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  • Molecular Diversity Preservation International  (495,622)
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  • 1
    Publication Date: 2022-05-25
    Description: © 2009 The Authors. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) License. The definitive version was published in Sensors 9 (2009): 404-429, doi:10.3390/s90100404.
    Description: An instrument has been built to carry out continuous in-situ measurement of small differences in water pressure, conductivity and temperature, in natural surface water and groundwater systems. A low-cost data telemetry system provides data on shore in real time if desired. The immediate purpose of measurements by this device is to continuously infer fluxes of water across the sediment-water interface in a complex estuarine system; however, direct application to assessment of sediment-water fluxes in rivers, lakes, and other systems is also possible. Key objectives of the design include both low cost, and accuracy of the order of ±0.5 mm H2O in measured head difference between the instrument’s two pressure ports. These objectives have been met, although a revision to the design of one component was found to be necessary. Deployments of up to nine months, and wireless range in excess of 300 m have been demonstrated.
    Keywords: Pressure sensor ; Wireless ; Hydrology ; Data logger ; Oceanographic instrumentation
    Repository Name: Woods Hole Open Access Server
    Type: Article
    Format: application/pdf
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  • 2
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: This study presents a 2-D lidar odometry based on an ICP (iterative closest point) variant used in a simple and straightforward platform that achieves real-time and low-drift performance. With a designated multi-scale feature extraction procedure, the lidar cloud information can be utilized at multiple levels and the speed of data association can be accelerated according to the multi-scale data structure, thereby achieving robust feature extraction and fast scan-matching algorithms. First, on a large scale, the lidar point cloud data are classified according to the curvature into two parts: smooth collection and rough collection. Then, on a small scale, noise and unstable points in the smooth or rough collection are filtered, and edge points and corner points are extracted. Then, the proposed tangent-vector-pairs based on edge and corner points are applied to evaluate the rotation term, which is significant for producing a stable solution in motion estimation. We compare our performance with two excellent open-source SLAM algorithms, Cartographer and Hector SLAM, using collected and open-access datasets in structured indoor environments. The results indicate that our method can achieve better accuracy.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 3
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: In the single-polyelectrolyte aqueous phase separation (APS) approach, membranes are prepared by precipitating a weak polyelectrolyte from a concentrated aqueous solution using a pH switch. This has proven to be a versatile and more sustainable method compared to conventional approaches as it significantly reduces the use of organic solvents. Poly(styrene-alt-maleic acid) (PSaMA) is a polymer that has been extensively investigated for APS and has been the basis for both open and dense membranes with good performances. These membranes are chemically crosslinked and, in this work, we further investigated ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes prepared with PSaMA for their stability in various organic solvents and under different pH conditions. It was shown that these membranes had stable performances in both isopropanol (IPA) and toluene, and a slightly reduced performance in N-methyl-2-pyrollidone (NMP). However, PSaMA did not perform well as a selective layer in these solvents, indicating that the real opportunity would be to use the UF-type PSaMA membranes as solvent-stable support membranes. Additionally, the membranes proved to be stable in an acidic-to-neutral pH regime (pH 2–7); and, due to the pH-responsive nature of PSaMA, for the NF membranes, a pH-dependent retention of Mg2+ and SO42− ions was observed and, for the UF membranes, a strong responsive behavior was observed, where the pH can be used to control the membrane permeability. However, long-term exposure to elevated pH conditions (pH 8–10) resulted in severe swelling of the NF membranes, resulting in defect formation, and compaction of the UF membranes. For the UF membranes, this compaction did prove to be reversible for some but not all of the membrane samples measured. These results showed that in aqueous systems, membranes prepared with PSaMA had interesting responsive behaviors but performed best at neutral and acidic pH values. Moreover, the membranes exhibited excellent stability in the organic solvents IPA and toluene
    Electronic ISSN: 2077-0375
    Topics: Biology , Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 4
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: The electric power industry sector has become increasingly aware of how counterproductive voltage sag affects distribution network systems (DNS). The voltage sag backfires disastrously at the demand load side and affects equipment in DNS. To settle the voltage sag issue, this paper achieved its primary purpose to mitigate the voltage sag based on integrating a hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) with the DNS using a distribution static synchronous compensator (D-STATCOM) system. Besides, this paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of D-STATCOM in DNS. In this paper, using HFC is well-designed, modeled, and simulated to mitigate the voltage sag in DNS with a positive impact on the environment and an immediate response to the issue of the injection of voltage. Furthermore, this modeling and controller are particularly suitable in terms of cost-effectiveness as well as reliability based on the adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), fuzzy logic system (FLC), and proportional–integral (P-I). The effectiveness of the MATLAB simulation is confirmed by implementing the system and carrying out a DNS connection, obtaining efficiencies over 94.5% at three-phase fault for values of injection voltage in HFC D-STATCOM using a P-I controller. Moreover, the HFC D-STATCOM using FLC proved capable of supporting the network by 97.00%. The HFC D-STATCOM based ANFIS proved capable of supporting the network by 98.00% in the DNS.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 5
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Gut microbiota, a major contributor to human health, is influenced by physical activity and diet, and displays a functional cross-talk with skeletal muscle. Conversely, few data are available on the impact of hypoactivity, although sedentary lifestyles are widespread and associated with negative health and socio-economic impacts. The study aim was to determine the effect of Dry Immersion (DI), a severe hypoactivity model, on the human gut microbiota composition. Stool samples were collected from 14 healthy men before and after 5 days of DI to determine the gut microbiota taxonomic profiles by 16S metagenomic sequencing in strictly controlled dietary conditions. The α and β diversities indices were unchanged. However, the operational taxonomic units associated with the Clostridiales order and the Lachnospiraceae family, belonging to the Firmicutes phylum, were significantly increased after DI. Propionate, a short-chain fatty acid metabolized by skeletal muscle, was significantly reduced in post-DI stool samples. The finding that intestine bacteria are sensitive to hypoactivity raises questions about their impact and role in chronic sedentary lifestyles.
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-6643
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
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  • 6
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: A simple one-pot approach was developed for the synthesis of furan-2(5H)-one derivative containing indole fragments. This method includes the telescoped multicomponent reaction of indole, 4-methoxyphenylglyoxal, and Meldrum’s acid. The synthetic utility of the prepared furan-2(5H)-one was demonstrated by condensation with 4-methoxybenzaldehyde. The advantages of this method include the employment of readily accessible starting materials, atom economy, process simplicity, and the easy isolation of the target products. The structure of the synthesized furanones was confirmed by 1H and 13C-NMR spectroscopy and high-resolution mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (ESI-HRMS).
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-8599
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 7
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Volcanic ash fall-out represents a serious hazard for air and road traffic. The forecasting models used to predict its time–space evolution require information about the core characteristics of volcanic particles, such as their granulometry. Typically, such information is gained by the spot direct observation of the ash collected at the ground or by using expensive instrumentation. In this paper, a vision-based methodology aimed at the estimation of ash granulometry is presented. A dedicated image processing paradigm was developed and implemented in LabVIEW™. The methodology was validated experimentally using digital reference images resembling different operating conditions. The outcome of the assessment procedure was very encouraging, showing an accuracy of the image processing algorithm of 1.76%.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 8
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Horizontal wells can significantly improve the gas production and are expected to be an efficient exploitation method for the industrialization of natural gas hydrates (NGHs) in the future. However, the near-wellbore hydrate is highly prone to decomposition during the drilling process, owing to the disturbance aroused by the factors such as the drilling fluid temperature, pressure, and salinity. These issues can result in the engineering accidents such as bit sticking and wellbore instability, which are required for further investigations. This paper studies the characteristics of drilling fluid invasion into the marine NGH reservoir with varied drilling fluid parameters via numerical simulation. The effects of the drilling fluid parameters on the decomposition behavior of near-wellbore hydrates are presented. The simulating results show that the adjustments of drilling fluid density within the mud safety window have limited effects on the NGH decomposition, meanwhile the hydrates reservoir is most sensitive to the drilling fluid temperature variation. If the drilling fluid temperature grows considerably due to improper control, the range of the hydrates decomposition around the horizontal well tends to expand, which then aggravates wellbore instability. When the drilling fluid salinity varies in the range of 3.5–7.5%, the increase in the ion concentration speeds up the hydrate decomposition, which is adverse to maintaining wellbore stability.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 9
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Fault tolerance in IoT systems is challenging to overcome due to its complexity, dynamicity, and heterogeneity. IoT systems are typically designed and constructed in layers. Every layer has its requirements and fault tolerance strategies. However, errors in one layer can propagate and cause effects on others. Thus, it is impractical to consider a centralized fault tolerance approach for an entire system. Consequently, it is vital to consider multiple layers in order to enable collaboration and information exchange when addressing fault tolerance. The purpose of this study is to propose a multi-layer fault tolerance approach, granting interconnection among IoT system layers, allowing information exchange and collaboration in order to attain the property of dependability. Therefore, we define an event-driven framework called FaTEMa (Fault Tolerance Event Manager) that creates a dedicated fault-related communication channel in order to propagate events across the levels of the system. The implemented framework assist with error detection and continued service. Additionally, it offers extension points to support heterogeneous communication protocols and evolve new capabilities. Our empirical results show that introducing FaTEMa provided improvements to the error detection and error resolution time, consequently improving system availability. In addition, the use of Fatema provided a reliability improvement and a reduction in the number of failures produced.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 10
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Stand structure and topography are important factors affecting forest vegetation carbon density (FVCD). Revealing the interaction mechanisms between stand structure and topography on FVCD is of great significance for enhancing forest vegetation carbon storage and achieving regional carbon neutrality. Based on stratified sampling, systematic distribution and forest continuous inventory sample plots in Jiangxi province, the variation characteristics of FVCD and its correlations with stand structure and topographic factors were studied. The results are as follows: (1) The average FVCD in Jiangxi province was 44.23 Mg/ha, which was dominated by the carbon density of the arbor layer, accounting for about 81.39% of the total forest—far lower than the average level of global FVCD, which proved that the forest in Jiangxi province was dominated by middle-age and young forests with low carbon density, and also showed that the potential for forest vegetation carbon storage in Jiangxi province was huge. (2) Except for vegetation carbon densities of shrub and herb layers, the vegetation carbon densities of other forest layers in Jiangxi province were significantly different among different forest types. Volume per unit area was the most important factor affecting the vegetation carbon densities of arbor and total forest, and vegetation carbon density–volume models of the main forests were built for vegetation carbon density calculation in Jiangxi province. (3) The vegetation carbon densities of arbor layer, snag and log layer, and total forest increased significantly with increases in elevation and slope. Except for the shrub layer and herb layer, the vegetation carbon densities of the other layers and the total forest had extremely significant or significant differences between slope position gradients—indicating that the effect of topography on FVCD in Jiangxi province was significant, mainly through influencing of forest distribution and human disturbance intensity.
    Electronic ISSN: 1999-4907
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 11
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Background: After preterm birth, infants are at high risk for delays in language development. A promising intervention to reduce this risk is represented by the exposure to parental voices through book-reading in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). This study investigated the possible advantages of book-reading to preterm neonates during their NICU stay on their subsequent language development. Methods: 100 families of preterm infants were recruited. The parents of 55 preterm infants (Reading Group) received a colored picture-book on NICU admission and were supported to read to their neonate as often as possible and to continue after hospital discharge. Forty-five infants (Control Group) were recruited before the beginning of the intervention. Infant language development was assessed with the Hearing and Language quotients of the Griffith Mental Development Scale at the corrected ages of 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months. Results: Regardless of group membership, Hearing and Language mean quotients decreased between 9 and 18 months; nevertheless, this decrease was considerably reduced in the Reading group, compared to the Control Group. Conclusions: Reading in NICUs represents a suitable intervention that could positively influence language development and parent-infant relationships in preterm children. The study findings support its implementation as a preventive measure.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 12
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Due to their low density, magnesium alloys are very appealing for light-weight constructions. However, the use of the most common magnesium alloy, AZ91 (Mg 9 wt.% Al, 1 wt.% Zn), is limited to temperatures below 150 °C due to creep failure. Several alloys with an improved creep resistance have been developed in the past, for example the alloy MRI 230D or Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. However, there is an ongoing discussion in the literature regarding the mechanisms of the improved creep resistance. One factor claimed to be responsible for the improved creep resistance is the intermetallic phases which form during casting. Another possible explanation is an increased creep resistance due to the formation of precipitates. To gain more insight into the improved creep resistance of MRI 230D, nanoindentation measurements have been performed on the different phases of as-cast, creep-deformed and heat-treated samples of MRI 230D and Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. These nanoindentation measurements clearly show that the intermetallic phase (IP) of the alloy MRI 230D does not lose strength during creep deformation in contrast to the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants. High-temperature nanoindentation measurements performed at 200 °C clearly show that the intermetallic phases of the MRI 230D alloy maintain their strength. This is in clear contrast to the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants, where the IP is significantly softer at 200 °C than at room temperature. Atom probe measurements have been used to gain insight into the differences in terms of chemical composition between the IPs of MRI 230D and the Ca-alloyed AZ91 variants in order to understand the dissimilar behaviour in terms of strength loss with increasing temperature.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-4701
    Topics: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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  • 13
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: Apart from numerous technical challenges, the transition towards a carbon-neutral energy supply is greatly hindered by limited economic feasibility of renewable energy sources. This results in their slow and bounded penetration in both commercial and residential sectors that are responsible for over 40% of final energy consumption. This paper aims to demonstrate that combined application of sophisticated planning methodologies at building-level and presents incentive mechanisms for renewables that can result in prosumers, featuring hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES), with economic performance comparable to that of conventional energy systems. The presented research enhances existing planning methodologies by integrating appliance-level demand side management into the decision process and investigates its effect on the planning problem. Moreover, the proposed methodology features an innovative and holistic approach that simultaneously assess electrical and thermal domain in both an isolated and grid-connected context. The analyzed hybrid system consists of solar photovoltaic, wind turbine and battery with thermal supply featuring solar thermal collector and a ground-source heat pump. Overall optimization problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program, while ranking of all feasible alternatives is made by the multicriteria decision-making algorithm against several technological, economic, and environmental criteria. A real-life scenario of energy system retrofit for a building in the United Kingdom was employed to demonstrate overall cost savings of 12% in the present market and regulation context.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 14
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: The paper addresses the sustainability of the European Union’s food consumption through a water footprint assessment of selected vulnerable agricultural imports from a two-pronged perspective: (1) the degree of the EU’s dependence on global green water resources embedded in the apparent consumption of selected water-intensive agricultural products and (2) the degree of commitment of countries of origin to sustainability policies. The study argues that the vulnerability of the EU’s agricultural imports to water risks can be estimated based on the amount of green water consumed in producing crops in the countries of origin. The results show that the EU’s consumption of agricultural goods is highly dependent on virtual water imports for all six selected vulnerable agricultural products, from the lowest footprint for bananas (5 mil. km3) to the largest for coffee (69 mil. km3). The analysis also points to a greater concern for quality issues in the countries of origin (56.53%) relative to management (26.52%) and availability issues (16.85%), but the latter are to arise in importance for sustainable production in the years to come. Our conclusions contribute to building up a responsible commitment towards (1) development of environmental policies and the design of practical measures by providing quantitative information that makes problems more clearly defined and tangible, and (2) assessing the outcome of policies and practical measures by understanding their effects on the sustainability of food consumption.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 15
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: ArcheoBot is a prototype of a Telegram Bot: it is an experimental prototype that builds on the common digital experiences of the authors of this article, aiming to offer a quick, powerful, easy to use tool. It aims to serve archaeological and topographical investigations quickly and to interface with other software for the management of collected data.
    Electronic ISSN: 2673-4931
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 16
    Publication Date: 2021-10-29
    Description: We mainly focus on the effects of small changes of parameters on the dynamics of charged particles around Kerr black holes surrounded by an external magnetic field, which can be considered as a tidal environment. The radial motions of charged particles on the equatorial plane are studied via an effective potential. It is found that the particle energies at the local maxima values of the effective potentials increase with an increase in the black hole spin and the particle angular momenta, but decrease with an increase of one of the inductive charge parameter and magnetic field parameter. The radii of stable circular orbits on the equatorial plane also increase, whereas those of the innermost stable circular orbits decrease. On the other hand, the effects of small variations of the parameters on the orbital regular and chaotic dynamics of charged particles on the non-equatorial plane are traced by means of a time-transformed explicit symplectic integrator, Poincaré sections and fast Lyapunov indicators. It is shown that the dynamics sensitivity depends on small variations in the inductive charge parameter, magnetic field parameter, energy, and angular momentum. Chaos occurs easily as each of the inductive charge parameter, magnetic field parameter, and energy increases but is weakened as the angular momentum increases. When the dragging effects of the spacetime increase, the chaotic properties are not always weakened under some circumstances.
    Electronic ISSN: 2218-1997
    Topics: Physics
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  • 17
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The most common method used to pick up biomedical signals is through metallic electrodes coupled to the input of high-gain, low-noise amplifiers. Unfortunately, electrodes, amongst other effects, introduce an undesired contact resistance and a contact potential. The contact potential needs to be rejected since it would otherwise cause the saturation of the input stage of the amplifiers, and this is almost always obtained by inserting a simple RC high-pass filter in the input signal path. The contact resistance needs to be estimated to ensure that it does not impair correct measurements. Methods exist for estimating the contact resistance by dynamically modifying the input network configuration, but because of the presence of the input RC filter, long transients are induced any time a switch occurs between different input configurations, so that the measurement time may become unacceptably long. In this paper, we propose a new topology for a DC removal network at the input of the differential signal amplifier that results in an AC filter whose time constant can be continuously changed by means of a control voltage. As such, we can speed up the recovery from transients by setting very short time constants (during the input resistance estimation process) while maintaining the ability to obtain very low cut-in frequencies by setting a much larger time constant during actual measurements. A prototype of the system was built and tested in order to demonstrate the advantage of the approach we propose in terms of reduced measurement time.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-9292
    Topics: Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 18
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In the EU 28, the installed heating appliance stock is quite old, with an actual replacement rate of 4%. This is directly reflected in the average efficiency of the installed heating systems, where around 60% of the stock is rated with an energy class of C or D (the lowest classes of the energy label scale). The European project HARP aims at raising consumers’ awareness of the planned replacement of their old and inefficient heating appliances with more efficient and renewable solutions. In this direction, an energy labeling methodology for old appliances has been developed to rate the installed stock before the introduction of the EU energy label. The methodology has been developed for space heating appliances and water heaters, targeting two types of users: end consumers and professional users. The validation considered about 4600 space heating appliances and 800 water heaters built between 1972 and 2019. Three heating appliances and two water heaters were tested in the laboratory, confirming the reliability of the proposed methodology. The expected impact of defining an energy labeling methodology for installed heating appliances increases the current replacement rate of these appliances in the EU from 4% to 5%.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 19
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This work presents a comprehensive theoretical analysis of current-mode power amplifiers as a function of input power for different biasing classes under the common simplifying assumption of constant transconductance and hard current cut-off/saturation. Typically, the theoretical analysis of power amplifier performance and behavior are carried out only at maximum output power. However, to achieve high data-rates, modern telecommunication systems adopt signals characterized by a very high peak-to-average power ratio, thus it is useful to analyze the power amplifier behavior as a function of power back-off. Moreover, in many cases, to enhance the efficiency and/or to apply harmonic shaping techniques, a clipped drain-source current, which approaches a square wave, is required. The classical analysis can be extended to low power levels only under the assumption of power-independent conduction angle, which is true only for class-A and class-B amplifiers, and does not take into account possible waveform clipping at maximum current. This work presents a complete theoretical Fourier analysis of FET-based power amplifiers as a function of quiescent drain-source current at any input power level and accounting for the clipped current case, up to the square-wave limit, reorganizing and completing the material that can be found in classical textbooks in the field.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 20
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Hypoxia is known to impair mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) homeostasis. Post-hypoxic perturbations of the ER proteostasis result in the accumulation of misfolded/unfolded proteins leading to the activation of the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR). Mitochondrial chaperone TNF receptor-associated protein 1 (TRAP1) is reported to preserve mitochondrial membrane potential and to impede reactive oxygen species (ROS) production thereby protecting cells from ER stress as well as oxidative stress. The first-line antidiabetic drug Metformin has been attributed a neuroprotective role after hypoxia. Interestingly, Metformin has been reported to rescue mitochondrial deficits in fibroblasts derived from a patient carrying a homozygous TRAP1 loss-of-function mutation. We sought to investigate a putative link between Metformin, TRAP1, and the UPR after hypoxia. We assessed post-hypoxic/reperfusion longevity, mortality, negative geotaxis, ROS production, metabolic activity, gene expression of antioxidant proteins, and activation of the UPR in Trap1-deficient flies. Following hypoxia, Trap1 deficiency caused higher mortality and greater impairments in negative geotaxis compared to controls. Similarly, post-hypoxic production of ROS and UPR activation was significantly higher in Trap1-deficient compared to control flies. Metformin counteracted the deleterious effects of hypoxia in Trap1-deficient flies but had no protective effect in wild-type flies. We provide evidence that TRAP1 is crucially involved in the post-hypoxic regulation of mitochondrial/ER stress and the activation of the UPR. Metformin appears to rescue Trap1-deficiency after hypoxia mitigating ROS production and downregulating the pro-apoptotic PERK (protein kinase R-like ER kinase) arm of the UPR.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 21
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Real-time PCR is widely used to study the relative abundance of mRNA due to its specificity, sensitivity, and repeatability quantification. However, relative quantification requires a reference gene, which should be stable in its expression, showing lower variation by experimental conditions or tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate the stability of the expression of five commonly used reference genes (actb, ywhaz, b2m, sdha, and 18s rRNA) at different physiological stages (alert and emergency) in three different cattle breeds. In this study, five genes (actb, ywhaz, b2m, sdha, and 18s rRNA) were selected as candidate reference genes for expression studies in the whole blood from three cattle breeds (Romosinuano, Gyr, and Brahman) under heat stress conditions. The transcription stability of the candidate reference genes was evaluated using geNorm and NormFinder. The results showed that actb, 18SrRNA, and b2m expression were the most stable reference genes for whole blood of Gyr and Brahman breeds under two states of livestock weather safety (alert and emergency). Meanwhile, actb, b2m, and ywhaz were the most stable reference genes for the Romosinuano breed.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-2615
    Topics: Biology , Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 22
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Residents of nursing homes have been significantly affected by COVID-19 in Spain. The factors that have contributed to the vulnerability of this population are very diverse. In this study, physical agents, chemical pollutants, population density and different capacities of residences were analysed to understand their influence on the number of elderly people who have died in geriatric centres in different autonomous communities (AACCs) of Spain. A statistical analysis was carried out on the variables observed. The results show that many residences with a larger number of deaths were private, with some exceptions. Physical agents and pollutants were found to be determining factors, especially for the communities of Extremadura and Castilla–La Mancha, although the large number of factors involved makes this study complicated. The compromise between air quality and energy efficiency is of great importance, especially when human health is at stake.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 23
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Contemporary agriculture has become very energy-intensive and mainly uses electricity, which is needed for technological processes on livestock farms. Livestock faeces are burdensome for the environment due to the release of methane into the atmosphere. This article presents the concept of a self-sufficient livestock farm as an off-grid energy circuit that is a part of the agricultural process. The key idea is to obtain an energy flow using the concept of a smart valve to achieve a self-sufficient energy process based on a biogas plant, renewable energy sources, and energy storage. During the production process, a livestock farm produces large amounts of waste in the form of grey and black manure. On the one hand, these products are highly harmful to the environment, but on the other, they are valuable input products for another process, i.e., methane production. The methane becomes the fuel for cogeneration generators that produce heat and electricity. Heat and electricity are partly returned to the main farming process and partly used by residents of the area. In this way, a livestock farm and the inhabitants of a village or town can become energy self-sufficient and independent of national grids. The idea described in this paper shows the process of energy production combining a biogas plant, renewable energy sources, and an energy storage unit that enable farmland to become fully self-sufficient through the energy flow between all constituents of the energy cycle being maintained by a smart valve.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 24
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Due to the complex and variable conditions under which wind turbines operate, existing working condition classification methods are inadequate for condition assessment of the main transmission system. Because working conditions are too few after classification, it cannot effectively describe the complex and variable working conditions of wind turbine. This can lead to high false-alarm rates in the condition monitoring, which affect normal operations. This paper proposes a working condition classification method for the main transmission system of wind turbines based on supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data. Firstly, correlation analysis of SCADA data acquired by wind farm is used to select the parameters relevant to the main transmission system. Secondly, according to the wind turbine control principle, the working conditions are initially divided into four phases: shutdown, start-up, maximum wind energy tracking, and constant speed. The k-means clustering algorithm is used to subdivide the maximum wind energy-tracking phase and constant speed phase, which account for a larger proportion of the working conditions, to achieve better classification. Finally, a case study is used to demonstrate the calculation of alarm thresholds and alarm rates for each working condition. The results are compared with the direct use of k-means clustering for working condition classification. It is concluded that the proposed method can significantly reduce the false-alarm rate of the vibration detection process.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 25
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The basic premise of regional ecological construction would be to scientifically and effectively grasp the characteristics of land use change and its impact on landscape ecological risk. The research objects of this paper are the typical areas of the Yellow River Basin in China and “process-change-drive” as the logical main line. Moreover, this paper is based on multi-period land use remote sensing data from 2000 to 2020, the regional land use change process and influencing factors are identified, the temporal and spatial evolution and response process of landscape ecological risk are discussed, and the land use zoning control strategy to reduce ecological risk is put forward. The results indicated: (1) The scale and structure of land use show the characteristics of “many-to-one” and “one-to-many”; (2) the process of land use change is affected by the alternation of multiple factors. The natural environment and socio-economic factors dominate in the early stage and the location and policy factors have a significant impact in the later stage; (3) the overall landscape ecological risk level and conversion rate show a trend of “high in the southeast, low in the northwest”, shift from low to high and landscape ecological risks gradually increase; and (4) in order to improve the regional ecological safety and according to the characteristics of landscape ecological risk and spatial heterogeneity, we should adopt the management and control zoning method and set different levels of control intensity (from key intensity to strict intensity to general intensity), and develop differentiated land use control strategies.
    Print ISSN: 1661-7827
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-4601
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Medicine
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  • 26
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Nowadays, the demand for personalized goods is increasing, with small batches of customized products. Companies are asked to cope with this need to be more competitive; thus, it is crucial to optimally set up the production process to cope with the demand. Among the products composed of several parts, sales kits occupy a significant role. Sales kits are sets of different components, supplied as a single unit. Automation is usually used to reduce the unit direct production costs for assembled products, and this is especially true for kitting since it has minimum added value, compared to other technologies. The wide range of components leads to frequent reconfiguration of the feeding devices between different products, increasing the setup time. The aim of this work is to provide a model that minimizes the setup times of automatic kitting systems when working with a high variety of products. To reach this goal, we propose to apply the traveling salesman problem (TSP) to the production process by integrating a multi-clustering model, thus increasing its appeal to several applications. This method is applied both to simulations and to a real case study, and proves to be able to provide a good solution in a reasonable time.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 27
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The aim of this study is to compare the seismic response of reinforced concrete (RC) symmetric buildings, with a varied number of stories, strengthening with three types of passive energy dissipation systems, as tuned mass dampers, viscous dampers, and friction dampers. The paper presents an overview of design optimization with the object of minimizing certain functions: (i) the maximum displacement at the top of the structures, (ii) the base shear loads, and (iii) the maximum interstory drift. The objective functions were evaluated in three residents’ buildings (a four-story building, a nine-story building, and a sixteen-story building) subjected to seven (real and artificial) seismic recorded accelerograms. For this purpose, 94 nonlinear dynamic analyses were carried out. The effects of each strengthening solution are presented, and from this innovative comparison (optimal design, three different passive energy systems, three different story numbers), further useful results were observed. The outcomes of the study show the effectiveness of a tuned mass damper (TMD) system, and how it might be better for tall and flexible structures than for stiffer structures. However, the response of the pendulum tuned mass damper (TMD) configuration is better than the conventional one because it acts in all directions. The viscous dampers (VDs) provide a significant reduction for mid-rise buildings, while friction dampers (FDs) boost the performance of all structures under seismic action, especially in terms of displacement, and they are more suitable for low-rise buildings.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 28
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Increasing evidence suggests that the gut microbiota and the brain are closely connected via the so-called gut–brain axis. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a gut dysbiosis in which the small intestine is abundantly colonized by bacteria that are typically found in the colon. Though not a disease, it may result in intestinal symptoms caused by the accumulation of microbial gases in the intestine. Intestinal inflammation, malabsorption and vitamin imbalances may also develop. SIBO can be eradicated by one or several courses of antibiotics but reappears if the predisposing condition persists. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative proteinopathy for which disease modifying interventions are not available. Sporadic forms may start in the gut years before the development of clinical features. Increased gastrointestinal transit time is present in most people with PD early during the course of the disease, predisposing to gut dysbiosis, including SIBO. The role that gut dysbiosis may play in the etiopathogenesis of PD is not fully understood yet. Here, we discuss the possibility that SIBO could contribute to the progression of PD, by promoting or preventing neurodegeneration, thus being a potential target for treatments aiming at slowing down the progression of PD. The direct symptomatic impact of SIBO and its impact on symptomatic medication are also briefly discussed.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 29
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Duckweed (L. minor) is a cosmopolitan aquatic plant of simplified morphology and rapid vegetative reproduction. In this study, an H. paralvei bacterial strain and its influence on the antioxidative response of the duckweeds to phenol, a recalcitrant environmental pollutant, were investigated. Sterile duckweed cultures were inoculated with H. paralvei in vitro and cultivated in the presence or absence of phenol (500 mg L−1), in order to investigate bacterial effects on plant oxidative stress during 5 days. Total soluble proteins, guaiacol peroxidase expression, concentration of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde as well as the total ascorbic acid of the plants were monitored. Moreover, bacterial production of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) was measured in order to investigate H. paralvei’s influence on plant growth. In general, the addition of phenol elevated all biochemical parameters in L. minor except AsA and total soluble proteins. Phenol as well as bacteria influenced the expression of guaiacol peroxidase. Different isoforms were associated with phenol compared to isoforms expressed in phenol-free medium. Considering that duckweeds showed increased antioxidative parameters in the presence of phenol, it can be assumed that the measured parameters might be involved in the plant’s defense system. H. paralvei is an IAA producer and its presence in the rhizosphere of duckweeds decreased the oxidative stress of the plants, which can be taken as evidence that this bacterial strain acts protectively on the plants during phenol exposure.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3921
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 30
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Strigolactones (SLs) are a prime example of allelochemicals, promoting parasitic plant germination and certain hyphal branching factors associated to the growth of symbiotic arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). However, the study of SLs is complex, and various issues have yet to be studied in depth. This review intends to provide an overview of the works that have been conducted on the identification, isolation, and evaluation of the allelopathic activity of natural canonical and non-canonical SLs on parasitic weeds and AMF growth. These topics were related with their application in agriculture through trap crops, suicidal germination or intercropping strategies. The high applicability of SLs in agriculture, for example, as preventing herbicides for parasitic weed control, has increased the interest for these compounds and the number of research articles published. This review updates and discusses the last findings in this field, with special emphasis in the results published since 2015, using tables and graphs to summarize and discuss that information. The promising results and conclusions obtained from the bioassays herein presented provide a good reason to encourage and support further research works on these natural products, which must also consider the disadvantages or current limitations that SLs present.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 31
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Birds use song for several goals as defending territory, alerting a partner to the presence of a predator, or wooing a female for breeding. This study aims to identify the morphometric parameters which determine the variability of the number of syllables in the “sexy” songs of yellow-fronted canary. For this purpose, sixteen morphometric parameters were measured among 170 yellow-fronted canaries captured, in four agroecological zones in North Benin. The results showed that the morphometry of yellow-fronted canary varies according to its habitat and the type of song. The categorization of the sample studied allowed to retain two groups which differ in the importance of body characters and the number of sexy syllables issued when singing. Yellow-fronted canaries from the Sudanese climate zone not only have superior morphometric characters compared to other zones, but also have a song composed of several different sexy syllables. A binary logistic regression model with selection of variables revealed that the index of beak shape, abdomen length, and tail length are the determining characteristics of the number of sexy syllables. These results are needed for future breeding and conservation studies of the species.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-2818
    Topics: Biology
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  • 32
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Governance, financing, and business models are deeply interlinked and relevant for the successful implementation of urban nature-based solutions (NBS). However, during the definition of urban NBS projects the importance and interrelation of these models are usually neglected. To overcome this limitation, this paper presents an overarching framework (conceptual and operational) and a derived preselection web tool which interrelate governance, financing, and business models for NBS projects. First, based on recent literature, governance, financing, and business models that could be applied to NBS were mapped, and their integration proposed. Later, key contextual factors influencing NBS implementation were identified. They form the basis of a WHAT–WHO–HOW framework that structures the links between specific NBS projects, their implementation context, and the most suitable models. From that framework, and an analysis of 50 successful NBS case studies, a suitability matrix was developed with known models. The matrix allows pairing types of NBS and their initiating actors with suitable financing and governance models. Lastly, a tailored NBS business model canvas was designed to evaluate the business model components. From the overarching framework, the preselection web tool was created to guide decision-making on suitable governance, finance, and business models in the early phases of NBS projects.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 33
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Next-generation sequencing provides an opportunity for an in-depth biocomputational analysis to identify gene expression patterns between soleus and tibialis anterior, two well-characterized skeletal muscles, and analyze their gene expression profiling. RNA read counts were analyzed for differential gene expression using the R package edgeR. Differentially expressed genes were filtered using a false discovery rate of less than 0.05 c, a fold-change value of more than twenty, and an association with overrepresented pathways based on the Reactome pathway over-representation analysis tool. Most of the differentially expressed genes associated with soleus are coded for components of lipid metabolism and unique contractile elements. Differentially expressed genes associated with tibialis anterior encoded mostly for glucose and glycogen metabolic pathway regulatory enzymes and calcium-sensitive contractile components. These gene expression distinctions partly explain the genetic basis for skeletal muscle specialization, and they may help to explain skeletal muscle susceptibility to disease and drugs and further refine tissue engineering approaches.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4425
    Topics: Biology
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  • 34
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Moored upward-looking Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) can be used to observe sea ice draft. While previous studies relied on the availability of auxiliary pressure sensors to measure the instrument depth of the ADCP, we present an adaptive approach that infers instrument depth from ADCP bottom track (BT) mode measurements of error velocity and range. The ADCP-derived ice draft time series are validated with data from adjacent Upward-Looking Sonar (ULS) moorings. We demonstrate that this method can be used to obtain daily mean sea ice draft time series that, on average, are within 20% of ULS-derived draft time series. ULS and ADCP ice draft time series were observed by four moorings in the Laptev Sea and show correlations between 0.7 and 0.9. This new approach is not a substitute for high-frequency, high-precision ULS measurements of ice draft but it provides a low-cost opportunity to derive daily mean ice draft time series accessing existing ADCP data that have not been not used for that purpose to date. This method has the potential to close data gaps and extend existing ice draft time series in all ice-covered regions and supports the validation of sea ice thickness products from satellite missions such as CryoSat-2, SMOS or ENVISAT.
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-4292
    Topics: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Surveying , Geography
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  • 35
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Individuals with post-polio syndrome (PPS) suffer from falls and secondary damage. Aim: To (i) analyze the correlation between spatio-temporal gait data and fall measures (fear and frequency of falls) and to (ii) test whether the gait parameters are predictors of fall measures in PPS patients. Methods: Spatio-temporal gait data of 50 individuals with PPS (25 males; age 65.9 ± 8.0) were acquired during gait and while performing the Timed Up-and-Go test. Subjects filled the Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC Scale) and reported number of falls during the past year. Results: ABC scores and number of falls correlated with the Timed Up-and-Go, and gait cadence and velocity. The number of falls also correlated with the swing duration symmetry index and the step length variability. Four gait variability parameters explained 33.2% of the variance of the report of falls (p = 0.006). The gait velocity was the best predictor of the ABC score and explained 24.8% of its variance (p = 0.001). Conclusion: Gait variability, easily measured by wearables or pressure-sensing mats, is an important predictor of falls in PPS population. Therefore, gait variability might be an efficient tool before devising a patient-specific fall prevention program for the PPS patient.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-7737
    Topics: Biology
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  • 36
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Lockdown policies applied worldwide to limit the spread of COVID-19, and mainly based on health considerations, have negatively impacted on public transport (PT) usage, suspected as a means for the virus spreading due to difficulties ensuring social distancing. This resulted not only in a setback to sustainable mobility, but also impacting on equity and social exclusion issues. The paper aimed to cover this topic, investigating the conjecture that the spread of the coronavirus is directly correlated to PT usage. A correlation analysis among the daily number of certified coronavirus cases and the PT trips measured in the day in which the contagions occurred was performed within the second wave in Italy. The appropriateness of the case study is twofold because Italy was one of the main European countries with a high mass contagion and because the vaccination campaign had not yet started in Italy. Estimation results show a high correlation (up to 0.87) between COVID-19 contagion and PT trips performed 22 days before. This threshold indicates that quarantine measures, commonly set at two weeks and based only on incubation considerations, were inadequate as a containment strategy, and may have produced a possible slowdown in identifying new cases and hence, in adopting mitigation policies. A cause–effect test was also implemented, concluding that there is a strong causal link between COVID-19 and PT trips. The main issues discussed in this research cover the transportation and the health filed but also laid the groundwork for ethical considerations concerning the right to mobility and social equity. Obtained results could yield significant insights into the context variables that influence the spread of the virus, also helping appropriate definition of restrictive policies, thereby ensuring a sustainable recovery and development of urban areas in the post-pandemic era.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 37
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The concept of Heider balance, usually applied to interpersonal relations, is generalized here to opinions gathered in surveys. At first, we compare four algorithms, which drive a matrix dataset to a balanced state. The criterion is that the final state obtained with an algorithm should be as close as possible to the initial state. The result is that deterministic differential equations work better than their Monte Carlo counterparts. Next, we apply the winning algorithms to the matrix of correlations between opinions gathered in American states between 1974 and 1998. The results are interpreted in terms of the classic comfort hypothesis (E. Babbie, 2007).
    Electronic ISSN: 1099-4300
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Physics
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  • 38
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: A new probability distribution to study lifetime data in reliability is introduced in this paper. This one is a first approach to a non-homogeneous phase-type distribution. It is built by considering one cut-point in the non-negative semi-line of a phase-type distribution. The density function is defined and the main measures associated, such as the reliability function, hazard rate, cumulative hazard rate and the characteristic function, are also worked out. This new class of distributions enables us to decrease the number of parameters in the estimate when inference is considered. Additionally, the likelihood distribution is built to estimate the model parameters by maximum likelihood. Several applications considering Resistive Random Access Memories compare the adjustment when phase type distributions and one cut-point phase-type distributions are considered. The developed methodology has been computationally implemented in R-cran.
    Electronic ISSN: 2227-7390
    Topics: Mathematics
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  • 39
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Exosomes are the small extracellular vesicles secreted by cells for intercellular communication. Exosomes are rich in therapeutic cargos such as microRNA (miRNA), long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), small interfering RNA (siRNA), DNA, protein, and lipids. Recently, many studies have focused on miRNAs as a promising therapeutic factor to support cartilage regeneration. Exosomes are known to contain a substantial amount of a variety of miRNAs. miRNAs regulate the post-transcriptional gene expression by base-pairing with the target messenger RNA (mRNA), leading to gene silencing. Several exosomal miRNAs have been found to play a role in cartilage regeneration by promoting chondrocyte proliferation and matrix secretion, reducing scar tissue formation, and subsiding inflammation. The exosomal miRNA cargo can be modulated using techniques such as cell transfection and priming as well as post-secretion modifications to upregulate specific miRNAs to enhance the therapeutic effect. Exosomes are delivered to the joints through direct injection or via encapsulation within a scaffold for sustained release. To date, exosome therapy for cartilage injuries has yet to be optimized as the ideal cell source for exosomes, and the dose and method of delivery have yet to be identified. More importantly, a deeper understanding of the role of exosomal miRNAs in cartilage repair is paramount for the development of more effective exosome therapy.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8247
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 40
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In this paper, a tunable absorber composed of asymmetric grating based on a graphene-dielectric-metal structure is proposed. The absorption of the absorber can be modified from 99.99% to 61.73% in the near-infrared by varying the Fermi energy of graphene, and the absorption wavelength can be tuned by varying the grating period. Furthermore, the influence of other geometrical parameters, the incident angle, and polarization are analyzed in detail by a finite-difference time-domain simulation. The graphene absorbers proposed in this paper have potential applications in the fields of stealth, sense, and photoelectric conversion. When the absorber that we propose is used as a gas sensor, the sensitivity of 200 nm/RIU with FOM can reach up to 159 RIU−1.
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-666X
    Topics: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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  • 41
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The trend towards personalized healthcare has led to an increase in applying deep learning techniques to improve healthcare service quality and sustainability. With the increasing number of patients with multiple comorbidities, they need comprehensive care services, where comprehensive care is a synonym for complete patient care to respond to a patient’s physical, emotional, social, economic, and spiritual needs, and, as such, an efficient prediction system for comprehensive care suggestions could help physicians and healthcare providers in making clinical judgement. The experiment dataset contained a total of 2.9 million electrical medical records (EMRs) from 250 thousand hospitalized patients collected retrospectively from a first-tier medical center in Taiwan, where the EMRs were de-identified and anonymized and where 949 cases had received comprehensive care. Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are designed for analyzing time-series data but are still lacking in studying predicting personalized healthcare. Furthermore, in most cases, the collected evaluation data are imbalanced with a small portion of positive cases. This study examined the impact of imbalanced data in model training and suggested an effective approach to handle such a situation. To address the above-mentioned research issue, this study analyzed the care need in the different patient groupings, proposed a personalized care suggestion system by applying RNN models, and developed an efficient model training scheme for building AI-assisted prediction models. This study observed several findings: (1) the data resampling schemes could mitigate the impact of imbalanced data on model training, and the under-sampling scheme achieved the best performance with an ACC of 99.80%, a PPV of 70.18%, an NPV of 99.87%, a recall of 82.91%, and an F1 score of 0.7602, while the model trained with the original data had a very low PPV of 6.42% and a low F1 score of 0.1116; (2) patient clustering with multi-classier could predict comprehensive care needs efficiently with an ACC of 99.87%, a PPV of 77.90%, an NPV of 99.90%, a recall of 92.19%, and an F1 score of 0.8404; (3) the proposed long short-term memory (LSTM) prediction model achieved the best overall performance with an ACC of 99.80%, a PPV of 70.18%, an NPV of 99.87%, a recall of 82.91%, and an F1 score of 0.7602.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 42
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This review is focused on the research of dielectric fluids, especially commonly used power transformer oils enhanced by nanoparticles, i.e., nanofluids. There are differences between various combinations of base fluids and nanoparticles prepared in different ways. The main goal of this review was to present recent research in this field sorted by the used nanoparticles. Nanofluids based on mineral oils, natural, or synthetic esters were investigated in terms of the nature of nanoparticles, particularly Al2O3, TiO2, Fe2O3, Fe3O4, graphene, fullerene, and others. The combinations of environmentally friendly oils and nanoparticles were presented. Finally, the article focused on the description of current dielectric fluids usable in power transformers and the possibilities of improving new and existing fluids with nanoparticles, especially their physical, dielectric, and chemical properties, but with regard to environmental aspects.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-4991
    Topics: Physics
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  • 43
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: A spatial and temporal heterogeneity analysis of residential land prices, in general, is crucial for maintaining high-quality economic development. Previous studies have attempted to explain the geographical evolution rule by studying spatial-temporal heterogeneity, but they have neglected the contextual information, such as school district, industrial zone, population density, and job density, associated with residential land prices. Therefore, in this study, we consider contextual factors and propose a revised local regression algorithm called the contextualized geographically and temporally weighted regression (CGTWR), to effectively address spatiotemporal heterogeneity, and to creatively extend the feasibility of importing the contextualization into the GTWR model. The quantitative impact of contextual information on residential land prices was identified in Shijiazhuang (SJZ) city from 1974 to 2021. Empirical analyses demonstrated that school district and industrial zone factors played important roles in residential land prices. Notably, the distance from a residential area to an industrial zone was significantly positively correlated with residential land prices. In addition, a positive relationship between school districts and residential land prices was also observed. Finally, the R2 value of the CGTWR model was 92%, which was superior to those of ordinary least squares (OLS, 76%), geographically weighted regression (GWR, 85%), contextualized geographically weighted regression (CGWR, 86%), and GTWR (90%) models. These evaluation results indicate that the CGTWR algorithm, which incorporates contextual information and spatiotemporal variation, could provide policy makers with evidence for understanding the nature of varying relationships within a land price dataset in China.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-445X
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 44
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: As a multifactorial disease, treatment of cancer depends on understanding unique mechanisms involved in its progression. The cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumor stemness and by enhancing colony formation, proliferation as well as metastasis, and these cells can also mediate resistance to therapy. Furthermore, the presence of CSCs leads to cancer recurrence and therefore their complete eradication can have immense therapeutic benefits. The present review focuses on targeting CSCs by natural products in cancer therapy. The growth and colony formation capacities of CSCs have been reported can be attenuated by the dietary agents. These compounds can induce apoptosis in CSCs and reduce tumor migration and invasion via EMT inhibition. A variety of molecular pathways including STAT3, Wnt/β-catenin, Sonic Hedgehog, Gli1 and NF-κB undergo down-regulation by dietary agents in suppressing CSC features. Upon exposure to natural agents, a significant decrease occurs in levels of CSC markers including CD44, CD133, ALDH1, Oct4 and Nanog to impair cancer stemness. Furthermore, CSC suppression by dietary agents can enhance sensitivity of tumors to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In addition to in vitro studies, as well as experiments on the different preclinical models have shown capacity of natural products in suppressing cancer stemness. Furthermore, use of nanostructures for improving therapeutic impact of dietary agents is recommended to rapidly translate preclinical findings for clinical use.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 45
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Rabbitfish (Siganidae) are coral reef fish that are distributed across diverse habitats that include estuaries, mangroves, reefs, and even seaweed mats. Given their ecological diversity and natural widespread distributions across the Indo-Pacific region, we were interested to investigate the evolutionary history of this group and patterns of divergence that have contributed to their present-day distributions. In the present study, samples were collected from the South China Sea to study taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships, and divergence times. We investigated the taxonomic relationships among modern rabbitfish species, reconstructed their molecular phylogeny, and estimated divergence times among selected lineages based on a fragment of the mtDNA cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and sequences of the nuclear rhodopsin retrogene (RHO). Our results indicate that modern rabbitfish likely originated in the Indo-West Pacific during the late Eocene [37.4 million years ago (mya)], following which they diverged into three major clades during the Pliocene/Pleistocene. Subsequent diversification and origins of the majority of siganids may likely be associated with episodes of paleo-oceanographic events, including greenhouse and glaciation events (Eocene–Miocene) as well as major plate tectonic events (Pliocene–Pleistocene). Some modern siganid species may naturally hybridize with congeneric species where their geographical ranges overlap. A comprehensive taxonomic analysis revealed that the phylogeny of Siganidae (cladogenesis of Clades I, II, and III) is characterized by divergence in several external morphological characters and morphometric parameters. Our study demonstrates that morphological characteristics, geographical heterogeneity, and environmental change have contributed to siganids’ historical diversification.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-7737
    Topics: Biology
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  • 46
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The reaction mechanism of ZrB2-ZrC formation in a 30% Ni-Zr-B4C system under argon was revealed by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results indicated that the reaction mechanism in the Ni-Zr-B4C system was complex. Initially, NixZry and NixBy intermetallics were formed via solid-state diffusion reactions between Ni, B4C and Zr. Then, the eutectic reaction between Ni2B and Ni4B3 lead to the formation of Ni-B liquid. The free C atoms dissolved into the Ni-B liquid to form a Ni-B-C ternary liquid, and then part of the Zr powder dissolved into the surrounding Ni-B-C ternary liquid to form Ni-Zr-B-C quaternary liquid. Finally, ZrB2 and ZrC formed and precipitated out of the saturated liquid. The eutectic liquid plays an important role during the formation of ZrB2-ZrC.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1944
    Topics: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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  • 47
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) has various biomedical applications in traditional oriental medicine for different diseases including inflammatory and immune-dysregulated diseases. It is a reservoir of nutritional components such as cordycepin, polysaccharides, and antioxidants. To improve its bioactivity, we fermented C. militaris with a Pediococcus pentosaceus strain isolated from a salted small octopus (SC11). The current study aimed to evaluate whether P. pentosaceus (SC11) fermentation could enhance the anti-allergic potential of C. militaris cultured on germinated Rhynchosia nulubilis (GRC) against a type I hypersensitive reaction in in vitro and in vivo studies. Total antioxidant capacity and cordycepin content were significantly increased in GRC after SC11 fermentation. GRC-SC11 showed significantly enhanced anti-allergic responses by inhibiting immunoglobulin E (IgE)/antigen-induced degranulation in RBL-2H3 cells, compared to GRC. The results demonstrated the significant inhibition of phosphorylated spleen tyrosine kinase (Syk)/ p38/GRB2-associated binding protein 2 (Gab2)/c-jun in IgE/Ag-triggered RBL-2H3 cells. Furthermore, suppressed mRNA levels of interleukin-4 (IL-4) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in IgE/Ag-activated RBL-2H3 cells were observed. GRC-SC11 significantly ameliorated IgE-induced allergic reactions by suppressing the ear swelling, vascular permeability, and inflammatory cell infiltration in passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) BALB/c mice. In conclusion, GRC fermented with P.pentosaceus exerted enhanced anti-allergic effects, and increased the cordycepin content and antioxidants potential compared to GRC. It can be used as bio-functional food in the prevention and management of type I allergic diseases.
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-6643
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
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  • 48
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: An ubiquinone derivative, pseudoalteromone A (1), has been isolated from two marine-derived Pseudoalteromonas spp., APmarine002 and ROA-050, and its anti-melanogenesis activity was investigated. The anti-melanogenic capacity of pseudoalteromone A was demonstrated by assessing the intracellular and extracellular melanin content and cellular tyrosinase activity in the B16 cell line, Melan-a mouse melanocyte cell line, and MNT-1 human malignant melanoma cell line. Treatment with pseudoalteromone A (40 μg/mL) for 72 h reduced α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH)-induced intracellular melanin production by up to 44.68% in B16 cells and 38.24% in MNT-1 cells. Notably, pseudoalteromone A induced a concentration-dependent reduction in cellular tyrosinase activity in B16 cell, and Western blot analyses showed that this inhibitory activity was associated with a significant decrease in protein levels of tyrosinase and tyrosinase-related protein 1 (Tyrp-1), suggesting that pseudoalteromone A exerts its anti-melanogenesis activity through effects on melanogenic genes. We further evaluated the skin-whitening effect of pseudoalteromone A in the three-dimensional (3D) pigmented-epidermis model, MelanoDerm, and visualized the 3D distribution of melanin by two-photon excited fluorescence imaging in this human skin equivalent. Collectively, our findings suggest that pseudoalteromone A inhibits tyrosinase activity and expression and that this accounts for its anti-melanogenic effects in melanocytes.
    Electronic ISSN: 1660-3397
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 49
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Sulfate-radical-based advanced oxidation processes are highly effective in the degradation of antibiotics in water and wastewater. The activation of sulfate radicals occurs with the use of biochar, a low-cost carbon material. In this work, the preparation of biochar from rice husk for the degradation of various antibiotics was studied, and the biochar was compared with another biochar prepared at a different pyrolysis temperature. The biochar was prepared at 700 °C under limited O2. It had a high specific surface area of 231 m2 g−1 with micropores, a point of zero charge equal to 7.4 and a high silica content. The effect of different operating conditions on the degradation of organic compounds was studied. Increases in biochar dosage and sodium persulfate concentration were found to be beneficial for the degradation. In contrast, an increase in antibiotic concentration, the complexity of the water matrix and the existence of radical scavengers all had a detrimental effect on the activity. The comparison of the results with those from a biochar prepared at a higher temperature (850 °C) revealed that the preparation conditions affect the performance. The biochar pyrolyzed at 700 °C exhibited different behavior from that prepared at 850 °C, demonstrating the importance of the preparation route. The studied reaction was surface-sensitive and followed radical and non-radical pathways. The adsorption of the organic contaminant also played a significant role. The carbon phase characteristics determined the dominant pathway, which was radical formation, in contrast with the biochar prepared at higher temperature, where the degradation followed mainly non-radical pathways.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4344
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 50
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The liberalization of the gas market has deeply affected the structure of the gas system. The change from a vertically integrated utility structure to a liberalized architecture has resulted in a new network asset where aggregators could play a key role. To enable aggregators’ functionalities, the gas system has moved to a smart configuration. The development of this Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) allowing a two-way communication between the utility and the consumers, together with demand response programs, prove to be an advantageous solution. Utilities are allowed to manage consumers’ gas load by asking them to reduce or shift their gas usage so that rebates or back payments could be available for consumers. In this framework, aimed at ensuring the feasibility of the gas system and promoting the aggregation of small gas loads, a new agent has been identified. In this research, the potential of district heating systems as gas market aggregators, together with a novel architecture for the gas network system has been identified. Furthermore, DR benefits in natural gas systems have been assessed with a focus on the Italian peninsula, where the authors have already carried out a previous analysis in this regard.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 51
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The utilization of high-calcium fly ashes (HCFA) from coal-fired power plants in the construction industry is problematic, since their high free lime contents can lead to durability problems. In this research, the carbonation of a high-CaO fly ash has been carried out using simulated flue gas and concentrated CO2, with the aim to assess the valorization potential of such materials in the construction industry. The results show that, at 7 bars total pressure, an up to 36% carbonation efficiency can be achieved in just 30 min when pure CO2 is used; a comparable result with flue gas requires about 4 h of reaction. On the other hand, experiments carried out at atmospheric pressure show significantly different carbonation efficiencies depending on the CO2 concentration of the gas used. All experiments resulted in a substantial reduction in the original free lime content, and after reaction times of 4 h (at atmospheric pressure) and pressures of 7 bars (for any reaction time 〉30 min), the final free lime values were low enough to comply with the requirements of European Standards for their utilization as additions in cement.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4352
    Topics: Physics
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  • 52
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: We determined the association between T. gondii seropositivity and a history of sexual promiscuity. The study included 3933 people (mean age: 41.81 ± 14.31 years) who attended public health facilities. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. Enzyme immunoassays were used to determine anti-T. gondii IgG and IgM antibodies. Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were found in 57 (18.1%) of 315 individuals with sexual promiscuity and in 374 (10.3%) of 3618 individuals without this practice (OR: 1.91; 95% CI: 1.41–2.60; p 〈 0.0001). High (〉150 IU/mL) levels of anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were found in 29 (9.2%) of the 315 participants with sexual promiscuity and in 167 (4.6%) of the 3618 participants without this history (OR: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.38–3.16; p = 0.0003). The association of sexual promiscuity with T. gondii seropositivity and serointensity was observed in men but not in women. Sexual promiscuity was associated with T. gondii seropositivity in all age groups studied (≤30 years, 31–50 years, and 〉50 years) and with T. gondii serointensity in two age groups (≤30 years, and 〉50 years). No difference in the frequencies of anti-T. gondii IgM antibodies among the groups was found. Our findings indicate that T. gondii seropositivity and serointensity are associated with sexual promiscuity.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-0817
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
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  • 53
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The paper presents water diffusion coefficients as providing a significant contribution to the creation of a comprehensive database and knowledge of weight variation during the drying process of raw plant materials that is used for modelling the technological process and designing innovative products. Dehydration is one of the most widely used methods for improving the stability and durability of fruit and vegetables because it reduces water activity and microbial activity, and minimises the physical and chemical changes during storage. The considerable impact of pressure on heat exchange and weight during the convection drying process of osmotically pretreated apples is demonstrated. The course of the drying curves and the drying rate is determined by the use of pressures of 0.02 and 500 MPa. Varied pressure applied during osmotic impregnation significantly influences the value of the diffusion coefficient: the average determined for the entire course of the drying curve and the average determined in the intervals of the reduced water content. The lowest values of the average water diffusion coefficient are obtained for apples preboiled under overpressure conditions and, at the same time, the determined diffusion coefficients in the water content are characterised on the drying curve by a clearly decreasing course until the reduced water content reaches approximately 0.2.
    Electronic ISSN: 2304-8158
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 54
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The authors would like to make a correction in a recent published paper [...]
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-6643
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
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  • 55
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Wood bark is one of the main residues in the forest industry worldwide. Currently, the bark is used to produce process heat and energy. A major amount of this is mainly used in power and heating plants. Due to the fact that the demand for heating energy is seasonal, the storage of bark is necessary. The storage process of bark and therefore related problems (like biomass loss, increase of ash content etc.) were discussed in previous studies. Different approaches to increase the economic and ecologic value of wood bark through gaining extractives from the bark were investigated in order to revalue this by-product as well. This study shows the change in calorific value and ash content of birch bark based on results of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). Regarding the energy content (gross calorific value), a comparison was made that showed that due to the extraction process, the energy content of the birch bark is decreased. The extraction yield of the methanol extracts results as 17.74%. The total phenolic content (TPC) of this extract was 447.75 mg GAE/g of oven-dried bark extracts. The amount of ash increased by 23.74% after the extraction. The gross calorific value of the birch bark decreased by 6.98%. The calculated energy content decreased from 2.48 MWh/m3 before extraction to 1.61 MWh/m3 after extraction, which is a loss of 35.08%. The obtained results show that through the extraction of birch bark via ultrasound-assisted extraction, valuable substances can be produced. At the same time, the ash content of extracted birch bark increased whereas the energy content decreased.
    Electronic ISSN: 1999-4907
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 56
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The deployment of modern applications, like massive Internet of Things (IoT), poses a combination of challenges that service providers need to overcome: high availability of the offered services, low latency, and low energy consumption. To overcome these challenges, service providers have been placing computing infrastructure close to the end users, at the edge of the network. In this vein, single board computer (SBC) clusters have gained attention due to their low cost, low energy consumption, and easy programmability. A subset of IoT applications requires the deployment of battery-powered SBCs, or clusters thereof. More recently, the deployment of services on SBC clusters has been automated through the use of containers. The management of these containers is performed by orchestration platforms, like Kubernetes. However, orchestration platforms do not consider remaining energy levels for their placement decisions and therefore are not optimized for energy-constrained environments. In this study, we propose a scheduler that is optimised for energy-constrained SBC clusters and operates within Kubernetes. Through comparison with the available schedulers we achieved 23% fewer event rejections, 83% less deadline violations, and approximately a 59% reduction of the consumed energy throughout the cluster.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 57
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: High-temperature stress negatively affects the growth and development of plants, and therefore threatens global agricultural safety. Cultivating stress-tolerant plants is the current objective of plant breeding programs. Pearl millet is a multi-purpose plant, commonly used as a forage but also an important food staple. This crop is very heat-resistant and has a higher net assimilation rate than corn under high-temperature stress. However, the response of heat resistant pearl millet has so far not been studied at the transcriptional level. In this study, transcriptome sequencing of pearl millet leaves exposed to different lengths of heat treatment (1 h, 48 h and 96 h) was conducted in order to investigate the molecular mechanisms of the heat stress response and to identify key genes related to heat stress. The results showed that the amount of heat stress-induced DEGs in leaves differs with the length of exposure to high temperatures. The highest value of DEGs (8286) was observed for the group exposed to heat stress for 96 h, while the other two treatments showed lower DEGs values of 4659 DEGs after 1 h exposure and 3981 DEGs after 48 h exposure to heat stress. The DEGs were mainly synthesized in protein folding pathways under high-temperature stress after 1 h exposure. Moreover, a large number of genes encoding ROS scavenging enzymes were activated under heat stress for 1 h and 48 h treatments. The flavonoid synthesis pathway of pearl millet was enriched after heat stress for 96 h. This study analyzed the transcription dynamics under short to long-term heat stress to provide a theoretical basis for the heat resistance response of pearl millet.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4425
    Topics: Biology
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  • 58
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Instrumented indentation tests are an efficient approach for the characterization of stress–strain curves instead of tensile or compression tests and have recently been applied for the evaluation of mechanical properties at elevated temperatures. In high-temperature tests, the rate dependence of the applied load appears to be dominant. In this study, the strain-rate-dependent plasticity in instrumented indentation tests at high temperatures was characterized through the assimilation of experiments with a simulation model. Accordingly, a simple constitutive model of strain-rate-dependent plasticity was defined, and the material constants were determined to minimize the difference between the experimental results and the corresponding simulations at a constant high temperature. Finite element simulations using a few estimated mechanical properties were compared with the corresponding experiments in compression tests at the same temperature for the validation of the estimated material responses. The constitutive model and determined material constants can reproduce the strain-rate-dependent material behavior under various loading speeds in instrumented indentation tests; however, the load level of computational simulations is lower than those of the experiments in the compression tests. These results indicate that the local mechanical responses evaluated in the instrumented indentation tests were not consistent with the bulk responses in the compression tests at high temperature. Consequently, the bulk properties were not able to be characterized using instrumented indentation tests at high temperature because of the scale effect.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4352
    Topics: Physics
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  • 59
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The aim of the study was to analyze the polyphenolic profile of cone extracts of Douglas fir, Scots pine and Korean fir, and to study their antioxidant activity. The mechanism of electro-oxidation of polyphenols (such as procyanidins and catechins) from cone extracts was investigated using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), as well as spectrophotometric methods—ABTS (2,2′-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonate)), DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl), FRAP (Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power ) and CUPRAC (CUPric Reducing Antioxidant Capacity). The scientific novelty of the research is the comprehensive analysis of cone extracts in terms of antioxidant properties. Due to the high polyphenol content, the extracts showed significant ability to reduce oxidative reactions, as well as the ability to scavenge free radicals and transition metal ions. Douglas fir, Scots pine and Korean fir cone extracts can potentially be used as natural stabilizers, preservatives and antimicrobial substances in the food industry and in medications.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3921
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 60
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The head and neck tumors (HNT) are a heterogeneous group of diseases ranging from benign to malignant lesions, with distinctive molecular and clinical behaviors. Several studies have highlighted the presence of an altered metabolic phenotype in HNT, such as the upregulation of nicotinamide N-methyltransferase (NNMT). However, its biological effects have not been completely disclosed and the role of NNMT in cancer cell metabolism remains unclear. Therefore, this comprehensive review aims to evaluate the available literature regarding the biological, diagnostic, and prognostic role of NNMT in HNT. NNMT was shown to be significantly overexpressed in all of the evaluated HNT types. Moreover, its upregulation has been correlated with cancer cell migration and adverse clinical outcomes, such as high-pathological stage, lymph node metastasis, and locoregional recurrences. However, in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) these associations are still debated, and several studies have failed to demonstrate the prognostic significance of NNMT. The shRNA-mediated gene silencing efficiently suppressed the NNMT gene expression and exhibited a clear inhibitory effect on cell proliferation, promoting the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and modulating the cell cycle. NNMT could represent a new molecular biomarker and a new target of molecular-based therapy, although further studies on larger patient cohorts are needed to explore its biological role in HNT.
    Electronic ISSN: 2218-273X
    Topics: Biology
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  • 61
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Loop-closure detection is an essential means to reduce accumulated errors of simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems. However, even false positive loop closures could seriously interfere and even corrupt the back-end optimization process. For a collaborative SLAM system that generally uses both intra-robot and inter-robot loop closures to optimize the pose graph, it is a tough job to reject those false positive loop closures without a reliable a priori knowledge of the relative pose transformation between robots. Aiming at this solving problem, this paper proposes a two-stage false positive loop-closure rejection method based on three types of consistency checks. Firstly, a multi-robot pose-graph optimization model is given which transforms the multi-robot pose optimization problem into a maximum likelihood estimation model. Then, the principle of the false positive loop-closure rejection method based on test is proposed, in which clustering is used to reject those intra-robot false loop-closures in the first step, and a largest mutually consistent loop-based test is constructed to reject inter-robot false loop closures in the second step. Finally, an open dataset and synthetic data are used to evaluate the performance of the algorithms. The experimental results demonstrate that our method improves the accuracy and robustness of the back-end pose-graph optimization with a strong ability to reject false positive loop closures, and it is not sensitive to the initial pose at the same time. In the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 55.37% compared to the dynamic scaling covariance method, and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 77.27%; in the city10,000 synthetic dataset, the absolute position error is reduced by 89.37% compared to the pairwise consistency maximization (PCM) and the absolute rotation error is reduced by 97.9%.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-9292
    Topics: Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 62
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Leaf trait is an important target trait in crop breeding programs. Moderate leaf curling may be a help for improving crop yield by minimizing the shadowing by leaves. Mining locus for leaf curling trait is of significance for plant genetics and breeding researches. The present study identified a novel rapeseed accession with up-curling leaf, analyzed the up-curling leaf trait inheritance, and fine mapped the locus for up-curling leaf property (Bnuc3) in Brassica napus. Genetic analysis revealed that the up-curling leaf trait is controlled by a single dominant locus, named BnUC3. We performed an association study of BnUC3 with single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers using a backcross population derived from the homozygous up-curling leaf line NJAU-M1295 and the canola variety ‘zhongshuang11’ with typical flat leaves, and mapped the BnUC3 locus in a 1.92 Mb interval of chromosome A02 of B. napus. To further map BnUC3, 232 simple sequence repeat (SSR) primers and four pairs of Insertion/Deletion (InDel) primers were developed for the mapping interval. Among them, five SSR markers and two InDel markers were polymorphic. By these markers, the mapping interval was narrowed to 92.0 kb using another F2 population. This fine mapping interval has 11 annotated genes among which BnaA02T0157000ZS were inferred to be candidate casual genes for up-curling leaf based on the cloned sequence analysis, gene functionality, and gene expression analysis. The current study laid a foundational basis for further elucidating the mechanism of BnUC3 and breeding of variety with up-curling leaf.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 63
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This study investigated seasonal variation, spatial distribution, sources, composition and potential ecological risks of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Red Sea coastal water. Surface seawater samples were collected at fourteen different locations. The sum of 16 PAHs concentrations in Red Sea showed clear variation between seasons, ranged from 1.08–6.10, 0.79–50.86, 1.37–54.47 and 0.21–7.18 μg/L in summer, autumn, winter, and spring respectively. PAHs levels in Red Sea coastal waters were relatively high at certain sites during autumn and winter seasons. They could be classified as highly polluted by PAHs contaminants (〉10 μg/L). According to the diagnostic ratios measured, the majority of PAHs in this study originated from pyrogenic sources, while minor amounts originated from petrogenic sources. Four rings PAHs accounted for more than 64% of the total PAHs studied. PAHs pose a high ecological risk along the period of study, according to the ecological risk assessment by Risk quotients (RQNCs and RQMPCs).
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 64
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Panax ginseng is a well-known medicinal plant that achieves strong resistance against plant pathogens while growing in the wild. Due to the high market demand for ginseng as a health food source, ginseng cultivation is prevalent in South Korea. However, continuous monocropping creates problems like irregular growth or vulnerability to crop diseases. Quorum sensing (QS) deals with the intracellular communication of bacteria and plays a role in dynamic changes in the soil microbiome. Here, we investigated how acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) signaling molecules in QS (C8, C10, and C12) improve plant growth and induce shifts in the soil microbiome. To assess the effects, we recorded root and shoot growth of ginseng seedlings and checked the changes in the soil microbiome during different time points (0, 2, 4, and 8) after 8 weeks of growth. We observed that soils treated with N-decanoyl-L-homoserine lactone (C10) showed the most pronounced effects. Very striking was that C10 had the lowest alpha diversity. Using Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt2), we observed a high number of QS-related functional genes, with the highest count occurring in the untreated planted soil (W). Together with the known direct and beneficial effects of AHLs on plant development, AHLs treated mono-cropped soil showed trends in the microbiome community.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 65
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Heavy metal pollution of soil restricts the sustainable use of land and poses risks to human health throughout the world. Changes in the physicochemical properties of soil may increase the mobility of heavy metals in the soil ecosystem and lead to groundwater pollution. In this study, the effects of different salt solutions (NaCl, CaCl2, NaNO3, MgCl2, Na2SO4, and mixed salts) on the release of Cd from soil were investigated by batch desorption tests and the Freundlich isothermal sorption model. Increased concentrations of the salts, except for NaNO3, significantly promoted Cd release (R2 〉 0.9, p 〈 0.01). Under the salt stress, Cd release from the test soils was promoted more by CaCl2 and MgCl2 than by the other salts, and the average desorption rates of eight soil samples at 3.5% salt concentration were 11.15% and 10.80%, respectively, which were much higher than those of NaCl (4.05%), Na2SO4 (0.41%), and NaNO3 (0.33%). Ca2+ and Mg2+ showed better ion exchange capacity than Na+ to promote Cd release; for anions, Cl− formed hydrophilic Cd chloride complexes with Cd in soil. In addition, principal component analysis results revealed that Cd release was mainly influenced by soil texture, cation exchange capacity, and iron–manganese oxide content of the soil. The Cd release level for different soil samples was most closely related to the proportion of fine particles in the soil. The higher the clay content was, the higher the Cd desorption rate.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 66
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: We previously demonstrated that urban particulate matter (UPM) exposure decreases the migration activity and survival of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs). Herein, we investigated the potential to improve the corneal wound-healing ability of Peucedanum japonicum Thunb. leaf extract (PJE) and its active components on UPM-induced ocular surface damage in vitro and in vivo. PJE effectively assisted wound healing without altering HCEC survival and enhanced catalase (CAT), heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) and glutathione peroxidase 1 (GPX1) antioxidant gene expression. A corneal wound was uniformly induced on the right eye in all experimental animals and divided into eight groups such as two control groups (wounded right eye group—NR and non-wounded left eye group—NL), UPM treated group and PJEs (25, 50, 100, 200, 400 mg/kg) treated groups. Corneal abrasion model rats exposed to UPM showed delayed wound healing compared to unexposed rats, but wound healing was dose-dependently enhanced by PJE oral administration. Seventy-two hours after wound generation, inflammatory cells, apoptotic cells and interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression were increased substantially after UPM exposure, but PJE treatment significantly reduced the wound to an almost normal level while enhancing re-epithelialization without changing corneal thickness. Next, we tried to identify the key molecules for enhancing wound healing through fractionation. The major compounds in the fraction, confirmed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), were chlorogenic acid (CA), neochlorogenic acid (NCA) and cryptochlorogenic acid (CCA). Each type of CA isomers showed slightly different half maximal effective (EC50) and maximal effective (ECmax) concentrations, and their mixtures synergistically enhanced HCEC migration. Thus, corneal abrasion wound recovery after UPM exposure improved after PJE treatment, and the active PJE components were identified, providing an important basis to develop therapeutics for ocular surface damage using PJE.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3921
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 67
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This research concerns a design and construction of a bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) measurement system based on dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). An indirect x-ray detector is designed by optical coupling CMOS sensor with image on the intensifying screen. A dedicated microcontroller x-ray apparatus is used as an x-ray source to capture two energy level x-ray of middle phalanges bone of middle finger. The captured image is processed based on modified Beer-Lambert law to compute bone mineral density. Bone mineral content is also computed by determining the area of the phalanges bone using active contour. The designed bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) measurement system is low-cost and hence can be distributed at district hospital for screening purposes of Osteoporosis of the elderly. Compared with BMD measured from commercial model, BMD measurement of our system acquires linear relation with R2 equals 0.969. The mean square error between the normalized BMD value and that of the commercial model is 0.0000981.
    Electronic ISSN: 1424-8220
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Electrical Engineering, Measurement and Control Technology
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  • 68
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In recent years, green finance has emerged as a commonly used strategy for dealing with environmental problems. However, it still remains to be seen whether green finance deals effectively with current global environmental problems. More recently, proposals regarding greening monetary policy have emerged. The goal of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework that helps to distinguish between different forms of green finance and monetary policy. We systematically analyse forms, tools and measures of green finance and monetary policy against different theoretical backgrounds. In so doing, we fill a research gap by providing an appropriate classification that is intended to facilitate future academic research. We provide different categories and distinguish, on an abstract level, between neoliberal, reformist and progressive forms of green finance. Furthermore, we provide sub-categories on a more concrete level of abstraction. With this, we focus on both financial market regulation and monetary policy strategies. Against the background of our categorisation, the different focuses on green finance and green monetary policy and the (often implicitly) underlying theoretical assumptions become transparent. The classification has significant implications for the evaluation of different perspectives and is, therefore, important for academic debate. The classification also potentially represents a basis for policy related discussions. We conclude that neoliberal forms of green finance and monetary policy that rely on the assumption of the effectiveness of markets for contributing to sustainability tend to neglect or abstract from potentially adverse distributional effects. Reformist forms of green finance and monetary policy are more skeptical of the effectiveness of market processes and, therefore, consider a greater role for government policies. In addition, reformist approaches are more concerned about the potentially adverse distributional effects of environmental policies. Finally, progressive green finance and monetary policy adopts a more global perspective on environmental issues and links the discussion intrinsically with questions of global inequality and socio-ecological transformation. Moreover, progressive approaches are skeptical of global capitalism at a systemic level and therefore demand global rules and financial and monetary regimes that allow for solutions of environmental problems based on global solidarity and a democratic economic governance.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 69
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The application of polymerization initiators in a process can improve reaction efficiency and reduce energy loss. Azo compounds (azos) provide the required energy and promote polymerization for construction due to the heat release in the decomposition reaction. However, the heat release also brings related thermal hazards due to the lack of proper control. To reduce and avoid possible future hazards, the new azo initiators, 2,2′-Azobis(2-methylpropionamide)dihydrochloride (AIBA) is selected to explore the related thermal properties that are less studied by past literature. For the chemical process, its chemical reaction mechanism is extremely essential. In addition to being an influential foundation for process control, it is also used as a calculation basis for subsequent thermal hazard parameters, which is suitable for evaluating the degree of thermal hazard and emergency response. The assessment program includes kinetic model simulations and consecutive calculation on thermal safety parameters, such as TMRad and TCL for process operations. This study combines the thermogravimetric data with the nonlinear kinetics fitting on thermogram. The fitting results are derived back to the analysis formula which corresponds to the reaction mode to obtain the elementary reaction parameters and establish the kinetics process. The runaway mode and consequent thermal hazard parameters can also be obtained.
    Electronic ISSN: 2227-9717
    Topics: Biology , Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 70
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: SUMOylation and ubiquitylation are homologous processes catalyzed by homologous enzymes, and they are involved in nearly all aspects of eukaryotic biology. Planarians, which have the remarkable ability to regenerate their central nervous system (CNS), provide an excellent opportunity to investigate the molecular processes of CNS regeneration in vivo. In this study, we analyzed gene expression profiles during head regeneration with an RNA-seq-based screening approach and found that Djnedd4L and Djubc9 were required for head regeneration in planarians. RNA interference targeting of Djubc9 caused the phospho-H3 mitotic cells to decrease in quantity, or even become absent as a part of the Djubc9 RNAi phenotype, which also showed the collapse of the stem cell lineage along with the reduced expression of epidermal differentiation markers. Furthermore, we found that Djnedd4L RNAi induced increased cell division and promoted the premature differentiation during regeneration. Taken together, our findings show that Djubc9 and Djnedd4L are required for stem cell maintenance in the planarian Dugesia japonica, which helps to elucidate the role of SUMOylation and ubiquitylation in regulating the regeneration process.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 71
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The renin–angiotensin system (RAS) is a key regulator of blood pressure and hypertension. Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) and angiotensin-converting enzyme I (ACE) are two main components of the RAS that play a major role in blood pressure homeostasis. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) uses ACE2 as a receptor to enter cells. Despite some controversies, numerous studies have reported a significant association between the use of ACE inhibitors and reduced risk of COVID-19. In our previous studies, we produced and identified peptide sequences present in whey hydrolysates exhibiting high ACE inhibitory activity. Therefore, the aim of this work is to obtain an improved understanding of the function of these natural peptides as RAS inhibitors and investigate their potential therapeutic role in the COVID-19 pandemic. The molecular interactions between peptides IPP, LIVTQ, IIAE, LVYPFP, and human ACE2 were assessed by employing a molecular docking approach. The results show that natural whey-derived peptides have a dual inhibitory action against both ACE and ACE2. This dual activity distinguishes these ACE inhibitory peptides from synthetic drugs, such as Captopril and Lisinopril which were not shown to inhibit ACE2 activity, and may represent a potential strategy in the treatment of COVID-19.
    Print ISSN: 1661-6596
    Electronic ISSN: 1422-0067
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 72
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In recent years, an innovative transdermal delivery technology has attracted great interest for its ability to distribute therapeutics and cosmeceuticals for several applications, including vaccines, drugs, and biomolecules for skin-related problems. The advantages of microneedle patch technology have been extensively evaluated in the latest literature; hence, the academic publications in this area are rising exponentially. Like all new technologies, the microneedle patch application has great potential but is not without limitations. In this review, we will discuss the possible limitations by highlighting the areas where a great deal of improvements are required. Emphasising these concerns early on should help scientists and technologists to address the matters in a timely fashion and to use their resources wisely.
    Electronic ISSN: 2072-666X
    Topics: Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
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  • 73
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Accurately estimating the carbon storage of forest ecosystems and deriving the driving factors affecting forest carbon storage are the prerequisites and foundations for promoting the development of global carbon sinks. In order to explore an effective approach for monitoring the carbon sink of forests in developed coastal areas on a large scale, in this paper, Guangdong Province was taken as the case study region; eight periods plots of data of national forest resources continuous inventory were used to estimate the forest carbon storage and carbon density in Guangdong Province from 1979 to 2012; unary linear regression and standard deviation ellipse were used to analyze the dynamic change of carbon storage; and the structural equation model was used to study the driving factors of forest carbon storage. The results showed that: (1) From 1979 to 2012, the forest carbon storage in Guangdong Province increased by 15,087.93 × 104t, and the forest carbon density increased by 17.66 t/ha. (2) After 2007, the main body of forest carbon storage changed from coniferous species to broadleaf species. (3) From 1979 to 2012, the proportion of young and middle-aged forest carbon storage continued to decline, but it still occupied the dominant component. (4) The forest carbon storage and carbon density in the northern region of Guangdong Province are higher than those in the southern region. (5) Stand factors and environmental factors have a positive effect on forest carbon storage, and understory factors have a negative effect. In conclusion, although forest carbon storage has fluctuated under the influence of forestry policies and human activities, the overall carbon storage and carbon density of Guangdong Province have been increasing. Tree species have become more abundant and the proportion of coniferous forest to broadleaf forest became more rationalized. The forest age group structure is continuously optimized. We also compared our results with that of other provinces in China and other countries with approximate latitude and climatic conditions. The carbon sink potential of Guangdong Province is huge in the future.
    Electronic ISSN: 1999-4907
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition
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  • 74
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Affect plays a major role in the individual’s daily life, driving the sensemaking of experience, psychopathological conditions, social representations of phenomena, and ways of coping with others. The characteristics of affect have been traditionally investigated through physiological, self-report, and behavioral measures. The present article proposes a text-based measure to detect affect intensity: the Affective Saturation Index (ASI). The ASI rationale and the conceptualization of affect are overviewed, and an initial validation study on the ASI’s convergent and concurrent validity is presented. Forty individuals completed a non-clinical semi-structured interview. For each interview transcript, the ASI was esteemed and compared to the individual’s physiological index of propensity to affective arousal (measured by heart rate variability (HRV)); transcript semantic complexity (measured through the Semantic Entropy Index (SEI)); and lexical syntactic complexity (measured through the Flesch–Vacca Index (FVI)). ANOVAs and bi-variate correlations estimated the size of the relationships between indexes and sample characteristics (age, gender), then a set of multiple linear regressions tested the ASI’s association with HRV, the SEI, and the FVI. Results support the ASI construct and criteria validity. The ASI proved able to detect affective saturation in interview transcripts (SEI and FVI, adjusted R2 = 0.428 and adjusted R2 = 0.241, respectively) and the way the text’s affective saturation reflected the intensity of the individual’s affective state (HRV, adjusted R2 = 0.428). In conclusion, although the specificity of the sample (psychology students) limits the findings’ generalizability, the ASI provides the chance to use written texts to measure affect in accordance with a dynamic approach, independent of the spatio-temporal setting in which they were produced. In doing so, the ASI provides a way to empower the empirical analysis of fields such as psychotherapy and social group dynamics.
    Electronic ISSN: 1099-4300
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Physics
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  • 75
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: We derive a new formula for the Hurwitz–Lerch zeta function in terms of the infinite sum of the incomplete gamma function. Special cases are derived in terms of fundamental constants.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-1680
    Topics: Mathematics
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  • 76
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The adenosine monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) is critical in the regulation of important cellular functions such as lipid, glucose, and protein metabolism; mitochondrial biogenesis and autophagy; and cellular growth. In many diseases—such as metabolic syndrome, obesity, diabetes, and also cancer—activation of AMPK is beneficial. Therefore, there is growing interest in AMPK activators that act either by direct action on the enzyme itself or by indirect activation of upstream regulators. Many natural compounds have been described that activate AMPK indirectly. These compounds are usually contained in mixtures with a variety of structurally different other compounds, which in turn can also alter the activity of AMPK via one or more pathways. For these compounds, experiments are complicated, since the required pure substances are often not yet isolated and/or therefore not sufficiently available. Therefore, our goal was to develop a screening tool that could handle the profound heterogeneity in activation pathways of the AMPK. Since machine learning algorithms can model complex (unknown) relationships and patterns, some of these methods (random forest, support vector machines, stochastic gradient boosting, logistic regression, and deep neural network) were applied and validated using a database, comprising of 904 activating and 799 neutral or inhibiting compounds identified by extensive PubMed literature search and PubChem Bioassay database. All models showed unexpectedly high classification accuracy in training, but more importantly in predicting the unseen test data. These models are therefore suitable tools for rapid in silico screening of established substances or multicomponent mixtures and can be used to identify compounds of interest for further testing.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 77
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The scarcity of surface water resources in the dry season in the Kilinochchi district increases the demand for freshwater. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to delineate potential groundwater zones in Kilinochchi, Sri Lanka, using integrated remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GIS) and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). Groundwater potential zones are demarcated for the Kilinochchi district by overlaying thematic layers: geology, geomorphology, land use/land cover, soil types, drainage density, slope, lineament, and rainfall. The thematic layers were integrated into a geographic information system, and a weighted overlay analysis was carried out to delineate groundwater zones. Thus the resultant map is categorized into five different potential zones: very low (59.12 km2), low (207.78 km2), moderate (309.89 km2), high (507.74 km2), and very high (111.26 km2). The groundwater potential map was validated with the existing seventy-nine wells, which indicated a good prediction accuracy of 81.8%. This suggests that the results obtained by integrating RS-GIS and AHP are well-matched with the existing well water depth. The AHP approach based on RS-GIS was a handy and efficient technique for assessing potential groundwater zones. This research will help policymakers better manage the Kilinochchi district’s groundwater resources and give scope for further research into groundwater exploration in the area.
    Electronic ISSN: 2220-9964
    Topics: Architecture, Civil Engineering, Surveying , Geosciences
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  • 78
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The present paper investigates the performance of a thermoelectric (TE)-based radiant ceiling panel with an additional layer of phase change material (PCM) for building cooling application through numerical and experimental analyses. The design of the ceiling panel consisted of an aluminum sheet with TE modules installed on the back to maintain a relatively low ceiling temperature that provided cooling through radiation and convection. A three-dimensional model was developed in COMSOL Multiphysics, and the system’s performance in several different configurations was assessed. The effect of the number of TE modules, as well as incorporating different amounts of PCM under transient conditions, was investigated for two modes of operation: startup and shutdown. It was shown that for a 609.6 mm × 609.6 mm ceiling panel, the use of four TE modules reduced the average surface temperature down to the comfort range in less than 5 min while producing a relatively uniform temperature distribution across the ceiling panel. It was also shown that the addition of a 2 mm thick PCM layer to the back of the ceiling panel enhanced the system’s performance by elongating the time that it took for the ceiling panel’s temperature to exceed the comfort range when the system shut down ,which in turn reduced the number of on/off cycling of the system. The numerical results demonstrated a good agreement with the experimental data. The results from this study can be used for the optimal design of a TE-based radiant ceiling cooling system as a promising technology for smart buildings.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 79
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The production of syngas (H2 and CO)—a key building block for the manufacture of liquid energy carriers, ammonia and hydrogen—through the dry (CO2−) reforming of methane (DRM) continues to gain attention in heterogeneous catalysis, renewable energy technologies and sustainable economy. Here we report on the effects of the metal oxide support (γ-Al2O3, alumina-ceria-zirconia (ACZ) and ceria-zirconia (CZ)) on the low-temperature (ca. 500–750 °C) DRM activity, selectivity, resistance against carbon deposition and iridium nanoparticles sintering under oxidative thermal aging. A variety of characterization techniques were implemented to provide insight into the factors that determine iridium intrinsic DRM kinetics and stability, including metal-support interactions and physicochemical properties of materials. All Ir/γ-Al2O3, Ir/ACZ and Ir/CZ catalysts have stable DRM performance with time-on-stream, although supports with high oxygen storage capacity (ACZ and CZ) promoted CO2 conversion, yielding CO-enriched syngas. CZ-based supports endow Ir exceptional anti-sintering characteristics. The amount of carbon deposition was small in all catalysts, however decreasing as Ir/γ-Al2O3 〉 Ir/ACZ 〉 Ir/CZ. The experimental findings are consistent with a bifunctional reaction mechanism involving participation of oxygen vacancies on the support’s surface in CO2 activation and carbon removal, and overall suggest that CZ-supported Ir nanoparticles are promising catalysts for low-temperature dry reforming of methane (LT-DRM).
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-4991
    Topics: Physics
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  • 80
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Strategies for waste valorisation from domestic and agro-industrial activities must be pursued, and its use as a soil amendment is an interesting possibility. In this four-year study, the effect of applying municipal solid waste (MSW), farmyard manure (FYM), bottom wood ash supplemented with nitrogen (Ash + N), the inorganic fertilization common in the region (50 kg ha-1 N, P2O5 and K2O) (Control) and this inorganic fertilization supplemented with 70 kg N ha-1 (High N) was assessed in a rainfed olive grove planted in a shallow soil with low organic matter and managed with conventional tillage. The High N treatment significantly increased olive yield in comparison to the other treatments (165% more than MSW), and soil available N proved to be the main driver for tree productivity. MSW and FYM increased soil organic matter, as well as the levels of phosphorus and cation exchange capacity, leaving good indications for future production cycles, although during the four years of the study these treatments provided little N to the trees. The High N treatment significantly reduced soil organic matter (63% less than MSW). The result was attributed in part to the soil management system that did not allow the development of herbaceous vegetation, but also to an effect known as “added N interaction”, in which the excess of inorganic N in the soil might have contributed to accelerate the mineralization of native soil organic matter, an aspect that compromises the sustainability of this fertilization strategy. Although MSW and wood ash are sometimes associated with risks of environmental contamination with heavy metals, in this study the levels of heavy metals in soils and in plant tissues were not of concern.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4395
    Topics: Agriculture, Forestry, Horticulture, Fishery, Domestic Science, Nutrition , Economics
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  • 81
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Small-compound databases contain a large amount of information for metabolites and metabolic pathways. However, the plethora of such databases and the redundancy of their information lead to major issues with analysis and standardization. A lack of preventive establishment of means of data access at the infant stages of a project might lead to mislabelled compounds, reduced statistical power, and large delays in delivery of results. We developed MetaFetcheR, an open-source R package that links metabolite data from several small-compound databases, resolves inconsistencies, and covers a variety of use-cases of data fetching. We showed that the performance of MetaFetcheR was superior to existing approaches and databases by benchmarking the performance of the algorithm in three independent case studies based on two published datasets.
    Electronic ISSN: 2218-1989
    Topics: Biology , Medicine
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  • 82
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This study presents pro-ecological activities focused on an analysis of the use of biofuels as an environmentally friendly fuel. The research objects were different concentration mixtures of diesel fuel and fatty acid methyl esters, that is, transesterified plant oils. The tests involved an assessment of the performance parameters of a drive unit in a vehicle powered by diesel fuel for different mixtures of diesel oil and fatty acid methyl esters in the following proportions: 10%, 30%, 50% and 50% with chemical additives. The tests were comparative and were conducted for ‘pure’ diesel (ON). The study presents test results of selected performance parameters of the analyzed power unit. The object of the tests was a self-injection engine with a maximum power of 81 kW. The main tests which were most important for assessment of the mixtures, from the point of view of their effect on the analyzed performance parameters, involved measuring power and torque, and the toxic components of exhaust gases. Based on the obtained results, a statistical analysis was carried out, and a model for the evaluation of how the research object functions when fed with different fuel mixtures was developed. The research found which mixture can be considered the most optimal, and what the influence of individual fuel mixtures is on the analyzed performance parameters of the tested power unit.
    Electronic ISSN: 1996-1073
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 83
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: When considering sustainability from a socioeconomic and environmental point, the South African public transport industry was not an integral part of such planning until the last decade. Various well-intended and well-defined public procurement and environmental regulatory policies and instruments were put in place over the years, however, they appear to be failing in achieving the goals of local job creation and alleviation of unemployment. This exploratory literature review study of various public documents, regulatory instruments, and review reports aims to evaluate current knowledge pertaining to the current level of sustainable transport from a life-cycle approach, in support of overall sustainable goals in South Africa. The research set out to assess the status of public procurement in the revitalising of public rail freight transport towards identifying areas of excellence that could be used to address under-performance in other areas. The documentary analysis found various areas where the public procurement policies within South Africa, which aims to promote local participation, are facing difficulties due to lack of access to modern technology as well as inadequate skills levels to be able to partake in the ventures. In exploring South African challenges and current solutions, the article recommends a holistic and integrated approach to provide for a sustained manufacturing and service supply stream within the local railway transport environment.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 84
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Low-cost air quality sensors (LCSs) have become more widespread due to their low cost and increased capabilities; however, to supplement more traditional air quality networks, the performance of these LCSs needs to be validated. This study focused on NO2 measurements from eight Clarity Node-S sensors and used various environmental factors to calibrate the LCSs. To validate the calibration performance, we calculated the root-mean-square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), R2, and slope compared to reference measurements. Raw results from six of these sensors were comparable to those reported for other NO2 LCSs; however, two of the evaluated LCSs had RMSE values ~20 ppb higher than the other six LCSs. By applying a sensor-specific calibration that corrects for relative humidity, temperature, and ozone, this discrepancy was mitigated. In addition, this calibration improved the RMSE, MAE, R2, and slope of all eight LCS compared to the raw data. It should be noted that relatively stable environmental conditions over the course of the LCS deployment period benefited calibration performance over time. These results demonstrate the importance of developing LCS calibration models for individual sensors that consider pertinent environmental factors.
    Electronic ISSN: 2305-6304
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 85
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: A deep learning-based strategy for the analysis of the self-interference in single frequency networks (SFNs) for digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting is considered. Several laboratory measurements were performed to create a dataset that relates the self-interference parameters and some quality metrics of the resulting received signal. The laboratory setup emulates an SFN scenario with two DTT transmitters. The strongest received signal and the relative values of attenuation and delay between the signals stand for the input parameters. The modulation error ratio (MER) of the strongest received signal, the MER of the resulting signal, and the SFN gain (SFNG) are the output parameters. This dataset is used to train four different multi-layer perceptron (MLP) models to predict accurate maps of interference and signal quality metrics. The considered models are suitable as complements for any multiple frequency network (MFN) coverage software with the capability to return the signal strength and the position data. This way, the SFN self-interference behavior can be predicted by considering only a proper description of the MFN coverage.
    Electronic ISSN: 2673-4591
    Topics: Technology
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  • 86
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Non-motorized forms of transportation are increasingly perceived as an option that can contribute to reducing the ecological impact of the transportation of tourists while offering satisfactory opportunities to appreciate the urban environment. Walking, bicycles, and other forms of non-motorized transport are increasingly used in urban contexts, both by residents and tourists. By looking into the characteristics and trip motivations of international tourists visiting the city of Barcelona, our analysis identifies the groups of tourists more oriented to these soft forms of mobility and also takes into consideration how they obtained previous information about the destination. Based on an extensive survey conducted in the city, the results of our multinomial logistic regressions reveal a slight generational divide when looking at sources of information (with retired tourists less oriented to digital tools) and a strong generational divide when observing transport choices (younger tourists more oriented to both soft or collective forms of mobility). Our results also show that tourists traveling in groups and/or with trips organized by travel companies and other organizations tend to prefer the utilization of private cars. These results can be used to promote the non-motorized mobility of tourists in other urban destinations.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 87
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The precipitation phase (PP) affects the hydrologic cycle which in turn affects the climate system. A lower ratio of snow to rain due to climate change affects timing and duration of the stream flow. Thus, more knowledge about the PP occurrence and drivers is necessary and especially important in cities dependent on water coming from glaciers, such as Quito, the capital of Ecuador (2.5 million inhabitants), depending in part on the Antisana glacier. The logistic models (LM) of PP rely only on air temperature and relative humidity to predict PP. However, the processes related to PP are far more complex. The aims of this study were threefold: (i) to compare the performance of random forest (RF) and artificial neural networks (ANN) to derive PP in relation to LM; (ii) to identify the main drivers of PP occurrence using RF; and (iii) to develop LM using meteorological drivers derived from RF. The results show that RF and ANN outperformed LM in predicting PP in 8 out of 10 metrics. RF indicated that temperature, dew point temperature, and specific humidity are more important than wind or radiation for PP occurrence. With these predictors, parsimonious and efficient models were developed showing that data mining may help in understanding complex processes and complements expert knowledge.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4441
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 88
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In this study, we will prove that the presence of the voids and of the internal state variables in an elastic body with dipolar structure have no effect on the result of uniqueness regarding the solution of the initial-boundary value problem from this context. First, we put down the basic equations and conditions which define the initial-boundary value problem in the context. Then, by means of three theorems, we prove some auxiliary estimates that underlie the result of uniqueness. Finally, by means of these estimates and by using the Gronwall’s inequality, we prove our main result.
    Electronic ISSN: 2227-7390
    Topics: Mathematics
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  • 89
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have been successfully applied in surface protection and functionalization of metal materials owing to their special structure, composition, controllability, anion exchange, and other excellent properties. Herein, this review focused on the most common LDH preparation methods on magnesium alloys in the past 10 years by summarizing about 70 research papers. At the same time, based on the corrosion protection mechanism of LDH materials, the performance of LDH films and LDH as filler on metal substrates was briefly introduced. The surface of LDH materials were chemically modified to enhance their compatibility with solvents, and their corrosion resistance function was developed as an additive. Finally, LDH-based composite coatings on Mg alloys by surface pretreatment and chemical modification were discussed.
    Electronic ISSN: 2079-6412
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology , Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
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  • 90
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: This paper investigates the dynamic forecasting of lead-time, which can be performed by a logistics company for optimizing temporal shipment consolidation. Shipment consolidation is usually utilized to reduce outbound shipments costs, but it can increase the lead time. Forecasting in this paper is performed in a make-to-order supply chain using real data, where the logistics company does not know the internal production data of manufacturers. Forecasting was performed in several steps using machine-learning methods such as linear regression and logistic regression. The last step checks if the order will come in the next delivery week or not. Forecasting is evaluated after each shipment delivery to check the possibility of delaying the current arriving orders for a certain customer until the next week or making the delivery to the customer immediately. The results showed reasonable accuracy expressed in different ways, and one of them depends on a type I error with an average value of 0.07. This is the first paper that performs dynamic forecasting for the purpose of shipment temporal consolidation optimization in the consolidation center.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 91
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The civil engineering educators focused on implementing interdisciplinary learning in artificial intelligence (AI) based on a more innovative application of construction requirements. However, only a few pieces of literature discussed the educational learning efficiency and feedback for this trend. Hence, this study surveyed the 237 data from eight universities that issued the interdisciplinary courses. The factors were modified from the scales in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. Further, the descriptive analysis was used to explain this situation in Taiwan. A novel approach based on data envelopment analysis and Mahalanobis distance approaches was proposed to solve this problem. The advantages of the proposed approach were discussed and compared with traditional method. Based on the student gains in the interdisciplinary courses, three groups were clustered and compared. The feedback of a high-input and low-efficiency student group was suggested for improving learning strategies. The sensitivity analysis of this special group showed that effective teaching practice is the key factor in the artificial intelligence courses for civil engineering students. These students may increase technical efficiency by 37% by paying 21% inputs. Therefore, this paper provided a useful and easy approach to make learning strategies for non-informatics students in AI learning.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 92
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Multistable switches are ubiquitous building blocks in both systems and synthetic biology. Given their central role, it is thus imperative to understand how their fundamental properties depend not only on the tunable biophysical properties of the switches themselves, but also on their genetic context. To this end, we reveal in this article how these factors shape the essential characteristics of toggle switches implemented using leaky promoters such as their stability and robustness to noise, both at single-cell and population levels. In particular, our results expose the roles that competition for scarce transcriptional and translational resources, promoter leakiness, and cell-to-cell heterogeneity collectively play. For instance, the interplay between protein expression from leaky promoters and the associated cost of relying on shared cellular resources can give rise to tristable dynamics even in the absence of positive feedback. Similarly, we demonstrate that while promoter leakiness always acts against multistability, resource competition can be leveraged to counteract this undesirable phenomenon. Underpinned by a mechanistic model, our results thus enable the context-aware rational design of multistable genetic switches that are directly translatable to experimental considerations, and can be further leveraged during the synthesis of large-scale genetic systems using computer-aided biodesign automation platforms.
    Electronic ISSN: 2075-1729
    Topics: Biology
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  • 93
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: China is world renowned for its significant achievements in several fields. China’s economic growth has been prominent, with the country’s GDP ranking second globally. China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows have been significant, with the country now known as the second largest economy in the world. FDI however does have some negative consequences on China’s environment. While attracting FDI promotes economic growth through industrial upgrading, the deleterious impacts of the latter on the environment cannot be ignored. The current study analyses the actual use of FDI and carbon emissions in China from 1997 to 2018. Quantitative analysis was employed to analyze the trends of FDI and carbon emissions in China as a whole and in the respective regions, namely the eastern, central and western regions. Regression analysis was then conducted to analyze the impact of FDI on carbon emissions in China on the national level and regional levels, i.e., in the eastern, central and western regions. The conclusion of this article is that FDI will play a positive role in China’s overall carbon emissions. The study has important implications for policy. We recommend that the corresponding investment policies need to be formulated according to the different levels of economic development among the regions.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 94
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Among the many known physicochemical methods for the separation of organic compounds and metal ions from aqueous solutions, liquid–liquid extraction and membrane techniques hold a special position, enabling their recovery from dilute aqueous solutions [...]
    Electronic ISSN: 2077-0375
    Topics: Biology , Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 95
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in 2011, large amounts of radiocesium were deposited over forest ecosystems in the headwater regions of rivers in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. There is considerable concern about whether the runoff from these regions will result in recontamination of lower-lying areas further downstream after heavy rainfall events and typhoons. This study examined the sources and levels of cesium-137 (137Cs), the most abundant radioisotope in river sediments, in total suspended solids (TSS) in river water. In addition, changes in the predominant source of TSS associated with changes in river conditions were investigated. The properties of total organic carbon (TOC) in TSS (concentrations and isotopic compositions) were also measured to identify differences among sources. The results showed reductions in 137Cs and TOC properties in TSS when the river conditions changed from base flows to high flows, indicating the existence of a dilution effect through the addition of mineral particles from extraneous sources. Simulation results obtained using a mixing model suggested that forest soils are the primary source of TSS regardless of river conditions, but that the relative contribution of TSS from forest soils was decreased under high-flow conditions. Meanwhile, the relative contributions of both riverbank soil and river sediments were increased under high-flow conditions. Due to the low 137Cs concentrations in riverbank soils and river sediments, it is unlikely that heavy rainfall events will cause serious recontamination of areas downstream in the study area.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4441
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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  • 96
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Supramolecular hydrogels have attracted great attention due to their special properties. In this research, bio-based supramolecular hydrogels were conveniently constructed by heating and ultrasounding two components of dehydroabietic acid with a rigid tricyclic hydrophenanthrene skeleton and morpholine. The microstructures and properties of hydrogels were investigated by DSC, rheology, SAXS, CD spectroscopy, and cryo-TEM, respectively. The critical gel concentration (CGC) of the hydrogel was 0.3 mol·L−1 and the gel temperature was 115 °C. In addition, the hydrogel showed good stability and mechanical properties according to rheology results. Cryo-TEM images reveal that the microstructure of hydrogel is fibrous meshes; its corresponding mechanism has been studied using FT-IR spectra. Additionally, oil-in-water gel emulsions were prepared by the hydrogel at a concentration above its CGC, and the oil mass fraction of the oil-in-water gel emulsions could be freely adjusted between 5% and 70%. This work provides a convenient way to prepare bio-based supramolecular hydrogels and provides a new method for the application of rosin.
    Electronic ISSN: 1420-3049
    Topics: Chemistry and Pharmacology
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  • 97
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: Smart factories have made great progress with the development of various ICT technologies, such as IoT, big data, and artificial intelligence. The recent development of smart factory technology has shown results in automation and data acquisition and processing. However, it still has incomplete points to be converted to advanced technology, including intelligence. For intelligentization, there is a need to propose a new research method in addition to the previous methodologies. Considering the specificity of the factory, the data structure and methodology of the Semantic Web can be effective. Therefore, in this study, a smart factory was designed by the convergence of monitoring technology, autonomous control technology, and semantic web technologies. Based on the proposed methodology, a methodology for the autonomous control of a smart factory on a digital twin was designed.
    Electronic ISSN: 2076-3417
    Topics: Natural Sciences in General
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  • 98
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: We consider N=4 conformal supergravity with an arbitrary holomorphic function of the complex scalar S which parametrizes the SU(1,1)/U(1) coset. Assuming non-vanishings vevs for S and the scalars in a symmetric matrix Eij of the 10¯ of SU(4) R-symmetry group, we determine the vacuum structure of the theory. We find that the possible vacua are classified by the number of zero eigenvalues of the scalar matrix and the spacetime is either Minkowski, de Sitter, or anti-de Sitter. We determine the spectrum of the scalar fluctuations and we find that it contains tachyonic states which, however, can be removed by appropriate choice of the unspecified at the supergravity level holomorphic function. Finally, we also establish that S-supersymmetry is always broken whereas Q-supersymmetry exists only on flat Minkowski spacetime.
    Electronic ISSN: 2218-1997
    Topics: Physics
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  • 99
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: The DNA damage response revolves around transmission of information via post-translational modifications, including reversible protein ADP-ribosylation. Here, we applied a mass-spectrometry-based Af1521 enrichment technology for the identification and quantification of ADP-ribosylation sites as a function of various DNA damage stimuli and time. In total, we detected 1681 ADP-ribosylation sites residing on 716 proteins in U2OS cells and determined their temporal dynamics after exposure to the genotoxins H2O2 and MMS. Intriguingly, we observed a widespread but low-abundance serine ADP-ribosylation response at the earliest time point, with later time points centered on increased modification of the same sites. This suggests that early serine ADP-ribosylation events may serve as a platform for an integrated signal response. While treatment with H2O2 and MMS induced homogenous ADP-ribosylation responses, we observed temporal differences in the ADP-ribosylation site abundances. Exposure to MMS-induced alkylating stress induced the strongest ADP-ribosylome response after 30 min, prominently modifying proteins involved in RNA processing, whereas in response to H2O2-induced oxidative stress ADP-ribosylation peaked after 60 min, mainly modifying proteins involved in DNA damage pathways. Collectively, the dynamic ADP-ribosylome presented here provides a valuable insight into the temporal cellular regulation of ADP-ribosylation in response to DNA damage.
    Electronic ISSN: 2073-4409
    Topics: Biology
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  • 100
    Publication Date: 2021-10-28
    Description: In standard district cooling (DC) plants, central chillers produce cold energy for space cooling throughout the district network. In recent times, the integration of the vapor compression system, which includes the functionalities of vapor compression chillers (VCC), and thermal energy storage (TES) tanks in the DC setup, has gained more implementation across the globe. This is due to the possibility of load shifting by using the VCC to produce chilled water for charging the TES tanks during off peak periods. Since the environmental implications of various energy intensive systems are largely determined by the amount of material and energy consumed throughout their life cycle, it is critical to conduct a sustainability assessment of these systems in terms of environmental contributions, and suggest design options to reduce these impacts. A cradle to grave life cycle assessment (LCA) model is created in response to these issues and in order to meet the project’s objectives. The life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) results of the analysis reveal that the carbon footprint per 1 RTh of the produced chilled water is estimated at 0.72 kg CO2 eq/RTh. The operation phase of the system’s life cycle accounted for the most impact, about 98%, with other life cycle phases having negligible contributions. In substantiating the study’s investigation, the environmental performance based on several design options were discussed and compared to the case study. Among the several scenarios considered, incorporating the Sweden mix technology provided the case study with the most significant environmental savings, of about 94%.
    Electronic ISSN: 2071-1050
    Topics: Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
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