bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Alignments of a Microparticle Pair in a Glow Discharge
Authors: Lisin Evgeny , Kononov Evgeny , Sametov Eduard , Vasiliev Mikhail , Petrov Oleg
Published: December 2021

Stability of a vertically aligned microparticle pair in a stratified glow DC discharge is experimentally investigated. Using laser perturbations, it is shown that, for the same discharge parameters, a pair of microparticles can be suspended in two stable configurations: vertical and horizontal. The interparticle interaction and the electric field of the stratum in the region of particle levitation are quantitatively investigated for the first time. The decharging effect of the lower (downstream) particle by the ion flow wake is also observed for the first time in a glow discharge. The obtained experimental data made it possible to check the analytical criteria for the configurational stability of the system.
Effect of Substrates on Femtosecond Laser Pulse-Induced Reductive Sintering of Cobalt Oxide Nanoparticles
Authors: Mizoshiri Mizue , Yoshidomi Kyohei , Darkhanbaatar Namsrai , Khairullina Evgenia M. , Tumkin Ilya I.
Published: December 2021

Direct writing of cobalt/cobalt oxide composites has attracted attention for its potential use in catalysts and detectors in microsensors. In this study, cobalt-based composite patterns were selectively formed on glass, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates via the femtosecond laser reductive sintering of Co3O4 nanoparticles in an ambient atmosphere. A Co3O4 nanoparticle ink, including the nanoparticles, ethylene glycol as a reductant, and polyvinylpyrrolidone as a dispersant, was spin-coated onto the substrates. Near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses were then focused and scanned across the ink films to form the patterns. The non-sintered nanoparticles were subsequently removed from the substrate. The resulting sintered patterns were found to be made up of Co/CoO composites on the glass substrates, utilizing various pulse energies and scanning speeds, and the Co/CoO/Co3O4 composites were fabricated on both the PEN and PET substrates. These results suggest that the polymer substrates with low thermal resistance react with the ink during the reductive sintering process and oxidize the patterns more easily compared with the patterns on the glass substrates. Such a direct writing technique of cobalt/cobalt oxide composites is useful for the spatially selective printing of catalysts and detectors in functional microsensors.
Concept for Efficient Light Harvesting in Perovskite Materials via Solar Harvester with Multi-Functional Folded Electrode
Authors: Wei Mao-Qugn , Lai Yu-Sheng , Tseng Po-Hsien , Li Mei-Yi , Huang Cheng-Ming , Ko Fu-Hsiang
Published: December 2021

Conventional electrodes in typical photodetectors only conduct electrical signals and introduce high optical reflection, impacting the optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency. The created surface solar harvester with a multi-functional folded electrode (MFFE) realizes both a three-dimensional Schottky junction with a larger light detecting area as well as low optical reflection from 300 nm (ultra-violet light) to 1100 nm (near-infrared light) broadly without an additional anti-reflection layer. The MFFE needs silicon etching following the lithography process. The metal silver was deposited over structured silicon, completing the whole device simply. According to the experimental results, the width ratio of the bottom side to the top side in MFFE was 15.75, and it showed an optical reflection of 5–7% within the major solar spectrum of AM1.5G by the gradient refractive index effect and the multi-scattering phenomenon simultaneously. While the perovskite materials were deposited over the MFFE structure of the solar harvester, the three-dimensional electrode with lower optical reflection benefitted the perovskite solar cell with a larger detecting area and an additional anti-reflection function to absorb solar energy more efficiently. In this concept, because of the thin stacked film in the perovskite solar cell, the solar energy could be harvested by the prepared Schottky junction of the solar harvester again, except for the optical absorption of the perovskite materials. Moreover, the perovskite materials deposited over the MFFE structure could not absorb near-infrared (NIR) energies to become transparent. The NIR light could be harvested by the light detecting junction of the solar harvester to generate effective photocurrent output additionally for extending the detection capability of perovskite solar cell further. In this work, the concept of integration of a conventional perovskite solar cell with a silicon-based solar harvester having an MFFE structure was proposed and is expected to harvest broadband light energies under low optical reflection and enhance the solar energy conversion efficiency.
Stability of SiNx Prepared by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition at Low Temperature
Authors: Zhang Chi , Wu Majiaqi , Wang Pengchang , Jian Maoliang , Zhang Jianhua , Yang Lianqiao
Published: December 2021

In this paper, the environmental stability of silicon nitride (SiNx) films deposited at 80 °C by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition was studied systematically. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared reflection were used to analyze the element content and atomic bond structure of the amorphous SiNx films. Variation of mechanical and optical properties were also evaluated. It is found that SiNx deposited at low temperature is easily oxidized, especially at elevated temperature and moisture. The hardness and elastic modulus did not change significantly with the increase of oxidation. The changes of the surface morphology, transmittance, and fracture extensibility are negligible. Finally, it is determined that SiNx films deposited at low-temperature with proper processing parameters are suitable for thin-film encapsulation of flexible devices.
Antiviral Activity of Ribavirin against Tilapia tilapinevirus in Fish Cells
Authors: Lertwanakarn Tuchakorn , Trongwongsa Pirada , Yingsakmongkol Sangchai , Khemthong Matepiya , Tattiyapong Puntanat , Surachetpong Win
Published: December 2021

The outbreak of the novel Tilapia tilapinevirus or Tilapia lake virus (TiLV) is having a severe economic impact on global tilapia aquaculture. Effective treatments and vaccines for TiLV are lacking. In this study, we demonstrated the antiviral activity of ribavirin against TiLV in E-11 cells. Our findings revealed that at concentrations above 100 μg/mL, ribavirin efficiently attenuates the cytopathic effect of the TiLV infection in fish cells. When administered in a dose-dependent manner, ribavirin significantly improved cell survival compared to the untreated control cells. Further investigation revealed that the cells exposed to ribavirin and TiLV had a lower viral load (p < 0.05) than the untreated cells. However, at concentrations above 1000 μg/mL, ribavirin led to cell toxicity. Taken together, our results demonstrate the efficacy of this antiviral drug against TiLV and could be a useful tool for future research on the pathogenesis and replication mechanism of TiLV as well as other piscine viruses.
Synthetic Strigolactone GR24 Improves Arabidopsis Somatic Embryogenesis through Changes in Auxin Responses
Authors: Elhiti Mohamed , Mira Mohammed M. , So Kenny K. Y. , Stasolla Claudio , Hebelstrup Kim H.
Published: December 2021

Somatic embryogenesis in Arabidopsis encompasses an induction phase requiring auxin as the inductive signal to promote cellular dedifferentiation and formation of the embryogenic tissue, and a developmental phase favoring the maturation of the embryos. Strigolactones (SLs) have been categorized as a novel group of plant hormones based on their ability to affect physiological phenomena in plants. The study analyzed the effects of synthetic strigolactone GR24, applied during the induction phase, on auxin response and formation of somatic embryos. The expression level of two SL biosynthetic genes, MOREAXILLARY GROWTH 3 and 4 (MAX3 and MAX4), which are responsible for the conversion of carotene to carotenal, increased during the induction phase of embryogenesis. Arabidopsis mutant studies indicated that the somatic embryo number was inhibited in max3 and max4 mutants, and this effect was reversed by applications of GR24, a synthetic strigolactone, and exacerbated by TIS108, a SL biosynthetic inhibitor. The transcriptional studies revealed that the regulation of GR24 and TIS108 on somatic embryogenesis correlated with changes in expression of AUXIN RESPONSIVE FACTORs 5, 8, 10, and 16, known to be required for the production of the embryogenic tissue, as well as the expression of WUSCHEL (WUS) and Somatic Embryogenesis Receptor-like Kinase 1 (SERK1), which are markers of cell dedifferentiation and embryogenic tissue formation. Collectively, this work demonstrated the novel role of SL in enhancing the embryogenic process in Arabidopsis and its requirement for inducing the expression of genes related to auxin signaling and production of embryogenic tissue.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Melon bHLH Transcription Factors in Regulation of Fruit Development
Authors: Tan Chao , Qiao Huilei , Ma Ming , Wang Xue , Tian Yunyun , Bai Selinge , Hasi Agula
Published: December 2021

The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor family is one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and plays crucial roles in plant development. Melon is an important horticultural plant as well as an attractive model plant for studying fruit ripening. However, the bHLH gene family of melon has not yet been identified, and its functions in fruit growth and ripening are seldom researched. In this study, 118 bHLH genes were identified in the melon genome. These CmbHLH genes were unevenly distributed on chromosomes 1 to 12, and five CmbHLHs were tandem repeat on chromosomes 4 and 8. There were 13 intron distribution patterns among the CmbHLH genes. Phylogenetic analysis illustrated that these CmbHLHs could be classified into 16 subfamilies. Expression patterns of the CmbHLH genes were studied using transcriptome data. Tissue specific expression of the CmbHLH32 gene was analysed by quantitative RT-PCR. The results showed that the CmbHLH32 gene was highly expressed in female flower and early developmental stage fruit. Transgenic melon lines overexpressing CmbHLH32 were generated, and overexpression of CmbHLH32 resulted in early fruit ripening compared to wild type. The CmbHLH transcription factor family was identified and analysed for the first time in melon, and overexpression of CmbHLH32 affected the ripening time of melon fruit. These findings laid a foundation for further study on the role of bHLH family members in the growth and development of melon.
Evolution of 14-3-3 Proteins in Angiosperm Plants: Recurring Gene Duplication and Loss
Authors: Mikhaylova Yulia V. , Puzanskiy Roman K. , Shishova Maria F.
Published: December 2021

14-3-3 proteins are key regulatory factors in plants and are involved in a broad range of physiological processes. We addressed the evolutionary history of 14-3-3s from 46 angiosperm species, including basal angiosperm Amborella and major lineage of monocotyledons and eudicotyledons. Orthologs of Arabidopsis isoforms were detected. There were several rounds of duplication events in the evolutionary history of the 14-3-3 protein family in plants. At least four subfamilies (iota, epsilon, kappa, and psi) formed as a result of ancient duplication in a common ancestor of angiosperm plants. Recent duplication events followed by gene loss in plant lineage, among others Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, and Poaceae, further shaped the high diversity of 14-3-3 isoforms in plants. Coexpression data showed that 14-3-3 proteins formed different functional groups in different species. In some species, evolutionarily related groups of 14-3-3 proteins had coexpressed together under certain physiological conditions, whereas in other species, closely related isoforms expressed in the opposite manner. A possible explanation is that gene duplication and loss is accompanied by functional plasticity of 14-3-3 proteins.
Nano-Enabled Products: Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Agriculture
Authors: Rajput Vishnu D. , Singh Abhishek , Minkina Tatiana , Rawat Sapna , Mandzhieva Saglara , Sushkova Svetlana , Shuvaeva Victoria , Nazarenko Olga , Rajput Priyadarshani , Komariah  , Verma Krishan K. , Singh Awani Kumar , Rao Mahesh , Upadhyay Sudhir K.
Published: December 2021

Nanotechnology has gained popularity in recent years owing to its established potential for application and implementation in various sectors such as medical drugs, medicine, catalysis, energy, material, and plant science. Nanoparticles (NPs) are smaller in size (1–100 nm) with a larger surface area and have many fruitful applications. The extraordinary functions of NPs are utilized in sustainable agriculture due to nano-enabled products, e.g., nano-insecticides, nano-pesticides, and nano-fertilizers. Nanoparticles have lately been suggested as an alternate method for controlling plant pests such as insects, fungi, and weeds. Several NPs exhibit antimicrobial properties considered in food packaging processes; for example, Ag-NPs are commonly used for such purposes. Apart from their antimicrobial properties, NPs such as Si, Ag, Fe, Cu, Al, Zn, ZnO, TiO2, CeO2, Al2O3, and carbon nanotubes have also been demonstrated to have negative impacts on plant growth and development. This review examines the field-use of nano-enabled products in sustainable agriculture, future perspectives, and growing environmental concerns. The remarkable information on commercialized nano-enabled products used in the agriculture and allied sectors are also provided.
Astaxantin and Isoflavones Inhibit Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia in Rats by Reducing Oxidative Stress and Normalizing Ca/Mg Balance
Authors: Semenov Alexander , Gubareva Ekaterina , Ermakova Elena , Dorofeeva Anastasia , Tumanyan Irina , Radetskaya Ekaterina , Yurova Maria , Aboushanab Saied , Kanwugu Osman , Fedoros Elena , Panchenko Andrey
Published: December 2021

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common pathology among aging men. Despite the broad pharmacological interventions, the available remedies to treat BPH are yet not devoid of side effects. Herbal compounds are suggested to be an alternative option for the BPH treatment. In our study, we evaluated the effect of kudzu isoflavones and astaxanthin on the BPH animal model. The animals were randomly divided into five groups: control; testosterone-induced BPH group; and three BPH-induced groups, which received intragastrically for 28 days finasteride (5 mg/kg) as a positive control, isoflavones (200 mg/kg), and astaxanthin (25 mg/kg). BPH was induced by castration of animals and subsequent subcutaneous injections of prolonged testosterone (25 mg/kg). Prostate index and histology, biochemical parameters, and antioxidant activity were evaluated. A significant decrease in prostate weight, immunohistochemical markers, and normalization of prostate Ca/Mg ratio was found in all treatment groups. Astaxanthin treatment also resulted in decreased epithelial proliferation and normalized superoxide dismutase activity. In conclusion, both isoflavones and astaxanthin inhibited BPH development at a level comparable to finasteride in terms of prostate weight, prostatic epithelium proliferation, and prostate tissue cumulative histology score. These results suggest that isoflavones and especially astaxanthin could serve as a potential alternative therapy to treat BHP.
Evaluation of Antioxidant and Antibacterial Activities of White Mulberry (Morus alba L.) Fruit Extracts
Authors: Suriyaprom Sureeporn , Kaewkod Thida , Promputtha Itthayakorn , Desvaux Mickaël , Tragoolpua Yingmanee
Published: December 2021

The fruit of mulberry trees (Morus sp.), mulberries, are traditionally utilised as a nutritional food and provide health benefits as well as skin nourishment in Thailand. White mulberries (Morus alba L.) from Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces were evaluated for their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The antioxidant activities as well as the total phenolic, flavonoid and anthocyanin content of the aqueous and ethanolic extracts were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazolin-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays. The aqueous extracts of mulberries exhibited the highest antioxidant activity, which was associated with a higher phenolic and anthocyanin content. In testing the potent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, Staphylococcus aureus and Vibrio cholerae, the mulberry extracts proved to be quite efficient, especially following water extraction. Time-kill and antibacterial adhesion assays further indicated that aqueous mulberry extracts could inhibit bacterial growth and prevent adhesions of pathogenic enteric bacteria on intestinal epithelial cells. It thus appears that mulberries can potentially be consumed as a good source of antioxidants, containing antimicrobial properties against some pathogenic bacteria which cause gastrointestinal tract infections.
Reference-Guided De Novo Genome Assembly to Dissect a QTL Region for Submergence Tolerance Derived from Ciherang-Sub1
Authors: Liang Yuya , Wang Shichen , Harper Chersty L. , Subramanian Nithya K. , Tabien Rodante E. , Johnson Charles D. , Bailey-Serres Julia , Septiningsih Endang M.
Published: December 2021

Global climate change has increased the number of severe flooding events that affect agriculture, including rice production in the U.S. and internationally. Heavy rainfall can cause rice plants to be completely submerged, which can significantly affect grain yield or completely destroy the plants. Recently, a major effect submergence tolerance QTL during the vegetative stage, qSub8.1, which originated from Ciherang-Sub1, was identified in a mapping population derived from a cross between Ciherang-Sub1 and IR10F365. Ciherang-Sub1 was, in turn, derived from a cross between Ciherang and IR64-Sub1. Here, we characterize the qSub8.1 region by analyzing the sequence information of Ciherang-Sub1 and its two parents (Ciherang and IR64-Sub1) and compare the whole genome profile of these varieties with the Nipponbare and Minghui 63 (MH63) reference genomes. The three rice varieties were sequenced with 150 bp pair-end whole-genome shotgun sequencing (Illumina HiSeq4000), followed by performing the Trimmomatic-SOAPdenovo2-MUMmer3 pipeline for genome assembly, resulting in approximate genome sizes of 354.4, 343.7, and 344.7 Mb, with N50 values of 25.1, 25.4, and 26.1 kb, respectively. The results showed that the Ciherang-Sub1 genome is composed of 59–63% Ciherang, 22–24% of IR64-Sub1, and 15–17% of unknown sources. The genome profile revealed a more detailed genomic composition than previous marker-assisted breeding and showed that the qSub8.1 region is mostly from Ciherang, with some introgressed segments from IR64-Sub1 and currently unknown source(s).
A Supersensitive Method for Spectroscopic Diagnostics of Electrostatic Waves in Magnetized Plasmas
Authors: Oks Eugene , Dalimier Elisabeth , Angelo Paulo
Published: December 2021

For relatively strong magnetic fields, hydrogen atoms can have delocalized bound states of almost macroscopic dimensions. Therefore, such states are characterized by a Giant Electric Dipole Moment (GEDM), thus making them very sensitive to an external electric field. We considered the manifestations of the GEDM states in hydrogen spectral line profiles in the presence of a quasimonochromatic electrostatic wave of a frequency ω in a plasma. We demonstrated that in this situation, hydrogen spectral lines can exhibit quasi-satellites, which are the envelopes of Blochinzew-type satellites. We showed that the distinctive feature of such quasi-satellites is that their peak intensity is located at the same distance from the line center (in the frequency scale) for all hydrogen spectral lines, the distance being significantly greater than the wave frequency ω. At the absence of the GEDM (and for relatively strong electrostatic waves), the maxima of the satellite envelopes would be at different distances from the line center for different hydrogen lines. We demonstrated that this effect would constitute a supersensitive diagnostic method for measuring the amplitude of electrostatic waves in plasmas down to ~10 V/cm or even lower.
Superior Interaction of Electron Beam Irradiation with Carbon Nanotubes Added Polyvinyl Alcohol Composite System
Authors: Bee Soo-Tueen , Ooi Ker Qi Nicole , Sin Lee Tin , Ng Hon-Meng , Lim Jun-Ven , Ratnam Chantara Thevy , Ma Chi
Published: December 2021

This work was conducted to investigate the effect of carbon nanotube (CNT) on the mechanical-physico properties of the electron beam irradiated polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) blends. The increasing of CNT amount up to 1.5 part per hundred resin (phr) has gradually improved tensile strength and Young’s modulus of PVOH/CNT nanocomposites due to effective interlocking effect of CNT particles in PVOH matrix, as evident in SEM observation. However, further increments of CNT, amounting up to 2 phr, has significantly decreased the tensile strength and Young’s modulus of PVOH/CNT nanocomposits due to the CNT agglomeration at higher loading level. Irradiation was found to effectively improve the tensile strength of PVOH/CNT nanocomposites by inducing the interfacial adhesion effect between CNT particles and PVOH matrix. This was further verified by the decrement values of d-spacing of the deflection peak. The increasing of CNT amounts from 0.5 phr to 1 phr has marginally induced the wavenumber of O–H stretching, which indicates the weakening of hydrogen bonding in PVOH matrix. However, further increase in CNT amounts up to 2 phr was observed to reduce the wavenumber of O–H stretching due to poor interaction effect between CNT and PVOH matrix. Electron beam irradiation was found to induce the melting temperature of all PVOH/CNT nanocomposite by inducing the crosslinked networks.
Engraving and Religious Imagery in the Modern Age: Between Verisimilitude and the Suggestion of Non-Existent Realities. Analysis of Some Cases Elaborated in Spain
Authors: Cuesta García de Leonardo María José
Published: December 2021

The didactic importance of the religious image can be appreciated in the use of engraving and its power to disseminate, especially in the urban society of the Modern Age, in connection with the printed book. Such images will use their evocative power to suggest, based on observable realities, a reality that never existed, but which is convenient to create: The image will be able to construct this reality and convince observers of its undoubted existence. Some examples elaborated in Spain will be analyzed, as well as their inventors or the engravers who followed the instructions of the previous ones.
Overcoming Kinematic Singularities for Motion Control in a Caster Wheeled Omnidirectional Robot
Authors: Medina Oded , Hacohen Shlomi
Published: December 2021

Omnidirectional planar robots are common these days due to their high mobility, for example in human–robot interactions. The motion of such mechanisms is based on specially designed wheels, which may vary when different terrains are considered. The usage of actuated caster wheels (ACW) may enable the usage of regular wheels. Yet, it is known that an ACW robot with three actuated wheels needs to overcome kinematic singularities. This paper introduces the kinematic model for an ACW omni robot. We present a novel method to overcome the kinematic singularities of the mechanism’s Jacobian matrix by performing the time propagation in the mechanism’s configuration space. We show how the implementation of this method enables the estimation of caster wheels’ swivel angles by tracking the plate’s velocity. We present the mechanism’s kinematics and trajectory tracking in real-world experimentation using a novel robot design.
Predicting Human Motion Signals Using Modern Deep Learning Techniques and Smartphone Sensors
Authors: Kim Taehwan , Park Jeongho , Lee Juwon , Park Jooyoung
Published: December 2021

The global adoption of smartphone technology affords many conveniences, and not surprisingly, healthcare applications using wearable sensors like smartphones have received much attention. Among the various potential applications and research related to healthcare, recent studies have been conducted on recognizing human activities and characterizing human motions, often with wearable sensors, and with sensor signals that generally operate in the form of time series. In most studies, these sensor signals are used after pre-processing, e.g., by converting them into an image format rather than directly using the sensor signals themselves. Several methods have been used for converting time series data to image formats, such as spectrograms, raw plots, and recurrence plots. In this paper, we deal with the health care task of predicting human motion signals obtained from sensors attached to persons. We convert the motion signals into image formats with the recurrence plot method, and use it as an input into a deep learning model. For predicting subsequent motion signals, we utilize a recently introduced deep learning model combining neural networks and the Fourier transform, the Fourier neural operator. The model can be viewed as a Fourier-transform-based extension of a convolution neural network, and in these experiments, we compare the results of the model to the convolution neural network (CNN) model. The results of the proposed method in this paper show better performance than the results of the CNN model and, furthermore, we confirm that it can be utilized for detecting potential accidental falls more quickly via predicted motion signals.
An SDN-Based Solution for Horizontal Auto-Scaling and Load Balancing of Transparent VNF Clusters
Authors: Llorens-Carrodeguas Alejandro , Leyva-Pupo Irian , Cervelló-Pastor Cristina , Piñeiro Luis , Siddiqui Shuaib
Published: December 2021

This paper studies the problem of the dynamic scaling and load balancing of transparent virtualized network functions (VNFs). It analyzes different particularities of this problem, such as loop avoidance when performing scaling-out actions, and bidirectional flow affinity. To address this problem, a software-defined networking (SDN)-based solution is implemented consisting of two SDN controllers and two OpenFlow switches (OFSs). In this approach, the SDN controllers run the solution logic (i.e., monitoring, scaling, and load-balancing modules). According to the SDN controllers instructions, the OFSs are responsible for redirecting traffic to and from the VNF clusters (i.e., load-balancing strategy). Several experiments were conducted to validate the feasibility of this proposed solution on a real testbed. Through connectivity tests, not only could end-to-end (E2E) traffic be successfully achieved through the VNF cluster, but the bidirectional flow affinity strategy was also found to perform well because it could simultaneously create flow rules in both switches. Moreover, the selected CPU-based load-balancing method guaranteed an average imbalance below 10% while ensuring that new incoming traffic was redirected to the least loaded instance without requiring packet modification. Additionally, the designed monitoring function was able to detect failures in the set of active members in near real-time and active new instances in less than a minute. Likewise, the proposed auto-scaling module had a quick response to traffic changes. Our solution showed that the use of SDN controllers along with OFS provides great flexibility to implement different load-balancing, scaling, and monitoring strategies.
Abnormal Activity Recognition from Surveillance Videos Using Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Habib Shabana , Hussain Altaf , Albattah Waleed , Islam Muhammad , Khan Sheroz , Khan Rehan Ullah , Khan Khalil
Published: December 2021

Background and motivation: Every year, millions of Muslims worldwide come to Mecca to perform the Hajj. In order to maintain the security of the pilgrims, the Saudi government has installed about 5000 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras to monitor crowd activity efficiently. Problem: As a result, these cameras generate an enormous amount of visual data through manual or offline monitoring, requiring numerous human resources for efficient tracking. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an intelligent and automatic system in order to efficiently monitor crowds and identify abnormal activity. Method: The existing method is incapable of extracting discriminative features from surveillance videos as pre-trained weights of different architectures were used. This paper develops a lightweight approach for accurately identifying violent activity in surveillance environments. As the first step of the proposed framework, a lightweight CNN model is trained on our own pilgrim’s dataset to detect pilgrims from the surveillance cameras. These preprocessed salient frames are passed to a lightweight CNN model for spatial features extraction in the second step. In the third step, a Long Short Term Memory network (LSTM) is developed to extract temporal features. Finally, in the last step, in the case of violent activity or accidents, the proposed system will generate an alarm in real time to inform law enforcement agencies to take appropriate action, thus helping to avoid accidents and stampedes. Results: We have conducted multiple experiments on two publicly available violent activity datasets, such as Surveillance Fight and Hockey Fight datasets; our proposed model achieved accuracies of 81.05 and 98.00, respectively.
Measuring Upper Limb Kinematics of Forehand and Backhand Topspin Drives with IMU Sensors in Wheelchair and Able-Bodied Table Tennis Players
Authors: Yam Jia-Wen , Pan Jing-Wen , Kong Pui-Wah
Published: December 2021

To better understand the biomechanics of para-table tennis players, this study compared the shoulder, elbow, and wrist joint kinematics among able-bodied (AB) and wheelchair players in different classifications. Nineteen participants (AB, n = 9; classification 1 (C1), n = 3; C2, n = 3; C3, n = 4) executed 10 forehand and backhand topspin drives. Shoulder abduction/adduction, elbow flexion/extension, wrist extension/flexion, respective range of motion (ROM), and joint patterns were obtained using inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors. The results showed clear differences in upper limb kinematics between the able-bodied and wheelchair players, especially in the elbow and wrist. For the para-players, noticeable variations in techniques were also observed among the different disability classes. In conclusion, wheelchair players likely adopted distinct movement strategies compared to AB to compensate for their physical impairments and functional limitations. Hence, traditional table tennis programs targeting skills and techniques for able-bodied players are unsuitable for para-players. Future work can investigate how best to customize training programs and to optimize movement strategies for para-players with varied types and degrees of impairment.
Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Transient Analysis for Microstructure Evolution Characterization with Tensile Stress in Elastic and Plastic Status
Authors: Liu Jia , Tian GuiYun , Gao Bin , Zeng Kun , Liu QianHang , Zheng Yang
Published: December 2021

Stress affects the microstructure of the material to influence the durability and service life of the components. However, the previous work of stress measurement lacks quantification of the different variations in time and spatial features of micromagnetic properties affected by stress in elastic and plastic ranges, as well as the evolution of microstructure. In this paper, microstructure evolution under stress in elastic and plastic ranges is evaluated by magnetic Barkhausen noise (MBN) transient analysis. Based on a J-A model, the duration and the intensity are the eigenvalues for MBN transient analysis to quantify transient size and number of Barkhausen events under stress. With the observation of domain wall (DW) distribution and microstructure, the correlation between material microstructure and MBN transient eigenvalues is investigated to verify the ability of material status evaluation on the microscopic scale of the method. The results show that the duration and the intensity have different change trends in elastic and plastic ranges. The eigenvalue fusion of the duration and intensity distinguishes the change in microstructure under the stress in elastic and plastic deformation. The appearance of grain boundary (GB) migration and dislocation under the stress in the plastic range makes the duration and the intensity higher on the GB than those inside the grain. Besides, the reproducibility of the proposed method is investigated by evaluating microstructure evolution for silicon steel sheet and Q235 steel sheet. The proposed method investigates the correlation between the microstructure and transient micromagnetic properties, which has the potential for stress evaluation in elastic and plastic ranges for industrial materials.
The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality on Anxiety and Performance in Female Soccer Players
Authors: Harrison Kaitlyn , Potts Emily , King Adam C. , Braun-Trocchio Robyn
Published: December 2021

With the increased use of technology, relaxation interventions are finding their way into technology devices like virtual reality head-mounted displays (VR HMDs). However, there is a lack of evidence on the efficacy of VR relaxation interventions to reduce anxiety in athletes and how that is portrayed in their movement patterns. The purpose of the current study was to examine how a VR relaxation intervention affected perceived anxiety levels and penalty kick performance of female soccer players. Thirteen female soccer players took five penalty kicks in baseline, stress-induced, and VR relaxation conditions. Perceived levels of anxiety, self-confidence, mental effort, heart rate (HR), accelerometry of the lumbar spine and thigh, and performance in each condition was obtained. Results indicated that the VR intervention significantly reduced cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety from baseline (p = 0.002; p = 0.001) and stress (p < 0.001; p < 0.001) with large effect sizes (Kendall’s W = 0.72; 0.83). VR significantly increased self-confidence from baseline (p = 0.002) and stress (p = 0.001) with a large effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.71). Additionally, all participants felt that VR helped them relax. Mental effort was significantly higher in the stress condition compared to that in baseline (p = 0.007) with moderate effect size (Kendall’s W = 0.39). Peak acceleration and performance were not significantly influenced by stress or VR. This study serves as an initial step to evaluate VR relaxation interventions on performance in female soccer players.
Geographies of Flowers and Geographies of Flower Power
Authors: Tubadji Annie , Montalto Valentina
Published: December 2021

The world is changing under the pressure of environmental and health crises, and in this context, location choice and political choice become of even more poignant importance. Following a Culture-Based Development (CBD) stand, our paper highlights the link between political voting and the cultural and ecological valuation of a place. We start from the premise that the individual utility functions of the urban inhabitant and the urban voter coincide, since they both express the citizen’s satisfaction with the life in a place. We suggest that the unified citizen’s utility function is driven by a trade-off between the availability of virtual and physical spaces for interaction. We expect that this trade-off can lead to dissatisfaction with the place and consequent political discontent if the incumbents’ access to green areas and artistic environment in a place is simultaneously hampered for a long time. Our operational hypothesis is that the political sensitivity of citizens is related to the local availability of green areas (geographies of flowers) and cultural capital endowments (geographies of flower power). Using individual-level data from the WVS from the period close before the pandemic—2017–2020, we test empirically this hypothesis. We use as an outcome of interest the individual propensity to active political behaviour. We explain this propensity through the geographies of flowers (i.e., green areas) and geographies of flower power (i.e., cultural and creative industries). We compare the effects for urban and for rural areas. We find strong dependence of politically proactive behaviour on the geographies of flowers and geographies of flower power, with explicit prominence in urban areas. We find a more pronounced effect of these two geographies on the utility function of incumbent than migrant residents. We also crosscheck empirically the relationship of this CBD mechanism on an aggregate level, using data from the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor. The findings confirm the Schelling magnifying effect of micro preferences on a macro level.
Profiling Residents’ Mobility with Grid-Aggregated Mobile Phone Trace Data Using Chengdu as the Case
Authors: Gao Xuesong , Wang Hui , Liu Lun
Published: December 2021

People’s movement trace harvested from mobile phone signals has become an important new data source for studying human behavior and related socioeconomic topics in social science. With growing concern about privacy leakage of big data, mobile phone data holders now tend to provide aggregate-level mobility data instead of individual-level data. However, most algorithms for measuring mobility are based on individual-level data—how the existing mobility algorithms can be properly transformed to apply on aggregate-level data remains undiscussed. This paper explores the transformation of individual data-based mobility metrics to fit with grid-aggregate data. Fifteen candidate metrics measuring five indicators of mobility are proposed and the most suitable one for each indicator is selected. Future research about aggregate-level mobility data may refer to our analysis to assist in the selection of suitable mobility metrics.
A Study on Nonlinear Dynamic Response of the Large-Span Roof Structure with Suspended Substructure
Authors: Pan Rui , Zheng Baofeng , Qin Ying
Published: December 2021

Nowadays, it is common to see large public buildings, e.g., stadiums, with some equipment or substructure suspended from the center of the roof. These substructures will tend to be larger and heavier the more gear is needed, which may have negative impacts on the dynamic performance of the roof structures. In this paper, to explore the dynamic response of a large-span roof structure with a suspended substructure, a real structure model is simplified into a two-degrees-of-freedom system. The essential consideration of nonlinear vibration is elaborated in the equations of motions. Approximate analytical solutions for free and forced vibrations are derived using perturbation methods, while numerical analysis is carried out to validate the solutions. The ratio of linear to nonlinear amplitude is proposed to represent the nonlinear effect of the primary structure, and the nonlinear effect, varying with structural parameters of frequency ratio, mass ratio, excitation ratio, and external force to the primary structure, is investigated. It is shown that internal resonance occurs when the structural frequency ratio is close to 1:2 and that secondary resonance takes place due to certain external excitations; internal resonance and secondary resonance will magnify the amplitude of the primary structure during vibration. Finally, a case of a designed practical dome with a suspended substructure is studied to verify the outcomes from the above research. According to these findings, some design proposals for this type of structure are provided.
Publisher’s Note: Continued Publication of Thalassemia Reports by MDPI
Authors: Sayas Enric
Published: December 2021

Thalassemia Reports (ISSN: 2039-4365) was launched in 2011 and has become the premier peer-reviewed international medical journal devoted entirely to the study, diagnosis, and treatment of thalassemia [...]
Fast and Environment-Friendly GC-MS Method for Eleven Organophosphorus Flame Retardants in Indoor Air, Dust, and Skin Wipes
Authors: Chen Chung-Yu , Liu Yu-Hsuan , Chieh Chia-Hui , Chang Wei-Hsiang
Published: December 2021

Organophosphorus based flame retardants (OPFRs) extensively used as alternatives to banned polybrominated diphenyl ethers and hexabromocyclododecane have been garnering interest due to the possibility that these compounds may have less significant impact on human and environmental health. Long pretreatment time, larger consumption of organic solvents, matrix interferents, and cross-contamination were found in previous studies while assessing OPFRs in indoor environments. We developed and optimized the extraction methods and simultaneous analysis of 11 OPFRs in indoor air, dust and skin wipe samples using the GC-MS approach. The proposed methods were validated using a standard addition approach, dust SRM 2585 and the real samples. Our procedures enabled the analyst to effectively limit coextracted interferences and simultaneous analytical methods of 11 target OPFRs for three matrices were achieved. The validation was performed according to standard guidelines (relative errors were identified by the analytes: −19% to 18% for indoor air, −11% to 14% for house dust, −15% to 16% for skin wipe). Good practices for quality assurance and quality control were well stated. The current high-Eco-scored methods could be categorized as “an excellent green analysis”. All analytes for the target OPFRs were detected in the real samples of indoor air, house dust and skin wipe collected from ten Taiwanese homes. Tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate, tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate and tris(chloroisopropyl) phosphate were the most abundant OPFRs. Rapid, green and cost-effective GC-MS methods were developed and validated for the analysis of eleven OPFRs in indoor air, house dust and skin wipes.
Lorentz Symmetry and High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy
Authors: Argüelles Carlos A. , Katori Teppei
Published: December 2021

The search of the violation of Lorentz symmetry, or Lorentz violation (LV), is an active research field. The effects of LV are expected to be very small, and special systems are often used to search it. High-energy astrophysical neutrinos offer a unique system to search signatures of LV, due to the three factors: high neutrino energy, long propagation distance, and the presence of quantum mechanical interference. In this brief review, we introduce tests of LV and summarize existing searches of LV, using atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos.
Effect of Mineral Salt Blocks Containing Sodium Bicarbonate or Selenium on Ruminal pH, Rumen Fermentation and Milk Production and Composition in Crossbred Dairy Cows
Authors: Insoongnern Hathaichanok , Srakaew Wuttikorn , Prapaiwong Tipwadee , Suphrap Napongphot , Potirahong Saisamorn , Wachirapakorn Chalong
Published: December 2021

Ruminal pH is an important physiological parameter that regulates microbe activity; optimizing ruminal pH may improve rumen fermentation and milk production. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or selenium (Se) in mineral salt block (MSB) supplementation on ruminal pH, rumen fermentation, milk yield and composition in Holstein Friesian crossbred dairy cows. Four crossbred dairy cows with an initial weight of 456 ± 6 kg in mid-lactation were assigned at random using a 4 × 4 Latin square design. The experiments were divided into four periods, each lasting 21 days. Each cow was fed a basal diet supplemented with a different type of mineral salt block: a control with no MSB supplementation, and MSB groups with MSB containing NaHCO3 (MSB-Na), MSB containing Se (MSB-Se), and conventional commercial MSB (MSB-Com). MSB-Na contained NaHCO3 (500 g/kg) to prevent acidosis, MSB-Se contained organic Se (15 mg/kg) as an antioxidant, and MSB-Com was a positive control mineral salt block. The results show that there was no significant difference in feed intake between treatments, but there was a significant difference in mineral salt intake between treatments (p < 0.05). Supplementing mineral blocks had no effect on nutrient intake or apparent digestibility (p > 0.05). Ruminal pH was not different between treatments at 0 and 1 h post-feeding, but at 2 and 4 h post-feeding, ruminal pH in cows fed MSB-Na and MSB-Se was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than it was in cows fed MSB-Com and the control. Total volatile fatty acid (VFA), acetic, propionic, butyric, and ammonia nitrogen and blood urea nitrogen were not influenced by mineral blocks supplementation. Milk yield, milk composition and energy-corrected milk (ECM) were not affected by supplementing mineral blocks. However, compared with the control, the somatic cell count (SCC) in the milk was reduced (p < 0.05) by supplementation with the mineral salt block. Based on the results of the experiments, it was concluded that MSB-Na or MSB-Se supplementation improved ruminal pH while having no effect on feed intake, rumen fermentation, milk yield, or composition, though it did reduce SCC in milk. However, additional research should be conducted to investigate the effect of MSB on rumen ecology and milk production in dairy cows fed a high-concentrate diet.
Veganism 2.0: Gastromania, nutrition, and digital communication
Authors: Stano Simona
Published: December 2021

The vegan population has risen significantly over the past decade, and is expected to continue increasing. Social media are believed to have played a major role in such a rise. According to a Google study (2018), veganism started to spread markedly in 2012, the same year that Instagram became popular, and has then grown in correlation with the expansion of the social network (with over 88 million #vegan posts out of a billion monthly active users and more than 500 million people using the platform daily today). Since 2016 conversations around veganism have increased also on Twitter, reaching nearly 20 million Tweets in 2018 and registering a further growth of 70% in 2019. Moreover, the number of Google searches for veganism has spiked from a popularity rating of just 17 out of 100 in 2008 to 88 in 2018. Functioning both as platforms for sharing and commenting on information and as effective channels for proselytizing, these and other social media have evidently extended the boundaries of the vegan movement, making it become one of the biggest contemporary food trends. This paper aims at identifying and describing the main cultural transformations and forms of life promoted by “veganism 2.0”, based on a semiotic approach particularly attentive to the analysis of the narrative level and the patemic dimension. To this purpose, the intersections between the so-called “gastromania” and other trends characterising contemporary foodspheres, such as “gastro-anomy” and the “ideology of nutritionism” are taken into account, paying particular attention to the gastronomic discourse in present-day digital mediascapes and the complex dynamics characterising them.