bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Assessment of the Yam Landraces (Dioscorea spp.) of DR Congo for Reactions to Pathological Diseases, Yield Potential, and Tuber Quality Characteristics
Authors: Adejumobi Idris I. , Agre Paterne A. , Onautshu Didy O. , Adheka Joseph G. , Cipriano Inacio M. , Monzenga Jean-Claude L. , Komoy Joseph L.
Published: April 2022

Yams (Dioscorea spp.) possess the potential to contribute to food security and poverty alleviation in DR Congo; however, yam production is limited by several constraints, including the lack of yam improvement programs to address challenges relating to yield improvement, resistance to foliar diseases, and post-harvest tuber quality. Identification of a superior genotype for these traits and reservoirs of genes for improvement would guide yams’ improvement. This study aims to evaluate and identify landraces with superior performance for farmers and consumers. We evaluated 191 accessions from six yam species, and significant variation in the performances was observed at p < 0.05. Accessions of D. alata were superior for tuber oxidative browning (−0.01), D. cayenensis for high yield potential (29 t/ha), D. bulbifera for yam mosaic virus (YMV) tolerance (AUDPC = 3.88), and D. rotundata for tuber dry matter content (37%). A high genotypic and phenotypic coefficient of variation (>40) was observed for tuber yield, number of tubers per plots, tuber flesh oxidative browning, and tuber flesh texture. High broad-sense heritability estimates (>60) were similarly observed for all the assessed parameters except number of tubers per plot. Tuber size was identified as the best predictor for tuber yield (b = 2.64, p < 0.001) and tuber dry matter content (b = 2.21, p < 0.001). The study identified twenty stable landrace accessions from three Dioscorea species (D. alata (7); D. cayenensis (2); D. rotundata (11)). These accessions combined high yield potential, high tuber dry matter, high tolerance to YMV and YAD, and low tuber flesh oxidation. The accessions could be considered for the establishment of a yam improvement program in DR Congo.
Rerouting Artificial Light for Efficient Crops Production: A Review of Lighting Strategy in PFALs
Authors: Liu Xinying , Xu Yaliang , Wang Yu , Yang Qichang , Li Qingming
Published: April 2022

A plant factory with artificial light (PFAL) is defined as an advanced agricultural production system with a precisely controlled environment, playing an important role in vertical farming and urban food supply. Artificial light is one of the core technologies in PFALs and accounts for a large part of energy consumption; elevating the light utilization efficiency of plants is vital for the sustainable development of PFALs. Meanwhile, the enclosed structure of the plant factory resulted in the independence of its light environment, indicating that the light environment in PFALs can be custom-made. Lighting strategy is an attempt to reprogram the light environmental parameters in unconventional ways, resulting in innovative lighting modes for energy-saving, high-yield, and high-quality production in PFALs. This article reviewed the recent endeavors aiming to increase light conversion efficiency and nutritive properties of crops by different lighting strategies, providing economic irradiation patterns or modes for various PFALs production goals.
Diversity of Tartary Buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) Landraces from Liangshan, Southwest China: Evidence from Morphology and SSR Markers
Authors: Song Yingjie , Cheng Zhuo , Dong Yumei , Liu Dongmei , Bai Keyu , Jarvis Devra , Feng Jinchao , Long Chunlin
Published: April 2022

Tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum) has been cultivated for over one thousand years in the Liangshan Prefecture of Sichuan, China. Growing population pressures, economic modernization pressures, and the erosion of traditional culture have led to the rapid loss of area covered by Tartary buckwheat landraces. Morphological and molecular characterization of 112 Tartary buckwheat accessions from 29 populations were assessed based on 10 morphological traits of seeds and 10 SSR markers, respectively. The coefficient of variation and Shannon index showed diversity within the morphological characteristics of the seeds. All accessions were divided into three categories according to phylogenetic dendrogram analysis, which was consistent with folk nomenclature and taxonomy. Genetic analysis using SSR markers identified 45 alleles with a mean value of 4.5 alleles per locus. The high average PIC value (0.459) indicated polymorphism of the SSR markers. The genetic similarity coefficient of the 112 Tartary buckwheat accessions showed a high level of genetic diversity ranging from 0.130 to 0.978. The genetic structure analysis revealed high genetic differentiation (Nei = 0.255). The folk nomenclature, folk taxonomy, and sociocultural norms may also contribute to a significant influence on the diversity of folk nomenclature and taxonomy. The assessment of the genetic diversity of Tartary buckwheat landraces and detection of SSR loci associated with traits could be used as scientific guidance for selecting Tartary buckwheat seed for improved production relative to local farmers and consumer preferences. Local traditional knowledge (seed exchange network) and culture also contribute to breeding and the maintenance of the genetic diversity of Tartary buckwheat.
Farmers’ Perception and Efficacy of Adaptation Decisions to Climate Change
Authors: Reddy Krishna Viswanatha , Paramesh Venkatesh , Arunachalam Vadivel , Das Bappa , Ramasundaram P. , Pramanik Malay , Sridhara Shankarappa , Reddy D. Damodar , Alataway Abed , Dewidar Ahmed Z. , Mattar Mohamed A.
Published: April 2022

Climate change is viewed as the main obstacle to agricultural development in developing countries. The high dependence on agriculture and allied sectors makes many countries vulnerable to the climate change phenomenon. There is a gap in macro and micro-level understanding of climate change. Thoughtful farmers’ perceptions and impacts of climate change on farming are fundamental for developing various mitigation and adaptation strategies. Therefore, the main aim of the present study was to understand the pattern of climate variability, farmers’ perceptions about climate change, and farmers’ adaptation strategies based on their socio-cultural background in the villages of Goa, on the west coast of India. The results reveal that about 62% of the sampled farmers have experienced climate change in terms of meteorological indicators such as increased average temperature, decreased total rainfall, delayed onset of monsoon, and an increase in the length of the summer season. The temperature trend analysis (0.009 °C/year) validated farmers’ perceptions, while the perception of rainfall differed (−1.49 mm/year). Farmers are convinced that climate change has affected their farming (declining crop and livestock productivity, water depletion, and other related farm operations). They strive to adapt to climate change through crop diversification, an integrated crop-livestock system, contingency crop planning, and the adaptation of new crops and varieties. This study could be helpful for policymakers to establish a climate-resilient agriculture system by ensuring timely availability of farm inputs, accurate weather forecasting, and encouraging insurance products for crop and livestock enterprises, which will help farmers cope with the changing climate to enhance their income and economic wellbeing. Further, adaption of integrated farming, agroforestry, and indigenous technical knowledge is imperative to combat the ill effects of climate change.
Recycling of Wastes Deriving from the Production of Epoxy-Carbon Fiber Composites in the Production of Polymer Composites
Authors: Saccani Andrea , Fiorini Maurizio , Manzi Stefania
Published: April 2022

The formulation of composites reinforced with shredded epoxy-carbon fibers wastes is investigated. Poly (buthylene terephthalate) PBT was selected as the matrix for the composites. In order to increase the interaction between the epoxy resin still coating the carbon fibers and the PBT matrix, polycarbonate (PC) was added either to the matrix formulation or as a waste coating. The flexural strength, impact strength, and dynamic-mechanical analysis of the new composites was investigated, as well as their microstructure by scanning electron microscopy. Experimental results show that the recycled fibers can be dispersed in both pure PBT and in its blend, enhancing the mechanical properties of the composites. An increase in the investigated properties is found specifically in the elastic modulus below 50 °C and in the impact strength. The extent of the increase depends on the obtained microstructure.
Studying the Role of Cerebrovascular Changes in Different Compartments in Human Brains in Hypertension Prediction
Authors: Kandil Heba , Soliman Ahmed , Elsaid Nada , Saied Ahmed , Alghamdi Norah Saleh , Mahmoud Ali , Taher Fatma , El-Baz Ayman
Published: April 2022

Hypertension is a major cause of mortality of millions of people worldwide. Cerebral vascular changes are clinically observed to precede the onset of hypertension. The early detection and quantification of these cerebral changes would help greatly in the early prediction of the disease. Hence, preparing appropriate medical plans to avoid the disease and mitigate any adverse events. This study aims to investigate whether studying the cerebral changes in specific regions of human brains (specifically, the anterior, and the posterior compartments) separately, would increase the accuracy of hypertension prediction compared to studying the vascular changes occurring over the entire brain’s vasculature. This was achieved by proposing a computer-aided diagnosis system (CAD) to predict hypertension based on cerebral vascular changes that occur at the anterior compartment, the posterior compartment, and the whole brain separately, and comparing corresponding prediction accuracy. The proposed CAD system works in the following sequence: (1) an MRA dataset of 72 subjects was preprocessed to enhance MRA image quality, increase homogeneity, and remove noise artifacts. (2) each MRA scan was then segmented using an automatic adaptive local segmentation algorithm. (3) the segmented vascular tree was then processed to extract and quantify hypertension descriptive vascular features (blood vessels’ diameters and tortuosity indices) the change of which has been recorded over the time span of the 2-year study. (4) a classification module used these descriptive features along with corresponding differences in blood pressure readings for each subject, to analyze the accuracy of predicting hypertension by examining vascular changes in the anterior, the posterior, and the whole brain separately. Experimental results presented evidence that studying the vascular changes that take place in specific regions of the brain, specifically the anterior compartment reported promising accuracy percentages of up to 90%. However, studying the vascular changes occurring over the entire brain still achieve the best accuracy (of up to 100%) in hypertension prediction compared to studying specific compartments.
Identity Management in Future Railway Mobile Communication System
Authors: Pencheva Evelina , Atanasov Ivaylo , Trifonov Ventsislav
Published: April 2022

The Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) has emerged as a worldwide standard for railway communication. This technology enables the operational efficiency and safety of railways to be improved by providing mission critical communications, machine-type communication for the railway system on board, in addition to trackside telemetry and broadband connectivity for passengers. Different equipment types, users, and functional identities can be involved in communication, and each of them is uniquely identified. Identity management is an important part of the security functions provided by the FRMCS system. This paper presents a service-oriented approach to identity management functionality, enabling service composition for railway applications and service virtualization. This paper studies functionality for the initial registration and subsequent deregistration of railway devices, users, and their functional identities, in addition to the transfer of the registered identities between different FRMCS serving areas while the train moves. Two FRMCS services that follow the principles of representational state transfer architecture are proposed. Services’ functionality is illustrated by use cases, data types, and application programming interfaces that enable services to be interacted with. Identity registration status models are developed, formally described, and mathematically verified. Discussion of the applicability of the proposed services for the implementation of FRMCS security and safety functions is provided. The presented service-oriented approach features a satisfactory level of flexibility and versatility.
Solving Inverse Problems of Stationary Convection–Diffusion Equation Using the Radial Basis Function Method with Polyharmonic Polynomials
Authors: Xiao Jing-En , Ku Cheng-Yu , Liu Chih-Yu
Published: April 2022

In this article, the radial basis function method with polyharmonic polynomials for solving inverse problems of the stationary convection–diffusion equation is presented. We investigated the inverse problems in groundwater pollution problems for the multiply-connected domains containing a finite number of cavities. Using the given data on the part of the boundary with noises, we aim to recover the missing boundary observations, such as concentration on the remaining boundary or those of the cavities. Numerical solutions are approximated using polyharmonic polynomials instead of using the certain order of the polyharmonic radial basis function in the conventional polyharmonic spline at each source point. Additionally, highly accurate solutions can be obtained with the increase in the terms of the polyharmonic polynomials. Since the polyharmonic polynomials include only the radial functions. The proposed polyharmonic polynomials have the advantages of a simple mathematical expression, high precision, and easy implementation. The results depict that the proposed method could recover highly accurate solutions for inverse problems with cavities even with 5% noisy data. Moreover, the proposed method is meshless and collocation only such that we can solve the inverse problems with cavities with ease and efficiency.
Augmented Reality: Mapping Methods and Tools for Enhancing the Human Role in Healthcare HMI
Authors: Innocente Chiara , Ulrich Luca , Moos Sandro , Vezzetti Enrico
Published: April 2022

Background: Augmented Reality (AR) represents an innovative technology to improve data visualization and strengthen the human perception. Among Human–Machine Interaction (HMI), medicine can benefit most from the adoption of these digital technologies. In this perspective, the literature on orthopedic surgery techniques based on AR was evaluated, focusing on identifying the limitations and challenges of AR-based healthcare applications, to support the research and the development of further studies. Methods: Studies published from January 2018 to December 2021 were analyzed after a comprehensive search on PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, IEEE Xplore, Science Direct, and Wiley Online Library databases. In order to improve the review reporting, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used. Results: Authors selected sixty-two articles meeting the inclusion criteria, which were categorized according to the purpose of the study (intraoperative, training, rehabilitation) and according to the surgical procedure used. Conclusions: AR has the potential to improve orthopedic training and practice by providing an increasingly human-centered clinical approach. Further research can be addressed by this review to cover problems related to hardware limitations, lack of accurate registration and tracking systems, and absence of security protocols.
Study of Variable Thickness Magnetorheological Transmission Performance of Electrothermal Shape Memory Alloy Squeeze
Authors: Chen Song , Chen Wenjian , Huang Jin
Published: April 2022

This paper designs a new composite transmission device for improving the transmission torque by squeezing magnetorheological fluid (MRF) with an electrothermal shape memory alloy (SMA) spring. Based on the finite element method, a numerical analysis of the magnetic circuit and magnetic field distribution of the magnetorheological (MR) transmission is presented, as well as a theoretical derivation and calculation of the squeezing force output by the electrothermal SMA spring and the transfer torque of the variable thickness MR transmission. In addition, the output characteristics of the electrothermal SMA spring at different temperatures are analyzed, as are the torque characteristics of the variable thickness MR transmission. The research shows that the electrothermal SMA springs exhibit a highly non-linear squeezing force output during the temperature rise, and the increase in current affects the martensite phase transition quality, and thus the phase transition temperature. The squeezing force generated by the springs increases significantly when the temperature is within the martensitic phase transformation interval, with a maximum squeezing force of 318.43 N when the SMA temperature reaches 100 °C. The proposed variable thickness MR transmission can increase the maximum torque by 4.88 times under SMA spring squeezing force, and its maximum transmitted torque is increased from 15.08 to 73.56 N·m. By squeezing the MRF with an electrothermal SMA spring, the torque of the variable thickness MR transmission can be increased quickly and effectively.
A Study on Vehicle Monitoring Service Using Attribute-Based Security Scheme in Cyber–Physical Systems
Authors: Cha Hyun-Jong , Yang Ho-Kyung , Song You-Jin
Published: April 2022

Cyber–physical systems (CPSs) is a manufacturing infrastructure that requires high reliability real-time automatic control characteristics. It is widely used in industrial fields such as production and transportation. An example is a future transportation network system that controls information such as sensors and actuators based on a network. However, CPSs are susceptible to cyberattacks as network-based interconnections increase. Data handled between a car and a fog server can put personal privacy at risk, so it is essential to introduce security technologies such as encryption. A login/password method is required to satisfy the demand for secure sharing and utilization by service users. Based on the attributes of these target service users, the authority to decrypt data is delegated to legitimate users, and a pull-in encryption method is required. In this paper, we propose a method to safely protect the system from attacks through the method of managing attribute-based delegation of authority. Using a semantic security model, the proposed system is proven safe against public attacks by malicious users, and it can be used to protect against attacks on a smart car.
Object Detection Related to Irregular Behaviors of Substation Personnel Based on Improved YOLOv4
Authors: Fang Jingxin , Li Xuwei
Published: April 2022

The accurate and timely detection of irregular behavior of substation personnel plays an important role in maintaining personal safety and preventing power outage accidents. This paper proposes a method for irregular behaviors detection (IBD) of substation personnel based on an improved YOLOv4 which uses MobileNetV3 to replace the CSPDarkNet53 feature extraction network, depthwise separable convolution and efficient channel attention (ECA) to optimize the SPP and PANet networks, and four scales of feature maps to fuse to improve the detection accuracy. First, an image dataset was constructed using video data and still photographs preprocessed by the gamma correction method. Then, the improved YOLOv4 model was trained by combining Mosaic data enhancement, cosine annealing, and label smoothing skills. Several detection cases were carried out, and the experimental results showed that the proposed improved YOLOv4 model has high accuracy, with a mean average precision (mAP) of 83.51%, as well as a fast detection speed, with a frames per second (FPS) of 38.06 pictures/s. This represents better performance than other object detection methods, including Faster RCNN, SSD, YOLOv3, and YOLOv4. This study offers a reference for the IBD of substation personnel and provides an automated intelligent monitoring method.
A Proposed Method to Evaluate the Effect of Changing the Kerfing Parameters upon the Static Bending Behavior of Flexible Plywood Panels Cut by Laser
Authors: Condoroţeanu Cristina-Daria , Gurău Lidia , Coşereanu Camelia , Georgescu Sergiu-Valeriu
Published: April 2022

The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for testing the effect of varying the kerfing parameters, on the flexibilization of plywood panels for indoor applications. The evaluation was made by comparisons of the change in the MOE, MOR, and maximum deflection, between flexibilized and non-flexibilized specimens subjected to static bending tests based on EN 310. In order to prevent the problem of sliding from the supports occurring for the flexibilized specimens, the standard specimens were modified by adding a frame and subjecting to bending just their central rail. Framed specimens of poplar plywood, of 8 mm thick, were laser cut with a rigid central rail, taken as reference and with the flexible kerfed rail. These had lengths of the flexible area of 50, 70, 90, and 110 mm and with two dimensions of the kerfing pitch, 6 and 10 mm. Very good correlations were found for MOE, MOR, and maximum deflection with the length of the kerfed area, for both values of the kerf pitch, which proves the sensitivity of the proposed method to the changes in the input parameters. The method could further serve to mathematically model the flexibility of a kerfed plywood panel by selecting the appropriate input data.
Insights into Della Robbia’s Terracotta Monument to Cardinal Federighi: Raw Materials and Technologies
Authors: Magrini Donata , Cantisani Emma , Vettori Silvia , Rasmussen Kaare Lund
Published: April 2022

The present work comprises the application of a multi-analytical strategy based on the combination of several non-destructive and micro-invasive methodologies for the examination of the glazed tiles from the tomb of Benozzo Federighi made by Luca della Robbia. The marble tomb is framed by flat glazed terracotta tiles, each ornamented with naturalistically depicted flowers. The tiles are assembled like an “opus sectile” and their background is gilded. The leaf is incorporated on the top of the glaze, differently by traditional gilding technique as in previous glazed works of della Robbia. The identification methodology integrates the results from spot analyses such as UV-vis reflectance spectroscopy and X-ray fluorescence, with those obtained on tiny samples by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopic observations, laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and firing temperature analysis. The adopted analytical protocol allowed us to clarify peculiarities of the artist’s technique and of the manufacturing technology used to create the terracotta and gilded glazed tiles. The terracotta body shows main phases related with Ca-rich ceramic body and the glaze results Pb-based and additioned with Sn as an opacifier. Co, Pb-Sb and Cu were identified as glazes colouring agents. The hypothesis on the use of the “third firing” technique for gilding tiles is explored in the text.
Optimization of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic Curing Parameters for Aerospace Application
Authors: Ahmad Fareed , Awadh Mohammed Al , Abas Muhammad , Noor Sahar , Hameed Asad
Published: April 2022

The use of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is increasing in engineering applications such as aerospace, automobiles, defense, and construction. Excellent strength-to-weight ratio, high impact toughness, and corrosion resistance make CFRP highly suitable for aerospace applications. Curing temperature, curing time, and autoclave pressure are among the most important curing parameters affecting the properties of CFRP. Tensile strength, impact toughness, and hardness of CFRP were selected as desirable properties for optimization. A 23 full factorial design of experiment (DOE) was employed by varying curing temperature (120 and 140 °C), curing time (90 and 120 min), and autoclave pressure (3 and 7 bar) while keeping the number of experiments to a minimum level. The cured samples were subjected to tensile strength, impact toughness, and hardness tests at room temperature as per relevant ASTM standards. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used, and it was found that tensile strength, impact toughness, and hardness were influenced most significantly by temperature and time. The maximum tensile strength and hardness were achieved for curing cycle parameters of 140 °C, 120 min, and 7 bar, and impact toughness was maximized for 140 °C, 120 min, and 3 bar. A concept of composite desirability function was used to achieve simultaneous optimization of conflicting tensile strength and impact toughness properties for the specific application of aircraft skin.
Understanding Safety Performance of Prefabricated Construction Based on Complex Network Theory
Authors: Song Liangliang , Li Haiyan , Deng Yongliang , Li Chaozhi
Published: April 2022

With the rapid expansion of prefabricated construction in China, significant changes in safety performance are still unapparent for numerous prefabricated constructions, and safety accidents are constantly exposed in public. The ignorance of interactions among safety risks impedes efficacious improvement, which instructs the need for a thorough analysis of these interactions based on complex network theory. This paper starts with the identification of 37 safety risks refined through literature review and expert interviews, and 90 interrelationships among them verified by virtue of the questionnaire survey, laying a foundation for the establishment of a prefabricated construction safety risk network (PCSRN). The topological analysis results prove that PCSRN is a scale-free as well as a small-world network, which indicates the high-efficiency propagation and diffusion among safety risks in prefabricated constructions. Moreover, eight critical nodes are identified with four different ranking criteria, and corresponding safety strategies are proposed to address them. The developed method not only provides a novel insight to interpret the safety risks of prefabricated construction but also has the potential to advance safety performance of this sector.
Linear and Non-Linear Population Retrieval with Femtosecond Optical Pumping of Molecular Crystals for the Generalised Uniaxial and Biaxial Systems
Authors: Hutchison Christopher D. M. , Fadini Alisia , van Thor Jasper J.
Published: April 2022

Femtosecond optical measurements of photoexcitable molecular crystals carry ultrafast dynamics information with structural sensitivity. The creation and detection of transient dynamics depend on the optical parameters, as well as the explicit molecular structure, crystal symmetry, crystal orientation, polarisation of the photoexciting beam, and interaction geometry. In order to retrieve the linear and non-linear population transfer in photoexcited crystals, excitation theory is combined here with the calculation of birefringence decomposition and is shown for both the generalised uniaxial and biaxial systems. A computational tool was constructed based on this treatment to allow modelling of electric field decomposition, dipole projections, and non-linear excitation population levels. This is available open source and with a GUI for ease of use. Such work has applications in two areas of ultrafast science: multidimensional optical crystallography and femtosecond time-resolved X-ray crystallography.
Random Vibration Fatigue Analysis Using a Nonlinear Cumulative Damage Model
Authors: Barraza-Contreras Jesús M. , Piña-Monarrez Manuel R. , Molina Alejandro , Torres-Villaseñor Roberto C.
Published: April 2022

The paper’s content allowed us to determine the fatigue life of a component that is being subjected to a random vibration environment. Its estimation is performed in the frequency domain with loading frequencies being closer to the system’s natural frequency. From loads’ amplitude and their interaction effect, we derive a nonlinear damage model to cumulate the generated fatigue damage. The exponent value of 0.4 from the Manson–Halford curve damage model was replaced by a vibration bending stress relation that considers the effect and interaction of loads. The analysis is performed from a progressive accelerated vibration spectrum to predict the fatigue life estimation. From this accelerated scenario, the accelerated coefficients and cumulated damage are both determined. The proposed nonlinear model is based on the following facts: (1) vibration and bending stress σvb values are obtained from the response acceleration of power spectral density (PSD) applied and (2) the model can be applied to any mechanical component analysis where the corresponding acceleration responses Ares and the dynamic load factor σdynamic  values are known. The steps to determine the expected fatigue damage accumulation D by using the curve damage are given.
Numerical Investigation on Air–Water Two-Phase Flow of Jinping-I Spillway Tunnel
Authors: Wang Xiaoqun , Lian Jijian
Published: April 2022

Spillway tunnels are key features in the regulation of the water surface of a reservoir and in ensuring the safety of life and properties of people downstream in a high dam project. This research aimed to provide a better understanding of the ventilation mechanism. The air–water two-phase flow was simulated under the Euler–Euler framework. A hybrid drag model, which was verified by the prototype data of Jinping-I spillway tunnel, was proposed to improve the prediction of air demand and air entrainment. The air demand prediction error was less than 18.9%, while the air entrainment prediction error was less than 28.35%. On the basis of the new drag model, the air entrainment behind aerators, air velocity distribution in the air ducts, and the residual space of the tunnel were systematically analyzed. Two flow patterns of the ventilation system were finally summarized.
A Study on Possible Solar Influence on the Climate of the Southern Hemisphere
Authors: Ogurtsov Maxim
Published: April 2022

Three multi-proxy reconstructions of temperature in the Southern Hemisphere, were analyzed over the last millennium. Fourier and wavelet analysis showed that century-scale (55–120 years) and bicentennial (ca 250 years) variability is present in this series. That means that the climate of the Southern Hemisphere has periodicities similar to the solar cycles of Gleissberg and Suess. However, a comparison of the century-long variations in the Southern Hemisphere temperature records with the corresponding variation in four solar activity proxies showed that only one reconstruction of) displays century-long correlation with solar activity. The solar-like periodicities in the other two records do not show significant correlation with solar cycles. Therefore, based on the results obtained, it is difficult to draw a definite conclusion about the influence of solar activity on the climate of the Southern Hemisphere. To clarify this issue, it is necessary to obtain and analyze new independent temperature reconstructions in the Southern Hemisphere.
Healthy Long-Lived Human Beings—Working on Life Stages to Break the Limitation of Human Lifespans
Authors: Gu Weikuan
Published: April 2022

The human lifespan has been increasing but will soon reach a plateau. A new direction based on the principal law of lifespan (PLOSP) may enable the human lifespan to be extremely healthy and long by the proper manipulation of the well-defined growing stages of the lifespan. The lifespan of creatures on earth from a single cell to animals can be elongated at different life stages including prenatal development, body growth, reproductivity, and aging. Each life stage has its own specific physiological and metabolic characteristics. Each life stage can be lengthened by either slowing its processes or continuously maintaining the activities of its function. Unfortunately, the current biomedical research on the extension of lifespans has mainly focused on the aging stage. Recognizing and clearly defining the periods of transition and the boundaries of life stages are essential for achieving the goal of long-lived healthy humans based on the PLOSP. The biomedical measures and pharmacological treatments for the extension of lifespans is life-stage-specific. The PLOSP can be tested with modified studies on longevity with a variety of technologies such as castration and ovariectomy. Sex differences in biological functions and the sequential order of the life stages requires different approaches for females and males.
Correlation Analysis of Thermal Comfort and Landscape Characteristics: A Case Study of the Coastal Greenway in Qingdao, China
Authors: Cong Yu , Zhu Ruirui , Yang Lei , Zhang Xiaotong , Liu Yibin , Meng Xi , Gao Weijun
Published: April 2022

With the acceleration of urbanization throughout the world, climate problems related to climate change including urban heat islands and global warming have become challenges to urban human settlements. Numerous studies have shown that greenways are beneficial to urban climate improvement and can provide leisure places for people. Taking the coastal greenway in Qingdao as the research object, mobile measurements of the microclimate of the greenway were conducted in order to put forward an evaluation method for the research of outdoor thermal comfort. The results showed that different vegetation coverage affected the PET (physiologically equivalent temperature), UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index) as well as thermal comfort voting. We found no significant correlation between activities, age, gender, and thermal comfort voting. Air temperature sensation and solar radiation sensation were the primary factors affecting the thermal comfort voting of all sections. Otherwise, within some sections, wind sensation and humidity sensation were correlated with thermal sensation voting and thermal comfort voting, respectively. Both PET and UTCI were found to have a negative correlation with the vegetation coverage on both sides of the greenway. However, the vegetation coverage had positive correlation (R = 0.072) for thermal sensation and significant positive correlation (R = 0.077*) for thermal comfort. The paved area cover was found to have a positive correlation with PET and UTCI, while having a negative correlation with thermal sensation (R = −0.049) and thermal comfort (R = −0.041). This study can provide scientific recommendations for the planning and design of greenway landscapes to improve thermal comfort.
Development of a BIM-Based Framework Using Reverberation Time (BFRT) as a Tool for Assessing and Improving Building Acoustic Environment
Authors: Aguilar Antonio J. , de la Hoz-Torres María L. , Martínez-Aires Mª Dolores , Ruiz Diego P.
Published: April 2022

Both the building design and the construction process determine the indoor acoustic quality of enclosures. A suitable indoor acoustic environment is crucial for the productivity and well-being of users. For this purpose, Reverberation Time (RT) is often calculated or measured in situ. Recently, Building Information Modelling (BIM) has provided a new paradigm to face building projects. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted on the optimisation of indoor acoustics using BIM methodology. In this context, the objective of this work is to propose and develop a BIM-based framework for the analysis, evaluation and optimization of the RT. The proposed procedure allows designers to explore alternatives in order to achieve an adequate acoustic performance without any further needs of specific software. This proposal is devised to consider some important characteristics of the project, such as its location, applicable regulations, room uses, materials and costs. This framework calculates the solution set that meets the requirements, showing the set of optimal solutions according to the minimization of both the cost and the optimum absorbent surface area. BFRT contributes by offering a tool to support the decision making process of designers during the initial design phase in the field of acoustic conditioning of buildings.
Shear Behavior of Stud-PBL Composite Shear Connector for Steel–Ceramsite Concrete Composite Structure
Authors: Zhu Hongbing , Fu Zhenghao , Liu Peng , Li Yongcan , Zhao Benlu
Published: April 2022

For steel–concrete composite structure, a new type of stud–PBL composite shear connector can improve the shear resistance of steel–concrete interface, and polypropylene fiber ceramsite concrete can reduce the self-weight. Therefore, investigating the shear behavior of stud–PBL composite shear connectors for steel–ceramsite concrete composite structures bears significance. In this study, static testing and numerical simulation of the composite shear connector push-out specimen of polypropylene fiber ceramsite concrete were first conducted. The influencing factors of the shear bearing capacity were then analyzed. The formula for determining the shear bearing capacity of the steel–ceramsite concrete composite structure stud–PBL composite shear connectors was ultimately established. The results indicated that the new composite shear connector exhibited excellent shear resistance and good deformation ability. In addition, increasing concrete’s strength, stud’s diameter, and perforated plate’s thickness could significantly improve the shear bearing capacity of the composite shear connector. The calculated value of the shear bearing capacity of the composite shear connector was well correlated the measured value of the test. Overall, the stud–PBL composite shear connector could effectively improve the interfacial shear bearing performance of the steel–ceramsite concrete composite structure. Moreover, the established formula demonstrated broad applicability.
Limnophila aromatica Crude Extracts as Natural Emulsifiers for Formation and Stabilizing of Oil-in-Water (O/W) Emulsions
Authors: Soeung Rasmey , Felipe Lorena de Oliveira , Bouhoute Meryem , Taarji Noamane , Nakajima Mitsutoshi , Neves Marcos A.
Published: April 2022

This study mainly focused on the emulsifying performance of Limnophila aromatica crude extracts obtained by using different ethanolic aqueous solutions (0, 25, 50, 75, and 99.5% (v/v)). All Limnophila aromatica extracts (LAEs) were able to produce emulsions with a volume mean droplet diameter (d4,3) ranging from 273 to 747 nm, except for LAE-99.5 (3269 nm). Only the emulsion prepared by LAE-75 was stable during seven days of storage, without significantly changing droplet size (479–495 nm). The result showed that all LAEs could reduce interfacial tension varied within 12.5 and 16.1 mN/m at the soybean oil/extracts (1% w/w) interface. Compared to other extracts, LAE-75 did not contain the highest protein, saponin, and phenol content (4.36%, 20.14%, and 11.68%, respectively), but it had the lowest ash content (14.74%). These results indicated that the emulsifying performance of LAEs did not rely only on interfacial tension and/or surface-active compounds. The residual demulsifiers, such as inorganic substances, were also significantly involved in the emulsions’ destabilization. Finally, the emulsion consisting of 0.5% (w/w) LAE-75 and 5% (w/w) soybean oil showed considerable stability during storage up to 30 days at different temperatures (5 or 25 °C). Therefore, Limnophila aromatica extract has a potential application as a new source of natural emulsifier.
Robustly Effective Approaches on Motor Imagery-Based Brain Computer Interfaces
Authors: Moumgiakmas Seraphim S. , Papakostas George A.
Published: April 2022

Motor Imagery Brain Computer Interfaces (MI-BCIs) are systems that receive the users’ brain activity as an input signal in order to communicate between the brain and the interface or an action to be performed through the detection of the imagination of a movement. Brainwaves’ features are crucial for the performance of the interface to be increased. The robustness of these features must be ensured in order for the effectiveness to remain high in various subjects. The present work consists of a review, which includes scientific publications related to the use of robust feature extraction methods in Motor Imagery from 2017 until today. The research showed that the majority of the works focus on spatial features through Common Spatial Patterns (CSP) methods (44.26%). Based on the combination of accuracy percentages and K-values, which show the effectiveness of each approach, Wavelet Transform (WT) has shown higher robustness than CSP and PSD methods in the majority of the datasets used for comparison and also in the majority of the works included in the present review, although they had a lower usage percentage in the literature (16.65%). The research showed that there was an increase in 2019 of the detection of spatial features to increase the robustness of an approach, but the time-frequency features, or a combination of those, achieve better results with their increase starting from 2019 onwards. Additionally, Wavelet Transforms and their variants, in combination with deep learning, manage to achieve high percentages thus making a method robustly accurate.
Radiomics in Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis: From Diagnosis to Clinical Decision Support and Education
Authors: Wu Yun-Ju , Wu Fu-Zong , Yang Shu-Ching , Tang En-Kuei , Liang Chia-Hao
Published: April 2022

Lung cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer-related death around the world. With the recent introduction of low-dose lung computed tomography for lung cancer screening, there has been an increasing number of smoking- and non-smoking-related lung cancer cases worldwide that are manifesting with subsolid nodules, especially in Asian populations. However, the pros and cons of lung cancer screening also follow the implementation of lung cancer screening programs. Here, we review the literature related to radiomics for early lung cancer diagnosis. There are four main radiomics applications: the classification of lung nodules as being malignant/benign; determining the degree of invasiveness of the lung adenocarcinoma; histopathologic subtyping; and prognostication in lung cancer prediction models. In conclusion, radiomics offers great potential to improve diagnosis and personalized risk stratification in early lung cancer diagnosis through patient–doctor cooperation and shared decision making.
Forrest Classification for Bleeding Peptic Ulcer: A New Look at the Old Endoscopic Classification
Authors: Yen Hsu-Heng , Wu Ping-Yu , Wu Tung-Lung , Huang Siou-Ping , Chen Yang-Yuan , Chen Mei-Fen , Lin Wen-Chen , Tsai Cheng-Lun , Lin Kang-Ping
Published: April 2022

The management of peptic ulcer bleeding is clinically challenging. For decades, the Forrest classification has been used for risk stratification for nonvariceal ulcer bleeding. The perception and interpretation of the Forrest classification vary among different endoscopists. The relationship between the bleeder and ulcer images and the different stages of the Forrest classification has not been studied yet. Endoscopic still images of 276 patients with peptic ulcer bleeding for the past 3 years were retrieved and reviewed. The intra-rater agreement and inter-rater agreement were compared. The obtained endoscopic images were manually drawn to delineate the extent of the ulcer and bleeding area. The areas of the region of interest were compared between the different stages of the Forrest classification. A total of 276 images were first classified by two experienced tutor endoscopists. The images were reviewed by six other endoscopists. A good intra-rater correlation was observed (0.92–0.98). A good inter-rater correlation was observed among the different levels of experience (0.639–0.859). The correlation was higher among tutor and junior endoscopists than among experienced endoscopists. Low-risk Forrest IIC and III lesions show distinct patterns compared to high-risk Forrest I, IIA, or IIB lesions. We found good agreement of the Forrest classification among different endoscopists in a single institution. This is the first study to quantitively analyze the obtained and explain the distinct patterns of bleeding ulcers from endoscopy images.
Prediction of Non-Response to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Esophageal Cancer Patients with 18F-FDG PET Radiomics Based Machine Learning Classification
Authors: Beukinga Roelof J. , Poelmann Floris B. , Kats-Ugurlu Gursah , Viddeleer Alain R. , Boellaard Ronald , De Haas Robbert J. , Plukker John Th. M. , Hulshoff Jan Binne
Published: April 2022

Background: Approximately 26% of esophageal cancer (EC) patients do not respond to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT), emphasizing the need for pre-treatment selection. The aim of this study was to predict non-response using a radiomic model on baseline 18F-FDG PET. Methods: Retrospectively, 143 18F-FDG PET radiomic features were extracted from 199 EC patients (T1N1-3M0/T2–4aN0-3M0) treated between 2009 and 2019. Non-response (n = 57; 29%) was defined as Mandard Tumor Regression Grade 4–5 (n = 44; 22%) or interval progression (n = 13; 7%). Randomly, 139 patients (70%) were allocated to explore all combinations of 24 feature selection strategies and 6 classification methods towards the cross-validated average precision (AP). The predictive value of the best-performing model, i.e AP and area under the ROC curve analysis (AUC), was evaluated on an independent test subset of 60 patients (30%). Results: The best performing model had an AP (mean ± SD) of 0.47 ± 0.06 on the training subset, achieved by a support vector machine classifier trained on five principal components of relevant clinical and radiomic features. The model was externally validated with an AP of 0.66 and an AUC of 0.67. Conclusion: In the present study, the best-performing model on pre-treatment 18F-FDG PET radiomics and clinical features had a small clinical benefit to identify non-responders to nCRT in EC.
Estimating Drift Parameters in a Sub-Fractional Vasicek-Type Process
Authors: Khalaf Anas D. , Saeed Tareq , Abu-Shanab Reman , Almutiry Waleed , Abouagwa Mahmoud
Published: April 2022

This study deals with drift parameters estimation problems in the sub-fractional Vasicek process given by dxt=θ(μ−xt)dt+dStH, with θ>0, μ∈R being unknown and t≥0; here, SH represents a sub-fractional Brownian motion (sfBm). We introduce new estimators θ^ for θ and μ^ for μ based on discrete time observations and use techniques from Nordin–Peccati analysis. For the proposed estimators θ^ and μ^, strong consistency and the asymptotic normality were established by employing the properties of SH. Moreover, we provide numerical simulations for sfBm and related Vasicek-type process with different values of the Hurst index H.