bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Uma Plataforma de Mapeamento Coletivo para Registro de Ocorrências em Instituições de Ensino
Authors: Pacheco Siqueira Felipe , Sousa Werneck Pereira Iuri , Alves Antonio Cauã , Soares Oliveira Luan , Castro Barbosa Costa Dalpra Gabriella , Augusto Mattos Mendes Luís
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTImproving the quality of Brazilian education has been a challengefor decades, especially in basic education. Despite various policiesfor this sector, the performance indicators for elementary and highschool students are still low. It indicates the need for innovationand investment in this segment, but what has been seen recentlyis a drop in the budget allocated to basic education. Schools’ infrastructurecan be pointed to as one of the factors in Brazilianeducation that has been the subject of discussion for decades. Someresearch has discussed the material conditions of Brazilian schoolsand pointed to the efficiency of public spending on education andthe infrastructure of schools as a relevant factor in student learning.These issues become even more serious when considering the divisionof responsibility for basic education provision between statesand municipalities. An alternative for the decentralized collectionof information on school conditions is the use of systems basedon collective intelligence. Variations of this type of system havebeen used for collaborative mapping, showing a possible approachto gathering data about schools in a more agile and participatoryway. This paper aims to describe the stages completed in the developmentof a system designed to enable collaborative mapping ofproblems and other issues in schools, involving students, guardians,and other scholar community members. These stages includerequirements elicitation, modeling, and the start of developing thissystem.
Identificação de Solo Exposto e Cupinzeiros em Pastagens Utilizando Deep Learning
Authors: Pinto Almeida Ian , Fernandes Anita , Delcio Parreira Wemerson , Fernandes Oliveira Maurilio , Souza Guckert Karoline , Kerr Coelho Dennis
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTPasture degradation is a significant challenge in livestock farmingin Brazil, affecting the environmental and economic sustainabilityof the sector. Solutions that help manage pasture areas are crucialfor Brazilian agribusiness. In this context, this work presents theapplication of YOLO model of Deep Learning to identify exposedsoil, as well as indicators of pasture degradation, in this case, thenumber of termite mounds in each area. The image base used refersto pastures in Goiás and Mato Grosso.
Projeto de Solução Baseada em Dispositivo Vestível para Previsão de Crises Convulsivas em Pacientes com Epilepsia
Authors: Henning Pereira Bruna , Albenes Zeferino Cesar
Published: June 2024

Abstract—The World Health Organization (WHO) estimatesthat around 50 million of the world’s population has Epilepsy.This disease affects children and the elderly and significantlyaffects the quality of life of these patients. In this context, itis essential to understand the different ways in which Epilepsyimpacts the daily lives of patients. The temporary symptomsattributed to seizures resulting from the disease can cause risksand injuries to patients, as many of them are not aware of theimminence of a crisis that, in some cases, can lead to death. In thiswork, we propose a device capable of detecting signs of seizuresand warning patients with Epilepsy to minimize potential risksto their physical integrity.
Protótipo de sistema para obtenção da força e deformação em corpos de prova
Authors: Túrmina Torres Emanuel , Araujo Machado do Nascimento Guilherme , Grando Moreira Benjamin , Francisco Vieira Lucas
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTThis work presents the development of a prototype of an automatedtensile machine for deformation analysis, with a deformation analysisusing Computer Vision. This article mainly presents aspectsrelated to the computer vision resource applied to the process,which allows analyzing the distance between two markings on theevaluated specimen. Although measurements obtained are not usefulfor real analysis, improvements were identified and describedin the work.
Um Sistema de Tempo Real para Medição do Consumo Energético e Prevenção de Incidentes Elétricos Domésticos
Authors: Matos Giselle , Monteiro André
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTThis work presents a system for remote monitoring of householdelectrical devices. A sensor network based on Arduino attachedwith power meters and actuators is proposed. The values collectedby the power meters are presented to the user in real time throughan App for smartphones. Moreover, the system will be able to turnoff electrical devices when a power overload is about to occur.Theses features are aimed to avoid waste of energy and domesticincidents caused by power overload or electrical failures. To analyzethe feasibility of the system, real tests were performed using anApp prototype and a cloud computing platform where the datacollected by the sensor network are analyzed and storaged.
IVA - Integração Virtual Acadêmica: Um sistema acadêmico alternativo ao Sigaa nos quesitos responsividade, disposição de informações e acessibilidade
Authors: Soares Micael , Camilo Adriano , Vilela João , Bernardes Bianco , Oliveira Carlos
Published: June 2024

ABSTRACTOs sistemas acadêmicos são utilizados para guardar diversas informaçõesproduzidas em instituições de ensino. Talvez um dossistemas mais utilizados no Brasil, em especial por instituiçõespúblicas de ensino, seja o Sigaa, que é utilizado por, pelo menos,30 instituições no país. Apesar de amplamente utilizado, o Sigaaapresenta problemas e frequentemente é alvo de críticas por partedos seus usuários, em especial os alunos. Algumas criticas são: ainexistência de uma versão mobile para os alunos, a disposiçãodas informações e a falta de acessibilidade para usuários cegos.Propusemos três questões de pesquisa neste trabalho: (1) Comomelhorar a experiência do usuário ao acessar o site pelo celular?; (2)Como melhorar a acessibilidade do site?; (3) Como melhorar a disposiçãodas informações no site?. Para responder a essas questõesde pesquisa foi desenvolvido o protótipo de um novo site para osistema acadêmico, chamado de IVA, que foi apresentado a alunosque são usuários do Sigaa. O IVA foi desenvolvido de forma responsiva.Apresentamos o IVA a um aluno cego, que não utiliza o Sigaapor falta de acessibilidade, mas este usuário conseguiu navegar noIVA. Além disso, foi possível melhorar a disposição das informações(comparado ao Sigaa) reduzindo as funcionalidades para aquelasque os alunos relataram que realmente utilizam e colocando todasessas funcionalidades facilmente acessíveis em uma mesma págin
“Our Group of Women”
Authors: Beulah Tejai
Published: June 2024

There are three critical tasks central to this narrative. First, this chapter offers a more complex explanation of why black women Christian intellectuals of the early twentieth century have been overlooked as subjects in histories, particularly intellectual histories such as the one that Joshua L. Lazard offered in his response essay to Vincent Lloyd. Second, both Vincent Lloyd and Joshua Lazard’s definitions of black Christian public intellectuals are utilized to make the case that Bethune, Burroughs, and Brown were significant public contributors to black intellectual life in the early twentieth-century as school founders and as social commentators. Finally, the chapter closes with an urgent plea for scholarship that updates and continues the important work of Mark Chapman, Clarence Taylor and Barbara Dianne Savage that emphasizes the black Christian public intellectual work of not only early twentieth century women thinkers, but also contemporary leaders.
Elreta Melton Alexander
Authors: Summey Virginia L.
Published: June 2024

In spite of her many accomplishments, Elreta Alexander’s story has gone largely overlooked in southern, intellectual, and civil rights history. While the work of other black women attorneys, such as Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander, Constance Baker Motley, and Florynce Kennedy have been noted in books examining African American women’s history, Elreta Alexander has been excluded. This chapter attempts to rectify that exclusion and examines Judge Alexander’s contributions as a public intellectual as well as her place within existing theoretical frameworks.
More Than an Icon
Authors: Sow Marissa Jackson
Published: June 2024

As detailed in this chapter, Shirley Chisholm highlighted her own approach to public intellectualism by expounding upon: her desire to be remembered for her social and political impact; her adoption of a liberal feminism that would become increasingly intersectional over time, placing her at odds with white feminists, and Black and white men alike; her bold-but-nuanced incarnation of Black womanhood and her rage over the impact of racism and sexism on her life; and what it really means to be “unbought and unbossed.” Serious analysis of Chisholm’s thought reveals her to be much more than an icon for a political Left that intentionally misunderstood her and misappropriated both the life and depth of her work, and reduced her to an inspirational figure because of her electoral achievements.
Lenora B. Fulani
Authors: Ali Omar H. , Moore Tiera C.
Published: June 2024

A bold and courageous independent political leader, an innovator in the psychological field of human development, and an exceptionally effective educator and community organizer, Lenora B. Fulani has spent her life creating activities, organizations, and approaches to help develop and empower ordinary people, with particular attention to the poor. Her developmental/empowering practice of building new ways of being with others is inspired by the Black Power movement and grounded in the work and methodological insights of Frantz Fanon, Lev Vygotsky, Lois Holzman, and Fred Newman, while her practical-critical activity is simultaneously postmodern (challenging the tenets of modernism, and its over-determining categories and epistemological modes of being) and revolutionary (the building of environments that are developmental, where people do things ahead of knowing how to do them).
“Whoever Heard of a Woman Running a Newspaper?”
Authors: Portlock John
Published: June 2024

It is not enough to class Charlotta Bass as an intellectual, someone enamored of ideas merely for their own sake. While certainly a lover of learning, she pursued ideas in service of racial uplift. Bass “thought the struggle.” Her ideas and their creation, be it her thoughts on unionization, Pan-Africanism, or integration, were always in service of black freedom, broadly construed. Given this, and given the fact that Bass enjoyed a visibility and influence matched only by a very few of her race in the first half of the twentieth century, we must count her among a rarified group of black public intellectuals whose thoughts and ideas have helped shape a people.
Mildred Fay Jefferson and the Pro-Life Movement
Authors: Williams Hettie V.
Published: June 2024

This chapter represents an important historical intervention in the history of the anti-abortion movement. This is because of its focus on Mildred Fay Jefferson and her ideas about abortion. While there are many texts on the history of abortion, few of these works focus on the role of African American women in the antiabortion movement. There is currently no single text on Jefferson or a scholarly work specifically focused on black women, more generally, in the history of the pro-life cause. Jefferson is only mentioned in passing within much of the scholarship on the history of abortion. Jefferson was a leading voice in the history of pro-life activism and she wrote extensively about her views on abortion and gave public talks on the subject on a regular basis. She was also instrumental in the development of key pro-life organizations at both the local and national level. In many respects, she is a key architect of the idea of the personhood of the fetus. Jefferson used her knowledge as a physician to advance the pro-life agenda by using her position as a black woman public intellectual to write about and deliver public lectures on the abortion.
“Regardless of What Life Presents You”
Authors: Fowler Carol , Ziobro Melissa
Published: June 2024

We posit that many African American women in the modern military do not want to be “gunslingers.” They almost always see their military service not as an adventure, but as a sensible path to self-betterment and upward mobility in a society that often limits their options. They enlist seeking personal advancement, economic empowerment, college tuition, and travel. They enlist because they want to expand their horizons and become more informed global citizens. They often rise through the ranks and become leaders and mentors, in the military and when they return to civilian life. They are black women public intellectuals. This chapter, which is not limited to but focuses on the post-Vietnam era to address a dearth of existing sources, is based on the authors’ analysis of more than 200 veterans’ oral history interviews, in addition to the academic historiography.
An Improved YOLO Network for Insulator and Insulator Defect Detection in UAV Images
Authors: Zhou Fangrong , Liu Lifeng , Hu Hao , Jin Weishi , Zheng Zezhong , Li Zhongnian , Ma Yi , Wang Qun
Published: June 2024

The power grid plays a vital role in the construction of livelihood projects by transmitting electrical energy. In the event of insulator explosions on power grid towers, these insulators may detach, presenting potential safety risks to transmission lines. The identification of such
failures relies on the examination of images captured by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). However, accurately detecting insulator defects remains challenging, particularly when dealing with variations in size. Existing methods exhibit limited accuracy in detecting small objects. In this paper,
we propose a novel detection method that incorporates the convolutional block attention module (CBAM) as an attention mechanism into the backbone of the "you only look once" version 5 (YOLOv5) model. Additionally, we integrate a residual structure into the model to learn additional information
and features related to insulators, thereby enhancing detection efficiency. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method achieved F1 scores of 0.87 for insulator detection and 0.89 for insulator defect detection. The improved YOLOv5 network shows promise in detecting insulators
and their defects in UAV images.
Real-Time Semantic Segmentation of Remote Sensing Images for Land Management
Authors: Zhang Yinsheng , Ji Ru , Hu Yuxiang , Yang Yulong , Chen Xin , Duan Xiuxian , Shan Huilin
Published: June 2024

Remote sensing image segmentation is a crucial technique in the field of land management. However, existing semantic segmentation networks require a large number of floating-point operations (FLOPs) and have long run times. In this paper, we propose a dual-path feature aggregation network
(DPFANet) specifically designed for the low-latency operations required in land management applications. Firstly, we use four sets of spatially separable convolutions with varying dilation rates to extract spatial features. Additionally, we use an improved version of MobileNetV2 to extract
semantic features. Furthermore, we use an asymmetric multi-scale fusion module and dual-path feature aggregation module to enhance feature extraction and fusion. Finally, a decoder is constructed to enable progressive up-sampling. Experimental results on the Potsdam data set and the Gaofen
image data set (GID) demonstrate that DPFANet achieves overall accuracy of 92.2% and 89.3%, respectively. The FLOPs are 6.72 giga and the number of parameters is 2.067 million.
Notes from the Editors, June 2024
Authors: Editors -
Published: June 2024

buy this issueIn this month's "Notes from the Editors," the editors confront the myth of Marx's purported early Prometheanism and later rejection of the growth of productive forces altogether, favoring a "no-growth path to communism." This ahistorical interpretation has engendered further critique of ecosocialism and degrowth on the part of self-identified productivist writers, who attempt incorrectly to paint degrowth as a Malthusian project, rather than a realistic effort to live within Earth's planetary capacities.
Was Karl Marx a Degrowth Communist?
Authors: Napoletano Brian M.
Published: June 2024

Brian Napoletano considers the implications of recent work by Kohei Saito, in which Saito argues that Marx's thought progressed from early productivism to middle-stage ecosocialism, and finally to degrowth communism. Where Saito misses, Napoletano concludes, is in emphasizing Marx's supposed break between growth-oriented capitalism and degrowth-oriented communism, rather than emphasizing a human- and sustainability-oriented dialectical ecosocialism requiring a true social and political revolution.
Priorização de sistemas críticos na inspeção geral de um equipamento
Authors: Silva Camila Manuelle Cardoso Braz da , Cruz Diogens Marco de Brito da , Borges Leandro Vieira , Menezes Jeane Denise de Souza
Published: June 2024

A inspeção geral do equipamento representa uma etapa crucial para aprimorar a maturidade e o conhecimento técnico dos grupos autônomos. Durante esse processo, ocorre a priorização dos sistemas críticos do equipamento e a resolução dos desvios identificados ao finalizar o passo. Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar os sistemas críticos do Necker, priorizá-los e propor ações para abordar esses GAPs. Utilizando uma abordagem de estudo de caso e uma metodologia qual quantitativa, foram aplicadas a matriz de priorização e o gráfico de Pareto para priorizar os sistemas. Por meio da análise de perdas, incluindo a revisão de 1502 etiquetas, o uso do gráfico de Pareto e da matriz de priorização permitiu identificar os principais sistemas e componentes críticos do equipamento, seguido pela proposição de um plano de ação para mitigar esses GAPs. Dessa forma, o estudo alcançou seu objetivo central e pode ser estendido para evidenciar todos os ganhos obtidos ao executar as ações durante o passo 04. Essa pesquisa pode contribuir significativamente para a Engenharia de Produção ao demonstrar a aplicabilidade das ferramentas da melhoria contínua e da TPM.
Reformulação do modelo de precificação de uma indústria de plástico flexível
Authors: Carvalho Eric Costa , Oliveira Lucas de
Published: June 2024

A sobrevivência de uma indústria passa pela manutenção  da sua posição de mercado e a capacidade de manter o seu processo lucrativo, enfrentando um mercado com extrema competitividade. Porém, essa realização depende muito da relação de vendas com o seu cliente e o preço de venda que é repassado a ele, pois no mundo de negócios, valores sempre falam mais alto do que uma relação amigável. Nesse caso, para ajudar a empresa de estudo, situada no ramo de plástico flexível,  a buscar o melhor preço dentro do mercado, enxergando as falhas e oportunidades da empresa, este projeto teve a finalidade de substituir o sistema de precificação já existente por outro que seja compatível com o processo produtivo, trazendo informações cruciais para a análise de vendas e a confiabilidade na formação dos dados apresentados, gerando mais segurança para a empresa no momento de venda. Dessa forma, este projeto se debruçou em compreender o processo produtivo da empresa, entender as suas necessidades comerciais junto a sua posição no mercado, revelando problemas e encontrando soluções para o processo de vendas de seus produtos.
Same Services New Operations in the Face of Challenges: The Impact on Library Services at the University of Guyana
Authors: Lowe Debra , Rose Simmone La , Harris Clyden
Published: June 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the University of Guyana to close its physical campuses on March 16, 2020. This closure affected the predominantly manual operations of the university.  This study examines the impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on the University of Guyana Library, providing a synopsis of some of the issues encountered during the period and how they were addressed. A case study approach was used to investigate the phenomenon. The methodology used for collecting and analyzing the data was qualitative and descriptive in nature, adapting the purposive sampling technique.  A questionnaire was used to elicit responses from key library personnel who were actively involved in managing the library during the pandemic. Data was also gathered from participatory observations. The results indicated that against all odds, the library adapted its services using various initiatives to continue serving its patrons, and conducted aspects of library administrative work in order to identify deficiencies for future strengthening and enhancement in preparation for a blended mode of operation.
Impacto de la intervención del laboratorio en la caracterización de la hipervitaminosis B12 en la práctica asistencial
Authors: Fernández-Landázuri Sara , Baeza-Trinidad Ramón , Bernardo González Iván
Published: June 2024

Objectivos

El hallazgo de hipervitaminosis B12 (HB12) no justificado en pacientes asintomáticos desencadena consultas médicas y pruebas diagnósticas, a fin de determinar la etiología. Nuestro objetivo fue probar la eficacia de la intervención del laboratorio en la detección y eliminación de inmunocomplejos con vitamina B12 en la práctica clínica, así como su impacto económico.

Métodos

Es un estudio retrospectivo y longitudinal diseñado para evaluar la estrategia del laboratorio para detectar macrovitamina B12 (macro-B12) en aquellos pacientes con HB12 mayor a 1.000 pg/mL. Se compararon las características clínicas de los pacientes con HB12 derivados a las consultas de Medicina Interna (MI) en el año anterior y posterior a la implantación de la estrategia y se calcularon los costes asistenciales generados en el año de seguimiento de los pacientes.

Resultados

La prevalencia de HB12 en el periodo previo y posterior a la implantación fue del 3,9 % y 3 %, respectivamente. La macro-B12 fue responsable del 25 % de la HB12 iniciales detectadas. El número de pacientes con HB12 derivados a las consultas de MI se redujo en el 41 % tras la implantación, traduciéndose en un ahorro de más de 5.000€.

Conclusiones

La intervención del laboratorio de detección de macro-B12 tiene un claro beneficio asistencial y económico en la práctica clínica.
Symmetry-breaking-induced off-resonance second-harmonic generation enhancement in asymmetric plasmonic nanoparticle dimers
Authors: Wang Yaorong , Peng Zhiwei , De Wilde Yannick , Lei Dangyuan
Published: June 2024

The linear and nonlinear optical properties of metallic nanoparticles have attracted considerable experimental and theoretical research interest. To date, most researchers have focused primarily on exploiting their plasmon excitation enhanced near-field and far-field responses and related applications in sensing, imaging, energy harvesting, conversion, and storage. Among numerous plasmonic structures, nanoparticle dimers, being a structurally simple and easy-to-prepare system, hold significant importance in the field of nanoplasmonics. In highly symmetric plasmonic nanostructures, although the odd-order optical nonlinearity of the near-surface region will be improved because of the enhanced near-fields, even-order nonlinear processes such as second-harmonic generation (SHG) will still be quenched and thus optically forbidden. Under this premise, it is imperative to introduce structural symmetry breaking to realize plasmon-enhanced even-order optical nonlinearity. Here, we fabricate a series of nanoparticle dimers each composed of two gold nanospheres with different diameters and subsequently investigate their structural asymmetry dependent linear and nonlinear optical properties. We find that the SHG intensities of gold nanosphere dimers are significantly enhanced by structural asymmetry under off-resonance excitation while the plasmonic near-field enhancement mainly affects SHG under on-resonance excitation. Our results reveal that symmetry breaking will play an indispensable role when designing novel coupled plasmonic nanostructures with enhanced nonlinear optical properties.
Mobile news access, mobile news repertoires, and users’ tendency to talk about the news – an experience sampling study on mobile news consumption
Authors: Karnowski Veronika , Knop-Huelss Katharina , Olbermann Zoe
Published: June 2024

Purpose

Over the past three decades, our media ecologies have substantially transformed, changing how people get in touch with the news. These changes have also led to higher variability in news access across users’ daily lives. Using the microcosm of mobile news consumption as a proxy for the changes in our general news use, we explore types of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires and their relations to users’ tendency to talk about the news. Our exploratory study aims to describe intra- and inter-personal variations in mobile news use. By taking this fine-grained perspective on mobile news use, we provide a more comprehensive assessment than cross-sectional studies, which is valuable to researchers and practitioners in mobile news.

Methodology

We conducted a 14-day experience sampling study among 72 young adult Germans. We received 2,211 filled-in in-situ questionnaires based on three daily alerts, reporting on 560 mobile news situations. We used multi-level latent class analysis to simultaneously assess patterns of mobile news access and mobile news repertoires.

Findings

We uncover five distinct types of mobile news access embedded in four mobile news repertoires. These findings highlight the considerable intra-individual heterogeneity in mobile news use. However, these heterogeneities only scarcely manifest in users’ tendency to talk about the news.

Practical and social value

Our study highlights the importance of acknowledging intra-individual variation when studying news use and its implications. Most importantly, we see that no mobile news repertoire among our sample relies solely on social media-based mobile news access. Researchers and practitioners must acknowledge these heterogeneities when discussing the benefits and perils of social media-based news access.
Establishment of a prognostic signature of disulfidptosis-related lncRNAs for predicting survival and immune landscape in clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Authors: Liu Jinhui , Zhang Zhou , Xiao Lei , Guo Yuhang , Luo Sheng , Zhou Benzheng
Published: June 2024

Objectives

A novel cell death pathway, disulfidptosis, marked by intracellular disulfide build-up, is a recently identified form of cell death. This study developed a dependable model using disulfidptosis-associated lncRNAs to predict outcomes and immune interactions in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) patients.

Methods

Data from ccRCC patients, including genomic and clinicopathological details, were sourced from The Cancer Genome Atlas database. We employed the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) along with regression analyses to construct a prognostic model consisting of 12 disulfidptosis-related lncRNAs (DRLs). The model’s validity was tested using the RECA-EU and GSE29609 datasets.

Results

The prognostic model, incorporating 12 DRLs – LINC01671, DOCK9-DT, AL078581.2, SPINT1-AS1, ZNF503-AS1, AL391883.1, AC002070.1, AP001372.2, AC068338.3, AC026401.3, AL355835.1, and AL162377.1 – distinguished high-risk ccRCC patients with diminished survival rates in both the training and validation cohorts. Further analyses through Cox regression confirmed this risk model’s independent prognostic capability regarding overall survival (OS). Functional enrichment analysis indicated significant involvement of differentially expressed genes in immune response mediator production. A prognostic nomogram, integrating DRLs with clinical features, showed strong predictive accuracy as confirmed by receiver operating characteristic curves. Additionally, assessments of immune functionality and tumor mutation burden varied across risk categories in the tumor microenvironment, highlighting potential targets for anticancer drugs.

Conclusions

The findings suggest the DRLs signature is a potent prognostic indicator and may serve to forecast responses to immunotherapy in ccRCC patients.
An antimicrobial acrylic polyurethane coating with TiO2-Ag hybrid nanoparticles
Authors: Nguyen Thien Vuong , Do Truc Vy , Hoang Thu Ha , Nguyen Tuan Anh , Lu Le Trong , Le Thi Mat , Pham Thanh Minh , Shuib Raa Khimi , Tran Dai Lam
Published: June 2024

The purpose of this work is to fabricate the advanced organic antibacterial coating containing the strong photocatalytic nanomaterials. For this purpose, firstly the TiO2–Ag hybrid nanoparticles are synthesized by chemical reduction method. Then, the antibacterial coating based on acrylic polyol, polyisocyanate, and these TiO2–Ag hybrid nanoparticles has been prepared. Mechanical properties show that the optimal content of TiO2–Ag hybrid nanoparticles in the coating matrix is 2 wt%, with its abrasion resistance of 166.2 L/mil; impact strength of 195 kg cm; adhesion of size #1 and relative hardness of 0.78. In addition, FE-SEM analysis shows that the nanocomposite coating has a tight structure with homogeneous dispersion of TiO2–Ag nanoparticles in the polymer matrix. The paint film has good antibacterial activity and has great application prospects. Data from the antibacterial test indicates that in the presence of an acrylic polyurethane coating containing 2 wt% TiO2–Ag, the number of viable Escherichia coli decreased from 3.4 × 105 CFU/ml to 1.5 × 102 CFU/ml after 24 h of culture.
Empirical Analysis of Gasoline Demand in Kuwait
Authors: Alfalah Osama , Algharabali Barrak
Published: June 2024

The objective of this paper was to investigate the determinants of gasoline demand in Kuwait and to assess their impact on consumption. We used the Standard Demand Equation (SDE), the Cointegration Techniques, and the Error Correction Model (ECM) on annual time-series data for Kuwait from 1972 to 2018. We obtained a price elasticity of -0.341 in the long-run, while the short-run price elasticity was insignificant, indicating that changes in prices had minimal or no effect on gasoline consumption in Kuwait. This may be at least in part due to consumers shifting their consumption from a higher grade of gasoline to a less expensive grade when prices changed. We also found that the income elasticity is 0.175 in the short-run and 0.234 in the long-run, indicating that income will be more effective in changing consumption in the long-run. We conclude that reducing gasoline subsidies could result in substantial governmental savings, but this may have an inequitable impact on low-income Kuwaitis.
The influence of boxing on the psycho-emotional state of adolescents under martial law
Authors:   Kharkiv  State  Academy  of  Physical Culture, Mulyk Kateryna , Skaliy Alexander ,   Institute of Sport and Physical Culture of the University of Economics in Bydgoszcz, Anosova Olena ,   Kharkiv  State  Academy  of  Physical Culture
Published: June 2024

Purpose: to determine the impact of boxing on the psycho-emotional state of adolescents under martial law. Material and Methods. analysis and generalization of scientific and methodological literature; questionnaire to identify the motivation of adolescents to boxing and their psycho-emotional state, social and psychological adaptability during the war; methods of mathematical statistics. The study involved 16 young men with no training experience, the average age was 15,8±0,7 years. The participants of the study were engaged in boxing for a year in sports clubs. Classes were held 5 times a week for 120 minutes. Results: it was found that the main motivations for boxing are socio-moral and socio-emotional satisfaction from practicing this sport. The conducted surveys and questionnaires on the psycho-emotional state and socio-psychological adaptability of adolescents during martial law made it possible to state the fact that young men already have psychological changes. It was found that under the influence of boxing training, the level of anxiety in adolescents decreased, and it was also found that psychoemotional indicators improved. Thus, at the end of the training year only 1 adolescent from the section remained with a very high level of anxiety, which amounted to 6,25 %, the number of adolescents with clearly increased anxiety decreased to 3 people (18,75 %). The number of adolescents who began to have a normal level of anxiety at the end of the study increased significantly. It has been established that under the influence of boxing training there were more positive changes in the formation of mental qualities such as «self-perception» (t=2,31; p<0,05), «internal» (t=2,31; p<0,05) and «external locus of control» (t=2,18; p<0,05), «emotional comfort» (t=2,40; p<0,05) and «discomfort» (t=2,33; p<0,05) and «escape from problem solving» (t=2,42; p<0,05). These results indicate that boxing training sessions had a positive impact on the level of psycho-emotional state of adolescents. Conclusions. It has been established that boxing training has a positive effect on the psycho-emotional state of adolescents, which in turn gives grounds to assert that physical activity is really important for the mental health of adolescents who are most sensitive to the effects of martial law.
The effectiveness of a 12-week sport nutrition education intervention on female volleyball players performance
Authors: Palani Bharathi , Louis Raj Yeddanapalli Chinniah , Kalmykova Yuliya , Sanjaykumar Swamynathan , Korsun Svitlana
Published: June 2024

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a 12-week sport nutrition education intervention (SNEI) on female volleyball players aged 18 to 25 in Tamil Nadu, India, with a focus on improving nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, body composition, and athletic performance.

Material and Methods: Employing a single-group pre- and post-test design, 30 participants underwent the SNEI, consisting of structured educational sessions covering topics such as energy intake, macronutrients, and hydration. Performance evaluations included agility, vertical jump, broad jump, and strength tests using standardized protocols.

Results: Post-intervention, participants demonstrated significant improvements in multiple domains. Sport nutrition knowledge increased significantly, with mean scores rising from 65.4 ± 7.2 to 82.7 ± 6.5. Dietary intake saw notable enhancements, particularly in protein and fat consumption, reflecting adherence to dietary guidelines. Body composition assessments revealed reduced fat mass, indicating improvements in body composition. Performance metrics exhibited significant enhancements, including agility, vertical jump height, broad jump distance, and strength, highlighting improved athletic performance.

Conclusions: The findings indicate that the 12-week SNEI effectively enhanced sport nutrition knowledge, dietary habits, body composition, and athletic performance among female volleyball players aged 18 to 25 in Tamil Nadu, India. Integrating nutrition education into athlete development programs is crucial for optimizing performance and fostering informed nutrition practices. The study underscores the importance of targeted interventions tailored to the unique needs of athletes, particularly in regions where resources for nutritional education may be limited.
Spontaneous abscess of the cervical posterior simple meningocele of child: A rare case and literature review
Authors: Hamma Ousmane Issoufou , Dossou Mèhomè Wilfried , Agada Kpègnon Nicaise , Lawson Laté Dzidoula , Chaïbou Sodé Haboubacar
Published: June 2024

Simple meningocele is a rare subtype of spinal cord malformation, with meninges and cerebrospinal fluid protruding into the subcutaneous tissue through a defect in the spinal column. However, the skin covering the defect is intact. If the cyst protrudes dorsally from the spinal canal, we speak of simple posterior meningocele. Simple posterior cervical meningocele is a very rare clinical entity. Spontaneous abscess of spinal dysraphism is an extremely rare complication that occurs when surgical cure is delayed. We report an exceptional case of simple posterior cervical meningocele complicated by an abscess requiring emergency surgery. This case highlights the importance of performing surgery within 24-48 hours of birth.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (397 cases), a disease of civilization
Authors: Djuricic Ivanka , Ljujic LPN Milena
Published: June 2024

This study investigates the effectiveness of bioresonance therapy in treating chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). After analyzing 397 patients with common contributors, it explores factors that influence it and effective therapy as a solution. Three tailored bioresonance therapies, coupled with dietary adjustments, yield significant improvements, emphasizing the method's role in uncovering CFS origins and achieving rapid psychophysical balance.
Developmental Outcomes after Opioid Exposure in the Fetus and Neonate
Authors: Fong Jeanette , Lewis Juanita , Lam Melanie , Kesavan Kalpashri
Published: June 2024

The overall prevalence of opiate use has been increasing, currently affecting approximately 0.6% of the global population and resulting in a significant proportion of infants being born with prenatal opioid exposure. Animal and human models of prenatal opioid exposure demonstrate detrimental effects on brain anatomy as well as neurodevelopment. Less is known about the neurologic sequelae of postnatal opioid exposure in hospitalized infants. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the impact of prenatal and postnatal opioid exposure on the brain and on neurodevelopment outcomes. We also identify resources and management strategies that may help mitigate neurodevelopmental delays and deficits associated with opioid exposure in this vulnerable population.
Heuristic Search for the Orienteering Problem with Time-Varying Reward
Authors: Cao Chao , Xu Jinyun , Zhang Ji , Choset Howie , Ren Zhongqiang
Published: June 2024

The Orienteering Problem (OP) seeks a path on a graph to maximize total rewards collected subject to a path length budget. Typically, a reward is achieved by visiting a vertex in the graph, and such a reward is constant for all time. This paper considers a variant of OP where the reward of each vertex is an arbitrary time-dependent function, and hence the name time-varying reward OP (TR-OP). To solve this problem, we develop a novel heuristic search algorithm called Reward Maximization A* (RMA*), which is guaranteed to find an optimal solution to TR-OP. We also develop a fast method to compute an admissible heuristic for RMA* that can effectively direct the search to save computational effort. Furthermore, we introduce a hyper-parameter in RMA* that trades off between solution quality and runtime efficiency for RMA*. We benchmark RMA* against a recent dynamic programming (DP) approach, which runs fast in practice, but has no guarantee of the solution optimality. In our tests, RMA* reduces the runtime by up to 70% compared to DP. By adjusting the hyper-parameter, RMA* is able to find solutions with up to 30% more rewards than those found by DP.
Avoiding Node Re-Expansions Can Break Symmetry Breaking
Authors: Carlson Mark , Harabor Daniel , Stuckey Peter J.
Published: June 2024

Symmetry breaking and weighted-suboptimal search are two popular speed up techniques used in pathfinding search.
It is a commonly held assumption that they are orthogonal and easily combined.
In this paper we illustrate that this is not necessarily the case when combining a number of symmetry breaking methods, based on Jump Point Search, with Weighted A*, a bounded suboptimal search approach which does not require node re-expansions.
Surprisingly, the combination of these two methods can cause search to fail, finding no path to a target node when clearly such paths exist.
We demonstrate this phenomena and show how we can modify the combination to always succeed with low overhead.
Generalized Longest Simple Path Problems: Speeding up Search Using SPQR Trees
Authors: Dahan Gal , Tabib Itay , Shimony Solomon Eyal , Dinitz Yefim
Published: June 2024

The longest simple path and snake-in-a-box are combinatorial search problems of considerable research interest. Recent work has recast
these problems as special cases of a generalized longest simple path (GLSP) framework, and showed how to generate improved search heuristics for them.
The greatest reduction in search effort was based on SPQR tree rules,
but it was
posed as an open problem how to use them optimally. Unrelated to search, a theoretical paper on the existence of simple cycles that include three given edges answers such queries in linear time with SPQR trees. These theoretical results
are utilized in this paper to develop advanced heuristics and search partitioning for GLSP.
Empirical results on grid-based graphs show that these heuristics can result in orders of magnitude reduction in the number of expansions, as well as significantly reduced overall runtime in most cases.
Solving Facility Location Problems via FastMap and Locality Sensitive Hashing
Authors: Li Ang , Stuckey Peter J. , Koenig Sven , Kumar T. K. Satish
Published: June 2024

Facility Location Problems (FLPs) arise while serving multiple customers in a shared environment, minimizing transportation and other costs. Hence, they involve the optimal placement of facilities. They are defined on graphs as well as in Euclidean spaces with or without obstacles; and they are typically NP-hard to solve optimally. There are many heuristic algorithms tailored to different kinds of FLPs. However, FLPs defined in Euclidean spaces without obstacles are the most amenable to efficient and effective heuristic algorithms. This motivates the idea of quickly reformulating FLPs on graphs and in Euclidean spaces with obstacles to FLPs in Euclidean spaces without obstacles. Towards this end, we propose a new approach that uses FastMap and Locality Sensitive Hashing. FastMap is a near-linear-time algorithm that embeds the vertices of a graph in a Euclidean space while approximately preserving graph-based distances as Euclidean distances for all pairs of vertices. Through extensive experiments, we show that our approach significantly outperforms other state-of-the-art competing algorithms on a variety of FLPs: the Multi-Agent Meeting, Vertex K-Median (VKM), Weighted VKM, and the Capacitated VKM problems.
Multi-Agent Path Execution with Uncertainty
Authors: Liu Yihao , Tang Xueyan , Cai Wentong , Li Jingning
Published: June 2024

In real-world multi-agent applications, unexpected conditions can break the assumptions made in path planning and degrade the effectiveness of path execution. This paper studies robust and effective execution of multi-agent path plans under uncertainty. To guarantee conflict-freeness and deadlock-freeness, we define a feasibility problem to check whether the remaining portion of a path plan can be successfully executed. We prove that the problem is NP-complete and propose a feasibility test algorithm. We further develop algorithms to coordinate the agents online and have as many of them as possible moving concurrently to maximize the effectiveness of execution. We experimentally demonstrate the path execution effectiveness and computational efficiency of our algorithms.
Prioritised Planning with Guarantees
Authors: Morag Jonathan , Zhang Yue , Koyfman Daniel , Chen Zhe , Felner Ariel , Harabor Daniel , Stern Roni
Published: June 2024

Prioritised Planning (PP) is a family of incomplete and sub-optimal algorithms for multi-agent and multi-robot navigation. In PP, agents compute collision-free paths in a fixed order, one at a time. Although fast and usually effective, PP can still fail, leaving users without explanation or recourse. In this work, we give a theoretical and empirical basis for better understanding the underlying problem solved by PP, which we call Priority Constrained MAPF (PC-MAPF). We first investigate the complexity of PC-MAPF and show that the decision problem is NP-hard. We then develop Priority Constrained Search (PCS), a new algorithm that is both complete and optimal with respect to a fixed priority ordering. We experiment with PCS in a range of settings, including comparisons with existing PP baselines, and we give first-known results for optimal PC-MAPF on a popular benchmark set.
Neural Sequence Generation with Constraints via Beam Search with Cuts: A Case Study on VRP
Authors: Shati Pouya , Cohen Eldan , McIlraith Sheila
Published: June 2024

In recent years, neural sequence models have been applied successfully to solve combinatorial optimization problems. Solutions, encoded as sequences, are typically generated from trained models via beam search, a search algorithm that generates sequences token-by-token while keeping a fixed number of promising partial solutions at each step. In this paper, we explore the problem of augmenting beam search generation with the enforcement of requirements---hard constraints that any generated solution must adhere to. We propose a hybrid approach, by encoding the requirements in the form of a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) and iteratively solving the CSP to cut any partial solution within the beam search that is incapable of satisfying the requirements. We study this problem in the context of vehicle routing problems (VRP) further augmented with capacity-related or temporal requirements. We experimentally show that cuts often allow us to satisfy the requirements with negligible impact on solution quality. Without the use of cuts, beam search is shown to be exponentially less likely to satisfy the requirements as the length of the solution increases and/or the requirements are strengthened.
ITA-ECBS: A Bounded-Suboptimal Algorithm for Combined Target-Assignment and Path-Finding Problem
Authors: Tang Yimin , Koenig Sven , Li Jiaoyang
Published: June 2024

Multi-Agent Path Finding (MAPF), i.e., finding collision-free paths for multiple robots, plays a critical role in many applications. Sometimes, assigning a target to each agent also presents a challenge. The Combined Target-Assignment and Path-Finding (TAPF) problem, a variant of MAPF, requires one to simultaneously assign targets to agents and plan collision-free paths for agents. Several algorithms, including CBM, CBS-TA, and ITA-CBS, optimally solve the TAPF problem, with ITA-CBS being the leading algorithm for minimizing flowtime. However, the only existing bounded-suboptimal algorithm ECBS-TA is derived from CBS-TA rather than ITA-CBS. So, it faces the same issues as CBS-TA, such as searching through multiple constraint trees and spending too much time on finding the next-best target assignment. We introduce ITA-ECBS, the first bounded-suboptimal variant of ITA-CBS. Transforming ITA-CBS to its bounded-suboptimal variant is challenging because different constraint tree nodes can have different assignments of targets to agents. ITA-ECBS uses focal search to achieve efficiency and determines target assignments based on a new lower bound matrix. We show that it runs faster than ECBS-TA in 87.42% of 54,033 test cases.
Clique Analysis and Bypassing in Continuous-Time Conflict-Based Search
Authors: Walker Thayne T. , Sturtevant Nathan R. , Felner Ariel
Published: June 2024

While the study of unit-cost Multi-Agent Pathfinding (MAPF) problems has been popular, many real-world problems require continuous time and costs.
In this context, this paper studies symmetry-breaking enhancements for Continuous-Time Conflict-Based Search (CCBS), a solver for continuous-time MAPF.
Resolving conflict symmetries in MAPF can require an exponential amount of work. We adapt known symmetry-breaking enhancements from unit-cost domains for CCBS: bypassing and biclique constraints. We then improve upon these to produce a new state-of-the-art algorithm: CCBS with disjoint k-partite cliques (CCBS+DK). Finally, we show empirically that CCBS+DK solves for up to 20% more agents in the same amount of time when compared to previous state-of-the-art.