bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Streamlining Agroecological Management of Invasive Plant Species: The Case of Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav
Authors: Tataridas Alexandros , Kanatas Panagiotis , Travlos Ilias
Published: December 2022

The increased demand for the adoption of sustainable practices to protect agroecosystems is challenged by the introduction and dominance of invasive plant species (IPS). The management of IPS requires a direct response from farmers and policy makers and is often associated with the adoption of practices that have negative ecological impacts. Solanum elaeagnifolium Cav. (silverleaf nightshade) is a noxious IPS posing a serious threat to agriculture and the environment. The increased resistance to the biotic and abiotic stress factors caused by high phenotypic plasticity, dense trichomes, and spines allow the weed to adapt to many habitats, rendering several herbicides ineffective. If an early detection and eradication fails, multiple management strategies should be adopted to mitigate a further dispersal. Herbicides should be applied before or during flowering to prevent the formation of berries and the production of seeds. Precision agriculture tools, such as decision support systems, can be exploited to reduce the herbicide input. Soil tillage should be avoided to prevent clonal reproduction. Mowing is an effective tool to prevent the setting of seeds. Biological agents should be carefully released as a part of an agroecological weed management framework. Future research should focus on the development of cross-boundary protocols and actions to monitor the introduction pathways for the early detection and agroecological management of S. elaeagnifolium.
Jaguar’s Predation and Human Shield, a Tapir Story
Authors: Pérez-Flores Jonathan , Hénaut Yann , Sanvicente Mauro , Pablo-Rodríguez Nereyda , Calmé Sophie
Published: December 2022

Despite the risks associated, some species choose to shield behind a predator to decrease predation risk by another predator. In this study, we demonstrate how Baird’s tapirs (Tapirus bairdii) use humans as a “shield” to reduce the risk of being preyed upon by jaguars (Panthera onca). We collected georeferenced photographic records of 23 tapirs (seven of them injured) sighted near human settlements (0 to 5 km) in the Calakmul region of Mexico from 2008 to 2019. Using multidimensional scale analysis, we determined which possible factors (tapir health status, injuries, distance to the settlement, as well as seasonality) are related to the decision of tapirs to approach human settlements. To support our claims of jaguars’ attacks, we described the pattern of injuries believed to have been inflicted by jaguars on tapirs, and we analysed photographs and videos of species of the genus Panthera attacking larger prey than themselves to establish a pattern of injuries and compare it to the injuries observed on tapirs. Our study shows that tapir sightings near human settlements are related to health deterioration, injuries by jaguars and seasonality. The injuries found on tapirs are similar to those caused by other big cats on large prey, providing strong support for jaguar-inflicted wounds. Further studies should investigate whether the increasing human presence in different habitats in the Neotropical region could be influencing the behaviour and distribution of prey and predators.
Ultrasonographic Measurement of Torsional Side Difference in Proximal Humerus Fractures and Humeral Shaft Fractures: Theoretical Background with Technical Notes for Clinical Implementation
Authors: Menzel Jan-Niklas , Zhang Dafang , Krettek Christian , Hawi Nael , Razaeian Sam
Published: December 2022

Both nonoperative and operative treatment of proximal humerus fractures (PHF) and humeral shaft fractures can result in torsional side differences. Several measurement methods are available to determine torsional malalignment. While conventional X-ray or computed tomography would entail additional radiation exposure for the patient, and while magnetic resonance imaging might be associated with higher costs and is not suitable in cases of surgically treated fractures due to metal-induced artifacts, the sonographic measurement of humeral torsion represents a readily available and quickly performable measurement method without radiation exposure. Both fully sonographic procedures and sonographically assisted procedures have been described in the literature for this purpose. To date, however, its application in the case of trauma patients, for example those with healed PHF and humeral shaft fractures, is not reported. This viewpoint article aims to provide a concise summary of the literature concerning ultrasonographic indirect measurements of humeral torsional side differences, with technical notes for clinical implementation in case of healed proximal humerus fractures and humeral shaft fractures.
Multisensor Estimation Fusion on Statistical Manifold
Authors: Chen Xiangbing , Zhou Jie
Published: December 2022

In the paper, we characterize local estimates from multiple distributed sensors as posterior probability densities, which are assumed to belong to a common parametric family. Adopting the information-geometric viewpoint, we consider such family as a Riemannian manifold endowed with the Fisher metric, and then formulate the fused density as an informative barycenter through minimizing the sum of its geodesic distances to all local posterior densities. Under the assumption of multivariate elliptical distribution (MED), two fusion methods are developed by using the minimal Manhattan distance instead of the geodesic distance on the manifold of MEDs, which both have the same mean estimation fusion, but different covariance estimation fusions. One obtains the fused covariance estimate by a robust fixed point iterative algorithm with theoretical convergence, and the other provides an explicit expression for the fused covariance estimate. At different heavy-tailed levels, the fusion results of two local estimates for a static target display that the two methods achieve a better approximate of the informative barycenter than some existing fusion methods. An application to distributed estimation fusion for dynamic systems with heavy-tailed process and observation noises is provided to demonstrate the performance of the two proposed fusion algorithms.
Dominant Attractor in Coupled Non-Identical Chaotic Systems
Authors: Nezhad Hajian Dorsa , Parthasarathy Sriram , Parastesh Fatemeh , Rajagopal Karthikeyan , Jafari Sajad
Published: December 2022

The dynamical interplay of coupled non-identical chaotic oscillators gives rise to diverse scenarios. The incoherent dynamics of these oscillators lead to the structural impairment of attractors in phase space. This paper investigates the couplings of Lorenz–Rössler, Lorenz–HR, and Rössler–HR to identify the dominant attractor. By dominant attractor, we mean the attractor that is less changed by coupling. For comparison and similarity detection, a cost function based on the return map of the coupled systems is used. The possible effects of frequency and amplitude differences between the systems on the results are also examined. Finally, the inherent chaotic characteristic of systems is compared by computing the largest Lyapunov exponent. The results suggest that in each coupling case, the attractor with the greater largest Lyapunov exponent is dominant.
Wave Function Realization of a Thermal Collision Model
Authors: Shafir Uriel , Kosloff Ronnie
Published: December 2022

An efficient algorithm to simulate dynamics of open quantum system is presented. The method describes the dynamics by unraveling stochastic wave functions converging to a density operator description. The stochastic techniques are based on the quantum collision model. Modeling systems dynamics with wave functions and modeling the interaction with the environment with a collision sequence reduces the scale of the complexity significantly. The algorithm developed can be implemented on quantum computers. We introduce stochastic methods that exploit statistical characteristics of the model such as Markovianity, Brownian motion, and binary distribution. The central limit theorem is employed to study the convergence of distributions of stochastic dynamics of pure quantum states represented by wave vectors. By averaging a sample of functions in the distribution we prove and demonstrate the convergence of the dynamics to the mixed quantum state described by a density operator.
Does Green Innovation Improve SME Performance?
Authors: Rustiarini Ni Wayan , Bhegawati Desak Ayu Sriary , Mendra Ni Putu Yuria
Published: December 2022

The environmental damage phenomenon is a challenge for businesses today, including for small and medium industries in developing countries, such as Indonesia. Green innovation is a solution to answer public concerns over global environmental issues. However, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector generally still focuses on achieving their economic performance. Green innovation is a strategic step for SMEs to increase sustainability and financial performance in the global market. This study aimed to holistically identify the antecedents and consequences when implementing green innovation in SMEs. This study also analyzed the role of green innovation as a mediator in the relationship between intellectual capital, sustainability performance, and financial performance. The survey was conducted on 336 SMEs in Bali, Indonesia. The questionnaire was directly distributed to owners or managers of SMEs over three months. This study proved that intellectual capital positively increased green innovation, SME sustainability, and financial performance. Green innovation was also considered as a mediating variable in the relationship between intellectual capital, sustainability performance, and financial performance. Thus, the implementation of green innovation directs entrepreneurs to fulfill not only social and environmental responsibilities but also encourages SMEs to achieve their economic benefits.
Enhancement of Direct Power Control by Using Artificial Neural Network for a Doubly Fed Induction Generator-Based WECS: An Experimental Validation
Authors: Chojaa Hamid , Derouich Aziz , Chehaidia Seif Eddine , Zamzoum Othmane , Taoussi Mohammed , Benbouhenni Habib , Mahfoud Said
Published: December 2022

Direct power control (DPC) is among the most popular control schemes used in renewable energy because of its many advantages such as simplicity, ease of execution, and speed of response compared to other controls. However, this method is characterized by defects and problems that limit its use, such as a large number of ripples at the levels of torque and active power, and a decrease in the quality of the power as a result of using the hysteresis controller to regulate the capacities. In this paper, a new idea of DPC using artificial neural networks (ANNs) is proposed to overcome these problems and defects, in which the proposed DPC of the doubly fed induction generators (DFIGs) is experimentally verified. ANN algorithms were used to compensate the hysteresis controller and switching table, whereby the results obtained from the proposed intelligent DPC technique are compared with both the classical DPC strategy and backstepping control. A comparison is made between the three proposed controls in terms of ripple ratio, durability, response time, current quality, and reference tracking, using several different tests. The experimental and simulation results extracted from dSPACE DS1104 Controller card Real-Time Interface (RTI) and Matlab/Simulink environment, respectively, have proven the robustness and the effectiveness of the designed intelligence DPC of the DFIG compared to traditional and backstepping controls in terms of the harmonic distortion of the stator current, dynamic response, precision, reference tracking ability, power ripples, robustness, overshoot, and stability.
A Secure Data Flow Forwarding Method Based on Service Ordering Management
Authors: Xiao Jingxu , Chang Chaowen , Wu Ping , Ma Yingying , Lu Zicong
Published: December 2022

The transmission of data flows in current networks is in a scattered and disordered state, which makes it difficult to effectively discover and defend against network attacks in a timely manner, while network managers lack the tools for the secure and orderly management of data flows. To solve this problem, a secure data flow forwarding method based on service ordering management is proposed in this paper. By defining the service header, the scheme realizes a fine-grained service-based division of data flows. The rules for services in the network are formulated, and orderly control over data flows based on the rules is implemented through the software-defined network architecture, such that only data flows meeting the rules are allowed to pass through the network. Meanwhile, to achieve secure data flow forwarding, data flow is signed, and the signature fields are sampled and verified on the forwarding device to ensure the correctness and tamperproof nature of the data flow forwarding process. The experimental results reveal that the proposed method based on service ordering management can achieve fine-grained and orderly secure data flow control forwarding, effectively defending against network attacks and improving network security. Furthermore, the additional forwarding delay introduced by the scheme is in the controllable range, making the approach practical.
A Lightweight Bearing Fault Diagnosis Method Based on Multi-Channel Depthwise Separable Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Ling Liuyi , Wu Qi , Huang Kaiwen , Wang Yiwen , Wang Chengjun
Published: December 2022

The existing rolling bearing fault diagnosis method based on the deep convolutional neural network has the issues of insufficient feature extraction ability, poor anti-noise ability, and a large number of model parameters. A lightweight bearing fault diagnosis method based on depthwise separable convolutions is proposed. The proposed method can simultaneously extract different features from vibration signals in different directions to enhance the stability of the diagnosis model. The lightweight unit based on depthwise separable convolutions in the feature extraction layer reduces the size of the model and the number of parameters that need to be learned. The vibration signals of bearings in different directions are converted into time-frequency signals by the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and then into pictures as the input of the model. In order to verify the effectiveness and generalization of the method, this paper uses the gearbox data set of Southeast University and the CWRU (Case Western Reserve University) bearing data set for experiments. Comparisons of bearing fault diagnosis results using the proposed model with other classical deep learning models are implemented. The results show that the proposed model is superior to other classical deep learning models; thus, it has a smaller model size, higher accuracy, and less computation burden. Compared with using a single-direction vibration signal as input, the proposed model that uses multiple vibration signals in different directions as input has more accuracy.
CM-NET: Cross-Modal Learning Network for CSI-Based Indoor People Counting in Internet of Things
Authors: Guo Jing , Gu Xiaokang , Liu Zhengqi , Ji Minghao , Wang Jingwen , Yin Xiaoyan , Xu Pengfei
Published: December 2022

In recent years, multiple IoT solutions have used computational intelligence technologies to identify people and count them. WIFI Channel State Information (CSI) has recently been applied to counting people with multiple benefits, such as being cost-effective, easily accessible, free of privacy concerns, etc. However, most current CSI-based work is limited to human location-fixed environments since human location-random environments are more complicated. Aiming to fix the problem of counting people in human location-random environments, we propose a solution using deep learning CM-NET, an end-to-end cross-modal learning network. Since it is difficult to count people with CSI straightforwardly, CM-NET approaches this problem using deep learning, utilizing a multi-layer transformer model to automatically extract the correlations between channels and the number of people. Owing to the complexity of human location-random environments, the transformer model cannot extract characteristics describing the number of people. To enhance the feature learning capability of the transformer model, CM-NET takes the feature knowledge learned by the image-based people counting model to supervise the learning process. In particular, CM-NET works with CSI alone during the testing phase without any image information, and ultimately achieves sound results with an average accuracy of 86%. Meanwhile, the superiority of CM-NET has been verified by comparison with the latest available related methods.
An Improved Routing Approach for Enhancing QoS Performance for D2D Communication in B5G Networks
Authors: Tilwari Valmik , Song Taewon , Pack Sangheon
Published: December 2022

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is one of the eminent promising technologies in Beyond Fifth Generation (B5G) wireless networks. It promises high data rates and ubiquitous coverage with low latency, energy, and spectral efficiency among peer-to-peer users. These advantages enable D2D communication to be fully realized in a multi-hop communication scenario. However, to ideally implement multi-hop D2D communication networks, the routing aspect should be thoroughly addressed since a multi-hop network can perform worse than a conventional mobile system if wrong routing decisions are made without proper mechanisms. Thus, routing in multi-hop networks needs to consider device mobility, battery, link quality, and fairness, which issues do not exist in orthodox cellular networking. Therefore, this paper proposed a mobility, battery, link quality, and contention window size-aware routing (MBLCR) approach to boost the overall network performance. In addition, a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) method is applied to the relay devices for optimal path establishment, which provides weights according to the evaluated values of the devices. Extensive simulation results under various device speed scenarios show the advantages of the MBLCR compared to conventional algorithms in terms of throughput, packet delivery ratio, latency, and energy efficiency.
A 4th-Order LTCC Bandpass Filter with Both Tunable Center Frequency and Bandwidth
Authors: Wu Hao , You Bin , Gao Kun-Kun , Li Xun-Gen
Published: December 2022

Reconfigurable filters are one of the key components in microwave communication systems. This letter presents a 4th-order low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) bandpass filter with both a tunable center frequency and bandwidth. This filter has four resonators, and each resonator consists of a circular patch, a center-through via, and two varactors. The varactors are placed on the top and bottom layers of the ceramic medium, which can effectively reduce the size of the 4th-order tunable filter. Three transmission zeros (TZs) are introduced to improve the upper stopband rejection. This filter demonstrates a 3-dB bandwidth (BW) range of 170–220 MHz around 2.86 GHz and a 3-dB BW range of 190–320 MHz around 3.2 GHz with a 13 dB minimum return loss. Insertion loss ranging from 3.5 dB to 6.85 dB has been obtained. The overall circuit size, including the package, is 11 mm × 6 mm × 1.6 mm.
RSLSP: An Effective Recovery Scheme for Flash Memory Leveraging Shadow Paging
Authors: Alahmadi Abdulhadi , Chung Tae Sun
Published: December 2022

The flash storage is a non-volatile semiconductor device that is constantly powered and has several advantages such as small size, lower power consumption, fast access, convenient portability, heat dissipation, shock resistance, data retention next to a power off, and random access. Flash memory is presently being incorporated with distinct embedded system devices such as with digital cameras, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDA), and sensor devices. Nevertheless, a flash memory entails special features such as “erase-before-write” and “wear-leveling”, an FTL (flash translation layer) upon the software layer should be included. Although, the power off recovery plays a significant role in portable devices, most FTL algorithms did not consider the power off recovery scheme. In this paper, we proposed an effective scheme for the recovery of flash memory leveraging the shadow paging concept for storage devices using flash memory. To combat the sudden power off problem, the suggested RSLSP approach saves and keeps the map block data as a combination of two tables, i.e., first is the original block and the second block is a replica for the original one. Our proposed strategy not only improves the capacity of a flash memory device as compared to the state-of-the-art schemes suggested in the literature, but is also compatible with the existing FTL-based schemes.
Editorial: Advances in Stochastic System Modeling, Control, Optimization, and Their Applications
Authors: Zhang Qichun , Shu Zhan
Published: December 2022

Stochastic systems can be widely adopted for describing practical complex systems, such as meteorology. Recently, there have been many advances in the design of stochastic systems, including system modeling, control, estimation, performance enhancement, and industrial applications. Motivated by these results, this Special Issue encourages researchers to publish their latest contributions in the study of stochastic systems. In summary, we first introduce the current technical challenges in stochastic systems. Then, a current prevalent problem is provided to demonstrate the challenges in these systems, while the developing trends for stochastic system research are summarised. In particular, data-driven non-Gaussian system analyses will be the one of the significant research focal points in future.
Improvement of UAV Tracking Technology in Future 6G Complex Environment Based on GM-PHD Filter
Authors: Hong Tao , Zhou Chunying , Kadoch Michel , Tang Tao , Zuo Zhengfa
Published: December 2022

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will become an indispensable part of future sixth-generation (6G)-based mobile networks that can provide flexible deposition, strong adaptability, and high service quality. Under the guarantee of blockchain, UAVs can provide efficient communication or computing services for ground intelligence devices and promote the development of wireless communication. However, as the number of UAVs increases, issues regarding UAV path planning, the handling of emergencies, the intrusion of illegal UAVs, etc., will need to be addressed. This paper proposes an improved Gaussian mixture probability hypothesis density (GM-PHD) filter based on machine learning for the target tracking and recognition of non-cooperative UAV swarms. Simulation results demonstrate that the improved filter can effectively suppress clutter interference in complex environments and improve the performance of multi-target recognition and trajectory tracking compared with the traditional GM-PHD filter.
A Brief Review of the Supercritical Antisolvent (SAS) Technique for the Preparation of Nanocatalysts to Be Used in Biodiesel Production
Authors: Santos Samuel , Puna Jaime , Gomes João
Published: December 2022

In an era where sustainability is becoming the main driving force for research and development, supercritical fluids-based techniques are presented as a very efficient alternative technology to conventional extraction, purification, and recrystallization processes. Supercritical antisolvent (SAS) precipitation is a novel technique that can replace liquid antisolvent precipitation techniques. Additionally, through the optimization of precipitation operating conditions, morphology, particle size, and particle size distribution of nanoparticles can be controlled. As an antisolvent, supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO2) is far more sustainable than its conventional liquid counterparts; not only does it have a critical point (304 K and 73.8 bar) on its phase diagram that allows for the precipitation processes to be developed so close to room temperature, but also its recovery and, consequently, the precipitated solute purification stage is considerably simpler. This technique can be used efficiently for preparing nanocatalysts to be used in biodiesel production processes.
Driving Asynchronous Induction Launchers: Design and Simulation of a Novel Power Conditioner with a Brief Review
Authors: Gulpinar Feyzullah , Balikci Abdulkadir
Published: December 2022

The design and implementation of an asynchronous coilgun’s structure is relatively simple compared with other types of linear induction launchers. In order to drive rotating electrical machines, multilevel converter structures have attracted much attention in recent decades as a result of their unique advantages. A linear induction launcher has an identical theoretical background to rotating electrical machines; therefore, multilevel converter structures can be applied to them as well. The stator of a launcher can be excited by generators or capacitor groups whose voltage and frequency might be fixed or changeable by a power conditioner. The aim of this study is to design and simulate a novel power conditioner as a multilevel converter topology for the power source of an asynchronous coilgun. Cascaded H-Bridge multilevel converter topology constitutes the proposed power conditioner in which a level-shifted pulse-width modulation method is used to generate appropriate pulses for the power switches of the converter. Additionally, variable-voltage variable-frequency control is involved in the converter’s modulation.
Research Progress and Prospect of Carbon Dioxide Utilization and Storage Based on Unconventional Oil and Gas Development
Authors: Li Lei , Zhang Xue , Liu Jiahui , Xie Qiuheng , Zhou Xiaomei , Zheng Jianyang , Su Yuliang
Published: December 2022

Energy security and the reduction of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are two major crises facing the world today. Using carbon dioxide to develop unconventional oil and gas resources is a positive way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which can significantly alleviate global energy security issues. This study systematically introduces the prerequisites for CO2 to extract crude oil and CO2 to be safely and effectively stored. Under high temperature and high pressure, the rock properties of deep reservoirs are completely different from those of atmospheric conditions in the two-phase porous media environment of crude oil and high salinity formation water. The research progress on the phase behavior, mutual solubility, CO2 storage potential and mechanism between supercritical CO2 and crude oil, formation water and reservoir are reviewed in detail. In addition, CO2 leakage will inevitably occur during long-term geological storage, the proper estimation and evaluation of the risk and establishment of corresponding sealing methods are the way forward for CO2 geological storage. By systematically elaborating the nature, advantages and disadvantages of fluid–fluid, fluid–solid interaction and geological integrity destruction mechanism, the directions in which several key problems should be solved were pointed out.
A Tortuosity Engineered Dual-Microporous Layer Electrode Including Graphene Aerogel Enabling Largely Improved Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Performance with High-Concentration Fuel
Authors: Guan Li , Balakrishnan Prabhuraj , Liu Huiyuan , Zhang Weiqi , Deng Yilin , Su Huaneng , Xing Lei , Penga Željko , Xu Qian
Published: December 2022

Methanol crossover is an important factor affecting the performance of direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). In this work, a novel membrane electrode assembly (MEA) is designed and prepared by adding a layer of graphene aerogel (GA) between the carbon powder microporous layer and the catalytic layer, which optimizes the methanol transport and improves the output performance of DMFC at high methanol concentrations. Compared to conventional carbon powder, the addition of GA increases the tortuosity of the anode in the through-plane direction; hence, methanol is diluted to a suitable concentration when it reaches the catalyst. The maximum power density of the novel MEA can reach 27.4 mW·cm−2 at a condition of 8 M methanol, which is 234% higher than that of the conventional electrode. The test results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) indicate that the addition of GA does not increase the internal resistance of the novel MEA and that the mass transfer resistance at high concentrations is significantly lower. The experimental results indicate that the output performance at high concentration can be significantly improved by adding a GA layer, and its practicability in portable devices can be improved. It also improves the stability of DMFC under long-term testing.
Generator for Large Fluxes of Kaons and Pions Using Laser-Induced Nuclear Processes in Ultra-Dense Hydrogen H(0)
Authors: Holmlid Leif
Published: December 2022

Laser-induced nuclear reactions in ultra-dense hydrogen H(0) produce mesons with both relatively low kinetic energy and with high kinetic energy. The kaons have up to 100 MeV of kinetic energy, thus a velocity of 0.55 c. Each laser pulse of >0.1 J of energy and length of 5 ns produces 1013 mesons. The operation of the meson generator is here demonstrated by measuring all decay times for mesons in the ns range after induction by a pulsed laser. These decay times are the unique fingerprints of the mesons, and they also produce the kinetic energy of the mesons created from their time-dilated decay. The charged pion decay time at rest from this generator is measured to be 25.92 ± 0.04 ns (standard fit error), in reasonable agreement with the tabulated results of 26.033 ns. A similar accuracy is found for the other mesons as for the charged kaons, with 96 MeV of kinetic energy, at 14.81 ± 0.05 ns. The same general behaviour is found with both deuterium and normal hydrogen forming the ultra-dense phase H(0) on the laser target. This meson generator gives intense meson showers useful for many types of particle physics experiments at a small fraction of the cost of using particle accelerators. A particle accelerator would need an energy of at least 1021 eV to produce a similar shower of 1013 mesons. Thus, the described generator is among the most intense meson sources that exist. Other important applications include nuclear energy generation and particle (pion) radiation for cancer treatment.
A Review of On-Line Measurement Methods of Alkali Metal Emissions from Combustion by Passive Spontaneous Emission Spectroscopy
Authors: Liao Weihui , Yan Chao , Lyu Xingcheng , Pu Yang , Lou Chun , Lim Mooktzeng
Published: December 2022

This article reviews the principles and applications of passive spontaneous emission spectroscopy (SES) for the quantitative determination of alkali metal concentrations emitted from combustion processes. The combustion of fuels that contain a high alkali metal content (Na and/or K) is challenging, as alkali metals reduce the slag formation temperature and induce fouling, causing combustion facilities to shutdown prematurely. The in situ on-line quantification of alkali metals is, thus, a critical measure to control combustion processes, preventing slagging and fouling from occurring. This review shows that several SES systems, developed by the Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), are inexpensive, portable, and useful for measuring the alkali metal content, and have been applied for biomass combustion as well as coal and municipal solid waste combustion, from laboratory-scale settings (20 kW) to industrial facilities (300 MW). Compared with other research, the SES system from HUST has successfully quantified the emitted alkali metal concentrations during combustion. This review also highlights the challenges of the SES system and recommends further work to improve it for further applications.
Effects of Hydrosalpinx on Endometrial Receptivity and Uterine Microbiome: An Interesting Case of Double Uterus with Unilateral Hydrosalpinx
Authors: Mitsui Junichiro , Kawai Kiyotaka , Tajima Makiko , Hiraoka Kenichiro , Casaroli Viviane , Sato Yoshimi , Furusawa Yoshiaki , Ishikawa Tomonori , Miyasaka Naoyuki
Published: December 2022

Endometrial receptivity array (ERA)—an objective tool used in assisted reproductive technology—is used for personalized embryo transfer in in vitro fertilization. Hydrosalpinx affects implantation through various mechanisms. However, its effects on ERA are not well established. In this case report, we present the diagnosis and treatment of a 34-year-old nulligravida woman with infertility for two years, obesity, double uterus with unilateral hydrosalpinx and right kidney deficiency. Based on ERA results, endometrial microbiome metagenomic analysis (EMMA), analysis of infectious chronic endometritis (ALICE), and CD138 immunostaining, the patient was treated with hormonal replacement cycle and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid. After one week of amoxicillin/clavulanic acid administration, the vitirified-warmed 4AA blastocyst was transferred to the left uterus—which was absent of hydrosalpinx and easily accessible to transfer and pregnancy was achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this case study is the first one in which we found that there were no differences between the left and right uterus in ERA, EMMA, ALICE, and CD138 immunostainings. Hence, we suggest that hydrosalpinx does not necessarily cause endometrial changes in all cases. Further research to evaluate the effects of hydrosalpinx on implantation with ERA and EMMA/ALICE is warranted.
Full-Scale Experiments of Water-Mist Systems for Control and Suppression of Sauna Fires
Authors: Santangelo Paolo E. , Tarozzi Luca , Tartarini Paolo
Published: December 2022

Sauna is a common fixture in many facilities; a specific fire-protection system is typically designed and installed for this application, as short circuits or direct contact with incandescent materials may result in a fire. Water mist has been recently considered as a promising option for this purpose; so, assessing its control and suppression capability in a sauna configuration has become of paramount importance for designers and engineers. To this end, an unprecedented real-scale test rig was built and instrumented with thermocouples and a hot-plate thermometer towards the evaluation of water-mist performance against various fire scenarios and, ultimately, to provide guidelines to designers. Timber benches were employed as target materials, while the fire was initiated in a wood crib. Design parameters, such as initial room temperature, location of the ignition source, nozzle-to-wall distance, and air gap between benches and wall, were varied, also including natural ventilation in a dedicated experiment. The system proved successful in controlling and containing the fire: bench damage ratio—selected as a quantitative parameter to assess water-mist performance—was consistently lower than 5%. However, extinction was not always achieved, especially under the most challenging configuration in terms of ventilation, initial room temperature, and nozzle-to-wall distance.
Coupled Simulation of Fluid Flow and Vibro-Acoustic Processes in the Channel with a Circular Cylinder
Authors: Volkov Konstantin
Published: December 2022

Vibro-acoustic processes are an interacting set of pulsations of the working fluid and vibrations of mechanical structural elements. The simulation of vibro-acoustic processes in a long pipe with an elastic round cylinder is considered. The mathematical model is developed in a coupled formulation, when not only pressure pulsations cause pipe vibrations, but also vibrations of the mechanical subsystem affect sound wave propagation in the working fluid. The influence of vortex formation processes in the channel on the system dynamics is taken into account. The fluid flow is found using delayed detached eddy simulation. The flow regimes around a single round cylinder corresponding to various Reynolds numbers are investigated to validate the computational algorithm. The distributions of the flow quantities and vibro-acoustic behavior of the system are discussed.
Plasma Metabolomic Profiling Reveals Preliminary Biomarkers of Pork Quality Based on pH Value
Authors: Shen Linyuan , Ma Jianfeng , Zhou Haodi , Chen Lei , Tang Jie , Zhang Kaige , Zhao Ye , Niu Lili , Zhang Shunhua , Jiang Anan , Wang Jinyong , Guo Zongyi , Li Xuewei , Chen Yiwu , Gan Mailin , Zhu Li
Published: December 2022

This study aimed to identify biomarkers for pork quality evaluation. Firstly, the correlation between indicators of pork quality evaluation was investigated. The pH of pork meat at 45 min post slaughter showed a significant negative correlation with meat color indicators (r: −0.4868–−0.3040). Subsequently, porcine plasma samples were further divided into low pH (pH = 6.16 ± 0.22) or high pH (pH = 6.75 ± 0.08) groups. Plasma metabolites in both sample groups were investigated using untargeted metabolomics. In total, 90 metabolites were recognized as differential metabolites using partial least squares discriminant analysis. Pathway enrichment analysis indicated these differential metabolites were enriched in amino acid metabolism and energy metabolism. Correlation analysis revealed that creatinine, L-carnitine, D-sphingosine, citraconic acid, and other metabolites may constitute novel plasma biomarkers with the pH value of pork meat. The current study provides important insights into plasma biomarkers for predicting pork quality based on pH value.
Online Detection of Impurities in Corn Deep-Bed Drying Process Utilizing Machine Vision
Authors: Li Tao , Tong Jinjie , Liu Muhua , Yao Mingyin , Xiao Zhifeng , Li Chengjie
Published: December 2022

Online detection of impurities content in the corn deep-bed drying process is the key technology to ensure stable operation and to provide data support for self-adapting control of drying equipment. In this study, an automatic approach to corn image acquisition, impurity classification and recognition, and impurities content detection based on machine vision technology are proposed. The multi-scale retinex with colour restore (MSRCR) algorithm is utilized to enhance the original image for eliminating the influence of noise. HSV (Hue, saturation, value) colour space parameter threshold is set for image segmentation, and the classification and recognition results are obtained combined with the morphological operation. The comprehensive evaluation index is adopted to quantitatively evaluate the test results. Online detection results show that the comprehensive evaluation index of broken corncobs, broken bracts, and crushed stones are 83.05%, 83.87%, and 87.43%, respectively. The proposed algorithm can quickly and effectively identify the impurities in corn images, providing technical support and a theoretical basis for monitoring impurities content in the corn deep-bed drying process.
The Effects of Starch Molecular Fine Structure on Thermal and Digestion Properties of Rice Starch
Authors: Li Cheng , Yu Wenwen , Gilbert Robert
Published: December 2022

Whole white rice is a major staple food for human consumption, with its starch digestion rate and location in the gastrointestinal tract having a critical role for human health. Starch has a multi-scale structure, which undergoes order-disorder transitions during rice cooking, and this structure is a major determinant of its digestibility. The length distributions of amylose and amylopectin chains are important determinants of rice starch gelatinization properties. Starch chain-length and molecular-size distributions are important determinants of nucleation and crystal growth rates, as well as of intra- and intermolecular interactions during retrogradation. A number of first-order kinetics models have been developed to fit starch digestograms, producing new information on the structural basis for starch digestive characteristics of cooked whole rice. Different starch digestible fractions with distinct digestion patterns have been found for the digestion of rice starch in fully gelatinized and retrograded states, the digestion kinetics of which are largely determined by starch fine molecular structures. Current insights and future directions to better understand digestibility of starch in whole cooked rice are summarized, pointing to ways of developing whole rice into a healthier food by way of having slower starch digestibility.
New Results for Weakly Compatible (WC) and R-Weakly Commuting (RWC) Mappings with an Applicationin Dynamic Programming
Authors: Murthy Penumarthy Parvateesam , Kumar Sanjay , Kumar Rajesh , Sahu Pusplata , Mitrović Zoran D. , George Reny
Published: December 2022

The aim of this paper is to obtain some new results about common fixed points. Our results use weaker conditions than those previously used. We have relaxed the conditions for commutating pair mappings and compatible mappings of the type (A), which were introduced in 1976. The theorems are enriched by using the concept of WC and various types of weakly commuting pairs of maps in metric spaces. To discuss the existence and uniqueness of the common solutions, we have obtained an application to the functional equations in dynamic programming.
Attempt to Model Lava Flow Faster Than Real Time: An Example of La Palma Using VolcFlow
Authors: Marquez Marcos , Paredes Carlos , Llorente Miguel
Published: December 2022

The eruption of Cumbre Vieja (also known as Tajogaite volcano, 19 September–13 December 2021, Spain) is an example of successful emergency management. The lessons learnt are yet to be fully disclosed as is whether the response can be further improved. The latter may include tools to predict lava flow inundation rheological characteristics, amongst other issues related to volcanic eruptions (i.e., ash fall and gas emission). The aim of this study was to explore if a scientific open-source, readily available, lava-flow-modelling code (VolcFlow) would suffice for lava emplacement forecasting, focusing on the first seven days of the eruption. We only the open data that were released during the crisis and previously available data sets. The rheology of the lava, as well as the emission rate, are of utmost relevance when modelling lava flow, and these data were not readily available. Satellite lava extent analysis allowed us to preliminarily estimate its velocity, the average flow emitted, and flow viscosity. These estimates were numerically adjusted by maximising the Jaccard morphometric index and comparing the area flooded by the lava for a simulated seven-day advance with the real advance of the lava in the same timescale. The manual search for the solution to this optimization problem achieved morphometric matches of 85% and 60%. We obtained an estimated discharge rate of about 140 m3/s of lava flow during the first 24 h of the eruption. We found the emission rate then asymptotically decreased to 60 m3/s. Viscosity varied from 8 × 106 Pa s, or a yield strength of 42 × 103 Pa, in the first hours, to 4 × 107 Pa s and 35 × 103 Pa, respectively, during the remainder of the seven days. The simulations of the lava emplacement up to 27 September showed an acceptable distribution of lava thickness compared with the observations and an excellent geometrical fit. The calculations of the calibrated model required less time than the simulated time span; hence, flow modelling can be used for emergency management. However, both speed and accuracy can be improved with some extra developments and guidance on the data to be collected. Moreover, the available time for management, once the model is ready, quasi-linearly increases as the forecasting time is extended. This suggests that a predictive response during an emergency with similar characteristics is achievable, provided that an adequate rheological description of the lava is available.
The Mediating Role of Selfitis in the Associations between Self-Esteem, Problematic Social Media Use, Problematic Smartphone Use, Body-Self Appearance, and Psychological Distress among Young Ghanaian Adults
Authors: Oppong Derek , Adjaottor Emma Sethina , Addo Frimpong-Manso , Nyaledzigbor Worlali , Ofori-Amanfo Amma Serwaa , Chen Hsin-Pao , Ahorsu Daniel Kwasi
Published: December 2022

Selfie-related activities have become pervasive to the point that they may affect the mental health of people who engage in them. To ascertain this mechanism, this study examined the mediating role of selfitis in the associations between self-esteem, problematic social media use, problematic smartphone use, body-self appearance, and psychological distress among young Ghanaian adults. A total of 651 participants completed a questionnaire with measures on self-esteem, body-self appearance, problematic social media use, problematic smartphone use, depression, anxiety, stress, coping skills, and selfitis. There were direct associations between all the variables except between self-esteem and selfitis. In addition, selfitis mediated the associations between problematic social media use, problematic smartphone use, body-self appearance, and psychological distress except between self-esteem and psychological distress. These findings suggest that selfitis can serve as a pathway by which people who overly engage in problematic social media use, problematic smartphone use, and have poor body-self appearance may experience psychological distress. Hence, there is a need for health communicators, school authorities, and opinion leaders to educate young adults on the consequences of the problematic use of technology, especially for selfitis behaviour. Future studies can examine the factors that predict selfitis behaviour among adults.
On the Identification of Colour Photographic Processes
Authors: Cattaneo Ambra , Sarti Beatrice , Plutino Alice , Rizzi Alessandro
Published: December 2022

To determine the best investigations for restoration and storage procedures, a visual inspection can provide a preliminary screen for the colour processes used to print the photographs. The high costs of the instruments required to follow the protocols present in the literature make these methodologies challenging to reproduce, especially for institutions with limited resources. Hence, a cheap and advanced investigation protocol is needed. This work proposes a protocol that, besides having this characteristic, observes the degradation of the material as a factor in identifying printing processes. The procedure proposed is composed of four steps: I. print observation: a preliminary examination of the object; II. surface observation: an examination of the surface; III. magnified observation: examination with microscope; and IV. decay and damage: alteration and degradation analysis. A set of photographs from the 1960s to the 2000s were analysed following the proposed protocol. From these prints, it was possible to observe the typical forms of degradation deriving from inappropriate conservation and determine the different materials and formats, proving the protocol’s effectiveness and easy applicability.In addition, the scientific community may access this protocol through the open-access website Colour photographic processes-Preliminary identification by visual exam.