, it aims at suggesting the corresponding requirements for the enrichment of educational programs to provide the decision makers of tomorrow with the right competences. The evolution of IAM is here described as characterized by three periods introducing an increased complexity of analysis and thereby, a more powerful system for urban water management: (a) Data collection and development of computerized information systems including statistical methods for information management; (b) application of risk analysis including sources of hazards and their consequences; and (c) introduction of a holistic sustainable perspective including governance, social and economic aspects (circular economy), environmental impacts, and the condition of physical assets including digital systems. A variety of competencies are needed to obtain the safe management of urban water systems, in particular for the provision of water services in medium- and large-scale cities. Similar competencies are needed for other infrastructures, like buildings, roads and railroads, and IT systems. The elements of sustainability including risk assessment and digitalization should be incorporated in master programs for civil engineering world-wide. This paper is not designed as a scientific paper, but as inspirational for IAM practitioners and for the development of enriched educational programs of technical universities.
Increased Water Abstraction and Climate Change Have Substantial Effect on Morphometry, Salinity, and Biotic Communities in Lakes: Examples from the Semi-Arid Burdur Basin (Turkey)
Authors: Çolak Mehmet Arda , Öztaş Barış , Özgencil İbrahim Kaan , Soyluer Melisa , Korkmaz Mustafa , Ramírez-García Arely , Metin Melisa , Yılmaz Gültekin , Ertuğrul Serhat , Tavşanoğlu Ülkü Nihan , Amorim Cihelio Alves , Özen Can , Apaydın Yağcı Meral , Yağcı Abdulkadir , Pacheco Juan Pablo , Özkan Korhan , Beklioğlu Meryem , Jeppesen Erik , Akyürek Zuhal
Published: April 2022

Global warming and altered precipitation patterns are predicted to intensify the water loss in semi-arid and arid regions, and such regions in Turkey will be particularly affected. Moreover, water abstraction, not least for irrigation purposes, is expected to increase markedly, posing major threats to the water balance of the lakes and thus their biodiversity. Among the closed basins in Turkey, the Burdur Closed Basin (BCB), located in the southwest of Turkey, is expected to be most affected. The BCB includes several types of aquatic ecosystems which support high biodiversity, including one Ramsar site, six Important Bird Areas, and a considerable richness of native and endemic fish species. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the potential environmental impacts of climate change and increased water abstraction on BCB lakes and their biotic communities. Here, we combined historical data on ecosystems as well as meteorological, remote sensing, and ground-truth data to analyze the changes in the temperature and precipitation of the BCB, water surface areas, and land use, as well as the potential effects on waterbird and fish communities. We calculated the water budget to elucidate water availability in the basin over the last few decades and predicted future conditions based on rainfall and temperature forecasts using climate models. The Standardized Precipitation–Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) was used to relate the water surface area to precipitation and temperature change in the basin. Crop-farming irrigation in the BCB has increased notably since 2004, leading to intensive water abstraction from the lakes and their inflows, as well as from ground water, to meet the increased demand for irrigation. The water abstraction from the lakes, inflows to the lakes, and the groundwater in the basin has increased the water loss in the catchment substantially. Remotely sensed data on lake surface areas showed a major shrinkage of shallow lakes in the last 40 years. Moreover, the largest lake in the basin, Lake Burdur, lost nearly half of its surface area, which is worrisome since the shallower areas are the most suitable for supporting high biodiversity. Climate models (CNRM-ESM2-1GCM for temperature and GFDL-ESM4-GCM for precipitation) suggest that from 2070, the BCB will face long-term, moderate-to-severe dry periods. This, and the increased demand for water for irrigation, along with climate change, may accelerate the drying of these lakes in the near future with devastating effects on the lake ecosystems and their biodiversity.
Impact of Ports’ Diversification-Driven Industrial Transformation on Operating Performance: Regulatory Effect of Port Cities’ Urban Economic Development Level
Authors: Sun Yanfang , Zhang Shuhui , Wu Shuang
Published: April 2022

Diversification-driven industrial transformation (DIT) has become a strategy for port enterprises dealing with the dual impacts of slowing economic growth and pressure from domestic competitors. Considering the interactive relationship between ports and port cities, the subjects of this study were publicly listed port-related enterprises in China and corresponding port cities. The main and regulatory effects were used to test and analyze the impact of port enterprises’ DIT and port cities’ urban economic development (UED) level on three aspects of enterprises’ operating performance: profitability, operating capacity, and development capability. The study found that the relationship between DIT and operating capacity is nonlinear and shaped like an inverted U, and exhibits an increasing negative impact on profitability and development capability. The UED level promotes those two aspects of port enterprises, has minimal impact on operating capacity, and has a positive regulatory effect on the relationship between port enterprises’ DIT and operating performance. The empirical test results can provide decision-making basis for port enterprises to formulate diversified transformation strategy reasonably and achieve performance improvement, which is conducive to promoting the interactive development and integration of port city in China.
School Dropout: Intentions, Motivations and Self-Efficacy of a Sample of South Africa Youth
Authors: Roman Nicolette Vanessa , Davidse Portia E. , Human-Hendricks Anja , Butler-Kruger Letitia , Sonn Inge Karla
Published: April 2022

There is strong evidence that dropping out of school has short-term and long-term effects for the individual, the family, the community, and other strata in society. In South Africa, learners dropping out of school has increased. The link between intention, motivation, and self-efficacy to drop out of school is an understudied area of research. The study aimed to determine the relationship between learners’ intention, motivation, and self-efficacy to drop out of low and high socio-economic schools. A quantitative methodological approach with a cross-sectional design was utilised. Participant’s selection included high school learners in Grades 9 and 11, at both high and low socio-economic public schools in the Western Cape, in South Africa. Most participants were female (51.2%), with a mean age of 16 years, attending schools in resource-constrained communities (50.1). Data was analysed using an independent t-test to assess a significant difference between learners in low and high socio-economic communities. Findings showed that many learners in high socio-economic schools hardly considered dropping out of school, whereas the opposite was true for learners in resource-constrained schools. Family challenges were often cited as a major reason for dropping out of school. The differences between the two groups of learners were significant.
Efecto covid-19 en las determinantes de las exportaciones del sector camaronero del Ecuador, año 2020
Authors: Loayza Galarza Cinthia , Pastor Toala Joseph , Salcedo Muñoz Virgilio Eduardo , Sotomayor Pereira Jorge
Published: April 2022

El artículo analiza el impacto que ha tenido la pandemia del Covid-19 en las exportaciones de camarón en Ecuador para el año 2020, comparando dos escenarios: en el primero se analizaron las exportaciones de camarón del año 2020 y en el segundo se proyectaron las exportaciones de camarón asumiendo la no existencia del Covid-19 en el año 2020, mediante el modelo arima. Las variables observadas fueron libras exportadas, ingresos en dólares por libras exportadas y precio promedio por libra; además esta investigación es de tipo descriptiva y longitudinal con un enfoque cuantitativo porque se analizó y estudió el comportamiento de las variables durante un determinado periodo de tiempo. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron que las exportaciones de camarón tienen tendencia creciente y al compararlos con los datos reales se verificó que la pandemia por el Covid-19 ha generado un impacto significativo en las variables estudiadas.

 

Palabras clave: Exportación de camarón, covid-19, proyección, modelo arima.
Instagram y su incidencia en la comercialización de empresas registradas en directorios digitales en la ciudad de Portoviejo
Authors: Quiroz Cedeño Ingrid Valentina , Loor Carvajal Gloria Isabel , Beltrón Cedeño Rosy Alexandra
Published: April 2022

El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo analizar la incidencia del Instagram en la comercialización de las empresas registradas en directorios digitales en el cantón Portoviejo, Manabí, apoyándose en técnicas como la revisión bibliográfica y encuestas, a su vez junto a un muestreo aleatorio; el modelo de encuesta online fue aplicado a 42 negocios locales; dichas encuestas llevaron a varias conclusiones entre estas: que Portoviejo es una ciudad híper conectada donde la comercialización a través de redes sociales está creciendo a gran velocidad incidiendo en el aumento de ventas de productos y servicios de los negocios, también, que las redes constituyen uno de los principales canales de comunicación, publicidad y comercialización en el mercado portovejense, finalmente, que el uso de herramientas digitales como instrumentos de marketing son de vital importancia para la operatividad productiva, económica y comercial de los negocios.
 
Palabras clave: Redes sociales, comercialización, ventas, marketing digital.