bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterisation of the first digital modules with RD53B-CMS readout chips for the Phase-2 Upgrade of the CMS Inner Tracker
Authors: Missiroli M.
Published: January 2023

To cope with the challenges posed by the High-Luminosity LHC, the CMS experiment will feature a new silicon tracker. The modules of the upgraded inner tracker are hybrid silicon pixel modules based on a new readout chip, developed by the RD53 collaboration. Compared to the readout chip of the current pixel detector, the RD53 chip is capable of sustaining higher hit rates and radiation levels, as well as enabling the use of serial-powering chains. The qualification of the latest version of this chip (RD53B) is underway, and it will lead to the final version of the readout chip to be used in the CMS inner tracker during the HL-LHC. First digital modules featuring the RD53B-CMS chip have been assembled in 2022 (the term digital module denotes a module assembly with readout chips, but without sensors bonded to them). This contribution presents results of tests on these first prototype modules.
Results obtained with FBK pixel sensor prototypes for the HL-LHC tracker upgrade of the CMS experiment
Authors: Bardelli G.
Published: January 2023

The High Luminosity Phase of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) will require an extensive upgrade of the CMS Inner Tracking system based on high radiation tolerant silicon pixel sensors capable of withstanding fluences up to 23 × 1015 neq/cm2 (1 MeV equivalent neutrons). Thin planar and 3D pixel sensors have been recently selected by CMS to be installed in the upgraded pixel tracker. Thanks to their structure, the 3D pixel sensors have some advantages with respect to planar ones, and are presently more suitable candidates for the innermost layer of the tracker. In this presentation results obtained with FBK planar and FBK 3D sensors readout by prototype read-out chip RD53A will be shown. Both sensor types have 25 × 100 μm2 pitch and 150 μm thickness, and they were manufactured in collaboration with INFN. The sensors readout by the chip were irradiated to several fluences up to the one foreseen for HL-LHC. The analysis of collected data shows very high hit detection efficiency and good spatial resolution as measured after irradiation.
Optimization of low-noise read-out electronics for high energy resolution X-ray strip detectors
Authors: Zubrzycka W. , Grybos P.
Published: January 2023

Semiconductor strip sensors applied as solid-state radiation or particle detectors can be used in radiation detection and measurement for various applications in particle physics experiments, X-ray imaging (e.g. medical), or material science. The X-ray imaging devices with spectroscopic and position resolution features are a very important research topic at many institutes and companies worldwide. Short strip silicon detectors are good candidates for X-ray spectroscopy, because of their relatively small capacitance and leakage current. If additionally, strip pitch is below 100 μm, then the high spatial resolution is also possible. In this paper, the analysis and noise optimization of the read-out electronics for short silicon strip detectors with Charge Sensitive Amplifier (CSA) and shaping amplifier (shaper) is presented. The CSA is optimized for the detector capacitance of around 1.5 pF, and the shaper nominal peaking time is about 1 μs (controlled by the sets of switches). We take into account the sources of noise in a radiation imaging system (current parallel noise, voltage series noise, and 1/f or flicker series noise) both internal (related to the front-end electronics itself) but also external, stemming from a sensor, interconnect, or printed circuit board parasitic components. We target the noise level below 40 el. rms, considering low power consumption (a few mW) and limited channel area.
Architecture and prototype of the CMS Global Level-1 Trigger for Phase-2
Authors: Bortolato G. , Deldicque C. , Gigi D. , Huber B. , Leutgeb E. , Lobanov A. , Rabady D. , Racz A. , Sakulin H.
Published: January 2023

We present the architecture and current state of prototype firmware of the CMS Level-1 Global Trigger, the final stage of the new Level-1 trigger for Phase-2 of the LHC. Based on high-precision inputs from the muon, calorimeter, track and particle flow triggers, the Global Trigger evaluates O(1000) cut-based and neural-net-based algorithms in a system of up to thirteen Xilinx Ultrascale+ based ATCA processing boards interconnected by 25 Gb/s optical links. In order to optimize the usage of resources, the main algorithms, including the DSP-based calculation of invariant masses, are implemented at 480 MHz.
Electrical performances of pre-production staves for the ATLAS ITk Strip Detector Upgrade
Authors: Capocasa F. , Gutierrez Zagazeta L.F. , Lynn D. , Phillips P.W. , Stucci S.A. , Tricoli A. , Van Nieuwenhuizen G.
Published: January 2023

The ATLAS experiment is currently preparing for an upgrade of the inner tracking detector for the High-Luminosity LHC. The new tracker, ITk, employs an all-silicon detector with outer strip layers. The building block of the ITk strip barrel is the stave which consists of a low-mass support structure hosting the common electrical, optical and cooling services as well as 28 silicon modules. In this contribution, we outline the challenging aspects of the stave pre-production testing phase at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The electrical characterization of these staves, hosting the final design of all ASICs, will be discussed in detail.
Particle flow reconstruction for the CMS Phase-II Level-1 Trigger
Authors: Herwig C.
Published: January 2023

The upgrade of the CMS detector for the high-luminosity LHC will include track-finding for the first time in the Level-1 trigger, enabling Particle Flow reconstruction of every event in addition to comprehensive pileup mitigation. The Correlator trigger will reconstruct isolated leptons and photons, hadronic jets, and energy sums, assisted in many cases by machine learning to benefit from the complete particle-level event record. We present the logic of these algorithms, possible implementations using large FPGAs and their demonstration in prototype hardware, in addition to the expected physics performance.
A simulation methodology for verification of transient fault tolerance of ASICs designed for high-energy physics experiments
Authors: Pulli A. , Lupi M.
Published: January 2023

Transient fault tolerance verification is a crucial step in the design of radiation-tolerant ASICs for high-energy physics experiments. In this paper, we discuss a methodical approach toward the verification of transient fault tolerance of ASICs using industry-standard methodologies and tools. The framework for fault verification includes tools for fault enumeration, fault injection, and running fault campaigns. The framework supports fault verification at various levels of design abstraction from high-level register-transfer model to gate-level netlist. The methodology and framework described in this paper were successfully used to identify SEE vulnerabilities in various ASICs designed at CERN.
Lessons learnt from the first vertical slice of the CMS Outer Tracker
Authors: Fedi G. , Fiorendi S. , Holmberg M. , Howard A. , Iles G. , Monk D. , Pesaresi M. , Whalen K.
Published: January 2023

A vertical slice of the CMS Outer Tracker has been tested at the tracker integration facility and at the M2 muon beam facility at CERN. It includes the final prototype of the 2S module with an optical link to the back-end ATCA system. The performance of the system will be described, including cooling limits of racks, robustness of 25 Gbit/s trigger optical links, and readiness of firmware.
Test signal generator for simulating electron events from a momentum microscope
Authors: Bozzini J. , Acremann Y.
Published: January 2023

Preparing experiments that utilize free electron lasers is
challenging because obtaining access to the facility is
difficult. The integration of detectors into the data acquisition
system needs to be tested before the beamtime starts. In this study,
we develop a test signal generator that simulates the signals from a
delay-line detector used in a time-of-flight electron
spectrometer. The output signals of the simulator are connected to
the time-to-digital converter electronics and simulate a realistic
energy spectrum of a real spectrometer. Through this method, the
detector electronics can be tested and integrated into the data
acquisition system at the free electron laser before the actual
instrument is available on site. In addition, the saturation
behavior of the signal processing chain can be tested by changing
the number of simulated electrons per pulse.
Climate change shifts the trade-off between lower cooling and higher heating demand from daylight saving time in office buildings
Authors: Eggimann Sven , Mutschler Robin , Orehounig Kristina , Fiorentini Massimo
Published: January 2023

The original intention of daylight saving time (DST) was to save energy required for artificial lighting. This one-hour shift in working hours, however, also impacts the current and future heating and cooling demand of buildings, which is yet to be thoroughly investigated. Here, daylight saving time-induced heating and cooling demand of archetype offices across the United States are simulated for 15 cities for different representative concentration pathway (RCP) climate trajectories. DST reduces cooling more than it increases heating. Maximum savings of up to 5.9% for cooling and 4.4% increase in heating were simulated under current climatic conditions, noting that cooling dominates the buildings’ demand during the DST period. Climate change increases future cooling demand, but does not significantly affect the combined (heating and cooling) potential of reducing energy demand when DST is introduced. However, the relative reduction (i.e. decrease in the percentage of total cooling demand) is smaller when considering climate change. The impact of DST on cooling and heating energy demand depends on the geographical location, which determines the amount and temporal pattern of cooling and heating demand. For the considered case studies, introducing DST with climate change generally resulted in overall combined savings with a maximum saving of 3% for Port Angeles, assuming an RCP 4.5 scenario. Policies that shift working hours need to be evaluated considering their impact on building energy demand and it is necessary to establish whether saving cooling or saving heating energy demand can achieve higher CO2 emission reductions.
Improving remote sensing of extreme events with machine learning: land surface temperature retrievals from IASI observations
Authors: Boucher Eulalie , Aires Filipe
Published: January 2023

Retrieving weather extremes from observations is critical for weather forecasting and climate impact studies. Statistical and machine learning methods are increasingly popular in the remote sensing community. However, these models act as regression tools when dealing with regression problems and as such, they are not always well-suited for the estimation of the extreme weather states. This study firstly introduces two error types that arise from such statistical methods: (a) ‘dampening’ refers to the reduction of the range of variability in the retrieved values, a natural behavior for regression models; (b) ‘inflating’ is the opposite effect (i.e. larger ranges) due to data pooling. We then introduce the concept of localization that intends to better take into account local conditions in the statistical model. Localization largely improves the retrievals of extreme states, and can be used both for retrieval at the pixel level or in image processing techniques. This approach is tested on the retrieval of land surface temperature using infrared atmospheric sounding interferometer observations: the dampening is reduced from 1.9 K to 1.6 K, and the inflating from 1.1 K to 0.5 K, respectively.
Analytical determination of the water thermal accumulator capacity in a consumption mode with a constant debit and a fixed temperature
Authors: Tomov Georgi
Published: January 2023

The water thermal accumulators for heat and cold storage are an important part of various engineering installations. This article examines a tank with volume of 1000 [l] in a consumption mode with a constant debit and a fixed temperature. The output volumes of hot water in two regimes – weak stratification and strong stratification are calculated analytically and are compared with the results from an analogical simulation in ANSYS. The ANSYS simulations are unconditionally more accurate, but require specialized knowledge and software. The solutions without simulation procedures are suggested. The output volume of hot water with fixed temperature - as a function of initial and final temperatures in accumulator, flow debit, tank construction and external conditions - can be calculated fast and accurate enough for the engineering practice. Relative differences between analytic and simulations results for all regimes are below 10.5%.
Multiphysics simulation for design and adjustment of efficient industrial drying modes of ceramic ware
Authors: Penkova N Y , Mladenov B M , Krumov K S
Published: January 2023

Algorithms for design and adjustment of industrial drying regimes of ceramic ware, based on modeling and numerical simulation of coupled mass transfer and mechanical processes in the dried media, are developed. They allow prediction of efficient drying rate through estimation of the strain-stress processes in the dried bodies based on finite element analysis and experimentally determined material models. Thermodynamically relations are used to obtain and adjust the change mode of the relative humidity, temperature and velocity of the drying gas in the dryers.

The proposed approaches were applied for estimation of the possibility for drying time reduction of ceramic bricks in continuous draying installation, and the subsequent technological effects.
Comparative evaluation of different options for energy system development in small countries
Authors: Zaharieva N , Groudev P , Chaushevski A , Popov N , Kichev E
Published: January 2023

In this paper an approach, proposed in the frame of the IAEA International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO) and its Collaborative Project “Key indicators for innovative nuclear energy systems” (KIND) for a multi-criteria comparative assessment of different energy options was studied and applied. Comparative evaluation of two hypothetical energy systems - nuclear and non-nuclear was performed in the context of co-operation between small countries in the Balkan region. The evaluation was based on various criteria grouped into selected areas to cover different dimensions in terms of sustainability - economic, environment, public, safety, infrastructure. The results show that nuclear option obtained higher total scores and is thus the preferred option. The nuclear option performs better in the areas of economics, environment and national security and non-nuclear option has the advantage in areas of waste management, safety, public acceptance and infrastructure. The sensitivity and uncertainty analysis performed in the study enable to consider the impact of the input uncertainties on the ranking results and their stability. The study could be used to support decision makers in energy policy at national level, demonstrating the application of methodology.
Comparison of Neutron-Physical Parameters of EPR and WWER-1500 using MCNP Computer Code
Authors: Dimitrov Dobromir , Belousov Sergey
Published: January 2023

Three-dimensional calculations of the neutron-physical parameters were performed with the MCNP computer code for two models of a reactor core. The purpose was to determine the coefficient of reproduction of neutrons keff
in each of the defined cases, as well as to qualitatively illustrate the neutron flux in axial and radial directions of the reactor core. A generalized analysis of the obtained results is performed, and it can be said that the prepared models, being relatively simple, meet the goal of this paper, namely presenting the basic principles of performing criticality calculations with the MCNP computer code. All calculations for this paper were performed with MCNP5, ver. 1.4. In the present paper, two active core models are considered – one for the EPR reactor and the other for the WWER-1500. Both projects are categorized as Generation 3 nuclear reactors. The following components of the core are included in both models: fuel elements, control rods and coolant. The fuel elements are presented as solid uranium dioxide cylinders coated with zirconium alloy. The fuel elements are grouped in fuel assemblies, in the case of the EPR reactor the fuel elements are arranged in a square grid, and in the case of the WWER-1500 reactor – in a triangular grid (hexagonal geometry). The limits of both models in the radial-azimuthal direction coincide with the inner diameter of the reactor vessel, and in the axial direction the limit is 56 cm in both directions from the end of the fuel elements. The calculations performed in this paper do not aim to quantify the distribution of neutron flux in the core, nor to find with great accuracy the coefficient of reproduction of neutrons keff
at different stages of the reactor campaign. The calculations are made in order to verify the accuracy of the compiled input files. A criterion for this could be the demonstration of basic neutron-physical parameters, such as an increase in the value of keff
with increasing the fuel enrichment and qualitative illustration of the change in the distribution of the neutron flux when introducing control rods in the core.
3rd International Conference on Smart Cities and Sustainable Planning (SCSP 2022)
Authors: Obaid Ahmed J. , Al-Rawi Firas Thamer
Published: January 2023

SCSP_2022 Conference Proceeding is the 3rd edition of the SCSP Conference series; this volume Involved Our Peer-Reviewed Papers that are reviewed and presented through this Conference which focuses on Smart Cities and Sustainable Planning; SCSP 2022 is held in a Hybrid manner at the Center of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Baghdad, Iraq, 26-27 April 2022. SCSP aims to latest and new trends in topics covered under broad areas such as Smart Cities and Urban Planning. Many cities have made a qualitative leap in their different living systems through several technical systems and applications that have entered various areas of life. Therefore, it has become an essential issue to study the technical elements involved in planning and designing modern cities to transform them into smart cities. It uses information and communication technology to make the components of cities, infrastructure, facilities, and services more effective and interactive with people to reach cooperative cities that achieve maximum benefits for the residents. Our Conference addresses the issue of new city designs and the development of existing contemporary cities based on modern standards that stimulate technological growth and scientific progress by introducing artificial intelligence into the urban environment. To ensure a high quality of life for its residents and meet the basic needs to achieve social, economic, and environmental well-being. All submitted papers are based on double-blind reviews. Only accepted papers based on reviewers’ comments and editorial board decisions will be considered for possible publication in our Conference Proceeding with IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (EES).

SCSP Conference got significant interest from authors from many countries like the UK, Poland, France, India, Syria, and others. The authors have successfully presented their works and attended our conference sessions Via ZOOM Software. Conference Sessions were managed by our scientific and organizing committee members, who answered all the questions attendees or Session chairs asked. We successfully held this Conference within 2-Days (26 and 27 April 2022); on the first day, we successfully listened to the keynote speakers’ presentations; then, 6 sessions started from 12:30 pm in Iraq Standard Time till 02:30 pm, and the total number of papers presented on the first day was 30 papers, 5 papers for each Session. We want to thank all our session chairs for their hard work and attend our (6) sessions over two days and more than 6 hours per day to deliver the presented outcomes successfully.

List of Venue of the Conference, Conference Chairs, Conference Editors, Scientific Committee, Organizing Committee, Invited Speakers, Organizing Institutions, Conference Partners are available in this Pdf.
Site suitability analysis for rural development using geomatics technology in Maysan province/Iraq
Authors: Radi A M , Ziboon A T , Ismael H S
Published: January 2023

Based on the latest statistics, the number of villages decreased by (18%) of the total number of villages between 1982 and 2019, which indicates an urgent need for a plan to develop the rural settlements in Iraq for spatial balance with the urban area, and the most important challenges and risks that facing this process are the mechanism and criteria for selecting a (mother) village that is a candidate for development with the current situation, to serve the optimum number of inhabitants in a group of neighbouring villages and building modern villages. The overall and main objective of this research was to select potential areas suitable for villages that will be candidates for rural development in Maysan Province south of Iraq by using geographic information system (GIS) methods and remote sensing (RS) techniques. The main data used for this study were Sentinel-2 satellite images with a spatial resolution of 10m; a digital elevation model (DEM) with 12.5m spatial resolution, a topographical map of the study area, the layer of village locations in rural areas, with the data of all these villages included in the comprehensive survey of villages in the Maysan Province. Population, agriculture activity, infrastructure, public services, economic projects, natural characteristics, and site properties, for rural regions are defined as important criteria for identifying sites of select villages for rural development. So, all the thematic layers are assigned weightage depending on importance and priority. Then all the layers are integrated into (The suitability Modeler) one layer by one to produce suitable village sites and demarcated as mother villages candidates for rural development in the study area. The final suitability map for villages of the study area was prepared on ArcGIS Pro 2.8 program and labelled as very high, high, moderate, low, and very low suitable regions out, of the total villages, 52 villages (9.2%) lie in 13 sub-districts (called Nahia), on the middle-south-west parts, along the rivers in Maysan Province, was very high suitable to the candidate for rural development.
Crop yield estimation using different remote sensing data: literature review
Authors: Abdul-Jabbar T S , Ziboon A T , Albayati M M
Published: January 2023

The climatic conditions and many other environmental factors have an impact on the crop growth stage and then on crop yield. The evaluation of seasonal crop production requires simultaneously monitoring crop yield conditions and early evaluation of significantly reduced production caused by unexpected disasters. Early detection of stunted crop growth can help prevent a disaster or help plan to prevent its occurrence or spread. On the other side, Farmlands cover a wide area of the planet’s surface, so the use of advanced technologies (for example, remote sensing) is very important to minimize the cost of monitoring, and eliminate the wasting of natural resources. Nowadays, the different satellite types such as Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS, and, Spot lead to variations in remote sensing data in spatial, temporal, radiometric, and spectral resolution. This is done to obtain many indices to utilize in crop management and the environmental effect. This review paper presents many studies to clarify three main tasks. Firstly, present the importance of using different types of remote sensing data depending on the reason for use. Secondly, the most famous indices have been used in many studies for different purposes to obtain accurate crop management, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Land Surface Temperature (LST). Lastly, conclude the review by presenting the potential of the various remote sensing data and the importance of many indices that are helpful for crop and environmental factors monitoring.
Development of new sustainable urban complexes: an entrance to the development and sustainability of investment housing complexes in the city of Najaf (Qaryat Al Ghadeer residential complex as an applied case)
Authors: Al Musawi Safaa F , Al Baghdadi Abdul Sahib N
Published: January 2023

The idea of sustainability has become a necessity in various fields, especially in the urban environment, where it has emerged as a solution to the many problems facing cities. For that, it is necessary to identify the nature of sustainability in general and urban sustainability in particular and how to achieve it in the Al-Ghadeer residential complex. Therefore, the research focuses on the problem of what are the criteria of urban sustainability when planning residential complexes. How close is Al-Ghadeer residential complex to achieving urban sustainability, where it concluded that Al-Ghadeer residential complex suffers from not being close to achieving urban sustainability due to its deviation from the sustainable standard, which is reflected in the study area and its inability to provide a suitable urban environment for the residents and other desirable characteristics in an urban environment?
The role of irrigation projects in the development of rural settlements conceptual framework and experiences
Authors: Ali Firas Hussein , Ali Amna Hussain Sabree
Published: January 2023

Irrigation projects have a key role in influencing economic factors and reshaping the demographic distribution pattern of rural settlements and elements of development. As the main objective of the research is to show what irrigation projects achieve in rural development through the redistribution of rural human settlements in a schematic manner consistent with the new irrigation reality and helps In exploiting the agricultural potential to reach the rebuilding of the rural economy, and to help solve the problem of poor distribution of development benefits and the lack of public services for rural human settlements, due to the spread and scattering of villages, assuming that the prevailing pattern of widespread distribution changes and the use of a new pattern based on the grouping of villages, and raising the rate of Population size in a way that helps to achieve the rural development process. Considering that the dominant feature that distinguishes the pattern of rural settlements in Iraq is the small size of the settlements, their spread and their lack of basic services, which is the characteristic that stands in the way of development and development.

Among the most important conclusions achieved for the role of irrigation projects in addition to agricultural development, is their contribution to the urban development of rural human settlements and providing them with public and agricultural services by linking to a network of roads, in addition to establishing new settlements that support the rural economy.
Ecological utilization of urban green spaces: Baghdad / Dora as a case study
Authors: Dawood Farah Ayid , Jassim Adel H
Published: January 2023

Urban green spaces lungs of cities and the source of ecological services which are represented by (provisioning, Regulating, Cultural and Supporting services), therefore, it is important to provide green spaces within the cities and protect them. These ecological services can be achieved by applying ecological utilizing principles in the planning of urban green spaces. In Iraqi cities, urban green spaces are currently suffering from neglect from planning policies as well as the invasion by other land uses owing to the lack of knowledge of ecological importance and the weakness of laws and legislations that should protect green spaces. Consequently, that led to the deterioration, shrinkage, and fragmentation of green spaces within the urban fabric. The main objective is to analyse the application of ecological utilizing principles on green spaces in Dora municipality, Baghdad (which is been selected as the study area) in (2020) and compare it with (2005). The methodology of analysis of the ecological utilizing principles on green spaces is based on a series of landscape metrics, where part of it was measured by using “FRAGSTATS 4.2” software, while the other part was measured by descriptive and statistical analysis of data and field visits of the selected study area. The results showed that most of the ecological utilizing principles were reduced in 2020 compared with 2005. The paper concluded that the selected study area suffers from a weakness in the application of the principles of ecological utilisation in its green spaces, which consequently led to the loss of its ecological services. This paper suggested focusing more research on the ecological utilization of urban green spaces, incorporating its principles into urban planning policies, and promoting the role of green spaces as one of the most important ecosystems within the cities.
Indicators for achieving a sustainable urban environment (Al-Qadisiyah district / Tikrit city)
Authors: Dhahir Younus Mosleh , Alwan Kareem Hassan
Published: January 2023

There is no doubt that the application of sustainability has become a necessary topic in various scales, especially in the urban environment scale and we can consider sustainability as a successful solution to many problems that occurred in cities due to the growth and development of these cities, and it embodies.one of the most prominent forms of creativity in the field of urban planning, since many cities were in good conditions, and at the present time it is required to restore vitality to them and achieve the highest rate of comfort for the population and work to make these cities closer to sustainability, and this requires the availability of elected indicators This is done by first knowing what sustainability is, then finding special indicators in this field that serve as selected criteria that help in evaluating the urban environment, to know the extent to which urban space responds to achieving sustainability, by identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the performance of this space in relation to sustainability. Thus, the research is based on a problem that is summarized in (the cognitive deficiency in identifying effective indicators to reach urban sustainability), and we aim to identify effective indicators in achieving sustainability in the urban environment and how these indicators work, and we assume in the research (that the indicators that were found from the urban environment work together and in a coherent manner as effective and represent criteria in achieving sustainability in the urban environment). After studying and identifying the concept of sustainability in the urban environment, four main indicators were found to achieve this sustainability, which are (urban density, urban diversity, urban design for pedestrians and accessibility). These indicators were applied to the study area, which is the Al-Qadisiyah district in the city of Tikrit to identify the level of performance of the urban environment for the area and how to raise the level of this performance to achieve sustainability.
Methodology of Estimating Construction Projects Contingency
Authors: Noaman Aws S , Hasan Ali E , Talib Mustafa H
Published: January 2023

Most construction projects suffer from many change orders during the construction period of the project and that leads to allocate more funds to cover these changes. Determining the amount of this fund by the owner is difficult due to the uncertainties in the construction project. On the other side, these allocated funds mean a restriction to valuable money that could be used for other financial activities. In this paper, a proposed methodology is suggested estimating the project contingency instead of the traditional approach of adding fixed value based on the contract value of the project. This methodology makes sure that minimum contingency is allocated through analyzing data from previous similar projects and identify the most activities causing change orders (consume contingency) then take actions in the planning stage to organize these activities and ensure their execution within the budget allocated. The amount of contingency could be determined based on the previous information. This methodology applied on a case study consists of seven construction projects in Tikrit University and the application indicates that adopt a scientific approach (such as this methodology) in estimating the amount of project contingency could increase the precision of estimation and minimize the contingency amount.
Traffic flow impacts on the environment along urban streets under mixed traffic conditions in Al-Najaf city
Authors: Mansour Ali Imad , Eedan Al-Jameel Hamid Athab
Published: January 2023

With the increase in population and urban mobilization worldwide, the rapid urbanization of Najaf has led to a massive increase in road traffic. Automobile traffic is now regarded as one of the most significant sources of air pollution in Iraq, with a considerable impact on air quality. This study conducted measurements in a selected urban-road network in Al-Najaf city in Iraq that witnessed a high traffic flow index to measure vehicle emissions and study the correlation between the traffic flow and emissions in this network during peak hours. Priority parameters were measured such as: “Carbon dioxide,” “Carbon monoxide,” “Nitrogen dioxide,” “Nitrogen monoxide,” “Sulfur dioxide,” and other parameters also monitored, including temperature, the direction of the wind, the velocity of wind, and the traffic parameters. It shows that the high heterogeneous traffic flow increases pollutants produced by vehicles. At the same time, it decreases substantially with the decrease in flow and speed. The highest level of Carbon dioxide was: 486ppm, 466ppm, and 447 ppm at peak hours when high traffic density. Also, the highest concentration of Co was 8.22, 4.52, and 3.98 ppm in all locations indexed in the moderate zone, No2 and SoD exceeding EPA levels marking the index in the (very unhealthy) zone. The correlation analysis showed a good and very good linear regression model between CO, CO2, and volume with average vehicle speed. According to these results, the pollution in Najaf due to transportation is significant, with potentially serious health repercussions.
Ion microscopy with evolutionary-algorithm-based autofocusing
Authors: Haniel Franz E , Hedewig Lina , Schröder Hartmut , Kling Matthias F , Bergues Boris
Published: January 2023

Ion microscopy is an established technique for laser focus diagnostics and the accurate, intensity-resolved measurement of laser ionization processes. In the present feasibility study, we discuss a new ion microscope design, which improves its resolution across a large range of magnifications and simplifies its operation. Instead of the common two einzel lens configuration, which is usually optimized for a fixed magnification, we propose a generic design consisting of an array of equally spaced ring electrodes, whose individually adjustable voltages are controlled by an evolutionary algorithm. In this way, we can realize aberration minimized magnifications between 25 and 100. Moreover, the algorithm can adjust the voltage settings under changing experimental conditions and facilitates autofocusing for user-defined magnification.
Evaluating Personality Assessment Inventory Response Patterns in Active-Duty Personnel With Head Injury Using a Latent Class Approach
Authors: Ingram Paul B , Herring Tristan T , Armistead-Jehle Patrick
Published: January 2023

Objective

Previous research has found that among those with brain injury, individuals have a variety of different potential symptom sets, which will be seen on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). The number of different groups and what they measure have varied depending on the study.

Method

In active-duty personnel with a remote history of mild traumatic brain injury (n = 384) who were evaluated at a neuropsychology clinic, we used a retrospective database to examine if there are different groups of individuals who have distinct sets of symptoms as measured on the PAI. We examined the potential of distinct groups of respondents by conducting a latent class analysis of the clinical scales. Post hoc testing of group structures was conducted on concurrently administered cognitive testing, performance validity tests, and the PAI subscales.

Results

Findings indicate a pattern of broad symptom severity as the most probable reason for multiple groups of respondents, suggesting that there are no distinct symptom sets observed within this population. Pathology levels were the most elevated on internalizing and thought disorder scales across the various class solutions.

Conclusion

Findings indicate that among active-duty service members with remote brain injury, there are no distinct groups of respondents with different sets of symptom types as has been found in prior work with other neuropsychology samples. We conclude that the groups found are likely a function of general psychopathology present in the population/sample rather than bona fide differences.
Inactivation of growth differentiation factor 9 blocks folliculogenesis in pigs
Authors: Chen Paula R , Uh Kyungjun , Monarch Kaylynn , Spate Lee D , Reese Emily D , Prather Randall S , Lee Kiho
Published: January 2023

Growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) is a secreted protein belonging to the transforming growth factor beta superfamily and has been well characterized for its role during folliculogenesis in the ovary. Although previous studies in mice and sheep have shown that mutations in GDF9 disrupt follicular progression, the exact role of GDF9 in pigs has yet to be elucidated. The objective of this study was to understand the role of GDF9 in ovarian function by rapidly generating GDF9 knockout (GDF9−/−) pigs by using the CRISPR/Cas9 system. Three single-guide RNAs designed to disrupt porcine GDF9 were injected with Cas9 mRNA into zygotes, and blastocyst-stage embryos were transferred into surrogates. One pregnancy was sacrificed on day 100 of gestation to investigate the role of GDF9 during oogenesis. Four female fetuses were recovered with one predicted to be GDF9−/− and the others with in-frame mutations. All four had fully formed oocytes within primordial follicles, confirming that knockout of GDF9 does not disrupt oogenesis. Four GDF9 mutant gilts were generated and were grown past puberty. One gilt was predicted to completely lack functional GDF9 (GDF9−/−), and the gilt never demonstrated standing estrus and had a severely underdeveloped reproductive tract with large ovarian cysts. Further examination revealed that the follicles from the GDF9−/− gilt did not progress past preantral stages, and the uterine vasculature was less extensive than the control pigs. By using the CRISPR/Cas9 system, we demonstrated that GDF9 is a critical growth factor for proper ovarian development and function in pigs.
Global Guidelines in Dermatology Mapping Project (GUIDEMAP): a systematic review of alopecia areata clinical practice guidelines
Authors: Asfour Leila , De Brito Marianne , Al-Janabi Ali , Haw William W Y , Johnson Amy , Flohr Carsten , Yiu Zenas Zee Ngai
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Alopecia areata (AA) is a nonscarring alopecia with an estimated global prevalence of 2% and limited data on the efficacy of current treatment. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) provide recommendations based on best available evidence. It is unclear how many AA CPGs are available globally.

Aim

To systematically search for and identify CPGs on AA and to critically appraise their quality using validated tools.

Methods

We performed a literature search to identify CPGs published between October 2014 and April 2021, using the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), Guidelines International Network, Emergency Care Research Institute guidelines trust, Australian CPGs, Turning Research Into Practice database and DynaMed. The systematic review was conducted and reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses framework. Three critical appraisal tools were used: Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) II instrument, Lenzer’s red flags and United States Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) criteria of trustworthiness.

Results

In total, six AA CPGs from seven manuscripts (one CPG was in two parts published in separate papers) were included. The majority (four of six) of the CPGs focused on treatment. Four CPGs (total of five papers) were in English and two CPGs were only available in the original language (one Russian and one Japanese). All AA CPGs demonstrated low quality in several domains in the AGREE II appraisal, including stakeholder involvement and applicability, with the latter being deemed the worst domain for all CPGs, with an average of 29%. The mean (SD) number of Lenzer’s red flags for the included CPGs was 3.4 (1.5) out of a total of 8 possible red flags, while the IOM criteria showed 1.6 (0.8) ‘fully met’ criteria and 3.1 (1.2) ‘not met’ out of a total of 9 criteria.

Conclusion

We found a limited number of AA CPGs, all of which had significant methodological deficiencies. We encourage guideline development groups to use validated checklists/tools to develop reliable and trustworthy CPGs.
Language-related motor facilitation in Italian Sign Language signers
Authors: Giovannelli Fabio , Borgheresi Alessandra , Lucidi Giulia , Squitieri Martina , Gavazzi Gioele , Suppa Antonio , Berardelli Alfredo , Viggiano Maria Pia , Cincotta Massimo
Published: January 2023

Linguistic tasks facilitate corticospinal excitability as revealed by increased motor evoked potential (MEP) induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the dominant hand. This modulation of the primary motor cortex (M1) excitability may reflect the relationship between speech and gestures. It is conceivable that in healthy individuals who use a sign language this cortical excitability modulation could be rearranged. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of spoken language tasks on M1 excitability in a group of hearing signers. Ten hearing Italian Sign Language (LIS) signers and 16 non-signer healthy controls participated. Single-pulse TMS was applied to either M1 hand area at the baseline and during different tasks: (i) reading aloud, (ii) silent reading, (iii) oral movements, (iv) syllabic phonation and (v) looking at meaningless non-letter strings. Overall, M1 excitability during the linguistic and non-linguistic tasks was higher in LIS group compared to the control group. In LIS group, MEPs were significantly larger during reading aloud, silent reading and non-verbal oral movements, regardless the hemisphere. These results suggest that in hearing signers there is a different modulation of the functional connectivity between the speech-related brain network and the motor system.
The mitigation of the executive vigilance decrement via HD-tDCS over the right posterior parietal cortex and its association with neural oscillations
Authors: Hemmerich Klara , Lupiáñez Juan , Luna Fernando G , Martín-Arévalo Elisa
Published: January 2023

Vigilance—maintaining a prolonged state of preparation to detect and respond to specific yet unpredictable environmental changes—usually decreases across prolonged tasks, causing potentially severe real-life consequences, which could be mitigated through transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). The present study aimed at replicating previous mitigatory effects observed with anodal high-definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) over the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC) while extending the analyses on electrophysiological measures associated with vigilance. In sum, 60 participants completed the ANTI-Vea task while receiving anodal (1.5 mA, n = 30) or sham (0 mA, n = 30) HD-tDCS over the rPPC for ~ 28 min. EEG recordings were completed before and after stimulation. Anodal HD-tDCS specifically mitigated executive vigilance (EV) and reduced the alpha power increment across time-on-task while increasing the gamma power increment. To further account for the observed behavioral and physiological outcomes, a new index of Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal is proposed. Interestingly, the increment of this Alphaparietal/Gammafrontal Index with time-on-task is associated with a steeper EV decrement in the sham group, which was mitigated by anodal HD-tDCS. We highlight the relevance of replicating mitigatory effects of tDCS and the need to integrate conventional and novel physiological measures to account for how anodal HD-tDCS can be used to modulate cognitive performance.
Cardiac muscle patches containing four types of cardiac cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells improve recovery from cardiac injury in mice
Authors: Lou Xi , Tang Yawen , Ye Lei , Pretorius Danielle , Fast Vladimir G , Kahn-Krell Asher M , Zhang Jue , Zhang Jianhua , Qiao Aijun , Qin Gangjian , Kamp Timothy , Thomson James A , Zhang Jianyi
Published: January 2023

Aims

We have shown that human cardiac muscle patches (hCMPs) containing three different types of cardiac cells—cardiomyocytes (CMs), smooth muscle cells (SMCs), and endothelial cells (ECs), all of which were differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs)—significantly improved cardiac function, infarct size, and hypertrophy in a pig model of myocardial infarction (MI). However, hPSC-derived CMs (hPSC-CMs) are phenotypically immature, which may lead to arrhythmogenic concerns; thus, since hPSC-derived cardiac fibroblasts (hPSC-CFs) appear to enhance the maturity of hPSC-CMs, we compared hCMPs containing hPSC-CMs, -SMCs, -ECs, and -CFs (4TCC-hCMPs) with a second hCMP construct that lacked hPSC-CFs but was otherwise identical [hCMP containing hPSC-CMs, -AECs, and -SMCs (3TCC-hCMPs)].

Methods and results

hCMPs were generated in a fibrin scaffold. MI was induced in severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mice through permanent coronary artery (left anterior descending) ligation, followed by treatment with cardiac muscle patches. Animal groups included: MI heart treated with 3TCC-hCMP; with 4TCC-hCMP; MI heart treated with no patch (MI group) and sham group. Cardiac function was evaluated using echocardiography, and cell engraftment rate and infarct size were evaluated histologically at 4 weeks after patch transplantation. The results from experiments in cultured hCMPs demonstrate that the inclusion of cardiac fibroblast in 4TCC-hCMPs had (i) better organized sarcomeres; (ii) abundant structural, metabolic, and ion-channel markers of CM maturation; and (iii) greater conduction velocities (31 ± 3.23 cm/s, P < 0.005) and action-potential durations (APD50 = 365 ms ± 2.649, P < 0.0001; APD = 408 ms ± 2.757, P < 0.0001) than those (velocity and APD time) in 3TCC-hCMPs. Furthermore, 4TCC-hCMPs transplantation resulted in better cardiac function [ejection fraction (EF) = 49.18% ± 0.86, P < 0.05], reduced infarct size (22.72% ± 0.98, P < 0.05), and better engraftment (15.99% ± 1.56, P < 0.05) when compared with 3TCC-hCMPs (EF = 41.55 ± 0.92%, infarct size = 39.23 ± 4.28%, and engraftment = 8.56 ± 1.79%, respectively).

Conclusion

Collectively, these observations suggest that the inclusion of hPSC-CFs during hCMP manufacture promotes hPSC-CM maturation and increases the potency of implanted hCMPs for improving cardiac recovery in mice model of MI.