bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of Different Land Use Patterns on Soil Water in Loess Hilly and Gully Regions of China
Authors: Tang Min , Zhang Chao , Gao Xiaodong , Wu Pute
Published: December 2022

Soil water is a major barrier to ecological restoration and sustainable land use in China’s Loess Hilly Region. For the restoration of local vegetation and the optimal use of the region’s land resources, both theoretically and practically, it is essential to comprehend the soil water regimes under various land use types. The soil water content in the 0–160 cm soil profile of slope cropland, terraced field, jujube orchard, and grassland was continuously measured using EC-5 soil moisture sensors during the growing season (May–October) in the Yuanzegou catchment in the Loess Hilly Region to characterize the changes in soil water in these four typical land use types. The results showed that in both years of normal precipitation and drought, land use patterns varied in seasonal variability, water storage characteristics, and vertical distribution of soil water. In the dry year of 2015, the terraced field effectively held water. During the growing season, the 0–60 cm soil layer’s average soil water content was 2.6%, 4.2%, and 1.8% higher than the slope cropland, jujube orchard, and grassland, respectively (p < 0.05), and the 0–160 cm soil layer’s water storage was 43.90, 32.08, and 18.69 mm higher than the slope cropland, jujube orchard, and grassland, respectively. The average soil water content of the 0–60 cm soil layer in the jujube orchard was 2.9%, 3.8%, and 4.5% lower than that of slope cropland, terraced field, and grassland, respectively, during the normal precipitation year (2014) (p < 0.05). Only 35.0% of the total soil water storage was effectively stored in the 0–160 cm soil layer of the jujube orchard during the drought year. There was a significant difference in the grey relational grade between the soil water in the top layer (0–20 cm) and the soil water in the middle layer (20–100 cm) under different land use types, with the terraced field having the highest similarity degree of soil water variation trend, followed by grassland, slope cropland, and jujube orchard. Slope croplands in the study region may be converted into terraced fields to enhance the effective use of rainfall resources and encourage the expansion of ecological agriculture. Proper water management practices must be employed to reduce jujube tree water consumption and other wasteful water usage in order to guarantee the jujube orchard’s ability to expand sustainably. This would address the issue of the acute water deficit in the rain-fed jujube orchards in the Loess Hilly Region.
An In-Depth Study of Metabolite Profile and Biological Potential of Tanacetum balsamita L. (Costmary)
Authors: Gevrenova Reneta , Zengin Gokhan , Sinan Kouadio Ibrahime , Zheleva-Dimitrova Dimitrina , Balabanova Vessela , Kolmayer Maxime , Voynikov Yulian , Joubert Olivier
Published: December 2022

Asteraceae species Tanacetum balsamita L. (costmary) is renowned for its traditional usage as an aromatic, carminative and tonic plant. This work aimed at in-depth study of the phytochemical and in vitro biological profilings of methanol–aqueous extracts from the costmary leaves, flower heads and roots. An UHPLC-HRMS analysis revealed more than 100 secondary metabolites including 24 acylquinic acids, 43 flavonoid glycosides, aglycones and methoxylated derivatives together with 15 phenolic acids glycosides. For the first time, 91 compounds are reported in the costmary. The flower heads extract possessing the highest content of total phenolics and flavonoids, actively scavenged DPPH (84.54 ± 3.35 mgTE/g) and ABTS radicals (96.35 ± 2.22 mgTE/g), and showed the highest reducing potential (151.20 and 93.22 mg TE/g for CUPRAC and FRAP, respectively). The leaves extract exhibited the highest inhibition towards acetyl- and butyrylcholinesterase (2.11 and 2.43 mg GALAE/g, respectively) and tyrosinase (54.65 mg KAE/g). The root extract inhibited α-glucosidase (0.71 ± 0.07 mmol ACAE/g), α-amylase (0.43 ± 0.02 mmol ACAE/g) and lipase (8.15 ± 1.00 mg OE/g). At a concentration >2 µg/mL, a significant dose dependent reduction of cell viability towards THP-1 monocyte leukemic cells was observed. Costmary could be recommended for raw material production with antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory properties.
Morphological and Genetic Diversity of Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) Fruit Development
Authors: Grumet Rebecca , Lin Ying-Chen , Rett-Cadman Stephanie , Malik Ajaz
Published: December 2022

Cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) fruits, which are eaten at an immature stage of development, can vary extensively in morphological features such as size, shape, waxiness, spines, warts, and flesh thickness. Different types of cucumbers that vary in these morphological traits are preferred throughout the world. Numerous studies in recent years have added greatly to our understanding of cucumber fruit development and have identified a variety of genetic factors leading to extensive diversity. Candidate genes influencing floral organ establishment, cell division and cell cycle regulation, hormone biosynthesis and response, sugar transport, trichome development, and cutin, wax, and pigment biosynthesis have all been identified as factors influencing cucumber fruit morphology. The identified genes demonstrate complex interplay between structural genes, transcription factors, and hormone signaling. Identification of genetic factors controlling these traits will facilitate breeding for desired characteristics to increase productivity, improve shipping, handling, and storage traits, and enhance consumer-desired qualities. The following review examines our current understanding of developmental and genetic factors driving diversity of cucumber fruit morphology.
Nocellara Del Belice (Olea europaea L. Cultivar): Leaf Extract Concentrated in Phenolic Compounds and Its Anti-Inflammatory and Radical Scavenging Activity
Authors: Musolino Vincenzo , Macrì Roberta , Cardamone Antonio , Serra Maria , Coppoletta Anna Rita , Tucci Luigi , Maiuolo Jessica , Lupia Carmine , Scarano Federica , Carresi Cristina , Nucera Saverio , Bava Irene , Marrelli Mariangela , Palma Ernesto , Gliozzi Micaela , Mollace Vincenzo
Published: December 2022

Olea europaea L. is a plant belonging to the Oleaceae family, widely grown around the Mediterranean Basin and its leaves are a source of phenolic compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capacity. Among these, oleuropein and luteolin-7-O-glucoside represent two major polyphenolic compounds in olive-leaf extract. Herein, a polystyrene resin was used to recover the polyphenolic fraction from the acetone-water leaf extract from Nocellara del Belice cultivar, which showed the higher level of analysed bioactive compounds, compared to Carolea cultivar. The antioxidant activity of the extract concentrated in phenolic compounds (OLECp) was evaluated through a classical assay and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) for DPPH and hydroxyl radicals scavenging. Thus, the anti-inflammatory activity and the potential beneficial effects in reducing lipid accumulation in an in vitro model of NAFLD using McA-RH7777 cells exposed to oleic acid (OA) were evaluated. Nile Red and Oil Red O have been used to stain the lipid accumulation, while the inflammatory status was assessed by Cytokines Bioplex Assay. OLECp (TPC: 92.93 ± 9.35 mg GAE/g, TFC: 728.12 ± 16.04 mg RE/g; 1 g of extract contains 315.250 mg of oleuropein and 17.44 mg of luteolin-7-O-glucoside) exerted a good radical scavenging capability (IC50: 2.30 ± 0.18 mg/mL) with a neutralizing power against DPPH and hydroxyl radicals, as confirmed by the decreased signal area of the EPR spectra. Moreover, OLECp at concentration of 25, 50 and 100 μg/mL counteracted the intracellular inflammatory status, as result of decreased intracellular lipid content. Our results highlighted the multiple properties and applications of an O. europaea extract concentrated in polyphenols, and the possibility to formulate novel nutraceuticals with antioxidant properties, destined to ameliorate human health.
Review: The Calibration of DEM Parameters for the Bulk Modelling of Cohesive Materials
Authors: Coetzee Corné J. , Scheffler Otto C.
Published: December 2022

Granular materials are abundant in nature, and in most industries, either the initial constituents or final products are in granular form during a production or processing stage. Industrial processes and equipment for the handling of bulk solids can only be improved if we can understand, model and predict the material behaviour. The discrete element method (DEM) is a numerical tool well-suited for this purpose and has been used by researchers and engineers to analyse various industrial applications and processes. However, before any bulk scale modelling can be undertaken, the input parameters must be carefully calibrated to obtain accurate results. The calibration of parameter values for non-cohesive materials has reached a level of maturity; however, the calibration of cohesive materials requires more research. This paper details the most prevalent contact models used to model cohesive materials—presented in a consistent notation. Moreover, the significant differences between the models are highlighted to provide a reference for engineers and researchers to select the most appropriate model for a specific application. Finally, a critical review of calibration experiments and methodologies often used for cohesive materials is also presented. This provides a solid basis for DEM practitioners to select the most appropriate calibration methodology for their application and for researchers to extend the current state-of-the-art practices.
Our Environment: Everything Is Natural on Earth, but … Editorial Piece on Current and Future Soil and Environmental Research
Authors: Delgado Avelino Núñez
Published: December 2022

When finishing the Topical Issue “New Research on Detection and Removal of Emerging Pollutants”, some reflections came to my mind, which I include in the piece below [...]
Project Management for Cloud Compute and Storage Deployment: B2B Model
Authors: Tanwar Jaswinder , Kumar Tajinder , Mohamed Ahmed A. , Sharma Purushottam , Lalar Sachin , Keshta Ismail , Garg Vishal
Published: December 2022

This paper explains the project’s objectives, identifies the key stakeholders, defines the project manager’s authority and provides a preliminary breakdown of roles and responsibilities. For the project’s future, it acts as a source of authority. This paper’s objective is to record the justifications for starting the project, its goals, limitations, solution instructions and the names of the principal stakeholders. This manuscript is meant to be used as a “Project Management Plan Light” for small and medium-sized projects when it would be uneconomical to prepare an entire collection of documents that make up a project management plan. A global media cloud will be provided and managed by the ABC cloud company inside of a consumer’s current premises. In this paper, the authors explain the end-to-end delivery of cloud and compute services. The article mainly focuses on the delivery of virtual machines (VMs), graphics processing unit (GPUs), cloud storage, transcoding, packaging, 24/7 customer support and billing modules for the services used by end customers. The process starts with customer requirements gathering to initiate the feasibility check for the services desired or required by the clients. Pre-sale solution engineers capture all the customer requirements in the solution design document to review with the engineering and delivery team for the implementation. Based on the solution design document, the solution engineer needs to raise the system’s feasibility for the local loops, cross connects, VMs, GPUs, storage, transcoders and packagers required to meet the end customer expectations on the service delivery. The solution engineer must sign-off on the solution design document agreed with end customer from the engineering and technical team. The program manager and technical team review the solution design document and confirm the order ID requirement in the system for the sales team to share with the order entry team to log the orders for a signed customer order form (COF). The program manager will initiate the service delivery for these order IDs logged in to the system for these services. Once services are ready for customer delivery, a technical team will share the customer portal with the end customer and provide training to the teams at the customer end use the required resources for cloud, compute and storage uses. Along with the services mentioned above, customers can access the usage and billing information in the customer portal. Moreover, the program manager is to share the project closure document, including the information about the services, reference IDs to log the trouble ticket with the supplier’s 24/7 support team and billing start date for customer acceptance.
Effect of a Moving Mirror on the Free Fall of a Quantum Particle in a Homogeneous Gravitational Field
Authors: Allam Jawad , Matzkin Alex
Published: December 2022

We investigate the effect of time-dependent boundary conditions on the dynamics of a quantum bouncer—a particle falling in a homogeneous gravitational field on a moving mirror. We examine more particularly the way a moving mirror modifies the properties of the entire wavefunction of a falling particle. We find that some effects, such as the fact that a quantum particle hitting a moving mirror may bounce significantly higher than when the mirror is fixed, are in line with classical intuition. Other effects, such as the change in relative phases or in the current density in spatial regions arbitrarily far from the mirror are specifically quantum. We further discuss how the effects produced by a moving mirror could be observed in link with current experiments, in particular with cold neutrons.
Negative Theology and Desire in Spiritual Transformation According to John of the Cross
Authors: Howells Edward William
Published: December 2022

Desire is central to John of the Cross’ treatment of the mystical ascent to God. He holds that God is desire and that there is a meeting between human and divine desire in the state of union with God, which is the goal. But it is less clear how this desire is to be understood against John’s programmatic negation of desire on the spiritual journey in both its sensory and spiritual forms, according to his negative theology. He regards the lack of satisfaction of desire, which he expresses in terms of darkness and emptiness, as the main manifestation of desire in the process of spiritual transformation. The question arises as to where he locates the meeting between human desire and divine desire, when they seem to be only opposed to one another. The answer lies in the gradual uncovering, through this process, of what is happening beneath the presenting experience of desire, in the human soul’s constitution as the subject. Desire is transformed, but in a way that can be affirmed only at the level of this transformation of the subject. This article examines how John of the Cross understands the relationship between desire and negative theology.
Methodology for Economic Analysis of Highly Uncertain Innovative Projects of Improbability Type
Authors: Babkin Aleksandr , Kvasha Nadezhda , Demidenko Daniil , Malevskaia-Malevich Ekaterina , Voroshin Evgeny
Published: December 2022

Modern conditions for real investment are generally associated with increasing uncertainty, which is even more relevant when evaluating innovative projects. Current innovation analysis methods using a linear model are outdated. At the same time, an open interactive model of the innovation process, formed due to digitalization, allows to connect to innovations at almost any stage of their life cycle. The aim of the study is to form a methodology for the economic analysis of innovative projects implemented in the context of an open innovation model. To achieve the goal, the study defines approaches to innovation projects differentiation. The approach to the analysis methods selection is based on the decision matrix. The developed decision matrix allows to determine the location of each project as its element and to select analysis methods, considering the project’s uncertainty characteristics. The logic of the analysis methods transformation under the influence of a changing uncertainty level determines the combination of the fuzzy-set approach and the concept of real options. The implementation of the project analysis algorithm leads to the choice of an appropriate method for evaluating effectiveness and ensures that the flexible risk response concept under conditions of improbable uncertainty is taken into account when implementing the option model.
How Many Reindeer? UAV Surveys as an Alternative to Helicopter or Ground Surveys for Estimating Population Abundance in Open Landscapes
Authors: Paulsen Ingrid Marie Garfelt , Pedersen Åshild Ønvik , Hann Richard , Blanchet Marie-Anne , Eischeid Isabell , van Hazendonk Charlotte , Ravolainen Virve Tuulia , Stien Audun , Le Moullec Mathilde
Published: December 2022

Conservation of wildlife depends on precise and unbiased knowledge on the abundance and distribution of species. It is challenging to choose appropriate methods to obtain a sufficiently high detectability and spatial coverage matching the species characteristics and spatiotemporal use of the landscape. In remote regions, such as in the Arctic, monitoring efforts are often resource-intensive and there is a need for cheap and precise alternative methods. Here, we compare an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV; quadcopter) pilot survey of the non-gregarious Svalbard reindeer to traditional population abundance surveys from ground and helicopter to investigate whether UAVs can be an efficient alternative technology. We found that the UAV survey underestimated reindeer abundance compared to the traditional abundance surveys when used at management relevant spatial scales. Observer variation in reindeer detection on UAV imagery was influenced by the RGB greenness index and mean blue channel. In future studies, we suggest testing long-range fixed-wing UAVs to increase the sample size of reindeer and area coverage and incorporate detection probability in animal density models from UAV imagery. In addition, we encourage focus on more efficient post-processing techniques, including automatic animal object identification with machine learning and analytical methods that account for uncertainties.
Remote Sensing for Water Resources and Environmental Management
Authors: Dube Timothy , Shekede Munyaradzi D. , Massari Christian
Published: December 2022

In line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, the main goal of the Special Issue on “Remote sensing for water resources and environmental management” was to solicit papers from a diverse range of scientists around the world on the use of cutting-edge remote sensing technologies to assess and monitor freshwater quality, quantity, availability, and management to ensure water security. Special consideration was given to scientific manuscripts that covered, but were not limited to, the development of geospatial techniques and remote sensing applications for detecting, quantifying, and monitoring freshwater water resources, identifying potential threats to water resources and agriculture, as well as other themes related to water resources and environmental management at various spatial scales. The Special Issue attracted over thirteen peer-reviewed scientific articles, with the majority of manuscripts originating from China. Most of the studies made use of satellite datasets, ranging from coarse spatial resolution data, such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) and GRACE Follow-On (GRACE-FO), to medium spatial resolution data, such as the Landsat series, ERA5, Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Application Land version 2 reanalysis product (MERRA2), CLSM and NOAH ET, and MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer). Google Earth Engine (GEE) data, together with big data processing techniques, such as the remote sensing-based energy balance model (ALEXI/DisALEXI approach) and the STARFM data fusion technique, were used for analyzing geospatial datasets. Overall, this Special Issue demonstrated significant knowledge gaps in various big data image processing techniques and improved computing processes in assessing and monitoring water resources and the environment at various spatial and temporal scales.
ULAN: A Universal Local Adversarial Network for SAR Target Recognition Based on Layer-Wise Relevance Propagation
Authors: Du Meng , Bi Daping , Du Mingyang , Xu Xinsong , Wu Zilong
Published: December 2022

Recent studies have proven that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR) models based on deep neural networks (DNN) are vulnerable to adversarial examples. However, existing attacks easily fail in the case where adversarial perturbations cannot be fully fed to victim models. We call this situation perturbation offset. Moreover, since background clutter takes up most of the area in SAR images and has low relevance to recognition results, fooling models with global perturbations is quite inefficient. This paper proposes a semi-white-box attack network called Universal Local Adversarial Network (ULAN) to generate universal adversarial perturbations (UAP) for the target regions of SAR images. In the proposed method, we calculate the model’s attention heatmaps through layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP), which is used to locate the target regions of SAR images that have high relevance to recognition results. In particular, we utilize a generator based on U-Net to learn the mapping from noise to UAPs and craft adversarial examples by adding the generated local perturbations to target regions. Experiments indicate that the proposed method effectively prevents perturbation offset and achieves comparable attack performance to conventional global UAPs by perturbing only a quarter or less of SAR image areas.
The Impact of Physical Motion Cues on Driver Braking Performance: A Clinical Study Using Driving Simulator and Eye Tracker
Authors: El Hamdani Sara , Bouchner Petr , Kunclova Tereza , Lehet David
Published: December 2022

Driving simulators are increasingly being incorporated by driving schools into a training process for a variety of vehicles. The motion platform is a major component integrated into simulators to enhance the sense of presence and fidelity of the driving simulator. However, less effort has been devoted to assessing the motion cues feedback on trainee performance in simulators. To address this gap, we thoroughly study the impact of motion cues on braking at a target point as an elementary behavior that reflects the overall driver’s performance. In this paper, we use an eye-tracking device to evaluate driver behavior in addition to evaluating data from a driving simulator and considering participants’ feedback. Furthermore, we compare the effect of different motion levels (“No motion”, “Mild motion”, and “Full motion”) in two road scenarios: with and without the pre-braking warning signs with the speed feedback given by the speedometer. The results showed that a full level of motion cues had a positive effect on braking smoothness and gaze fixation on the track. In particular, the presence of full motion cues helped the participants to gradually decelerate from 5 to 0 ms−1 in the last 240 m before the stop line in both scenarios, without and with warning signs, compared to the hardest braking from 25 to 0 ms−1 produced under the no motion cues conditions. Moreover, the results showed that a combination of the mild motion conditions and warning signs led to an underestimation of the actual speed and a greater fixation of the gaze on the speedometer. Questionnaire data revealed that 95% of the participants did not suffer from motion sickness symptoms, yet participants’ preferences did not indicate that they were aware of the impact of simulator conditions on their driving behavior.
Enabling Remote Responder Bio-Signal Monitoring in a Cooperative Human–Robot Architecture for Search and Rescue
Authors: Vera-Ortega Pablo , Vázquez-Martín Ricardo , Fernandez-Lozano J. J. , García-Cerezo Alfonso , Mandow Anthony
Published: December 2022

The roles of emergency responders are challenging and often physically demanding, so it is essential that their duties are performed safely and effectively. In this article, we address real-time bio-signal sensor monitoring for responders in disaster scenarios. In particular, we propose the integration of a set of health monitoring sensors suitable for detecting stress, anxiety and physical fatigue in an Internet of Cooperative Agents architecture for search and rescue (SAR) missions (SAR-IoCA), which allows remote control and communication between human and robotic agents and the mission control center. With this purpose, we performed proof-of-concept experiments with a bio-signal sensor suite worn by firefighters in two high-fidelity SAR exercises. Moreover, we conducted a survey, distributed to end-users through the Fire Brigade consortium of the Provincial Council of Málaga, in order to analyze the firefighters’ opinion about biological signals monitoring while on duty. As a result of this methodology, we propose a wearable sensor suite design with the aim of providing some easy-to-wear integrated-sensor garments, which are suitable for emergency worker activity. The article offers discussion of user acceptance, performance results and learned lessons.
Using Wearable Sensors to Estimate Mechanical Power Output in Cyclical Sports Other than Cycling—A Review
Authors: de Vette Vera G. , Veeger DirkJan (H. E. J.) , van Dijk Marit P.
Published: December 2022

More insight into in-field mechanical power in cyclical sports is useful for coaches, sport scientists, and athletes for various reasons. To estimate in-field mechanical power, the use of wearable sensors can be a convenient solution. However, as many model options and approaches for mechanical power estimation using wearable sensors exist, and the optimal combination differs between sports and depends on the intended aim, determining the best setup for a given sport can be challenging. This review aims to provide an overview and discussion of the present methods to estimate in-field mechanical power in different cyclical sports. Overall, in-field mechanical power estimation can be complex, such that methods are often simplified to improve feasibility. For example, for some sports, power meters exist that use the main propulsive force for mechanical power estimation. Another non-invasive method usable for in-field mechanical power estimation is the use of inertial measurement units (IMUs). These wearable sensors can either be used as stand-alone approach or in combination with force sensors. However, every method has consequences for interpretation of power values. Based on the findings of this review, recommendations for mechanical power measurement and interpretation in kayaking, rowing, wheelchair propulsion, speed skating, and cross-country skiing are done.
A Natural Monoterpene Enol for Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction Based on Solidification of Floating Organic Droplets for Determination of Benzophenone Compounds in Water Samples
Authors: Zhang Xian , Zhang Luyun , Zheng Dan , Xia Zhenzhen , Peng Maomin , Sun Danling , Hu Xizhou , Peng Xitian
Published: December 2022

In the current study, an effective and simple procedure of extraction for the four benzophenone compounds from water samples was achieved by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) based on the solidification of floating organic droplets (SFO) with a natural monoterpene enol as the extractant. As a natural, high solidification point, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly hydrophobic solvent, α−terpineol was selected firstly as an extractant for DLLME and could be collected and transferred easily after extraction by solidification at a lower temperature. Several main parameters closely related to extraction efficiencies, such as volume of extractant, extraction time, pH and salt concentration of the sample solution, temperature, and time of the solidification process, were investigated in detail. The results showed that the established method had good extraction performance for benzophenone compounds with enrichment factors in the range of 29–47. Furthermore, the linearities were over the range of 2–2000 µg/L, and the limits of detection were 0.12–0.53 µg/L for four benzophenone compounds. The recoveries ranged from 80.2% to 108.4%, with RSDs (intra- and inter-assay) less than 8.5%. At last, the method applicability was investigated by the determination of the benzophenone compounds in aqueous solutions, and satisfactory recoveries (83.0–107.0%) were acquired. Taken together, α−terpineol, a natural monoterpene enol, was first used as an extractant of DLLME-SFO, which provided an alternative method with simplicity and rapidity for the determination of benzophenone compounds in aqueous samples.
Intra and Inter-Rater Reliability of a Novel Isometric Test of Neck Strength
Authors: McBride Lesley , James Rob S. , Alsop Siân , Oxford Samuel W.
Published: December 2022

There is no single, universally accepted method of measuring isometric neck strength to inform exercise prescription and injury risk prediction. This study aimed to establish the inter- and intra-rater reliability of a commercially available fixed frame dynamometer in measuring peak isometric neck strength. A convenience sample of male (n = 16) and female (n = 20) university students performed maximal isometric contractions for flexion (Flex), extension (Ext), left- (LSF) and right-side flexion (RSF) in a quadruped position over three sessions. The intra-rater reliability results were good-to-excellent for both males (ICC = 0.83–0.90) and females (ICC = 0.86–0.94) and acceptable (CV < 15%) across all directions for both males and females. The inter-rater reliability results were excellent (ICC = 0.96–0.97) and acceptable (CV < 11.1%) across all directions. Findings demonstrated a significant effect for sex (p ≤ 0.05): males were stronger in all four directions, and a significant effect for direction (p ≤ 0.05): Ext tested stronger (193 N) than Flex (176 N), LSF (130 N) and RSF (125 N). The findings show that the VALD fixed frame dynamometer can reliably assess isometric neck strength and can provides reference values for healthy males and females.
The Pharmacological Class Alpha 2 Agonists for Stress Control in Patients with Respiratory Failure: The Main Actor in the Different Acts
Authors: Recchia Andreaserena , Tonti Maria Pia , Mirabella Lucia , Izzi Antonio , Del Gaudio Alfredo
Published: December 2022

The role of sedation in patients with acute respiratory failure in the intensive care unit is crucial for improving the adaptation to mechanical ventilation, avoiding lung injury, and reducing stress related to the over-stimulated sympathetic tone. The drug class alpha 2 agonists, alone or in synergic association, can help the clinician achieve these goals. Understanding the principles of pharmacology and applying them to the alpha 2 agonists, clonidine and dexmedetomidine, can lead to different pharmaceutical choices to adapt various sedative approaches to the different stages of acute respiratory failure. A scheme is proposed using these two drugs as a pharmacological continuation for an early weaning and recovery from the intensive care unit.
Design and Implementation of a MHz Frequency Transformer with a Ferromagnetic Fluid Core
Authors: Kurt Erol , Hatem Sude
Published: December 2022

Design and optimization of a magnetic fluid cored transformer are studied for high frequency applications. An easy and cheap fluid core is designed and used to decrease the eddy current and loses, thereby low conducting and paramagnetic features are added. The core exhibits both fluid and solid characteristics exerting high frequency modes in the fluid and low current due to the iron powder inside. The finite element analysis simulations are performed via COMSOL Multi-physics package for different mass fractions of iron powder. The maximum peak-to-peak voltage and power are found as 526 mV and 188.8 mW at 12 MHz from the simulations. 3D patterns prove that the magnetic flux and magnetization exhibit turbulence in the core, thereby localized magnetic values indicate an arbitrary attitude for various frequencies. Optimum mass fraction is found as 0.7, which is parallel with experimental results. The transformer operates between 11 MHz and 13.5 MHz optimally.
Design Thinking Approach for Increasing Innovative Action in Universities: ICT’s Mediating Effect
Authors: Velu Shubashini Rathina
Published: December 2022

Introduction: The spread of the COVID-19 virus and the supremacy of digital technologies have amplified global market volatility in all industries. This circumstance will have a lasting impact on students’ employability, so the education sector, particularly universities, should refocus its learning objectives. Design thinking (DT) is a collaborative and resourceful approach to problem-solving in which the demands of end-users and content creators take precedence. Objectives: In this study, the author seeks to comprehend how design thinking procedures in higher learning institutions inspire innovative behavior among undergraduate students. In light of the extensive literature regarding the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in terms of innovative actions, this study integrates two theoretical foundations (i.e., activity theory to mediate the nature of human activity and how its internalization affects mental development) and constructive learning theory to enhance students’ innovative action. Methods: The data for this quantitative investigation were acquired using an online survey. A total of 300 questionnaires were delivered to undergraduate university students in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, of whom 208 responded. SmartPLS was utilized to analyze the data. The methodology proposed in this study aims to cultivate in university undergraduate students the sensibility and techniques of designers that are compatible with technological feasible innovative action. Results: This study addresses technology-assisted education in the context of Saudi Arabia. Students’ innovative learning experiences are characterized by autonomy and are supported by design thinking processes mediated by information and communication technology (ICT). On the basis of the findings of this study, the role of empathy and prototype in the DT process appears to be crucial to innovativeness, whereas the roles of define and ideate are detrimental to innovativeness. It has also been determined that ICT indirectly promotes innovative student behavior. Conclusions: Students valued the incorporation of design thinking and ICT in the creation of inventive action to foster creativity in problem-solving skills throughout the digital acceleration. To evaluate the transferability of these findings, future study might be undertaken in other education sectors, such as schools, vocational institutes, and the industry itself. In addition, future data should be analyzed through in-depth interviews or root cause analysis from the perspective of educators and instructional designers.
A Hybrid Degradation Evaluation Model for Aero-Engines
Authors: Ren Likun , Qin Haiqin , Cai Na , Li Bianjiang , Xie Zhenbo
Published: December 2022

The non-convergence and low efficiency of the thermodynamic model make them difficult to be used in the aero-engines degradation evaluation, while the negligence of the thermodynamics process of data-driven degradation evaluation methods makes them inaccurate and hard to analyze the actual degradation of air path components. So, we propose a thermodynamic-based and data-driven hybrid model for aero-engine degradation evaluation. Different from thermodynamic-based methods, the iteration calculation is converted to the forward flow in the proposed neural network, thus improving convergence. Moreover, a multi-objective loss function considering the components co-operation process and fusion training process fully taking advantage of simulation and degradation trajectory datasets are proposed to improve the degradation evaluation accuracy. The test case is carried out on NASA’s benchmark for aero-engine degradation evaluation. The result shows that the proposed method can improve the accuracy significantly, which suggests its effectiveness.
Separation of Graphites and Cathode Materials from Spent Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Roasting–Froth Flotation
Authors: Zhang Jie , Li Jiapeng , Wang Yu , Sun Meijie , Wang Lufan , Tu Yanan
Published: December 2022

The separation of graphites and cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential to close the loop of material used in LIBs. In this study, the roasting characteristics of the spent LIB materials are carefully analyzed, and the effects of roasting on the surface morphology and elemental chemical states of electrode materials are fully investigated by thermogravimetric analysis, SEM-EDS, and XPS to explore the roasting–flotation enhancement mechanism. Then, froth flotation is utilized to separate the graphites and cathode materials from the spent LIB materials. The optimal roasting temperature is determined by thermogravimetric analysis and the SEM-EDS analysis of the spent LIB materials. The results suggest that the organic binder can be effectively removed from the spent LIB materials at the roasting temperature of 500 °C, and there is almost no loss of graphite. The XPS results indicate that, in the process of roasting, the decomposition products of the organic binder can easily react with valuable metals (Ni, Co, and Mn) to produce corresponding metal fluoride. The flotation results of the spent LIB materials after roasting at the optimal conditions indicate that graphites and cathode materials can be efficiently recovered through roasting–froth flotation. When the dosage of kerosene is 200 g/t and the dosage of methyl isobutyl carbinol (MIBC) is 150 g/t, the cathode materials grade is 91.6% with a recovery of 92.6%, while the graphite grade is 84.6% with a recovery of 82.7%. The roasting–froth flotation method lays the foundation for the subsequent metallurgical process.
A Study on the Spatial–Temporal Evolution of Innovation Efficiency in Chinese Universities in the Context of the Digital Economy
Authors: Gao Qi , Wang Qiang
Published: December 2022

With the rapid development of knowledge and the digital economy, it is a crucial to understand the role of the digital economy in improving the innovation efficiency of universities. Using the panel data of universities in 31 Chinese provinces from 2013 to 2020, this paper measures the regional innovation efficiency of Chinese universities and examines the impact of the digital economy on universities’ innovation by employing the super-efficiency DEA model along with the Malmquist index, kernel density estimation and Theil index. The analysis shows the following: (1) The digital economy has a significant positive impact on the efficiency of university innovation, but there is still much room for improvement. (2) In terms of the dynamic evolution of innovation efficiency, Chinese university performance shows a trend toward declining innovation efficiency, and the issue of inadequate investment in technical innovation is discovered, which urgently needs to be addressed. The findings of this paper offer empirical support for understanding the relationship between digital economy growth and university innovation productivity with important ramifications for the innovative expansion of higher education institutions in emerging nations.
Bicycle Accessibility GIS Analysis for Bike Master Planning with a Consideration of Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) and Energy Consumption
Authors: McNally Devin , Tillinghast Rachel , Iseki Hiroyuki
Published: December 2022

Measuring the impact of bicycle infrastructure and other mobility improvements has been a challenge in the practice of transportation planning. Transportation planners are increasingly required to conduct complex analyses to provide supporting evidence for proposed plans and communicate well with both decision makers and the public. Cyclists experience two important factors on roads: (a) travel stress related to the built environment along with the traffic conditions and (b) changes in physical burden due to topography. This study develops a method that integrates an energy consumption calculation and “bicycling stress” score to take into account external conditions that influence cyclists substantially. In this method, the level of traffic stress (LTS) is used to select street segments appropriate for different comfort levels among cyclists and is combined with biking energy consumption, in addition to distance, which is used as travel impedance to consider the effects of slopes and street intersections. The integrated Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis methods are used to evaluate bicycle infrastructure improvements in the coming years in Montgomery County, MD, USA. The analysis results demonstrated that the infrastructure improvements in the county’s bike master plan are well-targeted to improve bicycling accessibility. Furthermore, the use of energy as opposed to distance to generate bikeshed areas results in smaller bikesheds compared to distance-generated bikesheds. The method presented herein allows planners to characterize and quantify the impact of bicycle infrastructure and prioritize locations for improvements.
Green Lifestyle: A Tie between Green Human Resource Management Practices and Green Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Authors: Meng Jianfeng , Murad Majid , Li Cai , Bakhtawar Ayesha , Ashraf Sheikh Farhan
Published: December 2022

Increasingly negative business processes and climate change have prompted businesses to incorporate green lifestyle practices into their working systems as a promising first step. This study investigates the impact of green human resource management practices on green organizational citizenship behavior, with a green lifestyle acting as a mediator and green innovation and green shared value acting as moderators. The data were collected from 347 hotel industry employees in China, and the partial least squares structural equation modeling PLS-SEM technique was applied to verify the hypothesis relationships. The results show that green HRM practices positively and significantly impact green lifestyle and organizational citizenship behavior. Meanwhile, findings indicate that a green lifestyle positively mediates the relationship between green HRM practices and green organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, results show that green shared value significantly moderates the relationship between a green lifestyle and green organizational citizenship behavior. The moderating effect of green innovation is insignificant in the relationship between green HRM practices and green lifestyles. Finally, this article discusses the managerial implications and future insights. This study is useful for HR managers in the hotel industry to make the best possible strategic decisions and formulate the best possible strategies accordingly. Finally, this study provides insights for other practitioners and academics to better understand the concept of green lifestyles in order to improve green organizational citizenship behavior in their organizations.
Chitosan/Silica Nanocomposite Preparation from Shrimp Shell and Its Adsorption Performance for Methylene Blue
Authors: Zhong Tao , Xia Meisheng , Yao Zhitong , Han Chenhua
Published: December 2022

In this study, novel chitosan/silica composites with different mass ratios were prepared by in-situ hydrolysis using chitosan (from shrimp shell) as a carrier, triblock copolymer (P123) as the structure-directing agent, and ethyl orthosilicate as a silicon source. These nanocomposites were characterized by different techniques, including the FT-IR, XRD, TGA, SEM, TEM and N2 adsorption–desorption. The results indicated that the morphology and properties of composites changed with the introduction of silica. When the CS/TEOS mass ratio was 0.0775, the CS−2/SiO2 composite displayed a coral-like three-dimensional porous structure with specific surface area of 640.37 m2/g and average pore size of 1.869 nm. The adsorption properties for methylene blue (MB) were investigated as well and the CS−2/SiO2 showed better adsorption performance. The removal rate for MB reached 94.01% with absorbents dosage of 6 g/L, initial concentration of 40 mg/L, initial pH value of 7, temperature of 35 °C, and adsorption time of 40 min. The adsorption process well fitted the Langmuir isothermal model and quasi-second-order adsorption kinetics model. The maximum adsorption capacity for MB was 13.966 mg/g based on Langmuir fitting. The surface functional groups of the composites can play an important role in the adsorption. The adsorption mechanism of CS−2/SiO2 on MB involved electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding and functional group complexation. In addition, the prepared chitosan/silica composites showed good reusability at six cycles, making them a promising material in the application of removing dyeing wastewater.
Ecological Footprint Reduction Behaviors of Individuals in Turkey in the Context of Ecological Sustainability
Authors: Ünal Mehmet , Ünal Fatma
Published: December 2022

While people consume natural resources by interacting with the environment, they also cause some environmental changes. Environmental pollution and construction are among the most important reasons for these changes. In addition, the rate of renewal of natural resources remains slow while consumption is increasing. Thus, biocapacity is slow to renew itself compared to consumption, leading to the emergence of an ecological deficit. The largest share in the ecological deficit belongs to personal consumption. Based on this, the attitudes and behavior of individuals in Turkey to reduce their ecological footprint were examined in the context of ecological sustainability. The survey model was adopted in the study. The data collected from 773 people via the scale and various forms were analyzed. The results of the analysis show that the ecological footprint size in Turkey is above the world average in personal consumption. It has been determined that the participants have significant behavioral deficiencies in the behaviors towards reducing the ecological footprint, such as recycling, reusing the product by repairing, composting, not wasting water, food and clothing, and they tend to use packaged products excessively.
Improving the Entrepreneurial Competence of College Social Entrepreneurs: Digital Government Building, Entrepreneurship Education, and Entrepreneurial Cognition
Authors: Xiang Xiyuan , Wang Jing , Long Zehai , Huang Yangjie
Published: December 2022

This study examines the pathway of entrepreneurship education (EE), digital government building (DGB), and gender differences on entrepreneurial competence of college social entrepreneurs and analyzes the role of entrepreneurial cognition (EC). A sample of 20,134 college students from higher education institutions in 31 provinces of China was used to test the hypothesis. This study found that EE and DGB have positive influence on entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs; compared with men, female social entrepreneurs have a higher level of social entrepreneurship competence. Moreover, EC plays a mediating role among EE, DGB and entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs; however, EC plays a masking role in the relationship between gender and entrepreneurial competence of social entrepreneurs. This study empirically analyzed the mechanisms that influence college social entrepreneurs and provides a new perspective on the role of EC in entrepreneurial competence. It is suggested to strengthen the building of a digital government and entrepreneurship education of college students’ social entrepreneurs in the future, and to pay attention to the important role of individual psychological cognition in individual social entrepreneurship ability.