bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An acoustical and psychological study on contribution of lyrics in raga-based happy and sad Indian music
Authors: Banerjee A , Sanyal S , Gayen P , Roy S , Patnaik P , Ghosh D
Published: May 2021

A perfect complementary relationship between the lyric and the melody can give birth to a beautiful song. The melodic expression of a song is universal but the lyrical expression is not – lyric is culture specific because of its language dependence. Can melody itself communicate the core emotions of a song? Or does the addition of a lyrical sense significantly change its emotional experience? This study looks for the answers focusing on a unique subgenre of Indian Classical Music –Ragashroyicompositions, where the melodic movements sincerely follow theRagapathways but the lyrics explore a much deeper and wider variety of emotions compared toRaga bandishes. Recordings were collected from two eminent vocalists (1 male, 1 female), each of whom was asked to sing (with proper lyrics) and hum (without meaningful lyrics) any two BengaliRagashroyicompositions of two opposite emotions – happiness and sadness. Hurst Exponents, obtained from robust non-linear Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) of the recorded acoustic waveforms, were compared for each song-humming pair having same melodic structure to understand the acoustic contribution of the lyrics in a song quantitatively. A comparative audience response study was also conducted where several humming and song clips were played randomly and two groups (one which understands Bengali, the other which does not), each having 30 participants, were asked to mark the emotions and the characteristic features corresponding to each clip on 5 point Likert scale, and their responses were compared for each song-humming pair. This pilot study onRagashroyiIndian music explores in depth the contribution of lyrics in vocal music from both the perspectives of computational acoustics and audience psychology.
Skyline quadratic residue diffuser-resonator (SQRD-R): a study about its characteristic
Authors: Suyatno  , Lianto M
Published: May 2021

To create a comfortable acoustic environment both indoor and outdoor, we need to control the noise. In the room, noise comes from both outside and inside the room for example is flatter echo. Installation of acoustic material such as absorber, resonator, or diffuser is an example of indoor noise control. QRD is one of diffuser consider of wells with different depth to diffuse the reflected sound. The depth of the wells is calculated by DR. Manfred Schroeder formula. In this research, a combination of Skyline QRD and Helmholtz resonator is given, we call it SQRD-R. This SQRDR follows the design from Wes Lachot Design but using a Helmholtz resonator as the cell. The examination of its characteristic is built using both of impedance tube test and calculation. The purposes of this research are learning about the effect of holes position on its sound impedance and sound absorption coefficient. The highest impedance value is –j(3.5 x 107) acoustic ohm. The highest absorption coefficient is 0.9. By controlling the SQRD-R dimension, we can control noise at specific frequency.
Influence of “indeterminate music” on visual art: a phenomenological, semiotic and fractal exploration
Authors: Gayen P , Banerjee A , Sanyal S , Nag S , Patnaik P , Ghosh D
Published: May 2021

Indeterminacy in music, a well known neo-avant-garde approach of composing sound where some features of a musical work are left open to chance or to the interpreter’s free choice, became noticeable among some American music composers such as John Cage, Earle Brown, Morton Feldman and Christian Wolff in the mid 20th century. Simultaneously, a group of artists from the West created “abstract expressionism” in visual arts, which showed a strong resemblance with this “indeterminate music”, both using two kinds of abstract languages. The commonality among these two art forms is the free improvisation of creative activity. The correspondence between the indeterminate music induced emotions and the depicted emotional contents in paintings is a relevant area which is still scientifically unexplored. To investigate the same, we conducted a case study where a visual artist listened to four music clips composed by the above mentioned musicians and created four paintings. The visual artist is strongly inspired by the abstract expressionist methods and these methods lend well to inspirational work based on listening to indeterminate music.To understand the nature of intermediality, if any, that exists between “indeterminate music” and “evoked abstraction” in paintings, the artist’s phenomenological interpretations of the process was compared with detailed semiotic analysis of specific musical and visual elements and the nature of their relatedness. Fractal analysis in the form of Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) was also done on both the acoustic waveforms of the chosen music clips and the corresponding paintings to explore possible correlations. Some unique findings yielded from the analysis, which hint toward strong correlation between the prominent musical features of indeterminate music and the prominent visual features of the paintings inspired by them. This novel study has the potential to offer both new methodology as well as better understanding the features of intermediality between “indeterminate music” and visual art.
Hilbert-Huang transform of infrasound for tsunami early warning systems
Authors: Caesario V , Amelia R R , Vieri G , Arifianto D
Published: May 2021

When an earthquake occurs tectonically and volcanically, it is preceded by the emergence of sound wave propagation that cannot be heard by the human ear because it has a low frequency, called infrasound. These infrasound waves are difficult to detect because they are much weaker than earthquake waves and other natural sound waves in nature. The Hilbert-Huang transform method (HHT) is proposed, which in principle decomposes a wave into several simpler sinusoidal harmonic waves so as to separate the low-frequency infrasound waves from the other waves. Once separated, the envelope frequency can be determined which represents the frequency of the earthquake occurrence, then the amplitude represents the predicted earthquake strength, and the wave propagation phase that represents the location of the earthquake source. From the comparison of secondary data, it was obtained that HHT was able to obtain all three information faster than the data from seismographs so that it had the potential to increase the evacuation time which in turn reduced the potential for greater casualties and losses.
Speaker forensic identification using joint factor analysis and i-vector
Authors: Rouf R J , Arifianto D
Published: May 2021

Speaker Forensic is a process to determine the identity between a person’s voice (known speaker) and the investigated voice (suspect speaker). To improve accuracy in speaker forensic analysis is used a combination of 2 forensic methods, joint factor analysis and i-vector methods. The forensic approach by adding noise signal with SNR value as a representation of a tapping situation to measure speaker identification performance. Classification on verification using i-vector is done by comparing i-vector model tests and targets. Both models calculated vector similarities using cosine similarity score. Verification is done with compare the same speaker and verification between different speakers The testing process on the program performance is indicated by an equal rate error value. While the system’s sensibility is indicated by the threshold value. The results showed that the EER value of the Graz dataset (1.87%) compared to the Indonesia dataset (10%).
Folded planar resonator-based sonic crystal scatterer: Part II. Tuning the local resonance
Authors: Yahya Iwan , Suparmi  , Cari  , Ubaidillah
Published: May 2021

This paper emphasized the tuning local resonance approach for proposing folded planar resonator-based sonic crystal scatterers. The folded inward design gives similar performance to the conventional single degree of freedom split tube resonator (STR). The sound absorption performance shifted to a lower frequency band according to the enlarging total volume of the resulting structure’s volume without any significant effect from its inner wall thickness. Contrary to the folded outward direction design, which is resulting in multi-degree of freedom response. As the planar resonator folded in an outward direction, the resonator depth became a thin slit connecting the two separated cavities. The test model is made of stiff paper, as mentioned in part one. The entire laboratory test also conducted with a similar procedure refers to ASTM E-1050-98.
A new organic-inorganic MgZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS hybrid heterojunction photodetector fabrication
Authors: Weng Siyuan , Jiang Dayong , Zhang Xiaolan , Wang Meijiao , Sun Jiamei , Zhao Hongping , Li HaoDa , Zhao Yue , Xing Meijiao
Published: May 2021

Abatract

This research reports oxygen zinc magnesium (MgZnO)/gold (Au) photodetectors (PD) and organic-inorganic semiconductors MgZnO/Au/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythio-phene): poly(4-styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) PD research. At room temperature, spin-coating and radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering were used to deposit PEDOT:PSS layer and MgZnO thin film on the substrate, respectively. The properties of the heterojunction formed on the MgZnO/PEDOT:PSS inorganic/organic contact interface were studied. In order to manufacture ultraviolet (UV) heterojunction PDs, PEDOT:PSS is used as the hole transport layer (HTL), and MgZnO is used as the electron transport layer (ETL). This heterojunction shows excellent ultraviolet light detection capability. Under 40 V bias, the responsivity of MgZnO/Au PD and MgZnO/Au/PEDOT:PSS heterojunction PD are 0.0473 A W−1 and 0.134 A W−1 under ultraviolet irradiation, respectively. The device shows good Schottky contact between metal semiconductor junctions. The excellent UV detector performance is due to the strong UV absorption of PEDOT: PSS.
Research on indoor positioning algorithm based on BP neural network
Authors: Zhu Wenqi , Zeng Zetao , Yang Qin , Zhao Xuchen , Zhang Jie
Published: May 2021

The neural network positioning algorithm is an algorithm that uses the principle of electromagnetic induction to activate a short-range wireless tag wirelessly to achieve information reading. It has the advantages of small size, low cost, and reusability. This paper compares several neural network structures of DNN, CNN, and RNN, and selects BP neural network to optimize its training through theory and practice, combining the data to compare their average error and average time used in indoor positioning practice, the average error of the optimized BP neural network in this article is smaller, and the positioning time is shorter, and combined with the practical data to obtain the efficient use of the division value n, which meets the high-precision requirements of indoor positioning and is more convenient for practical applications.
Effect of secondary orientation on micromechanical properties of nickel base single crystal superalloy
Authors: Wei Wencong , Zhang Jiawei , Song Jinxia , Xiao Chengbo , Liu Furong
Published: May 2021

In this paper, the mechanical properties and microstructure evolution of Ni based single crystal superalloy with different secondary orientations under stress loading were studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. The MD model is a supercell structure established with three-dimensional cubic mosaic units, and the volume fraction of the γ‘precipitated phase is 65%, which is similar to the structure of the actual material. The effect of secondary orientation on the tensile properties of superalloy was analyzed on the atomic scale, and the mechanism of the secondary orientation on tensile deformation and fracture was discussed systematically. The work in this paper will be helpful to understand the tensile deformation behavior of superalloy from an atomic point of view.
Junction Temperature Measurement Method for Thermal Resistance Testing of SiC MOSFET Module
Authors: Guo Hao , Guo Chunsheng , Wei Lei , Liu Yunong
Published: May 2021

The internal anti-parallel Schottky barrier diode threshold voltage of SiC metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) modules is less than that of their body diodes, which prevents the use of the body diode voltage drop to measure junction temperature. In this paper, a thermal resistance test of the SiC MOSFET module is proposed based on the onstate voltage drop as a temperature-sensitive electrical parameter. Measurements are performed with the method and its feasibility evaluated. The on-state voltage drop temperature sensitivity under different gate voltages and the repeatability of the on-state voltage drop parameters before and after electric power heating in the thermal resistance tests are studied. The on-state voltage drop is measured under a high gate voltage and the accuracy of junction temperature measurement improves when the grid voltage remains the same during heating and measurement.
A research on resting-state functional network connectivity after rt-fMRI neurofeedback in insomnia
Authors: Zhang Huan , Gao Hui , Li Zhonglin , Feng Zhiyuan , Zhang Chi , Tong Li , Yan Bin
Published: May 2021

Using resting-state functional connectivity based on regions of interest to explore connectivity changes between specific brain regions and the whole brain in insomnia patients after real-time functional magnetic resonance neurofeedback (rt-fMRI NF) therapy has the limitation that the brain information used is not comprehensive enough. While the use of functional network connectivity (FNC) can more systematically and effectively explore the effect of neurofeedback intervention on brain activity in patients with insomnia. In this paper, we used independent component analysis (ICA) method to reveal the spatial properties of brain networks in the whole brain of insomnia patients, then examined and compared the FNC before and after rt-fMRI neurofeedback. The whole-brain FNC results show that the functional connectivity between the executive control network (ECN) and salience network (SAN), default mode network (DMN) were significantly decreased, while the connectivity between the DMN and the SAN was increased. In summary, rt-fMRI neurofeedback training for insomnia patients alters intrinsic functional network connectivity, which may provide objective neuroimage evidence for emotion and sleep improvement in insomnia patients.
Research on Surface Defect Detection Algorithm of Strip Steel Based on Improved YOLOV3
Authors: Ning Zhang , Mi Zhiwei
Published: May 2021

Aiming at the problems of slow detection speed and low detection accuracy in the surface defect detection of hot rolled strip steel, an improved YOLOV3 algorithm model was proposed in this paper. Firstly, the data sets is expanded by using the data enhancement algorithm to improve the robustness of the algorithm. Secondly, K-means++ with less randomness was used to perform clustering analysis on defect labels instead of K-means algorithm, and appropriate Anchor Boxes were selected as the initial candidate boxes for the improved YOLOV3 network. Finally, this study changed the detection network of YOLOV3, added a layer of prediction box and performed feature fusion to improve the detection ability of the network for small targets. The experimental results show that the improved YOLOV3 algorithm achieves 89.5% mean average precision on NEU-DET data set, which is 14.7% higher than the original YOLOV3 algorithm. Detection speed in 34 FPS at the same time, can meet the needs of industrial production.
A multi-objective scheduling method for smart grid loads based on improved GSO algorithm
Authors: Zhou Hailing
Published: May 2021

When the traditional scheduling method is applied to the smart grid, it is difficult to adapt to the characteristics of fast changing grid load and multiple scheduling objectives, which leads to problems such as low economy and slow scheduling response rate. In order to improve the above problems, a multi-objective scheduling method for smart grid loads based on the improved GSO algorithm is studied. After predicting the short-term load changes of the smart grid using the maximum Lyapounov exponent method, a grid load scheduling model is established with the objectives of economy, environmental protection and reliability. The GSO algorithm is improved by using simulated annealing algorithm to solve the grid load scheduling model to achieve multi-objective scheduling of grid loads. The comparison experiment verifies that the scheduling method improves the scheduling response rate by at least 37.5%, and effectively reduces the scheduling cost with reliability.
A Safety Mechanism Design for Inductive Power Transfer Systems
Authors: Chai Yuxin
Published: May 2021

Many applications have appeared since the invention of Wireless Power Transfer. One of the constraints for WPT to be applied to wider applications is the safety concerns. This paper introduced an object-detecting safety mechanism for wireless power transfer by only using on-board signals of the inverter. With a simple machine learning tech- nique, the trained classification model could achieve a detection accuracy of 95% via simulation data.
Research on the Performance of ZnO/Mg0.2Zn0.8O Flexible Ultraviolet Photodetector
Authors: Wang Meijiao , Jiang Dayong , Li Haoda , Weng Siyuan , Sun Jiamei , Duan Yuhan , Zhang Xiaolan , Zhao Hongping
Published: May 2021

The ZnO/Mg0.2Zn0.8O/Au flexible ultraviolet photodetector (UV PD) with a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate was successfully prepared at room temperature, which is compared with Mg0.2Zn0.8O/Au without a ZnO buffer layer. ZnO/Mg0.2Zn0.8O/Au double-layer film is biased at low operating voltage, the spectral responsivity is improved by 2.77 times. This result provides a way to grow a buffer layer on PET to improve the responsieness of the device. After 0/50/100/200 bending times and storage for more than 90 days, the pet substrate maintains excellent mechanical stability and repeatability, which is suitable for practical applications.
Ring resonator modulators based on double-layer graphene and Chalcogenide glasses waveguide in mid-infrared light
Authors: Zhou Yong , Lu Rongguo , Wang Guangbiao , Lyv Jiangbo , Shen Liming , Lin Rui , Yang Zhonghua , Liu Yong
Published: May 2021

A ring resonator modulator based on double-layer graphene and Chalcogenide glasses waveguide is presented and investigated. Wide bandwidth mid-infrared light operation can be achieved. A strong interaction between mid-infrared light and graphene is obtained, which change the effective mode index in the waveguide significantly while the change of applied voltage. Besides, the modulator we proposed owns a large extinction ratio of 33.57 dB.
Synthesis and Luminescence Properties of β-NaGdF4:Yb3+, Er3+ Nanoparticles
Authors: Zhang Cong , Yang Ju , Cui Wenzhe , Ren Guozhong
Published: May 2021

Ln (Yb3+Er3+)-doped NaGdF4 nanoparticles were prepared by a hydrothermal method. The structure and composition of the samples as prepared nanomaterials were characterized by XRD, TEM, and UV-visible absorption-spectrum analysis. Based on further analysis results that are rarely reported, the cyclohexane solution sample shows peak at 376, 520 and 653nm. The transmitted spectrum indicated that all samples present the pure hexagonal phase with nanorods microstructure. It was found that the Gd ions’ doping percentage from 73% to 93% is more beneficial to glow. The synthesis steps of the hydrothermal method are simple and the particles synthesized by this method showed uniform size, table structure and good dispersion. The lanthanide fluoride nanocrystals prepared in this experiment can be used as an excellent optical material. The samples were then irradiated by laser 980 nm at room temperature, and they emitted bright and unusually stable upconvert visible light. Experiments have shown that NaGdF4 (Yb3+Er3+) can present good up-conversion luminescence. Therefore, it provides us with more possibilities in application fields such as probes, scanning and display.
Research on Temperature Measurement Technology of Platinum Film Thermistor
Authors: Zhang Bingtao , Chen Xi , Yuan Jiafu , Zhu Haidong
Published: May 2021

Platinum film thermistor is developed by combining platinum film thermistor with thin film technology, which solves the cost and application problems of platinum film thermistor components. The principle, fabrication process and application of platinum film thermistor are introduced. A temperature acquisition device of platinum film thermistor is designed. It is verified that the platinum film thermistor has the characteristics of fast response and high accuracy. The temperature data of aluminum alloy plate heated at a single point is collected by using the temperature measurement system. The characteristics of the platinum film thermistor model are verified by comparing the collected data with the simulation data. The results show that the platinum film thermistor can accurately and efficiently complete the fine temperature change measurement, which has a broad development prospect.
Self-induced antimony compositional variation GaAs/Ga(As)Sb core-shell nanowires by molecular beam epitaxy
Authors: Yubin Kang , Xiaobing Hou , Jilong Tang , Xiaohua Wang , Zhipeng Wei
Published: May 2021

Self-catalyzed GaAs/GaAsSb heterojunction nanowires (NWs) were grown on Si (111) substrate by molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). The GaAs/GaAsSb heterojunction NWs were determined by XRD and Raman spectra. Antimony (Sb) compositional variation of GaAs/Ga(As)Sb heterojunction NWs have been clearly evidenced by XRD spectrum, energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy combined with absorption spectra. Detailed electron microscopy investigations indicate that the As-Sb exchange at the GaAsSb NWs surface during growth resulting in an outward diffusion of Sb (and corresponding inward diffusion of As), the structure of GaAs/GaAsSb/GaSb and GaAsSb/GaSb core-shell NWs were formed. This study offers a possibility to grow ternary III-V NWs with complex structures that can be used for electronic and optoelectronic applications.
Detection of Metal Surface Defects Based on YOLOv4 Algorithm
Authors: Zhao Haili , Yang Zefeng , Li Jia
Published: May 2021

To solve the problem of low recognition accuracy and low defect location accuracy in traditional detection of surface defects of metal materials, this paper innovates on the basis of YOLOv4 architecture, and studies the influence of adding feature pyramid network module to different position of model neck on detection algorithm. Experiments have shown that adding the feature pyramid network (FPN) module after sampling on the neck network can enhance the feature information expression ability of the feature map originally input to the detection head in the size of 80×80 and 40×40, and achieve better detection results, and achieve better detection results. The experimental results show that adding feature pyramid network module to the neck can effectively improve the detection accuracy of the algorithm. Finally, compared with the traditional YOLOv4 network, the average recognition accuracy of this model can reach 92.5% and the recognition accuracy is improved.
Non-destructive peak junction temperature measurement of double-chip IGBT modules with temperature inhomogeneity
Authors: Wei Lei , Guo Chunsheng , Guo Hao , Liu Yunong , Zhang Shiwei
Published: May 2021

Considering the problem of measuring the peak junction temperature of a double-chip module with temperature inhomogeneity, we use a double-chip parallel model to analyze peak junction temperature measurement error for the traditional electrical method. An improved test method is proposed that is based on the small current–voltage drop method—specifically the dual current test method employing an extended-dimension calibration curve library. This method realizes a match of the calibration current with the test current by expanding the dimension database, eliminates errors of temperature measurements, and finally obtains the peak junction temperature of the module. The measurement result is close to the set temperature of the model, thereby verifying its accuracy.
Ultrafast non-volatile 1x1 optical switch using phase change material Sc0.2Sb2Te3
Authors: Xie Xuanxuan , Liu Furong , Zhang Lulu , Lian Yangbo , Li Yu
Published: May 2021

Phase change materials are widely used in photonic devices due to their extremely large optical properties. Phase change optical switches use the difference in refractive index between amorphous and crystalline states to achieve “on” and “off”. In this paper, we design a Si-Sc0.2Sb2Te3 (SST) hybrid waveguide 1x1 optical switch. The finite element method was used to optimize the structural parameters of the device and the modal distribution of TE polarization was calculated. The transmission performance of the device is simulated by the FDTD method. In this case, a very compact, 2 µm long SST shows a large extinction ratio of more than 12 dB and over 100 nm bandwidth operation.
Research on Life Prediction of Motor Bearing Based on Vibration Signal
Authors: Fan Qingchuan , Yu Fei , Xuan Min
Published: May 2021

In order to solve the problem of motor bearing life prediction, a model of Long and short time memory (LSTM) network remaining life prediction based on genetic algorithm (GA) optimization is proposed. Firstly, the time-domain and time-frequency domain features of vibration signals are extracted. Secondly, the super-parameters of LSTM network are optimized by GA algorithm. Finally, the trained LSTM network is used to predict the remaining life of motor bearings. The results show that the model established in this paper can effectively predict the remaining life of motor bearings, which is of great significance to the study of health management and life prediction of motors.
10GHz regeneratively mode-locked erbium-doped fiber laser combined with nonlinear amplifying loop mirror
Authors: Liang Ke , Zhou Yue , Xu Kun
Published: May 2021

Mode-locked fiber lasers can generate short pulses with a high repetition rate. It can be used in nonlinear optical imaging, photo-communication and other fields. Obtaining narrow pulses with high repetition frequency has become a hot research topic. In this article, we demonstrate a hybrid mode-locked fiber laser, which is a regeneratively mode-locked erbium fiber laser operating at 10 GHz, incorporating a nonlinear amplifying loop mirror to generate a 1.9 ps pulse sequence. This all-fiber laser with a high-repetition-rate and short pulses has the advantages of high stability and self-starting, which has a wide range of applications.
Research on Fabric Defect Detection Based on Multi-branch Residual Network
Authors: Qin Runtian , Li Yu , Fan Yujie
Published: May 2021

Aiming at the problem that traditional object detection models have low recognition accuracy for small and medium-sized defects. Based on the original residual module, this paper adds a new convolution branch that dynamically adjusts the size of the receptive field with the number of network layers, and then replaces the residual module in the Hourglass-54 down-sampling stage, and proposes a new backbone network: Hourglass -MRB. The experimental results show that the Corernet-Saccade model using Hourglass-MRB improves the recognition accuracy of small and medium-sized fabric defects by 5.8% and 5.6%. The overall recognition accuracy of the system reaches 81.5%. Theoretically,the speed of fabric defect detection reaches 110 m/min. This article provides more effective support for advancing the internationalization of textile quality assessment.
Design of Amplifier for Wearable Human ECG Sensor with Low Power and Low Noise
Authors: Xue Di , Cai Ruihua , Liu Yi
Published: May 2021

Electrocardiograph (ECG) data is an important index to determine the human heart state, which helps diagnose heart disease in an early stage. Since the ECG signal is instantaneous, it is important to make the ECG signal collector wearable and have good battery life. The wearable ECG devices need to have certain properties like interference suppression ability of acquired signal, low power consumption, low noise, and high integration, putting forward crucial requirements for the design of the amplifier. To meet the properties, the front-end analog processing circuit with interface input buffer stage structure and post-amp structure was proposed here, which has the characteristics of small size, low power consumption, low input referred noise, fair common-mode rejection ratio, and high input impedance. Besides, as one of the industrial-grade circuit simulation software, LTspice was used to design the circuit structure and analyze the corresponding performance. According to the circuit design and simulation testing, it turned out that the circuit in this work can be quite simple, and all the performance indexes met the practical demands. The frequency range was 0.1Hz∼100Hz, the voltage was 1.2V, the differential gain was 40.37dB, the total integrated input-referred noise was 3.48uVrms, and the total power consumption was 1.75uW. In summary, our data indicate that the ECG device we design is small enough to be wearable and has low power consumption.
Study on National Technical Specification of the Standard Retroreflectivity Measurement Device
Authors: Yue Liu , Yishu Zhou , Zhengwei Leng , Jinjin Cao , Chang Liu
Published: May 2021

Start your abstract here…The study aims to explore the technical specifications of the standard retroreflectivity measurement devices. Based on the measurement principle of retroreflection coefficient, the metrological characteristics of standard retroreflectivity measurement devices were proposed and the three main metrological indices of light source (color temperature, illuminance and positioning error of incident angle) were experimentally explored. The allowable error range of the retroreflection coefficient measurements was determined to calculate the corresponding ranges of metrological indices. With the entropy weight method, the weight of the influence of each index on retroreflection coefficient measurements was analyzed. The analysis results showed that the illuminance had the most significant influence on the retroreflection coefficient and accounted for 41.30%, followed by color temperature (34.43%) and angle change (24.26%). The study provides the important technical support for the development of technical specifications of standard retroreflectivity measurement devices.
Predictive control of FlexRay vehicle-mounted network based on neural network
Authors: Wang Yi , Chen Min , Ma Jianjun , Zhang Jigui , Fu Jiang
Published: May 2021

Aiming at the problem that the control performance and stability of the system can not guarantee the security and reliability of FlexRay network control system when the FlexRay vehicle network control system transmits data under heavy load. So FlexRay vehicle network prediction controller based on neural network is proposed. By predicting the current state of the vehicle, and the running status of the network at the next moment, it can adapt the dynamic workload of the vehicle network system in a way of adjusting the workload autonomously. The method uses a nonlinear neural network model to predict future model capacity. The controller calculates the control input, and by controlling the input, it optimize the performance of the network model in a certain period of time. According to the square result obtained by Matlab/Simulink, the neural network predictive control has good learning ability and self-adaptability, which can improve the performance of the FlexRay vehicle-mounted network control system.
Global mortality risk assessment from river flooding under climate change
Authors: Zhang Junlin , Xu Wei , Liao Xinli , Zong Shuo , Liu Baoyin
Published: May 2021

Floods that cause yearly economic losses and casualties have increased in frequency with global warming. Assessing the mortality risks of populations due to flooding is important and necessary for risk management and disaster reduction. Thus, this paper develops a method for assessing global mortality risks due to river flooding. Global historical annual death tolls are first estimated during the historical period 1986–2005 (T0) by using available mortality vulnerability functions of river flooding. Then, the best vulnerability function is selected according to lower root mean square errors (RMSE) and the differences in the multi-year mean (DMYM) values. Next, the adjustment coefficient K
c for each country (region) is calculated to use in the revision of the selected vulnerability function. Finally, the mortality risks are estimated based on an adjusted vulnerability function. As a case, the paper assessed and analysed the global mortality risks due to river flooding during 2016–2035 (2030s) and 2046–2065 (2050s) for the combined scenario of the Representative Concentration Pathway 4.5 (RCP4.5) and the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 2 (SSP2), and the RCP8.5-SSP5 scenario. The results show that the estimation errors of the death tolls in most countries (regions) decrease after adjusting the vulnerability function. Under the current defense capacity and vulnerability level, the average annual death tolls of RCP4.5-SSP2 and RCP8.5-SSP5 in the 2030s will increase by 1.05 times and 0.93 times compared with the historical period. They will increase 1.89 and 2.20 times, respectively for the two scenarios during 2050s. High-risk areas are distributed in the south-eastern Eurasia.
Giant Clam Conservation in Sabah: a need for the appreciation of the Bajau people’s traditional ecological knowledge
Authors: Abd-Ebrah N A , Peters R F
Published: May 2021

Kima (Tridacna sp.) is a type of giant clam that can be found in Indo-West Pacific tropical coral reefs. It is endangered due to its excessive exploitation as a source of exotic food and the degradation of its habitat. The gazette of marine parks in Sabah is a positive modern conservation effort to reduce threats on endangered marine species especially those found in the northern part of Sabah. Integral to the conservation of giant clams within those marine parks is the appreciation of indigenous knowledge of once known sea gypsies i.e. the Bajau people. Current conservation methods at several sites in Sabah’s marine park had shown several challenges, which circulate tension among the economics of local communities. To explore the possibility of appreciating indigenous knowledge into the conservation of giant clams, a scientific study with the objective of documenting traditional consumption method of the Bajau people was carried out. Direct observations and interviews on the local people were conducted, while descriptive statistics were used to analyse all collected data. Finding of this study shows the existence of traditional ecology knowledge (TEK) and traditional management among Bajau people pertinent to the conservation of Kima. TEK can complement conventional science and help to make more informed management decisions for clam conservation through for hybridization of modern and traditional management to customary management in managing and conserving giant clam population in Sabah’s marine parks. A synthesized advice to use traditional ecology knowledge as tool in developing more effective knowledge-inclusive partnerships between indigenous communities, researchers and policy decision-makers is provided in this article.
Antiproliferative activity of five garcinia species collected in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo against estrogen receptor-human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cell line
Authors: Ahmad N E , Abu Bakar M F , Suleiman M , Abu Bakar F I , Sabran S F , Kormin F
Published: May 2021

Garcinia species are well-known for their unique properties of having natural secondary metabolite compounds called xanthone as well as their ethnomedicinal values such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. The study was conducted to investigate the antiproliferative activity of peel, flesh and seed extracts of G. dulcis, G. parvifolia, G. nitida, G. mangostana var. mangosta and G. cambogia collected from Malaysian Borneo (Sabah) against estrogen receptor-positive human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) cells. The antiproliferative activity was assessed using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The results showed that G. dulcis seed induced strongest antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 cancer cell line with the IC50 value of 2.5 ± 0.0 µg/ml, followed by G. dulcis flesh, G. mangostana var. mangostana peel and G. dulcis peel with IC50 values of 9.33 ± 3.21, 11.17 ± 1.04 and 17.67 ± 2.08 µg/ml, respectively. Meanwhile, the IC50 value for G. cambogia peel was 56.67 ± 10.5 µg/ml. No IC50 value was detected in all parts of G. parvifolia and G. nitida at concentration tested ( < 100 µg/ml). Overall, this study clearly showed that the whole fruit of G. dulcis displayed potent cytotoxic effect by inducing antiproliferative activity at low concentration. Further studies are needed in the future to develop this fruit as pharmaceutical and nutraceutical product for the treatment and prevention against cancer.
Presence of moonrat (Echinosorex gymnura) at selected forest reserves in Central Forest Spine (CFS) landscape of Peninsular Malaysia
Authors: Faradiana N M F , Shahfiz M A , Nor Hazwani A R , Kaviarasu M , Alwani N Z , Rusli T
Published: May 2021

Surveys on moonrat were conducted at 13 sites under 11 fragmented forest reserves of five CFS ecological corridors located in the states of Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Terengganu, Pahang and Kelantan. The surveys were conducted between February 2018 to September 2019. Not much information on moonrat is documented at these forest reserves. Therefore, the study aims to document the presence of moonrat within CFS landscape in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 100 collapsible cage traps were deployed at each surveyed site. Cumulatively, a total of eight individuals of moonrat were recorded from six forest reserves. Tanum FR and Ulu Jelai FR located in Pahang, harbour highest number of individual of moonrat, respectively with two individuals in each forest reserve. Forest conditions such as canopy closure, vegetation density and food resources may affect the presence of moonrat. Based on the information, further conservation measures can be strategized in order to conserve these fragmented forest reserves of CFS ecological corridor as a habitat for this mammal.
Perception of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) on Various Curation and Preservation Techniques for the Development of Natural History Gallery in Malaysia: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Fatin Z , Othman N , Haris H , Najmuddin M F , Indara Rahayu M N , Md Zairi Z , Abdul-Latiff M A B
Published: May 2021

Preserving animal’s body or part of the animals have become an important and well-known conservation medium to ensure that the future generations are still able to enjoy the biodiversity and all the incredible species that live within it. This paper aims to present a qualitative study on perception and preference of subject matter experts (SMEs) on various curation and preservation methods that is suitable for certain animals for the development of Natural History Gallery. Interview with the SMEs were done by using semi-structured questionnaire and prior to this, permission were gained from the respondents by signing the Informed Consent Form (ICF). The findings suggest that the preservation methods of specimens ultimately depend on the purpose of specimens collected, either to be preserved as research specimens or exhibition specimens. The information gained form this study will be valuable as directive for the development of natural history gallery in Malaysia.
The effect of enzyme concentration on physcical characteristics of pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) puree and its dried extract
Authors: Kormin F , Sakinah R A , Iwansyah A C , Hesan A
Published: May 2021

Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) contain many nutritional and biologically active components such as carotenoid content, polysaccharides, sterols, vitamins and protein. Since pumpkin has perishable characteristics, pumpkin must be preserved to increase the shelf life. The present study describe the possibility of producing spraydried pumpkin extract to increase the shelf life. Since pumpkin have high viscosity, it tend to cause deposit in the wall of spray drying chamber. With the help of enzyme liquefaction technique, the viscosity of the pumpkin can be reduced. In this research, pumpkin puree were individually treated with Pectinex Ultra-SP (0-2.5% w/v). Then, concentration Pectinex Ultra SP that produce the best viscosity reduction of pumpkin puree were chosen and treated with Celluclast 1.5 L (0-2.5% w/v). The results showed that 2.5% w/v of both Pectinex and Celluclast 1.5 L produced high viscosity reduction, clarity, total soluble solid and low pH. Then this pumpkin extract are subjected to spray drying condition and physical properties are measured. The spray drying of pumpkin extract with 2.5% w/v Celluclast 1.5 L and 2.5% w/v of Pectinex Ultra SP showed the higher yield of pumpkin powder, while no differences in moisture content, water activity and colour.
DNA barcoding of commercial fish products using dual mitochondrial markers exposes evidence for mislabelling and trade of endangered species
Authors: Ooi Z S , Jahari P N S , Sim K S , Foo S X , Mohd Zawai N N , Mohd Salleh F
Published: May 2021

Fish fraud has been extensively reported in world fish trade. The fraud includes IUCN Red List and CITES-listed species. Hence, there is a growing need to identify the trade of endangered and threatened species that has been misused to satisfy consumer needs. Here, we apply DNA barcoding by using dual mitochondrial marker; cytochrome b (Cytb) polymorphic fragment and cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) to authenticate 50 commercial fish products collected from the Malaysian market. The dual marker system improves species detection in tested fish products even in highly processed food and exposes the trade of one critically endangered (also CITES-listed) and three endangered or near threatened species under the IUCN red-list status. Our result also indicates that 36% of fish products in the Malaysian market is mislabelled and might cause concern for food safety. The newly developed Cytb primer pair also shows a higher success rate by identifying 92% of the tested samples compared to 40% for COI primer. This work suggests the dual-marker DNA barcoding approach is more effective in detecting food mislabelling and is indeed a promising tool to help regulatory bodies obtain a clearer standpoint for monitoring endangered fish trade to prevent further biodiversity loss.
Investigation on antiurolithiatic activity of aqueous extract of Ananas fruit (in-vitro)
Authors: Rahim N F A , Muhammad N , Abdullah N
Published: May 2021

Urolithiasis or kidney stone disease is a urologic ailment that has a high prevalence rate worldwide and medicinal plants have been widely used for alternative therapy. In this present study, the antiurolithiatic potential in Ananas nanus (dwarf pineapple) and Ananas comosus (L.) Merr (pineapple) fruit extracts were investigated through in-vitro assays. The fruit is extracted with aqueous distilled water via the decoction method. The antiurolithiatic properties were evaluated by titrimetric and turbidity assay. The results showed that A. nanus 2.5 fold higher (p < 0.05) than A. comosus but no significant difference with standard drug, cystone for titrimetric assay. For turbidity assay, A. nanus has significant antiurolithiatic properties (66.44 ± 3.30%) as compared to A. comosus (15.07 ± 0.59%) but lower than cystone (90.75 ± 6.42%). This might be influenced by the phytochemical contents found in the A. nanus, for instance, phenols, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, and terpenoids. This finding indicates the potential of A. nanus to be developed into nutraceutical products for urolithiasis in the future.
The Effect of Additional Effective Microorganisms in Vegetative Growth of Aerobic Paddy
Authors: Shahbuddin M , Shahbuddin D , Amirullah N , Syed-Azmi S M S , Abdul-Rahman S M
Published: May 2021

The influence of effective microorganisms (EM), microbial inoculant containing yeasts, fungi, bacteria and actinomycetes was evaluated in field trials of Aerob 1 paddy cultivation in Jasin, Melaka. Aerobic paddy is a new way of rice cultivation in areas where water resources have been scare and affected by the climate change. As water shortage and climate change is becoming severe, the technology of growing rice with aerobic rice systems need to be further refined or developed to ensure the quality of rice production in water-short areas. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of additional EM on the growth pattern, and to evaluate the efficiency of EM uptake on the aerobic plant. This experiment was carried out by using random controlled Randomized Controlled Block Design (RCBD) consisted of three treatments with two replications in four blocks. Aerobic seed cv. Aeron1 was used as planting materials and has been applied by three different treatments of EM during vegetative growth. The treatment for this study was T1 = 1.8 g NPK with urea (control) while T2 was 1.8 g NPK and T3, with 0.9 g NP with 100 mL of EM respectively during 15 (early vegetative stage) and 45 DAS (late vegetative stage). The RCBD experimental design was used with two replications in each treatment in four blocks. There are three series of harvesting (35, 50 and 60 DAS) was conducted throughout this study. The growth parameter studied was shoot and root dry biomass, number of tillers, RGR at each of harvesting. Our finding revealed that the application of EM did not improve plant growth parameter but the growth pattern of T2 and T3 showed steady improvement, although not significant compared to T1. The application of EM at different growth stages did not enhance the relative plant growth rate of Aeron 1 under aerobic condition, but in comparison to T1 and T2, T3 treatment with 50% reduction of NPK and EM could significantly reduce the cost of land management and fertilizer.
Phosphate (Pi) uptake and remobilisation within plant in Brassica spp. under different Pi availabilities input
Authors: Shahbuddin D , Goodall A , Hammond J P
Published: May 2021

Phosphorus (P) is one of six essential macronutrients in plants to ensure crop growth and productivity. Plants only acquire phosphorus in the form of inorganic phosphate (Pi) known as orthophosphate, mainly in the form of H2PO4
−. The high demand of Pi in fertilisers for agriculture use contributed to environmental pollution. Therefore, it is important to understand the Pi uptake from the soil and remobilisation within the plant to increase P use efficiency (PUE). In this study, the experiments were undertaken to look at the variation of Pi uptake by Brassica spp. under different soil Pi availability. Two soil Pi concentrations, P1 (0 g L−1) and P4 (0.225 g L−1) were selected to represent the low and high Pi treatment, respectively. B. napus plants grown in compost with both high and low Pi treatments were harvested at four different parts of the plant (leaf, stem, flower, and pod silique and seed) at six different growth stages, namely two-leaf stage, four-leaf stage, flowering stage, first flower opens stage, seed filling stage and maturity stage. The results of free Pi concentration in P4 (0.225 g L−1) were significantly higher than P1 (0 g L−1) (P ≤ 0.01). Remobilisation of Pi determined by total P contents of plants treated with P1 and P4 both showed similar trends, increased P contents up to 50% of plant P at harvest 5 (seed stage), and loss of P at leaf, stem and flower tissues during senescence at maturity stage. Under deficiency, leaf Pi concentration which determined the internal Pi redistribution showed Pi was redistributed from source (mature organs) to sink (developing tissues) Pi tissues. These results provide insights on plant nutrient status and can be used for further investigation for crop optimal production under low Pi availability.