bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparing the Efficacy and Safety Profile of Triple Fixed-Dose Combinations in COPD: A Meta-Analysis and IBiS Score
Authors: Rogliani Paola , Ora Josuel , Cavalli Francesco , Cazzola Mario , Calzetta Luigino
Published: August 2022

Background: Triple fixed-dose combination (FDC) therapy is recommended in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients experiencing frequent exacerbations and/or symptoms not controlled by dual FDCs. Since no randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have directly compared the different inhaled corticosteroid/long-acting β2-adrenoceptor agonist/long-acting muscarinic antagonist (ICS/LABA/LAMA) FDCs, we performed a meta-analysis to compare the impact of the current available ICS/LABA/LAMA FDCs in COPD. Methods: A meta-analysis was performed by connecting beclomethasone dipropionate/formoterol fumarate/glycopyrronium bromide or glycopyrrolate (BDP/FOR/GLY), budesonide (BUD)/GLY/FOR, and fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium bromide/vilanterol (FF/UMEC/VI) FDCs via ICS/LABA or LABA/LAMA FDCs arms. The safety and efficacy profiles were investigated, and the Implemented Bidimensional Surface under the cumulative ranking curve analysis (IBiS) was carried out. Protocol registration: CRD42022301189. Results: Data from 21,809 COPD patients were extracted from the ETHOS, IMPACT, KRONOS, and TRILOGY studies. No significant (p > 0.05) differences were detected across the triple FDCs with respect to the risk of exacerbation, trough forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), transition dyspnea index (TDI), St. George’s Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), risk of serious adverse events (SAEs), cardiovascular (CV) SAEs, pneumonia, and all-cause mortality. According to IBiS score, BDP/FOR/GLY 200/12/25 µg twice daily (BID) was the FDC reporting the best combined efficacy/safety profile (area 41.41%), although FF/UMEC/VI 100/62.5/25 µg once daily (QD) showed the greatest efficacy profile (50.54%). The protection against mortality related to the dose of ICS. Conclusions: All triple FDCs are effective and safe in COPD regardless of the regimen of administration (twice daily vs. once daily), with no relevant difference in the risk of CV SAEs and pneumonia.
Correction: Ramírez-Morros et al. Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Prevention in Type 2: Diabetes in a Real-World Practice Database. J. Clin. Med. 2022, 11, 2196
Authors: Ramírez-Morros Anna , Franch-Nadal Josep , Real Jordi , Gratacòs Mònica , Mauricio Didac
Published: August 2022

In the original publication [...]
Intelligence IS Cognitive Flexibility: Why Multilevel Models of Within-Individual Processes Are Needed to Realise This
Authors: Birney Damian P. , Beckmann Jens F.
Published: August 2022

Despite substantial evidence for the link between an individual’s intelligence and successful life outcomes, questions about what defines intelligence have remained the focus of heated dispute. The most common approach to understanding intelligence has been to investigate what performance on tests of intellect is and is not associated with. This psychometric approach, based on correlations and factor analysis is deficient. In this review, we aim to substantiate why classic psychometrics which focus on between-person accounts will necessarily provide a limited account of intelligence until theoretical considerations of within-person accounts are incorporated. First, we consider the impact of entrenched psychometric presumptions that support the status quo and impede alternative views. Second, we review the importance of process-theories, which are critical for any serious attempt to build a within-person account of intelligence. Third, features of dynamic tasks are reviewed, and we outline how static tasks can be modified to target within-person processes. Finally, we explain how multilevel models are conceptually and psychometrically well-suited to building and testing within-individual notions of intelligence, which at its core, we argue is cognitive flexibility. We conclude by describing an application of these ideas in the context of microworlds as a case study.
Wnt/β-Catenin-Pathway Alterations and Homologous Recombination Deficiency in Cholangiocarcinoma Cell Lines and Clinical Samples: Towards Specific Vulnerabilities
Authors: Scheiter Alexander , Hierl Frederik , Winkel Ingrid , Keil Felix , Klier-Richter Margit , Coulouarn Cédric , Lüke Florian , Kandulski Arne , Evert Matthias , Dietmaier Wolfgang , Calvisi Diego F. , Utpatel Kirsten
Published: August 2022

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) features a dismal prognosis with limited treatment options. Genomic studies have unveiled several promising targets in this disease, including fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) fusions and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutations. To fully harness the potential of genomically informed therapies in CCA, it is necessary to thoroughly characterize the available model organisms, including cell lines. One parameter to investigate in CCA is homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). While mutations in homologous recombinational repair (HRR)-related genes have been detected, their predictive value remains undetermined. Using a targeted next-generation sequencing approach, we analyzed 12 human CCA cell lines and compared them to 62 CCA samples of the molecular tumor board cohort. The AmoyDx® HRD Focus Panel was employed to determine corresponding genomic scar scores (GSS). Ten of twelve cell lines harbored alterations in common HRR-related genes, and five cell lines were HRD-positive, although this parameter did not correlate well with Olaparib sensitivity. Moreover, functionally relevant APC and β-catenin mutations were registered, which were also detected in 4/176 (2.3%) samples on a CCA microarray. Although rare, these alterations were exclusive to large duct type CCA with associated intraductal papillary neoplasms of the bile duct (IPNB) in 3 cases, pointing at a distinct form of cholangiocarcinogenesis with potential specific vulnerabilities.
Study on Distribution of Lubricating Oil Film in Contact Micro-Zone of Full Ceramic Ball Bearings and the Influence Mechanism on Service Performance
Authors: Yao Jinmei , Wu Yuhou , Yang Jiaxing , Sun Jian , Xia Zhongxian , Tian Junxing , Bao Zhigang , Gao Longfei
Published: August 2022

Compared with metal ball bearings, full ceramic ball bearings have more outstanding service performance under extreme working conditions. In order to reveal the lubrication mechanism and improve the operation performance and service life of full ceramic ball bearings, in this paper, the friction, vibration, and temperature rise characteristics of 6208 silicon nitride full ceramic deep groove ball bearing, under the condition of oil lubrication, are studied experimentally. Based on the test results, and through theoretical calculation and simulation analysis, the distribution of the lubricating oil film in bearing contact micro-zone under different working conditions was simulated. After that, the surface of contact micro-zone of full ceramic ball bearing was analyzed. It was found that there is an optimal oil supply for full ceramic ball bearing oil lubrication in service. Under the optimal oil supply lubrication, full film lubrication can be achieved, and the bearing exhibits the best characteristics of friction, vibration, and temperature rise. Compared with the load, the rotational speed of the bearing has a decisive influence on the optimal oil supply. When the rotational speed and load are constant, the minimum oil film thickness and oil film pressure in the contact area of the rolling body decrease with the increase of angle ψ from the minimum stress point of the rolling body. Under the action of high contact stress, thin oil film will be formed in the bearing outer ring raceway. In the field of full ceramic ball bearings, the research content of this paper is innovative. The research results of this paper have an important guiding significance for revealing the oil lubrication mechanism of full ceramic ball bearing and enriching its lubrication theory and methods.
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Guided Bone Regeneration for Peri-Implant Dehiscence Defects with Two Anorganic Bovine Bone Materials Covered by Titanium Meshes
Authors: Lim JaeHyung , Jun Sang Ho , Tallarico Marco , Park Jun-Beom , Park Dae-Ho , Hwang Kyung-Gyun , Park Chang-Joo
Published: August 2022

The aim of this study is to compare two low-temperature sintered anorganic bovine bone materials (ABBMs), Bio-Oss (Geistlich, Wolhusen, Switzerland) and A-Oss (Osstem, Seoul, Korea), for GBR in dehiscence defects. A single implant was placed simultaneously with GBR in the buccal or bucco-proximal osseous defect by double-layering of inner allograft and outer ABBM, covered by a preformed ultrafine titanium mesh and an absorbable collagen membrane. Grafted volume changes were evaluated by cone-beam computed tomography, taken preoperatively (T0), immediately after implant surgery (T1), after re-entry surgery (T2), and after delivery of the final restoration (T3). The density of the regenerated bone was assessed by measuring the probing depth on the buccal mid-center of the mesh after removing the mesh at T2. Postoperative sequelae were also recorded. Grafted volume shrinkage of 46.0% (0.78 ± 0.37 cc) and 40.8% (0.79 ± 0.33 cc) in the Bio-Oss group (8 patients) and A-Oss group (8 patients), respectively, was observed at T3 (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences in grafted volume changes according to time periods or bone density between the two groups. Despite postoperative mesh exposure (3 patients), premature removal of these exposed meshes and additional grafting was not necessary, and all implants were functional over the 1-year follow-up period. Both ABBMs with titanium meshes showed no significant difference in the quantity and density of the regenerated bone after GBR for peri-implant defects.
Candle Soot-Based Electrosprayed Superhydrophobic Coatings for Self-Cleaning, Anti-Corrosion and Oil/Water Separation
Authors: Zhang Yuting , Lei Tingping , Li Shuangmin , Cai Xiaomei , Hu Zhiyuan , Wu Weibin , Lin Tianliang
Published: August 2022

The interest in candle soot (CS)-based superhydrophobic coatings has grown rapidly in recent years. Here, a simple and low-cost process has been developed for the fabrication of CS-based superhydrophobic coatings through electrospraying of the composite cocktail solution of CS and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). Results show that the superhydrophobicity of the coating closely relates to the loading amount of CS which results in coatings with different roughnesses. Specifically, increasing the CS amount (not more than 0.4 g) normally enhances the superhydrophobicity of the coating due to higher roughness being presented in the produced microspheres. Further experiments demonstrate that the superhydrophobicity induced in the electrosprayed coating results from the synergistic effect of the cocktail solution and electrospray process, indicating the importance of the coating technique and the solution used. Versatile applications of CS-based superhydrophobic coatings including self-cleaning, anti-corrosion and oil/water separation are demonstrated. The present work provides a convenient method for the fabrication of CS-based superhydrophobic coatings, which is believed to gain great interest in the future.
Semi-Physical Simulation Optimization Method for Bolt Tightening Process Based on Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Zhang Huibin , Wang Mingwei , Deng Wei , Zhao Jianhua , Zhou Jingtao , Ma Xin , Yao Lu , Wang Manxian
Published: August 2022

Bolted connections are the main method of connecting the components of an aero-engine low pressure rotor. Due to the influence of the elastic interaction relationship, it is easy to cause uneven distribution of the preload force of the bolt group, although it can meet the stiffness needs; however, it may lead to the deflection of the spatial relative position of the components, which is can easily cause coaxiality overrun. In view of the contradictory problem of optimization between coaxiality and stiffness of rotor assembly, this paper proposes a semi-physical simulation optimization method for the bolt tightening process based on reinforcement learning. Firstly, by studying the elastic interaction mechanism between the bolts, the elastic interaction matrix was established using finite element simulation data. On this basis, a coaxiality prediction model for the bolt tightening process was established using a GRU (gate recurrent unit) network to realize the prediction of coaxiality in the bolt tightening process. Then, through the analysis of the bolt connection stiffness, a stiffness calculation model containing the bolt stiffness, the stiffness of the connected parts, and the contact stiffness of the joint surface in series was constructed to realize the calculation of the stiffness during the bolt tightening process. Finally, with the bolt preload force as the optimization variable, coaxiality and stiffness as the optimization target, and the tightening torque and preload force of the installed bolts in the actual assembly process as the constraints, a semi-physical simulation optimization model of the bolt tightening process was established using reinforcement learning to realize the optimization of the bolt tightening process. Moreover, through the semi-physical simulation optimization method, the bolt tightening process can be installed and adjusted at the same time.
DCA for Sparse Quadratic Kernel-Free Least Squares Semi-Supervised Support Vector Machine
Authors: Sun Jun , Qu Wentao
Published: August 2022

With the development of science and technology, more and more data have been produced. For many of these datasets, only some of the data have labels. In order to make full use of the information in these data, it is necessary to classify them. In this paper, we propose a strong sparse quadratic kernel-free least squares semi-supervised support vector machine (SSQLSS3VM), in which we add a ℓ0norm regularization term to make it sparse. An NP-hard problem arises since the proposed model contains the ℓ0 norm and another nonconvex term. One important method for solving the nonconvex problem is the DC (difference of convex function) programming. Therefore, we first approximate the ℓ0 norm by a polyhedral DC function. Moreover, due to the existence of the nonsmooth terms, we use the sGS-ADMM to solve the subproblem. Finally, empirical numerical experiments show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm.
Some Generalized Versions of Chevet–Saphar Tensor Norms
Authors: Kim Ju Myung
Published: August 2022

The paper is concerned with some generalized versions gE and wE of classical tensor norms. We find a Banach space E for which gE and wE are finitely generated tensor norms, and show that gE and wE are associated with the ideals of some E-nuclear operators. We also initiate the study of some theories of our tensor norms.
Studies of Protein Wastes Adsorption by Chitosan-Modified Nanofibers Decorated with Dye Wastes in Batch and Continuous Flow Processes: Potential Environmental Applications
Authors: Cai Dai-Lun , Thanh Dinh Thi Hong , Show Pau-Loke , How Su-Chun , Chiu Chen-Yaw , Hsu Michael , Chia Shir Reen , Chen Kuei-Hsiang , Chang Yu-Kaung
Published: August 2022

In this study, reactive green 19 dye from wastewater was immobilized on the functionalized chitosan nanofiber membranes to treat soluble microbial proteins in biological wastewater. Polyacrylonitrile nanofiber membrane (PAN) was prepared by the electrospinning technique. After heat treatment, alkaline hydrolysis, and chemically grafted with chitosan to obtain modified chitosan nanofibers (P-COOH-CS), and finally immobilized with RG19 dye, dyed nanofibers were generated (P-COOH-CS-RG19). The synthesis of P-COOH-CS and P-COOH-CS-RG19 are novel materials for protein adsorption that are not deeply investigated currently, with each of the material functions based on their properties in significantly improving the adsorption efficiency. The nanofiber membrane shows good adsorption capacity and great recycling performance, while the application of chitosan and dye acts as the crosslinker in the nanofiber membrane and consists of various functional groups to enhance the adsorption of protein. The dyed nanofibers were applied for the batch adsorption of soluble protein (i.e., lysozyme), and the process parameters including chitosan’s molecular weight, coupling pH, chitosan concentration, dye pH, dye concentration, and lysozyme pH were studied. The results showed that the molecular weight of chitosan was 50 kDa, pH 5, concentration 0.5%, initial concentration of dye at 1 mg/mL dye and pH 12, lysozyme solution at 2 mg/mL at pH 8, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 1293.66 mg/g at a temperature of 318 K. Furthermore, thermodynamic, and kinetic studies suggested that the adsorption behavior of lysozyme followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The optimal adsorption and desorption conditions based on batch experiments were directly applied to remove lysozyme in a continuous operation. This study demonstrated the potential of dyed nanofibers as an efficient adsorbent to remove approximately 100% of lysozyme from the simulated biological wastewater.
Evaluation of the Friction Coefficient for TRIP1000 Steel under Different Conditions of Lubrication, Contact Pressure, Sliding Speed and Working Temperature
Authors: Folle Luis Fernando , Caetano dos Santos Silva Bruno , Sousa de Carvalho Marcelo , Zamorano Luiz Gustavo Souza , Coelho Rodrigo Santiago
Published: August 2022

The use of ultra-high-strength steels (UHSS) has been growing in recent years, mainly in the automotive industry. Since these steels have high strength and hardness, more applied stresses are required to deform them, probably also impacting friction behaviour. In this article, a variation in the process parameters commonly observed in sheet-metal forming, such as contact pressure, sliding speed, lubrication and working temperature was performed. The material used was TRIP1000. These process parameters were varied, aiming to investigate the friction-coefficient behaviour; however, it was observed that there were no significant variations, indicating that the steel hardness may have contributed to this. Another finding is that, even if the lubricant did not change the average value of the friction coefficient, it contributed to a more stable process, favouring the absence of premature wear of the tools.
Epidemiology of Vector-Borne Diseases 2.0
Authors: Sereno Denis
Published: August 2022

Arthropods’ vectors—those of a large variety of families, including Culicidae, Simuliidae, Psychodidae, Ixodidae, Agarsidae, Pulicidae, Glossinidae, Reduviidae, and Tabanidae [...]
Toxoplasma gondii in African Wildlife: A Systematic Review
Authors: Bokaba Refilwe Philadelphia , Dermauw Veronique , Morar-Leather Darshana , Dorny Pierre , Neves Luis
Published: August 2022

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite, which infects a wide variety of mammals and bird species globally. In large parts of the world, this parasite is relatively well documented in wildlife species, however, this topic is poorly documented in Africa. The current review systematically explores the presence and distribution of T. gondii in African wildlife species through a key word search in PubMed, Web of Science and CAB Direct. A total of 66 records were identified and included in the qualitative analysis, of which 19 records were retained for the quantitative synthesis. The presence of T. gondii was reported in a wide range of wildlife species, found in twelve countries, spread over the African continent. The retained records report a prevalence range of 6–100% in herbivores, 8–100% in omnivores and 14–100% in carnivores. In wild felines (cheetahs, leopards, and lions) a prevalence range of 33–100% was found. Reports from South Africa, and on the presence of T. gondii in lion were most common. Overall, the results indicate the scarcity of information on T. gondii in Africa and its circulation in wildlife. The lack of knowledge on the parasite in Africa, especially in areas at the human-livestock-wildlife interface, prevents us from understanding how prevalent it is on the continent, what strains are circulating in wildlife and what the most common routes of transmission are in the different habitats in Africa.
Nanomedicines for Overcoming Cancer Drug Resistance
Authors: Hu Tingting , Gong Hanlin , Xu Jiayue , Huang Yuan , Wu Fengbo , He Zhiyao
Published: August 2022

Clinically, cancer drug resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapy or immunotherapy remains the main impediment towards curative cancer therapy, which leads directly to treatment failure along with extended hospital stays, increased medical costs and high mortality. Therefore, increasing attention has been paid to nanotechnology-based delivery systems for overcoming drug resistance in cancer. In this respect, novel tumor-targeting nanomedicines offer fairly effective therapeutic strategies for surmounting the various limitations of chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, enabling more precise cancer treatment, more convenient monitoring of treatment agents, as well as surmounting cancer drug resistance, including multidrug resistance (MDR). Nanotechnology-based delivery systems, including liposomes, polymer micelles, nanoparticles (NPs), and DNA nanostructures, enable a large number of properly designed therapeutic nanomedicines. In this paper, we review the different mechanisms of cancer drug resistance to chemotherapy, targeted therapy and immunotherapy, and discuss the latest developments in nanomedicines for overcoming cancer drug resistance.
Actively Mode Locked Raman Fiber Laser with Multimode LD Pumping
Authors: Kuznetsov Alexey G. , Kablukov Sergey I. , Timirtdinov Yuri A. , Babin Sergey A.
Published: August 2022

We present our recent experimental results on the pulsed regimes of Raman conversion of highly multimode laser diode (LD) pump radiation into the 1st and higher order Stokes radiation in multimode graded-index fibers. Three different linear cavities of Raman fiber laser with the modulation of losses (by acousto-optic modulator, AOM) or gain (by LD current) are explored and compared. An LD with wavelength of 976 nm is used for pumping enabling Raman lasing at wavelength of the 1st (1018 nm) and 2nd (1064 nm) Stokes orders. At ~27.2-kHz repetition rate corresponding to the laser cavity round-trip frequency (i.e., in the mode-locking regime), nanosecond pulses have been observed for both Stokes orders having the highest peak power of ~300 W in the scheme with bulk AOM and the shortest duration of 5–7 ns in the scheme with fiber-pigtailed AOM. At the same time, the beam quality of generated pulses is greatly improved as compared to that for pump diode (M2 > 20) reaching the best value (M2 = 2.05) for the 2nd order Stokes beam in the scheme with the gain modulation and demonstrating also the most stable regime.
Research Progress and Prospect of Alfalfa Resistance to Pathogens and Pests
Authors: Yang Bo , Zhao Yao , Guo Zhenfei
Published: August 2022

Alfalfa is one of the most important legume forages in the world and contributes greatly to the improvement of ecosystems, nutrition, and food security. Diseases caused by pathogens and pests severely restrict the production of alfalfa. Breeding resistant varieties is the most economical and effective strategy for the control of alfalfa diseases and pests, and the key to breeding resistant varieties is to identify important resistance genes. Plant innate immunity is the theoretical basis for identifying resistant genes and breeding resistant varieties. In recent years, the framework of plant immunity theory has been gradually formed and improved, and considerable progress has been made in the identification of alfalfa resistance genes and the revelation of the related mechanisms. In this review, we summarize the basic theory of plant immunity and identify alfalfa resistance genes to different pathogens and insects and resistance mechanisms. The current situation, problems, and future prospects of alfalfa resistance research are also discussed. Breeding resistant cultivars with effective resistance genes, together with other novel plant protection technologies, will greatly improve alfalfa production.
Separate Effects of Foliar Applied Selenate and Zinc Oxide on the Accumulation of Macrominerals, Macronutrients and Bioactive Compounds in Two Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Seed Varieties
Authors: Malka Maksymilian , Du Laing Gijs , Bohn Torsten
Published: August 2022

Selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn) are important cofactors for antioxidant enzymes. Foliar Se/Zn application is a highly efficient strategy of plant biofortification. However, its effects on the accumulation of macrominerals, macronutrients and bioactive compounds in the pea plant (Pisum sativum L.) have been poorly investigated. A two-year pot experiment was performed to study responses of two pea varieties (Ambassador, Premium) to foliar-applied sodium selenate (0/50/100 g Se/ha) and zinc oxide (0/375/750 g Zn/ha) at the flowering stage. Concentrations of Ca, Mg, K, Na, soluble solids (SSC), protein, chlorophyll a and b, total chlorophyll, total carotenoids and total condensed tannins (TCT) were determined in seeds. Mg concentration in Ambassador and chlorophyll a concentration in Premium were positively affected, in part, by selenate and zinc oxide, respectively. Selenate and zinc oxide increased, in part, protein concentration in Premium. Highest protein concentration was found in Premium treated with 375 g Zn/ha (27.6% DW) vs. the control (26.6% DW). Significant (all p < 0.001) positive correlations were found, among others, between concentrations of Zn and Mg (r2 = 0.735) and between Zn and protein (r2 = 0.437) for Ambassador, and between Mg and protein (r2 = 0.682), between Zn and Mg (r2 = 0.807), as well as between Zn and protein (r2 = 0.884) for Premium. TCT significantly (all p < 0.05) and positively correlated with SSC (r2 = 0.131), chlorophyll b (r2 = 0.128) and total chlorophyll (r2 = 0.109) for Ambassador. This study provides new nutritional data on Se/Zn biofortified peas, important for improving agronomic biofortification of pea plants.
Carbon Footprint of the University of Patras in Greece: Evaluating Environmental Culture and Campus’ Energy Management towards 2030
Authors: Vrachni Alexandra , Christogerou Angeliki , Thomopoulos George A. , Marazioti Constantina , Angelopoulos George N.
Published: August 2022

Climate change has already had observable effects due to greenhouse gases (GHG) produced by human activities. Over the years, this becomes more evident as the concentration of GHG released in the atmosphere is concerningly increased as does the earth’s average temperature too. Hence, all countries and many independent organizations are taking actions to reduce the Global Warming phenomenon by setting targets for carbon dioxide emissions. The energy sector is proved to play the most important role in emissions reduction. Greece’s target for this sector is very ambitious in total transformation of energy mixture in the forthcoming years. Universities are also contributing to GHG emissions through their operations and members’ activities. Energy management at the University of Patras in Greece has already started since 2019 by installing energy meters going from manual calculations to an online system. The reliable records and accurate calculations proved as a very important action and a starting point for performing detailed analysis. In this study, there was an effort to calculate the CO2 emissions of the University of Patras using the Carbon Campus Calculator. The results showed that the students commuting is the main source of GHG emissions at the University of Patras and the purchased electricity comes next. These two factors together comprise 60.2% of the total emissions and priority should be given to reducing their footprint. Specific targets were set up for 2030 in compliance with the National Plan for Energy and Climate of Greece. Moreover, an Action Plan managing carbon and energy more efficiently and creating a strong environmental culture among the community is proposed. In the future, the university’s management team should act proactively in every change at Patras University. An assessment on the environmental impact should take place before any decision making. If necessary, extra actions should be defined in order not to deviate from the targets and new standards set.
Maize Stalk Obtained after Acid Treatment and Its Use for Simultaneous Removal of Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Cr3+ and Fe3+
Authors: Marin Nicoleta
Published: August 2022

In this research, eco-friendly material represented by maize stalk (MS) obtained after acid treatment was employed for simultaneous removal of Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Cr3+ and Fe3+ (MX+) from simulated textile aqueous matrix and tannery wastewater produced by the leather industry. The acid treatment of MS was done with 4 M HCl. The influence of experimental parameters was evaluated in order to optimize the adsorption process for simulated textile matrix. The contact time 10–60 min and initial concentration of 0.5–1 mg/L MX+ influence were studied by batch method. Additionally, the adsorption data of MX+ onto MS was fitting by kinetic and isotherm models. The results obtained showed that the 60 min was necessary to reach adsorption equilibrium of the MS. The adsorption capacity of MS was 0.052 mg Cu2+/g of MS, 0.024 mg Pb2+/g of MS, 0.042 mg Ni2+/g of MS, 0.050 mg Cd2+/g of MS, 0.056 mg Fe3+/g of MS and 0.063 mg Cr3+/g of MS at pH = 4.2. The Langmuir model described the adsorption process very well. The MS showed huge selectivity for Cr3+ and Fe3+ in the presence of Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+ and Cd2+. The adsorption of MX+ from liquid phases were analyzed by spectrometric adsorption method (AAS). The solid phases of MS before and after adsorption by TG and SEM analysis were characterized. When MS was used for removal of MX+ from tannery wastewater, two major issues were investigated: First, the decrease of MX+ content from highly polluted and difficult to treat tannery wastewaters by improve its quality and in the second part, specific recovery of MX+ from MS mass increasing the economic efficiency of metals production based on green technology.
Interactive Teaching Aid Kit for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
Authors: Zhao Yu-Xiang
Published: August 2022

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure performed on a person experiencing cardiac arrest to manually preserve brain function until spontaneous breathing and blood circulation can be restored. If performed timely and properly, it can improve the survival rate of a person experiencing cardiac arrest. The promotion of CPR has always been an important task for countries around the world. Countries around the world often hold relevant study camps and seminars to improve the public’s awareness of CPR. On the basis of this rationale, this paper proposes an interactive teaching aid kit for CPR that uses a CPR manikin and tutoring software to facilitate CPR learning among trainees. The CPR manikin is equipped with sensors that determine whether the CPR steps are performed correctly. Data from the sensors are sent to the tutoring software through wireless transmission. The software provides video demonstrations and textual instructions concerning the standard CPR procedure. In this software, the interactive interface displays real-time information about the trainee’s CPR process, such as information on the CPR step being performed and the number of chest compression and breaths given. Thus, this teaching aid kit allows trainees to learn CPR without an instructor. This system may enable CPR to become a readily learnable skill for the general population.
Robust and Fair Undersea Target Detection with Automated Underwater Vehicles for Biodiversity Data Collection
Authors: Dinakaran Ranjith , Zhang Li , Li Chang-Tsun , Bouridane Ahmed , Jiang Richard
Published: August 2022

Undersea/subsea data collection via automated underwater vehicles (AUVs) plays an important role for marine biodiversity research, while it is often much more challenging than the data collection above ground via satellites or AUVs. To enable the automated undersea/subsea data collection system, the AUVs are expected to be able to automatically track the objects of interest through what they can “see” from their mounted underwater cameras, where videos or images could be drastically blurred and degraded in underwater lighting conditions. To solve this challenge, in this work, we propose a cascaded framework by combining a DCGAN (deep convolutional generative adversarial network) with an object detector, i.e., single-shot detector (SSD), named DCGAN+SSD, for the detection of various underwater targets from the mounted camera of an automated underwater vehicle. In our framework, our assumption is that DCGAN can be leveraged to alleviate the impact of underwater conditions and provide the object detector with a better performance for automated AUVs. To optimize the hyperparameters of our models, we applied a particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based strategy to improve the performance of our proposed model. In our experiments, we successfully verified our assumption that the DCGAN+SSD architecture can help improve the object detection toward the undersea conditions and achieve apparently better detection rates over the original SSD detector. Further experiments showed that the PSO-based optimization of our models could further improve the model in object detection toward a more robust and fair performance, making our work a promising solution for tackling the challenges in AUVs.
Estimating Emissions from Crop Residue Open Burning in Central China from 2012 to 2020 Using Statistical Models Combined with Satellite Observations
Authors: Li Rong , He Xinjie , Wang Hong , Wang Yi , Zhang Meigen , Mei Xin , Zhang Fan , Chen Liangfu
Published: August 2022

Crop residue open burning has significant adverse effects on regional air quality, climate change, and human health. Emissions from crop residue open burning estimated by satellites are underestimated in central China due to long-term cloud cover and the limitation of spatial-temporal resolution of satellites. In this study, we used a statistical-based method to investigate the crop residue open burning emissions in central China from 2012 to 2020. The open burning proportion (OBP) of residue, updated annually by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) 375 m active fire product (VNP14IMG), and the latest observed emission factors (EFS) were used to improve the accuracy of the estimated emissions. Annual emissions of pollutants were allocated into 0.1° × 0.1° spatial grid cells using fire counts and land cover data. The results showed that the total emissions of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxide (NOX), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), fine particles (PM2.5), coarse particles (PM10), ammonia (NH3), methane (CH4) and non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) were 34.84, 149.72, 41.06, 90.11, 2640.97, 78,094.91, 485.17, 481.05, 35.21, 246.38 and 499.59 Gg, respectively. The largest contributor of crop residue open burning was rice, followed by wheat, rapeseed and corn, with the contribution rates of 35.34–64.07%, 15.78–34.71%, 9.12–25.56%, and 5.69–14.06%, respectively. The pollutants emissions exhibit large annual variation, with the highest emissions in 2013 and a remarkable decrease from 2013 to 2015 under strict control measures. Since 2015, the emissions remained at a low level, which shows that air quality control policies play a role in recent years. The result indicates that using OBP updated by satellite active fire product in a statistical-based method can help to get more accurate and reliable multi-year emissions.
TDA-Net: A Novel Transfer Deep Attention Network for Rapid Response to Building Damage Discovery
Authors: Zhang Haiming , Wang Mingchang , Zhang Yongxian , Ma Guorui
Published: August 2022

The rapid and accurate discovery of damage information of the affected buildings is of great significance for postdisaster emergency rescue. In some related studies, the models involved can detect damaged buildings relatively accurately, but their time cost is high. Models that can guarantee both detection accuracy and high efficiency are urgently needed. In this paper, we propose a new transfer-learning deep attention network (TDA-Net). It can achieve a balance of accuracy and efficiency. The benchmarking network for TDA-Net uses a pair of deep residual networks and is pretrained on a large-scale dataset of disaster-damaged buildings. The pretrained deep residual networks have strong sensing properties on the damage information, which ensures the effectiveness of the network in prefeature grasping. In order to make the network have a more robust perception of changing features, a set of deep attention bidirectional encoding and decoding modules is connected after the TDA-Net benchmark network. When performing a new task, only a small number of samples are needed to train the network, and the damage information of buildings in the whole area can be extracted. The bidirectional encoding and decoding structure of the network allows two images to be input into the model independently, which can effectively capture the features of a single image, thereby improving the detection accuracy. Our experiments on the xView2 dataset and three datasets of disaster regions achieve high detection accuracy, which demonstrates the feasibility of our method.
Predictors of Step Length from Surface Electromyography and Body Impedance Analysis Parameters
Authors: Park Jin-Woo , Baek Seol-Hee , Sung Joo Hye , Kim Byung-Jo
Published: August 2022

Step length is a critical hallmark of health status. However, few studies have investigated the modifiable factors that may affect step length. An exploratory, cross-sectional study was performed to evaluate the surface electromyography (sEMG) and body impedance analysis (BIA) parameters, combined with individual demographic data, to predict the individual step length using the GAITRite® system. Healthy participants aged 40–80 years were prospectively recruited, and three models were built to predict individual step length. The first model was the best-fit model (R2 = 0.244, p < 0.001); the root mean square (RMS) values at maximal knee flexion and height were included as significant variables. The second model used all candidate variables, except sEMG variables, and revealed that age, height, and body fat mass (BFM) were significant variables for predicting the average step length (R2 = 0.198, p < 0.001). The third model, which was used to predict step length without sEMG and BIA, showed that only age and height remained significant (R2 = 0.158, p < 0.001). This study revealed that the RMS value at maximal strength knee flexion, height, age, and BFM are important predictors for individual step length, and possibly suggesting that strengthening knee flexor function and reducing BFM may help improve step length.
Visual Odometry with an Event Camera Using Continuous Ray Warping and Volumetric Contrast Maximization
Authors: Wang Yifu , Yang Jiaqi , Peng Xin , Wu Peng , Gao Ling , Huang Kun , Chen Jiaben , Kneip Laurent
Published: August 2022

We present a new solution to tracking and mapping with an event camera. The motion of the camera contains both rotation and translation displacements in the plane, and the displacements happen in an arbitrarily structured environment. As a result, the image matching may no longer be represented by a low-dimensional homographic warping, thus complicating an application of the commonly used Image of Warped Events (IWE). We introduce a new solution to this problem by performing contrast maximization in 3D. The 3D location of the rays cast for each event is smoothly varied as a function of a continuous-time motion parametrization, and the optimal parameters are found by maximizing the contrast in a volumetric ray density field. Our method thus performs joint optimization over motion and structure. The practical validity of our approach is supported by an application to AGV motion estimation and 3D reconstruction with a single vehicle-mounted event camera. The method approaches the performance obtained with regular cameras and eventually outperforms in challenging visual conditions.
Multicore Fiber Bending Sensors with High Sensitivity Based on Asymmetric Excitation Scheme
Authors: Suo Lina , Peng Ya-Pei , Chen Nan-Kuang
Published: August 2022

Bending sensing was realized by constructing a tapered four-core optical fiber (TFCF) sensor. The four-core fiber (FCF) between the fan-in and fan-out couplers was tapered and the diameter became smaller, so that the distance between the four cores arranged in a square became gradually smaller to produce supermodes. The two ends of the TFCF were respectively connected to the fan-in and fan-out couplers so that the individual cores in the FCF could link to the separate single-mode fibers. A broadband light source (superluminescent diodes (SLD)) spanning 1250–1650 nm was injected into any one of the four cores, and the orientation was thus determined. In the tapering process, the remaining three cores gradually approached the excitation core in space to excite several supermodes based on the tri-core structure first, and then transited to the quadruple-core structure. The field distributions of the excited supermodes were asymmetric due to the corner-core excitation scheme, and the interference thus resulted in a higher measurement sensitivity. When the diameter of the TFCF was 7.5 μm and the tapered length was 2.21 mm, the sensitivity of the bending sensor could reach 16.12 nm/m−1.
Application of Digital Olfaction for Table Olive Industry
Authors: Sánchez Ramiro , Fernández Antonio , Martín-Tornero Elisabet , Meléndez Félix , Lozano Jesús , Martín-Vertedor Daniel
Published: August 2022

The International Olive Council (IOC) established that olives must be free of odors, off-flavors, and absent of abnormal ongoing alterations or fermentations. The use of electronic devices could help when classifying defects in a fast, non-destructive, cheap, and environmentally friendly way. For all of that, table olives were evaluated according to IOC regulation in order to classify the defect predominant perceiving (DPP) of the table olives and their intensity. Abnormal fermentation defects of Spanish-style table olives were assessed previously by an IOC-validated tasting panel. ‘Zapateria’, ‘Putrid’, and ‘Butyric’ were the defects found at different concentrations. Different volatile compounds were identified by gas chromatography in altered table olives. The same samples were measured with an electronic nose device (E-nose). E-nose data combined with chemometrics algorithms, such as PCA and PLS-DA, were able to successfully discriminate between healthy and non-healthy table olives, being this last one also separated between the first and second categories. Volatile compounds obtained with gas chromatography could be related to the E-nose measuring and sensory analysis, being capable of matching the different defects with their correspondents’ volatile compounds.
R-YOLO: A YOLO-Based Method for Arbitrary-Oriented Target Detection in High-Resolution Remote Sensing Images
Authors: Hou Yongjie , Shi Gang , Zhao Yingxiang , Wang Fan , Jiang Xian , Zhuang Rujun , Mei Yunfei , Ma Xinjiang
Published: August 2022

In view of the existence of remote sensing images with large variations in spatial resolution, small and dense objects, and the inability to determine the direction of motion, all these components make object detection from remote sensing images very challenging. In this paper, we propose a single-stage detection network based on YOLOv5. This method introduces the MS Transformer module at the end of the feature extraction network of the original network to enhance the feature extraction capability of the network model and integrates the Convolutional Block Attention Model (CBAM) to find the attention area in dense scenes. In addition, the YOLOv5 target detection network is improved by incorporating a rotation angle approach from the a priori frame design and the bounding box regression formulation to make it suitable for rotating frame-based detection scenarios. Finally, the weighted combination of the two difficult sample mining methods is used to improve the focal loss function, so as to improve the detection accuracy. The average accuracy of the test results of the improved algorithm on the DOTA data set is 77.01%, which is higher than the previous detection algorithm. Compared with the average detection accuracy of YOLOv5, the average detection accuracy is improved by 8.83%. The experimental results show that the algorithm has higher detection accuracy than other algorithms in remote sensing scenes.
Magneto-Mechano-Electric (MME) Composite Devices for Energy Harvesting and Magnetic Field Sensing Applications
Authors: Pattipaka Srinivas , Jeong Jaewon , Choi Hyunsu , Ryu Jungho , Hwang Geon-Tae
Published: August 2022

Magneto-mechano-electric (MME) composite devices have been used in energy harvesting and magnetic field sensing applications due to their advantages including their high-performance, simple structure, and stable properties. Recently developed MME devices can convert stray magnetic fields into electric signals, thus generating an output power of over 50 mW and detecting ultra-tiny magnetic fields below pT. These inherent outstanding properties of MME devices can enable the development of not only self-powered energy harvesters for internet of thing (IoT) systems but also ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensors for diagnosis of human bio-magnetism or others. This manuscript provides a brief overview of recently reported high-performance MME devices for energy harvesting and magnetic sensing applications.
A New Design of a CMOS Vertical Hall Sensor with a Low Offset
Authors: Lyu Fei , Huang Shuo , Wu Chaoran , Liang Xingcheng , Zhang Pengzhan , Wang Yuxuan , Pan Hongbing , Wang Yu
Published: August 2022

Vertical Hall sensors (VHSs), compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology, are used to detect magnetic fields in the plane of the sensor. In previous studies, their performance was limited by a large offset. This paper reports on a novel CMOS seven-contact VHS (7CVHS), which is formed by adding two additional contacts to a traditional five-contact VHS (5CVHS) to alleviate the offset. The offset voltage and offset magnetic field of the 7CVHS are reduced by 90.20% and 88.31% of those of the 5CVHS, respectively, with a 16.16% current-related sensitivity loss. Moreover, the size and positions of the contacts are optimized in standard GLOBALFOUNDRIES 0.18 μm BCDliteTM technology by scanning parameters using FEM simulations. The simulation data are analyzed in groups to study the influence of the size and contact positions on the current-related sensitivity, offset voltage, and offset magnetic field.