bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
State of the Art in Smart Portable, Wearable, Ingestible and Implantable Devices for Health Status Monitoring and Disease Management
Authors: Mukherjee Shouvik , Suleman Shariq , Pilloton Roberto , Narang Jagriti , Rani Kirti
Published: June 2022

Several illnesses that are chronic and acute are becoming more relevant as the world’s aging population expands, and the medical sector is transforming rapidly, as a consequence of which the need for “point-of-care” (POC), identification/detection, and real time management of health issues that have been required for a long time are increasing. Biomarkers are biological markers that help to detect status of health or disease. Biosensors’ applications are for screening for early detection, chronic disease treatment, health management, and well-being surveillance. Smart devices that allow continual monitoring of vital biomarkers for physiological health monitoring, medical diagnosis, and assessment are becoming increasingly widespread in a variety of applications, ranging from biomedical to healthcare systems of surveillance and monitoring. The term “smart” is used due to the ability of these devices to extract data with intelligence and in real time. Wearable, implantable, ingestible, and portable devices can all be considered smart devices; this is due to their ability of smart interpretation of data, through their smart sensors or biosensors and indicators. Wearable and portable devices have progressed more and more in the shape of various accessories, integrated clothes, and body attachments and inserts. Moreover, implantable and ingestible devices allow for the medical diagnosis and treatment of patients using tiny sensors and biomedical gadgets or devices have become available, thus increasing the quality and efficacy of medical treatments by a significant margin. This article summarizes the state of the art in portable, wearable, ingestible, and implantable devices for health status monitoring and disease management and their possible applications. It also identifies some new technologies that have the potential to contribute to the development of personalized care. Further, these devices are non-invasive in nature, providing information with accuracy and in given time, thus making these devices important for the future use of humanity.
Useful High-Entropy Source on Spinel Oxides for Gas Detection
Authors: Hashishin Takeshi , Taniguchi Haruka , Li Fei , Abe Hiroya
Published: June 2022

This study aimed to identify a useful high-entropy source for gas detection by spinel oxides that are composed of five cations in nearly equal molar amounts and free of impurities. The sensor responses of the spinel oxides [1# (CoCrFeMnNi)3O4, 2# (CoCrFeMnZn)3O4, 3# (CoCrFeNiZn)3O4, 4# (CoCrMnNiZn)3O4, 5# (CoFeMnNiZn)3O4, and 6# (CrFeMnNiZn)3O4] were evaluated for the test gases (7 ppm NO2, 5000 ppm H2, 3 ppm NH3, and 3 ppm H2S). In response to NO2, 1# and 2# showed p-type behavior while 3–6# showed n-type semiconductor behavior. There are three p-type and one n-type AO structural compositions in AB2O4[AO·B2O3] type spinel, and 1# showed a stable AO composition because cation migration from site B to site A is unlikely. Therefore, it was assumed that 1# exhibited p-type behavior. The p-type behavior of 2# was influenced by Cr oxide ions that were present at the B site and the stable p-type behavior of zinc oxide at the A site. The spinel oxides 3# to 6# exhibited n-type behavior with the other cationic oxides rather than the dominant p-type behavior exhibited by the Zn oxide ions that are stable at the A site. In contrast, the sensor response to the reducing gases H2, NH3, and H2S showed p-type semiconductor behavior, with a particularly selective response to H2S. The sensor responses of the five-element spinel oxides in this study tended to be higher than that of the two-element Ni ferrites and three-element Ni-Zn ferrites reported previously. Additionally, the susceptibility to sulfurization was evaluated using the thermodynamic equilibrium theory for the AO and B2O3 compositions. The oxides of Cr, Fe, and Mn ions in the B2O3 composition did not respond to H2S because they were not sulfurized. The increase in the sensor response due to sulfurization was attributed to the decrease in the depletion layer owing to electron sensitization, as the top surface of the p-type semiconductors, ZnO and NiO, transformed to n-type semiconductors, ZnS and NiS, respectively. High-entropy oxides prepared using the hydrothermal method with an equimolar combination of five cations from six elements (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, and Zn) can be used as a guideline for the design of high-sensitivity spinel-type composite oxide gas sensors.
Adaptive Contrastive Learning with Label Consistency for Source Data Free Unsupervised Domain Adaptation
Authors: Zhao Xuejun , Stanislawski Rafal , Gardoni Paolo , Sulowicz Maciej , Glowacz Adam , Krolczyk Grzegorz , Li Zhixiong
Published: June 2022

Unsupervised domain adaptation, which aims to alleviate the domain shift between source domain and target domain, has attracted extensive research interest; however, this is unlikely in practical application scenarios, which may be due to privacy issues and intellectual rights. In this paper, we discuss a more challenging and practical source-free unsupervised domain adaptation, which needs to adapt the source domain model to the target domain without the aid of source domain data. We propose label consistent contrastive learning (LCCL), an adaptive contrastive learning framework for source-free unsupervised domain adaptation, which encourages target domain samples to learn class-level discriminative features. Considering that the data in the source domain are unavailable, we introduce the memory bank to store the samples with the same pseudo label output and the samples obtained by clustering, and the trusted historical samples are involved in contrastive learning. In addition, we demonstrate that LCCL is a general framework that can be applied to unsupervised domain adaptation. Extensive experiments on digit recognition and image classification benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Innovative ICT Based Solutions and (Im)migrants Integration
Authors: Karimi Maryam , Costa Giuliana , Concilio Grazia
Published: June 2022

For (im)migrants, understanding how to navigate a host country and how to access the existing social systems and the public welfare ecosystem are among the most difficult and confusing tasks [...]
Location Optimization of Fresh Agricultural Products Cold Chain Distribution Center under Carbon Emission Constraints
Authors: Wang Hongzhi , Ran Haojie , Dang Xiaohong
Published: June 2022

This paper seeks to effectively realize energy saving and emission reduction in the process of location for fresh agricultural cold chain logistics. It is based on the traditional location for distribution center optimized for both freshness and carbon emissions. A bi-objective function location model was constructed to minimize the total cost and carbon emission and a two-stage heuristic algorithm was designed to solve the model. According to analyzing the location case of Y enterprise in Zhejiang Province, the THA had an average total cost optimization rate of 7.70% and an average carbon emission optimization rate of 10.23% compared to the WOA, while it had a rate of 12.77% and 14.12%, respectively, compared to the PSO. When the unit carbon emission cost increased from 0.02 dollar/kg to 0.06 dollar/kg, the comprehensive carbon emission cost increased by 42.07% and the total cost increased by 3.05%. Therefore, logistics enterprises can achieve the reduction of logistics costs and sustainable development through reasonable location for fresh agricultural products cold chain distribution centers.
Sustainable Renovation and Assessment of Existing Aging Rammed Earth Dwellings in Hunan, China
Authors: Zhang Fupeng , Shi Lei , Liu Simian , Shi Jiaqi , Yu Yong
Published: June 2022

Sustainable renovation is widely recognised as the optimal solution for the aging of residential buildings. Many aging rammed earth dwellings exist in the Hunan region of China. To guide these rammed earth dwellings to enhance their architectural quality while maximising the benefits from these activities in the environmental, energy, and economic domains, this study proposes a sustainable renovation approach which improves the construction tools, materials, processes, and the building features. In this study, we selected representative dwellings in the Hunan region for case renovation. In addition, the renovated dwellings are evaluated on three aspects: indoor physical environment, satisfaction questionnaire survey of owners and participants, and carbon emissions. The results show that the owners and participants are highly in favour of the sustainable renovation approach. The renovated homes also show improvements in the indoor environment, which can help reduce energy consumption. This study can provide a methodology for the sustainable renovation of aging rammed earth dwellings in Hunan and the other regions of China.
Does Service Utilization Improve Members’ Welfare? Evidence from Citrus Cooperatives in China
Authors: Liu Guoqiang , Qiao Dakuan , Liu Yuying , Fu Xinhong
Published: June 2022

Farmers’ professional cooperatives (hereinafter referred to as “cooperatives”) are an important carrier for small farmers to organically connect to the big market. Under the background of frequent phenomena such as generalization of cooperatives, cooperative alienation, empty shelled cooperatives and involution of cooperatives in China, whether cooperatives can improve members’ welfare has attracted the attention of all walks of life. Service is the essential attribute of cooperatives, and the key to the functioning of cooperatives is the services utilization by members (hereinafter referred to as “service utilization”). Therefore, examining the impact of service utilization on members’ welfare has important theoretical and practical significance, which helps to scientifically evaluate of the current value of cooperatives in China and then objectively respond to questions about the development of cooperatives. Thus, this study takes the micro-survey data of 74 citrus cooperatives and 524 citrus members in Citrus County, Sichuan Province, China as examples, and uses the endogenous switching model to empirically analyze the impact of service utilization on members’ welfare. The results show that the level of service utilization is not high, and only half of the members use cooperative services. However, service utilization can significantly improve members’ welfare. Specifically, the average treatment effect of service utilization on citrus yields, net returns and household income is respectively 285.446 kg/mu, 1290 yuan/mu and 4980 yuan/person. Simultaneously, service utilization can increase citrus yields, net returns and household income by 13.49%, 18.32% and 17.99% on average. Finally, some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward, such as actively publicizing cooperative’s services, guiding members to use cooperative’s services, improving the standardization level of cooperatives and strengthening policy support for cooperatives.
Characteristics of Urban Parks in Chengdu and Their Relation to Public Behaviour and Preferences
Authors: Li Zhiqiao , Liu Qin , Zhang Yuxin , Yan Kun , Yan Yangyang , Xu Pei
Published: June 2022

Urban parks can offer a variety of ecosystem services such as beautifying the landscape, ecological regulation, leisure and recreation, and maintaining biodiversity. Understanding how urban parks affect people’s lives can help guide the construction and planning of parks in a direction that is more beneficial to the public. Therefore, it is worth studying the extent to which different urban parks with different characteristics affect public behaviour and preferences. This paper takes five typical urban parks in Chengdu and analyses the relationship between characteristics of the park ecosystem and public behaviour and preferences. The characteristics include the park scale, blue-green space ratio, plant diversity, and degree of re-wilding. Visit frequency, stay time, and park preference characterise public behaviour and preferences. The results show: (1) There are obvious differences in the ecosystem characteristics of the five parks: Qinglong Lake Wetland Park is the largest; the proportion of blue-green space in Jiangjiayiyuan Garden is the highest; the degree of re-wilding in Bailuwan Wetland Park is the highest; the proportion of green space and plant diversity in Guixi Ecological Park is the highest; and the proportion of blue space in Jincheng Lake Wetland Park is the highest. (2) There are differences in public behaviour and preferences for different parks. Tourists visit Qinglong Lake Wetland Park the most in spring and autumn and they choose Guixi Ecological Park instead in summer and winter. The public stays longer in Qinglong Lake Wetland Park and shorter in Jincheng Lake Wetland Park. (3) The scale of urban parks, the proportion of blue-green space, and the degree of re-wilding, especially the proportion of blue space, have a positive impact on the public’s evaluation and promote public visits. The results of the study could help improve public awareness of the relationship between park characteristics and ecological services and well-being.
The Influence of Corporate Social Responsibility on Consumer Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Consumer Engagement via Social Media
Authors: Al-Haddad Shafig , Sharabati Abdel-Aziz Ahmad , Al-Khasawneh Mohammad , Maraqa Rand , Hashem Raya
Published: June 2022

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a vital factor in how organizations run their businesses. Consumers are becoming more aware of it and are expecting it from organizations. With the rise of social media, organizations have another channel to communicate their CSR activities to their stakeholders. A good deal of research has been conducted on CSR and its relation to consumers. However, there is limited research on its influence on consumers via social media channels. Therefore, this research studied the impact of an organization’s CSR activities on consumer purchase intention with the mediating effect of consumer engagement via social media. A total of 21 questionnaire surveys were provided. A sample size of 250 responses was successfully collected via different social media platforms. Results show that ethical responsibility has a positive significant impact on customer engagement (15%) and purchase intentions (35%). Environmental responsibility has a positive significant impact on consumer engagement (11%) and purchase intentions (18%). Meanwhile, Philanthropic Responsibility and Economic Responsibility have an insignificant effect on Customer engagement. Customer engagement has a positive and significant effect on Purchase Intension (47%). Finally, the purchasing intention of consumers is mediated positively and significantly by consumer engagement with CSR activities on social media. In addition, consumer engagement with CSR activities on social media has a positive impact on purchase intention. However, contrary to other research, economic and philanthropic responsibilities have no significant impact on consumer engagement with social media activities.
Preparing Vulnerable Populations for Science Literacy and Young Adults for Global Citizenship through Service Learning
Authors: Muñoz-Alcón Ana Isabel , Tejedor-Hernández Víctor , Lafuente-Nafría María Begoña
Published: June 2022

The establishment of links between the University and the community in which it is embedded is a permanent challenge. Exploring new ways to open university doors to vulnerable populations is a means of developing young adults’ civic responsibility and global citizenship. This relationship of enrichment and mutual benefit does not only crystallize through the transfer of knowledge but also through service. When, within the community, this service is aimed at students with specific needs of educational support (SNES), we enter fully into the field of inclusive education, developing competencies and reaching sustainable development goals, which go far beyond those of mere knowledge-sharing. This paper presents service-learning (SL) projects carried out in English class by undergraduate Engineering and Education students at a Special Education Center for adults. The main goal was to develop a basic linguistic competence in English so that SNES students could understand science texts and technological instructions to handle ICTs with some autonomy. Face-to-face versus online modality use, forced by the pandemic, are contrasted and results are compared over a three-year period. University students’ perceptions on how this pedagogical approach of service learning contributes to their personal growth and consolidation of global citizenship are presented.
Food Preservation within Multi-Echelon Supply Chain Considering Single Setup and Multi-Deliveries of Unequal Lot Size
Authors: Iqbal Muhammad Waqas , Ramzan Muhammad Babar , Malik Asif Iqbal
Published: June 2022

Intricacy of the supply chains for deteriorating products, involving multiple retailers with unequal lot sizes and multiple deliveries is simplified in this article by optimizing the replenishment cycle, investment in preservation technology, and number of deliveries. This study proposes a multi-tier supply chain model consisting of a single manufacturer and multiple retailers. A single-setup multiple deliveries (SSMD) policy is adopted considering the synchronized cycle time of manufacturers with that of retailers and the delivery of unequal lot size for each retailer. Preservation technology is used at retailers to minimize the effects of deterioration in a way that the magnitude of decrease in deterioration reduces for additional investment in preservation technology. A centralized supply chain model is proposed by defining a nonlinear mathematical model for maximizing total profit through an analytical optimization technique and an algorithm. Numerical experiments are exhibited to validate the applications of the provided model. The results exhibit that the proposed preservation policy increases the product’s lifetime and the total profit by reducing the number of shipments/transportation and increasing the lot size. The SSMD policy helps to reduce the preservation cost and increase the total profit. Some managerial insights are provided for the decision makers for applying the proposed model.
Boom and Bust in China’s Pig Sector during 2018–2021: Recent Recovery from the ASF Shocks and Longer-Term Sustainability Considerations
Authors: Han Mingxi , Yu Wusheng , Clora Francesco
Published: June 2022

China’s African swine fever (ASF) outbreaks, which started in 2018, severely damaged the country’s pig and sow herds and created serious pork supply shortages. This resulted in high domestic market prices and record amounts of imports in both 2019 and 2020, but also severely impacted its domestic consumers. It casts doubts on whether China’s long-standing self-sufficiency strategy, including its recently communicated 95% self-sufficiency target, can be sustained. Recent data, however, suggest that China is experiencing a rapid recovery in pig production, leading to depressed domestic market prices. This study characterizes the recovery process and analyzes the underlying drivers, such as active responses to the ASF outbreaks, a multiple-prong government initiative towards supporting the pig producers, de facto relaxations of newly introduced environmental regulations, large increases in domestic investment, and a reorganization of the pig sector, featuring more scale operations. However, the rapid recovery has also resulted in decreasing prices, economic losses of producers, and dampened export opportunities for China’s trade partners. This paper, therefore, also analyzes these unintended consequences and explores supply-side measures that may enable the long-run viability of the self-sufficiency goal in the presence of high dependency on imported feed. Through a model-based numerical simulation analysis, we find that supply-side measures, such as yield improvement, can substantially reduce reliance on import feed but can only increase domestic pork production marginally, while technical efficiency improvement in pork production has the largest potential in boosting domestic pork production.
Sustainable Assessment in Supply Chain and Infrastructure Management
Authors: Kabir Golam , Paul Sanjoy Kumar , Ali Syed Mithun
Published: June 2022

Assessing sustainability in supply chain and infrastructure management is important for any organization in the competitive business environment or public domain [...]
Pedagogy Pro-Design and Climate Literacy: Teaching Methods and Research Approaches for Sustainable Architecture
Authors: Schiano-Phan Rosa , Gonçalves Joana C. S. , Vallejo Juan A.
Published: June 2022

There is a genuine concern that the current level of sustainability education provided in the mainstream architectural curricula is no longer sufficient to combat urgent climate challenges, and that a stronger interdisciplinary approach needs to be followed where architectural students are formed and empowered with a different pedagogical paradigm, better tools, and diverse sets of skills. This paper examines the various pedagogical approaches to the teaching and learning of environmental design principles and practice in architectural education with a focus on recurrent methods applied in specialist curricula in the UK. An in-depth analysis of a pedagogical case study based on the eight-year experience of the Architecture and Environmental Design MSc course at the University of Westminster is presented with reference to the pedagogical methods identified in the literature. A reflective exercise based on the specific methods adopted in the course and examples of students’ outputs and experiences allows a critical evaluation of the pedagogical case study. The paper concludes by highlighting the challenges and opportunities of introducing climate literacy at postgraduate level and the benefits of adopting a research-led approach based on collaborations with industry partners.
Coupling Virtual Reality Simulator with Instantaneous Emission Model: A New Method for Estimating Road Traffic Emissions
Authors: De Blasiis Maria Rosaria , Ferrante Chiara , Palmieri Fulvio , Veraldi Valerio
Published: June 2022

The article presents a new methodology for traffic emissions modeling by coupled the use of dynamic emissions models with a virtual reality driving simulator. The former allows the drivers’ behavior to be studied through a virtual reality driving test, focusing the attention on how traffic flow conditions combined with road geometrical characteristics influence the driving behavior. The latter is used to model the instantaneous vehicle emissions, starting from the driving data provided by the driving simulator. The article analyzes the relationship among three factors: the driving behavior, the pollutant emissions, and the traffic flow condition. The results highlight the influence of the drivers’ behavior on fuel consumption and emissions factors. Under high traffic flow, despite the reduction of the average vehicle speed, the average emissions level increases due to the increased vehicle accelerations and decelerations, which influence the behavior of the engine and the aftertreatment system. The proposed approach points out the relationship between vehicle emissions and drivers’ behavior. Since the coupling among instantaneous emissions modeling and geometry-functionality conditions of the road reveals important elements that traditional approaches miss, the proposed method provides a new way to increase the efficiency of road design and management, from the environmental point of view.
How to Tailor Educational Maze Games: The Student’s Preferences
Authors: Terzieva Valentina , Bontchev Boyan , Dankov Yavor , Paunova-Hubenova Elena
Published: June 2022

Personalized learning has gained in popularity over the past decade. It provides learners with learning resources that comply with their characteristics and preferences or offers them tasks and quizzes adapted to their performance. This research presents how we apply this concept to an educational video maze game created and generated on the APOGEE platform. In particular, this article explores the following three research questions: (1) Which characteristics in the student’s model should be considered for the personalization of educational video games? (2) What are the student’s preferences regarding the personalization of educational video games? (3) How should the process of personalization of educational video games be organized? The answers to these questions are found by conducting practical experiments concerning user experience with the educational maze video game. The article also describes the model of students comprising user’s, learner’s, and player’s aspects with both static and dynamic features. Further, the personalization process of educational games based on this model is described. The results showing the student’s preferences are presented and critically examined. The provided discussion involves the disparities in the preferences of different groups of students concerning the amounts of play of learning games, preferred mini-games, and parameters to which educational materials should be tailored.
Possession of Site: Another Layer of Complexity in Road Construction
Authors: Danial Norhana , Misnan Mohd Saidin
Published: June 2022

Time is money, and it is crucial to accelerate road construction to improve the accessibility and connectivity of infrastructure. Prolonged periods of project implementation lead to delays and cost overruns, and further delays could destabilize the construction industry, causing an economic slowdown. This study explores the causes of delay in giving site possession, a topic that has received little explicit attention. The authors qualitatively identified the causes of delayed site possession from 15 project case studies. The data analysis presented in this paper involves two stages: (1) exploring causes of delay in giving site possession from 15 federal road projects and (2) further reviewing three road projects to provide significant insights into the fundamental reasons for, and the impacts of, the delay. This approach contributes to a better understanding of the specific causes of delay using a qualitative approach. The findings show that a slow process in land acquisition, squatters, and compensation disputes contributed to delayed site possession. The authors developed a conceptual framework to recommend strategies for mitigating the delay and accelerating the timelines of road projects based on the findings.
Special Issue Editorial “Chaotic Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics”
Authors: Grassi Giuseppe
Published: June 2022

Referring to chaotic systems, it is well-known that they are nonlinear dynamical systems, which are distinguished by sensitive dependence on initial conditions and by having evolution through phase space that appears to be quite random [...]
The Branched Schiff Base Cationic Complexes of Iron(III) with Different Counter-Ions
Authors: Gruzdev Matvey , Chervonova Ulyana , Vorobeva Valerya
Published: June 2022

The Fe(III) complexes of branched asymmetric dendrimers were obtained by a one-step reaction as the second-generation architectures. Mesomorphic behavior was found for complexes with PF6− and BF4− counter-ions. To obtain knowledge about the existence of HS and LS fractions of iron(III) ion and their evolution with temperature, EPR methods were used. It was demonstrated that compounds contain one low-spin (LS, S = 1/2) and two HS-spin (HS, S = 5/2) of Fe(III) centers and are packed into two magnetic sub-lattices. A floating layers of Fe(III) complexes and Langmuir–Blodgett films on their base were formed and investigated in the presence of a magnetic field.
Compressed-Encoding Particle Swarm Optimization with Fuzzy Learning for Large-Scale Feature Selection
Authors: Yang Jia-Quan , Chen Chun-Hua , Li Jian-Yu , Liu Dong , Li Tao , Zhan Zhi-Hui
Published: June 2022

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a promising method for feature selection. When using PSO to solve the feature selection problem, the probability of each feature being selected and not being selected is the same in the beginning and is optimized during the evolutionary process. That is, the feature selection probability is optimized from symmetry (i.e., 50% vs. 50%) to asymmetry (i.e., some are selected with a higher probability, and some with a lower probability) to help particles obtain the optimal feature subset. However, when dealing with large-scale features, PSO still faces the challenges of a poor search performance and a long running time. In addition, a suitable representation for particles to deal with the discrete binary optimization problem of feature selection is still in great need. This paper proposes a compressed-encoding PSO with fuzzy learning (CEPSO-FL) for the large-scale feature selection problem. It uses the N-base encoding method for the representation of particles and designs a particle update mechanism based on the Hamming distance and a fuzzy learning strategy, which can be performed in the discrete space. It also proposes a local search strategy to dynamically skip some dimensions when updating particles, thus reducing the search space and reducing the running time. The experimental results show that CEPSO-FL performs well for large-scale feature selection problems. The solutions obtained by CEPSO-FL contain small feature subsets and have an excellent performance in classification problems.
Manifold Calculus in System Theory and Control—Second Order Structures and Systems
Authors: Fiori Simone
Published: June 2022

The present tutorial paper constitutes the second of a series of tutorials on manifold calculus with applications in system theory and control. The aim of the present tutorial, in particular, is to explain and illustrate some key concepts in manifold calculus such as covariant derivation and manifold curvature. Such key concepts are then applied to the formulation, to the control, and to the analysis of non-linear dynamical systems whose state-space are smooth (Riemannian) manifolds. The main flow of exposition is enriched by a number of examples whose aim is to clarify the notation used and the main theoretical findings through practical calculations.
Energy Efficiency Optimization Based on Power Allocation in Massive MIMO Downlink Systems
Authors: Liu Hongmei , Deng Honggui , Yi Yougen , Zhu Zaoxing , Liu Gang , Zhang Jie
Published: June 2022

To solve the energy efficiency (EE) optimization in a multi-cell (MU) massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink system, of which channels are of symmetry in the Time-Division Duplex (TDD) protocol, we utilize a spatially correlated channel model and adopt the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) estimator to tailor linear precoding vectors. Then, we derive the expression of downlink spectral efficiency (SE), taking interference into account. Subsequently, we establish the EE optimization function, which is defined as the average capacity divided by power consumption. In an interference-limited scenario, the EE optimization is of high complexity to solve globally as it is not jointly concave. To this end, we propose the Dinkelbach-like power allocation algorithm to obtain a suboptimal solution. We transform the EE problem in a fractional form into a subtractive optimization form called an auxiliary subproblem. Then, we relax the sub-problem to a concave problem by initializing the interference and omitting the dynamic power term about throughput. Lastly, we solve iteratively the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions by bisection search. Consequently, we obtain a sub-solution with modest complexity. The simulation results justify the rationality of the Dinkelbach-like algorithm and demonstrate that the proposal outperforms the reference schemes and effectively improves the performance metrics EE and SE.
Whole-Genome Analysis Reveals That Bacteriophages Promote Environmental Adaptation of Staphylococcus aureus via Gene Exchange, Acquisition, and Loss
Authors: Zhou Wenyuan , Wen Hua , Li Yajie , Gao Yajun , Zheng Xiangfeng , Yuan Lei , Zhu Guoqiang , Yang Zhenquan
Published: June 2022

The study of bacteriophages is experiencing a resurgence owing to their antibacterial efficacy, lack of side effects, and low production cost. Nonetheless, the interactions between Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophages and their hosts remain unexplored. In this study, whole-genome sequences of 188 S. aureus bacteriophages—20 Podoviridae, 56 Herelleviridae, and 112 Siphoviridae—were obtained from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI, USA) genome database. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to estimate their genetic relatedness using single-nucleotide polymorphism analysis. Comparative analysis was performed to investigate the structural diversity and ortholog groups in the subdividing clusters. Mosaic structures and gene content were compared in relation to phylogeny. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the bacteriophages could be distinguished into three lineages (I–III), including nine subdividing clusters and seven singletons. The subdividing clusters shared similar mosaic structures and core ortholog clusters, including the genes involved in bacteriophage morphogenesis and DNA packaging. Notably, several functional modules of bacteriophages 187 and 2368A shared more than 95% nucleotide sequence identity with prophages in the S. aureus strain RJ1267 and the Staphylococcus pseudintermedius strain SP_11306_4, whereas other modules exhibited little nucleotide sequence similarity. Moreover, the cluster phages shared similar types of holins, lysins, and DNA packaging genes and harbored diverse genes associated with DNA replication and virulence. The data suggested that the genetic diversity of S. aureus bacteriophages was likely due to gene replacement, acquisition, and loss among staphylococcal phages, which may have crossed species barriers. Moreover, frequent module exchanges likely occurred exclusively among the subdividing cluster phages. We hypothesize that during evolution, the S. aureus phages enhanced their DNA replication in host cells and the adaptive environment of their host.
D2I and F9Y Mutations in the NS1 Protein of Influenza A Virus Affect Viral Replication via Regulating Host Innate Immune Responses
Authors: Yu Mengqi , Guo Yanna , Zhao Lingcai , Lu Yuanlu , Liu Qingzheng , Li Yinjing , Deng Lulu , Shi Zhiyu , Wang Haifeng , Dankar Samar , Ping Jihui
Published: June 2022

Influenza A viruses (IAV) modulate host antiviral responses to promote viral growth and pathogenicity. The non-structural (NS1) protein of influenza A virus has played an indispensable role in the inhibition of host immune responses, especially in limiting interferon (IFN) production. In this study, random site mutations were introduced into the NS1 gene of A/WSN/1933 (WSN, H1N1) via an error prone PCR to construct a random mutant plasmid library. The NS1 random mutant virus library was generated by reverse genetics. To screen out the unidentified NS1 functional mutants, the library viruses were lung-to-lung passaged in mice and individual plaques were picked from the fourth passage in mice lungs. Sanger sequencing revealed that eight different kinds of mutations in the NS1 gene were obtained from the passaged library virus. We found that the NS1 F9Y mutation significantly enhanced viral growth in vitro (MDCK and A549 cells) and in vivo (BALB/c mice) as well as increased virulence in mice. The NS1 D2I mutation attenuated the viral replication and pathogenicity in both in vitro and in vivo models. Further studies demonstrated that the NS1 F9Y mutant virus exhibited systematic and selective inhibition of cytokine responses as well as inhibited the expression of IFN. In addition, the expression levels of innate immunity-related cytokines were significantly up-regulated after the rNS1 D2I virus infected A549 cells. Collectively, our results revealed that the two mutations in the N-terminal of the NS1 protein could alter the viral properties of IAV and provide additional evidence that the NS1 protein is a critical virulence factor. The two characterized NS1 mutations may serve as potential targets for antiviral drugs as well as attenuated vaccine development.
COVID-19 Impact on Australian Patients with Substance Use Disorders: Emergency Department Admissions in Western Sydney before Vaccine Roll Out
Authors: Jefferies Meryem , Rashid Harunor , Graham Robert , Read Scott , Banik Gouri , Lam Thao , Njiomegnie Gaitan , Eslam Mohammed , Zhao Xiaojing , Ahmed Nausheen , Douglas Mark , George Jacob
Published: June 2022

Background: In this study, we determined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Western Sydney patients with substance use disorders (SUD) by comparing emergency department (ED) admission rates before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and before the rollout of COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: ED admission data for patients with SUD were retrieved from the local electronic medical record (eMR) on the hospital central database. ED data collected from 25 January to 25 July 2019 (before the COVID-19 pandemic) were compared with data from 25 January to 25 July 2020 (early pandemic). ED admission reasons were categorised based on the presenting complaints and ED diagnoses. Results: Despite an overall reduction in ED admissions during the early pandemic, compared to the pre-pandemic period, admissions for patients with SUD increased significantly (1.7% to 3.4%, p < 0.01). ED admission rates related to infection (0.05% to 0.12%, p < 0.01), local infection (0.02% to 0.05%, p < 0.01), trauma (0.06% to 0.12%, p < 0.01), alcohol (0.01% to 0.03%, p < 0.05), and other issues (0.06% to 0.10%, p < 0.05) increased significantly among Indigenous patients with SUD. ED admission rates related to drugs (0.12% to 0.39%, p < 0.01), infection (0.21% to 0.34%, p < 0.01), local infection (0.07% to 0.18%, p < 0.01), gastrointestinal (0.15% to 0.23%, p < 0.05), trauma (0.14% to 0.25%, p < 0.01), alcohol (0.36% to 0.74%, p < 0.01), and ‘other’ issues (0.47% to 0.91%, p < 0.01) increased significantly among non-Indigenous patients with SUD. Four cases of COVID-19 were reported among these patients. Conclusions: There was an increase in ED admissions for patients with SUD in the initial six months of the COVID-19 pandemic (before vaccine rollout), mainly for drugs, systemic infection, local infection, trauma, and alcohol-related reasons. Now that most people in New South Wales have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a further study is needed to quantify the effect of the pandemic on patients with SUD in the post-vaccine era.
Laboratory Studies on the Parametrization Scheme of the Melting Rate of Ice–Air and Ice–Water Interfaces
Authors: Li Zhijun , Wang Qingkai , Li Ge , Lu Peng , Wang Zhiqun , Xie Fei
Published: June 2022

During the melt season, surface melting, bottom melting, and lateral melting co-occur in natural ice floes. The bottom melting rate is larger than the lateral melting rate, followed by the surface melting rate, and the smaller the size of an ice floe, the higher the lateral melting rate. To add the scale index of small-scale ice to the melting parametrization scheme, experiments on the melting process of sea ice and artificial fresh-water ice samples in the shape of a disc were carried out in a low-temperature laboratory, under conditions of no radiation, current, or wind, with controlled air and water temperatures. The variations of diameter, thickness, and mass of the ice discs were measured through the experiments. According to the experimental data, a new indicator was created using the ratio of the diameter to the thickness of an ice sample. Based on physical and statistical analyses, the relationships between the surface/bottom melting rates and temperature gradient were formulated. Additionally, the relationships among the lateral melting rate, temperature difference, and the ratio of the diameter to the thickness were also quantified. The equations can be applied to the melting parametrization scheme of ice for a range of diameters up to 100 m, which covers simulations of the energy and mass balance values of the Arctic sea ice and coastal freshwater ice during the summer melt season.
Effects of Timing in Irrigation and Fertilization on Soil NO3−-N Distribution, Grain Yield and Water–Nitrogen Use Efficiency of Drip-Fertigated Winter Wheat in the North China Plain
Authors: Sun Weihao , Hamani Abdoul Kader Mounkaila , Si Zhuanyun , Abubakar Sunusi Amin , Liang Yueping , Liu Kun , Gao Yang
Published: June 2022

In the North China Plain, drip irrigation is gradually used in winter wheat production, and the improper management of water and fertilizer aggravates the risk of crop instability and groundwater pollution. A lysimeter experiment with three levels of fertilization timing (T1 = beginning; T2 = middle; and T3 = end of the irrigation cycle) and two irrigation rates (W1 of 30 mm and W2 of 20 mm) was carried out to investigate the effects of irrigation rate and fertilization timing on the soil NO3−-N distribution, crop development, yield, and water–nitrogen usage efficiency of winter wheat. The results indicated that, under the condition of delayed fertilization timing (T2 and T3), the trend of NO3−-N migration to the edge of moist soil became more apparent. The treatments of irrigation rate and fertilization timing significantly affected the plant height, water–nitrogen utilization efficiency, aboveground biomass, grain yield, and leaf area index. The maximum grain yield of 7688.67 kg ha−1 was found at W1T2, which had a nitrogen partial factor productivity (NPFP) of 32.04 kg kg−1. Moreover, W1T2 did not result in a significant reduction in irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) (4.27 kg m−3) in comparison with other treatments (4.00–5.43 kg m−3). Based on crop growth, N uptake, yield, IWUE, and NPFP, the irrigation rate of 30 mm combined with fertilization in the middle of the irrigation duration could be considered as suitable irrigation and nitrogen timing for drip-irrigated wheat.
Numerical Simulation of Internal Flow Characteristics and Pressure Fluctuation in Deceleration Process of Bulb Tubular Pump
Authors: Li Jiaxu , Xu Fengyang , Cheng Li , Pan Weifeng , Zhang Jiali , Shen Jiantao , Ge Yi
Published: June 2022

In order to explore the change in internal and external characteristics and the pressure fluctuation of the large bulb tubular pump unit during deceleration, a transient and steady three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulation is executed, based on the standard k-ε turbulence model and the change in boundary conditions such as flow rate. Finally, the pressure fluctuation data are analyzed by the wavelet method. There is a good agreement between the experimental data and numerical simulation results. During the deceleration process of the unit, the head decreases linearly while the efficiency remains stable. Meanwhile, the shock phenomenon and hysteresis effect appear before and after the unit head deceleration. Although there are vortex and backflow in the outlet conduit during deceleration, the pressure distribution on the suction surface of the impeller blades changes uniformly and significantly. The pressure fluctuation changes on the inlet surface of the impeller are more obvious during the deceleration: the closer to the hub, the greater the pressure, and this change decreases with decreasing radius. The fluctuation energy is mainly concentrated in the high-frequency region of 100–120 Hz and decreases uniformly with the deceleration of the rotational speed. This paper provides a reference for the energy utilization and safe operation of the water pump unit in adjusting speeds with variable frequency.
Case study: Simulating and measuring the vibration and radiated sound of a large industrial chiller
Authors: Wells Stephen M. , Hambric Stephen A. , Brungart Timothy A.
Published: June 2022

This paper presents a case study for measuring and simulating the vibration and radiated sound for a large complex industrial chiller. We describe a simulation framework based on statistical energy analysis (SEA), which is populated using a hybrid mix of analytic, numerical, and measurement
techniques. This hybrid approach was motivated by preliminary measurements of vibration and sound from the operating chiller, as well as a series of vibroacoustic transfer functions measured during quiescent non-operating conditions. Some components, like the chiller condenser shell, are modally
dense and well suited to statistical estimates of SEA parameters like modal density and coupling between the shell modes and internal and external acoustic spaces. Other components, like the discharge pipe between the compressor and condenser shell, have only a few well separated modes with
low damping. This component is better modeled using mobilities either measured or calculated using finite element analysis. We estimate other parameters like internal and coupling loss factors using a mix of analytics and measurements where appropriate. We validate the general model by comparing
simulated and measured transfer functions between the discharge pipe and condenser shell — the components that radiated the most sound. We estimate structure-borne and fluid-borne input powers from the compressor using inference techniques based on transfer function measurements at quiescent
conditions and averaged surface vibrations measured at operating conditions. This inference approach allows for estimating input powers over any chiller operating condition. Simulated vibrations and radiated sound are generally within 3 dB of measurements for several operating conditions.
This case study provides a useful general methodology for modeling and measuring the vibroacoustics of chillers and other complex machinery
GAME EDUKASI PETUALANGAN BUDI DAN AYA SEBAGAI MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN BUDAYA JAWA BARAT
Authors: Permana K Muhammad Tabah , Lubis Riani
Published: June 2022

Budaya Jawa Barat merupakan warisan leluhur yang diwariskan secara turun temurun dari generasi ke generasi dengan berbagai cara. Salah satu cara mengenalkan budaya Jawa Barat adalah melalui pengajaran di jenjang pendidikan dasar. Hal ini dilakukan karena dirasa penting untuk mengenalkan budaya Jawa Barat sejak dini pada generasi muda. Pengaruh budaya asing yang semakin gencar dan belum adanya media belajar budaya yang menarik mengakibatkan perhatian terhadap budaya terutama di Jawa Barat makin berkurang dan dikhawatirkan generasi muda tidak mengenal sama sekali kebudayaan yang berasal dari daerahnya sendiri. Game edukasi Petualangan Budi dan Aya memberikan alternatif untuk mempelajari permainan tradisional Jawa Barat untuk menambah pengetahuan generasi muda terhadap permainan tradisional. Metode yang digunakan untuk membangun game edukasi ini adalah GDLC versi Blitz Game Studio. Hasil dari penelitian yaitu disebarkan kuesioner kepada 30 orang didapatkan hasil bahwa game edukasi Petualangan Budi dan Aya berhasil meningkatkan pengetahuan generasi muda terhadap permainan tradisional Jawa Barat.