bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Analytic hierarchy process and sensitivity analysis implementation for social vulnerability assessment: A case study from Brazil
Authors: Grave Ileana , Bojórquez‐Tapia Luis A. , Estrada‐Barón Alejandra , Nelson Donald R. , Eakin Hallie 
Published: March 2022

AbstractOne major challenge of social impact assessment concerns the implementation of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to ascertain the vulnerability of households to environmental change. While MCDA has been widely used to combine vulnerability indicators into an aggregated vulnerability score, the sensitivity of vulnerability indices to uncertain appraisals and judgements of the magnitudes and weights of indicators has been largely ignored so far. In this work, based on vulnerability indicators previously selected and ranked using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) technique, for household Brazil surveys carried out in 1998 and 2012, a sensitivity analysis (SA) was implemented to account for the variation of vulnerability indicators over time and space. In particular, two techniques were applied: the indicator removal and the threshold value tests. The indicator removal test involved setting to zero a particular indicator weight and rescaling the remaining indicator weights linearly. The threshold value test aimed to identify which indicators had the most relative influence on both indices. Finally, the critical threshold value showed the most important vulnerability indicators and allowed to summarise and contrast the standardized scores differences of the indicators between the two surveys. The results showed which indicators were the most important in increasing or decreasing the vulnerability and improved the understanding of how the overall vulnerability of rainfed farming households changed through time as a function of changes in sensitivity and adaptive capacity.
Co‐designing the environmental land management scheme in England: The why, who and how of engaging ‘harder to reach’ stakeholders
Authors: Hurley Paul , Lyon Jessica , Hall Jilly , Little Ruth , Tsouvalis Judith , White Veronica , Rose David Christian 
Published: March 2022

Abstract

Agriculture around the world needs to become more environmentally sustainable to limit further environmental degradation and impacts of climate change.

Many governments try to achieve this through enrolling farmers in agri‐environment schemes (AES) that encourage them to undertake conservation activities.

Studies show that AES can suffer from low uptake, meaning their environmental objectives remain unattained. To succeed for people and nature, policy‐makers are increasingly adopting multi‐actor approaches in the ‘co‐design’ of AES to make them more attractive and inclusive of a full range of stakeholders, including ‘harder to reach’ farmers.

To address why some land managers (principally farmers) may be harder to reach in the context of co‐designing England's new Environmental Land Management (ELM) approach, we undertook a quick scoping review of the literature, conducted 23 first‐round and 24 s‐round interviews with key informants, and held a workshop with 11 practitioners.

We outline why farming stakeholders may be harder to reach and how policy‐makers can adjust the engagement process to make co‐design more inclusive.

Based on the results, we make recommendations that could help policy‐makers to design better, more inclusive AES that would attract greater uptake and increase their chances of success.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Application of low‐cost, eco‐friendly adsorbents for the removal of dye contaminants from wastewater: Current developments and adsorption technology
Authors: Laskar Nirban , Kumar Upendra 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe review study focuses on dye contamination of wastewater and adsorption approaches to achieve the lowest dye waste in wastewater discharge. The dyes require extensive use in several applications suited for commercial consumption, but the dyes are serious pollutants when dumped directly into water bodies without sufficient treatment. The review study briefly discusses the current methodologies carried out for the adsorption mechanism, the relevance of adsorption, and adsorption factors for the examined system. Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models and a pseudosecond order kinetic model were found to properly represent dye uptake. To fully appreciate the molecular interactions between the adsorbent and adsorbate, additional study into theoretical dye adsorption modeling is necessary. As a low‐cost adsorbent for dye treatment and the manufacturing of activated carbon, agricultural waste material in both its natural and modified forms is explored in this review article for its dye adsorption capabilities. The adsorption behavior and mechanism may be better understood by employing operational parameters, kinetics, and isotherm models, as described in this article. The initial concentration, pH, and temperature all play a function in the adsorption process and are discussed in depth.
Provision of Information as Relational Task
Authors: Barachini Franz , Stary Christian 
Published: March 2022

AbstractIn this chapter, we discuss a complex adaptive system modeling approach of ecosystems targeting the pragmatic aspect when grasping a certain situation through semantic role modeling. The approach supports System-of-Systems thinking and is exemplified by a concrete case from institutional education. An essential aspect is the communication behavior of the represented system components, linking role- and task-specific encapsulated behaviors.
How to Create Digital Selves
Authors: Barachini Franz , Stary Christian 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe construction of digital behavior models by means of behavior modeling embedding emotional aspects is generalized for further developments. We show a top-down approach to creating behavior-oriented digital selves representations. We recapture respective development principles, with the focus on functional, socio-emotional, and communication behavior sequences. Socio-emotional intelligence can be embodied into behavior representations depending on algorithmic processing and designed interventions for artificial, human, or transhuman actors.
The Imperfect Geometries of the Basilica S. Peter and Paul in Casalvecchio, Messina
Authors: Arena Marinella 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe theme of this article is twofold: an instrumental survey, which increases the documentation of the Basilica Saints Peter and Paul in Casalvecchio, is accompanied by a reflection on the underlying geometries. The latter allowed some analysis on the distance between its theoretical form and realization, but also on the way of designing, tracing and constructing the church itself. The study, therefore, outlines a protocol for the morphological analysis of the Arab-Norman architecture built in north-eastern Sicily, and identifies the Basilica Saints Peter and Paul as a case study. The results of this research increase the available documentation of the building and support future enhancement and conservation actions. The protocol provides for: brief historical contextualization; instrumental survey; geometric and morphological analysis aimed at identifying: geometric patterns, units of measurement and proportional modules.
Dementia is a surrogate for frailty in hip fracture mortality prediction
Authors: Forssten Maximilian Peter , Ioannidis Ioannis , Mohammad Ismail Ahmad , Bass Gary Alan , Borg Tomas , Cao Yang , Mohseni Shahin 
Published: March 2022

Abstract
Purpose
Among hip fracture patients both dementia and frailty are particularly prevalent. The aim of the current study was to determine if dementia functions as a surrogate for frailty, or if it confers additional information as a comorbidity when predicting postoperative mortality after a hip fracture.

Methods
All adult patients who suffered a traumatic hip fracture in Sweden between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2017 were considered for inclusion. Pathological fractures, non-operatively treated fractures, reoperations, and patients missing data were excluded. Logistic regression (LR) models were fitted, one including and one excluding measurements of frailty, with postoperative mortality as the response variable. The primary outcome of interest was 30-day postoperative mortality. The relative importance for all variables was determined using the permutation importance. New LR models were constructed using the top ten most important variables. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) was used to compare the predictive ability of these models.

Results
121,305 patients were included in the study. Initially, dementia was among the top ten most important variables for predicting 30-day mortality. When measurements of frailty were included, dementia was replaced in relative importance by the ability to walk alone outdoors and institutionalization. There was no significant difference in the predictive ability of the models fitted using the top ten most important variables when comparing those that included [AUC for 30-day mortality (95% CI): 0.82 (0.81–0.82)] and excluded [AUC for 30-day mortality (95% CI): 0.81 (0.80–0.81)] measurements of frailty.

Conclusion
Dementia functions as a surrogate for frailty when predicting mortality up to one year after hip fracture surgery. The presence of dementia in a patient without frailty does not appreciably contribute to the prediction of postoperative mortality.
Water vapour sorption and moisture transport in and across fibre direction of wood
Authors: Murr Alexander 
Published: March 2022

AbstractWater vapour sorption experiments are frequently used to characterise the absorption and desorption of water in wood. To evaluate whether water vapour transport—compared to sorption and sorption related processes—can be neglected in small wood samples, this study investigates the sorption kinetics of Norway spruce (Picea abies) samples with different lengths of transport pathways in and across fibre direction. Water vapour sorption experiments were performed under identical climatic conditions at ambient air pressure and ambient standard temperature. Along the whole tested range of relative humidity sample thickness was shown to have an impact on the sorption kinetics. At low relative humidity, the initial uptake and release of water was considerably influenced by the diffusion of water vapour through the lumen-pit-ray system. Differences between the sorption kinetics for samples in and across fibre direction were thus considerable. With increasing moisture content, the initial uptake and release of water increased for samples across fibre direction, while it decreased for samples in fibre direction. Moisture transport across fibre direction thus seems to be increasing and cell wall processes seem to be more relevant. At high relative humidity, differences between the sorption kinetics for samples in and across fibre direction started to disappear while the impact of sample thickness was still considerable. Therefore, an additional or modified process, which depends on the number of sorption sites but not on the anatomical orientation must be considered at an increased moisture content of wood.
Evaluation of the ecological health and food chain on the shores of four River Nile Islands, Egypt
Authors: Abdelmageed Adel A. , Ellah Radwan G. Abd , Abdel-Satar Amaal M. , Gawad Soad S. Abdel , Khalifa Nehad , Zaher Shymaa S. , Othman Amal A. , Belal Dalia M. , El-Hady Howayda H. Abd , Salem Salem G. , Abdo Mohamed H. , Haroon Amany M. , El-Far Alaa , Hegab Mahmoud H. , Elhaddad Engy , El-Sherif Dina M. , Al-Afify Afify D. G. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThis study was conducted to evaluate the impact of human activities on the ecological health and food chain at the shores of four Nile Islands in Great Cairo including El-Qeratten, El-Waraq, El-Zamalek, and El-Manial. Water quality, bacteria, phytoplankton, benthic algae, zooplankton, macrobenthic invertebrates, and bony fishes were examined at each island shore over two seasons including the lowest and the highest flow (February and July 2020, respectively). The obtained results showed that the average values of most of the chemicals in Nile Island’s water were within the Egyptian water quality limits. Discriminant analysis of physicochemical factors revealed a similarity between El-Waraq and El-Qerateen and between El-Manial and El-Zamalek. El-Qeratten was the most polluted island. It has the highest total and fecal coliform bacteria count (3.155 and 3.050 Log MPN/100 mL, respectively). El-Zamalek shores have the highest phytoplankton (33,582 cells × 104 L−1) and zooplankton count (310,891 organisms × m−3) and phyto-biochemical values. Biochemical analysis of phytoplankton demonstrated the richness of the bulk by protein (> 85% of biomass), indicating that phytoplankton has a high nutritional value. Elevated zooplankton count was recorded at El-Zamalek, which coincided with the peak of phytoplankton abundance. Mollusca were the dominant macrobenthic invertebrates on most of the island’s shores. Bony fishes were represented by 27 species and two crustaceans. The levels of the metals in fish samples were compared with the food safety guideline endorsed by the World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization (WHO/FAO) to evaluate the toxicity level.
From multiple aspect trajectories to predictive analysis: a case study on fishing vessels in the Northern Adriatic sea
Authors: Brandoli Bruno , Raffaetà Alessandra , Simeoni Marta , Adibi Pedram , Bappee Fateha Khanam , Pranovi Fabio , Rovinelli Giulia , Russo Elisabetta , Silvestri Claudio , Soares Amilcar , Matwin Stan 
Published: March 2022

AbstractIn this paper we model spatio-temporal data describing the fishing activities in the Northern Adriatic Sea over four years. We build, implement and analyze a database based on the fusion of two complementary data sources: trajectories from fishing vessels (obtained from terrestrial Automatic Identification System, or AIS, data feed) and fish catch reports (i.e., the quantity and type of fish caught) of the main fishing market of the area. We present all the phases of the database creation, starting from the raw data and proceeding through data exploration, data cleaning, trajectory reconstruction and semantic enrichment. We implement the database by using MobilityDB, an open source geospatial trajectory data management and analysis platform. Subsequently, we perform various analyses on the resulting spatio-temporal database, with the goal of mapping the fishing activities on some key species, highlighting all the interesting information and inferring new knowledge that will be useful for fishery management. Furthermore, we investigate the use of machine learning methods for predicting the Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE), an indicator of the fishing resources exploitation in order to drive specific policy design. A variety of prediction methods, taking as input the data in the database and environmental factors such as sea temperature, waves height and Clorophill-a, are put at work in order to assess their prediction ability in this field. To the best of our knowledge, our work represents the first attempt to integrate fishing ships trajectories derived from AIS data, environmental data and catch data for spatio-temporal prediction of CPUE – a challenging task.
Immunonutrients involved in the regulation of the inflammatory and oxidative processes: implication for gamete competence
Authors: Di Renzo Laura , De Lorenzo Antonino , Fontanari Marco , Gualtieri Paola , Monsignore Diego , Schifano Giulia , Alfano Valentina , Marchetti Marco ,   On behalf of SIERR
Published: March 2022

AbstractPurposeThe purpose of this umbrella review is to bring together the most recent reviews concerning the role of immunonutrients for male and female infertility.MethodsRegarding immunonutrients and fertility, the authors have analyzed reviews, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses published between 2011 and June 2021. All reviews on animal or in vitro studies were excluded. Relevant keywords to term micronutrients were analyzed alone or in association with other terms such as “gamete competence,” “male OR female fertility,” “male OR female infertility,” “fertile, “folliculogenesis,” “spermatogenesis,” “immunomodulation,” “immune system,” “oxidative stress.”ResultsThe primary research has included 108 results, and after screening by title, abstract. and not topic-related, 41 studies have been included by full texts. The results show the molecular mechanisms and the immunonutrients related impact on gamete formation, development. and competence. In particular, this review focused on arginine, glutamine, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, omega-3, selenium, and zinc.ConclusionsInflammation and oxidative stress significantly impact human reproduction. For this reason, immunonutrients may play an important role in the treatment of infertile patients. However, due to the lack of consistent clinical trials, their application is limited. Therefore, the development of clinical trials is necessary to define the correct supplementation, in case of deficiency.
Enhanced critical current density of ex situ MgB2 via control of Mg assisted sintering
Authors: Hapipi Nurhidayah Mohd , Chen Soo Kien , Shaari Abdul Halim , Kechik Mohd Mustafa Awang , Lim Kean Pah , Tan Kar Ban , Lee Oon Jew , Arvapalli Sai Srikanth , Miryala Muralidhar 
Published: March 2022

AbstractIn this work, ex situ MgB2 was mixed with 0.5 mol of Mg and sintered. The sintering conditions were varied over a temperature range of 600–1000 °C for 1, 3, and 7 h, respectively. The addition of Mg during the sintering increased the partial pressure of Mg and thus suppressed the decomposition of MgB2. Onset of critical temperature, Tc, was retained at ∼ 38 K even after the addition of Mg. By increasing the sintering temperature, magnetic critical current density, Jc at self-field, and 20 K of the ex situ samples increased consistently. With the addition of Mg for 1 h sintering, self-field Jc (20 K) was enhanced more than 20 times to 104 A cm−2 as the sintering temperature was increased. Such significant enhancement in the Jc is mainly due to the improved grain coupling aided by Mg during the short sintering.
Statistical Causality for Multivariate Nonlinear Time Series via Gaussian Process Models
Authors: Zaremba Anna B. , Peters Gareth W. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThe ability to test for statistical causality in linear and nonlinear contexts, in stationary or non-stationary settings, and to identify whether statistical causality influences trend of volatility forms a particularly important class of problems to explore in multi-modal and multivariate processes. In this paper, we develop novel testing frameworks for statistical causality in general classes of multivariate nonlinear time series models. Our framework accommodates flexible features where causality may be present in either: trend, volatility or both structural components of the general multivariate Markov processes under study. In addition, we accommodate the added possibilities of flexible structural features such as long memory and persistence in the multivariate processes when applying our semi-parametric approach to causality detection. We design a calibration procedure and formal testing procedure to detect these relationships through classes of Gaussian process models. We provide a generic framework which can be applied to a wide range of problems, including partially observed generalised diffusions or general multivariate linear or nonlinear time series models. We demonstrate several illustrative examples of features that are easily testable under our framework to study the properties of the inference procedure developed including the power of the test, sensitivity and robustness. We then illustrate our method on an interesting real data example from commodity modelling.
Advances in the modeling and dynamic simulation of reeving systems using the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian modal method
Authors: Escalona José L. , Mohammadi Narges 
Published: March 2022

AbstractThis paper presents new advances in the arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian modal method (ALEM) recently developed for the systematic simulation of the dynamics of general reeving systems. These advances are related to a more convenient model of the sheaves dynamics and the use of axial deformation modes to account for non-constant axial forces within the finite elements. Regarding the sheaves dynamics, the original formulation uses kinematic constraints to account for the torque transmission at the sheaves by neglecting the rotary inertia. One of the advances described in this paper is the use of the rotation angles of the sheaves as generalized coordinates together with the rope-to-sheave no-slip assumption as linear constraint equations. This modeling option guarantees the exact torque balance at the sheave without including any nonlinear kinematic constraint. Numerical results show the influence in the system dynamics of the sheave rotary inertia. Regarding the axial forces within the finite elements, the original formulation uses a combination of absolute position coordinates and transverse local modal coordinates to account for the rope absolute position and deformation shape. The axial force, which only depends on the absolute position coordinates, is constant along the element because linear shape functions are assumed to describe the axial displacements. For reeving systems with very long rope spans, as the elevators of high buildings, the constant axial force is inaccurate because the weight of the ropes becomes important and the axial force varies approximately linearly within the rope free span. To account for space-varying axial forces, this paper also introduces modal coordinates in the axial direction. Numerical results show that a set of three modal coordinates in the axial direction is enough to simulate linearly varying axial forces.
Raman spectroscopic and advanced signal processing analyses for real time standoff detection and identification of explosives
Authors: Abdallah Adel , Mahmoud Alaaeldin , Mokhtar Mohamed , Mousa Aiman , Ayoub H. S. , Elbashar Y. H. 
Published: March 2022

AbstractLaser Raman spectroscopy is a powerful instrument commonly used for detection of bulk and trace amounts of explosives. The work carried out in this paper is divided into two phases; the first phase is to propose a real time standoff explosive detection and identification system based on Raman spectroscopy that can be deployed in static checkpoints. The measurement is performed for samples placed in contact and at distances up to 1 m in ambient light conditions. The second phase is to propose a novel sophisticated signal processing and pattern recognition techniques for accurate identification and classification of the investigated materials.