bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design and Parameter Optimization of a Soil Mulching Device for an Ultra-Wide Film Seeder Based on the Discrete Element Method
Authors: Wang Yuqi , Wei Min , Dong Wancheng , Li Wenchun , He Jimiao , Han Chenyang , Jiang Zhen
Published: October 2022

The soil mulching device plays an important role in the sowing stage of crops. Compared with the traditional narrow film planting mode, under the ultra-wide film planting mode adopted by crops in arid areas, the soil transportation distance inside the soil mulching device increases, resulting in the problem of uneven soil coverage thickness between sowing rows, which seriously affects the crop emergence rate. There are many methods available to solve the problems of ultra-wide film planting, such as theoretical analysis and discrete element method (DEM) simulation. In this paper, we design a covering device consisting primarily of the soil disc and the cylindrical sealer. By constructing and analyzing a mechanical model of the soil mulching device, the parameters related to the working performance are determined. In order to further optimize the parameters, the simulation model of the device and soil operation process is established by using DEM software. We design a single-factor simulation test. The structural parameters and operating parameters of the cylindrical sealer are divided into two experimental groups, and the soil transport volume (STV) and the coefficient of variation of the soil coating cover uniformity (G1) are used as response values. Based on the parameters of the single-factor test after narrowing the optimization range, the response surface test is designed. According to the experimental results, a quadratic regression model of STV and G1 is established, and the influence of the interaction of each parameter is analyzed. Finally, the optimal values of the structural parameters and operating parameters of the soil mulching device are determined. The actual field test was completed. The soil coverage thickness was between 1.42 cm and 1.50 cm, and G1 was 2.59%. The test results were very satisfactory. This shows that it is reliable to optimize the parameters of the soil mulching device by theoretical analysis and the DEM.
Characteristics of Gas–Solid Flow in an Intermittent Countercurrent Moving Bed
Authors: Wan Qingshuo , Zhao Zhifeng , Wang Ruojin , Tang Meng , Wang Dewu , Zhang Shaofeng , Hu Baisong
Published: October 2022

The calculation equations of pressure drop and solid flow rate are given in an intermittent countercurrent moving bed with multiple optimized structures. The flow fields are investigated by experimental methods under different conditions, e.g., ratio of position of the gas distributor to the bed width (rp = 0.5~1.5), gas superficial velocity (ug = 0~0.1591 m/s), solid outlet diameter (Do = 5~25 mm) and cone angle (α = 0~60°). It is found that when rp ≥ 1.0, the flow field in the bed is little affected by rp. Flow patterns are divided into three modes: continuous discharging, intermittent discharging (synchronous, asynchronous) and particle bridging. During continuous discharging, the calculation formula of the solid flow rate, which is closely related to Do and gas–solid slip velocity vslip, is established by referring to the modified De Jong and Beverloo formulas, and its error ≤ ±12.5%. The pressure drop of the total bed consists of the pressure drops of the granular bed and the solid outlets, which are affected by Do, vslip and α; it is built by referring to the Ergun formula, and its error ≤ ±17.0%. As the solid flow rate and pressure drop influence each other through vslip, an iterative algorithm is proposed to enhance the computation accuracy.
Seed Waste from Custard Apple (Annona squamosa L.): A Comprehensive Insight on Bioactive Compounds, Health Promoting Activity and Safety Profile
Authors: Kumari Neeraj , Prakash Suraj , Kumar Manoj , Radha  , Zhang Baohong , Sheri Vijay , Rais Nadeem , Chandran Deepak , Dey Abhijit , Sarkar Tanmay , Dhumal Sangram , Kumar Sunil , Mahato Dipendra Kumar , Vishvanathan Marthandan , Mohankumar Pran , Pateiro Mirian , Lorenzo José M.
Published: October 2022

Annona squamosa L. (custard apple or sugar apple), belonging to the Annonaceae family, is a small tree or shrub that grows natively in subtropical and tropical regions. Seeds of the custard apple have been employed in folk medicines because of the presence of bioactive chemicals/compounds such as alkaloids, flavonoids and phenolic compounds and acetogenins and cyclopeptides that are responsible for various biological activities. The seeds also show the presence of tannins, vitamin C, vitamin E and a higher content of amino acids. From investigations, it has been shown that the seeds of A. squamosa have considerable potential to be used as an antibacterial, hepatoprotective, antioxidant and antitumor/anticancer agent. Cyclosquamosin B, extracted from the custard apple seed, possesses vasorelaxant properties. Tocopherols and fatty acids, notably oleic acid and linoleic acid, are also found in the seed oil. A. squamosa seeds contain a high amount of annonaceous acetogenins compounds, which are potent mitochondrial complex I inhibitors and have high cytotoxicity. A survey primarily based on the nutritional, phytochemical and biological properties showed that A. squamosa seeds can be used for the discovery of novel products, including pharmaceutical drugs. Although there are sufficient in vitro and in vivo experimental investigations supporting the benefits of seeds, clinical investigations/trials are still needed to determine the health contributing benefits of A. squamosa seeds.
Preparation of Iron Salt-Modified Sludge Biochar and Its Uptake Behavior for Phosphate
Authors: Lan Guoxin , Yan Xixi , Deng Peiyao , Li Tingzhen , Xia Yaping , Zhu Zhihao , Wu Yan , Fu Chuan
Published: October 2022

Residual sludge is a significant waste resource, and the preparation of biochar achieves sludge disposal. Biochar has a high uptake capacity for phosphate. To prepare a sludge biochar adsorbent for phosphate, sludge was chemically and anaerobically treated in the presence of iron salts and pyrolyzed. We investigated the effects of the pyrolysis temperature and iron salt on the phosphate uptake capacity, finding that the pretreatment of the sludge with iron salts removed intrinsic phosphate, thus improving the uptake ability. The optimal adsorbent, denoted SB-B-Fe, was prepared by pyrolysis at 700 °C and subsequently modified with a 20 g/L iron-containing solution, yielding a phosphate uptake capacity of 0.5 mg/g. Further, the performance of SB-B-Fe remains high at pH 5–9 and is less affected by interfering anions. The sorption kinetics are consistent with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, suggesting uptake by chemisorption, and the Langmuir model has a saturation capacity of 0.85 mg/g for uptake and prefers monolayer molecular uptake. The characterization showed that the adsorbent surface provided many uptake sites for phosphate and a high specific surface area. We hope that these findings will encourage the development of other value-added waste-based materials for environmental remediation.
Radiation Treatment Timing and Dose Delivery: Effects on Bladder Cancer Cells in 3D in Vitro Culture
Authors: Bodgi Larry , Al-Choboq Joelle , Araji Tarek , Bou-Gharios Jolie , Azzi Joyce , Challita Rafka , Feghaly Charbel , Bahmad Hisham F. , Eid Toufic , Geara Fady , Zeidan Youssef H. , Abou-Kheir Wassim
Published: October 2022

While radical cystectomy remains the primary treatment of choice for bladder cancer, increased evidence supports the use of bladder-preservation strategies based on adjuvant radiotherapy. This highlights the need for a better understanding of bladder cancer radiosensitivity to different types of treatment deliveries. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of treatment time, dose and fractionation on the number and sizes of grown three-dimensional (3D) bladder cancer spheres, and to assess the capacity of the linear-quadratic model in describing the response of cells cultured in 3D. 3D MatrigelTM-based cultures were employed to enrich for cancer stem cells (CSCs) from three human bladder cancer cell lines, RT4, T24 and UM-UC-3. Three single dose radiation treatments were performed at different time points after plating, and sphere number and sizes were assessed. Anti-CD44 immunofluorescence, clonogenic assay and anti-γH2AX staining were also performed to analyze the cell lines’ radiosensitivity. The radiosensitivity of spheres was dependent on the treatment timing after plating. Current linear quadratic dose fractionation models were shown to over-estimate radiosensitivity in 3D models. Our results showed the importance of treatment timing on the radio-response of bladder cancer spheres. We also demonstrated that bladder cancer spheres are more resistant to dose-fractionation than the estimation from the theoretical linear-quadratic model.
Digital Twin as Industrial Robots Manipulation Validation Tool
Authors: Kuts Vladimir , Marvel Jeremy A. , Aksu Murat , Pizzagalli Simone L. , Sarkans Martinš , Bondarenko Yevhen , Otto Tauno
Published: October 2022

The adoption of Digital Twin (DT) solutions for industrial purposes is increasing among small- and medium-sized enterprises and is already being integrated into many large-scale companies. As there is an increasing need for faster production and shortening of the learning curve for new emerging technologies, Virtual Reality (VR) interfaces for enterprise manufacturing DTs seem to be a good solution. Furthermore, with the emergence of Industry 5.0 (I5.0) paradigm, human operators will be increasingly integrated in the systems interfaces though advanced interactions, pervasive sensors, real time tracking and data acquisition. This scenario is especially relevant in collaborative automated systems where the introduction of immersive VR interfaces based on production cell DTs might provide a solution for the integration of the human factors in the modern industrial scenarios. This study presents experimental results of the comparison between users controlling a physical industrial robot system via a traditional teach pendant and a DT leveraging a VR user interface. The study group involves forty subjects including experts in robotics and VR as well as non-experts. An analysis of the data gathered in both the real and the virtual use case scenario is provided. The collected information includes time for performing a task with an industrial robot, stress level evaluation, physical and mental effort, and the human subjects’ perceptions of the physical and simulated robots. Additionally, operator gazes were tracked in the VR environment. In this study, VR interfaces in the DT representation are exploited to gather user centered metrics and validate efficiency and safety standards for modern collaborative industrial systems in I5.0. The goal is to evaluate how the operators perceive and respond to the virtual robot and user interface while interacting with them and detect if any degradation of user experience and task efficiency exists compared to the real robot interfaces. Results demonstrate that the use of DT VR interfaces is comparable to traditional tech pendants for the given task and might be a valuable substitute of physical interfaces. Despite improving the overall task performance and considering the higher stress levels detected while using the DT VR interface, further studies are necessary to provide a clearer validation of both interfaces and user impact assessment methods.
MSNet: Multifunctional Feature-Sharing Network for Land-Cover Segmentation
Authors: Weng Liguo , Gao Jiahong , Xia Min , Lin Haifeng
Published: October 2022

In recent years, the resolution of remote sensing images, especially aerial images, has become higher and higher, and the spans of time and space have become larger and larger. The phenomenon in which one class of objects can produce several kinds of spectra may lead to more errors in detection methods that are based on spectra. For different convolution methods, downsampling can provide some advanced information, which will lead to rough detail extraction; too deep of a network will greatly increase the complexity and calculation time of a model. To solve these problems, a multifunctional feature extraction model called MSNet (multifunctional feature-sharing network) is proposed, which is improved on two levels: depth feature extraction and feature fusion. Firstly, a residual shuffle reorganization branch is proposed; secondly, linear index upsampling with different levels is proposed; finally, the proposed edge feature attention module allows the recovery of detailed features. The combination of the edge feature attention module and linear index upsampling can not only provide benefits in learning detailed information, but can also ensure the accuracy of deep feature extraction. The experiments showed that MSNet achieved 81.33% MIoU on the Landover dataset.
Two-Dimensional InSAR Monitoring of the Co- and Post-Seismic Ground Deformation of the 2021 Mw 5.9 Arkalochori (Greece) Earthquake and Its Impact on the Deformations of the Heraklion City Wall Relic
Authors: Zhu Meng , Chen Fulong , Zhou Wei , Lin Hui , Parcharidis Issaak , Luo Jin
Published: October 2022

Contributing to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within Target 11.4 “Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world’s cultural and natural heritage”, it is critical to monitor the spatial and temporal stabilities of cultural heritages. The study of the interactive relationship between earthquakes and the protection of cultural heritages needs to be strengthened. On 27 September 2021, the destructive Mw 5.9 Arkalochori earthquake occurred ~25 km away from the city of Heraklion (Greece) where the Heraklion City Wall (HCW), a representative cultural heritage of Greece and Europe, was located. This offered a proper case to investigate the shortcomings aforementioned. Here, we intend to set up and answer the following three questions (Whether, Where and What, 3Ws): Whether there were impacts on the HCW caused by the Arkalochori earthquake? Where did the maximum deformation occur? What was the relationship between seismic deformation between the epicenter and the HCW over time? We performed two-dimensional (2D) InSAR measurements for both co-seismic and post-seismic deformations using the ascending and descending Sentinel-1A SAR images. The spatial-temporal characteristics of Up–Down (UD) and East–West (EW) were revealed. The 2D co-seismic deformation field showed that the near-filed deformations were dominating compared with the deformations at the HCW, the UD deformation was mainly featured with subsidence with a maximum value of ~21 cm, the EW deformation was ~9 cm westward and ~10 cm eastward. The time-series measurements showed that: (1) temporally, the HCW responded quickly to the Arkalochori earthquake, and the accumulative deformations at the seven different bastions of the HCW showed the same trend as the near-field area over time. (2) Spatially, the closer to the Mw 5.9 epicenter, the larger the deformations that occurred. (3) The EW and UD deformation trends of the HCW that were consistent with the Mw 5.9 epicenter were interrupted at the middle time spot (22 January 2022), indicating the influence of another earthquake sequence consisting of eight earthquakes with magnitudes larger than 3.5 that happened on 16–18 January 2022. Respectively, to summarize and address the aforementioned 3Ws based on the post-seismic analysis accomplished by the MSBAS method, the Arkalochori earthquake did affect the HCW; besides, the influences of the ~13 km earthquake sequence were also detected; the nearest part to the epicenter suffered the most; the deformation trends of the HCW were approximately the same with the epicenter area of the Arkalochori earthquake both in the UD and EW directions.
Multistage Adaptive Point-Growth Network for Dense Point Cloud Completion
Authors: Hao Ruidong , Wei Zhonghui , He Xu , Zhu Kaifeng , Wang Jun , He Jiawei , Zhang Lei
Published: October 2022

The point cloud data from actual measurements are often sparse and incomplete, making it difficult to apply them directly to visual processing and 3D reconstruction. The point cloud completion task can predict missing parts based on a sparse and incomplete point cloud model. However, the disordered and unstructured characteristics of point clouds make it difficult for neural networks to obtain detailed spatial structures and topological relationships, resulting in a challenging point cloud completion task. Existing point cloud completion methods can only predict the rough geometry of the point cloud, but cannot accurately predict the local details. To address the shortcomings of existing point cloud complementation methods, this paper describes a novel network for adaptive point cloud growth, MAPGNet, which generates a sparse skeletal point cloud using the skeletal features in the composite encoder, and then adaptively grows the local point cloud in the spherical neighborhood of each point using the growth features to complement the details of the point cloud in two steps. In this paper, the Offset Transformer module is added in the process of complementation to enhance the contextual connection between point clouds. As a result, MAPGNet improves the quality of the generated point clouds and recovers more local detail information. Comparing our algorithm with other state-of-the-art algorithms in different datasets, experimental results show that our algorithm has advantages in dense point cloud completion.
Analysis of Long-Term Aerosol Optical Properties Combining AERONET Sunphotometer and Satellite-Based Observations in Hong Kong
Authors: Yu Xinyu , Nichol Janet , Lee Kwon Ho , Li Jing , Wong Man Sing
Published: October 2022

This study analyzes seasonal characteristics and long-term variations in aerosol optical parameters in Hong Kong from 2006 to 2021 using AERONET data and satellite-based observations based on the extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition (ESMD) model. The dominant aerosol types in Hong Kong are mixed aerosols and urban/industrial aerosols with fine-mode sizes, and slightly absorbing or non-absorbing properties. Aerosol optical depth (AOD), Angstrom exponent (AE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) varied seasonally with a lower AOD but higher AE and SSA in summer, and elevated AOD but lower AE and SSA in spring and winter. The long-term variations show the year 2012 to be a turning point, with an upward trend in AOD and AE before 2012 and then downwards after 2012. However, for SSA, a rising trend was exhibited in both pre- and post-2012 periods, but with a larger gradient in the first period. The ESMD analysis shows shorter-term, non-linear fluctuations in aerosol optical parameters, with alternating increasing and declining trends. The examination of the relationships between AOD and meteorological factors based on the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) method shows that the effects of weather conditions on AOD are complex and non-monotonic. A lower relative humidity, higher wind speed in southwest directions and lower temperature are beneficial to the abatement of aerosol loads in Hong Kong. In conclusion, the findings of this study enhance the understanding of aerosol properties and the interactions between aerosol loading and meteorological factors.
An Improved IoT-Based System for Detecting the Number of People and Their Distribution in a Classroom
Authors: Matuska Slavomir , Machaj Juraj , Hudec Robert , Kamencay Patrik
Published: October 2022

This paper presents an improved IoT-based system designed to help teachers handle lessons in the classroom in line with COVID-19 restrictions. The system counts the number of people in the classroom as well as their distribution within the classroom. The proposed IoT system consists of three parts: a Gate node, IoT nodes, and server. The Gate node, installed at the door, can provide information about the number of persons entering or leaving the room using door crossing detection. The Arduino-based module NodeMCU was used as an IoT node and sets of ultrasonic distance sensors were used to obtain information about seat occupancy. The system server runs locally on a Raspberry Pi and the teacher can connect to it using a web application from the computer in the classroom or a smartphone. The teacher is able to set up and change the settings of the system through its GUI. A simple algorithm was designed to check the distance between occupied seats and evaluate the accordance with imposed restrictions. This system can provide high privacy, unlike camera-based systems.
WiFi Indoor Location Based on Area Segmentation
Authors: Wang Yanchun , Gao Xin , Dai Xuefeng , Xia Ying , Hou Bingnan
Published: October 2022

Indoor positioning is the basic requirement of future positioning services, and high-precision, low-cost indoor positioning algorithms are the key technology to achieve this goal. Different from outdoor maps, indoor data has the characteristic of uneven distribution and close correlation. In areas with low data density, in order to achieve a high-precision positioning effect, the positioning time will be correspondingly longer, but this is not necessary. The instability of WiFi leads to the introduction of noise when collecting data, which reduces the overall performance of the positioning system, so denoising is very necessary. For the above problems, a positioning system using the DBSCAN algorithm to segment regions and realize regionalized positioning is proposed. DBSCAN algorithm not only divides the dataset into core points and edge points, but also divides part of the data into noise points to achieve the effect of denoising. In the core part, the dimensionality of the data is reduced by using stacking auto-encoders (SAE), and the localization task is accomplished by using a deep neural network (DNN) with an adaptive learning rate. At the edge points, the random forest (RF) algorithm is used to complete the localization task. Finally, the proposed architecture is verified on the UJIIndoorLoc dataset. The experimental results show that our positioning accuracy does not exceed 1.5 m with a probability of less than 87.2% at the edge point, and the time is only 32 ms; the positioning accuracy does not exceed 1.5 m with a probability of less than 98.8% at the core point. Compared with indoor positioning algorithms such as multi-layer perceptron and K Nearest Neighbors (KNN), good results have been achieved.
Measuring Protons with Photons: A Hand-Held, Spectrophotometric pH Analyzer for Ocean Acidification Research, Community Science and Education
Authors: Pardis William , Grabb Kalina C. , DeGrandpre Michael D. , Spaulding Reggie , Beck James , Pfeifer Jonathan A. , Long David M.
Published: October 2022

Ocean Acidification (OA) is negatively affecting the physiological processes of marine organisms, altering biogeochemical cycles, and changing chemical equilibria throughout the world’s oceans. It is difficult to measure pH broadly, in large part because accurate pH measurement technology is expensive, bulky, and requires technical training. Here, we present the development and evaluation of a hand-held, affordable, field-durable, and easy-to-use pH instrument, named the pHyter, which is controlled through a smartphone app. We determine the accuracy of pH measurements using the pHyter by comparison with benchtop spectrophotometric seawater pH measurements, measurement of a certified pH standard, and comparison with a proven in situ instrument, the iSAMI-pH. These results show a pHyter pH measurement accuracy of ±0.046 pH or better, which is on par with interlaboratory seawater pH measurement comparison experiments. We also demonstrate the pHyter’s ability to conduct both temporal and spatial studies of coastal ecosystems by presenting data from a coral reef and a bay, in which the pHyter was used from a kayak. These studies showcase the instrument’s portability, applicability, and potential to be used for community science, STEM education, and outreach, with the goal of empowering people around the world to measure pH in their own backyards.
Detecting Malware by Analyzing App Permissions on Android Platform: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Ehsan Adeel , Catal Cagatay , Mishra Alok
Published: October 2022

Smartphone adaptation in society has been progressing at a very high speed. Having the ability to run on a vast variety of devices, much of the user base possesses an Android phone. Its popularity and flexibility have played a major role in making it a target of different attacks via malware, causing loss to users, both financially and from a privacy perspective. Different malware and their variants are emerging every day, making it a huge challenge to come up with detection and preventive methodologies and tools. Research has spawned in various directions to yield effective malware detection mechanisms. Since malware can adopt different ways to attack and hide, accurate analysis is the key to detecting them. Like any usual mobile app, malware requires permission to take action and use device resources. There are 235 total permissions that the Android app can request on a device. Malware takes advantage of this to request unnecessary permissions, which would enable those to take malicious actions. Since permissions are critical, it is important and challenging to identify if an app is exploiting permissions and causing damage. The focus of this article is to analyze the identified studies that have been conducted with a focus on permission analysis for malware detection. With this perspective, a systematic literature review (SLR) has been produced. Several papers have been retrieved and selected for detailed analysis. Current challenges and different analyses were presented using the identified articles.
Fast Underwater Optical Beacon Finding and High Accuracy Visual Ranging Method Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Zhang Bo , Zhong Ping , Yang Fu , Zhou Tianhua , Shen Lingfei
Published: October 2022

Visual recognition and localization of underwater optical beacons is an important step in autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) docking. The main issues that restrict the use of underwater monocular vision range are the attenuation of light in water, the mirror image between the water surface and the light source, and the small size of the optical beacon. In this study, a fast monocular camera localization method for small 4-light beacons is proposed. A YOLO V5 (You Only Look Once) model with coordinated attention (CA) mechanisms is constructed. Compared with the original model and the model with convolutional block attention mechanisms (CBAM), and our model improves the prediction accuracy to 96.1% and the recall to 95.1%. A sub-pixel light source centroid localization method combining super-resolution generative adversarial networks (SRGAN) image enhancement and Zernike moments is proposed. The detection range of small optical beacons is increased from 7 m to 10 m. In the laboratory self-made pool and anechoic pool experiments, the average relative distance error of our method is 1.04 percent, and the average detection speed is 0.088 s (11.36 FPS). This study offers a solution for the long-distance fast and accurate positioning of underwater small optical beacons due to their fast recognition, accurate ranging, and wide detection range characteristics.
Method Development: The Antioxidant and Antifungal Activity of the Isolated Component from the Ethanolic Extract of Tecoma stans Leaves Using Flash Chromatography
Authors: Al-Azzawi Amad , Al Dibsawi Abdullah , Talath Sirajunisa , Wali Adil Farooq , Sarheed Omar
Published: October 2022

Tecoma stans is an ornamental perennial tropical and subtropical plant belonging to the Bignoniaceae family with green leaves and yellow attractive fragrance flowers and commonly known as yellow trumpetbush or yellow bells. The plant originated in the tropical areas of South America and Mexico and has been cultivated in many countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). T. stans has been found in different parts of the UAE such as Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai, where it can be seen in public parks, side roads, and home gardens. The Flash Chromatography System is used in different aspects of drug discovery studies because of its ability to purify secondary metabolites from crude plant extracts. A method was developed using the Flash Chromatography System to isolate three components from the ethanolic extract of T. stans leaves that showed in vitro antioxidant activity. In vitro evaluation of the antioxidant activity of the isolated components of T. stans was conducted using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl and 2, 2′-azinobis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid methods. Isolated components A-4, A-3, and A-2 had antioxidant activity when compared to ascorbic acid. Component A-3 showed antioxidant activity using the DPPH and ABTS methods; antifungal activities when tested against Candida albicans; and more than 80% inhibitions in the third dilution when compared to itraconazole and nystatin as positive controls. This rapid and efficient method using flash chromatography was used for the isolation and purification of an isolated component A-3 that showed both antioxidant and antifungal activities.
In the Opinion of Elite Volleyball Coaches, How Do Contextual Variables Influence Individual Volleyball Performance in Competitions?
Authors: López-Serrano Carlos , Moreno Arroyo María Perla , Mon-López Daniel , Molina Martín Juan José
Published: October 2022

The main objective was to know the elite coaches’ opinions regarding the relevance, definition, and importance of volleyball contextual variables to measure individual performance in competition. After performing a literature review, an instrument to gather the opinion of the world’s elite volleyball coaches was elaborated by four volleyball specialists. The sample of experts consisted in 20 world’s elite volleyball coaches who met at least three experience years in first division or national teams. The instrument collected experts’ information on the contextual variables in relation to relevance, definition, and importance. Cronbach’s α and Aiken’s V coefficient were used to test the reliability and content validity of the contextual variables, respectively. To compare the importance of the contextual variables U de Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used. Results showed that opposition level, set period, score difference, results of the previous set, competitive load variables, high level, final periods ≥20, and high load categories were relevant (Aikens V > 0.70). In addition, high level, final period ≥20 and ≥+10, and high load categories were significantly more important (p < 0.05). We conclude that, according to the elite coaches, the contextual variables should not be analyzed separately. Future studies should consider contextual variables dynamically.
Has the Inter-Regional Power Transmission Promoted Economic Development? A Quantitative Assessment in China
Authors: Yang Huaibo , Shi Chao , Li Jianbo , Liu Tianran , Li Youwei , Wang Yao , Yang Yueying
Published: October 2022

As one of the largest energy consumers in the world, China’s total electricity consumption has increased by 416.33% during the sample years of 2001 to 2019. In 2019, the top five provinces in terms of power use were all located on the eastern coast. They have contributed 38.39% of the total consumption, causing a power shortage of 594.5 billion kWh in the provinces, while the power generation in the central and western regions have far exceeded their electricity consumption. In order to alleviate the problem of the mismatch between the power resource centers and the load centers in China, ultra-high voltage (UHV) projects, as one of the most important projects in recent years, have bridged the resource gap between the regions and have improved the allocation efficiency of the power resources. Although the cross-provincial transmission of electricity opens the pathway for the consumption of resources, the causal effects of the project on the regions along the line have not been accurately analyzed. Firstly, by constructing a quasi-natural experiment, this paper uses county-level panel data during the period of 2000 to 2019 to analyze the economic benefits that are generated by the inter-regional power transmission project. Secondly, the pathways of the economic effects of UHV are also verified. Finally, this paper also analyzes the heterogeneous effect of power-resource-rich provinces in the construction of the project. Through the pathways of local enterprise dynamics, employment level, and industrial structure, the findings prove that cross-regional power transmission has significantly enhanced the economic growth of the related regions and has played an especially positive role for the power exporting provinces. This paper provides empirical evidence for the effect of optimal resource allocation and the infrastructure development of developing countries and supplies a policy reference for developing countries’ resource allocation optimization strategies.
Optimal Power Dispatch of DGs in Radial and Mesh AC Grids: A Hybrid Solution Methodology between the Salps Swarm Algorithm and Successive Approximation Power Flow Method
Authors: Rosales-Muñoz Andrés Alfonso , Montano Jhon , Grisales-Noreña Luis Fernando , Montoya Oscar Danilo , Andrade Fabio
Published: October 2022

In this paper, we address the problem of the optimal power dispatch of Distributed Generators (DGs) in Alternating Current (AC) networks, better known as the Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem. We used, as the objective function, the minimization of power losses (Ploss) associated with energy transport, which are subject to the set of constraints that compose AC networks in an environment of distributed generation. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in solving the OPF problem in any network topology, we employed one 10-node mesh test system and three radial text systems: 10, 33, and 69 nodes. In each test system, DGs were allowed to inject 20%, 40%, and 60% of the power supplied by the slack generator in the base case. To solve the OPF problem, we used a master–slave methodology that integrates the optimization method Salps Swarm Algorithm (SSA) and the load flow technique based on the Successive Approximation (SA) method. Moreover, for comparison purposes, we employed some of the algorithms reported in the specialized literature to solve the OPF problem (the continuous genetic algorithm, the particle swarm optimization algorithm, the black hole algorithm, the antlion optimization algorithm, and the Multi-Verse Optimizer algorithm), which were selected because of their excellent results in solving such problems. The results obtained by the proposed solution methodology demonstrate its superiority and convergence capacity in terms of minimization of Ploss in both radial and mesh systems. It provided the best reduction in minimum Ploss in short processing times and showed excellent repeatability in each test system and scenario under analysis.
Merchandising for Sustainable Fashion: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Wu Bo , Xie Xiufen , Ke Weicheng , Bao Huiying , Duan Zhilan , Jin Zhenyu , Dai Xiaoqun , Hong Yan
Published: October 2022

With the emergence of environmental pollution and the excessive waste of resources, the traditional development of the pure pursuit of economic growth has encountered challenges. More and more people are advocating for the concept of sustainable development, which makes sustainable merchandising an urgent necessity. Clothing brands should adhere to the brand sustainability concept and sustainable management in the merchandising process, which can truly improve the competitiveness of the brand. For this reason, a series of studies on sustainable merchandising strategies has been conducted by apparel companies and academia. The existing reviews on sustainability aspects focus on material, recycling, and life-cycle aspects. However, less attention has been paid to the sustainable merchandising aspects of apparel. Therefore, this paper presents a systematic literature review of this topic. We summarize the relevant research on sustainable merchandising from a merchandising perspective and systematically review the relevant theories and cases of sustainable merchandising for the relatively blank field of sustainable brand merchandising for apparel. We have achieved the purpose of integrating the analysis of factors influencing sustainable merchandising, and merchandising strategies. Additionally, on this basis, we discuss how brands can combine social responsibility with merchandising to develop and enjoy the profit space brought by merchandising while assuming and promoting their own brand responsibility. This literature review is based on journal articles, book chapters, and conference papers from the Web of Science (WOS) database and Google Scholar. Through an in-depth analysis of the existing literature, this paper provides an overview of the research topic, the sustainable merchandising of apparel, from a merchandising perspective and discusses the shortcomings of existing merchandising strategies. The findings reveal that there are drawbacks to the current apparel merchandising strategies such as low feasibility, ignoring the driving power of the market, weak consumer awareness, consumer culture, and lack of government intervention and support. This has resulted in the slow development of clothing brands in the sustainable merchandising market. The results of this study provide direction for the development of future sustainable merchandising strategies. It guides policymakers and practitioners to develop relevant strategies for sustainable merchandising in order to provide better market space for sustainable merchandising of apparel.
Connecting Social Enterprises and Sustainable Consumption: Systematic Review, Bibliometric Analysis, and Conceptual Framework
Authors: Salido-Andres Noelia , Garcia-Rodriguez Nuria , Cachero-Martinez Silvia
Published: October 2022

The purpose of this study is to explore the meeting point between social enterprises (SEs) and sustainable consumption, given the proven potential of these hybrid organizations in the achievement of sustainable development. Paradoxically, scholarly attention has been scarce to this field of research, particularly from the perspectives of SE products and (potential) customers. Aiming to shed some light, a systematic literature review was conducted, resulting in 24 scientific publications descriptively and thematically explored based on a bibliometric analysis. The findings show that the link between SEs and sustainable consumption is very recent and that empirical articles using quantitative methodologies prevail focused on the analysis of capabilities and performances of SEs aiming to positively influence customers’ response. Nevertheless, the attention to the identification of product attributes and the individual determinants effective enough to press the buy button is still limited. In response to this shortcoming, the originality of this study consists of assembling the findings in this regard into an integrated conceptual framework that paves the way for future analysis in this field of study.
Simulation of Land Use and Carbon Storage Evolution in Multi-Scenario: A Case Study in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration, China
Authors: Guo Wei , Teng Yongjia , Yan Yueguan , Zhao Chuanwu , Zhang Wanqiu , Ji Xianglin
Published: October 2022

In considering regional sustainable development, optimizing the distribution of land use and land cover (LULC) and improving terrestrial ecosystem carbon storage (CS) have emerged as major concerns. In this study, considering the synergistic effect between LULC and CS, a coupling model (named MPI) that integrates Multi-objective Optimization (MOP) model, the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model, and the Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, was proposed to simulate the 2030 CS and explore its spatial-temporal characteristics in a Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH). The MPI model, which combines the advantages of the above three models, can optimize the LULC structure, simulate the LULC distribution, and efficiently extract CS variation. The results indicated that: (1) LULC changes in BTH were mostly represented in transfers between cropland, forest, and grassland; (2) three different scenarios were simulated using the MPI model, named BAU (Business as usual), EDP (Ecological development priority), and EEB (Ecological and economic balanced). The simulation results of the three scenarios are in line with their respective goals, and the results are quite different; (3) cropland, water, and bare land, will be reduced, and the constant shrinking of water is a pressing issue that must be addressed; and (4) the EEB scenario balanced ecological services and economic rewards, increased the ecosystem carbon sink function, and is an efficient way to investigate “carbon neutrality”. The application of the MPI model is of reference value for exploring the optimal configuration of land resources.
Understanding Sustenance of Small Farm Holders: A Study of Income Inequality among Farm Households in Indian Punjab
Authors: Saini Rohit , Kaur Manjeet , Singh Randeep , Arora Kashish , Singh Gurlal , Kaur Gurleen , Singh Sukhdeep , Singh Arshdeep , Singh Dalbeer
Published: October 2022

The sustenance of marginal and small farm households is a pertinent question given that their number is on the rise in South-Asia. The study aims to assess their present socio-economic profile and the challenges faced in order to draw a roadmap of development for these underprivileged households. The study pertains to Indian Punjab and data from the Situation Assessment Survey of the 70th Round of NSSO are used. The concepts of economic surplus, occupational diversity, farm productivity and vertical and horizontal inequalities are used to achieve the objectives. This study reveals that marginal farm households faced food insecurity as they failed to meet consumption expenditure from the income earned. In fact, small farm households are left with an annual economic surplus of Rs 8890 per capita only, after meeting consumption needs. Income is unevenly distributed among farm households with a Gini coefficient of 0.48. The majority of the marginal and small farm households fall in lower-income quintiles and are occupationally more diversified than their larger counterparts. Horizontal inequalities are lower between the farm-size categories (0.14) than within farm-size categories (0.27). The Gini coefficient within each farm-size category is the highest among marginal farm households (0.50), followed by small farm households (0.45), highlighting their economic stress and tug-of-war survival. Further, the farm households belonging to socially lower castes falls only in the marginal farm-size category and represent the lowest income. Development must be sustainable and inclusive, hence, policies to develop marginal farmers’ centric farming systems and high value crops such as potato, cotton, sugarcane and oilseeds, providing high yielding livestock breeds, value addition through farmer-producer organizations, non-farm employment through MGNREGA, provision of institutional credit at subsidised rate of interest and quality health and education facilities in the public sector are recommended to uplift the affected households.
Incidence of Heavy Metals in the Application of Fertilizers to Crops (Wheat and Rice), a Fish (Common carp) Pond and a Human Health Risk Assessment
Authors: Naz Saira , Fazio Francesco , Habib Syed Sikandar , Nawaz Ghazala , Attaullah Sobia , Ullah Mujeeb , Hayat Adil , Ahmed Imtiaz
Published: October 2022

Though manure has been used for centuries to enhance soil fertility and final agricultural yield, the overuse of fertilizers on the land can cause serious pollution issues, such as heavy metals and eutrophication, that can further lead to health problems. The current study aimed to assess the heavy metals in the most consumed crops (wheat and rice) and fish (common carp) and their risk to human health. Results revealed that there was an irregular trend of heavy metals in different sites of the study area; however, the general trend that was observed during the current research work was Pb>Cr>Cd>Mn in soil samples and crops, while in the case of fish muscle, the trend was Cr>Pb>Cd>Mn. Furthermore, after health index analysis, it was revealed that in some of the sites, the hazard index (HI) was above 1. Principal component analysis suggests a strong positive correlation of the heavy metals from the soil and water to the crops and fish muscles, respectively. Cd was highly bioaccumulated in the crops and fish muscles from different sites. There was an unusual increase in the metal concentration in the samples from the Sargodha. This result suggests a rapid increase in the metal concentration within the agricultural land and its products that can put human health at risk of developing multiple diseases related to the heavy metals, as indicated by the HI values. It is highly recommended that fertilizers should be used carefully so that human populations and animals can safely consume heavy-metal-free food.
Interpretable Success Prediction in Higher Education Institutions Using Pedagogical Surveys
Authors: Leal Fátima , Veloso Bruno , Pereira Carla Santos , Moreira Fernando , Durão Natércia , Silva Natacha Jesus
Published: October 2022

The indicators of student success at higher education institutions are continuously analysed to increase the students’ enrolment in multiple scientific areas. Every semester, the students respond to a pedagogical survey that aims to collect the student opinion of curricular units in terms of content and teaching methodologies. Using this information, we intend to anticipate the success in higher-level courses and prevent dropouts. Specifically, this paper contributes with an interpretable student classification method. The proposed solution relies on (i) a pedagogical survey to collect student’s opinions; (ii) a statistical data analysis to validate the reliability of the survey; and (iii) machine learning algorithms to classify the success of a student. In addition, the proposed method includes an explainable mechanism to interpret the classifications and their main factors. This transparent pipeline was designed to have implications in both digital and sustainable education, impacting the three pillars of sustainability, i.e.,economic, social, and environmental, where transparency is a cornerstone. The work was assessed with a dataset from a Portuguese higher-level institution, contemplating multiple courses from different departments. The most promising results were achieved with Random Forest presenting 98% in accuracy and F-measure.
Disentangling Relevance from Reliability in Value Relevance Tests
Authors: Shust Efrat , Weiss Dan
Published: October 2022

The literature shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the value relevance of earnings decreased. Traditionally, the literature measures value relevance using the relationship between stock returns and earnings. However, these tests are, in fact, “joint tests of relevance and reliability”. This caveat can distort the measurement of relevance, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic where the exceptional level of uncertainty could have affected relevance and reliability to different extents. This study disentangles reliability and relevance by extending the value relevance test. We use this extended test to examine firm categories in two dimensions: profits versus losses and intensive versus scarce use of accounting estimates. The results show that reliability and relevance are complementary when both are sufficiently high, but reliability has no significant impact on the usefulness of earnings when relevance is weak.