bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Guillain-Barré Syndrome
Authors: Makhluf Huda , Madany Henry
Published: July 2021

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus strain 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a beta-coronavirus that emerged as a global threat and caused a pandemic following its first outbreak in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. SARS-CoV-2 causes COVID-19, a disease ranging from relatively mild to severe illness. Older people and those with many serious underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, heart or lung conditions are at higher risk for developing severe complications from COVID-19 illness. SARS-CoV-2 infections of adults can lead to neurological complications ranging from headaches, loss of taste and smell, to Guillain–Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disease characterized by neurological deficits. Herein we attempt to describe the neurological manifestations of SARS-CoV2 infection with a special focus on Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Current Therapies in Clinical Trials of Parkinson’s Disease: A 2021 Update
Authors: Prasad E. Maruthi , Hung Shih-Ya
Published: July 2021

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that currently has no cure, but treatments are available to improve PD symptoms and maintain quality of life. In 2020, about 10 million people worldwide were living with PD. In 1970, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved the drug levodopa as a dopamine replacement to manage PD motor symptoms; levodopa-carbidopa combination became commercialized in 1975. After over 50 years of use, levodopa is still the gold standard for PD treatment. Unfortunately, levodopa therapy-induced dyskinesia and OFF symptoms remain unresolved. Therefore, we urgently need to analyze each current clinical trial’s status and therapeutic strategy to discover new therapeutic approaches for PD treatment. We surveyed 293 registered clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov from 2008 to 16 June 2021. After excluded levodopa/carbidopa derivative add-on therapies, we identified 47 trials as PD treatment drugs or therapies. Among them, 19 trials are in phase I (41%), 25 trials are in phase II (53%), and 3 trials are in phase III (6%). The three phase-III trials use embryonic dopamine cell implant, 5-HT1A receptor agonist (sarizotan), and adenosine A2A receptor antagonist (caffeine). The therapeutic strategy of each trial shows 29, 5, 1, 5, 5, and 2 trials use small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, plasma therapy, cell therapy, gene therapy, and herbal extract, respectively. Additionally, we discuss the most potent drug or therapy among these trials. By systematically updating the current trial status and analyzing the therapeutic strategies, we hope this review can provide new ideas and insights for PD therapy development.
Fulvestrant-3-Boronic Acid (ZB716) Demonstrates Oral Bioavailability and Favorable Pharmacokinetic Profile in Preclinical ADME Studies
Authors: Liu Jiawang , Rajasekaran Nirmal , Hossain Ahamed , Zhang Changde , Guo Shanchun , Kang Borui , Jung Hunsoon , Kim Hongjoong , Wang Guangdi
Published: July 2021

Fulvestrant-3-boronic acid (ZB716), an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) under clinical development, has been investigated in ADME studies to characterize its absorption, metabolism, and pharmacokinetics. ZB716 was found to have high plasma protein binding in human and animal plasma, and low intestinal mucosal permeability. ZB716 had high clearance in hepatocytes of all species tested. ZB716 was metabolized primarily by CYP2D6 and CYP3A. In human liver microsomes, ZB716 demonstrated relatively low inhibition of CYP1A2, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, and 3A4 (when testosterone was used as the substrate), and no inhibition of CYP2B6 and 3A4 (when midazolam was used as the substrate). In assays for enzyme activity, ZB716 induced CYP1A2, 2B6, and 3A4 in a concentration-dependent manner. Single-dose and repeated-dose pharmacokinetic studies in rats and dogs showed oral bioavailability, dose-proportional drug exposure, and drug accumulation as measured by maximum concentration and area under the concentration–time curve (AUC).
The Psychonauts’ Benzodiazepines; Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) Analysis and Docking Prediction of Their Biological Activity
Authors: Catalani Valeria , Botha Michelle , Corkery John Martin , Guirguis Amira , Vento Alessandro , Scherbaum Norbert , Schifano Fabrizio
Published: July 2021

Designer benzodiazepines (DBZDs) represent a serious health concern and are increasingly reported in polydrug consumption-related fatalities. When new DBZDs are identified, very limited information is available on their pharmacodynamics. Here, computational models (i.e., quantitative structure-activity relationship/QSAR and Molecular Docking) were used to analyse DBZDs identified online by an automated web crawler (NPSfinder®) and to predict their possible activity/affinity on the gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptors (GABA-ARs). The computational software MOE was used to calculate 2D QSAR models, perform docking studies on crystallised GABA-A receptors (6HUO, 6HUP) and generate pharmacophore queries from the docking conformational results. 101 DBZDs were identified online by NPSfinder®. The validated QSAR model predicted high biological activity values for 41% of these DBDZs. These predictions were supported by the docking studies (good binding affinity) and the pharmacophore modelling confirmed the importance of the presence and location of hydrophobic and polar functions identified by QSAR. This study confirms once again the importance of web-based analysis in the assessment of drug scenarios (DBZDs), and how computational models could be used to acquire fast and reliable information on biological activity for index novel DBZDs, as preliminary data for further investigations.
Drug Delivery by Ultrasound-Responsive Nanocarriers for Cancer Treatment
Authors: Entzian Kristin , Aigner Achim
Published: July 2021

Conventional cancer chemotherapies often exhibit insufficient therapeutic outcomes and dose-limiting toxicity. Therefore, there is a need for novel therapeutics and formulations with higher efficacy, improved safety, and more favorable toxicological profiles. This has promoted the development of nanomedicines, including systems for drug delivery, but also for imaging and diagnostics. Nanoparticles loaded with drugs can be designed to overcome several biological barriers to improving efficiency and reducing toxicity. In addition, stimuli-responsive nanocarriers are able to release their payload on demand at the tumor tissue site, preventing premature drug loss. This review focuses on ultrasound-triggered drug delivery by nanocarriers as a versatile, cost-efficient, non-invasive technique for improving tissue specificity and tissue penetration, and for achieving high drug concentrations at their intended site of action. It highlights aspects relevant for ultrasound-mediated drug delivery, including ultrasound parameters and resulting biological effects. Then, concepts in ultrasound-mediated drug delivery are introduced and a comprehensive overview of several types of nanoparticles used for this purpose is given. This includes an in-depth compilation of the literature on the various in vivo ultrasound-responsive drug delivery systems. Finally, toxicological and safety considerations regarding ultrasound-mediated drug delivery with nanocarriers are discussed.
Nanograting-Enhanced Optical Fibers for Visible and Infrared Light Collection at Large Input Angles
Authors: Wang Ning , Zeisberger Matthias , Hübner Uwe , Schmidt Markus A.
Published: July 2021

The efficient incoupling of light into particular fibers at large angles is essential for a multitude of applications; however, this is difficult to achieve with commonly used fibers due to low numerical aperture. Here, we demonstrate that commonly used optical fibers functionalized with arrays of metallic nanodots show substantially improved large-angle light-collection performances at multiple wavelengths. In particular, we show that at visible wavelengths, higher diffraction orders contribute significantly to the light-coupling efficiency, independent of the incident polarization, with a dominant excitation of the fundamental mode. The experimental observation is confirmed by an analytical model, which directly suggests further improvement in incoupling efficiency through the use of powerful nanostructures such as metasurface or dielectric gratings. Therefore, our concept paves the way for high-performance fiber-based optical devices and is particularly relevant within the context of endoscopic-type applications in life science and light collection within quantum technology.
Absolute Absorption Cross-Section of the Ã←X˜ Electronic Transition of the Ethyl Peroxy Radical and Rate Constant of Its Cross Reaction with HO2
Authors: Zhang Cuihong , Shamas Mirna , Assali Mohamed , Tang Xiaofeng , Zhang Weijun , Pillier Laure , Schoemaecker Coralie , Fittschen Christa
Published: July 2021

The absolute absorption cross-section of the ethyl peroxy radical C2H5O2 in the Ã←X˜ electronic transition with the peak wavelength at 7596 cm−1 has been determined by the method of dual wavelengths time resolved continuous wave cavity ring down spectroscopy. C2H5O2 radicals were generated from pulsed 351 nm photolysis of C2H6/Cl2 mixture in presence of 100 Torr O2 at T = 295 K. C2H5O2 radicals were detected on one of the CRDS paths. Two methods have been applied for the determination of the C2H5O2 absorption cross-section: (i) based on Cl-atoms being converted alternatively to either C2H5O2 by adding C2H6 or to hydro peroxy radicals, HO2, by adding CH3OH to the mixture, whereby HO2 was reliably quantified on the second CRDS path in the 2ν1 vibrational overtone at 6638.2 cm−1 (ii) based on the reaction of C2H5O2 with HO2, measured under either excess HO2 or under excess C2H5O2 concentration. Both methods lead to the same peak absorption cross-section for C2H5O2 at 7596 cm−1 of σ = (1.0 ± 0.2) × 10−20 cm2. The rate constant for the cross reaction between of C2H5O2 and HO2 has been measured to be (6.2 ± 1.5) × 10−12 cm3 molecule−1 s−1.
Vegetative Reproduction Is More Advantageous Than Sexual Reproduction in a Canopy-Forming Clonal Macroalga under Ocean Warming Accompanied by Oligotrophication and Intensive Herbivory
Authors: Endo Hikaru , Sugie Toru , Yonemori Yukiko , Nishikido Yuki , Moriyama Hikari , Ito Ryusei , Okunishi Suguru
Published: July 2021

Ocean warming and the associated changes in fish herbivory have caused polarward distributional shifts in the majority of canopy-forming macroalgae that are dominant in temperate Japan, but have little effect on the alga Sargassum fusiforme. The regeneration ability of new shoots from holdfasts in this species may be advantageous in highly grazed environments. However, little is known about the factors regulating this in Sargassum species. Moreover, holdfast tolerance to high-temperature and nutrient-poor conditions during summer has rarely been evaluated. In the present study, S. fusiforme holdfast responses to the combined effects of temperature and nutrient availability were compared to those of sexually reproduced propagules. The combined effects of holdfast fragmentation and irradiance on regeneration were also evaluated. Propagule growth rate values changed from positive to negative under the combination of elevated temperature (20 °C–30 °C) and reduced nutrient availability, whereas holdfasts exhibited a positive growth rate even at 32 °C in nutrient-poor conditions. The regeneration rate increased with holdfast fragmentation (1 mm segments), but was unaffected by decreased irradiance. These results suggest that S. fusiforme holdfasts have a higher tolerance to high-temperature and nutrient-poor conditions during summer than propagules, and regenerate new shoots even if 1-mm segments remain in shaded refuges for fish herbivory avoidance.
Composite Polymer for Hybrid Activity Protective Panel in Microwave Generation of Composite Polytetrafluoroethylene -Rapana Thomasiana
Authors: Savu Ionel Dănuț , Tarniță Daniela , Savu Sorin Vasile , Benga Gabriel Constantin , Cursaru Laura-Madalina , Dragut Dumitru Valentin , Piticescu Roxana Mioara , Tarniță Danut Nicolae
Published: July 2021

During the microwave sintering of a polymer-ceramic composite plasma discharge is experienced. The discharge could occur failure of the power source. The solution proposed by the paper is original, no similar solutions being presented by the literature. It consists of using a polymer-ceramic composite protective panel, to stop the plasma discharge to the entrance of the guiding tunnel. Six composites resulted by combining three polymers, Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), STRATITEX composite and Polyvinylchloride (PVC) with two natural ceramics containing calcium carbonate: Rapana Thomasiana (RT) sea-shells and beach sand were used to build the protective panel.Theoretical balance of the power to the panel was analysed and the thermal field was determined. It was applied heating using 0.6-1.2-1.8-2.4-3.0 kW microwave beam power. The panels were subjected to heating with and without material to be sintered. It was analyzed: RT chemical (CaCO3 as Calcite and Aragonite), burned area (range: 200–4000 mm2) and penetration (range: 1.6–5.5 mm), and thermal analysis of the burned areas comparing to the original data. PTFE-RT composite proved the lowest penetration to 0.6 and 1.2 kW. Other 1.2 kW all composites experienced vital failures. Transformation of the polymer matrix of composite consisted of slightly decreasing of the phase shifting temperature and of slightly increasing of the melting start and liquidus temperature.
Properties of Low-Cost WPCs Made from Alien Invasive Trees and rLDPE for Interior Use in Social Housing
Authors: Mohammed Abubakar Sadiq , Meincken Martina
Published: July 2021

Low-cost wood–plastic composites (WPCs) were developed from invasive trees and recycled low-density polyethylene. The aim was to produce affordable building materials for low-cost social housing in South Africa. Both raw materials are regarded as waste materials, and the subsequent product development adds value to the resources, while simultaneously reducing the waste stream. The production costs were minimised by utilising the entire biomass of Acacia saligna salvaged from clearing operations without any prior processing, and low-grade recycled low-density polyethylene to make WPCs without any additives. Different biomass/plastic ratios, particle sizes, and press settings were evaluated to determine the optimum processing parameters to obtain WPCs with adequate properties. The water absorption, dimensional stability, modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, and tensile moduli were improved at longer press times and higher temperatures for all blending ratios. This has been attributed to the crystallisation of the lignocellulose and thermally induced cross-linking in the polyethylene. An increased biomass ratio and particle size were positively correlated with water absorption and thickness swelling and inversely related with MOR, tensile strength, and density due to an incomplete encapsulation of the biomass by the plastic matrix. This study demonstrates the feasibility of utilising low-grade recycled polyethylene and the whole-tree biomass of A. saligna, without the need for pre-processing and the addition of expensive modifiers, to produce WPCs with properties that satisfy the minimum requirements for interior cladding or ceiling material.
Field-Theoretic Simulations for Block Copolymer Melts Using the Partial Saddle-Point Approximation
Authors: Matsen Mark W. , Beardsley Thomas M.
Published: July 2021

Field-theoretic simulations (FTS) provide an efficient technique for investigating fluctuation effects in block copolymer melts with numerous advantages over traditional particle-based simulations. For systems involving two components (i.e., A and B), the field-based Hamiltonian, Hf[W−,W+], depends on a composition field, W−(r), that controls the segregation of the unlike components and a pressure field, W+(r), that enforces incompressibility. This review introduces researchers to a promising variant of FTS, in which W−(r) fluctuates while W+(r) tracks its mean-field value. The method is described in detail for melts of AB diblock copolymer, covering its theoretical foundation through to its numerical implementation. We then illustrate its application for neat AB diblock copolymer melts, as well as ternary blends of AB diblock copolymer with its A- and B-type parent homopolymers. The review concludes by discussing the future outlook. To help researchers adopt the method, open-source code is provided that can be run on either central processing units (CPUs) or graphics processing units (GPUs).
PVDF Fibers Modification by Nitrate Salts Doping
Authors: Sobola Dinara , Kaspar Pavel , Částková Klára , Dallaev Rashid , Papež Nikola , Sedlák Petr , Trčka Tomáš , Orudzhev Farid , Kaštyl Jaroslav , Weiser Adam , Knápek Alexandr , Holcman Vladimír
Published: July 2021

The method of inclusion of various additives into a polymer depends highly on the material in question and the desired effect. In the case of this paper, nitride salts were introduced into polyvinylidene fluoride fibers prepared by electrospinning. The resulting changes in the structural, chemical and electrical properties of the samples were observed and compared using SEM-EDX, DSC, XPS, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy and electrical measurements. The observed results displayed a grouping of parameters by electronegativity and possibly the molecular mass of the additive salts. We virtually demonstrated elimination of the presence of the γ-phase by addition of Mg(NO3)2, Ca(NO3)2, and Zn(NO3)2 salts. The trend of electrical properties to follow the electronegativity of the nitrate salt cation is demonstrated. The performed measurements of nitrate salt inclusions into PVDF offer a new insight into effects of previously unstudied structures of PVDF composites, opening new potential possibilities of crystalline phase control of the composite and use in further research and component design.
Current Trends in Enrichment of Wheat Pasta: Quality, Nutritional Value and Antioxidant Properties
Authors: Dziki Dariusz
Published: July 2021

Wheat pasta is one of the most important cereal products and is becoming increasingly popular worldwide because of its convenience, simple formulation, long shelf life, and high energetic value. Wheat pasta is usually obtained from refined flour rich in carbohydrates but with low content of phytochemicals, micronutrients, and fibre. The increased demand of consumers for healthy foods has generated interest among both researchers and food producers in developing functional food products. This review showcases the current trends in pasta fortification. Changes in the nutritional value, cooking quality, sensory attributes, and antioxidant properties of durum and common wheat pasta enriched with both plant and animal raw materials are discussed.
Intensification of a Neutralization Process for Waste Generated from Ion Exchange Regeneration for Expansion of a Chemical Manufacturing Facility
Authors: Sharma Deepak , Karre Avinashkumar V. , Valsaraj Kalliat T. , Sharma Sumit
Published: July 2021

Waste generated during regeneration of Ion Exchanger (IX), used for deionizing water, needs to be neutralized before it can be discharged back to a clean water source. An efficient and novel process is disclosed that minimizes the neutralization volume and chemicals required for pH adjustment. The currently employed neutralization setups in the industry are environmentally unsustainable. Various neutralization setups were studied for treating waste generated from IX regeneration. From the collected plant data, the treatment requirements of waste streams generated during regeneration of IX beds were analyzed. An efficient neutralization setup was developed to lower the operating and capital costs by eliminating the need of some equipment and by lowering the neutralization volume. The new process results in considerable savings compared to currently used processes in the industry and is environmentally benign. The improved neutralization setup proposed in this work has achieved a 63% reduction in volume of IX regeneration waste stream; a 62% reduction in the capital cost; 23% reduction in chemical usage; and a 55% reduction in operating cost. The achieved improvements are quite significant, which are bound to immensely benefit the chemical industries that require demineralized water for their operation.
Optimum Design of Blank Dimensions Guided by a Business Compass in the Machining Process
Authors: Xiao Yongmao , Wang Ruping , Yan Wei , Ma Lina
Published: July 2021

Blanks, an important raw material for the manufacturing industry, are semi-finished products for further processing. The energy consumption and processing efficiency in the process of blank production and use can be determined to a great extent in the blank design stage. The design of appropriate blank dimensions is an important means of realizing ecological civilization. Current blank designs seldom consider the production conditions of enterprises. In order to design energy-saving and efficient blanks on the basis of the actual conditions of an enterprise, this paper establishes the blank dimension optimization design model from the perspective of a business compass. With energy savings and efficiency as the goals, and the blank production and use-process equipment parameters as variables, the blank dimensions were optimized by an NSGA-II algorithm, and the results showed that the energy efficiency and processing efficiency of the designed blank dimensions were significantly better than for the existing blank dimensions in the process of enterprise operation.
Gogol’s “The Nose”: Between Linguistic Indecency and Religious Blasphemy
Authors: Pilshchikov Igor
Published: July 2021

Focused on Nikolai Gogol’s absurdist tale, “The Nose” (1835), this article is an investigation into the concealed representation of suppressed and marginalized libertine and anti-religious discourses in nineteenth-century Russian literature. The author identifies overlooked idiomatic phraseology, forgotten specificities of the Imperial hierarchy (the Table of Ranks), and allusions to religious customs and Christian rituals that would have been apparent to Gogol’s readers and shows how some were camouflaged to escape censorship in successive drafts of the work. The research builds on the approaches to Gogol’s language, imagery and plot developed earlier by the Russian Formalists, Tartu-Moscow semioticians, and a few other scholars, who revealed the latent obscenity of Gogol’s “rhinology” and the sacrilegious meaning of the tale’s very specific chronotope. The previous scholars’ observations are substantially supplemented by original findings. An integrated analysis of these aspects in their mutual relationship is required to understand what the telling details of the story reveal about Gogol’s religious and psychological crisis of the mid-1830s and to demonstrate how he aggregated indecent Shandyism, social satire, and religious blasphemy into a single quasi-oneiric narrative.
A Spatio-Temporal Brightness Temperature Prediction Method for Forest Fire Detection with MODIS Data: A Case Study in San Diego
Authors: Gong Adu , Li Jing , Chen Yanling
Published: July 2021

Early detection of forest fire is helpful for monitoring the spread of fire promptly, minimizing the loss of forests, wild animals, human life, and economy. The performance of brightness temperature (BT) prediction determines the accuracy of fire detection. Great efforts have been made on BT prediction model building, but there still remains some uncertainty. Based on the widely used contextual BT prediction model (CM) and temporal-contextual BT prediction model (TCM), we proposed a spatio-temporal contextual BT prediction model (STCM), which involves historical images to contrast the BT correlation matrix between the pixel to be predicted and its background pixels within a dynamic window, and the spatial distance factor was introduced to modify the BT correlation matrix. We applied the STCM to a fire-prone area in San Diego, California, US, and compared it with CM and TCM. We found that the average RMSE of STCM was 12.54% and 9.12% lower than that of CM and TCM, and the standard deviation of RMSE calculated by STCM was reduced by 12.04% and 15.57% compared with CM and TCM, respectively. In addition, the bias of STCM was concentrated around zero and the range of bias of STCM was 88.7% and 15.3% lower than that of CM and TCM, respectively. The results demonstrated that the STCM can be used to obtain the highest BT prediction accuracy and most robust performance, followed by TCM, and CM performed worst. Our research on the BT prediction of potential fire pixels is helpful for improving the fire detection accuracy and is potentially useful for the prediction of other environmental variables with high spatial and temporal autocorrelation. However, the requirement of high-quality continuous data will limit the application of STCM in cloudy and rainy areas.
Quantifying Effects of Excess Water Stress at Early Soybean Growth Stages Using Unmanned Aerial Systems
Authors: Smith Stuart D. , Bowling Laura C. , Rainey Katy M. , Cherkauer Keith A.
Published: July 2021

Low-gradient agricultural areas prone to in-field flooding impact crop development and yield potential, resulting in financial losses. Early identification of the potential reduction in yield from excess water stress at the plot scale provides stakeholders with the high-throughput information needed to assess risk and make responsive economic management decisions as well as future investments. The objective of this study is to analyze and evaluate the application of proximal remote sensing from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) to detect excess water stress in soybean and predict the potential reduction in yield due to this excess water stress. A high-throughput data processing pipeline is developed to analyze multispectral images captured at the early development stages (R4–R5) from a low-cost UAS over two radiation use efficiency experiments in West–Central Indiana, USA. Above-ground biomass is estimated remotely to assess the soybean development by considering soybean genotype classes (High Yielding, High Yielding under Drought, Diversity, all classes) and transferring estimated parameters to a replicate experiment. Digital terrain analysis using the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI) is used to objectively compare plots more susceptible to inundation with replicate plots less susceptible to inundation. The results of the study indicate that proximal remote sensing estimates above-ground biomass at the R4–R5 stage using adaptable and transferable methods, with a calculated percent bias between 0.8% and 14% and root mean square error between 72 g/m2 and 77 g/m2 across all genetic classes. The estimated biomass is sensitive to excess water stress with distinguishable differences identified between the R4 and R5 development stages; this translates into a reduction in the percent of expected yield corresponding with observations of in-field flooding and high TWI. This study demonstrates transferable methods to estimate yield loss due to excess water stress at the plot level and increased potential to provide crop status assessments to stakeholders prior to harvest using low-cost UAS and a high-throughput data processing pipeline.
Benthic Habitat Map of the Southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) from Object-Based Image Analysis of Multi-Source Acoustic Backscatter Data
Authors: Prampolini Mariacristina , Angeletti Lorenzo , Castellan Giorgio , Grande Valentina , Le Bas Tim , Taviani Marco , Foglini Federica
Published: July 2021

A huge amount of seabed acoustic reflectivity data has been acquired from the east to the west side of the southern Adriatic Sea (Mediterranean Sea) in the last 18 years by CNR-ISMAR. These data have been used for geological, biological and habitat mapping purposes, but a single and consistent interpretation of them has never been carried out. Here, we aimed at coherently interpreting acoustic data images of the seafloor to produce a benthic habitat map of the southern Adriatic Sea showing the spatial distribution of substrates and biological communities within the basin. The methodology here applied consists of a semi-automated classification of acoustic reflectivity, bathymetry and bathymetric derivatives images through object-based image analysis (OBIA) performed by using the ArcGIS tool RSOBIA (Remote Sensing OBIA). This unsupervised image segmentation was carried out on each cruise dataset separately, then classified and validated through comparison with bottom samples, images, and prior knowledge of the study areas.
Gabor Features Extraction and Land-Cover Classification of Urban Hyperspectral Images for Remote Sensing Applications
Authors: Cruz-Ramos Clara , Garcia-Salgado Beatriz P. , Reyes-Reyes Rogelio , Ponomaryov Volodymyr , Sadovnychiy Sergiy
Published: July 2021

The principles of the transform stage of the extract, transform and load (ETL) process can be applied to index the data in functional structures for the decision-making inherent in an urban remote sensing application. This work proposes a method that can be utilised as an organisation stage by reducing the data dimension with Gabor texture features extracted from grey-scale representations of the Hue, Saturation and Value (HSV) colour space and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Additionally, the texture features are reduced using the Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) method. Afterwards, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is employed to classify the data and build a tick data matrix indexed by the belonging class of the observations, which could be retrieved for further analysis according to the class selected to explore. The proposed method is compared in terms of classification rates, reduction efficiency and training time against the utilisation of other grey-scale representations and classifiers. This method compresses up to 87% of the original features and achieves similar classification results to non-reduced features but at a higher training time.
Morphology of Rain Clusters Influencing Rainfall Intensity over Hainan Island
Authors: Huang Tingting , Ding Chenghui , Li Weibiao , Chen Yilun
Published: July 2021

Continuous observations from geostationary satellites can show the morphology of precipitation cloud systems in quasi-real-time, but there are still large deviations in the inversion of precipitation. We used binary-connected area recognition technology to identify meso-β-scale rain clusters over Hainan Island from 1 June 2000 to 31 December 2018, based on Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM data. We defined and statistically analyzed the parameters of rain clusters to reveal the typical morphological and precipitation characteristics of rain clusters, and to explore the relationship between the parameters and rainfall intensity of rain clusters. We found that the area and long axis of rain clusters over land were larger than those over the ocean, and that continental rain clusters were usually square in shape. Rain clusters with a larger area and longer axis were concentrated on the northern side of the mountains on Hainan Island and the intensity of rain was larger on the northern and eastern sides of the mountains. The variation of continental rain clusters over time was more dramatic than the variation of oceanic clusters. The area and long axis of rain clusters was larger between 14:00 and 21:00 from April to September and the long axis of the oceanic rain clusters increased in winter. There were clear positive correlations between the area, long axis and shape of the rain clusters and the maximum rain rate. The area and long axis of continental rain clusters had a higher correlation with the rain rate than those of oceanic clusters. The establishment of a relationship between the morphology of rain clusters and precipitation helps us to understand the laws of precipitation and improve the prediction of precipitation in this region.
Effect Analysis of the Digital Spectrometer FFT Algorithm on THz Atmospheric Limb Sounder (TALIS) System Sensitivity
Authors: Xu Haowen , Lu Hao , Wang Zhenzhan , He Wenming , Wang Wenyu
Published: July 2021

THz Atmospheric Limb Sounder (TALIS) is a microwave radiometer designed by the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NSSC, CAS) for measuring the vertical distribution of temperature and chemical constituents in the middle and upper atmosphere. The digital spectrometer is an important part of TALIS’ back end, which mainly realizes the function of spectral analysis. The radix 16 real-time complex fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm used in the digital spectrometer was obtained by improving and combining the parallel processing and complex processing of the FFT algorithm. In this study, the digital spectrometer parameter selection is systematically presented, and the effect of the digital spectrometer FFT algorithm on the TALIS system sensitivity is analyzed based on the TALIS system simulation model we established in the previous stage of this research. The results show that the actual full-band sensitivity obtained after using the FFT algorithm is consistent with the ideal full-band sensitivity of TALIS for different integration time, spectral resolutions, and quantization bits. However, the results of the comparison of the actual sub-band sensitivity after using the FFT algorithm with the ideal sub-band sensitivity show that the deterioration of the sub-band sensitivity will be caused by the FFT algorithm. The mean value of the deterioration ratio was found to be approximately 18%, and the maximum value of the deterioration ratio was approximately 33%.
Assessment of Snowfall Accumulation from Satellite and Reanalysis Products Using SNOTEL Observations in Alaska
Authors: Song Yang , Broxton Patrick D. , Ehsani Mohammad Reza , Behrangi Ali
Published: July 2021

The combination of snowfall, snow water equivalent (SWE), and precipitation rate measurements from 39 snow telemetry (SNOTEL) sites in Alaska were used to assess the performance of various precipitation products from satellites, reanalysis, and rain gauges. Observation of precipitation from two water years (2018–2019) of a high-resolution radar/rain gauge data (Stage IV) product was also utilized to give insights into the scaling differences between various products. The outcomes were used to assess two popular methods for rain gauge undercatch correction. It was found that SWE and precipitation measurements at SNOTELs, as well as precipitation estimates based on Stage IV data, are generally consistent and can provide a range within which other products can be assessed. The time-series of snowfall and SWE accumulation suggests that most of the products can capture snowfall events; however, differences exist in their accumulation. Reanalysis products tended to overestimate snow accumulation in the study area, while the current combined passive microwave remote sensing products (i.e., IMERG-HQ) underestimate snowfall accumulation. We found that correction factors applied to rain gauges are effective for improving their undercatch, especially for snowfall. However, no improvement in correlation is seen when correction factors are applied, and rainfall is still estimated better than snowfall. Even though IMERG-HQ has less skill for capturing snowfall than rainfall, analysis using Taylor plots showed that the combined microwave product does have skill for capturing the geographical distribution of snowfall and precipitation accumulation; therefore, bias adjustment might lead to reasonable precipitation estimates. This study demonstrates that other snow properties (e.g., SWE accumulation at the SNOTEL sites) can complement precipitation data to estimate snowfall. In the future, gridded SWE and snow depth data from GlobSnow and Sentinel-1 can be used to assess snowfall and its distribution over broader regions.
Multipath Error Fusion Modeling Methods for Multi-GNSS
Authors: Zou Xuan , Li Zhiyuan , Wang Yawei , Deng Chenlong , Li Yangyang , Tang Weiming , Fu Ruinan , Cui Jianhui , Liu Jingnan
Published: July 2021

The multipath error is considered to be the most limiting factor for high precision positioning applications. The sidereal filtering (SF) method can be used to mitigate the multipath error in the observation domain, and it has been successfully applied in the multipath mitigation in global positioning systems (GPS) and regional BeiDou navigation satellite systems (BDS2). However, there are few reports on the SF method in other systems. The performance of the SF method relies on the explicit orbit repeat periods of satellites in diverse systems or even different types of constellations. It is therefore inconvenient to utilize the SF method for multi-GNSS multipath error mitigation. Alternatively, a space domain multipath error reduction method, which establishes the multi-point hemispherical grid model (MHGM) using the residuals of the double-differenced carrier phase observations in the ambiguity-fixed period, has been modified. It is an integrated model for multi-GNSS, without considering the diversity of different systems and constellations. To compare the performance of MHGM and SF from a multi-GNSS point of view, the determination method of orbit repeat periods via the broadcast ephemerides is summarized, and the SF method is extended to the global BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS3) and Galileo navigation satellite system. Further test results show that the performance of MHGM and SF are comparable from the perspective of root mean squares (RMS) and the power spectrum analysis of double-differenced residuals, as well as the static positioning results. This implies that the space domain MHGM can obtain similar correction effects as the SF method in the observation domain, but the former is more flexible for modeling with various systems’ data. In addition, the established MHGM using the data of multi orbit periods demonstrates a better performance compared with that of only one orbit period, and an average improvement of 13.1% in the RMS of the double-differenced residuals can be achieved.
Using Multi-Temporal Satellite Data to Analyse Phenological Responses of Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) to Climatic Variations in South Sumatra, Indonesia
Authors: Azizan Fathin Ayuni , Astuti Ike Sari , Aditya Mohammad Irvan , Febbiyanti Tri Rapani , Williams Alwyn , Young Anthony , Abdul Aziz Ammar
Published: July 2021

Land surface phenology derived from satellite data provides insights into vegetation responses to climate change. This method has overcome laborious and time-consuming manual ground observation methods. In this study, we assessed the influence of climate on phenological metrics of rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) in South Sumatra, Indonesia, between 2010 and 2019. We modelled rubber growth through the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), using eight-day surface reflectance images at 250 m spatial resolution, sourced from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua satellites. The asymmetric Gaussian (AG) smoothing function was applied on the model in TIMESAT to extract three phenological metrics for each growing season: start of season (SOS), end of season (EOS), and length of season (LOS). We then analysed the effect of rainfall and temperature, which revealed that fluctuations in SOS and EOS are highly related to disturbances such as extreme rainfall and elevated temperature. Additionally, we observed inter-annual variations of SOS and EOS associated with rubber tree age and clonal variability within plantations. The 10-year monthly climate data showed a significant downward and upward trend for rainfall and temperature data, respectively. Temperature was identified as a significant factor modulating rubber phenology, where an increase in temperature of 1 °C advanced SOS by ~25 days and EOS by ~14 days. These results demonstrate the capability of remote sensing observations to monitor the effects of climate change on rubber phenology. This information can be used to improve rubber management by helping to identify critical timing for implementation of agronomic interventions.
The Mid-Diaphysis Is a Poor Predictor of Humeral Fracture Risk Indicating That Predisposing Factors Are Recent
Authors: Gibson Michaela , Dittmer Keren , Hickson Rebecca , Back Penny , Wehrle-Martinez Alvaro , Rogers Chris
Published: July 2021

The incidence of spontaneous humeral fractures in first-lactation dairy heifers in New Zealand has emphasised the need to understand the thoracic limb bone growth of dairy heifers. Previous research has indicated that a predisposing factor to spontaneous humeral fracture is nutrition. In addition, it has been hypothesised that liver copper concentration affects bone strength and may be a potential factor associated with humeral fracture risk. The aim of this study was to compare bone morphology in the mid-diaphysis of the metacarpus and humerus of heifers affected and unaffected by spontaneous humeral fractures, and determine the effect of copper status at death on bone morphology. The metacarpus and humerus were collected from heifers affected and unaffected by humeral fractures, and scanned using peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). The mid-diaphysis of the humerus of the affected group had reduced cortical bone mineral density and a trend for reduced cortical content and total bone content, which contributed to a reduced stress–strain index. The trend for reduced bone length in affected humeri provides additional support for the hypothesis of inhibited humeral growth. Heifers with low copper liver concentrations had reduced humerus lengths and reduced cortical bone mineral densities. These data support the hypothesis that the developmental window for humeral fracture is recent, and possibly associated with periods of inadequate nutrition.
DDosTC: A Transformer-Based Network Attack Detection Hybrid Mechanism in SDN
Authors: Wang Haomin , Li Wei
Published: July 2021

Software-defined networking (SDN) has emerged in recent years as a form of Internet architecture. Its scalability, dynamics, and programmability simplify the traditional Internet structure. This architecture realizes centralized management by separating the control plane and the data-forwarding plane of the network. However, due to this feature, SDN is more vulnerable to attacks than traditional networks and can cause the entire network to collapse. DDoS attacks, also known as distributed denial-of-service attacks, are the most aggressive of all attacks. These attacks generate many packets (or requests) and ultimately overwhelm the target system, causing it to crash. In this article, we designed a hybrid neural network DDosTC structure, combining efficient and scalable transformers and a convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on SDN, tested on the latest dataset, CICDDoS2019. For better verification, several experiments were conducted by dividing the dataset and comparisons were made with the latest deep learning detection algorithm applied in the field of DDoS intrusion detection. The experimental results show that the average AUC of DDosTC is 2.52% higher than the current optimal model and that DDosTC is more successful than the current optimal model in terms of average accuracy, average recall, and F1 score.
Education and Crime across America: Inequity’s Cost
Authors: Ades James , Mishra Jyoti
Published: July 2021

Much of current research on crime and education has focused on the effect of minimum dropout age on rates of crime. Combining the FBI’s uniform crime reporting database and district finance data, we study the longitudinal relationship between crime in every town/city (whose police department has reported crime statistics) and its school district spending in years 2003 to 2018. We combine over 213 datasets to control for population, density, wealth, education, employment, cost-of-living, race, law enforcement, and voting history. Additionally, we also look at teacher salary, teacher engagement, and student chronic absenteeism. Using linear mixed-effect modeling, we find an overall average of 2.35% percent decrease in property crime for every $1000 more a school district spends per pupil on education. Moreover, a $1000 increase in education spending decreased property crime nearly four times as much as a 10 percent increase in per capita income. We also looked at the range in district spending in towns/cities and counties whose students attend multiple districts. We find that for every $1000 difference in district spending within a city, property crime increases by an average of 3%; interestingly, violent crime decreases by 3%. When we lag variables of education quality, allowing these effects to playout, we also find that for every 10 percentage-point increase in chronic absenteeism among students, violent crime increases by 4%. Importantly, we find no such effect for property crime, suggesting a distinct mechanism of education on violent crime. Additionally, both law enforcement and unemployment explain little variance in crime. Our results demonstrate a robust relationship between education funding and reduced crime across America with regard to amount spent per student as well as equity in spending.
Forestry Research in the Middle East: A Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: Fazeli-Varzaneh Mohsen , Bettinger Pete , Ghaderi-Azad Erfan , Kozak Marcin , Mafi-Gholami Davood , Jaafari Abolfazl
Published: July 2021

Research trends in the field of forestry have experienced a significant evolution in recent years. However, there has been little use of bibliometric analyses to assess academic organizations and individual researchers in this field of science. This study investigates the progress of forestry research in Iran, Israel, and Turkey based on a bibliometric analysis of 2482 documents published between 2005 and 2019 and indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) scientific information platform. The countries were analyzed and compared in terms of the number of documents, the number of citations, the mean number of citations per document, the h-index, the share of funded articles, and several other metrics. A complete keyword network with graphical visualization and cluster analysis was also used for depicting the most frequent keywords used by the authors from these three countries. The results showed that the number of publications on forestry research grew steadily during the study period. Turkey, with 1529 documents, was the most active in publishing research in the field of forestry, followed by Iran (726 documents) and Israel (219 documents). Turkey’s publications received 11,220 citations with a cooperation coefficient (CC) of 0.587 that revealed a strong relationship between international collaboration with the USA, Germany, and Italy, and the number of citations, such that the articles with co-authors affiliated to foreign institutions were cited far more often than the articles with Turkish authorship. Although Iran (CC = 0.680) and Israel (CC = 0.706) recorded more activities in international collaboration than Turkey, their publications received much lower citations (Iran’s citations = 4433, Israel’s citations = 3939). Israel had 136 articles (62%) that received research funding, followed by Turkey and Iran with 604 (39%) and 284 (38%) articles. Nine out of the ten most popular journals among Israeli researchers were ranked as quartiles 1 and 2 in the forestry category, whereas Iranian and Turkish researchers mostly published in fewer journals ranked as quartiles 1 and 2. The most frequent keywords (i.e., topics) were species, condition, forest, and tree. Insights provided here can help balance research activities towards publishing more informed and effective scientific articles.