bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Apps zur Gewichtsreduktion: Qualität, Nutzen,
Empfehlungen
Authors: Holzapfel Christina
Published: March 2024

Digitalisierung spielt zunehmend auch in der Prävention und Therapie von
Adipositas eine Rolle. Vor allem nutzen Betroffene mobile Applikationen (Apps),
die sich mit den Elementen Ernährung, Bewegung und Verhalten
beschäftigen und unterschiedliche Funktionen wie Selbstbeobachtung,
Zielsetzung, Feedback und Edukation aufweisen. Generell ist zwischen
Lifestyle-Apps, Digitalen Gesundheitsanwendungen (DiGAs) und digitalen
Präventions- und Gesundheitsförderungsangeboten zu
unterscheiden. Die Studienlage bezüglich der Wirksamkeit von digitalen
Interventionen auf das Körpergewicht ist sowohl limitiert als auch
heterogen. Zudem fehlt es vor allem an Langzeitdaten. Für DiGAs sowie im
Rahmen von systematischen Übersichtsarbeiten und Meta-Analysen konnte
gezeigt werden, dass App-basierte Interventionen einen moderaten
Gewichtsreduktionseffekt aufweisen, der vergleichbar mit dem Effekt von
„face-to-face“-Interventionen ist. Zugleich deutet die Datenlage
darauf hin, dass vor allem eine Kombination aus digitalen Interventionen und
persönlicher Verhaltensintervention vielversprechend ist. Die
detaillierte Untersuchung der Effektivität, aber auch der Vor- und
Nachteile von GesundheitsApps sowie deren zielgruppenspezifischer Einsatz ist
aktueller Forschungsgegenstand.
Perspectives About Ascorbic Acid to Treat Inflammatory Bowel
Diseases
Authors: Andriolo Ian Richard Lucena , Venzon Larissa , da Silva Luisa Mota
Published: March 2024

It is known that reactive oxygen species cause abnormal immune responses in the
gut during inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Therefore, oxidative stress has
been theorized as an agent of IBD development and antioxidant compounds such as
vitamin C (L-ascorbic acid) have been studied as a new tool to treat IBD.
Therefore, the potential of vitamin C to treat IBD was reviewed here as a
critical discussion about this field and guide future research. Indeed, some
preclinical studies have shown the beneficial effects of vitamin C in models of
ulcerative colitis in mice and clinical and experimental findings have shown
that deficiency in this vitamin is associated with the development of IBD and
its worsening. The main mechanisms that may be involved in the activity of
ascorbic acid in IBD include its well-established role as an antioxidant, but
also others diversified actions. However, some experimental studies employed
high doses of vitamin C and most of them did not perform dose-response curves
and neither determined the minimum effective dose nor the ED50.
Allometric extrapolations were also not made. Also, clinical studies on the
subject are still in their infancy. Therefore, it is suggested that the research
agenda in this matter covers experimental studies that assess the effective,
safe, and translational doses, as well as the appropriate administration route
and its action mechanism. After that, robust clinical trials to increase
knowledge about the role of ascorbic acid deficiency in IBD patients and the
effects of their supplementation in these patients can be encouraged.
Design optimization of an axial turbine and study on its fish passing characteristics
Authors: Yang Chunxia , Zhang Qianxu , Yu Yang , Zheng Yuan , Ren Ziwei
Published: March 2024

In this paper, a new type of helical blade is introduced, which is designed to minimize the damage of hydraulic turbine to fish. The experiments test the damage for fish under different pressure and pressure gradients. Also, the parameters of the helical blade turbine are optimized based on the damage thresholds. The consequent axial flow turbine features double-blades with a pitch of 2600 mm and a blade envelope angle of 540°. To assess the turbine's impact on fish, an overlapping mesh method is used to analyze the degree of damage to the fish during operation. The findings show that, compared to traditional designs, the application of helical blade turbine significantly reduced the exposure and duration of negative pressure, high pressure gradient, and high shear force.
Prediction of water anomalous properties by introducing the two-state theory in SAFT
Authors: Novak Nefeli , Liang Xiaodong , Kontogeorgis Georgios M.
Published: March 2024

Water is one of the most abundant substances on earth, but it is still not entirely understood. It shows unusual behavior, and its properties present characteristic extrema unlike any other fluid. This unusual behavior has been linked to the two-state theory of water, which proposes that water forms different clusters, one with a high density and one with a low density, which may even form two distinct phases at low temperatures. Models incorporating the two-state theory manage to capture the unusual extrema of water, unlike traditional equations of state, which fail. In this work, we have derived the framework to incorporate the two-state theory of water into the Statistical-Associating-Fluid-Theory (SAFT). More specifically, we have assumed that water is an ideal solution of high density water molecules and low density water molecules that are in chemical equilibrium. Using this assumption, we have generalized the association term SAFT to allow for the simultaneous existence of the two water types, which have the same physical parameters but different association properties. We have incorporated the newly derived association term in the context of the Perturbed Chain-SAFT (PC-SAFT). The new model is referred to as PC-SAFT-Two-State (PC-SAFT-TS). Using PC-SAFT-TS, we have succeeded in predicting the characteristic extrema of water, such as its density and speed of sound maximum, etc., without loss of accuracy compared to the original PC-SAFT. This new framework is readily extended to mixtures, and PC-SAFT-TS manages to capture the solubility minimum of hydrocarbons in water in a straightforward manner.
Possibility of massless Dirac fermions in an Aubry–André–Harper potential
Authors: Cruz-Méndez M. , Cruz H.
Published: March 2024

In this study, we present a one-dimensional tight-binding model designed to explore the impact of electric fields on an incommensurate quantum system. We specifically focus on the Aubry–André–Harper model, a quasiperiodic model known to exhibit a metal–insulator transition at a critical potential value of λc = 2. This model combines Anderson and Aubry–André–Harper localization phenomena in a quantum system, leading to intriguing effects on the lattice band structure upon the application of an electric field F to the Aubry–André–Harper potential. Our investigation reveals that by choosing a specific value for the applied electric field, it becomes feasible to generate effective massless Dirac fermions within our Aubry–André–Harper system. Furthermore, we note that the extension or localization of the massless particle wave function is contingent upon the potential strength value λ within our incommensurate model. Importantly, our findings highlight the potential for detecting this intriguing phenomenon through experimental means.
Characterization of the acoustic pressure waveforms in Rijke tubes with spatially varying heat sources and temperature distributions
Authors: Signor Emma T. , Shelton Cody M. , Majdalani Joseph
Published: March 2024

In this work, we implement an asymptotic expansion technique that leverages a small perturbation parameter that arises in the context of one-dimensional tubes with open-open end point configurations and spatially varying heat sources. This approach, when paired with a spectral collocation eigensolver, enables us to produce accurate predictions of the pressure mode shapes and frequencies over a wide range of parameters. These include the temperature gain across the heat source, the heat source length and location, and the overall thermal profile. The latter is intended to reproduce different flow heating configurations that emulate Rijke tube characteristics. Specifically, this investigation begins by considering three piecewise representations of the heat source by juxtaposing constant–constant temperatures before and after a heating element whose temperature is prescribed locally using three analytical functions: linear, exponential, and power-law profiles. This is followed by a logistic distribution that can be globally applied to provide a uniformly valid, continuous, and differentiable thermal profile spanning the entire tube, including the heat source element. Our fundamental formulation relies on Green's functions and an integral formulation that enables us to extract all acoustic frequencies analytically. These are found to increase monotonically with successive elevations in the temperature gain across the heat source, retractions of the heat source, length reductions in the heat source, and smoothing of the temperature gain. Along similar lines, the pressure mode shapes are found to exhibit blunter and often linear variations for higher temperature gains, longer heat sources, and upstream displacements of the heat source toward the inlet.
Development and performance evaluation of nonionic surfactant-stabilized nanoemulsion for enhanced oil recovery applications in tight reservoir
Authors: Xu Hang , Li Yuan , Wu Hao , Ding Zhiyuan , Yuan Shuai , Bai Hao , Yao Erdong , Zhou Fujian
Published: March 2024

Nanoemulsions have garnered great attention as a chemical additive for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology worldwide due to their small size and unique physicochemical properties. Herein, this work introduces a novel nonionic surfactant-stabilized nanoemulsion prepared using a low-energy method for EOR projects in the Chang 8 tight reservoir. Spontaneous imbibition experiments were conducted in oil-saturated cores, and secondary imbibition experiments were carried out in water-bearing cores. Additionally, core flooding experiments were performed to study the EOR performance of both nanoemulsion and complex surfactant. Finally, the EOR mechanisms were thoroughly investigated, specifically focusing on oil-washing capacity, reduced interfacial tension, and wettability alteration. The designed nanoemulsion, with droplets averaging 10.5 ± 0.7 nm in synthetic formation brine at ambient temperature, exhibits excellent thermal and long-term stability even under reservoir temperature conditions. The oil recovery efficiency of the nanoemulsion system in oil-saturated cores through spontaneous imbibition was 31.28%, representing a 6.42% improvement over the complex surfactant solution. In the secondary imbibition experiments, the nanoemulsion mobilized 8.53% of the residual oil, compared to 4.11% for the complex surfactant. Core flooding experiments revealed that the nanoemulsion system achieved a total oil recovery of 62.69%, outperforming the complex surfactant system by 8.68% during the chemical flooding stage and 1.82% during the subsequent brine flooding stage. The EOR mechanisms of nanoemulsion in tight reservoirs can be attributed to four aspects: reduction of oil/water interfacial tension, wettability alteration, miscibility with crude oil, and increased sweep volume. The generation of the Marangoni effect and the adsorption and diffusion characteristics are essential differences between the nanoemulsion system and the complex surfactant system. The presented findings in this paper could aid in promoting the large-scale use of nanoemulsions in Chang 8 tight reservoirs.
Quantum criticality in chains of planar rotors with dipolar interactions
Authors: Serwatka Tobias , Roy Pierre-Nicholas
Published: March 2024

In this work, we perform a density matrix renormalization group study of chains of planar rotors interacting via dipolar interactions. By exploring the ground state from weakly to strongly interacting rotors, we find the occurrence of a quantum phase transition between a disordered and a dipole-ordered quantum state. We show that the nature of the ordered state changes from ferroelectric to antiferroelectric when the relative orientation of the rotor planes varies and that this change requires no modification of the overall symmetry. The observed quantum phase transitions are characterized by critical exponents and central charges, which reveal different universality classes ranging from that of the (1 + 1)D Ising model to the 2D classical XY model.
Activation volume and quantum tunneling in the hydrogen transfer reaction between methyl radical and methane: A first computational study
Authors: Cammi Roberto , Chen Bo
Published: March 2024

We present a theory of the effect of quantum tunneling on the basic parameter that characterizes the effect of pressure on the rate constant of chemical reactions in a dense phase, the activation volume. This theory results in combining, on the one hand, the extreme pressure polarizable continuum model, a quantum chemical method to describe the effect of pressure on the reaction energy profile in a dense medium, and, on the other hand, the semiclassical version of the transition state theory, which includes the effect of quantum tunneling through a transmission coefficient. The theory has been applied to the study of the activation volume of the model reaction of hydrogen transfer between methyl radical and methane, including the primary isotope substitution of hydrogen with deuterium (H/D). The analysis of the numerical results offers, for the first time, a clear insight into the effect of quantum tunneling on the activation volume for this hydrogen transfer reaction: this effect results from the different influences that pressure has on the competing thermal and tunneling reaction mechanisms. Furthermore, the computed kinetic isotope effect (H/D) on the activation volume for this model hydrogen transfer correlates well with the experimental data for more complex hydrogen transfer reactions.
Time-varying coding digital double-layered Huygens' metasurface for high-efficiency harmonic frequency conversion
Authors: Li Feng , Wu Chao , Qiu Chunqiao , Xu Quan , Zhu Hongyu , Li Quan , Zhang Zhengren
Published: March 2024

Time-varying metasurfaces offer an efficient means of controlling nonlinear harmonics by manipulating component geometries and modulating signals. This ability renders them valuable across various fields, such as wireless communication, radar sensing, and biological monitoring. However, most of the energy in time-varying metasurfaces is concentrated in the fundamental wave, as well as scattered at various harmonic orders, which reduces the energy efficiency at the desired harmonic. Existing approaches have employed time-varying coding digital metasurfaces to achieve efficient harmonic conversion but are primarily designed for reflection. Reflection-based designs require a feed source to excite the metasurface, which can cause certain shielding effects and limit their application in specific scenarios. Thus, designing transmissive time-varying coding digital metasurfaces for efficient harmonic conversion is currently an urgent problem that needs to be addressed. To solve this problem, this paper develops a time-varying coding digital double-layered Huygens' metasurface, which achieves efficient conversion of the desired transmitted harmonics. The unit structure of the metasurface consists of a pair of reverse-symmetric split rings located on the upper and lower sides of a dielectric substrate, enabling nearly non-reflective Huygens' resonance. Based on a continuous periodic phase modulation strategy, we achieved efficient conversion of transmitted harmonics by loading a time-varying voltage (phase) modulation signal with a 5-bit resolution bit width onto the designed double-layered Huygens' metasurface. This study presents a solution for designing a transmissive time-varying coding digital metasurface to achieve efficient conversion of harmonics, thereby enhancing the application capabilities of time-varying coding digital metasurfaces.
Current transport mechanism of lateral Schottky barrier diodes on β-Ga2O3/SiC structure with atomic level interface
Authors: Xu Wenhui , Shen Zhenghao , Qu Zhenyu , Zhao Tiancheng , Yi Ailun , You Tiangui , Han Genquan , Ou Xin
Published: March 2024

Heterogeneous integration of β-Ga2O3 on highly thermal conductive SiC substrate by the ion-cutting technique is an effective solution to break the heat-dissipation bottleneck of β-Ga2O3 power electronics. In order to acquire high-quality β-Ga2O3 materials on SiC substrates, it is essential to understand the influence of the ion-cutting process on the current transport in β-Ga2O3 devices and to further optimize the electrical characteristics of the exfoliated β-Ga2O3 materials. In this work, the high quality of β-Ga2O3/SiC structure was constructed by the ion-cutting process, in which an amorphous layer of only 1.2 nm was formed between β-Ga2O3 and SiC. The current transport characteristics of Au/Pt/Ni/β-Ga2O3 Schottky barrier diodes (SBDs) on SiC were systematically investigated. β-Ga2O3 SBDs with a high rectification ratio of 108 were realized on a heterogeneous β-Ga2O3 on-SiC (GaOSiC) substrate. The net carrier concentration of the β-Ga2O3 thin film for GaOSiC substrate was down to about 8% leading to a significantly higher resistivity, compared to the β-Ga2O3 donor wafer, which is attributed to the increase in acceptor-type implantation defects during the ion-cutting process. Furthermore, temperature-dependent current–voltage characteristics suggested that the reverse leakage current was limited by the thermionic emission at a low electric field, while at a high electric field, it was dominated by the Poole–Frenkel emission from E3 deep donors caused by the implantation-induced GaO antisite defects. These results would advance the development of β-Ga2O3 power devices on high thermal conductivity substrate fabricated by ion-cutting technique.
Assessing molecular doping efficiency in organic semiconductors with reactive Monte Carlo
Authors: Verma Archana , Jackson Nicholas E.
Published: March 2024

The addition of molecular dopants into organic semiconductors (OSCs) is a ubiquitous augmentation strategy to enhance the electrical conductivity of OSCs. Although the importance of optimizing OSC–dopant interactions is well-recognized, chemically generalizable structure–function relationships are difficult to extract due to the sensitivity and dependence of doping efficiency on chemistry, processing conditions, and morphology. Computational modeling for an integrated OSC–dopant design is an attractive approach to systematically isolate fundamental relationships, but requires the challenging simultaneous treatment of molecular reactivity and morphology evolution. We present the first computational study to couple molecular reactivity with morphology evolution in a molecularly doped OSC. Reactive Monte Carlo is employed to examine the evolution of OSC–dopant morphologies and doping efficiency with respect to dielectric, the thermodynamic driving for the doping reaction, and dopant aggregation. We observe that for well-mixed systems with experimentally relevant dielectric constants, doping efficiency is near unity with a very weak dependence on the ionization potential and electron affinity of OSC and dopant, respectively. At experimental dielectric constants, reaction-induced aggregation is observed, corresponding to the well-known insolubility of solution-doped materials. Simulations are qualitatively consistent with a number of experimental studies showing a decrease of doping efficiency with increasing dopant concentration. Finally, we observe that the aggregation of dopants lowers doping efficiency and thus presents a rational design strategy for maximizing doping efficiency in molecularly doped OSCs. This work represents an important first step toward the systematic integration of molecular reactivity and morphology evolution into the characterization of multi-scale structure–function relationships in molecularly doped OSCs.
An entropic theory of homogeneous ice nucleation in non-ionic aqueous solutions
Authors: Powell-Palm Matthew J. , Smith Hunter , Fahad Mir Muhammad
Published: March 2024

The nucleation of ice from aqueous solutions is a process essential to myriad environmental and industrial processes, but the physical factors affecting the capacity of different solutes to depress the homogeneous nucleation temperature of ice are yet poorly understood. In this work, we demonstrate that for many binary aqueous solutions of non-ionic solutes, this depression is dominated by the entropy of the liquid phase. Employing the classic Turnbull interpretation of the interfacial free energy γ∼TSliquid−Ssolid and estimating solution entropies with a Flory-style modification of the ideal entropy of mixing that accounts for solute size effects, we demonstrate that mixing entropy alone predicts experimental homogeneous nucleation temperatures across a wide variety of non-ionic solutions. We anticipate that this physical insight will not only enhance a fundamental understanding of homogeneous nucleation processes across fields but also open new avenues to the rational design of aqueous solutions for desired nucleation behaviors.
Polarity-dependent electro-wetting/-dewetting for efficient droplet manipulation
Authors: Zhou Lele , Zhang Zhuo , Tang Yinliang , Men Changhao , Luo Yuan , Wang Hung-Ta , Liu Yifan
Published: March 2024

Droplet manipulation on a substrate by electrical signals is instrumental to the automation and miniaturization of labor-intensive assays in life science and chemistry. Current techniques are primarily based on either electrowetting or a more recent ionic-surfactant-mediated electro-dewetting effect. Here, we report that the two effects can occur simultaneously on the same substrate. Using a dope silicon substrate and an aqueous droplet with a cationic surfactant, the surface exhibits dewetting at positive biases and wetting at negative. Such a polarity-dependent wetting–dewetting transition enables a more significant wettability change (>60° contact angle change between ±3 V), which preserves after multiple wetting–dewetting cycles. We also find that the transition does not experience contact angle hysteresis that sole electrowetting commonly suffers from. Benefitting from these features, we experimentally show that droplet manipulation on a digital microfluidic device is more efficient and robust using this joint mechanism.
Murray cod and modern fish screens: influence of water velocity and screen design on the entrainment and impingement of larval and young-of-year fish at water offtakes
Authors: Stocks Jerom R. , Walsh Chris T. , Rayner Thomas S. , Boys Craig A.
Published: March 2024

Context Entrainment and removal of fish from aquatic ecosystems can occur at water pump offtakes. Exclusion screens that reduce these impacts are recognised as an important conservation measure. Aims Evaluate the effectiveness of the Australian screen design guidelines in protecting larvae and young-of-year age class of a native fish species, Murray cod Maccullochella peelii. Methods Entrainment and impingement of postflexion larvae and young-of-year were assessed in a controlled laboratory environment. Tests were conducted under a range of approach velocities (AV) and impingement durations for two screen materials. Key results Fish screens reduced larval entrainment by ≤84%. Screens had no significant effect on reducing larval entrainment at AV ≥0.125 m s−1. Impingement of young-of-year was positively associated with AV and mortality increased with impingement duration, irrespective of screen type. Conclusions To protect early life-stage Murray cod, it is recommended that water pump offtakes be fitted with 2-mm vertical wedge-wire stainless steel screens and AV be limited to ≤0.1 m s−1. Implications This study represents the first assessment of the effectiveness of the Australian screen design guidelines in protecting larvae, providing knowledge to further refine specifications for screen design and support the recovery of native fish populations.
The extent of introgression between incipient
Clarkia
species is determined by temporal environmental variation and mating system
Authors: Sianta Shelley A. , Moeller David A. , Brandvain Yaniv
Published: March 2024

Introgression is pervasive across the tree of life but varies across taxa, geography, and genomic regions. However, the factors modulating this variation and how they may be affected by global change are not well understood. Here, we used 200 genomes and a 15-y site-specific environmental dataset to investigate the effects of environmental variation and mating system divergence on the magnitude of introgression between a recently diverged outcrosser-selfer pair of annual plants in the genus
Clarkia
. These sister taxa diverged very recently and subsequently came into secondary sympatry where they form replicated contact zones. Consistent with observations of other outcrosser-selfer pairs, we found that introgression was asymmetric between taxa, with substantially more introgression from the selfer to the outcrosser. This asymmetry was caused by a bias in the direction of initial F1 hybrid formation and subsequent backcrossing. We also found extensive variation in the outcrosser’s admixture proportion among contact zones, which was predicted nearly entirely by interannual variance in spring precipitation. Greater fluctuations in spring precipitation resulted in higher admixture proportions, likely mediated by the effects of spring precipitation on the expression of traits that determine premating reproductive isolation. Climate-driven hybridization dynamics may be particularly affected by global change, potentially reshaping species boundaries and adaptation to novel environments.
Enhanced anomalous Hall effect in kagome magnet YbMn6Sn6 with intermediate-valence ytterbium
Authors: Li 李 Longfei 龙飞 , Chi 迟 Shengwei 晟玮 , Ma 马 Wenlong 文龙 , Guo 郭 Kaizhen 凯臻 , Xu 徐 Gang 刚 , Jia 贾 Shuang 爽
Published: March 2024

We report on the magnetization and anomalous Hall effect (AHE) in the high-quality single crystals of the kagome magnet YbMn6Sn6, where the spins of the Mn atoms in the kagome lattice order ferromagnetically and the intermediate-valence Yb atoms are nonmagnetic. The intrinsic mechanism plays a crucial role in the AHE, leading to an enhanced anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC) compared with the other rare-earth RMn6Sn6 compounds. Our band structure calculation reveals a strong hybridization between the 4f electrons of Yb and conduction electrons.
Characterization of zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites for use as a potential photoelectrode
Authors: Gonzalez-Arias C , V-Niño E D , Ayala I V , Cabanzo-Hernández R , Mejía-Ospino E
Published: March 2024

In this research, two nanocomposites of zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride were obtained in a 1:0.15 ratio for potential use as photoelectrocatalysts. Calcination and the simple reflux method were used to obtain routes for synthesizing zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride nanocomposites. Subsequently, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy analyses were performed, from which it was determined that there is a strong interaction between zinc oxide and graphitic carbon nitride in both nanocomposites. Nevertheless, the nanocomposite that exhibited the most significant band gap reduction was obtained by calcination, reaching 2.93 eV.
An approach to the analysis of deforestation in Colombia, applications of physical tools
Authors: González-Balaguera J E , Mendoza-Piñeros V , Sierra-Daza C A
Published: March 2024

Deforestation, a global challenge with significant environmental and social impacts, raises pressing concerns for the sustainability of the planet, especially in Colombia. This phenomenon, particularly relevant in the Colombian context where biodiversity and national identity are intrinsically linked, has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent decades due to the expansion of anthropogenic activities. This article clarifies the current state of the problem, discusses the efforts undertaken by the Office of the Procuraduria General de la Nación colombiana, and proposes an innovative approach by integrating statistical tools, formalism inherent to statistical mechanics, and geographical features. Leveraging quarterly data issued by the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales, such as early deforestation alerts, the study will outline a methodology to discern patterns and behaviors.
A bibliometric study with statistical patterns of industry 4.0 on business management in the decade
Authors: Torres-Salazar E , Cruzado-Yesquén K , Alvarez-Vasquez H , Saavedra-Ruíz J , Castañeda-Hipólito M , Gastiaburú-Morales S , Barandiarán-Gamarra J , Vásquez-Coronado M , Alviz-Meza A
Published: March 2024

In search of perpetual sustainability, companies need a continuous line of innovation, incorporating new technologies to optimize production; the adoption of Industry 4.0 is marking an important milestone in the deployment of business functions in all areas, adapting from human resources management to manufacturing operations. By leveraging these tools, operational areas can be interconnected to drive productivity. Thus, this research performs a descriptive bibliometric analysis of the influence of Industry 4.0 on business management from 2013 to 2022, using the contribution of physics through the implementation of data mining tools, such as Bibliometrix, whose foundation is given by mathematical and statistical models; in such a way, articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science were analyzed, focusing on the indicators of citations, bibliography, abstract and keywords. The results showed an exponential growth of articles on Industry 4.0, with manufacturing as the central area of interest, especially in artificial intelligence and big data applications. The most cited articles highlight its role in process optimization. Overall, this bibliometric analysis suggests that the adoption of Industry 4.0 has a positive impact on decision-making, improving the direction of business management.
Impacts of ride-hailing on energy and the environment: a systematic review
Authors: Sheldon Tamara L , Dua Rubal
Published: March 2024

Ride-hailing has expanded substantially around the globe over the last decade and is likely to be an integral part of future transportation systems. We perform a systematic review of the literature on energy and environmental impacts of ride-hailing. In general, empirical papers find that ride-hailing has increased congestion, vehicle miles traveled, and emissions. However, theoretical papers overwhelmingly point to the potential for energy and emissions reductions in a future with increased electrification and pooling. Future research addressing the gap between observed and predicted impacts is warranted.
Corrigendum: Quantum state estimation with nuisance parameters (2020 J. Phys. A: Math. Theor.
53 453001)
Authors: Suzuki Jun , Yang Yuxiang , Hayashi Masahito
Published: March 2024

This is a correction for Suzuki et al (2020 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen.
53 453001).
Volatilomic profiles of gastric juice in gastric cancer patients
Authors: Mezmale Linda , Ślefarska-Wolak Daria , Bhandari Manohar Prasad , Ager Clemens , Veliks Viktors , Patsko Veronika , Lukashenko Andrii , Dias-Neto Emmanuel , Nunes Diana Noronha , Bartelli Thais Fernanda , Pelosof Adriane Graicer , Sztokfisz Claudia Zitron , Murillo Raúl , Królicka Agnieszka , Mayhew Chris A , Leja Marcis , Haick Hossam , Mochalski Pawel
Published: March 2024

Volatilomics is a powerful tool capable of providing novel biomarkers for the diagnosis of gastric cancer. The main objective of this study was to characterize the volatilomic signatures of gastric juice in order to identify potential alterations induced by gastric cancer. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection, coupled with headspace solid phase microextraction as the pre-concentration technique, was used to identify volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by gastric juice samples collected from 78 gastric cancer patients and two cohorts of controls (80 and 96 subjects) from four different locations (Latvia, Ukraine, Brazil, and Colombia). 1440 distinct compounds were identified in samples obtained from patients and 1422 in samples provided by controls. However, only 6% of the VOCs exhibited an incidence higher than 20%. Amongst the volatiles emitted, 18 showed differences in their headspace concentrations above gastric juice of cancer patients and controls. Ten of these (1-propanol, 2,3-butanedione, 2-pentanone, benzeneacetaldehyde, 3-methylbutanal, butylated hydroxytoluene, 2-pentyl-furan, 2-ethylhexanal, 2-methylpropanal and phenol) appeared at significantly higher levels in the headspace of the gastric juice samples obtained from patients; whereas, eight species showed lower abundance in patients than found in controls. Given that the difference in the volatilomic signatures can be explained by cancer-related changes in the activity of certain enzymes or pathways, the former set can be considered potential biomarkers for gastric cancer, which may assist in developing non-invasive breath tests for the diagnosis of this disease. Further studies are required to elucidate further the mechanisms that underlie the changes in the volatilomic profile as a result of gastric cancer.
Understanding how designing physical data visualisations can influence behaviour change: a case study on consumer food waste reduction in Australia
Authors: Abos Regine , Franco Areli Avendano
Published: March 2024

Data visualisations from physical self-trackers have been studied as persuasive tools for behaviour change by encouraging reflection and action. This paper presents the preliminary findings of a longitudinal nine-week study among 30 households in Australia (104 participants with a control group) using data visualisations from physical self-trackers to reduce food waste. The study focused on households with working parents and their children, identified as the primary contributors to food waste. Combining theories of consumer behaviour psychology, interaction design and data humanism to form the basis of the research methodology, participants were given visual nudges and information to encourage food-saving behaviours, and physical self-trackers to visualise and share their actions. Results were triangulated through content and thematic analysis, and paired samples frequency comparison to provide comprehensive insights. The group with access to the probe was able to sustain newly formed habits for a longer duration compared to the control group. Creating their own methods of encoding data enabled agency, holding households accountable for their own actions and facilitating a deeper understanding of their own unique dynamics and collective behaviours that lead to food waste. Furthermore, the social and physical aspects of the study emerged as the most influential factors in driving long-term behaviour change.
Efficiency Study of Substitution of Official Vehicles in Banten Province with EVs (Electric Vehicle) To Reduce Carbon Emissions
Authors: Choldiputri Nawal Thurayya , Syafei Arie Dipareza , Assomadi Abdu Fadli , Febrianto Arry , Hermana Joni
Published: March 2024

To support the NDC (National Determined Contribution) targets in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 31.89% in 2030, the Presidential Instruction No. 7 of 2022 has been issued, which aims to replace conventional oil-fuelled vehicles in government official vehicles with electric vehicles (EVs). Although EVs do not directly produce GHG emissions as their engines do not involve fuel combustion, they still use electricity produced by Perusahaan Listrik Nasional (PLN), which uses fossil fuels in its combustion process. The purpose of this paper is to compare and determine whether the implementation of the new policy would have a significant impact on reducing GHG, particularly carbon emission, or not. This study therefore focused on calculating the indirect carbon emissions generated from the use of EVs compared to direct carbon emissions resulting from the use of official vehicles that run on fossil fuels in the Banten Province and Serang Regency. The carbon emissions in EVs are calculated using data from PLN’s carbon emissions from electricity production, while data on vehicle fuel usage and mileage per year are used to calculate emissions from official vehicles. The calculation methods were based on the 2006 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) document. The results of this study suggested that the efficiency of substituting official vehicles from oil-fuelled vehicles to the EVs, is dependent on the number and type of replaced vehicles. In both Banten Province and Serang Regency, the most efficient partial substitution of official vehicles was achieved by replacing official service vehicles with EVs, resulting in the reduction percentages of carbon emission by 26.73% and 28.58%, respectively.
Enhanced Removal of Hydrocarbons from Crude Oil Sludge through Phytoremediation with Biosurfactant-producing Rhizobacteria
Authors: Sharuddin Siti Shilatul Najwa , Abdullah Siti Rozaimah Sheikh , Hasan Hassimi Abu , Othman Ahmad Razi , Al-Baldawi Israa Abdulwahab
Published: March 2024

Discharge of crude oil (or its products) during the extracting, refining, and transporting into the environment have caused serious environmental distress due to their highly hydrophobic resistance, and persistence in nature and very difficult to be remediated from the environment. Therefore, an environmentally conscious approach to enhance the bioavailability (or solubility) of petroleum hydrocarbon pollutants in soil involves the utilization of biosurfactants. Biosurfactants play a crucial role in enhancing the desorption and solubilization of petroleum hydrocarbons, facilitating their assimilation by microorganisms. This research investigated the application of biosurfactant supplementation derived and purified from rhizobacteria of Scirpus grossus, which are capable of producing biosurfactants and degrading hydrocarbons, in the context of phytoremediation. The crude oil sludge used in this study was obtained from an industrial area containing 56,600±3;900 mg/kg of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH). The crude oil sludge was inoculated with biosurfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as commercial surfactant and only with the presence of S. grossus in the vegetated tanks and monitored for 90 days in a greenhouse. The results indicated that the growth of S. grossus with the addition of biosurfactant was improved and new saplings were produced. After a 90-day exposure period, the removal efficiency of TPH from the soil demonstrated significant increases, reaching 90.3%, 84.1%, and 73.7% when treated with biosurfactant+S. grossus, SDS+S. grossus, and S. grossus only respectively. These percentages were notably higher compared to the non-planted control crates (CC) where the removal efficiency was only 17.9%. These results provide evidence that the introduction of biosurfactant through inoculation can elevate the bioavailability of organic pollutants, consequently augmenting their microbial degradation in the soil.
Effect of sludge resulting from biocoagulation-flocculation process on Abelmoschus esculentus L. growth
Authors: Ghazali Zul Aidil Fitri Mohd , Ismail Nur ‘Izzati , Sharuddin Siti Shilatul Najwa
Published: March 2024

The current study was performed to determine the effect of sludge resulting from biocoagulation-flocculation process on okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) growth. The effectiveness of the resultant sludge collected after coagulation-flocculation of aquaculture effluent using biocoagulant-flocculant was compared with garden soil (nutrient rich medium) and also with sand (nutrient deficiency medium). The growth of plants in terms of physical observation and also the agronomic parameters (the number of leaves and the height of plants) was monitored for 8 weeks. At the end of the exposure period, there is no significant difference in terms of the number of leaves and also the height of plants between plants in garden soil and plants in pots with the resultant sludge. In contrast, the agronomic parameters for plants in pot with sludge were significantly higher than plants in pot with sand only. As for the relative growth rate (RGR) of plants, plants in pots with sludge were the highest (3.84 g/week) compared to garden soil (3.52 g/week) and sand only (0.25 g/week). It can be concluded that sludge generated from the coagulation-flocculation process of aquaculture effluent using natural resources as coagulant-flocculant agent has given positive impact on the growth of okra plants and is potentially utilized as biofertilizer for plants.
Remaking Makers
Authors: Finch Michael P M
Published: March 2024

This chapter focuses on the development of Peter Paret’s Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age in the first half of the 1980s. It explains how Paret’s career led to the editorship of Makers despite a long-held reticence towards engagement with contemporary concerns, contextualizes the genesis of the book as part of a broader re-emphasis of historical study in strategic thinking that began in the 1970s, and illuminates the manner in which the editorial team of Paret, Felix Gilbert, and Gordon Craig coalesced. It charts the four-year production of the book, reflecting on the similarities with many of the challenges encountered forty years earlier, as the editors strove towards a volume that was scaffolded on the original edition but which sought to place much heavier emphasis on the importance of the USA.
The Work of Literature in the Age of the Refugee
Authors: Goyal Yogita
Published: March 2024

This essay considers the specific challenges that attend the study of the figure of the refugee, probing the valence of historical and geopolitical comparison alongside the limits and possibilities of literary methods. Considering recent books on the literature of migration, the essay examines the aftermath of twentieth-century wars in Asian American, Caribbean, Latinx, and US literary criticism.
Simultaneous variable selection and estimation in semiparametric regression of mixed panel count data
Authors: Ge Lei , Hu Tao , Li Yang
Published: March 2024

Mixed panel count data represent a common complex data structure in longitudinal survey studies. A major challenge in analyzing such data is variable selection and estimation while efficiently incorporating both the panel count and panel binary data components. Analyses in the medical literature have often ignored the panel binary component and treated it as missing with the unknown panel counts, while obviously such a simplification does not effectively utilize the original data information. In this research, we put forward a penalized likelihood variable selection and estimation procedure under the proportional mean model. A computationally efficient EM algorithm is developed that ensures sparse estimation for variable selection, and the resulting estimator is shown to have the desirable oracle property. Simulation studies assessed and confirmed the good finite-sample properties of the proposed method, and the method is applied to analyze a motivating dataset from the Health and Retirement Study.
Comparing two spatial variables with the probability of agreement
Authors: Acosta Jonathan , Vallejos Ronny , Ellison Aaron M , Osorio Felipe , de Castro Mário
Published: March 2024

Computing the agreement between 2 continuous sequences is of great interest in statistics when comparing 2 instruments or one instrument with a gold standard. The probability of agreement quantifies the similarity between 2 variables of interest, and it is useful for determining what constitutes a practically important difference. In this article, we introduce a generalization of the PA for the treatment of spatial variables. Our proposal makes the PA dependent on the spatial lag. We establish the conditions for which the PA decays as a function of the distance lag for isotropic stationary and nonstationary spatial processes. Estimation is addressed through a first-order approximation that guarantees the asymptotic normality of the sample version of the PA. The sensitivity of the PA with respect to the covariance parameters is studied for finite sample size. The new method is described and illustrated with real data involving autumnal changes in the green chromatic coordinate (Gcc), an index of “greenness” that captures the phenological stage of tree leaves, is associated with carbon flux from ecosystems, and is estimated from repeated images of forest canopies.
Victims, Perpetrators and Bystanders: Atrocity and Its Aftermath in the Films of Jasmila Žbanić
Authors: Aydın-Aitchison Andy
Published: March 2024

The paper excavates ‘implicit criminologies’ concerning victims, perpetrators and bystanders from four films by Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić: Grbavica (2006); On the path (2010); For those who can tell no tales (2013) and Quo Vadis, Aida? (2020). I argue that in criminological terms, Žbanić’s work is strongest, and has greatest transformative potential, as an example of cinematic victimology. This is produced through characters who simultaneously encapsulate particular (ethnicized) and universal elements in micro-level stories of the individual in a larger social, political and historical context. Focussing on this form of universalism, I question an ethical standard of inclusivity in atrocity cinema which calls for a single film or director to directly represent victims of all ethnic groups.
The effective connectivity analysis of fMRI based on asymmetric detection of transfer brain entropy
Authors: Shi Yuhu , Li Yidan
Published: March 2024

It is important to explore causal relationships in functional magnetic resonance imaging study. However, the traditional effective connectivity analysis method is easy to produce false causality, and the detection accuracy needs to be improved. In this paper, we introduce a novel functional magnetic resonance imaging effective connectivity method based on the asymmetry detection of transfer entropy, which quantifies the disparity in predictive information between forward and backward time, subsequently normalizing this disparity to establish a more precise criterion for detecting causal relationships while concurrently reducing computational complexity. Then, we evaluate the effectiveness of this method on the simulated data with different level of nonlinearity, and the results demonstrated that the proposed method outperforms others methods on the detection of both linear and nonlinear causal relationships, including Granger Causality, Partial Granger Causality, Kernel Granger Causality, Copula Granger Causality, and traditional transfer entropy. Furthermore, we applied it to study the effective connectivity of brain functional activities in seafarers. The results showed that there are significantly different causal relationships between different brain regions in seafarers compared with non-seafarers, such as Temporal lobe related to sound and auditory information processing, Hippocampus related to spatial navigation, Precuneus related to emotion processing as well as Supp_Motor_Area associated with motor control and coordination, which reflects the occupational specificity of brain function of seafarers.