bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Intra- and Inter-Day Reliability of Inertial Loads with Cluster Sets When Performed during a Quarter Squat on a Flywheel Device
Authors: Ryan Shane , Ramirez-Campillo Rodrigo , Browne Declan , Moody Jeremy A. , Byrne Paul J.
Published: June 2023

The aims of this study were to (i) estimate the intra- and inter-day reliability of mean concentric (CON) and eccentric (ECC) power at different inertial loads during a flywheel quarter-squat using a cluster set approach and (ii) to determine the acute effect of internal and external attentional focus on mean power when performing the flywheel quarter squat. Twelve collegiate field sport male athletes (age 22.4 ± 3.2 years, weight 81.4 ± 10.3 kg, height 1.81 ± 0.06 m) attended four cluster set testing sessions separated by 7 days. Sessions consisted of 4 sets of 15 repetitions using 4 inertial loads (0.025, 0.050, 0.075, and 0.100 kg·m2). A cluster block consisted of 5 repetitions, including “momentum repetitions” (4 × 5 + 5 + 5). Mean power (MP), CON power, ECC power, and ECC overload were recorded for both internal and external attentional focus groups. The external instructional group attained familiarization after two flywheel sessions (ES = 0.03–0.15) with little volatility between performance measures (CV% = 3.39–9.22). The internal instructional group showed large differences in MP output from session 2 to session 3 for all loads (ES = 0.59–1.25). In conclusion, the flywheel cluster set approach is a reliable training modality for maintaining MP output during all repetitions.
Multifactorial Distress, the Warburg Effect, and Respiratory and pH Imbalance in Cancer Development
Authors: Drochioiu Gabi
Published: June 2023

Oncogenes are thought to play an important role in aberrant regulation of growth factors, which is believed to be an initiation event of carcinogenesis. However, recent genetic and pharmacological studies have shown that the Warburg effect (WE) is needed for tumour growth. It refers to extensively studied aerobic glycolysis over the past decade, although its impact on cancer remains unclear. Meanwhile, a large body of evidence has indicated that oxidative stress (OS) is connected with the occurrence and progression of various forms of cancer. Psychosocial factors (PSF), such as chronic depression, sadness, stressful life experiences, stress-prone personality, and emotional distress or poor quality of life affect the immune system and contribute to cancer outcomes. Here, we examine the relationship between WE, OS, PSF, metal ions, other carcinogens, and the development of different cancers from the viewpoint of physiological and biochemical mechanisms.
Research on Combustion and Emission Characteristics of a N-Butanol Combined Injection SI Engine
Authors: Shang Weiwei , Yu Xiumin , Miao Kehao , Guo Zezhou , Liu Huiying , Xing Xiaoxue
Published: June 2023

Using n-butanol as an alternative fuel can effectively alleviate the increasingly prominent problems of fossil resource depletion and environmental pollution. Combined injection technology can effectively improve engine combustion and emission characteristics while applying combined injection technology to n-butanol engines has not been studied yet. Therefore, this study adopted butanol port injection plus butanol direct injection mode. The engine test bench studied the combustion and emission performance under different direct injection ratios (NDIr) and excess air ratios (λ). Results show that with increasing NDIr, the engine torque (Ttq), peak in-cylinder pressure (Pmax), peak in-cylinder temperature (Tmax), and the maximum rate of heat release (dQmax), all rise first and then drop, reaching the maximum value at NDIr = 20%. The θ0-90 and COVIMEP decrease first and then increase as NDIr increases. NDIr = 20% is considered the best injection ratio to obtain the optimal combustion performance. NDIr has little affected on CO emission, and the NDIr corresponding to the lowest HC emissions are concentrated at 40% to 60%, especially at lean burn conditions. NOx emissions increase with increasing NDIr, especially at N20DI, but not by much at NDIr of 40–80%. With the increase in NDIr, the number of nucleation mode particles, accumulation mode particles, and total particle decrease first and then increase. Therefore, the n-butanol combined injection mode with the appropriate NDIr can effectively optimize SI engines’ combustion and emission performance.
Integration of UAV and GF-2 Optical Data for Estimating Aboveground Biomass in Spruce Plantations in Qinghai, China
Authors: Wang Zhengyu , Yi Lubei , Xu Wenqiang , Zheng Xueting , Xiong Shimei , Bao Anming
Published: June 2023

More refined and economical aboveground biomass (AGB) monitoring techniques are needed because of the growing significance of spruce plantations in climate change mitigation programs. Due to the challenges of conducting field surveys, such as the potential inaccessibility and high cost, this study proposes a convenient and efficient alternative to traditional field surveys that integrates Gaofen-2 (GF-2) satellite optical images and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-acquired optical and point cloud data to provide a reliable and refined estimation of the aboveground biomass (AGB) in spruce plantations. The feasibility of using data produced from the semiautomatic processing of UAV-based images and photogrammetric point clouds to replace conventional field surveys of sample plots in a young spruce plantation was evaluated. The AGB in 53 sample plots was estimated using data extracted from the UAV imagery. The UAV plot data and GF-2 optical data were used in four regression models to estimate the AGB in the study area. The coefficient of determination (R2), root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean percent standard error (MPSE), and Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient (LCCC) were calculated through five-fold cross-validation and stratified random sampling to evaluate the models’ efficacies. In the end, the most accurate model was used to generate the spatial distribution map of the AGB. The results revealed the following: (1) the individual-tree height (R2 = 0.90) and crown diameter (R2 = 0.74) extracted from UAV data were accurate enough to replace field surveys used to obtain the AGB at the plot levels; (2) the random forest (RF) model (R2 = 0.86; RMSE = 1.75 t/ha; MPSE = 15.75%; LCCC = 0.91) outperformed the ordinary least-squares (OLS) model (R2 = 0.68; RMSE = 2.49 t/ha; MPSE = 22.94%; LCCC = 0.81), artificial neural network (ANN) model (R2 = 0.67; RMSE = 2.54 t/ha; MPSE = 21.48%; LCCC = 0.80), and support vector machine (SVM) model (R2 = 0.60; RMSE = 2.84 t/ha; MPSE = 31.73%; LCCC = 0.76) in terms of the estimation accuracy; (3) an AGB map generated by the random forest model was in good agreement with field surveys and the age of the spruce plantations. Therefore, the method proposed in this study can be used as a refined and cost-effective way to estimate the AGB in young spruce plantations.
Towards Automating the Identification of Sustainable Projects Seeking Financial Support: An AI-Powered Approach
Authors: Behrooz Hojat , Lipizzi Carlo , Korfiatis George , Ilbeigi Mohammad , Powell Martin , Nouri Mina
Published: June 2023

The criticality of sustainable development to control the unprecedented consequences of climate change is clear. A vital element in launching sustainability projects is financing, especially for projects by small and medium enterprises. The first and crucial step to offering financing services for sustainable development is to identify and evaluate promising projects. The current practice to accomplish this step heavily depends on subject-matter expertise and professional networks. The current practice also involves extensive manual document reviews and subjective decisions. Therefore, existing methods are time-consuming, inefficient, and not scalable. This study proposes an automated system to identify potential sustainability projects for financing services using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The proposed method uses web crawlers and text mining solutions, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), to search the Internet, analyze text data, evaluate the information quantitatively, and identify potential sustainability projects for financing services. The proposed method was implemented and empirically assessed. The results indicate that the AI-enhanced system is able to identify and prioritize potential sustainability projects with 87% accuracy. The outcomes of this study will help financial experts and decision-makers take advantage of the information available on the Internet efficiently to improve the existing methods for identifying potential projects for financing services.
An Intelligent Redesign Method for Used Products Based on Digital Twin
Authors: Ke Chao , Pan Xiuyan , Wan Pan , Huang Zixi , Jiang Zhigang
Published: June 2023

Remanufacturing used products is an important technological approach in sustainable development and circular economy. Meanwhile, redesign is the key component of remanufacturing, as it can innovate the function and structure of used products. However, due to the uncertain quality, variety, and small batches of the returned used products for remanufacturing, it is difficult to generate a sound redesign scheme to satisfy the customer demand quickly and dynamically. In addition, it is unpredictable whether the redesign scheme is suitable for the remanufacturing processes, which may lead to additional remanufacturing costs. In order to improve the efficiency of design and obtain the optimal design scheme, it is necessary to use intelligent technology to quickly generate and optimize the redesign scheme. To address this, an intelligent redesign method for used products based on the digital twin is proposed in this paper. Digital twin (DT) technology can connect the physical world with the virtual world and use the virtual model to simulate the redesign process, which is conducive to the dynamic adjustment and optimization of the redesign scheme. Firstly, the redesign process framework is constructed based on the axiomatic design (AD) method, and the redesign features of the used products are analyzed to determine the redesign problems. Then, based on the connotation of a digital twin, an intelligent redesign framework is constructed, which provides detailed guidance for building the digital-twin-driven redesign system. Henceforth, the application of the redesign process based on a digital twin is discussed, a technical approach of the digital-twin-driven redesign is proposed, and data processing methods, such as data cleaning, data integration, and data analysis, are used to realize the redesign scheme decision. Finally, the feasibility of this method is verified by the redesign of a used clutch.
Evaluation of Index-Based Methods for Impervious Surface Mapping from Landsat-8 to Cities in Dry Climates; A Case Study of Buraydah City, KSA
Authors: Almohamad Hussein , Alshwesh Ibrahim Obaid
Published: June 2023

The natural landscape is fast turning into impervious surfaces with the increase in urban density and the spatial extent of urbanized areas. Remote sensing data are crucial for mapping impervious surface area (ISA), and several methods for ISA extraction have been developed and implemented successfully. However, the heterogeneity of the ISA spectra and the high similarity of the ISA spectra to those of bare soil in dry climates were not adequately addressed. The objective of this study is to determine which spectral impervious surface index best represents impervious surfaces in arid climates using two seasonal Landsat-8 images. We attempted to compare the performance of various impervious surface spectral Index for ISA extraction in dry climates using two seasonal Landsat-8 data. Specifically, nine indices, i.e., band ratio for the built-up area (BRBA), built-up area extraction method (BAEM), visible red near infrared built-up index (VrNIR-BI), normalized ratio urban index (NRUI), enhanced normalized difference impervious surfaces index (ENDISI), dry built-up index (DBI), built-up land features extraction index (BLFEI), perpendicular impervious surface index (PISI), combinational biophysical composition index (CBCI), and two impervious surface binary methods (manual method and ISODATA unsupervised classification). According to the results, PISI and CBCI combined with the manual method had the best accuracy with 88.5% and 88.5% overall accuracy (OA) and 0.76 and 0.81 kappa coefficients, respectively, while DBI combined with the manual method had the lowest accuracy with 75.37% OA and 0.56 kappa coefficients. PISI is comparatively more stable than the other approaches in terms of seasonal sensitivity. The ability of PISI to discriminate ISA from soil and vegetation accounts for much of its good performance. In addition, spring is the ideal time of the year for mapping ISA from Landsat-8 images because the impervious surface is generally less likely to be confused with bare soil and sand at this time of year. Therefore, this study can be used to determine spectral indices for studying ISA extraction in drylands in conjunction with binary approaches and seasonal effects.
A Hybrid Artificial Neural Network—Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm Model for the Determination of Target Displacements in Mid-Rise Regular Reinforced-Concrete Buildings
Authors: Işık Mehmet Fatih , Avcil Fatih , Harirchian Ehsan , Bülbül Mehmet Akif , Hadzima-Nyarko Marijana , Işık Ercan , İzol Rabia , Radu Dorin
Published: June 2023

The realistic determination of damage estimation and building performance depends on target displacements in performance-based earthquake engineering. In this study, target displacements were obtained by performing pushover analysis for a sample reinforced-concrete building model, taking into account 60 different peak ground accelerations for each of the five different stories. Three different target displacements were obtained for damage estimation, such as damage limitation (DL), significant damage (SD), and near collapse (NC), obtained for each peak ground acceleration for five different numbers of stories, respectively. It aims to develop an artificial neural network (ANN)-based sustainable model to predict target displacements under different seismic risks for mid-rise regular reinforced-concrete buildings, which make up a large part of the existing building stock, using all the data obtained. For this purpose, a hybrid structure was established with the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), and the network structure’s hyper parameters were optimized. Three different hybrid models were created in order to predict the target displacements most successfully. It was found that the ANN established with particles with the best position revealed by the hybrid models produced successful results in the calculation of the performance score. The created hybrid models produced 99% successful results in DL estimation, 99% in SD estimation, and 99% in NC estimation in determining target displacements in mid-rise regular reinforced-concrete buildings. The hybrid model also revealed which parameters should be used in ANN for estimating target displacements under different seismic risks.
Sustainable Development Agricultural Economics and Policy: Intensification versus Diversification
Authors: Hoshide Aaron Kinyu
Published: June 2023

Sustainable development of agriculture in both the developed and developing world is not only dependent on economics and policy but also decisions to increase sustainability through either (1) specialization (e [...]
Mapping the Nexus between Sustainability and Digitalization in Tourist Destinations: A Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: El Archi Youssef , Benbba Brahim , Zhu Kai , El Andaloussi Zineb , Pataki László , Dávid Lóránt Dénes
Published: June 2023

Sustainability has become a key consideration for tourist destinations, and digitalization is increasingly being used as a tool to enhance sustainable tourism development. This paper aims to map the intersection between sustainability and digitalization in tourist destinations using a bibliometric analysis. The study is based on a bibliometric analysis of the existing literature in academic journals, conference proceedings, and books published between 2012 and 2022 from the Scopus database. Biblioshiny is used to visualize data. The results show that there is a growing interest in the convergence of sustainability and digitalization in tourist destinations, with an increasing number of publications in recent years. The co-occurrence analysis identified key themes and concepts such as sustainable tourism, digital technologies, smart tourism, social media, big data, smart city, COVID-19, digital marketing, and destination marketing. The study also highlights the different ways in which digitalization is being used to enhance sustainability in tourist destinations, including the use of smart technologies, data analytics, social media, and online platforms. However, the study also identified challenges and limitations to the integration of sustainability and digitalization, such as the need for stakeholder collaboration, data privacy concerns, and the potential for a digital divide.
Spatio-Temporal Evolution and Influencing Factors of Coupling Coordination Degree between Urban–Rural Integration and Digital Economy
Authors: Hou Xuefeng , Zhang Dianfeng , Fu Liyuan , Zeng Fu , Wang Qing
Published: June 2023

The coupling and coordination of digital economy and urban–rural integration can help narrow the urban–rural gap and help realize comprehensive modernization. Based on the data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, the index systems of digital economy and urban–rural integration were constructed, respectively, by using the entropy method, and the coupling coordination degree between digital economy and urban–rural integration was calculated by using the coupling coordination degree model. The spatio-temporal evolution characteristics were analyzed by using the spatial Durbin model, and the influencing factors of the coupling coordination degree were deeply decomposed. The results showed that the coupling coordination degree of digital economy and urban–rural integration has been significantly improved in the whole country during the decade, with the overall spatial distribution characteristics of “high in the east and low in the west” and “high in the south and low in the north”. The growth momentum of the backward provinces was relatively better, which have more obvious characteristics of positive spatial agglomeration. The level of economic development, government support, technological innovation and industrial structure had positive promoting effects on the coupling coordination degree. Except for the negative spatial spillover effect of government support, the three other factors all had promoting effects on the coupling coordination degree in neighboring provinces. The effect intensity of influencing factors also had regional heterogeneity.
Protecting Innovation Sustainability: R&D Manipulation and Effective Regulation Based on a Two-Scenario Evolutionary Game Perspective
Authors: Qi Wen , Yan Yanyang , Yin Hongbing
Published: June 2023

Enterprise innovation is the core content of national innovation and an important issue for sustainable development. Therefore, this paper focuses on the phenomenon of R&D manipulation in the declaration of high-tech enterprises, constructs a two-scenario two-party evolutionary game model in which central governments do or do not join in the supervision of local governments and the declaration enterprises and simulates and analyzes the direction of each key variable on the strategy selection of the game subject and degree of impact. The study finds that reducing tax rates is beneficial to avoid enterprise R&D manipulation, while innovation performance and regulatory costs drive local governments to reduce regulation. Further analysis shows that central government’s participation in supervision reduces enterprise R&D manipulation and strengthens local government regulation. The research results could promote the standardization of enterprise innovation behavior and mitigate local government slack, thereby fostering sustainable innovation and development.
Exploring Relationships between Spatial Pattern Change in Steel Plants and Land Cover Change in Tangshan City
Authors: Ni Mingyan , Zhao Yindi , Ma Caihong , Hou Xiaolin , Xie Yanmei
Published: June 2023

It is of great significance for the sustainable development of steel cities to explore the relationship between the spatial pattern change in steel plants and land cover change during the transformation of steel cities. To address the issue of unsatisfactory results for segmenting steel plants based on high-resolution remote sensing images, due to insufficient sample datasets and task complexity, we proposed a steel plant segmentation strategy that combines high-resolution remote sensing images, POI data, and OSM data. Additionally, we discussed the effect of POI data and OSM data on steel plant segmentation, analyzing the spatial pattern change in steel plants in Tangshan City during 2017–2022 and its relationship with land cover change. The results demonstrate that: (1) The proposed strategy can significantly improve the accuracy of steel plant segmentation. The introduction of POI data can significantly improve the precision of steel plant segmentation, however, it will to some extent reduce the recall of steel plant segmentation, and this phenomenon weakens as the distance threshold increases. The introduction of OSM data can effectively improve the effectiveness of steel plant segmentation, however, it has significant limitations. (2) During 2017–2022, the spatial distribution center of steel plants in Tangshan City moved obviously to the southeast, and the positive change in steel plants was mainly concentrated in the coastal regions of southern Tangshan City, while the negative change in steel plants was mainly concentrated in central Tangshan City. (3) There is a relatively strong spatial correlation between the positive change in steel plants and the transition from vegetation to built area, as well as the transition from cropland to built area.
Water Hammer Protection Characteristics and Hydraulic Performance of a Novel Air Chamber with an Adjustable Central Standpipe in a Pressurized Water Supply System
Authors: Hu Jianyong , Zhai Xuejie , Hu Xiujun , Meng Zhenzhu , Zhang Jinxin , Yang Gang
Published: June 2023

Water scarcity is an urgent issue for social and economic development in arid and semi-arid areas. Constructing long-distance pressurized water supply projects is a commonly used measure to solve water scarcity problems in these areas. With the increasing complexity of long-distance pressurized water supply projects, the issue of water hammer protection has become more and more prominent. Air chambers have been widely used to solve the issue of water hammer accidents. In this paper, we propose a novel air chamber with an adjustable central standpipe, and then analyze the hydraulic performance, as well as the water hammer protection characteristics, of the proposed novel air chamber using numerical simulations. The influences of the inner length, the diameter of the central standpipe, and the diameter of the bottom connecting pipe on the hydraulic performance of the air chamber are also studied. Then, the optimization of the relevant parameters of the central standpipe for the proposed air chamber is conducted. In addition, the volumes of the proposed air chamber and conventional air chambers are compared.
Spatiotemporal Distributions of Multiple Land Use Functions and Their Coupling Coordination Degree in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration, China
Authors: Wang Yuchun , Lu Xiaoyan , Zhang Jie , Ruan Yunfeng , Wang Bingyi
Published: June 2023

In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of land system changes and regional sustainable development, it is crucial to explore the spatiotemporal distributions of multiple land use functions (LUFs). Therefore, herein, considering the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRDUA) as the research object, we constructed an evaluation system based on the perspective of production–living–ecological (PLE) land functions. Furthermore, the coupling coordination model, kernel density curve, trend surface analysis, and spatial autocorrelation model were used to examine the spatial and temporal characteristics of LUFs and their coupling coordination and analyze the spatial clustering of the coupling coordination effect in the urban agglomeration from 2005 to 2020. The following results were obtained: The level of PLE functions and its coupling coordination degree in the YRDUA have been improved in the study period, and the distribution of high value areas of different functions is diverse. In terms of the spatial distribution of the coupling coordination degree, the high value areas of production function (PF)–living function (LF) is distributed in “clusters”, the PF–ecological function (EF) demonstrated a single-polarized development structure, and the LF-EF exhibited a multi-core structure. The coupling coordination of the LUFs demonstrated a “high in the east and low in the west” pattern in the east–west direction and an inverted “U” shape in the north–south direction. Moreover, both high-value and low-value areas exhibited a clustering phenomenon, with an evident spatial positive correlation. The results of this study can serve as a reference for the integrated socioeconomic development of the Yangtze River Delta region and the sustainable development of urban land use.
Design, Fabrication, and Operation of a 10 L Biodiesel Production Unit Powered by Conventional and Solar Energy Systems
Authors: Ali Mehmood , Shahid Muhammad , Saeed Waseem , Imran Shahab , Kalam Md. Abul
Published: June 2023

Biodiesel is regarded as a low-carbon substitute for petroleum-based fuels. This research study aimed to investigate a 10 L batch-scale biodiesel production system from waste cooking oil (WCO) powered energy by solar energy and conventional electricity. The unit’s design considers the mass balance of the system’s constituent parts. The methoxide mixing chamber volume was calculated as 2.5 L with an electric agitator power requirement of 25 W. In comparison, the volume occupied by reactants in the stirred reactor was determined to be 14.5 L with a 250 W electric motor agitator. The WCO biodiesel was produced by a two-step process, i.e., esterification followed by a transesterification reaction using conventional electricity and solar power, yielding 92% and 90% by volume, respectively. The characteristics of WCO biodiesel produced from both energy systems was comparable to ASTM D6751. The total amount of conventional electricity and solar power required was 2.006 kWh and 1.0 kWh per 10 L, respectively. The WCO biodiesel’s mass performance was 64.02% and 62.10%, whereas the energy productivity was 0.0242 kg/MJ and 0.0235 kg/MJ from conventional electricity and solar energy systems, respectively. Therefore, solar energy systems can be employed in biodiesel production with a massive reduction in traditional energy requirements, thus reducing the production’s carbon footprint.
Parametric Study on Fin Structure and Injection Tube in Metal Hydride Tank Packed with LaNi5 Alloy for Efficient and Safe Hydrogen Storage
Authors: Liu Min , Zhao Bo , Li Yaze , Wang Zhen , Zhang Xuesong , Tong Liang , Yang Tianqi , Li Xuefang , Xiao Jinsheng
Published: June 2023

Efficient hydrogen storage methods are crucial for the large-scale application of hydrogen energy. This work studied the effects of fin structure and injection tube on the system performance of a hydrogen storage tank packed with LaNi5 alloy. An axisymmetric finite element model of the metal hydride hydrogen storage tank was established. The fin structure and injection tube were added to the hydrogen storage tank, and the effects of the fin location and injection tube on the efficiency and safety of the hydrogen storage tank during hydriding were analyzed. A parametric study on the wall fin structure and injection tube has been carried out to optimize the design of a hydrogen storage tank, and to improve its efficiency and safety. The hydrogen storage capacity of the optimized tank packed with LaNi5 alloy can reach 1.312 wt%, which is 99% of its maximum capacity, at around 650 s. The results show that the fin structure can improve the heat transfer performance of the storage tank, and that the injection tube can enhance the mass transfer of hydrogen in the tank.
Evaluating Methods That Calculate Aircraft Emission Impacts on Air Quality: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Dissanayaka Manori , Ryley Tim , Spasojevic Bojana , Caldera Savindi
Published: June 2023

Aircraft operations from above ground level to 3000 feet impact air quality and cause health issues, particularly for people working and living in and around airports. This paper evaluates the current emission calculation methods to identify the most accurate way to generate an emission inventory. Journal articles on aircraft influence on air quality were selected for a systematic literature review (SLR). After screening 277 articles written in English, 60 articles on emission calculation methods were included in the analysis. Based on the analysis, air quality can be more accurately assessed when considering direct emissions from an aircraft than when measuring atmospheric pollutant concentrations. While the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) advanced approach was the most widely used from the literature reviewed, airport-specific, time-in-mode, and actual atmospheric conditions where aircraft operate offer the potential for significant improvement. The SLR demonstrates a need for more accurate emission calculation methods to assess the aircraft’s influence on air quality. The SLR guides airlines and airports to maintain an accurate emission inventory, which will set future targets to improve air quality.
The Creation of Fundamentally New Products as a Factor of Organizations’ Sustainable Economic Development
Authors: Chursin Alexander , Chupina Zhanna , Ostrovskaya Anna , Boginsky Andrew
Published: June 2023

This study analyzed the sustainable economic development of some organizations for the period of 2020–2022. The authors found that organizations’ sustainable development is influenced by technological superiority based on the creation and production of radical new products that can form new markets or be dominant in existing ones. This study examined effective management based on the application of digital technology and artificial intelligence for the creation and production of radically new products, which creates conditions for the advanced sustainable economic development of the organization. The main drivers of these processes are technological platforms, the formation of which requires significant amounts of different types of resources. To solve the issue of investment in the creation of radically new products in conditions of limited resources, the authors researched and developed tools for the effective use of investment in the creation of radically new products in order to ensure the formation of organizations of advanced, sustainable economic development. In the development of methodological tools for managing the creation and development of radically new products, a conceptual mathematical model for assessing the criteria of economic efficiency of projects is proposed. Thus, the proposed tools for managing the creation of radically new products and advanced sustainable economic development of organizations form the basis for technological superiority and sustainable economic development in modern economic conditions.
An Invitation Model Protocol (IMP) for the Bitcoin Asymmetric Lightning Network
Authors: Abdullah Ali , Mutawa A. M.
Published: June 2023

The Lightning Network (LN), a second-layer protocol built atop Bitcoin, promises swift, low-cost transactions, thereby addressing blockchain scalability and enhancing user privacy. As the global financial technology landscape evolves, the LN’s importance in the future of fintech and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) becomes increasingly pivotal. The anticipated rise of blockchain-based payments and smart contracts in businesses demands a more agile and secure payment system. However, the LN’s early stage raises valid concerns about security and reliability, especially when implemented on a huge asymmetric network such as the Internet, potentially hindering its broader adoption. Malicious nodes could intentionally cause payment failures or initiate attacks, such as DDoS attacks, by overwhelming other nodes in the network with channel-opening requests. As a result, users will be discouraged from using the LN; hence, the technology will become obsolete as individuals will not waste the time and power investment required for using this technology. Addressing these issues, this paper proposes an innovative invitation model protocol (IMP) to reinforce the LN’s security and reliability. The IMP creates an exclusive ‘Club’ within the LN, admitting only nodes verified as honest, thereby bolstering network security and reliability. The protocol empowers Club Founders to expel members exhibiting malicious activities, thereby preserving the invested time, energy, and funds of the network’s users. The IMP was rigorously tested using Amazon Web Services Virtual Machines within the Bitcoin and Lightning Network’s Testnet environment, which is a highly asymmetric network. The results demonstrated the protocol’s efficacy in fulfilling its objectives, marking a significant step towards a safer and more efficient blockchain transaction network. As the blockchain continues to revolutionize the financial sector, implementing robust security measures such as the IMP becomes essential. This research paper introduces a novel approach to enhancing the reliability and security of a Lightning Network (LN), and thus distinguishes itself from the existing literature, by introducing an additional step before establishing or joining such a network. The research underscores the critical role of such protocols in realizing the potential of the LN in powering the next wave of fintech and industrial innovation.
X-ray Tests of General Relativity with Black Holes
Authors: Bambi Cosimo
Published: June 2023

General relativity is one of the pillars of modern physics. For decades, the theory has been mainly tested in the weak-field regime with experiments in the solar system and radio observations of binary pulsars. Until 2015, the strong-field regime was almost completely unexplored. Thanks to new observational facilities, the situation has dramatically changed in the last few years. Today, we have gravitational wave data of the coalesce of stellar-mass compact objects from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA collaboration, images at mm wavelengths of the supermassive black holes in M87* and Sgr A* from the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration, and X-ray data of accreting compact objects from a number of X-ray missions. Gravitational wave tests and black hole imaging tests are certainly more popular and are discussed in other articles of this Special Issue. The aim of the present manuscript is to provide a pedagogical review on X-ray tests of general relativity with black holes and to compare these kinds of tests with those possible with gravitational wave data and black hole imaging.
A New Pelican Optimization Algorithm for the Parameter Identification of Memristive Chaotic System
Authors: Xiong Qi , She Jincheng , Xiong Jinkun
Published: June 2023

A memristor is a kind of nonlinear electronic component. Parameter identification for memristive chaotic systems is a multi-dimensional variable optimization problem. It is one of the key issues in chaotic control and synchronization. To identify the unknown parameters accurately and quickly, we introduce, in this paper, a modified Pelican Optimization Algorithm (POA) called the fractional-order chaotic Pareto Pelican Optimization Algorithm (FPPOA). First, the pelican population’s diversity is augmented with the integration of a fractional chaotic sequence. Next, the utilization of the Pareto distribution is incorporated to alter the hunting strategy of pelicans in the POA. These measures are effective in hastening the speed of finding an optimal solution and circumventing local optimization issues. Thirdly, the FPPOA is used to determine the values of the parameters of the simplest memristive chaotic system, which has a property of conditional symmetry. The proposed algorithm was evaluated during simulations, where it was utilized to solve six objective functions of varying unimodal and multimodal types. The performance of the FPPOA exceeds three traditional swarm intelligence optimization algorithms. In the parameter identification experiment, the results for the parameters with the FPPOA had error rates all within a 1% range. Extensive testing shows that our new strategy has a faster rate of convergence and better optimization performance than some other traditional swarm algorithms.
“I Am Never Enough”: Factors Contributing to Secondary Traumatic Stress and Burnout among Black Student Services Professionals in Higher Education
Authors: Jackson Preston Portia , Brown Gregory Chris , Garnett Tiffani , Sanchez Delia , Fagbamila Esther , Graham Natalie
Published: June 2023

Black higher education professionals are more likely to be under-represented and experience racial discrimination and to be approached by students with whom they share identity characteristics for support, compared to white counterparts. This study explored experiences of stress potentially leading to secondary traumatic stress or burnout and coping efforts in Black-identifying staff (n = 35), who were a subset of a larger sample (n = 559) representing twenty-two U.S. regional universities. Compared to the larger sample, Black respondents were more likely to be in their roles for three years or less, potentially indicating higher rates of turnover. The Sort and Sift, Think and Shift Method was used to conduct a qualitative analysis of participant responses to open-ended questions regarding role-related stressors, efforts to cope, and desired institutional resources. Many staff reported role challenges consistent with experiences of secondary traumatic stress and burnout, which they coped with by engaging in a range of mindful self-care practices (e.g., sustaining supportive relationships, finding meaning in their work, promoting their physical health, setting boundaries). Participants highlighted the urgency of the need for change to institutional infrastructure, policies, and practices to support manageable workloads and treat staff with respect. It is critical for institutions to take an active and intentional role in mitigating stressors that contribute to secondary traumatic stress or burnout by addressing racial battle fatigue, providing adequate resources to meet the needs of under-represented students, protecting the capacity of staff to utilize wellness resources on campus, enhancing role clarity and autonomy, and fostering a sense of cultural pride, respect, and accomplishment, as well as other mechanisms, to create a culture that promotes and sustains the wellbeing of Black staff.
CoVigator—A Knowledge Base for Navigating SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Variants
Authors: Bukur Thomas , Riesgo-Ferreiro Pablo , Sorn Patrick , Gudimella Ranganath , Hausmann Johannes , Rösler Thomas , Löwer Martin , Schrörs Barbara , Sahin Ugur
Published: June 2023

Background: The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) resulted in the global COVID-19 pandemic. The urgency for an effective SARS-CoV-2 vaccine has led to the development of the first series of vaccines at unprecedented speed. The discovery of SARS-CoV-2 spike-glycoprotein mutants, however, and consequentially the potential to escape vaccine-induced protection and increased infectivity, demonstrates the persisting importance of monitoring SARS-CoV-2 mutations to enable early detection and tracking of genomic variants of concern. Results: We developed the CoVigator tool with three components: (1) a knowledge base that collects new SARS-CoV-2 genomic data, processes it and stores its results; (2) a comprehensive variant calling pipeline; (3) an interactive dashboard highlighting the most relevant findings. The knowledge base routinely downloads and processes virus genome assemblies or raw sequencing data from the COVID-19 Data Portal (C19DP) and the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA), respectively. The results of variant calling are visualized through the dashboard in the form of tables and customizable graphs, making it a versatile tool for tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants. We put a special emphasis on the identification of intrahost mutations and make available to the community what is, to the best of our knowledge, the largest dataset on SARS-CoV-2 intrahost mutations. In the spirit of open data, all CoVigator results are available for download. The CoVigator dashboard is accessible via covigator.tron-mainz.de. Conclusions: With increasing demand worldwide in genome surveillance for tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2, CoVigator will be a valuable resource of an up-to-date list of mutations, which can be incorporated into global efforts.
Impact of Influenza Vaccination on the Burden of Severe Influenza in the Elderly: Spain, 2017–2020
Authors: Mazagatos Clara , Delgado-Sanz Concepción , Milagro Ana , Liébana-Rodríguez María , Larrauri Amparo
Published: June 2023

Annual influenza vaccination is the main strategy to reduce the burden of seasonal influenza epidemics and is recommended for the elderly in most countries with influenza vaccination strategies, with the main objective of preventing hospitalizations and mortality associated with seasonal influenza in this age group. Studies from different countries have estimated the benefits of seasonal influenza vaccination programs in the elderly, preventing a considerable number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths every year. A study measured the number of medically attended confirmed influenza cases in primary care that are prevented annually by vaccination in the population aged 65 and older in Spain, the Netherlands and Portugal, but estimates of the impact of the national influenza vaccination program in the prevention of severe disease in Spain are lacking. The two objectives of this study were to estimate the burden of severe influenza disease in the Spanish population and to measure the impact of influenza vaccination in the prevention of these outcomes in the population aged 65 years and older. Using influenza surveillance systems put in place before the COVID-19 pandemic, we conducted a retrospective observational study to estimate the burden of hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Spain between 2017–18 and 2019–20, by season and age group. Burden estimates for the 65+ group, combined with vaccine effectiveness (VE) and vaccination coverage (VC) data, were used as input data in an ecological, observational study to estimate the impact of the influenza vaccination program on the elderly. We found a higher burden of severe influenza disease in seasons 2017–18 and 2018–19, with A(H3N2) circulation, and in the youngest and oldest age groups. In those aged 65 and older, we estimated an average of 9900 influenza hospitalizations and 1541 ICU admissions averted by vaccination each year. Seasonal influenza vaccination was able to prevent between 11 and 26% influenza hospitalizations and around 40% ICU admissions in the elderly in the three pre-pandemic seasons. In conclusion, our study complements previous analyses in the primary care setting in Spain and demonstrates the benefits of the annual influenza vaccination program in the prevention of severe influenza disease in the elderly, even in seasons with moderate VE.
The Application of the Gibson Assembly Method in the Production of Two pKLS3 Vector-Derived Infectious Clones of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus
Authors: Semkum Ploypailin , Thangthamniyom Nattarat , Chankeeree Penpitcha , Keawborisuth Challika , Theerawatanasirikul Sirin , Lekcharoensuk Porntippa
Published: June 2023

The construction of a full-length infectious clone, essential for molecular virological study and vaccine development, is quite a challenge for viruses with long genomes or possessing complex nucleotide sequence structures. Herein, we have constructed infectious clones of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) types O and A by joining each viral coding region with our pKLS3 vector in a single isothermal reaction using Gibson Assembly (GA). pKLS3 is a 4.3-kb FMDV minigenome. To achieve optimal conditions for the DNA joining, each FMDV coding sequence was divided into two overlapping fragments of approximately 3.8 and 3.2 kb, respectively. Both DNA fragments contain the introduced linker sequences for assembly with the linearized pKLS3 vector. FMDV infectious clones were produced upon directly transfecting the GA reaction into baby hamster kidney-21 (BHK-21) cells. After passing in BHK-21 cells, both rescued FMDVs (rO189 and rNP05) demonstrated growth kinetics and antigenicity similar to their parental viruses. Thus far, this is the first report on GA-derived, full-length infectious FMDV cDNA clones. This simple DNA assembly method and the FMDV minigenome would facilitate the construction of FMDV infectious clones and enable genetic manipulation for FMDV research and custom-made FMDV vaccine production.
Effect of Phone Text Message Reminders on Compliance with Rabies Post-Exposure Prophylaxis following Dog Bites in Rural Kenya
Authors: Chuchu Veronicah M. , Mutono Nyamai , Bichanga Philet , Kitala Philip M. , Ksee Daniel , Muturi Mathew , Mwatondo Athman , Nasimiyu Carolyne , Akunga Lawrence , Amiche Amine , Hampson Katie , Thumbi Samuel M.
Published: June 2023

The prompt administration of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is one of the key strategies for ending human deaths from rabies. A delay in seeking the first dose of rabies PEP, or failure to complete the recommended dosage, may result in clinical rabies and death. We assessed the efficacy of short message system (SMS) phone texts in improving the adherence to scheduled PEP doses among bite patients in rural eastern Kenya. We conducted a single-arm, before-after field trial that compared adherence among bite patients presenting at Makueni Referral Hospital between October and December 2018 (control) and between January and March 2019 (intervention). Data on their demographics, socio-economic status, circumstances surrounding the bite, and expenditures related to the bite were collected. A total of 186 bite patients were enrolled, with 82 (44%) in the intervention group, and 104 (56%) in the control group. The odds of PEP completion were three times (OR 3.37, 95% CI 1.28, 10.20) more likely among patients who received the SMS reminder, compared to the control. The intervention group had better compliance on the scheduled doses 2 to 5, with a mean deviation of 0.18 days compared to 0.79 days for the control group (p = 0.004). The main reasons for non-compliance included lack of funds (30%), and forgetfulness (23%) on days for follow-up treatment, among others. Nearly all (96%, n = 179) the bite patients incurred indirect transport costs, at an average of USD 4 (USD 0–45) per visit. This study suggests that the integration of SMS reminders into healthcare service delivery increases compliance with PEP, and may strengthen rabies control and elimination strategies.