ALBERT

Description: In Japan’s response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), virus testing was limited to symptomatic patients due to limited capacity, resulting in uncertainty regarding the spread of infection and the appropriateness of countermeasures. System dynamic modelling, comprised of stock flow and infection modelling, was used to describe regional population dynamics and estimate assumed region-specific transmission rates. The estimated regional transmission rates were then mapped against actual patient data throughout the course of the interventions. This modelling, together with simulation studies, demonstrated the effectiveness of inbound traveler quarantine and resident self-isolation policies and practices. A causal loop approach was taken to link societal factors to infection control measures. This causal loop modelling suggested that the only effective measure against COVID-19 transmission in the Japanese context was intervention in the early stages of the outbreak by national and regional governments, and no social self-strengthening dynamics were demonstrated. These findings may contribute to an understanding of how social resilience to future infectious disease threats can be developed.

Description: This paper investigates the implementation of a wide-adjustable sensorless interior permanent magnet synchronous motor drive based on current deviation detection under space-vector modulation. A hybrid method that includes a zero voltage vector current deviation and an active voltage vector current deviation under space-vector pulse-width modulation is proposed to determine the rotor position. In addition, the linear transition algorithm between the two current deviation methods is investigated to obtain smooth speed responses at various operational ranges, including at a standstill and at different operating speeds, from 0 to 3000 rpm. A predictive speed-loop controller is proposed to improve the transient, load disturbance, and tracking responses for the sensorless interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drive system. The computations of the position estimator and control algorithms are implemented by using a digital signal processor (DSP), TMS-320F-2808. Several experimental results are provided to validate the theoretical analysis.

Description: The behavior of solid mixing dynamic is of profound significance to the heat transfer and reaction efficiencies in energy engineering. In the current study, the solid mixing characteristics of binary particles in the bubbling fluidized bed are further revealed at particle-scale. Specifically, the influences of gas superficial velocity, Sauter mean diameter (SMD) in the system and the range distribution of particle sizes on the performance of mixing index are quantitatively explored using a computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method (CFD-DEM) coupling model. The competition between solid segregation and the mixing of binary particles is deeply analyzed. There is a critical superficial velocity that maximizes the mixing index of the binary mixture in the bubbling fluidized bed. Solid mixing performs more aggressive when below the critical velocity, otherwise solid segregation overtakes mixing when above this critical velocity. Moreover, superficial velocity is a major factor affecting the mixing efficiency in the binary bubbling fluidized bed. Additionally, the mixing behavior is enhanced with the decrease of SMD while it is deteriorated in the binary system with a wide range of particle size distribution. Therefore, it is highly recommended to perform a binary particle system with smaller SMD and closer particle size distribution for the purpose of enhancing the mixing behavior. The significant understanding of mixing characteristics is expected to provide valuable references for the design, operation, and scale-up of binary bubbling fluidized bed.

Description: Increasing awareness of resource sustainability and waste management has led to the search for solutions while promoting circular economy principles. Among all kinds of lignocellulosic biomass available, one with growing interest is municipal forestry and greening waste (MFGW). MFGW makes up an important part of waste streams of municipal solid waste and is a potential feedstock for biological conversion in a lignocellulosic biorefinery. This work studied the fermentable sugars production from MFGW after steam explosion (SE) pretreatment combined with other pretreatments such as dilute acid, organosolv, and metal salts. A range of pretreatment conditions was evaluated according to different parameters: sugars recovery, degradation product generation, and enzymatic hydrolysis yield. At selected pretreatment conditions (diluted acid plus SE, 195 °C, 10 min, and 60 mg H2SO4/g MFGW), 77% of potential sugars content in MFGW was obtained. The effect of solids loading and enzyme dose on glucose release and glucose yield on enzymatic hydrolysis were also determined. Up to 70% of the main sugars in the MFGW were recovered for the coupled pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis (45 FPU/g glucan enzyme loading and 20% dry matter solid consistency), resulting in 80 g/L glucose that could be further utilized for ethanol production.

Description: The integration of renewable energy (RE) in energy systems can be approached in many ways depending on local possibilities. Evaluating this in the limited context of islands, this paper presents a multi-energy system transition to a 100% RE share in a two-folded technical analysis. The case study of Madeira Island using the EnergyPLAN modeling tool is used to show strengths and weaknesses of, on the one hand, electrifying all transport and heating demands on an island, while remaining demands are supplied with biomass, and, on the other hand, additional smart charging, vehicle-to-grid, thermal collectors and storages, as well as electrofuel production and storages. Technical results indicate the potentials and advantages of the second approach with 50% less biomass and no curtailment at 1–3% higher costs, compared to the first one with 7% of production curtailed. The technical analysis is supported by the institutional analysis that highlights the balancing needs through additional flexibility and interaction in the energy system. For maximum flexibility, of both demand and grid, and successful implementation of 100% RE, investment incentives and dynamic tariffs are recommended entailing more dynamic consumer involvement and strategic energy planning.

Description: The goal of this study was to conduct long-term temporal trends analysis of bifenthrin sediment concentrations for measurements conducted from 2001 to 2019 in California waterbodies. Long-term data sites defined as spanning 6 years were available for 143 sites but 17 of these sites were excluded from long analysis because all measurements were below the level of detection. At least one site used in the trends analysis was located in all nine California Water Board Regions thus providing a representative statewide spatial scale. Twenty of the 126 long-term California sediment sites showed a statistically significant downward trend in bifenthrin concentrations while nine sites showed a statistically significant upward trend. Declining bifenthrin sediment concentrations were most evident in urban waterbodies when compared with agricultural dominated waterbodies. An analysis of bifenthrin long-term sediment trends by waterbody with at least three sites showed a significant trend for only one residential/urban stream and this trend was declining. In summary, the trends analysis of bifenthrin sediment concentrations does show a compelling case for declining concentrations in the State of California during an 18-year time period that includes a time period before and after the urban use of bifenthrin was further regulated.

Description: In this paper, we study limit cycle bifurcation near a cuspidal loop for a general near-Hamiltonian system by using expansions of the first order Melnikov functions. We give a method to compute more coefficients of the expansions to find more limit cycles near the cuspidal loop. As an application example, we considered a polynomial near-Hamiltonian system and found 12 limit cycles near the cuspidal loop and the center.

Description: Access and use of seed of improved varieties of groundnut among farmers can improve farmers’ livelihoods and contribute to the potential of crop production in Tanzania. This paper analyzes factors underpinning the adoption of improved groundnut varieties among farmers to pave the way for upscaling quality seed used for increased production and commodity business in farming communities. A four-stage stratified sampling was used to collect data from 300 groundnut farmers in seven agro-ecological zones through individual interviews. Secondary data were collected from the literature and the Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute at Naliendele centre (TARI–Naliendele). Descriptive statistics and Probit regression model were used for data analysis. The empirical results showed that Johari 1985, Pendo 1998, Naliendele 2009, Mnanje 2009, Mangaka 2009 and Nachi 2015, are the main six improved groundnut varieties used by farmers, with Pendo 1998 having the highest adoption rate (17.1%). In the grain market, four varieties, namely Pendo 1998, Mnanje 2009, Nachi 2015 and Johari 1985, were observed to be highly preferred by grain off-takers. Furthermore, among the adopted improved varieties, Nachi 2015, is observed to be the most consistent high yielding variety, ranging from 1100 kg/ha to 1500 kg/ha in all agro-ecological zones. A farmer’s decision to adopt new varieties is affected by age and gender, farmer group membership, availability of improved seed and seed cost. Overall, male farmers are more likely to adopt improved varieties of groundnut than female farmers. The implications of these findings are also discussed, in particular in the area of policy support.

Description: Precipitation obtained from rain gauges is an essential input for hydrological modelling. It is often sparse in highly topographically varying terrain, exhibiting a certain amount of uncertainty in hydrological modelling. Hence, satellite rainfall estimates have been used as an alternative or as a supplement to station observations. In this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), employing a semi-distributed hydrological model, i.e., Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), for simulating streamflow and validating them against the flows generated by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) rainfall dataset in the Gurupura river catchment of India. Distinct testing scenarios for simulating streamflow were made to check the suitability of these satellite precipitation data. The TRMM was able to better estimate rainfall than CHIRPS after performing categorical and continuous statistical results with respect to IMD rainfall data. While comparing the performance of model simulations, the IMD rainfall-driven streamflow emerged as the best followed by the TRMM, CHIRPS-0.05, and CHIRPS-0.25. The coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and percent bias (PBIAS) were in the range 0.63 to 0.86, 0.62 to 0.86, and −14.98 to 0.87, respectively. Further, an attempt was made to examine the spatial distribution of key hydrological signature, i.e., flow duration curve (FDC) in the 30–95 percentile range of non-exceedance probability. It was observed that TRMM underestimated the flow for agricultural water availability corresponding to 30 percent, even though it showed a good performance compared to the other satellite rainfall-driven model outputs.

Description: The convenient model Arabidopsis thaliana has allowed tremendous advances in plant genetics and physiology, in spite of only being a weed. It has also unveiled the main molecular networks governing, among others, abiotic stress responses. Through the use of the latest genomic tools, Arabidopsis research is nowadays being translated to agronomically interesting crop models such as tomato, but at a lagging pace. Knowledge transfer has been hindered by invariable differences in plant architecture and behaviour, as well as the divergent direct objectives of research in Arabidopsis vs. crops compromise transferability. In this sense, phenotype translation is still a very complex matter. Here, we point out the challenges of “translational phenotyping” in the case study of drought stress phenotyping in Arabidopsis and tomato. After briefly defining and describing drought stress and survival strategies, we compare drought stress protocols and phenotyping techniques most commonly used in the two species, and discuss their potential to gain insights, which are truly transferable between species. This review is intended to be a starting point for discussion about translational phenotyping approaches among plant scientists, and provides a useful compendium of methods and techniques used in modern phenotyping for this specific plant pair as a case study.

Description: This study examined postural control during single leg stance test with progressively increased balance-task difficulty in soccer players with unilateral transfemoral amputation (n = 11) compared to able-bodied soccer players (n = 11). The overall stability index (OSI), the anterior/posterior stability index, and the medial/lateral stability index during three balance tasks with increasing surface instability were estimated. The oculomotor and visuomotor contribution to postural control in disabled athletes was analyzed. Oculomotor function, simple and choice reaction times, and peripheral perception were assessed in a series of visuomotor tests. The variation in OSI demonstrated significantly greater increases during postural tests with increased balance-task difficulty in the able-bodied soccer players compared to amputees (F(2,40) = 3.336, p 〈 0.05). Ocular mobility index correlated (p 〈 0.05) with OSI in conditions of increasing balance-task difficulty. Moreover, speed of eye-foot reaction has positive influence (p 〈 0.05) on stability indexes in tasks with an unstable surface. Amputee soccer players displayed comparable postural stability to able-bodied soccer players. Disabled athletes had better adaptability in restoring a state of balance in conditions of increased balance-task difficulty than the controls. The speed of visuomotor processing, characterized mainly by speed of eye-foot reaction, significantly contributed to these results.

Description: This paper presents the development of a discrete model of a photovoltaic (PV) system consisting of a PV panel, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), a dual-axis solar tracker, and a buck converter. The discrete model is implemented on a 32-bit embedded system. The goal of the developed discrete PV model is to provide an efficient way for evaluating several algorithms and models used by the PV system in real-time fashion. The proposed discrete model perfectly matches the continuous and discrete model simulated with MATLAB-SIMULINK. The real-time performance is tested by running the model to simulate the PV system, where the fastest time sampling of 1 ms is achieved by the buck converter model, while the longest time sampling of 100 ms is achieved by the solar tracker model. Moreover, a novel method is proposed to optimize the net energy, which is calculated by subtracting the energy consumed by the tracker from the PV energy generated. The proposed net energy optimization method varies the operation time interval of the solar tracker under high and low solar irradiation conditions. Based on the real-time simulation of the discrete model, our approach increases the net energy by 29.05% compared to the system without the solar tracking and achieves an increase of 1.08% compared to the existing method.

Description: The aim of the present paper is to analyze the viability of using Lorentz Force (LF) acting on a charged spacecraft to neutralize the effects of Solar Radiation Pressure (SRP) on the longitude of the ascending node and the argument of perigee of the spacecraft’s orbit. In this setting, the Gauss planetary equations for LF and SRP are presented and averaged over the true anomaly. The averaged variations for the longitude of the ascending node (h) and the argument of perigee (g) are invariant under the symmetry (i,g)⟶(−i,−g) due to Lorentz Force. The sum of change rates due to both perturbing forces of LF and SRP is assigned by zero to estimate the charge amount to balance the variation for the argument of perigee and longitude of ascending. Numerical investigations have been developed to show the evolution of the charge quantity for different orbital parameters at both Low Earth and Geosynchronous Orbits.

Description: Aerodynamic drag and bearing friction are the main sources of standby losses in the flywheel rotor part of a flywheel energy storage system (FESS). Although these losses are typically small in a well-designed system, the energy losses can become significant due to the continuous operation of the flywheel over time. For aerodynamic drag, commonly known as windage, there is scarcity of information available for loss estimation since most of the publications do not cover the partial vacuum conditions as required in the design of low loss energy storage flywheels. These conditions cause the flow regime to fall between continuum and molecular flow. Bearings may be of mechanical or magnetic type and in this paper the former is considered, typically hybridized with a passive magnetic thrust bearing. Mechanical bearing loss calculations have been extensively addressed in the open literature, including technical information from manufacturers but this has not previously been presented clearly and simply with reference to this application. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide a loss assessment methodology for flywheel windage losses and bearing friction losses using the latest available information. An assessment of windage losses based on various flow regimes is presented with two different methods for calculation of windage losses in FESS under rarefied vacuum conditions discussed and compared. The findings of the research show that both methods closely correlate with each other for vacuum conditions typically required for flywheels. The effect of the air gap between the flywheel rotor and containment is also considered and justified for both calculation methods. Estimation of the bearing losses and considerations for selection of a low maintenance, soft mounted, bearing system is also discussed and analysed for a flywheel of realistic dimensions. The effect of the number of charging cycles on the relative importance of flywheel standby losses has also been investigated and the system total losses and efficiency have been calculated accordingly.

Description: Families play an important role in helping teenagers avoid using tobacco, cannabis, and opioids, but some parents may underestimate the risk of their children using those substances. This study aimed to determine parents’ perceived likelihood of their child initiating tobacco, cannabis, and opioid use, as well as the control they have in preventing their child from using those substances. We surveyed 427 parents of children aged 0–18 years old using the online Amazon Mechanical Turk platform in the spring of 2019. We measured participants’ perceived likelihood of their child initiating tobacco, cannabis, or opioid use before the age of 18 compared to other children, using a five-point Likert scale. This perceived likelihood was dichotomized between optimistic (less likely than average) and non-optimistic (average or more likely than average). Independent variables included parental tobacco use, perceived parental control, and perceived severity of the behavior. Participants with missing data and participants with children who had already initiated substance use were excluded from statistical analyses. Mean age of participants was 38.1 years (Standard Deviation 8.4); 67% were female. Level of parental optimism was 59% for cannabis, 77% for tobacco, and 82% for opioids. Perceived severity was significantly lower for cannabis use (71/100) than tobacco (90/100) and opioid use (92/100) (p 〈 0.001). Current smokers were less likely than never smokers to be optimistic about their child’s risk of initiating using tobacco (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 0.18 [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.10–0.34]) or cannabis (AOR: 0.21 [95% CI 0.12–0.38]). Parental perceived likelihood of a child initiating substance use represents an understudied and potential target for substance use prevention.

Description: This study presents an integrated examination of both the ecosystem services (ES) and ecosystem disservices (EDS) associated with smallholder animal husbandry in rural livelihoods in three villages in southeast South Africa. It recognises the contribution of ES supporting and resulting from smallholder livestock and poultry production, but also details the limiting factors or EDS, such as tick-borne disease, birds of prey or unpalatable rangeland, produced by the same system. Using a mixed-methods approach, including focus group discussions with various Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) activities, key informant interviews, household surveys and land-use change mapping on GIS, we consider the relative value and benefits from ES after the effects of EDS, as well as the management and strategies that households adopt to minimise EDS. The effects of ES and EDS were expressed in economic terms to provide a common framework to assess the magnitude of their contribution or effect. Although animal husbandry made measurable contributions to households, with an average gross value of between R2605–R9753 across villages, EDS undermined the meaningful production of livestock and poultry goods and services. The average EDS-induced economic loss in households was between R8289–R22,426 per annum. Despite active management, often at substantial cost to the household, EDS undermined the health of livestock which resulted in a loss of the animal or potential goods and services produced. We emphasise the need to recognise both the positive and negative contributions of ecosystems to identify the complex feedbacks between ES and EDS which interact to determine local ways of doing things.

Description: Subcooled water is the primordial matrix for ice embryo formation by homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation. The knowledge of the specific Gibbs free energy and other thermodynamic quantities of subcooled water is one of the basic prerequisites of the theoretical analysis of ice crystallization in terms of classical nucleation theory. The most advanced equation of state of subcooled water is the IAPWS G12-15 formulation. The determination of the thermodynamic quantities of subcooled water on the basis of this equation of state requires the iterative determination of the fraction of low-density water in the two-state mixture of low-density and high-density subcooled water from a transcendental equation. For applications such as microscopic nucleation simulation models requiring highly frequent calls of the IAPWS G12-15 calculus, a new two-step predictor-corrector method for the approximative determination of the low-density water fraction has been developed. The new solution method allows a sufficiently accurate determination of the specific Gibbs energy and of all other thermodynamic quantities of subcooled water at given pressure and temperature, such as specific volume and mass density, specific entropy, isothermal compressibility, thermal expansion coefficient, specific isobaric and isochoric heat capacities, and speed of sound. The misfit of this new approximate analytical solution against the exact numerical solution was demonstrated to be smaller than or equal to the misprediction of the original IAPWS G12-15 formulation with respect to experimental values.

Description: Green bonds are similar to conventional bonds but are specifically earmarked to raise money to finance climate or environmental projects. There have been anecdotes of green bonds being priced tighter than similar conventional bonds by the same issuers. Our survey of academic literature indicates that most papers show the yield of a green bond is lower than that of the equivalent conventional bond at issuance (also known as green premium or greenium). However, green bond pricing studies by Climate Bonds Initiative produce mixed results. The conflicting results are likely explained by differences in sample selections, time periods, methodologies, and the properties of the respective issuing entity and the bond. In addition, we examine investment returns from select green bond funds and green bond indexes. The assets under management of those funds are still small and they underperform their benchmark indexes.

Description: Protected areas are the backbone of biodiversity conservation but are fixed in space and vulnerable to anthropogenic climate change. Myanmar is exceptionally rich in biodiversity but has a small protected area system. This study aimed to assess the potential vulnerability of this system to climate change. In the absence of good biodiversity data, we used a spatial modeling approach based on a statistically derived bioclimatic stratification (the Global Environmental Stratification, GEnS) to understand the spatial implications of projected climate change for Myanmar’s protected area system by 2050 and 2070. Nine bioclimatic zones and 41 strata were recognized in Myanmar, but their representation in the protected area system varied greatly, with the driest zones especially underrepresented. Under climate change, most zones will shift upslope, with some protected areas projected to change entirely to a new bioclimate. Potential impacts on biodiversity include mountaintop extinctions of species endemic to isolated peaks, loss of climate specialists from small protected areas and those with little elevational range, and woody encroachment into savannas and open forests as a result of both climate change and rising atmospheric CO2. Myanmar needs larger, better connected, and more representative protected areas, but political, social, and economic problems make this difficult.

Description: Species with wide geographical ranges exhibit specific adaptations to local climates, which may result in diverging responses among populations to changing conditions. Climate change has advanced spring phenology worldwide, but questions of whether and how the phenological responses to warming differ among individuals across the natural range of a species remain. We conducted two experiments in January and April 2019, and performed daily observations of the timings of bud break in 1-year-old seedlings of sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall) from 25 Canadian provenances at two thermal conditions (14/10 and 18/14 °C day/night temperature) in a controlled environment. Overall, bud break started 6 days from the beginning of the experiments and finished after 125 days. The earlier events were observed in seedlings originating from the colder sites. Bud break was delayed by 4.8 days per additional degree Celsius in the mean annual temperature at the origin site. Warming advanced the timing of bud break by 17–27 days in January and by 3–8 days in April. Similar advancements in bud break were observed among provenances under warming conditions, which rejected our hypothesis that sugar maple populations have different phenological responses to warming. Our findings confirm the differentiation in ecotypes for the process of bud break in sugar maple. In cases of homogenous spring warming across the native range of sugar maple, similar advancements in bud phenology can be expected in different populations.

Description: Information and communication technologies transform modern education into a more available learning matrix. One of the unexplored aspects of open education is the constant communicative interaction within the student group by using social media. The aim of the study was to determine principal functions of student-led communication in the educational process, the method for assessing its strong points and the disadvantages disrupting traditional learning. For the primary study of the phenomenon, we used methods that made it possible to propose approaches to further analysis. Netnography is the main research method defining the essence and characteristics of the student-led peer-communication. In our research, we applied data visualization, analytical and quantitative methods and developed a set of quantitative indicators that can be used to assess various aspects of student communication in chats. The elaborated visual model can serve as a simple tool for diagnosing group communication processes. We revealed that online group chats perform a support function in learning. They provide constant informational resource on educational and organizational issues and create emotional comfort. Identified features serve to define shortcomings (e.g., lack of students’ readiness to freely exchange answers to assignments) and significant factors (e.g., underutilized opportunities for self-organization) that exist in the modern system of higher education.

Description: This case study from Stockholm County, Sweden, explores practitioners’ experiences of barriers and bridges in municipal planning practices to support actions for ecosystem services. This qualitative study is based on information gathered from a focus group, workshops, and semi-structured interviews, which aided in identifying key factors for integrating ecosystem services in municipal planning. We identified 10 key factors divided into three themes: (i) regulatory framework and political support, (ii) local organizational capacity, and (iii) local adaptation of tools and practices. In particular, the practitioners pointed to the need for the development of legal support and regulations for ecosystem services on the national and EU policy levels. Furthermore, the need for local capacity building and understanding of ecosystem services as well as increased regional support to enhance local knowledge exchange and learning was emphasized. Also, in a decentralized local governance system such as in Sweden, to fully implement ecosystem services in urban planning for sustainable development, locally adapted practical tools and monitoring procedures were considered important.

Description: Recent evidence suggests that traffic noise may negatively impact mental health. However, existing systematic reviews provide an incomplete overview of the effects of all traffic noise sources on mental health. We conducted a systematic literature search and summarized the evidence for road, railway, or aircraft noise-related risks of depression, anxiety, cognitive decline, and dementia among adults. We included 31 studies (26 on depression and/or anxiety disorders, 5 on dementia). The meta-analysis of five aircraft noise studies found that depression risk increased significantly by 12% per 10 dB LDEN (Effect Size = 1.12, 95% CI 1.02–1.23). The meta-analyses of road (11 studies) and railway traffic noise (3 studies) indicated 2–3% (not statistically significant) increases in depression risk per 10 dB LDEN. Results for road traffic noise related anxiety were similar. We did not find enough studies to meta-analyze anxiety and railway or aircraft noise, and dementia/ cognitive impairment and any traffic noise. In conclusion, aircraft noise exposure increases the risk for depression. Otherwise, we did not detect statistically significant risk increases due to road and railway traffic noise or for anxiety. More research on the association of cognitive disorders and traffic noise is required. Public policies to reduce environmental traffic noise might not only increase wellness (by reducing noise-induced annoyance), but might contribute to the prevention of depression and anxiety disorders.

Description: The primary purpose of this study was to describe obesity, body composition, convenience food consumption, physical activity, and muscle strength among Asian American youth compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The secondary purpose was to examine whether obesity, body composition, convenience food consumption, physical activity, and muscle strength differed by acculturation levels among Asian American youth. A secondary analysis was conducted using data from 12,763 children aged 2 to 17 years that participated in the 2011–2018 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). In the NHANES interview, acculturation, dietary behavior, and physical activity questionnaires were administered. The acculturation level was indicated by the language spoken at home. In the NHANES examination, anthropometry, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and muscle strength assessments were conducted. Compared to non-Hispanic White American boys, Asian American boys had similar levels of obesity, central obesity, and fat mass. Among the five racial/ethnic groups examined, lean body mass, muscle mass, convenience food consumption, and daily physical activity were the lowest in the Asian group. More acculturated Asian American boys, but not girls, were more likely to be obese (OR = 3.28 (1.63, 6.60)). More acculturated Asian American youth more frequently consumed convenience food (1.4 more meals/month (1.2, 1.6)). This study highlights the obesity problem among Asian American boys, which worsens with acculturation to America. The study results also suggest that although Asian American youth consume less convenience food overall than non-Hispanic White American youth, increasing acculturation may negatively influence food choices.

Description: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic spreading worldwide, and Italy represented the first European country involved. Healthcare workers (HCWs) facing COVID-19 pandemic represented an at-risk population for new psychosocial COVID-19 strain and consequent mental health symptoms. The aim of the present study was to identify the possible impact of working contextual and personal variables (age, gender, working position, years of experience, proximity to infected patients) on professional quality of life, represented by compassion satisfaction (CS), burnout, and secondary traumatization (ST), in HCWs facing COVID-19 emergency. Further, two multivariable linear regression analyses were fitted to explore the association of mental health selected outcomes, anxiety and depression, with some personal and working characteristics that are COVID-19-related. A sample of 265 HCWs of a major university hospital in central Italy was consecutively recruited at the outpatient service of the Occupational Health Department during the acute phase of COVID-19 pandemic. HCWs were assessed by Professional Quality of Life-5 (ProQOL-5), the Nine-Item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), and the Seven-Item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-7) to evaluate, respectively, CS, burnout, ST, and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Females showed higher ST than males, while frontline staff and healthcare assistants reported higher CS rather than second-line staff and physicians, respectively. Burnout and ST, besides some work or personal variables, were associated to depressive or anxiety scores. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a new working challenge for HCWs and intervention strategies to prevent burnout and ST to reduce the risk of adverse mental health outcomes are needed.

Description: Sugarcane is an important industrial crop because it is the major source of white sugar. It is also one of the crops for the alcohol and biofuel industries. Disease-causing organisms can significantly decrease the productivity of sugarcane plants and sugar quality. Among the disease-causing organisms, Colletotrichum falcatum Went causes the most significant economic loss (5–50%) in the sugarcane production due to red rot disease. This loss results in only 31% sugar recovery. It is reported that C. falcatum can kill sugarcane plants. Currently, there is no sustainable way of preventing red rot disease from spreading in sugarcane plantations. Many popular sugarcane varieties are no longer used in sugarcane cultivation because of their susceptibility to C. falcatum. The objectives of this manuscript were to: (i) summarize existing approaches for the early detection of red rot disease and controlling techniques of red rot disease in the field and laboratory and (ii) assess red rot disease control effectiveness so as to propose better methods for mitigating the spread C. falcatum. If our proposition is adopted or practiced, it could significantly contribute to the mitigation of C. falcatum infection in the sugarcane industry. This could enable achieving sustainable cultivation of sugarcanes to guarantee the sustainability of the sugar industry in the tropics and the subtropics.

Description: Minerals from mantle xenoliths in the Zapolyarnaya pipe in the Upper Muna field, Russia and from mineral separates from other large diamondiferous kimberlite pipes in this field (Deimos, Novinka and Komsomolskaya-Magnitnaya) were studied with EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. All pipes contain very high proportions of sub-calcic garnets. Zapolyarnaya contains mainly dunitic xenoliths with veinlets of garnets, phlogopites and Fe-rich pyroxenes similar in composition to those from sheared peridotites. PT estimates for the clinopyroxenes trace the convective inflection of the geotherm (40–45 mW·m−2) to 8 GPa, inflected at 6 GPa and overlapping with PT estimates for ilmenites derived from protokimberlites. The Upper Muna mantle lithosphere includes dunite channels from 8 to 2 GPa, which were favorable for melt movement. The primary layering deduced from the fluctuations of CaO in garnets was smoothed by the refertilization events, which formed additional pyroxenes. Clinopyroxenes from the Novinka and Komsomolskaya-Magnitnaya pipes show a more linear geotherm and three branches in the P-Fe# plot from the lithosphere base to the Moho, suggesting several episodes of pervasive melt percolation. Clinopyroxenes from Zapolyarnaya are divided into four groups according to thermobarometry and trace element patterns, which show a stepwise increase of REE and incompatible elements. Lower pressure groups including dunitic garnets have elevated REE with peaks in Rb, Th, Nb, Sr, Zr, and U, suggesting mixing of the parental protokimberlitic melts with partially melted metasomatic veins of ancient subduction origin. At least two stages of melt percolation formed the inclined PT paths: (1) an ancient garnet semi-advective geotherm (35–45 mW·m−2) formed by volatile-rich melts during the major late Archean event of lithosphere growth; and (2) a hotter megacrystic PT path (Cpx-Ilm) formed by feeding systems for kimberlite eruptions (40–45 mW·m−2). Ilmenite PT estimates trace three separate PT trajectories, suggesting a multistage process associated with metasomatism and formation of the Cpx-Phl veinlets in dunites. Heating associated with intrusions of protokimberlite caused reactivation of the mantle metasomatites rich in H2O and alkali metals and possibly favored the growth of large megacrystalline diamonds.

Description: The transition from intensive conventional agriculture to sustainable agriculture has become a global priority. This is due to the need for environmentally friendly agriculture to ensure sufficient food for a rapidly growing population. The bioeconomy is essential to progress in the field of sustainable agriculture. It contributes to the conservation of biological resources through circular and comprehensive management. The bioeconomy prioritizes the reduction and reuse of materials and products. The focus of this study is the use of biodegradable/compostable raffia in protected horticultural crops in the Province of Almería (Spain). The analysis and evaluations, based on an extensive literature review and information given by stakeholders, determined that biodegradable raffia use significantly improves the management of residual biomass in Almería. However, biodegradable raffia is only used in a small percentage of crops even though it is a sustainable alternative and profitable for farmers. The economic analysis incorporates the higher cost of recycling non-biodegradable raffia.

Description: The aim of this study was to identify a best practice method to cost the health benefits of active transport for use in infrastructure planning in New South Wales, Australia. We systematically reviewed the international literature covering the concept areas of active transport and cost and health benefits. Original publications describing a method to cost the health benefits of active transport, published in 2000–2019 were included. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were assessed against criteria identified in interviews with key government stakeholders. A total of 2993 studies were identified, 53 were assessed for eligibility, and 19 were included in the review. The most commonly studied active transport modes were cycling (n = 8) and walking and cycling (n = 6). Exposures considered were physical activity, road transport related injuries and air pollution. The most often applied economic evaluation method was cost benefit analysis (n = 8), and costs were commonly calculated by monetising health outcomes. Based on evaluation of models against the criteria, a Multistate Life Table model was recommended as the best method currently available. There is strong and increasing interest in quantifying and costing the health benefits of active transport internationally. Incorporating health-related economic benefits into existing regulatory processes such as cost benefit analyses could provide an effective way to encourage the non-health sector to include health impacts in infrastructure measures.

Description: Rescue workers present an elevated risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and recently, research has begun to focus on coping styles and social support as protective factors in this population. Associations in the particular group of search and rescue dog handlers still lack evidence. The aim of the study is to investigate if functional cognitions and social support also decrease the risk for PTSD. Active voluntary rescue dog handlers (n = 116) rated levels of resilience, sense of coherence, and social acknowledgment (SAQ; subscales general disapproval, familial disapproval, recognition), in addition to a trauma checklist and PTSD symptoms. Linear regression analyses and two different graph models were calculated to explore associations, as well as potential pathways. Controlling for trauma exposure, the SAQ general disapproval emerged as the only significant predictor in the regression model. In the graph models, SAQ familial disapproval was linked to SAQ recognition and SAQ general disapproval. The latter, together with a sense of coherence manageability, affected PTSD re-experiencing symptoms through resilience. The findings are in line with earlier work. The study underlines the importance of targeting resilience and manageability, as well as enhancing social support in prevention programs for PTSD in canine search and rescue teams. Future research is warranted to further investigate model stability and replicate findings.

Description: Sustainable agricultural production is endangered by several ecological factors, such as drought, extreme temperatures, excessive salts, parasitic ailments, and insect pest infestation. These challenging environmental factors may have adverse effects on future agriculture production in many countries. In modern agriculture, conventional crop-breeding techniques alone are inadequate for achieving the increasing population’s food demand on a sustainable basis. The advancement of molecular genetics and related technologies are promising tools for the selection of new crop species. Gene pyramiding through marker-assisted selection (MAS) and other techniques have accelerated the development of durable resistant/tolerant lines with high accuracy in the shortest period of time for agricultural sustainability. Gene stacking has not been fully utilized for biotic stress resistance development and quality improvement in most of the major cultivated crops. This review emphasizes on gene pyramiding techniques that are being successfully deployed in modern agriculture for improving crop tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses for sustainable crop improvement.

Description: Upwelling and downwelling processes play a critical role in the connectivity between offshore waters and coastal ecosystems, having relevant implications in terms of intense biogeochemical activity and global fisheries production. A variety of in situ and remote-sensing networks were used in concert with the Iberia–Biscay–Ireland (IBI) circulation forecast system, in order to investigate two persistent upwelling and downwelling events that occurred in the Northwestern (NW) Iberian coastal system during summer 2014. Special emphasis was placed on quality-controlled surface currents provided by a high-frequency radar (HFR), since this land-based technology can effectively monitor the upper layer flow over broad coastal areas in near-real time. The low-frequency spatiotemporal response of the ocean was explored in terms of wind-induced currents’ structures and immediacy of reaction. Mean kinetic energy, divergence and vorticity maps were also calculated for upwelling and downwelling favorable events, in order to verify HFR and IBI capabilities, to accurately resolve the prevailing surface circulation features, such as the locus of a persistent upwelling maximum in the vicinity of Cape Finisterre. This integrated approach proved to be well-founded to efficiently portray the three-dimensional characteristics of the NW Iberian coastal upwelling system regardless of few shortcomings detected in IBI performance, such as the misrepresentation of the most energetic surface dynamics or the overestimation of the cooling and warming associated with upwelling and downwelling conditions, respectively. Finally, the variability of the NW Iberian upwelling system was characterized by means of the development of a novel ocean-based coastal upwelling index (UI), constructed from HFR-derived hourly surface current observations (UIHFR). The proposed UIHFR was validated against two traditional UIs for 2014, to assess its credibility. Results suggest that UIHFR was able to adequately categorize and characterize a wealth of summer upwelling and downwelling events of diverse length and strength, paving the way for future investigations of the subsequent biophysical implications.

Description: Research Highlights: The informed decisions on land use require assessment of the impacts of these decisions on the supply of different ecosystem services. Background and Objectives: Scenario modeling can be used to provide harmonized and quantitative information on the impacts of various zoning decisions on the provision of various ecosystem services. In this study, we explored the effects of land-use zoning decisions on the provision of roundwood and energy wood, carbon stock of living tree components, berry yields, scenic beauty and recreation. Materials and Methods: Three alternative forest scenarios were formulated in terms of restrictions on forest management for already established land-use zones by the provinces in Finland. These data were integrated with the National Forest Inventory (NFI) plot data for forest dynamics modeling. Results: In Finland, 9% of the forest land was protected and 9% was under restricted forest management due to legislative decisions, forest owners’ decisions, or regional land use plans in 2016. These established zoning decisions resulted in an estimated 17% smaller roundwood and energy wood removals per year in 2016–2025 compared to the estimated wood removals in the scenario without any restrictions. The decrease in annual gross stumpage earnings was EUR 775 million per year. The carbon stock of living tree components in 2025 was 12% larger than in the scenario without any restrictions. Bilberry yield increased due to the restrictions considered in our study, while the restrictions had only a slight effect on cowberry yield at province and country levels. The restrictions increased the recreation value, particularly in Lapland, but only slightly affected scenic beauty at province and country levels. Conclusions: Scenario analyses support informed decision making and the balancing of different forest uses. Harmonized translation of restrictions and the use of standard indicators to model the impacts also support comparisons between the regions.

Description: Shore-based phased-array HF radars have been widely used for remotely sensing ocean surface current, wave, and wind around the world. However, phase uncertainties, especially phase distortions, in receiving elements significantly degrade the performance of beam forming and direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation for phased-array HF radar. To address this problem, the conventional array signal model is modified by adding a direction-based phase error matrix. Subsequently, an array phase manifold calibration method using antenna responses of incoming ship echoes is proposed. Later, an assessment on the proposed array calibration method is made based on the DOA estimations and current measurements that are obtained from the datasets that were collected with a multi-frequency HF (MHF) radar. MHF radar-estimated DOAs using three calibration strategies are compared with the ship directions that are provided by an Automatic Identification System (AIS). Additionally, comparisons between the MHF radar-derived currents while using three calibration strategies and Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP)-measured currents are made. The results indicate that the proposed array calibration method is effective in DOA estimation and current measurement for phased-array HF radars, especially in the phase distortion situation.

Description: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), an RNA virus, is responsible for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020. Experimental evidence suggests that microRNA can mediate an intracellular defence mechanism against some RNA viruses. The purpose of this study was to identify microRNA with predicted binding sites in the SARS-CoV-2 genome, compare these to their microRNA expression profiles in lung epithelial tissue and make inference towards possible roles for microRNA in mitigating coronavirus infection. We hypothesize that high expression of specific coronavirus-targeting microRNA in lung epithelia may protect against infection and viral propagation, conversely, low expression may confer susceptibility to infection. We have identified 128 human microRNA with potential to target the SARS-CoV-2 genome, most of which have very low expression in lung epithelia. Six of these 128 microRNA are differentially expressed upon in vitro infection of SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, 28 microRNA also target the SARS-CoV genome while 23 microRNA target the MERS-CoV genome. We also found that a number of microRNA are commonly identified in two other studies. Further research into identifying bona fide coronavirus targeting microRNA will be useful in understanding the importance of microRNA as a cellular defence mechanism against pathogenic coronavirus infections.

Description: Many human activities are tactile. Recognizing how a person touches an object or a surface surrounding them is an active area of research and it has generated keen interest within the interactive surface community. In this paper, we compare two machine learning techniques, namely Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Hidden Markov Models (HMM), as they are some of the most common techniques with low computational cost used to classify an acoustic-based input. We employ a small and low-cost hardware design composed of a microphone, a stethoscope, a conditioning circuit, and a microcontroller. Together with an appropriate surface, we integrated these components into a passive gesture recognition input system for experimental evaluation. To perform the evaluation, we acquire the signals using a small microphone and send it through the microcontroller to MATLAB’s toolboxes to implement and evaluate the ANN and HMM models. We also present the hardware and software implementation and discuss the advantages and limitations of these techniques in gesture recognition while using a simple alphabet of three geometrical figures: circle, square, and triangle. The results validate the robustness of the HMM technique that achieved a success rate of 90%, with a shorter training time than the ANN.

Description: In this study we (1) mapped the areal extent of current dust sources over Northern Africa between 8°W–31°E and 22°N - Mediterranean coast; and (2) identified and characterized the geomorphic units and soil types that emit dust from these areas. We used the full resolution (3 km) data from the MSG-SEVIRI to map dust sources over a 2-year period between 2005–2006, and examined these regions with remotely sensed images and geomorphic and soil maps. A total of 〉2600 individual dust emission events were mapped; with frequency up to 34 events in the 2-year study period. The areal extent of dust emission sources exhibited a lognormal distribution with most sources ranging from 20 to 130 km2. Most dust events were singular and related to a variety of specific geomorphic units. Dust events that created hotspots were mostly located over playas and fluvial landforms, and to a lesser extent over sand dunes and anthropogenic affected regions. About 20% of dust hotspots were offset a few kilometers from clear geomorphic units. Quantitative analysis of emissions revealed that dust sourced from various geomorphic units, among them playas (12%) and fluvial systems (10%). The importance of sand dunes as dust-emission sources greatly differs between examined datasets (7% vs. 30%). Our study emphasizes the importance of scattered dust emission events that are not considered as hotspots, as these sources are usually neglected in dust emission modeling.

Description: In recent years, field-effect transistors (FETs) have been very promising for biosensor applications due to their high sensitivity, real-time applicability, scalability, and prospect of integrating measurement system on a chip. Non-carbon 2D materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), black phosphorus (BP), and metal oxides, are a group of new materials that have a huge potential in FET biosensor applications. In this work, we review the recent advances and remarkable studies of non-carbon 2D materials, in terms of their structures, preparations, properties and FET biosensor applications. We will also discuss the challenges facing non-carbon 2D materials-FET biosensors and their future perspectives.

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Description: In this study, dynamic hardness tests on solid and engineered wood flooring specimens of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. and Eucalyptus grandis W. Hill ex Maiden hardwoods were performed because nowadays, these fast-growing hardwoods are still scarcely employed for this use. Furthermore, another two examples of hardwood commonly applied on wood flooring, Quercus robur L. and Hymenaea courbaril L., were also tested. To compare their properties, a dynamic impact hardness test based on the impact of steel balls, with several diameters, and drop heights was developed. Accordingly, 120 solid wood flooring specimens and 120 engineering wood flooring specimens were producing with these four hardwood species. Dynamic impact tests were made with three steel balls of different diameters (30–40–50 mm), and they were carried out from five different drop heights (0.60–0.75–0.90–1.05–1.20 m). The impact of the steel ball drew the size of the footprint on the surface and this mark was measured with a digital caliper for both dimensions, diameter and depth, as footprint diameter (FD) and indentation depth (ID). Data from 3000 samples, corresponding to 120 different individual groups (4 species × 3 ball diameters × 5 drop height × 2 floor type) were analyzed. Results indicated that the variability of ID (CV between 19.25–25.61%) is much greater than the values achieved for FD (CV between 6.72–7.91%). Regarding the fast-growing hardwood species tested, E. globulus showed a similar behavior to traditional hardwood applied on wood flooring in Europe, Q. robur, and it could be a promising growth in the flooring industry. However, E. grandis showed the worst values compared to traditional hardwood in all test configurations.

Description: Strokes are a time-dependent medical emergency. The training of emergency medical service (EMS) professionals is essential to ensure the activation of stroke codes with pre-notification, as well as a rapid transfer to achieve early therapy. New assessment scales for the detection of patients with suspected large vessel occlusion ensures earlier access to endovascular therapy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact on an online training intervention focused on the Rapid Arterial oCclusion Evaluation (RACE) scoring of EMS professionals based on the prehospital stroke code in Catalonia from 2014 to 2018 in a pre–post intervention study. All Catalonian EMS professionals and the clinical records from primary stroke patients were included. The Kirkpatrick model guided the evaluation of the intervention. Data were collected on the knowledge on stroke recognition and management, pre-notification compliance, activated stroke codes and time performance of EMS professionals. Knowledge improved significatively in most items and across all categories, reaching a global achievement of 82%. Pre-notification compliance also improved significantly and remained high in the long-term. Increasingly higher notification of RACE scores were recorded from 60% at baseline to 96.3% in 2018, and increased on-site clinical care time and global time were also observed. Therefore, the online training intervention was effective for increasing EMS professionals’ knowledge and pre-notification compliance upon stroke code activation, and the wide adoption of a new prehospital scale for the assessment of stroke severity (i.e., the RACE scale) was achieved.

Description: People spend most of their time in indoors and, as a result, indoor air quality has become an issue of increasing concern. Due to the use of coal and heavy transportation in Beijing, China, concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound to PM2.5 have risen and caused concerns about health risk, both outdoors and indoors. This study carried out quantitative investigation of PM2.5-bound PAHs in middle school classrooms and estimated the health risk to adolescents. According to the results, indoor PM2.5 concentrations ranged from 20.9 μg/m3 to 257.6 μg/m3, indoor PAH concentrations ranged from 8.0 ng/m3 to 83.0 ng/m3, and both were statistically correlated with outdoor concentrations. Results of diagnostic ratios (DR) and the PMF (positive matrix factorization) model indicated that coal combustion was the main source of PAHs in the classroom environment. The average value of incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was estimated to be 1.49 × 10−6, which indicated a potential health risk to students according to USEPA standards. Predictions showed that by 2021–2022, the risk will be reduced to an acceptable level. Results of this study could provide useful information for air pollution control in Beijing and proposing targeted solution against indoor air pollution.

Description: A substantial amount of attention has been devoted towards the potential sport legacy of the Olympic Games. In spite of the increasing academic interest in this topic, there is a knowledge gap as far as sport legacy is concerned by types of different sports. The authors bridge this gap by analysing the evolution of 43 different Olympic/Paralympic sport modalities in the two-year period after the London 2012 Olympics. By using data from the Active People Survey with a sample of 165,000 people annually, and considering some demographic variables and the effect of the economic environment, the paper aims to test the existence of a sport legacy. We have applied time series analysis and ARIMA models for controlling for economic influence and seasonal adjustment and for making comparisons among participation rates. The results show, for the total of the sports analysed, that there were 336,000 individuals who increased their frequency of participation, while there was no significant increase in the number of new participants in these sports. When we develop the analysis for types of sports, London 2012 is positively associated not only with the frequency of participation in some types of sport but also with an increase in the number of new sport participants. Gender and age differences are also detected. The results show the differences of sport legacy by type of sports. Moreover, this research has elucidated an important unrecognised aspect of the effect of the Olympic Games and perhaps major events: that they can become a major policy tool for reversing sporting inequalities.

Description: Siamese network-based trackers consider tracking as features cross-correlation between the target template and the search region. Therefore, feature representation plays an important role for constructing a high-performance tracker. However, all existing Siamese networks extract the deep but low-resolution features of the entire patch, which is not robust enough to estimate the target bounding box accurately. In this work, to address this issue, we propose a novel high-resolution Siamese network, which connects the high-to-low resolution convolution streams in parallel as well as repeatedly exchanges the information across resolutions to maintain high-resolution representations. The resulting representation is semantically richer and spatially more precise by a simple yet effective multi-scale feature fusion strategy. Moreover, we exploit attention mechanisms to learn object-aware masks for adaptive feature refinement, and use deformable convolution to handle complex geometric transformations. This makes the target more discriminative against distractors and background. Without bells and whistles, extensive experiments on popular tracking benchmarks containing OTB100, UAV123, VOT2018 and LaSOT demonstrate that the proposed tracker achieves state-of-the-art performance and runs in real time, confirming its efficiency and effectiveness.

Description: The VCAN/versican gene encodes an important component of the extracellular matrix, the chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan 2 (CSPG2/versican). Heterozygous variants targeting exon 8 of VCAN have been shown to cause Wagner disease, a rare autosomal dominant non-syndromic vitreoretinopathy that induces retinal detachment, cataracts and permanent visual loss. In this study, we report on six patients from three unrelated families with Wagner disease in whom we identified three novel copy number variations of VCAN. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis identified deletions, including one exon–intron boundary of exon 8 or both exons 8 and 9, causing the haploinsufficiency of VCAN mRNAs.

Description: With the development trend of large-scale and flexible structures in engineering, the research on drag reduction of structures becomes more urgent. This paper presents a drag reduction design method for box girders based on the bionic method. Through the analysis of the Ostracion cubicus body shape, three features of the “fish mouth”, which were helpful for drag reduction were extracted. Then the bionic design model with the height of the box girder (D) as the design variable was obtained. By attaching lightweight materials to the windward side, the bionic shape of the structure can be realized without changing the loading characteristics of the original structure. Taking a box girder (rectangular cylinder, side ratio B/D = 0.6) as a prototype, the flow around two structures (rectangular cylinder and bionic attachment cylinder) was numerically simulated. The results show that the drag coefficient of the bionic attachment structure is reduced by 66.5%. The reduction of wind-load means that this method can save energy consumption of the equipment. Meanwhile, the aerodynamic parameter oscillation of the structure is weakened, which represents that the bionic attachment structure can effectively reduce the wind-induced vibration on the structure and improve the stability of the structure in the wind field.

Description: The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) couples IoT technologies with healthcare services in order to support real-time, remote patient monitoring and treatment. However, the interconnectivity of critical medical devices with other systems in various network layers creates new opportunities for remote adversaries. Since most of the communication protocols have not been specifically designed for the needs of connected medical devices, there is a need to classify the available IoT communication technologies in terms of security. In this paper we classify IoT communication protocols, with respect to their application in IoMT. Then we describe the main characteristics of IoT communication protocols used at the perception, network and application layer of medical devices. We examine the inherent security characteristics and limitations of IoMT-specific communication protocols. Based on realistic attacks we identify available mitigation controls that may be applied to secure IoMT communications, as well as existing research and implementation gaps.

Description: Monitoring biomass of forages in experimental plots and livestock farms is a time-consuming, expensive, and biased task. Thus, non-destructive, accurate, precise, and quick phenotyping strategies for biomass yield are needed. To promote high-throughput phenotyping in forages, we propose and evaluate the use of deep learning-based methods and UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)-based RGB images to estimate the value of biomass yield by different genotypes of the forage grass species Panicum maximum Jacq. Experiments were conducted in the Brazilian Cerrado with 110 genotypes with three replications, totaling 330 plots. Two regression models based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) named AlexNet and ResNet18 were evaluated, and compared to VGGNet—adopted in previous work in the same thematic for other grass species. The predictions returned by the models reached a correlation of 0.88 and a mean absolute error of 12.98% using AlexNet considering pre-training and data augmentation. This proposal may contribute to forage biomass estimation in breeding populations and livestock areas, as well as to reduce the labor in the field.

Description: Highly controlled biomineralization of calcium carbonate is via non-classical mesocrystallization of amorphous precursors. In the present study, a simple in vitro assay was developed to mimic the biological process, which involved stabilized amorphous calcium carbonate and a single crystal substrate of calcite. The microcoating layer formed on the calcite substrate displayed mesocrystalline characteristics, and the layers near the substrate were strongly influenced by the epitaxy to the substrate. This behavior was preserved even when the morphology of the coating layer was modified with poly(acrylic acid), a model anionic macromolecule. Interestingly, the extent of the epitaxy increased substantially with poly(ethylene imine), which barely affected the crystal morphology. The in vitro assay in the present study will be useful in the investigations of the biomineralization and bioinspired crystallization of calcium carbonate in general.

Description: The proportion of females participating in long-distance races has been increasing in the last years. Although it is well-known that there are differences in how females and males face a marathon, higher research may be done to fully understand the intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting sex differences in endurance performance. In this work, we used triaxial accelerometer devices to monitor 74 males and 14 females, aged 30 to 45 years, who finished the Valencia Marathon in 2016. Moreover, marathon split times were provided by organizers. Several physiological traits and training habits were collected from each participant. Then, we evaluated several accelerometry- and pace-estimated parameters (pacing, average change of speed, energy consumption, oxygen uptake, running intensity distribution and running economy) in female and male amateur runners. In general, our results showed that females maintained a more stable pacing and ran at less demanding intensity throughout the marathon, limiting the decay of running pace in the last part of the race. In fact, females ran at 4.5% faster pace than males in the last kilometers. Besides, their running economy was higher than males (consumed nearly 19% less relative energy per distance) in the last section of the marathon. Our results may reflect well-known sex differences in physiology (i.e., muscle strength, fat metabolism, VO2max), and in running strategy approach (i.e., females run at a more conservative intensity level in the first part of the marathon compared to males). The use of accelerometer devices allows coaches and scientific community to constantly monitor a runner throughout the marathon, as well as during training sessions.

Description: Bioelectrocatalysis provides the intrinsic catalytic functions of redox enzymes to nonspecific electrode reactions and is the most important and basic concept for electrochemical biosensors. This review starts by describing fundamental characteristics of bioelectrocatalytic reactions in mediated and direct electron transfer types from a theoretical viewpoint and summarizes amperometric biosensors based on multi-enzymatic cascades and for multianalyte detection. The review also introduces prospective aspects of two new concepts of biosensors: mass-transfer-controlled (pseudo)steady-state amperometry at microelectrodes with enhanced enzymatic activity without calibration curves and potentiometric coulometry at enzyme/mediator-immobilized biosensors for absolute determination.

Description: This paper examines the materiality of the Cypriot Base Ring ware through the lens of the new materialisms. Specifically, it draws upon Bennett’s vibrant matter and thing-power, to explore how cultural and technological knowledges of Late Bronze Age Cyprus were informed through material engagements with clay. This approach highlights the agency of matter and illustrates how the distinct capacities of clay (working with water and fire) provoked, enabled and constrained potters’ behaviour, resulting in a distinctive pottery style that was central to the Late Cypriot social and material world. The aim is to demonstrate how people, materials and objects are all matter in relationship, drawing attention to the fluidity, porosity and relationality of the material world.

Description: This research article aims to investigate the consequences of binary chemical reaction, thermal radiation, and Soret–Dufour effects on a steady incompressible Darcy–Forchheimer flow of nanofluids. Stretching surface is assumed to drive the fluid along positive horizontal direction. Brownian motion, and the Thermophoresis are accounted in particular. The governing highly nonlinear system of problems which are advanced version of Navier–Stokes equations are transformed into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using appropriately adjusted transformations invoking symmetric property of the independent variables. The numerical approach using RK45 in connection with shooting technique is adopted to solve the final equations. Graphical approach is used to interpret the results and the values of important physical quantities are given in tabular data form. Velocity field, temperature distribution and concentration distribution are graphically analyzed for variation in respective fluid parameters. Furthermore, density graphs and stream lines are sketched for the present model. The outputs indicate a rise of temperature field in connection with thermal radiation parameter. A clear decline is noticed in velocity field for elevated values of Forchheimer number and porosity factor. The Dufour effect anticipates a rising factor for temperature distribution and the same is noticed for concentration distribution in lieu of Soret effect. Thermal radiation and binary chemical reaction has strong impact on heat transport mechanism. The results for physical quantities such as skin friction, heat and mass flux rates are given in tabular data form in last section of this study.

Description: A 10 kW PEMFC (polymer exchange membrane fuel cell) stack consisting of two 5 kW modules, (A) and (B), connected in series with a multi-function controller unit was constructed and tested. The electrical performance of the V-shaped PEMFC stack was investigated under constant and variable electrical load. It was found that the PEMFC stack was capable of supplying the required 10 kW of electrical power. An optimised purification process via ‘purge’ or humidification, implemented by means of a short-circuit unit (SCU) control strategy, enabled slightly improved performance. Online monitoring of the utilisation of the hydrogen system was developed and tested during the operation of the stack, especially under variable electrical load. The air-cooling subsystem consisting of a common channel connecting two 5 kW PEMFC modules and two cascade axial fans was designed, manufactured using 3D printing technology, and tested with respect to the electrical performance of the device. The dependence of total partial-pressure drop vs. ratio of air volumetric flow for the integrated PEMFC stack with cooling devices was also determined. An algorithm of stack operation involving thermal, humidity, and energy management was elaborated. The safety operation and fault diagnosis of the PEMFC stack was also tested.

Description: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed several challenges for the oncology health care system. The need to improve patients’ Quality of Life (QoL) through exercise, which is related to survival and healing, has increased, especially during lockdowns. Technologies are often used to help with patient care as well as to monitor exercise training. This case study, developed during the pandemic period, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a proposed home-based combined training (CT) regimen, supervised through online lessons, in increasing QoL and fatigue in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant therapy. Additionally, we evaluated the effect of exercise on psychological and functional parameters. Methods: Two breast cancer (BC) survivors were required to participate in 2 h/week of supervised and home-based CT for 16 weeks. Results: Improvements were found in the emotional function of QoL (10% in patient A; 70% in patient B) and in all variables of fatigue (physical fatigue 66% in patient A; 33% in patient B). Conclusion: The findings from this study revealed positive effects of CT on QoL and fatigue perception in BC women undergoing therapy. Both patients attended all training sessions with no adverse events, showing the sustainability of this training as an alternative and affordable method that is capable of improving patients’ wellbeing.

Description: In this study, a new type of functional hybrid suspension for solar energy conversion and thermal energy storage was prepared by adding carbon nanotube (CNT) and microencapsulated phase-change material (MEPCM) into deionized water. MEPCM with octadecane as the core material and titania (TiO2) as the shell material was synthesized by the sol–gel method. The MEPCMs were spherical particles with diameters of 2–4 μm, and the thickness of the shell was about 100 nm. The MEPCM achieved better thermal stability and thermal conductivity than the pure octadecane due to the TiO2 shell. The melting and solidification latent heats of the MEPCM were about 154.24 and 154.26 J/g, respectively. The encapsulation efficiency of octadecane was calculated to be 65.84%. Most of all, the novel hybrid CNT and MEPCM suspensions exhibited remarkable dispersion stability owing to the stable reticular structure composed of CNT in the suspension. Compared with pure water, the thermal conductivity, specific heat of the MEPCM/CNT suspension improved by 34.48 and 43.57%, respectively and the photo-thermal conversion efficiency reached a high value of 86.0%. This work provided a new type of hybrid functional suspension towards direct absorption solar collector for solar energy conversion and storage.

Description: Building Information Modeling (BIM) data are typically exchanged using the Industrial Foundation Classes (IFC) standard. An IFC-based BIM model is a container for data that is created during the design and planning phase and is therefore a rich source of information for the commissioning phase, in which building services are brought to operation. This paper examines the use of BIM data for automated generation of control strategies for energy systems, thus simplifying and accelerating the commissioning phase. We present a methodology to create control strategies of a building heating system with several variations of renewable energy systems and include both heat provisioning and a distribution system. The control goals include favoring the use of non-fossil energy, which is provided by a combination of photovoltaic system (PV), heat pump (HP) and industrial excess-heat source. Thermal energy storages are integrated for load shifting purposes and the control of the heat distribution system is designed towards the requirements of building physics, occupancy and outside climate conditions. A validation of the approach is presented in a combined SIMULINK and TRNSYS simulation environment.

Description: In the present study, the mechanical properties of a dry-processed polyethylene (PE) separator are investigated in terms of deformation and failure limits. The focus is set on the anisotropic mechanical behavior of this material. A deeper understanding of the damage mechanism is important for further safety and crashworthiness investigations and predictions of damage before failure. It has been found that separator integrity is one of the crucial parts in preventing internal short circuit and thermal runaway in lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. Based on uniaxial tensile tests with local strain measurement, a novel failure criterion for finite element analysis (FEA), using the explicit FEA solver Altair Radioss, has been developed to predict the effect of high mechanical loads with respect to triaxiality, large plastic strain and orthotropy. Finally, a simulation model of a PE separator was developed combining the novel failure criterion with Hill’s yield surface and a Swift–Voce hardening rule. The model succeeded in predicting the anisotropic response of the PE separator due to deformation and failure. The proposed failure model can also be combined with other constitutive material laws.

Description: Streptococcus salivarius is a significant contributor to the human oral, pharyngeal and gut microbiomes that contribute to the maintenance of health. The high genomic diversity observed in this species is mainly caused by horizontal gene transfer. This work aimed to evaluate the contribution of integrative and conjugative elements (ICEs) and integrative and mobilizable elements (IMEs) in S. salivarius genome diversity. For this purpose, we performed an in-depth analysis of 75 genomes of S. salivarius and searched for signature genes of conjugative and mobilizable elements. This analysis led to the retrieval of 69 ICEs, 165 IMEs and many decayed elements showing their high prevalence in S. salivarius genomes. The identification of almost all ICE and IME boundaries allowed the identification of the genes in which these elements are inserted. Furthermore, the exhaustive analysis of the adaptation genes carried by these elements showed that they encode numerous functions such as resistance to stress, to antibiotics or to toxic compounds, and numerous enzymes involved in diverse cellular metabolic pathways. These data support the idea that not only ICEs but also IMEs and decayed elements play an important role in S. salivarius adaptation to the environment.

Description: Physical rehabilitation therapies for children present a challenge, and its success—the improvement of the patient’s condition—depends on many factors, such as the patient’s attitude and motivation, the correct execution of the exercises prescribed by the specialist or his progressive recovery during the therapy. With the aim to increase the benefits of these therapies, social humanoid robots with a friendly aspect represent a promising tool not only to boost the interaction with the pediatric patient, but also to assist physicians in their work. To achieve both goals, it is essential to monitor in detail the patient’s condition, trying to generate user profile models which enhance the feedback with both the system and the specialist. This paper describes how the project NAOTherapist—a robotic architecture for rehabilitation with social robots—has been upgraded in order to include a monitoring system able to generate user profile models through the interaction with the patient, performing user-adapted therapies. Furthermore, the system has been improved by integrating a machine learning algorithm which recognizes the pose adopted by the patient and by adding a clinical reports generation system based on the QUEST metric.

Description: Farmers’ livelihoods are uniquely vulnerable to climate change, and taking adaptive measures to changing environmental conditions constitutes one of the most important pathways for protecting them. Their willingness and capacity to adopt improved practices and technologies, their cognitive and behavioural preferences, and the institutional response mechanisms will go a long way in determining their success in their adaptation to climate change. This study presents results of an analysis of the vulnerabilities of smallholder coffee producers in Nicaragua to climate change. I use descriptive analyses and experimental risk games to evaluate the preferences and attitudes of coffee producers in the context of their adaptation to climate change. I show that food insecure households are more risk-averse than food-secure households and that much work is needed in the sector to ensure equity and improve institutional capacity. For households in chronic poverty, conventional risk management strategies simply may not be enough. Institutional arrangements must be put in place to enable coffee-growing households to engage in practices that result in improved capacity for climate change adaptation.

Description: Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) is known to be an important rate-limiting enzyme in the production of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). However, the role of this enzyme in goose follicular development is poorly understood. To investigate the metabolic mechanism of SCD during goose follicular development, we observed its expression patterns in vivo and in vitro using quantitative reverse-transcription (qRT)-PCR. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was used to determine a cellular model of SCD function in granulosa cells (GCs) via SCD overexpression and knockdown. qRT-PCR analysis showed that SCD was abundantly expressed in the GC layer, and was upregulated in preovulatory follicles. Peak expression was found in F1 and prehierarchal follicles with diameters of 4–6 mm and 8–10 mm, respectively. We further found that mRNA expression and corresponding enzyme activity occur in a time-dependent oscillation pattern in vitro, beginning on the first day of GC culture. By LC-MS/MS, we identified numerous changes in metabolite activation and developed an overview of multiple metabolic pathways, 10 of which were associated with lipid metabolism and enriched in both the overexpressed and knockdown groups. Finally, we confirmed cholesterol and pantothenol or pantothenate as potential metabolite biomarkers to study SCD-related lipid metabolism in goose GCs.

Description: Despite many studies reporting hemispheric asymmetry in the representation and processing of emotions, the essence of the asymmetry remains controversial. Brain network analysis based on electroencephalography (EEG) is a useful biological method to study brain function. Here, EEG data were recorded while participants watched different emotional videos. According to the videos’ emotional categories, the data were divided into four categories: high arousal high valence (HAHV), low arousal high valence (LAHV), low arousal low valence (LALV) and high arousal low valence (HALV). The phase lag index as a connectivity index was calculated in theta (4–7 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), beta (14–30 Hz) and gamma (31–45 Hz) bands. Hemispheric networks were constructed for each trial, and graph theory was applied to quantify the hemispheric networks’ topological properties. Statistical analyses showed significant topological differences in the gamma band. The left hemispheric network showed significantly higher clustering coefficient (Cp), global efficiency (Eg) and local efficiency (Eloc) and lower characteristic path length (Lp) under HAHV emotion. The right hemispheric network showed significantly higher Cp and Eloc and lower Lp under HALV emotion. The results showed that the left hemisphere was dominant for HAHV emotion, while the right hemisphere was dominant for HALV emotion. The research revealed the relationship between emotion and hemispheric asymmetry from the perspective of brain networks.

Description: Background: This study compared the efficacy of two multi-component m-health interventions with a wait-list control group on body weight (primary outcome), and secondary outcomes of cardiovascular risk factors, lifestyle behaviours, and mental health. Methods: Three-arm randomised controlled trial (Enhanced: physical activity, diet, sleep, Traditional: physical activity, diet, Control) with assessments conducted at baseline, 6 and 12 months. Participants (n = 116) were overweight or obese adults aged 19–65 (M = 44.5 [SD = 10.5]). The 6-month intervention was delivered via a smartphone app providing educational materials, goal-setting, self-monitoring and feedback, and also included one face-to-face dietary consultation, a Fitbit and scales. The trial was prospectively registered and conducted between May 2017 and September 2018. Group differences on primary and secondary outcomes were examined between the Pooled Intervention groups (Pooled Intervention = Enhanced and Traditional) and Control groups, and then between Enhanced and Traditional groups. Results: Nineteen participants (16.4%) formally withdrew from the trial. Compared with the Control group, average body weight of the Pooled Intervention group did not differ at 6 (between-group difference = −0.92, (95% CI −3.33, 1.48)) or 12 months (0.00, (95% CI −2.62, 2.62)). Compared with the Control group, the Pooled Intervention group significantly increased resistance training (OR = 7.83, (95% CI 1.08, 56.63)) and reduced energy intake at 6 months (−1037.03, (−2028.84, −45.22)), and improved insomnia symptoms at 12 months (−2.59, (−4.79, −0.39)). Compared with the Traditional group, the Enhanced group had increased waist circumferences (2.69, (0.20, 5.18)) and sedentary time at 6 months (105.66, (30.83, 180.48)), and improved bed time variability at 12 months (−1.08, (−1.86, −0.29)). No other significant differences were observed between groups. Conclusions: Relative to Controls, the Pooled Intervention groups did not differ on body weight but improved resistance training, and reduced energy intake and insomnia symptom severity. No additional weight loss was apparent when targeting improvements in physical activity, diet and sleep in combination compared with physical activity and diet.

Description: Water has a crucial effect on the time-dependent behavior of rocks. The long-term cyclical fluctuations of reservoir water level lead to dry–wet (DW) cycles of rocks on reservoir bank slopes, making this influential factor more complex. To deeply understand the time-dependent behavior of rocks under DW cycles, argillite from the reservoir bank slope of Longtan Hydropower Station was used to perform a series of triaxial creep tests. Subsequently, based on analysis of creep test results after different DW cycles, a damage nonlinear Burgers viscoelastic-plastic (DNBVP) model considering the effect of saturation–dehydration cycles was proposed by introducing a nonlinear viscoplastic body and a damage variable describing DW cycles. Then, the three-dimensional creep equations of the new model were derived and its creep parameters were identified. Comparison between the theoretical curves and the test results shows that the theoretical curves of the DNBVP model were able to describe rock creep tests results after different DW cycles. Furthermore, by comparing classical creep models with the proposed model, it was found that the DNBVP model can accurately reflect the nonlinear characteristics of rocks at the accelerated creep stage. Finally, the sensitivity of the DNBVP model was analyzed and discussed, and three-dimensional central difference expressions necessary for secondary development of the new model were also derived in detail. The proposed new model with secondary development may provide a basis for improving the geotechnical design of reservoir bank slopes and the control of reservoir bank landslides.

Description: Most climate change messages depict a picture of the devastating effects that anthropogenic activities have on the environment, expecting to mobilise human action. Built on the daunting scientific evidence, these gloomy messages can potentially emotionally harm a young audience. By contrast, this study explores the impact of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) as an innovative marketing technique to communicate positive climate change messages. This study investigates whether ASMR could be used to encourage pro-environmental behaviour and create social bonding among young people. An ASMR video and two series of interviews with high school students were conducted in Sydney, Australia. The results show that the participants are divided in their opinion about the effectiveness of ASMR. Although all see ASMR as a completely new world in marketing, some are of the opinion that it can influence positive climate change behaviours while others are reluctant to accept it as a way to encourage action. Given the vastness and urgency of the climate change agenda, this novel marketing technique can find its way in promoting pro-environmental behaviours by utilising positive messaging and influencing a section of the young population.

Description: In the year 2020, the world suffered the effects of a global pandemic. COVID-19 is a disease that mainly affects the respiratory system of patients, even causing a disproportionate response of the immune system and further spreading the damage to other vital organs. The main means by which health care services detected this viral disease was through the use of Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCRs). These PCRs allow the detection of known chains of the genetic code of the virus in samples of sputum. In this work, we study PCR signal features that allow to automatize the analysis of hundreds of PCRs. The findings obtained from the study have shown these features to be capable of obtaining successful results in the detection of COVID-19 in PCR samples, with only a small fraction of the information extracted by the clinicians for that purpose.

Description: The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment aims at measuring the effective electron neutrino mass with a sensitivity of 0.2 eV/c2, i.e., improving on previous measurements by an order of magnitude. Neutrino mass data taking with KATRIN commenced in early 2019, and after only a few weeks of data recording, analysis of these data showed the success of KATRIN, improving on the known neutrino mass limit by a factor of about two. This success very much could be ascribed to the fact that most of the system components met, or even surpassed, the required specifications during long-term operation. Here, we report on the performance of the laser Raman (LARA) monitoring system which provides continuous high-precision information on the gas composition injected into the experiment’s windowless gaseous tritium source (WGTS), specifically on its isotopic purity of tritium—one of the key parameters required in the derivation of the electron neutrino mass. The concentrations cx for all six hydrogen isotopologues were monitored simultaneously, with a measurement precision for individual components of the order 10−3 or better throughout the complete KATRIN data taking campaigns to date. From these, the tritium purity, εT, is derived with precision of

Description: In this paper, we present a navigation strategy exclusively designed for social robots with limited sensors for applications in homes. The overall system integrates a reactive design based on subsumption architecture and a knowledge system with learning capabilities. The component of the system includes several modules, such as doorway detection and room localization via convolutional neural network (CNN), avoiding obstacles via reinforcement learning, passing the doorway via Canny edge’s detection, building an abstract map called a Directional Semantic Topological Map (DST-Map) within the knowledge system, and other predefined layers within the subsumption architecture. The individual modules and the overall system are evaluated in a virtual environment using Webots simulator.

Description: Although bullying and cyberbullying have been widely studied in diverse geographical areas, the number of studies in isolated regions, located in rainforests such as the Peruvian Amazonia, is low. Most research has been conducted in wealthy, Western countries, although disadvantaged areas are usually the most affected by various problems. Thus, the aims of this study were to validate bullying and cyberbullying measurement instruments among adolescents in the Peruvian Amazonia, to determine the prevalence rates of bullying and cyberbullying among this population, and to examine how bullying and cyberbullying relate to self-esteem, empathy, and social skills. The sample included 607 students from the region of Loreto (Peruvian Amazonia) who completed self-report questionnaires. Both questionnaires used in the sample were found to have good psychometric properties. Results showed that bullying and cyberbullying are prevalent among teenagers in the Amazonia. Low self-esteem and high affective empathy predicted bullying victimization. Being a bully was related to high assertiveness. Being a bully-victim was related to low self-esteem and low assertiveness. Cybervictims showed higher cognitive empathy. Cyberbullies showed higher affective empathy in comparison to uninvolved adolescents. Having low self-esteem and higher affective empathy were related to being a cyberbully/victim. This study provides a validated questionnaire that can be used for research and practice in the Amazonia. Based on the current results, tailored anti-bullying and anti-cyberbullying interventions with components focused on self-esteem, empathy, and social skills should be implemented in Peruvian secondary schools.

Description: In multi-target tracking scenarios with dense and heterogeneous clutter, there is a substantial increase in the false measurements that originated from the clutter within the validation gate, and consequently, the number of measurement-to-track association hypothesis grows rapidly in traditional multiple hypothesis tracker (MHT), leading to a sharp decrease in data association accuracy and tracking performance. A new multiple hypothesis tracker using validation gate with motion direction constraint (MHT-MDC) is proposed to solve these problems. In the MHT-MDC, a motion direction constraint (MDC) gate is designed by considering the prior target maneuvering information, which effectively reduces the volume of validation gate and, thus, diminishes the number of false measurements in the gate when the innovation covariance is large. Subsequently, the clutter density in the MDC gate is adaptively estimated by the conditional mean estimator of clutter density (CMECD), based on which the score functions in the MDC gate can be calculated. The MHT-MDC is compared with the MHT algorithm in simulations, and the experimental results demonstrate its superior tracking performance for weakly maneuvering targets in high clutter density scenarios.

Description: Over the last decade, video surveillance systems have become a part of the Internet of Things (IoT). These IP-based surveillance systems now protect industrial facilities, railways, gas stations, and even one’s own home. Unfortunately, like other IoT systems, there are inherent security risks which can lead to significant violations of a user’s privacy. In this review, we explore the attack surface of modern surveillance systems and enumerate the various ways they can be compromised with real examples. We also identify the threat agents, their attack goals, attack vectors, and the resulting consequences of successful attacks. Finally, we present current countermeasures and best practices and discuss the threat horizon. The purpose of this review is to provide researchers and engineers with a better understanding of a modern surveillance systems’ security, to harden existing systems and develop improved security solutions.

Description: Korea is one of the fastest-growing CO2-emitting countries but has recently experienced a dramatic slowdown in emissions. The objective of the study is to examine the driving factors of long-term increases (1990–2015) and their slowdown (2012–2015) in emissions of Korea. This study uses an extended index decomposition analysis model that better fits Korea’s emission trends of the last 25 years by encompassing 19 energy end-use sectors (18 economic sectors and a household sector) and three energy types. The results show that emission increases in the long term (1990–2015) come from economic growth and population growth. However, improvements in energy intensity, carbon intensity, and economic structure offset large portions of CO2 emissions. The recent slowdown (2012–2015) mainly resulted from a decline in energy intensity and carbon intensity in the economic sectors. Among the different energy types, electricity has played a significant role in decreasing emissions because industries have reduced the consumption of electricity per output and the source of electricity generation has shifted to cleaner energies. These results imply that the Korean government should support strategies that reduce energy intensity and carbon intensity in the future to reduce CO2 emissions and maintain sustainable development.

Description: In industrial pollutants, phenol is a kind of degradation-resistant hazardous compound. It is generated during industrial processes in factories and treatment at sewage plants. In this study, we analyse the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 and rGO as a composite for the degradation of phenol. Hybridised titanium dioxide/reduced graphene oxide (TiO2/rGO) nanocomposites were synthesised by a simple hydrothermal method using flake graphite and tetrabutyl titanate as raw materials. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer–Emmet–Teller (BET) specific area analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoelectrochemical analysis, and UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) were employed to characterise the physicochemical properties of the as-prepared nanocomposites. The results showed the TiO2/rGO nanocomposites’ significant anatase phase and a small fraction of the rutile phase the same as that of the as-prepared TiO2 nanoparticles. The spherical TiO2 nanoparticles (diameter 20–50 nm) were agglomerated slightly and the agglomerates were anchored on the rGO sheets and dispersed symmetrically. The specific surface area of TiO2/rGO-4% nanocomposites was 156.4 m2/g, revealing a high specific surface area. Oxygen-containing functional groups that existed in TiO2/rGO-4% nanocomposites were almost removed during hydrothermal processing. The photocurrent response of TiO2/rGO-4% was strongest among the TiO2/rGO nanocomposites, and the bandgap of TiO2/rGO-4% was 2.91 eV, showing a redshift of absorption into the visible region, which was in favour of the high photocatalytic activity of TiO2/rGO nanocomposites under visible light (λ 〉 420 nm). Moreover, the samples were employed to photodegrade phenol solution under visible light irradiation. TiO2/rGO-4% nanocomposite degraded the phenol solution up to 97.9%, and its degradation rate constant was 0.0190 h−1, which had higher degradation activity than that of other TiO2/rGO nanocomposites. This is a promising candidate catalyst material for organic wastewater treatment.

Description: Ti6Al4V alloy is still attracting great interest because of its application as an implant material for hard tissue repair. This research aims to produce and investigate in-situ chitosan/hydroxyapatite (CS/HA) nanocomposite coatings based on different amounts of HA (10, 50 and 60 wt.%) on alkali-treated Ti6Al4V substrate through the sol-gel process to enhance in vitro bioactivity. The influence of different contents of HA on the morphology, contact angle, roughness, adhesion strength, and in vitro bioactivity of the CS/HA coatings was studied. Results confirmed that, with increasing the HA content, the surface morphology of crack-free CS/HA coatings changed for nucleation modification and HA nanocrystals growth, and consequently, the surface roughness of the coatings increased. Furthermore, the bioactivity of the CS/HA nanocomposite coatings enhanced bone-like apatite layer formation on the material surface with increasing HA content. Moreover, CS/HA nanocomposite coatings were biocompatible and, in particular, CS/10 wt.% HA composition significantly promoted human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) proliferation. In particular, these results demonstrate that the treatment strategy used during the bioprocess was able to improve in vitro properties enough to meet the clinical performance. Indeed, it is predicted that the dense and crack-free CS/HA nanocomposite coatings suggest good potential application as dental implants.

Description: Non-structural measures for flood risk mitigation are often more economically accessible, easier to implement, and are highly effective, especially in view of the pursuit of risk resilience objectives. Among the non-structural measures, more importance is increasingly being attributed to flood proofing interventions. There are two main types of flood proofing: dry proofing and wet proofing. An example of dry proofing is shielding, which involves the use of flood barriers that can be installed in the entrances of buildings or outside the buildings in order to avoid contact with the houses and deviate the water flow. Their use must be supported by a detailed hydraulic analysis to ensure the correct design is used. This kind of intervention also avoids inducing a feeling of false security (the levee effect) in the exposed population, and therefore contributes to increasing their resilience. The aim of the work presented here is to determine an optimal combination of and choice between different types of structural and non-structural measures through the development of a methodology for assessing the real efficiency levels of different measures, using a cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and starting from the estimation of the direct flood damage. The application of the CBA to a case study of the Mela river in northeastern Sicily, which suffered a flooding event in October 2015, is supported by the determination of the real damages after the flood and the modeling of the same damages for alternative scenarios. The results affirm the possibility of reducing or avoiding some of the damage using the proposed flood proofing measures instead of classical ones.

Description: Surface all-wave net radiation (Rn) is a crucial variable driving many terrestrial latent heat (LE) models that estimate global LE. However, the differences between different Rn products and their impact on global LE estimates still remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated two Rn products, Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) beta version Rn and Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications-version 2 (MERRA-2) Rn, from 2007–2017 using ground-measured data from 240 globally distributed in-situ radiation measurements provided by FLUXNET projects. The GLASS Rn product had higher accuracy (R2 increased by 0.04–0.26, and RMSE decreased by 2–13.3 W/m2) than the MERRA-2 Rn product for all land cover types on a daily scale, and the two Rn products differed greatly in spatial distribution and variations. We then determined the resulting discrepancies in simulated annual global LE using a simple averaging model by merging five diagnostic LE models: RS-PM model, SW model, PT-JPL model, MS-PT model, and SIM model. The validation results showed that the estimated LE from the GLASS Rn had higher accuracy (R2 increased by 0.04–0.14, and RMSE decreased by 3–8.4 W/m2) than that from the MERRA-2 Rn for different land cover types at daily scale. Importantly, the mean annual global terrestrial LE from GLASS Rn was 2.1% lower than that from the MERRA-2 Rn. Our study showed that large differences in satellite and reanalysis Rn products could lead to substantial uncertainties in estimating global terrestrial LE.

Description: The work investigates the application of artificial neural networks and logistic regression for the recognition of activities performed by room occupants. KNX (Konnex) standard-based devices were selected for smart home automation and data collection. The obtained data from these devices (Humidity, CO2, temperature) were used in combination with two wearable gadgets to classify specific activities performed by the room occupant. The obtained classifications can benefit the occupant by monitoring the wellbeing of elderly residents and providing optimal air quality and temperature by utilizing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning control. The obtained results yield accurate classification.

Description: This paper presents the studies of the development of a high-performance epoxy coating for steel substrates. To this end, it investigated the synergistic effect of incorporating zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles into nanosilica containing epoxy formulations. The mechanical properties of the epoxy coating formulations were improved by modifying the surfaces of the silica nanoparticles (5 wt.%) with 3-glycidoxypropyl trimethoxysilane, which ensured their dispersal through the material. Next, the ZnO nanoparticles (1, 2, or 3 wt.%) were incorporated to improve the corrosion performance of the formulations. The anticorrosive properties of the coatings were examined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) of coated mild steel specimens immersed in 3.5% NaCl solution over different time intervals (1 h to 30 days). Incorporation of the ZnO nanoparticles and the nanosilica into the coating formulation improved the corrosion resistance of the epoxy coating even after long-term exposure to saline test solutions. Finally, to evaluate how the nanoparticles affected the chemical and morphological properties of the prepared coatings, the coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

Description: The emergence of social media platforms as the main representatives of Web 3.0 applications significantly impacts the co-creation activities among enterprises, customers, and other stakeholders, and has enabled firms to benefit from creativity and ideas of their users and customers for developing and rendering innovative services. This study aims to investigate how the co-creation activities of users on social media platforms have an effect on the enterprises’ innovative services. For this purpose, the authors surveyed customers of innovative services who used social media platforms to meet their needs from the enterprises that innovatively offer such services. An online questionnaire was designed and distributed among the sample of customers, and 505 completed questionnaires were analyzed following the PLS-SEM approach. The findings revealed that customer citizenship behavior and customer participation behavior on social media platforms positively affect the rendering of innovative services. Findings also highlighted that an increase in social co-creation activities, as moderator, positively affects customer citizenship behavior on service innovativeness, and negatively affects customer participation behavior on service innovativeness. The findings of this research could be useful for entrepreneurs and managers of the enterprises that offer innovative services to efficiently use social media tools to benefit from the customers’ co-creation activities and to perform more competitively and sustainably in a hostile business environment.

Description: Water resources are under growing pressures globally, and better basin planning is crucial to alleviate current and future water scarcity issues. Communicating the complex interconnections and needs of natural and human systems is a significant research challenge. With advances in cyberinfrastructure allowing for new innovative approaches to basin planning, this same technology can also facilitate better stakeholder engagement. The potential benefits of using digital basin planning platforms for stakeholder engagement are immense; yet, there is limited guidance on how to best use these platforms for more effective stakeholder engagement in water-related issues and projects. We detail our digital platform, Basin Futures, and highlight the potential uses for stakeholder engagement through an integrative framework across different assessment levels. Basin Futures is a web application that is an entry-level modelling tool that aims to support rapid and exploratory basin planning globally. As a cloud-based tool, it brings together high-performance computing and large-scale global datasets to make data analysis accessible and efficient. We explore the potential use of the tool through three case studies exploring agricultural development, transboundary water-sharing agreements and allocating water for environmental flows.

Description: The Valdivia River estuary (VRE) located in south-central Chile is known as one of the largest estuarine ecosystems on the Pacific coast. This research aims to determine the intra-tidal and sub-tidal variability of saline intrusions into the VRE between November 2017 and March 2019 derived from salinity sensors located along the VRE. Complementary hydrographic measurements were conducted during flood and ebb conditions of the spring and neap tides for each of the four seasons of the year along the central axis of the VRE. The results of the salinity time series showed that saline intrusions (values greater than 0.5 Practical Salinity Units) occurred ~20 km from the estuary mouth, when the total flow of the Cruces and Calle-Calle rivers (main tributaries of the estuary) was low, around 280–300 m3 s−1. During the same period, the best co-variability was observed between the saline intrusions and the mixed-semidiurnal tide and the fortnightly and monthly periods of the tide. Regression analyses indicated that salinity intrusion length (L) is best correlated to discharge (D) with a fractional power model L α D−1/2.64 (R2 = 0.88). The decreasing discharge trend, found between 2008–2019, implies that saline water intrusions would negatively impact the Valdivia’s main drinking water intake during the low rainfall season under future climate conditions.

Description: The aim of the study was to evaluate the changes in glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSP) content, microbial diversity and soil physical quality depending on the type of soil measures of soil improvement and changes in soil health. The study was based on a 100-year stationary field microplot experiment where the soil profiles were collected with preserving the natural soil horizons. The microplot experiment was carried out on eight different soil types: Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I), Rendzic Leptosol, Fluvic Cambisol, Haplic Cambisol (Eutric), Gleyic Phaeozem, Brunic Arenosol (Dystric II), Haplic Cambisol (Eutric II) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). These soils are the most common types of agricultural soils in Poland. Relatively significant correlations with the soil quality, physical parameters and the glomalin-related soil proteins have been found. The study determined the total GRSP (T-GRSP) and easily extractable GRSP (EE-GRSP) levels in soils as well as the soil physical quality index and soil’s microbial biodiversity. The GRSP depended on the type of soil and correlated with S-Index and also was responsible for the unique chemical and physical properties of soils. Soils characterized by the highest T-GRSP content belonged to the group of very good and good soil physical quality characterized also by high biological activity, for which there were strong correlations with such parameters as dehydrogenase activity (DHA), microbial biomass content (MBC), microbial nitrogen content (MBN) and total bacteria number (B). The highest T-GRSP content and higher microbial diversity were found in Gleyic Phaeozem, Rendzic Leptosol and Fluvic Cambisol. The T-GRSP and EE-GRSP content were additionally correlated with the number of AMF spores. Very poor and poor soil physical quality according to S-Index characterized Brunic Arenosol (Dystric I) and Haplic Cambisol (Dystric). This research indicates that a specific edaphone of soil microorganisms and GRSP content may be of great importance when assessing a soil’s quality and improvements in soil health. The abundance of glomalin-producing fungi significantly affects the quality of the soil. This effect is particularly important for agricultural soils are threatened by ongoing land degradation.

Description: In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the development of micron-scale devices utilizing thermal gradients to manipulate molecules and colloids, and to measure their thermophoretic properties quantitatively. Various devices have been realized, such as on-chip implements, micro-thermogravitational columns and other micron-scale thermophoretic cells. The advantage of the miniaturized devices lies in the reduced sample volume. Often, a direct observation of particles using various microscopic techniques is possible. On the other hand, the small dimensions lead to some technical problems, such as a precise temperature measurement on small length scale with high spatial resolution. In this review, we will focus on the “state of the art” thermophoretic micron-scale devices, covering various aspects such as generating temperature gradients, temperature measurement, and the analysis of the current micron-scale devices. We want to give researchers an orientation for their development of thermophoretic micron-scale devices for biological, chemical, analytical, and medical applications.

Description: In the present paper, the identification of the material parameters of a masonry lighthouse is discussed. A fully non-invasive method was selected, in which the material properties were determined via numerical model validation applied to the first pair of natural frequencies and their related mode shapes, determined experimentally. The exact structural model was built by means of the finite element method. To obtain experimental data for the inverse analysis, operational modal analysis was applied to the structure. Three methods were considered: peak picking (PP), eigensystem realization algorithm (ERA) and natural excitation technique with ERA (NExT-ERA). The acceleration’s responses to environmental excitations, enhanced in some periods of time by sheet piling hammering or by sudden interruptions like wind stroke, were assumed within the analysis input. Different combinations of the input were considered in the PP and NExT-ERA analysis to find the most reasonable modal forms. A number of time periods of a free-decay character were considered in the ERA technique to finally calculate the averaged modal forms. Finally, the elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio and material density of brick, sandstone and granite masonry were determined. The obtained values supplement the state of the art database concerning historic building materials. In addition, the numerical model obtained in the analysis may be used in further cases of structural analysis.

Description: To analyze the association between prostate cancer (PCa) risk and night shift work, chronotype, and sleep duration in the context of a population-based case-control study of incident prostate cancer in Spain, a total of 465 PCa cases and 410 controls were analyzed. Selection criteria were: (i) age 40–80 years, and (ii) residence in the coverage area of the reference hospitals for ≥6 months before recruitment. Exposure variables were: (i) night shift work (permanent or rotating); (ii) chronotype: morning, neither, or evening (Munich ChronoType Questionnaire) and (iii) sleep duration according to the recommendations of the American National Sleep Foundation. PCa aggressiveness was determined according to the International Society of Urology Pathology classification. Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated using logistic regression models. Night shift work was associated with PCa, aOR = 1.47 (95% CI 1.02–2.11), especially for rotating night shifts, aOR = 1.73 (95% CI 1.09–2.75). The magnitude of the association between ever night work and PCa was higher in evening subjects with aOR = 3.14 (95% CI 0.91–10.76) than in morning chronotypes with an aOR = 1.25 (95% CI 0.78–2.00). Working night shifts, especially rotating night shifts, could increase PCa risk. This risk may be higher in people with an evening chronotype.

Description: Land-based sources are the key sources of plastic debris, and mismanaged plastic debris can eventually enter the ocean via marine beaches. In this study, the spatial distribution and amount of plastic debris in the land-based source input zone of First Long Beach (FLB), China, which is a major tourist attraction, were first investigated. By using field investigation, sand samples were collected from two sections on FLB adjacent to land-based sources in December 2019, and the plastic debris in the sand samples was quantified and characterized in the laboratory. The amount of plastic debris ranged from 2 to 82 particles/m2 on this marine sand beach. There was a significant difference in plastic debris amount between the transects along the land-based source input zone (p 〈 0.05) due to the impacts of wind, ocean currents, and waves. The most abundant size of plastics was 0.5–2.5 cm (44.4%). Moreover, the most common color was white (60.9%). The most abundant shape of plastic debris fell into the fragment category (76.2%). The plastic debris amounts were significantly correlated with multiple sizes. Our results show that land-based wastewater discharge is a large plastic debris source on FLB under coastal water tide variation. Reduction strategies should be carried out by tracing the various land-based sources of plastic debris.

Description: Detection of terrain features (ridges, spurs, cliffs, and peaks) is a basic research topic in digital elevation model (DEM) analysis and is essential for learning about factors that influence terrain surfaces, such as geologic structures and geomorphologic processes. Detection of terrain features based on general geomorphometry is challenging and has a high degree of uncertainty, mostly due to a variety of controlling factors on surface evolution in different regions. Currently, there are different computational techniques for obtaining detailed information about terrain features using DEM analysis. One of the most common techniques is numerically identifying or classifying terrain elements where regional topologies of the land surface are constructed by using DEMs or by combining derivatives of DEM. The main drawbacks of these techniques are that they cannot differentiate between ridges, spurs, and cliffs, or result in a high degree of false positives when detecting spur lines. In this paper, we propose a new method for automatically detecting terrain features such as ridges, spurs, cliffs, and peaks, using shaded relief by controlling altitude and azimuth of illumination sources on both smooth and rough surfaces. In our proposed method, we use edge detection filters based on azimuth angle on shaded relief to identify specific terrain features. Results show that the proposed method performs similar to or in some cases better (when detecting spurs than current terrain features detection methods, such as geomorphon, curvature, and probabilistic methods.

Description: Hydrological process simulation and rainfall–runoff analysis are important foundations for reasonably evaluating changes in water resources. In this paper, the VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) hydrological model was used to simulate runoff without observed data for exploring the applicability of the model in the Kequ, Dari, and Jimai river basins in the source region of the Yellow River, and the Balegen River basin in the inland arid source region. The results show that, from 2015 to 2018, the VIC model had a good simulation effect. The Nash efficiency coefficients (NSE) of the four basins were all above 0.7, and the NSE of the Dari River basin reached 0.93. The relative error (RE) of the three river basins was about 5%, on average, and the RE of the Balegen basin was 6.50%, indicating that the model has good applicability in the study area. Climate perturbation experiments were performed to quantitatively analyze the relationship between rainfall and runoff. The results show that, in the source area of the Yellow River, rainfall and runoff are roughly linearly related. However, in the inland arid source area, temperature has a slightly greater impact on runoff than rainfall.

Description: Water mites represent the most diverse and abundant group of Arachnida in freshwater ecosystems, with about 6000 species described; however, it is estimated that this number represents only 30% of the total expected species. Despite having strong biotic interactions with their community and having the potential to be exceptional bioindicators, they are frequently excluded from studies of water quality or ecology, due to actual and perceived difficulties of taxonomic identification in this group. The objective of this study is to use the variations in the sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), also known as the DNA barcodes region, as a tool to assess the diversity of water mites at 24 sites in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. We found 77 genetic groups or putative species corresponding to 18 genera: Arrenurus, Atractides, Centrolimnesia, Eylais, Geayia, Hydrodroma, Hydryphantes, Hygrobates, Koenikea, Krendowskia, Limnesia, Limnochares, Mamersellides, Mideopsis, Neumania, Piona, Torrenticola, and Unionicola. This was significant, since there are only 35 species described for this region. Furthermore, this molecular information has allowed us to infer that there are characteristic assemblies per site. These data will facilitate the incorporation of water mites in different studies while the curatorial work continues to assign a Linnaean name.

Description: The shipborne high-frequency surface wave radar (HFSWR) platform produces six degrees of freedom (DOF) motion at sea, which affects the performance of radar target detection and remote sensing of ocean surface dynamics parameters. Motion compensation can mitigate the effect of six-DOF motion, but motion parameters (including amplitude and angular frequency) need to be known. Motion parameters obtained by using high precision sensors are affected by the precision error and time delay, thus affecting the effect of motion compensation. To obtain the motion parameters accurately and in real time, a method of identifying the motion parameters by using an artificially transmitted reference radio frequency (RF) signal generated at the shore is proposed. Based on the results of the parameter identification, the reference RF signal and the first-order radar cross-sections (RCSs) modulated by six-DOF motion of the shipborne HFSWR platform can be compensated. The identification of angular frequency is divided into two steps: (1) Preliminary identification results are obtained by using the reference RF signal; (2) the pattern search method is used to further improve the identification accuracy of angular frequency. The amplitude of translation (including surge and sway) can be identified accurately through the reference RF signal. Due to the small amplitude of rotation (including roll, pitch, and yaw), it needs to be identified by the reference RF signal and pattern search method. After identifying the motion parameters, division in the time domain is used for motion compensation. Through the simulation results, both translation and rotation have good motion compensation effects. In addition, the method of using high precision sensors to obtain motion parameters and compensation is compared with the method in this paper, the simulation results of motion compensation show that the latter is better.

Description: Municipal and regional governments can play a key role in global society’s transition towards sustainability. However, municipal leaders often lack a sufficient overview of sustainability and thereby the capacity to coordinate efforts across sectors. Several municipal planning frameworks are available but vary greatly in terms of definitions, scope, and hands-on advice on processes. To complement and unify approaches, the framework for strategic sustainable development (FSSD) has been developed. It utilizes backcasting from operational boundary conditions for the full scope of social and ecological sustainability. This study aims to evaluate a recently developed model for long-term implementation of FSSD across sectors for more cohesive cooperation towards sustainability. This is done through participatory action research (PAR) in ten Swedish municipalities and regions. The evaluation is done to examine if the implementation model (i) lives up to its purpose to help sectors cooperate effectively by using the FSSD as a shared mental model, (ii) aid the handling of previously identified barriers to strategic sustainable development in municipalities and regions, (iii) may contain barriers of its own for appropriate use and (iv) has room for improvement. We used observations, dialogues, and surveys to capture the strengths, weaknesses, enablers, and barriers of the preliminary implementation model. While the compliance of the model varied, our findings show a general appreciation and identified the needs for the approach. From experiencing barriers for the application of the model, practitioners provided several ideas for additional support, such as assessment and alignment support of on-going work and further developed guiding material. In a second phase of the PAR project, application of the implementation model will continue, and such additional support will be developed and evaluated.

Description: Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization algorithms provide accurate and clear solutions for Microgrid and Distributed Energy Resources projects. Full-scale optimization approaches optimize all time-steps of data sets (e.g., 8760 time-step and higher resolutions), incurring extreme and unpredictable run-times, often prohibiting such approaches for effective Microgrid designs. To reduce run-times down-sampling approaches exist. Given that the literature evaluates the full-scale and down-sampling approaches only for limited numbers of case studies, there is a lack of a more comprehensive study involving multiple Microgrids. This paper closes this gap by comparing results and run-times of a full-scale 8760 h time-series MILP to a peak preserving day-type MILP for 13 real Microgrid projects. The day-type approach reduces the computational time between 85% and almost 100% (from 2 h computational time to less than 1 min). At the same time the day-type approach keeps the objective function (OF) differences below 1.5% for 77% of the Microgrids. The other cases show OF differences between 6% and 13%, which can be reduced to 1.5% or less by applying a two-stage hybrid approach that designs the Microgrid based on down-sampled data and then performs a full-scale dispatch algorithm. This two stage approach results in 20–99% run-time savings.

Description: Some special conditions are important for chemical syntheses, such as high temperature and the medium used; unfortunately, uncontrollable influences are introduced during the process, resulting in unexpectedly low repeatability. Herein, we report a facile, environmentally friendly, stable, and repeatable methodology for synthesizing silver nanoplates (SNPs) at 0 °C that overcomes these issues and dramatically increases the yield. This method mainly employs sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium alginate (SA) as the surface stabilizer and assistant, respectively. Consequently, we produced hexagonal nanoplates and tailed nanoplates, and the characterization showed that SA dominates the clear and regular profiles of nanoplates at 0 °C. The tailed nanoplates, over time, showed the growth of heads and the dissolving of tails, and inclined to the nanoplates without tails. The synthesis method for SNPs used in this study—0 °C without media—showed high repeatability. We confirmed that these special conditions are not required for the synthesis of silver nanostructures (SNSs). Furthermore, we constructed a new method for preparing noble metal nanostructures and proved the possibility of preparing metal nanostructures at 0 °C.

Description: An experimental product study of the reactions of furfural with the main tropospheric oxidants (Cl, OH and NO3) has been carried out using a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR) and a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer with a time of flight detector (GC–TOFMS). The main gas-phase products detected were 5-chloro-2(5H)-furanone, maleic anhydride, 2-nitrofuran and CO. Molar yields were quantified for the detected products in these reactions, thus suggesting the existence of nongaseous products that could not be observed with the analytical techniques employed. The formation of Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA) from the oxidation of furfural with Cl atoms, OH, NO3 and ozone was investigated in a smog chamber in the absence of inorganic seed aerosols. The experimental results show the formation of ultrafine particles (less than 1 µm in diameter) for all of the studied reactions except for the nitrate radical. Given their small size, these ultrafine particles (