bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Influence and analysis of atmospheric attenuation on the performance of virtual lidar
Authors: Cheng Xu , Zhang Dongze , Li Xu , Li Xiaoting , Chen Rongjie
Published: July 2021

The complexity of research and development process and the diversity of research methods of intelligent connected vehicles increase the difficulty of establishing, integrating and verifying of virtual simulation experiments. In order to solve the problem of how to quantify the impact of weather environment changes on the virtual lidar in the simulation experiment, this paper first uses the derivation of the lidar range model and the analysis of the influence of atmospheric attenuation on the lidar range. Then, with the help of the empirical model of the attenuation coefficient of rain, snow, and haze, the curve fitting method is used to simplify the influence relationship so that it can be applied to the virtual simulation software of autonomous driving. Finally, the scene verification and evaluation of the quantification method of the lidar in the virtual environment affected by weather changes are carried out. The results show that this method effectively improves the restoration degree of the virtual simulation sensor while ensuring the calculation efficiency.
Research on the release management technology of the mobile application for electricity dispatching
Authors: Dai Jinxia , Li Donghai , Gao Baoshan , Zhou Ling , Chen Wenjing
Published: July 2021

With the continuous development of the power system and the rapid growth of the scale of the power grid, the information that needs to be monitored, inquired, and maintained in the power grid dispatching system is increasing. The traditional way of understanding the realtime operation status of the power grid through dispatching workstations is increasingly unable to meet the requirements of modern power grids for monitoring, operation and maintenance in real-time, timeliness, and anywhere. In the face of such a huge business demand market, how to develop mobile applications that meet customer needs with minimal investment in resources and efficient development efficiency has become our research direction. This paper discusses a release management technology of the mobile application for electricity dispatching that meets the above requirements. This technology adopts the design mode of “shared application + personalized page”, without too much intervention by developers, Users can edit and compress their own personalized pages, then upload to the version server and update the main page on the mobile devices themselves; this technology improves the efficiency of opening graphics file and the response time of operation through caching the graphic files and only refreshing the operation area mechanisms; through the publish/subscribe message bus mechanism, the hot update effect of the main page is realized; the service is restored through one-click, which provides users with more operating space.
Research on automatic robot charging based on infrared and ultrasonic information fusion
Authors: Hongjie Yin , Jun Lu , Qinghe Zhou , Dong He
Published: July 2021

In order to realize long-term, continuous, stable and reliable operation of wheeled robot without intervention, the principle of autonomous charging technology is analyzed, and the common and key technologies of wheeled robot autonomous charging are introduced. Aiming at the disadvantages of traditional autonomous charging system. A robot automatic charging docking method based on the combination of infrared radiation sensor, photoelectric tube tracking sensor and ultrasonic distance sensor is adopted. through the data fusion of Kalman filter algorithm for the distance value obtained by ultrasonic sensor, a high precision distance estimation value is obtained, which makes up for the lack of measurement accuracy in traditional infrared method. Experimental tests show that the docking accuracy between robot and charging seat is high. The docking is completed well.
Parallel simulation method of GNSS multipath signal based on GPU
Authors: Kang Xin , Wang Rui , Lv Zhicheng , Li Baiyu , Mou Weihua
Published: July 2021

In order to solve the problems of the traditional GNSS multipath signal simulation methods, such as the complexity increases linearly with the number of multipath signals, inconvenient parameter updating and long operation time, a GPU based GNSS multipath signal parallel simulation method is proposed. Based on Farrow variable fractional delay filter, an independent parallel computing model of multi-channel filter coefficients is established, and a large number of floating-point units in GPU are used for parallel computing and filtering. Aiming at the performance bottleneck of this method, the optimization strategy of asynchronous parallel execution is given. The computer simulation results show that the complexity and operation time of the proposed method will not increase with the increase of the number of multipath signals. For the GNSS direct signal with sampling rate of 75MHz and time length of 1s, the maximum time consuming of the proposed method to generate 50 ∼ 1000 multipath signals is 158.6ms. Compared with the method of serial simulation on CPU, the proposed method speeds up to about 9.5 times, and the real-time simulation of multipath signals in complex environment can be realized.
An Improved Multi-target Tracking Algorithm for Automotive Radar
Authors: Huang Fan , Zhou Jianjiang , Zhao Xiaotong
Published: July 2021

An improved multi-target tracking algorithm for automotive radar is proposed in this paper. In the application of automotive radar, in addition to the motion generated by the target maneuver, the maneuver of the radar-equipped vehicle will also cause the target to move relative to the radar. A single motion model for the target cannot accurately describe the motion state of the target relative to the radar. To solve the above problems, the nonlinear state equations of various motion models and their process noise covariance matrix are derived, and the Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) algorithm, the Joint Probabilistic Data Association (JPDA) algorithm and the Unscented Kalman Filter with Doppler measurement (DUKF) are combined. At the same time, the correlation coefficient of range measurement error and velocity measurement error of Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radar is derived, and the relationship between it and FMCW radar parameters is studied. By simulation, its influence on target tracking is assessed, final results indicate the reference value for the application of automotive radar in intelligent driving.
Theoretical derivation and law research on electrostatic charge of human walking
Authors: Chen Dong , Hu XiaoFeng , Xie XiNing , Meng DongXu , Du Xue
Published: July 2021

Electrostatic charging and discharging have an important impact on the safety and reliability of electronic products, and human static electricity is one of the important sources of electrostatic hazards in the production and use of electronic products. In order to analyze the electrification law of human walking and explore the electrostatic protection measures of human body, the theoretical model of human walking electrification is further deduced on the basis of previous studies. The electrification law of human walking under typical conditions is analyzed, and the influence of maximum foot lifting height on potential is studied. When the maximum lifting height is small, the potential oscillation approximately conforms to the sine law, and with the increase of the maximum lifting height, the sine law is no longer satisfied. When the maximum foot lifting height is small, the actual peak potential cannot reach the saturation potential. Therefore, on the basis of taking electrostatic protection measures, reducing the foot lifting height when walking is helpful to prevent electrostatic hazards.
Edge Computing in Smart Hydropower Station: Cloud-Edge Collaborative Framework
Authors: Luo Yuanlin , Zheng Bo , Wu Yuechao , Lu Jiong
Published: July 2021

With the deepening of energy revolution, smart hydropower station (SHS) has become the demand and inevitable direction of technological revolution and upgrading development of hydropower industry in China. Under the background of power Internet of Things and SHS, the massive sampled data perceived by intelligent terminals of SHS poses a major challenge to the traditional cloud computing centralized processing mode. As an important supplement to cloud computing, edge computing has received extensive attention from the power system. According to the complementarity between edge computing and cloud computing, this paper proposes a cloud-edge collaborative framework based on the introduction of SHS. Secondly, orienting the application in SHS, the key technologies of cloud-edge collaborative are discussed. Finally, the solutions based on cloud-edge collaborative for two typical application are discussed.
Research on emotion recognition algorithm based on improved BP neural network
Authors: Wang Qingqing , Wang Jing , Zhu Meili
Published: July 2021

The application of small robots in the production of freeze frame animation can speed up the production progress and improve the quality of production. Small robots will play the role of intelligent agents. It is necessary to recognize their emotions for the promotion of animation films. With the development of intelligent technology, BP neural network has been applied to the field of emotion recognition because of its advantages of self-learning, self-adaptive and self-organization. In this paper, the parameters of BP neural network are adjusted and improved to avoid the defects of BP neural network in emotion recognition. Then, the parameters and structure of the network are designed according to the emotion category. Then a three-layer BP neural network with 4 input nodes, 13 hidden layer nodes and 4 output nodes is constructed. Finally, it is applied to emotion recognition, and 10 groups of data are selected from the training samples for detection, and the diagnostic accuracy is 80%.
Research on distribution center layout optimization based on genetic algorithm
Authors: Zhang Siqi , Zheng Yiming , Li Guanyang
Published: July 2021

As the core of logistics system, distribution center is not only beneficial to the construction of modern logistics environment, but also to the realization of the overall benefits of logistics system. In order to improve the operation efficiency and have no limitations, we need to design the distribution center as a whole. In this paper, the system layout planning (SLP) combined with genetic algorithm is used to optimize the distribution center. In the use of system layout planning to get the comprehensive relationship between the functional areas, combined with the relevant constraints, build the objective function model, using MATLAB to run the genetic algorithm. The feasibility and rationality of the model are verified by an example. In this paper, the distribution center function area layout problem is regarded as a mathematical optimization problem, and the application of genetic algorithm in the model improves the quantifiable accuracy.
Automatic detection of thyroid nodules with ultrasound images: Basing on semi-supervised learning
Authors: Wang Qingsong , Zheng Jie , Yu Hui , Zhang Jingqi , Zhang Jie
Published: July 2021

Ultrasonography is one of the most common method for the diagnosis of thyroid nodules clinically. But the lack of experienced radiologists has become the biggest problem which reduce the accuracy and effectiveness of thyroid nodules’ detection. What’s more, although artificial intelligence (AI) has been widely used to solve the problem, the performance is limited by the size of the database. In this paper, an improved U-Net is designed for the segmentation of thyroid nodules, following a fully convolution network for the classification of thyroid nodules. During the training, pseudo-label is used for semi-supervised learning. The whole work is trained in 2032 ultrasound images (1000 nodules) and tested in 400 ultrasound images (200 nodules). The average dice coefficient is 89.7% in the test set for segmentation, while the precision and recall is 93.2% and 96% separately for classification. These results are higher than the method which only use the images with true labels, proving the effectiveness of pseudo-label.
Visual detection of eggs based on deep learning for egg picking robot
Authors: Xu Zhihong , Fan Mingyang , Zhang Yapeng
Published: July 2021

The chicken farm is a typical labor-intensive production environment, and the mechanization of egg picking work is one of the development directions of the chicken industry. This article uses a camera as a sensor for visual detection. Given the limited computing resources of the robot, we improve the feature extraction part of Mask R-CNN network to reduce the memory loss of parameters and speed up the detection process. The experimental results show that compared with the classic method and the Mask R-CNN basic algorithm, the method in this paper has a higher recognition rate that can better support egg picking robots in egg recognition and pose estimation.
Emotion recognition of musical instruments based on convolution long short time memory depth neural network
Authors: Wang Jing , Wang Qingqing , Liu Hongyan
Published: July 2021

In this paper, a method of emotion recognition for musical instruments based on convolution long short time memory depth neural network is proposed, and an emotion recognition music database composed of four musical instruments is established, including keyboard instruments, wind instruments, string instruments and percussion instruments. The emotional types of these four instruments are divided into happiness, anger, sadness and fear. Through the establishment of CLDNN model based musical instrument emotion recognition architecture, MFCCs, CNN and CFS are used for feature extraction and training. The experimental structure shows that the best classification effect is to use long-term memory (LSTM) and deep neural network (DNN) to extract and combine the emotional feature sets of musical instruments, which has the highest accuracy. Considering the dynamic changes of musical features in musical instruments, the modeling method is used to predict the emotional changes of musical instruments.
Interval hybrid judgment priority vector method in group decision
Authors: Liu Feier , Li Junhong
Published: July 2021

The uncertainty and subjectivity of the judgment matrix given by the experts according to the evaluation will directly affect the rationality of the priority vector. The interval hybrid judgment matrix can objectively reflect the preference information of experts. Therefore, combined with the theory of maximum satisfaction, CMIHMSM and CMIHMSM are established, and a consistency index is proposed to test the consistency of the matrix. On this basis, group decision making is introduced. Based on the cluster analysis and the consistency of the matrix, expert weights are divided into inter-class weight and intra-class weight calculations, so that expert weight under the same consistency of the same type of expert judgment matrix can be distinguished. Thus, the group priority vector is obtained. Example shows the feasibility and operability of the model.
Research on pricing strategy in urban parking management
Authors: Wen Haoyu , Yang Xiaoxia , Chen Xinyun
Published: July 2021

At present, many cities in China have a serious shortage of parking spaces, and it is necessary to find ways to alleviate this problem, including ways to make full use of limited parking resources, such as formulating dynamic pricing strategies. In this paper, the roadside parking with high turnover rate and high mobility in static traffic is selected as the research object. The classic bottleneck model is used to establish the roadside parking bottleneck model (OSPB) to study the dynamic pricing of roadside parking stations during peak hours. Based on the model comprehensively considering the time when the vehicle arrives at the parking station, the geographic location of the station and many other factors, the dynamic charging problem of roadside parking stations during peak parking hours is studied to improve the efficiency of parking space utilization. This model expands the application of the bottleneck model in static traffic, and in practice uses a large amount of historical parking data to verify the model.
Multi-radar collaborative networking method based on T-GCN
Authors: Liu Peng , Xu Yuheng , Ma Jing , Liang Jun , Xiao Han , Cong Yang
Published: July 2021

Multi-radar collaborative networking is the development direction and research hotspot of radar detection technology. In recent years, with the rise of artificial intelligence, researchers have introduced neural networks and other artificial intelligence methods into multi-radar collaborative networking and achieved remarkable results. In this work, we abstract the radar network as an un-weighted graph, and then introduce the GCN, and combine the characteristics of the GRU with the temporal context, apply the Temporal Graph Convolutional Network to multi-radar collaborative network. We solve the problem of low efficiency and slow speed of radar network without data fusion.
Multi-orthogonal signal underwater navigation system modeling on moving platform
Authors: Zhou Chenglin , Zhang Sen , Liu Jiahuan , Wang Mingzhi
Published: July 2021

When the Multi-Orthogonal Signal Underwater Navigation System(MOSUNS) works on a moving platform, the movement of the platform will bring some errors to the positioning of the MOUNS. To solve this problem, a motion error model is established based on the homogeneous coordinates and the homogeneous rotation matrix, and the relationship between the positioning error and the Rotating velocity of the moving platform (roll rate, pitch rate, yaw rate) is accurately described. The motion error model is verified by the simulation of the MOSUNS on the motion platform through MATLAB.
A testability modeling method based on structure-function-state-test
Authors: Wang Peng , Li Xingxin , Yu Yongli , Liu Chenguang , Luo Xibin
Published: July 2021

Aiming at the testability analysis of multi-state system, a testability modeling method based on structure-function-state-test is proposed. Based on the hierarchical structure analysis of the system, taking the function modeling of the structure as the core, the performance, fault and state of the function are described, and the test correlation of the system fault and state is studied. Through the analysis of a typical case, the results show that the model can: 1. Realize the system fault test correlation analysis considering the uncertain factors; 2. Realize the state test correlation analysis of the multi state system; 3. Realize the testability analysis of the multi state system by calculating the fault detection rate, fault isolation rate and state detection rate.
Configurations of tunnel deceleration area
Authors: Zhang Yanhong , Fan Yunlong , He Jianbin , Tian Jialei , Ma Xiangnan , Yuwen Weiyuan , Tan Yuanxin
Published: July 2021

The deceleration area of the tunnel has always been the place where accidents occur frequently. Recently published statistics on tunnel accidents showed that 42 percent of which are rear-end collisions. The main reason lies on the luminance difference between the inside and the outside parts of the tunnel. The inside part of the tunnel is much darker than that of the outside part, which results in a “sight shock” and shortage of clear sight for drivers at the tunnel portal. If the tunnel deceleration area is not long enough and the vehicle is at a high speed, rear-end collisions will most likely occur at this area. Therefore, it is important to design the deceleration area of the tunnel in order to avoid rear-end collisions. This paper explains the cause of rear-end collision at deceleration area from the principles of physics and physiology. The mathematical relations among the speed, time and distance of trucks and cars entering the tunnel are given from the mathematical point of view. Finally, this paper puts forward the design idea and reasonable suggestions for the configuration of tunnel deceleration area.
Optimization substrates and implantation metals for high performance photoacoustic laser streaming
Authors: Ai Xin , Qiu Yunao
Published: July 2021

Optical manipulation of fluid has been widely investigated for applications in microfluidics, and photoacoustic laser streaming provides a promising technique because of its strong driving ability and flexibility as a microfluidic pump. However, except for the gold and quart, other substrates and metals have never been investigated in the fabrication of laser streaming pump. In this work, we demonstrate the effect of substrate and metal types on the performance of laser streaming. The Au-implanted quartz pump exhibit higher initial flow speed than Fe, while the durability of Fe-implanted plate is longer. The quartz substrate has a similar initial flow speed to glass, but much better endurance under long-time laser irradiation. In addition, the flow speed of incident laser with gradually increased power will be much higher than the direct high laser power. This study demonstrates the effective laser streaming of different substrates and implantation metals, thus paves the ways for optimizing the performance of photoacoustic streaming pump.
Research on the perceived risk of pesticide residues and consumption intention of fresh fruits and vegetables
Authors: Liu Yangyang , Ge Luping
Published: July 2021

The situation of pesticide residues in fresh fruits and vegetables was analyzed, and the necessity of the study was proposed; the factors influencing the risk perception of pesticide residues were analyzed, and the risk perception level questionnaire was designed and implemented, and the results showed that the higher the age, income, education level and living standard, the higher the risk perception level of pesticide residues; from the perspective of pulling the food consumption of people with high literacy and high income, strengthening the Internet media’s social orientation and supervision responsibilities, and suggesting the government to participate in the supervision and management of the whole food production process, three aspects are proposed to improve the willingness to consume and promote consumption.
HREmo: A measurement system of students’ studying state in online group class based on rPPG technology
Authors: Zhai Keyu , Li Xueming
Published: July 2021

The CONVID-19 Pandemic has broken the traditional teaching method, but ignorance of students’ feedback made many teachers feel the teaching quality was degraded. Although some researchers have proposed that whether students are attentive or dozing off by analysing student expressions, head corners, and eye postures, But it is difficult to adapt to the situation where students frequently lower their heads to take notes in actual situation. Therefore, this paper proposes a heart rate acquisition and analysis system HREmo based on remote photoplethysmography technology(rPPG). The time and frequency domain characteristics of the heart rate variability signal are further analysed through the heartbeat interval obtained by the pulse waveform. It has multiple advantages such as bases on objective indicators, calculates in fast speed and low cost. The recognition error of heart rate is within 1%, and it has accurate trend prediction for students’ concentration and mental workload. Furthermore, this article takes a group class as an example to describe in detail how to put HREmo in the teacher panel to help teachers provide students with more personalized status reminders.
Application of information technology in the course teaching of “Foundation Engineering”
Authors: Hong Qiankun
Published: July 2021

With the continuous development of information teaching, the traditional and single teaching mode can no longer meet the teaching needs. In order to improve the teaching level and cultivate high-tech and high-skilled talents that meet the needs of the society, continuous teaching innovation and reform are required As the best means and method for colleges and universities to improve the quality of teaching, the construction of modernization is combined with the curriculum standards and the use of information technology to upgrade traditional teaching to improve teaching efficiency. This article takes information technology as the research object and takes the course of “Foundation Engineering” as an example to illustrate the application of information technology in the teaching reform of municipal engineering technology in higher vocational colleges.
Controlling chaos in two coupled lasers via optoelectronic delayed time cross-feedback
Authors: Yan Senlin
Published: July 2021

This paper presents an optoelectronic delayed time cross-feedback method to control chaos in two coupled lasers. The technical solution of chaos-control of two lasers is designed out to convert light from one laser into a photocurrent by a photoelectric converter, and then the delayed time photocurrent is cross added on another laser to suppress chaos or guide other dynamics behaviours. We adjust feedback levels or delayed time to realize chaos-control, and which can lead to show all kinds of dynamics states. We find that chaos of two lasers is suppressed into different cycle-one states while the cycle-one controlled region is found. We analyse also the laser’s damping oscillation process for chaos-control of two lasers from chaos becoming of a cycle-one state when feedback levels shift. We find that chaos in the two lasers can be controlled in different quasi-periodic states, such as a cycle-one, cycle-2, a cycle-3, a cycle-5, and other quasi-cycle states while we find some quasi-cycle controlled distribution regions. The listed results imply that chaos-control of two coupled lasers can be effectively realized via the optoelectronic delayed time cross-feedback method. Our Result is very helpful for our studies of controlling complex dynamic systems, chaos, and laser technology.
Researching on mathematical computation and experimental bench design of high-pressure blowing system
Authors: He Xiguang , Lou Jingjun , Song Fei
Published: July 2021

Utilized in sinking and surfacing of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle(AUV), the high-pressure blowing system(HPBS)had played an important role in maneuvering pilot of AUV and must be investigated thoroughly, by which the reserve buoyancy can be controlled. Because of the costliness of experiment on the real ship, an experimental bench of HPBS had been proposed and designed. After mathematical computations of sinking and surfacing processes of AUV, the pressure vessel prototype and it critical physical parameters selection were accomplished, which were used as ballast tank and sea environmental tank of the HPBS experimental bench. Based on those, the blueprint of the total experimental bench had been drawn and the working course of HPBS had been demonstrated.
Study on periodic orbit for the asteroid based on the dipole segment model
Authors: Li Xu , Niu Jiaxi , Yang Honglei
Published: July 2021

Asteroids are exist widely in the solar system, the study of orbital dynamics in the gravitational field of asteroids is helpful to reveal the origin and evolution of the solar system, and has potential scientific significance and engineering value. Due to the complex and irregular gravitational field characteristics of asteroids, there are abundant dynamic phenomena and mechanisms nearby, which also brings challenges to understanding the orbital dynamics and designing the periodic orbits for asteroids. In this paper, the dynamical model for the elongated asteroids is established. The model consists of a line segment and two point masses. The periodic orbits of the model are solved using the numerical technique of Poincare surface of section. The stability of the orbits is also calculated and analyzed. It is found that the shape and stability of periodic orbits are related to the islands on the Poincare map.
Enhanced physical mechanics properties of hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene based polyurethane crosslinking with modified graphene oxide
Authors: Liu Yahao , Zheng Jian , Zhang Xiao , Zhang Yu , Yu Guibo , Jia Yunfei
Published: July 2021

In this work, a series of composites with enhanced tensile strength and fracture strain were obtained via the crosslinking between modified graphene oxide (MGO) and hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB) chain. The preparation, characterization and physical mechanics properties of the prepared composites have been displayed detailedly. As a result, the tensile strength of composite containing 0.1wt% of MGO (PUM-0.1) increased by 57.8%. Impressively, the fracture strain of PUM-0.1 composite was 1292.6%, which is higher than that of polyurethane without MGO. Moreover, the resistance capability to deformation of the composites has also been enhanced significantly.
The geometric phase and the dry friction of sleeping tops on inclined planes
Authors: Barthmann Sven , Fischer Thomas M
Published: July 2021

We report on the motion of a spinning sleeping top on an inclined plane. Below a critical inclination angle the sleeping tops are force free. The trajectory of a sleeping top on weakly inclined planes in the adiabatic limit is invariant of the angular frequency of the top and thus invariant under a rescaling of the time, however not invariant under time reversal. The stationary trajectory of the sleeping top is characterized by its Hannay type geometric angle to the in plane horizontal direction. At larger inclinations of the plane the stationary motion of the top becomes unstable and the top accelerates downhill. The behavior points towards a complex law of dry friction of the contact point between the top tip and the material of the inclined plane that depends on a slip parameter. We propose a phenomenological law of dry friction that can explain the relaxation of the top into the sleeping position, the geometric behavior of the top trajectories, and the instability of the stationary motion at larger inclination angles.
Comparative study of high-temperature specific heat for Al–Pd–Mn icosahedral quasicrystals and crystal approximants
Authors: Fukushima Kento , Suyama Hiroki , Tokumoto Yuki , Kamimura Yasushi , Takagiwa Yoshiki , Edagawa Keiichi
Published: July 2021

Quasicrystals (QCs) have a peculiar structural order characterized by quasiperiodicity and non-crystallographical point group symmetry. To reveal their characteristic physical property reflecting the peculiar structural order, specific heat measurements were performed for Al–Pd–Mn icosahedral QCs (i-QCs) and a series of crystal approximants (CAs) of 2/1- 1/1- and 1/0-cubic types at 400–1200 K. The measured specific heat per atom at constant pressure

c

P

was converted to that at constant volume

c

V

by using data of the thermal expansion coefficient and bulk modulus. Below ∼700 K, the

c

V

values of all the specimens of i-QCs and CAs were close to

3

k

B

(

k

B

:

Boltzman’s constant), i.e., they obeyed Dulong–Petit’s law. With further increase in temperature, the i-QCs showed a dramatic increase in

c

V

with increasing temperature, and reached

5

k

B

at 1100 K. In contrast, the 2/1 CAs showed a similar but slightly smaller increase in

c

V

,

whereas the 1/1 and 1/0 CAs showed a negligible increase. The systematic behavior of

c

V

in the order of CAs and QC demonstrates that a large excessive specific heat is a characteristic feature of QCs, reflecting the peculiarity of their structural order. Its possible physical mechanism was discussed in terms of anharmonic atomic vibrations, electronic excitations, and phasonic excitations.
German pig farmers’ perceived agency under different nitrogen policies
Authors: Stuhr Luisa , Bodirsky Benjamin Leon , Jaeger-Erben Melanie , Beier Felicitas , Hunecke Claudia , Collignon Quitterie , Lotze-Campen Hermann
Published: July 2021

Agricultural nitrogen (N) emissions represent the most substantial N source in Germany. Even though multiple policies have been introduced at the EU and German national level to reduce agriculturally sourced reactive Nitrogen (N), Germany is exceeding the target of the government’s national sustainability strategy to limit N surpluses. To form a better view of the current N policy challenges, this paper seeks to identify what constrains family-managed pig farmers in Germany from adopting N-reduced farming practices. Our study applies a practice-based approach and reconstructs farmers’ practice and individual perception of the possible capability to change practices (perceived agency) through problem-centred interviews. The study identifies different ideal types of farmers based on their reported farming practices and perceived agency: The first type feeling overburdened and weary of the current requirements, the second type acting based on routine and incremental improvement efforts, and the third type adapting early and inventing. However, regarding the perceived agency to adopt N-reduced farming practices our results show that all three farmer types report only low to little agency. Based on the findings, the study identifies type-specific and type-spanning constraining factors. To resolve farmers’ perceived contradictions and inconsistencies which result in the unwillingness to accept further N reduction measures, we argue that policies need to address these factors. To enhance long-term paths for sustainable N-reduced farming practices, this study concludes that N policies need to shift towards outcome-oriented policies to create a collective and holistic understanding of the desired outcome while considering their embeddedness into regional and individual contexts.
Energy consumption and charging load profiles from long-haul truck electrification in the United States
Authors: Tong Fan , Wolfson Derek , Jenn Alan , Scown Corinne D , Auffhammer Maximilian
Published: July 2021

The urgent need to decarbonize the transportation sector combined with falling battery prices has spurred industry and policy interest in long-haul truck electrification. The charging behavior and resulting loads from electrified long-haul freight trucks are crucial for the smooth operation of the electric grid and have far-reaching environmental impacts (e.g., greenhouse gas and other air pollutant emissions). However, the aggregate energy impact of a fleetwide shift to electrified long-haul freight trucking has not been explored. This study combines electric truck design scenarios, bottom-up truck weight modeling, vehicle energy modeling, large-scale truck traffic data, and simulation of likely operation and charging behaviors to estimate end-use energy consumption and location-specific hourly charging loads for a national fleet of long-haul electric trucks. Relative to a fleet of future diesel trucks, electrification would reduce direct end-use energy consumption by 0.9 × 1018 J (0.9 quadrillion BTU), but electrification might increase life cycle energy consumption depending on the electricity source. The electricity required to charge long-haul electric trucks is equivalent to five percent of annual electricity consumption in the United States (US). The simulated truck charging loads peak during the day across the US grid regions, but the charging peaks’ exact timing is sensitive to when trucks are dispatched for operation. The load shapes suggest that electric trucks’ charging loads can coincide with peaks in solar power generation, and planning could enable on- or off-site integration between truck charging stations and renewable electricity generation.
Intersection complexes and unramified 𝐿-factors
Authors: Sakellaridis Yiannis , Wang Jonathan
Published: July 2021

Let

X
X

be an affine spherical variety, possibly singular, and

L

+

X

\mathsf L^+X

its arc space. The intersection complex of

L

+

X

\mathsf L^+X

, or rather of its finite-dimensional formal models, is conjectured to be related to special values of local unramified

L
L

-functions. Such relationships were previously established in Braverman–Finkelberg–Gaitsgory–Mirković for the affine closure of the quotient of a reductive group by the unipotent radical of a parabolic, and in Bouthier–Ngô–Sakellaridis for toric varieties and

L
L

-monoids. In this paper, we compute this intersection complex for the large class of those spherical

G
G

-varieties whose dual group is equal to

G
ˇ

\check G

, and the stalks of its nearby cycles on the horospherical degeneration of

X
X

. We formulate the answer in terms of a Kashiwara crystal, which conjecturally corresponds to a finite-dimensional

G
ˇ

\check G

-representation determined by the set of

B
B

-invariant valuations on

X
X

. We prove the latter conjecture in many cases. Under the sheaf–function dictionary, our calculations give a formula for the Plancherel density of the IC function of

L

+

X

\mathsf L^+X

as a ratio of local

L
L

-values for a large class of spherical varieties.
Symmetric periodic orbits and invariant disk-like global surfaces of section on the three-sphere
Authors: Kim Seongchan
Published: July 2021

We study Reeb dynamics on the three-sphere equipped with a tight contact form and an anti-contact involution. We prove the existence of a symmetric periodic orbit and provide necessary and sufficient conditions for it to bound an invariant disk-like global surface of section. We also study the same questions under the presence of additional symmetry and obtain similar results in this case. The proofs make use of pseudoholomorphic curves in symplectizations. As applications, we study Birkhoff’s conjecture on disk-like global surfaces of section in the planar circular restricted three-body problem and the existence of symmetric closed Finsler geodesics on the two-sphere. We also present applications to some classical Hamiltonian systems.
On stability of the fibres of Hopf surfaces as harmonic maps and minimal surfaces
Authors: Chen Jingyi , Huang Liding
Published: July 2021

We construct a family of Hermitian metrics on the Hopf surface

S

3

×

S

1

\mathbb {S}^3\times \mathbb {S}^1

, whose fundamental classes represent distinct cohomology classes in the Aeppli cohomology group. These metrics are locally conformally Kähler. Among the toric fibres of

π
:

S

3

×

S

1

→

C

P
1

\pi :\mathbb {S}^3\times \mathbb {S}^1\to \mathbb {C} P^1

two of them are stable minimal surfaces and each of the two has a neighbourhood so that fibres therein are given by stable harmonic maps from 2-torus and outside, far away from the two tori, there are unstable harmonic ones that are also unstable minimal surfaces. A similar result is true for

S

2
n
−
1

×

S

1

\mathbb {S}^{2n-1}\times \mathbb {S}^{1}

.
Coilin enhances phosphorylation and stability of DGCR8 and promotes miRNA biogenesis
Authors: Lett Katheryn E. , Logan Madelyn K. , McLaurin Douglas M. , Hebert Michael D.
Published: July 2021

We show that coilin, the Cajal body marker protein, impacts microRNA biogenesis in cell lines with or without Cajal bodies. We also show that coilin reduction decreases DGCR8 stability and phosphorylation at S377. Collectively, our results implicate coilin as a member of the regulatory network governing miRNA biogenesis.
Sustainable Laboratory-Driven Method to Decrease Repeat, Same-Day WBC Differentials at a Tertiary Care Center
Authors: Tran Ann , Hudoba Monika , Markin Todd , Roland Kristine
Published: July 2021

Objectives

A CBC with WBC differential is often ordered when a CBC alone would be sufficient for patient care. Performing unnecessary WBC differentials adds to costs in the laboratory. Our objective was to implement a laboratory middleware algorithm to cancel repeat, same-day WBC differentials to achieve lasting improvements in laboratory resource allocation.

Methods

Repeat same-day WBC differentials were first canceled only on intensive care unit samples; after a successful trial period, the algorithm was applied hospital-wide. We retrospectively reviewed CBC with differential orders from pre- and postimplementation periods to estimate the reduction in WBC differentials and potential cost savings.

Results

The algorithm led to a monthly WBC differential cancellation rate of 5.40% for a total of 10,195 canceled WBC differentials during the cumulative postimplementation period (September 25, 2019, to December 31, 2020). Nearly all (99.94%) differentials remained canceled. Most patients only had one WBC differential canceled (range, 1-38). Savings estimates showed savings of $0.99 CAD per canceled differential and 1,060 minutes (17.7 hours) of technologist time.

Conclusions

A middleware algorithm to cancel repeat, same-day WBC differentials is a simple and sustainable way to achieve lasting improvements in laboratory utilization.
spheresDT/Mpacts-PiCS: cell tracking and shape retrieval in membrane-labeled embryos
Authors: Thiels Wim , Smeets Bart , Cuvelier Maxim , Caroti Francesca , Jelier Rob
Published: July 2021

Motivation

Uncovering the cellular and mechanical processes that drive embryo formation requires an accurate read out of cell geometries over time. However, automated extraction of 3D cell shapes from time-lapse microscopy remains challenging, especially when only membranes are labeled.

Results

We present an image analysis framework for automated tracking and three-dimensional cell segmentation in confocal time lapses. A sphere clustering approach allows for local thresholding and application of logical rules to facilitate tracking and unseeded segmentation of variable cell shapes. Next, the segmentation is refined by a discrete element method simulation where cell shapes are constrained by a biomechanical cell shape model. We apply the framework on Caenorhabditis elegans embryos in various stages of early development and analyze the geometry of the 7- and 8-cell stage embryo, looking at volume, contact area and shape over time.

Availability and implementation

The Python code for the algorithm and for measuring performance, along with all data needed to recreate the results is freely available at 10.5281/zenodo.5108416 and 10.5281/zenodo.4540092. The most recent version of the software is maintained at https://bitbucket.org/pgmsembryogenesis/sdt-pics.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Disentangling the roles of social and individual effects on cadmium tolerance in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi
Authors: Honorio Romain , Jacquier Lauren , Doums Claudie , Molet Mathieu
Published: July 2021

Urbanization brings new pressures for individuals. Among them, trace elements, such as cadmium, are important stressors. A recent study highlights a weaker negative effect of cadmium on city colonies relative to their forest counterparts in the ant Temnothorax nylanderi. Here, we aim to test whether the better tolerance of city colonies in this species results from a better ability of workers to rear larvae despite stressful conditions and/or a better ability of larvae to develop properly despite stressful conditions. We performed a cross-fostering experiment of workers and larvae from city and forest colonies, in common garden conditions in the laboratory. Colonies were fed using cadmium-enriched or cadmium-free food for 2 months, and we measured four life-history traits. As expected, cadmium had a negative impact on all traits. Unexpectedly, we did not observe a better tolerance of city colonies to cadmium, contrary to our previous study, which prevented us from disentangling the respective contributions of workers and larvae to cadmium tolerance. Interestingly, forest colonies seemed to be of better quality in our laboratory conditions. Finally, colony size increased adult survival, but only in the absence of cadmium, suggesting that social buffering could collapse with strong external disturbances.
Cytoplasmic EBP50 and elevated PARP1 are unfavorable prognostic factors in ovarian clear cell carcinoma
Authors: Matsumoto Toshihide , Yoki Ako , Konno Ryo , Oguri Yasuko , Hashimura Miki , Tochimoto Masataka , Nakagawa Mayu , Jiang Zesong , Ishibashi Yu , Ito Takashi , Kodera Yoshio , Saegusa Makoto
Published: July 2021

Patients with ovarian clear cell carcinoma (OCCC) experience frequent recurrence, which is most likely due to chemoresistance. We used shotgun proteomics analysis and identified upregulation of ezrin-binding phosphoprotein 50 (EBP50) in recurrent OCCC samples. Cytoplasmic and/or nuclear (Cyt/N), but not membranous, EBP50 immunoreactivity was significantly higher in recurrent OCCC as compared with that of primary tumors. OCCC cells expressing cytoplasmic EBP50 were significantly less susceptible to cisplatin (CDDP)-induced apoptosis compared with cells expressing membranous EBP50. Abrogation of resistance following knockdown of cytoplasmic EBP50 was accompanied by decreased XIAP and BCL2, increased BAX and increased caspase-3 cleavage. We found that poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase1 (PARP1), which is involved in DNA damage detection and repair, binds to EBP50 through its PDZ1 domain. CDDP treatment of cells expressing cytoplasmic (but not membranous) EBP50 increased nuclear PARP1 expression, whereas knockdown of EBP50 cells decreased PARP1 expression and activity following CDDP treatment. Finally, OCCC patients with a combination of Cyt/N EBP50 and high PARP1 score had worst the prognosis for overall and progression-free survival. Together, our data suggest that cytoplasmic EBP50 inhibits apoptosis and promotes OCCC survival through stabilization of PARP1 activity and modulation of the XIAP/BCL2/BAX axis. This may increase the likelihood of tumor recurrence, and we therefore suggest a combined analysis for EBP50 and PARP1 may have great utility in OCCC prediction and prognosis.
Impaired myocardial work efficiency in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
Authors: D'Andrea Antonello , Ilardi Federica , D'Ascenzi Flavio , Bandera Francesco , Benfari Giovanni , Esposito Roberta , Malagoli Alessandro , Mandoli Giulia Elena , Santoro Ciro , Russo Vincenzo , D’Alto Michele , Cameli Matteo ,   Working Group of Echocardiography of the Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC)
Published: July 2021

Aims

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a growing public health problem. Impairment in left ventricular (LV) diastolic function has been proposed as a key pathophysiologic determinant. However, the role of concomitant systolic dysfunction despite preserved LV ejection fraction (LVEF) has not been well characterized. To analyse LV myocardial deformation, diastolic function, and contractile reserve (CR) in patients with HFpEF at rest and while during exercise, as well as their correlation with functional capacity.

Methods and results

Standard echo, lung ultrasound, LV 2D speckle-tracking strain, and myocardial work efficiency (MWE) were performed at rest and during exercise in 230 patients with HFpEF (female sex 61.2%; 71.3 ± 5.3 years) in 150 age- and sex-comparable healthy controls. LV mass index and LAVI were significantly increased in HFpEF. Conversely, global longitudinal strain (GLS) and MWE were consequently reduced in HFpEF patients. During effort, HFpEF showed reduced exercise time, capacity, and VO2 peak. Increase in LVEF and LV GLS was significantly lower in HFpEF patients, while LV E/e′ ratio, pulmonary pressures, and B-lines by lung ultrasound rose. A multivariable analysis outlined that LV MWE at rest was closely related to maximal Watts reached (beta coefficient: 0.43; P < 0.001), peak VO2 (beta: 0.50; P < 0.001), LV E/e′ (beta: 0.52, P < 0.001), and number of B-lines during effort (beta: −0.36; P < 0.01).

Conclusions

The lower resting values of LV GLS and MWE in HFpEF patients suggest an early subclinical myocardial damage, which seems to be closely associated with lower exercise capacity, greater pulmonary congestion, and blunted LV contractile reserve during effort.