bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Urban Air Pollution, Urban Heat Island and Human Health: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Piracha Awais , Chaudhary Muhammad Tariq
Published: July 2022

Many cities of the world suffer from air pollution because of poor planning and design and heavy traffic in rapidly expanding urban environments. These conditions are exacerbated due to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. While there have been studies linking the built environment and air pollution with health, they have ignored the aggravating role of UHI. The past urban planning literature in this field has also ignored the science of materials, vehicles and air pollution, and technological solutions for reducing cumulative health impacts of air pollution and UHI. Air Pollution, built environment and human health are complex discussion factors that involve several different fields. The built environment is linked with human health through opportunities of physical activity and air quality. Recent planning literature focuses on creating compact and walkable urban areas dotted with green infrastructure to promote physical activity and to reduce vehicle emission-related air pollution. Reduced car use leading to reduced air pollution and UHI is implied in the literature. The literature from technology fields speaks to the issue of air pollution directly. Zero emission cars, green infrastructure and building materials that absorb air pollutants and reduce UHI fall within this category. This paper identifies main themes in the two streams of urban air pollution and UHI that impact human health and presents a systematic review of the academic papers, policy documents, reports and features in print media published in the last 10–20 years.
Influence of Trust Relationships with Suppliers on Manufacturer Resilience in COVID-19 Era
Authors: Yang Jianhua , Liu Yuying , Jia Yajun
Published: July 2022

With the frequent occurrence of emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years, resilience has become increasingly important for the stable and sustainable development of the manufacturing companies. Despite growing interest in supply chain resilience, less attention has been paid to manufacturer resilience and how to improve it through supplier relationship governance. Based on resource-based view (RBV) theory, trust theory and the literature on resilience, this study developed new constructs of measuring manufacturer resilience by temporal logic and sheds light on how the trust relationship with suppliers affect manufacturer resilience via the information-sharing level. The data is collected from 351 respondents who are independent directors or managers of manufacturing companies in China. This study adopted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) to explore the dimensions of manufacturer resilience and to test the hypotheses. The results reveal that the trust relationship with suppliers has significant positive impacts on three dimensions of manufacturer resilience, that is, preparedness, responsiveness, and recovery capability. In addition, the information-sharing level partially mediates the impact of the trust relationship with suppliers on manufacturer resilience. Specifically, the information-sharing level positively affects preparedness, responsiveness, and recovery capability. Moreover, the trust relationship with suppliers facilitates the information-sharing level. Finally, the study contributes to the manufacturer resilience literature and provides useful guidance for the manufacturing enterprises in enhancing resilience quickly.
Personal Carbon Budgets: A Pestle Review
Authors: Brock Alice , Kemp Simon , Williams Ian D.
Published: July 2022

Personal Carbon Budgets (PCBs) are a radical policy innovation that seek to reduce an individual’s carbon consumption. This review identifies three archetypes of PCBs in the current literature; Personal Carbon Trading, Carbon Tax and Carbon Labelling. We theorised that carbon trading could affect equity and allow quality of life and consumption to be driven by income rather than needs. We, therefore, developed a new model (Personal Carbon Allowance with no trading) to compare to existing archetypes. A PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) framework was applied to each archetype to analyse and compare their costs and benefits and to critically evaluate and identify which model may be the most appropriate to reduce emissions severely but equitably. We conclude that the only model that can achieve this is our proposed Personal Carbon Allowance (PCA) model with no trading. PCA has a hard cap on emissions allowing for controllable severe cuts to emissions, and the lack of trading would prohibit those with wealth from continuing high-consumption lifestyles at the expense of those with lower incomes.
Adaptive Control Strategy and Model of Gas-Drainage Parameters in Coal Seam
Authors: Xia Tongqiang , Lu Jianhang , Li Zilong , Duan Hongfei , Ren Hongyun , Zhang Zhuangzhuang , Zhang Yantai
Published: July 2022

For a long time, the serious mismatch between negative pressure and drainage parameters of underground gas drainage has been the main reason for the standing engineering problems in coal mines, such as low gas drainage concentration, fast decay, and low-utilization rate. Aiming at these problems, an innovative method by adding micro-frequency conversion drainage pumps and electronically controlled valves at the key nodes of the conventional pipe network system of gas drainage and the joint quantitative regulation of underground regulation facilities and surface drainage pumps based on the intrinsic correlation between the drainage parameters and negative pressure is proposed in this paper to solve the difficulty of how to regulate increasing pressure or resistance in the on-site gas-drainage system and to realize energy matching in the whole drainage system on demand. For this method, the study further defines the safety and efficiency criteria of gas drainage, proposes the adaptive control strategy of gas-drainage parameters, and establishes the adaptive control model based on particle swarm optimization. The model took the safety and efficiency criteria of gas drainage as the constraint conditions and the maximum gas-drainage flow or concentration as the objective function to adaptively adjust the operating conditions of drainage pumps, micro-frequency conversion drainage pumps, and electric control valves to realize the adaptive regulation of gas-drainage parameters. Finally, based on the adaptive control strategy and model of gas-drainage parameters, the numerical simulation research was carried out through Comsol with Matlab. The results show that the gas-drainage concentration and high-concentration drainage period can be increased many times, and the adaptive drainage parameters of valves and micro pumps can be adjusted intelligently, which provides a theoretical basis for the intelligent field implementation of gas.
Correction: Niu et al. Prioritization of Renewable Energy Alternatives for China by Using a Hybrid FMCDM Methodology with Uncertain Information. Sustainability 2020, 12, 4649
Authors: Niu Dongxiao , Zhen Hao , Yu Min , Wang Keke , Sun Lijie , Xu Xiaomin
Published: July 2022

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...]
Experimental Study of the Fluctuating Wind Characteristics of Typhoon Jangmi Measured at the Top of a Building
Authors: Wang Yanru , Li Yongguang , Qi Qianqian , Zhang Chuanxiong , Wang Xu , Fan Guangyu , Fu Bin
Published: July 2022

Based on wind field data measured during the landfall of Typhoon Jangmi in Wenzhou in 2008, this study analyzes wind field characteristics, including wind speed, wind direction, probability density, turbulence intensity, gust factor, peak factor, power spectrum, turbulence integral scale, coherence, and the autocorrelation coefficient of Typhoon Jangmi. Results showed that the wind field characteristics for the east and west measuring points were basically the same and followed an approximately similar pattern. The probability density of fluctuating wind tends to obey a Gaussian distribution. The turbulence intensity gradually decreases with increasing 10 min averaged wind speed, but the reduction rate gradually drops. The turbulence intensity is affected by the change in a time interval because turbulence intensity decreases as the time interval increases. With an increase in the 10 min average wind speed and time interval, the gust factor decreases. The peak factor decreases, though insignificantly, with increasing mean wind speed, and the distribution of peak factors is greatly scattered. The variation in the peak factor with time is in good agreement with the Durst curve. The gust factor increases as the turbulence intensity increases and is in line with the empirical curves of Ishizaki, Choi, and Cao. The power spectra of the fluctuating wind speed of Typhoon Jangmi in all directions agree well with Von Karman’s empirical spectrum. The turbulence integral scale increases slightly with increasing average wind speed, and the distribution is relatively scattered. The coherence of the fluctuating wind speed components matches the exponential function proposed by Davenport, and the autocorrelation coefficient decreases as τ increases.
Smart Rainwater Harvesting for Sustainable Potable Water Supply in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas
Authors: Judeh Tariq , Shahrour Isam , Comair Fadi
Published: July 2022

This paper presents a smart rainwater harvesting (RWH) system to address water scarcity in Palestine. This system aims to improve the water harvesting capacity by using a shared harvesting system at the neighborhood level and digital technology. The presentation of this system is organized as follows: (i) identification of the challenges of the rainwater harvesting at the neighborhood level, (ii) design of the smart RWH system architecture that addresses the challenges identified in the first phase, (iii) realization of a simulation-based reliability analysis for the smart system performance. This methodology was applied to a residential neighborhood in the city of Jenin, Palestine. The main challenges of smart water harvesting included optimizing the shared tank capacity, and the smart control of the water quality and leakage. The smart RWH system architecture design is proposed to imply the crowdsourcing-based and automated-based smart chlorination unit to control and monitor fecal coliform and residual chlorine: screens, filters, and the first flush diverter address RWH turbidity. Water level sensors/meters, water flow sensors/meters, and water leak sensors help detect a water leak and water allocation. The potential time-based reliability (Re) and volumetric reliability (Rv) for the smart RWH system can reach 38% and 41%, respectively. The implication of the smart RWH system with a dual water supply results in full reliability indices (100%). As a result, a zero potable water shortage could be reached for the dual water supply system, compared to 36% for the municipal water supply and 59% for the smart RWH system. Results show that the smart RWH system is efficient in addressing potable water security, especially when combined with a dual water supply system.
Spatiotemporal Complementary Characteristics of Large-Scale Wind Power, Photovoltaic Power, and Hydropower
Authors: Wang Songkai , Jia Rong , Luo Chang , An Yuan , Guo Pengcheng
Published: July 2022

With the increasing proportion of renewable energy in power generation, the mixed utilization of multiple renewable energy sources has gradually become a new trend. Using the natural complementary characteristics of wind power, photovoltaic, and hydropower to evaluate the complementary potential of various energy sources has become a hot issue in the research of mixed utilization. Given that traditional complementarity research can only assess the complementarity between two energy sources, this paper proposes a method to simultaneously determine the complementarity between three large-scale renewable energy sources. Firstly, a three-dimensional vector represents the complementary characteristic combination of any two energy sources. The complementary characteristics of the three energy sources were obtained by finding the optimal solution for the three-dimensional vector. Finally, power stations were selected, located in different spatial areas on the world’s largest renewable energy base in Qinghai, China, as the research object to analyze and verify the complementary characteristics of wind-power–photovoltaic-power–hydropower at different spatiotemporal scales. The results show significant differences in the complementary characteristics of different time scales. The farther the spatial distance between different power stations, the stronger their complementarity. The best complementary index on the monthly and daily scales was improved by 8.49% and 6.51%. This study provides a new focus for the future evaluation of the complementary utilization potential of large-scale joint renewable energy in different world regions.
Resource Cycling: Application of Anaerobic Utilization Methods
Authors: Vikhareva Irina N. , Aminova Guliya K. , Mazitova Aliya K.
Published: July 2022

Human activity and modern production contribute to the formation of a certain amount of waste that can be recycled to obtain useful products and energy sources. Today, the higher the level of industrial development, the greater the amount of waste generated, and as a result, the more important the need for disposal. A similar pattern is typical for any human production activity; as a result of large-scale production, at least 70–80% of waste is generated in relation to the amount of raw materials used. The large-scale use of polymeric materials and the plastic waste generated after their use lead to environmental pollution. While a small part of the waste is utilized naturally due to the vital activity of soil microorganisms, and a part is purposefully processed by humans into products for various purposes, a fairly large amount of waste occupies large areas in the form of a variety of garbage. After the removal of garbage by incineration, the liberated territories cannot be transferred to agricultural land due to the high content of harmful contaminants. The harm to the environment is quite obvious. In practice, certain types of waste consist of more than 70% content of valuable substances that can find further practical application in a wide variety of industries.
Microbial Diversity and Adaptation under Salt-Affected Soils: A Review
Authors: Kumawat Chiranjeev , Kumar Ajay , Parshad Jagdish , Sharma Shyam Sunder , Patra Abhik , Dogra Prerna , Yadav Govind Kumar , Dadhich Sunil Kumar , Verma Rajhans , Kumawat Girdhari Lal
Published: July 2022

The salinization of soil is responsible for the reduction in the growth and development of plants. As the global population increases day by day, there is a decrease in the cultivation of farmland due to the salinization of soil, which threatens food security. Salt-affected soils occur all over the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. The total area of global salt-affected soil is 1 billion ha, and in India, an area of nearly 6.74 million ha−1 is salt-stressed, out of which 2.95 million ha−1 are saline soil (including coastal) and 3.78 million ha−1 are alkali soil. The rectification and management of salt-stressed soils require specific approaches for sustainable crop production. Remediating salt-affected soil by chemical, physical and biological methods with available resources is recommended for agricultural purposes. Bioremediation is an eco-friendly approach compared to chemical and physical methods. The role of microorganisms has been documented by many workers for the bioremediation of such problematic soils. Halophilic Bacteria, Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Cyanobacteria, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria and microbial inoculation have been found to be effective for plant growth promotion under salt-stress conditions. The microbial mediated approaches can be adopted for the mitigation of salt-affected soil and help increase crop productivity. A microbial product consisting of beneficial halophiles maintains and enhances the soil health and the yield of the crop in salt-affected soil. This review will focus on the remediation of salt-affected soil by using microorganisms and their mechanisms in the soil and interaction with the plants.
Spatial Characteristics of Land Use Multifunctionality and Their Trade-Off/Synergy in Urumqi, China: Implication for Land Space Zoning Management
Authors: Xue Mengqi , Wang Hongwei , Wei Yiming , Ma Chen , Yin Yucong
Published: July 2022

Identifying and exploring the spatial characteristics of land use multifunctionality (LUMF) and their trade-off/synergy are the basis for promoting the coordinated development of LUMF, and have significant implications for land space zoning management. In this study, we integrated multi-source data to construct a multi-functional identification system of land use, and quantitatively identified agricultural production function (APF), urban life function (ULF), and ecological function (EF) from grid units. We used the mechanical equilibrium model and Spearman correlation variable analysis to explore the trade-off/synergy between the primary and secondary function of land use. The results show that LUMF has obvious spatial differentiation characteristics and significant composite characteristics. Functionality interweaves and overlaps spatially, creating trade-off/synergy between LUMF. Urumqi as a whole was at a coordinated level (73%). High urban life–low agricultural production and high ecology–low agricultural production were the main types of trade-off/synergy. APF and EF were dominant functions, and there was a significant synergistic relationship. APF and urban life-bearing function had a trade-off relationship. Based on the research results, zoning attempts were made as a reference. Finally, under the framework of regional function theory, we considered the sequential selection process and competition process of LUMF, and put forward proposals for land space zoning management.
Special Issue “Symmetry in Optimization and Control with Real-World Applications”
Authors: Teo Kok Lay , Gibali Aviv , Wu Yonghong
Published: July 2022

In the study of many real-world problems such as engineering design and industrial process control, one often needs to select certain elements/controls from a feasible set in order to optimize the design or system based on certain criteria [...]
Analysis of Identified Particle Transverse Momentum Spectra Produced in pp, p–Pb and Pb–Pb Collisions at the LHC Using TP-like Function
Authors: Yang Pei-Pin , Duan Mai-Ying , Liu Fu-Hu , Sahoo Raghunath
Published: July 2022

In the framework of a multi-source thermal model at the partonic level, we have analyzed transverse momentum spectra of hadrons measured by the ALICE Collaboration in proton–proton (pp or p–p) collisions at the center-of-mass energy of s=7 and 13 TeV, proton–lead (p–Pb) collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV, and lead–lead (Pb–Pb) collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. For mesons (baryons), the contributions of two (three) constituent quarks are considered, in which each quark contributes to hadron transverse momentum to obey the revised phenomenological Tsallis transverse momentum distribution for Maxwell–Boltzmann particles (the TP-like function, in short) with isotropic random azimuthal angles. Three main parameters, namely, the revised index a0, effective temperature T, and entropy-related index n, are obtained, showing the same tendency for both small and large systems with respect to the centrality (or multiplicity) of events, the rest mass of hadrons, and the constituent mass of quarks.
Probabilistic Safety Factor Calculation of the Lateral Overturning Stability of a Single-Column Pier Curved Bridge under Asymmetric Eccentric Load
Authors: Dong Fenghui , Zhang Hanhao
Published: July 2022

At present, the calculation methods for the lateral overturning stability safety factor of a single-column pier curved bridge under asymmetric eccentric load in the highway bridge code adopt deterministic calculation models. This paper presents a transverse overturning stability safety factor study of single-column pier curved bridges under asymmetric eccentric load based on inverse reliability theory. This method, which both considers the influence of uncertainty factors among the structural parameters and satisfies the prescribed reliability level, was used to obtain safety factors through a target reliability index. Transverse overturning stability factors of single-column pier curved bridges under asymmetric eccentric load were estimated using the proposed method. A new method was proposed to calculate the design parameter of the safety factor of single-pier instability, and then an application was carried out. The results show that parameter uncertainty has a major effect on transverse overturning stability safety factors of single-column pier curved bridges under asymmetric eccentric load. Ignoring parameter uncertainty will produce an overestimation of the transverse overturning stability safety factors of single-column pier bridges. The vehicle load must be strictly controlled to avoid transverse overturning due to overloading. Compared to the deterministic model, the proposed method has the advantages of calculating the safety factors considering the randomness of parameters and establishing the relationship of the safety factor with the target reliability index.
On the Solutions for a Fifth Order Kudryashov–Sinelshchikov Type Equation
Authors: Coclite Giuseppe Maria , di Ruvo Lorenzo
Published: July 2022

The fifth order Kudryashov–Sinelshchikov equation models the evolution of the nonlinear waves in a gas–liquid mixture, taking into account an interphase heat transfer, surface tension, and weak liquid compressibility simultaneously at the derivation of the equations for non-linear-waves. We prove the well-posedness of the solutions for the Cauchy problem associated with this equation for each choice of the terminal time T.
Man-in-the-Middle Attacks in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANETs): Analysis and Evaluation
Authors: Al-Shareeda Mahmood A. , Manickam Selvakumar
Published: July 2022

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) are being used more and more in a variety of fields, including the environment, energy efficiency, smart transportation, intelligent agriculture, and in Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems. They are also anticipated to play an increasingly significant role in the future of the Internet due to the strong evolution of wireless technology in recent years. Nevertheless, this inter-node communication is vulnerable to various security attacks such as Man–In-The-Middle (MITM) attacks, which are considered to be the main challenge in MANETs. This happens when a harmful node intercepts data shared by legal nodes. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to investigate the impact of attackers’ strategies to execute MITM assaults in MANETs, such as message-delayed and message-dropped assaults. The output of this work shows that these assaults have a severe impact on legal entities in MANETs as the network experiences a high number of compromised messages as well as high E2ED and PLD. Finally, by using symmetry or asymmetry cryptographies, our proposal will avoid MITM attacks that intercept the communication between legal nodes.
A Graph Skeleton Transformer Network for Action Recognition
Authors: Jiang Yujian , Sun Zhaoneng , Yu Saisai , Wang Shuang , Song Yang
Published: July 2022

Skeleton-based action recognition is a research hotspot in the field of computer vision. Currently, the mainstream method is based on Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs). Although there are many advantages of GCNs, GCNs mainly rely on graph topologies to draw dependencies between the joints, which are limited in capturing long-distance dependencies. Meanwhile, Transformer-based methods have been applied to skeleton-based action recognition because they effectively capture long-distance dependencies. However, existing Transformer-based methods lose the inherent connection information of human skeleton joints because they do not yet focus on initial graph structure information. This paper aims to improve the accuracy of skeleton-based action recognition. Therefore, a Graph Skeleton Transformer network (GSTN) for action recognition is proposed, which is based on Transformer architecture to extract global features, while using undirected graph information represented by the symmetric matrix to extract local features. Two encodings are utilized in feature processing to improve joints’ semantic and centrality features. In the process of multi-stream fusion strategies, a grid-search-based method is used to assign weights to each input stream to optimize the fusion results. We tested our method using three action recognition datasets: NTU RGB+D 60, NTU RGB+D 120, and NW-UCLA. The experimental results show that our model’s accuracy is comparable to state-of-the-art approaches.
Multiple Solutions for a Class of BVPs of Second-Order Discontinuous Differential Equations with Impulse Effects
Authors: Wang Yang , Li Yating , Liu Yansheng
Published: July 2022

This paper deals with a class of boundary value problems of second-order differential equations with impulses and discontinuity. The existence of single or multiple positive solutions to discontinuous differential equations with impulse effects is established by using the nonlinear alternative of Krasnoselskii’s fixed point theorem for discontinuous operators on cones. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the main results.
Automatic Repair Method for Null Pointer Dereferences Guided by Program Dependency Graph
Authors: Dong Yukun , Sun Yuxue , Wang Xun
Published: July 2022

Automatic program repair (APR) is an effective technique for eliminating defects. The repair of null pointer dereferences, as the most common defects, requires accurate dependencies among statements to determine where to repair and how to repair. In order to precisely identify the data and control dependencies, the program dependency graph is adopted. Based on the symmetry among a large number of patches, we propose four repair mechanisms in this passage, namely the assignment mechanism, restraint mechanism, evading mechanism, and transfer mechanism, and employ the decision tree algorithm to match the best repair mechanism for defects. The four repair mechanisms locate the accurate repair position using the program dependency graph, and generate candidate patches by reassigning the null pointer with an appropriate value, making a judgment for the null value in advance, or throwing an exception. Our method was implemented in the repair tool DTSFix, which supports the automatic repair of null pointer dereference in Java programs. The experimental result on Defects4J shows that 73% of null pointer dereferences are successfully repaired by DTSFix, and that the generated candidate patches do not contain over-fitting patches.
Research on the Evolutionary Path of Eco-Conservation and High-Quality Development in the Yellow River Basin Based on an Agent-Based Model
Authors: Zhao Aiwu , Wang Jingyi , Sun Zhenzhen , Guan Hongjun
Published: July 2022

The high-quality economic and social development of the Yellow River Basin is a combined system comprising the coordinated development of “economy–resources–environment–society”, with resources and the ecological environment bearing capacity as the constraints, and green innovative development as the driving force. Based on the systematic analysis of the structural dimensions of the composite system, this paper uses the balanced indicators and their coordinated development effectiveness to describe the development quality of the macro-composite system. In order to reveal the mechanism of the evolutionary path of the macro system, the resource- and environment-bearing capacity, regional high-quality development potential, regional innovation capacity, and high-quality development guarantee capacity are adopted as the main attributes and decision-making basis of the autonomous agents. The simulation results show that, under the existing development model, the economic development of all of the provinces in the Yellow River Basin will be constrained by resources and the environment. However, different policy scenarios significantly affect the evolutionary trends of economic development, resource consumption, and the environmental pollution situation. The mechanisms to overcome the bottleneck of the resource and ecological constraints are different for these policies, and the effects of the same policy in different provinces are also not the same.
LC-MS/MS Validation and Quantification of Cyanotoxins in Algal Food Supplements from the Belgium Market and Their Molecular Origins
Authors: Van Hassel Wannes Hugo R. , Ahn Anne-Catherine , Huybrechts Bart , Masquelier Julien , Wilmotte Annick , Andjelkovic Mirjana
Published: July 2022

Food supplements are gaining popularity worldwide. However, harmful natural compounds can contaminate these products. In the case of algae-based products, the presence of toxin-producing cyanobacteria may cause health risks. However, data about the prevalence of algal food supplements on the Belgian market and possible contaminations with cyanotoxins are scarce. Therefore, we optimized and validated a method based on Ultra High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry to quantify eight microcystin congeners and nodularin in algal food supplements. Our analytical method was successfully validated and applied on 35 food supplement samples. Nine out of these samples contained microcystin congeners, of which three exceeded 1 µg g−1, a previously proposed guideline value. Additionally, the mcyE gene was amplified and sequenced in ten products to identify the taxon responsible for the toxin production. For seven out of these ten samples, the mcyE gene could be amplified and associated to Microcystis sp. EFSA and posology consumption data for algal-based food supplements were both combined with our toxin prevalence data to establish different toxin exposure scenarios to assess health risks and propose new guideline values.
Influenza Viruses Suitable for Studies in Syrian Hamsters
Authors: Fan Shufang , Gu Chunyang , Kong Huihui , Guan Lizheng , Neumann Gabriele , Kawaoka Yoshihiro
Published: July 2022

Several small animal models, including mice, Syrian hamsters, guinea pigs, and ferrets are used to study the pathogenicity, transmissibility, and antigenicity of seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses. Moreover, animal models are essential for vaccination and challenge studies to evaluate the immunogenicity and protective efficacy of new vaccines. However, authentic human influenza viruses do not always replicate efficiently in these animal models. Previously, we developed a high-yield A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8-HY) vaccine virus backbone that conferred an increased virus yield to several seasonal influenza vaccines in eukaryotic cells and embryonated chicken eggs. Here, we show that this PR8-HY genetic backbone also increases the replication of several seasonal influenza viruses in Syrian hamsters compared to the authentic viruses. Therefore, the PR8-HY backbone is useful for animal studies to assess the biological properties of influenza viral HA and NA.
Pseudorabies Virus: From Pathogenesis to Prevention Strategies
Authors: Zheng Hui-Hua , Fu Peng-Fei , Chen Hong-Ying , Wang Zhen-Ya
Published: July 2022

Pseudorabies (PR), also called Aujeszky’s disease (AD), is a highly infectious viral disease which is caused by pseudorabies virus (PRV). It has been nearly 200 years since the first PR case occurred. Currently, the virus can infect human beings and various mammals, including pigs, sheep, dogs, rabbits, rodents, cattle and cats, and among them, pigs are the only natural host of PRV infection. PRV is characterized by reproductive failure in pregnant sows, nervous disorders in newborn piglets, and respiratory distress in growing pigs, resulting in serious economic losses to the pig industry worldwide. Due to the extensive application of the attenuated vaccine containing the Bartha-K61 strain, PR was well controlled. With the variation of PRV strain, PR re-emerged and rapidly spread in some countries, especially China. Although researchers have been committed to the design of diagnostic methods and the development of vaccines in recent years, PR is still an important infectious disease and is widely prevalent in the global pig industry. In this review, we introduce the structural composition and life cycle of PRV virions and then discuss the latest findings on PRV pathogenesis, following the molecular characteristic of PRV and the summary of existing diagnosis methods. Subsequently, we also focus on the latest clinical progress in the prevention and control of PRV infection via the development of vaccines, traditional herbal medicines and novel small RNAs. Lastly, we provide an outlook on PRV eradication.
Vaccination, Risk Factors and Outcomes of COVID-19 Infection in Patients with Psoriasis—A Single Centre Real-Life Experience from Eastern Slovakia
Authors: Baloghová Janette , Kampe Tomáš , Kolarčik Peter , Hatalová Elena
Published: July 2022

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) represents a threat for people with immune-mediated diseases. It seems that patients with psoriasis appear to have a similar SARS-CoV-2 infection rate as the general population. Our study aimed to identify factors associated with contracting COVID-19 and determining the severity of COVID-19 among psoriatic patients in a real practice setting. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 379 respondents. About one-quarter (n = 78; 25.8%) of the respondents who provided information on their COVID-19 (n = 302) status had contracted COVID-19. Most variables tested for their effect on getting COVID-19 proved to be statistically insignificant, except education, age and gender. Our study proved the protective effect of vaccination, especially the third dose, against the COVID-19 outcome. From all the potential variables, we found that non-Roma ethnicity increased the chance of being vaccinated at least once by 2.6-fold. Patients with a longer psoriasis duration had a higher chance of being vaccinated. We consider biological treatment of psoriasis safe during COVID-19. Vaccination of patients was a statistically significant protector against COVID-19. It is important to point out that only three doses of vaccine decreased with statistical significance the chance of getting the illness. Our findings should be confirmed on larger samples in further studies.
Special Issue “Replication and Spread of Alphaherpesviruses”
Authors: Rice Stephen A.
Published: July 2022

Alphaherpesviruses, one of three sub-families of the Herpesviridae, are of keen interest to biomedical scientists for several reasons [...]
Adapting an Atmospheric Dispersion Model to Assess the Risk of Windborne Transmission of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus between Swine Farms
Authors: Kanankege Kaushi S. T. , Graham Kerryne , Corzo Cesar A. , VanderWaal Kimberly , Perez Andres M. , Durr Peter A.
Published: July 2022

Modeling the windborne transmission of aerosolized pathogens is challenging. We adapted an atmospheric dispersion model (ADM) to simulate the windborne dispersion of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv) between swine farms. This work focuses on determining ADM applicable parameter values for PRRSv through a literature and expert opinion-based approach. The parameters included epidemiological features of PRRSv, characteristics of the aerosolized particles, and survival of aerosolized virus in relation to key meteorological features. A case study was undertaken to perform a sensitivity analysis on key parameters. Farms experiencing ongoing PRRSv outbreaks were assigned as particle emitting sources. The wind data from the North American Mesoscale Forecast System was used to simulate dispersion. The risk was estimated semi-quantitatively based on the median daily deposition of particles and the distance to the closest emitting farm. Among the parameters tested, the ADM was most sensitive to the number of particles emitted, followed by the model runtime, and the release height was the least sensitive. Farms within 25 km from an emitting farm were at the highest risk; with 53.66% being within 10 km. An ADM-based risk estimation of windborne transmission of PRRSv may inform optimum time intervals for air sampling, plan preventive measures, and aid in ruling out the windborne dispersion in outbreak investigations.
GEM-PA-Based Subunit Vaccines of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Induces Systemic Immune Responses in Mice
Authors: Wang Qi , Wang Shen , Shi Zhikang , Li Zhengrong , Zhao Yongkun , Feng Na , Bi Jinhao , Jiao Cuicui , Li Entao , Wang Tiecheng , Wang Jianzhong , Jin Hongli , Huang Pei , Yan Feihu , Yang Songtao , Xia Xianzhu
Published: July 2022

The Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) is a tick-borne bunyavirus of the Narovirus genus, which is the causative agent of Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF). CCHF is endemic in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia, with a high case-fatality rate of up to 50% in humans. Currently, there are no approved vaccines or effective therapies available for CCHF. The GEM-PA is a safe, versatile and effective carrier system, which offers a cost-efficient, high-throughput platform for recovery and purification of subunit proteins for vaccines. In the present study, based on a GEM-PA surface display system, a GEM-PA based vaccine expressing three subunit vaccine candidates (G-GP, including G-eGN, G-eGC and G-NAb) of CCHFV was developed, displaying the ectodomains of the structural glycoproteins eGN, eGC and NAb, respectively. According to the immunological assays including indirect-ELISA, a micro-neutralization test of pseudo-virus and ELISpot, 5 μg GPBLP3 combined with Montanide ISA 201VG plus Poly (I:C) adjuvant (A-G-GP-5 μg) elicited GP-specific humoral and cellular immunity in BALB/c mice after three vaccinations via subcutaneous injection (s.c.). The consistent data between IgG subtype and cytokine detection, ELISpot and cytokine detection indicated balanced Th1 and Th2 responses, of which G-eGN vaccines could elicit a stronger T-cell response post-vaccination, respectively. Moreover, all three vaccine candidates elicited high TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 cytokine levels in the supernatant of stimulated splenocytes in vitro. However, the neutralizing antibody (nAb) was only detected in A-G-eGC and A-G-eGC vaccination groups with the highest neutralizing titer of 128, suggesting that G-eGC could elicit a stronger humoral immune response. In conclusion, the GEM-PA surface display system could provide an efficient and convenient purification method for CCHFV subunit antigens, and the G-GP subunit vaccine candidates will be promising against CCHFV infections with excellent immunogenicity.
Neutralizing mAbs against SFTS Virus Gn Protein Show Strong Therapeutic Effects in an SFTS Animal Model
Authors: Shimojima Masayuki , Sugimoto Satoko , Umekita Kunihiko , Onodera Taishi , Sano Kaori , Tani Hideki , Takamatsu Yuki , Yoshikawa Tomoki , Kurosu Takeshi , Suzuki Tadaki , Takahashi Yoshimasa , Ebihara Hideki , Saijo Masayuki
Published: July 2022

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) is an infectious disease with a high case fatality rate caused by the SFTS virus, and currently there are no approved specific treatments. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the virus could be a therapeutic agent in SFTS treatment, but their development has not sufficiently been carried out. In the present study, mouse and human mAbs exposed to the viral envelope proteins Gn and Gc (16 clones each) were characterized in vitro and in vivo by using recombinant proteins, cell culture with viruses, and an SFTS animal model with IFNAR-/- mice. Neutralization activities against the recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus bearing SFTS virus Gn/Gc as envelope proteins were observed with three anti-Gn and six anti-Gc mAbs. Therapeutic activities were observed among anti-Gn, but not anti-Gc mAbs with neutralizing activities. These results propose an effective strategy to obtain promising therapeutic mAb candidates for SFTS treatment, and a necessity to reveal precise roles of the SFTS virus Gn/Gc proteins.
The Impact of Epitranscriptomics on Antiviral Innate Immunity
Authors: Mersinoglu Beril , Cristinelli Sara , Ciuffi Angela
Published: July 2022

Epitranscriptomics, i.e., chemical modifications of RNA molecules, has proven to be a new layer of modulation and regulation of protein expression, asking for the revisiting of some aspects of cellular biology. At the virological level, epitranscriptomics can thus directly impact the viral life cycle itself, acting on viral or cellular proteins promoting replication, or impacting the innate antiviral response of the host cell, the latter being the focus of the present review.
Influence of Selected Environmental Factors on Diatom β Diversity (Bacillariophyta) and the Value of Diatom Indices and Sampling Issues
Authors: Eliasz-Kowalska Monika , Wojtal Agata Z. , Barinova Sophia
Published: July 2022

Human impacts and environmental climate changes have led to a progressive decline in the diversity of diatoms in lakes in the recent past. The components of β diversity (e.g., species turnover and nestedness) and underlying factors are still poorly understood. Here, we report an investigation of two alternative approaches—beta diversity (β diversity) partitioning and local contribution to β diversity (LCBD)—including their responses to selected environmental factors and representativeness of samples in estimating the ecological fitness of a lake. The β diversity of diatoms and their local contributions could be explained by the effects of environmental variables (p < 0.01). The random forest method showed the most contribution to the variance for NO3−, Cl−, and SO42−. PERMANOVA as well as a network analysis in JASP (Jeffrey’s Amazing Statistics Program) showed significant differences between the seasons in diatom assemblages and in the diatom index for Polish lakes (IOJ). Our findings provide insights into the mechanisms responsible for community organizations along environmental gradients from the perspective of β diversity components, and mechanisms of the indication value of diatoms for lakes; the results could be used especially by countries implementing ecological assessments.
Numerical Limit Analysis of the Stability of Reinforced Retaining Walls with the Strength Reduction Method
Authors: Li Jinsheng , Li Xueqi , Jing Mingyuan , Pang Rui
Published: July 2022

The failure mechanism of MSE (mechanically stabilized earth) walls was studied via numerical analysis with the finite element strength reduction method, which was verified as an effective technique by simulating the experimental results reported in previous papers. The finite element program was applied to explore the effects of reinforcement, geometry, and seismic parameters on failure mechanism control at the design stage of MSE walls to avoid the unavoidable errors experienced in common numerical analysis caused by the assumptions of the failure mode and complex input parameters. The research parameters included the wall height, length, and spacing of the geogrid-reinforced retaining wall and seismic load. The results indicated that the wall height and reinforcement length play a major role in failure mode change. When the reinforcement length is less than 2 m, overturning failure could occur, which was unrelated to the other parameters in all cases studied in this paper. In this paper, the parametric study results were presented by evaluating the critical reinforcement length, generating the failure surface pattern, and summarizing design recommendation.
Permafrost Degradation Impact on Water Bodies in the Siberian Tundra (Samoylov and Kurungnakh Islands, Lena Delta) Using GIS Analysis of Remote Sensing Data and a Geochemical Approach
Authors: Yurkevich Nataliya , Kartoziia Andrei , Tsibizova Ekaterina
Published: July 2022

The article presents the geomorphological and geochemical investigation of the water bodies on the Samoylov and Kurunghnakh Islands, the Lena River delta. We used GIS-analyze analysis for identifying water body groups, depending on their geomorphological features. The studied water bodies are located on two principally different surfaces: the first and the third terraces of the Lena Delta. The water bodies occupy thermokarst hollow bottoms, which have various elevations above sea level. We identified the altitudes of the water bodies’ water surfaces by analysing with ArcticDEM. Additionally, we estimated the area of the water bodies by hand after mapping the borders of the water bodies in UAV imageries. We sampled the bottom sediments and water’s chemical composition. All water bodies were divided into groups: (1) small water bodies on the Yedoma upland surface; (2) water bodies in six thermokarst hollows; (3) water bodies on the first terrace. The water bodies bottom sediments on the Yedoma are depleted by the As and enriched by the Zn and Mo in comparison with sediments of other groups. The Rare Earth Elements concentrations in the bottom sediments of Yedoma water bodies and several water bodies on poorly degraded surfaces of the third terrace are lower than in other water bodies, except La.
Ecology and Distribution of Red King Crab Larvae in the Barents Sea: A Review
Authors: Dvoretsky Vladimir G. , Dvoretsky Alexander G.
Published: July 2022

The red king crab (RKC) is a large invasive species inhabiting bottom communities in the Barents Sea. Larval stages of RKC play an important role in determining the spread and recruitment of the population in the coastal waters. We present a review of studies concerned with the ecology of RKC larvae in the Barents Sea focusing on their dynamics and role in the trophic food webs as well as on the role of environmental factors in driving RKC zoeae. Zoeal stages are larger, and their development time is shorter in the Barents Sea compared to the North Pacific. RKC larvae appear in late January–February and can be found in the coastal plankton until mid-July. Mass hatching of RKC larvae in the Barents Sea starts in late March-early April. The highest densities of RKC larvae are located in small semi-enclosed bays and inlets with weak water exchange or local eddies as well as in inner parts of fjords. Size structures of the zoeal populations are similar in the inshore waters to the west of Kola Bay but slightly differ from those in more eastern regions. RKC larvae perform daily vertical migrations and move to deeper depths during bright daylight hours and tend to rise during night hours. RKC larvae are plankton feeders that ingest both phyto- and zooplankton. A set of environmental variables including food conditions, water temperature, and advective influence are the most important factors driving the spatial distribution, phenology, survival rates, development, growth, and interannual fluctuations of RKC larvae. Recent climatic changes in the Arctic may have both negative and positive consequences for RKC larvae.
Neural Structures to Predict River Stages in Heavily Urbanized Catchments
Authors: Chiacchiera Annunziata , Sai Fabio , Salvetti Andrea , Guariso Giorgio
Published: July 2022

Accurate flow forecasting may support responsible institutions in managing river systems and limiting damages due to high water levels. Machine-learning models are known to describe many nonlinear hydrological phenomena, but up to now, they have mainly provided a single future value with a fixed information structure. This study trains and tests multi-step deep neural networks with different inputs to forecast the water stage of two sub-alpine urbanized catchments. They prove effective for one hour ahead flood stage values and occurrences. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) perform better when only past information on the water stage is used. Long short-term memory nets (LSTMs) are more suited to exploit the data coming from the rain gauges. Predicting a set of water stages over the following hour rather than just a single future value may help concerned agencies take the most urgent actions. The paper also shows that the architecture developed for one catchment can be adapted to similar ones maintaining high accuracy.