bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Weaknesses in ENT Battery Design
Authors: Almaraz Luengo Elena , Alaña Olivares Bittor , García Villalba Luis Javier , Hernández-Castro Julio
Published: April 2022

Randomness testing is a key tool to analyse the quality of true (physical) random and pseudo-random number generators. There is a wide variety of tests that are designed for this purpose, i.e., to analyse the goodness of the sequences used. These tests are grouped in different sets called suites or batteries. The batteries must be designed in such a way that the tests that form them are independent, that they have a wide coverage, and that they are computationally efficient. One such battery is the well-known ENT battery, which provides four measures and the value of a statistic (corresponding to the chi-square goodness-of-fit test). In this paper, we will show that this battery presents some vulnerabilities and, therefore, must be redefined to solve the detected problems.
Speed-Flow-Geometric Relationship for Urban Roads Network
Authors: Al-Bahr Tareq M. , Hassan Sitti Asmah , Puan Othman Che , Mashros Nordiana , Sukor Nur Sabahiah Abdul
Published: April 2022

Speed on the urban roads is significantly affected by the surrounding geometric and traffic parameters. Based on this fact, we ascertained the impact of the geometric and traffic parameters on the average travel speed of the urban roads network. Herein, 197 urban road segments in Johor (Malaysia) with diverse features were randomly selected. The average travel speed and volume of the traffic on these road segments were measured using the moving observer method (MOM). Meanwhile, these roads’ features were recorded via the direct visual inspection. Various geometric (density of the traffic calming speed, right-turn driveway, access, and right-turn) and cross-sectional (median, number of lanes, and side friction) parameters were considered. First, 14 multilinear models constructed via multilinear regression analysis were developed for traffic volume scenarios (in veh/h and pcu/h). Then, 10 models were adopted to evaluate the geometric parameters’ influence on the average travel speed for the selected roads. The results revealed a considerable impact of some geometric and traffic parameters on the average travel speed for the studied urban roads. Furthermore, the density of traffic calming speed, driveway, and intersection per 1 km of urban road segment one for each parameter was found to reduce the speed of the vehicles from 1.3 to 0.22 km/h. The combination of the road cross-section features such as median, number of lanes, and side friction strongly affected the observed speed variation. It is asserted that the developed model may facilitate the Malaysian urban roads network management to provide better traffic performance with higher mobility and safer roads design and planning, thereby offering a gateway toward sustainability.
A Novel Image Recognition Method Based on DenseNet and DPRN
Authors: Yin Lifeng , Hong Pujiang , Zheng Guanghai , Chen Huayue , Deng Wu
Published: April 2022

Image recognition is one of the important branches of computer vision, which has important theoretical and practical significance. For the insufficient use of features, the single type of convolution kernel and the incomplete network optimization problems in densely connected networks (DenseNet), a novel image recognition method based on DenseNet and deep pyramidal residual networks (DPRN) is proposed in this paper. In the proposed method, a new residual unit based on DPRN is designed, and the idea of a pyramid residual unit is introduced, which makes the input greater than the output. Then, a module based on dilated convolution is designed for parallel feature extraction. Finally, the designed module is fused with DenseNet in order to construct the image recognition model. This model not only overcomes some of the existing problems in DenseNet, but also has the same general applicability as DensenNet. The CIFAR10 and CIFAR100 are selected to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experiment results show that the proposed method can effectively reuse features and has obtained accuracy rates of 83.98 and 51.19%, respectively. It is an effective method for dealing with images in different fields.
A Comparative Performance Analysis of Four Wind Turbines with Counter-Rotating Electric Generators
Authors: Neagoe Mircea , Saulescu Radu , Jaliu Codruta , Munteanu Olimpiu , Cretescu Nadia
Published: April 2022

Wind energy conversion systems play a major role in the transition to carbon-neutral power systems, and obviously, a special attention is paid in identifying the most effective solutions for a higher valorization of the local wind potential. In this context, this paper presents a comparative study on the energy performances of wind turbines (WTs) that include a counter-rotating electric generator. Starting from an innovative concept proposed by the authors for a reconfigurable wind turbine with three clutches, four cases of WTs with counter-rotating generators are studied: a system with three wind rotors (WRs) and a 2-DOF (degrees of freedom) planetary speed increaser (Case A), with two counter-rotating WRs and a 1-DOF (Case B) or a 2-DOF (Case C) speed increaser and a 1-DOF single rotor wind system (Case D). An analytical archetype model for angular speeds, torques, powers and efficiency of the reconfigurable planetary speed increaser, corresponding to the general case with three inputs (Case A), was firstly derived. The analytical models of the other three cases (B, C and D) were results by customizations of the archetype model according to the kinematic- and static-specific effects of engaging/disengaging the clutches. The simulation of the analytical models for a numerical representative example with two variable parameters (input speed ratio kω and input torque ratio kt) allows highlighting the influence of various parameters (number of WRs, speed increaser DOF, kω and kt) on the input powers, power that flows through the planetary transmission and mechanical power supplied to the electric generator, as well as on the transmission efficiency. The obtained results show that the output power increases with the increase of the number of wind rotors, the transmission efficiency is the maximum for kt=1 and the speed amplification ratio increases with the ratio kω.
Advances in the Characterization of Usnea barbata (L.) Weber ex F.H. Wigg from Călimani Mountains, Romania
Authors: Popovici Violeta , Bucur Laura , Gîrd Cerasela Elena , Calcan Suzana Ioana , Cucolea Elena Iulia , Costache Teodor , Rambu Dan , Ungureanu-Iuga Mădălina , Oroian Mircea , Mironeasa Silvia , Schröder Verginica , Ozon Emma Adriana , Caraiane Aureliana , Badea Victoria
Published: April 2022

Usnea barbata (L.) Weber ex F.H. Wigg (U. barbata) is a medicinal representative of the lichens from the Usnea genus (Parmeliaceae, lichenized Ascomycetes), containing bioactive secondary metabolites. The aim of this study is a comparative analysis between two separated parts of the thallus layers: medulla–cortex (mcUB) and central cord (ccUB) and the whole dried U. barbata thallus (dUB). These three samples were examined regarding color differences. The U. barbata thallus morphology was examined through fluorescent microscopy (FM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mineral content was measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) preliminarily established the differences in the metabolite content. Finally, extracts in different solvents (ethanol and acetone) were obtained from all studied samples, and their total phenolic content (TPC) and free radical scavenging activity (antiradical activity, AA) were evaluated by spectrophotometry. The ICP-MS results showed that from 23 elements analyzed, 18 minerals were quantified in mcUB, 13 in dUB, and only 12 in ccUB. The ccUB fraction recorded the lowest mineral content, color intensity (chroma), luminosity (L*), and TPC value, followed in increasing order by dUB and mcUB. FT-IR spectra displayed different peaks in ccUB and dUB samples compared to mcUB. The mcUB fraction also showed the highest TPC, significantly correlated with AA. However, dUB had the highest antiradical activity, followed by mcUB and ccUB, with noticeable differences in the acetone extract. The final correlation between all variable data obtained indicates that 99.31% of the total variance was associated with all minerals, total phenolics, and color parameters and was also related to the antiradical activity. These obtained results complete our previous studies on autochthonous U. barbata. Moreover, being a source of bioactive metabolites, extracting them from the mcUB fraction could increase this process’s yield and selectivity.
Smart Irrigation System Considering Optimal Energy Management Based on Model Predictive Control (MPC)
Authors: Quimbita Wilmer , Toapaxi Edison , Llanos Jacqueline
Published: April 2022

Traditional irrigation techniques usually cause the wasting of water resources. In addition, crops that are located in rural areas require water pumps that are powered by environmentally unfriendly fossil fuels. This research proposes a smart irrigation system energized by a microgrid. The proposal includes two stages: the first generates the daily irrigation profile based on an expert system for the adequate use of the water. Then, considering the irrigation profile, the power required for the water pump is measured—the optimal daily profile of electricity demand is determined in the second stage. The energy system is a microgrid composed of solar energy, a battery energy storage system (BESS) and a diesel generator. The microgrid is managed by an energy management system (EMS) that is based on model predictive control (MPC). The system selects the optimal start-up time of the water pump considering the technical aspects of irrigation and of the microgrid. The proposed methodology is validated by a simulation with real data from an alfalfa crop in an area of Ecuador. The results show that the smart irrigation proposed considers technical aspects that benefit the growth of the crops being studied and also avoids the waste of water.
Research on Emotion Recognition for Online Learning in a Novel Computing Model
Authors: Chen Mengnan , Xie Lun , Li Chiqin , Wang Zhiliang
Published: April 2022

The recognition of human emotions is expected to completely change the mode of human-computer interaction. In emotion recognition research, we need to focus on accuracy and real-time performance in order to apply emotional recognition based on physiological signals to solve practical problems. Considering the timeliness dimension of emotion recognition, we propose a terminal-edge-cloud system architecture. Compared to traditional sentiment computing architectures, the proposed architecture in this paper reduces the average time consumption by 15% when running the same affective computing process. Proposed Joint Mutual Information (JMI) based feature extraction affective computing model, and we conducted extensive experiments on the AMIGOS dataset. Through experimental comparison, this feature extraction network has obvious advantages over the commonly used methods. The model performs sentiment classification, and the average accuracy of valence and arousal is 71% and 81.8%, compared with recent similar sentiment classifier research, the average accuracy is improved by 0.85%. In addition, we set up an experiment with 30 people in an online learning scenario to validate the computing system and algorithm model. The result proved that the accuracy and real-time recognition were satisfactory, and improved the online learning real-time emotional interaction experience.
A Novel Non-Destructive Technique for Cultural Heritage: Depth Profiling and Elemental Analysis Underneath the Surface with Negative Muons
Authors: Cataldo Matteo , Clemenza Massimiliano , Ishida Katsuiko , Hillier Adrian D.
Published: April 2022

Scientists, curators, historians and archaeologists are always looking for new techniques for the study of archaeological artefacts, especially if they are non-destructive. With most non-destructive investigations, it is challenging to measure beneath the surface. Among the vast board of techniques used for cultural heritage studies, it is difficult to find one able to give information about the bulk and the compositional variations, along with the depth. In addition, most other techniques have self-absorption issues (i.e., only surface sensitive) and limited sensitivity to low Z atoms. In recent years, more and more interest has been growing around large-scale facility-based techniques, thanks to the possibility of adding new and different insights to the study of material in a non-destructive way. Among them, muonic X-ray spectroscopy is a very powerful technique for material characterization. By using negative muons, scientists are able to perform elemental characterization and depth profile studies. In this work, we give an overview of the technique and review the latest applications in the field of cultural heritage.
BioH2 from Dark Fermentation of OFMSW: Effect of the Hydraulic Retention Time and Organic Loading Rate
Authors: Martins Inês , Surra Elena , Ventura Márcia , Lapa Nuno
Published: April 2022

Food wastes represent one third of all food produced worldwide. It is crucial to both prevent the production of food waste and recover the wasted fraction with the aim to valorizing it. In this context, the conversion of the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) into bioH2 by dark fermentation (DF) is an important technology to valorize these wastes into renewable fuel. Nevertheless, the DF of OFMSW needs to be optimized for critical operational parameters. The main purposes of this study were to investigate (i) the effect of HRT during continuous bioH2 production through DF and (ii) the effect of organic loading rate (OLR) ruled by HRT. In this work, three HRTs (4, 5, and 6 d) were tested in a mesophilic continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR). The HRTs of 4, 5, and 6 days, corresponding to OLRs of 23.6, 18.0, and 10.6 g volatile solids (VS)·L−1·d−1, respectively, showed bioH2 yields of 8.48, 18.2, and 1.64 L·kg−1 VSinfluent with an H2 content of approximately 25, 32, and 5% v/v, respectively. An accumulation of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was registered with the decrease in HRT, causing a decrease in bioH2 production. The 5 d HRT was the most favorable condition.
3He/4He Signature of Magmatic Fluids from Telica (Nicaragua) and Baru (Panama) Volcanoes, Central American Volcanic Arc
Authors: Rizzo Andrea L. , Robidoux Philippe , Aiuppa Alessandro , Di Piazza Andrea
Published: April 2022

Constraining the magmatic 3He/4He signature of fluids degassed from a magmatic system is crucial for making inferences on its mantle source. This is especially important in arc volcanism, where variations in the composition of the wedge potentially induced by slab sediment fluids must be distinguished from the effects of magma differentiation, degassing, and crustal contamination. The study of fluid inclusions (FIs) trapped in minerals of volcanic rocks is becoming an increasingly used methodology in geochemical studies that integrates the classical study of volcanic and geothermal fluids. Here, we report on the first noble gas (He, Ne, Ar) concentrations and isotopic ratios of FI in olivine (Ol) and pyroxene (Px) crystals separated from eruptive products of the Telica and Baru volcanoes, belonging to the Nicaraguan and Panamanian arc-segments of Central America Volcanic arc (CAVA). FIs from Telica yield air corrected 3He/4He (Rc/Ra) of 7.2–7.4 Ra in Ol and 6.1–7.3 in Px, while those from Baru give 7.1–8.0 Ra in Ol and 4.2–5.8 Ra in Px. After a data quality check and a comparison with previous 3He/4He measurements carried out on the same volcanoes and along CAVA, we constrained a magmatic Rc/Ra signature of 7.5 Ra for Telica and of 8.0 Ra for Baru, both within the MORB range (8 ± 1 Ra). These 3He/4He differences also reflect variations in the respective arc-segments, which cannot be explained by radiogenic 4He addition due to variable crust thickness, as the mantle beneath Nicaragua and Panama is at about 35 and 30 km, respectively. We instead highlight that the lowest 3He/4He signature observed in the Nicaraguan arc segment reflects a contamination of the underlying wedge by slab sediment fluids. Rc/Ra values up to 9.0 Ra are found at Pacaya volcano in Guatemala, where the crust is 45 km thick, while a 3He/4He signature of about 8.0 Ra was measured at Turrialba volcano in Costa Rica, which is similar to that of Baru, and reflects possible influence of slab melting, triggered by a change in subduction conditions and the contemporary subduction of the Galapagos hot-spot track below southern Costa Rica and western Panama.
Association of Cadaveric Factors with the Degree and Region of Discoloration on Pink Teeth: An Approach to Serial Cases
Authors: Minegishi Saki , Saitoh Hisako , Utsuno Hajime , Ohta Jun , Namiki Shuuji , Toya Maiko , Sumi Nozomi , Sakurada Koichi
Published: April 2022

The pink teeth phenomenon has been observed in cases of hanging and drowning, but the relationship of this phenomenon with cause of death has not been positively affirmed. To date, teeth with a pinkish tone have been simply regarded as pink teeth. However, we speculated that classification and evaluation of the degree and region of discoloration with reference to how color is classified in prosthodontic dentistry may produce novel findings regarding the pink teeth phenomenon. Therefore, we classified the degree and region of discoloration on teeth into three grades and attempted to evaluate the relationship of grade with various cadaveric factors in 68 cases of pink teeth. The degree and region scores of discoloration did not show significant differences in terms of sex, age, cause of death, and place of discovery, but the degree of discoloration in terms of time after death showed a significant increase at 6 months (p < 0.01) and a significant decrease after 7 months (p < 0.05), while the region score also showed a significant decrease after 7 months. Furthermore, in 18 cases of drowning, the degree of discoloration significantly increased with time after death (p < 0.01). Thus, it was clarified that time after death was most strongly related to the pink teeth phenomenon, suggesting cadaveric decomposition may affect the occurrence of pink teeth. Further investigation in cases of early postmortem changes would be required to determine whether pink teeth in putrefactive cadavers have utility in medico–legal assessments.
A Dermoscopic Inspired System for Localization and Malignancy Classification of Melanocytic Lesions
Authors: Pathan Sameena , Ali Tanweer , Vincent Shweta , Nanjappa Yashwanth , David Rajiv Mohan , Kumar Om Prakash
Published: April 2022

This study aims at developing a clinically oriented automated diagnostic tool for distinguishing malignant melanocytic lesions from benign melanocytic nevi in diverse image databases. Due to the presence of artifacts, smooth lesion boundaries, and subtlety in diagnostic features, the accuracy of such systems gets hampered. Thus, the proposed framework improves the accuracy of melanoma detection by combining the clinical aspects of dermoscopy. Two methods have been adopted for achieving the aforementioned objective. Firstly, artifact removal and lesion localization are performed. In the second step, various clinically significant features such as shape, color, texture, and pigment network are detected. Features are further reduced by checking their individual significance (i.e., hypothesis testing). These reduced feature vectors are then classified using SVM classifier. Features specific to the domain have been used for this design as opposed to features of the abstract images. The domain knowledge of an expert gets enhanced by this methodology. The proposed approach is implemented on a multi-source dataset (PH2 + ISBI 2016 and 2017) of 515 annotated images, thereby resulting in sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of 83.8%, 88.3%, and 86%, respectively. The experimental results are promising, and can be applied to detect asymmetry, pigment network, colors, and texture of the lesions.
Versatile Mass Spectrometry-Based Intraoperative Diagnosis of Liver Tumor in a Multiethnic Cohort
Authors: Giordano Silvia , Siciliano Angela Marika , Donadon Matteo , Soldani Cristiana , Franceschini Barbara , Lleo Ana , Di Tommaso Luca , Cimino Matteo , Torzilli Guido , Saiki Hidekazu , Nakajima Hiroki , Takeda Sen , Davoli Enrico
Published: April 2022

Currently used techniques for intraoperative assessment of tumor resection margins are time-consuming and laborious and, more importantly, lack specificity. Moreover, pathological diagnosis during surgery does not often give a clear outcome. Recent advances in mass spectrometry (MS) and instrumentation have made it possible to obtain detailed molecular information from tissue specimens in real-time, with minimal sample pre-treatment. Probe Electro Spray Ionization MS (PESI-MS), combined with artificial intelligence (AI), has demonstrated its effectiveness in distinguishing liver cancer tissues from healthy tissues in a large Italian population group. As the MS profile can reflect the patient’s ethnicity, dietary habits, or particular operating room procedures, the AI algorithm must be well trained to distinguish different groups. We used a large dataset composed of liver tumor and healthy specimens, from the Italian and Japanese populations, to develop a versatile algorithm free from ethnic bias. The system can classify tissues with discrepancies <5% from the pathologist’s diagnosis. These results demonstrate the potential of the PESI-MS system to distinguish tumor from surrounding non-tumor tissues in patients, with minimal bias from race/ethnicity or etiological characteristics or operating room procedures.
A Systematic Review on Blockchain Adoption
Authors: AlShamsi Mohammed , Al-Emran Mostafa , Shaalan Khaled
Published: April 2022

Blockchain technologies have received considerable attention from academia and industry due to their distinctive characteristics, such as data integrity, security, decentralization, and reliability. However, their adoption rate is still scarce, which is one of the primary reasons behind conducting studies related to users’ satisfaction and adoption. Determining what impacts the use and adoption of Blockchain technologies can efficiently address their adoption challenges. Hence, this systematic review aimed to review studies published on Blockchain technologies to offer a thorough understanding of what impacts their adoption and discuss the main challenges and opportunities across various sectors. From 902 studies collected, 30 empirical studies met the eligibility criteria and were thoroughly analyzed. The results confirmed that the technology acceptance model (TAM) and technology–organization–environment (TOE) were the most common models for studying Blockchain adoption. Apart from the core variables of these two models, the results indicated that trust, perceived cost, social influence, and facilitating conditions were the significant determinants influencing several Blockchain applications. The results also revealed that supply chain management is the main domain in which Blockchain applications were adopted. Further, the results indicated inadequate exposure to studying the actual use of Blockchain technologies and their continued use. It is also essential to report that existing studies have examined the adoption of Blockchain technologies from the lens of the organizational level, with little attention paid to the individual level. This review is believed to improve our understanding by revealing the full potential of Blockchain adoption and opening the door for further research opportunities.
Structural Performance of Modular Sandwich Composite Floor Slabs Containing Basalt FRP-Reinforced Self-Compacting Geopolymer Concrete
Authors: Rahman Sherin , John Keerthana , Kafle Bidur , Al-Ameri Riyadh
Published: April 2022

A newly developed innovative steel–geopolymer concrete composite floor slab for use in modular construction is investigated in this study. We present experimental results on the flexural behaviour of eight modular sandwich composite floor slabs with different configurations containing self-compacting geopolymer concrete (SCGC) as infill and Basalt FRP (BFRP) bars as reinforcement. The use of sustainable infill material such as SCGC and non-corrosive BFRP in the proposed composite floor slabs is beneficial from the perspective of environmental sustainability. This study also compares the performance of these composite floor slabs against their hollow counterparts. The overlap between the cells in multi-cell panels acts as additional partitioning walls. The infill material offers the sandwich composite floor slabs significant advantages by improving their load-carrying capacity. A critical analysis of the composite floor slabs for load displacement, failure modes, and strain behaviour is also conducted. The study concludes that the sandwich panels with multiple smaller cells and infill materials exhibit a sound structural performance, reporting a 6–8 times higher load-carrying capacity than their hollow counterparts. A comparison of hollow and infilled panels shows that the infill sandwich panels are suitable as structural slabs. At the same time, the former is more suitable for temporary formworks, shelter, and pedestrian platform applications.
Investigating How Reproducibility and Geometrical Representation in UMAP Dimensionality Reduction Impact the Stratification of Breast Cancer Tumors
Authors: Bollon Jordy , Assale Michela , Cina Andrea , Marangoni Stefano , Calabrese Matteo , Salvemini Chiara Beatrice , Christille Jean Marc , Gustincich Stefano , Cavalli Andrea
Published: April 2022

Advances in next-generation sequencing have provided high-dimensional RNA-seq datasets, allowing the stratification of some tumor patients based on their transcriptomic profiles. Machine learning methods have been used to reduce and cluster high-dimensional data. Recently, uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP) was applied to project genomic datasets in low-dimensional Euclidean latent space. Here, we evaluated how different representations of the UMAP embedding can impact the analysis of breast cancer (BC) stratification. We projected BC RNA-seq data on Euclidean, spherical, and hyperbolic spaces, and stratified BC patients via clustering algorithms. We also proposed a pipeline to yield more reproducible clustering outputs. The results show how the selection of the latent space can affect downstream stratification results and suggest that the exploration of different geometrical representations is recommended to explore data structure and samples’ relationships.
Technological Aspects of a Reparation of the Leading Edge of Helicopter Main Rotor Blades in Field Conditions
Authors: Sałaciński Michał , Puchała Krzysztof , Leski Andrzej , Szymczyk Elżbieta , Hutsaylyuk Volodymyr , Bednarz Arkadiusz , Synaszko Piotr , Kozera Rafał , Olkowicz Klaudia , Głowacki Dominik
Published: April 2022

The Polish Air Force operates more than one hundred helicopters of the Mi family (manufactured by Mil Helicopters), equipped with metal main rotor blades. The main rotor blades are among the most stressed components of these structures. For this reason, they are subject to more frequent inspections during operation than other components. One type of damage detected during inspections is the local disbonding of fragments of the anti-erosion layer from the leading edge. This harmless-looking damage is very dangerous, since it quickly leads to the complete detachment of the layer. The leading edge, unprotected by the metal cover, erodes rapidly. The detached layer, when thrown away at high speed, endangers other parts of the helicopter, such as the tail rotor, and may cause damage to other helicopters if flying in formation. The technology supplied by the manufacturer to date has not encompassed the field repair of this type of damage. Therefore, efforts were made to develop repair technology for rapid repairs of blades in field conditions during missions of the Task Force White Eagle in Afghanistan. This article presents the concept of repair technology feasible in field conditions and presents the results of post-repair edge tests. Test results to identify the materials used in the construction of the trailing edge are also presented. The results of materials testing facilitated the development of technological processes, and, in the future, will aid the selection of a substitute bonding paste system with similar parameters that are essential for repairs.
Buildup Factor Computation and Percentage Depth Dose Simulation of Tissue Mimicking Materials for an External Photon Beam (0.15–15 MeV)
Authors: Kadri Omrane , Alfuraih Abdulrahman
Published: April 2022

Nowadays, the use of tissue mimicking material (TMM) is widespread in both diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, as well as for quality assurance and control. For example, patient exposure evaluation during therapeutic tests has been commonly measured using TMMs. However, only a few materials have been developed for research use at the megavoltage photon energy encountered in medical radiology. In this paper, we extended our previous work to cover the photon energy range of 0.15–15 MeV for five human tissues (adipose, cortical bone, fat, lung and muscle). As a selection criterion for TMM, other than the attenuation coefficient, we introduced the computation of the buildup factor (BUF) for a given couple of energy and depth based on the geometric progression fitting method. Hence, we developed a C++ program able to compute BUF for depths up to 40 mean free path. Moreover, we simulated the percentage depth dose (PDD) of a 6 MV photon beam through each tissue and their equivalent materials using the Geant4 Monte Carlo toolkit (version 10.5). After the comparison of a set of parameters (mass attenuation and mass energy absorption coefficients, BUF, equivalent and effective atomic numbers, electron density, superficial and maximal dose and dose at 10 and 20 cm depths), we found that SB3 (a mixture of epoxy and calcium carbonate) and MS15 (a mixture of epoxy, phenol, polyethylene and aluminum oxide) accurately imitate cortical bone and muscle tissues, respectively. AP6 (a mixture of epoxy, phenol, polyethylene and teflon), glycerol trioleate and LN1 (a mixture of polyurethane and aluminum oxide) are also suitable TMMs for adipose, fat and lung tissues, respectively. Therefore, this work can be useful to physician researchers in dosimetry and radiological diagnosis.
Truncated Newton Kernel Ridge Regression for Prediction of Porosity in Additive Manufactured SS316L
Authors: Abdulla Hind , Maalouf Maher , Barsoum Imad , An Heungjo
Published: April 2022

Despite the many benefits of additive manufacturing, the final quality of the fabricated parts remains a barrier to the wide adoption of this technique in industry. Predicting the quality of parts using advanced machine learning techniques may improve the repeatability of results and make additive manufacturing accessible to different fields. This study aims to integrate data extracted from various sources and use them to obtain accurate predictions of relative density with respect to the governing process parameters. Process parameters such as laser power, scan speed, hatch distance, and layer thickness are used to predict the relative density of 316L stainless steel specimens fabricated by selective laser melting. An extensive dataset is created by systematically combining experimental results from prior studies with the results of the current work. Analysis of the collected dataset shows that the laser power and scan speed significantly impact the relative density. This study compares ridge regression, kernel ridge regression, and support vector regression using the data collected for SS316L. Computational results indicate that kernel ridge regression performs better than both ridge regression and support vector regression based on the coefficient of determination and mean square error.
Pentane Depletion by a Surface DBD and Catalysis Processing
Authors: Piferi Cecilia , Daghetta Matteo , Schiavon Marco , Roman Hector Eduardo , Riccardi Claudia
Published: April 2022

We study pentane depletion using a hybrid plasma system based on a surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD), with and without a catalyst, and as a function of plasma power and alkane concentration. We evaluate pentane decomposition efficiency based on plasma power and quantify the role of the catalyst in the resulting depletion of intermediate products. Analyses of the temporal evolution of pentane and the intermediate decomposition products allow us to estimate the corresponding decomposition rates according to the plasma parameters. We find that depletion efficiency increases as a function of pentane concentration. Furthermore, it is shown that the catalytic processes are responsible for a significant increase in the depletion rates of the intermediate reaction products, thus contributing to the total abatement process of pentane.
The Impacts of Medical Resources on Emerging Self-Limiting Infectious Diseases
Authors: Zhou Dayong , Gao Liyan , Pan Qiuhui , He Mingfeng
Published: April 2022

The spread of emerging self-limiting infectious diseases is closely related to medical resources. This paper introduces the concept of safe medical resources, i.e., the minimum medical resources that are needed to prevent the overburden of medical resources, and explores the impacts of medical resources on the spread of emerging self-limiting infectious diseases. The results showed that when the isolation rate of hospitalized patients who have mild infections is low, increasing the isolation rate of patients with severe infections requires safe more medical resources. On the contrary, when the isolation rate of hospitalized patients with mild infections is at a high level, increasing the isolation rate of patients with severe infections results in a decrease in safe medical resources. Furthermore, when the isolation rates of patients with mild and severe infections increase simultaneously, safe medical resources decrease gradually. That is to say, when the medical resources are at a low level, it is more necessary to improve the isolation rates of infected individuals so as to avoid the phenomenon of overburdened medical resources and control the spread of emerging infectious diseases. In addition, overwhelmed medical resources increase the number of deaths. Meanwhile, for different emerging self-limiting infectious diseases, as long as the recovery periods are the same, safe medical resources also remain the same.
Logit Averaging: Capturing Global Relation for Session-Based Recommendation
Authors: Yang Heeyoon , Kim Gahyung , Lee Jee-Hyoung
Published: April 2022

Session-based recommendation predicts an anonymous user’s next action, whether she or he is likely to purchase based on the user’s behavior in the current session as sequences. Most recent research on session-based recommendations makes predictions based on a single-session without incorporating global relationships between sessions. It does not guarantee a better performance because item embeddings learned by solely utilizing a single session (inter-session) have less item transition information than utilizing both intra- and inter-session ones. Some existing methods tried to enhance recommendation performance by adopting memory modules and global transition graphs; however, those need more computation cost and time. We propose a novel algorithm called Logit Averaging (LA), utilizing both (i) local-level logits, which come from intra-sessions item transitions and (ii) global-level logits, which come from gathered logits of related sessions. The proposed method shows an improvement in recommendation performance in respect of accuracy and diversity through extensive experiments.
Modelling the Impact of the Introduction of the EURO 6d-TEMP/6d Regulation for Light-Duty Vehicles on EU Air Quality
Authors: de Meij Alexander , Astorga Covadonga , Thunis Philippe , Crippa Monica , Guizzardi Diego , Pisoni Enrico , Valverde Victor , Suarez-Bertoa Ricardo , Oreggioni Gabriel David , Mahiques Ornella , Franco Vicente
Published: April 2022

In this manuscript, we evaluated different emission scenarios for light-duty road transport to evaluate their impact on air quality in the EU, with a focus on a number of cities by means of the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) modelling system. In addition to the reference case scenario, where exhaust emission factors from COPERT (Computer Programme to calculate Emissions from Road Transport) corresponding to the existing fleet were used, we also tested future potential scenarios considering: (a) all passenger cars and light commercial vehicles meet the EURO 6 emissions standard and EDGAR (Emission Database for Global Atmospheric research) EURO 6 emission factors; (b) all passenger cars and light commercial vehicles meet the EURO 6 emissions standard and real-world emission factors derived from actual Euro 6d-TEMP/6d vehicles. Results show how the replacement of old vehicles by newer ones with better emission control technologies can help improve air quality in the EU in terms of reductions in NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations. However, reduced NOx emissions in cities (as foreseen in the two scenarios analysed) will cause tropospheric O3 to increase.
Trends in the Phenology of Climber Roses under Changing Climate Conditions in the Mazovia Lowland in Central Europe
Authors: Monder Marta Joanna
Published: April 2022

The genetic pool of valuable old ornamental cultivars and their in situ maintenance is threated by climate change. Meanwhile, ornamental plants like roses make up an important share of both gardens and urban green spaces, where they are particularly vulnerable to multi-stress growth conditions. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of changing climatic conditions on growth and flowering of 11 historic climber roses through long-term studies (2000–2017) conducted in Central Europe. The evaluation of plants consisted of assessment of frost damage and the timing of early phenological stages (starting of bud break, leaf unfolding), as well as gathering data on the beginning, fullness, and end of flowering and its abundance. Frost damage was not observed in any year only in ‘Mme Plantier’ and did not occur for any cultivar after the winter in the years 2007, 2008, and 2014. Only a little damage to one-year shoots was recorded after the winter in the years 2015–2017. Frost damage to ‘Alberic Barbier’, ‘Albertine’, ‘Chaplin’s Pink Climber’, ‘Orange Triumph clg’, and ‘Venusta Pendula’ led to pruning to ground level in every year excluding those listed above. Frost damage of once-blooming roses limited their flowering; however, the many-year datasets showed a trend for decreased frost damage and improved abundance of flowering, and these results can be interpreted as a response to the increase of average air temperature. The timing of bud breaking and leaf development in all climber roses was strictly correlated with average air temperature in the dormancy period. The reactions of climber roses to weather conditions confirmed the influence of climatic changes on ornamental crop plants in Central Europe, introducing the potential possibility for the wider application of climber roses, but without certainty of flowering every year.
Proxy Re-Encryption Scheme for Decentralized Storage Networks
Authors: Kan Jia , Zhang Jie , Liu Dawei , Huang Xin
Published: April 2022

Storage is a promising application for permission-less blockchains. Before blockchain, cloud storage was hosted by a trusted service provider. The centralized system controls the permission of the data access. In web3, users own their data. Data must be encrypted in a permission-less decentralized storage network, and the permission control should be pure cryptographic. Proxy re-encryption (PRE) is ideal for cryptographic access control, which allows a proxy to transfer Alice’s ciphertext to Bob with Alice’s authorization. The encrypted data are stored in several copies for redundancy in a permission-less decentralized storage network. The redundancy suffers from the outsourcing attack. The malicious resource provider may fetch the content from others and respond to the verifiers. This harms data integrity security. Thus, proof-of-replication (PoRep) must be applied to convince the user that the storage provider is using dedicated storage. PoRep is an expensive operation that encodes the original content into a replication. Existing PRE schemes cannot satisfy PoRep, as the cryptographic permission granting generates an extra ciphertext. A new ciphertext would result in several expensive replication operations. We searched most of the PRE schemes for the combination of the cryptographic methods to avoid transforming the ciphertext. Therefore, we propose a new PRE scheme. The proposed scheme does not require the proxy to transfer the ciphertext into a new one. It reduces the computation and operation time when allowing a new user to access a file. Furthermore, the PRE scheme is CCA (chosen-ciphertext attack) security and only needs one key pair.
Perceptual Judgments for Table Tennis Serve Recognition: An Event-Related Potentials Study
Authors: Xu Libin , Tan Yuanyuan , Zhang Xingyue , Yang Chen , Sun Yuliang
Published: April 2022

In the present study, visual attention processes in complex, sport-related decision-making tasks were examined. Psychophysiological and performance data recorded from 15 advanced table tennis athletes and 15 intermediate level undergraduates were compared. A total of 240 three-dimensional pictures of stimuli composed of a white ball and hitting location (black shade point) were presented via a screen, in which 25% represented side-backspin serves, and the other 75% represented non-side-topspin serves. Participants were instructed to report the types of serves. The results indicated that table tennis athletes responded more quickly and accurately. C1 and P1components were induced in the occipital region, N1 in the central region, and P3 in all regions. For table tennis athletes, in the phase of early sensory processing for stimuli features (such as hitting location), the cerebral cortex was activated at a higher level in comparison with undergraduates. This may be caused by the long-term exercise training. Athletes have to be very sensitive to the physical features of relevant movement stimuli. In the phase of recognizing stimuli structures or patterns, advanced athletes’ cerebral cortexes were activated higher and faster. This may help them more effectively match visual information about serves to patterns stored in long-term memory.
Efficient Algorithms for Linear System Identification with Particular Symmetric Filters
Authors: Fîciu Ionuţ-Dorinel , Benesty Jacob , Dogariu Laura-Maria , Paleologu Constantin , Ciochină Silviu
Published: April 2022

In linear system identification problems, it is important to reveal and exploit any specific intrinsic characteristic of the impulse responses, in order to improve the overall performance, especially in terms of the accuracy and complexity of the solution. In this paper, we focus on the nearest Kronecker product decomposition of the impulse responses, together with low-rank approximations. Such an approach is suitable for the identification of a wide range of real-world systems. Most importantly, we reformulate the system identification problem by using a particular symmetric filter within the development, which allows us to efficiently design two (iterative/recursive) algorithms. First, an iterative Wiener filter is proposed, with improved performance as compared to the conventional Wiener filter, especially in challenging conditions (e.g., small amount of available data and/or noisy environments). Second, an even more practical solution is developed, in the form of a recursive least-squares adaptive algorithm, which could represent an appealing choice in real-time applications. Overall, based on the proposed approach, a system identification problem that can be conventionally solved by using a system of L=L1L2 equations (with L unknown parameters) is reformulated as a combination of two systems of PL1 and PL2 equations, respectively, where usually P≪L2 (i.e., a total of PL1+PL2 parameters). This could lead to important advantages, in terms of both performance and complexity. Simulation results are provided in the framework of network and acoustic echo cancellation, supporting the performance gain and the practical features of the proposed algorithms.
On the Security of a Lightweight and Secure Access Authentication Scheme for Both UE and mMTC Devices in 5G Networks
Authors: Park Kisung , Park Youngho
Published: April 2022

The Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G networks play important roles in the latest systems for managing and monitoring various types of data. These 5G based IoT environments collect various data in real-time using micro-sensors as IoT things devices and sends the collected data to a server for further processing. In this scenario, a secure authentication and key agreement scheme is needed to ensure privacy when exchanging data between IoT nodes and the server. Recently, Cao et al. in “LSAA: A lightweight and secure access authentication scheme for both UE and mMTC devices in 5G networks” presented a new authentication scheme to protect user privacy. They contend that their scheme not only prevents various protocol attacks, but also achieves mutual authentication, session key security, unlinkability, and perfect forward/backward secrecy. This paper demonstrates critical security weaknesses of their scheme using informal and formal (mathemati) analysis: it does not prevent a single point of failure and impersonation attacks. Further, their proposed scheme does not achieve mutual authentication and correctness of security assumptions, and we perform simulation analysis using a formal verification tool to its security flaws. To ensure attack resilience, we put forward some solutions that can assist constructing more secure and efficient access authentication scheme for 5G networks.
A Multidisciplinary Methodology for Technological Knowledge, Characterization and Diagnostics: Sandstone Facades in Florentine Architectural Heritage
Authors: Centauro Irene , Vitale Jacopo Giuseppe , Calandra Sara , Salvatici Teresa , Natali Claudio , Coppola Michele , Intrieri Emanuele , Garzonio Carlo Alberto
Published: April 2022

The Historic Center of Florence, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, includes many examples of architecture characterized by rough-hewn rusticated block facades—a very common masonry technique in the Florentine Renaissance—made in Pietraforte sandstone. The latter features numerous criticalities related to its intrinsic characteristics and to decay phenomena that are due to weathering and pollution. A multidisciplinary methodology has been developed starting from historic analysis and architectural survey to a complete optometric, mechanical, physical, mineralogical, and petrographic characterization of rough-hewn rusticated blocks, applied to the case study of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi facades. The studies performed in this work cover several research fields, from architecture to geology, going through material diagnostics, and aim at improving knowledge and designing new restoration solutions for Pietraforte building-material criticalities. The research proposes an operative protocol aimed at supporting restoration projects and monitoring plans, with the aim to protect historical, architectural, and artistic cultural heritage and to safeguard the people who visit the city of Florence every year.