bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Computer-Based Simulators in Pharmacy Practice Education: A Systematic Narrative Review
Authors: Gharib Ahmed M. , Bindoff Ivan K. , Peterson Gregory M. , Salahudeen Mohammed S.
Published: January 2023

Computer-based simulations may represent an innovative, flexible, and cost-efficient training approach that has been underutilised in pharmacy practice education. This may need to change, with increasing pressure on clinical placement availability, COVID-19 restrictions, and economic pressures to improve teaching efficiency. This systematic narrative review summarises various computer-based simulations described in the pharmacy practice education literature, identifies the currently available products, and highlights key characteristics. Five major databases were searched (Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, Education Source and Embase). Authors also manually reviewed the publication section of major pharmacy simulator websites and performed a citation analysis. We identified 49 studies describing 29 unique simulators, which met the inclusion criteria. Only eight of these simulators were found to be currently available. The characteristics of these eight simulators were examined through the lens of eight main criteria (feedback type, grading, user play mode, cost, operational requirement, community/hospital setting, scenario sharing option, and interaction elements). Although a number of systems have been developed and trialled, relatively few are available on the market, and each comes with benefits and drawbacks. Educators are encouraged to consider their own institutional, professional and curriculum needs, and determine which product best aligns with their teaching goals.
Effect of Recurrent Salt and Drought Stress Treatments on the Endangered Halophyte Limonium angustebracteatum Erben
Authors: Calone Roberta , Mircea Diana-Maria , González-Orenga Sara , Boscaiu Monica , Zuzunaga-Rosas Javier , Barbanti Lorenzo , Vicente Oscar
Published: January 2023

Limonium angustebracteatum is an endemic halophyte from the Spanish Mediterranean coastal salt marshes. To investigate this species’ ability to cope with recurrent drought and salt stress, one-year-old plants were subjected to two salt stress treatments (watering with 0.5 and 1 M NaCl solutions), one water stress treatment (complete irrigation withholding), or watered with non-saline water for the control, across three phases: first stress (30 days), recovery from both stresses (15 days), and second stress (15 days). Growth and biochemical parameters were determined after each period. The plants showed high salt tolerance but were sensitive to water deficit, as shown by the decrease in leaf fresh weight and water content, root water content, and photosynthetic pigments levels in response to the first water stress; then, they were restored to the respective control values upon recovery. Salt tolerance was partly based on the accumulation of Na+, Cl− and Ca2+ in the roots and predominantly in the leaves; ion levels also decreased to control values during recovery. Organic osmolytes (proline and total soluble sugars), oxidative stress markers (malondialdehyde and H2O2), and antioxidant compounds (total phenolic compounds and flavonoids) increased by various degrees under the first salt and water stress treatments, and declined after recovery. The analysed variables increased again, but generally to a lesser extent, during the second stress phase, suggesting the occurrence of stress acclimation acquired by the activation of defence mechanisms during the first stress period.
Cannabigerol Activates Cytoskeletal Remodeling via Wnt/PCP in NSC-34: An In Vitro Transcriptional Study
Authors: Anchesi Ivan , Betto Federica , Chiricosta Luigi , Gugliandolo Agnese , Pollastro Federica , Salamone Stefano , Mazzon Emanuela
Published: January 2023

Cannabigerol (CBG) is a non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid present in the Cannabis sativa L. plant. In our study, CBG at the concentration of 10 µM was used to treat NSC-34 motor neuron-like cells. The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of CBG on NSC-34 cells, using next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Analysis showed the activation of the WNT/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway and Ephrin-Eph signaling. The results revealed that CBG increases the expression of genes associated with the onset process of cytoskeletal remodeling and axon guidance.
Transgressive Biochemical Response to Water Stress in Interspecific Eggplant Hybrids
Authors: González-Orenga Sara , Plazas Mariola , Ribera Elvira , Pallotti Claudia , Boscaiu Monica , Prohens Jaime , Vicente Oscar , Fita Ana
Published: January 2023

In a climate change scenario, crop tolerance to drought must be urgently improved, as it represents an increasingly critical stress reducing agricultural yields worldwide. Although most crops are relatively sensitive to water stress, many of their wild relatives are more tolerant and may be used to improve drought tolerance in our crops. In this study, the response to drought of eggplant (Solanum melongena), its close wild relatives S. insanum and S. incanum and their interspecific hybrids with S. melongena was assessed. The plants were subjected to two treatments for 18 days: control, with irrigation every four days, and drought, with complete interruption of irrigation. Morphological and biomass traits were measured, and physiological and biochemical responses were analysed using stress biomarkers such as proline, flavonoids, and total phenolic compounds. Oxidative stress was quantified by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) content. As a result of the drought treatment, plant development and tissue water content were seriously affected. Generally, water deficit also caused significant increases in MDA, proline, flavonoids, and total phenolics compounds. Our results comparing parental accessions reveal a better response to drought in one of the S. insanum accessions. The hybrid between S. melongena and S. incanum displayed a better response than the other hybrids and even its parents. The results obtained here might be helpful for future eggplant breeding programmes aimed at improving drought tolerance.
Molecular Characterization of Three Apple Geminivirus Isolates in Crabapples Detected in Inner Mongolia, China
Authors: Sun Ping-Ping , Zhang Lei , Xu Xiao-Zhao , Zhu Mo , Zhang Bin , Li Zheng-Nan
Published: January 2023

Apple geminivirus 1 (AGV) in the genus Maldovirus of the family Geminiviridae was first identified infecting apple trees in the year 2015 in China. In this work, we characterized three isolates of the AGV in the Chinese pearleaf crabapple (Malus asiatica) in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The viruses were detected by Illumina sequencing and its existence was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) amplification of an AGV fragment. Between the three AGV isolates and the initially characterized AGV isolate PL2015, the nucleotide sequence identities of the complete genome ranged from 91.2 to 91.7%, of the coat protein gene (V1) ranged from 95.4% to 97.3%, and of the replicase gene (C1) ranged from 87.3% to 88.0%. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the three isolates formed a monophyletic group together with the AGV, separated from the current genera in the family Geminiviridae. This is the first description of the AGV infecting crabapples.
Sicilian Populations of Capparis spinosa L. and Capparis orientalis Duhamel as Source of the Bioactive Flavonol Quercetin
Authors: Sgadari Francesco , Cerulli Antonietta , Schicchi Rosario , Badalamenti Natale , Bruno Maurizio , Piacente Sonia
Published: January 2023

The genus Capparis is a taxon of difficult delimitation that has several species and ecotypes due to its wide heterogeneity, its extreme phenotypic diversity, and the presence of intermediate forms linked to hybridization phenomena. The Sicilian territory hosts numerous wild and cultivated populations of two spp. Capparis spinosa L. and Capparis orientalis Duhamel, which are ecologically and morphologically distinct. The caper has considerable interest and economic value for its medicinal properties, culinary uses, and cultivation characteristics. It is one of the foods with the highest quercetin content. Quercetin is a flavonol with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunostimulant properties. Recently, patents and clinical studies have highlighted the inhibitory effect of this compound against several SARS-CoV-2 enzymes (MPro, PLPro, and RdRp). Therefore, the aim of this study was to quantify the amount of quercetin in C. spinosa and C. orientalis by LC-ESI/QTrap/MS/MS and to correlate it with the pedoclimatic features. The results obtained showed that quercetin is more abundant in C. orientalis than in C. spinosa. The highest values of quercetin were recorded in C. orientalis flowers, leaves, and flower buttons of volcanic islands with southwest and east warm exposures. In conclusion, the data acquired can provide a good basis for further scientific investigations to support the identification of possible ecotypes as a source of quercetin for food or pharmaceutical purposes.
Anaerobic Degradation of the Invasive Weed Solidago canadensis L. (goldenrod) and Copper Immobilization by a Community of Sulfate-Reducing and Methane-Producing Bacteria
Authors: Havryliuk Olesia , Hovorukha Vira , Bida Iryna , Gladka Galyna , Tymoshenko Artem , Kyrylov Semen , Mariychuk Ruslan , Tashyrev Oleksandr
Published: January 2023

The weed Solidago canadensis L. poses a global threat to the environment as it spreads uncontrollably on roadsides, in forests, fields, meadows, and farmland. Goldenrod emits toxic substances that suppress other plants on the site, displacing wild ones. Thus, goldenrod conquers huge areas very quickly. The use of herbicides and mechanical methods does not solve the problem of the spontaneous spread of goldenrod. On the other hand, many scientists consider goldenrod as a valuable source of biologically active substances: flavonoids, phenolic compounds, vitamins, etc. In this study, we consider Solidago plants as a promising, free (cheap), and renewable substrate for the production of methane gas. The goal of the study was to identify the main patterns of degradation of the Solidago canadensis L. plant by methane-producing and sulfate-reducing bacteria with methane gas production and simultaneous detoxification of toxic copper. The composition of the gas phase was monitored by gas chromatography. The pH and redox potential parameters were determined potentiometrically; metal concentrations were measured by photometry. The concentration of flavonoids, sugars and phenolic compounds in plant biomass was determined according to well-known protocols. As a result of the study, high efficiencies of methane degradation in the Solidago plant and copper detoxification were obtained. Methane yield has reached the value of 68.2 L kg−1 TS of Solidago canadensis L. biomass. The degradation coefficient (Kd) was also high at 21.4. The Cu(II) was effectively immobilized by methanogens and sulfate reducers during the goldenrod degradation at the initial concentrations of 500 mg L−1. Thus, a new method of beneficial application of invasive plants was presented. The result confirms the possibility of using methanogenic microorganisms to produce methane gas from invasive weeds and detoxification of toxic metals.
First Report of Clonostachys rosea as a Mycoparasite on Sclerotinia sclerotiorum Causing Head Rot of Cabbage in India
Authors: Venkatesan Ruppavalli M. , Muthusamy Karthikeyan , Iruthayasamy Johnson , Prithiviraj Balakrishnan , Kumaresan Parthiban V. , Lakshmanan Pugalendhi , Perianadar Irene Vethamoni
Published: January 2023

Clonostachys rosea, an ascomycetous, omnipresent, cellulose-decaying soil fungus, has been reported to be a well-known mycoparasitic biological control agent. In this study, we isolated C. rosea, a mycoparasitic fungus for the first time in India from sclerotia of the notorious plant pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, causing head rot disease in cabbage. A total of five mycoparasitic fungi were isolated from the sclerotial bodies of S. sclerotiorum (TNAU-CR 01, 02, 03, 04 and 05). All the isolates were tested under morpho-molecular characterization. Among them, TNAU-CR 02 showed the greatest mycelial inhibition of 79.63% over the control. Similarly, the SEM imaging of effective C. rosea isolates indicated the presence of numerous conidia destroying the outer cortex layers of sclerotia. Metabolite fingerprinting of C. rosea TNAU-CR 02 identified 18 chemical compounds using GC-MS analysis. The crude antibiotics of C. rosea TNAU-CR 02 were verified for their antifungal activity against S. sclerotiorum and the results revealed 97.17% mycelial inhibition compared with the control. Similarly, foliar application of TNAU-CR 02 at 5 mL/litre on 30, 45 and 60 days after transplanting showed the lowest disease incidence of 15.1 PDI compared to the control. This discovery expands our understanding of the biology and the dissemination of C. rosea, providing a way for the exploitation of C. rosea against cabbage head rot pathogens.
High-Performance Plant Pest and Disease Detection Based on Model Ensemble with Inception Module and Cluster Algorithm
Authors: Li Manzhou , Cheng Siyu , Cui Jingyi , Li Changxiang , Li Zeyu , Zhou Chang , Lv Chunli
Published: January 2023

Protecting crop yields is the most important aspect of agricultural production, and one of the important measures in preserving yields is the control of crop pests and diseases; therefore, the identification of crop pests and diseases is of irreplaceable importance. In recent years, with the maturity of computer vision technology, more possibilities have been provided for implementing plant disease detection. However, although deep learning methods are widely used in various computer vision tasks, there are still limitations and obstacles in practical applications. Traditional deep learning-based algorithms have some drawbacks in this research area: (1) Recognition accuracy and computational speed cannot be combined. (2) Different pest and disease features interfere with each other and reduce the accuracy of pest and disease diagnosis. (3) Most of the existing researches focus on the recognition efficiency and ignore the inference efficiency, which limits the practical production application. In this study, an integrated model integrating single-stage and two-stage target detection networks is proposed. The single-stage network is based on the YOLO network, and its internal structure is optimized; the two-stage network is based on the Faster-RCNN, and the target frame size is first clustered using a clustering algorithm in the candidate frame generation stage to improve the detection of small targets. Afterwards, the two models are integrated to perform the inference task. For training, we use transfer learning to improve the model training speed. Finally, among the 37 pests and 8 diseases detected, this model achieves 85.2% mAP, which is much higher than other comparative models. After that, we optimize the model for the poor detection categories and verify the generalization performance on open source datasets. In addition, in order to quickly apply this method to real-world scenarios, we developed an application embedded in this model for the mobile platform and put the model into practical agricultural use.
The Synergistic Effect of Polystyrene/Modified Boron Nitride Composites for Enhanced Mechanical, Thermal and Conductive Properties
Authors: Rehman Shafi Ur , Javaid Sana , Shahid Muhammad , Ahmad Nasir Mahmood , Rashid Badar , Szczepanski Caroline R. , Shahzad Asim
Published: January 2023

Thermal conductivity (TC) and thermal stability are the basic requirements and highly desirable properties in thermal management, heat storage and heat transfer applications. This work is regarding the fabrication of polystyrene/boron nitride composites and melt extruded to produce good thermal stability, increased thermal conductivity and enhanced mechanical properties. Our strategy is potentially applicable to produce thermally conductive composites of low cost over large scale. Boron nitride powder is bath sonicated in 10% NH3 solution to avoid its agglomeration and tendency toward entanglement in a polymer matrix. An approximately 67.43% increase in thermal conductivity and 69.37% increase in tensile strength as well as 56 multiple increases in thermal stability of the optimum samples were achieved. The developed polymeric composites are potentially applicable in the electronic industry, especially in electronic devices used for 5G, heat sink and several other aviation applications.
Why Organic Food? Factors Influence the Organic Food Purchase Intension in an Emerging Country (Study from Northern Part of Bangladesh)
Authors: Akter Shahnaj , Ali Shahjahan , Fekete-Farkas Mária , Fogarassy Csaba , Lakner Zoltán
Published: January 2023

Organic farming is functionally integrated and serves as the foundation for circular agriculture. It guarantees resource efficiency in the deployment of nature-based initiatives to mitigate climate change. Organic farming is the most cost-efficient strategy for fighting climate change. Primarily the intensive generation of waste due to strong urbanization effects, the expression of consumer response is particularly powerful while purchasing organic items. This analysis’s major purpose is to examine which various aspects may be applied to consumers’ perspectives towards circular agriculture when buying organic foods. In this research, a well-constructed questionnaire was produced. Of the 1030 participants who participated in the survey, 1001 samples were examined. The major study question was, “Would the customer purchase organic food product that is good environment?” The second issue is, how do eco-label foods, knowledge about climate change, consumer education, and specific socio-demographic features impact the value of organic food consumption? According to the study’s findings, in the case of the studied customers, people’s concerns about climate change, trust, and eco-labels demonstrate a stronger preference for purchasing organic food. It is also a surprise that customer trust has a big effect on consumer buying intention. The new scientific result of the research is that, in the case of emerging countries, due to the significantly lower price level difference between organic products and traditional foods, the healthy properties of foods with an eco-label, as well as the communication of knowledge about climate change, have a significant effect on the level of consumption of organic foods.
Current Designs of Robotic Arm Grippers: A Comprehensive Systematic Review
Authors: Hernandez Jaime , Sunny Md Samiul Haque , Sanjuan Javier , Rulik Ivan , Zarif Md Ishrak Islam , Ahamed Sheikh Iqbal , Ahmed Helal Uddin , Rahman Mohammad H
Published: January 2023

Recent technological advances enable gripper-equipped robots to perform many tasks traditionally associated with the human hand, allowing the use of grippers in a wide range of applications. Depending on the application, an ideal gripper design should be affordable, energy-efficient, and adaptable to many situations. However, regardless of the number of grippers available on the market, there are still many tasks that are difficult for grippers to perform, which indicates the demand and room for new designs to compete with the human hand. Thus, this paper provides a comprehensive review of robotic arm grippers to identify the benefits and drawbacks of various gripper designs. The research compares gripper designs by considering the actuation mechanism, degrees of freedom, grasping capabilities with multiple objects, and applications, concluding which should be the gripper design with the broader set of capabilities.
FlexibleNet: A New Lightweight Convolutional Neural Network Model for Estimating Carbon Sequestration Qualitatively Using Remote Sensing
Authors: Awad Mohamad M.
Published: January 2023

Many heavy and lightweight convolutional neural networks (CNNs) require large datasets and parameter tuning. Moreover, they consume time and computer resources. A new lightweight model called FlexibleNet was created to overcome these obstacles. The new lightweight model is a CNN scaling-based model (width, depth, and resolution). Unlike the conventional practice, which arbitrarily scales these factors, FlexibleNet uniformly scales the network width, depth, and resolution with a set of fixed scaling coefficients. The new model was tested by qualitatively estimating sequestered carbon in the aboveground forest biomass from Sentinel-2 images. We also created three different sizes of training datasets. The new training datasets consisted of six qualitative categories (no carbon, very low, low, medium, high, and very high). The results showed that FlexibleNet was better or comparable to the other lightweight or heavy CNN models concerning the number of parameters and time requirements. Moreover, FlexibleNet had the highest accuracy compared to these CNN models. Finally, the FlexibleNet model showed robustness and low parameter tuning requirements when a small dataset was provided for training compared to other models.
Evaluation of InSAR Tropospheric Correction by Using Efficient WRF Simulation with ERA5 for Initialization
Authors: Liu Qinghua , Zeng Qiming , Zhang Zhiliang
Published: January 2023

The delay caused by the troposphere is one of the major sources of errors limiting the accuracy of InSAR measurements. The tropospheric correction of InSAR measurements is important. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is a state-of-the-art mesoscale numerical weather prediction system designed for atmospheric research applications. It can be applied to InSAR tropospheric correction. Its parameters can be altered according to the requirements of the given application. WRF is usually initialized based on 3 h- or 6 h temporal resolution data in InSAR tropospheric correction studies, a lower temporal resolution compared to ERA5 data. A lower time resolution means a longer integration time for WRF to simulate from the initial time to the target time. Initialization with a higher resolution can shorten the integration time of the simulation theoretically and improve its accuracy. However, an evaluation of the effectiveness of ERA5_WRF for InSAR tropospheric correction is lacking. To evaluate the efficiency of WRF tropospheric correction, we used Reanalysis v5 (ERA5) from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for initialization to drive the WRF (ERA5_WRF) for efficient applications in InSAR. Three methods based on global atmospheric models—FNL_WRF (tropospheric correction method based on WRF driven by NCEP FNL), Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS), and ERA5—were used to evaluate the corrective effects of ERA5_WRF. The reliability of ERA5_WRF in different scenarios with large tropospheric delay was evaluated from the spatial and temporal perspectives by considering seasonal, topographic, and climatic factors. Its applications in the local space showed that ERA5_WRF could adequately correct tropospheric delay. Benefits include its high-quality data sources and the simulation of WRF, and its application in different seasons had proven superior to other methods in terms of the corrective effects of elevation-related and spatially related delays in summer. By analyzing the data sources and downscaling methods of correction methods and weather conditions of cases, ERA5_WRF had superior performance under the condition of large content and hourly variation of tropospheric delay. Furthermore, WRF showed the potential for tropospheric correction when other higher-quality data appear in the future.
Impact of a 5-Week Individualised Training Program on Physical Performance and Measures Associated with Musculoskeletal Injury Risk in Army Personnel: A Pilot Study
Authors: Smith Chelsea , Doma Kenji , Heilbronn Brian , Leicht Anthony
Published: January 2023

Objective: To examine the feasibility and effect of an individualised and force-plate guided training program on physical performance and musculoskeletal injury risk factors in army personnel. Design: Pre-post, randomised control. Methods: Fourteen male and five female Australian Army soldiers were randomised into two groups and performed 5-weeks of physical training. The control group (n = 9) completed standard, group-designed, physical training whilst the experimental group (n = 8) completed an individualised training program. Physical (push-ups, multi-stage fitness test, three repetition maximum (3RM) for squat, strict press, deadlift and floor press), occupational (weight-loaded march time), and technological assessments (two-leg and one-leg countermovement jumps (CMJ), one-leg balance, one-arm plank) were conducted prior to and following the training period. Comparisons between groups and changes within groups were conducted via Mann–Whitney U tests. Results: Compared to the control group, the experimental group exhibited a significantly smaller improvement for weight-loaded march time (−0.7% ± 4.0% vs. −5.1% ± 3.0%, p = 0.03) and a greater improvement for deadlift-3RM (20.6% ± 11.9% vs. 8.4% ± 6.8%, p = 0.056). All other outcomes were similar between groups. Visually favourable alterations in the two-leg CMJ profile with no reports of injuries were noted for the experimental group. Conclusions: Individualised physical training was feasible within an army setting and, for the most part, produced similar physical, occupational and technological performances to that of standard, group-designed physical training. These preliminary results provide a foundation for future research to expand upon and clarify the benefits of individualised training programs on long-term physical performance and injury risk/incidence in active combat army personnel.
Dynamic Metabolic Changes in Arabidopsis Seedlings under Hypoxia Stress and Subsequent Reoxygenation Recovery
Authors: Fu Xinyu , Xu Yuan
Published: January 2023

Hypoxic stress, caused by the low cellular oxygen in the events of flooding or waterlogging, limits crop productivity in many regions of the world. Hypoxic stress in plants is often dynamic and followed by a reoxygenation process that returns the oxygen level to normal. Although metabolic responses to hypoxia have been studied in many plants, less is known about the recovery processes following stress removal. To better understand the dynamic metabolic shift from a low-oxygen environment to a reoxygenated environment, we performed time-course measurements of metabolites in Arabidopsis seedlings at 0, 6, 12, and 24 h of reoxygenation recovery after 24 h of hypoxia stress (100% N2 environment). Among the 80 metabolic features characterized using GC-MS, 60% of them were significantly changed under hypoxia. The reoxygenation phase was accompanied by progressively fewer metabolic changes. Only 26% significantly changed metabolic features by the 24 h reoxygenation. Hypoxia-induced metabolic changes returned to normal levels at different speeds. For example, hypoxia-induced accumulation of lactate decreased to a basal level after 6 h of reoxygenation, whereas hypoxia-induced accumulation of alanine and GABA showed partial recovery after 24 h of reoxygenation. Some metabolites, such as gluconate, xylose, guanine, and adenosine, constantly increased during hypoxia reoxygenation. These dynamic metabolic changes demonstrate the flexibility and complexity of plant metabolism during hypoxia stress and subsequent reoxygenation recovery.
Low-Fouling Plate-and-Frame Ultrafiltration for Juice Clarification: Part 1—Membrane Preparation and Characterization
Authors: Wibisono Yusuf , Alvianto Dikianur , Argo Bambang Dwi , Hermanto Mochamad Bagus , Witoyo Jatmiko Eko , Bilad Muhammad Roil
Published: January 2023

Membrane technology provides advantages for separating and purifying food materials, including juice clarification. Ultrafiltration processes for fruit juices aim to remove haze components and maintain the stabilization of the juices. However, the membrane process during the clarification of fruit juices suffers from fouling, which deteriorates the process performance and products. Biofouling usually is found in the applications of the membrane in food processing. In this study, phenolic substances extracted from garlic bulbs are incorporated into a matrix of polymeric membranes to prevent fouling during juice clarification. Hydrophilic cellulose acetate was used as the polymer matrix of the membrane, and dimethylformamide was used as the solvent. The phenolic substances from garlic bulbs were incorporated into polymer solutions with different concentrations of 0%, 1%, 1.25%, and 1.5% w/v. The composite membrane was prepared using the phase inversion method, and the resulting membranes were later characterized. The results show that incorporating those phenolic compounds as the dope solution additive resulted in membranes with higher hydrophilic properties. They also modeled antibacterial properties, as shown by the reduced attachment of Bacillus subtilis of up to 91.5 ± 11.7% and Escherichia coli of up to 94.0 ± 11.9%.
Experimentally Identifying the Influences of Key Parameters for an Organic Rankine Cycle Using R123
Authors: Gao Yan , Song Qianxi , Su Wen , Lin Xinxing , Sun Zhi , Huang Zhisheng , Gao Yaping
Published: January 2023

As an efficient energy conversion technology, the organic Rankine cycle (ORC) has been widely applied in medium- and low-grade heat sources. In order to explore the experimental performance of ORC and reveal the effects of operation parameters, an experimental setup was built and R123 was selected as the working fluid. In the experiments, the heat source temperature as well as the mass flow rates of the working fluid and cooling water were controlled. Under the design conditions, the net work and cycle efficiency can, respectively, reach up to 0.55 kW and 8.7%. As for the influences of key parameters, with the increase in heat source temperature from 130 °C to 160 °C, the involved heat has a small increase, while the net work increases from 0.44 kW to 0.55 kW, and the cycle efficiency greatly increases from 6.71% to 8.72% at a mass flow rate of working fluid 25 g/s. As for the mass flow rate of cooling water, it has a similar impact on the cycle performances. The difference is that the effect of the cooling water rate is relatively smaller. At the mass flow rate 25 g/s, when the cooling water rate increases from 0.68 kg/s to 0.83 kg/s, the net work varies from 0.46 kW to 0.55 kW, the cycle efficiency increases in the range 7.41~9.4%. Furthermore, except cycle efficiency, all performances are proportional to the mass flow rate of working fluid. In the test range, the difference of cycle efficiency among different mass flow rates is less than 0.7%.
Study of Water Resource Allocation and Optimization Considering Reclaimed Water in a Typical Chinese City
Authors: Fu Lei , Wang Junmin , Wang Shiwu , Peng Hongxi , Gui Zihan
Published: January 2023

Reclaimed water is considered to be an important alternative to freshwater to solve the imbalance between the supply and demand of regional water resources; it is also recognized as an effective tool for alleviating ecological problems caused by insufficient water flow. Yiwu City is a typical area experiencing a water shortage in southeastern China because the regional water resources are limited. In this study, the multiple water resource allocations in Yiwu City are optimized, the complex coupling model of multiple water resource allocation is established, and both the economic and ecological effects of multiple water resource allocation in Yiwu City are simulated and analyzed. The simulation results of optimizing the multiple water resource allocations show an efficient way of reclaimed water utilization in this typical Chinese city. In order to ensure the future economic and social development of Yiwu City, it is necessary to introduce reclaimed water into different fields, such as residential water, industrial water, agricultural water, and environmental water. Reclaimed water has also proven to have a high capability for pollutant control and reduction, which is also important to the ecology and environmental protection.
Identification and Counting of Coffee Trees Based on Convolutional Neural Network Applied to RGB Images Obtained by RPA
Authors: Santana Lucas Santos , Ferraz Gabriel Araújo e Silva , Santos Gabriel Henrique Ribeiro dos , Bento Nicole Lopes , Faria Rafael de Oliveira
Published: January 2023

Computer vision algorithms for counting plants are an indispensable alternative in managing coffee growing. This research aimed to develop an algorithm for automatic counting of coffee plants and to determine the best age to carry out monitoring of plants using remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) images. This algorithm was based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) system and Open Source Computer Vision Library (OpenCV). The analyses were carried out in coffee-growing areas at the development stages three, six, and twelve months after planting. After obtaining images, the dataset was organized and inserted into a You Only Look Once (YOLOv3) neural network. The training stage was undertaken using 7458 plants aged three, six, and twelve months, reaching stability in the iterations between 3000 and 4000 it. Plant detection within twelve months was not possible due to crown unification. A counting accuracy of 86.5% was achieved with plants at three months of development. The plants’ characteristics at this age may have influenced the reduction in accuracy, and the low uniformity of the canopy may have made it challenging for the neural network to define a pattern. In plantations with six months of development, 96.8% accuracy was obtained for counting plants automatically. This analysis enables the development of an algorithm for automated counting of coffee plants using RGB images obtained by remotely piloted aircraft and machine learning applications.
Water Use Efficiency and Economic Evaluation of the Hydroponic versus Conventional Cultivation Systems for Green Fodder Production in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Elmulthum Nagat Ahmed , Zeineldin Faisal Ibrahim , Al-Khateeb Suliman Ali , Al-Barrak Khalid Mohammed , Mohammed Tagelsir Ahmed , Sattar Muhammad Naeem , Mohmand Akbar S.
Published: January 2023

The current study is aimed to assess water use efficiency and evaluate economic viability of hydroponic and conventional production of barley green fodder by keeping in view the water scarcity challenges in Saudi Arabia. A hydroponic system and open field experimental plot was used to evaluate the water use efficiency for different irrigation regimes. Economic indicators for both production systems are estimated and compared to accomplish economic assessment. Estimated indicators include returns from inputs and net profit; benefit-cost ratio; break-even levels of prices, production, and yield; returns over variable cost; and returns on investment. Results indicated that the yield of barley green fodder produced under hydroponic conditions overtopped the yield under conventional cultivation. Under hydroponic and conventional conditions, WUE was decreased with increasing the harvesting date. However, WUE for the hydroponic technique was much higher than the conventional one. The returns and net profits supported the conventional cultivation methods, where lower dry matter content coupled with higher fixed and variable costs incurred by the hydroponic technique outweighed returns leading to economic loss. Cost-benefit ratios, returns over investment, and break-even prices and yield suggested that growing barley fodder under the hydroponic technique is economically not suitable for small-scale farming. However, regarding water conservation, hydroponic barley cultivation showed superiority over conventional field cultivation. Further research on the adoption of hydroponic fodder cultivation is highly recommended for water-scarce arid regions, such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Co-Application of Inorganic Fertilizers with Charcoal and Sago Bark Ash to Improve Soil Nitrogen Availability, Uptake, Use Efficiency, and Dry Matter Production of Sorghum Cultivated on Acid Soils
Authors: Hamidi Nur Hidayah , Ahmed Osumanu Haruna , Omar Latifah , Ch’ng Huck Ywih , Johan Prisca Divra , Paramisparam Puvan , Musah Adiza Alhassan , Jalloh Mohamadu Boyie
Published: January 2023

Efficient management of N fertilizers enhances crop yields and contributes to sustainable food security. Tropical acidic soils with high Al and Fe are prone to easy loss of basic cations, such as NH4+, via leaching and erosion. Appropriate soil amendments and agronomic practices minimize the loss of fertilizer nutrients, improve soil nutrient retention, and maximize their uptake by plants. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of co-applying charcoal and sago bark ash with inorganic fertilizers on N availability, uptake, use efficiency, and dry matter production of sorghum in a tropical acid soil. The results revealed that the co-application of inorganic fertilizers with charcoal and sago bark ash increased sorghum plant height, dry matter production, N uptake and N use efficiency. The soil treated with a combination of 100% of the recommended rate of charcoal and sago bark ash (C1A1) resulted in significantly higher sorghum dry matter production, N uptake, and use efficiency compared with normal fertilization (U1). The C1A1 treatment resulted in significantly lower soil available N compared with U1. The C1A1 treatment enhanced the uptake of N by the sorghum plants, resulting in less available N in the soil after the experiment. Although the effects of co-applying charcoal and sago bark ash on soil total N were not glaring, this practice increased soil pH and total C, and reduced exchangeable acidity and Al3+. A long-term field study is recommended to confirm the effects of co-applying inorganic fertilizers with charcoal and sago bark ash on sorghum productivity, economic viability, and soil nutrient residual effects.
Information Retrieval Technologies and Big Data Analytics to Analyze Product Innovation in the Music Industry
Authors: Gorgoglione Michele , Garavelli Achille Claudio , Panniello Umberto , Natalicchio Angelo
Published: January 2023

In Cultural and Creative Industries, innovation contributes to generating a competitive advantage thanks to the fundamental role assumed by the human creativity and the quest for novelty. In particular, the music industry stands out as one of the most successful ones, in terms of both revenue and employment. The music industry is also quickly and constantly growing, supported by the new digital technologies and the rise of streaming platforms and digital services, which have increased the availability of continuous, reliable, and timely data. Consequently, this may allow the implementation of novel techniques to study product innovation occurring in the music industry. Nonetheless, quantitative approaches to study innovation in this industry are scant. The present study aims at filling this gap by developing a quantitative approach to analyze product innovation dynamics in the music industry exploiting data collected through Music Information Retrieval technologies. We selected a successful band as a case study and analyzed each song released from 1984 to 2016 to obtain a quantitative representation of their musical production. We then developed and applied quantitative similarity metrics to see how each album was similar or different from the previous ones and from the most relevant music genres, to better understand innovation dynamics in music production.
Optimal Design of Transport Tax on the Way to National Security: Balancing Environmental Footprint, Energy Efficiency and Economic Growth
Authors: Samusevych Yaryna , Lyeonov Serhiy , Artyukhov Artem , Martyniuk Volodymyr , Tenytska Iryna , Wyrwisz Joanna , Wojciechowska Krystyna
Published: January 2023

To ensure the progress of sustainable development and overcome threats to national security, the development of tools for balancing ecological, economic and energy aspects of economic activity acquires special importance. This study is related to the influence of choosing different functional elements of transport taxes on their effectiveness in ensuring national security. For calculations, panel regression modelling with panel-adjusted standard errors based on the use of the Durbin–Watson test using dummy variables was chosen. The assessment involves the selection of the main factor variable (tax revenues from transport taxes, as well as an additional dummy variable) and compliance with a country’s transport taxation system, with a certain criterion for its application. The resulting criterion was chosen as an integral indicator of national security, which summarizes the parameters of environmental footprints, economic growth, energy efficiency and security. Calculations were made for nine countries (i.e., the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Turkey) for the period 1996–2019. The calculations proved that the establishment of transport taxes, depending on the type and weight of the car, increases their effectiveness on ensuring national security or, depending on the cost and age of the car, weakens such effectiveness. The use of emissions generated by the car, its capacity and its type of fuel requires additional research; the obtained results did not allow for unambiguously determining their impact on the effectiveness of transport taxes. The conducted research forms the basis for choosing the optimal design of transport taxes to ensure the maximization of their regulatory effectiveness. The developed approach can be extended to evaluate the effectiveness of other environmental taxes.
Research on the Fault-Transient Characteristics of a DC Power System Considering the Cooperative Action of a Flexible Current-Limiting Device and a Circuit Breaker
Authors: Zheng Feng , Peng Yaling , Wang Weidong , Zheng Song
Published: January 2023

As an effective carrier of a new energy collection, the DC power grid has low inertia and weak damping characteristics, making it essential to limit fault current and isolate the DC system. To quickly and effectively suppress fault current, a flexible current-limiting device (FCLD) is proposed, which can realize transient fault self-recovery without circuit breaker action and permanent and quick isolation of a fault. It improves the operational ability of the DC system under an asymmetric condition. First, a rectifier provides a set-slope current to each cascade inductor, so the voltage of the inductor can be clamped. Second, a controlled current source (CCS) is applied to generate inverse flux to prevent the inductor from magnetic saturation. The protection action time of the DC circuit breaker is reformulated. Finally, by considering the synergistic action of the current-limiting device, the circuit breaker, and the transient characteristics of the DC grid fault, the protection scheme of the multi-terminal flexible DC system can be formulated. To verify the validity of the proposed flexible current-limiting device, a multi-terminal flexible DC simulation platform is established, and the faults of DC lines are simulated and analyzed.
Periodic, Singular and Dark Solitons of a Generalized Geophysical KdV Equation by Using the Tanh-Coth Method
Authors: Naowarat Surapol , Saifullah Sayed , Ahmad Shabir , De la Sen Manuel
Published: January 2023

KdV equations have a lot of applications of in fluid mechanics. The exact solutions of the KdV equations play a vital role in the wave dynamics of fluids. In this paper, some new exact solutions of a generalized geophysical KdV equation are computed with the aid of tanh-coth method. To implement the tanh-coth procedure, we first convert the PDEs to ODEs with the help of wave transformation. Then, using a system of algebraic equations, we obtain several soliton solutions. To verify and clearly illustrate the exact solutions, several graphic presentations are developed by giving the parameter values, which are then thoroughly discussed in the relevant components.
MLA-LSTM: A Local and Global Location Attention LSTM Learning Model for Scoring Figure Skating
Authors: Han Chaoyu , Shen Fangyao , Chen Lina , Lian Xiaoyi , Gou Hongjie , Gao Hong
Published: January 2023

Video-based scoring using neural networks is a very important means for evaluating many sports, especially figure skating. Although many methods for evaluating action quality have been proposed, there is no uniform conclusion on the best feature extractor and clip length for the existing methods. Furthermore, during the feature aggregation stage, these methods cannot accurately locate the target information. To address these tasks, firstly, we systematically compare the effects of the figure skating model with three different feature extractors (C3D, I3D, R3D) and four different segment lengths (5, 8, 16, 32). Secondly, we propose a Multi-Scale Location Attention Module (MS-LAM) to capture the location information of athletes in different video frames. Finally, we present a novel Multi-scale Location Attentive Long Short-Term Memory (MLA-LSTM), which can efficiently learn local and global sequence information in each video. In addition, our proposed model has been validated on the Fis-V and MIT-Skate datasets. The experimental results show that I3D and 32 frames per second are the best feature extractor and clip length for video scoring tasks. In addition, our model outperforms the current state-of-the-art method hybrid dynAmic-statiC conText-aware attentION NETwork (ACTION-NET), especially on MIT-Skate (by 0.069 on Spearman’s rank correlation). In addition, it achieves average improvements of 0.059 on Fis-V compared with Multi-scale convolutional skip Self-attentive LSTM Module (MS-LSTM). It demonstrates the effectiveness of our models in learning to score figure skating videos.
Complexity of Smart Home Setups: A Qualitative User Study on Smart Home Assistance and Implications on Technical Requirements
Authors: Becks Eileen , Zdankin Peter , Matkovic Viktor , Weis Torben
Published: January 2023

Setup and management of smart home systems is a complex task, and thus challenging for technically inexperienced users. We conducted a qualitative user study to evaluate whether an assistance system could empower users to make better and informed decisions regarding the selection of devices, their interoperability, the resulting set of features and their price. A group of 20 participants used our assistance app on a smartphone to configure a smart home while optimizing for features, interoperability, and the price-performance ratio. The results of our user study show that our assistance app can ease the problem of selecting useful devices and at the same time users become aware of new features resulting from the interoperation of selected devices. Furthermore, the assistance app can counteract the inherent interoperability problem between devices of different vendors or platforms. Finally, users are not only interested in individual device prices. They want to learn the cost of a certain feature set, including the cost of all devices necessary to realize this feature. Interestingly, none of the current smart home systems on the market offer a comparable assistance mechanism. Third-party solutions are not available either, because an assistance app requires meta data about features, interoperability, and usage of devices. This meta data is currently not available via APIs in state-of-the-art smart home systems and marketplaces. Therefore, we present a smart home architecture resulting from our research that can, among other benefits, provide the necessary meta data. Our research indicates that commercial smart home systems should invest more effort in user assistance to gain widespread adoption among technically inexperienced users. This in turn requires substantial changes to the meta data management in smart homes, because otherwise these assistance systems cannot be realized.