bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pharmacological Modulation and (Patho)Physiological Roles of TRPM4 Channel—Part 1: Modulation of TRPM4
Authors: Kovács Zsigmond Máté , Dienes Csaba , Hézső Tamás , Almássy János , Magyar János , Bányász Tamás , Nánási Péter P. , Horváth Balázs , Szentandrássy Norbert
Published: January 2022

Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 is a unique member of the TRPM protein family and, similarly to TRPM5, is Ca2+-sensitive and permeable to monovalent but not divalent cations. It is widely expressed in many organs and is involved in several functions by regulating the membrane potential and Ca2+ homeostasis in both excitable and non-excitable cells. This part of the review discusses the pharmacological modulation of TRPM4 by listing, comparing, and describing both endogenous and exogenous activators and inhibitors of the ion channel. Moreover, other strategies used to study TRPM4 functions are listed and described. These strategies include siRNA-mediated silencing of TRPM4, dominant-negative TRPM4 variants, and anti-TRPM4 antibodies. TRPM4 is receiving more and more attention and is likely to be the topic of research in the future.
Extracellular Vesicle Delivery of Neferine for the Attenuation of Neurodegenerative Disease Proteins and Motor Deficit in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model
Authors: Tang Bin , Zeng Wu , Song Lin Lin , Wang Hui Miao , Qu Li Qun , Lo Hang Hong , Yu Lu , Wu An Guo , Wong Vincent Kam Wai , Law Betty Yuen Kwan
Published: January 2022

Exosomes are nano-extracellular vesicles with diameters ranging from 30 to 150 nm, which are secreted by the cell. With their role in drug cargo loading, exosomes have been applied to carry compounds across the blood–brain barrier in order to target the central nervous system (CNS). In this study, high-purity exosomes isolated by the ultra-high-speed separation method were applied as the natural compound carrier, with the loading efficiency confirmed by UHPLC-MS analysis. Through the optimization of various cargo loading methods using exosomes, this study compared the efficiency of different ways for the separation of exosomes and the exosome encapsulation of natural compounds with increasing molecular weights via extensive in vitro and in vivo efficacy studies. In a pharmacokinetic study, our data suggested that the efficiency of compound’s loading into exosomes is positively correlated to its molecular weight. However, with a molecular weight of greater than 1109 Da, the exosome-encapsulated natural compounds were not able to pass through the blood–brain barrier (BBB). In vitro cellular models confirmed that three of the selected exosome-encapsulated natural compounds—baicalin, hederagenin and neferine—could reduce the level of neurodegenerative disease mutant proteins—including huntingtin 74 (HTT74), P301L tau and A53T α-synuclein (A53T α-syn)—more effectively than the compounds alone. With the traditional pharmacological role of the herbal plant Nelumbo nucifera in mitigating anxiety, exosome-encapsulated-neferine was, for the first time, reported to improve the motor deficits of APP/PS1 (amyloid precursor protein/ presenilin1) double transgenic mice, and to reduce the level of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain when compared with the same concentration of neferine alone. With the current trend in advocating medicine–food homology and green healthcare, this study has provided a rationale from in vitro to in vivo for the encapsulation of natural compounds using exosomes for the targeting of BBB permeability and neurodegenerative diseases in the future.
DENV-Mimetic Polymersome Nanoparticles Bearing Multi-Epitope Lipopeptides Antigen as the Next-Generation Dengue Vaccine
Authors: Abdul Rahman Nur Adilah , Mohamad Norpi Abdin Shakirin , Nordin Muhammad Luqman , Mohd Amin Mohd Cairul Iqbal , Ahmad Fuaad Abdullah Al-Hadi , Muhammad Azami Nor Azila , Marasini Nirmal , Azmi Fazren
Published: January 2022

Dengue remains a severe threat to public health. The safety and efficacy of the licensed dengue vaccine is not clinically satisfactory, which necessitate the need of new approach in designing an effective dengue vaccine without eliciting adverse reaction. Herein, we have designed a lipidated multi-epitope peptide vaccine (LipoDV) that can elicit highly targeted humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. To improve its immunogenicity, LipoDV was presented on the surface of MPLA-functionalized polymersome nanoparticles (PNs-LipoDV-MPLA). The as-constructed vaccine delivery platform resembles the structural morphology of DENV owing to its spherical nanoscale particle size and surface immunostimulatory properties given by LipoDV and MPLA that emulating the functional role of DENV E and prM/M proteins respectively. A proof-of-concept study demonstrated that BALB/c mice immunized with PNs-LipoDV-MPLA induced a stronger antigen-specific antibody response with an enhanced cell-mediated immunity as characterized by the elevated IFN-γ secretion in comparison to other tested vaccine candidates which possess a lesser structural trait of DENV. The DENV-mimicking nanoparticles vaccine exhibited negligible toxicity as analyzed by hemolytic test, MTT assay, histopathological examination and abnormal toxicity test on immunized mice. Collectively, our study provides a strong foundation in designing an effective peptide-based vaccine delivery platform against DENV infection.
Natural Fillers as Potential Modifying Agents for Epoxy Composition: A Review
Authors: Sienkiewicz Natalia , Dominic Midhun , Parameswaranpillai Jyotishkumar
Published: January 2022

Epoxy resins as important organic matrices, thanks to their chemical structure and the possibility of modification, have unique properties, which contribute to the fact that these materials have been used in many composite industries for many years. Epoxy resins are repeatedly used in exacting applications due to their exquisite mechanical properties, thermal stability, scratch resistance, and chemical resistance. Moreover, epoxy materials also have really strong resistance to solvents, chemical attacks, and climatic aging. The presented features confirm the fact that there is a constant interest of scientists in the modification of resins and understanding its mechanisms, as well as in the development of these materials to obtain systems with the required properties. Most of the recent studies in the literature are focused on green fillers such as post-agricultural waste powder (cashew nuts powder, coconut shell powder, rice husks, date seed), grass fiber (bamboo fibers), bast/leaf fiber (hemp fibers, banana bark fibers, pineapple leaf), and other natural fibers (waste tea fibers, palm ash) as reinforcement for epoxy resins rather than traditional non-biodegradable fillers due to their sustainability, low cost, wide availability, and the use of waste, which is environmentally friendly. Furthermore, the advantages of natural fillers over traditional fillers are acceptable specific strength and modulus, lightweight, and good biodegradability, which is very desirable nowadays. Therefore, the development and progress of “green products” based on epoxy resin and natural fillers as reinforcements have been increasing. Many uses of natural plant-derived fillers include many plant wastes, such as banana bark, coconut shell, and waste peanut shell, can be found in the literature. Partially biodegradable polymers obtained by using natural fillers and epoxy polymers can successfully reduce the undesirable epoxy and synthetic fiber waste. Additionally, partially biopolymers based on epoxy resins, which will be presented in the paper, are more useful than commercial polymers due to the low cost and improved good thermomechanical properties.
Reversible Protein Capture and Release by Redox-Responsive Hydrogel in Microfluidics
Authors: Jiao Chen , Obst Franziska , Geisler Martin , Che Yunjiao , Richter Andreas , Appelhans Dietmar , Gaitzsch Jens , Voit Brigitte
Published: January 2022

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels have a wide range of potential applications in microfluidics, which has drawn great attention. Double cross-linked hydrogels are very well suited for this application as they offer both stability and the required responsive behavior. Here, we report the integration of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNiPAAm) hydrogel with a permanent cross-linker (N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide, BIS) and a redox responsive reversible cross-linker (N,N′-bis(acryloyl)cystamine, BAC) into a microfluidic device through photopolymerization. Cleavage and re-formation of disulfide bonds introduced by BAC changed the cross-linking densities of the hydrogel dots, making them swell or shrink. Rheological measurements allowed for selecting hydrogels that withstand long-term shear forces present in microfluidic devices under continuous flow. Once implemented, the thiol-disulfide exchange allowed the hydrogel dots to successfully capture and release the protein bovine serum albumin (BSA). BSA was labeled with rhodamine B and functionalized with 2-(2-pyridyldithio)-ethylamine (PDA) to introduce disulfide bonds. The reversible capture and release of the protein reached an efficiency of 83.6% in release rate and could be repeated over 3 cycles within the microfluidic device. These results demonstrate that our redox-responsive hydrogel dots enable the dynamic capture and release of various different functionalized (macro)molecules (e.g., proteins and drugs) and have a great potential to be integrated into a lab-on-a-chip device for detection and/or delivery.
Understanding the Role of Carbon Fiber Skeletons in Silicone Rubber-Based Ablative Composites
Authors: Ji Yuan , Han Shida , Chen Zhiheng , Wu Hong , Guo Shaoyun , Yan Ning , Li Hongyan , Luan Tao
Published: January 2022

At present, silicone rubber-based ablative composites are usually enhanced by carbon fibers (CFs) to protect the case of solid rocket motors (SRMs). However, the effect of the CFs’ length on the microstructure and ablation properties of the silicone rubber-based ablative composites has been ignored. In this work, different lengths of CFs were introduced into silicone rubber-based ablative composites to explore the effect of fiber length, and ceramic layers of various morphologies were constructed after ablation. It was found that a complete and continuous skeleton in ceramic layers was formed by CFs over 3 mm in length. In addition, the oxyacetylene ablation results showed that the linear ablation rate declined from 0.233 to 0.089 mm/s, and the maximum back-face temperature decreased from 117.7 to 107.9 °C as the length of the CFs increased from 0.5 to 3 mm. This can be attributed to the fact that successive skeletons concatenated and consolidated the ceramic fillers as well as residues to form an integrated, robust, and dense ceramic layer.
Biocompatible and Thermoresistant Hydrogels Based on Collagen and Chitosan
Authors: Sánchez-Cid Pablo , Jiménez-Rosado Mercedes , Rubio-Valle José Fernando , Romero Alberto , Ostos Francisco J. , Rafii-El-Idrissi Benhnia Mohammed , Perez-Puyana Victor
Published: January 2022

Hydrogels are considered good biomaterials for soft tissue regeneration. In this sense, collagen is the most used raw material to develop hydrogels, due to its high biocompatibility. However, its low mechanical resistance, thermal stability and pH instability have generated the need to look for alternatives to its use. In this sense, the combination of collagen with another raw material (i.e., polysaccharides) can improve the final properties of hydrogels. For this reason, the main objective of this work was the development of hydrogels based on collagen and chitosan. The mechanical, thermal and microstructural properties of the hydrogels formed with different ratios of collagen/chitosan (100/0, 75/25, 50/50, 25/75 and 0/100) were evaluated after being processed by two variants of a protocol consisting in two stages: a pH change towards pH 7 and a temperature drop towards 4 °C. The main results showed that depending on the protocol, the physicochemical and microstructural properties of the hybrid hydrogels were similar to the unitary system depending on the stage carried out in first place, obtaining FTIR peaks with similar intensity or a more porous structure when chitosan was first gelled, instead of collagen. As a conclusion, the synergy between collagen and chitosan improved the properties of the hydrogels, showing good thermomechanical properties and cell viability to be used as potential biomaterials for Tissue Engineering.
Modeling of Twin Screw Extrusion of Polymeric Materials
Authors: Lewandowski Adrian , Wilczyński Krzysztof
Published: January 2022

An issue of modeling of twin-screw extrusion of polymeric materials is reviewed. The paper is written in honor of Prof. James L. White who was a pioneer in studying this issue. A global approach to process modeling is presented which includes solid polymer transport, polymer plasticating, and the flow of molten polymer. The methodology of CFD modeling of twin-screw extrusion is presented as well as the examples of this modeling which show the details of the process. Optimization and scaling of twin-screw extrusion are also covered. And finally, the future prospects of developments and research of twin screw extrusion is discussed.
Novel Composite Planks Made of Shape Memory Polyurethane Foaming Material with Two-Step Foaming Process
Authors: Lin Jan-Yi , Lin Mei-Chen , Shiu Bing-Chiuan , Lou Ching-Wen , Lin Jia-Horng , Chen Yueh-Sheng
Published: January 2022

In this study, shape memory polyurethane (SMP) foaming material is used as the main material that is incorporated with carbon fiber woven fabrics via two-step foaming method, forming sandwich-structured composite planks. The process is simple and efficient and facilitates any composition as required. The emphasis of this study is protection performances, involving puncture resistance, buffer absorption, and electromagnetic wave shielding effectiveness. The proposed soft PU foam composite planks consist of the top and bottom PU foam layers and an interlayer of carbon fiber woven fabric. Meanwhile, PU foam is incorporated with carbon staple fibers and an aluminized PET film for reinforcement requirements and electromagnetic wave shielding effectiveness, respectively. Based on the test results, the two-step foaming process can provide the PU foam composite planks with excellent buffer absorption, puncture resistance, and electromagnetic wave shielding effectiveness; therefore, the proposed composite planks contribute a novel structure composition to SMP, enabling it to be used as a protective composite. In addition, the composites contain conductive material and thus exhibit a greater diversity of functions.
Improved Thermoeconomic Energy Efficiency Analysis for Integrated Energy Systems
Authors: Liu Sha , Shen Jiong
Published: January 2022

The structure of an integrated energy system is complex. Thermoeconomics can play a significant role in the analysis of IES because it makes up for the deficiency of traditional thermodynamic analysis and provides new information on the cost and energy conversion efficiency. When using thermoeconomics to analyze the energy efficiency of an IES, one key issue that needs to be solved is how to transfer irreversible loss across thermal cycles, so that the mechanism of system performance degradation can be fully revealed. To this end, an irreversible cost and exergy cost integrated analysis method based on improved thermoeconomics is proposed, in which the cumulative and transmission impact of irreversible loss across thermal cycles is evaluated using linear transformation of  matrix. A case study on a 389MW combined cooling, heating, and power IES demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The proposed approach can reveal the key links impairing the overall energy efficiency and transfer of irreversible loss across thermal cycles. The approach can be extended to various types of IES to provide directions for the assessment and optimization of the system.
Electronic Expansion Valve Experimental System Debugging Solution Based on PI Control Algorithm on Single-Tube Heat Exchange Experimental Platform
Authors: Wang Jinfeng , Chang Wanying , Xie Jing
Published: January 2022

In this paper, the electronic expansion valve (EXV) on the single-tube heat exchange experimental platform was used as a research object. Firstly, the EXVs were selected according to the experimental requirements, and the functional parameters were set. Subsequently, the effective opening ranges of the EXVs were determined by manual control, and the control effects of the EXVs installed at the front and back ends of the test section were compared. Finally, by self-tuning and optimizing the best response curves, the proportional and integral coefficients suitable for the experimental platform were obtained; thus, the automatic intelligent control of EXV based on the proportional integral (PI) control algorithm was realized. From setting EXV functional parameters to realizing PI control, an appropriate experimental system-debugging solution for the whole process could be obtained. Based on the solution, the system stability could be improved, and the transition process time could be shortened. Furthermore, the solution also provided a method to guarantee the accuracy of experimental data and could be applied to the debugging of similar experimental systems.
Financial Risk Management for Sustainable Agricultural Development Based on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Interests of Food Security
Authors: Polukhin Andrey A. , Panarina Veronika I.
Published: January 2022

This paper focuses on the problem of the high financial risks of agricultural entrepreneurship, which hinder the sustainable development of agriculture and do not provide food security. This problem is especially topical in the conditions of the COVID-19 crisis when financial risks are urgent. The research basis is the theory of financial risks of entrepreneurship. This paper’s RQ is as follows: how should financial risks for the sustainable development of agriculture be managed for the provision of food security? The purpose of this paper is to find ways of managing the financial risks of agricultural entrepreneurship based on its corporate social responsibility for sustainable development and the provision of food security. The contribution to the literature is that the authors offer a solution to the problem of the financial risks of agricultural entrepreneurship. The originality of this paper is that the solution is corporate social responsibility. The universal character of the paper is due to the description of the international experience of corporate social responsibility and proving the contribution of this responsibility for the sustainable development of agriculture and food security as well as its demonstration—based on the case experience of modern Russia of specific, effective, and perspective practices of corporate social responsibility that make a significant contribution to the sustainable development of agriculture and food security. The results are very important for decision making in managing the financial risks of agricultural entrepreneurship.
A Robust GNSS/PDR Integration Scheme with GRU-Based Zero-Velocity Detection for Mass-Pedestrians
Authors: Xie Dongpeng , Jiang Jinguang , Wu Jiaji , Yan Peihui , Tang Yanan , Zhang Chao , Liu Jingnan
Published: January 2022

Aiming at the problem of high-precision positioning of mass-pedestrians with low-cost sensors, a robust single-antenna Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)/Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) integration scheme is proposed with Gate Recurrent Unit (GRU)-based zero-velocity detector. Based on the foot-mounted pedestrian navigation system, the error state extended Kalman filter (EKF) framework is used to fuse GNSS position, zero-velocity state, barometer elevation, and other information. The main algorithms include improved carrier phase smoothing pseudo-range GNSS single-point positioning, GRU-based zero-velocity detection, and adaptive fusion algorithm of GNSS and PDR. Finally, the scheme was tested. The root mean square error (RMSE) of the horizontal error in the open and complex environments is lower than 1 m and 1.5 m respectively. In the indoor elevation experiment where the elevation difference of upstairs and downstairs exceeds 25 m, the elevation error is lower than 1 m. This result can provide technical reference for the accurate and continuous acquisition of public pedestrian location information.
A Two-Staged Feature Extraction Method Based on Total Variation for Hyperspectral Images
Authors: Li Chunchao , Tang Xuebin , Shi Lulu , Peng Yuanxi , Tang Yuhua
Published: January 2022

Effective feature extraction (FE) has always been the focus of hyperspectral images (HSIs). For aerial remote-sensing HSIs processing and its land cover classification, in this article, an efficient two-staged hyperspectral FE method based on total variation (TV) is proposed. In the first stage, the average fusion method was used to reduce the spectral dimension. Then, the anisotropic TV model with different regularization parameters was utilized to obtain featured blocks of different smoothness, each containing multi-scale structure information, and we stacked them as the next stage’s input. In the second stage, equipped with singular value transformation to reduce the dimension again, we followed an isotropic TV model based on split Bregman algorithm for further detail smoothing. Finally, the feature-extracted block was fed to the support vector machine for classification experiments. The results, with three hyperspectral datasets, demonstrate that our proposed method can competitively outperform state-of-the-art methods in terms of its classification accuracy and computing time. Also, our proposed method delivers robustness and stability by comprehensive parameter analysis.
A Nonlinear Data-Driven Towed Array Shape Estimation Method Using Passive Underwater Acoustic Data
Authors: Wu Qisong , Xu Youhai
Published: January 2022

Large-aperture towed linear hydrophone array has been widely used for beamforming-based signal enhancement in passive sonar systems; however, its performance can drastically decrease due to the array distortion caused by rapid tactical maneuvers of the towed platform, oceanic currents, hydrodynamic effects, etc. In this paper, an enhanced data-driven shape array estimation scheme is provided in the passive underwater acoustic data, and a novel nonlinear outlier-robust particle filter (ORPF) method is proposed to acquire enhanced estimates of time delays in the presence of distorted hydrophone array. A conventional beamforming technique based on a hypothetical array is first used, and the detection of the narrow-band components is sequentially carried out so that the corresponding amplitudes and phases at these narrow-band components can be acquired. We convert the towed array estimation problem into a nonlinear discrete-time filtering problem with the joint estimates of amplitudes and time-delay differences, and then propose the ORPF method to acquire enhanced estimates of the time delays by exploiting the underlying properties of slowly changing time-delay differences across sensors. The proposed scheme fully exploits directional radiated noise targets as sources of opportunity for online array shape estimation, and thus it requires neither the number nor direction of sources to be known in advance. Both simulations and real experimental data show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Landslide Trail Extraction Using Fire Extinguishing Model
Authors: Zhan Zhao , Shi Wenzhong , Zhang Min , Liu Zhewei , Peng Linya , Yu Yue , Sun Yangjie
Published: January 2022

Landslide trails are important elements of landslide inventory maps, providing valuable information for landslide risk and hazard assessment. Compared with traditional manual mapping, skeletonization methods offer a more cost-efficient way to map landslide trails, by automatically generating centerlines from landslide polygons. However, a challenge to existing skeletonization methods is that expert knowledge and manual intervention are required to obtain a branchless skeleton, which limits the applicability of these methods. To address this problem, a new workflow for landslide trail extraction (LTE) is proposed in this study. To avoid generating redundant branches and to improve the degree of automation, two endpoints, i.e., the crown point and the toe point, of the trail were determined first, with reference to the digital elevation model. Thus, a fire extinguishing model (FEM) is proposed to generate skeletons without redundant branches. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified, by extracting landslide trails from landslide polygons of various shapes and sizes, in two study areas. Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional grassfire model-based skeletonization method, the proposed FEM is capable of obtaining landslide trails without spurious branches. More importantly, compared with the baseline method in our previous work, the proposed LTE workflow can avoid problems including incompleteness, low centrality, and direction errors. This method requires no parameter tuning and yields excellent performance, and is thus highly valuable for practical landslide mapping.
Polarimetric Persistent Scatterer Interferometry for Ground Deformation Monitoring with VV-VH Sentinel-1 Data
Authors: Zhao Feng , Wang Teng , Zhang Leixin , Feng Han , Yan Shiyong , Fan Hongdong , Xu Dongbiao , Wang Yunjia
Published: January 2022

With the launch of the Sentinel-1 satellites, it becomes easy to obtain long time-series dual-pol (i.e., VV and VH channels) SAR images over most areas of the world. By combining the information from both VV and VH channels, the polarimetric persistent scatterer interferometry (PolPSI) techniques is supposed to achieve better ground deformation monitoring results than conventional PSI techniques (using only VV channel) with Sentinel-1 data. According to the quality metric used for polarimetric optimizations, the most commonly used PolPSI techniques can be categorized into three main categories. They are PolPSI-ADI (amplitude dispersion index as the phase quality metric), PolPSI-COH (coherence as the phase quality metric), and PolPSI-AOS (taking adaptive optimization strategies). Different categories of PolPSI techniques are suitable for different study areas and with different performances. However, the study that simultaneously applies all the three types of PolPSI techniques on Sentinel-1 PolSAR images is rare. Moreover, there has been little discussion about different characteristics of the three types of PolPSI techniques and how to use them with Sentinel-1 data. To this end, in this study, three data sets in China have been used to evaluate the three types of PolPSI techniques’ performances. Based on results obtained, the different characteristics of PolPSI techniques have been discussed. The results show that all three PolPSI techniques can improve the phase quality of interferograms. Thus, more qualified pixels can be used for ground deformation estimation by PolPSI methods with respect to the PSI technique. Specifically, this pixel density improvement is 50%, 12%, and 348% for the PolPSI-ADI, PolPSI-COH, and POlPSI-AOS, respectively. PolPSI-ADI is the most efficient method, and it is the first choice for the area with abundant deterministic scatterers (e.g., urban areas). Benefitting from its adaptive optimization strategy, PolPSI-AOS has the best performances at the price of highest computation cost, which is suitable for rural area applications. On the other hand, limited by the medium resolution of Sentinel-1 PolSAR images, PolPSI-COH’s improvement with respect to conventional PSI is relatively insignificant.
Performance Evaluation of Solar-Blind Gas-Filled Sensors to Detect Electrical Discharges for Low-Pressure Aircraft Applications
Authors: Riba Jordi-Roger , Moreno-Eguilaz Manuel , Boizieau Maxence , Ibrayemov Tamerlan
Published: January 2022

Unpressurized aircraft circuits facilitate the initiation of electrical discharges in wiring systems, with consequent damage to related insulation materials and safety hazards, that can and have already caused severe incidents and accidents. Specific sensors and solutions must be developed to detect these types of faults at a very incipient stage, before further damage occurs. Electrical discharges in air generate the corona effect, which is characterized by emissions of bluish light, which are found in the ultraviolet (UV) and visible spectra. However, due to sunlight interference, the corona effect is very difficult to detect at the very initial stage, so the use of solar-blind sensors can be a possible solution. This work analyzes the feasibility of using inexpensive non-invasive solar-blind sensors in a range of pressures compatible with aircraft environments to detect the electrical discharges at a very incipient stage. Their behavior and sensitivity compared with other alternatives, i.e., an antenna sensor and a CMOS imaging sensor, is also assessed. Experimental results presented in this paper show that the analyzed solar-blind sensors can be applied for the on-line detection of electrical discharges in unpressurized aircraft environments at the very initial stage, thus facilitating and enabling the application of predictive maintenance strategies. They also offer the possibility to be combined with existing electrical protections to expand their capabilities and improve their sensitivity to detect very early discharges, thus allowing the timely identification of their occurrence.
Robust Assembly Assistance Using Informed Tree Search with Markov Chains
Authors: Gellert Arpad , Sorostinean Radu , Pirvu Bogdan-Constantin
Published: January 2022

Manual work accounts for one of the largest workgroups in the European manufacturing sector, and improving the training capacity, quality, and speed brings significant competitive benefits to companies. In this context, this paper presents an informed tree search on top of a Markov chain that suggests possible next assembly steps as a key component of an innovative assembly training station for manual operations. The goal of the next step suggestions is to provide support to inexperienced workers or to assist experienced workers by providing choices for the next assembly step in an automated manner without the involvement of a human trainer on site. Data stemming from 179 experiment participants, 111 factory workers, and 68 students, were used to evaluate different prediction methods. From our analysis, Markov chains fail in new scenarios and, therefore, by using an informed tree search to predict the possible next assembly step in such situations, the prediction capability of the hybrid algorithm increases significantly while providing robust solutions to unseen scenarios. The proposed method proved to be the most efficient for next assembly step prediction among all the evaluated predictors and, thus, the most suitable method for an adaptive assembly support system such as for manual operations in industry.
A Fully Implantable Miniaturized Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP)-Based Spinal Cord Stimulator for Pain Control
Authors: Yun Seunghyeon , Koh Chin Su , Seo Jungmin , Shim Shinyong , Park Minkyung , Jung Hyun Ho , Eom Kyungsik , Chang Jin Woo , Kim Sung June
Published: January 2022

Spinal cord stimulation is a therapy to treat the severe neuropathic pain by suppressing the pain signal via electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. The conventional metal packaged and battery-operated implantable pulse generator (IPG) produces electrical pulses to stimulate the spinal cord. Despite its stable operation after implantation, the implantation site is limited due to its bulky size and heavy weight. Wireless communications including wireless power charging is also restricted, which is mainly attributed to the electromagnetic shielding of the metal package. To overcome these limitations, here, we developed a fully implantable miniaturized spinal cord stimulator based on a biocompatible liquid crystal polymer (LCP). The fabrication of electrode arrays in the LCP substrate and monolithically encapsulating the circuitries using LCP packaging reduces the weight (0.4 g) and the size (the width, length, and thickness are 25.3, 9.3, and 1.9 mm, respectively). An inductive link was utilized to wirelessly transfer the power and the data to implanted circuitries to generate the stimulus pulse. Prior to implantation of the device, operation of the pulse generator was evaluated, and characteristics of stimulation electrode such as an electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were measured. The LCP-based spinal cord stimulator was implanted into the spared nerve injury rat model. The degree of pain suppression upon spinal cord stimulation was assessed via the Von Frey test where the mechanical stimulation threshold was evaluated by monitoring the paw withdrawal responses. With no spinal cord stimulation, the mechanical stimulation threshold was observed as 1.47 ± 0.623 g, whereas the stimulation threshold was increased to 12.7 ± 4.00 g after spinal cord stimulation, confirming the efficacy of pain suppression via electrical stimulation of the spinal cord. This LCP-based spinal cord stimulator opens new avenues for the development of a miniaturized but still effective spinal cord stimulator.
Token Economy for Sustainable Education in the Future: A Scoping Review
Authors: Tan Kim Hua , Kasiveloo Mathura , Abdullah Imran Ho
Published: January 2022

This research aims to examine the use of a token economy for education sustainability. It presents a recent review and evaluation of the token economy used among young learners and learners with special needs for behavior management and learning engagement in teaching. Online articles from Google Scholar, ERIC, and UKMLibrary were used. The terms used for reviewing the articles were token economy, token systems, positive reinforcement, and rewards. The scoping review protocol was used for this study. A total of 60 relevant articles published from 2000 to 2020 were filtered and grouped into three major themes for review: behavior management, learning engagement, and types of tokens. Findings suggested that although previous research had examined the impact of a token economy on behavior management and learning engagement, there was limited research on the correlation between teaching methods and social fairness. Teachers as the main participants in assessing the effectiveness of a token economy, were also lacking. Additionally, the use of social and physical reinforcers was found to assist in obtaining the desired behaviors and learning engagement from participants, thereby enabling them to sustain learners’ interest in future lessons.
Does Climate Change Influence Russian Agriculture? Evidence from Panel Data Analysis
Authors: Gordeev Roman V. , Pyzhev Anton I. , Zander Evgeniya V.
Published: January 2022

Agriculture is one of the economic sectors primarily affected by climate change. This impact is very uneven, especially for countries with large territories. This paper examines the contribution of climate change to the improvement in agricultural productivity in Russia over the past two decades. Several ensembles of fixed effects regressions on yields and gross harvests of grain, fruits, and berries, potato, and vegetables were evaluated for a sample of 77 Russian regions over the 2002–2019 period. In contrast to similar studies of the climate impact on Russian agriculture, we considered a larger set of variables, including both Russian and global climate trends, technological factors, and producer prices. Russian weather trends such as winter softening and increase in summer heat have a significant but opposite effect on yields. An interesting finding is a significant and mostly positive influence of global climatic variables, such as the CO2 concentration, El Niño and La Niña events on both harvests and yields. Although technological factors are the main drivers of growth in Russian agricultural performance over the past 20 years, we found a strong positive effect on yield and gross harvest only for mineral fertilizers. The influence of the other variables is mixed, which is mainly due to data quality and aggregation errors.
The Effects of Commercial Orientation on (Agro) Pastoralists’ Household Food Security: Evidence from (Agro) Pastoral Communities of Afar, Northeastern Ethiopia
Authors: Benti Derib Woldeyohannes , Biru Worku Tuffa , Tessema Workneh Kassa
Published: January 2022

Commercialization has been increasingly promoted for (agro) pastoral communities as an intervention to improve incomes and food access. Using households from rural Afar, this study examines the food security effects of the livestock commercial orientations of (agro) pastoralists by employing propensity score matching (PSM) procedures. The results show that, despite the fact that the market production of (agro) pastoralists is stressed by a broad range of factors, identified as cultural, infrastructural, and production risks, participation in livestock sales significantly decreased the severity of food insecurity in both the household food insecurity access score (HFIAS), and the reduced coping strategy index (rCSI) measures. However, the results failed to find consistently significant effects via the per capita consumption expenditure measure, in which case, the ‘subsistence’ and ‘commercially’ oriented groups are alike. Yet, given the factors depressing market production, properly addressed with policy measures, the income generated from livestock sales improved the welfare of (agro) pastoralists, at least by some (the HFIAS and rCSI) of the livelihood indicators. This highlights the importance of combining market infrastructure investments with culturally sensitive policy measures in order to sustain the traditional livestock husbandry of (agro) pastoralists. Therefore, in order to sustainably improve the food security situations in (agro) pastoral areas, the promotion of market production through the broadening of market access for both sales and purchases is important.
Homogenising the Design Criteria of a Community Battery Energy Storage for Better Grid Integration
Authors: Hayat Muhammad Adnan , Shahnia Farhad , Shafiullah GM , Samu Remember
Published: January 2022

Historically, minimum system demand has usually occurred overnight. However, in recent years, the increased penetration of rooftop photovoltaic systems (RPVs) has caused an even lower demand at midday, forcing some of the conventional generators to shut down only hours before the evening peak demand period. This further complicates the job of power system operators, who need to run the conventional generator at the minimum stable level at the midday low-demand period so that they can reliably supply power during the peak periods. Employing a community battery storage system can alleviate some of the technical issues caused by the high penetration of RPVs. This paper proposed a design criterion for community battery energy storage systems and employed the battery for the improvement of the duck curve profile and providing the desired level of peak-shaving. Furthermore, remote communities with high penetration of RPVs with a community battery energy storage can achieve the desired level of self-sufficiency. To this end, this study recommends and confirms an applicable design criterion for community battery energy storage. The study shows that the suitable size of community battery storage should be based on the community’s daily excess generation and consumption requirements. The results of various scenarios performed on the proposed design criterion show the extent to which the desired objectives of peak-shaving, duck curve mitigation, and self-sufficiency can be achieved.
Redistribution and the Abolishment of Historical Entitlements in the CAP Strategic Plans: The Case of Greece
Authors: Kremmydas Dimitrios , Tsiboukas Konstantinos
Published: January 2022

A key issue in CAP strategic planning in Greece is the treatment of historical entitlements. An unequal level of payments per hectare is difficult to justify in terms of the CAP’s rationale, and so the abolishment of these entitlements seems to be the most reasonable option. However, for historical reasons, this abolishment may result in a transfer of payments from smaller to larger farms and between different agricultural sub-sectors which could in turn lead to negative effects on the incomes of small farms and lead to farmers leaving the sector. We simulate the change to a flat rate payment in order to quantify these effects, then explore the possibility of employing the new obligatory redistribution measure, termed complementary income support, to mitigate any negative effects. We conclude that redistribution is, indeed, a powerful tool for fine-tuning decoupled payments if historical entitlements are to be abolished.
Facemask Global Challenges: The Case of Effective Synthesis, Utilization, and Environmental Sustainability
Authors: Shirvanimoghaddam Kamyar , Czech Bożena , Yadav Ram , Gokce Cemile , Fusco Laura , Delogu Lucia Gemma , Yilmazer Açelya , Brodie Graham , Al-Othman Amani , Al-Tamimi Adil K. , Grout Jarret , Naebe Minoo
Published: January 2022

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused a rapidly spreading pandemic and is severely threatening public health globally. The human-to-human transmission route of SARS-CoV-2 is now well established. The reported clinical observations and symptoms of this infection in humans appear in the range between being asymptomatic and severe pneumonia. The virus can be transmitted through aerosols and droplets that are released into the air by a carrier, especially when the person coughs, sneezes, or talks forcefully in a closed environment. As the disease progresses, the use and handling of contaminated personal protective equipment and facemasks have become major issues with significant environmental risks. Therefore, providing an effective method for treating used/contaminated facemasks is crucial. In this paper, we review the environmental challenges and risks associated with the surge in facemask production. We also discuss facemasks and their materials as sources of microplastics and how disposal procedures can potentially lead to the contamination of water resources. We herein review the potential of developing nanomaterial-based antiviral and self-cleaning facemasks. This review discusses these challenges and concludes that the use of sustainable and alternative facemask materials is a promising and viable solution. In this context, it has become essential to address the emerging challenges by developing a new class of facemasks that are effective against the virus, while being biodegradable and sustainable. This paper represents the potentials of natural and/or biodegradable polymers for manufacturing facemasks, such as wood-based polymers, chitosan, and other biodegradable synthetic polymers for achieving sustainability goals during and after pandemics.
Assessment of Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings of New England through Actual Data
Authors: Gonzalo Fernando del Ama , Griffin Matthew , Laskosky Jacob , Yost Peter , González-Lezcano Roberto Alonso
Published: January 2022

Several studies on indoor air quality (IAQ) and sick building syndromes have been completed over the last decade, especially in cold countries. Efforts to make homes airtight to improve energy efficiency have created buildings with low ventilation rates, resulting in the build-up of indoor pollutants to harmful levels that would be otherwise unacceptable outdoors. This paper analyzed the infiltration rates, indoor temperatures, and variations in CO2, 2.5 μm particulate matter (PM2.5), and total volatile organic compound (TVOC) concentrations over the fall of 2021 in several homes in New England, USA. A relationship between outdoor and indoor conditions and ventilation strategies has been set using the results from blower door tests and actual indoor air quality data. Although all case studies lacked mechanical ventilation devices, such as those required by ASHRAE Standard 62.2, natural ventilation and air leakage have been enough to keep VOCs and PM2.5 concentration levels at acceptable values most of the studied time. However, results revealed that 25% of a specific timeframe, the occupants have been exposed to concentration levels of CO2 above 1000 parts per million (ppm), which are considered potentially hazardous conditions.
Planned Application of Sewage Sludge Recirculates Nutrients to Agricultural Soil and Improves Growth of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) Plants
Authors: Eid Ebrahem M. , Shaltout Kamal H. , Alamri Saad A. M. , Alrumman Sulaiman A. , Taher Mostafa A. , El-Bebany Ahmed F. , Hashem Mohamed , Galal Tarek M. , Mostafa Yasser S. , Ahmed Mohamed T. , Sewelam Nasser , Nessem Afaf A.
Published: January 2022

The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using sewage sludge (SS) biosolids as a low-cost soil fertilizer to improve soil characteristics and crop yields. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus (L.) Moench) plants were grown in soil supplemented with different concentrations of SS (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 g/kg). The results showed that SS soil application led to improved soil quality with a 93% increase of organic matter (at SS dose of 10 g/kg), decreased pH (a reduction from 8.38 to 7.34), and enhanced macro- and micro- nutrient contents. The levels of all the investigated heavy metals (HMs; Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn) in the postharvest SS-amended soil were within the prescribed safe limits. The application of SS to soil considerably enhanced the growth parameters of okra plants. Total biomass increased 13-fold and absolute growth rate increased 10-fold compared to plants grown in nonamended (control) soils. Among the applied SS doses, the 10 g/kg SS dose led to the highest values of the measured growth parameters, compared to those of plants grown in control soils. The induced growth at 10 g/kg SS was accompanied by a substantial increase in metal content in roots, stems, leaves, and fruits; however, all levels remained within safe limits. Consequently, the data presented in this study suggest that SS could be used as a sustainable organic fertilizer, also serving as an ecofriendly method of SS recycling.