bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Study on significant factors of stable dynamic stiffness and advanced assembly for precision fastening system by Taguchi method
Authors: Chen C M , Chang H L , Yulianto H
Published: October 2022

Precision assembly fastening is an indispensable part of technology. The clamping force of the precision fastening system maybe remain Table or decrease when the assembly is subjected to axial vibration. In the meantime, rotating for a long time at a very high speed will produce a very high temperature. When the temperature rises, it will greatly reduce the overall performance and accuracy of the precision fasten system. With the background of this problem, this research was started. In this study, experiments were carried out with a rotation dynamic percussion testing machine, and the Taguchi method was used to discuss the assembly of the precision fasten system with different parameters and conditions. The experimental control factors are the fitting clearance, bearing contact angles, and the viscosity of the lubricating oil. After getting the test value, the next step is a statistical analysis using the Taguchi method in stages to get the final optimal results of the experiment. The results showed that the bearing contact angle and the viscosity of the lubricating oil are important factors affecting the temperature rise of the bearing. The results of this experiment can be applied as a basis for assembling machine tools for the advanced manufacturing industry, aircraft industry, automotive light vehicles to heavy vehicles in the mining world, etc. This also aims to improve the accuracy and stability of the precision fastening system.
Research and design of flow standard device for field service master meter method
Authors: Li Bin , Zhuo Haoran , Chen Jie , Wang Tao
Published: October 2022

Most of the traditional flow standard devices are fixed, with very large volumes. When the enterprise has the measurement demand, the client needs to remove all the flowmeters and send them to the location of the standard device, take them back after testing and reinstall them on the production line, resulting in low production efficiency. However, while pursuing the mobility of the device, the overall space, weight, and layout of the device are bound to be limited, thus affecting the stability of the water source and measurement accuracy. Therefore, this paper analyzes the characteristics of mobile devices, in the pursuit of lightweight at the same time design and building water source loop, branch, the overall electrical system, and write the host computer calibration software, and finally through the automatic adjustment of the solenoid valve with PID control scheme to adjust the flow, to improve the stability of water sources.
Research on Diesel Engine Speed Control Based on BPNN Self-tuning PID Controller
Authors: Li Xuemin , Zhu Cunxi , Zhang Qihang , Gu Ziyang , Shu Haoyu , Zhang Jingjing , Liu Mingyao , Zheng Chengjie , Han Yuting
Published: October 2022

As a more efficient power machine, diesel engine is widely used in industry, large vehicles, ships, power generation and other industries. Because of its high thermal efficiency, low fuel consumption, strong power and long service life, diesel engine will continue to occupy a leading position in its application field in the coming decades. Therefore, the speed control of diesel engine has always been a hot research topic. However, there are some disadvantages if only using PID controller for diesel engine speed control. This paper studies the structure of diesel engine speed control and the form of neural network. The combination of BPNN (Back Propagation Neural Network) and PID control makes it adjust the PID parameters in real time according to the speed error and achieve the tracking of actual speed and ideal speed. The realization of this method solves the problem of difficult PID parameters selection to a certain extent. And it has the characteristic of automatically adjusting parameters under variable working conditions. So that the engine can still maintain the desired speed under variable working conditions.
Thread Wire Head Size Detection System Based on ZYNQ
Authors: He Zongfeng , Ma Xiaocheng , Zhang Kai , Xiao Jian
Published: October 2022

Aiming at the problems of slow detection speed and low integration of machine vision threaded wire head, this paper designs a threaded wire head size detection system on the ZYNQ (FPGA+ARM) platform based on the idea of software and hardware collaborative design. First, the functions of image data acquisition, image preprocessing and edge detection are realized on the FPGA side; then the processed data is transferred to the ARM side through VDMA, and the current frame image in the DDR is intercepted by external triggering; finally, the PS side is designed Feature point screening and size calculation algorithms. The experimental results show that the parameter measurement error of this system is small, and it can meet the task requirements of the size detection of the threaded steel wire head.
Research of ship cooling system outlet temperature prediction based on CEEMD-ARIMA-LSTM model
Authors: Liu S , Sang W , Cao H , Ai Z
Published: October 2022

In order to further optimize the predict of the ship cooling system working state and prolong the working life of the system. The CEEMD-ARIMA-LSTM prediction model is used to predict the working state. Through the complementary integrated empirical mode filtering process the fresh water outlet temperature data is divided into the data that can be used for prediction and environmental noise, then predicted by the long and short period neural network (LSTM) and differential sliding autoregressive time series (ARIMA). The result shows that the data predicted by neural network and time series are stable, and the error is more than 50% less than the original method. It lays a foundation for better diagnosis the fault of ship cooling system.
RGB photoelastic method based on gradient-square inversion correction
Authors: Wang Ziwei , Lei Zhenkun , Zhao Honghua
Published: October 2022

Automatic photoelastic method focuses on the recognition of stress field. RGB photoelastic method has the advantages of low condition requirements and accurate low-level fringe recognition, but it is easy to be disturbed by image noise, color repetition and other factors, resulting in recognition errors. In this study, the combination of gradient-square inversion and RGB photoelastic technology can not only effectively eliminate the error points introduced by color repetition, but also greatly reduce the scope of look-up table, shorten the calculation time and quickly analyze the stress field. The effectiveness of the proposed RGB photoelastic method based on gradient-square inversion correction is verified by photoelastic experiments.
Lane Detection Using Q-net Model
Authors: Zheng Qinyuan , Shi Yingjie , Zhao Naidong , Wang Ziling , Li Hongbiao
Published: October 2022

With the development of the automobile industry and artificial intelligence, exploring more practical and efficient lane line detection methods has a significant role in advanced driver assistance. Lane detection applies for environmental perception, to detect lane areas or lane lines by different types of equipment. In this paper, we propose a Q-net model for lane detection. In Q-net, we propose a backbone network named QCNN for feature extracting and adopt a classification layer for post-processing. Besides, we propose the JSSR method for predicting the lane line position with high accuracy and acceptable speed. We conduct comprehensive experiments on Q-net, and the experiment results show that (1) Q-net is robust to various road environments, ranging from curves and obstacles; (2) Q-net can provide real-time lane detection, with 96.9% accuracy and 68.7 fps.
Study on a Real-time Work Assistance Method for Substation Based on Petri Net Model
Authors: Gao Qi , Jin Wei , Chen Zhao , Zhang Xun , Liu Lu , Lin Chunlong
Published: October 2022

Work assistance is one of the important means to improve work efficiency. This paper focuses on substation work and proposes a real-time work assistance method based on petri net model. The work assistance includes two aspects, termed as, workflow guidance and operation prompt. Particularly, the workflow constructed by the petri net includes sequence, inhibition, concurrency and conflict structures to declare the correlations between work steps. Further, different forms of operation prompts at each step are designed, considering real-time responses of workers including skip, replay, pause and restart. The effectiveness of the method is well validated by an application of the work assistance on measuring the grounding current of transformer core and clamp. It is demonstrated that the unified assistance method built by the petri net successfully instructs standardized working process, helps avoid potential risks, and provides flexible operation prompts in real time.
Reconfigurable Stochastic neurons for Restricted Boltzmann Machine
Authors: Wang Yuanxi , Xu Fufang , Wang Jie , Cui Xutai , Yi Teng
Published: October 2022

Neuromorphic implementation of Boltzmann Machine using a network of stochastic neurons can allow non-deterministic polynomial-time (NP) hard combinatorial optimization problems to be efficiently solved. Efficient implementation of such Boltzmann Machine with simulated annealing desires the statistical parameters of the stochastic neurons to be dynamically tunable, however, there has been limited research on stochastic semiconductor devices with controllable statistical distributions. Here, we demonstrate a fully digitized stochastic neurons based on reconfigurable stochastic model that can realize tunable stochastic dynamics in its output sampling characteristics. We emulate the Restricted Boltzmann Machine based on reconfigurable stochastic neurons and leverage the handwritten digits from the MNIST dataset to validate its recognition capabilities and investigate the accuracy of several distinct network parameters.
A new collaborative fault identification strategy using multivariate hierarchical dispersion entropy
Authors: Yang Cheng , Jia Minping , Li Zhinong , Gabbouj Moncef
Published: October 2022

This article presents a fault recognition strategy using multivariate hierarchical dispersion entropy to monitor the conditions of rolling bearing. First, the vibration data would be measured from multi-channel sensors synchronously. Then, the proposed mvHDE is employed to capture fault information from the collected data. Finally, the fault features are input into the ELM classifier to automatically identify fault types of bearing. The feasibility and effectiveness of the presented intelligent fault diagnosis schemes are verified through experimental studies.
Vehicle position prediction systems and performance equalization
Authors: Cui PengHui , Liu Peng , Qian Xinghua
Published: October 2022

This article will first solve the problem of beam prediction for the link between the vehicle and the communication awareness integrated system. The dual-function communication perception integrated signal emitted by the roadside module (RSM) is used for beam tracking. At the same time, the position parameters of the vehicle are estimated through the reflected echo signal. Based on the above estimation, we put forward a method to forecast the location of the cars. After adding the equalization parameter, it determines the weight of the perception and communication performance in the communication perception integrated system. By equalizing the communication signal power and the radar detection power, the system can maintain high detection accuracy while ensuring better communication power. Finally, the effectiveness of the method is verified by simulation experiments, and the experimental results show that this method is better than the traditional scheme in terms of achievable communication rate.
A novel maximum power point tracking technique with improved particle swarm optimization for proton exchange membrane fuel cell
Authors: Zhou C , Liu Z Y , Sun Y N , Mao L
Published: October 2022

The performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) can be significantly affected by its operating conditions, i.e. the temperature, membrane water content. Aimed at maximizing the performance of PEMFC, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technology plays an important role in PEMFC system. Most traditional MPPT algorithms will generate steady-state oscillations, which result in power loss and damage to PEMFC. In addition, most MPPT controllers based on intelligent algorithms need to use PID to track the MPP, which increases the complexity of the controller and makes the tracking result strongly depend on the PID gain. To overcome steady-state oscillation and reduce the complexity of the MPPT controller, a MPPT controller based adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm (APSO) without a PID controller is developed in this paper. The performance of the presented algorithm is investigated under three cases including stable operating condition, temperature change and membrane water content variation, and compared with traditional particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO) and perturbation and observation (P&O) method. The obtained results indicate that APSO has faster tracking speed and smaller search oscillation than PSO, and has better stability than P&O. Moreover, the results demonstrate that by using duty cycle as decision variable, simple design of MPPT control system can be obtained, which shows great superiority over PID controller. This not only enables real-time online tracking, but also reduces hardware manufacturing costs.
Regulated 2D Grayscale Image for Finding Power Quality Abnormalities in Actual Data
Authors: Chen Yeong-Chin , Syamsudin M , Berutu S S
Published: October 2022

It is possible to preserve power quality by classifying and identifying abnormalities. Prior studies focused on enhancing the PQD classification performance in one-dimensional (1D) CNNs. Recently, various image conversion methods have been established to facilitate CNN for PQD classification. PQD is a 1D signal that needs to be converted to a 2D image through data pre-processing since 2D images may include more PQD information than 1D signals. However, the PQD data used for the power quality classifier is synthetic PQD produced using mathematical models with parameter modifications in accordance with IEEE Std. 1159, which places limitations on prior research. This study uses data from the Amrita Honeywell Hackathon 2021 to examine how the response-based 2D deep CNN power quality classifier responds to actual field power quality disruptions. The results of the study show that a 2D deep CNN with regulated 2D grayscale pictures based on a process-regulated 2D image matrix can classify real data power quality disturbances with accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score of 98.80%, 98.99%, and 98.60%, respectively. Additionally, 2D images can potentially contain more PQD data than 1D signals, enhancing identification performance on actual data.
3D Reconstruction Method of Space Target on Optical Images with Wide Baseline via Neural Radiance Field
Authors: Bu Fan , Wang Canyu , Ren Xiaoyuan , Sun Dou , Wang Zhan , Wang Zhuang
Published: October 2022

3D reconstruction of space targets using optical measurement data is an important topic in the field of space surveillance and spacecraft service in orbit. The core of current mainstream 3D reconstruction methods is to establish feature association between optical images. In space-based optical imaging scenes, the texture of target region is missing and the range of view is large, which causes great difficulties in feature extraction and matching of image sequences. Neural radiance field technology does not need to extract explicit features, and its implicit expression of 3D scenes has great potential for solving reconstruction problems in weak texture and broad baseline cases. Therefore, a novel 3D reconstruction method for a sequence of images based on neural radiance field is proposed. The proposed method breaks through the limitation of traditional 3D reconstruction methods which rely on rich texture and narrow baseline image sequences. Simulation experiments show that compared with the existing methods for space target images with weak texture and wide baseline, our method performs better in terms of accuracy and completeness.
Self-Supervised multi-image Super-Resolution Network for Space Image Restoration
Authors: Zhou Junyi , Wang Canyu , Ren Xiaoyuan , Cao Shenyi , Wang Zhuang
Published: October 2022

Space-based space surveillance (SBSS) has the advantage of being flexible and highly interpretable, allowing it to play a strategic role in monitoring space targets. During actual missions, however, bursts of push-frame imaging methods, dynamic noise during observation, large motions and other factors can result in visible degradation, and it isn’t easy to have the corresponding high-resolution (HR) images for the low-resolution (LR) images acquired at the high-speed intersection, which seriously limits the existing multi-image super-resolution (MISR) methods for space-based applications. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes a self-supervised video super-resolution deep learning method that can be trained end-to-end in space-based observations without LR/HR image pairs. We generate extra training pairs using different sizes of sampling factors for LR videos and train the video hyper-resolution network from coarse to fine using a pyramid format. Extensive experiments on the public satellite dataset BUAA-SID-share1.0 show that our approach outperforms traditional video hyper-resolution methods.
Discrimination Correction and Balance for Class-Incremental Learning
Authors: Wang Ruixiang , Luo Yong , Ren Yitao , Mao Keming
Published: October 2022

Catastrophic forgetting is the key role in incremental learning, since the model gains poor quality for old classes than new classes with continuously incoming tasks and less storage. In order to solve the balance between model plasticity and stability, this paper proposes a novel class incremental learning method DCBIL, which adopts discrimination correction and balance to avoid model bias. First, three components Conservative, Balancer and Opener with identical structure are designed. Then, Conservative and Opener have a bias to old and new classes respectively. And Balancer modifies the fully connected layer and replaces the base model for the next training. Moreover, a stochastic perturbation probability synergy is incorporated for final output fusion. Experimental evaluations on Mnist, Cifar-10, Cifar-100 and TinyImageNet demonstrate the effectiveness of DCBIL. DCBIL is portable for it can be used as a plug-in to strengthen the performance of existing incremental learning model.
Comparison of two models for measuring radon exhalation rate with a ventilation chamber by numerical simulation
Authors: Lin F. , Xie R. , Fan Z. , Hu T. , Mo Y. , Liu S. , Yuan S. , Wang L. , Yuan H. , Tang J. , Tan Y.
Published: October 2022

Two models can be used to measure the radon exhalation rate
with a ventilation chamber. The first is the custom model with a
flow meter, and the second is the improved model without flow
meter. As the established radon exhalation standard facilities can't
simulate any medium to be measured by adjusting the radon exhalation
rate and effective decay constants as required, numerical simulation
is useful to compare the two models for measuring radon exhalation
rate under different effective decay constants. Three different
effective decay constants and two different radon exhalation rates
were simulated for measuring radon exhalation rates, and the
simulation results confirmed that the improved model is quick and
accurate even when the radon exhalation rate is very low. While the
custom model can only be used to calculate the radon exhalation
rates when the ventilation rate is far larger than the effective
decay constant, and it takes a long time for the radon concentration
inside the ventilation chamber to be stable. Therefore, the improved
model without flow meter is more accurate to measure the radon
exhalation rate under different effective decay constants.
VIDARR: monitoring reactor anti-neutrinos using a plastic scintillator detector in a mobile laboratory
Authors: Bridges K. , Carroll J. , Coleman J. , Collins R. , Dasari J. , Holt G. , Lockwood M. , Metelko C. , Morgan A. , Murdoch M. , Schnellbach Y. , Tsurin I. , Touramanis C. , Mills R. , Davies G. , Roberts A.
Published: October 2022

Technology developed for the T2K electromagnetic calorimeter has been adapted to make a small footprint, reliable, segmented detector to characterise anti-neutrinos emitted by nuclear reactors. The device has been developed and demonstrated by the University of Liverpool and underwent field tests at the Wylfa Magnox Reactor on Anglesey, U.K. It was situated in a 20 ft ISO shipping container, above ground, roughly 60 m from the 1.5 GWthreactor core. Based on the design of the T2K Near Detector ECal, the device detects anti-neutrino events through the distinctive delayed coincidence signal of inverseβ-decay interactions using extruded plastic scintillator as the target and detection medium and silicon photomultipliers as the photosensors. The detector is undergoing an upgrade to the VIDARR detector system based on the data and experiences of the field trial for easier deployment and better detection sensitivity.
Global fishing between jurisdictions with unequal fisheries management
Authors: Klein Carissa J , Kuempel Caitlin D , Watson Reg A , Teneva Lida , Coll Marta , Mora Camilo
Published: October 2022

The demand for seafood is increasing globally and is being met, in some cases, by unsustainable fishing practices. When a country fishes outside of its jurisdiction, any negative social and environmental impacts associated with fishing are displaced to the fished location and may not be compensated. This is particularly problematic when a country fishes in jurisdictions with poorer, less-effective, fisheries management than itself (henceforth ‘unequal displacement’). Using two different indices for national fisheries management effectiveness, we calculated unequal displacement of wild-capture seafood globally. We found that up to 23% (19.8 Mt) of seafood was unequally displaced annually between 1976–2015, most of which was caught in the high seas. During the period that the management effectiveness data is most accurate (2007–2011), almost all 172 countries unequally displace seafood (n = 123), but a few are responsible for the majority (China, India, Japan, Norway, Russia, Republic of Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand). Achieving both sustainable food provision and ocean health requires improving international fishing and trade policies targeted at these countries to encourage the reduction of unequal seafood displacement.
Revisiting the ENSO–monsoonal rainfall relationship: new insights based on an objective determination of the Asian summer monsoon duration
Authors: Hu Peng , Chen Wen , Wang Lin , Chen Shangfeng , Liu Yuyun , Chen Lingying
Published: October 2022

Traditionally, the boreal summer monsoon season is regarded as a fixed period of June–September (JJAS). In fact, the monsoon commencement and termination are not fixed to the annual cycle, thus the monsoon duration exhibits remarkable variations. Based on the multivariable empirical orthogonal function analysis, the commencement, termination, and duration of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) are objectively determined in this study. The ASM duration is shown to be closely linked to the sea surface temperature anomalies in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which tends to be shorter during an El Niño and longer during a La Niña year. Through the anomalous Walker circulation and the equatorial Rossby wave response, a developing La Niña event is generally associated with advanced commencement and delayed termination, thus a longer ASM duration. The importance of monsoon duration is illustrated further by revisiting the relationship between El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO) and the monsoonal rainfall, which is the total rainfall within monsoon duration (from commencement to termination) rather than within JJAS. The relationship between the JJAS rainfall over South Asia and ENSO has exhibited remarkable interdecadal changes, which becomes weak since the 1980s and is recovered after the early 2000s. In sharp contrast, the linkage between the monsoonal rainfall over South Asia and ENSO remains significant and robust over the past four decades. Via attaching the rainfall during the transition periods (advanced commencement and delayed termination), the longer ASM duration during La Niña shall increase the total rainfall, which can reinforce the canonical ENSO-monsoonal rainfall relationship. The above results suggest that a reasonable definition of ASM duration may help us better understand the monsoon phenomenon and teleconnections.
Free to harmonic unitary transformations in quantum and Koopman dynamics*
Authors: McCaul Gerard , Bondar Denys I
Published: October 2022

In the context of quantum dynamics there exists a coordinate transformation which maps the free particle to the harmonic oscillator. Here we extend this result by reformulating it as a unitary operation followed by a time coordinate transformation. We demonstrate that an equivalent transformation can be performed for classical systems in the context of Koopman–von Neumann dynamics. We further extend this mapping both to dissipative evolutions as well as for a quantum–classical hybrid, and show that this mapping imparts an identical time-dependent scaling on the dissipation parameters for both types of dynamics. The derived classical procedure presents a number of opportunities to import squeezing dependent quantum procedures (such as Hamiltonian amplification) into the classical regime.
Sustainable Development of Smart City Concept Linked to Limited Resources Abroad and in Slovakia
Authors: Šulyová D , Kubina M
Published: October 2022

Population growth in the urban environment generates higher consumption of limited resources. Following the results of our own sociological research, this paper aims to identify issues in the field of Smart City sustainable development and identify the specific limited resource that needs to be managed sustainably in the Smart City concept abroad and in Slovakia. The main findings in Slovakia confirm the occurrence of insufficient awareness, low state aid, limited funding. Within the sample of global Smart Cities involved in the survey, the issue of insufficient funding was identified in particular. Among the limited sources, both foreign and Slovak respondents consider water sources to be of critical importance. The ambition of the research is to improve the understanding of the management of the limited resources in the concept of future Smart Cities in Slovakia and to suggest solutions to the issues as recommendations presented in the Discussion of this paper.
Calculation of electro-osmotic flow development length in a rotating three-dimensional microchannel
Authors: Barimani Manoochehr , Khaki Jamei Mehran , Abbasi Morteza
Published: October 2022

The numerical modeling of an electroosmosis flow in a rectangular three-dimensional rotating microchannel has been studied. The study’s goal is to calculate the flow’s development length, and as a novelty, a correlation is proposed to estimate the development length. The flow was simulated for angular velocity (ω) ranges of 0–9 and electric potential (φ) ranges of 0.1–0.3. The results were imported into the curve fitting toolbox to determine a correlation for the development length. The correlation was obtained as a function of angular velocity, electric potential, and hydraulic diameter. The results show that increasing both ω and φ leads to an increase in flow development length, where for constant φ, increasing ω from 0 to 9 results in a 20%–30% increase in development length. Furthermore, increasing φ from 0.1 to 0.3 for a constant ω raises development length by 35%–50%. The velocity field and its parameters, such as ω and φ, were analyzed and discussed.
Analysis on the buckling performance of embedded co-cured composite sandwich plates under uniaxial compression condition
Authors: Wang Shaoqing , Guo Anfu , Zheng Changsheng , Liang Sen
Published: October 2022

The research aims at exploring the buckling behavior of embedded co-cured composite sandwich structure (ECCSS) under static load. In accordance with the research objective, an analytical model, which is based on the interlayer stress continuous theory to formulate governing differential equations for predicting the critical buckling loads of ECCSS, has been established. The theoretical solution that satisfies the boundary conditions is obtained using the principle of minimum potential energy. The results obtained by ANSYS software have been used to corroborate the correctness of the analytical model. In addition, effects of various structural parameters (such as ply angles and skin-to-core thickness ratio) on buckling behavior of ECCSS have been investigated.
Policy-Oriented Research in Invasion Science: Trends, Status, Gaps, and Lessons
Authors: Pinto Eva M , Vaz A Sofia , Honrado João P , Roy Helen E , Pauchard Anibal , Stoett Peter , Shackleton Ross T , Richardson David M , Vicente Joana R
Published: October 2022

Invasive alien species are a major driver of global environmental change. Escalating globalization processes such as international trade and long-distance transport have contributed to an increase in the ecological, economic, and sociocultural impacts of biological invasions. As a result, their management has become an increasingly relevant topic on environmental policy agendas. To better understand the role of policy in invasion science and to identify trends and gaps in policy-oriented research, a systematic literature review was conducted covering 2135 publications. The results highlight that international policy instruments are contributing to an increased interest in pursuing policy-oriented research. Specifically, key historical periods in policy development (e.g., the Convention on Biological Diversity’s COP10 in 2010) coincide with periods of active policy-focused research in invasion science. Research is, however, more applied to local scales (i.e., subnational, and national) and is more focused in places with high research capacity or where severe environmental or economic impacts are well documented.
The Future of Invasion Science Needs Physiology
Authors: Boardman Leigh , Lockwood Julie L , Angilletta Michael J , Krause Jesse S , Lau Jennifer A , Loik Michael E , Simberloff Daniel , Thawley Christopher J , Meyerson Laura A
Published: October 2022

Incorporating physiology into models of population dynamics will improve our understanding of how and why invasions succeed and cause ecological impacts, whereas others fail or remain innocuous. Targeting both organismal physiologists and invasion scientists, we detail how physiological processes affect every invasion stage, for both plants and animals, and how physiological data can be better used for studying the spatial dynamics and ecological effects of invasive species. We suggest six steps to quantify the physiological functions related to demography of nonnative species: justifying physiological traits of interest, determining ecologically appropriate time frames, identifying relevant abiotic variables, designing experimental treatments that capture covariation between abiotic variables, measuring physiological responses to these abiotic variables, and fitting statistical models to the data. We also provide brief guidance on approaches to modeling invasions. Finally, we emphasize the benefits of integrating research between communities of physiologists and invasion scientists.
Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery of Great Britain and Ireland (AUGIS)/Perioperative Quality Initiative (POQI) consensus statement on intraoperative and postoperative interventions to reduce pulmonary complications after oesophagectomy
Authors: Singh Pritam , Gossage James , Markar Sheraz , Pucher Philip H , Wickham Alex , Weblin Jonathan , Chidambaram Swathikan , Bull Alexander , Pickering Oliver , Mythen Monty , Maynard Nick , Grocott Mike , Underwood Tim ,   AUGIS/POQI Pulmonary Consensus Group, Mythen M , Maynard N , Grocott M , Underwood T , Pickering O , Singh P , Markar S , Levett D , Alan C , Tewari N , Noble F , Moorthy K , Oliver M , Chidambaram S , Wickham A , Gossage J , Pucher P , Bull A , Sultan J , Huddy F , Davies S , Weblin J , West M
Published: October 2022

Background

Pulmonary complications are the most common morbidity after oesophagectomy, contributing to mortality and prolonged postoperative recovery, and have a negative impact on health-related quality of life. A variety of single or bundled interventions in the perioperative setting have been developed to reduce the incidence of pulmonary complications. Significant variation in practice exists across the UK. The aim of this modified Delphi consensus was to deliver clear evidence-based consensus recommendations regarding intraoperative and postoperative care that may reduce pulmonary complications after oesophagectomy.

Methods

With input from a multidisciplinary group of 23 experts in the perioperative management of patients undergoing surgery for oesophageal cancer, a modified Delphi method was employed. Following an initial systematic review of relevant literature, a range of anaesthetic, surgical, and postoperative care interventions were identified. These were then discussed during a two-part virtual conference. Recommendation statements were drafted, refined, and agreed by all attendees. The level of evidence supporting each statement was considered.

Results

Consensus was reached on 12 statements on topics including operative approach, pyloric drainage strategies, intraoperative fluid and ventilation strategies, perioperative analgesia, postoperative feeding plans, and physiotherapy interventions. Seven additional questions concerning the perioperative management of patients undergoing oesophagectomy were highlighted to guide future research.

Conclusion

Clear consensus recommendations regarding intraoperative and postoperative interventions that may reduce pulmonary complications after oesophagectomy are presented.
Benchmarking of minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy: European multicentre study
Authors: Giani Alessandro , van Ramshorst Tess , Mazzola Michele , Bassi Claudio , Esposito Alessandro , de Pastena Matteo , Edwin Bjørn , Sahakyan Mushegh , Kleive Dyre , Jah Asif , van Laarhoven Stijn , Boggi Ugo , Kauffman Emanuele Federico , Casadei Riccardo , Ricci Claudio , Dokmak Safi , Ftériche Fadhel Samir , White Steven A , Kamarajah Sivesh K , Butturini Giovanni , Frigerio Isabella , Zerbi Alessandro , Capretti Giovanni , Pando Elizabeth , Sutcliffe Robert P , Marudanayagam Ravi , Fusai Giuseppe Kito , Fabre Jean Michel , Björnsson Bergthor , Timmermann Lea , Soonawalla Zahir , Burdio Fernando , Keck Tobias , Hackert Thilo , Groot Koerkamp Bas , d’Hondt Mathieu , Coratti Andrea , Pessaux Patrick , Pietrabissa Andrea , Al-Sarireh Bilal , Marino Marco V , Molenaar Quintus , Yip Vincent , Besselink Marc , Ferrari Giovanni , Hilal Mohammad Abu ,   for the European Consortium on Minimally Invasive Pancreatic Surgery (E-MIPS)
Published: October 2022

Background

Benchmarking is the process to used assess the best achievable results and compare outcomes with that standard. This study aimed to assess best achievable outcomes in minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy (MIDPS).

Methods

This retrospective study included consecutive patients undergoing MIDPS for any indication, between 2003 and 2019, in 31 European centres. Benchmarks of the main clinical outcomes were calculated according to the Achievable Benchmark of Care (ABC™) method. After identifying independent risk factors for severe morbidity and conversion, risk-adjusted ABCs were calculated for each subgroup of patients at risk.

Results

A total of 1595 patients were included. The ABC was 2.5 per cent for conversion and 8.4 per cent for severe morbidity. ABC values were 160 min for duration of operation time, 8.3 per cent for POPF, 1.8 per cent for reoperation, and 0 per cent for mortality. Multivariable analysis showed that conversion was associated with male sex (OR 1.48), BMI exceeding 30 kg/m2 (OR 2.42), multivisceral resection (OR 3.04), and laparoscopy (OR 2.24). Increased risk of severe morbidity was associated with ASA fitness grade above II (OR 1.60), multivisceral resection (OR 1.88), and robotic approach (OR 1.87).

Conclusion

The benchmark values obtained using the ABC method represent optimal outcomes from best achievable care, including low complication rates and zero mortality. These benchmarks should be used to set standards to improve patient outcomes.
Socioeconomic disparities in abdominal aortic aneurysm repair rates and survival
Authors: Maheswaran Ravi , Tong Thaison , Michaels Jonathan , Brindley Paul , Walters Stephen , Nawaz Shah
Published: October 2022

Background

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is more prevalent in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas. This study investigated socioeconomic disparities in AAA repair rates and survival.

Methods

The study used ecological and cohort study designs, from 31 672 census areas in England (April 2006 to March 2018), the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 as the area-level deprivation indicator, and Poisson, logistic and Cox regression.

Results

Some 77 606 patients (83.4 per cent men) in four age categories (55–64, 65–74, 75–84, 85 or more years) were admitted with AAA from a population aged at least 55 years of 14.7 million. Elective open and endovascular repair rates were 41 (95 per cent c.i. 23 to 61) and 60 (36 to 89) per cent higher respectively among men aged 55–64 years in the most versus least deprived areas by quintile. This differences diminished and appeared to reverse with increasing age, with 26 (−1 to 45) and 25 (13 to 35) per cent lower rates respectively in men aged 85 years or more in the most deprived areas. Men admitted from more deprived areas were more likely to die in hospital without aneurysm repair. Among those who had aneurysm repair, this was more likely to be for a ruptured aneurysm than among men from less deprived areas. For intact aneurysm repair, they were relatively more likely to have this during an emergency admission. The mortality rate after repair was higher for men from more deprived areas, although the hazard diminished with age. Patterns were unclear for women.

Conclusion

There were clear socioeconomic disparities in operation rates, mode of presentation, and outcome for AAA surgery. Policies are needed to address these disparities.
Effects of a person-centred, nurse-led follow-up programme on adherence to prescribed medication among patients surgically treated for intermittent claudication: randomized clinical trial
Authors: Haile Sara T , Joelsson-Alm Eva , Johansson Unn Britt , Lööf Helena , Palmer-Kazen Ulrika , Gillgren Peter , Linné Anneli
Published: October 2022

Background

Management of intermittent claudication should include secondary prevention to reduce the risk of cardiocerebrovascular disease. Patient adherence to secondary prevention is a challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a person-centred, nurse-led follow-up programme could improve adherence to medication compared with standard care.

Methods

A non-blinded RCT was conducted at two vascular surgery centres in Sweden. Patients with intermittent claudication and scheduled for revascularization were randomized to the intervention or control (standard care) follow-up programme. The primary outcome, adherence to prescribed secondary preventive medication, was based on registry data on dispensed medication and self-reported intake of medication. Secondary outcomes were risk factors for cardiocerebrovascular disease according to the Framingham risk score.

Results

Some 214 patients were randomized and analysed on an intention-to-treat basis. The mean proportion of days covered (PDC) at 1 year for lipid-modifying agents was 79 per cent in the intervention and 82 per cent in the control group, whereas it was 92 versus 91 per cent for antiplatelet and/or anticoagulant agents. The groups did not differ in mean PDC (lipid-modifying P = 0.464; antiplatelets and/or anticoagulants P = 0.700) or in change in adherence over time. Self-reported adherence to prescribed medication was higher than registry-based adherence regardless of allocation or medication group (minimum P < 0.001, maximum P = 0.034). There was no difference in median Framingham risk score at 1 year between the groups.

Conclusion

Compared with the standard follow-up programme, a person-centred, nurse-led follow-up programme did not improve adherence to secondary preventive medication. Adherence was overestimated when self-reported compared with registry-reported.
Neoadjuvant treatment of advanced colonic cancer: a paradigm shift?
Authors: Day Nigel M , Kearsey Christopher C , Sutton Paul A
Published: October 2022

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is an exciting and emerging field for colonic cancer treatment. This article reviews the evidence for such treatment and the role of of molecular testing in treatment selection.
Axillary lymph node dissection can be omitted in patients with limited clinically node-positive breast cancer: a National Cancer Database analysis
Authors: Cocco Daniela , Shah Chirag , Wei Wei , Wilkerson Avia , Grobmyer Stephen R , Al-Hilli Zahraa
Published: October 2022

Background

De-escalation of axillary surgery in breast cancer has progressively taken place when appropriate. Data supporting surgical de-escalation in patients with clinically node-positive (cN+) disease remains scarce. Here, survival among patients with cN+ T1–2 tumours undergoing sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) and regional nodal irradiation (RNI) was investigated and compared with that among patients undergoing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) with or without RNI.

Methods

The National Cancer Data Base was used to identify three groups of patients with cN+ tumours according to axillary management among those treated between 2010 and 2016: patients who underwent SLNB and RNI (cN+ SLNB/RNI group); those who had ALND and RNI (cN+ ALND/RNI group); and those who had ALND alone (cN+ ALND/no RNI group). Patients who underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and those who had stage IV breast cancer or pN2–3 disease were excluded.

Results

A total of 12 560 patients met the inclusion criteria: 3030 in the cN+ SLNB/RNI, 5446 in the cN+ ALND/RNI, and 4084 in the cN+ ALND/no RNI group. The sizes of cN + SLNB/RNI and cN+ ALND/RNI groups increased over the study interval, whereas the cN+ ALND/no RNI group decreased in size (P < 0.001). There was a median of one positive node in the cN+ SLNB/RNI group and two nodes in the cN+ ALND/RNI and cN+ ALND/no RNI groups. The median number of nodes examined was three, 14, and 14, respectively (P < 0.001). Median follow-up was 57.9 (range 0.8–114) months. The overall survival rate was 97, 97, and 92 per cent respectively at two years, and 88, 86, and 78 per cent at five years (P < 0.001).

Conclusion

Patients with limited cN+ T1–2 breast cancer undergoing upfront SLNB and RNI have favourable survival outcomes that are not inferior to those of patients undergoing ALND with or without RNI. Prospective studies are warranted to assess locoregional control and long-term outcomes.
Global brain network modularity dynamics after local optic nerve damage following noninvasive brain stimulation: an EEG-tracking study
Authors: Wu Zheng , Xu Jiahua , Nürnberger Andreas , Sabel Bernhard A
Published: October 2022

Tightly connected clusters of nodes, called communities, interact in a time-dependent manner in brain functional connectivity networks (FCN) to support complex cognitive functions. However, little is known if and how different nodes synchronize their neural interactions to form functional communities (“modules”) during visual processing and if and how this modularity changes postlesion (progression or recovery) following neuromodulation. Using the damaged optic nerve as a paradigm, we now studied brain FCN modularity dynamics to better understand module interactions and dynamic reconfigurations before and after neuromodulation with noninvasive repetitive transorbital alternating current stimulation (rtACS). We found that in both patients and controls, local intermodule interactions correlated with visual performance. However, patients’ recovery of vision after treatment with rtACS was associated with improved interaction strength of pathways linked to the attention module, and it improved global modularity and increased the stability of FCN. Our results show that temporal coordination of multiple cortical modules and intermodule interaction are functionally relevant for visual processing. This modularity can be neuromodulated with tACS, which induces a more optimal balanced and stable multilayer modular structure for visual processing by enhancing the interaction of neural pathways with the attention network module.
De novo genome assembly of the medicinal plant Gentiana macrophylla provides insights into the genomic evolution and biosynthesis of iridoids
Authors: Zhou Tao , Bai Guoqing , Hu Yiheng , Ruhsam Markus , Yang Yanci , Zhao Yuemei
Published: October 2022

Gentiana macrophylla is a perennial herb in the Gentianaceae family, whose dried roots are used in traditional Chinese medicine. Here, we assembled a chromosome-level genome of G. macrophylla using a combination of Nanopore, Illumina, and Hi-C scaffolding approaches. The final genome size was ~1.79 Gb (contig N50 = 720.804 kb), and 98.89% of the genome sequences were anchored on 13 pseudochromosomes (scaffold N50 = 122.73 Mb). The genome contained 55,337 protein-coding genes, and 73.47% of the assemblies were repetitive sequences. Genome evolution analysis indicated that G. macrophylla underwent two rounds of whole-genome duplication after the core eudicot γ genome triplication event. We further identified candidate genes related to the biosynthesis of iridoids, and the corresponding gene families mostly expanded in G. macrophylla. In addition, we found that root-specific genes are enriched in pathways involved in defense responses, which may greatly improve the biological adaptability of G. macrophylla. Phylogenomic analyses showed a sister relationship of asterids and rosids, and all Gentianales species formed a monophyletic group. Our study contributes to the understanding of genome evolution and active component biosynthesis in G. macrophylla and provides important genomic resource for the genetic improvement and breeding of G. macrophylla.
Technology-Neutral Versus Technology-Specific Procurement
Authors: Fabra Natalia , Montero Juan-Pablo
Published: October 2022

An imperfectly informed regulator needs to procure multiple units of some good (e.g., green energy, market liquidity, pollution reduction, land conservation) that can be produced with heterogeneous technologies at various costs. How should she optimally procure these units? Should she run technology-specific or technology-neutral auctions? Should she allow for partial separation across technologies? Should she instead post separate prices for each technology? What are the trade-offs involved? We find that one size does not fit all: the preferred instrument depends on the costs of the available technologies, their degree of substitutability, the extent of information asymmetry and the costs of public funds. We illustrate the use of our theory for policy analysis with an ex ante evaluation of Spain’s recent renewable auction.